Building Faith (Long Beach Series Book 2)

by Dani Matthews

  “I'm glad you like it.”

  “I don't like it. I fucking love it.” I hear the tearing sound of a wrapper. My body instantly perks up at what will happen next. I expect him to ease himself between my legs, but instead, I feel his finger brushing my sensitive nub that's still overly swollen.

  I gasp, because his touch is almost painful. Ace's fingers are gentle as he rubs it, easing the pain and bringing pleasure instead. I try to move my hips in time to his touch as I feel that familiar feverish desperation rising again.

  “That's it. You want more, right?” he asks, and I can hear the grin in his voice.

  I nod, incapable of speaking. The pressure of his finger shifts as he presses harder in little circles, and I find myself yanking on the restraints with a need that should be frightening, but it's not. This is Ace. He's bringing me to heights I've never experienced before.

  “I'm going to...I'm so close!” My head thrashes on the pillow.

  “Not yet you’re not,” he says as his hand leaves my flesh.

  Wait—what? No... I was so close. I make a distressed sound until I feel his smooth chest press against mine and the thick head of his erection pressing against my folds. He smoothly eases into my moist center, and we both groan once he's fully inside me. Ace's chest shudders, and I love being able to feel every single inch of him.

  “Take off the blindfold,” I tell him.

  The blindfold is gently eased off my head, and I blink a couple times as I grow accustomed to the brightness of the room. Ace's face slowly comes into focus as he watches me, his body not moving. My eyes connect with his, and I smile. “That's better.”

  His eyes darken as he nods. “I want to see you come.” He almost pulls out of me, then he slides back in, his eyes focused on mine as he begins to set a rhythm that has me meeting each thrust with the arch of my hips. I was already close to shattering a few minutes ago, so it's no surprise when I can feel it building quickly.

  I jerk on the restraints, writhing beneath him as I meet each thrust. I'm so close... “More!” I demand.

  His eyes stare into mine as he thrusts into me with a determination that glints in his eyes. “Come, Faith.”

  All it takes is those two words, and I'm exploding. My lips part, and I can't hold back my cries of pleasure. Ace quickly covers my mouth with his as the tempo of his hips quickens even more. He's breathing harshly against me, and as I slowly begin to grow limp with satisfaction, his lips leave mine. I watch as his eyes grow heavy-lidded, his breath catching as he thrusts hard. Not once does he look away as he loses himself in my body.

  When he goes over the edge, I watch as his eyes darken into an intense gray, then they seem to glaze over slightly as he lets out a low, muffled shout of release. After his last thrust, he stills against me for a moment. The only sound in the room is our ragged breathing.

  Our chests are damp where they've been crushed together, and Ace carefully eases down slightly until he can rest his head on my breasts. He's still supporting most of his weight, but I love the feel of him wanting to be close to me. His head rises and falls with my every breath, and I can see his back moving as he tries to calm his breathing. “Holy fuck,” he manages to mutter.

  I smile, unable to see his expression. “So you liked it?” I tease, already knowing the answer.

  He chuckles against me. “That was off the charts. What about you?”

  “Most definitely,” I tell him.

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Ace

  I wake abruptly a few nights later, and the haze of sleep fades as I try to figure out what pulled me out of my sleep. Faith's bedroom is still dark, and I turn my head and peer at the clock, seeing that's it's only a little past midnight. We'd only fallen asleep about an hour ago. I make a move to draw Faith closer to my body when I hear her whimper.

  Fuck.

  These nightmares she's having bother me more than she'll ever know. I wish I was enough to keep them at bay. I'm not sure what's suddenly brought them on, but I have a feeling she's keeping something from me. She keeps brushing it off when I bring it up, and I haven't reached the point where I want to force the topic.

  “No...” Faith moans in her sleep, her body restless now as she twitches slightly, her hands pushing out in jerky movements as if trying to fend someone off.

  I realize that this is more than her usual nightmare and quickly slide closer. She's on her side with her back to me. I press my body against hers, my arms wrapping around her securely. “It's okay,” I try to soothe.

