Twenty-Five
Stana
I’ve been reading some free book I got on my phone for the last three hours, and I’m getting antsy. Jerick has been gone for a long time, and I’m afraid to leave this room. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s the truth. I know he said that this place was safe, but I don’t trust anything right now.
Well, I still trust him, but only him.
Before I can roll back onto my side, my phone starts to ring. As I stare down at the number on the screen, I think back to the last time I was at work and how Max humiliated me in front of everyone we worked it. Could I really go back there after everything that happened? I know that Jerick doesn’t want me to, but I feel like I should be the one to make that decision on my own.
“Hello?” I answer just before it clicks over to the voicemail.
“Thank God, you finally answered,” he says quickly.
I roll my eyes at the way he says the words like he’s been trying to get a hold of me for hours or something. He hasn’t called once since I ran away from the office.
“What do you want?” I ask, my voice sounding icier than I expected.
“You are in danger. You need to get away from Jerick Brannigan. He is bad news. You’re only going to get hurt.” I close my eyes and take a deep breath before I even respond to that. “Stana? Are you there?” He now sounds worried.
“He isn’t going to hurt me.” I finally say as I see movement from the corner of my eye. As I turn my head towards the action, I see Jerick coming closer to me. He doesn’t say a word as he gets closer. He’s still wearing the jeans and tee shirt he left in, but he’s covered in dirt and blood. My eyes grow wide as I stare at him, inspecting every inch of him that I can see.
“I have to go,” I say before I hang up, ignoring Max’s pleas for me to stay on the phone with him.
I drop my phone on the bed and push myself up, and off it closing the distance between us. My hand automatically goes to his cheek, and my eyes roam over him to make sure he doesn’t have any cuts on his skin. “Stana,” he whispers, grabbing my hand on his face and leaning into my touch. “I’m fine, love. The blood’s, not mine.”
I swallow and continue to stare at him. “What happened?” I ask, not really sure that I actually want to know what he did. He could have hurt someone. Oh god, he wasn’t lying when he told me that he’s killed people before. My stomach turns at the thought of that, and I try to not make a scene. I just wait for him to say something, anything that might answer my question.
“I found out who is after ye.” His voice is strained, and he still isn’t looking in my eyes. “I swear to ye love, he won’t touch ye.” I suck in a breath as I let his words sit in my head; bouncing around a bit before I can even formulate a sentence.
“Who?”
“Liam.” His eyes meet mine finally, and he blows out a breath before he continues. “Me brother.”
I close my eyes as I think about what this means for him. I know he loves his brother even after all the shit he put him through. He doesn’t want to hurt his brother, I’m sure of it. “Why is he after me?” I ask, hating the way my voice breaks. I’m terrified because Jerick has told me a little about Liam. There are parts of Liam that are dangerous and calculating.
“I don’t know, love. I killed the bastard that gave up his name before I could get any other information from him. He was the reason those feckers came after ye. He was the distraction that got me away from the apartment so they could take ye.” He lifts an arm up and puts his hand behind his neck, rubbing it slightly before he continues. “Ye were lucky. If they would have gotten ye, I don’t know exactly what they would have done to ye.” His shoulders slump, and his arm comes around my waist, pulling me to him.
“I’ll gut me brother before he ever lays a hand on ye, banphrionsa.” The look he gives me is full of promise, and I don’t know why it makes me feel a little better about someone trying to take me. At least I know that Jerick would do whatever it takes to protect me, even if it means going against his own family.
My hands cup both sides of his face, and I press my lips gently to his. His eyes darken as he runs one of his hands up my back, tangling it in my hair. “Táim i ngrá leat I’m in love with you.” His words, as hot as they sound make no sense to me at all.
“What does that mean?” I ask not taking my eyes off of him.
“Ye’ll find out soon enough,” he says quietly before picking me up and walking with me towards the en-suite bathroom. He sets me on the counter and slowly starts to pull my shirt off of me. I watch him as he slowly strips me the rest of the way down before he starts to strip his own clothes off. Once he’s done, he walks over to the bathtub and starts the water.
