Cam

 

I was amazed I got us to my apartment safely.

I still saw red everywhere I looked. All I could picture in my head was the vision Reese made when she’d stumbled down those stairs and into the living room. The terrified look on her face. The trembling in her hands. The destruction of her hair and clothes.

Trey hadn’t gotten the kind of beating he deserved.

If we hadn’t been surrounded by people I can’t guarantee I would have stopped hitting him. I’d never felt such a single-minded sense of violence before. A need for violence. I knew it may not have been a good idea to have Reese around me right then, but there was no way I was going to leave her there.

I had to have her close to me tonight.

After that, I wasn’t sure I’d ever let her out of my sight again.

I helped her out of the Jeep even though I knew she wanted to tell me she was fine. I needed to do it, though. And because she knew me well enough, she stayed quiet and let me lead her up to my apartment.

She’d been here a couple of times before, but we usually stayed at her place. For one, hers was a little closer to campus so it made things easier. And two, her place felt a hell of a lot more homey than mine. I lived in a one-bedroom unit by myself because the place was cheap enough that I could afford it, and I was sick of having roommates. There was one couch, one TV, one small kitchen table jutted up against the wall, and one bed. Reese and the girls had pictures hanging up everywhere at their place, candles lit all the time, and flowers on their kitchen table. Even with her roommates there, I liked having that homey atmosphere with Reese. And the girls were usually accommodating enough to give us our privacy.

But I couldn’t handle being around anyone else tonight.

“I’m taking a shower,” I muttered after throwing my keys onto the kitchen counter.

I didn’t look at her as I walked down the hall, stripping off my clothes as I went. I didn’t want to see the concern for me in her eyes. It was her we needed to worry about, not me. I was damn sure going to check out her body and find out what Trey did to her, how she’d gotten her sweater torn to shit. But first, I needed a few minutes to myself so I didn’t scare the crap out of her.

Again.

I shut myself inside the bathroom and assessed the damage in the mirror. Two bruises were starting to form on my ribs, but they weren’t deep. I had a split lip and a sore jaw, but nothing that wouldn’t heal in the next few days. The worst was the nasty cut on my cheek, courtesy of Trey’s ring, that I’d probably need to rub down with some antiseptic.

I turned on the water and stepped under the spray, not caring if it was hot or cold. Bracing my hands on the wall, I watched the blood trickle down my body, pooling at my feet before swirling into the drain. Every time I heard Trey’s words in my head a fresh wave of fury welled up inside me. I tried so hard to think of anything else, but—

The shower curtain was pulled open.

I didn’t turn, but I felt Reese tentatively step inside the shower and inch toward me. Seconds later, two arms wrapped around my middle and her cheek pressed against my back. I closed my eyes and savored the moment. Just for a second, it was almost possible to forget that we were in a veritable shit storm.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. I barely heard her over the shower.

“What for?”

Her voice was shaky. “For causing that. I shouldn’t have gone upstairs alone. You said to stay close and—”

I spun around and framed her face in my hands, using more tenderness than I’d thought I was capable of right then. “Stop it. I don’t want to hear those words come out of your mouth again. You did absolutely nothing wrong, sweetheart. You don’t apologize for anything, got it?”

She nodded but her face was crumpled in pain. “But you got in a fight because of me and now you might not get to play.”

I placed a finger over her mouth. “One, that was my choice to get in a fight. The fucker deserved even more than I gave him, but none of that is on you. Two, we don’t know what’s going to happen at this point, so let’s just take it one step at a time. Okay?”

I couldn’t tell if that was a tear running down her face or a water droplet from the shower. “Okay.”

I hugged her to me and we stood like that for several minutes. Feeling the spray massage our bodies, our chests moving against one another as we breathed together.

That’s when I remembered we were naked.

Jesus. She just went through his huge ordeal, and I was getting horny. I needed to get a hold of myself. But damn, being pressed up to a naked Reese was bound to get some kind of reaction out of me. I started hardening against her belly despite the mental scolding I was giving myself.

Then I saw the scratch.

Three distinct red lines across her stomach where her sweater had been torn. Marks that had clearly been caused by fingernails.

“Baby,” I breathed, carefully tracing the lines with my fingertip.

What the fuck had gone on upstairs that had caused him to scratch her like that?

“It doesn’t hurt,” she insisted, trying to tip my chin up but I didn’t budge. I couldn’t stop staring at those marks.

He’d marked her.

Reese. My girl.

He’d hurt my girl.

That’s when my eyes fell on the bruises. There were about three or four on each hip, already turning purple. Clearly in the shape of fingerprints. Fuck me. I couldn’t take this. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I’d be standing there in my shower with Reese after some asshole had just attacked her, examining the damage he’d done.

“I can’t fucking believe he put his hands on you,” I growled.

“I’m okay. I promise. Really, I’m not hurt.”

“These,” I said, pointing to the bruises and the scratch, “suggest otherwise.”

She scoffed. “Please. I used to get much worse back when I played ball.”

She was trying to lighten the mood by teasing, but I couldn’t find it in me to crack a smile.

I pulled her back to me, needing to hold her. I cupped her head in my hand, lightly massaging her scalp, and she sucked in a sharp breath. I lightly ran my finger over that same area and felt a noticeable bump.

