Twenty
Parker
We stay at the hospital until Blair is released. Cy was being looked after still, Eve by his side, when we left. She told us to take Blair home. The cops spoke to both Cy and Eve while they were in the emergency room, same with Blair, then Jim came over to us and said they couldn't find Brant or his accomplice. He suggested it might be wise to stay at the cabin tonight. While Blair could go home soon, it might be best she didn’t, given the blood all over the room from Cy’s arm and the other guy being killed there. I told Jim we'll be at my place until further notice. Blair won't be able to step foot into her bedroom again. At least not until it can be stripped and cleaned thoroughly to remove everything damaged. Thank God, I have two spare bedrooms that aren't being used.
I was informed someone broke a window in the garage, but from what they could tell, there was no forced entry into the home. They said it must have been a diversion to get the police to my place and as far away from Blair's as possible.
Blair was given medication in the hospital to calm her down and sleeps on the way to the cabin. I carry her upstairs and place her in the empty bedroom closest to mine. My next course of action is to go down to the garage, which is located under my living room, and nail a piece of plywood over the broken window.
We have one gun left. The one in Blair’s house that Cy was using was confiscated by the police. The one which was in my Rover is in Brant’s hands. That left the one in Cy’s truck. We stopped by Blair’s house on the way home, so Tora could drive Cy’s truck back to the cabin. When Cy and Eve are ready to come home, I’ll ask my dad to go get them.
For the rest of the night, I take the remaining loaded gun with me to every room I go into. I'll be damned if Brant is taking this one from me. There is an officer stationed at the bottom of my driveway and one directly outside the house. They scoured the woods behind the cabin, finding nothing. But they are dense, and Brant could be hiding anywhere.
Tora spends fifteen minutes on the phone with her father, telling him that she was okay over and over again. She gave him a very vague rundown of what happened and said she was still staying with me. He tried to convince her to come home, but she said she needed to help with Blair. There was a murderer on the loose and the local news picked up on it. Let's just say, Tora's dad wasn't happy in the least that she refused to come home where he could protect her. I don't blame him. She’s his only child, but I'll be damned if she's leaving my side. Her father isn’t armed. They don’t keep guns in their house. Brant knows Tora and I are back together. There’s a target on her back no matter where she goes.
My parents arrive at the cabin not long after we do. My mom is a doctor. She’s not working at the hospital tonight, so she takes on the role of personal physician to Blair. My dad asks me to give him every detail about what happened. The lawyer in him needs to be sure he has all the facts. This is his stepson after all, out there somewhere, waiting. But the thing is, after what Brant did to Blair, my father wanted nothing to do with him. My mom, on the other hand, Brant is her blood—her son. She's worried about him and wants him to turn himself in. She hasn't known her son in years. She only went to visit him once a year when he was in prison. It broke her heart every time. Never did she think he was capable of what he did to Blair.
Blair has become as much a part of our family as Cy. Her parents aren't in her daily life. They live in the Pacific Northwest and only visit once a year in December. She told them what happened with Brant years ago. Her mom begged her to move in with them, but she refused. She wanted to be close to me and Arrow Falls was where she felt most at home.
My dad tells me to take Tora and go to bed. He'll stand guard while we sleep. It's at this moment, I realize how tired I am and I’m grateful to have my parents here. My mom is with Blair. If she wakes up screaming, she'll see a familiar face. My dad and the cops have our backs and will be watching for Brant or his accomplice. I have no doubt my dad would fight him to the death to protect the rest of us.
Taking Tora's hand in mine, we walk to my bedroom. I strip off my shirt, which has Cy’s blood on it, and toss it in the garbage. Tora sheds her clothes and tosses them into the hamper. With her hand in mine again, I lead her into the attached bathroom. I dim the lights and turn on the shower. The water beats down on the stone walls and floor as it heats. She steps in behind me and tips her hair back to wet it. I do the same and we both wash our hair.
With body wash in hand, I clean her thoroughly. Brant touched her, and I want to wash him off of her. No, he didn't handle her the way Blair was when she was knocked out, but in my mind, it was just as bad. There was a gun pressed to her and her life could have ended at any moment.
As the soap rinses from her body, I lift my hand to gently touch the side of her head where the gun was. She flinches slightly as I brush over it. "Does it hurt?"
"A little bit. It could have been worse, though."
I take her in my arms and hold her close. "I'm so sorry, Tora. If you hadn't been with me tonight, you might have been safe."
"You don't know that for sure. Neither of us do. He could have found me anyway and without you there, I might have ended up in a very different situation."
"Can I send you on an extended vacation with your parents until Brant is caught?"
She shakes her head and mumbles into my chest. "No. I want to be with you."
Pulling back, she takes the body wash and cleans me off. "If something would have happened to you," she says. "I'm not sure what I would have done. I just got you back."
