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anavoliselenu · 7 years

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Mile high chapter 2

Javier had been shocked and hurt when Stephan had chosen the latter. He’d been giving Stephan the silent treatment ever since, avoiding him at parties like this. He’d even left the room at the sight of Stephan for several months after the breakup. Stephan had been crushed by the whole thing.

I had understood that Javier was hurt badly, but I still thought he’d been an a**hole about the breakup.

Still, I’d been upset about the breakup as well. Stephan had never looked at any guy the way he looked at Javier, and I’d really hoped, at the beginning, that the relationship would work out for them.

Javier saw me staring at him, and his smiled died a quick death. He’d always been polite and courteous with me, but I’d sensed that I made him wary. Not a lot of people understood the relationship between Stephan and I.

Javier surprised me by striding to me and enveloping me in a soft hug. “I’m so happy to see you well, Selena.”

I hugged him back automatically. He didn’t let go for some strange reason.

“You don’t hate me, do you?” he whispered in my ear.

I blinked, meeting Stephan’s sheepish eyes over Javier’s shoulder.

“Why would I hate you?” I asked him quietly. He’d thrown me for a loop.

“For being such a bastard to Stephan for so long. My heart was totally broken, but that’s no excuse for the way I treated him. And I wasn’t exactly nice to you. I stopped speaking to you as well, even though none of it was your fault. Stephan even tells me that you defended me, up until I threw a fit at that Valentine’s party and embarrassed myself.”

Javier had been on our crew for the month when he and Stephan had started seeing each other. I had never even given a thought to the fact that Javier hadn’t spoken to me either, since the breakup. All things considered, I had just expected it.

“I know it sounds crazy, but I was jealous of you. I had myself half-convinced that something was going on between the two of you, and that was why Stephan couldn’t seem to commit to being gay.”

I stiffened. He hugged me tighter, though his hold was still soft. I doubted that the slender man had it in him to be rough.

“I know. Crazy, right?” Javier continued. “But me and Stephan have been talking again. Please, tell me you’re okay with it.”

I nodded, though I wasn’t really sure what to think. Javier’s about-face was just so sudden and unexpected, and Stephan hadn’t said a word. I had just barely caught up with the fact that he wasn’t seeing Melvin anymore.

“Yes, of course. I’m not Stephan’s keeper, contrary to popular belief.”

He kissed my forehead, pulling back to look at me. “I know, but you’re his family. I just want us to be cool.”

His eyes were earnest and pleading now, far from the cool way they usually looked. It gave me hope.

Perhaps he just acted cool, to hide his feelings. I could well understand that.

I smiled at him. It was stiff, but not for lack of effort. “Yes. Okay. I want whatever makes Stephan happy. Always.”

Javier nodded emphatically, finally stepping away from me. “Good. Great. Stephan was worried you wouldn’t like us seeing each other again.”

I sent Stephan a baffled look. He was still watching us, looking distressed.

“He should know better,” I said.

Javier moved back to Stephan. I was floored by what happened next. Stephan threw an arm over Javier’s shoulders, messing up his hair playfully. He released the smaller man almost instantly, but it was still the most affectionate thing I’d ever seen him do in public with another man.

For some reason, I felt my eyes getting moist.

Stephan caught my eye, walking over to me. He pushed me into his chest, leaning down to speak into my ear. “Are you really okay with this?”

“What kind of a question is that?” I asked, my voice muffled against his pale orange polo. “And why is this the first I’m hearing about it?”

He was running a hand up and down my back soothingly. “It was just weird timing. I kept meaning to, but things have been so crazy. I could never find the right time. He actually called me because he heard you’d been hurt, and he wanted to make sure we were both okay. That’s sweet, right?”

I pushed back, nodding at him. “What about your…issues?”

He swallowed, hard. “Javier and I talked about it. And I realized he has a very good point. I don’t have to make an announcement to the world. I don’t need a coming-out ball, yanno? But I don’t need to lie about it anymore, either. I can just live my life. I don’t owe any explanations to anybody. I always said I just wanted my private life private, but I’m beginning to see that there was more to it. And I have nothing to be ashamed of, right?”