He doesn’t do more than kiss me as we wait for the tub to fill and I have no idea what is currently running through his head. I hear his phone go off in his pants pocket, but he makes no move to grab it. “Were ye talking to Max when I walked in?” He asks. I nod my head not wanting to lie to him. I know he doesn’t want me talking to him, but I couldn’t help it.
Part of me still wants to believe that Max cares somewhat about our friendship.
“What did he say?” he asks as the water continues to fill. He picks me up and off the counter, stepping into the tub with me still in his arms. As he lowers us into the water, I kiss his lips once more.
“He told me you were dangerous.” The warm water envelopes around me and I let out a hum of appreciation. “He wants me to stay away from you because you’re going to get me hurt.” He moves me so that I am now between his legs and he pulls my upper body back to his.
“What do ye think, love?” His voice is low and dangerous, but I’m not one bit afraid of him.
“I think that he is wrong,” I say turning in the tub to face him. I straddle him and feel his erection as he runs his hands up my back, pulling my upper body closer to him. My hands go to the wall behind him, and I watch his hooded eyes as they scan over my body.
I feel his tongue swipe over one of my nipples, and I gasp. “I don’t want ye to be afraid of me,” he whispers against my skin.
“I trust you,” I choke out as he sucks my nipple into his mouth, lightly nibbling on it before placing open mouthed kisses along my skin, making his way to my other nipple.
“I shouldn’t feel this way about ye, love. It goes against everything ever instilled in me.” He sucks on the skin right above my collarbone, and I press my chest against his and start to rock against him. I’m wet and horny, something I never thought I would be thinking as his mouth continues to suck on the same spot as if he was marking me.
He lifts me up slightly before rubbing his dick along my pussy. It doesn’t take long for him to push me down on top on him, filling me completely. “Ye feel so damn good,” he mutters as I start to rock against him again. His mouth never leaves my skin as he continues to suck and leave trails of kisses up my neck. He bites my shoulder as I grind down on him rougher than usual.
“How do you feel?” I ask, finally getting the courage as I ride him slowly. He leans forward and shuts the water off, but it wasn’t before it started spilling over the side as we continued to move as one. It doesn’t take us long to fall over the edge. His hands grip my back before sliding up towards my neck. He continues to thrust up and into me with hard strokes. Tipping my head back, I let out a moan as I come around his cock, milking him. He bites my shoulder as he muffles his own groan of pleasure.
I let my body weight fall onto him, but he doesn’t mind, he just holds me tighter to him. His hands run up and down my back as we catch our breath and slow the erratic beating of our hearts. “Ye are the most halalinn lass I’ve ever met.” He kisses the side on my neck, and I melt into him further. It doesn’t matter that the water is now cooling or that it’s dirty. All that matters is that he is holding me like I mean something to him. I’ve always wanted to mean something to someone.
I rest my forehead against his collarbone, and I close my eyes. “I’m falling hard,” I whisper. His lips press against the side of my head, and I can feel his lips turn into a grin.
“Aye, so am I love, so am I.”
We don’t say anything else as he pulls the plug on the tub. He stands up, taking me with him and I don’t mind. I just wrap my legs around his waist and tighten my grip around his neck. As he steps out of the tub, I hear his phone go off again, but he still doesn’t go for it.
Part of me is worried that he might miss something important, but the other part of me is excited that he would ignore it for me. He wasn’t lying when he said that it would be just the two of us when he was done with… I try not to think about what he did before he came in here. My mind goes back to thoughts of the dirt and blood that covered him when he came in the room, and I feel my throat dry up.
There is nothing I can do to make myself not think the worse. I know he killed someone. He said it was to protect me, but I don’t know if I can handle that or not.
He turns the water on in the shower and waits for it to warm up before he walks inside, putting me right under the shower head. The water coats my body and some of the tension washes away. He lets my legs go, and I slowly slide down his body. I feel every hard muscle as I do and I can’t help but moan that the sensations that rip through my body.
We shower off the dirt and blood that was in the bathtub and slowly wash each other’s bodies. There is nothing sexual about it, but I enjoy being able to explore his body more, feeling his hard muscles twitch and strain as I run my hands up and down them.
After we are done and rinsed off, he wraps a towel around me before leading me back into the bedroom, pulling me onto the bed and curling his body against mine. It doesn’t take us long to fall asleep wrapped up in each other’s arms.