Chapter 37 Harper #2
“Then explode.”
His fingers curved sharply, hitting that spot deep inside while his thumb swirled in exactly the right pattern, and suddenly, the coil in my belly snapped.
I came with a cry that I barely muffled against his shoulder. My whole body shuddered, inner walls clenching around his fingers as wave after wave of pleasure crashed through me.
“That’s it, Princess.” He kept stroking, drawing out my orgasm until I was trembling. “So fucking beautiful when you come.”
I was still shaking when I remembered my hand was wrapped around him. Still throbbing. Still waiting.
I increased my pace. Twisted my wrist on the upstroke. Ran my thumb over the sensitive head until he was panting against my neck.
“Pretend it’s my mouth,” I whispered.
Knox shattered.
He groaned into my shoulder as he pulsed in my hand, warmth spilling over my fingers. I stroked him through it, gentler now, feeling every shudder of his release until he finally stilled.
For a long moment, neither of us moved.
We just stood there. Foreheads pressed together. Breathing ragged. Hearts pounding in sync.
Then Knox slowly withdrew his fingers from me. He lifted them to his lips and sucked them clean, his eyes never leaving mine.
Sweet mother of everything holy.
I followed his lead. Brought my hand to my mouth. Licked away the evidence of what we’d done while he watched with darkening eyes.
“When I get out of here,” he said quietly, “I’m going to do every single thing I just described. And more.”
A smile tugged at my lips. “Promise?”
“Cross my heart.”
The moment was perfect. Peaceful. The first time I’d felt truly safe in longer than I could remember.
“So, you’ll do as I ask then?” I said.
Knox’s brow furrowed as he adjusted his pants, the chain of his cuffs clinking softly, making sure no evidence had been left of what occurred between us. We got lucky. There was none. On the outside at least. But inside my heart? Everything had changed. “And what’s that?”
“That you’ll leave Silas alone.”
The softness in his expression vanished. Replaced by something harder. Something dangerous.
His voice dropped darker. Lethal. “That man hit you. Repeatedly. If you think there won’t be consequences for that, you don’t know me at all.”
My stomach plummeted.
“Your parole hearing is less than two months away, Knox.”
“I’m aware.”
“So, you’re just going to throw it all away? Everything you’ve worked for? Everything we could have?”
His jaw tightened. “He hurt you.”
“And hurting him back fixes that how exactly?”
Silence. His forearms flexed.
“I’m asking you.” My voice cracked, and I hated it. “I’m standing here, asking you to let this go. To choose me. Choose us.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“It is that simple.” I pressed my hand to his chest. “You want to know what’s not simple? Watching someone you care about choose something else over you. Every. Single. Time.”
Something flickered across his face.
“My parents chose the bottle,” I said. “Every day. They looked at me, their daughter, and they reached for the vodka instead. Silas chose his fists. And now you’re standing here, choosing vengeance.”
“Harper—”
“You made me believe in second chances.” My throat burned. “I don’t give those out, Knox. Not anymore. Not after everything. But I gave one to you.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed.
“And you’re going to take that second chance—our future—and flush it away? For what? Revenge that won’t undo a single bruise he left on me?” A tear slid down my cheek. I didn’t wipe it away. “Even when I’m telling you it will destroy me?”
“I can’t let him walk free after what he did to you.” His voice was raw. “I can’t.”
I took a step back. “Can’t? Or won’t?”
We stared at each other. Two people standing on opposite sides of a line neither of us had drawn.
“You killed a man to protect your daughter,” I said quietly.
His expression shuttered.
“Did you ever stop to wonder, if you’d let the police handle it, maybe you’d actually be there for her right now?”
The silence that followed was catastrophic.
I watched the words land. Watched them carve through him like shrapnel. His face didn’t change, but something behind his eyes fractured, and I knew—I knew—I’d hit the one wound he couldn’t protect.
Oh God. What had I done?
“Knox”—his name scraped out of me—“I didn’t mean—”
“Yeah.” His voice was hollow. “You did.”
He was right. Some part of me had meant it, and that was the worst part.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “That was—I shouldn’t have—”
“You’re right though,” he cut me off. No anger in his voice. Something worse. Acceptance. “I made a choice. I’ve lived with it for fourteen years. And I’d make it again.”
He’d make it again? So, even after what I’d said, even after the reality check that he was going to let history repeat itself, he still was going to ruin everything we could have?
How could he claim to care about me and not care enough about my future to protect it? How could he claim to care about me, but destroy my heart by remaining locked up for what he was planning to do?
He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. If he really cared, he’d choose me.
But he wasn’t choosing me.
“Then there’s nothing left to say.” I stepped back farther.
“Harper”—he reached for me, but the cuffs stopped him short—“don’t do this.”
“I’m not doing anything.” My voice came out steadier than I felt. “You already made your choice. You made it before I even asked.”
“That’s not fair.”
“None of this is fair.” I pressed my fingernail into the pad of my thumb. “I thought you were different. I thought—” I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter what I thought.”
“I am different.”
“No. You’re not.” I held his gaze, even as everything inside me shattered.
“You’re exactly like every other man who swore he loved me and then proved he loved something else more.
The only difference is, your version of violence comes wrapped in protection.
But it’s still violence. And you’re still choosing it over me. ”
“I’m choosing it for you.”
“That’s not your call to make.”
The alarm tone shifted, signaling the end of the lockdown. We were out of time.
“I hope it’s worth it,” I said. “Whatever revenge you’re planning, I hope it keeps you warm for the rest of your life.”
I turned away from him. My chest felt carved out. Hollow. Like someone had scooped out everything soft and left only the parts that knew how to survive.
“Harper.”
I didn’t turn around.
The door burst open, and Silas stepped inside.