Relinquish

Chapter Thirty-One

Several Hours Later

Lola

I groan and stretch. What time is it? I crack one eye open, only to be blinded by the sunshine streaking into my bedroom. Shit. I slam my eye shut. My head feels like it’s stuffed full of cotton balls, making thoughts difficult to process. It must be afternoon or late morning. Hell, it was after six o’clock before we made it back to the house.

Randall. My eyes pop open, and I suck in a gulp of air. My entire body shudders from my neck to my toes. I’m not sure I’ll ever get over those two hours. They might be short in duration, but they’ll color my life forever.

I reach over for Cade, but his side of the sheets is cool to the touch. Where did he go? I glance around the room, but he’s nowhere to be seen. I look down at my clothes. Blood. Blood from Randall’s nose. I rip the T-shirt over my head and toss it into the trashcan. I don’t want any remembrances of him. I run to the bathroom, twist on the water, and hurry out of my clothes. I’d been too exhausted to shower when we got done with the police, but now I can’t wait to scrub off all evidence of him.

By the shower are a damp towel and Cade’s discarded clothes. I cringe. I’m not sure him hanging around out in my father’s house is a good idea, but I can’t look for him until I’m clean.

As I stand under the showerhead, I let the hot water scald my skin as if I can burn the night from my memory. When that doesn’t work, I scrub a loofah into my flesh and eradicate every vile thought, leer, and word Randall said.

Twenty minutes later, I return to my bedroom, fully dressed and ready to face the day. Randall’s in jail and won’t be out for years. My father will make sure of that.

I stare into the mirror. Where do Cade and I stand? Does he want a long-term relationship? What does he want? Do we go back to the way we were before yesterday? God, it’s been less than twenty-four hours. Is that enough to build a lasting relationship?

As I approach the dining room, I can hear my brothers’ voices in a heated debate. Football. What else? For some strange reason, each of my brothers chose a different team to cheer for while growing up, and they’d stayed avid fans ever since. Maybe it isn’t that surprising. Eddie and Derrick are two of the most competitive people I know.

“You don’t have a leg to stand on, Eddie. My team did better than your team last year. And the year before.” Derrick says sarcastically. He’s not about to allow our older brother to forget whose team is better than the other. There have been so few times in our lives that Eddie hasn’t had the upper hand. The smell of bacon hangs in the air, causing my stomach to growl. “Okay, they didn’t do the greatest, but this year will be different.”

“Whatever. Keep dreaming. So, Cade, who’s your team?”

I stumble in surprise. Cade is talking with my brothers. Shit. They didn’t say anything earlier this morning, but there were tons of people around, and Cade had saved the day. I grin. Well, I did bust Randall in the nuts.

“I’m a Kansas City man, born and raised. I support my local team.”

“Shit,” both men groan. “Well, neither of our teams stands a chance against yours. Your Q.B. is legit.”

I step around the corner to see Cade smiling. He glances in my direction. “Lola, come, have a seat and save me from having to listen to their excuses for why my team is going to dominate for the next ten years.” He stands and pulls out the chair next to his.

“Fuck.” Eddie shakes his head but doesn’t contradict him.

Derrick lifts his glass of orange juice. “Well, my team had a good thing going for twenty years. I guess I can let someone else in on the action.”

“See. What did I tell you?”

Okay. He’s not going to pretend we’ve not been intimate, but he’s treading on thin ice in front of my brothers. I drop into the chair, and Cade slides in next to me. He trails a finger up my back and tugs on a loose curl, causing heat to settle in my core. I’d been too tired to do anything but fall into his arms and go to sleep. Now my body’s reminding my brain that we’d both like to do something different with Cade in my bed.

Eddie lays down his fork. “Good morning, baby sister. Hope you got a couple hours of sleep.”

Cade puts his hand on my thigh, and I smile at him. He gives my leg a quick squeeze. “You look refreshed this morning.”

“Do. Not. Say. Anything. Else.” Eddie glares.

“I took a shower.”

“Oh.” Eddie’s face flushes.

“Morning, Lola.” Derrick hits Eddie in the upper arm. “Leave them alone.”

“You don’t think it is our business that our youngest sibling is being groped by a man while we’re eating breakfast?”

“She doesn’t seem to mind. So, ignore it and eat your food. Besides, he saved our sister’s life this morning.”

I watch Derrick. What is he playing at? He usually jumps on the bandwagon to hassle me anytime a man expresses interest, and Cade is obviously making it known we’re an item. Of course, it would be hard to hide it when he rescued me, and I wouldn’t leave his side afterward. I needed his strength to make it through the police questioning.

Cade removes his hand from my thigh to glance at his wrist. “Lola, you’d better eat up. We don’t have much time before we have to head to our appointment.” He seems oblivious to their chatter as he returns to shoveling down the pile of biscuits and gravy on his plate.

I scoop up a spoonful of eggs and grab a couple of pieces of bacon. What appointment? Randall is in jail. We don’t have an appointment. “What appointment?” He raises his eyebrows. “Oh, that appointment.” Heat floods every part of my body.

***

Cade

The second the door snaps, I cradle her in my arms, resting my cheek against hers. She smells like shampoo and vaguely like bacon. It’s not a bad combination. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” Her hands slide under my shirt and stroke over my back.

