43. Sam
Sam
Groaning, I use my elbows to push myself up.
The pain medication has worn off and my hands feel like…
well…like they got stabbed. I rub my eyes with the backs of my hands, and darkness consumes my vision.
It’s still nighttime. Reaching over, I touch Kioni, assuring myself she’s here with me.
The weight of something tugging on the blankets at my feet tells me Nyx hasn’t gone to her bed on the floor yet.
My saviors. I hiss when I try grabbing the blanket to push it off me, and tears fall without permission.
The memory of my hands being nailed to the tree slams into me with full force.
“Hey. Shh. Come here,” Kioni whispers, sitting up and opening her arms. I lean into her, my hands falling into her lap, my forehead to her chest, and I finally let it all out. She rubs her hand up and down my back and lets me cry for what feels like an hour, but I’m sure was only a few minutes.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asks, swiping her thumbs under my eyes. The heaviness in her voice tells me she was crying along with me. Our hearts beat as one now.
“I just want you to hold me. Everything feels better when you hold me.”
“Okay,” she breathes. “Let me get your pain medicine first.”
When she returns, she turns on the nightlight and holds the glass of water to my lips, then hands me the pill.
“Another drink?” I nod, and she carefully tips it up again before placing it on the nightstand and settling in next to me.
I crawl into her open arms and make sure no space in between us.
Her warmth surrounds me like a blanket on its own.
Home.
She feels like home.
“I got you, Sam. Go back to sleep.”
The sound of her heartbeat lulls me. I want to leave this in the past, not carry it with me, but I fear this isn’t something the sunrise will fix this time. And I was right…because I slept right through it.
Using the bathroom was rough. I’ll need to remain in sweats or loose shorts for the next few days.
Never would have thought buttons would be a worst enemy.
I don’t even want to think about going number two.
Maybe I’ll just not eat until my hands aren’t so tender and I can move my fingers more freely.
Or just load up on pain medication beforehand.
I’m just about to give up on my hair, and Kioni steps into the bathroom, gathers my hair in her hands, twists, and holds her hand out for my clip.
She secures it without saying a word and kisses my temple.
I turn and wrap my arms around her waist. “Thank you for taking care of me.”
“I didn’t obsess over you for months, only to disregard your needs when I finally got to claim you.”
“Still,” I kiss the tip of her nose. “Thank you.”
She quirks a grin. “Come eat before your parents and sister get here.”
I freeze. “I thought this could remain our secret. They’re going to freak out.”
“They were contacted within minutes of you being reported missing. Ryker talked to them while we were in the hospital and made them agree not to come visit you until today so you could rest.”
“They don’t need to know all the details. I was taken, and I was found. End of story. Give me some gloves to wear.”
“Yeah, because that isn’t suspicious.”
“Ki,” I whine. “I don’t want to continue talking about it.”
“I’ll tell them, but that doesn’t mean they will listen. If it gets to be too much, let me know and I’ll make them leave.”
I don’t want them to be disappointed in me.
Like somehow this was all my fault. They would never make me feel that way, but it’s a nagging thought in my mind I’m trying to bury.
It was partly my fault. Not Kioni’s for poking the monster.
Me for feeding his black soul. But…if I never submitted to the monster, I would have never found my queen, my devil, the keeper of my heart.
It’s all a fucked up web of sins and shadows.
If you sever one grim tendril, you’d also destroy all the lovely ones that branch off of it.
She holds out my robe for me to slip my arms into and ties it around my waist. I sit at the dining table, and she puts a plate of avocado toast in front of me with a little bowl of fruit next to it, all finger foods, and a large cup of coffee.
She made sure I wouldn’t need to use a fork.
Warmth flutters through me, and I tilt my head back to make her lean down and kiss me.
“Where’s my baby?” I ask, fully aware that she’s absent, or she would have been my shadow since my feet touched the floor.
“Ryker,” she pauses. “He took her to training. If you’re mad, be mad at him. I said to ask you first.”
“What do you mean training? She doesn’t even like him.”
“Oh, I’m aware, but he’s determined to win her over. It’s K9 training. We’re competitive; this isn’t new information. Nyx can outshine every other K9 we have without training, and he’s bound to prove it. Show her off. If she listens to him.”
“I want to watch her!” Of course, she’s amazing. She’s mine.
“After your parents leave, I’ll take you if they’re still there.”
The door flings open with no warning and Taylor sprints towards me, brushing past Ki and strangling me with a hug. A wave of panic washes over me and I lightly touch her arm.
“Okay,” Ki states, noticing my discomfort and tapping her shoulder, signaling for her to let go.
“Sweetie,” my mom cries. I’m able to stand up this time.
Her hug is strong but mindful, unlike Taylor’s.
Dad clears his throat, unable to speak, and gives me a gentle bear hug.
He lifts my hands in his with care. He stares at the bandages before kissing each one.
That was always his medicine growing up.
He’d kiss it and make it all better. I smile and take my seat again with them gathered around.
Kioni brings them all a cup of coffee, then takes the open seat diagonally from me.
I give them what information I’m comfortable with.
My parents were worried that my abduction had something to do with Kioni being a police officer.
That I wasn’t safe anymore. When I told them it was my ex-boyfriend, they apologized for being overprotective.
All of them were stunned at the news of Nyx saving the night with Ki.
Dad said he’s getting her a doggy tiara because she is royalty and will be treated as such.
They stay for an hour until my mom orders them all to leave so I can rest. Kioni assures them she’s got me and each one of them gives her a warm hug, lingering for several heartbeats before releasing her.
