“So the guy back at my apartment really was telling the truth,” I summed up. “He was protecting me.”
“Yep.” Chad sighed, sounding frustrated with the world. “It was eventually pardoned because I did it to protect you.”
“Oh.” I chewed that over for a minute before asking, “What did he tell you?”
“What he thought I needed to know.” He turned his gaze straight ahead. “And what he thought you didn’t need to know.”
“And he threatened to kill you if you told me?”
“Pretty much,” Chad confirmed with a nod. “Apparently he’d been searching for you since your family’s death. Belatedly learned about their assassination. No word about you, whether you were dead or alive. Couple months ago he received confirmation that you are indeed alive, your whereabouts, and your status. Afterwards, he received unsubstantiated word that the person who ordered you to assassinate me ordered an assassination onyouas soon as you got the job done.
“Org received no validity on that information, but he took no chances and sent his men to guard you. They’ve already killed four men they caught sniffing you out in the last two months. But more kept coming. My father wants you dead as bad as he wants me dead.”
“That sonuvabitch,” I hollowly whispered, my heart thudding in my chest. “He promised me he would free me if I got the job done. Hepromisedme freedom.”
“My father’s definition of freedom is completely different from yours,” Chad dryly commented.
I swung my feet off the couch, sitting upright, trying to process all this horrifying info. “All this time, my life depended on yours? All this time, while I was trying to kill you, you wereprotectingme? My God…”
Chad reached over and gripped my arms. Tight. “I would never hurt you, Jhay. I still—” He stopped abruptly and closed his eyes. When he opened them, the soulful, reassuring person was gone; now a thick wall of impassivity. “You should go shower and get some rest. We’ve been at this all day. I swear my head’s about to explode.”
Moving closer to him, I reached between his strong thighs and rubbed my palm over him, and in a second he was hard, like rubbing a genie awake from its lamp. “Let me take the edge off.”
He gave me a look. And I knew what he was thinking:“After all that info dump, the only thing you can think about is sex?”
The look was right. Considering the heavy shit we just discussed, yeah, the look was appropriate. But I couldn’t help myself, or the way my body fired up around him.
Chad was like my Beautiful Sunday. As long as he was right there beside me, so close I could hear his heartbeat, I didn’t give a damn about the outside world. Death or danger. Threats or fatalities.
I only cared about him. Breathing him in, letting him consume me. It’s like I’d grown addicted overnight. And now I was heady, burning with an unprecedented fervency.
I was dependent. I was addicted. I was in love.
Taking hold of my wrist, Chad removed my hand from his person. “Shower.”
“Do I smell?”
“No. I’m trying to get you to leave before I give in and fuck you in places you’re not ready to be fucked yet.”
A roiling heat settled down below. “You just need a little time to yourself, then?”
“Yes.”
“Okay,” I agreed, getting up. “I’ll take a bath instead of a shower and give you ample time to get your thoughts together. But then…”
Raising his eyes to me, Chad cocked up a brow. But I wasn’t amused. Sex, I took it seriously. When I needed it, I needed it. And by hook or by crook, Chad was fucking me tonight. End of.
Face serious, tone unflappable, I told him, “Just fill in the blanks.”
On my heels I spun and made a beeline for my bedroom. Should I be thinking about the black eye of the storm we were in? The shit whirling around us? The danger? Who that Org person was? Why he was protecting me? How my mother dialed into all this? Why Rafail Niiveux wanted both me and his son dead? How free slash captivated I was? Had I jumped from a frying pan into a fire? Was I truly safe?
Maybe.
Maybe I should be thinking about all those things. Worrying. Pondering. Questioning.
Instead, all I could think about as I ran my warm bath, stripped and eased down into it was Chad’s cock.
How fucking screwed up and far from reality was I?
