I stare at the gun on the bedside table and I keep seeing Jaxson as he kicks open the door. The splinters hit the carpet and I’m so afraid I can’t move.

Without my mom, I’d be dead. She saved my life. We don’t know where she is right now, but Mitch has his boys out looking for her. Jaxson’s out there somewhere too, and they’re trying to hunt him down.

For now though, I’m with Wyatt. He comes out of the bathroom and frowns at me, following my gaze.

“Ah,” he says. “That.” He walks over and picks up the gun. “Just a little present from our friend Reggie.”

I’m not sure what he means but I’m not sure I want to know. “Oh, okay,” I say.

He slips the gun into a drawer then sits down next to me. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

I nod and lean up against him. “I’m okay. Just afraid for my mom.”

“She’s fine. I bet she’s just holed up in some bar right now, hiding out with a good glass of wine.”

I can’t help but smile at that. I know it’s not great to imagine my mom drinking, but at least I’m picturing her alive, instead of with Jaxson standing over her. I doubt she has a “good” glass of wine, though.

He puts his arms around me and pulls me close. We have a quiet moment, and I try to concentrate on the sound of his breathing instead of the horrible film that keeps playing through my mind. I feel like some part of me is broken, or dirty, or both, but I know that’s just in my head.

“What happened,” he starts saying, and then stops. He takes a deep breath. “What happened should never have happened.”

I move back slightly and look up at him. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“It was,” he says simply. “I knew we were in danger, and I still left to see an old friend.”

“You couldn’t have known,” I whisper. By now I heard all about what went down with Reggie.

“I should have.” I can see the anger flare up. “It was too easy, too simple. I should’ve known nothing’s simple around here. I mean, having me come pick up him and drive into the reserve?”

“Wyatt,” I say, and I pull his chin toward me. “You couldn’t have known.”

His expression kills me. It’s anger and sadness and desire all mixed up into one. “I left you alone, and you almost got killed.”

“But we didn’t. You came back in time.”

“Barely. Your mom saved your life. Now she’s missing, Jaxson’s still out there, and you had to go through that.”

I pull his face toward mine, and I kiss him. I don’t know why I do it, but it feels right. He kisses me back with a sharp intake of breath as I move closer to him, and my desire flares through me. I didn’t know I could feel this right now, or really I didn’t think I could feel anything at all. But my need for him suddenly trumps any of the fear, the sadness, and the pain. I don’t feel right, I feel far from right, but at least this kiss makes me feel more whole.

He pulls me tight against him and I move over, shifting my hips and straddling him. He pulls me tight, kissing me hard, and I pull off my shirt. He kisses my chest, his lips lingering on my neck as I unhook my bra and toss it aside.

We’re moving fast now. I don’t have time to think about anything but the here and now, what I’m doing with him right in this moment. I don’t want to think about anything else.

Truth is, I haven’t felt good in a long time. It was even before Atticus died that I started feeling bland, like the life was slowly leaking from me. My daily grind brought nothing new or exciting or happy into my life and slowly but surely, it was all being sucked away.

But now I have Wyatt. He’s injecting so much into my world, making me feel things I thought I had forgotten about. His touch, his kiss, it’s all I need and all I want right now.

His hands cup my breasts and tease my nipples as I kiss him hard. I run my fingers through this thick hair, heedless of anything else going on around me. He pulls me tight, his hands on my ass, kissing me deep. His taste floods me and I’m reeling with him.

He turns and rolls me onto my back, pinning me down on the bed. He pulls his shirt off and presses me down, kissing me hard, tongue in my mouth. His hands slide down my hips and unbutton my jeans, tugging them down over my ass. He pushes my panties aside and, tongue in my mouth, his fingers press inside of me.

I gasp and dig my fingers into his back. He smirks at me, kissing my neck, fingers teasing my pussy. I can feel my heat rising, hotter and hotter as his fingers do their work

“You know why I didn’t leave?” he asks me, deep and low in my ear.

“Why?”

“Because of you.” He pulls back, meeting my eyes. “I couldn’t leave you.”

I bite my lip and squirm as he grins and presses his fingers inside of me.

“Why not?” I moan.

“Because of this.” He pulls his fingers out from inside of me and puts them in his mouth. “I love your taste, the way you moan, fuck, everything about you.”

He drops down onto the floor and his mouth finds my inner thigh. I groan loudly as he tugs my panties off, tossing them aside. He starts to suck and lick my clit, teasing my pussy, tongue rolling around me.

