Chapter 20
Miller
I wake up early as visions of my beautiful Dani, sleeping soundlessly in her bedroom as flames engulf the walls haunt my mind. I get up and make my way into the bathroom. I lean over the sink and turn on the tap, cupping my hands together under the water, I wait till the water is flowing over the edges of my hands and bring it up to splash my face as I try to erase the images from my head.
I can’t help the feeling that the fire wasn’t an accident, after all, Tank had told me just last week that Sophie’s family was in a house fire when she was a teenager and ever since she has been pedantic about turning off the power points and making sure the house is as fireproof as possible, hell, she even attached a fire blanket to the wall between the stove and microwave.
I sneak out of the bathroom and head downstairs not wanting to wake up Dani. I head into my garage that I converted into a home gym and push myself through a gruelling workout. An hour and a half later, I have used up every last ounce of my energy and head back upstairs to shower.
Afterward, I pull on a pair of sweats and find myself in the kitchen cooking breakfast for my girl. Not knowing what she might want, I decide on bacon and eggs with a side of pancakes and coffee.
I stand by the stove flipping the eggs when I hear her making her way into the kitchen. I turn around to find her leaning against the counter, her eyes roaming up and down my body greedily as she checks me out. She bites down on her bottom lip, not even aware that she’s been caught.
She looks sexy as fuck in nothing but my jersey I gave her last night, falling off her creamy shoulder. I feel myself harden in my sweats and judging by the look in her eyes, she notices it too. I turn the stove off and stalk towards her. “See something you like, baby?” I ask.
Her eyes are filled with hunger as they slide back up my body and meet my eyes. Her reply is cut off as I finally get my hands on her body. I grab her around the waist and lift her up onto the counter as her hands immediately land on my chest. I lay her back on the cold counter top and grab her legs, opening them wide and revealing herself to me.
I hook my fingers into the waistband of her G-string and tear them off her body, desperately needing to taste her. Which is exactly what I do in the very next moment, finding her slick and ready for me.
“Miller,” she screams needing more. “Yes,” I give her exactly what she needs until she comes apart underneath me.
I climb up onto the counter and hover above her. She pulls me down to her and catches my lips in hers as her hands roam over my body and make their way down to my pants. She pushes my sweats down over my ass, frees my cock and instantly wraps her fingers around me. “Fuck,” I groan, feeling her hand pump up and down my length.
“I need you inside me,” she breaths between kisses, adjusting beneath me and wrapping her legs around my waist. Fuck, I don’t need to be told twice. I position myself at her entrance and slam myself deep inside her. We both groan in pleasure as I pull back to thrust myself back in. In, out, in, out. I repeat the process as her nails dig deeper and deeper into my back. Her pussy tightens around me telling me she is close.
I bring my hand down between us and rub tight circles over her clit, causing her to scream out as she clenches around my cock even more. I feel my release creeping up on me. “Come with me, baby,” I tell her, adding a little more pressure on her clit.
“Fuck,” she cries, clenching down on me as I come hard, meeting my own release with hers.
I drop my forehead down to hers as we both catch our breaths. “Good morning,” I murmur, pressing a gentle kiss to her lips.
She smiles up at me. “Good morning to you too,” she giggles as she hooks her arms under mine and holds me. She sighs deeply and closes her eyes, looking at complete peace that my heart swells just watching her.
“Fuck, I love you,” I tell her.
Her beautiful green eyes open as she beams up at me from under her long lashes. “I’ll never get tired of hearing that.”
“Good, because I’ll never get tired of telling you,” I smirk down at her.
“I love you, too” she grins as she pulls up to kiss me again. “A girl could get used to waking up like this, I must have hit the jackpot,” she says.
I look deep into her eyes so she understands I’m serious. “Would you like to get used to it?” I ask.
Her eyebrows pull together as she figures out my meaning. “Are you asking me to marry you or to move in?” she asks in confusion.
I grin down at her. “Move in with me, babe.”
Her beautiful eyes fill with unshed tears and I hope to god they are tears of joy. “Are you sure?” she asks as a small smile begins to creep across her face.
“I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life. You’re it for me and I know that with 100% certainty. I want to be with you. I’ve known it for a while, but last night just confirmed it all for me, I don’t know what I would have done if anything had happened to you.” I explain.
Tears begin to spill over her eyes as she looks up at me with such love. “Ok,” she smiles. “I’ll move in with you.”
“Yeah?” I ask, a little shocked I didn’t have to put up more of a fight.
“Yeah,” she laughs pulling me down to her to kiss me once again. Her legs tighten around me as I harden between her thighs.
I slide back inside her and make love to her, right there on the kitchen counter.
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I pull up behind Tank’s truck in front of the police station, hop out of my truck and head around to Dani’s side to help her out. We walk hand in hand and I smirk over at Dani who pulls and wiggles around in her borrowed clothes. I hold the door open for her to slip in before me. We find Sophie, Tank, Jared, and Ashton already seated in the waiting area.
Sophie launches herself out of her chair the moment she sees Dani and the two collide in the middle of the station, holding each other with everything they’ve got, tearing up and sniffling as they check each other over.
“I’m so glad you’re ok,” Sophie cries as Dani pulls her harder against her chest.
I make my way past the girls and take a seat next to Tank while giving Jared and Ashton a nod. I glance over at Tank to see him watching Sophie, looking as relaxed as ever. “You convinced her to move in with you,” I say.
