Chapter 24
Lily
T he door closed and I stood looking at it with my jaw on the floor. I had just stripped naked before all of them and they ran away like scared little cats.
Just a little less than a week ago, they were on me at the drop of a hat; I had to enforce a rule to keep them away. A rule that led to me being captured and on the verge of death not once, but twice.
I just wanted to go back to before I made that stupid rule, before I gave them space and asked for space. And I knew it wasn't all about sex. I knew what we had was stronger than that. When you're in hell, your soul doesn't beg to be reunited with someone just because of sex. You don't drop everything you're doing and get on a plane when there's an emergency because you love fucking someone. Or decide to change your whole life for them, like these men have done for me. And open up more than just your body for them.
I'd had a lot of sex with a lot of men before them, and my heart hadn't ignited until they came into the picture. I knew they were emotionally available and could be the rocks I needed to lean on and talk me through my hellish ordeal. But that wasn't the point. I just wanted to be reminded about the parts of us that made me feel the most alive before this.
I loved that they wanted to be there for me. But I wasn't ready to talk about this yet. What I wanted was them, fucking the last few days out of my head. Was that too much to ask for?
Shaking my head, I scoffed at the option I'd given them to join me in this giant tub. Instead of jumping at the offer to lather me up from head to toe, until I was loose and ready for the taking, they took off like a road runner cartoon and left me in the dust.
How long would it be until things were back to normal?
Climbing into the pink floral scented water with tears streaming down my face, I chugged on the alcohol-free champagne that was waiting for me on a tray next to chocolate-covered strawberries. The set up was sexy for no damn reason. Grabbing the remote next to the tray, I shut the soft music off, but then I was left with my thoughts so I turned it back on, threw the mask over my eyes and rested my head back against the Jacuzzi tub.
There was no chance in hell I was going to be able to relax.
My head bounced back off just as soon as I'd rested it and I popped the mask off my eyes.
This was a nice gesture, but even with the music, the echo was too loud. I kept thinking there was someone over my shoulder and any minute now, my head was going to be shoved beneath the water. Giving up on staying in this bathroom all alone with the door locked, I cut my bath short, and decided to call it a night.
When I marched out of the bathroom, however, I ran into all four of them standing outside my door. It was jarring at first, but all the more comforting knowing they hadn't just left me in there on my lonesome.
"What are you already doing out?" Ryan looked back at the barely sipped wine and the uneaten strawberries.
"Thanks for the thought, but..." I began to walk away before stopping in my tracks, reflecting on the way I was treating them. "Look, I'm sorry for pressuring you and acting like I don't appreciate everything you're doing. I'm just..." My voice broke. "I'm just not ready to talk about it yet, and I don't want Terry to ruin anything else in my life. He's already done enough."
At the sight of my tears, all of them rushed forward, as if the components of the tear drops leaped into the air and commingled with their DNA to trigger a biological exigency within them. Eric reached me first. The rough of his thumb brushed across my cheek and current coursed through every nerve of my skin, flipping my belly and tickling my clit.
The opportunity to indulge in the intimacy of their touch and the downpour of their love on my body was a breath away. But they'd made it clear that brushing my cheek was as far as their limits would allow them to go.
Clearing my throat, I smiled and stepped out of his touch, and forced the tears back into my body. What was the matter with me? All I could focus on was what I wanted, and couldn't have. When I was finally home. Every minute I was away, I dreamed of reuniting with them, and I was back. I no longer had to live in the nightmare of my childhood home, instead, I was in my version of a mansion. The walls were so clean, I imagined the guys either got on their hands and knees scrubbing this place, or they had a maid.
In my previous life, I was meant to be the maid, with Terry and Marco. A shiver passed through me at the thought of Terry.
The bedroom they had assigned to me was something out of a magazine. The house had no end. I hadn't seen all of it yet, and I knew I shouldn't get attached because this was an Airbnb—and I didn't know where I'd be living from this point on or where my life was heading—but I was safe in more luxury than I could have ever imagined, with all of my men.