“What happened?”

She looked almost afraid to tell me. “Nothing.”

“Reese,” I said sternly. “What. Happened?”

She sighed. “I hit my head on the bathroom door when Trey tackled me to the floor as I was trying to get out.”

Just when I thought nothing more could shock me tonight. A new image now assaulted my mind of Trey charging Reese, getting her to the floor, and holding her down with unspeakable thoughts churning in his head. His intentions with her up in that bathroom were too dark to comprehend.

I wanted to slam my fist through the wall.

Instead, I rested my forehead against hers, fighting the emotions rising to the surface.

“Goddammit, Reese. I’m so sorry. That never should have happened. I should have been there. I should have stopped him. I’m so fucking sorry, baby.”

“Shh, it’s over now.” She now took my face in her hands. “There’s nothing you have to apologize for, either. Neither of us knew he would ever do anything like that. But it’s done now. We don’t need to keep revisiting it. We’re going to move forward and take things one step at a time. Like you said, okay?”

My insides didn’t completely calm down. But her voice was soothing enough that I got control over myself.

“I’m never going to let anyone hurt you again,” I promised. “I want you to know that you’re safe with me. I need you to know that. I’ll always protect you and keep you safe.”

She placed a soft kiss on my lips. “I do know that.”

We held each other for a few more minutes, but damn it if my dick wasn’t being a persistent bastard. She didn’t need to be accosted by my horniness right now. It didn’t even make sense that I was horny. She was hurting and she needed sweetness and tenderness. I angled my hips to the side so she wouldn’t feel how hard I was.

Which was why I almost choked on my own tongue when I felt her fingers wrap around me.

“What are you doing?”

“I know a way to help take your mind off of things,” she whispered, laying a hot kiss on my pec.

I tried pulling her hand away. “No, sweetheart. I’m taking care of you tonight.”

She looked so fragile when she looked up at me, her wet hair slicked back, the makeup gone from her face. “Then who’s going to take care of you?”

I hissed through clenched teeth when she fell to her knees for me. “Baby, really. You don’t have to do this.”

“Let me do it, anyway.”

She took me into her mouth, squeezing me with those full pink lips as her delicate fingers stroked my base. Releasing a heavy breath, I cradled her head in my hands as my own fell back against the shower wall, lost to the incredible pleasure she was gifting me with.

“God, Reese. I should be making you feel good. Not the other way around.”

I slipped out of her mouth. “Are you enjoying it?”

Is the sky blue?

“Hell yes, it feels fucking good. It always does.”

“Then shut up and let me take care of you.”

Admittedly, it was helping ease the tension from my shoulders. Little by little, her sucking mouth relaxed the rest of my body, even allowing my mind to escape into a fantasy world. She worked me soft then hard, slow then fast, gentle then aggressive. It built up to this incredible crescendo that made me want to crawl out of my own skin.

I understood now why she knew I needed this.

Even before I did, she realized I needed to be reminded that she was mine. No matter what happened or who tried to rip us apart, we belonged to each other. Taking care of one another like this, trusting the other implicitly, was the ultimate stamp of ownership. I knew she didn’t want to be owned, but that was too damn bad. Because she sure as hell owned me.

I released down her throat to the sounds of her humming in approval and the feel of her nails digging into my ass. My girl seriously had the mouth of an angel. A naughty angel, that is. Which was, coincidentally, my favorite kind.

I collapsed against the wall as she stood back up with triumph on her face. I kissed her for long minutes after that. Showing my appreciation. My gratitude. Not just for the pleasure, but for knowing exactly what I needed.

The rest of the shower was accomplished in relative silence. She washed me all over, laying tender kisses on every injury I had, including my split lip, which led to some not-so-tender kisses. Returning the favor, I took the loofah from her hands and washed her front and back, kissing every single mark on her body, hoping I could soothe even a small bit of the pain away. Mental and physical.

After we both dried off, she made me sit on the toilet while she cleaned up my cuts and bandaged me up. I wanted to tell her I didn’t need any of it, but I knew it was just another way of her taking care of me.

So, I let her take care of me. In fact, I welcomed it.

I liked it. More than I ever thought I would.

I did the same for her with her scratches, and then we made our way to bed. Holding hands, naked. I made love to her slowly that night, carefully, so as not to jar her head. It may have been more leisurely than normal, but it was no less intense. Or meaningful. Our bodies remained physically connected from start to finish—our hands stayed interlocked, our chests slid over one another as I moved inside her, and our mouths were fused together as we both came.

Even once the aftershocks had passed and we collapsed together on the mattress, our minds didn’t sever that connection. We laid facing each other on our sides for a while afterward, kissing and holding one another. She eventually fell asleep in my arms, but I stayed awake for half the night.

Something bad had happened to her tonight. And it’d come too close to being something much worse. She was too precious for me to allow that to happen again.

My decision was made.

I hadn’t told her yet, but I was all in.

No more hiding what we were, no more lying to everyone, including the press. No more pretending she didn’t mean everything to me. After tonight, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to hide it, anyway. I wanted the whole goddamn world to know who she belonged to.

And if anyone else wanted to fuck with her, they would have to go through me.

Hopefully, she’d be onboard.

Because we would need to stick together for what was about to happen.