“Goode. Adam Goode,” a deep, unfamiliar voice calls. When I peel my eyes open, my head pounds with the assaulting bright light. And when my eyes finally adjust, I recognize my brother, Caleb, standing next to the officer who processed me sometime this morning after I was hauled in.
Caleb is wearing an expression that’s somewhere between smug and amused. His hands are in his pockets and he’s staring down his nose at me as I peel myself off the bench and move to stand. My broken hand is wrapped in medical gauze, and I remember the medic giving me strict instructions to have it looked at once I was released. But I probably won’t. I hope it leaves my hand fucked up and scarred forever. The pain feels good, like it’s the first thing I’ve ever felt in my entire life.
After I sign the papers clumsily with my left hand, I walk out of the station in silence with my brother at my side. He doesn’t say a word as we climb into his Volvo SUV, and I don’t bother complaining about my head or my hand. I just give him the address of the Laundromat and ask him to take me there instead of my apartment. With a quizzical expression, he does.
Maybe she’ll fix me up like she did before. And it makes me wonder if she’ll be mad or proud.
“I think I like this new version of you,” Caleb finally says as we pull up to a stoplight. “And I feel weird saying that, but causing a little trouble might actually be good for you.”
“Why am I the one causing trouble?” I ask, turning toward him.
“That’s a good question,” he replies with a laugh.
“No, Caleb. I mean…why have we been following that asshole our entire lives? Letting him treat us all like shit. Why am I the only one causing trouble?”
“So this is about Dad.”
“Isn’t it always?” I reply with a grimace.
“What did he do this time?”
“I found out he owns a sex club,” I mutter, staring out the window. The car nearly comes to a complete stop as Caleb stares at me in shock.
“What the fuck?”
“I found him there. Face buried between some woman’s legs.” As I turn to look at my brother, I’m actually sort of pleased to see the horror on his face. At least someone else can feel it too.
“He’ll ruin us all,” he says. “He’s really willing to risk everything he’s built for what? Sex?”
I don’t reply. Suddenly I’m feeling sick, like I have a hangover from the events of last night. And from this whole conversation.
“Is that what this is all about?” he asks as he pulls up to Sage’s apartment.
“Sort of,” I reply because I just don’t know anymore. It started out about him. Then it became about me. And now…it’s about her. And I don’t care that my car is still parked at the club or that my broken hand is throbbing. I just want to see her.
“Jesus, Adam. This is insane. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“I don’t know,” I reply, turning toward him. “Because he’s in my head, I guess. I don’t know if he’ll ever get out.”
“What about her?” he asks, and I know he’s talking about Sage. “Is that real, or is that just…”
“It’s real.” With that, I pull open the passenger door and stumble out. Every step makes my head pound. Before closing the door, I look back at Caleb, seeing the way this news is hitting him. The same way it hit me. And I almost feel bad for him. He never put as much faith in our father as I did, but it’s still hard to accept that the world doesn’t work the way you think it does.
“Thanks for picking me up,” I say with a grimace, and after he nods in return, I shut the door and cross the street toward her apartment. The entire way up the stairs, I’m silently praying she’s not mad at me. Of course if she is, I can’t blame her. I took off in the middle of the night.
I’d be no better than Brett if I kept her after what I’ve done. After the way I treated her. In fact, no man would ever truly deserve her, so what the fuck gives me the right to even try?
As soon as I rap my left hand against the door, it opens, and I’m so fucking relieved I can hardly move. She lets out an audible gasp when she sees me.
“Oh my god, Adam,” she shrieks with fear and relief. Then her arms are around my neck, my face pressed to the crook of hers, and I breathe her in like this is somehow the most pivotal moment of my life. The epicenter of my entire existence in this very moment as I come back to her a changed man. I’ve shed the lies and deceptions. It took more than the last few hours, but giving in to that darkness, feeling the cuffs around my wrists and the flash of the mug shot camera, I changed.
I fed the beast last night, and now it feels as if that beast is me.
“I was so worried about you,” she whispers into my neck. “Why did you do that?”
I pull away from her embrace and stare down at her as she pulls me into the apartment, closing the door behind us. “I have to tell you what I did,” I mumble, but she’s already shaking her head.
“I know exactly what you did, Adam. You don’t think I couldn’t figure it out? That I would just sit here and wait for you to come back?”
My brow arches in confusion as I stare down at her. “How did you…”
“Does it really matter? How about you tell me why you would do that?”
Taking a step toward her, I reach for her with my good hand and she comes to me, letting me put my fingers on her arm and on her lower back. “Because…I wanted to.” It’s the only response that makes sense. Simple and to the point.
“You wanted to beat the shit out of my ex? Because he made me cry?”
“Yes,” I reply intently.
“You’re better than this, Adam. You put Brett in the hospital. He might lose the sight in his eye.”
“Good,” I say through clenched teeth. My hand leaves her skin as I take a step back. “Sage, you should know I’m not better than this. I’m not the good guy you thought. I’m not a gentleman or a hero. What I did last night felt fucking good, and I realize I’m no better than your ex for kicking the shit out of him, but I’d gladly beat the piss out of anyone who hurts you. I may not be good at communicating or admitting my feelings, but I’ll admit that. You’re the first thing in my life that I’m willing to protect, and I don’t care who the fuck I have to hurt to do it.”
