Beneath This Man (This Man Trilogy)

by Jodi Ellen Malpas

  I’m squeezed against him. ‘My keys are in my back pocket.’

  Kate’s hand brushes over my jeans as she negotiates the keys out of Jesse’s pocket, and I smile on the inside at my fiery friend living up to her reputation. My eyes open and catch Kate’s.

  ‘Oh, Ava.’ She shakes her head and bleeps Jesse’s car open.

  Jesse turns back towards The Manor. ‘Everyone needs to fuck off back inside.’ He doesn’t want anyone to see me. I hear the crunching of gravel under footsteps as Jesse waits with me in his arms, ensuring everyone has gone before he releases me from his body. ‘Ava, I’m going to ease you down, you need to turn onto your side and face the driver’s seat. Can you do that?’ he asks softy. I loosen my grip of his neck to show my willingness and be begins slowly lowering me down into the car. ‘Don’t lean back.’

  I shift slowly on the soft leather until my shoulder is resting against the seat and I’m facing the driver’s side. Fucking hell, it hurts. He then lays a light sheet over me before shutting the door softly without even attempting to get the seatbelt over me. My head falls against the seat and my eyes close of their own accord. In no time at all, the driver door shuts and Jesse’s scent invades my nose. I open my eyes and adjust my vision until I’m confronted with green, pitiful eyes. I feel pitiful. I’m a hopeless, pathetic waif of a woman who has caused all of this chaos, pain and aching because I was trying to prove a point – a point I pray to God I’ve made successfully because if I’ve put myself through all of this, put Jesse through this and he still doesn’t get it, then it’s finished. Over. We can’t do this to each other. The thought makes my heart rate slow.

  He reaches over and brushes my cheek with his knuckles. ‘Stop.’ he orders, wiping another tear away, but I’m not crying with pain anymore. I’m crying in desperation.

  He turns the engine over and drives slowly down the driveway, the rushed roar and madcap driving skills that I’ve fast become accustomed to, sidelined for a sensible purr of the DBS’s engine. He takes corners carefully, accelerates and brakes gently and flicks his eyes to me at regular intervals. I’m beltless, half naked and displaying angry wounds all over my back. If the police stopped us, it would take some interesting explaining.

  I remain still and stare blankly at the profile of my handsome, troubled man and wonder whether I could be classed as troubled now too. My sanity is certainly questionable, but I’m sane enough to admit that. I was a normal, sound-minded girl. I definitely don’t qualify for that anymore.

  The silence of the journey home is filled only by the humming of the car and the background sound of Snow Patrol’s Run.

  Jesse pulls up to Lusso and makes his way around to my side of the car, helping me out while trying to keep me covered. ‘God only knows what Clive is going to think.’ he mutters as he lifts me back onto his chest. I suddenly feel panicky. ‘Ava, unless you let me drape this sheet over your back, there is nothing I can do.’ He sandwiches the sheet between our chests and does his best to hold it out to the side, shielding me from one angle before walking into the foyer.

  ‘Mr Ward?’ Clive sounds perplexed. The poor man has seen me drunk and carried; defiant and carried; sick and carried; tired and carried. It must be clear that I am none of the above.

  ‘I’ve got it, Clive.’ Jesse tries his best to sound unaffected, but I’m not sure he pulls it off. We get into the elevator and the surrounding mirrors bounce our reflection off in every direction. Everywhere I look, I can see Jesse’s disturbed face and my fragile body wrapped around him. I close my eyes and let my head go heavy on his shoulder, feeling the motions of his long, easy strides as he carries me from the elevator, through the penthouse and to the master-suite.

  ‘Easy.’ He lowers me to the bed on my front.

  My arms slide under the pillow and I sink my head into the softness, taking a small comforting inhale of Jesse’s scent. I feel my jeans being pulled from my legs and a few moments later, Jesse is lying next to me, mirroring my position. He keeps one hand free and reaches over to smooth his palm over my cheek, no doubt getting the contact he always needs. It’s all he can do. There will be no flipping me onto my back or thrusting me up against the wall anytime soon.

  We lay forever, just gazing across at each other. It’s comfortable. No words need to be said. I let him caress my face and I fight my eyes heaviness for a short while before he runs his thumbs over my lids and they don’t re-open.

