Chapter Twenty-Seven
ELIJAH
“ S o, this is where you live,” Ava tries to say casually as she walks around my massive loft apartment as if she hadn’t spent most of the afternoon trembling in my arms while my people came in, led by Nicco, to clean up after the incident with her brother.
Julian had also stopped by briefly to offer his support and let me know that my penthouse apartment was fully stocked so we could hide out for a few days. We usually tried to avoid having Jules anywhere near the cleanup sites.
Cato and Rosie had even done their share, arriving shortly after everything had gone down, climbing under the duvet with her on the couch. Rosie had held her hand while Cato stroked her hair while the three of them talked in hushed whispers, mixed in with bouts of silent tears. I’d tried to get her to move away from her brother’s body, but she’d insisted on staying as all traces of him were erased.
I was relieved I hadn’t gotten around to removing the surveillance from across the street since it had saved her life. Andrew had been high and drunk. There was a very real chance he would have killed her, and I couldn’t live without her.
Ava lingers by the enormous windows where all the sunlight usually floods in, looking beautifully sad in the white summer dress I’d managed to convince her to wear earlier before everyone else could arrive and find her naked on the floor. I’d only grabbed it because it was easy to get over her head and required little input from her. Standing against the window, the city lights glimmer through the thin fabric, making her look almost untouchable.
Chuckling, I pull the cork out of the bottle of wine. “I own the entire building. Several buildings in fact. My security firm offices are downstairs but yes, this space here is mine.”
Handing her a glass of wine, I watch her expression carefully. A lot has happened lately, and she just watched her brother get shot. I know she’s not made of delicate glass, but she is precious and if she needs to break down, to do more than just cry, I need her to know I’ll be here to piece her back together. Always.
“Little Rabbit, how’re you holding up?” I tuck a strand of her chocolate-colored hair behind her ear as she nurses her glass, holding the rim against her bottom lip.
Frowning, she opens her mouth and then closes it again, as if she’s not sure how to answer. Saying nothing, she wanders over to my sofa and sinks into it, crossing her legs underneath her.
“My brother is dead. He tried to kill me.” She whispers the words as if she can’t quite make sense of them. “My father will be gone soon too, won’t he? He was just another monster.”
Joseph Walters would face his punishment, but not yet. Not until we were finished with him.
“We’re all monsters,” I murmur, taking a seat next to her and pulling her against my side to kiss the top of her head. Her family, as she’d known it, was gone. That was a lot to process, especially for someone who hadn’t been brought up in our world.
“But you never lied about who you are. They...they pretended to love me in some twisted way. Pretended that everything was okay when really it was rotten at the core.” She exhales, shaking her head. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore, Eli. I just want to stay here with you.”
Blinking slowly, I’m unable to keep the surprise from my face. Hadn’t I told her enough what this was between us? “I thought I made it clear. You are mine. You’re not going anywhere.”
She smiles weakly at me, “Well, I didn’t know how you’d feel outside prison...”
I sputtered, “You didn’t know how I’d feel? When I was released, I came to find you. I fucked you senseless. Claimed every part of your body. What part of that screams casual hookup?”
Something about my expression must make her laugh, because she’s throwing her head back and chuckling away, covering her eyes with one hand and trying not to spill her wine with the other.
I was never leaving her side.
Placing my glass down on the coffee table, I snatch hers from her grip and do the same before pulling her into my lap. Planting a kiss between her breasts, I scrape my teeth over the sensitive flesh there, loving the way she shudders in my hold. Thank the lord for low-cut dresses.
“It’s you and me, Rabbit,” I promise, whispering the words like an oath against her skin. Sliding my hands up and down her back, I try to offer her all the comfort I can, pouring my feelings into every touch.
She makes a soft humming noise, eyes fluttering shut as she pushes her hands into my hair. “That sounds nice.”
“I love you.”
“That sounds even better.”
“You’re supposed to say it back…” I pout, bucking up my hips to nudge her, which only serves to backfire on me because now my cock’s hard and she’s grinding over it.
