What He Bargains (What He Wants, Book Nineteen) (106 page)

It was still dark in the bedroom, and for a brief moment, she’d forgotten where she was.

But now, as she turned and saw Chase sleeping soundly next to her in bed, she began to smile. Even as tired and groggy as she was, Faith felt a surge of relief and love and thanks that he’d come into her life.

Despite all the drama and uncertainty and craziness, she was definitely in love with him.

And I really do think he loves me too.

That made her smile even wider. She wanted to plant kisses on his face and body, but she didn’t want to wake him up. In fact, she was hoping to get a couple more hours of sleep herself, but as she tried to close her eyes and fall back asleep, her mind raced.

She felt restless. Getting up, she went to the bathroom, leaving the light off, and then came out, yawning.

It wasn’t even daybreak. There was time to get some shuteye. Monique’s flight would depart at seven o’clock and the private jet was apparently at a smaller airport just about forty minutes away.

Somehow, though, Faith had a strange feeling inside her belly.

I need to go check on Monique and make sure she’s okay.

But she didn’t want to wake her up either.

It was like they’d been saddled with a moody fifteen-year-old for the night, and the last thing Faith wanted to deal with was waking that moody teenager up.

She didn’t know why she was so convinced that something was amiss.

Just forget about it. You’re being neurotic. Leave the girl alone.

Faith stood just inside the bedroom, uncertain. Watching Chase’s chest rise and fall slowly as he lay in bed, unaware of what was going on.

And that’s when Faith heard the distinct sound of a door opening down the hall. Instantly, she knew it was the door to Monique’s room. And then footsteps, going ever so slowly, trying to be quiet so as not to wake anyone up.

But Faith wasn’t going to give Monique the satisfaction of making a quiet getaway. She opened the door to the master bedroom and looked out on Monique as she headed for the stairs.

Monique was fully dressed and walking almost on tiptoe. It was quite clear that she was leaving the house in the dead of night, making her escape.

“Hi there,” Faith said, folding her arms.

Monique looked startled, but quickly composed herself and went on the attack. “What are you doing—stalking me?”

“I’m not the one stalking people around here. I think that would be your fiancé.”

“I have to go,” Monique said, her head hanging slightly as she hesitated at the landing.

“Did he convince you it’s going to be different this time?” Faith asked.

“You don’t know him.”

“I don’t need to. I know he put his hands on you.”

“We both have issues and he’s trying. He’s sorry.”

“Don’t go,” Faith said. “Please, this is a mistake. I know you’re scared—“

Monique’s eyes flashed as she turned her face towards Faith. “You don’t know me, either.” She looked down momentarily, taking a deep breath before looking up once more. “I’m sorry I’ve caused you both so much trouble. And I know I’ve been an unpleasant houseguest.”

“It’s okay. We just want you to be safe.”

“I needed the time away from Steve to really think things through, and he needed it too. But now we’ve decided to give it another try. And I’ve made my decision.”

Faith shook her head. “You’re making a mistake. He’s going to hit you again.”

“I don’t think so. Me leaving really scared him. Even Chase doing what he did helped. I think now Steve knows how I feel sometimes.”

Monique smiled in the semi darkness of the hallway, and Faith could tell it was over. The poor, misguided woman had truly made up her mind.

“If you ever need to talk, I’ll be here,” Faith said.

“Thanks.” Monique gave a sad wave and then she walked downstairs and left out the front door. Faintly and briefly, as she left, she was illuminated in the glare of headlights from a nearby car.

That was Velcro’s car, Faith decided. He was outside waiting for her, ready to entrap her again in his web.

The door shut again and Faith felt like screaming and crying in frustration. Her stomach was in knots.

“Don’t sweat it,” Chase said from inside the bedroom.

She startled a little. “How much did you hear?” she asked, turning and seeing that he was awake now, and sitting up in bed.

“Enough,” he replied simply. He turned the small lamp on next to his bedside.

“I feel angry,” she said. “Like I want to have a fit.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he laughed.

“What’s so funny?” she said, walking back into the room.

