Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
I woke up on the couch alone. The fire in the fireplace was still burning brightly and I could feel its heat. Sitting up, I threw off the throw blanket that had been covering me. “Knox?” I called out as I looked into the kitchen. The lights were on, but it was empty.
As I stood, I realized that I was dressed in my clothes. Not Knox’s shirt. I didn’t remember getting dressed before I’d fallen asleep. “Knox?” I called again and tried to look down the hall. It was pitch black. I didn’t know why, but the darkness scared me and my legs moved me toward the bright kitchen.
Feeling safe in the light, I convinced myself that Knox was in the bathroom and I headed to the fridge for some water. As I walked by the island, a white ceramic cake stand with a glass dome lid caught my eye. Under the clear glass, I could see the chocolate doughnuts I had been working on were glazed and stacked neatly.
For a second, I wondered if Knox had finished glazing the doughnuts for me. Then I glanced down at my clothes and I started to have doubts. Had I dreamt of Knox and me having sex? Had I made the doughnuts and just fallen asleep on the couch?
“Shiloh,” a voice called me.
I looked toward the hall, where I could have sworn the voice had come from, and Mr. X stepped out of the darkness. He was holding a knife in his hand. The blade was covered in blood. So were his hands and the front of his jeans, and some was spattered across his face.
Seeing that blood spiked more fear in me than he did. “Whose blood is that?” I asked even though I knew the answer.
“Shi,” I heard Creed call for me. His voice sounded like it was coming from my bedroom down the hall behind Mr. X. I had to get to him. He could be hurt.
Hearing Creed, Mr. X glanced over his shoulder.
“No,” I said and to my surprise I was able to move. For once, fear did not shackle me and nothing tried to stop me.
Mr. X turned around toward the hall and I began running for him.
“No!” I screamed, and I was almost about to pass the couch to get to the hall when something locked around my waist. I tried to wriggle and thrash against what felt like a restraint across my hips.
“Don’t you touch him!” I yelled at Mr. X.
Mr. X didn’t even spare a glance back at me as he stepped into the dark hall, disappearing from sight.
“I’m the one you want!” I thrashed harder to get free. When that didn’t work, I threw myself forward toward the floor and the restraint slipped down to my thighs as I went down. Before I could face-plant into the wood floor, I caught myself on my hands. The thing holding me came down with my lower body and I felt a weight on top of my legs. Using my training, I rolled the weight off of me and started to crawl. I made it about a foot away before my calves were grabbed and I was pulled back. I let out an angry, frustrated scream and what was pulling on me stopped, but didn’t let go.
I kicked to get free and dug my nails into the floor as I tried to crawl forward again. What was latched onto my legs moved up my body to my waist. Using all the strength I had, I dragged myself a few inches forward.
“Shi!” I heard Creed call again, but this time there was panic in his voice.
“If you hurt him, I will kill you!” I roared in a way that sounded feral as I made it forward another inch. “I will cut your fucking heart out!”
I was yanked by my waist from the floor and lifted up to sit. My back collided with something hard yet soft just as weight came down on my legs and my arms were squished against my chest.
“Shiloh, it’s not real!” a voice yelled right behind me. “Wake up, baby!”
All it took was a blink and I knew I was awake. The sun was up. The hall that Mr. X had disappeared down was no longer dark and Creed was standing in front of it. I looked to the left and saw Colt and Knox standing in the living room. All three of them were wide-eyed and held panicked looks on their faces.
I was on the ground in the same exact spot I had been in my dream. The thing that had been restraining me hadn’t been a thing at all, but someone on the ground right behind me. By process of elimination, I knew it was Keelan. His legs were hooked over mine and his arms were wrapped around me in a rear bear hug hold.
I was breathing heavily. Rage and fear were riding on the back of my adrenaline as it still surged through my veins.
“I think she’s awake,” Knox said.
I did my best to relax in Keelan’s hold. “Did I hurt you?” My voice came out calm, but my tone was a different story. It had a sharp edge to it, revealing how mad I was. I didn’t think I’d ever been so angry. Since I’d really started buckling down and working with Dr. Bolton on healing, I’d been getting tastes of anger. This was different. What I was feeling now was a six-course meal. The magnitude of it was altering. I had felt a shift in me coming after what had happened to Isabelle. At first, I hadn’t understood it, but I did now. I was done being the victim. I was done being afraid. I was truly done.
If Keelan hadn’t stopped me, I might have really tried to kill Mr. X in my dream. I had been so angry I might have followed through on my threat and cut his heart out.
The sigh of relief Keelan let out pulled my attention back to him. His legs lifted off of mine and his arms fell away. He then scooped me up and turned me around to sit facing him. “No, you didn’t hurt me,” he said as his golden-brown eyes bounced all over my face. “Did I hurt you?”
