Page 79 of False Idols

Beau turns his face and I feel his lips curve into a smile against my cheek. “Now you’re getting it. I did years for you. Hard fucking time. I’m the only one that gets your fear.”

“You might want to tell that to The Reaper,” I whisper and close my eyes. It feels good to be in Beau’s arms. This is what I’ve wanted for as long as I can remember. What I dreamed of. Relaxing into his touch feels surreal in the very best way.

This is heaven.

Beau growls low in his throat and wraps his arms around me. “He’s next.”

I open my eyes and my heart starts to pound. Beau can’t go after The Reaper. It’s too dangerous. Fear tastes bitter in my mouth just thinking what might happen if I lost Beau to The Reaper. My life and my rage are one thing, but Beau? I refuse to lose him.

I turn my head to look at him. “I don’t want you near him. He’s dangerous, Beau and I-”

Beau moves back from me and the change in position surprises me into silence. “You think you’re the only one that can face that fucker down and live?” Beau picks me up and turns me. I cry out and grab at him when he lifts me up onto the counter. “Do you forget where I spent the last four years of my life, angel? Because it wasn’t sitting here in Bloom getting soft. They had me in there with killers, because that’s what they thought I was. All it did was make me exactly what they thought.”

A killer.

He doesn’t have to say it, I know what he means. Beau’s killed for me. I’ve seen him do it and then there’s Jordan on top of that. “Beau, I’m scared.” I grab his shoulders and lean into him. “Everything feels like it’s getting worse.”

“Because it is,” he says simply. “The fucking world is on fire, but you have me now. I’m going to keep you safe.”

I believe him when he says it. No one has ever worked to keep me safe before. Not really. There’s always been a condition. A caveat. I had to be obedient to keep the protection of the church. Crown of Thorns’ love was not so easily bestowed and I don’t think Pastor Mike would be as kind to me if he knew what I’d done with Beau or the thoughts I’ve had about hurting other people. My own mom hasn’t even reached out to me since she made her decision to kick me out. Respectability and obedience were the ways to earn her approval.

It was never love. I don’t think my mom knows how to love. The only thing she ever loved was power and position, of which we had precious little until the summer of the Mineral Belt Murder. I wrap my arms around Beau.

“I know,” I whisper and hold him tight. “I know you will.” Beau’s hands are gentle, they trace my thighs and hips and my breath catches when he slides his hand to the front of my jeans and begins to undo them. “Beau,” I whisper and lean back to look at him.

“I’m not taking you to my bed after that bitch was in it. This is going to have to do,” he tells me and kisses me. His mouth isn’t gentle on me like his hands are. He’s demanding and brutal. He bites my bottom lip and bruises my mouth with his greedy kiss while he unbuttons my jeans and pulls them down with my underwear. His hands stroke my skin gently. They move over my thighs and down my legs as he pulls my jeans down. Beau kneels in front of me to pull them completely off, along with my shoes. When he stands again, it’s to push me down onto the counter. The marble is cold on my ass and the backs of my thighs, but Beau’s warm between my thighs. He leans over me and presses his mouth to my aching cunt.

“Beau!” I bring my thighs together on either side of his head and pull him close.

“Nevaeh,” Beau moans and grips my hips. He grabs one of my hands and settles it onto the back of his head. “I would kill a hundred more men to stay right fucking here. This,” he licks into my cunt, “is mine. You’re mine. Say it,” he orders and pumps two fingers into me. I’m wet, so fucking wet for him.

“I’m yours,” I choke out while Beau starts to thrust faster into me. My body lights up when I remember last night. This is how he touched that other girl, but I get his mouth. She didn’t. “Beau, I’m yours. Oh yes, it’s so good. P-please don’t stop.” I pull on his hair, twist the strands and move him where I want. The other times we were together were good, but this feels different. I feel in charge now. I feel powerful with Beau’s face between my thighs and his tongue inside of me.

“Nevaeh!”

Beau spits on his fingers and sucks my clit into his mouth. “B-beau!” My voice cracks and I shatter in Beau’s hands. My back arches off the counter while I scream myself hoarse. I sob and try to move away from Beau, but he doesn’t let me go. He holds me where I am and keeps sucking my clit until he forces a second orgasm out of me. I can’t hold onto him anymore, I’m delirious. Nothing has ever felt this way. My hands fall to my sides as I struggle to breathe.

Beau presses a wet kiss to my inner thigh and grips my hips in his hands. “I know, I know, angel.” His voice is low, the bass of it vibrates against my flesh and I squirm in his hold. I don’t know if my body wants more or if I’m trying to get away. I tremble while Beau continues to eat my pussy. The sounds he makes are greedy. Desperate. Like he can’t get enough of me.

“Angel,” he croons against my aching slit. “You were perfect for me.”

When Beau is done with me, he pulls me up into his arms and lifts me from the counter. Exhaustion crashes over me. My bones feel like they’re made of lead and I can barely lift my head. It’s easy to close my eyes and settle into Beau’s arms while he brushes my hair away from my face and kisses me. I can taste myself on his lips. The musky taste of my own spend on his tongue marks him as much mine as he’s marked me. He carries me to the couch and sits down with me in his arms and that’s where I fall asleep.

29

BEAU

I have to get Nevaeh out of town. Definitely out of my apartment. It’s not safe if Ali waltzed in here and planted her ass in my bed. While Nevaeh was out, I made a call to security and found out Ali passed herself off as my sister. Creepy that she picked the role of my imaginary sister and not my girlfriend, but whatever. She’s gone now.

I look at Nevaeh. She’s asleep on the couch with a spare blanket tucked around her. I frown and look her over. She looks so small like this on the couch. I want her in my bed, but I’m not taking her there after Ali dirtied the sheets. Nevaeh isn’t going to sleep on something another woman had her ass on. As annoying as coming home to Ali was, I’m glad for it, because she exposed one huge flaw in my plan to hole up in my apartment with Nevaeh.

If Ali can get in, then so can The Reaper.

It’s not safe here. But I do know where we can go that will be safe. My family has a lake house outside of town. We’ll go there. It’s secluded enough that we’ll know if someone else is there, and it’s not somewhere that many people necessarily think about when it comes to my family. My dad bought it on a whim two months before I got sent away to prison. Without me around, it’s not like my parents had much of a reason to be around each other. And going out to your luxury lakefront home doesn’t really scream remorse to a town when your son was just locked up for murder.

My parents should have sold it, but they didn’t. So the lake house went unused and now it’s more or less forgotten except for the staff that maintains it and keeps it stocked and ready in case my father gets a wild hair to go fishing on the weekend. It’s the perfect place to go with Nevaeh. No one will bother us there. No one will even think to look for us. Even without The Reaper on the hunt again, people will notice Dean’s gone soon. The further away from that scene Nevaeh and I are, the better.

I reach down and nudge her shoulder. “Time to wake up.”

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