Page 96 of Through The Woods

“What are you doing?”

He paused with his hands on his jeans and looked up at me. “What does it look like I’m doin’, honey? I’m getting out of these bloody clothes and then I’m gonna shower. After that, I’m gonna sink into you until the only memories you have are of me and you forget the hell you went through.”

My mouth went drier than the Sahara and my tongue tangled in knots. It took me several tries before I could form a coherent sentence. “Don’t shower.”

It was his turn to look shocked. “Like this?”

I nodded slowly. “Just like that.”

He cocked his head to the side and gave another lopsided smile. “Damn, honey. Come here.”

I walked over to where he stood, fighting the urge to leap into his arms. My ribs, however, applauded my decision to move slowly. “You need something, Prez?”

He pulled on the drawstring of my sweatpants, forcing me closer to his body as he worked them down my legs. “Just you.”

Charm managed to gently lift the hem of my t-shirt until it was over my head. His eyes narrowed almost immediately and he let out a low growl before flipping the light switch on in the bathroom.

“Is it bad?” I asked as he began checking me over, finally stepping around him and moving over to the mirror to assess the damage. Dark streaks ran down my side and if I looked closely enough, I was sure I would’ve been able to see the outline from Blade’s boots. My face hadn’t fared much better—I was a canvas of black, blue, and purple.

“Jesus,” Charm stood behind me, his head resting gently on top of mine. “I’d kill him all over again if I could, baby. What he did to you—” His voice cut off in a rough sob and I reached down for his hands, knowing that this was a side of him only I would ever see.

It felt like an honor had been bestowed upon me. He was vulnerable with me and knowing that somehow made the details over the last few days irrelevant. It didn’t matter if the entire thing had been a drug-induced hallucination, his love was real. Of that I was certain.

I broke the tension the only way I knew how, by getting him to laugh. “I’m back to looking like a mangy dog again, don’t you think?”

Charm didn’t laugh…didn’t even crack a smile. His arms encircled my waist and he lifted me up onto the bathroom counter, my legs straddling his body. “Should’ve never said that to you—I’m not a good man. I ain’t ever gonna be on the right side of the law, Neve. I’ve killed a lot of people, the most recent being Blade; and I know I don’t fuckin’ deserve you—doesn’t mean I’m willing to stand back and let a better man claim you though.

“I’m a selfish prick and a million lifetimes wouldn’t be enough to make up for all the shit I’ve done. Knowing that, I wanna keep you all the same—I can’t do this without you.”

He scrubbed the blood from his hands under steaming water as I watched in confusion. His words had triggered a strange sense of déjà vu, and then it hit me—he’d said almost the exact same thing when I was in a coma. Before I could pepper him with the questions racing through my brain, his mouth came down hard on mine.

He held my face in his rough hands and gently pressed a kiss to the cut on my forehead.Under the bright lights, he used his hands and mouth to apologize for everything that had happened to me.

I brought his face back up to mine and his tongue trailed lightly across my jaw, igniting a fire in my blood. My fingers traced along his tattoos, slowly working my way down to his belt.

I took my time unfastening it and toyed with him by dipping my fingers beneath the waistband of his jeans, stopping just as I brushed against his hard length. Growing impatient with my attempts at seduction, Charm let out another low growl before dragging his jeans and boxers down over his hips.

His fingers moved up and down my slit and I found that watching him with the lights on only turned me on further. His middle finger circled my clit before sliding into me.

My mouth fell open and a moan slipped out as he slowly pumped in and out of me. Taking my whimpers as a contest, he added a second finger, curling them along my front wall. “Oh god...” I breathed out as I wrapped his long hair up in my hands, keeping him in place.

He grinned before sucking one of my nipples into his mouth, somehow managing to maintain his rhythm while doing it.

This time, it was me who grew frustrated. I was close, but needed more. I pushed his hand away and reached for him.

He raised his head up with a smirk. “What do you need?”

“You,” I groaned. “Please.”

I sucked in a breath as he sank into me inch by inch, until my only thought was of his name—Kane. I moaned it repeatedly and held him in with my hips as he lovingly pieced me back together, my skin taking on the blood that coated his—each of us sharing the burden of the sins he’d committed in my honor. My nails dug into his shoulders as I fell apart, but he kept thrusting.

Charm panted in my ear, “You keep squeezing me like that, honey, and I’m not gonna last.”

I bit down on my lip and tightened around him again.

“Always challengin’ me,” he said, before crushing his mouth up against mine, muffling my screams as he filled me.

It wouldn’t have mattered if I’d been given a choice to stay or not—we were like two halves—each in need of the other to feel whole.

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