Chapter 4
Piper
We spend the rest of the day driving. Piper struggles to keep her eyes open and ends up passing out against the window. I realize she must not have slept much last night after Logan took her. Or maybe he drugged her, and her system is still getting rid of it.
My hands clench around the wheel at the thought. I know enough about how Devil operates to realize that’s a definite possibility. I’m regretting not snapping his neck when I had the chance. He’d better really be fucking helping her, or he’s next on my hit list. Right after Dane and Liam.
I didn’t sleep either last night, between finding out Piper had escaped, talking to Josh, and then figuring out how to break into Devil Tower.
But I’ve been trained on sleepless nights.
I can easily stay awake for three nights in a row, and the rest of the time, I’m subsisting on two or three hours.
I wake Piper up when we switch cars at the first designated address.
By the time we’re stopping at another diner for dinner, she’s been awake for a while, and she’s also no longer playing games with me.
Well, maybe she is, because she orders a milkshake and ice cream for dinner.
Though I’ve watched her enough over the years to know this is just how she eats.
Things are definitely going to be different soon, but again, I have a to-do list. Switching up Piper’s diet doesn’t feature anywhere near the top.
I guess I’m not much better than her anyway because I don’t eat at all, merely staring at her loudly suck down the remainder of her milkshake through the straw.
“It’s empty,” I say at last, because the sound is getting just a bit grating.
“I know.”
Then she goes right back to sucking on the straw.
Okay, maybe she still is trying to piss me off, but it’s gotten a little more discreet.
Or maybe she’s trying to recuperate from the hard fuck and harder spanking she got earlier before she annoys me into another session.
She’s tilted sideways in her seat, clearly trying to keep the contact with her ass to a minimum.
She’s going to have to try a lot harder for me to fuck her again, anyway, because my chest is aching in a weird, hollow sort of way, ever since she told me not to kiss her. And that strange sensation is not exactly conducive to me getting hard again.
I do still touch her, though. In fact, I haven’t loosened my grip on her hand since the forest fuck. In the diner, I squeeze her wrist all through her milkshake dinner, and then I pull her back to the car, still crushing her hand so hard it’s a wonder I don’t break it.
I know I’m hurting her, and I really shouldn’t be right now, but my guilt only goes so far. I can’t just fucking turn into another person.
I breathe a sigh of relief when we pull up to the musty motel that will be our stop for the night. Though being awkward and silent in a motel room won’t be much of a change from being awkward and silent in the car.
Still, at least we won’t be moving.
I’ve been quietly freaking out with every minute passing, realizing I was a little closer to getting to the end of the trip without having forced Piper into forgiving me.
Ten hours of the forty-hour drive have passed. I only have three more days to figure this out.
At the end of our trip lies the unknown, and I realize I really need to fix things before, so I can focus on whatever is waiting for us.
Piper scrunches up her nose as she follows me into our room.
“I would have thought, for all your money, that you could afford something a little nicer than this pile of shit,” she snaps as she takes in the small, ugly space that looks like it hasn’t been updated since the 1970s.
Guess her ass is feeling better, and she’s back to trying to annoy the fuck out of me.
I lie back on the bed, focusing on my breathing again.
“You should sleep,” I say, the full sentence feeling like a lot right now. I’ve gotten better at speaking over the years, but sometimes, it’s still hard. With the aching feeling in my chest, it’s nearly impossible.
She turns her freckled nose to me. “Are you going to sleep in the same bed as me?”
I shrug to mask the weird effect those words are having on me.
“Fine. I’ll sleep on the floor,” she says, taking her pillow.
“No. Don’t.” Swallowing to try to get rid of the ache, I grab the pillow on what would have been my side of the bed, and toss it down.
Then I find a bag of toiletries in the suitcase Logan left us in the car.
I head to the bathroom, quickly brushing my teeth and taking off my jeans and shirt, while keeping my eyes glued on her through the parted door.
She’s sitting on the bed, her head between her folded-up knees.
I know it’s all my fault, but I can’t help but feel resentful for how she’s making things so hard. If only she’d let me in…
Sighing, I head back out of the bathroom, and toss her the toiletries.
“Your turn.”
By now, she’s clearly grasping at straws to piss me off, as she scowls, “You could’ve let me go first. I had to pee.”
“Didn’t realize you needed to, after you went in the woods,” I can’t resist taunting her.
The red splotches of embarrassment that appear on her face at my words are making it really hard for me not to kiss her. And that only makes the hollowness in my chest feel worse.
“Are you going to… uh, watch me again?”
Is it just me or does she sound kind of hopeful?
But while she may be back to trying to annoy me, I’m not feeling any of my earlier frustration. I just feel kind of… deflated.
I don’t answer, lying down on the floor. The last thing I see is the upset look in her face before she closes the door. Moments later, the sound of running water tells me she’s showering.
I shut my eyes, as if that can possibly help drown out the noise. I have no intention of actually sleeping until I hear her snoring. The door is locked and the key is in my pocket, but I don’t trust her not to run away.
