Chapter 27
BLOOD & DIRT
Graham
When I returned, Maggie waited at the edge of the woods. She was shaking like a fucking leaf. She just stood there, staring at the blood mixed with dirt on her hands again, just like in that fucking basement. Only this time, she was the reason the blood soaked her clothes.
I pulled her in, throwing the shovel down and wrapping my arms around her while she sobbed into my chest. I couldn’t stand seeing her like that. Broken to pieces.
“Come with me,” I said, my lips pressing against her forehead.
It was almost morning. The sun was just starting to crest over the horizon.
I led her down the trail through the woods to the lake I shared with the sanctuary.
I crouched down and motioned for her to follow me.
I wrapped my hand around her wrist and lowered her trembling hands to the water.
I dipped mine in and cupped water onto hers, scrubbing my thumb over the dirt, removing the evidence of what we’d just done.
“Graham.” She looked up at me, trying to hide behind the tears welling in her eyes. The sunrise bathed her in an amber glow. “I’m so sorry I got you involved in all this.”
I locked eyes with her and cupped her face, using my thumbs to wipe away her tears. “No. You didn’t do this.”
“Yes, I did. If I didn’t curse him, you’d never have—”
I snapped my hand over her mouth. “I said no. I would do it over a million times again, if it meant I had a chance to love you.”
Then she closed her eyes, and the tears she was holding back finally fell down her pink cheeks. I couldn’t take it. I couldn’t watch her fall apart, so I did the only thing I could think of that would distract both of us.
I stood and pulled her up with me as I rose to my feet, arms wrapped around her, cradling her head, holding her tight, letting her know I wasn’t going anywhere. I kissed her as hard as I could without hurting her.
She kissed me back just as hard, and we fell into each other, trying to prove to one another just how much we needed the other.
I backed her up against a tree and palmed her ass, setting her down. She stared into my eyes as I slid my thumb over her bottom lip and leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to her lips again.
“Tell me who you belong to.” One hand found her throat where I held her to center her. The other slipped into her leggings, past her panties, and straight to her clit.
The gasp she let out sent a very obvious rush to my dick.
I made a gentle circular motion, rubbing her the way she’d always begged me to before.
Her breath faltered, forcing my cock to strain even harder against the inside of my jeans, threatening to destroy my zipper if I didn’t free it.
Maggie opened my leather jacket, then grabbed my flannel shirt, ripping it open so that buttons flew into the snowy forest floor. She buried her icy fingers in my chest hair as I lifted her to me. She wrapped her legs around my waist and ground herself onto my bulge.
I carried her deeper into the woods.
She moved her hands to my face and held me while we claimed each other.
I set her down. Her hands found my belt and zipper before her feet even hit the ground.
“Tell me,” I growled again, guiding her to her knees.
When she pulled out my rock-hard cock, a wicked little grin tugged at the corners of her mouth, but I didn’t want her to suck me off. I wanted to—no, I needed to fuck her… on my terms—one more time.
I hooked my thumb under her chin and directed her gaze to mine.
As I shook my head, her expression changed to confusion.
“Tell me.”
“I’m yours,” she said.
“That’s right. That’s my girl. Mine.”
Before she even knew what was happening, I fell to my knees and flipped her over onto all fours, ripping her leggings and panties down in the process.
I situated myself behind her, pressing my dick firmly against her entrance—teasing… waiting… just enjoying her heat.
Sliding my hand up her body, I lifted her shirt and her bralette to expose her to the cool December air and ran my thumb over her stiffened nipple.
I nudged the head of my dick in just a bit.
“I need to hear it again, pretty girl.”
A tiny squeak came from her lips before she gave me what I wanted. “Graham, I’m yours. Only yours.” She leaned back and pulled me to her, so my chest pressed firmly against her back.
The leather of her coat was cool against my skin, but where we met—flesh to flesh—it was fire.
Maggie brushed her fingers against my cheek, gazed into my eyes, and tried to back her pussy onto me.
I brought my hand to her throat again, holding her still, feeling her pulse quicken under my palm.
Then she kissed me, and I plunged in balls-deep, buried in my favorite spot. I never knew I could miss something so much until the only access I had to it was restricted. It had only been hours since the last time I claimed her, but I needed her now. She needed me.
She gasped into my mouth, her pleasure building with every heated throb of my cock deep inside her—it nearly undid me witnessing it.
