“So are you. Now take your shirt off,” he demands as he stalks towards me.
I undo a couple of buttons on my shirt and pull it over my head in one sweeping motion. Teddy rakes his gaze over me slowly, and I barely have time to draw a breath before he’s on the bed, prowling towards me. He straddles my waist, his kilt pooling around my lower body. I reach out to touch the rough, warm wool, stroking the bright yellow stitching that runs through deep blues and greens.
“I can take it off,” Teddy says, fiddling with the buckle. I quickly put my hand on his to stop him.
“No.”
“No?” He frowns.
“Leave it on.” I’ve never seen him in a kilt before. It’s definitely doing something for me. I’d spent most of the wedding staring at his bare knees and the shape of his calves in his knee-high socks.
Teddy looks down at himself, and I chuckle, hesitantly reaching out to touch his chest. His pecs are large and warm as I palm them, stroking the dark hair and travelling down to brush his soft stomach. My body relaxes, being able to touch him like this again.
“I’ve missed you so much,” Teddy says softly as he leans down, dragging his nose up the side of my neck, making my body tighten as he breathes in deeply. My cock kicks eagerly against him, and we start kissing again, slowly, taking the time to explore one another. My hands work their way back into his soft curls, while his frame my face, thumbs stroking my jaw.
It takes me a moment to realise he’s grabbing my wrists, moving my arms above my head. I freeze up, but he doesn’t realise. He’s too busy leaving a trail of little kisses along my jaw and neck. My eyes sting, tears trail down my cheeks, and he finally looks at me.
“That wasn’t very nice.” He grabs my legs and flips me over, pulling the long end of the tie up to the headboard, securing it in place.
“No,” I whimper.
“No? No, what?” Teddy asks. But I’ve lost my words, and I can’t find them in the darkness.
Shane leaves me no choice, wrestling me onto my front, and I find myself in the same position as earlier. He grabs my wrists and pulls them above my head.
“No!” I scream. My chest is collapsing in on itself, and I can’t breathe.
THEO
“Bailey?”I jump off the bed, watching as he lies still, chest rising and falling rapidly. He stares up at the ceiling, jaw clenched tight, with tears streaming down his face.
Fuck, what have I done? He said no twice, and I took too long to stop. “Bailey, I didn’t mean to …” I say, fighting my instincts to go to him and hold him, not sure if that would make things worse. Guilt eats away at me as I watch him for a few minutes. His hands eventually come up to cover his face, and he rolls onto his side away from me, letting out a choked sob. I can’t hold back any longer, climbing onto the bed and curling myself around his back. He doesn’t flinch as I wrap my arms around his waist—he leans back into me as his body shudders.
“You’re safe with me, you know that, right? You’ve always been safe with me,” I say, kissing his head. He holds onto my arms so tight that his nails dig into my skin. I lose track of time, listening to his breathing slow down until I follow him into sleep.
I’m startled awake as Bailey pushes me off him and climbs out of the bed.
“What are you doing?” I ask, getting up.
“We should get back to the wedding,” he says, picking up his shirt.
I put my hand on his to stop him. “We’re not going back to the wedding. Why the hell would we do that?”
“Noah will wonder where I went,” he says stiffly, jerking out of my hold.
“Fuck Noah. What happened earlier? Was it something I did?”
“I’m fine, I just want to … I want to go back to the wedding.” His voice cracks, and I know he’s lying to me.
“Bailey, please, I just want to help.”
He whirls around, face furious. “You want to help?” he scoffs. “There’s nothing you can do now. I needed you twelve years ago. Where were you then? When my brother held me down and tortured me, over and over, telling me no one will ever care about me as much as he did—that I’m safe with him.”
I open my mouth to speak, but he cuts me off immediately.
“Where were you when my stepdad waited for an empty house to tie me to the bed and rape me?”
I wince as his words hit me like daggers. He jabs a finger into my chest as he continues to feed the guilt that consumes me. “Where were you when I went to your house in the middle of the night, begging you to take me with you? You fucking left me behind, Teddy.”