He had tried to make it a statement, but I still heard the question in there. I gripped his arms, hard. “Not a thing. I’m so proud of you, Stephan.”

He squeezed my arm. We avoided eye contact for a long minute, both blinking back embarrassing tears.

Finally, composed, he just nodded, heading back to stand near Javier. He gripped the other man’s shoulder briefly before folding his arms across his chest, listening to whatever Jessa was ranting about.

I felt a little in shock about Stephan’s sudden, drastic change of heart. But it was a good shock.

I watched the two men for several minutes, dazed by the change in Stephan. It wasn’t full on PDA, but he kept playfully poking Javier in the chest, or tugging on a lock of his hair. Javier kept his hands carefully to himself, but he was giving Stephan the warmest, sweetest looks. I thought it was beautiful.

Murphy and Damien were the next to join our group, and made the rounds, hugging everyone. I realized that our little group had grown rather large and loud.

I searched the spacious lounge, thinking that Justin might have a hard time spotting me in such a large group, but I saw no sign of him.

I did spot Melissa across the room. She was sitting by the bar with Captain Peter. She was wearing a skin-tight red dress, staring at our group sullenly. I wondered, a little cattily, why she insisted on wearing colors that clashed with her hair. I mentally chastised myself. She was an unpleasant person, but that was no excuse for sinking to her level.

I gave her a little wave when our eyes met, resolving to at least be polite since she was a member of our crew for at least another month. She just nodded back, then looked away. At least she hadn’t flipped me off.

I focused back on our growing group as we were joined by two more.

It was Judith and Marnie. They’d been on our crew a few months back. They were inseparable party girls. Judith had long black hair, and Marnie was a platinum blond. They were both very short with great figures and cute faces. They sort of reminded me of naughty pixies. Half-drunk naughty pixies at the moment.

I remembered that they often introduced themselves to men at bars as Ivanna Humpalot and Alotta Vag**a. They rarely went back to their rooms alone, sometimes even sharing men with each other. They were a funny pair, but not for the faint of heart. Stephan and I had been at Judith’s twenty-first birthday party about two months ago. It had been crazy. She’d made out with at least three men that I’d seen, and dragged two of them to her hotel room.

Marnie was a year older than Judith, just twenty-two. I was older than both girls, but the two of them had me beat by a lot of years in experience. They both thought any woman who had lasted to fifteen with their virginity intact was a prude. I didn’t imagine they even had a word for someone who had lasted until age twenty-three, like I had.

Judith squealed in delight when she saw me. She rushed over and hugged me.

“I heard about the attack. How are you doing?” she nearly shouted.

I hugged her back stiffly, wishing she hadn’t spoken so loudly. “Good. How are you?”

She cast a sidelong glance in Damien’s direction.

“How much you wanna bet I’ll wake up in Damien’s bed tomorrow?” she whispered. “Then I’ll be good. Marnie hooked up with him a few months ago. She says he’s hung. The last guy I hooked up with was a real disappointment. It had to have given me some like good c*ck charma, right?”

Her words surprised a laugh out of me. I hadn’t known about the hook-up between Marnie and Damien, but I wasn’t surprised.

“TMI, Judith,” I told her with a smile. “I have to work with him every week.”

Marnie had sidled up next to us, squeezing between us to hug me softly. “If Judith goes after him tonight, I’m joining them,” she said with a wink. “I swear to god, if any man can handle two women at once, it’s him. He’s a marathon man.”

Judith wrinkled her nose at Marnie. “I never get the really good ones to myself. She always wants a piece.”

I didn’t even try to hide my laugh. She was complaining, but her tone was more amused than upset.

Damien caught my eye from a few feet away. He didn’t walk over, just gave me wide, questioning eyes. I was sure he was worried what they were telling me about him. I just smirked at him. He covered his face with his hands, and I swore I could hear his pained groan. I didn’t feel real bad for him, since I was willing to bet he’d end up with the feisty girls by the end of the night.

“I heard a rumor that you lost your V-card. Finally. And to some super hot rich guy. Is it true?”

I grimaced. The rumor mill was alive and well, and apparently held some truth. “Yes. Please don’t say it so loud.”

