“I’m pretty sure that’s heresy. We’re trying to get you back to heaven, remember?” I chastised gently.
“You just wait until you are screaming ‘oh god’ in my bed later,” he said against my ear, giving it a light nip and sending wet heat between my thighs.
“Keep it in your pants, Fabio. We are almost home,” Tolliver said, his frown marring his perfectly ageless face. Maybe he wasn’t such a fan of the plan. But I figured that the personality shifts would have to be pretty major to earn your way back to up top. Giving money to the bum who sat on the stairs of the subway wasn’t going to cut it.
Sam, however, seemed perfectly at ease. Actually, I rarely saw Sam looking concerned about anything.
“Aren’t you worried about giving up the modelling? You won’t be plastered across billboards anymore. No Milan or London or New York fashion weeks.”
“Not really. The whole thing was getting a bit tedious. The high maintenance designers, the psycho heads of fashion houses, the sleazy benefactors. Besides, I’m looking forward to spending Scrooge's money.”
It was probably a shame. I was definitely going to get hate mail from the women of the world. He was perfection. Maybe this would be too easy for him. Because let's face it, you could walk past him in the street, and women would want to bang him on the sidewalk and men would envy him.
I was going to have to think on this more.
We rolled into the garage, and parked the Escalade between the Bugatti and the Range Rover. I knew where we could start.
But first I wanted to sit in a room with all the guys and just appreciate how fortunate I was.
Chapter Thirteen
“Left, no watch the sniper on the roof. Left. No your other left. Why are you looking at the sky?”
Oz let out an exasperated sigh. I was not going to be competing in the Call of Duty World Championships any time soon.
Surprisingly, other than Oz, it was Valery who was the best video game player. We all sat around Oz’s living room, which looked exactly how I imagined it. Big comfy couches in front of a massive television, a computer set up that would make grown gamers weep, and a sink that was stacked high with dishes.
We’d all piled into Oz’s apartment, except Eli who was at work, and Lux and Ri who were training and then heading to Dante’s. Even Valery had the night off. None of them looked askance at the pair of Oz’s jeans that had been flung over the light shade or the balled socks on the couch. Apparently they were used to Oz’s less than stellar cleaning job. Well, I guess he was Sloth.
We ordered pizza from the nicest pizza place in Soho and just chilled out. It was the best. Like all the slumber parties I missed growing up.
Tolliver and Sam had only lasted until the last slice of pizza was gone before jet lag caught up with them and they headed off to bed, but not before giving me panty-melting kisses goodnight.
As my avatar died for the fifteenth time that night, I threw down the controller and huffed.
“Let's play Mario Kart. I bet I could kick your butt in Mario Kart.”
Oz looked almost offended. “I do not own Mario Kart!”
“Dance, Dance Revolution?”
“That's it, get out of my apartment,” he joked as he pulled me tighter into his arms. I turned in his lap so I could press my face into his chest. I tried to stifle a yawn, but couldn't. It had been a rather messed up day.
“You're tired mon chere, I shall wish you bonne nuit,” Valery said, coming over to lift me from Oz’s lap and into his arms. “I feel like I just can't get enough time with you. You are this ray of light just out of my grasp. But I would like to remedy this, if I could.”
“I'd like that too.” And I would. Beside Eli, and probably Ri, Valery worked the most of any of my Sins. I was worried about how I would redeem him if I never saw him.
“Tomorrow, come to my kitchen and cook with me? Around ten?” I could feel the warm press of his solid body, and briefly thought it was unnatural that the Sin of Gluttony wasn't pudgy. While Valery wasn't ripped like Lux, his body was firm and hard.
“Sounds perfect. It's a date.”
I tilted my head up for a kiss, and Valery happily supplied the gentlest, most tender kiss I'd ever received. If a kiss could promise you that you were going to be worshipped, it was that one.
“Sweet dreams, mon chere.”
He left, stepping over one of Oz’s discarded boots and giving us a little wave as he closed the door.
“Then there were two,” Oz said, and I sat back down on his lap. Sure there was a couch, but it wasn't warm, hard and full of promise.
“Cady?”
