Chapter 30
THIRTY
LIAM
Sleep evades both Kat and me as we lay in bed staring up at the ceiling.
Reggie and Hamish have finally calmed down to a vague truce, more on Reggie’s side if I’m being honest. Hamish would love to climb up and become Reggie’s cuddle bud, but the grumpy cat is having none of it.
So Kat and I lie beside each other, too exhausted to go over everything again, but too antsy to sleep.
Turning onto my side, I look at her profile. The bruises are starting to abate, and we’ve mostly stayed in to avoid anyone else reacting the way Ellie did. I hate that Gregory managed to hurt her. My stupidity in lying to her nearly cost her life. I’ll spend forever making it up to her.
Assuming we get out of this unscathed, because things are getting messy. Between Ellie seeing our bruises and Freddie getting involved, it feels like there are vultures circling.
Kat’s been quiet all day. Nothing but monosyllabic answers and spacing out.
I don’t know how to reach her. Normally we just ignore the hard times and fuck hard enough to forget the bad stuff for a night.
After Saturday, I’m scared of going there with her.
I’ve been through what she’s going through, and for a very long time, I didn’t want anyone to touch me ever again.
Giving her that space matters to me, but it also seems to be closing off everything else.
‘Kat,’ I say softly. ‘Come here.’
She rolls against me, one thigh crossing mine and her head lying next to my collarbone. Her soft tresses spill around her, and I trail my fingers through the silken strands.
‘Are you okay?’ I ask.
‘Not really. Are you?’
‘Better with you here.’ I kiss the top of her head, and when she looks up, I add another kiss to her nose.
Her blue eyes darken, the pupils dilating. Sliding a hand into my hair, she tugs my mouth to hers and kisses me like she’s starving. Not just horny, but desperate. Having her touching me feels so fucking good that I let it happen, swallowing down a wince when her thigh nudges my ribs.
I’m hard before I can think straight. Fuck, I’ve missed her. Missed this. Feeding my obsession with her.
‘Kat,’ I gasp her name between slides of our tongues.
‘I need you,’ she demands. ‘Help me escape.’
‘Baby,’ I say as she tugs down my boxer shorts and pulls me against her heat. ‘Slow down.’
‘I can’t.’ She adjusts her hips until the head of my cock slips inside, that addictive hot wetness stealing my breath. My ribs scream as I turn onto my side so I can slide into her fully.
A selfish part of me can’t stop myself. She’s my home. A little slice of perfection in this dark and twisted world.
‘Fuck,’ I moan. Her breath catches, and I pull back a little, seeing her cheeks wet.
‘Don’t stop,’ she demands, her nails digging into my backside and pulling me deeper. ‘I’m fine.’
‘You’re not fine. You’re crying.’
‘It doesn’t matter.’
Holding her hips still, I pull back enough to see her face fully. ‘Look at me, Kat.’
‘I want to escape.’
Her tears flow, and it breaks my heart. I want to give her everything she needs, but I also need to make sure she’s okay. The sex we’ve had in the past few months has gotten darker and darker, which is fun and hot, but we’ve both been avoiding real intimacy for a while.
‘We can’t keep hiding in each other, baby,’ I say, wiping her tears with my thumb.
‘I can’t fuck you like we have been after what happened this weekend, not without talking to you first. Every time something breaks one of us, we hide from it.
What happened, or nearly happened, this weekend is serious. I need to know you’re okay.’
Her brow furrows, wet lashes sticking together. ‘Do you not want me after seeing him touch me?’
‘God, no. Kat.’ The words come out strangled, and I brush my fingers over her jaw, staring into those sweet blue eyes.
‘You are the single most precious person in the universe. What that monster did to you doesn’t change that.
Nothing could ever change that. I will burn for your touch until the day I die, and still beyond.
But we have time. All the time in the world to get back to this.
I know what it’s like, and I don’t want you to feel how I felt by having to do things too soon. ’
Kat’s fingers lace between mine on her cheek. ‘I need you. I can’t have him be the last person who touched me. I can’t. It needs to be my choice.’
A part of my heart breaks for my girl, but I know I can do that for her. With her.
‘Promise that you’ll stay with me.’
She nods and pulls me into a kiss that’s still as needy, but in a softer way. We take our time, me still inside her, but kissing through the pain for a long time before I slowly begin to rock my hips.
‘Look at me,’ I demand. Her eyes open, flicking to mine and holding there as I scoop to fill her fully. A sweet gasp tumbles from her lips, her mouth parting as pleasure starts to fill the broken parts of us. ‘That’s it, Princess. Look at you. Perfection.’
KAT
Liam holds me so tenderly that it breaks my heart all over again. What did I do to deserve him?
My tears still trickle, but it’s not fear or sadness now. It feels like a cleansing. A much-needed reconnection with my man.
‘I love you,’ he murmurs, kissing his way down my neck. ‘All of you. And no matter what happens to the flesh, my heart will always beat for you.’
Liam grunts as he rolls us over, pinning me beneath his weight, thick muscles corded in his arms.
‘Your ribs,’ I say, wrapping my arms around his shoulders as he tips my hips to spread me wide for him.
‘Ribs be damned, my girl needs me,’ he says. The pain is at the edge of his words, but when he gives me a thrust so long and deep and slow, I forget all about it.
My breath catches with each deep stroke. Every circle of his hips makes me see new heights. Beyond even the more dangerous games we play. It’s been so long since we had raw, emotional sex, and I pull his face to mine to lose myself in his lips.
‘I’ve got you,’ he says when I begin to tremble. ‘You’re safe.’
‘Liam,’ I moan. Sweat slicks between us, heat rolling with the pleasure, building until I can’t tell where I end and he begins. I trace my fingers over his back, mapping every dip and scar, committing every inch of him to memory.
Then he tips his glorious dick so his piercing hits me just right, and I lose control.
I come panting into his mouth, the orgasm ripping through me with an intensity that has me whimpering.
My thighs grip tight around him, and he gives a pained cry, but doesn’t slow his deliciously deep strokes until he falls over the edge with me.
I adore the way his back ripples and tenses. The way he groans fuck with such a deeply low tone that it vibrates through us both.
‘Never doubt how much I’m obsessed with you, my love. You’re my endgame. No matter what.’
‘And you’re my universe,’ I whisper, kissing him and enjoying the way his cock still twitches deep inside me.
When he slides from my body, I almost demand he puts himself right back in there. Until he slips down the bed, clutching his side and settles between my thighs.
‘What are you doing?’ I ask.
‘Cleaning up my mess.’