Damaged

by Miley Maine

  Over and over he thrust, giving me only moments to adjust to the size of him. I gasped as my vagina stretched to encompass him, but it quickly became more pleasurable than painful.

  I screamed his name when the pressure built to be too much inside of me and washed over me in an orgasmic wave. He came soon after, and then leaned down to kiss me as he withdrew myself.

  “You’re so delightfully tight,” he whispered in my ear. “It was a struggle to make sure that you came first.

  “That was so good,” I said.

  “I know, you certainly screamed enough to let me know that,” he said with a chuckle. “I can promise you, I’ll give you much more of that tonight.”

  I tilted my head up to kiss him. “Good, because I’m still craving you.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Vincent

  I woke up to see Emma looking down at me, a soft smile on her face.

  “Good morning, handsome,” she said, pressing a kiss to my forehead.

  “Good morning,” I said, the events of last night coming back to me all at once.

  God, the two of us had had sex. I had never thought that would actually happen, and now I was beginning to wonder if it had actually been the right decision.

  I mean, it had been incredible. She was good in bed and making her cum had been a dream come true. But I still didn’t exactly know how I felt, despite what I had told her the day before.

  “I wish we could stay in bed longer, but I have an important meeting to attend to this morning,” I lied. I needed to get her out of there so that I could have some time to myself, at least just to think.

  “Okay,” she said, and I was a bit surprised at how compliant she was being.

  I mean, I should have known. She was Emma after all. Sweet, wonderful Emma who did not question much or demand much for herself either. I almost felt bad about lying to her, but I knew that this would be better for the two of us. I needed to have some time to decide whether or not I wanted to continue this relationship any further than it had gone last night.

  She stretched her arms above her head, bringing her perky breasts up and into my line of vision. I groaned inwardly. She was so tempting. I wished that I had the time to fuck her again.

  I mean, I did, but the lie had already been told. And I needed the time to actually think.

  “I guess I should get dressed,” she said, slinking out from under the covers and bending down to get her bag. She angled herself in such a way that her ass was on full display for me. Despite how innocent she might seem, she clearly knew exactly what she was doing when it came to these kinds of things.

  “Yes, please. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to resist you.”

  “Oh, well, in that case, I guess I really should get dressed.” She began to pull things from her bag and slowly slipped back into clothing. It took all my strength not to rip them off of her again and pin her down to the bed to have my way with her.

  “You getting dressed?” she asked.

  “Yeah, I suppose I should,” I said, sliding out of bed and standing, knowing full well that my dick was on display. I strode over to the armoire with purpose and picked out some business attire for the day, despite the fact that I had no intention of going to the office. But I still needed to keep up appearances for her. I didn’t want her to think that I was lying, because my intents were not malicious at all.

  Now that the two of us were dressed, I walked her out to her car and kissed her goodbye.

  “Get home safe,” I said.

  “I’ll text you when I do,” she promised.

  Then she was in her car and driving away carefully. I waved and waited until she was out of sight before heading back into the house. I informed my cook that I would be taking breakfast in my bedroom for the day and headed back to get changed into some more comfortable clothes.

  I didn’t want to avoid things this time, no matter how much my instincts screamed at me to do so, so I was planning on not distracting myself. Instead, I would focus on what I needed to think about so that I could solve it as quickly as possible.

  The cook brought me breakfast—some waffles with maple syrup and strawberries, as well as a glass of orange juice, all on a tray that he placed on my bed—and I set about eating it.

  I couldn’t think about things as I did. It felt like too much. So instead I put on a mindless TV show on the television to watch as I ate.

  It was some reality show, I didn’t know which one. I wasn’t paying attention to it. Despite my best efforts, thoughts of last night were surfacing, making my stomach churn as I tried to stomach my food.

  “Why now?” I wondered out loud. “Why not later? Why not when I had figured things out? That would have made so much more sense.”

  Yes, there was the possibility that she had been sent to help me through this, but that didn’t stop me from wishing I had met her when I had come to better terms with my grief. Maybe then things would have worked better.

  For right now, I didn’t know if this was something that I could do. I was too frightened. I didn’t want to get hurt again. I didn’t want to move on too fast. I didn’t know if I really wanted to be happy.

  Happiness, real happiness, was something that I had not felt in a while. Ever since Gavin had left me, there had been no joy in my life.

  And now Emma might be bringing it back, but did I want it?

  I felt as if it was my duty to still be sad, to continue to grieve my losses. If it had been an older age, I would dress in mourning black every day so they knew to stay away from me, that I wasn’t ready to move on quite yet.

  Taking a deep breath, I decided that it was time to call Emma.

  She had left me a text around half an hour ago, letting me know that she had arrived back safely. I just hoped that this wouldn’t catch her too off-guard.

  “Hello?” she said once she picked up, and I almost lost my nerve. I didn’t want to do this to her, but I knew that the result would be worse in the end if I didn’t.

