Chapter 56
FIFTY-SIX
Devon
“At least it’s not three in the morning this time,” Blakely joked as I let us into my apartment. We’d stopped in the main house and retrieved Tato and Stormy, who’d spent the day with my mom, and they followed us inside.
“At least,” I said, tossing my keys on my desk by the door and envying Tato and Stormy’s ability to get comfortable on the bed in a matter of seconds. A few weeks later, the two of them had become fast friends. The standoff between them night one only lasted a few hours, and ever since, they’d been almost inseparable, sleeping with us every night and cuddling throughout the day.
Glancing back, I spotted Blakely standing next to the door, staring at our pets curled up at the end of the bed. Her lips were slightly upturned, but the smile didn’t meet her eyes. She was tired. I could see it not just in the way her gray irises were dimmer or how they never entirely focused, I saw it in the way she carried herself. Her shoulders dropped, and her movements were slow.
She toed off her boots, and I tugged her into me, not hesitating to scoop her up into my arms. She squeaked in surprise but wrapped her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck.
I ran my nose along the curve of her jaw and took in a deep breath of her. Feeling her weight in my hands and her body pressed against mine calmed something in my soul. And the way she sighed and let me hold her, I considered that maybe she felt it too.
“I want to apologize,” she whispered against my cheek, and I reared back to find her eyes.
“What the hell for?”
Her fingers danced through the hair at the back of my neck as she stared down at my lips. “You didn’t let me finish.” She sighed. “I want to apologize, but I know you won’t let me.”
“No,” I said with conviction. Apologize? You’ve got to be kidding me. None of what was happening— none of it—was her fault. And I wasn’t going to let her carry the blame for even a second.
“Look at that,” she joked, brushing her thumb over the hard-set line of my lips. “It’s like I knew exactly what you were going to say.”
I let loose a playful growl, and her smile finally met her eyes. I held her tighter and walked us over to the bed, settling on the edge as she continued speaking.
“I’m still scared,” she whispered.
Pain swept through me, and I wanted anything to be able to take away that fear. But until we found him, I knew she would be living with this over her head. I wasn’t sure there was anything I could do.
Taking a deep breath, I ran my hand over her exposed back. “If you weren’t scared, I’d be surprised.”
The look she leveled at me was unimpressed. “He’s escalating.”
She was right. Of course, she was. Kidnapping someone else took it to an entirely new level. It wasn’t flowers or cookies. But I didn’t want to dwell on that fact after we’d been living in nothing but that reality for the past several hours. “Detective Baker thinks they’re onto something. That they’ll find him soon.”
“You believe that?” Disbelief laced her words, and her hands settled on each of my shoulders.
“Yes,” I said, but my voice wavered in a way that was impossible to hide.
She scoffed. “Now once more, with feeling.”
“We’re going to find him.” There wasn’t an ounce of doubt in my voice that time. Blakely heard it too, her fingers that had been nervously adjusting the collar of my shirt suddenly stopped.
“How do you know?”
Letting my hands roam over her body, I chose my next words carefully. I contemplated each of them not because I was worried they’d upset her, but because I wanted it to be right. I wanted her to know how much I believed it. I wanted her to hear the love in every single one of my words.
I brushed my fingers over her arms until I found her hips and massaged them slowly, once, then twice. Her breath was even, exhaling in sweet, steady puffs against my cheek as I explored.
I felt a little crazy, but sometimes I had to touch her to remind myself that she was really there. That she wasn’t a figment of my imagination, and against all odds, she’d come back.
Running my hands up her thighs until they were perched on the curve of her ass, I found her eyes.
“Because you’re here now. You didn’t go through everything you did for it not to work out. You deserve to live a life free from him and his sick games. And fuck, this is going to sound selfish, but I just got you back, Blake. I’m not going to let anything fuck this up. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Because I wouldn’t survive it if anything did. My life feels like it has purpose again with you in it. And you deserve to live yours however you want to.”
A sad, delicate smile slipped over her lips. Her hands cradled my cheeks, and her thumbs brushed against my stubble-lined jaw.
“You said that with so much confidence, I almost believe you.”
“Almost?” I asked with a raise of my eyebrows. “How can I make you believe me?”
“Being able to come back here and you— those are the two things that have gone right the past few years. Otherwise, it’s been pretty shitty. You can understand why I have a hard time believing anything will work out.”
Although I understood why she felt that way, I hated that she did. And I hated everything that led to it. I wasn’t an optimist, but when it came to her, I’d be the most sunshine and rainbows son of a bitch. Especially if it meant keeping her happy.
She tipped her head down and rested her forehead against mine. One of her hands slipped lower until her palm flattened on my chest, right above my heart. I copied the motion, pressing my hand against the curve of her breast. If I sat still, I could feel the subtle, steady pounding.
