Redemption (15 page)

He pressed against my entrance. “Please,” I begged, rolling my hips to meet him, trying to gain his attention.

It worked. He filled me in one solid thrust, stretching me, throwing every inch of himself inside of me. He fit like a spandex glove, my pussy clutched him, like I’d never get enough. “Oh, so sweet and tight,” he mumbled, pulling my nape to give him better access to my mouth.

If I hadn’t been fully awake because of his cock inside of me, I’d thought I was in Heaven. His mouth was gentle, his hips rolled in a little faster rhythm. I could tell by the way his shoulders tensed that he’d tried to keep control. The beast inside of him clawed to get out but he took his time.

I dug my nails into his skin. “Harder,” I begged.

He nipped my bottom lip before sucking it into his mouth. “I’m trying to show you,” he groaned out, pulling tighter on my hair, “how I want to keep you.”

Keep me?
The taste of those words dripped of a promise that I wasn’t sure he could keep. I wanted him to want me—to
need
me. There was such promise on his face, such a genuine confession that my cheeks burned red. “Are you blushing?” he whispered. “I’m balls deep inside of you, and my confession to want to keep you, embarrasses you?” The slight lift of his brow embarrassed me more.

“It’s just—I
believe
you,” I whispered.

His fingers caught my jaw. “You should,” he mouthed. “I do want to keep you. Do you want to be kept? Do you want me for more than just this?” He rolled his hips. “Do you want more than my cock?” he asked, suddenly aggression dripped from him like sweat.

“Yes.”

He watched me like he debated my answer before he drug himself slowly out of me, touched my bottom lip and slammed back into me.

I came undone with one single thrust, my body jerked and arched against the bed.

When my gaze landed on him, the sensitive boy hiding inside of him had gone to bed for the night. “Good, baby,” he whispered. “Now it’s time to get fucked.”

Chapter Eighteen

Neveah

I was up when the sun hit my blinds the next morning. My eyes ached for sleep, but there was no way in Hell I got any. Not after the night before. He’d fucked me the entire night. I’d only been in my bed for an hour when the sun rose.

My body ached when I stretched. He’d promised that too. The things he whispered to me while pounding me into oblivion still scorched my cheeks. ‘I want you to feel me inside of you with every fucking step tomorrow. Remember how I fucked you.’

Oh, I wasn’t forgetting.

Despite the fact that I didn’t care he’d gone to prison, I wanted proof. Proof that he’d told me the truth. And he
had
told me the truth. I’d checked online. There was something else teetering in his gaze, something worse, and it thrived me to know it. To know everything about him. But I knew there probably wasn’t much he hadn’t done. He’d never exactly said but he’d hinted and I’d caught the most of it.

Lucy jarred my bed with her paws, and it was a great distraction from the war going on in my head. There were more questions I wanted to ask, but my mouth had been preoccupied with his. 

Prison
. The torment in his eyes when he told me what Denver did to him shredded my heart. And despite the fact that he’d withheld information that was crucial, I felt the desperation he had for finding her.

That led to the wide-eyed sunrise. I
was
going to help him whether he wanted the help or not. I knew it was a bad idea, fuck, I was putting myself in harm’s way for him.
And for what?
Because I wanted him, or because I felt his touch in my bones. Or because he wanted to
keep
me.

I drug my covers from my bed and sluggishly walked to the kitchen. Dad chugged the orange juice carton, his brows raising over the rim when he saw me. “Well,” he looked at the clock on the microwave, “look who is up before seven. I’ll be damned.”

I made a grand show of flipping him off. He didn’t know my early rising had more to do with the boxer I was falling for in the guest house. “Whatever,” I mumbled, snatching the remains of the orange juice. “You’re not living alone for the next three months, so could you
maybe
not
drink out of the carton?” I asked, pouring myself a glass.

Dad laughed. “And you’re still a bitch in the morning.”

I grinned over my glass. “I hear bitchiness is genetic.”

Dad patted Lucy’s head before walking toward the door. “How about that match last night? I can’t believe he delivered a TKO in a practice match
and
his first fight. He’s a champ, Neveah.” Dad turned toward me, all laughter gone. “He’s going to be great.”

He
would
be great. Until everyone found out the truth. That he’s rap sheet was bigger than everything in Texas. “He did really well.”

Dad blankly stared at me. “You look like you’re someplace else. You okay?”

“I’m fine,” I lied. “I’m going to go for a jog and then get some laundry finished before I head over.”

Dad grabbed the door knob. “Run with Declan. See you later.”