“You being so surprised she went back to him,” he said. “That’s what happens ninety-nine percent of the time in these situations.”

“Now what’s going to happen? What do we do?”

“Nothing, that’s what,” Chase said. He was in boxers and nothing else. “But the good news is, we don’t have to make that drive to the airport anymore.”

“You keep making jokes but it’s not very funny. She’s back with that monster.”

“It’s not my problem. Or yours. Time to let it go.”

“But we can’t let him get away with it. We need to go to the media or something.”

Chase raised his eyebrows. “If she won’t leave him, there’s nothing left to do. I can’t fight this battle all by myself. The press will have a field day if I make an accusation and even Monique denies it.”

“You don’t know that she’d deny he hit her,” Faith said.

“Yeah, I do.”

She felt suddenly angry, looking into his emotionless eyes. “You might even be relieved she went back with him.”

“Why’s that?” he asked, his voice hardening.

“Because, now you don’t have to go out on a limb. You can go back to pretending everything’s normal even though you know what’s happening to her. Go back to your life guilt free.”

“Don’t blame me,” he said. “This isn’t my fault.”

“We should’ve done more,” Faith said.

“You can’t save Monique,” he told her. “Hell, why don’t you try and save yourself before worrying about everyone else?”

Faith flinched. “Save myself from what?”

“You sit in judgment of me and Monique and everyone else.” He shook his head. “But tell me one risk you’ve ever taken, one risk that could’ve cost you anything.”

“I trusted you,” she said, but instantly knew that was the wrong response.

Chase made a sarcastic face. “So now we’re going to score cheap points?”

“It’s not a cheap point,” she shot back. “You’ve done nothing but warn me how bad you are for me in every way. But I still keep trying to believe in you.”

“You keep trying to make this about me,” he told her. “But you know this has nothing to with me and everything to do with you avoiding the truth.”

“And what’s the truth?”

“That you need to get your own damn life before you can judge mine.”

She stared at him until the tears filled her eyes, and she was consumed by anger and hurt and a sense of devastation. “So that’s what you really think of me,” she said, looking away and wiping her eyes. “That I have no life. That I sit in judgment of everyone else.”

“I’m just being honest,” he said. “It’s not fun when the shoe’s on the other foot, is it?”

“You’re just being cruel,” she whispered.

“Come on,” he said, laughing a little. “I was just getting you to look at yourself instead of always putting that high-powered microscope on me.”

“I hate you,” she said, turning to face him again. “I really do hate you, Chase Winters.”

“Oh?”

“Yes,” she continued, feeling that she was losing control. “I hate your arrogance, and your cruelty, your self-centeredness. I don’t give a shit about football. And I don’t—“

“Stop it,” he commanded.

She did stop talking briefly, because she realized that for the first time, she might have truly pushed him too far. But now that the feelings were churning in her body, she didn’t really want to stop pushing. She wanted to see him break down the way he’d broken her down so effortlessly, dismantling her like a child’s toy.

“What if I don’t want to stop?” she asked, smirking defiantly. “What if I keep going?”

Chase’s expression was dark and cold. “I don’t think you want to go there,” he said softly.

“I do, though. I want to go there, but you’re too scared to go with me,” she said. “Every time something real comes up, you’re the one who runs away, Chase.”

He smiled bitterly. “This is pathetic,” he said, getting off the bed and walking past her.

She chased after him. “You’re pathetic!” she said, getting in his way as he attempted to leave the room. “You accuse me of being afraid. You ran away from your past and your still running, still hiding. You don’t want to deal with anything but your stupid football career.”

Chase nodded. “So now we’re even. Two cowards trying to hide together. Maybe we shouldn’t bother anymore.”

“Good riddance,” she yelled, trying to hurt him now. “This wasn’t real. This was all just pretend and we both know it.”

But as she looked up at him, she realized that quite the opposite was true.

He gripped her wrists and pulled her towards him, until her body was pressed tightly against his. She could feel his cock through his boxers, erect and insistent against her stomach. “I don’t believe you,” he growled. His eyes gleamed intensely. “I think you’re terrified that what we have is real and now you have to deal with that reality. And it can be ugly and you want to push me away and run back to your simple little world where everything’s easy.”

