Page 36 of Beneath the Midnight Sky
No one would be able to hurt her if he were gone…
Nope, not going there right now. I cleared my throat, remembering that she was waiting for some sort of response.
“I’m assuming you believe it's from the ex?” I asked, surprised by how calm my voice sounded when on the inside I felt like anything but.
She looked back toward the television and nodded. I threw the now crumpled-up note across the room and pushed her over on her back, so she was forced to look up at me.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked.
She was quiet for a few moments before she let out a slow breath. “He…I don’t even know where to start with this. The only other person I’ve ever told this to is Ivy, and I was half-drunk on Margaritas.”
“Take your time, angel.”
“Sam and I met when I was still in high school. He was a couple of years older, the cool guy, ya know? He gave me attention, and he was sweet all the time. He’d pick me up from school and sneak me into bars to watch his friends' bands play, stuff like that. He made me feel…special during a time that no one ever had before him. No one before him even seemed to remember I existed, so I guess I was an easy target. When my dad passed away, he was all I had, and I just sank into that fully, being and doing whatever he wanted.”
She slowly ran her fingertips over her lips before she continued. “I moved in with him after Dad died. It made sense; we’d been together almost a year, and I thought it was love. Truly. But after a few months, things started to change. He became…angry? All of the time. He couldn’t hold a job for morethan a few months at a time, and he didn’t like any of my friends or what I wore or what music I listened to. I dealt with it for years, because I just thought…I thought he loved me and that was what love looked like. I tried to change everything about myself to appease him.
“I was working at a diner, and he’d just quit another job. He came in drunk, caused a scene, and when I tried to call him a car to go home and wait for me, he accused me of cheating and hit me in front of the entire diner. My manager called the cops, and he was arrested. It only got worse from there…” By the end, she’s whispering, her eyes somewhat vacant, and she’s staring off as if she’s remembering it all as she speaks it aloud.
Clearing her throat, she looked back over at me. “Anyway, after a few more years, I realized I couldn't do it anymore, and I ran. I used as much money as I could on gas, and I ended up here. New number, fake ID for the phone, everything I could think to do so he wouldn’t find me. But, as you now know, that hasn’t worked. So, here I am. The broken little doll he wants to play with again, I guess.”
I pushed my leg in between hers and used my other arm to run my fingers along her jaw, doing my best to bring her fully back here with me. Back to our safe place.
“Stay here,” I suddenly said.
She looked up at me, her brows drawn together. “What?”
“Stay here with me. At least until Wyatt can figure out where this asshole is, and we’ll deal with whatever comes next after that.” She looked doubtful and bewildered all at once. “Please, Aspen. I think we’d both feel better with you staying here. I’ll kidnap you if need be, I don’t mind. I have some rope I use around the ranch. I can easily tie you to the bed.” I leaned down and kissed her, gently at first, until she started kissing me back and I lost all sense of the word gentle. The kiss quickly turnedinto a mess of lips, tongues, and teeth clashing together. The past was temporarily forgotten here in our safe haven.
“Rowan, please,” she gasped as I started kissing down her jawline and the column of her neck.
“Tell me what you want, angel,” I muttered against her soft skin as I dragged my lips and tongue down the column of her throat.
“You. I don’t want to think of anything but us—together. Please,” she said. Her eyes were closed, and part of me knew she was avoiding her feelings and trying not to talk about this anymore than she already had tonight. The other part of me, however, knew I could use this to get what I wanted—her to stay here, where she belonged, here with me. Safe. Happy.
I stood up off the couch, and she stared at me in confusion. “What?—”
I leaned down and scooped her up and carried her upstairs and into my bedroom—our bedroom, as far as I was concerned.
“We can go back tomorrow and get you some clothes and art supplies,” I told her. “Or you can just wear my clothes, and I’ll buy you more supplies. Whatever sounds better to you.”
She stared at me for a moment and then shook her head. “I never said I’d stay.”
“Oh, you’re staying, little angel.” I tossed her in the middle of my bed, a cocky smile growing across my face. “Strip, Aspen.”
“Excuse me?” Her eyes went wide as my smile grew.
“You don’t want to think? Talk? Discuss this? Fine. I’ll abide by your wishes—for now. In exchange, it’s my time now. So, strip, little angel,” I said with a smirk.
She bit her lip for a moment and then let out a sigh, as if she knew I would win this one way or another. As she pulled my shirt from her body and tossed it to the floor, I turned and walked into my closet. My room had the same large windows as the living room, just on the back of the house. A king-sized bed sat on thefar wall. I’d made it when I’d designed the mantel in the living room, so it was all the same wood. The part that I was excited about, though, was the headboard.
It was made up of three two-by-six pieces of wood lying horizontally, with roughly two-inch gaps between each, where rounded bars of wood went down vertically and met with the rest of the wood that held up the mattress. I hadn’t thought of it until Aspen came into my life, but those rounded bars were perfect for the strips of rope and what I had planned for her this evening.
I reached into the back of the closet where I’d thrown the delivery bag and came back out to find her kneeling in the middle of the bed, completely naked. As if my cock wasn’t already more than ready to take this woman.
“Now what, cowboy?” she asked.
I let myself look her over and enjoyed the view before I smirked. “Wrists together and in front of you.” She stared at me for a moment. “Do you trust me? Answer honestly, Aspen.”
