Chapter Twenty-Three #3
The last few words of that statement take me by storm, embedding into my heart.
“But you want more, I’ll give you more.” He follows that up with a powerful surge of his hips, stealing every bit of air from my lungs.
I cling to his broad shoulders as he sets an almost savage pace. As if the permission set off something untamable inside of him.
My mouth parts from the intensity, nails digging into his skin as I accept every frantic thrust. It’s raw, wild, and the realest thing I have ever felt.
His stoned expression hardens as he continues to fight release. My hand lifts to the side of his face. “I promise to catch you too.”
Something flickers in the darkness of his gaze, something beautifully devastating, before he succumbs to the pleasure.
He groans long and hard, burying his face into my neck, his harsh breath cascading across my skin. I hold him through it all, loving the vulnerability from him.
Afterward, he lifts his head from my shoulder, our gazes locking in the darkness of his room. “What the hell did I ever do in this life before you?”
The question has a smile dancing across my lips. “Live without stalkers and death threats?”
He chuckles, the deep sound filling my heart. “Stalkers? Yes. Death threats? No. I am a Creed after all.”
His response has a laugh tumbling free.
Dropping a kiss on my smiling mouth, he pulls me up to the pillows and gathers me in his arms, arranging my naked body so its draped around his warm one.
“Need to shower before I get too comfortable,” I murmur.
“Not tonight.”
I frown at the quick rejection. “Why not?”
“Because I don’t want any part of me washed off your skin.”
Little does he know, there is no amount of water that could wash him off of me.
Regardless, I give him what he wants and stay right where I am.
My fingers trace over the hard lines of his stomach and ribs, encountering the tattoo that marks his skin.
“Why a dragon?” I ask.
Time comes to a stand still before he answers. “Because it represents part of my culture.”
I look up at him, waiting for elaboration.
“My birth mother is half Japanese,” he explains vaguely, a shift happening within his tone. “Even though I want nothing to do with her, my father says it’s important to embrace your heritage. So, when my brothers and I decided to get our first tattoo together, I chose this.”
I nod in understanding. “That makes sense.”
“I don’t know about that, but I do like what it represents.”
“And what’s that?”
“Power, strength, and good fortune.”
I mull over those words and realize how incredibly fitting they are for him. Turning onto my stomach, I prop a fist on his chest, resting my chin on it. “Know what I think?”
“What?” he asks, brushing a piece of hair out of my face.
“I think you represent that tattoo more than it does you.”
A handsome smirk softens his face. “I like the way you think, Wonderland.”
“What about your brothers?” I ask. “What did they get?”
“Justice chose a tribal design that represents his Brazilian heritage and Knox…well, Knox hasn’t stopped, as you probably noticed.”
“I have,” I say, amused.
He shrugs. “It suits him.”
I have to agree. It’s hard to picture Knox without all those tattoos.
With the subject on his brother, I steer the conversation in another direction.
“Did the two of you have a good talk tonight?”
“Yeah,” he says, but mentions nothing else.
“Did he happen to tell you about our encounter this afternoon?”
He stiffens beneath me. “What encounter?”
“Nothing serious,” I assure him. “He, just, uh…well, he walked into the room while I was changing and—”
“He what?” He sits up, practically throwing me off in the process.
“It was an accident,” I rush to tell him. “He thought I was you.”
He peers back at me, his hard expression indecipherable. “Start talking, Alice.”
“He didn’t see anything. Well…except the scars.” The confession escapes me on a whisper, my gaze falling with it.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
I shrug. “I didn’t think it was a big deal.”
It’s a lie. It was a huge deal, I just didn’t know how to bring it up.
“Was he nice to you?” he asks.
“Yes, he didn’t say much, but he did make a remark about he and I having more in common than he thought.”
Braxten visibly swallows, his expression becoming grave.
“He was hurt too, wasn’t he?” I ask carefully.
He nods.
“Like you?”
“No, not like me,” he says, gruffly. “Not like Justice, not like anyone else I know.”
Including me.
He doesn’t have to say it. I can see it in the torment on his face.
“Is that why you guys did it?” I whisper, finally asking the one question that has burned inside of me since Linda revealed all she did in the hospital.
“Mostly,” he admits. “But not always. Sometimes it was just as much for Justice and me.”
That hits harder than I care to admit. It also has me thinking about what I stumbled upon earlier in the woods.
“What about Ryanne?” I ask, hating the sick feeling that forms in the pit of my stomach.
His expression never wavers. “What about her?”
He knows exactly what I am asking, but is forcing me to say it. I don’t hold back. Not this time. “Have you been with her?”
