ROME
Chapter thirty-two
My heavy arms slump as the cuffs are pulled away, a residual ache pulsing through my shoulders. Rain’s lips gently press to mine, our sweat-and-cum-covered bodies panting in unison.
“Take a deep breath,” he whispers breathlessly.
I suck in a deep breath as he pulls out, a little disturbed by the lingering discomfort.
My arms fall to my sides as he kneels, gently lowering my legs, and I’m astonished lying here, watching him pull wipes from a small pocket in the boot.
The cool material slides against my chest as he cleans the cum off me.
“Are you okay?” he asks in a gruff tone that nearly has my dick standing again.
“Not too much pain?” Still trying to catch my breath, I shake my head.
A playful smirk tilts his lips, and he watches his hand while I watch the sweat glide down his chest. “Maybe I should’ve fucked you harder.
I like the thought of you unable to walk. ”
“Why didn’t you?” I croak.
“Because you have training tomorrow afternoon. I know you’d be embarrassed trying to explain why you look like you have a pole up your ass, and I know it would be hard for you to admit that it was because your boyfriend made you take his cock.”
“You aren’t my boyfriend.”
“Future husband then.” I groan at the burn in my shoulders as I lift to my elbows. “Uh.” He pushes me back down.
“I’m fine.”
“Trust me, baby, just lay there.”
“Trust you? Have you ever been fucked?”
He throws the wipe aside to take another and begin on my stomach. “It’s not me fucking you. It’s us fucking. Understand?” I guess he is right. “And for the record, yes, I know what it feels like.”
An unfamiliar pain rips through me at his confession. Of course he’s slept with people before, I know that, but is this jealousy? Am I jealous right now?
“You do? Who?”
An unreadable expression crosses his features before he whispers, “Blade.”
My eyes snap wide. “You-you and your brother have—”
“We aren’t blood. He’s adopted.” I try to hold in my laughter as I stare, a little dumbfounded.
“Watch it.” He smiles before cleaning himself and reaching over to the front seat to pull out two thick white blankets.
He sets one down and moves my exhausted body onto it toward him, then tugs the other up to my neck to cover me before opening the back door.
Lights span the horizon, the view breathtaking, and I realise we’re in the carpark at the start of the running trail I frequent.
I bite away my smile as he lays down and throws the blanket across his waist, pulling my head to his chest. I let myself relax and lay my arm over him beneath the blanket as he threads his fingers into my sweaty hair, the small gesture raising the hairs on the back of my neck.
“No one was going to see us,” he says humorously.
“This is a public place. The car was also rocking…a lot.”
“Blade’s standing guard, instructed to keep anyone from getting too close.”
I look up at him, and he motions toward the front of the SUV. I lift to my elbow, peering out the foggy windscreen to where a dark figure leans against the front, a phone lighting his face and a cigarette between his lips.
“Sex in public turns you on.” Rain smiles. “I figured you’d like it here.”
He didn’t see me search what I had. I was embarrassed just typing it in, let alone wanting to act on the thoughts. I’d deleted my search history, but given his skills with a computer, I can’t say I’m surprised.
“Did you?” His eyes search mine. “Like it, I mean? You weren’t too anxious or uncomfortable?”
“Yeah, I did.”
His gaze trains on my lips, his own curling. “Good.”
“What about Indie and Kilah? Did they hear you come in?”
He gently strokes my hot cheek with his thumb.
“I told them I was taking you on a date. I think they knew I was stealing you away so we could go fuck, considering it was midnight and they specifically instructed me to ‘wear protection’. Indie’s words were, ‘pregnancy is irrelevant, but STDs are no joke, Rain’.
” I laugh, leaning into his touch. “I’m negative, by the way.
I also informed them of that, and Kilah said, ‘until I see the receipt of your last test, your word doesn’t mean shit’. ”
I do love my sisters, and apparently, their care and protection extend to my sexual encounters.
“Bro.”
I jump at the calloused voice behind me.
I can’t say either of my encounters with Blade have been pleasant.
First, he threatened to kill me. Second, I understand his distress toward Alexa’s situation, but he threw Rain against a wall.
Now, seeing his expressionless face shadowed by the hood, I can understand Aaron’s discomfort towards him.
His mere presence has me seeking Rain’s warmth.
“The detective stationed out the front of your house.” His terrifying eyes slide to me. “Can’t reach you.” They slowly move back to Rain. “Some man and a woman are there. Apparently, the door was opened, and the detective has been locked out.”
