Текст книги "Exposed"
Автор книги: Ivy Stone
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Текущая страница: 11 (всего у книги 16 страниц)
Lindsey
A chill hits my naked back, goose bumps rise on my skin, and my nipples harden at the cold intrusion interrupting my hot shower.
Mason.
One of his large hands grabs the back of my neck and he squeezes while blowing his hot breath on my shoulder. His hand is never too tight, but never soft. It’s enough to let me know he’s here; he’s got me. It’s a protective touch I’ve found solace in. This is a bad idea. So bad. Letting go, he trails his fingers down, splaying them over my spine to the top of my ass, while nibbling tiny bites and kisses into the crook between my neck and shoulder. The sting of his teeth on my skin shoots straight to my eager pussy. My ribs still ache today as they did the day before, but my face doesn’t hurt and my muscles aren’t sore from my effort to defend myself. Apart from an occasional throb when the painkillers begin wearing off, I feel fine, fine enough I’m ready to let Mason have me however he wants.
My body yearns for his touch, taking control, leaving my head restricted and my heart defenseless. Oddly enough, comfort in that knowledge comes easy and my muscles relax with every assault of his smooth lips worshipping my body.
His wandering hands creep closer to the part of me where I absolutely want him to be, and as his calloused finger hits that magical spot, my eyes roll back into my head while my right hand comes up in front of me, meeting the wall to brace my weight. His fingers begin to move, his strokes long, his pressure perfect. Rough fingertips clasp around my hip and I’m jolted back, Mason’s free hand erasing any distance left between us.
His hard cock is against my back and my head rests into the firmness of his chest. My legs nearly give way, pleasure overriding my ability to stand, talk, or feel anything apart from the tingling desire coursing through my veins. He plays, he teases, back and forth. It’s too much. I want more and I want it now. My fingers drift down my stomach and glide over Mason’s. Applying pressure, I force him to stroke harder. My thighs shake and I close my eyes, an explosion building behind them, ready to detonate into a thousand pieces.
It’s right there, one second away; one more expert touch and for a short time, nothing but bliss will rule my world. There would be no violence, no lies, nothing but Mason and me.
But then it’s gone. I’m ripped away from the edge of paradise, wet, naked, and horny as hell. Without so much as a second to voice the frustration pouring out of me, I’m flipped around, back and arms pushed up against the tiled wall. Mase restricts any movement in my wrists and I narrow my eyes at him, my eyebrows bunching together.
He smirks, amusement dancing across his features. Infuriating asshole. He’s finding it hilarious that he’s left me high and dry and I’d be stupid not to realize why.
I hold my glare, but relent a little. I did kind of deserve it after leaving his bed before he’d woken up. “Okay, there was a reason for stopping and I can guess what it is. But go on, let me have it,” I say in defeat.
“I’m kind of pissed. You left my home without so much as a goodbye. I’m not saying I don’t understand why you did it, but you didn’t just leave me that morning wondering why you left. You left an impressionable young girl who had a good time with you, wondering why our guest would up and leave at the ass crack of dawn. That wasn’t cool of you to do.”
Mason let’s go of my wrists so he can cup my cheeks between his hands. “I get it, Linds. I’m not stupid. I know you probably got scared and thought you’d do what you always do and hide away. But you can’t do that when it’s not just me you’re running away from. I’ve got a daughter. She’s the center of my universe so if we want something between us to work, that means we work with Charlotte too.”
My heart sinks with shame because it never occurred to me Charlotte would ask questions. I was too busy processing what had happened with her father and, in turn, leaving had done more damage than good.
I shake my head in his hands. “Shit. I’m an asshole. I’m so sorry. I just never thought– it never occurred to me…” I trail off, my voice breaking. It isn’t second nature anymore for me to think of someone else’s needs before my own, and while it might be selfish, it’s the truth. Mason is a father. It’s ingrained in him to put her above all else and that’s exactly how it should be. I’d not been accustomed to a situation like his before now.
“It’s all good. Her biggest worry was she couldn’t understand why you wouldn’t have stayed for pancakes for breakfast.”
A chuckle erupts from me and I smile. “She’s so freaking cute.”
“Yeah, she is. We have pancakes most mornings. And to her, my pancakes are the shit. In her head, only a crazy person would wanna miss her daddy’s awesome cooking.”