  Chapter 32

  I know if I stretch, I’ll yelp really loud. The overwhelming need to spread myself out is playing havoc with my natural instinct to remain still and curtail the aching and stinging. All of the previous day’s events come crashing into my head before my eyes open – all of the hideousness, all of the sounds of whips, the flashes of pain, the anguish and torment. It has all just landed with a spectacular wallop followed by a little greeting courtesy, right in my morning brain.

  My eyes open and I spy Jesse sound asleep and in the same position as I last remember him being. His hand is resting on my cheek, his face close to mine, his lips parted and breathing steady, peaceful breaths into my face. He looks so serene, his long lashes fanning his face, his hair its usual morning disheveled mop of dirty blonde. He has his morning stubble and his untroubled, handsome face close to mine brings a small smile to me. Past all of his annoying, challenging ways is a deeply messed up man, who drinks, fucks and has had himself whipped to punish himself. I’m a huge contributing factor to his sorry state, but if it’s as he says and he punished himself because he thinks he deserves it, that everything happening is because of his past, then I may as well lock myself up in a glass case for the rest of my life.

  I watch as his eyelids flicker and slowly open, blinking a few times before he focuses in on me. I can see from the ticking of his minds cogs that his pre-awake brain is being flooded with information and reminders that will bring him back up to speed with where we are and why. It takes a few silent moments, but he eventually sighs and inches himself closer to me until we are nose to nose, him on his side and me still on my front. I don’t feel close enough. I pull my arms from under the pillow and shift myself on a few winces until I’m on my side reflecting him. His hand rests on my hip to steady me and he moves closer still, his body pressed to the front of mine, our noses touching again.

  ‘It is possible.’ I whisper through the incredible dryness of my throat. ‘To understand how you feel about me, it is possible.’

  ‘You did this to yourself to prove you love me?’

  ‘No, you know I love you. I did it to show you what it feels like.’

  His brow furrows deeply. ‘I don’t understand. I know what it feels like to be whipped.’

  ‘I don’t mean that. I mean the agony of seeing the man I love hurting himself.’ I bring my hand up and stroke his stubble, and I see him begin to grasp my point. ‘Nothing will ever hurt me as much as seeing you doing that to yourself. That will kill me, nothing else. If you punish yourself again, then I will too.’ My voice is slightly shaky just at the thought of ever having to face another day like yesterday. I’ve just threatened him and if he loves me like he claims he does, then my request should be a very easy one for him to fulfil.

  His eyes dart around a bit and he chews his lip as he starts shaking his head ever so faintly. His eyes fall back onto mine. ‘You love me.’

  ‘I need you. I need you strong and healthy. I need you to understand how much I love you. I need you to know that I can’t be without you either. I would die before losing you too.’

  He shakes his head. ‘I don’t deserve you, Ava. Not after the life I’ve lived. I’ve never had anything I’ve valued or wanted to protect. Now I have, and it’s a bizarre mixture of total happiness and complete fucking fear.’ His eyes scan every inch of my face. ‘I filled an empty existence with drink and women. I’ve never cared. I’ve hurt the most precious thing in my life and I can’t cope with that.’

  ‘I’ve made you like this.’

  His frown line slips
onto his forehead, but he doesn’t argue with my statement. I have made him like this. ‘I crave control with you, Ava. I can’t help it. I really can’t.’

  ‘I know.’ I sigh, ‘I know you can’t.’ I move into his chest and soak up his heat. For once, I feel like I completely understand him. He’s had an irrepressible existence – a life of not caring, of unfeeling and complete disorder. He doesn’t know what to do with all of this new found emotion.

  ‘You’re hurting because of me.’ he says into my hair.

  ‘And you are because of me.’ I affirm, harshly. ‘We deal with the past. As long as I have you, the strong you, then we deal with it. It’s not your history that is hurting me. It’s you. The things you are doing now.’ I’m aware of my mind pointing out that I’ve been struggling to deal with Jesse’s past, but that is just raging jealously, not heart splintering pain. I have to learn to deal with it.

  I’m pulled from his chest. His eyes are glazed, his chin trembling. ‘You’re crazy mad.’ he says softly, pushing his lips to mine ‘Crazy, crazy mad.’