Yanking my head back, she looks down at me. “I love you, even though it all happened so quickly. Even though my life fell apart. Even though I don’t know who I am anymore. I love you with the shattered pieces of me, because you make me feel like I can be whole.”
“Rabbit…” I whisper, my emotions getting stuck in my throat.
“I’m right where I’m supposed to be,” she murmurs, lips pressed against mine as she rolls her hips, drawing out groans from both of us.
“Little Bunny, don’t start something unless you’re going to finish it.” I warn, my fingers digging into her hips as she continues to rock against me.
Her lips crash against mine, and it’s a kiss filled with grief, anxiety, fear, hope, love and lust. It’s every emotion bundled up in one simple human interaction.
Hands still buried in my hair, she clings to me like I was her port in the storm. Her safe place.
As I tear my T-shirt over my head, her hands work to undo the button on my jeans. Quickly we’re both naked and she’s back in my lap, the feel of her soft creamy skin against mine setting me on fire.
Cupping her perfect breasts, squeezing them before taking a nipple in my mouth, I mumble, “Your tits are perfect. The perfect handful. Look how responsive you are for me.”
Sucking hard, flicking my tongue over the pink nub, teasing her with my teeth, I drive her wild. She holds me close, moaning and writhing in my lap as she whispers my name over and over with an awed reverence.
My other hand tweaks her free nipple, taking it between my fingers and drawing a soft groan from her lips. I can feel how turned on she is, the slickness of her cunt against my legs making me impatient to be buried inside her, but this isn't about me.
Reaching between us, she shifts to take my cock in her hand. Moving slowly, she makes a tight fist and starts leisurely moving up and down my shaft.
“I love how you feel,” she exhales as my teeth tease her, scraping across her skin, biting into her, leaving fresh love bites. She whimpers so beautifully for me, the sound addictive. The little fucking noises she makes drive me wild.
“I know love, I can tell.”
Her thumb swipes over the head over my cock and we both watch as she smears the slick pre-cum down my shaft before bringing her hand to her mouth and sucking it between her lips.
“Fuck,” I grunt. “You’re doing such a good job of making me crazy for you.”
Dipping my hand between her legs, I let my fingertips swipe through her wetness, teasing her clit lightly before pushing two fingers inside her tight cunt.
“Always so ready for me,” I praise, kissing her.
Pumping my fingers inside her, I use my thumb to rub her clit, working her with a steady rhythm as she fucks down on to my hand. She whines for more, desperately begging me to make her come.
Pulling out, I grab her ass and lift her onto my cock until I’m buried all the way inside her. Where I fucking belong. Where I would live if I could.
“Ride me,” I tell her, guiding her hips. “Take what you need. Let me love you.”
Her nails bite into my shoulders as she does exactly that, slamming herself down on my cock, impaling herself over and over until a sheen of sweat covers her beautiful body.
A tingling in my spine and a tightening in my balls warn me that my orgasm is barely minutes away.
Biting her nipple and thrusting up into her sloppy, soaked pussy, I growl. “I’m gonna come, Rabbit. Gonna paint your insides with my cum. Fill you up. Put my baby in you. Tie you to me. Forever. Going to fuck you like this forever.”
“Eli…Eli…fuck, yes. Eli.” This woman was going to be the death of me.
When her body starts trembling, I decide to give her a little extra nudge and rub my thumb over her clit in lazy circles as she keeps fucking herself on my cock.
“Fuck!” Throwing her head back, her body clamps down on me, pulsing around my dick as she comes. Her pussy keeps clenching and convulsing, milking me through my orgasm, and as I pour everything I have into her, I hold her tight against me where she belongs.
With her arms wrapped around my neck, and my hands still holding her ass, we’re intertwined. Joined together, and I will never let another thing come between us.
“Eli…” Her hot breath tickles my ear and as she shifts, I realize she’s looking at something on the wall behind me.
I skirt my fingers up her spine lightly. “Yes, Rabbit.”
“Are those my paintings?”