I was still mortified that the two girls even knew I’d been a virgin. They had guessed it, strangely enough, considering I knew few people who knew less about being virgins themselves. We’d been in Judith’s hotel room, watching some romantic comedy on a layover, when the two girls had started in on their favorite sex stories. They’d asked me to share, and I’d just blushed. They had guessed, with no little disgust, that I was a virgin. I had to give them a firm talking to when they wouldn’t stop trying to find men to relieve me of the ‘problem’. Marnie had even volunteered to lend me her on-again off-again boyfriend at the time. I had not taken the offer well. I’d gotten over it, though, knowing she was a little oblivious to other people’s feelings when it came to things like that.

“Well, congratulations. Was he any good? Sometimes the really good-looking ones are horrible in bed.

It’s that whole, I’m so hot I don’t even have to try, mentality. Yanno?” Judith elbowed Marnie playfully in the ribs while she spoke.

I just shook my head, wide-eyed. I most certainly didn’t know anything about that. I couldn’t imagine there was a man on the planet who was better in bed. I didn’t particularly want to share that information, though.

“So he was good? Your first time was good?” Marnie pried.

I nodded, very uncomfortable. The sharing personal information thing was so not for me.

“On a scale of one to ten, what was he?”

I sighed. They were not gonna let up. “How would, ‘I want him to f**k me to death, and he just might’, rate on that scale?”

The women hooted with laughter, but their laughter died as they looked up and to my left.

I felt a familiar firm hand grip my nape. Soft lips that I was well acquainted with kissed my cheek.

“That’s a heartwarming assessment, Love,” Justin murmured against my skin.

CHAPTER FIVE

I felt heat suffuse my cheeks in a rush, and a perverse shiver of pure pleasure rock my body.

Typical Justin timing. Showing up at the most disarming moment possible.

Judith and Marnie were just staring at him, stunned speechless for a long moment.

I turned to look up at him. His hand fell from my nape and we just stared at each other. I drank in the sight of him.

He looked… wonderful. He was dressed in a bright blue polo with dark washed, fitted jeans, and navy running shoes. It was the ‘Justin’s supermodel take on casual’, I thought. Even his casual looked too sexy for public. I’d never seen him in jeans before. He made them look sinful. I saw just the hint of the top of his tan chest at his collar, and had to stifle my urge to check my mouth for drool. His caramel- colored hair just brushed that collar, and I clenched my hands to keep them at my sides. I wanted to touch him. But touching always led to too much, too fast, with us.

I met his vivid blue eyes. They were intense and unsmiling. His eyes dropped down to my earrings and then to the collar at my throat. His jaw clenched, then unclenched. He ran his tongue over his teeth. My whole body seemed to clench.

“Thank you for wearing those. It was…considerate of you,” he said in his most polite, if hoarse, voice.

He swallowed, shoving his hands into his pockets, then folding them across his chest. It made his upper arms bulge through his fitted shirt distractingly. His chest and arms looked bigger than I remembered, the muscles bulging as though he’d been lifting weights excessively. The material of his shirt looked so soft it made me itch to run my fingers over it. But that light touch would turn to a stroke. And then I would stroke harder to feel the resilient flesh beneath… Justin’s eyes were running down my body now, not for the first time. His eyes were on my very bare legs, then my cl**vage.

“Your legs are outrageous. You make that mini skirt look illegal.” He looked back at my face, finally.

“You look beautiful.” He took a deep, harsh breath, staring at me. It was gratifying. “But isn’t that outfit a bit sexy for a work function?”

I wrinkled my nose at him, then pointedly looked around the room. This was Vegas, and we were in a bar full of flight attendants. My attire was downright modest compared to some of the outfits I saw.

“Did you want me to f**k you in front of all of your co-workers? Because that’s all I can think about, when I see you in that outfit.” His voice was pitched low, but I gasped at his words.

“This was supposed to be a short, casual meeting,” I told him, a hint of accusation in my voice.

He took another deep breath, looking around the room, and away from me. I watched as he counted to ten silently.

“I missed you,” he said finally.

