Chapter 55
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
KAI
I walk through the front door, a bouquet of flowers, a bottle of wine and a pint of ice cream in hand. Today is a big day for Serena, and I am ready to support her in whatever way she needs. The grand jury for Dominick’s case will be announcing whether or not he will be indicted for the charges brought against him by the district attorney.
Serena has tried to put on a brave face, but I know she’s been a wreck, waiting for this result. I can’t lie, even with the evidence we helped compile, the testimony against him from Brad the douche bag and the recordings from the cabin, I still worry his position as a well-decorated police officer will get him off the hook. Dane has assured us there’s no way they won’t bring charges against Dominick, but excuse the fuck out of me for not having a lot of faith in the justice system. I won’t relax until I know for sure he is being brought to task for his crimes.
“Hey, ReRe, I got that wine you like and your favorite ice cream!” I head into the kitchen to drop off the food. Serena doesn’t respond, so after stowing the fudge brownie ice cream, I go through the house room by room searching for her.
“Serena, you up here?” I call out, heading up the stairs to her bedroom, worry tightening my chest. She’s made remarkable strides since starting therapy, but she still has bad days when something triggers her PTSD, like when she gets major case updates, or when Dominick tries to contact her. In the last month, she’s finally started using the right words to describe what he did to her, stopped saying rape in the hesitant, apologetic tone that implied those were someone else’s thoughts, not her own. Stopped hedging around her abuse and making it seem like she somehow asked for what happened to her or that it was somehow her fault for falling for his bullshit. Now that she’s had that breakthrough hit, the rest will be easier, and I look forward to the rivulet of improvement becoming a stream, a pond, a reservoir of strength.
Somehow, he still manages to send letters to her from jail, even after we’ve repeatedly asked them not to let him send them. After reading the first couple of unhinged manifestos about how they belong together and she will always belong to him, I’ve made it my mission to catch them before Serena sees them and give them to the prosecuting attorney to use as evidence. My stomach plummets at the thought of her getting one of those before I can intercept it. The last one she read caused her to spiral and spend the weekend in bed, reliving the nightmare of his abuse.
“ReRe?” Poking my head into the bedroom, I find it empty. Okay, she’s not huddled under the blankets in a heap. That’s good, but where is she? I turn to leave the room, but soft music floats through the open bedroom window.
Striding across the room, I peer out of the window and see Serena sitting in the hammock in the backyard, swinging between the two towering oak trees that shade most of her yard and the neighboring ones as well. A familiar beat emanates from the Bluetooth speaker, indicating she’s listening to her favorite nineties hip hop playlist. Her laptop is nestled on her lap, and she bites her lower lip in concentration as she focuses on what is on her screen. Curious about what could have her attention so focused, I head outside to let her know I’m here.
She’s so focused on what she’s working on, she doesn’t sense my presence until I flop down on the hammock next to her, startling her.
“Ah, fuck, Kai! Jesus, you scared me.” She laughs as she tries to shove me away. I ignore her feeble attempt at retaliation and bear hug her before planting a kiss on her cheek.
“What ya working on?” Her body melts against mine as I pull her into my side, arm around her shoulder, her head nestling against my chest.
She turns her laptop towards me, and I see she has the BFU website pulled up to their Criminal Justice program. I take the computer from her, and my brow quirks up. “What’s this?”
“I’m planning on changing my major. I want to go into Criminal Justice. After I graduate, I want to apply to the police academy.”
“Are you sure about that, ReRe? After everything you went through?” I give her a skeptical look, stunned by her admission. “You want to be a cop?” I try to keep the incredulity from my voice, but she picks up on it right away and doesn’t let me off the hook.
“It’s because of what I went through that I want to be a detective. Because of what you have gone through too. The world needs more good in it, and if there is any way I can help save someone else from experiencing what I went through, I will. My Granddaddy was a good man, a good cop, and it makes me sick to think of men like Dom and Eric out there abusing their position and using their power the way they did. I want to be there for victims when they have no idea who they can trust. I want to help fix the problem from the inside. I want to change the system in a big way.” Her eyes light up with a sense of purpose, and her cheeks flush with excitement as she speaks. Clearly, she’s thought this through, and I am not going to talk her out of it. I may not be a fan of law enforcement, but I know she’s not wrong. She can make a real difference by doing this.
She bites her bottom lip nervously as she waits for my response, as if she needs my approval. Like I would ever deny her the opportunity to chase her dreams.
“Alright, ReRe. Tell me about the program.”
The smile that spreads across her face at my interest feels like the sun coming out from behind a cloud. It’s so bright and beautiful it hurts to look at. Seeing her smile like this is the exact reason why I will never tell her no.
We spend so much time making plans for her course load next semester—so she doesn’t fall behind and will still graduate on time—we forget to check on the announcement from the grand jury. It isn’t until Serena’s phone rings with an incoming call from her mom that we realize we missed it.
