Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
HARPER
T he sound of fists hitting a punching bag filters through the door as I climb the stairs to the gym above the garage. Each impact is followed by a soft grunt. Declan’s profile is backlit by the last golden rays of sun shining through the slats of the blinds. His hair has flopped down onto his forehead and is beginning to clump on the ends as sweat beads on his temples.
Either he doesn’t hear me walk into the room or he’s ignoring me. I’m not sure which because either one is just as likely as the other. He’s stripped his shirt off which affords me an incredible view of his muscles as he continues to take his anger and frustration out on the bag swinging in front of him.
I lean back against the wall to wait him out. Hopefully he exhausts himself to the point where our conversation won’t turn into an argument. But as he continues to steadily hit the bag, showing no signs of slowing down, my hope dwindles.
It’s not a surprise to me that he’s upset. I knew he’d be pissed, but I don’t regret going. Are my father’s words echoing in my mind as we speak? Yes, of course they are. Hearing your father call you a whore isn’t going to be easy, no matter who you are. But the more I think about the interaction, the surer I become that my father knows exactly who is stalking me.
“Enjoying the view?” His voice is gruff as he continues to land punch after punch.
“I am, yes.” I smirk at him. “I like you better when you’re not talking.”
He shoots a glare at me, but it lacks any real heat. His chest rises and falls deeply as he turns and stalks toward me. I don’t know what to expect. He tears the gloves that had been on his hands off and drops them unceremoniously as he approaches me. His eyes never leave mine, their deep emerald depths churning with warring emotions.
I suck in a breath as he reaches me and his fingers fist my ponytail, dragging my lips to his. The kiss is a brutal clash of lips, tongues, and teeth. I feel his anger in every stroke of his tongue and meet it with my own.
“You drive me fucking crazy, you know that?” His lips brush against mine with each word while he rests his forehead against mine.
My chest tightens at the frustrated desperation lacing his tone. I move my hands from his chest down his abs and then wrap my arms around his waist, pulling him closer. He lets his body sag into mine, either exhausted from the pent up worry or the violent way he unleashed it. I relish the feeling of holding him like this.
“I’m sorry.”
He leans back with an arched brow. “Are you really?”
“No.”
I miss his body heat as soon as he pulls away from me. I want to beg him to come back, to ignore the storm brewing between us. Instead, he walks away, picking up the gloves he dropped as he shakes his head and scoffs.
“Why do you have to be this way?”
“What way?”
“Obstinate. Impulsive. Contrary.” He spins back toward me. “Should I continue?”
I open my mouth to reply but drop my shoulders as I realize I don’t have an answer for him. There’s no reason for it. I can’t for the life of me figure out why I constantly find myself pushing his buttons. I’m not like this with anyone else.
He watches me try to find something to say but turns away with muttered words that I can’t make out. The desire to find something to say to ease his anger thrums through me, but something else pushes back. The thought that I’m not like this with anyone else.
It’s only him that makes me want to fight back.
“I’m only like this with you so maybe you’re the problem.” I stride toward him as he slowly turns back to me. “Have you ever, once in your life, looked in the mirror and thought to yourself why you draw reactions like this from people?”
“Oh, Angel, I know I’m the problem.” His lip curls into a smirk. “I’m an angry, stubborn asshole. An asshole who apparently cares more about your well-being than you yourself do.”
“I went with your dad. He wouldn’t let anything happen to me.”
“Really? So your dad didn’t say anything to hurt you? It was just a nice, healthy father daughter chat?”
I press my lips together and look away.
“That’s what I thought. What’d he say?”
“It doesn’t matter. He’s in prison and can’t hurt me anymore.”
“What’d he say? If it doesn’t matter just tell me.” He takes another step toward me, crowding me back toward the wall again.
He’s not going to let this go until I break. So I don the mask I wore for years, the proper daughter of a well-respected pastor answering questions softly and demurely. Once I’m sure it’s securely in place, hiding the pain behind it, I give him what he wants.
“He said that if he had known what a whore I was he would have loaned me out like he did my mother.” I hold Declan’s gaze while the words fall from my lips.
His nostrils flare as he drags a deep breath into his lungs. Rage billows off him, tainting the air with a palpable violence. He blinks as if trying to clear his eyes but never moves them from my face. I can feel his emotions like they’re my own, and I know he’s on the precipice of erupting.
Instead of letting him hurt himself or damage something, I jump into his arms. Even caught off guard, he easily catches me. I wrap my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck, pressing my lips to his.
He palms my behind as he kisses me back with the same fervent enthusiasm. His body is slick with sweat, and a groan rumbles from his chest when I break away from his mouth and press open mouthed kisses down his neck. My tongue flicks out, loving the taste of salt from his skin.
I cling to his body as he drops to his knees on the mat, careful not to let me slip. He lowers me until my back meets the floor and then his hands begin their exploration of my body. I reach down and pull my shirt over my head, no longer concerned about hiding my body and scars from him. From any of them.
His mouth closes over one of my nipples, lightly biting down on it while his thumb strokes the other. My fingers run along the length of his back down to his waistband. I hook my fingers inside and run my nails across his skin. The sting of my scratches is enough to make him release my nipple with a loud pop.
“That hurt,” he says with a smirk.
“Good.” I drag my nails back up his back. “I want you naked.”
His eyes flare at my bold request. “You first, Angel.”
He watches with rapt attention as I push my shorts and panties over my hips and down my legs. I flush when he pushes my knees open, exposing me fully. He runs his thumb through my folds, teasing my clit before bringing it back to his mouth and sucking my juices off his finger.