I had missed him too, but I couldn’t make myself tell him that. He still unsettled me too much for that kind of honesty. Instead, I said the first thing that popped into my head. “You were late.”

His jaw clenched again. “Yes. I was in my car, in the middle of the most annoying business call of my life. I think I may need to fire my manager in New York. I didn’t see you arrive, and lost track of time. I apologize. I didn’t want to miss a second of our time together, which made the phone call particularly annoying.”

“It’s okay. We got here early, for once, so I was just surprised to see that you weren’t early, for once.”

“Introduce us,” Judith said loudly.

I wasn’t surprised. The two party girls had shown a surprising amount of self-control in letting us talk quietly for as long as we had.

I turned, giving the women a rueful smile. Jessa moved closer, and we suddenly had the attention of the entire group.

I went around the group, naming all of the people that Justin hadn’t yet met. I touched Justin’s arm lightly as I finished. “Everyone, this is my friend, Justin,” I said, feeling awkward. I had no idea what to call him.

“Boyfriend,” Justin corrected, and I raised a brow at him. I didn’t know what he was, but it didn’t seem like he could call himself that. “Very serious boyfriend,” he elaborated with a smirk.

I thought I knew what he was doing. He wanted to talk to me in private, and he knew that giving himself that title would antagonize me enough to draw me into an argument. I wasn’t going to bite, though, I told myself resolutely. And he was overly possessive. He would say anything to warn other men off.

I sent Damien a glance. He was watching us, his mouth tight. I glanced away quickly, wanting to avoid drawing attention to the fact that he was staring at us rather intently.

Judith and Marnie began chatting Justin up mercilessly. I was more than a little surprised that they weren’t hitting on him. Not even a little bit. It seemed more like they were interviewing him. I thought it was kind of sweet. They were the most flirtatious women I knew, but they were going out of their way to be completely platonic with someone whom they thought was my boyfriend. Someone who happened to be the most beautiful man on the planet. It made me see that they were good friends to me. Maybe better than I’d given them credit for.

I had a sad habit of being more cynical than was warranted. Kindness or consideration almost always caught me by surprise if it came from anyone but Stephan. I supposed he was the only person I’d ever allowed myself to have expectations of. I had plenty of friends. Mostly casual friends. But friendship and trust just hadn’t been a connection I’d made. I listened to the girls asking Justin question after question, even their language cleaned up.

I suddenly felt old beyond my twenty-three years. I’d always thought they were the mature, experienced ones, but I certainly had them beat in the cynicism department.

I touched Justin’s arm with just the tips of my fingers. “I’ll be right back. I need to use the restroom.”

Justin tried to walk me to the bathroom, but I waved him off.

“Go say hi to Stephan,” I told him.

He gave me a stern look, but headed in that direction.

Judith and Marnie joined me. The top of their heads were right at a level with my chest. I always felt like a giant when I was hanging out with them.

“O M G, Selena, that is the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen in my life,” Judith gushed as we made our way across the bar. I flushed, but I certainly couldn’t dispute the comment.

“That man is downright pretty,” Marnie said.

I wrinkled my nose. The word pretty just sounded so feminine to me. And that was so not Justin.

“He’s good in bed, too?” Marnie asked, clearly skeptical. “That just isn’t fair. If I looked like him, I’d never leave my house. I’d just stay home and f**k myself. If you tell me he has a big dick, I might become either a cutter or a lesbian.”

We got to the line for the restroom, filing into the outrageous crowd that had already formed a good twenty feet away from the actual bathroom.

I smiled ruefully. “Then I won’t tell you,” I said.

Both women started making loud sounds of despair. I laughed at their theatrics.

“I guess good things really do come to those who wait.” Judith said, sounding sad. “I can’t go on one date without sleeping with a guy. And I can’t go two days without finding a date, so I guess I’ll never be getting anyone good.”

“I can’t wait to come either, so I guess I won’t be getting anything that good. That kind of good only comes to those who wait twenty-three years, apparently,” Marnie said forlornly. She brightened, snapping out of it almost immediately. “But we are gonna get a piece of Captain Damien tonight. He’s a nice slice of something good.”

