Momentarily, a shadow moved over the hole, blanking out the light beam and drawing my attention. The second I looked at that roughly blown hole, an eye appeared.
It bored into mine with chilling intent.
“Gotcha!”
I screamed, but the sound was drowned out by Spidey reaching into the hole that was suddenly so much bigger and ripping a huge chunk of the wall right down.
“Bellamy!” Liam surged to his feet but was shoved back onto the floor as a boot kicked right into his ribs.
I screamed again and practically fell out of the crudely ripped wall. He was covered in blood and bruises, one of his eyes swollen shut.
“Liam,” I whispered, stumbling over and falling onto my knees beside him. “I’m so sorry, so sorry.”
Rough hands grabbed my hair and forced me to my knees.
Liam struggled to get up. “Don’t touch her!” he yelled.
The other man with Spidey punched him and laughed.
“We’ve gone to a lot of trouble to find you,” Spidey said, practically ripping the hair out of my head. I glanced away and saw the body of my father lying on the other side of a dirty mattress.
The blood spilling from him was still fresh, and the scent of death clung thickly to the air.
I began to fight, managing to hit Spidey in the balls. He groaned and bent at the waist but didn’t loosen the hold he had on my hair.
“You’re going to pay for that,” he said, the words chilling. “And it seems the best way to hurt you is to hurt him.” He pointed to Liam. “Hold him.”
I began to scream and kick as the man forced Liam to his knees. Liam was weak and bloody, but he tried to fight, to no avail.
I cried as I fought, and Spidey only laughed.
“This is all on you,” he taunted, levelling a black pistol right at Liam.
“No!” I begged, my knees going weak. “No.”
Liam and I locked eyes. He mouthed the words I love you.
And then Spidey killed him.
Liam
The reaction was immediate. I leapt up out of the chair I was in, knocking over the bottle of beer balancing on the arm, and lunged down the hallway while the animal inside me roared.
The bedroom door slammed against the wall when I shoved it wide and raced inside.
I didn’t bother scanning the room first. If anyone was in here, I’d tear them apart after I got confirmation that Bellamy was okay.
Charlie barked, standing over Bells as I rushed forward, reaching for her.
She was having a nightmare. Something I was innately shocked she hadn’t had until now. After everything she’d been through, I couldn’t believe it wasn’t a nightly occurrence.
Tonight must have pushed her over the edge.
“Sweetheart,” I said loud enough to hopefully cut through the screaming she was still doing. The second I reached for her, Charlie did something to me he’d never done before.
A deep rumble ripped out of him, and he snapped at my arm. On instinct, I pulled back to stare at my dog as though he’d grown three more heads.
“Charlie,” I intoned and reached for Bells again.
The dog showed his teeth.
He was protecting Bellamy. If I wasn’t so anxious to pull her close and assure her she was safe, I might have been proud of my dog.
But this was getting in my way.
I leaned down and met the dog’s eyes, not backing up an inch. “No,” I said. It sounded more like a growl than anything.
The dog relented and lowered his head.
“Charlie, c’mon,” Alex said, taking him by the collar to lead him off the bed.
He went but refused to go any farther than his position beside us.
Bellamy was tossing fitfully in her sleep, her face screwed up in pain and fear. I slipped my arms under her and pulled her upper body against mine, holding her close.
“Bellamy,” I said clearly. “Wake up. You’re having a nightmare.”
Her body stilled and then stiffened. Pulling her head away from my shoulder, she squinted up at me. “Liam?”
“Right here.” I soothed her.
Both her arms went around me, her face pressing into my shirt.
“We’ll talk tomorrow,” Alex said from the foot of the bed.
I started to nod, but Bellamy pulled back. “Alex?”
“Yeah?”
“Stay.”
Alex ducked his head, making a sound as he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. “Liam’s my boy…” He began. “But, ah, we ain’t that close.”
Bellamy made a sound, looking at me, then toward the doorway. “I meant on the couch.”