It was like I was born again, into a new life, one that I didn't think I deserved.
The kitchen forced me to look up at its high ceilings and gawk at the natural wood finishes and sparkling appliances. The living room was a cloud of grand plush gray sofas for at least around ten people. It was complemented with red cushions, deep red curtains made from what I assumed was silk (I wouldn't know with my lack of class), big open windows and a fireplace; that area alone was as big as any house I'd lived in. It was a vacation house and for someone escaping something, it was perfect. This should have been healing for me. Yet, all I could focus on was what the man who had the nerve to call himself my father had put me through.
It wasn't about the luxury of the house; my men, who moved heaven and earth to rescue me, were inside it. That's what it was about. They thought I deserved this and more.
It was about the freedom I hoped I'd have again, but thought I'd lost when that asshole had a gun pointed at my head. I had what Terry Thornbread and his accomplice tried to steal from me: freedom, love, hope. And I knew my mother was safe. I'd see her soon. So, you know what? This was it. I was done focusing on Terry. He wouldn't steal another second of my life and joy.
"I'm being a bit of a spoiled ass, aren't I?" I let out a breath, letting my eyes take in their halos, as well as the hesitation on their faces.
Stepping back toward Eric, I took the hand he dropped from my face in mine. With the other hand, I smoothed out the lines of worry from his forehead. He sighed from my touch.
"Thank you all for loving me enough to not abandon me when I needed you most."
Mirroring his earlier gesture, I ran my thumb across the sharp of his beard and leaned in to kiss his cheek. Before I could pull away, however, he cupped mine and turned me toward him. His eyes were closed and his breath was easy as he moved in for my lips. I melted into him and he deepened the kiss, his breath becoming more hungry and desperate.
Panting, I pulled back. "Wait...I thought you didn't want to."
"Not want to? That's not why..." He searched my face with his darkened, glossy eyes.
His hands moved over my shoulder and I shivered, becoming more aware that I was wearing nothing but this short, white terry-cloth towel.
Behind me, heat wrapped around my back. A kiss on my neck sent my heart racing.
Ryan sighed. "You don't know how many times I played this moment over and over in my mind."
I noted how gentle their touches were, how unsure. "Then, what's stopping you?" I breathed.
"You're fragile." Ethan groaned, moving in to turn my lips toward him and brush them with a kiss.
"I'm not." I shook my head.
"You need some rest." Matt pulled my face in his direction.
I was breathless. "I don't. I need you."
With that, my towel fell away and my body was lit up by the kisses coming in from everywhere. Oh, fuck yes.
Letting my eyes fall shut, I gave into their hands, lips, beards, tongues...oh, it was so much, I could burst.
A hand moved up to squeeze my breast and I moaned into Matt's mouth before throwing my head back.
Ryan groaned, pulling me away from the spider web of arms and legs.
"I want you so bad." He rasped and his hand ran down the front of my body toward my clit.
"Oh, yes. Please. Ryan..." I breathed, sobbing his name. My legs trembled against him and my ass rubbed against his cock.
My eyes were squeezed shut as I held onto this wave of heart-stopping pleasure. His lips found my neck again and my lower belly wept. Writhing against him, I started to wail as his fingers picked up the sweet pace against my desperate clit. He walked me into the wall, pressing my face up against the cool of it. My sore, jutting nipples could scrape the paint off. I was eager as I spread my legs for him, my vagina dripping as he pressed up against me. My legs left the floor when he teased my hole with a bit of him, and slapped my ass with his powerful cock.
My mouth fell open. My tongue hung out. I was thirsty for more.
"Ryan, please." I begged, shutting my eyes as sweat poured from my pores.
He couldn't get enough of my body, tasting me all over, licking up the sweat from my neck to my spine, biting on my asscheeks and burying his face in my pussy.
"Oh, my, fuck." My hips buckled on first contact and I braced my hands against the solid wall. My body was water. Waves rushed against the current, up and down my spine, as he gripped my ass, spread my cheeks and buried his face deeper.
