Page 54 of Faith
He breathed a laugh. “You have no idea.”
“Tell me, Zeke.”
He held up the loofah full of bubbles. He rubbed it under her chin. “When you were seventeen, I imagined what you’d taste like right there. If I kissed your neck.”
She gasped.
He brought the soap to her breasts. “I used to stare at you when you weren’t paying attention. It was wrong because you were so young, but I would dream about touching your body. What color your nipples would be. The way your skin would flush if I saw you naked. How you would respond to me.”
“Zeke.”
“I was never good enough for you, so I pushed all those thoughts to the side until I was alone. Until I could pretend my hand was your hand. Until I could jerk-off in the shower and pretend it was your wet mouth on me. Until I could dream about you again and wonder if I’d ever have a chance with you.”
“I always thought you were so hot,” she confessed. “I never thought you would notice me.”
“I noticed you, Nina. I wanted you. And when you didn’t come home, it killed me.”
“I’m home now.”
He nodded. “Yes, and I don’t ever want you to leave me again.” He finished soaping her body and stood in front of her, holding her gaze. “Promise me you’ll never leave me again, Nina.”
“I promise, Zeke.”
“Good, now let me taste you again because I didn’t get enough of you yet.”
Before she could reply, he was on his knees with her thighs wrapped around his neck, and she was losing her mind in the best way possible.
12
Why the fuckdid they agree to this? Why did Montgomery say it was okay to take Nina to see the others who were held in the house with her? Why did Zeke let it happen?
The women had been under Rose Protection Agency protection for a week. Zeke had hoped Nina would forget about them, but she pestered Montgomery for days before he made some calls and made it happen. Zeke stood in the corner of the room with Samuel and wished it had never happened.
The two women Samuel and Austin were protecting were among the lucky ones, the ones who didn’t need rehab or a longer hospital stay. Not that they were okay. None of them were okay. And they were clearly not happy to see Nina.
“Are you safe here?” Nina asked one of them. Samuel introduced the woman as Star, but Zeke wasn’t sure if that was actually her name.
“We were.”
“Star, I’m not here to threaten you,” Nina said.
“How could we possibly believe that? You were right there every time that horrible bitch said anything to us. You stood beside her and did nothing to help us.”
“I was one of you,” Nina whispered.
Star laughed mirthlessly, cruelly. “You were not one of us. You were her favorite. Her sister. Her pet. I never knew what was worse. If it was worse to be a prisoner of hers or to be her pet.”
“I was a prisoner, too!” Nina shouted.
Star snorted. “Yeah, I see you’re struggling right now.” Her gaze slid to Zeke. “Screwing the protector? Tough life.”
“He has nothing to do with this.”
“No?” Star tilted her head and glared at Nina. “Does he know who you really are? Does he know how many men you fucked? Does he know about the ones you would scream for? The ones you waited for like they were going to save you? The ones you said were good men and nice to you?”
“Enough,” Zeke said. It was taking all of his control to not rip the woman a new one.
Nina turned to him with tears in her eyes. “It’s okay, Zeke. She’s right. You deserve better than me.”
