Chapter 50
chapter
fifty
“For the first time in a long time, the silence feels like peace instead of punishment.” – Cyrus
HAVEN
I try to cry out with the orgasm, but my throat is too sore to let any sound pass. The pleasure is so intense that it’s being torn from my body. It’s violent and completely devastating in the best way.
My breathing is reduced to an erratic rasp as I struggle for normalcy.
I collapse forward on top of Cy, nothing more than weak limbs.
I’m no more able to lift my baby finger than my head from his chest. I blanket his body, but we are both so hot and sweaty that I can no longer tell his skin from my own.
We’ve officially melded into one person.
Spent or not, doesn’t matter to Cy. He is still firmly inside, pumping up into me with a punishing rhythm. His fingers dig into my ass and force me down onto his cock. I’ve lost track of how long we’ve been at it.
“Fuck,” Cy roars, his body bows beneath me as he comes.
We are frozen in an erotic tableau, neither of us breathing as if time has stopped. I can feel Cy’s cock twitching inside me. His heart hammers under my ear like a drum, the steady thud calming despite the pace.
We say nothing, tangled in a heap, still catching our breath.
I tense up, and Cy holds me tighter, wrapping his leg around mine, trapping me. Not that I’m going anywhere.
“Don’t leave,” he says.
“I…wasn’t.” I sound drunk, my tongue heavy.
Cy shifts us slightly in the bed, and I can feel him staring at me.
“I don’t just mean right now. I mean ever.”
“Ever is a very long time,” I mumble against his chest as my eyes close.
“I mean it, Haven. I’ll hunt you down wherever you go. I won’t let you leave, so don’t try,” Cy says.
With a great deal of effort, I turn my head and look up at him.
Fuck, he’s serious.
The words are threatening. Cy’s expression is terrifying. But those icy blue eyes penetrate my soul, and I feel…whole. I’m perfectly at ease living within the chaos between us. The insanity is more of a home to me than any brick-and-mortar building has been since my mother’s death.
“I’m done being the social media manager and Cy wrangling master—”
“No.”
“Cy—”
“No, I won’t let you.”
Reaching up with a shaky arm, I cover his mouth. He glares at me, but I couldn’t care less.
“Let me finish.”
He sighs, and I remove my hand, laying it on his chest.
“I’m done…”
He opens his mouth, and I hold up my finger, silencing him.
“Because I technically don’t have a job anymore.”
His brow furrows.
“What the hell does that mean?”
It’s my turn to sigh.
“I’ve been officially fired. My father saw the tape from the jail cell, and between the board and the company’s image, he said he had to do it.”
With a huff, I roll off Cy and lie on my back.
“I’ll be honest, I lasted longer than I initially thought I would.”
Cy doesn’t smile as he turns over onto his side.
“Are you fucking with me right now?”
My lip turns up. “Well…I was a moment ago, but…”
“Haven, I’m serious,” Cy growls.
I slowly push myself up into a sitting position and shiver. My body aches, and my muscles balk at the idea of moving as I grab the fuzzy throw at the end of the bed and wrap it around my shoulders.
“How our roles have changed,” I finally say. “I’m usually the one demanding that you be serious.”
He doesn’t give an inch. That deep scowl is permanently etched into his features. I run a hand down my face.
“Yes, Cy, I’m being serious. I’m on administrative leave for a month to let the heat die down, and then I’ll be reassigned.”
“This is fucking unbelievable.”
He reaches for his phone and then swears when he realizes it’s still off.
“I’m calling your father. He can’t fucking do this.”
“Cy, it’s done.”
“Nothing other than death and taxes is ever permanent, and even taxes are negotiable. I can’t believe that son of a bitch fired his own daughter.”
I roll my eyes.
“I really don’t think the IRS sees it that way.”
Cy is livid, and it’s quite the change from him throwing me under the bus for all those years. Now, he has my back and is ready to fight for me. It’s adorable and annoying.
“Cy, stop. I mean it. I don’t need you to defend me or my honor like some dashing white knight.”
“Why the hell aren’t you pissed about this?”
“I am…or…I was. I’m not anymore.”
“So you want to be transferred?”
Cy stands, his movements stiff as he glowers at me. I scowl back.
“No, that’s not what I mean.”
“Then what the fuck do you mean?”
“Cy, if you don’t stop jumping all over me and twisting my words, then God as my witness, I’m going to beat you with that lamp.” I point at the cause of his demise on the nightstand. “Now sit down for a minute and let me explain.”
He hesitates as if being reasonable will kill him, but eventually he flops down.
“As I was saying, I was pissed at first, but…let’s face it…this wasn’t working.”
“What exactly are you saying?”
“I’m saying that working for the band and the two of us being a couple…doesn’t mix.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“I do.”
Cy snarls like a dog, and the next thing I know, I’m flat on my back. He’s hovering over me, and my heart is jackhammering in my chest once more.
“Haven…what did I just say to you about never letting you go? You can say whatever you want. It changes nothing. You’re mine.”
I swallow, trying to clear the knot of emotion.
“No, Cy…I mean that I can’t wrangle you like a boss. That is what my father and your mother wanted. You asked me to give us a chance. For us to work, to have a real shot…we need to be on even ground without a job hanging over our heads.”
“Are you saying that you’ll stop fighting me at every turn?”
“I’m always going to fight you. But when it comes to us…yes. I still think that I need my fucking head examined, but I’m giving us a shot. No more stunts like at the jail, though.”
He relaxes and amusement gleams from his eyes.
“I fucking mean it.”
“Upsetting, but livable,” he says, and it feels like a victory.
“That brings us to why we are here. Starting tomorrow, we are clearing the air between us. I mean everything. I can’t move forward until we deal with the weights hanging around our necks.
And you will tell me everything about what has been going on with you, health-wise.
Everything, Cy. You can’t hold back. Even the smallest detail can mean something. ”
“Okay…why?”
“Because I’m going to do what no one else seems to be interested in doing. I’m going to figure out what is wrong with you—aside from the obvious asshole streak built into your personality.”
“Are you serious? What makes you think you can figure it out?”
Cyrus looks genuinely shocked, and that hurts my heart. He has all the money in the world and can buy the best medical care, but no one will spend the time to really listen to what he has to say.
I cup his cheek and rub my thumb over the five o’clock shadow forming.
“Because I’m the best damn researcher you’ll find and—”
Before I can finish, Cy kisses me. He traps me underneath him with the warmth of his skin and just enough weight to be comforting. He brushes his lips against mine softly as if savoring the taste.
“There is simply no way to put into words what doing this means to me,” Cy whispers, never breaking contact. “I don’t deserve you.”
“I know, but you have me anyway. But, if you fuck it up and revert back—.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
With a smile, he shifts us around until we’re under the blankets with him pressed up against my back. I gasp as he rubs his hard cock over my sensitive pussy and then slowly nudges inside of me.
“Cy…I don’t think I can yet,” I admit.
He snuggles closer, lips brushing my ear.
“I know, but I’m going to sleep inside you.”
My walls tighten around him, squeezing him at the thought.
“Mmm, but don’t do that or I will be fucking you again instead.”
I smirk.
“You’re very demanding, Mr. Vale.”
“You’re a bossy kidnapper, Mrs. Vale,” he mumbles.
I freeze, but before I can respond, Cy’s breathing evens out and his body goes lax with sleep. I lie there staring at the wall, not moving. My brain refuses to settle as I wonder if he is serious or just teasing.
Either way, hearing him say it…all I want is to hear it again.
Cyrus Vale’s wife.
My eyes finally flutter closed, with thoughts of what being married to Cyrus will look like in my mind.