I nodded absently, waiting for the door to click behind him. Every emotion imaginable suffocated me once I knew I was alone. My wobbly legs finally went limp, and I hit the floor. Lucy sat beside me, her nose on my shoulder. “I’m okay, girl.”

***

Chase bounced around the ring, his gloves in front of his face. I strained to focus on each step he took, on the placement of his feet.

But I was too aware of
him
watching me. I couldn’t focus on Chase’s moves because every one of my own were being watched. The look of outrage that hit his face when Dad asked me to spar with Chase made my inner cheerleader giggle.

Chase swung, and I hardly moved in time. The side of his glove skidded close to my face. “Neveah!” Chase yelled, breaking my failing concentration.

“Sorry,” I put my glove-cladded hands up. “I’m out of it today.”

Chase frowned. “You are.” He stepped closer, pressing the back of his palm against my forehead. “Are you okay?”

I jerked away, unable to meet his eyes because he’d know. He knew when I started seeing Cooper. I’d known the guy since we were kids and reading each other had become natural. “I’m fine,” I said. “I just need a break.”

I turned to face Dad who looked worried. “Nev, maybe you need to take a break. Are you,” he eyed Rage next to me, cupped his hand over his mouth and whispered, “on your period?”

I narrowed my gaze at him. “No!” I shouted. “I’m not. I’m just—preoccupied today. Can I just—go do some paperwork or something?” Why was I sweating? I knew why. Rage’s glare was on the side of my face.
How this man made me so shy, I’d never know
. I wasn’t shy.

Dad shrugged. “Sure. I’ll never say no to paperwork. Rage get in the ring with Chase.”

My eyes fluttered toward his, and the smile on his face told me he knew
exactly
why I couldn’t concentrate. Because every swing of my glove or step—I did think of him. The way he’d filled me so tight, the rough touch of his hands.

Grabbing the rope, he held it down for me, waiting for me to slide over his hands and to the floor. A groan left his throat at our brief closeness before I turned and went to hide under my desk until my panties dried.

I spent most of the afternoon doing paperwork for my dad. Lucy sat beside me, snoring. It’d taken twenty minutes for my racing hormones to settle down. The gym was closing when I heard the bell ding, and Cooper walked inside. His hair was a wild mess, those blue eyes I’d fallen into so many times were red streaked. “Neveah, do you have a minute?”

No.
Instead of answering, I pointed to the clock. After what Aunt Shelly told me about him wanting me, my skin started to crawl at the sight of him. “Look at me,” he begged.

Sighing, I glanced up at him. Dark bags hung under each eye, his skin hung looser than before. “What’s wrong with you?”

“You,” he whispered. “I’ve been trying to think of a way to get your attention. You bailed on me at the dance, and—,” his face turned to stone. “I saw you with him.”

Fear clogged my throat. I knew who he meant, but I played stupid the best I could. “What are you talkin’ about?”

His frown deepened, and his fingers tightened on the desk’s edge. “Neveah, I saw you kissing him, and his hands down your pants.”

Fuck
. “I was drunk.”

“Bullshit,” he spat. “Neither one of you were drunk.”

Anger built in my throat. Cooper was not going to fuck this up for me. “So what? We faltered, sue me.”

“I want you to go out with me,” he said.

Does he not have any shame?
The obvious ‘I’m black-mailing you’ weighed between us. I clutched my fingers on the desk. “No, I don’t want to. I’m not going to. You’re not going to black mail me into a date, Cooper. Get some pride.”

He laughed bitterly and clutched his Joe’s Boxing Gym T-shirt in his fist. “I’m here because of you. I took your dad’s offer because I’d get to see you when you come home. And now that you’re here—some fucking deadbeat asshole isn’t going to get in my way.” He stood upward. “I’ll tell if you don’t,” he whispered. “I’ll tell your dad. I know he made Declan promise.”

My hands begun to shake in my lap. Beating his ass come to mind first. I could take him easily. “Cooper, don’t you understand that I don’t want to go with you!”

“I don’t care!” he shouted. “Give me a chance to show you I’m your guy. I’m the guy that loved you before anyone else did.”

I clutched my fists against my knees, heaving from the rage inside of me. The door swung opened a few seconds later, but I only watched Cooper’s face transform.
Sleazy bastard.

“Glad you’re here. I need your help with a mat, Cooper,” Dad said.

Cooper smiled down at me and knocked his knuckles against the desk. “Think about it.”

When the doors swung shut, my hand went to my mouth. He was going to tell my dad.

What in the hell am I going to do?

***

Dad stayed late with Cooper at the gym while I cooked supper for us. Rage had stood behind me for ten minutes before he spoke.