I shook my head.
Keelan nodded and cupped my face. “Good, because you fought hard.”
“He was going to kill Creed.” My tone was still angry.
He gave me a tight smile. “So it was my brother you were going to cut X’s heart out for.” It was obvious that he was trying to lighten the mood.
I didn’t have the heart to tell him that he was more than likely dead in my nightmare. Remembering the blood all over Mr. X made me downright murderous.
Keelan’s forced smile turned genuine at whatever he saw in my expression. His hands dropped from my cheeks, and he wrapped an arm around me before flipping us. Next thing I knew I was on my back on the floor with Keelan on all fours above me. My legs were bent to frame his. Cold air hit me right between my legs, bringing to my attention that I wasn’t dressed like I had been in my nightmare, but was only wearing Knox’s shirt.
“I’m flashing everyone my vagina,” I deadpanned as I laid my arms out on the cool floor.
“No one in this room is unhappy about that, Shi,” Creed said.
Keelan gave me a mischievous grin. “With how loud you were moaning last night, I wouldn’t be surprised if Knox took your panties as payment.”
Knox didn’t correct him. So I didn’t, either.
Keelan stroked my cheek with a finger. “Not a single blush.”
“I’m too angry to blush.”
“I can see that,” he said and sighed. “I wonder what I can do to bring back my blushing girlfriend.”
I wanted to tell him to not bother. That he was wasting his time. I didn’t feel a beginning or ending to what I was feeling. I was lost in the smoke as my rage burned all around me. I had never wanted to kill anyone before. I had wanted Mr. X dead, but I had never reached a point where I wanted to do it myself.
“Do you want to have sex or do you want to spar, baby girl?” Keelan asked, making me realize that I had gotten lost in my thoughts.
“Why are those my only options?” I asked.
He stroked my cheek again. “Because you need an outlet for that anger.”
I debated, but I quickly realized that there wasn’t anything to debate. I without a doubt did not want to spar with Keelan when I was angry. I didn’t want to risk testing my anger like that. Not with him.
Mind made up, I shifted underneath him and rolled us. He let me pin him on his back without resistance and just grinned up at me. I leaned down and gave him a quick kiss before climbing to my feet. “I want to take a shower,” I said as I started walking toward the hall.
Creed had moved into the living room and was sitting on the loveseat. Knox was standing by the couch we had been sleeping on and Colt was standing by the fireplace. They watched me as I approached the hall.
Before I walked down it, I turned and looked back at Keelan, who was still on the floor looking flabbergasted. “Aren’t you coming?” I asked him.
Keelan had always been the quickest to process and recover from things and right now wasn’t any different. He shot to his feet and rushed to me, but paused as he was about to pass Knox. Keelan stared across the couch at him. “Last night put me in a competitive mood.”
“You’re not the only one,” Creed grumbled as Colt sighed and took a seat next to his twin.
“I love you, brother, but I can’t let you outdo me,” Keelan said in a way that seemed lighthearted, yet held a hint of seriousness.
Knox folded his arms over his bare chest and the corner of his mouth twitched as he stared back at Keelan. “Good luck.”
Keelan gave him a downright feral grin before coming to me. He grabbed my hand and pulled me to my bedroom. I noticed a determined look on his face as he shut the bedroom door and took me into the bathroom. It seemed my jokester of a boyfriend was gone.
He let go of my hand to turn on the shower and I leaned against the sink. “I don’t know if I should be upset or not that you two are competing over sex with me.”
His back was to me, but I still heard him huff a laugh. He reached behind his head and pulled his shirt off, revealing all his pretty tattoos. When he turned to face me, that determined expression was gone and a sexy smirk had taken its place. He erased the space between us and set his hands on the edge of the sink on either side of my hips, caging me. “We’re competing at who can love you better.”
“You mean who can fuck me better,” I corrected.
“It really is the same thing because competition or not, we love you,” he said and frowned a little. “You do realize you’ll be benefiting the most from all of this, right?”
I arched a brow. “That’s why I don’t know if I should be upset.”
That made him laugh and he dropped his hands from the sink. He grabbed the end of Knox’s shirt and tilted his head toward the now-steaming shower. “Let’s get in.”
I lifted my arms above my head so he could remove the shirt. I climbed into the shower first while he removed the rest of his clothes. The warm water relaxed me a little. As soon as Keelan got in, his only focus was washing me. He shampooed and conditioned my awful pink hair. He took his time massaging my scalp while he did it. As he washed my body, he rubbed soapy fingers into the tight muscles in my back, shoulders, and legs.
“It’s okay to be angry,” he said as he was kneeling in front of me, kneading the back of my calf. “You have every right to be and it’s normal to feel this way given what you’ve been through.”