  Unfortunately, the second I try to embrace her, she screams like she's being murdered while fighting to escape me. Son of a bitch! I'd just wrapped my arms around her from behind while she's in the throes of a nightmare. She'd admitted to me a while back that she doesn't like being pinned, at least not from behind.

  I curse and quickly burst into action, trying to gently pull her onto her back so she doesn't fling herself off the side of the bed. She's sobbing now, and her fists are flailing. Christ, how the hell do I get her to wake up? I straddle her hips and pin her wrists on either side of her head, careful not to hurt her. Her head is tossing from side to side, and even in the moonlight, I can see the tears that stream down her cheeks. “Faith! Wake up!”

  Her eyes open, but she stares up at me blankly, not even a hint of comprehension or lucidity in her gaze as she begs me to stop. I know it's not me, it's Justin she sees in her mind, but it fucking hurts like a knife to my gut.

  I'm afraid to let go of her wrists since she's struggling violently now, her small hips thrashing beneath mine while her legs kick at the mattress. “Faith,” I grit out desperately.

  The room suddenly brightens, causing me to wince and blink a couple times. What the—I'm yanked off Faith before I can even comprehend what's happening. A fist slams into my jaw, and I'm falling off the bed before I can stop my momentum.

  I sit there on the carpet—jaw throbbing and buck ass naked as the situation begins to unfold before my eyes. Faith is sobbing now, and my heart stutters in my chest when I see Caleb sitting on the bed with her in his arms. He's bare chested with only a pair of jeans on, and he's murmuring softly to her. I can no longer see her face since Caleb's back is in the way.

  There's a part of me that knows I'm thoroughly fucked where Caleb is concerned, but all I care about is Faith. I scramble to my feet and before I can walk towards the bed, Zoey—who is wearing nothing except for one of Caleb's shirts--is suddenly in my way.

  Her hand presses firmly against my chest while her other hand holds out my jeans. “Don't,” she says softly with plaintive eyes as she urges me to listen to her.

  I glare at her. “Get out of my way.”

  “He hit you once, he'll do it again. It looked real bad when we rushed in here, you realize that, don't you?”

  It dawns on me exactly how bad it had likely looked when they'd burst in here. I was pinning Faith to the mattress while she was begging me to stop. I'm still naked...and so is she. I stare down at Zoey with disbelief. “You can't possibly think that I'd...that I'd...” I can't say it. Just the thought of forcing myself on Faith has me feeling ill.

  Zoey shoves the jeans into my chest, her eyes softening. “We know. But it still looks bad. We were just going to bed when we heard Faith scream. It's not what we were expecting when we rushed in here.”

  I glance down at the jeans, not the least bit bothered by my nudity. However, it would probably be wise to put something on. I grab the jeans out of her hand and quickly yank them on and over my hips, leaving the top button undone.

  I run a hand through my hair and glance back at Faith. Caleb is still with her, and I can see her small hands clutching at his sides as he talks quietly. I can't make out what he's saying, but I can tell she's finally coming back to reality.

  Zoey touches my arm, drawing my attention back to her. Her eyes are sad as she says, “I know it's the last thing you want to do, but you have to walk away tonight. Caleb's usually pretty level-headed, but he's already hi
t you once, and I have a feeling he'll come at you again if you stay. The best thing you can do for Faith right now is to go back to your place.” She grimaces and adds, “I'm betting someone called the police. That scream was loud enough to wake the dead. The last thing the police need to witness is you and Caleb fighting.”

  I know she's right, but it's impossible to walk away from Faith. She needs me. I shake my head. “I'm staying.”

  Her expression hardens. “Put Faith first, Ace. This situation will be harder on her if you stay. You know that. I'm sure she'll be looking for you in a bit, but for now, let Caleb handle it.” She pushes on my bicep, trying to shove me out the door.

  I'm solid muscle, so my feet don't move an inch as I glare at her and brush her hand away. “Zoey, knock it off.”

