Page 96 of A Dark Duet

No man would want a woman that was used and abused by the vilest human beings or had to be a man’s toy. Ethan having this place bugged wouldn’t surprise me. If he does have it bugged, I hope Ethan couldn’t hear my screams from my nightmares. Every night since I was seventeen, I have the same reoccurring nightmares, reliving the nights they came for me because my mother owed her drug dealers money. She was too strung out on drugs to notice. I was payment for a whole year’s worth of my mother’s debt because of the money she owed for the drugs she consumed.

Then I met Jaden, the first night I fell asleep in his arms the nightmares stopped. I finally found peace, and I could sleep. The episodes of waking up in the corner of my bedroom, curled up in a ball hoping they would stop touching me or the burning sensation when I’m alone at night in my bed reliving those moments of pain, wishing the torture would cease, it all stopped when he was with me at night holding me. It was the safest place in the world for me to be, but where I would find solace at night in his arms, I found a whole new nightmare waiting for me the day he threw me out, knowing he didn’t want me in his life anymore. I was dealing with the nightmares every night before he came into my life until he became my protector. He protected me during the day and from the demons trying to come for me at night, knowing he was always there.

A single tear escapes my eye, sliding down my face at the reality of how, since then, I have been coping with the nightmares. The sleepless nights all alone, taking it one day at a time. He watches the tear leak down the side of my face. He leans close and slides his tongue out gently to lick my cheek, tasting it.

The scent of him reminding me of how it was when he would come home after a day at the gym. The memories come flooding inside my head of the rough sex. The way I let him take me however he wanted. Jaden always made sure he pleasured me before he got his release. Then like a switch, he threw me and everything we shared away, leaving an empty, broken promise.

“Don’t cry, baby. I hate to see you cry,” he says against the skin of my cheek and moves to my ear again to whisper, “Come with me. Get everything you will need and come with me just for one night or however many nights you need. You need some sleep, baby. You can’t keep doing this to yourself. Please come with me. I’ll keep you safe. Always.”

I sniff and he looks down, taking my lips in his. The kiss is soft at first but then I open and let him slide his tongue in, tracing the inside of my mouth. I whimper and he slides his hands under my thin cotton T-shirt. He grinds his cock over the small fabric covering the slit of my pussy and I mewl.

My hands caress the side of his ribs, and he shudders, pressing his chest over my breasts. His hands slide under my ass, lifting me to feel how hard I make him. His cock is throbbing with need as it pulsates against my throbbing clit.

Our tongues dance with a burning need, a fire that grows like an inferno, and only our release will stop it from scorching us to ashes. He sucks my lips and I suck his. He kisses me and sucks my neck. I arch, grinding my pussy over his needy cock and I swear I’m about to go up in flames.

He pulls away from my lips and says softly, “Let’s go.”

I nod, still drunk from his touch, and slide my legs over the edge of the bed. He gets up and waits for me to get my stuff packed in a duffel bag. He carries the large duffel bag and I make up my mind to go with him just to sleep wherever he is taking me.

My mind needs to be sharp in the morning when I head to the therapy center. If he is offering so I can get a good night’s sleep, my psyche is telling me to go for it, but my heart is raising a red flag in warning. No intimacy. No promises. No sex.

My agreement with Ethan is not over. Kissing Jaden is as far as I’ll go with him because of our pact when he found out Jack raped me and then beat me to watch him do it to my sweet, innocent friend Giselle.

I was always afraid of intimacy after I was raped. I was afraid of a man’s touch. The incident with Giselle made me relive everything all over again and I was shattered. The only touch I experienced before was Jace’s and it was awkward and I didn’t even think I had an orgasm, I was so scared.

After the incident with Giselle and me, Jaden took the time to make me feel again. We made a kissing pact. A promise to only kiss each other. Always no matter what. Jaden was my knight in shining armor. The man in my life above all others until he broke me. He abandoned me and made sure to let me know I wasn’t an important part of his life. My time with him had run out.

Leaving it all behind, I had to be strong and continue to pull through and not give up on myself because God knows I wished they would just kill me after they raped me. There was a time I hoped they would just so I wouldn’t feel the pain afterward and face the nightmares that plagued me in my sleep.

One thing about Jaden is that I still trust him not to physically hurt me. He may have hurt me by shattering my heart and soul. But he would never physically hurt me. He looks savage and intimidating with his cocky demeanor, but he would never lay a finger on me.

Not once did Jaden ever make me feel fear when I was with him. It’s probably why it hurt so much when he kicked me out of his life. He was the only man that meant everything to me.

After getting dressed and locking up, I follow him to a blacked-out Range Rover idling in the parking lot. Looking at my bike and the Bentley parked in my designated parking spot, he says, “A man like Ethan has the Bentley tracked with GPS. He knows where you live, and he watches you. I will explain more inside the car.”

“Okay.”

I know Ethan watches me and I expected that he would track the Bentley but it kind of makes me feel safe in a way. If Ethan was a monster, he would have shown his claws by now but so far, he has kept true to the agreement, and I have kept mine.

Jaden places the bags inside the back and opens the door to the back passenger seat and slides into the cabin of the luxurious SUV after me. Once inside, I notice Brian, the young fighter that was at the gym, is driving.

“Hey, Brie.”

“Hello again.”

“Nice performance.”

Jaden punches him lightly on the shoulder. “Keep that shit to yourself. Smart-ass.”

“My bad, Jaden. I have never seen dancing like that before. That was pure talent.” Jaden gives him a murderous glare through the rearview mirror.

“Okay, I’m sorry. I’m rambling again,” Brian says.

“Drive to the gym and you can head home in your car.”

“Gotcha.”

Jaden holds my hand in his and he sees that I’m cold. He grabs his hoodie and drapes it over my thighs and puts an arm around me. My head falls on his shoulder and he snuggles into me so close that I can feel his heat and the scent of his exotic cologne.

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