Chapter Eighteen – Jaxon
I hooked my head over Star’s shoulder as she looked down at the newspaper in front of us. Right there, on the front page, was a picture of her father. Not him winning his next electoral campaign – no, instead, he was being led away in handcuffs, trying to hide his face from the camera.
”I can’t believe it,” Star muttered, reaching out to touch the page as though making sure it was real. ”He’s really...he’s really done.”
”Yeah, I wasn’t sure if the cops were going to pay attention to that article Abbey wrote,” I agreed. ”But I guess with the neighbors calling the authorities about what happened at the mansion, it was only a matter of time.”
”Yeah, you’re right,” she replied, resting her head back against mine. I could feel the way the tension had left her body, as she realized, at last, she didn’t have to be fearful anymore. After everything that her father had done to her, everything he had put her through, there was nothing more he could do to her. The relief was palpable, for both of us.
It had been nearly ten days since we had broken free of his mansion, and we had been laying low since then, apart from Star’s meetings with Abbey. Abbey had put together a whole expose on everything her father had been up to, and the cops had swooped in to arrest him, officially kicking him out of the office and bringing his reign of terror to an end, once and for all.
I was so happy for her, and I could tell that Star was ready to leave all of this behind. She turned to me, planting a kiss on my cheek.
”I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without you,” she murmured to me.
”I think you would have,” I replied. ”You’re stronger than you think, Star.”
”Yeah, but I’m not as good with a gun as you are,” she teased, and I chuckled.
”I guess you’ve got a point.”
She lifted her head and looked around the room, at the new painting I’d just hung over the couch. Getting to her feet, she looked it over, shaking her head.
”I still can’t believe you’re not letting anyone else see these paintings,” she remarked. ”It’s such a shame. You’re so talented, Jaxon. The world deserves to see these.”
I shrugged.
”It’s just a hobby,” I replied. ”Not like there’s much room for it in my line of work.”
”Yeah, but there could be,” she pointed out. ”If you shared it with the other Dogs. You could...I don’t know, design an insignia for them.”
I cocked an eyebrow.
”You think we need one?”
”Well, it would be good to know who’s part of the group or not at a glance,” she replied. ”Just a thought.”
”Trust me, I think I’ve put Chuck through enough without asking him to indulge my hobbies, too.”
She cocked her head to the side.
”With me, you mean?”
”Before that, too,” I admitted. ”When we first met. I wasn’t exactly in the best state.”
Her eyes softened.
”You were going to tell me what happened,” she reminded me. ”Before...before my father got in the way.”
I sighed. I had been trying to duck and dive this question for a long time, but now everything had calmed down, I figured there was no choice for me but to come out and say it.
”Yeah, I know,” I replied softly. She sank down on to the couch next to me, linking her fingers with mine.
”You know you can tell me about it, right?” she asked. I paused, silent. I had hidden this for so long, I didn’t even really know where to begin.
”I know,” I agreed. ”I just...”
I trailed off. Shit, that part of my life was so far removed from where I was now, it was almost strange to think about it. She squeezed my hand, silently telling me she would be here for me when I was ready.
”I was an addict,” I replied. ”Heroin. Started when I was a teenager, I was using...I was using it pretty hard. My link-up sold from the Kennels, that’s how Chuck met me...well, found me, when I was passed out on the street outside.”
Her eyes widened.
”He found you like that?”
I nodded.
”Sometimes I don’t know why he didn’t just leave me,” I muttered. ”I don’t know why he pulled me off the street. I don’t get it.”
”Because you were worth it, Jax,” she told me firmly. ”He could see that in you. Even then. Why else would he have done it?”
I shrugged.
”I don’t know,” I admitted. ”But I don’t know if I deserved it.”
She stared at me.
”You really still wonder if you deserved it?” she asked, as though hardly able to believe what she was hearing. I nodded.
”I just...after all the shit I put myself through, I feel like the best I can do is just keep pushing, not ask anything from anyone,” I replied, gruffly. ”I don’t want to impose on them any more than I already have...”
She lifted a hand to my cheek softly.
”You don’t need to feel that way with me,” she told me gently. ”You know that, right?”
I grunted.
”No, Jaxon, listen to me,” she insisted. ”You don’t need to hide yourself from me. God knows I didn’t hide myself from you, not who I was, not what I’d done, not where I’d come from...and you’ve never treated me as less-than because of it, have you?”
”I never would,” I replied fiercely, and I meant it. The thought of giving her any less than she deserved made my chest ache. She had been through so much, and all I wanted in the world was to show her that she could trust me to give her the world now.
”So give that to yourself, too,” she urged me. ”You don’t have to keep hiding yourself from everyone. Hiding your talents, hiding your passions. You’re worth caring about, okay? And I know Chuck is kind of a hard-ass, but he wouldn’t have kept you around all this time if he didn’t think the same thing.”
I finally turned to face her, something in me softening at last. I didn’t know exactly what to say. I wanted to believe her, I needed to believe her – but I was sure it would take some time before I was totally sold on the idea.
”You believe me?” she asked me, her eyes full of hope. I managed to nod. I didn’t know if it was the truth, but damn, if that’s what she wanted from me, then I would sure as hell try.
”Yeah,” I murmured. ”I believe you.”