“This feels like more than a stage of grief,” I said.
He stood up and stared down at me with a serious expression. “Maybe it is more. But anger is anger. You may feel stronger because of it, but it’s a hard emotion to control. Anger can make you do and say things you will regret.”
I knew that. I just didn’t understand why he was telling me. Taking over the washing, I poured some shampoo in my hand and pushed up on my tiptoes to wash his hair. “Are you worried I’ll hurt any of you out of anger?”
He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me against his naked chest. “No. I just…” He let out a sigh. “Logan is angry and that rage he’s carrying around is fueling his need for revenge.”
“You think I’m going to run off and go seek revenge on Mr. X?”
“I think if I had not stopped you, you would have tried to kill X in your nightmare.”
I didn’t deny it. That had been my intention. “Why did you stop me?”
“Because I was scared you’d run into the furniture and hurt yourself,” he said as he let me go to rinse out his hair.
I began washing his body after soaping up a washcloth. “I don’t have the desire to go out and hunt down Mr. X like my uncle,” I said as I ran the cloth over his tattooed skin. “But if he showed up here and he tried to hurt any of you…” I hated even thinking about it, let alone talking about it. “I’ve already tried to kill him once. I’ll try again. The only change I’ll make next time is I’ll aim my gun a little higher.”
“Hopefully there won’t be a next time.”
“I hope that, too.” Instead of using the washcloth, I used my soapy hand to clean his already-hard cock. I wrapped my hand around his base and stroked down to his tip.
He let out a hiss and stared down between us. I dropped the washcloth and used my other hand to cup his balls as I continued to stroke him.
He put his hand on the wall and he leaned back into the water so the soap would wash away from his body. “Does this mean you’re not angry anymore?”
“I’m absolutely pissed.” I gave him a firm stroke, making his breath hitch and his hips jut forward, seeking more. “But I’m not pissed at you,” I added and dropped to my knees. I ran my tongue along the underside of his cock before sucking him into my mouth.
He let out a curse and his hand went to the back of my head. “I love this side of you.”
I released him just long enough to ask, “What side would that be?” And then I slid him back into my mouth to take him in as far as I could.
His head lolled back as he let out a breathy grunt. “I love all of you, but when you bring out this naughty minx side of yours—ah—fuck!”
I made him stumble on his words as I took him deep again. His fingers fisted my hair, and he rocked his hips back and forth, pumping his cock in and out of my mouth, kissing the back of my throat each time.
“You do that so well,” he praised with one last thrust into my mouth before reaching down and picking me up.
He lifted me completely off the ground and I locked my legs around his waist. I gasped as he leaned my back against the cool shower wall. He took advantage of my open mouth and slammed his over my lips, his tongue plunging past them to dance with mine. Holding me up with one arm, he slid his other hand between us as he devoured my mouth. I moaned when he found my clit and began rubbing slow firm circles over it.
“When you act like this,” he said against my lips as he moved his fingers to my core. “I feel like I can do all the dirty things I’ve only fantasized about doing to you.” He pushed two fingers inside me and began pumping them.
I gripped his shoulders with both hands and tilted my head back against the wall, grunting. “You know I don’t like it when you hold back.”
He let out a deep, sensual chuckle. “Don’t look at it as me holding back.” His thumb began rubbing my clit while his fingers fucked me. “Look at it as me enjoying the journey of you becoming ready to accept all of me.”
“I’ve told you before.” I hissed and my hips bucked at the sensation of my orgasm building. “I can take you, pretty boy.”
The side of his mouth lifted as he curled his fingers inside of me, hitting the perfect spot to detonate my release. “I know you can, baby girl.”
I screamed out as I pushed on his shoulders and squeezed my legs around his waist. My body warred with itself, wanting to get away from him while also wanting to keep him close as I came undone.
I watched with hooded eyes as he pulled his fingers from me and put them into his mouth. He made a mmm sound. “I think I’m going to need a better taste than that.”
He lifted me away from the wall and continued to hold me with one arm as he shut off the shower. When he climbed out with me, he didn’t bother grabbing a towel as he carried me into the bedroom and laid me across the foot of the bed. Dripping wet, he climbed on top of me and flipped us so smoothly, it showed off his years of martial-arts training. Grabbing me by my waist, he pulled me up his body. “I want you to sit on my face.”
I crawled up him and set my knees on either side of his head and began to lower myself down. We had done this position once before, but that time I’d had the headboard to help me hover over him. This time, with where we were lying on the bed, I did not.
I lowered myself just enough to bring myself to his mouth. His tongue swiped out, licking through the pool of wetness my release had made. He slipped that tongue inside me before moving it between the folds of my pussy to my clit. It felt so good, my thighs began to shake as I fought the desire to sit and grind on his face.
