(Penny)

I had to listen to every punch that landed on Noah’s face and body. There was nothing I could do but just stand there, pressed against the corner of the closet, and listen.

“I’m so sorry,” Marcos said.

The smash of fists against Noah’s face enraged me. Two times I pressed forward, wondering what would happen. What if I just gave myself up to protect Noah? That would only make Noah a blatant liar and Marcos would kill him.

At least right then Noah was only taking a beating.

His hands were tied behind his back with my panties. My panties I left on the floor like a fool. Because I had been rushing around to hide. Because moments before rushing around, my hand had been touching his cock, wanting him to fuck me again.

“Okay,” Marcos finally said. “I think that’s good enough for now.”

I pushed the clothes to the side and could see a sliver of Marcos and Noah.

Noah was on his knees, leaning against the bed. His face was covered in cuts and blood. Marcos then crouched and blocked my view. He put his gun to the top of Noah’s head.

“So I’m going to clarify a few things,” Marcos said. “I will never let this happen to you again, Noah. The next time you fuck with me, I’ll kill you. You’re no use to me when you’re beat up and shot and acting like a weak pussy.”

A second later Noah groaned and threw his head forward. He smashed his face against Marcos’s and sent him back to his ass.

“One more!” Marcos ordered.

I told myself to look away. Shut my eyes. Hide behind the clothes.

But I didn’t.

I watched as the two men came into view. They each threw one last punch and Noah fell to the floor. He looked half dead.

Marcos climbed to his feet. He stepped forward and kicked Noah.

“I’ll make it easy,” Marcos yelled. “You have one day to bring me Penny. If you don’t, I kill you. Fucking Irish prick.”

Then it got quiet.

Really quiet.

I just stood there and waited, again.

Noah stirred and forced himself to sit up. He put his head back and took a few breaths.

“You can come out now,” Noah said.

That’s all I needed to hear.

I pushed through the clothes and rushed from the closet. I dropped to my knees before Noah and didn’t know where to start. He turned and showed me his wrists. I grabbed my own panties wrapped tight around his wrists and freed his hands.

He then looked at me.

The left corner of his mouth was bleeding. His right eye had a gash above it. His left eye black and blue already.

“Noah…” I touched his face, touched the blood. “I’m so sorry.”

His eyes met mine. “You know, I’ve haven’t been this serious with a woman in a long time.”

Then he smiled.

“Christ,” I whispered. “What do we do now?”

“Shower,” he said. “I need to clean myself up.”

I helped Noah to his feet. He touched his jeans and I smacked his hands away.

“No,” I said. “I’m going to do it… and join you in the shower.”

* * *

He pinned me against the wall. My legs were wrapped around his body. The blood was still on his face. He had forgotten about his wounds as he thrust his beautiful cock deep inside me. I clutched at his neck and felt him thrust at me, over and over. The water rushed fast, grew hotter by the second, but Noah’s body was the hottest thing of all.

As the steam swirled around us, he started to sweat. It mixed with the blood, moving from his face down to his body. Down to my body. My breasts had a few droplets of blood on them. It should have freaked me out. It should have shown me the true reality of the disaster I had stepped into.

The truth was that it all turned me on. I had a sense of purpose and a desire that had been lost a long time ago.

Noah pulled me from the wall, holding me, still inside me. He walked us to the water and it rushed over the both of us, washing away the sweat and the blood. For a second I dreamed we were on an island, hidden from the world, under a waterfall together.

But that wasn’t reality.

Reality was that we were a day away from death and there was no way to stop it. As bad as I wanted to ask Noah about it, when I looked at his face I knew he was the one in control. Of everything.

Noah grabbed my legs and put my feet on the floor. He slid out of me, leaving my body aching and trembling. I stood there, the water hitting my shoulders and back. Noah slipped his hands over my breasts and squeezed. I reached down and grabbed his cock, stroking him.

“Penny…”

“We’re still here,” I whispered. “For now.”

“I’ll get us out of this.”

“It’s not your job. You need to save yourself.”

Noah reached down and moved my hand from his dick. He pressed himself between us, his hands easing over my back, holding me tight to his chest.

“No. This is about us now. You can’t get away from me even if you wanted to. You need to understand that.”

“So… we’re going steady?” I joked.

Noah didn’t respond but instead he kissed me. The kiss was so fucking intense. It was like we were never going to have a moment like that again. To kiss so deeply and fuck each other so hard.

Noah stepped and forced me to step back. He then turned off the water. A second later his hands were at my ass again, lifting me, carrying me. When we left the bathroom, the cool air made me shiver and made me cry out. He took me right back to the bedroom, where we had just spent days and nights together.

As he put me on the bed, he entered me.

The cuts on his face were still bleeding, mixing with the water. We were soaked, getting the bed wet. But we didn’t care. He fucked me as hard as his fighter body could and I took all of it. I demanded it and never wanted it to end.

I grabbed his face, touched his wounds, touched his blood. His hands moved up and down my body, covering every inch of me.

When we were done, I ended up on his chest, both of us trying to catch our breaths. I knew how this went… we’d take a break and then go at it again.

And again. And again.

I looked up at him, his face still bleeding. “Noah… we need to get you looked at.”

“You want to know the truth about me?” he asked.

My mouth opened and I couldn’t speak. So I nodded. Of course I wanted to know why Erik was after him.

“I’ll start with the basic truth,” Noah said. “Like I told you before… I’m a murderer.”

He paused and stared at me.

Maybe he kept saying it so I’d get scared.

I was scared, but not because of his past.

I was scared because I was falling for Noah.