He stroked me with everything: his nose, his fucking lashes, his beard, his lips, all of it worked together with his tongue against my pussy and I cried.
"Yes. Yes! Please. Fuck, yes! Oh, fuck. I love you." The words left me in a deep, guttural wobble that I was too lost in ecstasy to be embarrassed about.
There was a grin behind me and I jumped when I opened my eyes to see Ethan through the fog of my vision. "Let's take you to bed," he said.
"Not yet." Ryan argued, pinning my body into the wall with his and piercing me with his member.
The distraction of Ethan made the unpreparedness for Ryan's dick probing me even sweeter and my body short-circuited as he plowed me. I shook and tightened around him after his first three pumps and he took that as encouragement to bend his knees and fuck me up the wall, burying himself deeper and higher until I swore he was stroking my clit from the inside. His wood stretched the nub and I might have been delusional here, but his dick was pushing my clit into the wall. All the friction against my nipples, my clit, my slick, needy hole reached its peak and threw me over the edge.
"Fuck, Lily." Ryan didn't hold back, filling me up with his hot cum. I wept, shuddering from the heavy load that pounded my insides.
"Mmm..." I bit my lip, rubbing against him with the slickness of us both stroking Ryan's still hard but tender dick. He kissed me, throwing his hips against my ass until he was empty.
A full free laugh tumbled from me and before I knew it, I was falling into the arms of Ethan who was waiting to catch me. He wrapped my legs around his waist and I was pleased to find that he had stripped to every inch of his body, and that he was hard. So fucking hard. He kissed me and carried me toward the giant cloud of a bed that produced an automatic need for me to stretch my limbs out as soon as my back hit the bedding.
A quadruple thrill threat. A bed straight out of a dream, the rush of hormones combined with the endorphins of that stretch, my body still riding the waves of that orgasm and Ethan, all man and muscle, climbing on top of me. His cock rested against my thigh and I stared up into his brown eyes.
"It feels like you were gone forever." He confessed, choking on his words.
"I'm happy to be back." I reached up to run my hand across his fuller than usual beard. "Make me feel like I never left." Pulling him in by the back of his neck, I kissed his lips. "Make me forget the past two or three days."
I couldn't be sure how long it was. It did feel like I was gone forever.
He groaned, scooping his arms underneath my back and moving me further up the bed. I'll admit I was a bit lightheaded, but it didn't matter because I was alive with them. He took away every image of the kidnapping, flashing inside my head, with the pressure of his lips. His hips pushed into me as he let go, thrusting inside me, his eyes locked onto mine.
"You don't know how much I longed for this." I sobbed, clutching onto his broad back and digging my nails in.
He was surprised when I managed to topple him over onto his back. The action made me sway.
Jumping up, he wrapped his hands around my waist to keep me from falling backward. "You okay?"
He removed his cock from my pussy.
"Lily!" Ryan yelled, hurrying toward me. I held my hand up.
"I'm okay. I'm okay." I smiled, leaning forward to kiss Ethan again.
He pulled away. "Maybe we should stop..." he started, but I looked down at his throbbing member.
"Doesn't look like you want to stop." I wrapped my hand around it, stroking him and delighting in the way he couldn't resist my touch.
"Lily." He gritted his teeth.
"I'll go get you some water." Matt stroked my back and I leaned in to give him a kiss.
At the thought of water, however, my stomach growled and I thanked the heavens that this lightheadedness had more to do with hunger than the blast to my head.
"Some food too? Dessert. Something I can lick off your bodies."
Eric must have been a mind reader because as Matt turned to head out, he bumped into Eric bringing in a tray with ice cream, chocolates and more of those chocolate-covered strawberries that I had refused to eat earlier. Yeah, I was paying for it now.
Eric looked so much better. The luster in his hair was restored. The waves of his reddish-brown hair, bleached by the sun, were tighter and soft to the touch. It swept across the ties of the apron he was wearing. And by the looks of it, that was all he was wearing.