She’s stupidly brave enough to try.
_
I’m lying down in the same position when she opens the door again, walking out dripping and stark-naked.
I wish I could pretend to be asleep so I don’t have to deal with her right now, but I can’t help but watch her as she hurries to the bed.
“I couldn’t find a towel,” she shivers.
I sit up slowly, flicking on the light switch of the lamp on the nightstand so I can drink in the sight of her body.
Her skinny arms are wrapped around her middle, squeezing at her non-existent breasts hard enough to give her a semblance of cleavage.
Her thighs are squeezed together too, and for all the ache inside me, it’s all I can do not to pry them apart and sink my cock between them.
“Can you stop staring at me and help me?” she grits out.
Okay. I’m officially hard. “Help you how?”
“Find me a towel!” she whines, her teeth chattering.
“There aren’t any.”
Liar. I saw a stack of them in the bedroom closet.
“I’m cold,” she groans, shivering as she scrambles over to the bed. “Why the hell are they blasting the AC? It’s the dead of winter!”
“You shouldn’t lie down on the bed. You’ll get the sheets all wet, and with that AC on, you’ll freeze.”
“Fuck!”
She sinks to her knees in front of the suitcase, showing me her ass now, and the full globes, their creamy skin turned a dark red from my spanking, make my cock strain in my boxers.
“Come here.”
“No! Why the fuck didn’t Logan pack towels? He thought of everything else.”
“Come here, Piper.”
“Leave me alone! Can I put on your hoodie?”
“Yes. If you come here.”
At last, she gives in, walking hesitantly toward me. Her lips are blue and the red splotches on her face are from the cold now, not from embarrassment.
Well, maybe a mix of both, as she takes in my body, naked except for my briefs that most definitely have a bulge in them.
I pat my thighs. “Sit down.”
“No!” she huffs, eyeing the hoodie that I’ve draped over myself like a blanket. “Can I put it on?”
I pat my lap more insistently. “Sit down, and I’ll put it on you.”
She hesitates, biting her lip.
“I won’t kiss you,” I add sadly.
I’m even sadder when I see that those are the words that convince her.
She plops down on my lap, wiggling her wet bottom against my briefs, acting like she has no idea what she’s doing.
Once again, two can play at that game.
“Where are you cold?” I breathe into her ear, stroking the wet skin on her back and stomach.
“You promised me your hoodie,” she protests, her teeth loudly chattering.
She’s clearly not lying about being cold, but I don’t feel an ounce of remorse as I shove the hoodie further away.
“Quill!” she whines, trying to reach it, but I keep her locked in my arms.
“I didn’t promise,” I tell her. “But you’ll get it later, if you’re a good girl.”
She chews on her lower lip at those last two words, and by the way her thighs are squeezing together, I can tell they’re having an effect on her.
“Are you going to be my good girl, cricket, and tell me where you’re cold?”
“Everywhere,” she shivers.
I push her to my chest, wrapping one arm around her as the other goes to her breasts.
“Here? Are you cold here?”
“Quill,” she moans, as I flick her nipples gently, before cupping one of her breasts in one hand.
“How about here?”
I edge my hand slowly down her stomach, pressing lightly on her belly before I reach the folds between her thighs.
She’s definitely not wet just because of the shower.
“Please… Quill…” she moans louder.
I have no idea what she’s begging for, but something tells me she doesn’t either. Anyway, she’s made it clear she doesn’t want me to give her a choice.
Which suits me perfectly.
Besides, she’s already arching into my hand as I start to rub her folds, my finger massaging her clit while another one drives into her wet pussy.
“Oh, God… Quill…”
“My little cricket,” I murmur against her hair, driving my finger inside her faster as she begins to buck against me.
In no time at all, she’s drenching my hand with her orgasm, shuddering in my arms before sagging back.
Then she stands up, so abruptly that I accidentally let her.
At once, I hook my hands around her waist and pull her right back down.
“I’m not cold anymore,” she mumbles, trying to push me away.
But I hold her close to me, searching for some reason to keep her in my arms.
“I am, though, cricket,” I breathe into her hair, keeping an iron hold on her. “I’m very, very cold without you.”
“Oh.” She’s back to wriggling over my stiff cock. “Do you want me to return the favor?”
“What?”
“A handjob. Or a blowjob. Want a blowjob?”
I loosen my grip on her in hurt surprise. So that’s what this is to her? That’s what she thinks I want? A cold transactional fuck?
“The hoodie’s over there,” I mutter, nodding at it. “You can have it.”
“Oh.” She sits uncertainly on me as I pull my arms away. “You mean… I should go?”
“Yes. Go to bed. We have another long drive tomorrow.”
“Oh,” she says again. “Okay.”
She scrambles up and goes to bed, leaving the hoodie untouched.
I don’t touch it either as I lie back on the floor, turned resolutely away from her. Despite my resolve to stay awake until I hear her snoring, I fall asleep to the sound of her quiet sobs.