Forever grateful they will be to her for saving their little girl.
“Ryker sent me a video,” Ki says, her shoulders shaking with laughter.
I watch the scene play out on the screen, and my hand lifts to my mouth. Nyx attacked a man running in a padded suit, and when the camera person walked over to him on the ground, it was Ryker under all the cushions. He mumbles, “Ow,” and laughter surrounds him before the video ended.
“She really is a beast,” I agree with her for once. “A magnificent beast that is also my baby,” I correct. I smile wider. Tyler didn’t have padding. He felt everything. Good.
“He’s getting ready to leave. We’ll watch her next time if you’re okay with her continuing to go.” When she sits on the couch, I straddle her. Her hands go to my hips.
“Erase him. Remove his touch and replace it with yours.”
Her hands caress my thighs as she contemplates my words. “Don’t rush this. You can take however long you need.”
“I don’t want the memory of the last person’s mouth and hands to be on me, being of someone else.”
She removes my clip and slides her fingers up the nape of my neck, through my hair, and pulls, tilting my head back. Her lips brush against my neck, and her other hand slips beneath the waistband of my shorts. I move my hips, chasing her touch, but it doesn’t come.
“Green,” I whisper. “It’s always green when it comes to you.”
She’s trying to be careful with me, not push me too far too fast, but I need her. I’m not fragile, just a bit off balance, and I need her to steady me. Her fingers slip inside me and she breathes against my ear, “I love you.”
“I love you,” I reply with a moan as she rubs my clit with her wet fingers before thrusting them back inside me again. She abandons my hair to lift my shirt and sucks a nipple into her mouth, dragging her teeth across the sensitive skin before doing it to the other.
“Say you’re mine,” she demands, curling her fingers.
“I’m yours, Kioni. All f-fucking yours,” I stutter, pleasure puddling between my thighs until all I feel is warm bliss. She pulls my face to hers, swallowing my sounds for herself. Our breaths mix when our lips separate, and all I want to do is touch her.
“I’ll come with you next time,” she replies to the thought I didn’t voice. It’s like she’s always inside my head. My insides melt when she removes her fingers and inserts them into her mouth, licking them clean.
“Mmm,” she hums. “That will hold me over until later.” She winks and fixes my shirt just in time for Ryker to walk in with Nyx.
“Can I have some of your pain medicine?” Ryker groans, dropping the leash and crashing face-first onto the chair.
Nyx trots over to me unfazed, and I move off Ki’s lap to pet her.
I reach for the leash hanging off her collar, and Ki hurries to unclip it first, shaking her head at me as if I were a child who tried to touch a hot stove.
“Hello, Sir,” Ki speaks into her phone when she answers it. “Thanks for letting me know.”
“They found the bodies of the women Tyler told you about. When he took you, I instructed them to go to the woods where I first saw you. Even though we found you, the police officers in that county still ended up searching the area after he told them about the girls he said he killed. They found his DNA on each one. Their families will have some sort of closure now.”
My heart breaks for them, their families, the officers who had to discover their battered remains. I rest my head on her shoulder and inhale a shaky breath. It’s over. He won’t ever hurt anyone again. But his death will never erase what he did. His scar on this earth will remain forever.
We all stay home the rest of the day, watching movies, eating too many snacks, and resting. The pain medication makes me sleepy. Kioni is much less stressed when I’m lying down and not attempting to do…anything.
Her touch is so tender when she changes my bandages. The area around the hole is bruised and still swollen.
“What if I don’t have magical fingers anymore?” Dread courses through me at the thought.
One by one she kisses each finger on both hands. “Your touch will be just as magical as before.”
She looks at me as if she wants to say something but focuses on wrapping my left hand.
“What is it, babe?”
“You don’t have to go back to work at all if you don’t want to.”
I giggle at the thought. How boring would that be?
“And be a stay-at-home girlfriend?” I tease.
“More like stay-at-home wife, or dog mom, maybe even regular mom if that’s something you envision in our future. I just want you to know you don’t have to go back to work at all, and you especially don’t have to try rushing to go back before you are a million percent healed.”
I grin down at her, where she’s kneeling in front of me, double-checking her wrapping skills.
“Not too tight?”
“They’re perfect,” I assure her.
“Stay-at-home wife, huh?”
Her crooked smile is too cute to handle. “You’re mine, baby girl. I don’t need a piece of paper saying you’re my wife when all I see when I look into my future is you.”
“I still want to wear a dress and walk down the aisle, though.”
“You’re out of your mind if you think I’d miss out on that opportunity. I said I don’t need a piece of paper, not that we aren’t getting one. You’re going to be legally bound to me, little wolf.”
Dirty, sinful thoughts play in my mind, and I nibble my lower lip. Could I actually be bound while saying I do? Oh, that would be so hot.
“Tell me what is going through that pretty deranged head of yours.”
“I’m just picturing myself bound and gagged in a wedding dress, kneeling at your feet in front of an altar. You know…normal stuff.”
“I love your version of normal,” she purrs, capturing my lips with hers in a brutal kiss that leaves me craving so much more, but she carries me to bed instead. “I’ll tie you up tomorrow. Tonight, you will be a good girl and sleep. Tomorrow you can be my dirty little whore.”
“You’re no fun,” I pout.
“Of course I am,” she counters, fighting Nyx for some of the blanket. “You need to be well-rested for what I plan to do to you.”
Sleep doesn’t seem so terrible now. As long as she holds true to her word when we wake up. She didn’t say when tomorrow. The moment my eyes pop open, she better be ready.