“Mm?”
“Do you want to stay with me tonight?”
I looked up at him, really looked at him. I looked past the bushy red beard that hadn’t had a trim since my makeover day, and the long straight nose, and even past the pine green colour of his eyes. I looked deep into their depths and saw the vulnerability, his self-consciousness.
“I couldn’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be right now.” He gave me that huge white smile, the one that made my chest feel full. He shifted me from his lap and stood.
He wrapped an arm under my legs and the other around my shoulders, and carried me towards the bedroom.
“You guys realize I have two functioning legs, right? Everyone seems to want to carry me everywhere,” I mock chastised. In reality, it kind of made me feel like a princess.
“I like holding you in my arms.” He moved further into the apartment, down a short hallway.
I’d prepared myself for Oz’s bedroom to be filthy, but I’d been so wrong. His room was immaculate. His bed was made and dozens of candles were burning in colored glass jars.
“Wow, Oz. This is beautiful. Have these been burning this whole time?”
He reached into the jar closest to us and pulled out a flickering LED tea light candle.
“I wouldn’t jeopardize you safety. I don’t mess around with fire.”
“I love it.”
The room glowed with a soft warm light, and I could see elements of Oz in the room. His alarm clock was Mickey Mouse. His lamp was Darth Vader holding a lightsaber. Several signed posters were framed on the walls. On his mahogany drawers sat a framed newspaper article, two photos blurred by the lack of light. I went over to read it, but Oz’s hand stopped me.
“Not tonight. I’ll explain that tomorrow. But tonight I just want it to be us, not our pasts. Is that okay?” His face was scrunched in a frown, and his voice trembled a little at the end.
I nodded. Although I was now desperate to know what the newspaper said, I could respect Oz’s wishes for tonight.
We stood slightly apart, and Oz pulled his shirt over his head. His broad chest was covered in soft, dark hair that trailed tantalizingly down in a thin line to where his jeans hung low on his hips.
I pulled my tank top over my head and stood in front of him, topless. I had forgone a bra for the night. Yay for small breasts.
Oz’s eyes dropped to my boobs. And stayed there. “Fuck.”
And that was all the warning I got before he slammed me to him, his arms going around my body, and mashing our chests together as his lips covered mine with a hunger that was like a red hot fever.
I stood on my tiptoes, kissing him back with just as much passion. He groaned, putting his large hands under my ass and lifting me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, twining my fingers in his hair so I could plunder his mouth. His groans rumbled against my nipples and he walked me back towards the bed. He placed me down gently, and just stood there looking, his eyes full of hunger. He removed his jeans slowly, popping the button and then slowly sliding down the zip of his Levi’s. He pushed them down his hips, his thumbs catching under his boxer briefs on the way down.
They fell past his knees to the floor, but my eyes were glued on his cock.
Holy fuck.
Holy fuck is right. Someone call the zoo. There's been an escape from the python enclosure. Did he roll that bad b
oy up to fit it in his Levi’s? Move over Lux, we have a new reigning champion, Ace crowed.
Out of my head. Now. I could feel her amusement but she was blissfully quiet.
I realized Oz was giving me a strange look.
“Uh, Ace says hi. And wow. I mean I’m saying wow. Well, she said wow too. I’m just going to be quiet now.”
Oz’s cheeks turned the most adorable shade of pink. I didn’t know big strong lumberjack looking guys could blush, but it was cute as hell. He gave me a lopsided grin.
“Will she be joining us?”
“No!” Well, not really. I wasn’t completely confident she wasn’t voyeuristically watching in there. She probably had a scorecard system.
Oz knelt on the end of the bed between my knees, reaching up to run his fingers over my collarbone and down my surgical scar. My skin prickled at his featherlight touch as his fingers kept whispering down, over my navel and the slight swell of my stomach, to the waistband of my own jeans. He ran his fingers from one hip bone to the other. He flicked the button with one hand, his other hand slipping under my lower back to lift me up. He peeled my skinny jeans down, until I was just there in my panties. White lace this time. No pandas in sight. I'm pretty sure my panda panties were still in Lux’s bedside table.