"Lily!" Ethan grabbed my hand and pulled it off him. I'd forgotten I was still stroking it. It was so smooth in my hands, so full and fun to tug on. Plus I was caught up in how good Eric looked. "Fuck." Ethan shuddered, gripping the cloud-like bedding.
I was surprised he hadn't busted a load yet. I was happy he hadn't.
"Sorry." I grinned, rolling off him and reaching for the tray of desserts. "Where'd you get that?" I eyed Eric's dark blue apron.
"I found it in the kitchen." He shrugged. "You like the way it fits?" Eric asked as I put a strawberry in my mouth. He gave me the full three hundred and sixty degrees of tight ass, toned back, strong arms.
"I do." I let the strawberry juice trickle down my chin.
"You do? Do you?" His eyes lit up as he reached out with his thumb to swipe some of that juice for himself and lick it off his finger. I was hoping he'd kiss it off my lips. Tease.
"What's the matter with you?" Eric looked over at Ethan who was rolling away from the bed.
"Nothing." He ran his hand through his hair and headed across the hall to the bedroom, cock still strong. "I just need to use the bathroom."
"Lily almost fainted." Ryan filled Eric in.
"What?! Is it your head?" Eric fussed over me, cupping both hands around my face in the most unsexy way.
"No. Well, yes. But only because I'm hungry. And I'm eating now, so can you all just come over here, lay down and get comfortable? Matt?!" I called.
"Yeah, babe?" He shouted back.
"Come here! I want to try something. And bring some ice cubes. Ethan? Where are you going?"
I asked when he didn't go to the bathroom.
Carrying a piece of chocolate with me, I sauntered into his bedroom to find him sitting on his bed, jerking the fuck out of his cock.
"What are you doing?!" I gasped. "I wanted...it."
He paused, guilt flushing his cheeks. "You need to get your strength up. And rest."
"Are you serious?" I walked toward him, and shoved a piece of chocolate in his mouth before kissing it back out. "We just need to get creative. Take it slow. I promise. I'm loving this. And I miss how deep your cock goes. Don't you miss me?" I leaned over, breasts all up on him. He groaned, gripping my ass.
"Come back to the room. Fuck me while I eat." I smiled.
"Lily, fuck." He took a deep breath and I dropped my eyes to his reddened cock.
"I bet your hand doesn't feel as good as my pussy. Or my mouth?" I whispered, watching goosebumps litter his skin.
Swearing, he hauled me into his arms. "I'll be gentle and slow." He promised.
"Sounds good." I grinned.
As we exited the room, we ran into Matt carrying a load of food.
"What?" He asked as we stared at him. "If you're hungry, ice cream and chocolate aren't going to fill you up, are they?" he said. "Now come and dig in."
I grinned, turning to Ethan who said, "I think he's jealous Eric brought you food first."
"Well, it looks like I'll have the energy to go all night." I smiled, kissing him as we re-entered the room.
"I think you're a sex freak." Ethan slapped my ass when I hopped off him.
"Thank you, Eric. Thank you, Matt." I purred, heading toward the trays of food and desserts laid out on the bed for me.
My skin prickled from their eyes trained on my body, even as they sat around the food, waiting to eat with me. Or eat me. I couldn't tell.
"So, who wants to feed me while I fuck Ethan?" I grinned, getting on my knees, arching my back and spreading my legs for him. Their eyes lit up and Matt beat Eric to it, raising a bowl of fried rice to my lips while Ethan got behind me.
I creased my brows at the fried rice. "Had something else in mind, but..." I moaned from the surprise of Ethan's mouth, rather than his cock, stimulating my core.
My head dropped and I rubbed my hips against him until I was able to breathe again.
When I looked back up, dark gazes stared back at me. I got an idea.
"Do you mind if I put something cold on your cock?" I asked Matt as Ethan plunged his tongue deep within me. I trembled, gasping from each thrust. "Fuck." I moaned, looking back at him.
"What?" Matt asked. I guess my question wasn't sexy enough.
"The ice cream, Matt. I want to suck it off your cock." I whined.
His cheeks reddened and he shifted himself into position so fast, I almost laughed.