He turns to me with a grin. “Fuck off. Like you didn’t do the same thing.”
I grin back at him. “Fuck, yeah,” I laugh, looking over at the girls to see them both suddenly squeal and start jumping up and down. Yep, I guess they’ve just told each other. I catch Dani’s eyes and she gives me a brilliant smile and I know without a doubt that I would do anything in my power to see that smile every moment of every day.
Officer Samuels pushes through a door into the waiting area and immediately gets all of our attention. “Thank you all for coming down this morning,” she says, then steps back and gestures to the door. “Please, come on through.” She turns on her heel and leads us all down the hallway and into a small meeting room. There are only four chairs so the girls, Jared and Ashton all take seats while Tank and I stand behind our girls.
Officer Samuels takes a quick drink of water and takes a seat on the opposite side of the table, facing us all. “Thanks again for coming down,” she starts. “First of all, I know you all gave your statements last night but as it was the middle of the night I just wanted to check if there was anything you wanted to add?” she asks looking around. We all shake our heads and she gets back on with it. “Ok great.”
“Now, unfortunately, due to the fire, your home is not liveable and will most likely be demolished in the very near future,” she says giving the girls a regretful smile. “The fire chief has completed his inspection and has come to the conclusion that this was arson which makes your home a crime scene. So this morning we will be heading over there to commence our investigation, once we have been through, we will escort you into the home to collect your possessions,” she explains.
“So with that in mind,” she continues looking towards Dani. “With the restraining order being served yesterday, we believe we might already have our suspect and will bringing him in for questioning and with any luck, our search warrant will come through today,” she explains.
Her gaze turns towards Sophie and Jared. “Do either of you have any reason to be suspicious of anyone else or have anyone in your lives who wants to cause harm towards you?”
Jared scoffs then speaks up. “Well, where do I start?” he says. “I’m gay and these two are currently dating the campus celebrities. It could have been anyone. A hate crime against me, or a sick way to get the girls out of the picture to eliminate the competition for Tank and Miller's affections.”
Officer Samuels glances towards me and Tank with a raised questioning eyebrow. “We have a bit of a fan base at the moment,” Tank explains. “But I haven’t noticed anything to be alarmed about,” he says glancing at me.
“I agree, I don’t think it’s a Dragons fan,” I comment.
“Never thought it was,” Sophie mumbles.
“What was that, babe?” Tank asks, placing his hands on her shoulders in support.
“I said, I never thought it was. We all know it was Brett, especially after serving the restraining order yesterday, we just need to prove it,” she says, then turns to Dani and takes her hand. “Sorry, babe, but your crazy, psycho ex tried to kill you and nearly succeeded,” she says, causing a shiver to sail down my spine and my hands to clench into the tightest fists.
Dani looks up over at office Samuels. “What’s going to happen if it is him?” she asks.
“Ultimately, it is up to the judge, however, we are pushing for attempted rape and with arson charges on top of that he will most likely be looking at a few years behind bars.”
“Good,” she says.
Officer Samuels gets us all to sign some paperwork and asks us to meet them at the girl's place in a few hours to go through their possessions.
We all head out together and have lunch down at Micky’s and I give Dani a few drinks to help prepare her for what we’re about to see. As instructed, a few hours later we arrive at the girl's place to inspect the damage first-hand.
Dani climbs out of the truck and stands firmly in the grass before the house, looking up at it in horror. I reluctantly rip my eyes from hers to the house and find it barely a skeleton of the home that was here just yesterday. The structure is black and smoky, the whole front burned to a crisp. I can’t imagine what the inside looks like, let alone what the girls and Jared must be feeling right now.
Sophie hops out of Tank’s truck and walks over to Dani, reaching out to take her hand. They both stand in silence as they take in what is left of their home. I glance over to Jared to see him making his way over to the girls, he wraps his arms around them both and pulls them into his chest. The girls cry into him and he does his best to soothe them. I desperately want to go to Dani and tell her it’s ok but I know she needs this moment with her friends.
Officer Samuels comes out of the house wearing a grim expression, followed by a few others, all sporting bright yellow hard hats. Her eyes land on our group instantly and she makes her way over. She reaches out to Sophie and places a gentle hand on her shoulder.
Sophie turns around as Jared drops his arms and the three of them concentrate on whatever she is saying. A few moments later Dani turns around and walks over to us. “We’re going in,” she says, looking down at the ground. “We need those hard hats.”
“Ok,” I say, taking her hand and leading her over to the truck that holds all the equipment. I grab a few hats and help her to put it on. I knock her on the head and smirk when she finally smiles up at me. I put on my hat and lead her over to the others. I hand Tank two hats and then hand two to Ashton.
Once we're all suited up we follow Office Samuels into the house.
Dani gasps as we bypass the lounge room and tightens her hold on my hand as there just simply isn’t one anymore. I pull her closer and hold her to me as we make our way deeper into the house. The kitchen is the same as the lounge room, absolutely gone. Sophie takes off and heads down the hallway towards her room with Tank following. Jared and Ashton do the same.
I lead Dani towards her room and stop her halfway down the hallway. I turn her in my arms and look down at her. “Are you sure you’re ready to see this?” I ask as I study her reaction.
Her eyes begin to water. “No. But it’s now or never, right?” she cringes.
I rub my hands up and down Dani’s arms as she takes a deep breath. She turns back around and continues her way down the charred hall. She stops by her door, takes another deep breath and steps over the threshold.