Alex straightened and made a sound like he was relieved. “For a minute there, I thought you was suggesting some kinda brother husbands or some shit like they play on TV.”
Bellamy giggled. A real giggle. My stomach clenched, and I found myself wondering when the last time was I heard that sound.
Fuck. I was fucking this up. I wasn’t taking care of her the way I should.
“What’s a brother husband?” she asked, still clutching the back of my neck.
“I’m just thankful you don’t know,” Alex replied solemnly.
“Get the fuck out of my bedroom, man,” I said, amused.
“Wait!” Bellamy exclaimed and then patted me on the back of the shoulder. I glanced down at her. “I need off the bed.”
I suppressed a smile. “Allow me.”
Once I put her on her feet, Bellamy tangled her fingers in mine and tugged me across the room toward the closet with her. Alex watched from the doorway, and Charlie trotted along behind her like a loyal servant.
Pretty sure he wasn’t my dog anymore. He was hers.
Not letting go of my hand, Bellamy pointed up to the pile of folded blankets and extra pillow on the shelf in the closet. I lifted them down, and she tugged me along back to Alex.
“Here,” she said, gesturing to them. “Safety in numbers, right?”
Wait a minute. Was she asking Alex to stay because she felt safe around him?
“Do you think he can protect you better than me?” I burst out, surly and confrontational.
What. The. Fuck?
Bellamy jolted and looked at me, her eyes wide. Her half-dry hair was rumpled, and the scrunchie I’d tied in it earlier was lost somewhere in the bed.
“Of course not!” She gasped. Yanking her hand out of mine, she planted her fists on her hips. “I don’t want Alex out this late and going home by himself! Spidey probably saw him tonight.” Her lower lip wobbled.
I wished she would quit with that shit. It made me feel like a frozen piece of glass about to crack.
With a soft sound, I pulled her into me, cradling the back of her head with my palm.
She sniffled and glanced at my best friend. “What if he goes after you next?”
Alex’s shoulders moved beneath his shirt, a surprised look flitting over his face. “You’re worried about me?”
“Duh!”
“I guess I could stay,” he replied gruffly.
Could it be? Was the impervious bunny chaser actually getting a little soft toward a woman?
I felt my eyes narrow.
“But don’t be getting no ideas,” Alex told Bellamy. “Just because you have this guy wrapped”—he pointed at me—“doesn’t mean I’ll just do whatever you tell me.”
Bells went forward and hugged him.
He looked at me over her head, the whites of his eyes growing. I grinned.
With one arm, he awkwardly hugged her back and cleared his throat.
“I didn’t say it before, but thank you for tonight.” Bellamy pulled away. “You might have saved my life tonight.”
“Shiiit,” Alex drawled. “I saw you with that knife. You had that shit handled.”
Bellamy smiled, but it fell quickly. “I was going to stab him in the foot and run for a window.”
My hand balled into a fist at my side.
Alex didn’t seem
nearly as affected by that plan as I was. He angled his body toward her and spoke with confidence. “Hey. You had a plan. That’s the number one step of surviving. Thinking. Planning. Fighting.”
I didn’t want that for her. I didn’t want her to have to fight every single day just to live.
That’s what your dad is doing, too. My subconscious reminded me.
“I’m tired of fighting,” Bellamy whispered, bringing me back.
“Even the best warriors get tired sometimes,” Alex whispered.
“Okay,” I said, shooting forward and wrapping an arm around my girl. “This bonding time is cute and all, but it’s over.” I needed her. Just her. Alone.
Alex guffawed. “Jelly.”
“I am not,” I declared through gritted teeth.
Alex turned and sauntered down the hall. “You better kiss your boy, Bellamy. He’s jealous as hell.”
“Don’t be here when I get up in the morning!” I yelled.
“I’m making breakfast for all of us!” Bellamy yelled right after.
I swung around and glared at her accusingly.
“Shut the door, Liam,” she murmured. “I want to be alone with you.”