I didn’t point out that he hadn’t even looked happy to see them. I doubted it would even slow them down. They were a persuasive pair.

“What’s with all this tabloid garbage I keep seeing?” Marnie asked, leveling a rather serious stare at me.

I grimaced. “Mostly lies and just horrible people saying horrible things because it gets attention. I’m trying to ignore it.”

Judith gave me a baffled look. “I think it’s awesome. It feels like we know a celebrity now. I think it’s all so fun and exciting. And he’s so beautiful. There could be worse things.”

She had a good point about the worse things, I thought.

I shrugged. “I can’t change it, so I’m adjusting.”

“So he doesn’t have a longtime girlfriend?” Marnie asked. “I read somewhere that he was dating some gorgeous heiress, for like, the last eight years.”

Talk about a mood killing change of topic.

I sighed. “He tells me she’s just a friend. I guess the question is, do I believe him? I’m working it out.

Trusting him is not my first instinct, but that doesn’t really have anything to do with him.”

Judith gestured at my jewelry. “And all this gorgeous bling. I vote trust him.”

I laughed. They were starting to remind me of a half-drunk version of good cop, bad cop.

Marnie patted my shoulder. “Be careful, Selena. That man looks like he could break hearts for fun, yanno?”

Judith pretended to fan herself. “But what fun, right?”

I couldn’t argue with any of it. It was nothing that I hadn’t thought myself.

There was a group of women huddled close, a few people ahead of us. They were whispering and rudely pointing me out. I didn’t know any of them, but they were most likely other flight attendants that I’d never worked with. I guessed that they’d read something dreadful about me. I ignored them. It was something I was going to have to get used to.

It was all part of the media circus that surrounded Justin’s life. And I had apparently decided not to give up on the man, despite my better judgement. He still wanted me, and he was a hard man to ignore when he was in hot pursuit.

The group burst into laughter. Even their laughter sounded catty, so I knew they were saying something awful. I forced my mind to focus on something else, a longtime habit I’d used for avoiding unpleasant things that couldn’t be changed.

We eventually made it through the line and got in and out of the bathroom without incident. The group of mean girls had had Judith and Marnie about ready to brawl. They’d gotten progressively louder, emphasizing words like ‘whore’ and ‘gold-digger’, as they shot me strangely malevolent glances.

Whatever they’d read about me, I couldn’t understand how it would affect them, or why they would care enough to be openly hostile to a stranger. It was beyond me, so I didn’t linger on the musings long.

CHAPTER SIX

My back stiffened as we approached our group again. Justin was standing near Stephan and Javier, and they were laughing at something. But he wasn’t alone. Melissa was practically plastered to his side, laughing along with them.

“You notice that bitch didn’t say boo until we left. Then she swooped in like a vulture,” Marnie was saying under her breath.

“I don’t like her. She talks a lot of shit about people for doing less messed-up shit than she does on a regular basis,” Judith added.

I tried to follow all of the shits in that sentence. I gave up as we got close enough for me to see the way Melissa’s hands were sneaking in little touches all over Justin.

She touched his arm, patted his back, reached way way up and squeezed his shoulder. And then ran her hand along his chest and stomach on it’s way back down. Justin took a little step back, avoiding her touch, but I still saw red. Red as in crimson. Crimson as in blood. Blood as in I was going to make the bitch bleed.

I moved between the two of them in an odd haze of temper, plastering myself to his side and pushing her roughly out of the way with my body. I ran my hand along the line of his chest and abdomen that she’d touched, as though my touch could erase hers.

I heard the ice cubes in her drink clink against her glass as she was jostled by my sudden movement.

She gasped in outrage.

I ignored her, looking up at Justin. “Why were you letting her touch you?” I asked him quietly.

He looked surprised, and half-amused. “I thought she was a friend of yours. I was trying not to be openly rude, but she was making it difficult. You have a drink while you were gone? You were gone for thirty minutes. Now you’re acting a little…differently.”

“You f**king bitch. You made me spill my drink on my dress,” Melissa was yelling behind me. It was easy to ignore her, for some reason.

I ran my hands up and down Justin’s torso again, using my fingertips to trace each muscle. He was unbelievably hard.

