TWENTY-ONE
Belle
Well. That wasn’t supposed to happen.
My fingers trace the lines that define Zeus’s muscles as he lies sated in the middle of the bed. His hands are tucked behind his head—which showcases the shape of his arms—a silly smile on his face.
“Zeus?”
“Mmm?”
“What happened after I left?” I push up onto my elbows, stretched out on my stomach beside him.
The corners of his mouth turn down, and the lines between his eyebrows deepen. “Another day, dove.”
I settle into the sweet spot between his arm and side, pulling his thick forearm over my side to encase me in all that is him. He seems happy now, but I saw that change in Zeus earlier. Fuck—it’s in every photo he has on Facebook, which isn’t many. There’s a distance, a cool indifference that leaves shivers racing down my spine.
I need to know that wasn’t all because of me. Why did he reoffend? What pushed him over the edge?
I couldn’t handle being responsible for that.
“What are you thinking, babe?” The timbre of his words rumbles beneath my ear.
“Nothing much.”
“I call bullshit.” He rolls to his side, keeping me in his hold, so that we’re face-to-face. “Women always think about shit after sex.”
“Was that all it was?”
“Dove….”
I shrug, twisting my head so I can avoid looking him in the eye. “I didn’t know.”
He pushes me to my back, rolling over top in the process. My hips are crushed to the bed beneath his weight, his semihard cock evident between us. “Are you fucking serious?” His eyes search mine, a glimpse of that hard man from earlier returning. “Have I ever given you reason to doubt how I feel about you?”
“You blocked me on Facebook.”
“Because seeing you living while I was dying….” He shakes his head, hanging it between his shoulders so that his forehead rests on my breastbone, his face hidden as he mumbles. “I couldn’t do it.”
My fingers find their way into his hair, weaving through the long black locks. “Why did you tell me to leave then?” I tug his head to make him look at me. “I would have stayed.”
“Exactly.” He props himself up on his elbows so he can properly study my face as we talk. “And where would that have left you?”
I let the emotions flow free; releasing the well of frustration I’ve filled these past years. “Happy.”
“Babe.” He strokes my face, quiet adoration on his as he clears away my distress. “Don’t. Don’t regret what you’ve achieved.” Zeus places a kiss to the tip of my nose, another to my mouth. “I’m so fucking proud of what you’ve done.”
My laugh comes out as a choked sob. What is pride when it’s at the cost of your heart?
Everything I’ve kept shackled inside, all the pain, the anger, and the confusion break free as he wraps me in his hold and rolls to his back. I smile through my tears, so fucking happy despite the fact I’m finally allowing myself to fall apart, touched when he pulls the covers over us both to cocoon me against him.
I’m once again where I belong, small and safe in his hold.
“Never letting you go again,” he murmurs into my hair. “You’re not going anywhere, dove. I’ve got you, baby. I’ve always got you.”
I believe him. I believe every word he says, because what sane person would put themselves through the heartache, the sense of incompletion that we’ve been going through?
“What now?”
He strokes the hair from my cheek and pulls his head back to see my face. “As in, right now? Or…?”
“Both.” I lift up to my elbows. “I need to let Dad know where I am; he’s probably out of his mind.”
“True.” Zeus lifts an eyebrow. “Wouldn’t want to piss the old man off from the get-go.”
I chuckle as I untangle myself from him. “I think we already did that.” I cross the room naked as the day I was born, and head out to the living room to retrieve my bag.
Zeus lies on the bed with a smirk as I re-enter.
“What?”
“Just mentally slapping myself for being one lucky motherfucker.”
I crawl over the covers to straddle him, my arousal piquing at the sensation of skin on skin with him. “Maybe we’re both lucky?”
He hums as his hands track my thighs. I scroll through my phone, trying to ignore the thumbs that tease the outer folds of my pussy as I message Dad. If only he knew what I was doing while I typed this.
B: Been invited out for the night last minute. Home tomorrow xx
“What did you say?”
I turn the phone so Zeus can read the message.
“You don’t have to keep it a secret from him.” Something flickers behind his eyes, something that tells me there’s more to his statement.
“What did you do?”
He grins as I set my phone aside.
“Tell me.” I lean forward, hands braced on his chest, and roll my hips over his thickening length.
“You aren’t being fair.” His fingers dig into my flesh, trying to still me.
I roll them again, loving the strained groan that he gives. “Tell me, or I put some wet clothes back on this body and walk my arse home.”
“Dove….”
“Zeus….”
He gives a frustrated grunt and shuts his eyes. “I paid your old man a visit today.”
Oh, fuck. “You didn’t get into a damn fight again, did you?”
He chuckles, his erection still growing beneath me. “Nope. Not this time.” Zeus smacks a flat palm to my arse. “Why did you stop?”
My smile is wide as I roll my hips again, this time tracing his chest with my hands as I do. I love that I can pull this desperation from him, this need. I love that I enjoy what comes after, love having a man who’s eager to please me as much as I am him.
All the reasons why my relationship with Damien was doomed from the start hit me with clarity as I trace the section of clean skin where Zeus wants his tattoo.
“You’ve gone dark again,” he muses, pulling me from my thoughts with a hand to my chin.
“Regretting the lost years, is all.”
He shakes his head, forcing my hips to rock with his hands. “Well, don’t. Because if you keep working me up and then stopping like you are, I might not be such a nice guy.”
I shake my head clear and go back to where I left off badgering him. “So?”
“So,” he mimics, eyes narrowed.
“What did you say to my dad?”
He grins, seemingly happy that I’ve shaken my bad mood. “Said you were a grown woman, dove. And if you wanted a future with me, I would be the last person to stop you.”
“And he was okay with that?” I can’t believe they discussed me without somebody getting knocked out again.
Zeus grimaces. “Not exactly.” His eyes hold mine as he adds, “But then you know that, since you already spoke to him, don’t you?”
I frown, even though the feel of his thick cock sliding into me turns my body to jelly. “He told me to stay away from you. That he wouldn’t allow me to tell you how I feel.”
“Told me the same thing.” He punches his hips, holding me steady with the grip on my arse. “Right before I told him I didn’t give a fuck what he thought.” I groan as he fills me again, rough, forceful. “Told him I’d go after you anyway.” My eyes slip closed as he thrusts harder, sharper. “Told him I had no future without you, that you’re my girl whether you saw it that way or not.”
I gasp as he claims me, the intention of his words echoed in his movements. “And what if I’d turned you away?”
“I would have waited however long it took for you to come around, dove.” My muscles twitch with the force of his thrust. “I would have waited forever.”
He rolls us both as our movements become frantic. I need him in every sense: I need to hear him, taste him, feel him. I need him in me, over me, around me, and with me.
I need Zeus more than I ever have.
And as though sensing that, or perhaps because he feels the same, he delivers. I cry out with my pleasure, lost to the moment as he takes my body with such rough possessiveness and yet delicate care all at once. My throat burns as I grasp for breath, my muscles already aching as he fills me and stretches me.
Yet it’s not enough. He said he would have waited forever, but I need forever. Nothing will make me rue the loss of the past three years, no achievement, no milestone. I wasted years trying to make a man love me, trying to make a man fill the void that only Zeus could erase.
I wasted too many years, even if it was only three.
I’m never going to waste another day.
“Belle, baby,” Zeus pants as he slams into me from behind. “Move in with me.” He pulls out and flips me over, holding my face in his hands as he re-enters me. “Come home.”
Words won’t come, my throat too thick with emotion. So I nod instead. Nod like a fucking dashboard puppy as he rocks his hips into me and claims me once more.
I went halfway around the world, and it took coming home again to realise that I was never lost.