Club Prive Book V (7 page)

The series of events that followed took on a surreal quality. The police took me away from Gavin so we could give our statements separately while the paramedics looked over us. Howard was quiet. They weren’t going to be getting anything from him for a while. I tried to keep my voice even and matter-of-fact as I relayed everything that had happened from the moment I’d arrived at Howard’s office, but it didn’t work. I started to shiver when I got to the part about Howard cutting off my clothes, and one of the paramedics wrapped me in a blanket. My teeth were chattering, but I kept going, finishing with getting the files from the office. I skipped the part about calling Frank.

When I was done, the paramedic who’d been examining me spoke, “We need to get her to the hospital to do a rape kit.”

“He didn’t rape me,” I said. “He just put his hands on me.” The words were bitter in my mouth. “You won’t get any evidence from a rape kit.” That’s when I remembered what Howard had said when he was leaving. “But you will get it from the cameras.”

“Cameras?”

“I forgot,” I said. “When Howard was leaving the room, he told me that there were cameras. I don’t know if they have sound, but they’ll show everything that happened.” I didn’t even have the energy to be embarrassed by the thought of people watching what Howard did to me, seeing me naked.

The detective started asking questions then, but I didn’t hear the first two because that was when the paramedics were wheeling Howard out. I watched as they went by.

The cop repeated himself, “Ma’am, why were you at Mr. Weiss’s office this morning?”

I chose a half-truth. “He asked me to come by to discuss a job with his company.”

The questions kept coming and I could hear another detective doing the same thing to Gavin. I answered them all as truthfully as I could without implicating Gavin and myself in our less-than-legal activities to get the information. I was careful not to out-and-out lie, so that if the cameras did have sound, nothing I said would contradict what had really happened. I had to admit, I was impressed with how well my brain was working after what I’d just been through. Then again, it was probably just a coping mechanism, and my mind would go into shock like my body at some point in the near future.

“I’m not going to the hospital!” Gavin raised his voice enough for me to hear what he was saying.

I ignored the detective’s protest and hurried over to Gavin’s side, clutching my blanket around me.

“Sir, you really should have these stitched up.” A baby-faced paramedic was arguing with him.

“You do it,” Gavin said. “I’m not going to the hospital.”

“Gavin.” I took his hand.

“I just want to go home.”

I could see the weariness in his eyes. He wouldn’t rest in a hospital, I knew. He needed to be at home. I turned to the paramedic. “Can you stitch him up here?”

“We have this emergency stuff that’s kind of like glue, but we only use it if we have to close a wound in the field,” the medic answered reluctantly.

“Well, if you want these closed, I suggest you use it,” I said. “Because, trust me, it’s pointless to argue with him.”

“Ms. Summers,” the detective I’d left behind had walked over. “I do have a few more questions.”

“Of course.” I kept my tone agreeable enough even though I wanted to tell him to leave me alone so I could stay with Gavin. It would be better to get this done and over with rather than trying to delay things.

The FBI showed up before the detective was done questioning me, and I had to give my statement all over again. By the time they were finished, it was almost noon and Gavin and I had been telling our story for over two hours. I was just about to tell them that they’d kept us long enough, especially after what we’d been through, when they finally told us we could go. The FBI agent who’d been questioning me offered to have one of her agents take us to our homes, but we declined. Gavin had followed Howard here in his own car.

Gavin put his uninjured arm around my shoulders, helping me hold the blanket in place as we started towards the exit. I wasn’t cold anymore, but I was still wearing only Gavin’s shirt and nothing underneath, which didn’t make the prospect of walking past dozens of cops, Feds, gawkers, and reporters very appealing.

We managed to get to Gavin’s car without being mobbed and, once inside, I spoke, “I need to call Mimi.”

Gavin gave me a puzzled look.

“I’m late. I need to tell her that I have to run home and shower, get dressed, before I can come in.”

Gavin started to laugh, but the expression on my face must’ve told him I meant what I’d said. Concern replaced amusement. “Carrie, you’re not going to work today. Not after what just happened.”

