Chapter 5
Chapter
Five
EMERSON
T he sound of Harper’s breathing deepening feels like a balm to my frayed nerves. She didn’t need to apologize to me for anything other than running off without a word, but I understand why she did it. Especially knowing it’s just a trauma response. You’d have to be a heartless monster not to understand that.
My bedroom door opens, and Declan pokes his head in. He looks at me, questioning wordlessly if I’ve seen Harper. I glance down at her sleeping form pointedly.
I see him visibly relax when he sees her. He gestures out in the hall with his head. I close my book quietly and lift myself off the bed, doing my best not to jostle her around and wake her. A little frown mars her face as I stand up, but she doesn’t open her eyes or appear to wake.
“How is she?” he asks as soon as I step outside my door.
“Fine for now. I do think we should find someone for her to talk to.”
“Probably.” He looks at my door. “I’m worried I went too far today.”
“Taking her door off the hinges?”
“Fuck no, she’s never getting it back.” He scowls. “I pushed her kind of far after that.” Worry creases his brow.
“I think she’s fine. She didn’t seem at all upset with you. She just seems, I don’t know, resigned. Tired.”
“Dad said he explained everything to her on the drive home. About covering up the video and making a public statement about it being AI.” His gaze hardens. “But we know it wasn’t and now we have to find out who did it.”
“Probably the same person who locked her in the outhouse last night.”
“That’s a possibility.”
“I’m going to go out and meet a few of the guys who were there for a beer. Will you be okay with her while you wait for Cy to get home?”
“Yeah. She’s totally passed out and who knows how long it will be until Cy gets home.”
Declan claps a hand on my shoulder. “Text me when he gets back if I’m not home. I’ll come take over with her, so you can help him with whatever.”
I give him a nod and then watch as he jogs down the stairs. Harper hasn’t moved an inch since I left her. I move all the other books off the bed and set them on my desk, keeping only my organic chem book to finish reading. At some point I have some work to do, but for now I’ll stick to the reading.
Every so often I look over at my phone, willing it to light up with a message from Cy saying that he’s on the way. But the screen stays black. I feel my eyes starting to drift closed, so I set the book aside and take my glasses off.
A little nap won’t hurt, especially when I can pull Harper’s soft body against mine and hope she’s enough to calm my mind as I worry about Cy. She immediately migrates under the blanket toward my warmth as I lay down. I slide my arm under her pillow and press the length of my body along hers.
My hand finds the soft skin at the base of her spine, and she releases a little moan while my fingers trace small circles there. She tucks her head in the space under my jaw, and I swear, it feels like it was designed specifically for her.
Her breaths even out again while she falls back asleep in my arms. I listen as the heat kicks on in the old house and cycles back off. I can’t find sleep as my mind whirls worrying about Cyrus. I don’t know how much time passes before until I finally doze off.
It can’t be too long though, because my eyes fly open as soon as I hear Cy’s Ducati pull in the drive. He won’t want me hovering, so I stay right where I am as I hear him enter the house. He moves around in the kitchen, probably downing a bottle of water and some ibuprofen as usual.
Eventually I hear the creaking of the stairs as he trudges up them. The door opens slowly, and I catch my first glimpse of his face, not at all ready for what I see. Even in the dark I can tell one of his eyes is nearly swollen closed.
I extract myself from Harper as gently as possibly, a feat considering how badly I want to fly into the bathroom where Cyrus just went. By the time I get to him, he’s already removed his holster and is halfway done unbuttoning his shirt.
Dried blood is caked around his nose, and his lower lip is split open. He has a cut on his temple, but what really catches my eye is the nasty bruise blooming over his ribs. I close the door quietly behind me and shove my concern deep into myself as I let my training take over.
We don’t speak as I begin cleaning his wounds. He never wants to talk, he just stares at his reflection with vacant eyes. Worry swells in my chest at the way he doesn’t move his gaze from his own face. His dissociation isn’t usually this bad.
I grab his jaw and turn his head until his eyes meet mine. They’re dull and lifeless. He’s never looked more broken in all the years I’ve known him.
“Think you have any broken ribs?” I ask with no inflection in my voice.
“Yeah.”
“Should I take you to the hospital?” I already know the answer, but I want to put the option out there anyway.
“No.”
I give him a nod, hiding my disappointment, and continue to clean him up. After I put a butterfly bandage over the cut on his temple, he grabs my wrist. Life and heat come back into his eyes, a welcome change from the vacancy that was there minutes ago.
His hand cups my jaw while his thumb presses my lower lip, dragging it down. I watch as his chest rises and falls, each breath growing raspier. He pulls my face to his and slants his lips over mine.
This is a new development. Usually, we just have a hard fuck on the sink and then move on. This time though he seems to want intimacy, kissing, along with the quick, hard fuck.
His tongue tangles with mine as he reaches inside my shorts, fisting my cock as I grow harder. It doesn’t take much until we’re both fully, achingly erect. I slip my hand inside the drawer beside us and pull out a bottle of lube.
He pushes my shorts down until they fall at my feet. “Turn around.”
I do as he commands and hear the clank of his belt incoming undone and then the quiet woosh of his pants falling to the floor. He reaches around me and grabs the lube. I hear the cap open and the bottle being squeezed. Once he has enough, I feel his fingers run through my crack and circle the tight hole nestled between my cheeks.
His foot slides between mine as he pushes them apart, widening my stance so I’m low enough for him to take. A hiss of pleasure whistles through my teeth as he reaches around and strokes my length. He slides his cock between my cheeks while I twitch in his hand.
I watch as he pushes me over the counter and lines himself up. As soon as I feel the first inch of him push past my tight entrance his eyes find mine in the mirror. My lips part as he thrusts the rest of the way inside me.
“Fuck,” he murmurs quietly.
My fingers curl against the marble countertop beneath them as he increases the tempo of his hips. The sound of his skin slapping against mine mixes with our panted breaths and whispered curses. His cock hits me at the perfect angle in this position, making my orgasms come embarrassingly quick.
My balls tighten along with every muscle in my core as I fight the orgasm back, not ready to stop what we’re doing. He takes one of his hands from my hip and without breaking eye contact gives his palm a long, slow lick. As soon as he wraps his fist around my cock, I explode all over the counter. My cum coats the stone and drips off the edge.
My arms shake as I stay braced on the counter, breathing heavily while he continues to fuck my ass. As I lift my head, once again holding his gaze, he bites down on his lip and jerks inside of me. I feel every hot lash of his cum filling my ass. It feels like it goes on forever, which is fine by me, I never want this to stop.
He pulls out and collapses against my back, his arms wrapping around my torso to cling to me like a lifeline. He always needs the cuddles and affection after we fuck like this. I turn around and lean against the cold marble while I pull him to my chest. His heart is racing against mine, so I grab his hair and tilt his head back, my lips covering his.
I infuse the kiss with all the love I have for him. It’s not something we’ve said to each other, but I think we both know it’s there. I do at the very least.
“Do you think it would bother Harper to wake up between us?” he asks when we end the kiss.
“No. Not at all.” I press a quick kiss to his lips, unable to help myself. “Go ahead and join her. I’ll clean up here and be right back out.”
He gives me a weak smile as he sheds his pants but pulls his boxer briefs back up. I watch as he walks through the door and turn to start cleaning everything up. It only takes a few minutes before the bathroom is back to its normal condition and I’m cleaned up enough to get back in bed with them.
Harper has turned and is now laying partially on top of Cy, her head resting on his chest and his fingers in her hair. I crawl in on her other side and curl around her. My arm stretches over her waist and rests low on Cy’s abdomen. Sleep comes easily.