"I know, sweetheart. I know." The same thought keeps running through my head. My world would have crumbled down to nothing if she had been taken from me.
We stay in the shower a while longer, simply comforting one another. By the time I turn off the shower, our skin has started to prune. We're both wrapped in fluffy towels when we step back into my bedroom.
"My bag," Tora observes. "It's still at Blair's."
"I can get it tomorrow. I'm going to need to gather clothes and some other stuff for her."
Tora walks back into the bathroom and uses the hair dryer she leaves here. When she emerges about ten minutes later, her long, auburn hair is hanging over her shoulders, hitting the tops of her breasts; she has nothing on. The towel is gone.
My body reacts instinctively to her bare skin. If only I could calm myself down. It’s an instant response to her. Now is not the time after all we've been through, though.
She steps to me, undoing the towel hanging loosely on my waist, letting it drop to the floor. Her hand grazes my dick as currents of lust race through me.
"Are you sure?" I ask in a husky voice.
"I want to feel you, Parker. I want to run my hands over every part of you to make sure you're okay."
"I'm fine. Nothing happened to me. I’m concerned about you."
"Plenty happened to both of us tonight, even if we don't have the external wounds to prove it. Let me love you."
"Always," I whisper.
She nudges me back onto the bed. I drop down and lay on my back. Tora's hands work their way up from my toes to my waist. She touches everywhere except my dick, teasing me, making me want her more. Then her lips touch the tip and I have to grip the sheets to keep from arching my hips.
She lifts my length so she can painfully slowly wrap her lips around it, taking me to the back of her throat. I release the sheets and thread my fingers through her hair, not pushing her forward, but holding her there, loving what she's doing.
Her mouth works me over as her hand pumps the lower part of my dick. Between the suction she's providing, her hand as it glides over me, and the way she hums, she has me seconds from spilling into her mouth.
"I'm going to come. You have to stop."
Her only response is to grip me tighter and work me faster. My stomach muscles tense. My balls tighten. And then I'm flooding her mouth as my climax takes hold. She keeps going until I grip her head to stop her, unable to take any more.
I lie panting on the bed while she climbs over top of me. Her hot body is pressed to mine and just when I think there's no way I could go again, my dick starts to stir as her slick center glides over me.
"God, Tora, you drive me wild.”
My lips crush hers. Our tongues meet, and I taste myself on her. Fuck if that doesn't make this better. I love how she cares for me. Never in my life did I think I needed someone to do so, but with her, I crave her at every turn. No, I don't need financial support or anything in that fashion. What I want is her love and her touch. I want things that no one else can give me. Only her.
I flip her onto her back and grind my dick, slick with her want, over her clit. She moans into my mouth. I'm fully hard again. With one fluid push, I slide into her, wanting to claim her. Brant's hands were on her. He whispered in her ear. He licked her face. He dared touch what's mine.
I fuck her hard. I want to rid every bit of him from her. She's mine and always has been.
"Faster," she cries as her nails rake down my back.
"Say you're mine, Tora. I need to hear it."
"I'm yours, Parker."
"You were mine even while we were apart." I thrust into her again and again.
"No one else's. It was only you on my mind. It's always you."
"I fucking love you."
"I love you, too," she cries, as her orgasm courses through her.
"That's right, sweetheart, give it all to me."
"Yes! Parker!"
I flex my hips a few more times before I spill into her for the second time tonight. "All. Fucking. Mine," I growl.
Finding her mouth again, I pour every emotion into her that I can't voice. How much I love her and how scared I was of losing her tonight. How no matter how far apart we've been, that she's always been the one for me.
Bringing us to our sides, I hold her close to me, slowing the kiss. She sniffles, causing me to pull back.
"I can't believe we could have lost each other tonight," she cries softly. "He could have shot either one of us or all of us."
"I know, and I was helpless to do anything to stop him."
"There was nothing you could have done. If the cops hadn’t come, I shudder to think how many of us, if any, would still be here."
"I left the gun in the glove compartment. I should have brought it with me."
"You can't do this, Parker. You can't concentrate on what you should have done differently. It won't change anything. It happened. All we can do now is move forward and focus on getting him locked up. I don't think any of us will rest easy as long as he's out there."
She’s right. My dad is in the living room protecting us and my mom is watching over Blair. Oh, fuck. I groan.
"What's wrong?" Tora asks.
"My fucking parents."
"What about them?"
"We gave them one hell of a show."
"Shit. They had to have heard us. Oh, God." She buries her face in my chest.
"Unless Dad has the television volume jacked up, which I doubt, they definitely heard us."
"I'm not going to be able to look them in the eyes."
I chuckle, unable to help it. "Sure, you will. You'll just blush every time you do." She smacks me playfully on the side and I chuckle again.