Chapter 3
THREE
JUSTICE
It’s an unbecoming look when a married woman enters a hotel alone.
And in the small town of Williamstown, everyone knows everyone, and people talk.
My hair curtains across my face as my eyes focus on my feet lightly treading across the floor.
I cut the corner toward the bank of elevators and collide into a wall of taut muscle.
My head whips up as I stumble backward, suddenly startled.
An audible gasp escapes my lips, and I quickly clasp my hand over my mouth to swallow the apology that’s strangling my airways.
No, that’s fear.
“Justice.” Drew Varney casually slides his hands into his pockets as his menacing green gaze narrows on me.
“S-s-sorry,” I mutter as I dart around him, hugging my arms around my waist protectively. I don’t look back, but the void of his footsteps descending the hallway tells me he’s watching my every step. The man is dangerously notorious in our small town, and he isn’t one I dare to cross.
It isn’t until I reach the bank of elevators and step inside the car that I feel safe from Drew’s watch.
I press the number eleven button and wait for the car to ascend.
I count the floors as the numbers tick by, fighting mixed emotions at seeing Dylan.
While I’ve missed him terribly, he’s avoided me since Harlan was arraigned, and I can’t help but wonder what’s looming on the horizon.
As the doors slide open, I step out into the hallway, putting one foot in front of the other, my head held high and my spine ramrod straight.
Reaching room 1111, I lightly tap three times and wait. The door opens to darkness, and I swallow a ragged breath as I step into the room, my eyes nervously searching for Dylan’s silhouette.
The door clicks closed, and I smell him all around me, the clean scent of oak and dark amber assaulting my senses.
His fingers sift through my hair, and his grip tightens around the nape of my neck as he pulls me against his chest. His nose trails up my cheek on a deep inhale, and my fingers clasp hold of his shirt, clinging to him as my heart rages a war with my mind.
Heavy silence hangs between us as he holds me, until he whispers against my cheek, “Say something.”
I shake my head, and the echo of voices consuming my mind are playing a game of tug-of-war on my emotions. I’m confused and unsure of how to voice what I feel without revealing how vulnerable I am to him. I’m angry, scared, confused, but he makes me weak, and weakness will get you killed.
“You have every right to be upset with me. But remember, everything I do is in the vain of protecting you.”
His words trigger the emotion I’ve been battling with the most, and I lash out at him, shoving him backward with all my strength.
“Protecting me? You left me in the dark for fourteen days. I’ve had all these questions racing through my mind, with no answers and nowhere to turn because you ignored me. You didn’t call me. You didn’t text—”
“I don’t want to fight with you, Justice. That isn’t why I summoned you here,” he says calmly, holding his hands up in surrender.
“Oh, we aren’t going to fight. I have no more fight left in me. I can’t do this, Dylan. I can’t continue to live in fear of what’s going to happen from one day to the next. Your promises are no better than the filthy lies Harlan spews.”
“You don’t understand—”
“No!” I shout, getting right in his face and jabbing my finger into his chest. “Don’t mutter one more word to me that’s laced with dishonesty.”
“Justice, that isn’t what I’m trying to do. If you’d just let me explain the situation.”
“After two weeks you’re ready to explain?
!” I shove against his chest as I struggle to fight back the tears that are stinging the backs of my eyes.
Just when I think I have no fight left in me, I erupt violently.
“You’re an asshole.” I rear my fist back to swing, but he grips my wrist and tugs me against his chest, his mouth crashing against my dry lips.
Dylan backs me against the wall, one hand holding me firmly in place while the other roams my body. And I relent. I take everything he has to give because I’m a glutton for punishment. I crave his scent, his touch, every deceitful word that crosses his lips.
“I’ve missed you,” he mutters as he strips my shirt over my head, then unclasps my bra, letting my breasts fall free.
Day-old stubble brushes against the swells of my breasts as he continues to ravage me with rough kisses.
I rake my fingers through his hair, silently begging for all that he’ll give me.
Dylan spins me on my heels, his lips never leaving my body as directs me across the room.
He wraps one arm around my back and the other under my ass, and my legs wrap around his waist instinctively as he gently places me on the bed.
