Page 30 of Shameless

He shakes his head, the moonlight casting a silver glow on his blond head. It looks like a halo. “Then I won’t kick his ass like he deserves, but I’ll protect you. I’ll ask Stefan to help me. We’ll make sure you’re never alone when he could be around.”

One single tear slides out of my eye and I blink it away. “You can try, Crew, but Evan is like a snake. He’s going to lurk in the shadows, waiting for the slightest chance to get me alone, like he did on the ferry. Napoleon protected me earlier, but what if I can’t fight him back? I don’t think I could live if he?—”

Crew pulls me closer, cupping my face with his hands. “Then you can have Napoleon by your side too, until Evan goes back where he came from. Just as an insurance in case he does catch you alone.”

I know he’s doing his best, he just doesn’t understand. “I don’t feel safe, Crew. As long as Evan is in town, I’ll be watching over my shoulder all the time. I wish we could just leave. But I’m on probation and I need to stay in Star Cove with Dad. Can’t you see why I need those drugs? I need to forget about him at least for tonight. I need to breathe at least for a second.”

Crew’s slightly rough fingers trace my jaws, his blue eyes fixed on mine. “No. I can’t let you use those drugs. I’ll do better though. Remember our deal? I’m here for you, baby.”

His mouth crashes mine.

When our tongues meet, for a second my mind quiets down. The whirlwind of frantic thoughts stops and I can breathe again.

I pull him closer, fisting his t-shirt, holding onto to him like a lifeline. My last lifeline.

Crew nips at my bottom lip causing sudden heat to shock my system.

It’s powerful and heady like the finest of drugs. I need more of this, I need Crew to take me away from my own head at least for tonight.

I pull away from him, lifting his t-shirt over his head, exposing his ripped, tattooed chest.

When he lifts my dress, I help him, impatient to feel his skin against mine.

Crew’s open mouth glides down the column of my neck.

Yes, that feels so good.

By the time his lips close over my hard, aching nipple, I’m greedy, dying for more.

“Oh.” I cry out when he grazes the tender peak with his teeth and my body answers with more sensation.

All my nerve endings are alive, my clit throbbing with need.

A moan of protest slips out of me when Crew’s mouth abandons my tits, descending to my stomach.

“I’ve got you, baby,” Crew chuckles, sliding my panties down my hips.

I help him take them off, my eyes fixed into his when he sinks down on his knees in front of me.

He presses a gentle kiss on the soft skin of my inner thigh, as his fingers dig into my hips to keep me in place.

The needy throb intensifies and I squirm at the first contact of Crew’s mouth with the bare skin of my slit.

I need to get out of my head and this isn’t going to do it. “I need more, Crew. Please, fuck me.”

He stops, his mouth hovering over me, his warm breath causing my skin to erupt in goosebumps; the good kind.

“Are you sure, Lula?” he asks, the blue of his eyes as deep as an ocean I want nothing but to lose myself into. “I’ll make you feel good. We don’t have to go all the way if you don’t feel like we’re in the right place.”

“I need to feel you inside me,” I say, taking his hand to pull him back onto his feet. “I need to feel like I’m yours. Like I’ll never be his even if he—” my voice breaks. I can’t even say it.

“Baby,” Crew whispers. “I swear I’ll protect you. And I fucking want you so much, but I don’t know if you want to do this for the right reasons. What I mean is, you clearly had a stressful night last night and today it was awful for all of us. Then he approached you on the ferry. I don’t want to take advantage of you if?—”

I silence him with a kiss.

“You could never take advantage of me, Crew. When I said that I’m falling for you earlier, I was lying. I’ve already fallen. I’m in love with you.”

The corners of his lips lift in that barely there smile I find so sexy. “Fuck. I’m in love with you too, baby. Just promise me if I fuck up, you’ll give me a chance to make things right. I’m new at this dating thing.”

---