Page 75 of Black Wave

“Shh,” he soothes. “Let it all out, Em. It’s okay.”

He holds me like this for what feels like hours. When I have no more tears to cry, I pull away and wipe my eyes. I shake with a sob, but no more tears fall. “Am I officially broken? No more tears to cry, and I am gutted.”

Eduardo takes my hands, making me look at him.

“Emma, you are not broken. You are so strong. Resilient. What you have been through would have made weaker people crumple. You are still standing despite everything you’ve lost. You’ve always been there for Liv, and I am here to be there for you, to pick you up. I am here to make you believe in yourstrength and will always be there to catch you if you fall. But you are still standing, and he hasn’t won.”

I stand up and pace the room. “For how long, Eduardo? How long do I have to fear for my life and hope he doesn’t take me or hurt someone I love?” I look at him, hoping he understands how much I feel for him. He is my world. I pause, closing my eyes as I shudder at the thought of seeing Julian's father. The way he looked at me. There is more to the story than him wanting me with Julian. The contempt he held for me was scarier than Julian’s ill-treatment. I open my eyes and look at him.

“At the gala, I saw Julian’s father. He knows where I am, my friends, and who I am with.” I say it all and get it off my chest. “I can’t help but worry that he will hurt you all.”

Eduardo stiffens. “What! Why didn’t you tell me? Emma, it's been a week. He could have come at you or us. I can’t prepare for him if you don’t tell me. I can’t keep you safe if I don’t have all the information. You can’t hide things like that from me.”

I look at him, and he looks away. I don’t know why he did that, but it makes me cautious. Is there something he isn’t telling me? Should I be worried?

“Fuck.” He pulls on his hair and walks to his office. “Stay there. I have to make a call.” I hear him on the phone, and he looks at me, shutting the door. Not caring about staying put, I walk to my bedroom and strip out of my wet funeral clothing. I put on a robe and let the hot water from the shower billow in the air. The steam rises in waves.

I stand under the hot water as I hear the door open. I see Eduardo through the frosted glass drop his clothes on the bathroom floor before he enters the shower behind me. He holds me under the hot spray, trying to stop my body from shivering. He pumps some shampoo into his hands and lathers my hair, rubbing his fingers through my scalp. I tilt my head back at how good his fingers feel massaging my scalp. He rinses offthe shampoo and repeats the same actions with the conditioner, making sure to detangle my hair with his fingers as he washes it out while his strokes remain gentle and soothing. He washes my body with his shower gel, rubbing the suds over every inch in a languid caress. His hands don’t linger as they usually do when we share a shower because this act isn't about sex. It’s about showing how he cares for and wants to take care of me, even when I’m at my most vulnerable and cannot.

I worried him when I told him about Mr. Martinez, and he lashed out in anger. I should have told him, but my safety wasn’t a priority then. He rinses me and steps out after washing the soap from his body too. He has a big fluffy towel and dries me off, slipping an oversized T-shirt over my head. We walk back to the bedroom and lie in bed. He covers me and gets into bed with me, spooning me with his body pressed against my back. Even though I can feel the hard line of his erection on my back, he doesn’t try to make a move to fuck me. He just holds me and rubs his hands in a circle around my stomach while the other runs through my hair, rubbing my forehead with each pass of his thumb.

“Eduardo,” I moan as he moves up and down my neck with light kisses. He nibbles on my ear, and I feel a pull from my core. I want more. I always want more from him.

“Please, Eduardo. Make me feel something.”

He turns me around and looks into my eyes. “Emma, you are the most important thing in my life. You need to fight and take back your life. Only then will you be truly free. You have to continue to fight, Emma.”

He gets on top of me, moving my legs apart with his knee. He positions himself with his cock lined up with my entrance. He stares down at me, hovering his body over mine. He kisses me and thrusts into me with one hard pass. He pulls my lower lip in his mouth as he balances his body on his forearms whilecontinuing to move fluidly in and out. He buries his face in my neck and sucks on my skin, marking me all over, reminding me I am his. His thrusts become harder, as he leans into me a little more, repeatedly hitting my cervix with a delicious pounding, causing my climax to build rapidly.

I can hear my wetness and the sound of our skin smacking together. He takes my nipple into his mouth, lapping at the tender bud. His thrusts are unrelenting. I come with a gasp, shouting his name as my inner walls spasm with my climax. He comes on a groan as he spills into me. He kisses me softly on the lips. My breathing starts to regulate as I come down from my high, and my vision that blackened with my orgasm subsides as I open my eyes to bring me back into my reality.

I see Eduardo looking at me intently. “Fight, Emma. Fight for us.”

His words empower me. He makes me feel again, but now I feel too much. I’ll take it. It’s better than not feeling anything. It means that I am alive and he hasn’t won. The wave of emotions consumes me, and my rage for Julian will overpower the worst storms.

CHAPTER 41

Eduardo

Things have improved over the past months. Liv has turned the corner, and she and Emma are closer than ever. After the funeral, Liv broke down, and Emma was in a constant state of worry for her mental and maternal health. All that stress wasn’t healthy for the baby. Dax was always by her side, and Emma was gone a lot to stay with her when Dax couldn’t. At least I knew where she was, and Eli was always close behind me.

We are sitting at the breakfast island having Mexican sweet bread and coffee—a definite Mexican food staple. We have some time to kill before the concert, and Emma could hardly sleep last night. She couldn’t believe the day was actually here. I had to feel her moving back and forth all night. She even got up to pee at least a couple of times. I couldn’t take it anymore, and I pulled her into me, spooning my arm over her. I held her until her breathing evened out and she finally allowed me to pass out too around two-thirty in the morning.

I look over at her and see her doing her crossword puzzle. Without looking at me she says, “I wonder when Philip is coming back.”

She distracts me from my thoughts as I was looking at her and thinking about other things. She looks over at me, but I honestly have no idea how to broach that subject.

“No idea, babe. He just said maybe soon after things clear up.” I shrug because my words aren’t exactly untrue. She doesn’t ask for further details. It’s pointless. I won’t give anything else away. The less she knows the better. I had people watching her, and I just hope that is enough.

“Okay, I was just curious,” she continues, not really done with this conversation, “but I don't want to pry if Philip has problems with his family. I understand the need for privacy sometimes.”

I reach over and squeeze her hand, returning my focus back to my computer screen on my laptop. We sit there in comfortable silence, and I think about the concert tonight, wondering if something could happen. Could tonight be the night he tries to take her?

Julian hasn’t reappeared, but we are waiting for what he could do next. We also haven’t heard anything from Julian’s father, but I’ll bet that he called his son right after he saw Emma. She mentioned that he looked at her with anger all the times he was in her sight. It was as if her presence disgusted him, and I don’t understand why that is. There has to be more to the story, and I told her uncle and cousin that a few times during our visit in Mexico over the holidays.

We know Julian is in Houston, and after following Cherry, she hasn’t led us to anything we consider noteworthy. After her informant at the club was placed in the ground, her well of information dried up, and she no longer had access to that source.

I had an emergency meeting with the staff and told them she was not allowed in this club. If I found out she was back in there, it would cause immediate termination or worse. When they asked about Gage, the bartender that was fucking Cherry and telling her information about me and Emma, I let them know that he wouldn’t be around to cause further problems as he is no longer working at the club. I left it at that and let them come to their own conclusions about Gage’s whereabouts.

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