Page 9 of Gabe

“At first, every time I even thought of sex, my anxiety would consume me, and I would become nothing more than a crying, blubbering mess. Ava told me it would take time but that I would get there one day. My body would learn to trust someone and respond to their touch.”

I clench my teeth and growl. Tara doesn’t stop talking or running her finger down her body. She circles one of her nipples, and I grip the bedsheet in order to stop myself from reaching forward to pull her down on me. “The first time I felt that urge again was six months after that night. I woke drenched in sweat and wet between my thighs. Right here,” Tara says. Her hand drops, and she runs her finger through her pussy which causes her to moan.

“That was the first night I dreamt of you and not them. Your face, your touch, and your words brought my body back to life. I was still deeply hurt by your words, but my body knew who it trusted. That night was the first time I was able to come since the last time we were together.”

“Fuck, Princess,” I moan, needing her to stop talking and touch me. My dick is leaking, and it’s getting harder to fight the urge to touch it.

Tara pulls her hand away from her pussy, kneels on the bed, and crawls up my body. When she straddles me, she grabs my face with one hand, squeezing my cheeks until my mouth opens, and then pushes the finger that is wet with her juices inside. I wrap my tongue around it and moan at the taste of her. She releases my face, but I bite down on her finger to keep it in my mouth. She raises up on her knees, her free hand reaches behind her and wraps around my dick.

My hips thrust up on their own, and I groan at the sensation. “Have you been?—”

I bite down on her finger again and narrow my eyes. I pull my mouth back. “Don’t fucking insult or demean what we had again with a question like that.”

Tara rubs herself up and down my length, moaning when the head of my dick hits her clit. Then, she aligns the head and sinks fully down my length. “Shit,” she moans. My hands rub up her legs and grip her hips tightly until I remember that I need to be gentle with her. I loosen my grip slightly. Tara looks down at me right as she smacks my chest hard. “I don’t want or need you to be gentle. I want you just the way you have always been with me.”

I don’t reply to her as I squeeze her hips in a bruising fashion, lift her, and slam her back down. “You wish is my command.” Planting my feet flat on the bed, I set a fast, hard, pounding pace. Every time I help her lift off me and slam back down, I thrust up hard into her.

We both forget how to speak and resort to moans, groans, and gasps. The only sound in the room is our heaving breathing and the slap her ass makes when it connects with my thighs. Tara’s hands claw at my chest, down my stomach leaving thinred scratches in their wake, but I don’t fucking feel the sting. All I can focus on is her breasts bouncing with each thrust and the way she is squeezing my dick. My balls are drawing up tighter, and the fire inside is consuming me wholeheartedly. I’m about to come, but I need her to find her release first.

Moving my hands, one goes to her breast, and I pinch her nipple. The other snakes between us and finds her little bundle of nerves. Tara keeps up with each of my thrusts and throws her head back, screaming my name as her channel tightens around me. “Fuck, Gabe.”

With one final thrust, I freeze, pushing as deep as I can get, and finally let go, coating her inside. It feels like I come for hours before my muscles relax and my legs drop to the bed. Tara collapses on me, and I wrap my arms around her, holding her tightly.

“I love you,” I say, but once again, she doesn’t say it back.

Everything Tara had been through today must have caught up with her because within two minutes of her laying on me she is fast asleep. She doesn’t wake when I turn us on our sides, slide out of her, or when I clean her up loving the sight of me dripping out of her. I shut off the light, crawl in behind her and fall into my first deep sleep in a year with her in my arms.

Chapter

Six

TARA

“You’re mine now,” Dean whispers in my ear.

My eyes fly open, my chest heaves, and bile creeps up my throat. Hot tears prick my eyes but I squeeze them closed, refusing to let them fall. I start out at a hundred and count backwards. As I open my eyes, I notice that the sky is just beginning to lighten. Then I look down and see that I’m clinging to Gabe’s arm like a child clutching their parents when they are scared. I want to lay here and overanalyze everything that happened last night, but that’s not who I am anymore. Nothing I found out last night changes the mission I’m on, and I can’t find Ned or whoever the fuck is running thisgroupfrom Gabe’s bed. It’s time for this reunion to come to an end.

Gabe has always been a deep sleeper, and I pray that what I used to see as a flaw hasn’t changed. Slowly, I move his arm and listen for any indication that he is waking up. When he lets out another low snore, I slide out of the bed, pull on my clothes, and leave the room without looking back. I find Reaper where I left him, lying on the floor by the dining room table. I grab my weapons, click my tongue, and open the back door. Reaper runsoutside to do his business, which, yes, I pick up and dispose of in Gabe’s outside trash can.

The walk back to my truck doesn’t take long. As I pull out and head back toward Hawk’s Bend, the sun is just peaking above the horizon. Reaper is happily eating his breakfast in the back seat from his travel bowl. After plugging my phone into the car charger, I call Elio.

“What did you learn?” He asks, sleep still clinging to his voice. I have no doubt that I woke him up, but like every other time, he never complains when I call at odd hours of the day.

“Not much. It seems like Dean was helping someone stalk my brother’s new girlfriend. She killed him in self-defense. I never got around to asking why his body was buried or who had been leaving the flowers.” My stomach growls, but I ignore the pain of hunger. I’ll eat when I’m safely away from this town.

“Where does Demon fit into this?” I hear the sound of coffee brewing in the background, and I would kill for a cup.

“Don’t know for sure. He was some help to Reed when Ali, his girlfriend, was being stalked. For some reason, Demon agreed to help Gabe look for me. I assume that’s the alert you got on my name. It was Gabe this whole time looking for me,” I say, hitting my turn signal to go out around a slow driver.

“Any news on Ned?”

“They didn’t even know that someone else was involved that night. I’m only guessing here, but I suspect when people around Ned started to disappear, he got scared and went underground. If I remember correctly, he said something that night about his girlfriend and a pregnancy scare they were going through. Maybe if we find her, we can locate him.”

When I first woke up in Ava and Elio’s house, my memory of that night was fuzzy, and there were moments that I couldn’t remember. But things have become clearer over the months, andI’ve remembered everything. Elio sighs, “It’s worth a shot. Why don’t you let me?—”

“No, Elio. I’ve told you I have to find them myself. I’m sure that with one phone call, you would know everything there is to know about him. Hell, you would probably be able to tell me where he is hiding right now, but?—”

“You have to do it,” Elio says, cutting me off. “I know. Just remember that you aren’t alone in this.”

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