Page 25 of Devil's Due: Sarge

She stares at me, scrutinizing my face, using her fingers to trace the lines along my forehead and around my lips. I lean my cheek into her palm and close my eyes, taking in a deep breath, just feeling her there. This woman is my salvation, and she has no idea.

“Take what you need, Dustin. It’s all yours anyway.” And my god, to hear her say that, to hear her say that it’s all mine – I can’t make the same mistakes I made last time. Iwon’tmake the same mistakes I made last time.

She lets me take her again, but this time, it’s hard and rough because it has to be, because I can’t be gentle. Gentle will break me. My hands need to touch her everywhere, my mouth needs to map out every inch of her body. She lets me. She lets me work it out. God, I fuckinglove her.

She widens her legs for me, bent knees pressing against my ribs, and she wraps her arms around my shoulders, holding on tightly, letting me chase away my demons for the night. I feel it when her muscles begin to tighten and it feels so good, I can’t stop. I move faster, thrusting harder.

Then all it takes, as she finds her release, she whispers, “Sarge.” And I bury my face in the crook of her neck as I shoot my release. My chest is heaving, I can hardly find a breath, and she continues to hold me. It’s beautiful. It’s so damn beautiful. I feel wet in my eyes. What the hell? I’m a man. Men don’t do this. My head is so messed up with thoughts of Claire, and there’s Greer beneath me telling me without even knowing she is that it’s going to be okay.

“Shh…” She tries to comfort me. “You have so much on your shoulders because of me – I’m sorry.”

I tuck her up next to my side, good and tight, holding on to make sure she’s not going anywhere. “It’s not that, baby.”

“What is it?” she asks.

“My mind’s just been messed up for a long time now, and it’s finally starting to un-mess.”

We continue to lie in the bed a while longer, neither of us sleeping. As I hold her in my arms, I think about how much I’ve missed this. Eventually, I’m able to drift off.

The next I wake the sun is shining through the cracks between the curtains. Greer’s side of the bed is empty, and I can hear the shower running. I take this time to check in with Vlad, reaching to the floor to pull my phone from my jeans pocket.

“Talk to me, brother,” Vlad answers.

“We stopped in Oklahoma. We’re getting the art today, then we make the drive down to Texas. I don’t know, but I get the feeling that we’re going to need backup in Halfway.”

“Any reason in particular?” he asks.

“Nope.”

“Gut feeling.” It’s not a question.

“Yes.”

“Brothers and I are on our way.”

“Thanks, man.” Then I pause, needing to get my next words right, needing him to understand where my head is at. “I want you to know… that I’m prepared to die for her.”

“Well, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” He stops to laugh. “Christ, it took you long enough. You’re finally ready to admit it?” he asks.

“That I’m in love with her?”

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t want to be.”

“I know you didn’t, but you deserve to be – youdeserveher. Greer is a good woman.” He begins to laugh again, almost mockingly. “It’s funny,” he says. “I never understood it. You know I didn’t have your experience. How shit went down in my life, I didn’t know what it was to love. Hell, I didn’t even know Icouldlove. Not until Nic. There she was, so strong, had no reason to trust, and yet, she let me in. Trust me when I say I didn’t want to fall in love, either. But now I’m so goddamn glad I did.”

“I’m afraid of fucking this up. Her stepdad’s not just gonna let her go. And then, God – I fucked it up so badly with Claire. How do I keep from doing that again?”

“You make the choice to do it, and then you do it. You know you don’t want to repeat, so don’t let it happen.”

“Because it’s just that easy…”

“It’s just that easy and it’s just that hard. You don’t have to go about this by yourself. You’ve got your brothers at your back, while you’ve got Greer at your side.”

“Thanks, brother…” I clear my throat, knowing I have to end this share-fest. “Listen, I just heard the shower shut off. I’m going to hang up and go get clean before we have to hit the road again.”

“We’ll see you in Halfway.” That’s the last he says before he ends the call. Greer emerges from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body. I push up off the bed, set my phone on the nightstand, and head on over to where she stands staring at me… and biting her plump bottom lip – oh for fuck’s sake, she doesn’t know what that does to me.

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