“Does it matter?”
Annoyance fills me as he continues to answer my questions with one of his own. “Yes it does, so please just answer me.”
The look he gives me along with his hesitation is a punch to the heart, especially when I think about what just took place between us.
God. I am so stupid.
Grabbing the sheet, I cover myself, suddenly feeling exposed in the worst way.
“Don’t!” he warns.
“Don’t what?” The words barely make it past the thickness of my throat.
“This!” he snaps, pulling the sheet from me.
Glaring at him, I rip it back.
His jaw flexes. “Look, it’s not what you think.”
A bitter laugh escapes me. “I may not be the most experienced person, but I am not a complete idiot.”
“I am telling you what happened with Ryanne was different. I didn’t fucking touch her.”
“How is that even possible?” I ask, my voice pitching in frustration.
“I watched my brother fuck her and got off on it, nothing else, nothing more!”
“Like what happened between us tonight,” I say, trying to hide the hurt in my voice.
“No, not like tonight.”
I shake my head, not believing him. It’s hard to when I think about all the things he just said during our intimate encounter.
He grabs my shoulders, forcing me to look at him.
“It was one time, Alice. Our goodbye to each other, that’s it.
Is it fucked up? Yes. Is what we did for all these years fucked up?
Probably, but that’s how we coped. It’s how we helped my brother through his trauma while working through our own.
I get you might not understand it and you might not like it, but you have to accept it because I can’t change the past. That is not the future though. That part of my life is over…for good.”
“Are you sure?” I ask, my worry making its way to the surface. “Are you sure you can live without having that kind of bond with your brothers? Especially Knox? Because I don’t want to be responsible for breaking up something that means so much to you.”
“It doesn’t mean more than you.” The conviction in those words matches what’s prevalent in his eyes, easing the hurt inside of me.
“We knew it would come to an end one day. We just didn’t know when.
At least, I didn’t…until the day I found you.
” His hand lifts to my cheek, the warmth of it soothing every insecurity I have.
It changes the moment entirely and gives me the courage to say what I do next. “I confessed something to Knox today,” I tell him on a whisper. “Something I probably should have told you first.”
His expression remains impassive, but there is no denying the concern there. “Yeah, and what’s that?”
“That I’m in love with you and that I was sorry it hurt him.”
My heart pounds in my chest as he stares back at me, a complete lack of emotion still gripping his face.
“You told him that you were in love with me?”
I nod, beginning to regret the confession. Until the faintest smirk curls his lips.
“Come here, Wonderland.”
Before I can anticipate the move, he lifts me, settling me over his bare lap.
A sharp breath impales my lungs at the feel of his hardening length between my thighs.
“Feel this?” He punctuates with a thrust of his hips. “This is what you do to me, every second of every day.” Grabbing my hand, he slides it across his chest, bringing it to rest over his beating heart. “And this? This has been yours since the day I found you.”
The sweet profession brings a smile to my face that disappears when he shifts beneath me, sliding himself inside of my body.
“Oh,” I exhale on a whimper, my swollen flesh gripping him extra tight.
He lies back, bringing his cock deeper. “Say it.” His voice is rough with the demand. “Say it with me inside of you.”
“I love you.” The three words leave my lips on a breathless whisper.
“Show me.”
I begin an uneven rhythm, trying to find momentum. His hands span my waist as a guide to help me, but it’s not necessary for long. My hips eventually take on a life of their own, falling in sync with every move of his.
“That’s it, baby,” he rasps. “Fuck me just like that.”
My hands brace on the hardness of his stomach, pain and pleasure becoming one as my hips swivel and swirl.
Reaching up, he cups the side of my face, and the way he looks up at me in this moment will forever be one of my most favorite memories.
His fingers trace their way across my skin before one pauses at my lips. “Suck it.”
Following the order, I taking it into my mouth, sucking it deep. The act incredibly erotic as he fills another part of my body.
His dark eyes glow bright in the shadows of the room before he pulls the finger out and drops his hand between our joined bodies. With that same finger, he slips it through my wet folds, teasing the hooded button that pulsates for relief.
My back arches, a heated cry fleeing past my lips. I move faster on top of him, chasing the high and before long I’m tumbling down that dark rabbit hole once again, a place that has me feeling anywhere but lost.
Braxten follows right along with me, both of us finding that mind numbing pleasure together.
Afterwards, I drop down on top of him, completely and utterly depleted.
His arms come around me, holding me close. “I love you too, Alice.” The impact of those words whisper across my skin, bringing me to the one place I have searched for since waking up.
Home.