Текст книги "Kian"
Автор книги: Tijan
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Текущая страница: 13 (всего у книги 19 страниц)
That wasn’t Erica.
I held my breath, waiting for her voice, but it didn’t come.
Jake was yelling. There were others.
I tuned them out and asked Kian, “What’s the plan?” I’d wallow later. We needed to escape first.
Kian grabbed my arm and went to the window. Throwing it open, he let go of me as he took the screen off. Pointing to a tree, he said, “I’ll climb down. You wait and then jump. I’ll catch you.”
“Uh…” I was skinny, but I wasn’t a lightweight.
“It’ll be fine.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Wait for my signal.”
A news van rushed down the street. As Kian made his way to the tree, jumping over and catching a branch, the van pulled onto the lawn. The media was going to catch us. Kian wrapped his legs around the trunk and then slid down in seconds. He was beneath the window, raising his arms. Before he said anything, I pointed to the front of the house. Seeing the media, he waited.
A reporter and a camera guy rushed inside.
Kian called out, “Jump. I’ll get you.”
I took a deep breath and climbed onto the window frame. My eyes clung to his. “Are you sure?”
His arms went higher. His voice was strong. “Trust me.”
After a second breath, I pushed off and jumped.
Kian caught me. A flutter filled my stomach. It rose to my throat, spreading to my fingers and toes, as I slid down his body. His hand took mine, and we started to head to the back.
A man appeared in front of us, and Kian braked.
“It’s me,” the stranger said.
Kian shook his head, tugging me behind him. He grinned ruefully at the man. “Perfect timing.”
“Yeah, well, we might still be screwed. Someone from the party must have alerted the media. There’s another news van in the back. I think they went inside already, but two more channels are heading to us. We have to move quick.”
“Jo!”
I looked over my shoulder. Jake was in the window, staring at us in disbelief. As his gaze touched on me, another wave of guilt swept over me. He looked to Kian, and then his eyes fell to our linked hands. A second wave crashed over me.
I couldn’t think about that, not now. “We have to go. Now.”
The stranger scanned a shrewd eye over me. His lips lifted into a slight smirk. “We’re aware. Follow me.”
He turned and led the way. No one was in the backyard, but the stranger and Kian kept to the side of the yard. They hugged close to the neighbor’s fence and then paused when we got to the back alley.
The stranger waved us ahead. “My car’s at the end. Go, and get in the back.”
“They’re back here!” someone shouted from the house.
I didn’t look back. Kian started down the alley, and I was right behind him. The news van didn’t look like anyone was inside, but the side door opened. I didn’t have time to react. Kian reacted for me. He caught my waist and pulled me behind a garage door. It blocked us from their view, whomever it was. He held us there. As we waited, he was pressed against me, shielding me.
He nuzzled against my ear. “They didn’t see us. We’ll go when they’re gone.”
I closed my eyes, inhaling the scent of him for a second. This was all sorts of wrong, all sorts of bad timing, but I grabbed the front of his shirt and pressed myself against him. It was a tiny gesture, but Kian went still, and he looked down, gazing at me under lidded eyes. His hand lifted to cup my cheek. His eyes darkened, and he started to bend down. His lips hovered over mine, breathing into me, but he didn’t touch them to mine. I wanted it. My hands grasped him tighter. Neither of us could look away.
We heard a whisper, “Clear. Go.”
Kian fell backward, back out to the alley. I fell with him. It was like breaking through cement to pull my gaze from his. Then, we were off and running for the car. Kian got there faster and had the back door open and ready for us. I dove inside, and he was right behind me, his hand going to my hip. He guided me down, all the way below the seat, and he flattened himself over me.
His mouth was above mine. His face was right there. My heart was pounding– from the jumping, from the running, and now from the close proximity.
“Jordan?”
“Yeah?” My breath was stuck in my throat.
“There’s a blanket underneath you. I’m going to grab it.”
“Oh, yeah.” I moved as he reached underneath for it, lifting up my body so he could pull it clear.
Kian spread it over both of us, and we waited.
“You think they’ll see us?”
“No, they won’t be looking here.” He grimaced. “I hope not anyway.”
“Who’s that guy?”
“Cal, my private investigator, but he’s my go-to guy for everything.”
“What’s he doing?”
“He’s waiting behind to see what they know. That’ll help us get a jump on damage control.” A second grimace from him. “I hope.”
That made sense. A second question formed. “Kian?”
“Hmm?”
Erica’s face flashed in my mind again along with how Jake looked at us as I ran with Kian while we were holding hands.
