“Oh my, God, Beck! I’m going to come again! Harder, please, Baby, harder!” Her legs wrap around my hips and her fingers dig into my back. The bite of pain from her nails breaking the skin is all the fuel I need. Fire dances down my spine and wraps around my balls. I take one more thrust into her body before I empty every last drop of myself into her.

I don’t know how long we stay like that, with my body blanketing hers, and my dick making slow, lazy glides into her drenched pussy. When I fall from her body, the moans that leave both of us are borderline desperate. Leaning up, I look down at her. Her hair is in messy waves around her head, her eyes are closed, and her face is flushed. The only clue I have that she’s even awake is the small smile playing against her swollen lips.

I press my lips against her and smile back at her when her eyes open. “I think we should think about leaving this bed before I can’t stop myself from taking you again.”

She smiles and nods.

“Come on. If we hurry, we can wash off before Chelcie gets here. Probably wouldn’t be a good idea to answer the door with you running down my leg.” She laughs as she climbs from the bed and starts walking towards the bathroom. When she notices I’m not behind her, she stops and turns to look where I’m still sprawled out on the bed. My once slack dick is rock hard and ready for more. Fuck me, but just the thought of my come inside her, running down her leg makes every possessive part of me roar to life.

Pushing off the bed, I stalk towards her. She looks confused for a second until I grab her body and walk towards the bathroom. Her legs wrap around my hips out of instinct. “Chelcie’s going to have to get over it. Just the thought of your body with my come all over you is the hottest fucking thing you could have just said. Fuck, Dee. You make me want to come all over your body so everyone knows you’re mine.”

“That sounds kind of messy, Honey.” She laughs, pulling back to see how serious I am, which causes her laughter to die on her lips. “You can’t be serious?”

Not even bothering to answer, I busy myself with turning on the water and walking into the shower, rotating so that the water hits my back until it can warm.

“Oh, Dee, now that you’re mine, there isn’t much of anything I wouldn’t do to make sure the world knows that you are taken.”

She doesn’t protest much when I push her against the shower and take her body again. Her bright eyes and naughty smile are all the confirmation I need that she understands what I’m saying.

Chapter 21

Lucky for us, when Chelcie said she would be here in thirty minutes, she had really taken an hour. She finally pulled down Beck’s driveway and parked behind the garage just as I was walking downstairs to wait for her. My hair was still dripping wet, but at least I didn’t smell like sex anymore.

A small smile forms when I think about how energetic Beck had gotten. I love when he takes me hard, but tonight, he took me hard and rough, and there wasn’t a second of it that I didn’t love.

“You look happy, Dee.” Chelcie comments from where she’s sitting at the kitchen table, pulling me from my daydream.

Beck had gone to pull her car into the garage, taken her luggage up to the guest room, and looked over the letter she had received. I think he really just knew that he needed to make himself scarce while Chelcie came down from her panic. The second she pulled into the driveway, she slammed the car in park and rushed into my arms. She hadn’t even shut the car off before she came running.

She just stopped crying about five minutes ago. She hasn’t moved from the seat that she dropped into and I can tell that, even though she’s stopped crying, she hasn’t been able to stop shaking.

“I am, Chelc. I really am.” I smile weakly and walk over the mugs of coffee I’ve just brewed. “Here, I have a feeling we won’t be going to sleep anytime soon. Do you want to talk about it?” I grab her cold hand and offer her the only thing I can, my strength. I know without a doubt that if I didn’t have Beck by my side during all this, I would be feeling the same way as Chelcie. Alone, afraid, and hopeless. This isn’t the first time that I’ve realized how far I’ve come in my own healing, but right here, in this moment, I realize that I finally, finally have all the power in my own happiness. I no longer fear the love Beck has to offer, but I also don’t have the weight of every single ghost from my past choking me anymore.

I’m mentally free from all the pain I’ve been carrying around. Now, all I have to do is get past this mess and enjoy the life I’ve been running from for too long.

It’s time to take the love and strength being offered, and fight with every single breath in my body to make sure I win.

Chelcie’s deep sigh pulls me from my mental ‘ah-ha’ moment. I hate knowing she’s worried, but I know how strong she is, and if anyone has the power to get past this with no scars, it’s my girl.

“I’m here, Chelcie. I’ve had a little bit longer to come to terms with the fact that Adam has turned my life into this mess, but please, tell me you know that the guys won’t let anything happen to us.”

She nods but doesn’t speak. My heart breaks a little when I see a single tear fall from her eyes. She just looks at me, her dark brown eyes pleading with me to take everything away and make it all better.

“I don’t even know how to express how I feel right now, Dee. I feel like just yesterday you were in the hospital, and I was terrified that you weren’t going to wake up. Knowing that sicko is still out there, watching both of us now, is so scary.”