He unbuttons my pants and slides them down my legs, pulling my panties down next.
He crawls between my legs, and his lips claim mine in a heated kiss that sends desire to my core.
I clench my thighs in anticipation of what’s to come, needing to feel Dylan everywhere.
And he doesn’t disappoint. Without telling him what I need, what I want, he knows.
His lips continue their descent down my body, a searing flame licking my flesh as he opens my thighs and plunges his tongue into my heat.
My back bows off the bed, and tingles course down my spine and to my toes.
Dylan laps, sucks, and nips at my clit until he brings me to the brink of falling over the edge, leaving me breathless and unable to beg for more.
He stands and unbuttons his pants, making a show of sliding them down his muscular thighs.
Once he’s naked before me, he grips his dick and pumps the length, a veil of passion darkening his chocolate brown eyes.
He holds my hips as he glides inside me, his ravenous groan rending the air.
And he takes, and takes, using my body for his pleasure.
His thrusts are aggressive and relentless, his fervor turning angry and dark.
Dylan releases himself from me and grips my hips, flipping me over on my belly. He pulls me up to my knees and thrust inside once more, fucking me with abandon.
“Fuck, Justice!”
I love hearing my name fall from his lips. His husky voice is laced with furious passion. He fists my hair tighter in his hold as he pounds into me from behind with a brutal force.
“Dylan!” I screech, my legs trembling and defying my weight. My pussy clenches tight around his cock, my toes tingle, and stars burst behind my eyes as I claim my orgasm.
“FUCK!”
He surges forward, muscles straining, beads of sweat dripping from his forehead.
He wraps his hand around my throat, tilting my lips back to his and he steadies his slow and calculated thrusts as he kisses me.
Our tongues tangle, and it’s like fire mixing with gasoline—an explosive combination.
He breaks the kiss, and I collapse into the mattress with Dylan pressed firmly to my back.
Rolling to his back, he tucks me close to his side as he stares up at the ceiling, inhaling short pants of air as he focuses on the fan blades circulating.
I rest my head on his chest, admiring him for just a moment.
His shoulders are broad, chest tight. His coal black hair is faded close to the scalp, and his beard is neatly trimmed.
One glance and you know he’s a cocky fuckin’ bastard; he wears that smirk with perfection.
But Dylan is the polar opposite of Harlan.
Where Harlan is violent, possessive, and manipulative, Dylan is protective and attentive.
He worships my body like I’m the Goddess of Salvation and each kiss he graces me with could be his last whispered prayer.
Maybe that’s why I’ve fallen in love with him.
He doesn’t see the Justice everyone else knows; he sees deep within my soul and appreciates the wreckage within.
He makes me feel—truly feel—with every ounce of heart I have.
It’s all so foreign, but I’m slowly becoming obsessed with feeling something other than negative emotions.
Dylan’s breathing slows to a peaceful exhale, and I realize he’s fallen asleep. It isn’t the first time we’ve spent the night together, but my mind is whirling with so many unanswered questions that I can’t sleep. Not just yet.
I pull the sheet up over my body, hugging the delicate fabric to my chest and inhale Dylan’s scent. I’ve never felt cotton so soft, or is this satin? I look around the hotel room and am reminded that I’m completely out of place here.
Dylan is a federal agent investigating my husband for drug trafficking, racketeering; the list goes on and on.
I’m his confidential informant.
Dylan is a happily married man, a father.
I’m having an affair while trying to put my husband in prison for life. The ultimate betrayal.
We’re the classic combination of opposites attract, me being the trash from the wrong side of the tracks.
But I deserve everything he promises me.
The life he wants us to build together. I realize at this moment, in order to bring his promises to fruition, I have to trust him.
But that trust runs a two-way street. He owes me answers, and I intend to get to the bottom of why he’s avoided me the last two weeks.
Rain pelts against the window, a foreboding rhythm that taunts my inner turmoil. I’ve laid restless in this bed all night, watching Dylan sleep peacefully beside me. I do this every time I stay with him, the guilt of our promiscuities almost too much to bear.