"Well, okay. Don't knock all the food to the ground." Eric muttered, moving the trays out of Matt's way as Ryan grinned, satiated and in bliss.
"Jealous." Matt remarked, bringing his dick close to my mouth and trying not to howl as Eric dropped a spoon of ice cream on.
"Shows what you know. Lily knows I like to watch." Eric winked at me and bit his lip as I closed my mouth over Matt's cock.
Ethan pressed into me and I came instantly, the sweetness of the ice cream sending a rush through my nipples, Ethan's full, long cock hitting the sweetest spot of all and the warmth of Matt's smooth dick melting the cold cream against my tongue. I was in paradise.
After I was done spasming, I wrapped my hand around Matt's cock, milking it as he groaned. He gripped my hair, hard enough to cause tension, but gentle enough not to hurt me. He stumbled a little when his hand moved against the stitches on my head, but I was so grateful he picked up the pace again, hammering my mouth, instead of dwelling on it and shoving me into the memory of what happened all over again.
My body was on storm watch. Waves crashed over me from the gentle pounding Ethan was laying on my pussy and I approached my peak.
"Shit, Lily." Ethan ground out. "I don't think I can... Fuck, Lily."
He burst within me and a tear fell down my face. I didn't get to cum a second time and my pussy was hungrier than my mouth. I popped my lips off Matt's cock and turned around to Ethan, as I thrust my ass against the air. I was lucky when Matt came to my rescue, moving around to take Ethan's place.
He flipped me over onto my back and I was staring up into Eric's twinkling eyes. Eric passed me a chocolate-covered strawberry and I bit into it. The juices trickled down my chin and neck. Eric tilted my head backward to kiss away the sweet liquid and to my even sweeter delight, Matt moved over me to lick it off my neck, while stroking my tender, starving pussy with his fingers.
"Mmmm." I moaned into Eric's mouth, soaking Matt's fingers as his mouth on my neck brought me to my release. "More." I broke the kiss to breathe, grinding myself against Matt's hand.
He grinned and gestured to Eric for the metal jug of ice. It passed over my head and my eyes widened.
"What are you going to do with that?" I asked.
"I don't know, what were you going to do with it?" He popped an ice cube between his lips and kissed me with it.
The cold droplets leaking down the side of my face left me breathless. He moved the ice down my neck and I shivered. My pussy clenched and unclenched. Another ice cube found my nipples and I moaned, throwing my head back and catching Eric intent on the trail he was making with his cube. Hot and cold mixed together to create a thrilling concoction.
"Please." I panted, unsure what I was asking for. I didn't know if I wanted them to stop or keep going, but I knew the ice was sizzling away on my skin and the rhythm of my pulse was insane.
Eric cupped my chin, pulling my head back and abandoning his ice cube in my navel to taste my breath. He groaned and I moaned as my belly trembled from the numbing effect of the ice he left.
Matt's cold lips and tongue found my other nipple and I jerked upward, further into his mouth, as Eric feasted on mine.
"Mmmm." Matt moaned, popping another ice cube between his lips and trailing the path down my belly. I gripped the sheet, aware of every nerve being awakened. When he reached my navel, he sucked up the rest of the ice there.
There was a slight pinching pushing its way through the numbness and the unexpectedness of feeling there had my clit fluttering like I grew wings down there. Then he did the unthinkable. He moved the ice over that nub of flesh, and I broke away from Eric's lips to cry out.
With my eyes on Matt, teasing my overheating flesh with the contrasting temperature, my bones melted away and I lost all control, undulating against his mouth and crying at the shock shooting up my spine.
"Matt." I ground my hips. "Fuck me, please."
He took his time, removing his mouth and introducing his cock, and I was on the verge of collapsing, despite lying down. Shutting my eyes, I lost awareness, my body still trembling from the cold while sweat beaded across my skin.
"Nice and slow." Matt coached me throughout the dizzying fuck. "There's no need to rush." He reminded me. He took my lips with his, and pulled me away from Eric to sit me upright, on his lap.
