49. Chapter 48
Chapter 48
Leon Aldon
I need to get the guys in the basement before they wake up, but Maeve is my priority.
I know she’s upset about being on a leash today. I know I humiliated her and broke what little trust I’d earned, but I also know she’s feeling torn about our guests of honor currently hogtied in the back of my SUV.
I know she has to be debating if this life is worth it, but we’re too far in now.
She can refrain from the killing and I could go our entire lives without telling her about my little hobby, but she’d still be involved.
She’d still be sleeping with a killer and I know that has to confuse her more than she’ll ever admit.
When we get home, I help Maeve inside and she moves as if she’s on autopilot. She walks in the door without looking around or uttering a word, just stripping her clothes the second she reaches the bedroom and stepping into the shower mindlessly.
At least that gives me a few minutes to rush and load these guys into the basement; then I can focus on my girl for the night.
It’s not as hard as it sounds to haul football giants down a flight of steps, they make it down pretty quickly when you kick them and watch them roll and crash to the bottom.
Mark’s face is already swelling, his nose is broken and turning black and blue, but I take a tremendous amount of joy in watching him face plant at the bottom of the steps again.
This time, however, I see a few teeth fly across the room and blood to stain my floors.
I would be pissed, but that’s what they’re for.
He’s going to have a fun time when he wakes up in a few hours with a busted face and missing teeth.
Good.
Once the guys are downstairs, strapped in, and ready to wait for the morning, I head back upstairs to check on my girl.
I need to make sure that she’s feeling alright and that she’s able to rest; tomorrow will be a long day for us.
I wait patiently on the bed for her, ready to help her when she comes out. I even sat some pajamas on the sink for her since she seemed to have forgotten to grab them. As soon as she opens the bathroom door, she looks very torn on how she is feeling. Like she's not sure how she should feel, I get it.
I open my arms for her, offering her to walk into my embrace, surprising the heck out of me when she does. She walks up to me until she's standing between my legs, letting me pull her flush into my chest and wrap my arms around her. "You feeling okay, ma fleur?" I ask calmly.
I rub my hands along her back as I hold onto her, basking in the feeling of her arms tightly around my shoulders and her face tucked into my neck. "I don't know." She says quietly.
My poor girl.
I kiss her temple and rest my head against hers. "It's okay, petite fleur. I know this is confusing, but we're okay." I promise her.
She keeps her face tucked into my neck, and honestly I'm loving that she's seeking me out for comfort. "How do you know you're not going to get caught?" She asks me quietly.
"I've been doing this for a very long time, 16 years to be exact. I can promise you, we're safe, but you don't have to get involved in any of this. I just needed you to know who I am." I explain. I'm somehow even more nervous about this than I was about my leg and my chest.
Maeve picks her head up from my neck, holding onto my shoulders as she stares at me. "I want to help. I think. They're bad men. They don't deserve the chance to do this to anyone else." She tells me.
Frankly, I'm caught off guard.
I figured at most, she'd sit back and ignore what I do, not that she'd willingly participate, but I'm sure that will change when she sees the first sight of gore.
Hell, I vomited the first time I killed, when I felt the crunch of my mothers neck in my hands. The police chalked it up to a teenager being traumatized to come home and find their mother’s neck broken.
"Are you sure? It's gruesome." I ask her. She's allowed to feel what she needs to feel. She's allowed to back out, but I don't want her to see what I do and be disgusted by me.
"If it's too much... Can I walk away?" She asks quietly.
I'm not sure how she wants me to take that. "Walk away?" I ask rather than answer her question.
She nods, fidgeting slightly how she's standing. I know what's coming. She's going to ask if I'll let her go. I don't want to break her heart, but I won't.
I can't.
I'm far too selfish and far too in love with her. "If it's too gruesome, if I can't help you or even watch you kill them. Can I leave the room? Maybe wait in the car?" She asks me.
The smile that spreads across my face almost hurts to make. That's how bright it is. I settle my hands on Maeve's waist, pulling her back into me until our faces are close enough that I can feel the cool air from her minty breath on my face. "Yes, you don't have to help. You never have to watch, I just need you to know what kind of guy I am, but if you're asking if I'll ever let you go, I can't. I'm in love with you, and I'm far too selfish to be without you." I say honestly.
I feel her hands holding onto me, one in my hair and the other on my back. "I don't want you to." She answers.
That truly wasn't what I was expecting.
I don't think I've ever been speechless in my life before, until right now. I just stare at this gorgeous woman in my arms, completely dumbfounded. I know I need to say something, fuck... anything, but I think my whole brain just froze and now I'm rebooting slower than an old computer with dial-up internet.
My girl feels something for me, I don't know what yet, but it's a start. "I never would have. I've loved you for far longer than I'd ever admit." I say honestly.
"How about you lay down for a little while, you've had a long day, and it's late." I tell her. I rub my hands along her ribs, staring into those warm brown eyes and feeling so at home, but my girl raises an eyebrow at me. Either in challenge or confusion, I don't know. "I thought I was going with you?" She asks.
My girl. Fuck, I love her.
"You are, ma fleur, but not right now. They're asleep anyway, I won't touch them until they've woken." I explain.
It's boring to kill them while they're passed out; I want them to feel it all. I want them to know that they can't escape their fate, just like their victims couldn't escape theirs. Just like Abby couldn't stop them, they can't escape what will happen to them.
"Lay down, I promise you that we can wait until morning to deal with them." I promise. If she wants to be there, I won't let her miss it. Not until we've reached the point that she's uncomfortable.
I finally get Maeve into bed shortly after our talk. I think it surprises us both that she curls up with me, she hangs a leg over my hips, resting it between my legs while her cold ass toes settle under my leg. I'd rather die right now than to move her, her smug little ass knows it, too. She's grinning as she slides her feet further under my leg once she's stolen all the warmth she can from one spot.
Asshole.
"Do you need some socks, ma fleur?" I ask her, staring down at her while she situates against me.
"Nope." She says with a small laugh, one that she tries her best to hide.
She really is an asshole, an adorable one though. I wrap my arms around my girl, gripping onto her thigh with one hand and her back with the other.
I should've propped my leg up onto a pillow or something, it feels swollen from the long day we've had, but I won't move her when she just got situated.
I shift a few times, hoping to ease the pressure from my leg on the mattress, but nothing is helping.
Fuck. I can’t move, just tough it out. Once Maeve falls asleep, I can sneak off and pop some narcotics or grab a pillow, but not now.
Not when my girl is laying against me and I am surrounded by the scent of blueberries and the warmth of her body.
I’d be a fucking fool to move right now.
I must shift a few too many times because Maeve adjusts her leg and uses her own calf to prop my leg up and I have to admit, the relief is almost instantaneous.
“Better?” She sleepily whispers.
Oh, my sweet girl. I lean down and kiss the top of her head before laying my head against hers. “Much. Get some sleep, ma fleur.” I say just as quietly.
I refuse to move an inch while she settles further against me, not when I’d live and breathe for the moment that her body falls limp against me and she’s finally asleep in my arms again.