Chapter 21 Thea
“I’m not going to therapy, '' I said, laughing. It was Wednesday afternoon and two weeks had passed since Marcusgate, which Anna had coined to describe my ex’s dramatic return into my life.
“Thea,” my brother urged. “We talked about this.”
I tried to pretend like the pleading look in his eyes didn’t pull at my heartstrings, but it did.
We were lounging in the pool to cool off from the midday New Mexico heat.
Maverick was looking absolutely delicious in his swim trunks and bare chest. He sat against the edge of the pool and his sunglasses hid his expression, but I knew he was eavesdropping.
“No,” I said. “You were talking, I was listening. I don’t need therapy.”
“You do need therapy,” he said. “You have PTSD that hasn’t been properly treated in nearly 10 years.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ve been treating it just fine, thank you,” I said, saluting. Who was he to judge how I had been taking care of myself? I had been doing it alone for just as long, and now he wanted to be brother of the year or something.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Maverick stand up and walk over to us.
“Come with me,” his deep voice said as he peered down at me with his hand stretched out. Excitement pooled in my stomach as a smile crept on my face.
“My hero,” I said, cheekily and placed my hand in his.
He laughed as he swiftly pulled me up onto my feet. “I’m not trying to fuck you, babe. Let’s go for a ride.”
“Gross,” my brother said, walking away toward Serena, Anna and Hollywood.
“Not the type of ride I was hoping to take, but fun all the same,” I said. “I’ll go change.”
Walking away, I felt his rough hand quickly slap my bathing suit covered ass cheek and I shrieked.
“We’ll take that other kind of ride later, babe. Don’t worry.”
I heard whistles and cheers coming from the table of eavesdroppers and laughed, flipping them the bird as I walked upstairs to my room to change into more appropriate clothes for riding.
I didn’t know where he was taking me, but the calming feeling of the wind grazing against my skin and the warmth coming from being pressed against Maverick’s back made me not want to question it.
I loved riding on the back of his bike, his woody, warm smell and watching how he carefully glided his bike along the road, completely in control.
Like his bike, my heart was being led by him and I often wondered if he felt the same sense of control as riding.
The more time I spent with him, the less I thought about leaving.
I knew this was dangerous since I was on borrowed time, but no matter how many times I reminded myself that I couldn’t hold on to Maverick, something inside of me just wouldn’t let go.
We rode around under the desert sun for what seemed like an eternity before we started to approach a lake covered in trees and shade. Thank god, I thought to myself.
He pulled off the road and stopped where a narrow trail disappeared into the trees. Maverick ushered me to get off. I obliged and swung my leg over, smoothing my hair down as I watched as the smolderingly sexy man dismounted his bike.
Sometimes I felt like just watching him could get me off, but part of me knew that was mostly from the vibrating contraption that I had just ridden on.
After grabbing a blanket that was folded in his saddlebag, he turned around to face me and noticed me checking him out and a smart-ass grin crossed his face.
“Like what you see, babe?” He said gruffly in my ear.
His smooth, enchanting voice sent a shiver down my body.
God, he was so full of himself, and I hated how much I liked that about him.
I slapped his jean covered ass and laughed.
“You know I do, babe,” I teased.
He let out a sexy chuckle and grabbed my hand. “C’mon, horndog.”
I rolled my eyes and let him lead me down the trail. We hiked the trail for a while, and my urge to pretend like I wasn’t huffing and out of breath was fleeting with every step.
“If you’re taking me out here to kill me,” I said between huffs of breath. “Can you at least do it now and then carry my body to bury it up there.”
He laughed at me. “We’re almost there, love.”
Love. I hated how the nickname made me feel, even weaker than when he calls me babe. Instead of letting myself blush from the new term of endearment, I continued walking.
We finally made it to the top of the trail. I was breathing hard while trying to take in the scenery. It was a beautiful hilltop covered in a bowl of trees overlooking the water. I was starting to think Maverick was a sucker for a good view.
I let out a steady whistle to acknowledge the beautiful view.
“It’s beautiful, huh?” he asked me as he laid the blanket out on the ground and then sat down. “Take a seat.”
I listened and sat beside him giving him a smile.
Even though he’d probably kill me if he knew I thought so, he was beautiful.
In like a rugged, deep way. I didn’t know I had a type, but I was starting to think Maverick was it.
If that wasn’t a sign, the way my heartbeat raced when he gave me his signature grin surely did.
“Not that I mind, but why did you bring me here?”
He let out a breath and looked over at me and said, “I haven’t been here since I first got out of the Marines.”
“How come?”
“I don’t know,” he said and his eyes flashed towards the ground almost as if he was uncertain of his next words. “I don’t need it anymore. It was the place I went to clear my head when my PTSD got too bad.”
Now it was my turn to let out a breath. I knew there was a reason he brought me here: therapy. I sat there in silence, hoping he’d either continue talking or understand that I didn’t want to.
“I don’t think it was one specific instance or event that made me get it, I just saw a lot of shit over the years that rewired my brain,” he said. “But, I do have the moment I knew I needed to get out.”
He let his voice trail, so I decided to finally say something.
“What was the moment?”
With a deep breath, I saw his eyes almost turn dark as he started to think.
“We were a small team of four, patrolling. Just like we did every other day. Hawk, Lucas and Tiny were my brothers, just like the club,” he said as a smile crept on his face.
“Lucas was a fucking idiot. He loved to fuck around and tell jokes. One moment, we were all laughing, the next, we heard a woman scream from a couple of houses over, so we went to check it out…”
“When we walked in, we saw her. She couldn’t have been much older than us.
She was lying there covered in blood with her throat slit from ear to ear.