The darkness behind my closed eyes left me clawing at Matt, chasing my release and an image of my kidnapping popped in my head, robbing me of this moment. It was weird how traumatic memories popped up at the most inconvenient times. Squeezing my eyes tighter until they started to sting, I fought with the image of just a few hours ago when I was knee-deep in the forest, unsure if I was going to make it out alive. I must have tightened around him, because Matt murmured,
"Relax. Stop running. Let me take control."
As he said those words, I awakened. Him asking to take control of my body should have freaked me out, but it didn't. I didn't know how to explain it, but it was like he opened up my head, looked inside and saw me. I locked eyes onto him and he stroked my hair.
Matt ran his hand up and down my back, tuning me back into the present. He had pulled out of me, but he took care with my breath, slowing the pace down even further, replacing the noise in my head with quiet.
Each pore took a breath; they breathed him into my skin.
"Matt..." I sighed, giving up my control to him, letting my breasts remember the cup of his hand.
My nipples indulged in this suction of his wet, warm lips. And that tongue. Oh, it teased every inch of my body, alerting the hairs on my skin.
"Matt!" I cried, hugging him tighter against me so I could be in tune with the vibration of his breath, his pulse, his heartbeat, the heat of his skin, all of it. "Matt!" I gasped as he thrust inside me again, pulling out the longest, sweetest moan that left my body like a deep breath.
"I love you." He kissed my cheek, smiling and bringing me to my next peak, before joining me over the edge. "You're safe." He panted, wrapping his arms around me. I held him close until our racing hearts leveled out their beats.
Lowering me on my back, he surrendered me to Eric who dangled an onion ring over my face.
"Eat up." He smiles.
"I'm too tired to move." I groan.
"Hmmm." Eric nods. "Oh, so you want me to feed you. Just say it."
I grinned. "I'll eat." I turned on my side, propping my head up on my hand. "But I can't eat that right now."
"Why not?" he asked, sniffing it.
"Because...I can't kiss you with onion breath." I reddened, reaching for a slice of fruit.
"Lily." He leaned forward, an inch away from my mouth. "I'd kiss you even if you had donkey breath." He smirked before shoving the onion ring in my mouth and kissing the side of my face.
"Hey!" I pushed against his shoulder, though I sighed from the juicy, greasy, oniony ring. "I can't eat too much anyway, or I'll fall asleep." Or start to get gassy, I thought, about to put the rest of the onion ring away when he snatched it from my hand and chomped it down.
"What's wrong with that?" he asked, licking his fingers.
"What do you mean? We haven't fucked yet." I scooted closer to him.
He rolled his eyes. "That's alright. We have plenty of time for that. All that matters to me is that you got what you wanted, right?" Eric said.
"Yeah, right." I reached down to stroke him. "You're bricked up."
He groaned, but pulled my hand away. "And you're tired. That's okay. We don't have to do too much all at once. If you're tired, you're tired."
Behind us, the guys snored in varying degrees of loudness. Eric and I jumped, turning to look at them and back at each other before snickering.
"Damn, Matt knocked out fast." I covered my mouth.
"Yeah, we barely got enough sleep worrying about you. I doubt you got much sleep either.
So..." He handed me a container of Chinese food. "Let's eat, I'll put the rest of the food away and you sleep."
"If you insist." I sighed before shoveling the food into my stomach. I didn't stop there, asking for half the burger he was eating, until I was so stuffed, I couldn't move. "I shouldn't have eaten so much." A loud belch escaped me and I clamped my hands over my mouth.
He grinned. As he got up to carry the tray away, my smile faded away. Going from admiring his ass, my eyes settled on the bruising across his rib that had been hiding beneath the now shifted apron. My mind went wild with assumptions, but I got up to shower, brush my teeth and return to the room, delighted to find him still awake. Either way, I would have woken him up, because I needed to know what happened.
"What did you do when you found out my father was involved?" I asked, putting on the short pajama set Matt bought for me.