He leaned forward and caught the edge of the lace between his teeth, and I lifted my butt so he could drag them down over my hips with the help of his thumbs. I could feel his hot breath cooling the wetness of my panties, and I was beginning to squirm.
“Oz…”
His fingers hooked them and pulled them down my thighs and off my feet. Then he palmed my knees apart and kissed the insides of my thighs, first one and then the other. I buried my hands in the soft strands of his hair, gently urging him to where I wanted his mouth. Okay, not so gently. He let a deep chuckle, and took my clit between his lips. And he sucked hard. I bucked off the bed. Then he moved his mouth back to the tops of my thighs, nipping them gently.
My gentle Oz was being wicked.
He leaned on his elbows, parting my thighs a little more with his shoulders. He placed his hands under my ass and squeezed, before lifting my pussy to his mouth, and running the full length of his tongue along my slit like I was his favorite triple scoop.
“Oh my…” Words failed as he gave it another long lick, his tongue flicking on my clit at the end. He did that over and over, just lapping at me, until I had one hand wrapped in his hair and the other anchoring me to his duvet.
“Please, Oz, please,” I begged. My body was hot and restless. I was so close to something big. I just needed a little more.
He stiffened his tongue, and buried it in my pussy, stroking and swirling, as his nose brushed my clit. I was moaning so loud it was almost a scream. With one last hard thrust, I came, coating Oz’s face in my juices. He swirled his tongue around my clit one last time as I rode out my orgasm. Damn.
I pulled him up to me, letting his hard body cover mine.
“Where did you learn to do that?”
“YouTube.”
I laughed. “Really?”
He kissed me, and I could taste myself on his lips. He kissed my jaw, then the hollow beneath my ear.
“Hell yeah. You can learn anything on YouTube.”
I ran my hands down his back, over the hard ropes of his muscles as he rested above me. He had a great ass. I just wanted to dig my nails into it.
Oz’s hand came up and cupped my breast, his thumb rolling against my nipple. Like I was toggle on his Xbox controller. Well, at least all that gaming had made his thumbs dexterous. His mouth moved down to my nipple, and he flicked his tongue over it before sucking it gently between his lips. He steadily pulled on them, sending lighting right down to my core.
He rolled off and laid beside me, spooning my smaller body into his. I felt the long hardness of him pressed along my ass.
“We’ll take this slow, okay? Just tell me if you need me to stop,” he said against my ear, then slid his lips to kiss the back of my neck. I felt the head of his cock parting me, sliding into my soaking wet core, hitting every hot point on the way in. He let out a long groan, whispering my name on each breath. He lifted my thigh, spreading me wider to take him deeper.
“Oh. Oh. Oh.”
I was consumed by sensation, every inch of him stretching me. With one last grunt, he thrust himself to the hilt, bumping my cervix.
“Oz. Oh fuck. Oh fuck.” I’d never felt this before, this sensation of being so full that it almost hurt in a weird pleasure pain.
“Are you okay?”
I nodded, and hoped he caught it. He slid back and moved again. My vision went spotty, as my breathing got ragged.
“You think this is what they mean when people say ‘fuck me sideways?’”
“What?” I tried to turn but he just slid out and slid into me harder. What was the question? Once more and I was coming again, wave after wave of pleasure sinking me in bliss. But he wasn’t done.
He stilled, giving me a minute to catch my breath. How he stayed so still, buried balls deep inside me, was a marvel. Someone should give him sainthood just for that.
Too soon, and not soon enough, he was moving in me again, harder this time, slamming himself into me until his movements were a ragged mess. Our bodies were a slick with sweat and cum and the only sounds in the room were our combined moans and the slapping of our bodies.
He reached around, one hand sliding up to cup my breast and the other one circling my clit, and that was it. I came again. I screamed his name, and it echoed around the room, probably around the whole apartment. Oz came on a yell.
“Cady!”
A few more thrusts and he stilled, his breathing coming out in heavy pants between my shoulder blades. My heart beat erratically.
“Wow,” he whispered. “That was definitely worth waiting a decade.”
“You haven’t had sex in a decade?” I gasped out.