  “Emma, there’s something we need to talk about.”

  “Of course, what is it?” She sounded so cheery.

  “I don’t know if I can do this.”

  “What makes you say that?” Her tone was calm, but I knew she probably felt different.

  “I lied, I didn’t have a meeting to go to. I needed to think things over and I think I’ve come to a conclusion. I don’t know if this is going to work for me. I want it to, but I don’t want to get hurt. I don’t want you to get hurt. I don’t even know if I really want to be happy.”

  I hadn’t planned on telling her all of that, but Emma just had this air about her that always made me want to open up. It was probably why she had chosen to study art therapy, or maybe it was because she had studied art therapy.

  “Vincent, I know how you feel right now, but Maya would want you to be happy.”

  “How can you have any idea what I feel? You’re not the one who went through what I went through. I don’t think anything could understand that.”

  “You know I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “Yeah? Then what did you mean?”

  “I mean that I think you’re making a rash decision. At least talk through things with me first.”

  I couldn’t tell if she was angry or not. Her tone was so quiet.

  I had been prepared for her to blow up. I had been prepared for her to be angry, to yell at me, to tell me how much of a scoundrel I was. But I had not been prepared for quiet reasoning. It caught me off-guard, and I wasn’t sure how to approach things.

  “I already thought through things myself.”

  “That doesn’t mean talking it through with another person won’t help. At least it might make your feelings even clearer. I’m not asking you to stay with me, Vincent. I’m just asking you to talk.”

  “What more is there to say? I’m scared, and I don’t think things will work out. End of story.”

  “That doesn’t mean that things can’t work, that you shouldn
’t try. Sometimes we all have to do things that we’re scared of.”

  “But no one’s forcing me to do this, Emma. I don’t have to do this. Maybe I like you, sure. Maybe you’re the best thing that’s come into my life for a while. But that doesn’t mean I have to date you. That doesn’t mean I have to be happy.”

  “Is that what this is about?” She suddenly became very quiet, even more so than she had been before. I could sense the anger in her, and frustration, just waiting to boil over. “Vincent, I’ll see you soon.”

  There was a slight click as she hung up, and I looked down at my phone in disbelief. Had she really just done that? What did she mean she would see me in a bit? Was she really planning on coming over here?

  What did she even hope to accomplish by that more than just embarrassing the both of us?

  I didn’t want to talk to her anymore. I didn’t want to talk to anyone right now. I just wanted to be able to be sad by myself.

  But, like it or not, she came. And the staff let her in. And she stomped her way into my room.

  “Vincent Eldrige, sit up, stop feeling sorry for yourself,” she said, hands on her hips. It was the most assertive that I had ever seen her before.

  “What do you want Emma? I already told you I can’t do this.”

  “Maybe, but you’re not getting rid of me that easily. Vincent, I care about you, romantic involvement or not. And what I’m seeing right now is a trait common in individuals who are still trying to grieve: denial of happiness.

  “Maya would want you to be happy. Gavin would want you to be happy. There’s no way you can argue with that. So you have to at least try to do things that make you happy, for them if not for yourself. That means not giving up just because something scares you.”

  “See, you say all that, but then in practice—”

  “It’s just one step at a time,” she said. “And I’m here to help you, as a friend or otherwise. I want to see you happy, Vincent. That’s the reason I’m so mad at you right now, not because you said you don’t want to be with me.”

  Her words made sense, but it was still a lot for me to swallow.

  “Emma, I don’t know.”

  “Stop treating yourself like the victim, Vincent. I know you’re also worried about me, but you need to let me make my own decisions. I told you before.”

  “I don’t want to hurt you.” It was the truth. I couldn’t bear the thought of making her cry.

  “You’ve already hurt me, Vincent. But this time I know that I can leave whenever I want. So trust me, that I’ll leave if I need to. I learned that the hard way.”

  “Emma….” It sounded like something else was going on with her. What had happened to her in the past?

  “You don’t have to be sure right now,” she said. “Things will work themselves out if you let them. I can promise you that. I think for now though, we should get you out of the house, maybe get some lunch?”

  “That sounds nice,” I said, knowing I would have to give in eventually. It didn’t seem like she would leave without me.

  “Good. We can talk more there. Figure things out. You’re going to be okay, Vincent. I promise.”

  “I hope so,” I said with a chuckle. “There’s a reason I’ve been working myself so hard.”

  She nodded. “I know. And when you stop, things come crashing back in. It’s been a while in the making I think, but you’re going to get through it.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Emma

  The two of us took my car to a close restaurant for lunch, one that Vincent recommended.

  It was an expensive little french cafe and the waitress seated us immediately with one look at Vincent, silently handing us our menus.

  “Do they always do that?” I asked when the waitress had left. “You didn’t even have to say anything.”

  “Depends on the customer. They know me and they know that I tip well, so I get seated immediately.”