He scratched his head. "Honestly? We suspected him, but we weren't sure until you dropped that bombshell on us tonight. I don't understand though. We'd seen him earlier, before that video of you in the woods. Who was he working with?"
I shivered and grabbed my torso. "Some random guy. Wait, what do you mean? You visited Terry?"
Eric's cheeks grew deeper in color and he dropped his eyes from mine, busying himself with a wrinkle in the bedding. He's not anal about wrinkles, so he's hiding something.
"Tell me you didn't use violence." My heart dropped. I'd understand if they did, but I'd rather if they didn't. I wouldn't know how to handle being around violent men again. All my men are like individual diamonds you come across in a sea of rough. I know I'm safe with them. I don't want a reason to doubt that.
"Of course not." He breathed, rolling onto his back and looking up at the ceiling.
"So, where did you get those?"
"Don't worry about me. Come here." He regarded me and beckoned to me with those dancing gray eyes that have the unique ability to shift to almost any color, and of course, I wandered over to him without hesitation.
I lost my train of thought. What were we talking about again?
He took my hand and settled me on his leg. "Why don't you tell me what's going on in here?"
Eric rubbed his hand through my hair and tightened when his fingers brushed over my stitching. Pulling me closer, he placed several kisses on my temple, though I could feel him tightening.
"You're the one who just escaped something horrible. If anyone needs to be talking, it's you," he grunted.
"Are you switching topics to avoid talking about what happened to you?" I ran my hand over his bruises.
"No. This was something silly, a disagreement that led to an accident between Matt and me. None of us meant it. That's all you need to know. There, I shared mine. Now you..." he offered.
"What do you mean, an accident? That caused that much bruising?" I asked, avoiding the direction he was veering me into.
He sighed. His eyes were as tired as I felt. "You know what? It's alright. Tomorrow, I have a surprise for you. We can talk then." He kissed my shoulder. "Let's go to bed."
"You promise you just let the authorities handle it when you found out my dad was involved?" I asked, laying on my side and curling into a ball.
He moved in, locking his body into mine and wrapping me in his arms. "I promise."
Eric
She snored, losing the fight with the demons who tried to keep her awake. I was dunked in a pool of gratitude from the warmth of her body pressed into my arms, wrapped around her breasts.
Yes, I was aware I had just lied to her, but she didn't need to know that ever since she mentioned
Terry's involvement, I'd been picturing ways to make him pay for what he did to her. Or that as my fingers grazed the stiff stitches in her head, I imagined strangling him.
Let's not forget what I did to his girlfriend's house and how much pleasure I gained from beating the smugness out of his face. I already knew she'd look at me as a monster. She'd always said she loved being with us because we're not aggressive, or violent. I'd held onto peace and self-control for that exact reason, but losing her changed me.
If she knew I wasn't always like a golden retriever, up and ready to go with a smile and positivity, ready to do everything she asked of me, at her beck and call, she'd hate me. That's the Eric she'd always known. That's not the Eric I am. Not anymore. I'm not sure I'll ever be that Eric again. Not fully. Deep down, there's a blackness in my heart that will be there as long as Terry and the other fucker are still walking around.
Sighing into her hair and smiling at the way it tickled my nose, I decided that what she didn't know, wouldn't hurt her. Besides, what we did to Terry is in the past. She's back, she's safe and I have no reason to lose my shit with anyone anymore. As long as I don't have to look at his rat face again. Terry Thornbread will get what he's looking for.
I'd pay money to watch him serve the rest of his life in prison, I just don't want to be in there with him. So everything we've done to him will have to remain a secret. Tyler scared him pretty good, so I doubt he'll say anything to the cops. My stomach turned, thinking about what would happen if Lily found out the truth. I'm not losing her again, no matter what. I'd throw myself at her feet, begging for forgiveness if I had to.
Look, I know a relationship built on lies won't last, but I won't lie to her forever. One day when this is all behind us and she's ready to hear the truth, when we've proven to her that we'd never hurt her, year after year, then I'll confess and hope that all she does is laugh over it. Well, maybe not laugh. But, at least not hate us.