“I know. I’m not going to lie. When I think about someone out there watching my every move, I feel the same way. We’re going to get past this, and then we can look back and laugh.” I smile, but I can tell by the look on her face that she knows I’m just trying to make light of the situation.

There isn’t anything good about this mess. We have no idea where Adam is, and even if we did, I don’t know how I feel about turning someone over to a psycho, regardless of what he’s done to get me into this position to begin with. There is no way I can come up with all that money, and even if I could, I wouldn’t give it to him. My only hope is that the guys get lucky and find some hidden clue as to who he is… or we find Adam and get our answers there.

“What if they don’t find him? What are we supposed to do, spend the rest of our lives in hiding? This guy beat you, Dee! He beat you so badly you almost didn’t wake up! This isn’t just some small time asshole. This is huge!” She’s starting to get hysterical, and I have no clue how to answer her. I just nod my head and hold her hand tighter.

Beck comes into the room a few minutes later and stands at the doorway. His face looks hard, and I can tell from the way he’s holding himself that he isn’t happy. My gut clenches in fear, but I quickly bat it down. I need to hold it together and prove to myself that I can handle this, but also be the rock that Chelcie needs.

“Coop and Maddox are coming over in a few hours. It’s late, and there isn’t much we can do at three in the morning, so dump the coffee, and let’s get some sleep.” He walks over to Chelcie and crouches down next to her seat. He waits for her to look at him before placing his hand on her shoulder, offering her the strength she needs. “No one is going to hurt you, Chelc. You and Dee are safe here, and I’m not leaving you two until we figure this out, okay?”

She nods, gulps a few times to try to calm down but loses the fight. I watch with my heart heavy as her body falls forward and she sobs into her hands.

Beck stands before pulling her up from her seat and wrapping his arms around her. He looks over at me, and I give him a small nod so that he knows I’m okay. He looks more worried about the fact that he’s holding another woman in front of me. I give him a smile and reach out to squeeze his arm so he knows that I’m not upset with him. Chelcie needs him and I know how comforting those strong arms are. He continues to hold her while she sobs into his chest, rubs her back, and reassures her that everything is going to be okay. Not once does he take his eyes off of me.

If I weren’t already head over heels in love with this man, this moment would have had me sold. Watching him hold one of my closest friends as she falls apart doesn’t register anything other than the knowledge that he really would do anything to make sure that I, and all those that I love, are protected and happy.

I love you. I mouth.

I love you. He returns.

I stand from my seat and dump out our full mugs of coffee. Walking over to where they stand, I wrap my arms around her back, and kiss her cheek before heading out of the room.

The sounds of someone moving up the stairs come about ten minutes after I’ve left the kitchen. It doesn’t take long for the door to open and my heart to swell when I see Beck outlined against the hallway light. He walks into the darkened bedroom, stripping his clothes as he stalks towards the bed. I roll onto my side and wait for it… that moment when he slides into bed and reaches over, pulling me deep into his arms and surrounding me in his protection.

“Are you okay?” he whispers against my ear.

“I will be.” I reply honestly. Because, I will be. We will get past this, and nothing is going to stand in my way now. “I will be.” I repeat.

He doesn’t answer, but then again he doesn’t need to. He just pulls me tighter, pressing his chest to my back, his chin to my neck, and his arms tight around my body. It doesn’t take long before his steady breathing is matching my own.

Chapter 22

“Rise and shine, you horny little humpers!”

I jump when Coop’s voice booms through Beck’s bedroom. I frantically pull the sheets over my naked body, but given the look on Coop’s face, it’s too late and he’s already seen my boobs.

“Nice tits, Dee.”

Yup, he definitely didn’t miss them.

“You motherfucker, stop looking at her like that.” Unconcerned with his nudity, Beck jumps out of the bed and rushes toward him. All my embarrassment disappears when I watch his firm ‘good enough to eat’ ass as he runs out after Coop. It sounds like a herd of elephants running through the house as Beck chases him.

“Dude, if your dick touches me, I’m going to puke!” Coop yells, his voice carrying through the house. He sounds so freaked out that I can’t even hold back the laughter anymore.

I start snickering so hard that I lose my hold on the sheet. Not even concerned about my state of undress, I climb out of bed to get dressed, wiping the tears that my laughter has brought from my face.

With my naked back to the door, I bend over to pick up the shirt that Beck discarded last night, but when a masculine cough hits my ears, I jump and stand. Holy shit. I know it’s not Coop because I can hear his gagging and Beck’s yelling from further away in the house. Shit!

“Please tell me that you’re gentleman enough to have your back to me?” My voice wobbles and my face flames.

“Wouldn’t exactly be able to enjoy the view if I did. Nice ass, Dee.” Maddox laughter echoes through the room before I hear the door shut and his heavy booted feet walking away from the door.