Keep Her Safe, page 16
I could hold her in my arms forever.
Flashes of what could have happened play through my mind on a loop. More importantly, I don’t miss the weight in the pit of my stomach at the thought of anything happening to Shay. She’d always meant more to me than anyone I protected, but now…
I look down at her, thinking about how much everything has changed and is still changing between us. What does she want from us? From this?
What do I want?
She and I can’t work long-term. She deserves someone in her lifestyle, someone like Paxton—but not at all like Paxton.
Is all of this about Paxton? Am I just her rebound?
We come from two different worlds and even though I’d burn mine to the ground for her, I couldn’t ask her to do the same.
But I would. I would crawl to her through the wreckage if only she asked.
I want to believe what happened today was an accident. I want to be absolutely sure that there is no connection between the ominous letters she’s been getting and what happened earlier. It seems like the obvious conclusion is that it wouldn’t be because the person in the letters seems like he or she is obsessed with her. But, they could become angry over the fact that she won’t be with them and it becomes a situation of if I can’t have you no one can. Right now, I’m not discounting anything until I have proof, which means right now, I trust fucking no one that hasn’t been thoroughly vetted by me.
The sounds of her phone ringing and my phone pinging breaks me out of my thoughts alerting me that someone has just gotten through her front gate and is on the property.
Fuck. Who’s here?
I expect it to be Veronica, but Shay made it seem like we still had a few hours before she showed up and Shay has only been asleep for about an hour. She stirs, wiping her eyes, and groans, probably from a new pain or stiffness she hadn’t felt before she went to sleep. She blindly reaches for her phone just as I reach for mine and my blood runs cold when I see what car and more specifically who is coming up the driveway.
She groans as I’m sure that person is calling her. “What, Paxton?” I’m off the bed instantly and Shay moves to look at me. I can tell she’s about to tell me not to move when her eyes widen and she sits up wincing from doing it too quickly. “What the fuck, why?” She rolls her eyes as I pull on my shirt and sweatpants. “I’m fine. You can’t just show up at my house whenever you feel like it, Paxton.” She points at her bottom half and I go to her closet to grab her a pair of joggers which earns a smile from her. “Because we’re not together!” she shrieks as she pulls her pants up and reaches for her discarded bra to put on under my shirt. She looks down at herself realizing what she’s wearing and pulls off my shirt to replace it with one of her own.
The sound of the doorbell chimes and I get an alert that he’s tried the code. I scoff at the audacity of this asshole.
“I’m coming. Did you honestly think you could just walk into my house?” she says when I show her the alert on my phone of one failed attempt to enter. She hangs up and we both make our way out of the bedroom and down the hall.
“Maybe you shouldn’t be around while I talk to him. Do you want to just wait here?”
I eye her warily because not only does the thought of not having her in my sight cause a wave of uneasiness, but a twinge of jealousy is creeping into my senses at what her ex-boyfriend might say to her.
“Damian,” she looks up at me with those big brown eyes and flutters her eyelashes, “don’t be jealous. You have no reason to be.”
“I’ll wait downstairs. It’s not so strange that I would be in the house with you after what happened. Especially if you’re here alone.” She nods and makes her way down the stairs. I move out of sight but still close enough that I can hear what he says and be close if she needs me.
“Yes?” Her voice is laced with irritation as she opens the door.
He lets out a sigh. “Jesus, Shay, are you okay? I heard what happened and I freaked the fuck out. Can I do anything for you?” I hear the sound of the door shutting.
Great, so he’s staying.
“No, I’m okay.”
“You shouldn’t be here by yourself, you’re even limping a little.”
“I hurt my back and my ankle is a little swollen, but it’s okay. I’m fine. Ice and heat. I’m not here alone. Damian is here.”
There’s a pause. “He’s here? Like in the house?”
Sure am. Don’t make me have to prove it, asshole.
“Yes. He was worried about leaving me alone.”
“Well, he could go and I could stay with you?”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because I’ve been your boyfriend for three years and I’m worried about you? The woman I love almost got seriously hurt? Take your pick?”
“Paxton, I appreciate the concern, however, I’m no longer your concern. I’m fine and I don’t feel comfortable having you here. Besides, Veronica is coming over soon and she might actually murder you if she sees you.”
“I can handle Veronica.” He chuckles and I can hear them getting closer which means they must be walking towards the kitchen.
“Paxton, we aren’t together. The sooner you accept that, the easier it’ll be for all of us.” I raise an eyebrow, wondering if I’m included in this “all” she speaks of.
“It doesn’t matter if we’re together. I still want to be here for you.”
She doesn’t need you.
I hear her let out a sigh.
Just say the word, baby and he’s gone.
“Paxton…”
“Is there someone else?” he asks and I do not miss the scoff that leaves her lips.
“The audacity you have.” I hear her opening her refrigerator and setting something on the counter. “You sleep with countless women but you have the nerve to ask if I was unfaithful? The answer is no by the way, not that I owe you shit.”
Good for you. I don’t miss the fact that she only reiterated that she hadn’t cheated on him and not that there isn’t anyone else.
Because there is definitely someone else.
“Shay, I’m sorry.”