“No.” I shake my head and pull back. “Are you really okay?”

“Yes.” She smiles. “I’m good. I took a long shower and scrubbed every nasty and vile thing he said off. I’m not going to proclaim I’m never going to think of him again or that I won’t ever be leery of the dark, but I’m good. I knew you’d find me. And I knew I’d kick his ass if I ever had a chance.”

I cup her face. “That’s my girl. I don’t know why I ever doubted you. You’re one of the toughest women I’ve ever met.”

“Thank you. That’s a compliment since you have some strong ladies in your life.”

I walk over to the bed and pull her onto my lap. “It scared the shit out of me when I woke up, and you were gone. Thank God you were smart enough to leave me a clue. It would have taken time we didn’t have to find you.”

“I knew you’d look for me, and thankfully, I was vain enough to put on lipstick before going to put the jewels away. I didn’t want to run into anyone looking like I’d been run over by a Mack Truck.”

I chuckle. “You’ve never looked like that.” I heard every disgusting thing he’d said to her during the police questioning, and the weight of it leaves me feeling like I’m drowning–all laughter ceases. “Babe, I’m so sorry he said those things to you.” I cringe. Have I ever said something that made her feel like that? “If I ever made you feel repulsed, I apologize.”

“You don’t. You haven’t.” She straightens her back. “There’s a difference between what you say and what he said. I know you’d never physically hurt me or do anything that makes me uncomfortable. You turn me on when you talk dirty, so don’t ever stop that.”

“Promise me that if I ever say anything that reminds you of him, you’ll tell me, and I’ll stop.”

“You won’t ever say anything that reminds me of him.”

I grab her hand and kiss her wrists where the rope caused abrasions that will take days, if not a week, to heal. “We need a safe word. One that you can say, and I’ll immediately stop.”

“Stop?”

“What about when you say, ‘Don’t stop?’”

“Shit.” She giggles and rubs her sex into my crotch. “We can’t have that.”

“So, we have to pick something else. Something you never say during sex.” My cock swells in appreciation of her movements. I want to make love to her. I need to cherish and show her how much I love her.

“I guess that leaves out, ‘Oh God,’ ‘Holy hell,’ ‘Sweet Jesus,’ ‘Fuck,’ ‘Your cock is so hard and huge,’ and ‘Fuck me harder.’”

“Yes, babe, it does.” I smash my mouth over hers and dive between her lips. Her affinity for dirty talk has my balls aching. Pairing that with the fear of losing her, and I’m on edge.

Her tongue shoves past my lips, and she swivels on my lap until her pussy is grinding on my dick. I break our connection. “Fuck. I’m supposed to go slow and careful here. And we haven’t come up with a safe word.”

“Fuck slow and soft.” Her eyes glow with heat. “I want your cock deep inside me and your balls slapping against my ass. I need you to wipe out every memory of that nasty pervert.” She jumps up and rips down her leggings.

“That I can do.” I can’t stop staring at her as she disrobes. Beautiful. “What’s the word?”

“Control.”

One side of my mouth raises. “Perfect. I have none of it when you’re around.”

She pushes me backward until I’m lying prone on her bed. Once she has me where she wants me, she unfastens my jeans, yanks them down to my thighs, and straddles me. “I need your hard cock buried balls deep. Now.”

Son of a bitch.I shudder, grasp my cock, and hold it in place as she wiggles her ass over me. She bites her bottom lip and hums. “You’re so hot and sexy.”

“Fuck.” I grab her hips and slam her over my shaft.

As her pussy surrounds me, I sink into heaven. She’s everything I was never looking for. I thought I wanted meek and timid. But what I ached for was a naughty submissive. One who fights me and enjoys the ride as much as I do.

I grab both her hips and pound into her sex. Her head flies back, exposing her bouncing tits. They sway with each lash of my dick inside her body. Her mouth drops open, and her moans fill the room as our bodies slap together. With each smack of my balls against her ass, my thighs tighten, and I fight my release.

Not enough. I place my arm around her back and flip her onto her back. She squeals with the movement. I wait two seconds to see if she resists, and I’m rewarded with her nails digging into my lower back and her heels poking into my ass. “That’s it, baby. I’m going to fuck you so hard. The only word you’ll say is fuck.”

“Please,” she begs and thrusts her pelvis into me. That’s all the confirmation I need to sear her into my body. As much as she wants to forget, I need to forget. She’s mine, and no other man had better think of touching her again. Or they won’t be as lucky as Maitland. The next one will have a bullet in the face, not a fist.

“Please, fuck me hard. So hard,” she growls and grabs her bouncing tits. When she squeezes and twists her nipples, I draw to my knees, lifting her ass off the bed and destroying her. Sweat pours down my face as her tight pussy clenches and sucks at my throbbing dick. Each time we’re together is better than the last, and I don’t want it to end. I want her in my bed every night.

I repeatedly bury myself to the hilt until she spreads her thighs wide and pushes upward. “Fu-u-u-uck. Fu-u-u-uck. Oh, fuck.”

“Yes.” I smile and continue my assault of her sex. With one last lash of her G spot, she quakes even harder and screams.

“Right there, baby.” My balls tighten, and I spill my seed deep inside of her.