Fallacy (Apprehensive Duet Book 1) (11 page)

I nod and squeeze her close to me. My heart is being torn in two right now. One side wants to take the pain away from Quinn. The other wants to make this better for Tanner. In between Quinn’s sobs, I can hear the words Tanner is speaking to his son and I’m having trouble keeping it together.

I can’t imagine how awful he must feel right now. Losing his son and unsure if he’ll get to see Ashley as Ashley again. Even if she pulls through with no brain damage, the damage to her heart is going to change her. Those two are going to need all the support in the world right now.

Grabbing her face in my hands, I tilt her head up so I can see her face while I talk. “Look at me, Quinn.” When her eyes meet mine, I continue, “The next few weeks are going to be very hard on Ash and Tanner. We’re going to need to be there for them, so get it all out now, baby. Cry, scream, punch me. Do whatever you need to do. Tell me what I can do make this better for you.”

“I just need this,” she mumbles, squeezing me tighter. “I just need you until she wakes up and I know everything with her is going to be okay. Well, physically anyway. Losing the baby is going to break her.”

“I know, angel. I know. It’s going to be a very long road for the two of them.”

She nods her head and buries it back into my chest as I do the best I can to console her. I rub her back, keep her close, and whisper in her ear everything is going to be okay.

“What happens if she doesn’t wake up? Or worse, what if she wakes up but she’s not Ashley anymore?” She whispers into my chest. I don’t know if she’s talking to herself or me.

“She’s going to be just fine. Just stay positive. Only good thoughts. There’s enough bad already,” I reply, just in case she was speaking to me.

I honestly don’t know what to tell her if the things she’s afraid of become reality.

Quinn

“I THINK TODAY has been the longest day of my life,” I confess as flop back down on the couch. Tanner just left. Numb. I’ve never seen a grown man so broken in my life. I can’t imagine how it feels to be Tanner right now. Burying your child is something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. But to have the woman you love shut you out and blame you for everything has to make this even more grueling for him.

Neither of us expected Ashley to be a ray of sunshine after waking up, but I don’t think any of us expected her to wish she had been taken along with Daniel. We’d been bracing ourselves for all the possible reactions, but that was one we simply didn’t account for. I don’t know if Ashley’s reaction is extreme or if we were just naïve in expecting anything less. She’s hollow right now. She may be alive and on the road to recovery, but right now, she’s dead on the inside. I’m worried.

“It’s been a long two weeks,” Alex concurs as he takes a seat next to me and pulls me into his arms.

I don’t even fight the feeling of security his embrace gives me, not insisting on my usual self-sufficiency. I don’t have the energy to fight anything at the moment. Right now I’m just going to soak up his strength and hope I can absorb some of it for myself.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do for her right now,” I admit. “I feel like I should be trying to pull her out of this darkness, but at the same time how do you tell someone who has been through what she’s been through to fight it? I don’t know if I’d be able to do what I’m asking her to do. It seems insensitive to her struggles, but I don’t want to watch her wither away either.”

Right now, Ashley’s in a deep med haze. We came home from the funeral, and she immediately asked for her pain meds and went to bed. She’s numbing her pain with pills. I can’t say I blame her, but I don’t want to sit around and let her do this to herself either. I know she thinks her world has ended, but there’s still a whole world around her. People who love her. People who want to help her. But all she wants is the darkness.

“It’s not going to be easy, but she’s going to need everyone to stay and support her even when she’s trying to push you away. She’s going to go through so many different emotions. When things start to look up, you’ll know it was worth it,” Alex coaches. I didn’t even hesitate to call him earlier after Ashley drifted off. And this is why. He always has the right thing to say. He always knows just how to settle my fears and calm my thoughts.

“I just want to sleep for a week. I wasn’t even in the accident and my body feels like it was hit by a car,” I yawn. It probably wasn’t the most compassionate thing to say out loud, so I’m glad Ashley is zonked out and couldn’t hear me even if I had a megaphone.

I feel Alex shift under me. He lifts me and kisses my forehead. “I’ll head out so you can get some sleep.”

I do something I haven’t ever asked any man to do. “Will you stay with me tonight?” Alex and I have spent the night together before, but it’s been after we’ve had sex so freaking amazing one or both of us have passed out. It’s never something one of us has asked the other to do in the months we’ve been doing this thing.

His heads snaps in my direction and he just stares at me in surprise. I try not to laugh because the look on his face is priceless. “Yeah…yeah, of course, I’ll stay if it’s what you want,” he stutters.

Nodding my head, I add, “I don’t want to be alone tonight, and I’m expecting Ash to be out for a while.”

“Whatever you need, angel,” he replies and pulls me back into his arms, only this time, he scoops me up and carries me back to the bedroom. Setting me down alongside the bed, he pulls down the sheets on my bed and tips his chin toward it, “In you go.”

I appreciate the sentiment, but I have another idea in mind. “I don’t think I’m quite ready to sleep yet.”

“Angel…” Alex chides. “You’ve had a long day. A long week.”

“So?” I counter. “I think I can handle some distraction and satisfaction right now.”

“You think it’s a good idea?” He has seemed hesitant to have any kind of sex with me since the accident. It hasn’t really been on my mind either, but right now it sounds likes the perfect idea.

“Why not? I’m not some chick you’re taking advantage of in her emotional distress.” A fucking is just what I need right now. I need something to give my head just a moment to turn off.