“I’ve always been yours, Graham,” she said, tears streaming down her face.
That did it.
I placed my free hand on her bare hip and thrust long, slow strokes into her. She moaned as her walls stretched around me, and when she rolled her hips… I thought I was going to fucking lose it.
“As long as I’m here, you’ll never fall into the hands of another monster like that, Max.” I trailed my fingers down her chest and cupped her right breast. “I promise.”
She squeezed my hand over her tit. “Graham, fill me again,” she whispered.
Jesus Christ.
Those fucking glorious words. It had been weeks of torture. Weeks of pulling out, only to wish I’d stayed inside. She drove me crazy with her needy moans.
I couldn’t contain the low growl building in my throat. I didn’t want to wait. I didn’t want to hold back. I couldn’t hold back. I needed to come in her again. I needed her to know she was mine.
My cock swelled, skin stretching tight. I thrust and thrust, building up my arousal, letting every stroke of her lips sliding past me send a euphoric sensation throughout my entire body, until my balls tightened and I was just about to come.
But she came first.
Hearing her shattered moans into the frosted morning air, feeling her hot skin against mine… the way she backed herself into me chasing more… there was no getting out of this. Everything I’d held in released with a force that only a man restrained by a broken heart could ever understand.
I pumped inside of her until I was drained, filling her so full it pushed past my dick and out of her.
With my arms wrapped around her, I just held her, breathed her in, her soft skin against mine, and watched her float down from her orgasm.
God, I was never letting her go. I wanted this every day for the rest of my life. I wanted what was mine. I wanted her.
“I love you, Max.”
“Mmm… I love you too,” she hummed.
We stayed together, my dick still inside. Her ass pressing against me. We breathed each other in, taking in each other’s scent. Claiming what belonged to us.
“Max, I have a question for you.”
“What is it?” She leaned into me.
“Will you—”
A sharp heat slammed through my back and swelled deep in my chest.
Then I heard it—a shot fired, maybe from across the lake. And another.
Pain bloomed deep inside. I clutched at my chest.
Maggie spun around, breaking our connection. “Graham!” She grabbed me, terror soaking her voice. “No! Graham!”
Before I knew it, I was on the ground staring up at the bare branches swaying overhead. Maggie’s beautiful face faded in and out.
“Please don’t leave me again. I can’t….”
Then came Bec and Wren.
Then blackness.
Maggie
It was funny how time seemed to stop when someone you loved so much was barely holding on to the fragile thread we called life.
It was like no matter what you did… who you talked to…
who you called in for help… the world just stopped…
until it didn’t, and when that happened, you finally knew if they made it.
That was how it was for me that night. After Graham was shot, my entire world stopped. Everything remained in slow motion. I couldn’t even tell if my own heart was beating anymore. I didn’t think I breathed or even blinked the entire time.
The bright lights of the triage mixed with the hot tears searing trails down my cheeks was the only thing keeping me from passing out.
It was probably loud in there, but I didn’t hear a thing.
Only the silence of my heart waiting for Graham to take a breath on his own.
To open his eyes. To smile at me. Hold me.
There was so much blood. Almost as much as what was in that basement with Portia, at least it seemed that way.
Surprisingly, I didn’t go into shock. At least I didn’t think I did—not like before anyway.
Graham’s blood covered me, but this was blood I couldn’t wipe off.
I didn’t want to, because what if it was the last part of him I’d be able to physically touch?
Bishop rushed past me as the room filled with nurses, EMTs, and doctors, bumping me, pushing me to the side, telling me to move—but all I could do was stand there staring at the one man who held my whole heart in his hands.
The only person to make me feel like I was worth saving, and now he was lying on that table, bleeding out.
A sharp tone from the heart monitor screeched through the room. My eyes darted to the screen as I watched the last beat of his heart quickly become replaced by a solid flat line.
“No! No, no nononono!” I shoved my arm past the nurses, reaching for Graham. “You can’t leave me! Graham! No! You promised me you wouldn’t leave me again!” I sobbed as two hands grabbed my shoulders and pulled me.
I barely made it out of the room before I was wrapped up in Derek’s arms.
“He has to be okay, Derek. He has to. What if somebody finds out? They can’t. He has to be okay.” The words fell from my mouth faster than I could catch them. I had to stop myself before I blurted out everything they’d find if they found evidence on Graham.