“And I believe you but I said that wasn’t enough. Not even close.”
“Why are you being like this? So cold, like we meant nothing.”
This guy cannot be serious.
“I’m acting like we meant nothing? But you cheating on me was supposed to show me, what? That I meant everything? Seriously? You cheated, you got caught, and I ended it.”
I don’t hear a response and I wonder if it’s time that I make my presence known so I can see him out. I make my way towards the kitchen and I see Paxton standing a little too close to Shay for my taste and they both turn to look at me.
“Paxton, I think you should go.” I would have asked Shay if everything was okay like I usually do but I don’t want any more blame to fall on her. I’ll gladly play the bad guy that’s making him leave.
“Excuse me?” He looks at me in shock. “I’m fairly certain that’s not your call.”
I make my way towards them. “She said she wasn’t comfortable having you here and that you should leave and you aren’t listening. It is my call if you’re bothering her.” I don’t move to stand between them, although I want to because it’s pissing me the fuck off that he’s closer to her than I am right now.
“We are talking.”
“No, we aren’t. There’s nothing to talk about,” Shay interjects and takes a few steps back, away from him. “Please stop making this so difficult.”
“I made a mistake.”
“A mistake usually indicates one, maybe two, but from what I hear it sounds like you made hundreds of mistakes,” I say and his eyes snap from mine to Shay’s angrily.
“What the fuck, Shay? I didn’t realize you were sharing our business with anyone.”
“He’s a part of my team, all of whom are very well versed on what’s going on,” Shay argues.
“And I don’t want to have to keep telling you about your language,” I tell him.
God this guy is a tool and worse, he lacks any fucking self-awareness. How can he not understand why Shay doesn’t want to be with him anymore?
He scoffs and puts a hand over his eyes. “Jesus Christ, you’ve always been so fucking up her ass.” He drops his hand and shakes his head in what seems like disgust or maybe pity. “She’s not going to fuck you, man. You think having me out of the way is your in or something?” He chuckles and runs a hand through his hair. “Women like Shay don’t fuck guys like you.”
Shay’s mouth drops open and I can see the anger cross her features. “Get out.” Her voice is low and her eyes are filled with rage. His smug eyes leave mine and move to hers softening dramatically.
“Shay, I’m sorr—” He starts, probably already regretting going off like that in response to feeling territorial. I’m sure the vibes I’m giving off right now are making him feel insecure.
Good.
Shay is mine, maybe she won’t be forever, but right now she is and he can fuck off if he thinks he has any chance at getting her back.
“Get the fuck out of my house.” She moves towards the entrance of the house and I go to move behind him so he gets the point that he needs to follow her. “I was willing to make nice and do what our teams wanted us to do but you had to push it. Push me,” she growls and even though her voice is even, I can see she’s ready to explode. “Now, you get nothing. I’m calling all of this shit off and I don’t care what they choose to report. You hurt me, you humiliated me, Paxton, and you’re continuing to do so. You don’t deserve my compliance for another fucking day.” She opens the door and he makes his way through it but stands in front of it. “If you’re not off my property in ten minutes, I’m calling the police, and in case you forgot who you’re dealing with, the police getting called to my house will be on every news outlet in the country within the hour.”
Before he can reply, she slams the door in his face.
I am so angry, I’m shaking. Fury races through me in a way that it never has before. I’m still facing the door after slamming it in Paxton’s face and I’ve yet to turn around to face the man behind me. The man Paxton had hurled such hurtful and ugly and very untrue things towards. Tears pool in my eyes as humiliation washes over me.
“Shay.” His voice is even and calm and it slices through me because of course, he’s the calm one. Of course, he understands. I feel his heat at my back. “Turn around and look at me, baby.” His voice is soft and wraps around me like a warm hug and I turn to look up at him. In the distance, I hear Paxton’s car start and I’m hoping he heeds my warning and gets the fuck off my property.
I don’t say anything, I just grab him by his t-shirt and move him to lean against the door and then my hands are in his sweatpants and pushing them to his ankles. “Shay.”
“Quiet,” I growl at him and his eyes widen, his eyebrows shooting to his hairline before they lower curiously.
“Excuse me?”
I grab his dick and begin to move my hand up and down a few times, grateful that he’d forgone underwear in his haste to get dressed. I start to move his shirt over his head but he keeps his arms firmly planted at his sides. “Don’t be difficult,” I grit out.
“Tell me what you’re doing.”
“Showing you how much I want you. How much women like me want men like you.” I press up against him, wrapping my hand around his dick again and squeezing, making him harden more in my hand. “Shirt off.”
He obliges, taking his shirt off without another word, and I lower myself to my knees, grateful for my area rug here so I’m not kneeling on the hardwood floors. When I run my tongue up his shaft, his dick jolts and I see the moment a tremor moves through him. “Do I need to tell you that what he said was bullshit?”
“It doesn’t hurt to hear it,” he says, and when I look up he’s staring down at me, lips parted, a smile ghosting over them, blue eyes wide and sexy, and fuck! How could anyone say that a woman wouldn’t want him?
