Chapter 36 #2
Her back arches when I rub my tip against her a few times. “Stop teasing me,” she grumbles, reaching out, but I swat her hand away. “I need to feel you…all of you.”
I find her ankles, gripping them lightly before tossing them over my shoulders.
My lips trail kisses from her ankles to her knees, nipping and sucking as she writhes beneath me.
Lining my cock up to her entrance, I rock my hips forward, entering her with one quick thrust. Her pussy walls grip my cock as she cries out.
“Jett!”
My eyes search hers. “Too much?”
She rolls her hips a little, trying to force me deeper. “Feels so good.”
“So fucking good,” I tell her as I pump my hips; her movements match for match. “Your pussy is squeezing me so tight.”
“More,” she pants, digging her heels deeper into my shoulders.
My pace quickens, hips snapping forward and backward.
Thrusting deeper as my hands pin her hips against the couch.
The sound of skin slapping fills my living room.
It’s erotic and only spurs me on. I move my dick in and out of her at a punishing pace.
Her back arches until she’s nearly levitating off my couch.
“I’m going to come,” she pants.
I chuckle, feeling her pussy flutter and knowing she’s there. “Come for me, Wren. Drench my cock.”
My words send her over the edge, her cries bouncing off the walls. Watching Wren come undone is the most euphoric sight. The way her neck lengthens, her cheeks pinken, and the sounds she makes drive me wild.
“Fuck,” I growl before fucking her even harder.
Tingles spread at the base of my spine and my balls tighten with each pump as I sink myself deeper and deeper.
Stars dance in my vision as I bust, spilling myself inside her.
Chills and shakes rack my body as I rock against her.
Bending forward, bringing her legs closer to her chest, my lips meet hers as we both ride the last waves of the orgasm.
“You’re everything,” I murmur against her lips.
“J.” Her voice is low as her chest heaves against mine.
Untangling her limbs from my shoulder, I collapse next to her. I kiss her cheek as she turns her head, our eyes locking, and I see the walls she’s been hiding behind crumble. In this moment, she’s here. Fully. Completely.
No more dark and twisted past she’s hiding from. But clear, dark brown eyes stare back at me. The gold flecks in her irises shine brighter as her walls melt away. No more secrets. No more darkness. Only room for our future.
I don’t realize I’m shaking, not until her fingers run over my inked chest. Our breaths tangle in an uneven staccato. I clutch her hip, fingers curling into her tightly—not painful, but in a way so that she knows to stay present. I don’t want her slipping back into the hellhole she crawled out of.
The room smells like us—sweat and my body wash still lingering on her freshly showered skin. The afternoon sun shines through the window, cascading us in its warmth.
She asked me to erase him. I wish I could erase him from existing in the same world she does. The world doesn’t need his toxicity raining on her warmth.
I tip my forehead to hers, breathing her in and letting the silence stretch until it feels like it might snap.
My heart is still pounding—not from what we just did, but from her confession earlier.
The way her voice never wavered, but I watched her check out as she told her truth.
She slipped into her past and replayed every sordid detail of her years living next to the monster.
I’ve killed before; the feeling isn’t new to me. I’ve stalked and hunted men like prey, but I’ve never felt the urge to end a life more than I did in that moment.
A part of me knew she was keeping pieces of her story locked inside her head.
I could tell in the flinches she thought she was hiding and the way her eyes scanned over every room we entered.
How she locked her door behind her, when we grew up never locking our doors.
Being this far out from town, our doors and windows stayed unlocked, even when everyone was going to bed for the night.
I thought it was a habit she picked up in LA.
Hell, I would’ve had the best alarm system money could buy installed on a house in LA, but I could tell it was more than that.
Call it intuition or knowing this woman all my life, but there was something deeper in the way she locked her door upon entering.
“You still with me, J?”
I pull back enough to see her. Glassy, but clear, eyes shine toward me. Clouds dissipating, leaving a present, sunny gaze reading mine.
Something inside me snaps as I look at this beautiful woman in my arms. It’s a feeling I’ve kept buried since I was eighteen and learned how fast life can take from you.
I cup her face, forcing her steady. I don’t want her hiding from me. Not anymore.
“Listen to me, Wren,” I say firmly. My voice is firm, not angry, but it causes her to stiffen slightly. “What he did to you doesn’t follow you here. Not into my house. Not into my hands. And certainly not in my bed. You hear me?”
Her throat bobs.
“I don’t want you seeing him when you look at me. Don’t feel him when I’m touching you. Because when I look at you, I don’t see him. I don’t see the pain he caused and how broken you were because it’s the only way you knew how to survive.”
My thumb drags beneath her eye, catching a tear she didn’t realize escaped.
“I see you,” I say. “I see how strong you are to survive his abuse. I see how brave you are to run, to fight for your freedom. The kindness you show the world when it's only disappointed you. The way you get out of bed every morning with your shoulders pushed back as you’re ready to take on whatever life throws at you. I. See. You.”
Her breath stutters like I’ve hit the mark deep inside her.
