Page 55 of Cursed by Death

Fuck.

I never should have given the code to the front door to that fucking man. Of course, he wasn’t going to respect my need to be left alone at a time like this.

Rally wrapped a towel around my shoulders. He put one arm under my knees and wrapped the other one around my back. He picked me up with ease and I closed my eyes, resting my head on his shoulder.

If it were anyone else but Rally I would have been embarrassed to be found like that. I couldn’t tell why I felt safe enough with the man to be so vulnerable in front of him but I was. I thought a large part of it had to do with him feeling safe enough with me to have shifted into his wolf in front of me and then spending the night with me like that, entirely vulnerable to me. I knew he’d been the predator in the situation but it hadn’t been about that, not at all.

He carried me into the bedroom and placed me down on the foot of the bed.

I liked that he didn’t ask me if I was okay or what was wrong. I liked that he didn’t feel the need to fill the space with useless, needless words. It’d be pointless. Especially with questions hewas smart enough to already know the answers to. I liked that he didn’t try to make me talk about it.

I watched him move around my space and I realized I wasn’t uncomfortable having him in here and going through my things.

I’d never really had another person in my bedroom before. Whenever I’d had men over to have sex with I’d use one of the other bedrooms in the house. I wasn’t exactly sure why other than not wanting to have strangers in my most personal space. I guessed that was reason enough though.

I guess with Rally it was okay. I already had him in my basement and gave him the code to my house, so why wouldn’t he feel comfortable enough to riffle through my dresser drawers.

He dug a pair of underwear and some socks out of a dresser drawer. He placed them on the bed beside me and went into my closet. He came back out a minute later with a deep purple cami and sleep shorts set. He put them on the bed with everything else he’d gotten out.

He knelt on the floor in front of me and picked up the white fuzzy socks that were covered in rubber duckies wearing sunglasses. I feared he’d figured out one of my secrets. When I was all alone in my big house I liked to walk around in fuzzy socks that had cute things on them. I watched as he lifted one foot after the other and put the socks on my feet.

I had never gotten dressed by putting my socks on first before. They were usually the last thing I ended up putting on. Head first, feet last. Or, something like that.

He slid the panties up my legs and I lifted my ass up off the bed and he slid them up the rest of the way. He did the same thing with the shorts.

That left me clutching the towel to my chest and unwilling to look away from Rally’s eyes. He hadn’t once taken a peak at my nudity. That wasn’t what this was about for him and I was incredibly relieved by that.

Rally wasn’t in this for me for sex. He wanted a real connection, a real relationship with me. My chest warmed as I realized for the first time that I wanted that kind of connection with him too and I wasn’t afraid of it.

I dropped the towel and his eyes never once strayed from mine. He smiled sweetly at me as I lifted my arms up so he could put the cami on me. It was made of a silky material that felt lovely against my skin.

“That’s my good girl,” he purred and I thought I might be losing my mind because those words made my pussy clench and I felt myself getting wet.

I had never been someone’s good girl before but if that’s what Rally thought I was then who was I to tell him any different.

“You stay right there while I go and get your hairbrush. I’m going to brush your hair for you so it doesn’t dry with knots in it.”

My throat was suddenly so thick it was almost painful to swallow. I was still trying to gain back some form of control over my emotions when he came back into the room carrying my hairbrush.

He sat down on the bed behind me and began running the brush gently through the wet strands of my hair.

I cleared my throat. “My mother is the only person who’s ever brushed my hair before.”

“Hmm,” he made a humming noise under his breath.

“Where’s your mother at now?”

“He got her shot and killed,” I whispered. “And then he literally cleared out our condo and left me there all alone. I was just a little kid and I lost both my parents in the same week. That’s how I ended up in foster care. The only other family I had was my grandmother and she didn’t want me.”

“I’m sorry, baby. That’s fucking awful. I know he’s a bad mamba but I can’t believe he left you like that right afteryour mother was murdered. A father is supposed to protect his children, not abandon them when they need him the most. That’s despicable behavior and I’m so sorry you had to go through that. No child deserves that.”

I couldn’t agree more. But, still… “He killed the man who murdered Thomas. Why would he do that? To my knowledge, he’s never even met Thomas before. What would he have to gain from killing that man?”

Rally was quiet for a moment and then he wrapped his arms around me tightly, hugging me from behind.

When was the last time I had allowed someone to hug me?

I couldn’t remember.

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