She nearly cuts my words off as she leaps into my arms, pulling my face down to hers and latching those silky soft lips against mine. My hand screams in pain, but I don’t care as I wrap my hands around her thighs and lift her off the floor. Eagerly, she tightens them around me, and I let out a growl.
Carrying her to the wall, I grind myself against her with a long, deep moan. Pulling away from her kiss, I press my forehead to hers as I whisper, “Being between your legs is like heaven to me, Peaches.”
“Then fuck me, Adam. For real this time.”
I attack her lips again with my own, kissing her harshly as I carry her to the bedroom. I’ve never felt so close to another person in my life. Her kiss is fervent and hungry as she digs her hands in my hair and pulls me so close I’m practically breathing her in.
As I drop her on the bed, I let out a wince of pain and realize I can’t hold myself up with my broken hand. She lets out a laugh as she cradles it in her hands and kisses the exposed skin of my bloody fingers.
“Why don’t you just relax and let me take care of you,” she says with a smile, and I find myself growling with pleasure again. As I flip onto my back, she straddles my thighs and works on the button of my jeans. I quickly slip off my shirt and lift my hips to allow her to shift my pants down, pulling my boxer briefs with them.
My cock is already hard and dripping for her when she takes me in her hand, biting her lip as she strokes the stiff length.
“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do this,” she whispers before leaning over me and placing her lips softly at the head. I’m nearly trembling with anticipation.
I want to reply and tell her she has no idea how long I’ve wanted her to do this, but as she parts her lips and takes my cock into her mouth, I cannot form words. Only sounds. Guttural, animalistic, euphoric sounds.
There’s not a single camera rolling or phone pointed in our direction. This isn’t for an audience or for revenge. This is for us. The way it should be.
She takes her time wetting my shaft, licking her way up and down until I’m coated. Then she locks her gaze on mine as she lets my dick slide across her tongue all the way to the back of her throat.
“Oh fuck,” I groan as she chokes herself and comes back up for air, heaving a little from the gag reflex. “Do that again, Peaches.”
She bobs her mouth up and down on my cock and it feels so fucking good I forget to breathe. Sage always seems to have this way of making me lose control. She makes me feel safe enough to lose control. So when I find myself wanting to pin her to the mattress and fuck her throat until I come, I know she’d love it as much as I would.
But that’s not what I do—not this time.
Instead, I yank her mouth off my dick and pull her lips to mine for a kiss. Without putting weight on my bad hand, I scoot myself backward until I’m sitting against the headboard. Then I grab her face in my hand and pull her close.
“Put that pretty pussy on my cock, Peaches. Before I lose my fucking mind.”
On the last word, I swat a palm against her ass. She lets out a yelp and tears off her shirt before pulling her shorts and panties off until she’s naked. My mouth waters at the sight as she scurries onto my lap. She’s straddling me chest to chest as our lips fuse again. Then she eagerly lowers herself onto my cock. Just an inch inside, I feel her tense. So I take hold of her hips and slowly work her down, an inch at a time.
And the exact moment I have her fully sheathing my cock, she settles her weight on my lap and we let out a long groan in harmony. I’m finally inside her, and I almost don’t want her to move because this feeling right now is greater than God himself.
My arms wind around her waist and hers around my neck. And we just sit here like that for a moment, breathing the same air, hearts moving to the same beat.
When she tilts her hips, grinding herself, the hunger inside me grows. I lift her up and let gravity take her back down. Then we quickly find a cadence together, her body bouncing on my lap. With one hand latched on to my neck, she leans back and finds the spot that feels best to her and I let her use me, watching in awe as her tits rock with the motion of her body.
I could easily commit every sound, sight, and sensation to memory to keep this moment in the forefront of my mind forever. She is utterly perfect.
Her pounding on my lap grows more and more intense, and I can feel by the seizing of her muscles that she’s getting close. And I desperately need to make her come because I’m not going to last much longer myself. Reaching down between us, I strum my thumb on her clit, and she lets out a high-pitched cry as I add pressure.
“Scream for me, Peaches.”
“Don’t stop,” she says breathlessly, her bounces picking up speed. “I’m almost…there.”
Even as her muscles tighten and her breathing pauses, her hips keep grinding through her orgasm until she’s shuddering and trembling on my lap.
When I know her climax has peaked, I let myself lose control. Flipping her onto her back, I grab the headboard with my good hand and I drive my hips into her so hard she has to brace herself against the headboard to keep me from crushing her.
I feel the sweat dripping down my neck as I fuck her into the mattress, watching the place where I disappear inside her. With each bruising thrust, I get closer and closer to flying over the edge. When her hands grab the sides of my body, holding on to me as if we’re swept up in a violent storm, I let out a deafening yell as I come. My entire body is racked with tremors through my release.
When I finally come down, I open my eyes to find Sage wrapped around me with her face buried in my chest. I let go of the headboard and fall on top of her, pulling her into my arms.
She finally looks up and finds my lips with her own. Then I hold her like that, doing nothing but kissing her and feeling every inch of her body I can get my hands on.
There are no more words in my head, only emotions.
Some of them too frightening to name.