“I could spend the rest of my life just looking at how beautiful you are,” he says quietly.
He means it. I know he does because I feel the reverence he feels down to the marrow of my bones. Just as I feel the same exact way about him.
“I want to ride you,” I say, surprising even myself with the bold declaration.
“Don’t have to tell me twice,” he says enthusiastically. Before I can even sit up, he’s pushed his shorts down his thighs and has laid down in position for me.
I straddle his hips, rocking my pelvis back and forth along his length. He pulls my head down to his for a long, deep kiss. His mouth worships mine while I continue to tease us both. I’m halfway to an orgasm just from grinding against him when I sit back up and reach down, notching his tip at my entrance.
He lifts his head to watch, his lips parted as I slowly sink down his length. He twitches inside me when I take him all the way in. I watch as his tongue sweeps over his lower lip while he fights for self-control.
“You’re in charge now. Do whatever feels good.” He grabs my hands and puts them on his chest. “Brace yourself on any part of me you need.
“Okay.”
I bear some weight in my palms, feeling the way his heart is racing beneath me. I lift my hips up, dragging my walls around him and then sink quickly back down. With each movement I gain confidence. My tempo increases, the sound of our bodies slapping together mixes with our panted breathing.
He slips his thumb down to the apex of my thighs, finding my clit and rubbing quick circles around it. My orgasm crashes through my body with an unexpected intensity. My walls continue to quake around him as he grips my hips and holds me still above him. His hips piston against me, each thrust hitting me so hard and deep.
“Fuck.” I feel the first jets of his cum erupt inside me. “Harper.” The muscles of his entire body contract with each spurt of release until he’s spent and drops his head to the floor.
He rolls us to the side, somehow managing to stay inside me. My heart flips when he presses soft kisses all over my face. It’s such a sweet gesture and so unexpected I don’t know what to do. Laying in his arms feels so good I could easily fall asleep.
I whimper when he shifts his body, pulling out of me. He lifts his body onto his elbow, looking down at me with an indiscernible look in his eyes. I watch as he once again pushes my legs apart and looks down at my center.
“I don’t want one day to go by where you aren’t full of my cum.” I feel him push the liquid seeping out of me and back inside my pussy. It should be embarrassing, not something that turns me on, but I feel like I could happily take him again.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he smirks up at me.
“Like what?”
“Like you could go for another round.”
“Can’t you?”
Wait. Maybe he can’t and I shouldn’t ask.
I’m about to apologize for being rude when he puts a finger over my lips to stop me. “I could go another twenty rounds, and it wouldn’t be enough, but you need to use the bathroom so you don’t get an infection, and I’m not going to fuck you on the floor like an animal again.” He drops my clothes on my belly. “Let’s go inside and see what Emerson and Cy are up to.”
We find Emerson and Cyrus curled up together sleeping when we come back to the house. Declan whispers that he’s going to go order dinner for the four of us, and I walk into the room. I consider sitting on the edge of the bed and gently waking Emerson first, but then I see a little space in between them.
Before I can talk myself out of it, I’m crawling up from the foot of the bed and tucking my body in between theirs. Emerson gives me a soft smile as he opens his eyes and shifts his body to make more room for me. I let him pull me to his chest and nestle my head in the crook of his shoulder. The smell of sweat, sex, and Cyrus clings to his skin and mixes with the warm amber and cedar scent of his soap.
“How’s Declan?”
“Better, I think.”
“You think?” He raises a brow and looks down at me.
“Well, we didn’t do a whole lot of talking.” My face heats with embarrassment, so I nuzzle closer to hide.
“What happened if you didn’t talk?”
Before I can answer, I feel Cyrus wrap his arm around my waist. “They fucked.”
A nervous laugh escapes me. “Just like you guys did.”
“Yeah, but we’re not fighting.” Emerson kisses my forehead. “You and Declan need to learn how to talk to each other without fighting or fucking.”
“That’s no fun,” Cyrus mumbles into my hair. “But next time let me watch, yeah?”
“Why do I even try?” Emerson’s breath ruffles my hair with his exasperated words. “Seriously, though, I know you are capable of rational conversation.”
“Declan isn’t.” I can hear the smile in Cyrus’s voice. “Ouch. What was that for?” he asks, popping his head off the pillow to look at Emerson over me.
“You’re not helping.”
“He’s just so intense,” I say, breaking into their spat.
“Are you afraid of him?” Cyrus asks, turning serious.
“No, not at all actually.” The fact of the matter is that I’ve never been afraid of him, I don’t think I’m even intimidated by him. “I know that he’s only like this because he cares.”
“He cares so much. Much more than you even realize.” Emerson tucks a wayward strand of hair behind my ear. “He always has.”
“Really?” I can’t hide the disbelief in my voice. “I find that hard to believe when he was constantly pulling my hair and stealing my ribbons as kids.”
“Go check the bottom drawer of the bureau in his closet and come tell me he hasn’t been obsessed with you since you were kids.”
“Dinner’s here,” Declan yells from downstairs. “Get your asses up before I eat everything.”
Emerson tosses the covers off and stands up, reaching for his clothes. I avert my eyes by watching Cyrus watch him. Lust pools in their dark depths before he turns his attention to me.
“I could just eat you instead of dinner,” he says before attacking my neck with noisy kisses.
“I don’t think you want to do that when I’m—” My face turns beet red.
“Full of Declan’s cum?” He waggles his eyebrows. “What’s a few fluids between friends?”
“Gross. Don’t say it like that.” I roll out of his arms and off the bed before gathering my hair back up in a messy bun. “Let’s go have dinner before they do eat everything.”