She stares at her phone for a long minute, as if it’s a snake she’s afraid to pick up. “What if they didn’t indict him? What if she’s calling to tell me they let him go?” Serena looks at me with her honey-colored eyes shimmering with tears, and my heart lurches at the possibility.
“There’s no way, baby. There was too much evidence against him. He’s not getting out of this.” I say with more confidence than I feel in the American justice system. “Answer it; see what your mom has to say.” I nod toward the phone clutched tightly in her hands.
Serena hits the answer button, putting her mom on speaker phone. Before she even gets a word out, her mom’s excited yells are coming through the speaker.
“They voted to indict on all charges! He’s going to trial!”
“Fuck yeah!” I leap up from the hammock, pulling Serena with me, spinning her around in a celebratory hug. She squeals in joy, with a lightness I haven’t seen in her since before her parents’ accident. It’s like a weight that had been holding her down, refusing to let her to rise back up to the surface, has finally been lifted. She beams at me with a smile that is beyond radiant. A charge builds between us when our eyes lock, like this is the moment that we’ve been waiting for. The moment that opens the floodgates of everything we’ve been holding back on since her escape from Dominick’s clutches.
Shocking me, her lips seek out mine, her tongue licking against them, demanding entry. Our relief, our joy, our exhilaration at hearing the news stoking a fire between us that quickly ignites into an inferno. Her mom’s voice comes through the speaker, reminding us she’s still on the phone.
“Hey, Ms. Laura, we will call you back. We’ve got some celebrating to do. Love you!” I lick my lips as I give Serena a very pointed look. She wiggles her hips against my waist, and I feel a damp heat at her core, soaking through her thin cotton shorts.
“Yeah, gotta go, Mom! Call you later!” She hangs up the phone, tossing it on the hammock before her lips return to mine. She kisses me with a hunger that borders on desperation.
“Take me inside, Kai. I need you.” Her seductive words almost make me weak in the knees. God, yes. I can’t think of a better way to commemorate this moment.
I carry her into the house, kissing her, licking into her mouth, swallowing her sweet moans. Her body is pressed flush against mine, her hips rocking mindlessly as she seeks the friction she needs. I only make it to the first wall in the kitchen before pressing her against it and dropping her to her feet. Dropping to my knees in front of her, I take in her puffy lips, glistening from our kiss and the way her breasts heave as she pants, needy and desperate for more.
Jerking down her shorts and panties, I bare her beautiful pussy to me, unable to wait another second. I know she wants me to fuck her, but I have to taste her first. I’ve been dying for this moment for so long, and I plan on savoring it. I’ve held off on making our relationship physical, waiting for her to work through everything in therapy, to be sure she’s ready and not just rebounding. She’s it for me. My forever. My end game. And I want us to have the healthiest start to our relationship possible.
“Are you sure, baby? Do you want this?”
“Fuck, Kai, yes. If you don’t put your mouth on me right now I’ll die.” Chest heaving, eyes hazy with lust, her lips swollen from our kiss…her begging is the last straw. I am undone.
Lifting her left leg, I rest it on my right shoulder, opening her to me so I can admire the view. She’s so wet for me already, it makes my mouth water in anticipation. When I swipe my tongue up her slit in a long, leisurely stroke, the moan that comes from her mouth is almost enough to make me come in my pants. Fuck, that’s hot. I do it again and again and again until her fingers are clawing at my scalp, and she’s grinding her pussy on my face, on the verge of coming.
“Fuckfuckfuckfuck…oh god oh god oh god…Kai…I’m gonna…” Her body goes rigid as her orgasm crashes into her, her thighs locking around my head, fingernails digging into my hair to the point of pain. I don’t give a fuck—I lick, and I suck, and I take in every last drop she gives me. I don’t stop until she’s limp and unable to hold herself up.
When I pull away and look up at her, she smiles down at me with a sleepy, satisfied smile. I shoot her a wicked grin in return, “We’re not done yet, ReRe.” I pull my shirt off and shove down my pants as I stand up. Her eyes go wide as she takes in my stiff erection, my dick so hard it’s throbbing, precum dripping from the tip. I pull a condom from the pocket of my jeans, and she watches with rapt attention as I roll it on. She’s looking at my dick like it’s a work of art, and it makes me even harder. I need to be inside of her.
“You ready for me to fuck you, baby? I want to take you against this wall and fuck you so hard Mrs. G hears you scream my name.”
“Fuck me, Kai.” Her voice is husky and thick with desire. Lifting her up, I notch the head of my dick at her entrance.
“If at any point it becomes too much, say the word, baby.”
Serena’s only response is to pull my mouth to hers as I thrust into her, seating myself to the hilt, the taste of her release still on my lips. I pump into her at a furious pace, drawing more moans from her as her pleasure builds again. When I feel my balls tighten with my own impending release, I grind my pelvis into her, giving her clit the extra friction needed to pull her over the edge with me. When her walls clamp around my length—as she calls out my name in a cry of ecstasy—I explode.