Page 58 of Together We Burn
Passing Alex my half-drunk bottle of beer, I walked toward the door, pausing as I reached the porch.
“Come by my apartment tomorrow morning. I’ll text you my address.”
Chapter twenty-two
Jake
Isilentlyundressed,droppingmy sweatpants and t-shirt in a pile near the bed. Drawing back the covers, I slipped in beside Stefany and laid carefully down. She was lying on her side, curled up in a ball, with her arms wrapped around her waist, clutching hard at my hoodie in her fists.
I ached for her. She deserved to have grown up with a happy, loving family, with friends who weren’t paid to like her and a boyfriend who’d never hurt her.
Boyfriend.That word made my heart stop mid-beat.
Stefany stirred in her sleep, releasing a low whimper as she nuzzled her face into my pillow. Slowly, I moved closer and locked my arm around her waist, pulling her back to my chest and brushing her hair from her neck.
I gently kissed the column of her throat up to the sensitive spot behind her ear. She sighed and wriggled her ass against my hardening dick.
“Jake?” she asked, her voice thick with sleep.
“I’m here, baby,” I whispered, starting to trail kisses back down toward her shoulder, nibbling her soft, warm skin as she shuddered.
“What did Alex say?” she asked, her body stiffening as she waited for my reply.
“Can’t keep anything from you, can I?” I chuckled into her hair and instantly wanted to kick myself because I did manage to keeponething from her. Exhaling, I tightened my grip around her waist. “He didn’t know.”
She twisted in my arms, turning to face me with eyes wide and still rimmed red from her tears. My jaw clenched as the desire to punch Alex all over again resurfaced, followed swiftly by trying to figure out how to resurrect the dead, so I could beat the shit out of her dad too.
“I promise he didn’t know, Stefany,” I said again, kissing her forehead and breathing in the scent of my body wash still on her skin. She peered into my eyes like she was trying to sense if this was the truth, before she let out a shaky breath and nodded her head, burrowing it into my chest.
Sliding an arm under her body, I circled her and held her against me in the dark. We lay like that for several minutes, or it could have been hours. Eventually, Stefany shifted and gazed up at me. Her hand moved slowly up to my face, brushing the backs of her fingers against my short beard and along my jaw.
“You’re bleeding,” she stated, touching a split on my lip. I stuck my tongue out and licked at the edge of her fingers and the corner of my mouth. Tasting blood, I raised my hand and swiped it away.
“I thought I got it all.” I laughed. Her eyes darted around my face, looking between my eyes and down my nose. “I’m fine.”
“What about your stitches?” Concern shone from her eyes.
I smiled, brushing a strand of hair from her face. “They’re fine. You’re surprisingly good at sewing. Maybe if the whole assassin thing doesn’t work out, you could offer your services stitching up criminals in the underworld.”
She scoffed and lightly traced her fingers across the cut on my lip.
“Alex punched you, huh?” she murmured, and I could hear the hint of amusement in her words.
“I got a few good shots in there, too,” I grumbled. Actually, fucking grumbled like a fucking kid who wanted praise for his actions. Stefany bit back a laugh and rolled her eyes. “Could have done much more if the asshole didn’t punch me in the dick. Should have been ready for that one since you guys train together.”
“Sure,” she said, elongating the word, then she sighed. “You didn’t need to confront him, Jake. I’m a big girl; I can fight my own battles. In case you haven’t noticed, I–”
I growled, cutting her off, pushing her onto her back, and caging her underneath me with my arms on either side of her head.
From the moment I picked her up at the side of the road, my blood had been simmering on a low boil, slowly bubbling to the surface as the anger at witnessing my girl fall apart clawed at me. Sure, Stefany was strong, acted emotionally unavailable, and could turn you to stone with a single glare, but deep down–way deep down–she was just as fragile as the rest of us. If not more.
“I know you can, baby. But he hurt you, and I would have happily fucking killed him for making you feel like that,” I said with the snarl of a feral beast. Stefany stared back at me, her pupils blown as arousal filled her body. I licked my lips, her eyes dropping to my mouth and following the movement.
The need to claim my woman, claim the girl who held my heart, bloodied and beating in her bare hand, surged within. Tonight was meant to be about me proving we could spend time together without throwing stray punches or harsh words at each other. Prove to her that crossing the line she was deathly afraid of was okay, that it was okay to let herself feel.
But right now, I needed to be inside her. And there wasn’t going to be anything gentle about it. The mixture of anger and adrenaline pumping around my veins at my confrontation with Alex wouldn’t let me take her nice and slow.
Leaning on one elbow, I slid my hand down to the waistband of the sweatpants, and ran a finger across her stomach. Her body jumped as I tickled across the sensitive area near her hips, and she squirmed under me.