I guess I was wrapped, just as Alex said.
Know why?
‘Cause I did what she asked and reached for her.
Bellamy
In Liam’s arms was the easiest place to be.
It didn’t require work or thought. There was never a second of hesitation when it came to his touch or asking for it. The way I felt for him went beyond want. Beyond need even. He was as essential to me as the sun to a flower, nectar to a bee, the winter’s air on a snowy night.
Pressing my nose into his shirt, I inhaled deeply, taking in the fresh scent of snow and pine. If home had a scent, it would be him.
Sure, there’d been a couple jokes a few minutes ago. Alex seemed to be the king of diffusing a tense situation, but it didn’t erase the nightmare or the feelings of helplessness it stirred in me.
I hated feeling helpless. Being scared. I was growing so very weary of it. Now more than ever, I wanted to be strong.
Reluctantly, I pulled back from Liam just enough to gaze up into his face. I loved his face. The unruly scruff on his jaw, the way his eyes reflected his moods, and how his hair never behaved. “I trust you more than anyone else. Hell, even more than myself. If I ever had to choose, it wouldn’t even be a choice. It’s you, Liam. Only you.”
His eyes shone against the backdrop of darkness in our bedroom, silver stars lighting up the night. He didn’t say anything, but his body shifted even closer to mine, settling against me in all the right places. His large hand came up, palming the side of my head. How small I felt with him like this, how utterly protected.
I swallowed, still consuming every detail of his face. That dream felt too real, his death too devastating. “I couldn’t get back here fast enough tonight. I was so afraid you beat us here and that you’d be caught off guard… that I would lose you all over again.”
He made a sound I didn’t hear, but I felt it. All the way down to my core. My feet tilted against the floor, going sideways a little as my toes curled under.
The gruffness in his tone, the deep timbre of his words, made me feel like a guitar, and he was striking all the right chords. “Oh, baby. You will never, ever lose me.”
My fingers encircled his wrist right beside where he palmed my head. I sank forward slowly, resting my forehead against his shoulder. “I didn’t mean to upset you by asking Alex to stay.”
“Ah, sweetheart, you didn’t upset me.”
“I had a bad dream.”
His free hand rubbed up my back. “I know.”
“Make it go away, Liam.”
With our bodies still pressed close, Liam guided me toward the bed with an unhurried pace that made my blood bubble with impatience. The need inside me rose swiftly, catching my limbs on fire and tingling my fingers and toes. It felt as if there was always so much death chasing us, and the only way to escape it was by coming alive beneath his touch.
My legs hit the side of the bed. Liam steadied me, keeping me close. The softness of his lips brushed over mine once, then twice. He lifted his mouth just long enough for me to make a sound so he’d come back. The roughness of his facial hair was a direct contrast to the silkiness of his tongue. The kiss was languid and heavy, chasing away all thought and replacing it with hazy reality that had the power to make a girl drunk.
My lips were wet and slick when he untangled our tongues and drew away. Encircling my waist, Liam lifted me off my feet and set me on the bed, using his body as a guide to push me back until I was sitting in the center of the mattress.
Fingertips dragged down my bare leg when he withdrew, returning to his feet and reaching for the loosened tie around his neck. It was rare to see him dressed so formally, and while I noted how imposing he was in a tie, I couldn’t even put forth the small effort it would take to admire him this way because the fact that he was undressing totally stole the show.
The silky tie slid from his body, falling somewhere I couldn’t see. His eyes caught mine and flashed when his fingers reached for the buttons of his dress shirt and moved down until the fabric fell open to reveal the solid contours of his body.
Teeth sinking into my lower lip, I leaned forward, reaching out to skim a hand over the exposed skin. He leaned just out of reach and smiled.
Liam abandoned the shirt and reached for his belt, soon having his pants completely open. The solid length pressing against the tight fabric of his boxer briefs was a dead giveaway that his little game wasn’t just turning me on.
