Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Rhett
We pulled up in front of Bernard's grandmother's house just as Elle came running out the door, screaming like a banshee.
"Help!!!!!"
I jumped out of the SUV before it even came to a complete stop and ran straight for her. "Elle!" I hollered to get her attention, but she was too busy frantically looking back over her shoulder that she ran straight into me.
"Whoa, beautiful. I got you. I got you." I tried to calm her down, but it didn't work.
"There's a dead body in there."
I looked over Elle's shoulder at my team leader and gave him a silent nod that I got her while he and the rest of my team entered the house.
"Who's dead?" I hoped like hell it was the guy who kidnapped her, but I had a feeling the freakout was because of something else.
My question seemed to bring her back to the present moment as Elle took a deep breath and answered in a bit of a calmer tone, "His grandmother."
"Where's Bernard?"
"I hit him over the head with a statue, then got the hell out of there. He was talking to her like she was still alive, but it was obvious she's been dead for days."
I pulled Elle into a tight embrace and waited for Matthew to come back out. It was clear as day when he finally did that whatever was in that house would definitely be giving Elle nightmares for a while.
The police department showed up not long after and escorted Bernard out of the house in handcuffs, straight into an awaiting ambulance. Blood dripped down his face from where Elle got her shot in.
"Ma'am." A female paramedic approached. "Can I take a look at your lip?"
It was then I noticed the smeared blood on her lip and chin. "What happened?" Using two fingers under her chin, I gently lifted her face to get a better look.
"It's nothing. A slap is all."
"A slap to the face isn't nothing," I told her. My blood boiled, and I saw red. Suddenly I had the urge to climb into the back of the ambulance and beat the fuck out of the guy.
"Hey." Elle cradled my face between her hands. "I'm fine. I gave it back to him tenfold when I hit him with that statue."
That was true. My girl didn't need a hero. She could take care of herself.
Before I could tell her as much, Molly was crashing into the two of us. "Oh my God. I'm so glad you're okay."
"Sorry I couldn't keep her contained anymore," Parker said with a wince.
"You should never have tried to contain me to begin with. This is my best friend we’re talking about."
"Molly, as you can see, I'm fine."
"You're not fine." Molly hysterically started crying again. "You were kidnapped right under my nose. I should've gone to the bathroom with you, then this would never have happened."
"Or he would've hurt you so he could take me. It was what he threatened me with anyway to get me to go with him."
I knew it had to be something like that to get her to leave the bar without much of a fight. Parker had shown me the video footage on our way to Bernard's house, and I almost couldn't believe it. Now it made sense. Elle would do anything to protect her friend.
"Parker, why don't you take Molly home," I suggested.
My teammate shot me a deer-in-headlights look, and I could tell that was the last thing he wanted to do.
Interesting.
"No, I don't want to leave you." Molly tried to argue, but Elle was prepared to take care of it.
"Rhett's right. It's late, and you should go home. I promise I'm fine. I'll call you first thing in the morning."
Molly looked between the two of us as if gauging what to do. "Fine. I know when I'm being dismissed." She looked at Parker with a Cheshire smile. "Come on, pretty boy. Take me home."
Parker looked at me and silently begged me to change my mind. For a hot second, I felt bad but that feeling quickly faded. I had someone more important to worry about.
I watched as Molly hugged Elle before walking away. Pulling Elle close again, I refused to let her go no matter what.
We spent the next hour talking to the police and explaining what happened. By the time we were finally done, I was ready to drag Elle the hell out of there and put her to bed.
"Next time you go out, it's with me. I don't care if I have to hide in the shadows while you and Molly get shit-faced. As long as I'm there and never have to get another phone call like the one I got tonight."
"Okay." Elle smiled at me sweetly.
The drive back to my place took far longer than I would've liked, despite how little traffic there was on the roads.
"Why do you look so impatient?" Elle asked me.
"Because I want you in my arms as soon as humanly possible."
That earned me a dazzling smile.
By the time we got back to my place, I was itching to get Elle into bed and told her as much when we walked through the front door.
"I need to shower first and get this stink off me. I feel like it's seeped into my pores."
Just the reminder of what she had gone through had me seeing red. I should've taken the opportunity to beat the shit out of Bernard.
"Are you going to join me?" Elle rubbed my arm seductively and lured me in with her eyes.
"If I join you in the shower, then I'm going to want to take you, and the first time we have sex won't be against the tile wall."
My fight was useless in the end, because we both knew that all she had to do was give me those come-hither eyes, and I would do anything she wanted.
Like a lost little puppy, I followed her upstairs, into the bedroom, and straight into the attached bathroom. I watched as she undressed and stepped under the spray when the water was warm enough.
"Are you just going to stand there and watch me, or do you plan on helping me wash my back?"
Screw it!
I undressed in record time except for my socks. Those suckers had me jumping around the bathroom on one foot to get them off. By the time I got into the shower, Elle was laughing at me.
"You won't be laughing when I have you pinned to the wall screaming my name."
"Promises, promises," she challenged.
And boy did I accept the challenge.
Grabbing her leg, I hefted it up so it rested on my hip, then slammed her back against the tiled wall. I drowned out her moan with my mouth as I kissed her feverishly.
Our tongues dueled for control. But in the end, my need for her was stronger, and Elle surrendered to the onslaught.
Her delicate hands traced up my biceps and wrapped around my neck as her fingernails scraped along my scalp. If I wasn't so far gone in her, I would've purred at the feeling.
Tearing my lips from hers, I begged her to wrap her legs around my waist.
"This first time is going to be hard and fast, but I promise to make it up to you the second time."
"Please just fuck me already."
Her wish was my command. I slammed into her and caught her scream with my lips. Preventing her head from falling back in ecstasy.
I set a brutal pace, but it was all I could do not to be a two-pump chump; that was how good she felt wrapped around my cock.
Our combined grunts and the sound of flesh pounding against one another filled the small room and mixed with the sound of water raining down around us.
"I need you here with me, beautiful."
"I'm so close."
Yeah she was. I could feel her pussy walls quiver around my shaft, and it only further pushed me on until I had her screaming my name.
I joined her shortly after with her name falling from my lips on a grunt.
I dropped my head to hers and whispered, "I'm sorry that was hard and fast."
"Don't apologize. It was exactly what I needed tonight."
Scooping Elle up, I turned off the shower and stepped out. Still dripping wet, I carried Elle to my bed and laid her down on the sheets.
"We are going to get the bed all wet." She tried to shimmy out of my embrace to get up, but I wasn't having it.
"I don't care. I can change them later, or they will dry eventually." It didn't much matter to me at the moment. All I cared about was having a conversation about what just happened between us.
Settling in next to her, I began to run my finger along her bare stomach.
"I didn't use a condom," I unceremoniously blurted out.
Elle didn't tense like I expected her to. "I know; I was there, remember?"
I rolled my eyes heavenward. "I know you were there. I just wanted you to know I've never done that before with anyone, and I'm safe. They ran all the tests in the hospital."
"I know that too, and besides, I'm on birth control, and I've never had sex without a condom either."
Why did hearing her say that she was on birth control make me sad? Children was something I never thought about having.
"You know if you weren't on birth control and happened to get pregnant, I wouldn't be upset about it."
Elle looked as surprised as I felt when the words left my mouth.
"You wouldn't be?"
"No, you're my future, and if the future involves kids, then so be it."
"But would you be happy about it?"
A loaded question for sure.
"I'm happy as long as you're happy."
I could tell that wasn't the response she wanted to hear, but it was the best I could offer at the moment because it was the truth. I wanted her happy, and as long as something was half her, I knew it would be good.