And, with that, I kissed her again, pulling her into my lap and wrapping my arms around her. I felt as though a weight had been lifted from my shoulders, finally being free about my past with her – letting her see the darkest side of me, and knowing she didn’t hate me because of it. Knowing she could see me, all of me, and accept me.
I pushed my hands into her long hair, pulling her in close to me, our tongues coming together with a passion that was practiced, but just as exciting as it had been the first time around. The way she lit me up, it was like nothing else in the world, like my whole body sparked to life to meet her.
She grinned against my mouth, slipping her arms around me and letting herself down on to my lap, so I could feel her body pressed against mine. I started to stir at once, my cock aching beneath my pants – as though we hadn’t spent most of the last ten days holed up in here, loving on each other in the newfound freedom she had from her father. This whole time, it had felt like there was still so much to figure out, so much to pull together, but now, here, at last, we could just give ourselves to each other completely.
She slipped her hand down the front of my body, brushing her fingertips across my cock and letting out a needy little sigh against my mouth. Fuck, I loved hearing the noises she made, hearing the want she couldn’t deny when we were together.
”I really want to feel you inside of me,” she breathed against my mouth, letting her teeth catch lightly against my lip. I groaned, kissing her harder, and brushing her hand aside so I could unzip my pants and take myself into my hand.
She pulled her dress back, reaching down to pull her panties to the side – I gazed down at her, ready for me, waiting for me, needy for me, the puff of pale pubic hair above her pussy so tempting I almost laid her down and buried my face between her legs once more. But I could tell there was only one thing she really craved right now, and it was the same thing I did – the feel of our bodies coming together, of the two of us able to fully sink into each other again.
She shifted her hips, so she was hovering just above my tip, and then, she clasped on to my shoulders, and began to push herself down on top of me. I let my head sink back against the couch, eyes drifting shut as the sensation got the better of me. Fuck, she was so damn tight, it was hard not to blow my load right then and there inside of her.
She rocked her hips, working herself down on top of me, until I was buried all the way inside of her. I growled appreciatively, pulling her skirt to the side so I could watch myself enter her, watch her spread to take every inch of me.
”How does that feel?” she breathed to me, her hands on my shoulders, a playful little smile spreading up her cheeks.
”You have no fucking idea how good it feels,” I told her, as I grabbed her hips and pushed myself up and into her. She cried out, the sound filling the small space around us, as she moved up and down on top of me, letting me fill her up to the very brim with my cock.
She tipped her head back, her hair falling in a blonde waterfall over her back, as I fucked her in long, hard strokes – every time we fooled around, she seemed to be able to take my cock with more and more ease, letting me deeper and deeper inside of her. Or maybe it was just that we were closer emotionally,feeling like we had nothing holding us apart any longer, allowing me to give myself over to her completely – allowing myself, once and for all, to lose myself to the sweet sensation of her closeness, and knowing there was nothing else left between us, nothing to keep us apart, nothing to hide from.
”Look at me,” I growled to her, and she managed to land her unfocused eyes on mine – her lips were slightly parted, her chest rising and falling quickly as she drew closer and closer to the edge. I needed to push her over it. I needed to see the look on her face when she came. I needed to watch her body spasm as she gave in to the pleasure she knew only I was capable of gifting to her, once and for all.
She pressed her forehead against mine, our breath mingling in the small space between us, her panting growing more and more needy as I drove myself deeper and deeper into her pussy. She was gazing at me, her eyes dark with want, her arms wrapped tight around me, pushing herself back down on my cock like she couldn’t get enough of me. The way we fit together; I understood it. I knew I would never get tired of this, never get tired of the closeness, of the look in her eyes when I was inside of her.
”Fuck, I’m so close,” she murmured to me, her voice taking on this edge of a whine that sent a shockwave of pleasure through my body. It was truly like she couldn’t control herself when the two of us were this near to each other. I pushed deep inside of her, burying myself up to the hilt and holding myself there, and she squirmed on top of me, using me to massage herself from every angle...
And then, finally, I felt it, her body contracting on top of me as she finally reached her release. She moaned, pressing her face into my neck, panting against me helplessly, her arms wound tight around me as though she never wanted to let me go. I moved into her again, again, again, and then, felt myself explode – the pleasure cresting as I grabbed her ass and held her on top of me, letting her feel me filling her with my seed. Her pussy was still squeezing around my cock, pulsing with the intensity of her orgasm, and, as she turned her head to kiss me once more, I could feel that she was smiling.
”How does it just keep getting better?” she asked breathily, as she slowly lifted herself off of me.
”I have no idea,” I chuckled. ”You want to go again and see if we can top that?”
”Give me a minute,” she laughed, rolling off of me and on to the couch, her cheeks flushed, and her eyes blissfully closed. I gazed at her for a moment, unable to take my eyes off of her – I could hardly believe I got to call her mine, but I could.
And, before I could stop myself, the words escaped my lips.
”I love you.”
She turned to me, her eyes wide, as though she hadn’t been expecting to hear that. For a moment, I thought I had gone too far, thought I had overstepped – but then, a smile creased her face, and she leaned over to plant a kiss on my lips.
”I love you too, Jaxon,” she murmured to me. ”So much.”
I draped an arm around her, and she snuggled into me, and the two of us rested there together, catching our breath until we were ready for round two.