Chapter Twenty-Five
If I’d ever doubted she was meant for me, those doubts disappeared so fucking fast as we moved together, and I made her mine, claiming every inch of her inside and out. We’d been made for each other, and finally we were together. Finally we could be us, and nobody else was in our way.
“My god, why does this feel so good,” Glory gasped, which just made me feel like even more of a king as I drove into her harder and faster.
Sure, I was chasing my release, but I was pushing her to hers too.
I wanted her contorting beneath me, as pleasure ripped through her, and she lost all control of herself.
“Mine,” I whispered, lowering my face into her neck as I pinned her hands, and powered into her, letting her feel all of me, as all of her became my home.
I wished we’d never lost those years, but now nothing would keep us apart.
I felt my unrequited feelings turning even deeper into obsession now that I knew how it felt to be inside her, to be so intimately connected that we were no longer two people, but one soul at last.
“I’m… oh… oh god…”
Her words disappeared into ragged gasps and fingernails clawing the backs of my hands, as her hips lifted against mine, and pleasure turned her completely incoherent.
She’d never looked more beautiful than she did in this moment, freed from everything that burdened her, feeling only the best things that life could offer.
Love, pleasure, safety, intimacy. Most importantly, love.
That was the key. I fucking loved her, and now she knew.
Her pleasure pulled me into my own, and I started to grind my hips against hers as I spilled into the condom separating us from each other, the single barrier still remaining, and I felt her shudder beneath me, as my movements prolonged her release.
“Fuck me,” I groaned, resting my face in her neck again, kissing her heated skin softly.
She was mine at last, with me completely, body and soul.
Never to be apart from me again. I blinked.
Why was I thinking such weird obsessive stuff when I was with her?
We’d literally have to part now and then, right?
I rolled over, pulling her with me, wanting to keep that connection for as long as it was feasible, but she giggled, rubbing her face against my chest.
“Is it getting weird again yet?”
I wondered how she could even ask that question. It was never weird for me. It was always the way it was supposed to be, but was she feeling weird now? My heart seemed to thud heavier and harder as I hesitated.
“Is it weird for you?”
Glory lifted her head, resting her chin on my chest, her eyes practically sparkling at me.
“Are you kidding? It was like something out of a movie or… ugh… that sounds so pathetic. Didn’t it feel like it was meant to happen?”
It was like we were in each other’s heads, because she was using words that were flowing through my own mind right now. We were on the same page. Was anything ever as amazing as this moment?
“First time of many, Glory. It’s you and me now, right?”
She nodded, snuggling against my chest, happy and relaxed. Which is why the way she woke me was such a shock.
Someone was speaking, or were they whispering? I slowly opened my eyes, trying to wake up, and the bloodcurdling screams were still a shock to my system. Like a piercing alarm that set every nerve ending on edge.
I shot up in the bed, and found Glory in the corner, curled in on herself, screaming for help. What the fuck?
My sleep-addled brain somehow absorbed the fact that towering over her right now wouldn’t be a good move, so I dropped down onto the floor and kinda crawled to her, calling out her name softly and trying to shush her.
It wasn’t because I wanted her to be quiet for my sake, but because it sounded like her screams were being torn from her throat, something only abject terror could create.
“Glory, sweetheart, please. It’s me, you’re safe.”
I reached her, and hesitated. Should I touch her?
Should I not? I rested a hand on her arm, and she screamed again, jerking away from my touch, heavy gasping sobs leaving her throat as she pressed herself back against the wall, her eyes darting around the room as she looked for something, anything, and I wished I knew what the fuck that was.
“You’re safe. Glory, it’s me… H… Nate. I’m here.”
She blinked rapidly, her breathing so harsh and raspy that she sounded more beast than person right now.
“N… Nate?”
I fucking hated that name now, but for her, I’d be him if that’s what gave her comfort.
“Yeah. It’s me. I’m here. Can you look at me?”
Her eyes were still darting around, her hair hanging in her face as if she’d been running from something, and hell, maybe she had.
“Glory?”
Her eyes finally settled on me, and she sucked in shallow breaths, trying to calm herself.
“N… I’m safe?”
I nodded, holding out a hand to her, which she stared warily at for a moment, before she suddenly reached for it, her chilled fingers locking on mine in a death grip.
“He’s not here?”
That fucking asshole was still tormenting her?
Jesus. I tugged her toward me and she fell into my arms, shivering violently as she curled into me, maybe trying to leach heat from me, since she was so chilled.
Had she been out of the bed for ages? It didn’t feel cold in here, but maybe she’d burned through her internal fuel with all the anxiety and terror.
“I’ve got you, Glory. You’re safe. Can I lift you into bed? You’re freezing.”
She nodded jerkily, her free hand latching around the back of my neck as I moved, lifting her as I struggled to my feet. I’d been half crouched, half kneeling, and that hadn’t given me the best balance for this, but no way in hell was I letting go of her right now.