“I’m not scared of your past.” I continue. “I’m not scared of the parts of you that flinch. The nights you can’t sleep, I’ll stay awake with you. You no longer have to fight alone. We’re all fighting invisible battles, but let me fight along with you.”
I lean my forehead to hers again, grounding us both in this moment.
“I’m scared of losing you,” I admit, showing my cards and my insecurities. “Because I did once, and it damn near killed me. And I can’t go through that pain again.”
Her hand slides up my chest, over my beating heart, until she’s cupping my jaw.
“I don’t know how to move forward.”
“That’s okay,” I tell her. “We’ll figure it out together. Please don’t hide from me.”
Wren shifts, tipping her head until our lips meet. She kisses me deeply. Pouring out every emotion, every feeling, every thought she can’t find the words to say. The kiss isn’t heated, it’s loving. Her actions tell me how much she cares for me, maybe even loves me. God knows I love her.
When I pull back, my thumb swipes against her swollen lips.
“I’m not going anywhere, baby,” I say.
“You can’t promise that.”
I shake my head. “That’s where you’re wrong, Wren.
I’m not only promising you forever, I’m promising you now.
Every day you wake up and choose to be here, I’ll be standing beside you.
Not behind you. Not halfway out the door.
” I press my palm flat against her bare chest, over her beating heart.
“I’m right here, protecting your heart with mine. ”
Her eyes fill and she lets the tears pour free.
“Why me?”
“Silly girl,” I mumble. “It’s always been you, Wren.”
“Always been me? There had to have been others.”
“Only.” Kiss. “You.” Kiss.
“J, what are you saying?”
“I’m saying I’ve only been with and loved you, Wren.”
Her breath catches as her eyes bounce between mine, looking for the lie in my statement.
But she won’t find one. The temptations were there, but I could never bring myself to act on them.
There were moments I wanted to bury myself in the first girl I found so I could forget about Wren, but I couldn’t.
Deep down, a part of me felt like we’d find our way back to each other.
“I can’t believe it.”
“Believe it, baby. My heart has been yours since we were ten years old and you asked me to pretend marry you because you wanted to be a queen, not a princess, and all queens need kings.”
She lets out a watery chuckle. “You remember that?”
“I remember everything,” I tell her. “You’ve been mine since our moms forced us together as babies. At thirteen, when you went through a growth spurt and these”—I run a rough hand over her smooth skin—“goddamn legs grew to be a mile long.”
Her lips brush my chest.
“There’s no me without you. My world quits spinning when you’re not in it.
For years, I’ve moved through on autopilot, begging the universe for a chance with you again.
I’ve loved you since I was fifteen. Through the braces years, the awkward preteen years, the hormonal teen years—which were my favorite.
” I wiggle my eyebrows as she playfully smacks my chest. “I’ve loved you since I learned the meaning of the word.
And now, here you are, back in my arms, and I promise you, there won’t be a day that goes by that you don’t feel how much you mean to me.
I’ll guard your heart until my last breath, until we’re old and wrinkled, and then I’ll wait for you at the pearly gates because there’s no way you’re leaving this Earth first. And when you’re ready to join me, I’ll be waiting with open arms… and a bag of sour apple gummy rings.”
I kiss her temple. Her brow. The pouring tears. And the corner of her mouth. I’ve never stopped loving this woman, but it’s right now that I realize I haven’t fully told her since she walked back into my life.
“I love you, my Whiskey girl.” My heart stops as I wait for her to reply.
There’s an inkling of nerves, wondering if we’re on the same page, even though her actions have shown we are.
There’s this tiny part that feels like the last few months have been a dream and I conjured her presence in my imagination.
Despite the years apart and buckets of pain, we’re here in our hometown together like we were always meant to be.
The sweetest smile tugs at my girl’s lips as relief and freedom crosses those whiskey eyes I can’t get enough of. “I love you, too, J.”
“You do?”
She chuckles softly. “Of course, I do. My heart has always belonged to you. Even through everything, it’s always been you, J.”
I kiss her, unable to control myself. It’s not heated or hurried. It’s filled with love and yearning being poured back into her.
When we finally break apart, I stand from the couch, telling her I’ll be right back.
I return with a warm, damp washcloth and run the material between her thighs.
It’s something I should’ve done earlier, but the moment wasn’t right.
There was too much we needed to say. She moans as the washcloth grazes her still sensitive bud, and I fight the urge to wrap my lips around it.
There will be more time for that, but right now, I need to clean my girl up so she can rest.
Today has been a lot, and I can see the fatigue weighing down her eyelids.
When I’m content she’s refreshed, I press a gentle kiss to the inside of her thigh before tossing the cloth onto the table and climbing back onto the couch beside her.
Her body curls into mine and we lie there in silence.
No more words left to say, she rests herself against me, releasing some of her pain into me, and I welcome the heavy load.
I feel her deep breath as if it’s the first time she’s allowed herself to fully breathe.
She’s safe.
And I’ll kill anyone who threatens that.