My shoulders bounce and my head falls back in laughter. “Oh, really.”
He pulls my face in close, capturing my gaze beneath his. “Yeah, sweetheart, really. She liked you. She doesn’t spend much time around women so she enjoyed your company. She was looking for more of that. I want more too, but we can’t do this if we aren’t straight with one another.”
I turn around, his words swirling in my head. Twisting the taps off, I step out of the shower before spinning back around to face him. “I can’t give you all of me. I’ll give you everything I can, but I can’t guarantee it will be enough for you and Charlotte.” I wrap a towel around my naked body and coincidently, I’m doing what I always do. Hiding the secrets away, backing off from anything feeling too real. Except this time, as the words leave my mouth, they taste of a lie.
“Why not, sweetheart? What shit in that head of yours has you so fucked up you want to run away from something good?”
I brace my hands on the edge of the vanity, leaning my head forward as Mason’s words echo in my mind. Why am I the fucked-up one? Am I fucked up? I’d never thought of myself that way. Was this how he truly saw me? What about him and those crazy nightmares? Anger pushes to the surface and I try to keep a lid on it. I press my lips in a tight line but the questioning in my head, the accusation of me being fucked up bursts through my patience.
“For a man who walks around with the weight of the world on his shoulders, Mase, I’m a little shocked by your comment.” My words are controlled, lethal. I lift my head to find Mason staring at me through the mirror. “You play the hero, catch the bad guys, and save the damsel in distress, all in a day’s work. You fixate on everyone else’s problems so you don’t have to face your own. So who are you to judge the way I handle my life? I’m not perfect. But I’m far from fucked up.”
“Not judging you, sweetheart. You know that’s not how I meant it. I was calling it how I see it,” he says, inching closer, still watching me through the mirror. His voice is calm, not the least bit mad and after what I just said, I’ll admit, I expected more of a reaction. I was being irrational but I didn’t have it in me to stay quiet. I’d been defending myself nearly my whole life. It was my natural reaction. His body curls over mine encasing it with warmth. “I wasn’t saying you’re fucked up,” he whispers beside my ear. “What I was saying is something happened to you that changed everything. I’m a detective, Lindsey. It’s my job to read people. Something happened at some point in your life, sweetheart, and you’ve let it screw with your mind for too long. Whatever crushed those dreams of yours, let me help you move on from that.”
The determination in his eyes shows how serious he is. But he’s wrong. My dreams weren’t crushed; they just changed. They grew with me and although the hurt from my past never left me for long, I didn’t let it define me. My world changed the day Jeremy left us with no money, no food. We had a home, an empty one, with a mother who was rarely there and when she was, she was too shitfaced to know it. My world changed leaving me with no option to change with it and somehow, I had to find a way to provide for my little sister and myself. We received no money because we had one parent alive. She received the payments from the government that were supposed to support us as a family. The only decent thing she did with it was pay the water and electricity bill and even then, it was only paid to provide her with her own selfish materialistic needs.
So, I did the only thing I could. I stole. One solid meal a day would suffice, along with whatever small pieces of food I could steal and hide in my clothes or stuff into the pockets of my pants. Some days I barely ate a thing, but I always made sure Ali went to school each day with food in her belly. And then the day I turned eighteen my world changed again. I found my mother dead, my sister crying, and we no longer had a bare home and a shitty mother. We had nothing but each other, so again, my dreams adjusted to cater for the nightmares life was throwing me.
Every day was like being put on trial, a test to determine whether we would sink or swim. We struggled but survived with every part of us intact, without the help of anyone else.
I turn around and Mason’s broad arms envelope me. I open my mouth to speak but nothing comes out. Emotion blocks off my voice as a new sensation claws at the edges of my guarded façade in the hopes of being unleashed. I lift my hands to his face and glide them through each side of his short hair and I swallow past the lump in my throat. “I don’t need help moving on, Mase. I can do that on my own. It’s just until now, I never had a reason to leave it all behind.” My words come out low and breathy while my entire body shakes with anxiety from facing the unknown. I’ve never allowed myself to feel this way before, let alone announce so much about me to someone aloud. I assumed after we met, our lives would carry on as if we were two strangers who once crossed paths. It was barely a few hours of being in his company when I realized how wrong I was. I still can’t comprehend why, or what it is about him, but it doesn’t matter anymore because I can’t ignore it and now, my mind has caught up with my heart, it doesn’t want to ignore it either.