“I haven’t had sex since Luc brought us back.”
“You guys have been here ten years?”
“Mm,” he murmured into my hair.
“Weren’t you lonely?”
He rolled me in his arms, so we were nose to nose. “Desperately. But not anymore.” He kissed me gently on the lips. “Sleep, Arcadia. We won’t be alone again.”
Except I was dying.
I was going to break Oz’s heart, and just the thought made my own heart crack in two.
Chapter Fourteen
I woke to some killer beard rash between my thighs and chest hair itching my back. It was the best feeling ever. I snuggled back further into the warmth of Oz’s body, and his arm tightened across my stomach.
I could really get used to this.
Ace sniffed. I bet you could. Hot bod, and packing some serious heat in those tighty whiteys.
“Good morning, Beautiful,” Oz’s voice was scratchy with sleep. I turned in his arms and kissed his cheek. We’d made love twice more last night, and I was pleasantly sore. I was going to need to put an ice pack on it or something.
“Hey.” I was so content, that I could have happily laid in bed with him forever. Except I had to pee. “I'll be right back.”
The apartments were all pretty much set out the same, which made finding the bathroom easy. I did my business, checked what kind of conditioner he used because seriously his hair was super soft, and was back in his doorway in a flash.
I moved back towards the bed, but my eyes snagged on the framed newspaper article. I hesitated. I desperately wanted to know, but didn't want to ruin the good vibes we had going.
“Grab it, Cady. You aren't going to be able to rest until you know.” He was right, but I still didn't want to ruin the moment.
My curiosity won out in the end. I picked up the frame and read the article heading.
12 Die in Apartment Fire.
The article was dated December 26th, 1973.
“Bring it back to bed. I'd rather tell this story with my arms wrapped around you.”
&nbs
p; The frame felt impossibly heavy as I slid back into bed and laid down in the crook of Oz’s arm. I ran my eyes over the print. The pictures that were too blurry last night were the pictures of two kids, a boy and a girl about ten, their smiles wide.
“The twins, Elise and Robert. They lived in the apartment next to mine. Their mother worked nights and their grandmother babysat. She was a holocaust survivor. She survived Auschwitz, just to die in an apartment fire. The twin’s mother lost her whole remaining family that night.”
I hadn't noticed the smaller photos that lined the bottom of the article. Ten more pictures. He pointed to an older woman, her hair in a thick white bun. “That's Greta, their grandmother.” He pointed to two smiling twentysomethings.
“Samantha and Tony only got married and moved in a month before. They were the apartment opposite mine. No smoke alarms in the building so by the time Tony woke, Samantha had succumbed to smoke inhalation. He tried to carry her out but only made it to the bedroom door. They found him shielding her body with his, but they were both dead.”
His finger moved towards two women. “Karen and Paige. They were both artists. Karen was a photographer and Paige was a painter. When the fire hit Karen's darkroom, their apartment when up pretty quickly. They died in their beds. Next to them was Frank.” He pointed to a guy in an army uniform. “He'd got half his leg blown off in Vietnam, and his wife left him. He was passed out on his couch. Didn't feel a thing.”
His fingers pressed into the glass over an old Chinese couple. “The Wangs. I still don't know how old they were, but they were sweet. Mrs Wang would buy me a jar of lychees every month and leave them on my doorstep. They didn't speak a word of English, but they were always smiling. I don't think they had any children in America. They were the only couple who escaped their apartment. They made it to the stairwell before smoke got them. The firefighters got them out but they both died in hospital a few days later.”
The last two pictures were of a woman in her early twenties, and Oz.
“My girlfriend, Vanessa. I ruined her life. Got her knocked up because I was too lazy to get a rubber out of my bathroom, so she dropped out of college and moved in with me. She was four months pregnant when I got super stoned, put cooking oil on the stove because I had the brilliant idea to deep fry Twinkies, then passed out on the couch waiting for the oil to heat up. It caught fire and killed twelve people. I went directly to hell for murdering eleven other people, twelve if you count my own unborn child, because I was a lazy, good for nothing, sloth.”
Hell's Redemption- The Complete Series Boxset Page 10