  “You knock it off, you stubborn ass!” she hisses at me, her brown eyes flashing with temper. “If you care about either of them, you'll leave before you make it worse. Stop putting your feelings first and think of hers. You really think she wants to see you two beating each other to bloody pulps? That's exactly what's going to happen if you stay,” she insists. “Caleb took you by surprise, but I know you sure as hell are going to hit him back if he plants one on you again. Ace...think logically for a second. Please.”

  She's right. As much as I want to be the one holding Faith, it'll only make the situation worse. Caleb's not likely to give her up, and Faith is in no condition to have to witness more drama. I shoot Zoey a look and then silently turn and stalk out of the room. I make my way down the hall and out of Faith's apartment, noting that an apartment door is cracked open down the hall and someone's peeking out. Zoey's right, the police are more likely on their way.

  Thankfully, my apartment door is still unlocked, and I step inside and shut the door. After flipping on the living room light, I drop down on the sofa. Tonight went to shit in the blink of an eye. I let lose a long string of curses as I drop my head back against the sofa and look up at the ceiling with frustration. Can't things just settle down for longer than a week at a time so Faith and I can actually enjoy what we're building? It's been one damned thing after another. We just got past the hurdle of my issues, and now we've got to deal with Caleb. Not to mention we have her nightmares to sort out as well. I'm sure as fuck not dodging that topic anymore. As far as I've been able to tell, Faith has been doing fine where her past has been concerned. Then a week ago, she starts having nightmares almost nightly. Something had to have triggered them, and I need to know if it was something I did. Was it that night we'd played with that restraint kit? No, it couldn't have been because she'd been having nightmares before that night. We also haven't messed with restraints since. I had meant it when I told her I didn't want our relationship to be all about that. I want it to be more. There's no doubt she liked it, but the sex we've been having lately has been exciting enough for me to want to continue exploring it with her. I have yet to take her against a wall or take her while she sits on the bathroom counter top, but that will come with time. If Zoey blabbed about any details from when we hooked up, the last thing I want to do is have sex with Faith against a wall where she might feel like she's being compared. I'm being careful to make sure that we do things that will make her feel comfortable, and so far we both seem to love the position of me being behind her.

  Realizing my mind is wandering, I shake off my thoughts on sex and try to concentrate on what had just gone down in Faith's bedroom.

  It's going to be a shit week for sure.

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Faith

  One second I'm caught up in the memory of Justin attacking me with the knife, and then within the next, I am realizing that I'm naked and pressed against my cousin's chest. His bare chest. Eww! “Lemme go,” I grumble as I try to push away from him.

  Caleb's arms tighten around me. “Not until I know you're fully awake.”

  “This is so gross,” I moan as I struggle for the sheet around my hips.

  “Yeah, you're awake,” I hear him say as he lets me go.

  I jerk the sheet up to cover my breasts as I look around with complete and utter bewilderment. Caleb is sitting on my bed in front of me in just a pair of jeans while Zoey stands there in nothing but a man's shirt. She's peering at me worriedly, her expression tense but also mixed with resignation.

  “What...what are you doing here?” I ask as I look around for Ace. Ace. Oh no! My eyes dart around the room, and I see it's empty.

  Zoey clears her throat. “I urged him to go back to his place.”

  Caleb tenses before me, then he reaches out and touches my tear stained cheek, his eyes searching. “This was from a nightmare, right? Ace wasn't doing something he shouldn't be, was he?” he asks in a carefully controlled tone.

  It sinks in what he's asking, and my eyes widen with shock. “He would never do anything like that.”

  There's a loud pounding sound from my apartment door and the muffled sound of someone calling out, “Police! Open up!”

  My mouth falls open. “The police are here?”

  “I'll go let them in,” Zoey says as she darts out of the room.

  I look back at Caleb with amazement. “You called the police?”

  He shakes his head. “No, one of the neighbors must have. Your scream was loud as shit.”

  The police are here. Oh my God. I quickly scramble off the bed, yanking the sheet around me so that I can get the robe that's hanging behind my door. I just manage to pull it around me and cinch the waist when Zoey comes down the hall with two stern looking police officers.