I grip onto his hair, holding him tight, moving my hips along with his mouth. I feel so in sync with him that I can barely contain myself. It’s overwhelming as pleasure rocks through my spine, rolling up along my skin, spreading out along my body.

Everything disappears. I’m like a pinprick in space, a floating spot of light and pleasure as he keeps licking me, sucking me, pushing me. I roll my hips faster and he sucks me harder, tongue sliding inside and back up along my clit.

I gasp as he reaches up with one hand and teases my breast, tongue buried deep inside of me. I can feel his name on my lips, begging to escape, but I hold it back.

He pulls away, smirking at me, and grabs my hip. He rolls me onto my stomach and slaps my ass, nice and hard.

“I stayed because of this.” He slaps my ass again and I gasp, digging my hands into the covers. “Because I couldn’t leave this alone, not for a single fucking week.”

He grabs my hips again and pulls me up onto my knees. I look back at him as he pulls his jeans off, revealing his thick cock. He slowly strokes himself with one hand and pulls me back toward him roughly.

I groan as he presses himself against me. Slowly he plunges his cock into my pussy, and I have to grip the comforter again as he slides in deep. I groan loudly, looking over my shoulder at him, and he just smirks. It drives me insane, and he slowly starts to fuck me faster, hands on my hips.

I work back against him, sliding along his thick cock. He grabs my hair, tugging it back, whispering in my ear.

“I couldn’t leave this pussy unfucked,” he says softly. “I couldn’t let you go a single day without my big cock fucking you until you scream.”

I feel it bubbling to the surface. He pushes me forward, slapping my ass hard, grabbing my hair and fucking me rough. That’s when I say it, when I say his name over and over again, his cock slamming into me, fucking me deep and hard.

He’s so big, so muscular, he can rip me into tiny pieces if he wants. Instead, he fucks me right, slaps my ass, big cock slamming into me, making me work for it. I move back along him, bucking my ass, tossing my hair to one side as I look over my shoulder at him.

He just smirks at me, his ripped body tense. I can feel sweat rolling down my skin as he works me, pleasure flooding me from every direction. I feel totally mindless, absolutely devastated by his cock, but loving every single inch of it.

He slides out, making me gasp, and rolls me back over. He spreads my legs wide and pushes himself inside of me. His hands cup my breasts as he fucks me and I lean forward, kissing him as he roughly grinds his cock into my pussy.

He fucks me like that, legs spread wide, mouth against my own. It feels so fucking good to have him deep between my legs. He grinds into me, fucking me hard, making me moan, making me say his name.

But I need to come. I push him back with both hands and he grins at me. I tug him into the bed and I push him down. I straddle him, sliding my ass down along his cock, taking him into my pussy. He grabs my hips as I ride him. I hold onto the headboard and use every single muscle in my body to fuck his big cock, riding him as hard as I can.

He takes a nipple between his teeth as he slaps my ass, squeezing it and working it. He thrusts up into me and I’m sweating, working, pleasure rocking along my skin, moans coming loud and even and unashamed. He grins at me, eyes wide with passion, and I know I’m so close. I buck back and up, riding him harder and harder, slamming down along his shaft.

The orgasm hits me out of nowhere. It begins in my spine and rolls up along the base of my skull, tingling pleasure, just before the explosion happens. I come hard, my whole body twitching as he keeps fucking me. He sits up, pulling me close, slamming his cock into my tight pussy again and again, making me moan through my orgasm.

I hear him grunt my name, almost from a distance, but I feel him come inside of me. He comes hard, filling me up, making me gasp. It’s one of the most satisfying things I’ve ever felt in my life, feeling his hot cum fill my pussy up. I can’t stop moving my hips, working every single ounce from him, milking his big cock.

Slowly we both finish, and I collapse onto the bed next to him. He wraps his arms around me, pulling me tight against hm.

“I mean it,” he whispers in my ear. “I stayed for you. I’ll help with Atticus, but you’re the one I really want.”

That puts a smile on my face that I can’t get rid of for the rest of the night. We talk and watch old movies and the painful memory of earlier in the day slowly fades away. I still feel anxious about my mother, wondering where she is and if she’s okay, but somehow the bite’s taken out of it.

That’s what Wyatt can do for me, I realize. He can take what’s horrible and somehow make it slightly less bad. He’s the only person in my life that can do that, and I don’t want him to leave me.