Chapter 29
Twenty-nine
Henry
After learning the truth, I expected Rafael to act differently and distance himself.
If anything, it’s had the opposite effect.
He’s touching and kissing me more. We’re playing in the snow, spinning around as more falls down on us and he tugs down my hat to cover my ears, pressing his cold lips to my cheek.
“Ready to go inside?”
I shake my head, breathing in the crisp air, the frigidness leaving a small sting at the back of my throat. “Not until we’ve made snow angels.”
He creates a gap between us and wraps a hand around mine. “Shall we, then?”
Nodding, I tighten my fingers on his and we kneel at the same time, and as soon as our bottoms hit the ground, we fling ourselves all the way back.
Our hands touch as we move our arms down and I turn my face toward him, imagining he’s smiling at me the same way.
The snow cuts through my clothes and I shiver.
We move our limbs up and down a few more times before standing back up with our laughter surrounding us.
“How do they look?” I say, pointing my eyes at the ground. He guides my face more to the right.
“They’re great. Look nothing like angels, more like those flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz, but great.”
I bark out a laugh and he drags me inside. I rub my hands together, walking ahead of him as he shuts the door behind us. Huey greets us, sniffing at my shoes, and I shake them off near my usual spot.
“Someone wanted to make snow angels with us,” Rafael says with a wonderful lightness in his tone.
It’s infectious. I get closer to it and we become nothing but tangled limbs crashing to the floor.
Our clothes go flying off, and when I crawl to where I think the room is, one of my legs is tugged on and I’m colliding with the floor.
“Where are you going?”
“To the bed. Somewhere more comfortable.”
“We can just lean on each other when what’s below us gets too hard.” His lips crash with mine again and he rubs between my cheeks, the tips of his nails scraping over my hole.
“The key is in the room,” I say between clenched teeth.
“Is it? You may need me to leave the room before you can sneak something into my drink, but I don’t need you to. There’s so much I could have done and you’d never know.”
“Like?” My skin vibrates between the cold wood and his heated body. I writhe back and forth, smiling wider.
“I could have brought that useless piece of shit Travis back here and snapped his neck while you were building a snowman earlier. I could have slit his throat while you were doing a naked strip tease for me during dinner.”
These things he’s saying should have me horrified, but all they’re doing is turning me on more.
It’s so wrong. Enjoying the ideas he’s putting into my head is as wrong as me drugging his drink, but I don’t try to stop them from coming.
I picture Travis’s eyes bursting and bloody.
I entertain the possibility of his head separating from his neck as his hands reach out to me.
“What else?” I whisper, humping the ground.
“I could have killed that man in your basement who’s been terrorizing the neighborhood by breaking into people’s homes. What if pieces of his skull were buried in the dirt next to your driveway?”
“I . . . I’d be able to sleep easier because I’d know he couldn’t hurt me or force his way into my house.” You can’t do that if you’re dead, and I’ve never wanted anyone to be until Rafael started making it sound so good.
The key slips into the lock and twists. I gasp and he takes my cock out.
My balls ache, precum smearing all over my thigh as I’m grinding against the floor again.
Branches scrape against the window, and I pretend everything he said is true, no longer minding all the unnerving sounds.
If they’re dead, then it can’t be them. It can’t be anything more than trees and branches. There can’t be anyone else here but us.
***
I scream my way through another orgasm. The first time I was somewhere near the hallway and now I think I’m in the kitchen.
My back rests against the cabinet and Rafael rubs his face into one of my thighs as he lies between my legs.
I brush my fingers through his hair, closing my eyes as my face lifts to the ceiling.
“You were right.”
“About?” His voice echoes, ping-ponging off the walls.
“It was definitely better to wait. So much so I want to make it longer next time.”
“I won’t say no to that. You know how much I like giving you what you want. How much I need to. As much as you need it.”
“Two days,” I say almost too quickly. “I want to try it for two days.”
He blows a warm breath against my spent cock and says, “We’ll have to get you a more comfortable cage, then.
One you can shower with easily. They have flexible ones that you won’t notice as much.
You could go out in it, and it wouldn’t matter how tight your pants are, no one would be able to see it. ”
“You’ll take me out to dinner while I wear it?”
“Dinner, movies, ice skating.”
I let out a short laugh. “Ice skating, huh? You know there’s a free outdoor rink not far from here?”
“Is there?”
“You knew, didn’t you?” I accuse.
“Maybe. I may have looked up everything in the area, along with other things to do while we’re trapped indoors for days.”
“And what did you come up with?”
“More than you’d think. You’ll see later.”
“You mean this isn’t it?” I quirk a brow.
“It’s not.” He lifts up and his arm brushes mine when he sits next to me. “Of course, we will be doing more of this, but I want to do other things with you too. Things new couples do.”
“Couples,” I echo.
“Yeah. That’s what we are, remember?”
I tug on the corner of my lip with my teeth. “I do, but I still can’t believe it.”
“Believe it.” He lifts my hand to kiss the back. “Believe it, because it’s going to continue being real while feeling as good as the best dream.”
I smile, turning my face until our noses touch, and I’m about to say something but then my phone goes off. I grunt, getting to my feet, and when I hear Travis’s name, I sit back down. “Why won’t he go away?”
“Because he’s trying to get under your skin.”
“But why?” I slam my fists at my sides. “He wanted to be free of me, so why can’t he let me be free of him?”
“Because you’re the one who wants it now.” His shoulder taps mine. “That’s why.”
My phone buzzes again and I sigh, standing up again to answer it. “What, Travis?”
Rafael hovers behind me, and I like feeling him close by. Even more when his large hand lands on my right shoulder.
“Baby, you answered. Fuck, do you sound so good. I miss you.”
