Page 83 of These Rough Waters

Thirty-nine

Rett sits at the laptop, in the same spot he was in almost five hours ago. Maya had left to pick Harper up and returned already but Rett still sits in the same spot, focused on his task on the laptop.

I knew where he was looking and had done my best to keep Maya and Harper away, some of the images that would likely be showing on his computer right now the girls didn’t need to see.

Something Maya was fighting me about right now, “I need to make food.”

“I’ll make dinner.”

Her head snaps back, “What?”

“I can cook Maya, I’ll cook dinner.”

“But I should do it.”

My spine stiffens, “No. You shouldn’t.”

Her brows draw down in confusion, “Letmetake care ofyou.” I say, “It’s not your job to look after me or Rett. Just Harper. It isn’t your job to cook or clean or do anything for anybody else.”

“But I–”

“Forget everything,” I tip her chin, “Forget everything you were told you had to do. It’s not how this works.”

“How what works?”

“Us, little doe.”

She blinks rapidly, “I like cooking for you.” She whispers.

I grin, “Yes, well, I’m taking care of you today. Go sit down, Rett’s working on finding out more and I know Harper is hungry. I’ll sort it out.”

“Are you sure?” She asks uncertainly, “I can do it.”

My finger curls beneath her chin, “Yes, I’m sure.”

“Okay then,” she chews her lip, “I’ll just…”

My fingers pinch her chin, keeping her in place and while she had enough freedom to get away, she doesn’t. She stares up at me, green eyes swimming with several emotions that all merge together. I give her a warning step closer, making my intentions clear. I needed to taste my girl, taste her lips after everything she had been through, give her something to ground to so she knows nothing has changed when everything also has.

She doesn’t move. She lets me creep closer, inch by inch until our chests brush and she has to tip her head back to maintain eye contact. I lean down, keeping it slow, waiting for her refusal that never comes.

And then my lips brush hers, soft and warm and she sighs into it, melting right into me. I firm my kiss, pressing harder against her soft pillowy mouth, the contact easing my own tension that had stiffened every muscle in my body.

The rage I had felt earlier while she was telling me her story hasn’t left me, but I knew it would only be a matter of time until I had the little fucker in the palm of my hand.

Dangerous, Maya had said, but he hadn’t seen anything yet.

I didn’t care who he thought he was or whatever power he claimed to have, I was the type to eat men – and I use the term menvery loosely,– like him for breakfast. Maya was mine now, and the revenge I seek to have on her behalf will make what he did to her look like a walk in the park for all the shit I’m about to bestow onto him.

Every bruise, every scar and cut and scrape, for every nightmare she’s had since and the trauma which she has to live with, I will pay back tenfold.

My tongue sweeps through her mouth and my hand tangles into the thick hair at the back of her head, the silky strands getting knotted up in my fingers. She whimpers into my mouth, seeming to have forgotten we have an audience here. Regretfully, I’m the one to put a stop to it.

Her cheeks are beautifully flushed with color, eyelids hooded, and lips satisfyingly swollen. Rett clears his throat, “Now you’ve stopped sucking tongue,” he huffs, “Tor, a minute of your time please.”

I kiss her mouth once more and watch her leave us, heading back to Harper who was happily watching cartoons in the other room.

“What is it?”

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