We heard a noise from the corner and we saw a kid, probably about 15 or so, holding the bloody knife.
He looked so scared, but before we could react, he slit his own throat. ”
He paused and I felt like the air was sucked out of my lungs as I imagined the scene he was painting. He looked up at me and I put my arm on his shoulder to assure him I was fine and that he could continue.
“Shit was brutal,” he said. “I had never seen anything like it, but it was a setup. As soon as the kid dropped to the floor, we were under fire from a sniper across the street. It was Tiny first. He got hit dead center in his forehead and fucking dropped right beside me. He had two kids and a wife back home. A few seconds later, the rest of us got shot, too. Lucas,” he paused.
“Fuck, Lucas was just a kid. Not even legal to drink, I watched him die, heard him pray to God to see his parents just one more time and then he was gone. Sometimes I still can see the look in his eyes as he cried while bleeding out.”
Tears welled in my eyes, but I didn’t want to take away from his pain, so I quickly swiped them away. I leaned into him, pressing my head into his shoulder.
“That’s when I knew I had to get out of the Marines.
I was fighting a war that wasn’t even mine to fucking fight,” he added.
“I wanted to tell you that story because I wanted you to know you’re not alone, babe.
I know what it’s like to watch someone you care about die, and I know how it sticks with you, which is why I want you to do that therapy shit your brother was talking about.
My pops used to tell me that you aren’t on the jury who decides what events will happen in your life, but you’re the judge who gets to pick out your sentence.
It’s time to work this shit out so you can finally breathe without your demons chasing you. ”
Now, the tears were cascading down my face.
His words settled deep inside of me, He was right, I didn’t get to choose what happened to me, but I did have a choice in how I could live after.
I didn’t want to be Orphan Annie anymore.
I didn’t want to be shackled down by the trauma of my past. I wanted to be the girl that Maverick made me feel like I was when his blue eyes stared down at me, which was free.
“Okay,” I said.
“Okay?”
“Okay,” I laughed and wiped the tears from my eyes. With pride, he cupped my face, pulling me in for a kiss. This kiss wasn’t lustful or sexy, it was deep as if we were both longing for a connection that was deeper than where we were or had ever been.
The kiss didn’t stop, Maverick grunted and pulled me to lie on top of him as his back fell to the ground.
His hands moved from face on to my ass as he gently squeezed before giving my left check a slap.
I moaned, biting down on his lip. I took the opportunity to plant my lips across his cheek and down his neck.
I let my tongue stroke across his skin before sucking, he let out several deep moans as his hands continued to squeeze on my ass.
After biting down on his neck, he flipped us over swiftly.
“Fuck,” he grunted as he looked down at me stary eyed.
With one leg pressed between my thighs, he was pinning me down, and I think he realized it too because a smile flashed across his face before he placed another soft kiss on my face followed by a few more.
He dropped his head down to my ear, softly biting my ear as his hands traced down to the buttons of my jeans.
Opening them, he moved his hand down to slide his finger across my clit.
I let out a moan as the sensation warmed my core.
“Always so wet,” his rough, sultry voice whispered in my ear.
“You want me to fuck you right here out in the open don’t you? ”
Speechless, I let out an affirming moan as he furiously fingered my pussy.
“Please, Maverick,” I begged.
He let out a dark chuckle before letting my pussy go.
I wanted to yell at him not to stop, but I knew he wanted me to get naked.
Once he leaned off of me, I took off my shirt and slid my jeans and panties off.
We were in such a secluded area, I wasn’t worried about people seeing us, but truthfully, I didn’t care.
All I cared about was getting his dick inside of me.
Now naked, he got into the same position as before except his dick was now pressed against my soaking wet pussy. In one sudden movement, he sank his cock deep into my core and before I could cry out, he captured my lips and began quickly pumping inside of me.
Releasing my lips, he slid one hand to grip my hip while the other one made its way to my throat. He gently squeezed and I could feel my pussy getting wetter.
“Fuck, Thea.” He said to me as continued giving me every inch of his dick. “I love you and this little tight pussy of yours.”
I tried to hide the shock on my face by closing my eyes. Did he really just say he loved me?
I felt his lip press against mine and I opened my eyes to meet his.
“That’s right, Thea,” he said, making his strokes deeper and perfectly pressing against my g-spot. “You heard me right, babe. I said I love you and this little tight pussy of yours.”
Every word he said, he pounded into me in sync as if to make his message clear.
Well, message delivered because something felt like it broke in me, but not in a painful way, in a freeing way, and the orgasm rising up in me wasn’t helping either.
I was completely entranced in the beautiful moment Maverick and I were sharing together.
Maverick flipped us over so I was riding his dick on top of him.
He gave me one of his delicious smirks as he saw the way I was coming undone because of him.
His thumb found its way to my clit and started rubbing circles into it.
I cried out as the new sensation mixed with his thick cock drumming in and out of me was sending me over the edge.
“That’s it, baby,” he grunted. “Let it out. God, you look so fucking beautiful when you take my cock.”
His words sent me over the edge and I drowned in one of the most intense orgasms I had ever had. My whole body was on fire and Maverick was the fuel making me burn even brighter. I had no chance fighting the flames and not being consumed by him.
“I love you,” I cried out as I continued to ride out my orgasm. “Fuck. I love you, Maverick Walker.”
He grunted and plunged his cock deep inside of me as he reached his own orgasm, sending another wave of pleasure through my body.
Before either of us could react, rain fell from the sky as if the floodgates just opened.
I screamed as the cool water hit my back, drenching us.
We both started laughing. I tried to get off him, but he just pulled me back down and got on top of me before he started fucking me again.
I didn’t believe in omens, but fuck, if I did…