Strong and protective and gorgeous. He’s everything I want in a man. Eighteen-year-old Shay knew it. It had just taken him a little bit longer to catch up. And now I have this man and there’s no way I’m letting him go. I feel an ache begin to build between my legs and I can’t tell if that wayward thought is in response to the lust or if I really don’t want to let him go.
Maybe I don’t want to just fuck him. Maybe I want to keep him.
I just hope he feels the same.
“I want you.” I run my tongue along the tip of his dick and when I already taste a hint of salt from his precum, my pussy gets slicker as I prepare to fuck this man with my mouth. “You’ve already fucked me about a half a dozen times and given me double the amount of orgasms so his theory is very false.” I stick out my tongue and drag my hand over my palm lasciviously before wrapping it around his dick and begin pumping it, dragging my hand from root to tip. “I love playing with your dick.” I place a kiss on the head. “It’s so perfect…” I let my eyes flutter closed as I suck the tip into my mouth and swirl my tongue around it. “I’ve spent more time than I care to admit thinking about your dick.”
“Fuck,” he growls as I suck him inside, letting my tongue rub the underside of his shaft slowly. “God, your mouth.”
“You better come in my mouth this time,” I command. “I want to swallow everything your dick has to offer me.” I wrap my lips around him and move slowly down his shaft, opening up my throat and moving until I reach the base and he lets out a growl that’s so low and gravelly, I shiver.
“Fuuuuuck, baby. That feels so fucking good.” Just like before, his hands hang by his sides and I reach for one, lacing our fingers and dragging them towards my head, letting him know that it’s okay. “Okay?” His voice isn’t higher than a whisper and I can tell it’s strained. He’s breathing hard already from just a few strokes of my tongue over his dick.
I nod and he begins moving with me, pumping into my mouth as I deep-throat him. “You are so fucking beautiful on your knees, with a mouth full of my dick, baby.” I look up just as he looks down at me and our eyes lock. “What are you doing to me, huh?” His eyes shut and his head falls back against the door. “I don’t think I’m ever going to be ready to give you up,” he says and I frown and shake my head.
“Who says you have to?” I raise an eyebrow before going back to what I was doing not wanting to get into the heaviness of this conversation while I’m choking on his cock. I suck harder and force his entire dick—which is definitely the largest I’ve had—into my mouth and my eyes start to water.
I feel his thumb under my eye collecting the stray tears. “Too much?”
I shake my head. “No,” I mumble around his dick and the vibrations must have done something to him because he slams his palm against the door behind him and begins working his hips against my mouth.
Damian is a sex god that knows my body inside and out already. He’s fucked me in countless positions and I’ve gotten off every time. He eats my pussy like I’m his last meal and sixty-nineing with him was the first time I actually enjoyed it. It feels good that I can do this and make him feel as good as he’s made me feel. His hand pulls my hair into a makeshift ponytail at the top of my head and stares down at me as I feel his orgasm looming.
“Baby, I’m going to come. You still want it in your mouth? If not, tell me now.” I can hear the urgency in his voice. His breathing is ragged and his strokes have become faster and harder and more aggressive. “Shay.”
“Mmmhmmm,” I moan and he groans.
“Fuck, I’m going to come. Right there,” he grits out. “Yessss, oh fuck.” His hand tightens on my hair as he releases in my mouth. He pumps rope after rope of hot, salty cum into my mouth and I swallow it down, milking his cock for every drop. I move back and forth, still sucking him even as he jolts in my mouth. “Baby, stop…” I don’t. I continue sucking him, feeling him shudder under my lips. “Shay,” he grits and then I feel his hand on my chin and his dick is out of my mouth. A stream of cum connects his dick to my lips as he falls out of me and I watch it with fascination until it breaks. My tongue darts out to lick my mouth clean and he groans before letting out a deep sigh. When he opens his eyes, he looks down at me and narrows them. “You’re one of those women, huh?”
“What do you mean?” I ask with a coy smile.
“The kind that keeps going after we come because you want to kill us.” His eyes drift shut again and he lets his head lean back against the door.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I drag my tongue up his shaft again and place a kiss on the tip of his dick. His dick pulses and a hand moves in front of his dick to prevent me from kissing it again. I slide his sweatpants up his legs and he helps me to my feet.
“You are incredible. My god, you suck my dick like you were made to do it.”
My pussy clenches in response because holy fuck that might be the most vulgar thing anyone’s ever said to me. “That’s…hot.” He picks me up in his arms and carries me into the living room where he sits on the couch, draping my legs over his lap. “How many women have you been with?”
His eyes flit to me and he raises an eyebrow. “What brought that on?”
“You saying what you said about how I suck your dick. I assume that meant I was one of the best and it got me thinking about other women that may have done it better or just as good.”
“Definitely not better. Nobody has ever sucked my dick like you have.” He lets out a breath. “I’ve slept with…more people than you have, but sex with you is the best I’ve had by a mile.”
“You’re just saying that.” I roll my eyes because of course, what else would he say? Oh yeah, Simone let me fuck her in the ass twice a week and gave me head every hour on the hour. Speaking of which…
“No, I’m not, but I’m sure you won’t believe that. I just wish you would.”