“What am I going to do now?”
I was no longer Jo Keen.
I was Jordan Emory.
Cal didn’t stick around.
He dropped us off—or he dropped me off. Kian remained in the car, and whatever they had to say, it didn’t take too long. I waited in the doorway before going into the hotel through the back way.
When Kian approached, he took his cap off and gave it to me. With a guiding hand on my back, he walked beside me. I kept my head bent down as we maneuvered to the private elevator. Once inside the penthouse, I went straight to the liquor cabinet.
Kian pulled his phone out, but he held it in his hand as I poured a healthy shot of whiskey. It burned but not enough. I switched to tequila, and three shots later, some of the storm started to ebb. I was hoping to be numb.
Kian moved, so he was leaning against the counter, right behind me. He lifted an eyebrow. “Better?”
I swallowed. Nope, I could still feel it. I poured another. “Getting there,” I rasped out.
“Jordan.” He reached for the bottle.
I held it away, using my hip to check him. He would have to reach around me to get it. Our eyes met and held.
I winced, seeing the sympathy in his gaze. “Stop it,” I ground out.
No sympathy. No pity party. No I’m sorry. None of that shit would do. My life was done, but I was going to get drunk before I had to face it.
I reached for the phone. His fingers tightened on it, but he used the touch to move closer to me. He was now crowding me against the counter. Desire pooled inside me, and I swallowed, licking my lips, as I reacted to the smoldering in his eyes.
I murmured, “One night. Give me one night before you call in the cavalry.”
His fingers moved, so he was holding my hand as I was holding his phone now. “One night?”
I nodded.
The tequila was finally working. I felt the world slipping away. The flames he’d lit inside me were getting higher and higher. They were scorching me from the inside out, and I was so close to forgetting why I was asking for one night.
A tear slipped down my cheek. I wanted to forget. I wanted it all to be pushed at bay. “Kian,” I whispered, “they all know.”
He cupped the side of my face. “That just means they’ll know the truth.”
Maybe. Maybe not. I was too scared to hope.
I put his phone on the counter, and my hand went to his side, and I held on to him there, as if he were going to slip away.
“I need to call my lawyers and my publicist.”
I pressed against him.
He raked a hand down the back of my hair, soothing me. “But it’s just to tell them where I am. They have to get everything ready and fly here. They’ll be here by morning.”
Morning.
I wasn’t ready. When they came, the small hideaway we had would be gone, but I nodded, letting go of his side. “Call them.”
He didn’t move away. His hand still clasped me to him as he took the phone and dialed the number. He pulled me to his chest.
I could hear his voice through him as he called the lawyers first. An Ethan person wasn’t allowed to come. The lawyer on the phone was fine with that. The second call was to Laura and her publicist team. She asked about Felicia. Kian hesitated and then said he’d call her later. His third call was to Cal, and he only relayed that his team would be coming.
When he was done, I expected him to put the phone on the counter, but he didn’t. After dialing another number, he held the phone to me.
“What?” I took it.
“Call Snark. Tell him whatever you want.”
I was dumbstruck. I had no family and no friends now, but he was right. Snark would be concerned.
When he answered, he grunted into the phone, “I’m already on my way. Where is she?”
“It’s me.” I smoothed a hand down my hair, turning sideways but still in Kian’s arms.
My shoulder and side rested against his chest. One of his hands fell to my hip, anchoring me in place.
Snark was silent and then asked, “Are you okay?”
“I’m drinking tequila.”
“That’s a no?”
I snorted. “I’m at Kian’s.”
“I’m already on my way.”
“You are?”
“I was coming to have a word with him anyway. You’re at the hotel? I’m pulling into the lot right now.”
Kian felt my tension and murmured into my other ear, “What’s wrong?”
Covering the phone, I replied, “He’s downstairs.”
A curse left him, and he straightened away from me. While he was still holding my hip, his eyes didn’t leave mine. “I need to call my lawyers one more time. Can you stall him?”
I nodded.
My eyebrows pinched together, but I hung up and gave him the phone. He went into the back with it as I went to let Snark inside from the elevator. He rushed past me, looking all around. He was wearing a brown trench coat, and his hair was sticking in the air, like he’d been grabbing at it. Worry lines surrounded his eyes and were at the corners of his mouth. He seemed to have aged ten years. The smell of cigarettes and cologne clung to him.
“Where is he?” He started for the living room and then the first opened bedroom door.
“On the phone.”
He smirked, rounding back to me. “With his lawyers?”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Yeah. Why?”
