Chapter 14 #3
It’s then choked off as I cum with her—unable to hold back my release any longer.
Together, the two of us come hard. The thought that we could find our release together like this only makes the moment hotter and my orgasm is stretched out just a little bit longer. Blair swallows every drop like a champ.
When we’re both spent and shaky, Blair rolls off me to lay on her back beside me. I stare up at my ceiling breathing hard. Cal Ripken Junior—from way back at the early start of his baseball career—stares down at me. I swear he winks at me before going still again.
I smile up at him, feeling smug.
I just made my woman cum—that feels like a home run to me.
With a heavy sigh, Blair sits up to look down at me. Her smile is soft and her eyes are filled with warmth. “You did good, Santi.”
I beam at her. “You tasted good.”
Blair laughs before crawling off my bed. “Well, as fun as that was, we really shouldn’t stay here too long. Your home is too nice for trouble to show up at its door.”
I nod. She’s probably right. “Okay, let me get some feeling back in my toes and we can head out.”
Blair grabs her clothes and starts to dress. I turn on my side and prop my head up in my hand to watch her.
“While I appreciate reprieve from the heavy conversation earlier, is there a reason you brought me here today of all days?” she asks as she pulls on her pants.
Oh, shit… I wanted to hold off on this a little longer, but I guess we’re going to have this conversation now.
“I brought you here to show you all of this so you could understand,” I explain as I sit up and throw my legs over the edge of my bed.
Blair clasps her bra and reaches down for her shirt. When she’s pulled it over her head, she raises an inquisitive brow. “Understand what?”
I hold her gaze as I answer, “Why I think we should let Ledger live.”
The confusion on Blair’s face drops away and is instantly replaced with a cool, detached expression.
“Oh?” she asks, her voice deceptively calm.
“Look,” I hedge carefully. “I’m not saying we should let him off the hook completely.
But all of this—” I wave my hand around the room, “—are remnants of the family I lost. It’s all I have of Mom and Dad.
But at Gnarly Pines? I have a new family—one I love just as much.
Maybe even more so because it’s a different type of love under that roof.
I’m thrilled you walked into my life, carino.
Ledger gave me a family. He gave me you. ”
Blair’s hard expression doesn’t shift but she nods. “I’m glad you found a new family, Santi.”
With that, she takes a step back toward the door.
I leap to my feet and stomp toward her as anger surges forward. How could she possibly think of running now? After the fun we just had? Can’t she just hear me out? I catch her wrist before she can give me her back.
“Don’t walk away from me, carino,” I snap at her. “You have a family here, too! Isn’t that great? One that—”
“I have a family, Santi!” Blair snarls.
I flinch at the rage burning in her eyes as she takes a step toward me.
“Or rather, I had a family,” she hisses, her voice dripping with venom. “I don’t even know if Dad is alive! If he’s not, that’s directly because of Ledger. I want him to hurt, Santi. Surely you can understand that given you went after the men who killed your father.”
Her voice cracks.
So does my heart.
She pulls her wrist back and I let go.
“You were able to grieve, exact revenge, and heal. But I’ll never get that!
Don’t you see, Santi? I’ll never know what happened to Dad,” Blair continues, the heat in her voice ebbing away.
“You, at least, get to have mementos. I have nothing to remember Dad. No pictures, no keepsakes… I have absolutely nothing, Santi.”
The blood drains from my face as I realize the truth of her words.
Shit. Rhett put his foot in his mouth earlier and now I’ve done the same thing. When she puts it like this, I can’t argue with her logic.
Her bottom lip wobbles before Blair turns her head away and sucks in a deep, steadying breath.
“Blair, I… I’m sorry. I wasn’t implying that we could replace your dad. I was just saying—”
“I know, Santi. You were just showing me what I’ve gained from all of this,” she mutters. “And I see it—that’s not lost on me. It’s not that I regret meeting you or the others. I just hate how it happened.”
When she looks at me, her expression is unreadable again. When she smiles, it's small and it doesn’t touch her eyes.
“Come on, we should head back to the cabin.”
With that, she leaves me to get dressed alone.
I stare after her, my heart dropping deep into my chest. She’s right, she’ll never get to heal from any of this without closure in some way or another. She’ll always wonder what happened when it comes to her dad. The unknown can be a horrible thing.
Ledger built my world.
Yet he destroyed Blair’s for reasons unknown.
I brought Blair here to show her where I was before Ledger, and to explain that he has some good in him. But as I stand here, I realize that the good doesn’t outweigh the bad he’s brought down on her.
Maybe a little torture would do Ledger some good.
I still don’t think we should kill him though…