  I welcome his soft lips onto mine. It’s about the only part of me I can move without pain slicing me. ‘I’m crazy in love with you. Please don’t do that to yourself again. My back hurts.’

  He pulls back on a mild scowl. ‘I’m still furious with you.’

  ‘I’m not very happy with you either.’ I retort quietly.

  ‘I can’t touch you.’ he grumbles, kissing me again, all over my face.

  ‘I know. How’s your back?’

  He scoffs and continues covering my face with his lips. ‘I’m fine. I’m just pissed at you. We need to get you moving or you’ll cease up.’

  ‘I’m happy to cease up.’ I argue. I’m happy to lay here and have him kiss me from head to toe.

  ‘Not a chance, lady. You need a lavender bath and some cream on your back. I can’t believe out of all of my members, you picked the most unstable one.’

  ‘I did?’ I ask. I wasn’t to know. I just handed the whip to the first man who would take it.

  ‘You did.’ He drags his mouth away from my face and narrows displeased eyes on me. ‘John and I were due to have a meeting today to discuss revoking his membership. We’ve been monitoring him for a while. His behaviour has become a little erratic lately and while some of the women welcome the rough side of his sexual exploits, others not so much. He makes some women uncomfortable and that’s a problem.’ A look of regret washes over his face, and I know he’s thinking that he should have kicked Steve out sooner. ‘He hadn’t done anything to warrant us getting rid of him until last night.’

  ‘I asked him.’ I try and ease Jesse’s guilt. I don’t want a repeat of all this.

  ‘There are rules, Ava.’ He kisses me, biting my bottom lip lightly. ‘Did he give you an out?’

  ‘No.’ I realise how stupid I was now.

  ‘The list of his offenses goes on and on. He’s broken a lot of rules. He’s got to go.’

  ‘I don’t remember him. He wasn’t at the anniversary party.’ I would have remembered that cocky face.

  ‘No, he was on duty.’

  ‘Duty?’

  Jesse smiles. It’s a welcome sight. ‘He’s a cop.’

  I cough, and then wince. ‘What?’

  ‘He’s a copper.’ His eyebrows rise in a yes-you-heard-me-right gesture.

  Steve’s a policeman? ‘You threatened to kill a cop?’

  ‘I was crazy mad.’ He pushes my hair from my face and gazes at me thoughtfully. ‘I’ve been thinking.’

  I don’t like the sound of that. He doesn’t look like he does either. ‘What about?’

  ‘Well, about a lot of things. But the first thing is that I need to talk to Patrick about Van Der Haus.’

  I knew I wasn’t going to like what he said, but I can’t see any way around this. Mikael is probably the equivalent of Patrick’s retirement fund, and I know he’s going to probably pass out with shock when I tell him that I can’t work with Mikael anymore. I really can’t, and I’ve not even told Jesse about the text message. But he has just confirmed that he thinks it was Mikael in that footage too.

  Oh God. ‘It’s Monday!’ I blurt, shifting a little in an attempt to get myself up.

  His hands swiftly press into my shoulders, pushing me back down. ‘Do you honestly think I’m letting you go anywhere?’ He shakes his head. ‘Listen, that’s not the only thing I’ve been thinking about.’ He commences chomp on his lip.

  Oh no. What is he thinking about? ‘What?’ I ask quietly. He’s not even elaborated on his thoughts of Mikael, although I know exactly where he’s going with it.

  He pushes himself in closer to me. ‘I can’t ever be without you.’

  ‘I know that.’

  ‘But it’s not because I’m worried about reverting back to my old ways. I love you because you give me purpose. You’ve filled a massive hole with your beautiful face and your spirit, and while I might be making your life a little more difficult with my challenging ways…’ He raises a sarcastic eyebrow. ‘I want to throw that right back at you.’

  I laugh hard and wince immediately afterwards, but Jesse doesn’t join me in my hysterics. His lips purse and his grip increases on my hip. ‘I am not challenging, Jesse Ward.’ His eyebrows jump higher. He obviously disagrees, but I slap my hand over his mouth to halt his counter attack. ‘You just said that I’ve filled a massive hole with my spirit…’

  ‘And your beautiful face.’ he mumbles into my hand.