He rolled his eyes, grabbing at his hair. He surveyed me and then gestured for the door. “Come on. I want you to come with me.”
“With you?” I stepped back against the counter.
Kian was still in the back room. The door was closed shut, but the thought of leaving him sliced me up inside.
“No.”
“This is enough!” His voice rose. “This romantic bullshit you have going on with him is going to put you in prison. I don’t care what he’s said to you, but his team is behind the leak. They’re his team, not yours. You are not their client. They want you front and center for the public, and they are willing to crucify you. He’s going back up before a jury, and it’s out there. He’s let the world know that he killed Edmund—”
“That was never in debate,” I cut him off.
The party. The look on Erica’s face. Hiding again. Running. The tequila.
All of it was rising together in one angry tornado in me. My voice started to shake but not from fear. “He has only said that he defended me. Edmund was torturing me. I fought and threw a book at the curtain. Kian was there. He was right outside and got a glimpse of what was going on. The right place, the right time. A second later, and he wouldn’t have seen a thing. Just one second later. But he was there, and he saved my life.”
“Good,” Snark clamped out. “And you can testify to that when you’re called to the stand because he is going back on trial.”
“No.” Kian’s voice was low, smooth. He moved from behind Snark, rounding to stand beside me.
Kian’s face was like granite, closed off but so strong. His shoulders were tense. His hands were in fists as they folded over his chest, and he narrowed his eyes at the FBI agent.
“I’m not actually. The district attorney just got off the phone with my lawyers. The case has been dropped. It borders too much on double jeopardy, and”—he skimmed over my face from the side of his eye—“they’re not going after Jordan either.”
Snark flung his hands in the air. “But the media knows who she is now!” A nerve bulged out on the side of his neck. “They know her name. They know her new face. She’s ruined, Maston. There’s no going back for her.” He jerked forward, but his body rocked backward just as quick. He was shaking his head, glaring. “Why did you release the note? Why did you release her name?”
“I didn’t.” Kian’s voice rose, but it was still low. It was still deadly.
A shiver racked down my back. He was becoming colder with each accusation Snark flung at him.
“Did you not want her to live without you? That’s what would’ve happened, right? You would’ve had to let her go. Can’t be with her when she’s got a different name and face. Can’t be with her when she should be with some other guy.” Snark kept shaking his head. Disgust filled his tone. “That’s why, isn’t it? It’s not to throw her to the wolves, try to pin Edmund’s death on her. It wasn’t to save your own ass. It was about her, and you’re not doing the right thing.”
My heart was sinking lower and lower. I closed my eyes and started to turn away.
Snark continued, “You couldn’t let her go. That’s what this is about. Why were you the one to save her from her foster father? And again, you saved her a second time. Why? Both can’t be coincidental.” He stopped, letting his words hang in the air.
“You’re right.”
Snark fell quiet, blinking at Kian.
I moved forward, my heart lurching up to my throat. “He’s right?”
Kian swung those dark eyes my way, making my chest feel punched.
He said so quietly, “It wasn’t a coincidence. I mean, the first time. I wasn’t just walking by your house that day.”
“You weren’t?”
My heart was thumping hard.
“Justin Cavers.”
My head cocked to the side. “My ex-boyfriend?”
His eyes were pinned to mine, so intense and so hypnotic. “I was coming to warn you about him.”
My mouth was suddenly so dry. I licked my lips. “Why? He and I broke up a few weeks earlier.”
“Because he was going to ask you out again.” He glanced in Snark’s direction, as if gauging his reaction. When there was none, he looked back to me. “Justin was an asshole to you.”
I almost snorted. He didn’t have to tell me that. I fully knew.
He added, “He was bragging to a lot of guys at a party the weekend before. He was going to ask you out again, but he had plans for you.”
A second shiver slithered down my spine. I wanted to ask him what he meant, but I had a feeling that I already knew. Justin hadn’t been the most sensitive or gentlest of boyfriends.
“The guys were teasing Justin that you’d gotten away.” Kian’s voice dipped low once more.
My head lowered. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to even hear what he had to say.
“He said he was going to rectify that at a party the next weekend. He told my best friend that he was going to ask you out that night. That’s why I came to your house that day. A few hours later, and he would’ve been there. I just got there first.”
Snark asked, “What was he going to do to her?”
I felt Kian’s gaze lift from my head as he answered Snark, “What do you think?”
I knew.
Justin had been so rough so many times.
