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I was coming, yet still on the brink. The intensity rising while I was already in a free fall. I felt him right there with me, ready to jump over the edge.
“Please, baby…” he whispered in my ear and the sound of his voice, a voice that was so stern, so certain all the time, held a tremor of begging. It stabbed at my chest like a rusty blade. “Please, look at me.”
I couldn’t bear the sound of this strong man so wounded.
I opened my eyes and looked into the dark obsidian depths of his. Relief washed over him and he held me…kept that wild loving gaze fastened to mine as he came apart.
Bright light snapped through my veins like a drug. I opened my mouth to scream, but no words came out. Just a gasp as my body lit up with sparks of pleasure, of pain. It was so intense that it sizzled like a hot stone dropped into glacier water. He held me tight as it took us both over. And I did what I’d always done in this room. I clung to him.
Buried deep and gaze fastened to mine, he watched as every wave of ecstasy came over my face and only when I was on the brink of coming down, I felt his release. So powerful it made my entire body shudder and flick my orgasm into another few seconds of overdrive.
“My Lana,” he whispered against my face and kissed me softly on the lips. “Mine.”
I was stuck there, between the wall and the man I loved, still loved, and hated all at the same time, and had no idea how to feel.
But something odd poked from within my chest. On a heavy inhale, I realized it was my heart…starting to beat again.
Chapter 8
The last couple of days had passed in a blur. After hurling myself over the brink of sanity with Jack, I’d spent most of my time in the guest room. I couldn’t shake the extreme exhaustion following me around. My body was off kilter, but after two days and random bouts of sleeping, I was feeling more rested, but more confused.
The other night, I’d gone to Jack with anger, looking for closure, and now I was more lost than ever. The awful part was, I was less hollow. Being with him had actually pulled the strings holding the broken pieces inside me together. What passed between us melded onto my shattered soul and started the slightest process of healing. But that couldn’t be right. There was too much still to sift through. Too much damaged trust.
And Cal.
I loved Cal. That hadn’t changed. I also wasn’t with Cal, since he was a part of this whole mess from the beginning. My entire body was pulled in opposites directions. And I had no idea where to turn.
Jack hadn’t approached me. He stayed mostly in his office and let me live out the day in my self-imposed cave, leaving a tray of food outside the door. I wondered if I could hide in the dark corner of this room for the rest of my life—
The thought sank in and hurt to repeat out loud.
“Dark corner,” I whispered to myself, since no one could hear. Jack was my dark corner. Where I hid from the world and he wrapped me up and let me. And that’s what I was doing. Hiding. Something Cal would never allow.
I ran both hands through my hair and wanted to scream. That pulling that was happening? Was getting worse.
I looked out the window and paced the room for the millionth time. When a truck pulled up, I glanced out to see Cal walking up and coming inside. It wasn’t long before his heavy boots passed my room and headed toward Jack’s office. Their muffled voices rang out and I decided that I had to stop hiding.
Straightening my shirt and running my palms down my jeans, I walked out and toward Jack’s office. Both men froze mid-sentence when I entered.
“How’s Bea?” I asked.
Cal faced me. He looked so tired, and even though he was stacked with large muscles, his eyes were sunken in like he hadn’t slept in days.
“She’s doing well. Small fracture, but she’s okay. She’s on a cruise with her friend for a few weeks.”
“Caribbean?” I asked, their secret lingo now making a bit more sense.
He nodded. They were getting Bea away so she couldn’t be in danger. Sweet boys. I chanced a glance at Jack. Mistake. He was sitting behind his desk, eyes focused on me. Cal seemed to notice the exchange, but didn’t say anything.
“Tell her,” Jack said to Cal.
Cal looked at me and scratched the back of his head. “I’ve been looking into your dad’s life and company from before he died.”
This again? Sure, I could suspend my thoughts enough to think perhaps something was amiss. But it was likely just Anita and Brock worried I’d fight them for my dad’s money. There were no documents supporting this, though.
“I told you, I’m not in the will.”
“I know,” Cal said. “But that has nothing to do with it. Someone thinks you’re a threat in some way, otherwise, this shit wouldn’t keep happening.” I recognized that anger in his voice. Cal got mad whenever someone he loved was in danger. While Jack harnessed his control in other ways, Cal found his in physically protecting those around him. My heart beat an extra time at that notion.