“Not one part of my body is this hard,” I mused aloud.

“Careful, Love. You can’t offer a starving man a feast and expect him not to take you up on it.”

I stroked his chest again, pausing at one of his n**ples. “I want to see your skin,” I told him.

Now I’d done it. I’d gone and touched him, and it was worse than being drunk. I couldn’t seem to focus on anything but touching more of him.

“Fucking Bitch!” Melissa said louder. “Do you have any idea how much this dress is worth? It’s BCBG. Do you even know what that is, you skank?”

I saw Justin’s eyes widen just a second before he spun me around, putting his back to the crazy redhead.

I heard the sound of a drink being thrown, glass and all, against his rock-hard back.

It had been aimed at the back of my head, I realized, stunned. She was such a crazy bitch… “Fuck,” Justin said, glaring over his shoulder at a still fuming Melissa. “You need to get the f**k out of here, or security will be escorting you out. I think you’ve embarrassed yourself enough tonight, don’t you?” His tone was positively scathing.

Melissa cursed fluently as she stormed away.

Our group erupted into chatter as she walked away. The general consensus was, ‘Bitch is crazy’.

“Bitch be cray cray,” Murphy summed it up, as only Murphy could. Everyone laughed, breaking the last bit of tension.

I looked up at Justin, pursing my lips. “That was gentlemanly of you, taking the shot for me,” I told him.

“Thank you.”

He shook out his shirt, ice cubes still flying off of his back. I checked his back. His shirt was soaked.

Even his jeans were soaked. I was relieved to find, though, that the glass had broken on the ground, leaving him unscathed.

A waitress showed up with a bucket and mop and began to clean up the liquid and broken glass. We moved out of her way.

“It looks like you’re going to have to take off all of your clothes,” I told him with a smile.

He smiled back, but his smile was all heat. “I have a change of clothes in the car. Come with me?”

I leaned in closer to him, inhaling deeply. He smelled so good that I felt my eyelids drift closed with the pleasure of his scent. It was so good that I wanted to put a name to it, and bottle it up.

“Convince me,” I told him softly, as I forced my eyes back open to look at him.

He glanced around, running his tongue over those sexy as hell teeth. “Okay. Did you have something particular in mind, or do I get to pick how? I’m trying to play nice here, since I don’t want to scare you off again. You’re not making it easy, though.”

“Your shirt’s all wet. I want you to take it off. I want to see your skin.”

He gave me an appraising look. “That’s it? All I have to do to get you to my car is to take my shirt off?” He was whipping it off before he’d even finished his question.

Hoots and whistles were starting up around the lounge as people took in the spectacular sight of his nak*d torso.

I gasped at the sight of all of his bare skin. He had definitely bulked up in the month we’d been apart, his already impressive chest swollen attractively. It was distracting, to say the least.

“You’ve been lifting more weights,” I observed.

His smile was a little pained. “I needed a little more physical activity to adjust to the whole celibacy thing. I usually work out for two hours in the morning. I added two more in the evening, as well, as a sort of…sleep aid.”

I felt a strange stirring of guilt, and a not so strange thrill of joy at his mention of celibacy. I opened my mouth to say…something, but I couldn’t seem to hold a thought, with all of his bare skin in front of me.

My captivated gaze moved lower.

His jeans dipped low. I traced the skin just above his jeans. It was dangerous territory, dipping into a sharply defined V. An impressive and growing arousal was making his jeans more obscene by the second.

He gripped my hand. “Unless part of my convincing you was that you want to get f**ked against the nearest wall, I’d start walking, Buttercup.”

He grabbed my hand and started walking.

“I need a new shirt,” Justin called in Stephan’s direction as we passed. Stephan gave him a wide-eyed look, but just nodded. “We’ll be back.”

“I want to have his babies,” someone muttered as we passed.

I sent a glare in their general direction. I couldn’t get real mad about it, though. I had made him bare the finest chest in the world to a room full of hungry flight attendants… And if anyone got a glance at his jeans, it certainly wouldn’t lessen their interest.

Clark met us at the entrance of the club, holding the door open, face impassive.