His eyebrows furrow as he searches my eyes for answers I’m not willing to give.
“Trust me when I tell you, Mason, you don’t want to know it all. We all have a story we’ll never tell. This is mine. Just like I know you’ve got one of those too,” I croak out, my voice betraying the emotions I’m trying to keep at bay.
He nods as if he understands and the pressure on my strained heart lifts. It slows, returning to a normal beat.
“I get it. I’ve got shit that’s fucked me up, too. I can’t deny it, you’ve seen it. But you’re right. I don’t like bringing it up. It’s my burden to bear and I won’t put it on anyone else, ‘specially not you.”
I stare at him in awe. I know he’s talking about the night terrors he has, but I savor the moment because in many ways, we are so alike, yet in others, we are worlds apart. We both refuse to give every piece of ourselves over, all in the name of protecting one another from the damage of our pasts. It’s as beautiful as it is heartbreaking, because in the end, it would have the opposite effect. It would expose us and destroy any chance we have at a future.
“You don’t have to tell me. Just remember I’m here for you.” I run my hands down his chest before reluctantly pulling away to dress in pajamas and warm up.
Mason dries off his body and hair, until he sees me pull down my top by the hem, letting it fall into place.
“You like that top?” he asks.
I glance down at my boring New York University oversized t-shirt I’ve had since college and back up again at Mason. My brows bunch together in confusion.
“Well, yeah. I wouldn’t wear it if I didn’t.”
“Better take it off then or I’ll be ripping it off you in about thirty seconds.”
Well, damn, what’s a girl to say that?
Husky voice, sex eyes, Mason in nothing but a towel? I rip my shirt off so damn fast I don’t bother trying to put up a fight. This is one part of my life I am happy to relinquish control.
***
I clench the crisp white sheets of my bed and a loud moan escapes my lips causing Mason to pound into me from behind harder. He is relentless in his assault on my treacherous body and it seems the more vocal I am, the more turned on he becomes. If it’s dirty talk he wants, that I can give him.
“Mmm, that’s it, baby. Harder.” He pushes in impossibly deeper, the motion rocking my body with an otherworldly pleasure. The feel of him inside me, stretching me is euphoric. The need for more tingles in my fingertips. I push back onto Mason’s cock and throw my head back with eyes closed, my mind absorbed by the blissful feeling of Mason’s cock thrusting in and out of me.
“Come on, Mase. That all you got?” I taunt, knowing his response will be worth my teasing comment.
Slap!
A sting burns my skin. The aftermath of him smacking my ass spreads lust through me like wildfire. Mason grunts an unintelligible answer as his warm fingers grip my exposed neck. My eyes fly open in response to his touch.
Slap!
Another. Sparks of desire shoot straight to my pussy. Reaching around my front, Mason circles my clit and with a few perfected moves from his magical fingers, I’m done for. Falling forward, I fist the sheets and squeeze my eyes closed tightly as pleasure pulsates from within, flooding every crevice of my well-fucked body with complete satisfaction. I ride out my orgasm, reveling in the momentary bliss while Mason pulls back my hair using it to hold me in place as he pummels into me, seeking out his own release.
A deep groan rips from his throat and his cock pulsates against my walls as he spills into me.
Mason slumps over my body, his chest resting on my back. His hands come around to cover mine and my sated body barely holds us up. “That good enough for you, sweetheart?”
My lips curve up into a smile. “Perfect.” I breathe out heavily, our bodies still hot and sweaty from mind-blowing sex.
Rolling onto our backs, we don’t speak. We lie silently in my bed cuddling, something I rarely ever do. I don’t know about Mason, but getting up, leaving this room and stepping out of our bubble means dealing with the troubled young woman sleeping in the next room. I look around and my cheeks puff up as I blow out a sigh. Untangling myself from the nook between Mason’s arm and body, I swiftly roll over and sit up on the side of the bed. Bending forward, I grab my pajamas from where they lie discarded on the floor.
In the process of dressing, I hear Mason’s deep voice resonate behind me. “Where are you going?”