And I would’ve gone. I was ripped open from the inside as I realized that. I would’ve gone. I would’ve been ecstatic to leave the house and get away from Edmund. And it would’ve happened because Justin always got me where he wanted.
Kian didn’t answer Snark, but I lifted my head.
My voice was hoarse as I said, “He would’ve raped me.”
Snark’s eyes widened.
I said, “That’s why we broke up. He’d tried to force me other times. I always stopped him, but the last time”—I winced, remembering the feel of his hands on my arms—“he was too rough. I broke up with him because of it.”
Snark nodded to Kian. “How did you know he would’ve done that? Did he say those words?”
“He implied it pretty clearly.” Kain hesitated, his chest lifting in a small breath. “And because I knew someone else he raped.”
My gaze whipped to his. He did?
He was watching me, remorse filling his eyes, and the corners of his mouth curved down. He was grimacing. “I couldn’t let him do that to you, too.”
“Who?” Snark’s voice rose. “Who did he rape? And will she testify?”
“My sister, and no, she won’t.”
“Your sister…” I trailed off, remembering the times when Felicia went to the courtroom. She was always with her mother, always with her head down, and her shoulders drooping slightly. She never looked at me. Ever. “I thought she hated me, she and your mother.”
“Felicia knew why I was going to your place, but it was never talked about again in my family. I told my parents and the lawyers why, but my dad forbade letting my real reason get out.”
I never saw his dad in the courtroom. “Why didn’t your dad come to the hearing? I don’t remember seeing him there.”
“Because he was upset with me. He didn’t do a thing when Cavers raped Felicia. Justin’s dad was”—he scowled—“a business colleague of my dad’s. That didn’t mean I could let Justin do it again. That’s why I went to your house.”
“You testified that you were going to a girl’s house though.” Snark crossed his arms over his chest. “It was a friends-with-benefits thing between you and the girl. She was expecting you to show up, too. She gave a statement backing you up.”
Kian lifted a shoulder. “I could’ve gone to her house. It was across the street from Jordan’s house. It would have been a good enough excuse for why I was at Jordan’s house.”
“The other girl didn’t actually know you were coming?”
“Someone called her later, told her that I’d been planning on going to her house. She was told what to testify about. It was how it was. I could go over whenever I wanted. She had no problem with backing me up. I’m sure she even believed it, too.”
Snark grunted, shaking his head. “The hardships of being young, wealthy, and good-looking.”
Kian’s lips pressed together into a flat line. “My dad forbade me to testify with the real reason I went to Jordan’s house. Couldn’t put ‘undue stress’ on a ‘beneficial alliance.’ Those were my dad’s actual words.”
My head was swimming.
He’d saved me from Edmund and from Justin. One just tortured me, and the other intended to rape me. What was worse was that I didn’t know if I would’ve gone to the police about either. If Edmund stopped, I would’ve convinced myself that he’d just snapped. He would’ve apologized, and nothing would’ve been said about it again. His wife, their two kids—they blamed me for Edmund’s death, and they never would’ve supported me if I’d gone to the police. Same thing with Justin. It would’ve been my word against his.
Shame filled me, making my insides form knots.
I would’ve allowed myself to become victimized. I wouldn’t have stood up, not like Kian had.
Feeling the burning in my throat and tears threatening to spill, I said huskily, “Thank you.”
He’d been waiting, and at my words, his shoulders slowly lowered. A silent sigh left him at the same time. As his Adam’s apple jerked up and paused at the top of his throat, he gave me a stiff nod. “You don’t hate me?”
How could I? He’d saved me in more ways than one.
I shook my head. “Never.”
“This is all fine and dandy, but we have serious issues to talk about.” Snark’s sharp tone broke my reverie.
I was pulled from the past and brought back to reality.
He added, “You have a roommate and an apartment with all your stuff. I suggest you deal with that before his team gets here.” He jerked a thumb in Kian’s direction and then threw him a shrewd look, his eyebrow arching up. “I’m assuming you’re going to demand that she stay here and not go with me?”
Kian threw me a questioning look, but his jaw hardened. “That’s up to Jordan.”
Jordan.
That was the second time he called me by my real name. The feeling washed over me, sending warmth through my body. It was my name, given to me by my real parents. It was nice, hearing it again, and I let myself savor the sensation.
“Jordan?” Snark added, his voice gruff.
Savoring moment was done. It was time to deal with real life. I clipped my head in a firm nod. “I ran from that party, but it might not be a bad idea to get back to my apartment before the media shows up, if they aren’t there already. I might not get another chance.” I glanced to Kian. “You probably shouldn’t come—”
He didn’t let me finish. “I’m coming.”