Sensing Alex is having a moral dilemma, I take matters into my own hands and slide my fingers under his shirt and run my fingertips along his rib cage. It’s one of the spots that instantly turns him on.

“I can see you’re pretty determined,” he concedes with a sigh. “But I’m the one in control. You want to shut your mind down, then you do what I tell you.”

Fine with me. I’ll take what I can get at this point, so I nod my agreement.

Alex pulls my hoodie over my head and drops it on the floor. He proceeds by pushing my sweatpants down to the floor. “Step out.” I follow his orders and stand before him in my thong and tank top.

“Lay down, angel,” he commands, his voice husky for a man who didn’t want to do this a few minutes ago.

I sit on the bed and skootch up to lay my head on my pillow. Alex climbs up after me and straddles my legs. He slides his hands up
my
shirt now until he reaches my bra and pulls the cups down. Leaning over, Alex pulls my shirt up with his teeth, exposing my breasts. Releasing my shirt, he pulls a nipple into his mouth and lavishes it with his tongue. Shifting attention to the other side, he circles my nipple before giving it a little bite.

“Mmm,” I moan as my back arches up off the bed, my body demanding more. The only thought occupying my mind is anticipating his next move.

Releasing my nipple from his mouth, he drags his tongue down my stomach and circles my belly button. My body lets out a shiver when he blows on my wet skin, goosebumps peppering my entire torso.

He drags the pads of his fingers up the outside of my legs until he reaches my panties. Gripping them in his fists, he pulls them slowly and torturously down my legs. The cold air hitting my pussy as he spreads my legs gives me a chill. But it doesn’t last long as Alex lowers his mouth to kiss the inside of my thigh, his hot breath heating my core.

It feels like an eternity until his lips make contact where I want it most. Alex places soft pecks above my clit and on my pussy lips before he drags his tongue through my slit.

“Yesss,” I cry, finally getting what I want.

Up. Down. Up. Down.

Each stroke of his tongue is taking me higher and higher. He pulls my clit between his teeth and flicks it repeatedly with the tip of his tongue until I’m soaring. Flashes of color are playing behind my eyes as I hit my peak.

Alex releases my clit but continues to lap at me until my body returns to its initially flat position on the bed.

Sitting up, Alex pulls his t-shirt over his head and throws it on the floor. He rises to his knees and undoes the button on his jeans. He wrestles his jeans off, and they make a thud as they hit the floor.

I run my eyes over his glorious naked body. The man is a marvelous distraction, which is just what I asked for. I take in every magnificent detail. The broadness of his shoulders. The well-defined muscles in his arms. The spatter of hair in the middle of his chest. The definition of his six-pack. The contours of his V, which is like an arrow to the wonder that is his cock. The cock standing long, thick, and proud. The cock my pussy is aching for.

Clutching it in his fist, Alex drags the broad head of his dick through the wetness of my folds. The soft warmth gliding through my pussy causes my eyes to roll back.

“Watch, angel,” he growls at me as he lines himself up at my entrance. He glances up at me, making sure I’m following his commands before sliding into me slowly. Feeding me one inch at a time.

We watch together as my body takes him entirely. I’m not sure what’s hotter—watching him watch my body take him or watching the show myself.

I moan loudly when I feel his balls on my ass. I love this feeling. The feeling of the first thrust when he’s buried fully inside of me. I lie back and close my eyes, relishing the fullness.

“No way,” Alex groans, “Eyes, angel. I want to see your eyes.”

Well, fuck! How do I say no to that?

I open my eyes and gaze into his as he pulls himself out and pushes back in. Slowly. So slowly he hits every ignited nerve ending I have in my lower body. Everything feels extremely intense, but the pace is slow and unrushed. I don’t know if it’s the lack of sex over the last week or the continuous connection he’s demanding.

Usually, Alex only asks me to open my eyes when I come. He’s never asked for this level of attention from me. It’s a struggle to maintain eye contact when all I want to do is close them. But at the same time, I don’t want to close them. I don’t want to miss a second of the way his eyes bore into mine. I can see all the pleasure mounting, and it gives me a feeling of total power.

Alex lowers his body to mine as he continues to thrust in and out of me. He rests his forehead against mine and slips his hands under my back, sliding them up under me until he has my head cradled in his hands. This is different than any other time we’ve had sex. The intimacy we’re sharing at this moment is unlike any other. It’s slow and sensual. Alex never gets past a slow rhythm. He’s treating me like I’m a fragile piece of glass, and I’m enjoying every bit of it.

I’m lost in the connection, and my orgasm sneaks up on me, catching me off guard as it barrels through me.

“Alex,” I cry out as my body begins to quake and then explodes in an indescribable pleasure. I feel the orgasm in every molecule of my being. There’s not one part of my body that doesn’t feel what he can do to me.

I feel his hands tighten in my hair and his own orgasm takes over his body, each pulse of his cock as he comes, every grunt as he prolongs his release with each thrust, every exhale on my cheeks as he lets go. I love it all.

I feel empty when he pulls out, but it doesn’t last long as he rolls off of me and pulls me into his arms. I’ve never been one to spoon, but something should be said for it. The only thing fluttering in my mind as I close my eyes is how nice and secure this feels. I can see why women love it. A calm takes over my body as I drift to sleep with no thoughts of the horrible events that have overtaken my life recently.