Page 67 of Damaged

“No more alarms,” he said firmly.

“No more alarms,” I agreed. “Did I mention what the second part of my dream was… the one where I wanted to wake up every morning with you in my arms?”

“No, but I know what it is. You want to fall asleep with me in your arms every night,” Silver said as his body relaxed against mine. I could tell he was already starting to drift off.

“And how do you know that?” I asked as I stroked his face. I wasn’t sleepy but I knew once the next pain injection was administered, I likely would be.

“Mmm,” Silver sighed. “My dream too,” he murmured and then he was out like a light. I smiled and dropped a kiss to his forehead then pulled him more snugly against me. I thought of all the other dreams I wanted to share with him but before I even got to ten, my own eyes drifted shut.

“One dream at a time,” I mumbled and then I was joining Silver in peaceful slumber.

Chapter 22

SILVER

“Is this you and Jace?” I asked as I leisurely stretched my body over Dalton’s naked chest so I could grab a small framed picture in one of the little cubbyholes. When I pulled it to me, I didn’t bother taking my weight off of Dalton’s upper body.

For one, I didn’t want to because I loved how the hair on his chest felt against my bare skin.

Better still, I didn’t have to take my weight off him.

Though it had taken just over a week for Dalton to notice any results from the nerve block, he had. Really good results. No, it hadn’t been a magical cure and Dalton still felt pain, but it was nothing like the agony he’d been in for so long. It was just like Ronan had said. A couple pills from an everyday painkiller that anyone could buy in nearly any store eased what little discomfort had remained.

Dalton and I had been enjoying every moment since.

Upon arriving home, there had been several things Dalton had needed to work through to maintain his sobriety. We had discovered that on the first night when we’d gone to lie down in Dalton’s bed. He’d still been in a significant amount of pain since the nerve block hadn’t kicked in and the pain injection he’d received before leaving the hospital had begun to wear off. The second we’d lain down, Dalton had taken one look at his empty nightstand and that had been it. He’d been unable to stay in the bed or the room itself. By the time we’d gotten out of the room, he’d been sweating and shaking. I’d led him to the kitchen so I could get him some water, but he’d shamefully admitted what he needed was a meeting.

I’d known what that meant but I hadn’t yet had to deal with the reality of it. The internet had taught me in theory what triggers were and how normal it was for addicts in recovery to get them. Something as simple as a smell or sound could trigger the desperate need for whatever drug or drink the addict had relied upon prior to seeking sobriety. In Dalton’s case, the mere sight of his nightstand where his pills and alcohol had always been waiting for him had done it. He'd needed to attend an AA meeting so he could talk to people who struggled with the same demons he did.

By then, Dalton had convinced Jace and Ronan to go home because their families needed them, but they’d left behind a number of men who continued to watch me and Dalton for any potential threats against us. One of the men was always available to drive Dalton to his daily AA meetings and doctor’s appointments for his injections. I’d gone along, never leaving Dalton’s side except for when he was actually in the room where the AA meeting had taken place.

That first night when he’d needed an AA meeting, I’d already known what to do because I’d spent all my free moments planning for that kind of thing. While his normal AA group met in the morning in the very town Dalton lived, no matter what time of day or night it was, there was always an AA meeting going on somewhere. Luckily, using Dalton’s recently replaced computer, I’d found a meeting a few towns over and one of Ronan’s men had driven us to it. Afterwards when Dalton had come out of the meeting, he’d been feeling better. After that, we’d slept in my room.

That had changed when the nerve block had finally done its magic. We’d spent every night since on his boat in the small living quarters. The bed wasn’t much bigger than the one in the hospital, but that hadn’t been a bad thing.

“Yeah,” Dalton said as he tipped the frame a bit so he could see the picture. “That was taken a few weeks before our first deployment. He told you I kicked his ass whenever we had to train together, right?” His palm was running circles over my backside. I was wearing briefs but kind of wished I wasn’t.

“I think he said something about that,” I responded. “I also believe he mentioned something about you being a terrible shot.”

“Is that what he said?” Dalton asked with feigned anger. He used the whole thing as an excuse to roll us so that I was lying beneath him. His mouth closed over mine. I was barely aware of the picture being plucked from my fingers and tossed aside because I was too busy returning Dalton’s hungry kiss.

Dalton broke the kiss and gently closed his hands over my wrists to keep them above my head. The action had scared me early on when he’d done it, but he’d immediately stopped what he was doing, and we’d talked through my fears. When he’d done the same move a few days later when he’d been kissing me against the wall just next to the bed, I’d realized that he never put too much pressure in his grip, meaning I could pull free at any time. He’d also honored his promise to stop whenever I’d said the word. I hadn’t needed it very often because Dalton seemed to know without asking what my boundaries were.

“I guess I’ll just need to work on my aim,” Dalton growled. He proceeded to work his way down my body with precise kisses that hit every spot on my body where I was extremely sensitive. By the time he reached my groin, he was forced to release his hold on my hands, but it didn’t matter. When his sensual lips reached my dick, I held my breath in anticipation. I’d never understood why men liked shoving their dicks down someone else’s throat and it was an act that had been done to me countless times by Ivan, but I got it now. When it was with a willing partner and not something taken by force, it changed the game entirely.

It was even better when you were in love with the other person and knew in your heart that their only focus was pleasure, not pain.

“Dalton,” I whined when his mouth pressed soft kisses alongside my dick and then continued south until he was lavishing attention on my inner thigh. His beard tickled different spots as he kissed me, driving up my frustration level.

“Oops, missed that one,” Dalton said right before his tongue licked the spot where my thigh met my body. “I guess maybe Jace was right,” he added before he turned his attention to the other leg and did the same.

By then, my entire body was going up in flames and it was all I could do to catch my breath. I hadn’t even noticed when Dalton had removed my briefs, but I was glad he had. With every torturous lick, nip, suck, and kiss, I arched my back and gripped the sheets to keep from moving my hands. My dick bounced against my stomach, leaving behind small pools of pre-cum each time. After weeks of experimenting and one insanely long, brutally pleasurable “lesson” in which Dalton was kind enough to name, explain, and then ultimately demonstrate every part of my anatomy that craved his touch, I’d learned more about sex than I’d thought possible.

The lesson had also served to prove I would crave anything he wanted to do with me when the day came that I was ready.

If I ever was ready. It was something I’d thought about often and while I loved everything Dalton did to me and I trusted him with my very life, I couldn’t deny that the past had a way of creeping up on me when I wasn’t expecting it. Dalton had suggested more than once that there were special kinds of doctors I could talk to about everything Ivan had done to me, but I’d always ended shutting down and he’d stopped bringing it up. I’d known he was right but I liked believing I was living a normal life and that just being with Dalton was enough.

“Dalton!” I cried out when he licked over my balls and then took one into his mouth. That was definitely something new. My dick felt like it was going to explode then and there, but Dalton wasn’t done. After languidly exploring my balls, he moved to that sensitive spot just below them. I’d already spread my legs to give him more room, so I was caught off guard when he slid his arms beneath my knees and lifted my hips just a little. All thoughts fell by the wayside when Dalton’s sinful tongue suddenly ran up the length of my shaft.

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