She breathed out a shuddering breath. “You don’t know a thing about me,” she lied.

He grinned knowingly. “I know how badly you want me to kiss you right now,” he said.

“Fuck. You.” She said. But she was still lying and they both knew it.

Her nipples were stiff and tender, her pussy was already soaking wet. And her entire body was gravitating towards him as if she was the moon and he was the earth.

She couldn’t hope to resist the pull of him, the magnetism that he had was like a force of nature—and she didn’t want to resist anymore.

His dark eyes radiated hunger and depths that she couldn’t fathom, she just wanted to fall into them and lose herself forever.

But he didn’t kiss her. Instead, he took her t-shirt in his large hands and slowly pulled it over her head, while he maintained eye contact.

Her entire body shivered and broke into gooseflesh. When her shirt was off her torso but still hanging on her arms, Chase pulled it down to her wrists and then pushed them together tightly, twisting her shirt until it bound her wrists together.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

She was in shorts and panties. Chase knelt down, pulled her shorts down to her feet and then took her panties in each hand and slowly slid them down to her ankles.

“I don’t want to hear another fucking word out of your mouth until I’m done with you,” he said.

She wanted to fight back, to ask questions, to do something to disrupt this tactic of his, but she didn’t have the willpower left.

His face was at eye level with her wet, bare, dripping pussy, and she wanted him to suck on her so badly that she was sweating.

I’m like a junkie.

He’s my dealer, my drug, my fix.

He’s my everything and I’m not going to fight it anymore.

She kept her mouth shut, and breathed through her nostrils. Her heartbeat was speeding up as Chase grabbed her by her naked hips, his fingers pressing into her flesh, as he leaned in and started to lick and suck her folds.

Everything inside her was crying out and she opened her mouth, but she managed to stifle the moan at the last second. It crept into her lower throat and died there, as Chase’s tongue softly entered her interiors.

She dripped juice into his mouth, as he sucked on her mound.

God, he’s good.

He’s better than good.

She looked down on him, seeing his shoulders, muscular and powerful, tensing and releasing as his head turned this way and that, his tongue and lips working her skin, her slit—fucking her with his mouth.

Her legs trembled and sweat dripped down from her temples from the exertion of keeping quiet.

Another cry tried to escape her lips and she locked her jaw and closed her eyes.

It was feeling more and more impossible to stay quiet.

“Don’t make a sound or I’ll stop,” he said, his breath still hot on her mound. “Not one damn sound.” His tongue flicked her clit as she felt his finger caressing her shivering slit.

And then the tongue was flicking her clit furiously and a burst of energy exploded in her solar plexus.

The orgasm penetrated her core and she turned her face upwards toward the ceiling as the cords stood out in her neck.

It was painful and yet the greatest pleasure she’d ever felt—the rapid sense of falling increased as she came and came again into his expert mouth.

She wanted to scream his name but knew better.

Her body shook as more and more explosive orgasms wracked her, and he knew what was happening. He was sucking her clit, tonguing her pussy and she was dripping on him and it was so hot.

It was love.

It was glorious sex and darkness and the intermingling of souls.

She’d never felt so taken and so powerless and powerful all at once.

She fell into him and then deeper into herself.

When it was done, she was breathless, and she opened her eyes to see him rising to his feet. He stood, and she saw that his cock was poking out of his boxer shorts. There was a sheen glazing the head of his dick.

He saw her looking at his cock and when she met his gaze again, he was grinning.

“I think you need to continue to keep that big mouth of yours full, so you don’t say more things you’ll regret. Get down on your fucking knees.”

She dropped quickly. The t-shirt was still wrapped around her wrists and the panties around her ankles.

“Put me in your mouth. And stay quiet,” he reminded her.

Faith grabbed hold of his thick, swollen member, and stroked it once. She could smell him—his scent, his seed—as she licked the tip of his cock, swirling her tongue all around the dripping head of him.