“I… sorry… I… he was…” her words kept breaking off, like she was trying to both speak them and cut them off, holding them back. Did she think she couldn’t tell me? Did she need Lissa?
I sat on the bed, and dragged the covers around her trembling form, cradling her against me as I rocked us gently.
“You’ll never be in danger again, sweetheart. I’ve got you. Shhh…” I just murmured over and over again that she was safe, that he was gone, and that I’d never let anything hurt her, until I realised she’d dozed off in my arms. I wriggled carefully back against the headboard, and held her all night.
Glory
Waking in Henley’s arms was the best way to wake, like I’d tried all the bad ways, and finally found the right one.
He looked exhausted, clearly already awake, and when I sat up and pulled back from him, he groaned and stretched his back, a disturbing crunching sound filling the quietness as he moved.
“I’m sorry.”
His look wasn’t quite a glare, more a sharp look that made me feel virtually spanked without being threatening.
“It wasn’t your fault.”
I pulled his blankets around me as he stood up, stretching again, while I watched the muscles in his back ripple and move. He really was the most delicious looking man, like if poetry had form, it’d be his body.
“Coffee?”
I nodded, and he stepped into a pair of lounge pants and headed out of the room, dragging his fingers through his hair as he walked.
He’d been so sweet last night. I remembered how he’d coaxed me out of my panic, but I also vividly remembered my nightmare, and even just the memory of it chilled me to the bone. Sean had been standing over us, watching us as we slept curled around each other.
He’d yelled out loud, waking me up, while Henley seemed to sleep like the dead, and that’s when I realised he was.
I was covered in blood, and it was all his.
He was cold to the touch, and in Sean’s hand, a bloody knife told the tale.
He’d murdered Henley to punish him. To punish both of us.
He was… He… it was so real that it made me fear that he was still alive somewhere.
I saw him captured, but… what if he escaped somehow?
Would Lenore have told me, or did she lie to make me feel safe, without considering that he would find me?
“Oh god,” I whispered to myself. The things Sean had screamed at me, as I lay there, bathed in Henley’s blood, and losing the will to survive another second, were true.
I was a whore who jumped straight into bed with the first man who was nice to me.
I disrespected my husband, broke my vows, and even though I knew there was a good reason why I wasn’t with him, that he’d been wrong, that the dream was just a damn dream, and not reality, his words kept eating at me.
It was wrong, wasn’t it? Sleeping with Henley so soon after leaving Sean, I mean, it happened too fast. I rushed into it. He always said I was too stupid to do the right thing, and I’d proved him right.
“Made it just the way you like it,” Henley said as he walked into the room, two coffee mugs in his hands, while I jumped out of my skin.
He sat beside me, passing my mug to me.
“Okay, we’re going to talk about the nightmare, because I need to know what he’s doing to you in these fucking dreams, so we can work through it, and you can stop seeing him there.
I want you dreaming of puppies, and being out with me, and…
hell, I don’t know… going to all the places you dreamed of, picking up your career again, and all the-”
“He… he killed you. That’s what the dream was.”
That wasn’t all of it, but that was the worst part, and I only told him so he could see why I’d lost it like that.
If Sean had just attacked me, it would have been bearable, I mean, I’d lived it for real, after all.
But he’d killed Henley. He’d murdered the best man I’d ever met.
He murdered the one man I wanted to be with, had always wanted to be with.
“Jesus. I guess I’m glad he killed me and not you, but there has to be a way to keep him out of your dreams. I’ll make myself scarce so you can talk to Lissa if you want?”
I shrugged, putting my focus on my mug, and not on those gentle caring eyes. I knew he’d have taken Sean’s wrath if it meant I’d be safe, but I’d never want him killed because of me.
“I can call her later. I’m just… I don’t think she can fix this. I’m going to have bad dreams, and I know this isn’t going to go away just because he’s gone… if he even is.”
Henley wrapped a hand around both of mine.
“IF? You saw where he was. He’s gone, Glory. He’s deader than corduroy.”
I bit my lip against the sudden giggle that threatened to escape. A Red Dwarf quote. He knew it’d make me smile. It was a favourite show of ours. One we’d watched so many times. He always knew exactly how to get me to crack a smile, despite whatever might be going on.
“I can see that little smile, sweetheart. You can’t hide it from me.”
“We’re having a serious conversation, and you’re being adorable.”
He shrugged a shoulder. “I’m trying to lighten what seems to be a disturbing conversation. Do you really think those psycho twin guys make a habit of letting people go after taking them to their kill house? I’m just surprised we got out.”
I shuddered at the memory of that place, but the suspicion that he’d somehow survived just wouldn’t go away.
“What about that scary chick who works for them. Can you speak to her and get her to confirm it again? I mean, she already did, but what is it you need exactly? To see a body?”
I gasped, my hands jerking involuntarily, as coffee sloshed dangerously against the top of the mug I held.
“Careful,” Henley said, steadying me, “I’m serious though. Is that what it’ll take?”
Was it?