  “That’s good,” I said, looking around us at the full restaurant. “I don’t know how long we would have waited otherwise.”

  “A long time,” Vincent promised me.

  He still looked sad. I knew how he felt, I really did. There had been a time after the end of my last relationship where I spent every day grieving, mostly for myself and the things that I had lost. It was hard to want to be happy when something so large happened. It felt like that should be the only thing you thought about and the only feelings that you should feel.

  But it was important to pull yourself out of that place. Otherwise, you would stay there forever. I didn’t want that for Vincent. I didn’t want that for anybody. I wanted him to see that he could be happy and it wasn’t going to be the end of the world.

  I wished that someone had shown that to me.

  I began to look through the menu, wondering what I should order, and almost gagged at the prices. It was exorbitantly expensive.

  Vincent must have noticed my reaction, for he said, “Don’t worry about the price. I’ll pay for it.”

  “It’s okay, you don’t have to.”

  He looked at me from across the top of his menu. “Of course I have to. I was the one who suggested we go to this cafe. I knew the prices. I would never make you pay for your own meal here.”

  “Okay.”

  We ordered, pretending like nothing was going on between us, and then the menus were taken away and it was just the two of us again.

  I figured that I should probably start.

  “I know things are hard right now,” I said. “I’ve been feeling guilty too. It feels like I’m taking advantage of you while you’re in a vulnerable state.

  Vincent’s eyebrows scrunched together. “Really? That’s not what it feels like to me.”

  “See?” I smiled a little. “It doesn’t always feel like what the other person thinks it does.”

  He sighed. “I guess so. I just don’t know if I can give you what you want. I don’t know if I even know how to have a relationship anymore.”

  “That’s okay, I don’t know if I do either.” I was hinting too much at things that I didn’t want to talk about, so I was thankful when he didn’t ask or prod. “So we don’t have to do normal. We can just do us. That doesn’t have to be anything but what we want.”

  He sighed again, but I could tell that there was a bit more happiness to his face now.

  “Okay,” he said. “I think I can try.”

  “Sometimes all we can do is try.”

  Our food came then and it was absolutely delicious.

  It felt like starting a relationship all over again, sharing shy glances over the table with Vincent. He let me try a few bites of his omelette and I gave him some of my crepe.

  Once we had finished, Vincent took care of the bill without letting me see it. I was thankful for that. Even if I knew that he was incredibly rich, I still felt bad sometimes when he paid for things, despite how inconsequential it might be for him.

  We went back outside to the parking lot, both of us hovering by the car, not wanting to get in just yet.

  “Thank you,” Vincent finally said. “Really, thank you. Thank you for talking me through this. I do really want to be with you, and I’m going to try the best I can to make things work.”

  “I’m glad,” I said. “Thank you for trying. I know it can be hard.”

  “Maybe. But you’re worth it.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead, then another to my lips, as gentle as could be.

  “You’re so kind and wonderful. I don’t know how I managed to be so lucky to find you.”

  I smiled up at him. “Fate had something in mind for us, clearly.”

  “It certainly did. And I’m glad for it,” he said, kissing me on the lips once again. His hands framed my face, gently guiding me to fit against him as he kissed me long like he was never going to get to kiss me again and wanted to make this one last so that he might remember it forever.

  He let me go then, and I was sad it was over, though I knew that there would be many more t
o come.

  “Shall we head back?” he asked.

  “Let’s.”

  When we got back to Vincent’s mansion, I was ready to head back to my apartment, but he reached out and grabbed my hand.

  “Will you stay for a while?” he asked. “You don’t have to do anything, I just want to be around you.”

  “Of course.” I was glad he had asked. I hadn’t wanted to leave yet either. I liked being around him, especially now that we had things figured out just a bit better. I wanted him to know just how much I really cared about him.

  Vincent came around to my side of the car and offered me his hand. I took it, and he pulled me to my feet and into his arms. He pressed a kiss onto the top of my head. “I wish you never had to leave,” he said. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to just hold you.”

  “I don’t have to leave for a while,” I said. “We can spend some time together right now.”

  “I know,” he said, and let out a little laugh. “I guess when I get something again I get scared of losing it. Kind of silly, huh?”

  “No, it’s not,” I reassured him. “It makes sense, especially with everything you’ve been through.”

  His hands came up to my face, angling me to look into his eyes. “You’re really precious to me, I hope you know that.”

  I gave him a small smile. “I think I’ll learn.”

  “Well, learn right now. I care about you. You make me happy.” He pressed another kiss to my lips, catching my breath and making me melt against him.

  How he was so good at kissing I would never know. It seemed second nature to him, the way he held me, the way his lips touched mine, how he applied just the right amount of pressure, the way he claimed me in that gentle way of his. I didn’t know if I would ever get enough of it. No one had ever kissed me like he did.

  “Shall we go inside?” he asked. There was a promise in his words. A promise for more than what was happening right now.