Turning around, I take a moment to appreciate the fine specimen naked on my sheets. One arm relaxes behind his head comfortably while his other rests low on well-defined abs. His torso is like a map; a multitude of hard lines all leading to one impressive destination. “I was just going to check on Ali.” I grimace, remembering the state I found Ali in.
Mason reaches his long body toward me and he pulls at my waist, sending me backward onto my mattress.
His arms encase me, holding me captive. He’s so close that his nose touches my own. His lips a whisper away, the slightest movement and I’d have them.
“Well, you go check on her, but I want you back in this bed. We’re far from done.” His hand comes up to cup my face. His thumb sweeps across my cheek and I all but melt into him. I close my eyes relishing his touch for just a second before drifting back to the present.
“Mase, you have to give a girl a break. You might not realize what you’re packing down there, but let me tell you, my pussy sure knows and I need more than five minutes to recuperate. We’ve just had half a night of having multiple orgasms and, if I do remember correctly, you have a daughter to pick up this morning, in probably a few hours.” I look over to the window to take a guess at what time it might be.
Mason rolls over to the nightstand and clicks the side of his cell phone, which lights up the screen. Turning back over to me, he replies, “Plenty of time. If I pick her up too early, she’ll be cranky at me for the rest of the morning. It’s not often I let her do sleepovers, but after the first time she had one, she didn’t speak to me for hours because I interrupted her and her best friend making best-friend bracelets. I sure as shit learned not to pick her up too fucking early.”
A giggle escapes my mouth, a fucking giggle. The man is turning me inside out.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Lindsey
Every smile, every stolen kiss is a distraction from the reality awaiting me. I’ve become reckless and he’s made me this way. Why do I feel so weak?
Moving my ass back into Mason, I try to turn over without waking him, but I fail.
He groans, tightening his hold on me as I maneuver to face him in my bed. “You can’t do that to me and expect me to remain a gentleman, Lindsey.”
As I stare into those barely open deep blue eyes, and still beautifully sleepy, I see myself looking back at me. For the few hours we tried to sleep, he couldn’t. He tried and I couldn’t because he couldn’t. He was tense, his whole body a stiff wall, securing the barrier from the monsters of his nightmares. I felt him pretend. He tried so hard but we both knew why he refused to fall asleep. I didn’t say a word, and neither did he. We laid together, me in his arms, wishing I could take away his pain. While he held me, masking it so I didn’t have to feel it too. But I did.
We both held secrets the other may never know. We both don’t trust easily because our faith had been crushed. Our stories are completely different, but in the end, the outcome is the same. The only difference is Mason hasn’t lost all faith in humanity; he wants more. He believes there’s still good in the world or he wouldn’t continue to fight for it day in day out. But I didn’t. To some, it’s probably melodramatic, and I can see why. But no one else has walked in my shoes. When you live everyday around liars, master manipulators, and people just out to hurt others, you lose faith in the good that’s still out there. And Mason is a part of the good. I’ve finally allowed myself to believe that.
I rip the blanket off the lower half of my body and slide out of the bed. I’m pulled back and Mason lifts me like I weigh absolutely nothing. Not this again. The man has a crazy stamina.
“That fine ass isn’t leaving this bedroom till it’s said good morning to my cock.”
A booming laugh escapes me. “You know, Mister, you have quite the dirty mouth on you when you lighten up a little. However, my ass and your cock – not gonna happen right now. Wishful thinking though.”
“Is that so?” He lifts himself forward, his hands planted on the tops of my thighs moving to my breasts where he squeezes them and kisses his way up my neck. I push him down on the bed with a light force and the confliction of shock and excitement in his eyes tells me exactly what he thinks of the move I just pulled.
“I’m going to put coffee on. Somehow I think Alison might need a cup, or ten. Why don’t you get your ass up, Detective, and I’ll make you breakfast before you have to leave.”