“What do you want, Travis? I don’t have time for your little games right now.”
“I’m not calling to play games. I’m reaching out because I miss you. I couldn’t understand why I kept going over to your place to eat lunch or watch TV, but it all makes sense now. I can’t let those things go because it means I’m letting everything about you go.”
“You already let me go. You’re with someone new, remember?” My voice grows louder.
“Yes, and I think it might have been a mistake.”
“Yes, well, it’s too late to come back from it. Especially after you moved on before we even broke up.”
“Why does it have to be too late? Why can’t we talk some more about it. When the storm clears, maybe we can—”
“No. There is no more ‘we,’ and there never will be again. I’m done Travis, and I just wish I’d seen you for who you truly are sooner.”
“Baby—”
“Stop calling him that,” Rafael grumbles behind me. “And if you keep calling him, I’ll come over to where you are and make sure you’ll never be able to use your fingers to dial any number ever again. Am I fucking clear?”
The line goes quiet for too long while my heartbeat drums in my ears, and then Travis finally responds with, “Oh, I see your new boyfriend is there, or whatever the hell he is. He wasted no time getting you your key back and turning you more against me.”
“No, Travis.” My voice trembles. “You did that all by yourself, and yes he’s here, so if you’ll excuse me, I have better things to do than sit here and listen to your bullshit.” I end the call and hit the block button without second-guessing it this time.
“I’m proud of you, sweetheart.” Rafael rubs my shoulders, brushing his lips over my ear. “You did that all on your own too. You didn’t need me or anyone else.”
“Yeah.” I smile. “But having you here never hurts anything.”
His arms wrap around me and he kisses my cheek. “Then how about I keep being here while we shower. After that I’ll show you what I have planned for us tonight.”
“Okay.” I turn around and he leads me to the restroom.
The shower’s water splatters against the tub seconds later and the trees move against the window outside too.
The branches scrape the glass, and after hearing Travis’s voice on the phone, I’m back to worrying about him interrupting not only what this wonderful man has planned for me later, but everything after that too.
He didn’t sound like he was willing to walk away as easily as he did before when I left for the cabin alone.
Did Rafael mean what he said when he threatened him?
If he kept bothering me, would he really go over there and teach him a lesson?
Would he do whatever it took to keep him from bothering me again?
Do I want him to? He thinks I don’t know about the things he did.
He thinks once I do, I’ll change my mind about him.
But I do know. I looked up his name when he left the first time and yet I’m still here.
I know about him stalking his ex while he was sleeping, and how Rory woke up to him standing over the bed and holding a knife when his new boyfriend stayed over.
I know all of it, and I welcomed him back into my cabin with open arms anyway.
I tried to let myself be scared of what he could do to me, but the fear never came.
The fear is still aimed at other places. Everywhere but him.
Steam wraps around us and he washes my body, his movements gentle.
He kisses my shoulder and tells me how beautiful I am as he rolls a finger over a freckle on my hip, and I press into him tighter, embracing all of him as I move away from everything else.
As I see everything else as a threat. He can’t always control what he does in his sleep, and he said he doesn’t always remember what happens then either.
Maybe he had his reasons to be there, the same way he had a reason to kill that guy who broke into my home.
Yes, I’m well aware of that too, and once again, I still want him here.
How can someone who keeps all the bad out be bad themselves?
The radio was on this morning, and he shut it off after they said the robber’s bike was discovered a few miles from my house.
I’d smelled the blood in the basement before he admitted what he did earlier, and I put two and two together.
What’s even more messed up is me hoping what he said about Travis is true.
***
My eyes shoot open and a large, warm body wiggles next to me. I sit up and a hand tugs at my thigh.
“Finally ready to make our way to bed?”
I smile, rolling my fingers over his. “Yeah. I don’t even remember falling asleep. Are you slipping something in my drink too?”
He laughs. “Yeah, you doze off just by me rubbing your belly. I don’t think drugging you is necessary.”
I snort. “That’s true. My sister always hated how easy it was for me to fall asleep.”
“I’m glad it is for one of us.” He stretches out beside me. “I’m only surprised you woke up before the sun came out.”
“This couch is causing a crick in my neck.”
“That all? Not worried about your ex still, are you?”
“No . . .”
“What about that neighborhood robber?”
I shake my head, tossing the blanket off my legs. “I don’t think he’s a threat to anyone anymore.”
“No?” His voice jumps. “And why not? You think the cops got him?”
“Something like that . . .” I tread lightly, setting one foot on the ground.
“Okay,” is all he says, and the next thing I know I’m being lifted in the air as he carries me bridal-style to the room.
I laugh, burying my face in the alcove of his neck. “Are you carrying me because you don’t think I’m awake enough to walk without hurting myself?”
“No.” He stops moving, shuffling me in his arms. “I’m doing it because I wasn’t ready to stop touching all of you.”
“Is that why craft night ended so early?” I muse and he laughs, his feet moving forward again.
“Yup. And because that was also starting to put you to sleep.”
I laugh again, my stomach shaking, and I nod. “It wasn’t the craft but the busy day. I really liked making and painting ornaments with you.”
“I really liked it too. I really like you.” He kisses my head gently.
“And I guess you’re okay too,” I tease, and he drops me on the bed, crawling up after me.
When he gets a hold of me, he tickles me, and I use a pillow to try to defend myself, failing badly while nearly choking on more laughter.
No, this man doesn’t scare me at all, and he could be covered in someone else’s blood right now and still wouldn’t.
Maybe it’s because I’m in too deep and allowing the love growing between us to blind me, or maybe it’s simply because for once someone is aiming their bad behavior toward someone other than me while I get the best sides of them.