No.
I knew Dad would come back, but I didn’t think it would be so soon.
“I warned him not to show his face again,” Rain spits, snatching our clothes and tossing mine to me. “Come with me, but stay back,” he instructs Blade.
I pull on my pants and Rain’s black hoodie, then jump out of the car and snatch my phone from Rain’s extended hand, turning it back on while fighting to ignore the lingering discomfort in my ass.
The sound of a motorcycle rumbles beside us as I throw myself into the passenger seat, flicking through the notifications from four minutes ago.
Indie: Missed Call.
Indie: Missed Call.
Indie: One new voicemail.
I wretch the seatbelt across me, trying to breathe through the guilt flooding my chest. Gravel crunches under the tyres as Rain takes off down the decline, and I click on the voicemail, putting it on speaker.
“Rome!” Indie screams, completely distraught. Tears rim my eyes. “Rome, please come back! Dad just punched Kilah, and she fell down the stairs. Pl-please…Rome! Where are you? No! Dad, give me my—”
A tear falls down my cheek as I stare at Rain, the most disgusted look twisting his features.
“I heard a commotion,” the female detective informs Rain as I run past her. “Rain, you know I can’t forcefully enter that house without backup.”
“You do what you’re fucking paid to do!” he shouts.
I race up the front steps and scan my finger on the screen, swinging the door open.
A chill sweeps across my back as I stare at the blood trail from the bottom of the stairs to Indie and Kilah huddled in the corner near the couch.
Kilah’s face and hair are covered in blood, her hand clasped over a gushing head wound.
Mum stands before them, her face and neck bruised as she stares at my father a few feet in front of me, two phones smashed against the far wall.
He turns to face me, drunk off his ass. “Look who’s here to play knight in shining fucking armour,” he spits, wobbling on unsteady legs. “You thought you could take my family from me, you fucking little shit.”
Everything inside me snaps.
I lunge for him, my fist colliding with his jaw.
Pain erupts up my arm as he stumbles sideways, and I land another, sending more blood flying from his mouth.
He tries to swing and does a very fucking shit job.
Rage blurs my vision, but I manage to grip his shoulders and throw him backward into the window.
Glass shatters around him, drowning the screams and gasps of my mother and sisters as he falls to the floor, leaving a blood trail down the wall.
I lift my foot, slamming it to his chest.
I hope that broke a fucking rib.
Hands land on my shoulders, and I swing my fist around.
Rain holds up his hands before gripping my seething face tightly. “Good job, baby.”
“I’m going to kill him.”
“I won’t allow that on your conscience. Go wash your hands.” I only see red, and it takes a few seconds before his words sink in. “Go.” He pushes me toward the kitchen.
I stumble over, witnessing the horror on the girls’ faces as they stare at me.
“Girls, go wait outside,” Rain instructs. “Blade, call—”
“Already called,” Blade interrupts.
The girls huddle out the door as I turn on the tap and wash the blood from my hands. The door quietly closes, revealing my father, bloodied and unconscious.
Rain steps to Blade. “Do it.”
Blade grins and pulls his fist back, smashing it across Rain’s jaw, sending him stumbling sideways.
What the fuck?
Rain blows out a breath, working his bloodied mouth and jaw.
“What are you doing?” I ask as he takes a frying pan from the cupboard.
He stalks past me and hits it against my father’s right hand before coating it with his blood.
No, no, no.
I stand frozen while he throws a punch across my father’s face and grips his shoulders where I just had, throwing the frying pan back in the cupboard and cleaning my blood from the sink.
Sirens sound in the distance as he steps in front of me. “He swung at me, and I hit him. I threw him into the window. Do you understand me?” I rigidly shake my head. “Yes, come with me.”
He grips my arm, dragging me out of the house to my mother and sisters holding one another in the driveway.
“Rain, you aren’t taking the fall for this,” I plead in a whisper.
He ignores me, stopping before the girls. “I did it,” he says gruffly, holding up his bloodied hand. “He swung first, and I hit second. That’s what you tell the police. Rome stood near the closed door. Tell me you understand.”
They all nod, tears glistening in their eyes.
“Repeat it,” he demands.
“It was you,” my mother repeats in a choked whisper. “The door was closed. You hit second.”
I look to the blue flashing lights rounding the corner toward us.
Indie holds Kilah’s hand tightly. The poor thing shakes like a leaf while the paramedic tightens the straps on her gurney.
I listened while they gave their statements.