“Nice catch, Sir,” he said quietly.

I smiled at him, knowing he was referring to Justin moving to protect me from the thrown drink.

“Any paparazzi in the parking lot?” Justin asked brusquely.

“Max just did a sweep. Looks clean so far, Mr. Cavendish.”

Justin just nodded, almost dragging me through the small back parking lot.

Clark managed to get in front of us again to open the car door. “Your suitcase is already in there, and open.”

Justin nodded. “Very good,” he said, ushering me into the car first.

I sat down, then scooted across the seat to make room for Justin. He crowded in behind me without a pause, the door shutting behind him. I heard him take a few ragged breaths, and then he was on me.

He had me on my back between one breath and the next. He opened my legs wide, crawling between them. He unbuttoned his jeans, pulling his stiff erection out with a harsh groan.

“I wanted to take my time with you, when I finally got my hands on you again, but I can’t wait. Unbutton your blouse. I want to tear it too badly to touch it.” As he spoke, he was inching my skirt up over my hips. It was a little stretchy, luckily. I thought that he wouldn’t have hesitated to tear it if it wasn’t.

My panties weren’t so lucky. He gripped the lace in his hands and ripped both sides. I wriggled my lower half while working on the small buttons of my blouse. When I had released the last one, he was pushing my shirt open impatiently. His hands were already on the front clasp of my bra when what he saw made him freeze. My torso was still dotted with the last vestiges of what had been some truly heinous bruising. I saw his hands shake a little as he unclasped my bra. He brushed along the fading marks with just his fingertips.

“Over a month later, and it still looks like this?” His voice was deep with agitation.

I turned my face away. “I don’t want to talk about it. I’ve talked about it enough.”

He gripped my chin, turning my face back to him. His eyes were wild. “I couldn’t stand it if something were to happen to you. Do you understand that? I’ve never felt so powerless or terrified in my life as I did when I watched that ambulance driving away with you, having no clue what had happened, or even if you were alright. And then to find out that some monster had put his hands on you? I want to kill him. I need to protect you.”

I just set my mouth in a hard line. “That’s not what I want from you. And I don’t want to talk about it.”

He was kissing me suddenly. It was an angry, passionate kiss. I kissed him back with just as much passion. Just as much anger. He was thrusting into me so fast that I was filled before I knew his intent. I was wet and ready but I was so tight and he was so big that it still caused a delicious friction that bordered on pain.

I gasped, my head falling back, my eyes closing.

He gripped my chin, hard. “Look at me,” he ordered.

I did, watching the fervor in his eyes with a wistful pain that I felt deep in my chest. I would have given anything to have him feel the way he looked at me when he was deep inside of me. He looked at me like I was more dear than his next breath at times, and it was almost more than I could bear.

His hair trailed over his face and into mine as he leaned his face close. He held my wrists above my head, using his hands as shackles. He moved my wrists into one hand, the other moving to my jeweled collar, tugging at the ring roughly. His thrusts never let up or slowed. “You’re mine, Selena. Say it.”

My words came out as a rough gasp. “I’m yours, Justin.”

“Come,” he ordered, thrusting so fast and hard that I sobbed as I came.

He groaned my name again and again as he poured into me.

Afterwards, he braced himself carefully on his elbows, protecting my still tender chest and ribs.

He grabbed a clean t-shirt from his open suitcase to wipe me, and then himself. I lay and watched him almost lazily as he changed into a new pair of boxer briefs, jeans, and a soft light gray V-neck shirt.

He crouched beside me once he’d changed, straightening my clothes almost tenderly.

“Did I hurt you?” he asked as he buttoned my shirt.

“Mmm, no,” I said. Anything that could be considered pain certainly hadn’t bothered me at the time.

“Not even your ribs?” He smoothed my shirt as he finished with the buttons.

I took a deep breath, but no, there was still no pain. “No, not at all. They finally aren’t bothering me so much. Breathing was a little rough there for awhile.”

His mouth tightened as he smoothed my skirt back down. “We don’t have to do any of the rough stuff, if you don’t want. I don’t just mean while you’re healing. I could give that stuff up completely, if it isn’t what you want anymore.”

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