She cried out in pleasure, and her hips moved, fast and hard, sinking my cock deeper and deeper inside her until her thighs were shaking and her muscles clenched tightly. Her orgasm was enough to send me over the edge, and I came with her.
Thirty
Meela
I wasn’t sure how long I’d been awake.
Lying here, I listened to the soothing sounds Reed made while he slept. He didn’t snore, at least not in an obnoxious way. I could probably lie here all night and only ever be comforted by the sounds he made, but those thoughts scared the hell out of me.
Even lying here, I knew Reed and I were doomed from the beginning. I couldn’t trust Reed; even after everything leading up to this point, I knew we wouldn’t survive. I only had myself to blame for crossing this line with Reed, and I knew what I had to do now. We couldn’t continue to live together, fighting to the death and then falling into bed together.
Wrapping the sheet around my naked body, I untwisted myself from Reed and slowly slid off the edge of his bed. It was complete Déjà vu as I tiptoed out of Reed’s room, closing the door behind me with a click. I didn’t breathe for the next ten seconds while I waited to see if Reed was going to come charging after me. Leaning into his door, I listened, but there was only silence.
Back in my room, it was dawn, and I knew trying to sleep would be useless. Dropping the sheet, I started the shower and waited until it was hot enough to melt, and then stepped in. Despite the temperature, it did nothing to help relax the tension in my shoulders and back, and I gave up, turning the water off and stepping out.
My eyes collided with Reed’s in the bathroom mirror, and despite recognizing him, my scream filled the small space, echoing off the shower walls.
“Holy hell, Reed.” My hand wrapped around my throat. “You scared me.”
A grin tugged at his lips as he tried to look apologetic. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to.”
He pushed away from the doorframe and moved up behind me. I was completely aware that I was naked, and the look in Reed’s eyes through the mirror said so was he.
“Why didn’t you wake me? I would have gladly taken a shower with you.” He nuzzled the back of my hair. “I also really hate waking up to find you’ve left my bed yet again.” His fingers trailed down my arm and then over my stomach, bringing me back against him.
“You’re going to get all wet.” It was a feeble complaint, and he knocked it aside as such.
“Then I guess I’m just going to have to get naked, too.” His hands withdrew and went to the waistband of the sweats he must have put on to come and find me.
“Reed, stop.” I moved to grab my towel from the hook and wrap it around my body quickly before turning to face him.
He was instantly frowning, and his hands moved to his hips, ready for a fight. “Stop what?”
I wrapped my arms around me and took a deep breath. “Reed, we can’t do this.”
He fell back a step. “Can’t do what exactly?”
“This. Us. You. Me.” My hand waved back and forth between the two of us. “We can’t. I can’t. It wouldn’t work, Reed. We can’t do this,” I said again, firmly, and there was a nagging voice in the back of my head that wondered who I was actually trying to convince.
“You’re joking, right?”
“Reed, please,” I pleaded.
“How can you still think this won’t work?”
“Did you forget that right before we had sex, we were at each other’s throats? Again.”
He took a step toward me, and I took a step back, hitting the edge of the sink. “I told you, it’s our foreplay, Meela.”
“It’s destructive! We can’t raise a baby like that, Reed.”
“You’re a fucking liar, Meela. You’re grasping at reasons, and none of them are good enough.”
His words stung, but more so, they enraged me. “I knew this wouldn’t work. I told you this wouldn’t work. I should have never agreed to move in here. I can’t believe I let you talk me into it.”
“But you did, and you’re here. After last night, there’s no reason we can’t …” His hand hovered in the air, moving in erratic patterns as he tried to form a valid reason.
“Can’t what? What do you think is actually going to happen between us?”
“I have no fucking clue, Meela, but I know I’m not scared to find out. Why are you?”
“I’m not afraid. I just don’t like wasting my time, and I know that’s exactly what we’ll be doing, Reed. Do you realize that if I had never gone home with you that night, we would still hate each other right now?”
“That’s a fucking lie.”
I sighed. This was going nowhere. “I think I should move out, Reed.”
“You know what, don’t fucking bother. I’ll leave.”
“Reed, don’t be ridiculous. This is your house.”
“You’ll stay here until the other house is ready.”
“But where will you stay?” I asked, but wish I could take back the question.
The way he looked at me had me holding back tears. “That’s none of your fucking business.”
Walking to the door, he pulled it open and slammed it shut behind him.
The sound was solidifying, and it hurt worse than I ever thought possible.
L U S T
Today officially sucked ass.
I nearly moaned as I released my swollen feet from the prison of my six-inch heel. Dropping my shoulder, I let my bags slide down my arms, landing on the floor with a thud. The box in my hands wasn’t heavy, but I was glad to be rid of it when I placed it on the counter. I moved toward the couch, sinking into the plush cushions after I plopped down.
I was exhausted, angry, hurt, sad, scared. I was pretty much a big ball of emotions.
Getting fired sucked, but getting fired while pregnant was a lethal combination. I’d never been fired, and it stung, especially knowing that they let me go because of my performance.