They opened the door for Mum, then our father stormed in and told them to pack.
They’d refused, and he dragged them both upstairs.
Kilah fought out of his hold on the last step, and he let go of Indie to hit Kilah, sending her flying down the wooden stairs.
This is my fault. I wasn’t here to protect them from him. I was too busy being selfish, having the best sex of my life.
I should’ve known he was coming.
I should’ve told Rain he needed to take me home.
I was selfish.
I was too late.
I look over my shoulder to see Rain standing with Aaron, Blade, and the same guard always accompanying Aaron, their gazes locked on the officer talking to Mum.
Aaron cleared the street when he arrived, having everyone back in their homes within minutes.
Mrs Parker, being the concerned, caring woman she is, proceeded to tell the threatening presence that is Aaron Weston to go fuck himself and threatened to hit him with her cane if he didn’t let me talk to her.
I assured her I was fine, that everything was being taken care of.
She’s currently sitting in her rocking hair on her porch, drinking a cup of tea, eyes throwing daggers at Aaron.
Hearing a commotion of voices, I turn my head to the paramedics carrying my father’s still unconscious body out on a gurney, the flashing lights highlighting his split lip, bruising cheek, and blood-stained clothes as he’s put in the back of an ambulance.
Me. I did that.
Another of the four officers approaches Rain, pulling cuffs from his belt.
“I’ll be right back,” I say to the girls, guilt rolling through my stomach as I follow behind.
“Behind your back,” the officer instructs.
Rain’s face stays neutral, but I catch the glance he gives me as he turns, crossing his wrists behind his back.
I can’t let this happen.
Reading the guilt written on my face, Aaron stares at me.
“Rain Weston, you’re under arrest for aggravated assault,” the officer announces, the words fading against the pounding in my ears.
“Really?” Aaron cocks a brow at the older male officer. “Aggravated assault? By his statement and the rest, I’d say that’s self-defence.”
“Then he should have no problem making bail,” the officer snips back.
My thumbs rub against my fingers, hidden in the sleeves of the jumper, my split knuckle aching and throbbing as the car door opens and Rain’s put inside. I watch him relax back in the seat, staring at me with a barely noticeable smirk.
If this were a month ago, I’d be happy. Right now, I want him out of that car. I want those flashing lights to stop emphasising every mesmerising feature of his beautiful face. I want it to not seem like he’s in his element, but from what I’ve learned so far, Rain Weston is a criminal.
A beautiful criminal.
“Do you have something to cover this?” Aaron asks, gaining my attention.
“Umm…I have a tarp in the garden shed, but a broken window is the least of my worries.”
“He’ll be fine,” he assures as we stand before the broken, bloodied window, my gaze locked on the end of the driveway where the police car was.
Kilah was taken to the hospital, and I told them I’d meet them there once I’d dealt with the police. There were a few times my split knuckles almost slipped from beneath my sleeves while giving my statement. After the third time I almost gave myself away, I kept my arms folded over my chest.
I shake my head. “It was me.”
“No, it was Rain.”
“He just took the fall for something I did.”
“Because he knew the detriment to your career, but namely because he cares about you.” I hear him turn, but I refuse to move my eyes. “Kieran, can you go find the tarp?”
“Sure thing,” the other man replies, his footsteps disappearing out my back door. Blade left the minute Rain was taken into custody.
I force my thoughts from the image of Rain staring smugly through the window, Kilah’s bruising face, my mother’s, and move past Aaron, heading toward the kitchen to take the broom. “He’ll make bail, right? I mean, my father’s going to say it was me.”
Aaron places a hand on my chest, staring down pitifully. “I’ll get Rain out, and your father’s blood alcohol level will be high. They can’t trust his word.”
“You own that detective. Why call the police if there was already someone here? And remove your hand.”
He drops his hand. “Use the rules to play your own game. That detective was ‘patrolling’ the area when she heard a commotion, and she called for backup, as instructed by Blade. Everything is run through the books and done as the rules dictate. Rain did what he was supposed to do. Your father will be charged and trialled. If Rain had let you kill him or done it himself, like I’m sure he wanted, and your father was never seen in public again, suspicion would be drawn.
Your mother and sisters were witnesses. They may have been willing to cover for you and do as Rain instructed regarding a beating, but keeping quiet about a murder is something very few can do.
Not to mention, the street was filled with people. ”
I know he’s right —my father should rot in a cell for putting his hands on them—but I keep asking myself the same question.
Had Rain not pulled me away, how far would I have gone?