“I get it, but sweetheart, I’ll remind you as many times as I need to until you believe it as much as I do. Like I said, if you can handle one percent, I’ll carry the rest.”
She pressed her hand harder against me and dropped her mouth to barely brush mine. “That’s pretty heavy,” she whispered.
Humming against her mouth, I shifted until I could deepen the kiss and slip my tongue past her lips. The kiss was confident and sure, riddled with endless possibilities. A future that I so desperately wanted for us.
One that I hoped wouldn’t be tainted with any of this shit.
“I’m strong enough to carry whatever you need me to,” I said, which earned me a small laugh.
“Yes, so strong,” she agreed, pulling back to peer down at me. “It’s just Murphy’s Law anyway, isn’t it?”
“What do you mean? ”
“Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. And at the worst possible time. Those signs have been hanging in the bar longer than I can remember. I have them memorized, I swear.”
Without responding, I stood. She startled and quickly righted herself, wrapping her legs back around me and banding her arms behind my neck as I walked us into the bathroom. “I need a shower, what do you think?” I asked.
“A shower would be nice,” she agreed. I kissed her lips, then, in one easy movement, I grabbed the hem of her shirt and lifted it over her head. While she shimmied her skirt down her legs, I reached into the small shower stall and turned on the water. Although the shower was less than half the size I would’ve preferred, at least the water warmed quickly.
I reached behind my back and tugged my shirt off, dropping it on top of her discarded clothing. I unbuckled my belt but stopped with my zipper halfway down, transfixed by the sight of her slipping off the little black panties I’d pushed aside earlier that night.
God, that felt like forever ago now.
She took a step forward, my bathroom barely large enough for the two of us to fit between the wall and the sink, and she covered my fingers with her own. With her assistance, we lowered my zipper and shoved my jeans down my hips along with my briefs.
They dropped to the floor, and I found Blakely’s hand, leading her into the warmth of the shower. I shut the small glass door behind us. And it was just the two of us. In that moment and in the entire world.
Blakely freed her hair from the bun, and her long, black curls tumbled down her back. I nudged her underneath the spray and wrapped my body around hers from behind. Nestling my nose in her hair just beneath her ear, I breathed her in.
“What can happen, will happen. What’s supposed to be, will be. ”
“What?” she asked, spinning in my arms and tipping her head back enough for the water to coat her hair.
“My preferred interpretation of Murphy’s Law.”
“Hmm…” she hummed. She pushed her hair back and blinked the water from her eyes. Steam quickly formed around us, and I could feel the tension lifting from my shoulders. “I didn’t take you for an optimist.”
Her warm palms slid down my chest until they pressed against my stomach. I wasn’t close to a fucking optimist, but I made an exception for her. “Only when it comes to you, my little warrior.”
Her eyes softened before they dropped to where her hands rested against me.
“I hate this,” she whispered. “I feel like we’re putting everything on hold until this is resolved somehow.”
I tugged on her hair hard enough that her head fell back once again. The water streamed over her scalp, and I ran my fingers through the strands. “Then let’s make a plan. Talk about all the things we want to do.”
She took a step to the side and tugged me under the water with her. My back brushed against the cold tile, and I flinched at the contact. It was bound to happen in such a tiny space, but it was worth it to be in there with her.
“I want to go on a date. Whenever we want and wherever we want without fear of it being interrupted,” she said.
“We could travel,” I murmured, grabbing her green loofah and drenching it with soap. Blakely stepped out of the spray and kept her hands on my shoulders while I ran the sponge over her body. “You used to say you wanted to go to Greece and Thailand. I want to take you anywhere on your bucket list.”
She smiled as I washed down both her arms and over her stomach. She hiked one leg around my hip and let me scrub every inch before switching to the other. Spinning around, she gathered her hair and peered at me over her shoulder. I soaped up her back and ran my hand down her spine .
“Maybe we could get another pet. A snake or a lizard.”
“We could fill our house with as many animals as you want.”
She spun back around quickly, hair flying out around her. “ Our house? Are we living together in your version of our future?”
“Hell yes,” I said quickly. “No doubt. I’ve enjoyed having you in my space too much. I want you there constantly.” Back under the water, I washed the soap from her body. “You disagree?”
“No.” The word was confident and immediate. “I’d love a place that’s ours. Filled with animals and happiness and a fuck ton of love.”
She picked up my bottle of soap and returned the favor, running her hands over every inch of my body. It didn’t take much with Blakely, but by the time she was done, my cock was hard and my body was alive in the wake of her touch.
“A fuck ton of love,” I repeated with a laugh. “So well said.”
“You know what I mean,” she chastised, and I nodded.
“I do, sweetheart. If nothing else, I can promise you a fuck ton of love.”