I’d never not given a hundred and fifty percent, but I was exhausted a lot of the time and that made me careless, and I hated that.
I wanted to be angry with the firm, but honestly, I would have fired me too.
Looking around the house, it was quiet and way too big for one person. Reed had stayed away the whole week. I hadn’t heard anything from him since he left, and I had no reason to complain. It was what I had asked for.
Except I hadn’t expected to miss him so damn much. That freaked me out.
Reed had turned my whole world upside down, and I didn’t know how to turn it back around. Or if I even wanted to.
I didn’t know how to let him in without letting myself get in the way.
Picking up my phone, I texted Carrie. She was the only one who could say exactly what I needed to hear right now.
Me: I got fired.
I waited.
Carrie: What?! When?! Why?! Are you okay? I’m coming over.
As much as I didn’t want to be alone, I wasn’t about to make her drive all the way over here.
Me: No, don’t. I’m just going to order food, take a shower, and go to bed.
Carrie: I’m so sorry, Mees. Is it because you’re pregnant?
Me: Yes and no. They didn’t know I was pregnant, at least I never told them, but I’m sure some guessed. They said my performance was low, which is because I’m pregnant.
Carrie: They suck! Are you sure you don’t want me to come over?
Me: I’m positive ...
Carrie: What?
I debated on whether to open that topic with her.
Screw it.
Me: I miss Reed.
She knew all about him leaving, and that it was because of me.
Carrie: Call him. He misses you, too. I promise.
Me: I can’t right now. Maybe tomorrow. I need to work up the courage.
Carrie: I’m coming over tomorrow. We’ll binge eat and Netflix. It’s the pregnant version of Netflix and chill ha-ha.
Me: Sounds like a plan. Thanks
! Love you.
I waited for Carrie to respond before I pulled up the number to the Chinese place Reed and I had found and placed my order. After my food came and I’d eaten an impressive amount by myself, I cleaned up and made my way to the bedroom.
After the day I had, a hot shower was calling my name. The hot spray melted away my getting fired blues, but it did nothing to help with my Reed problem. So I turned it off and got out before it got cold.
When I was ready for bed, I realized I’d forgotten the light on in the hall, and I left my room to turn it off.
I heard the footsteps and movement at the front door and then a flashlight turned on, and I covered my mouth with my hand. My heart pounded with fear, and I could barely breathe through the erratic pulse.
Stumbling back into my room, I picked up my cell phone, and called Reed.
Thirty One
Reed
Trying to unlock the front door without a light and semi-buzzed was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I jiggled the key, trying to get the door unlocked, but it wouldn’t budge, and I was starting to think Meela had changed the locks already. Trying to pull the key out was proving to be even more work. I pulled hard, and when the key came free, they went flying into the gravel along the side of the house.
“Fuck,” I whispered, pulling my phone out and using the flashlight app.
Finding them, I realized I’d been using the wrong key. Turning off the flashlight, I went to try the lock again when my phone started to buzz in my hand, lighting up the screen with Meela’s face. God, I fucking missed her. I answered it, bringing the phone up to my ear.
“Reed?” Her frantic voice was one part terrified and one part relief as it filled the line before I could say anything
“What’s wrong, Meela?”
“Someone’s is trying to break in,” she whispered, and a small whimper escaped through the phone line.
“Calm down, Meela, it’s—”
“Calm down? Calm down!” she hissed. “This is not the time for me to calm down. Someone is trying to break in, Reed.”
“Meela, it’s—”
“Oh god,” she moaned, cutting me off for a second time, and for the second time, I wasn’t able to tell her I was the one standing outside the house we hadn’t shared in a week. And then she said, “I wish you were here, Reed.”
Her whispered statement, despite the fact it was said in absolute fear, left me forgetting how to use the function of my lungs.
I should have told her right then and there I was a little buzzed and stumbling around outside as I tried to get the door unlocked, but after spending a week without hearing her voice or seeing her every day, I desperately wanted to be the knight in shining armor she’d claimed once not to need.
“It’ll be okay, Meela. Just stay right where you are. I’m not far.”
If I told her it was me, she’d probably be pissed even though I’d tried to tell her twice. I wasn’t going to scare her. I would go in and then call her name out to let her know it was me.
“Please hurry, Reed.”
“Don’t be afraid, Meela.”
“Reed?”
“Yeah?”
Unlocking the door, I stepped inside as quietly as I could. I didn’t want her thinking someone had actually broken into the house. Reaching along the wall, I tried to find the light switch for the porchlight. It hadn’t been on, and the inside of the house was completely pitch black.
“I—”
The rest of her words were drowned out behind the loud ringing in my ears. The back of my head felt like twice its size as the pain of something hard smashed against my skull. Falling to my knees, Meela’s voice was the last thing I heard before there was nothing.
L U S T
Holy fuck, it was bright.
The florescent lighting leaked through my eyelashes, scorching my corneas as I attempted to lift my eyelids. They felt like they weighed fifty pounds when I finally got them open.