I frowned. I had to go to work. “Mimi needs me there to help prepare her cases.” I was vaguely aware that there was a perfectly legitimate argument against what I was saying, but I wasn’t able to grasp it.

Gavin leaned across the seat and put his hand on my cheek. My eyes found his. “I’ll call Mimi and tell her what happened.”

Panic flared inside me. No, he couldn’t do that. “No, I don’t want her to know. She’ll be mad.”

Gavin brushed his lips against mine, a touch almost too brief and gentle to even be called a kiss, but it stopped me from talking. “No, she won’t. She’s going to be thankful you’re okay, and she’s going to tell you to take as much time as you need.” He gave me a half-smile. “Besides, I have a feeling Howard’s divorce case just got a whole lot easier for his wife.”

I returned the smile with a soft one of my own. He was right. That whole mental shock thing I’d been worried about had just thrown me for a minute, making me delusional. “I want to call Krissy, see if she can come home early. I don’t want to be alone.”

A sad expression crossed Gavin’s face and then disappeared behind a blank mask. “Oh. Sure, I can take you home.” He started the car.

“Gavin?” I touched his arm. “What is it?”

“I...” He seemed to be struggling to find the words he wanted. “I thought you could just come home with me, but I understand if you don’t want to.” He eased his way out onto the street, careful to avoid crushing the mass of media who had flocked to the sight of so many cops and Feds in the same place.

“Gavin.” I waited until he glanced my way. “I want to.”

Relief broke across his expression, so strong that it surprised me. I hadn’t realized that he didn’t want to be alone any more than I did. I was glad he wanted me to be with him. I loved Krissy, and I knew at some point, I would want nothing more than to curl up with my friend and cry, but right now, I wanted something that would eradicate the memory of Howard’s hands on my body, and sex with Gavin would definitely do that.

T
here is something to be said about the adrenalin rushing through your body when you think you are about to die or face a fate even worse. Surviving such an experience makes the endorphins go sky high. So, based on my previous experiences with Gavin, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect when we got back to his place. I doubted we’d even completely get undressed or make it to the bedroom. I had these images playing through my head of him picking me up as soon as we were inside his apartment, putting my back against the wall, unzipping his pants, and fucking me right there. Maybe we’d get to the couch, shedding clothes along the way, but it would be hard and fast, something almost frantic, fueled by our desire to forget about what had happened and almost happened today.

So, when he shut the door behind us and picked me up, I was prepared for whatever he was going to do. I was ready for anything. Anything except what actually happened next. Instead of tearing my shirt off and fucking me senseless, he kicked off his shoes, cradled me against his chest, and carried me into the bathroom, leaving the blanket on the floor, forgotten.

He walked right into his shower, both of us still fully dressed – or at least as dressed as we had been when we’d come in. Without letting me go, he turned on the water, giving it the minute it needed to warm before switching on the spray.

He looked down at me, droplets of water clinging to his eyelashes. He set me on my feet and gently touched my face. It wasn’t until he spoke that I realized the shower wasn’t the only reason his face was wet.

“Do you have any idea how terrified I was when I walked into that room and saw you there?” His thumb brushed my bottom lip. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been that scared.” His hand was trembling.

I took his hand and pressed my lips against his palm. “I need you to forgive me.” I hadn’t realized I was going to say the words until they came out. He might hate me when I was done, but I didn’t want to lie to him, not when he was being so open and honest with me.

“Forgive you for what?”

I looked up at him, feeling my own eyes burning with tears. “I thought you knew,” I said. “About the girls Howard was selling. I overheard him in his office at the mansion, telling Annie that you were supposed to be grooming me for him. I believed him. And then when you told him that you knew about what he’d done to Camille and that you had gotten close to him to find out the truth, I thought you’d just used me to get to him.”

“You thought all of this we have together had been a lie?” Gavin had gone very still.