“Well then, okay, I guess.”
He shouldn’t go, but I was glad that he would. It didn’t make sense, and I didn’t care. The shitstorm that was called the media was about to descend on my life once again. I was going to endure everything I had before. I was about to be blamed for Kian going to jail.
I needed to go to hell. I was a whore. I was a cunt. I was a seductress from the ninth level of hell. I didn’t deserve happiness or to be alive. I should have died. And those were all the comments that would be yelled from non-media people. The media would paint me how they had before and during the trial, showing that I manipulated Kian into killing Edmund. Somehow, it was all my fault.
I was about to be hated once more.
“I’ll go.” Snark moved to grab my arm. “You stay.” He swept his eyes to Kian, too. “Both of you stay. I’ll get a team in there. I can pull some strings from work.”
“You sure?”
He nodded. “I’ll call when it’s done. We’ll get everything out.”
After Snark left, Kian and I stared at each other. The air was so heavy and thick that I didn’t think I could talk. He had known about Justin. He came to save me from my ex. I couldn’t get that out of my head.
I heard myself asking Kian, my voice hoarse, “You knew about him?” It was already answered, but somehow, I needed to ask again. He knew how he was. Others knew. Justin hurt me back then.
No one cared, or I thought no one cared.
He nodded, his eyes lidded. “He didn’t deserve you.”
My mouth was dry. “You knew me before that happened then? I thought it was a freak accident, that you saw me through the window.”
Kian met my gaze. Gone was the cold, mysterious, and almost deadly guy I knew for the last three years. It was the old Kian, the high school Kian. But even then, he was always reserved, a loner at times, yet a respected leader. No, this was a different side to him.
I tilted my head to the side, narrowing my eyes, and I moved closer. He was exposed to me, like he opened a window and I was seeing the little boy inside of him.
Hurt and a tiny degree of raw anger flared in his depths before switching to uncertainty. He was letting me see inside of him. I felt my heart surge against my chest then, wanting to climb out to him. The feeling was overwhelming.
I asked so quietly, “Why?”
He gazed at me, questioning me.
“Why didn’t he deserve me?”
I suddenly needed to hear something loving, something I hadn’t heard from anyone all my life. I moved another step closer so I was within touching distance of him. I could see his pulse pounding through a vein in his neck.
He held himself still, just watching me back, before he murmured, “Because you were good. He wasn’t. He was beneath you.”
“You’re nothing but a whore,” Edmund said. “I’ve seen you with that rich boy. I’ve seen you two kissing. His tongue going down your mouth. I’ve seen it all, and I knew it would be my job to save you.”
His breath was hot, rank, as he brought the knife to my throat. He was excited and aroused. I felt him pressing against my leg.
He coated my face with his spit, saying, “You’re going to be saved today, girl. One way or another, you will be.”
I blinked back a tear and swallowed a sudden lump in my throat. “How do you know?” I could only whisper. How did he know I was good?
Kian’s hand lifted, cupping the back of my neck, and he leaned down so that his forehead rested against mine. I felt the struggle in him then. He was holding himself back, trying to keep control.
I wanted to yank it out of him. Whatever the consequences, whatever happened, I wanted it to happen. An ache was in me, one that I wanted him to fill. There was a hole inside me, one that his words, his touch, and his protection could heal. I was leaning into him, my forehead pressing back, and my eyes clung to his. I was starving for him.
He said so softly and gently, “Because I’m not good. Because I’m like Justin, like Edmund. I’ve hurt. I’ve killed. I’ve stood by when people I loved were hurt.” His hand trailed around my neck in a soft caress and went up to rest against my cheek. He wasn’t holding me. He was just touching me. “I couldn’t do it again. I couldn’t let you get hurt, not when you weren’t like the rest of us. You’re good. You were then. You are now.”
My heart pressed even more to my chest, wanting to go to him if it could.
He said, “He hurt my sister, and after it happened, I couldn’t do anything. I wanted to make him suffer. My dad wouldn’t allow it. Justin started dating you, and I knew it was going to happen again. I knew of you from school. You were quiet and stayed to yourself, stayed in the background. That was why Justin picked you—because he could hurt you and get away with it. No one was going to protect you. But you were good. I saw it then, and it’s still in you. You’re still good, Jordan. When you broke up with him, I was relieved, but it wasn’t because he hadn’t hurt you.”
His head lifted. Blinding pain and regret flared up. It was fierce in his eyes as he said, “I was relieved because I didn’t have to stop him—” His voice broke as guilt flooded him.
