I'll talk to the detective later today. I'll see my sister tonight. I’ll beg the doctor for more time.
But right now I just need the comfort that only Ace, the fucking train wreck of a man before me, can offer.
Right now I want to go off the rails.
ACE
My head spins as I hold Emmy against the door. Her hands cradle my face and I can't remember the last time anyone ever touched me this way.
She silently begs me to stop trying to understand. The moment her friends left she was coming at me buzzing, fists raised—wanting to fight. But I won't fight her. Not Emmy Rose, not now. Not ever.
I just want to keep this broken woman safe.
I want to protect her in a way that is archaic and insane, I want to protect her in a way that no one else ever could.
I press my mouth against hers. She is warm and breathless, and hungrily moans against me. She is all spun up and wrung out. She clings to me, and while I never want her to let me go, I also want to understand.
“Baby, it's okay,” I say in her ear.
“Don't talk, Ace.”
“Why?”
“Because I don't want you to lie to me. So instead, don't say anything at all. Just fuck me until I can't think.”
“So are you just using me for my body? For my cock?” I ask, my shoulders tensing.
“Isn't that what you are doing with me?”
“Not even close.”
Emmy Rose doesn't understand the depths of what I feel for her. She may be a stranger in a lot of ways, but I'm not letting her go.
And fine, she thinks she just wants me for my thick rod? Let her think that for as long as she needs to. Because sooner or later she isn't going to believe that lie anymore.
Sooner or later, she'll know that a bad boy like me is the only one who will ever make her happy.
I carry Emmy to the bedroom, a room I've never set foot in before.
But I don't tell her that I've driven by this apartment complex. That I've had my driver pull into this very parking lot and park the car. I don't tell her I've picked up a girl that I've come to realize looks an awful lot like her.
If I tell her that, she’ll stop letting me touch her. Feel her. Make love to her.
And maybe that does make me the monster she called me today.
But maybe I don't give a fuck.
Because what matters more is being with Emmy. Right here. Right now.
EMMY
A slim ray of sunlight is cast over the room. Ace is quiet and so am I.
He carried me from the living room to the bed. He set me down carefully, as if he was scared I might break.
He's right.
I feel fragile and small.
I'm not a pliable, moldable sort of girl. I'm either on the verge of shattering into a thousand pieces, or balancing on the edge of something too tough for my own good.
Right now I don't want to be strong. Right now I want to be broken.
He shrugs off his suit coat and sets it down on a chair. I watch as he unclasps his belt and tugs it off, dropping it on the floor. He carefully unbuttons his shirt and I watch every motion he makes. For some reason, not missing a beat grounds me in this moment.
My head rests on a pillow. The bed undone from Claire and Tess sleeping in it.
I want to be undone too.
My hands grasp at the sheets around me. My body heats up as I watch Ace rip off his shirt, and then slowly unbuttons his pants. His cock is thick and bulging under the thin fabric of his boxer briefs, as his trousers drop to his feet.
We've only had sex in the dark, in the corners, in the early morning hours. It’s different now. Sun crosses through the blinds, stretches over Ace's broad shoulders, blinds me in his beauty.
I know guys aren't supposed to be beautiful, but Ace is. Unquestionably. I want to know everything about him: where he comes from, his favorite food, what song he listens to when he is pumped up or ready to fight. I want to know what he craves. What fuels him.
I want to know all of these things and I know I never will.
I know I can't.
All I can have is his body.
And that, at least, is divine.
He takes hold of my panties on either side of my hips, slowly inching them down my knees. My core shivers at his touch and a slight smile crosses my lips knowing that I am going to be feeling a ravenous trembling throughout myself soon enough.
I kick off my panties. My is pussy exposed and already seeping with wetness. I can't help it. His thick cock is bulging in his briefs and I want to tear them off, I want his throbbing rod to enter my mouth so I can suck every drop of come out of his veiny, ready dick.
My stomach is nearly exposed in this tight, small tank top. And I know what is above that sliver of skin. He presses his palm over my belly button, and my heart stops for a moment.
I inhale, and so does he, as if we both need to take a deep breath before we sink ourselves to the bottom of a pool of water. Drowning in the ecstasy you can only find when you swim in the body of another person's skin.