“Daddy.”
If he practically devoured me before, I don’t know how to describe this. His hand slides down from my throat to my tits. He’s careful, uncertain where else I might be bruised. I don’t mean to, but I can’t help it when I shy away ever so slightly. Immediately, his hands grab the hem of my shirt and lift.
“You will let me see, Maddy. All bets are off. I’ll take it all back if you fight me on this.”
I close my eyes and lift my arms as he pulls my shirt over my head. He tosses my top on the passenger seats. His fingertips graze over my back, just enough pressure to make me wince when he gets to my kidney. He sits up and twists to see around me. I know the bruises are yellow. They’re in their final stage of healing. I suck in a breath as his hand trails up my right ribs. He lifts my hands over my head, placing them on the head rest behind him.
I keep my eyes closed through all of this. I don’t want to see his expression while he examines me. Because I’m not watching, and he’s so gentle, I’m unprepared to feel his lips wrap around my nipple or for his tongue to toy with it. I didn’t even notice him move my bra cups.
“Javi.”
“Mmm.”
He just sucks harder after I moan his name. When he tires of that side, he moves to the other. His hands return to my hips to guide me again. He abandons my nipples to kiss over the remaining bruises my bra hid until he pulled the cups down.He smatters them with kisses before he sucks beside an existing bruise. I open my eyes and look down. He’s watching my face, reading me. He knows these came from someone pinching me. He already knows I wasn’t a sub, though I could’ve just been in a relationship with some BDSM.
He’s marking me. Covering what Drew left with his own brand. He’s replacing my terrible memories with good ones. He leaves fresh love bites in places that weren’t marred. He’s doing it because he can. When I look down in the days to come, all I’ll see are signs I belong to him now.
I love it.
He draws me down, so we press chest to chest. My head rests on his shoulder. I feel his heart racing. Everything else about him seems so calm and unhurried. But I realize how much discovering what he suspected is real bothers him.
“Chiquita,let me hold you.”
I let my body go limp against him, and his heart rate slows. He relaxes too. One of his hands slips down my jeans again to cup my ass. His other hand sweeps up and down my back. I kiss his neck, and I feel affection for the first time in years. I feel it as I give it and receive it.
“Don’t let me go for a while.”
His arms tighten around me. “I told you this ends when you tell me to walk away. Until then, I will hold you and not let go. You’re mine, Maddy. This is where you belong.”
I’ve heard those words before, and I hated them every single time. But they were never said with reverence. With softness. With respect. Sure, they’re possessive as fuck. But Javi’s kind of possessiveness comes from his protectiveness. It’s not him wanting to keep me from the world. It’s not him wanting to limit me to only what he allows. His possessiveness comes from wanting to ensure I can have everything I need. He won’t let anything get in the way of me having that.
“When can we see each other again?”
“Tomorrow, little one. I’ll figure something out with work. If your family thinks you’re going back up to Albany tonight, you won’t be staying with your parents. Where will you go?”
“Back to the hotel in Brooklyn. I didn’t end the reservation. I extended it. I figured it’s been long enough that you wouldn’t expect me to go back. It puts enough distance from my parents that I can’t run into them. It’s in a different borough from Laura and the others. You could come there.”
“All right. What time?”
“Whenever. I’m not going anywhere once I’m there.”
I don’t know how long passes while we simply sit with me still straddling his lap and his arms wrapped around me. I nearly doze off a few times, but I know Javi’s wide awake. I doubt he’d ever fall asleep somewhere so potentially exposed. This is the most relaxed I’ve been in—I don’t know how long. I could stay like this forever.
“I love you too, Dad.”
My dad gives me a massive bear hug like he has since I was a kid. Until this morning, it was the hug that made me feel safe no matter what. The moments when he engulfed me in his arms and pressed me against his broad chest were moments I felt untouchable from Drew, even when he was in the room with my dad and me.
Now, it’s Javi who makes me feel that way. That sense of being shielded by the world is at least ten times stronger with Javi.
I step back, and my mom takes my dad’s place.
“I love you, sweetie.”
“I love you, Mom.”
She’s soft in all the right place, and I relax against her. If my dad is my shield, then my mom is the solution to the world’s problems. There’s nothing she can’t help me sort out. At least, that’s what I tell her. There’s shit I’ll never tell her. It’s the same shit Javi tempted me to disclose, but I held back. I’ve never wanted to share any of my secrets with anyone, but I was close to relenting with Javi. I’m delusional to think I won’t, eventually. I know I will. I’m just not ready yet.
It’s almost noon when my parents walk me out to my car, and I have to remind myself it’s mine. I still expect to see my SUV. I told them I borrowed this from Drew’s cousin since it’s more fuel efficient to drive down here from Upstate New York.