As if sensing my need, Keelan’s hands tried to pull me down by my hips. “I told you to sit,” he said from between my legs.
Had this been at any other time and had I been in a more patient mood, I would have resisted out of fear. But because I was in a to hell with it mood, I gave him what he asked for. I sat. He began sucking and licking my clit as if rewarding me for doing as I’d been told.
I decided it was best to let go at that point and just give in to my body and its desires completely. I leaned forward to set my hands on the bed and began moving my hips in sync with his tongue.
Cheese and rice . The noises that came out of me should have been embarrassing. But I didn’t have it in me to care.
As I felt myself reaching release, I moved a hand to the top of Keelan’s head and fisted his soft blond hair. I came so hard, my vision went spotty. My entire body shook and became limp as Keelan flipped us once again.
Lying on my back, panting, I watched as he licked the corner of his mouth and wiped his wet chin with the back of his hand. “I can’t decide if I want to fuck you or have you ride my mouth again.”
All I could do was groan and throw my arm over my eyes.
He huffed a laugh. “You make the sexiest noises when you grind that little clit against my tongue.” The bed shook beneath me—he was moving around. Then I heard the sound of the nightstand drawer opening, followed by the distinct sound of a foil packet being ripped open.
I had just caught my breath when he grabbed me by the backs of my knees and dragged me across the bed until my butt reached the edge. I threw my arm off my eyes to see that he was standing on the floor. He placed my ankles on his shoulders before he pushed his cock inside of me.
I was so sensitive from coming twice already. “Fuck, Keelan!”
He chuckled. “That’s what I plan on doing.” He pumped his cock inside me a few times before he moved his hands to the backs of my knees and pushed my thighs to my chest. He held them there as he watched his cock go in and out of me slowly. The groan of pleasure he let out at what he saw made me clench around him. His thrusts picked up the pace until he was pounding into me.
I was still so sensitive that the pleasure was almost too much to bear. “Please!” I begged, but I didn’t know if it was for him to stop or to keep going. When I was on the cusp of coming, tears began to leak from the corners of my eyes. “Keelan!”
Because he was holding me down, all I could do was fist the blankets beneath me as I was completely wracked by another orgasm. I lost hearing for a short time. I lost sight, too. Well, I closed my eyes, but my point was that I was so consumed with feeling what he’d unleashed on me that I almost missed his climax.
His thrusts started to sputter until he slammed into me one last time, grunting. He wobbled a little and let out a curse as he let go of one of my legs to catch himself on the bed.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He laughed in between pants. “You’re the only woman who has ever made me go weak in the knees.”
I laughed as I wiped away the streaks of tears next to my eyes.
He went still. “Those are good tears, right?”
I smiled at him. “I came so hard it made me cry. So I would say yes, they are good tears.”
Keelan smiled back at me. Pushing my legs apart, he leaned between them to give me a kiss. Then another one, before pulling out of me and going back into the bathroom to dispose of the condom.
I took that time to scoot farther back on the bed. When he returned, he crawled onto the bed next to me and laced his fingers behind his head. “Still feeling angry?”
I snorted. “I don’t think it’s possible to still be angry after three orgasms.”
“It shouldn’t be possible to be angry after one orgasm, but you were ready to commit murder. I figured I would play it safe and give you three.”
I reached for a pillow and smacked him with it, making him laugh as he blocked it with his arm. “Don’t act like you were doing me any favors. You were only trying to show up Knox,” I said and smacked him with the pillow again.
He snatched the pillow away with a chuckle. “I’ll be honest, baby girl, I forgot all about my brother the moment you dropped to your knees in the shower.” He tossed the pillow to the side and lunged for me.
I fought to prevent him from pinning me. It was odd and kind of a turn-on, despite just having had sex, to somewhat spar while naked. Both of those feelings distracted me enough to give him the upper hand. I wound up on my stomach with his hands pinning mine behind my back and his cock nestled between my butt cheeks. I bucked up against him in a futile attempt to get him off of me. All it did was make him grow hard again. I guessed I wasn’t the only one getting turned on sparring naked.
He let out a breathy laugh. “That first time you grounded me, I really thought I might have met my soulmate.” His lips pressed to my spine, making me squirm. I tried to pull my wrists from his grasp as he started trailing kisses up. “I am certain now that you are,” he added.
His words made me stop resisting. “I love you, pretty boy.”
I felt his mouth stretch into a smile between my shoulder blades. “I love you, too, baby girl.”
When his kisses reached my neck, I tilted my head to the side to give him better access.
“I don’t think we’ll be leaving this room today,” he whispered in my ear.