  I roll my eyes. ‘Part of that spirit is my incessant need to challenge your challenging ways. You’ll never get rid of that tiny part of me that rebels against you and you wouldn’t want to. That’s what makes me different from all the women of The Manor, who’ve licked your boots for far too long,’ It’s me who raises a sarcastic eyebrow now, and his eyes narrow slightly in return. I’m delivering these words to a man who is so incredibly thick skinned and unreasonable, I wouldn’t be surprised if he laughed in my face, but I continue anyway. ‘I’ve given myself to you completely. Every part of me is yours. No one will ever take me away from you. Not ever. And I know part of your issue is keeping me as far away from what the other women in your life represent.’

  ‘There have been no other women in my life!’ he argues through my hand.

  I push it harder to his lips. ‘But I need to know something.’

  His eyebrows rise. He can’t answer because my hand is too tight on his lips.

  ‘You want to keep me as far away from the women of The Manor, but what about the sex?’ I can feel him grinning against my palm. He finds this a funny question? I take my hand away from his mouth. Yes, he’s grinning that roguish grin. It’s a lovely sight, even if I’m not happy about his amusement at my question. He goes out of his way to dress me suitably, according to him, makes me wear lace – that request is suddenly very obvious – and he doesn’t want me to drink.

  Oh God!

  The reason for that has just landed with an enormous smack in my brain. ‘You don’t like me drinking because you think I’m going to do what you used to do when you were drunk. You think I’m going to want to fuck everything in sight!’ I practically screech the words at him and his grin soon disappears. I’ve not even given him a chance to answer my previous question and I’m lobbing him another. Well not a question; more of a conclusion.

  ‘Will you stop fucking swearing?’ He rolls onto his back, without so much as a hiss or spit of pain.

  Oh no. I scramble up, ignoring my own pain, and straddle him. ‘It is, isn’t it? That’s the reason.’

  I watch as he absorbs my words. He can’t possibly argue with it, I know I’ve got him here. He takes a deep breath and opens his mouth to talk, but nothing comes out. He takes another but still, nothing comes out. He does this three times before he eventually speaks. ‘It’s not just that, Ava. You’re vulnerable when you’re drunk.’

  ‘But it is part of the reason, isn’t it?’ I know the other part is men assuming I’m fair game. He alre
ady admitted that.

  ‘Yes, I guess so.’ he admits.

  ‘Okay, what about the sex?’ This I really need to know. He wants to make me the opposite of all things Manor-ish, yet he fucks me stupid.

  The grin is back. ‘I already told you this. I can’t get close enough to you.’

  ‘Sleepy sex achieves that.’ I scoff. I’m not going to push this too far. I love dominant Jesse.

  ‘Yes, it does, but we have an incredible chemistry. I’ve never felt it before.’

  My heart gallops in my chest and for the first time in nearly a day, it’s with happiness. He’s never felt it before? But he’s slept with dozens of women, or is it hundreds? My smile disappears instantly. ‘What feelings?’

  His hands rest on my thighs. ‘It’s pure bliss, baby. Total gratification. Absolute, complete earth shifting, universe shaking love.’

  My smiles back. ‘Yeah?’

  ‘Oh yeah. Complete heaven.’

  I fall forward onto his chest. ‘Ouch!’

  ‘Careful,’ He pushes me back up. ‘Does it hurt bad?’ A flash of anger flies through his eyes as he waits for my answer, and I pray that John has sent Steve packing before Jesse gets hold of him. I still can’t believe he’s a Policeman.

  ‘It’s fine.’ I shift. ‘What am I going to do about work?’ I ask. Where has this weekend gone? I inwardly laugh. It’s gone on lavish shopping trips, lavish food, lavish jewellery, lavish lace dresses, a lavish party, a peculiar marriage proposal, lots of incredible sex, date rape, whippings…I groan. It’s been one hell of a weekend.

  ‘Unravel your knickers. I’ve spoken to Patrick.’ Jesse sits up and shifts us to the edge of the bed.

  He has? ‘Is there anyone in my life who you haven’t trampled?’ I ask dryly.

  He stands and places me on my feet, his wonderful nakedness right in front of me. ‘Don’t be cheeky.’ He warns with total seriousness. ‘There are no whip marks on your arse, lady. Anyway, why does our home look like it’s been ransacked by burglars?’