His head lowered. His eyes left mine, but I reached up. I caught the side of his face, and I made him look at me again. Our eyes met, and I saw a stark need for something was there, inside of him. I couldn’t place it, but it struck deep inside me, as if I could heal him like he’d allowed me to heal, too.
“Finish it.” Please.
“He hurt my sister, and I couldn’t make him pay for it. If he hurt you, too, I couldn’t have lived with it. Any other girl…” He looked away again.
I didn’t let him. I made him look at me, my fingers sinking into his skin.
“There’s something about you.” His eyes rounded, looking in wonderment at me now. “I don’t know what it is. I felt it back then. I didn’t care about other girls, even the girls in my group. They were all the same. People just hurt people. I didn’t care. But when he started with you, I cared. I cared too much. I couldn’t let him hurt you, but it meant going against my father and my family. I would’ve lost them. If I said or did anything, I would’ve been exiled from them.”
Kian went to my house that day, knowing what would happen. “They would’ve kicked you out?”
He nodded, his head moving against my hand. “I shouldn’t have given a damn, but you broke up with him, and I was so fucking relieved that I wouldn’t have to fight my father. Justin started bragging again. He was going to wine and dine you and take you to the party that next weekend. He was going to finish what he’d started. Those were his words.”
I winced, but that sounded like my asshole ex-boyfriend. My would-have-been rapist.
“Like I said before, he was going to your house that day to ask you. I wanted to tell you not to go out with him. I didn’t know if he’d already be there. I didn’t know what I would be walking into, but I had to stop him. You couldn’t get hurt.” He shook his head, saying to himself, “Not you.”
I didn’t know what to feel. So many emotions were going through me—relief, gratefulness, anger, pain. But there were others, ones I didn’t want to name. So, I didn’t.
I moved, pressing my lips to his.
It was a soft kiss, almost like our first one, but this one was different. There was something new about it, something tender. Warmth swept through me, filling every part of my body, and it pushed all those other emotions out. It was just us, just this touch. That was the only thing that mattered.
And, my God, I wanted more.
I moved closer to him and opened my mouth. He took over then. His hand held me still, and he moved his head, his mouth coming to mine. He wanted more. His mouth ground on mine, but I wanted it. My body was thirsting for it.
Jordan thought this was just about sex. It wasn’t.
As I took over the kiss and guided her around, switching our positions, I knew this was so much more.
I hadn’t been lying when I told her about Justin. He was an animal, and he deserved to be put down. I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t do anything that I wanted. People got hurt. They remained hurt, and the people who did it, the ones who hurt them, would always walk free. That was all I saw time and time again. Hearing Justin, knowing what he was going to do, I couldn’t keep quiet any longer.
And now—feeling Jordan beneath me, her mouth arched upward, moving against mine—it was worth it. Everything had been worth it.
I felt more for her than she was ready to hear.
Feeling it now, feeling that emotion and that need to possess her in so many ways, I started to tremble. I wanted to carry her to bed, rip her clothes off, and make her forget any other person’s touch. I wanted to be imprinted on her, so no one would touch her again. I’d always be there. I’d be in the back of her mind. When another’s hands reached for her, she’d feel mine instead. When someone else pressed her into the bed, it’d be my presence haunting her.
I wanted her.
I had for so long.
If Justin had been there, if he’d been hurting her, I would’ve done the same to him as I had with Edmund. Nothing and no one would hurt Jordan. She didn’t realize it, but she’d never feel suffering again. I wouldn’t allow it—whether I was with her or not.
But, right now, having her in my arms, I never wanted this to end. I wanted to take her over and over again. I wanted to make her come again and again, for as long as she would let me.
Thinking about it, feeling the need sweeping up and nearly choking me, I moved her against the wall.
The back of her head rested there, and then her body followed until she was completely glued between the wall and me. There was no escaping. She was mine. She reached up, and her hand slid around my neck. She began to pull down, and at the same time, her body moved up. I bent and grasped the back of her leg. She lifted herself with me, and her legs wound around my waist.
I could touch her now. My fingers could go between us and undo her jeans, and I could slide right in. But I held back. I wanted to savor this, and I wanted her to relish this.
As her body was rippling with need, her mouth never leaving mine, my fingers went underneath her shirt. One remained on her thigh, even though I didn’t have to hold her in place. She wasn’t leaving me. My other eased over her skin, up the side of her back, and she bucked. Her body jolted, and a moan left her as her legs tightened even more around my waist.
