Page 62 of Together We Burn
“I can’t,” I sobbed. The aftershocks of what he made me do, the power of shattering so intensely, made me feel helpless and exhausted with a sense of vulnerability I didn’t like.
“Yes, you can,” he growled, sinking his fingers into the flesh of the backs of my thighs as he pulled out and slammed into me, causing my back to slip against the wall.
Clutching onto his shoulders and tangling my legs around his waist, I scrunched my eyes tight, listening to his heavy pants in my ear, his dirty affirmations about my body and the sound of my heart breaking and being moulded into something new.
It was too much.
How did something as mundane as showering turn into this?
Burrowing my head into the crook of his neck, I felt the onset of another orgasm coil tight in the pit of my stomach, like a loaded spring ready to burst when the time was right.
Slipping a hand between us, Jake rubbed the pad of his thumb on my clit, pushing down hard enough that my legs quivered around his waist. I gasped, my breath shaking and my throat constricting as I whimpered into his neck.
“That’s it, baby. Stay with me,” he groaned, his thrusts picking up speed along with the thumb moving against my swollen and abused clit. “You can hate me again in the morning, but for now, stay. With. Me.”
Each word was punctuated between his thrusts. His fingers bit into my skin, his stubbled chin grazing against my jaw as he nibbled at my ear, telling me to come. My spine straightened, and my legs pushed against him as my orgasm raced toward me, flying to the finish line as Jake’s guttural roar echoed in the bathroom. In deep, short bursts of his hips, Jake came, latching his teeth into my neck as his cock emptied inside me.
I couldn’t look at him, couldn’t bring myself to dislodge my face from his neck as tears lined my eyes, stinging them. I was too raw, too sensitive, too vulnerable. Jake had unlocked something inside me this evening, opened me up like no one had ever done before. I was shattered, my body and mind left in small fragments at the bottom of the shower.
That was the only explanation for the tear that slipped from my lashes and down my cheek and onto his skin, mixing with the water pouring from the shower above.
Fuck this new version of Stevie who was weakened by a goddamn man.
Jake stood under the spray for several minutes, catching his breath as he began to soften inside me. My fingers ached as I clutched onto the arms wrapped around his shoulders until he switched off the shower and stepped out onto the bathmat. Draping a towel across my back, he carried me to the bedroom, sitting on the edge of his bed with me on his lap.
Wiping my back, my arms, and running the towel through my hair, he dried me with as much care as he washed me. I rested my head on his shoulder, eyes closed, listening to the rustling of his movements, feeling his heartbeat against mine, too drained to do anything other than be held by Jake.
Satisfied I was dry, he stood and pulled back the duvet and placed me on the mattress, grabbed the towel and quickly swiped it over himself before joining me in bed. Pulling me into his side, he directed my body the way he wanted; my head nestled against his chest, his arm under my waist and against my back and his heavy leg banded over mine, getting me as close to him without being inside me again.
Brushing my hair from my face, he placed a kiss on my forehead and whispered, “Sleep now, baby.”
And with that, I did, wrapped in his arms as Rocky snored by the foot of the bed.
Chapter twenty-four
Stevie
Iwokethenextmorning to the smell of bacon wafting into the bedroom from the crack in the door. Opening my eyes, I looked around the sunlit room to find myself alone–even Rocky had left me, the traitor.
Sliding from the bed, I shrugged on the sweatpants Jake had given me last night and grabbed the t-shirt he’d left in a pile by the bed. Pulling it over my head, I followed the delicious scent of fried food.
My stomach grumbled as I walked into the kitchen to find Jake, dressed in a white button-up, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his back muscles flexing as he cooked breakfast.
“You let me sleep in,” I said, walking over to the breakfast bar. I poured myself a glass of orange juice and leaned my back against the counter. Glancing over his shoulder, Jakes eyes appraised me dressed in his clothes, just like he had done all last night.
Turning down the stove, he grabbed a couple of slices of bread, popped them into the toaster, then wiped his hands on the towel slung over his shoulder as he approached me. Lightly touching his fingers to my chin, he tilted my head up and dropped a soft kiss to my lips.
“Good morning, baby,” he said, lingering for a beat before returning to the stove and cracking two eggs into the pan as Rocky sat by his feet, watching his every move in the off chance some food dropped to the floor. “I thought I’d let you rest. I had you up pretty late last night.”
Jake’s phone sat beside me on the counter, so I tapped the screen to check the time. Seven-fifty-five.
“When did we go to sleep?” I asked, accepting a mug of coffee Jake held out.
“Not until after two,” he replied, a dirty smile pulling at his lips as he took out a plate from a cupboard and picked up a spatula from the counter. “Listen, I’ve got to go into the office this morning, but I’ll be back around lunchtime if you want to stay here?”
Rounding the breakfast bar, I pulled myself up on a stool, watching as Jake began plating up what looked like a mountain of food.
“Do you have to go in?” I asked, and immediately heat scorched my face.