  I spend the next twenty minutes talking to the police. When Caleb brings up my past, I have to inform them what went down in Harrison with Justin and Oliver. The officers take notes as they listen intently. It's just as I expected. Oliver hasn't ever approached me face to face, so there's not much that can be done. They tell me they'll contact the Harrison Police Department for further details about my case and eventually they leave.

  Now, I'm alone with Zoey and Caleb in my living room. A tense silence has fallen upon us, and I realize just how bad things are going to get in the coming weeks. This was the worst possible way for Caleb to find out about me and Ace.

  “How long?” Caleb asks as he gazes at me with grim disappointment.

  I hate that this is going down the way it is, but I refuse to hide my feelings for Ace any longer. “A while,” I admit.

  I expect him to say more, but instead his eyes lock on Zoey, who actually seems to shrink slightly from his direct gaze. “You knew about this?”

  My mouth opens to lie for Zoey, but Zoey looks at Caleb and says “Yes. I just figured it out last week.”

  He stares long and hard at her for a moment. Without a word to either of us, he rises to his feet and calmly walks out of my apartment.

  “Zoey, I'm sorry,” I whisper.

  She looks at me wryly. “He'll get over it. At least the part about me omitting the fact that Ace and you have been hooking up. As for Ace and Caleb...” She winces. “Caleb hit him.”

  “Caleb hit Ace?”

  “Ace was naked and on top of you when we barged in. He had you pinned, and you were begging him to stop. Look, we know that it was a nightmare and that Ace was trying to wake you up, but in that moment, it looked really, really bad.”

  “I need to go see him,” I say as I brush past Zoey and hurry out of my apartment. When I try Ace's apartment door, the knob turns easily in my hand.

  I step inside and see that the living room light is on, and Ace is sitting on the couch looking defeated. His head lifts, and his eyes lock on mine. “I hate that I couldn't help you.”

  “I haven't had a bad one like that in months,” I apologize as I walk over to him. I see that his jaw is turning dark purple right below the corner of his mouth. Very carefully, I settle on his lap so that I am straddling him as I reach out and gingerly touch the angry, bruised skin. He doesn't even flinch as he continues to gaze at me.

  “I'm sorry,” I whisper as my eyes fill with tea
rs.

  Ace's hands settle on my thighs, and his lips tighten. “You've got nothing to be sorry about. It was shit luck that Caleb came bursting in like that.”

  “He was only trying to protect me. Not that I'm making excuses for him,” I say quickly and add, “It was wrong of him to hit you.”

  He sighs. “I didn't want to leave you, but Zoey insisted that if I stayed, it'd only rile him up worse.”

  “There's some things we need to talk about.” I have to tell him about Oliver. There can't be anymore secrets or our relationship will never survive. The past few weeks have been tougher than I could have ever imagined when Ace and I had agreed to take our relationship to the next level.

  Ace's eyebrow quirks. “No shit,” he says dryly in reference to my comment. “No more dodging the topic of these nightmares you're having. I know something has triggered them. Is it me, Faith?”

  I'm shocked, and I probably look as much. “No, of course not!”

  His fingers tighten slightly on my thighs, and he stares hard at me. “Then why did they start? Honest truth.”

  Here we go. This isn't how I wanted to tell him. Not after what went down with Caleb, but I can't wait any longer. “Justin has a brother, Oliver. I think he's after me now that Justin is in prison.”

  “After you how?” Ace asks suspiciously, his gray eyes narrowing.

  I explain about the accidents in Harrison, and that they are the real reason I'm here in Long Beach. I tell him that Caleb is aware of the incidents, which is why he's been so overprotective. Ace is silent and grim up until I get to the part that Oliver was asking about me at the café.

  He carefully eases me off his lap so that he can stand up. His fists are clenched at his sides as he begins to pace like a caged animal. “So he's here? He wants to hurt you?” he asks tightly as he stares me down with a feral protectiveness that I had known was coming.

  I stand up and adjust the robe, which had begun to fall open across my chest. “I think that's why my nightmares have started up again. I was fine until Ben called to tell me that Oliver had disappeared from Harrison.”