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong, or do I have to wait for you to talk about it?”

Stirring the rice, I gave him the best smile I could muster over my shoulder. “I’m fine, just cooking.”

By the unimpressed look on his face, I guessed he didn’t buy it. He stepped forward, trapping me in his arms. “Turn around and face me,” he whispered against the shell of my ear.

I obeyed, letting my shaky fingers run up his arms to his large shoulders. “Tell me,” he insisted.

I bit my bottom lip, trying to think of how to say it. “You’re wearing my patience. Tell me now.”

“Cooper asked me on a date,” I blurted out.

Rage stiffened, no emotion on his face, but his eyes were angry. The thick coils of muscle in his shoulders flexed underneath my palms. “And why does that have you so upset?”

I shook my head, pulling on a piece of his hair. “Because,” I whispered. “He said he’d—,” I closed my eyes, “—he saw us at the barn and threatened to tell my dad if I didn’t go on a date with him.”

Rage tilted his head upward, the arms trapping me against him began to shake. “That fucking cunt,” he whispered.

“I’m not going—,”

Rage stood and slammed his fist against the refrigerator behind my head. “Fuck him!” he yelled. “You have to go and he knows it. You have to go or he’ll tell. Oh my God. I could rip his guts from his stomach. Tear him apart.”

Oh shit
. I watched as he paced the kitchen, every known emotion crossed his face in two minutes. When he turned back to me, he grabbed my elbow and drug me to him. “Go with him,” he whispered. When I tried to open my mouth, he silenced me with his finger against my lip. “There is no one else made for me,” he whispered. “You’re it. So I know he’ll never give you pleasure like I will. He’ll never get to touch,” he ran his free hand against the zipper of my jeans, “here again. You’re mine and one fucking date isn’t shit.”

He was right. There was no way Cooper would ever make me feel so alive. He didn’t before, and now that the bar had been set, there was no getting higher. There wasn’t anything better than Rage.

“When he holds the door opened for you,” he smiled, slipping his hands down the front of my pants, finding my throbbing nub with his finger. “Think about how I’m going to suck you dry when you get back. When he tries to kiss you goodnight, think about how I taste, and devour you.”

There was no forgetting. “I don’t want to go,” I whispered.

He cooed into my ear, lifting me up to the counter with his strong, wide hands, pressing his erection into me. “I don’t want him to lay a fucking hand on you. If he so much as touches your skin, I’ll beat him to death. You’re mine, Champ, just like I’m yours.”

I clutched his T-shirt, holding on for dear life. “I don’t want to hide anymore.”

Rage rested his forehead against mine and worked my button and zipper like a pro. “We won’t for long, Angel. There is no way I’ll be able to keep away.”

My eyes rolled upward, prepared to close when he sunk two fingers inside of me. “Always ready,” he chuckled.

I eyed the door. “My dad will be here any—,”

Rage caught my jaw, and I had no choice but to meet his stare. “Do you trust me?”

How could I not?
I’d let him do anything to me, and we both knew it. “Yes.”

The smile on his face was a red flag. It was going to happen quickly, hard and right then. He stepped back, examining me with a heavy stare. When he spoke his voice was low and raspy. “Turn around and brace your hands on the counter.”

I did, without second thought. My palms laid flatly against the cool marble, my back arched, giving him the access I desperately wanted him to take. “Goddamn,” he rasped, sinking a finger down my spine to the crease of my ass.

I jumped, but he stopped me with his hips. “You trust me?”

Damn.
“I’ve never—,”

“Do you trust me?”

I sighed, loving the pressure of his thumb against me—
there
. “Yes.”

Bracing my hands, I whimpered as the he pressed the tip of his cock against my pussy. “I’m going to sink inside of you, and finger-fuck your asshole, Neveah. You’ll love every minute of it.”

With one fluid motion, he sank into me. I clutched the cabinet, calling out his name like an addictive song. There wasn’t any foreplay needed, no long strokes. It was deep and hard like our growing feelings. I pressed back against him, wanting every inch, thriving for everything he could give me.

I screwed my eyes shut and waited as his thumb sunk lower down the crease of my ass until he was pressing against me. Pain rocketed through my body, a foreign pleasure built in my stomach. “Oh—s-shit,” I shuddered, unable to control my shaking.

Rage pressed harder, half of his thumb sinking into me
.
I arched my back, my pussy dripping with need. I was so turned on my eyes brimmed with tears, my body lustful and crazy. “Please,” I begged, pressing back against his cock and finger. “More. More!”