My vision restored slowly and in blotches until I pieced together my surroundings. I immediately recognized the small box-sized room as a hospital room. The machine next to me beeped loudly, and the blood pressure sleeve wrapped around my bicep tightened, coiling around the muscle like a snake. I lifted my arm, hoping to relieve some of the pain, and noticed the clip connected to my finger.
That was when I saw Meela’s out of focus sleeping figure in the corner of the room. She looked uncomfortable as her body twisted in different directions to get comfortable. Her hands interlocked over the small bump where the baby we’d made together was tucked away safe and growing.
I couldn’t stand to see her in that chair another second, so I lifted off the hospital bed. My stomach lunged into my throat, and my head spun until the room looked like an abstract painting. Throwing my legs over the bed, I leaned as far forward as I could, sucked in four deep breaths, and waited for the nausea to pass. When it had subsided long enough, I pulled the cuff off my arm and the monitor off my finger.
After a few seconds, I was on my feet and taking the few steps toward Meela. Crouching down, I watched the rapid movement behind her closed eyelids. I’d remembered reading somewhere how rapid eye movement was a sign of dreaming.
My fingertips tingled with the need to touch her, and I lifted my hand to her face, my fingers brushing the smooth skin of her forehead and down the curve of her cheek as I moved a stray hair away from her face.
She did that half moan, half sigh sound that drove me crazy and shifted in her chair. The movement and the uncomfortable position in the chair were enough to wake her, and her eyes fluttered open, adjusting to the light as mine had.
“Reed?” Her voice was groggy and sounded far away. I realized there was still a slight ringing in my ear and my head was foggy. “You’re awake?” And then as if everything hit her at once, she sat up straighter, pushing the mess of hair away from her face. “Oh my god, how do you feel? Are you okay?” Her hand lifted between us; she wanted to touch me, but something stopped her. Maybe it was my current condition or maybe it was whatever fear that held her captive and kept me at arm’s length. Her fingers curled into a fist and dropped in her lap as we both pretended what just happened didn’t happen.
Part of me wanted to grab her hand and press it to my face, if for no other reason than to soothe the ache in the pit of my stomach.
“My head hurts,” I said with a smirk. I touched the back of it, not sure what to expect, and grimaced when my fingers found the golf ball-size knot.
“I’m so sorry, Reed. I had no idea it was you.”
“Everything’s a little fuzzy. I don’t really remember what happened.”
“I called you because I heard someone, or at least I thought it was someone, but you were there and no one else was. I feel so ridiculous. Calling you, scaring you, and then when you came in, it was dark, and I didn’t know you were here, and I … I hit you in the back of the head with a vase. When I couldn’t wake you up, I called 911, and they brought you here. I’m so sorry, Reed.”
Tears welled up in her eyes, but they quickly dropped to her lap. She dragged her bottom lip between her teeth, and I groaned on the inside. I covered her hands with mine and lifted her chin.
“You didn’t know it was me. I should have told you on the phone sooner.”
My fingers moved over the back of her hands, and that was when I felt the plastic edge of the hospital band around her wrist. I frowned and lifted her hand to investigate.
“What’s this?”
Before she could answer, the door to the hospital room opened and a nurse came in frowning. Behind her, I recognized Meela’s friend, Carrie. She stood there, two coffee cups in her hand, staring back and forth between the two of us curiously.
“You’re not supposed to be out of bed yet, Mr. Pierce.”
“I feel fine,” I said tightly, annoyed that she had interrupted me and Meela.
“Back into bed, please.” She stood there, hands on hips and tapping her foot.
Sh
e was an older woman, her years working as a nurse showed around her mouth and eyes. She was used to bullshit, and the look on her face said she wasn’t in the habit of taking any, and I was no exception.
“Fine,” I snapped, adjusting to my full height and backing up toward the bed. “But will one of you please tell me why she’s got a damn hospital band?” I pointed at Meela, and suddenly, all eyes were on her.
She opened her mouth, but much to my annoyance, the nurse was addressing Meela. “Are you feeling okay, honey? No more contractions?”
I was up again, moving toward Meela, but a hand on my chest stopped me. Despite the fact I towered over the nurse and probably had a good eight pounds on her, she was surprisingly strong.
“Mr. Pierce, please, lie down. You have a mild concussion; you shouldn’t be up moving around just yet.”
“Reed, please lie down,” Meela said, getting up and moving to the other side of the bed.
“Me? Why the hell isn’t she in a bed?” I pointed at the nurse. I could feel my breathing increasing, and I knew it was partly from being pissed off that I had no idea what was going on with Meela, and partly from feeling like I was going to pass out again.
“I’m fine, Reed.” Meela put her hands on my shoulder, applying pressure to try to get me to lie back. I wanted to fight her, but I was pretty sure if I didn’t calm down, I was going to black out at any second. “Please,” she pleaded.
When I settled back against the bed, I took a few deep breaths. All eyes were on me, including those of Carrie, who was leaning against the wall next to the door. A nod of approval from the nurse, and Meela turned toward me.
“I was so upset after everything happened,” she started, lifting her hand toward my head. “By the time the ambulance arrived, I was having sharp pains.” While she explained, her arm wrapped protectively under the curve of her belly.
Lust Page 24