The belt made a soft jingling sound when he peeled the fabric over his muscular legs.
“Liam,” I beckoned, enjoying the show but craving his skin on mine.
He smirked and rubbed himself through the fabric of his boxers. The way his ab muscles rippled as he touched himself had me lifting up to my knees. Grasping the hem of the T-shirt I wore, I slowly pulled it up, exposing inch after inch of my thighs.
Liam’s eyes flickered, and the hand over his cock rubbed a little harder.
I peeled the shirt up, bunching it so it was just beneath my breasts, revealing my waist and the lacy undies I had on.
With a sound, he reached for me, but I pulled back and gave him the same smile he’d given me.
“Is that the way it is?” he murmured.
“You show me yours, I’ll show you mine.” I confirmed.
In one swift movement, his shirt fell to the floor behind him. My stomach fluttered a little just looking at him, just knowing he was mine.
Liam gestured to himself and then lifted a brow.
I took off the shirt and tossed it at him, the fabric hitting him right in the face, obstructing his view. He yanked it down and chucked it over his shoulder.
We froze there like that, both barely wearing anything, chests rising and falling, deeply engaged in a contest of who could last the longest just looking, no touching.
The electricity in the air hummed, vibrating my body and causing a fever to burn my skin. Without losing eye contact, Liam shucked the boxers, revealing his thick cock, which caused the air to turn static.
He moved first. The mattress dipped under his knees, and I reached for him to steady myself. We ended up both on our knees, chest to chest, with his hot palms griping my hips.
As we kissed, Liam’s hands traveled up so his thumbs could draw lazy circles around my erect nipples, making them pucker so forcefully that pain/pleasure shot all the way down into the center of my panties.
His movements were so swift and graceful I didn’t even know he moved until I felt the cool sheets at my back and his warm skin covering mine. I moaned softly, arching into him and rubbing my body against his.
Liam’s lips latched onto the inside of my neck to suck and lick until my hips started to grind against him. He straddled my hips and rose up, grabbed my hand, and pressed a barely-there kiss to the finger I’d sliced op
en.
My heart skipped, and I wrapped a fist around his arousal. Both his hands settled over my breasts, and we stroked and touched one another until I started tugging at his hips. Liam settled between my legs, rocking against me as his tongue fucked my mouth.
I moaned, whispered his name, and spread my legs just a little bit wider.
Liam kissed down my body, slipped the panties off, and dragged two fingers up my drenched center. He said something under his breath, but I couldn’t understand. Then he swirled his fingers in the silky heat again.
I shuddered, and he came over me, reaching out for the nightstand.
“Liam, no.”
He paused and looked down.
“You want me to stop?” he asked, already moving off me.
I grabbed him, the loss of contact making me ache. “The fact that you would stop right now, knowing you want this as bad…” I murmured.
He kissed my forehead. “I’d do anything for you.”
“Would you make love to me without a condom?”
His eyes flared with wild hunger. It was almost predatory.
I shivered and pressed closer.
“You’ve been through a lot, baby. I’m not sure you know what you want.”
“I want everything,” I whispered.
Liam entered my body without hesitation. The feel of his throbbing, thick hardness made me cry out. He covered my mouth with his and began moving with a pace that literally made it impossible to breathe.
Sensation after sensation rolled through me, making my body go boneless against the bed. My chest started to squeeze, but I didn’t notice until Liam paused deep inside me.
“Breathe, sweetheart.”
I gulped in air, and my lungs relaxed.
A low moan vibrated his throat, and his arm muscles contracted as he lowered so we were chest to chest. “You feel incredible,” he whispered in my ear.
I turned my face and kissed his cheek and then the underside of his jaw as he rose up to hammer into me all over again.
The orgasm hit me hard and fast. I clutched at his shoulders, pulling myself up against him as he shuddered and shoved deep.
“Bells…” His voice was strained, warning me he couldn’t hold back.
Blizzard (BearPaw Resort #2) Page 19