“I didn’t know what to think,” I said. “Everything between us had happened so fast and you’d been so persistent. I’ve never had a man want me like that before, and it was easier for me to believe that it was an act than to think that it could possibly be true. That this intense connection could be real... for you. It was always real for me.”

I fell silent and waited for his response. My stomach was in knots. I’d thought the worst of him, believed lies and speculation. I wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t want to see me again.

“This,” he said as he cupped the side of my face. “This is the most real thing I’ve felt in ten years.” He lowered his head and gently kissed me. “None of it was fake, and I’m sorry I did anything that made it hard for you to believe me.”

He was apologizing to me? I shook my head. “It wasn’t your fault,” I protested. “It was all me.”

He put his finger on my lips. “How about this?” he suggested, “No more apologies. Forgiveness across the board, and we have a clean start.”

I smiled. “I like that.”

He returned the smile with that sweet one I loved so much. “Now, what do you say we get clean for our clean start?”

He looked down at me then, his eyes darkening at the sight of his shirt molded to my body. I couldn’t help but drop my gaze, wanting to see his body’s response. I wasn’t disappointed. The jeans were tight and wet, leaving little to the imagination. My stomach twisted in anticipation.

He peeled the shirt off of me and tossed it aside. His pants came next. They were already ruined, with one leg cut so that the paramedics had been able to get to the cut on his leg. His boxers came off with the pants so that when he straightened, he was as naked as I was.

He reached for the shampoo and motioned for me to turn around. His fingers massaged the thick lather into my curls and I closed my eyes. My body was starting to relax at last. The chill that had come over me in the club was finally gone. I backed under the spray as Gavin washed his hair.

I was surprised as the shower continued. He conditioned my hair and washed every inch of me, his hands gentle and caressing, but never once did he try to initiate anything. Part of me considered taking matters into my own hands, but something about the way he was looking at me made me decide not to. There was something different about his expression, something deep in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. It wasn’t until I’d begun to wash him that I realized what it was.

He was taking care of me. Not like before with sex, where it had been about making sure I reached my pleasure. That had been great and had told me that he wanted to make sure I was happy. This wasn’t the same. What I saw in his eyes was the kind of caretaking that came with something deeper. This was holding someone’s hair back when they threw up and then cleaning them up after. It was bringing chicken soup and crackers. It was choosing to go to the theater on date night instead of spending the night out with the guys. It was giving up everything for that other person.

I slowly ran the soapy cloth around his side to his back. I swallowed hard around the lump in my throat and moved the washcloth across his broad shoulders. I’d believed his words with my head when he’d said this was real for him, but the last piece of my heart that had been holding back couldn’t stand against the tenderness I saw in those eyes. And I didn’t it want to. I closed my eyes, feeling two tears sliding down my cheeks and mingling with the shower spray. I slowly let out a breath, letting the last of my doubts and fears wash away.

By the time we were finished and drying ourselves off, I felt more at peace than I had in a very long time. At peace, but exhausted. Without a word, Gavin took my hand and led me to his room. He brushed out my hair and braided it, the simplistic style telling me that he’d learned by braiding his daughter’s hair. Another surge of emotion went through me, but I didn’t say anything. It wasn’t the right time. The silence between us was what we needed right now.

He tossed our towels into a hamper and we slid, naked, between the cool, clean sheets. He curled his body around mine and I nestled back against his chest. His arms went around my waist and I put my hands over his, careful not to jostle his wound. His lips pressed against the hollow under my ear and that was the last thing I knew for several hours.

W
hen I woke up, two things struck me almost immediately. The first was that the clock said we’d been asleep for more than three hours. The second was that Gavin was still wrapped around me and was enjoying it. His flesh was slowly hardening against my ass.

I smiled and rolled in his arms so we were almost face-to-face. I still had to tilt my head for our eyes to meet, but it was close enough for him to bend his head and brush his lips across mine. His hands splayed across my bare back.

“Good... afternoon?” he said with a smile. “I trust you slept well.”