He shifts off the bed and heads into the bathroom in all his naked glory, bare ass on display for my appreciation. The man certainly isn’t shy about his body and neither should he be. He isn’t pristine and in perfect condition. He wears scars from injuries he’s sustained from the line of duty. His nose is slightly crooked from being broken at some point, but it’s his eyes that capture me, intrigue me. Yet the scars he bares on the inside are the ones most damaging. He turns around, leaning an arm on the doorframe and his gorgeous cock, all thick and long, catches my attention immediately. Jesus, it’s a goddamn weapon of mass destruction. My body shudders at the thought of having to endure another round this morning. I needed a break after the sex-a-thon that started last night and continued on into the early hours of the morning. Not only that, but Ali had been in the back of my mind constantly. I’d checked on her multiple times overnight just to make sure she was still breathing and not choking on her own vomit. I needed to talk to her, find out where her head is at and get her back to the clinic. A smirk emerges on Mason’s face. “Sure, let’s have breakfast.”
I look downcast at him, raising a brow. I get the feeling his idea of let’s have breakfast is vastly different than my own.
***
“Fuck,” I mumble as Mason licks and bites the inside of my legs. Thank God for central heating in my building because it’s freezing. My bare pussy is on display for my sister to walk in on should she wake because here I am, sprawled out on my timber coffee table. How did I let this happen? Oh, right, I didn’t. Mason whipped my pajama bottoms off the moment we had sat our coffees down safely, and now I know why. Because barely a second later, he laid me out on the table and true to his words he eats breakfast.
Spread wide, I laugh. ”No, Mase, that wasn’t an invitation for your cock.”
“Well, at least let me start the day off right. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, after all.” The cheeky smile he wears warms my heart. He seems weightless from worries. I’ll do anything to keep that look on his face.
He yanks me forward, not gently. And a moment later, he’s devouring me like a starved man.
His lips seal kisses and licks over every inch of my pussy.
“I’ve imagined this for weeks, Lindsey. You’re so fucking beautiful.”
And I believe him, because never has a look more honest shone from a man before now.
I believe every word he says, and it does nothing but fill my heart with joy and bleed with pain all at the same time, because I have one job left to do before I can leave it all behind.
After the rush of excitement from one hell of a breakfast, thankfully one Ali did not walk in on, she trudged out of the room and joined us in the living room where the three of us talked. She filled me in on why she left the clinic and my heart broke for her when she told me what happened when she arrived at the bar. I didn’t understand what her and Roamyn have because we just haven’t got the chance to talk about it. There’s a twelve year age gap between them. It took me awhile just to wrap my head around the fact they even had a thing. But I know Ali down to her bones and I’ve never seen her cut up about anyone this way. She hung her head while tears cascaded down face as she spoke; the carefree Alison Jenkins was nowhere to be seen. She swore to us she never willingly took any drugs or tasted so much as a drop of alcohol and I wanted to believe her because in my heart, I knew she wouldn’t lie straight to my face. Sure, she’d kept things from me, but face-to-face, she can never lie convincingly. With a simple nod, Mason stood by my decision and he left to go be with his daughter, but not before insisting Ali go to the hospital so they can test what was in her system.
***
The car ride from the hospital to the rehab clinic is taking forever. It’s peak hour and impatient drivers are blasting their horns. The afternoon sun casts down on the windows. Tucked away in the confined space of the taxi, Ali sits, staring through the window. It’s quiet and she’s distant.
Concern winds me up as I worry how this incident with Roamyn will affect her progress. I reach out, searching for answers. “Hey, you feeling all right?”
Her lips turn up at the edges into a small forced smile. “Yeah, I’m okay. I won’t let this bring me back down to that hell. Before last night, I hadn’t felt this energized and happy in years. Finally, I’m winning. I’m beating the addiction. Roamyn may not believe in me, but now I don’t feel like I need him too. I believe in me, and that’s all that matters.”
I sit here stunned, mouth agape in shock. “Geez, did they add some maturity to your food in that place or what?”
Ali chuckles and the mood lightens. “Nah. But I’d hit rock bottom. I was supposed to go to prison, Linds. And somehow I don’t think prison is really like Orange Is The New Black. When I let that sink in, it all hit me so hard. I sat and thought about it. If I went to prison, no one but you or Olly would miss me, or visit me, and that really sucks. Realizing that hurt. All I ever wanted was love. I lost myself trying so hard to find it. It was time for me find myself again.”
I squeeze her elbow reassuringly while pride flutters through me. “That’s amazing, babe. And for what it’s worth, I believe in you too.”
Sometimes it’s all we need, for something to happen for us to realize we no longer need someone else to believe in us, be there for us. We have ourselves, and when you believe in you, you have a power no one can take away.
