I looked around the room. My couch. My chair. My rug. This was my life. This wasn't his. I wasn't his anymore.
I was here, and I was safe.
Until the phone rang again. I took a deep breath and answered it.
"Leave me alone," I said in the steadiest, most honest voice I could. I wasn't going to let Elijah control me. That part of my life was over.
"What do you mean, Willow?" Zach said to me. "If that's what you want-"
"What? No. I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else. I should've looked at the caller ID." I wasn't thinking clearly in that moment. I was overreacting.
"What's wrong?" he asked. "Who did you think I was?"
He was already angry, maybe at the thought of being turned down, maybe because I was upset. I didn't know.
"I'm sorry, I just-"
"I'm coming over. Stay there. I'll be there in ten."
"I don't think that's a good idea."
"Unless you tell me you want me to leave you alone, it's what is going to happen. I don't think you should be alone right now, and I want to see you." He was so commanding, but not in a way that made me afraid. In fact, the idea of being near him made me feel completely and totally safe.
"Okay," I said as I let a breath out. He could come over. He could distract me. Take away all my fears.
At least for a little while.
Zach
I knocked on the door, but what I wanted to do was bash it in and pull her out of that place. I wanted to take her back to my home, back to where I knew she would be safe.
She sounded so shaken up on the phone that I couldn't help it. I knew it had something to do with that piece of shit ex of hers. I knew by the way she told me to take a hike that she was struggling.
And I also knew that I couldn't solve every single problem she had.
I still had to convince her that I wasn't one of her problems.
"Zach," she said as she opened the door. She looked totally slack-jawed.
I grabbed her hand and pulled her towards me. "Come on," I said as I started towards my car.
"Where?" she asked.
"I'm taking you home with me." Fuck taking her out. Fuck trying to distract her with the world. She didn't need the world.
She needed a pair of strong arms around her and a caress that let it all melt the fuck away.
And I needed her.
I opened the car door and waited for her to slide in, then I took the wheel. I'd broken just about every traffic law there was to get here, but now I could take my time getting back.
"Are you going to tell me what has you so spooked?" I asked as I started up the car.
"Do I have to?" she asked.
"You don't have to say or do anything you don't want to, Willow. I will never make you. I'll never hurt you." I meant every fucking word of it, but my hands wrapped around the steering wheel, and I fought the urge to yell. I wanted to wrap my hands around that motherfucker's neck and give him back every single injury he ever gave her.
"Don't make promises you can't keep." She pursed her lips and looked out the window.
"I don't say things I don't mean." I wove through the backstreets of the town until I was at my place. "I'm not that kind of guy."
"How do I know what kind of man you are, Zach? I knew you almost ten years ago. I don't know who you are now."
"I'm trying to show you." I grabbed her and pulled her to me, looking down into her eyes. "I'm not college educated. I'm not fancy or elegant or well-bred. Hell, I do shit I know I shouldn't, and I'm a mean son of a bitch sometimes. But I won't ever lay a hand on you that you don't want. And I won't ever lie to you." I stared right into her eyes. I meant every single word I was saying. "Come inside with me."
She nodded. I swore to God I wanted nothing more from her in that moment. It was crazy.
As soon as we were through the doors, I pulled her into my arms and kissed her.
"Zach," she murmured, but she didn't protest. Her eyes just fluttered shut, and I stared down into them, watching as her lips parted, as she waited for another kiss. And then another.
I wasn't this man. This man who just caved to a woman. But with her everything was different. I'd never been able to predict Willow or my reaction to her, so I'd stayed away.
"Upstairs. Now," I growled out. I couldn't wait any longer. I needed her. I told myself I wasn't good for her. I knew that.
Hell, I knew it in high school. A boy like me couldn't ever really love a girl like her. Especially after all the pain I'd gone through. All the pain I wanted to inflict on others.
She turned and started up the stairs, her ass swaying with each step she took. I felt my cock go rigid, and I imagined what it would be like to take her on those stairs. To bend her over them and fuck her from behind while she screamed my name.
She was in pain, and I wanted to fuck her as primarily as possible. Yeah, I was a sick bastard.
I grabbed her as soon as we were at the top of the stairs and slammed her into the hallway wall. She grunted as she looked up at me, her eyes wide.
I kissed her again, this time unable to hold back the lust that was coursing through me. I needed her. I needed to feel her, to touch her. To possess her.
I needed to show her that she was mine.
"Fuck, Willow. Do you have any idea what you do to me? What that tight ass of yours does to me. You walk up those stairs, and I know you know what you are doing. Fuck."
She ground her belly against my cock and smiled up at me. There it was. The little bit of mischief that I was looking for. The edge that I needed to be able to fuck her hard.
"I have some idea, Zach," she answered. "I don't think you are the only one feeling it."
She was ready for me, and I could take her just how I wanted her.
I'd always wanted her, but now I could finally have her.
Time wore away the edges of that pain, but it was still there. Seeing her, though, brought me to a whole new plane of existence.
"Take off your clothes, Willow." I wanted to rip them off her body, I wanted to tear off strip after strip of her clothing until she was laid bare, but I couldn't do that. Not now, not when I had her ready to do anything I asked her.
She stared right into my eyes and pulled off her shirt, looking at me as she flung it onto the ground. She was gorgeous.
"Is this what you want?" she asked as she pulled off her bra and caressed her body. It was sensual and beautiful, and my penis got even harder. Fuck, it felt so good it hurt.
I didn't want to change my whole world, but it went and changed without my consent.
Willow
I bit my lip and looked up into his eyes. I swore he could see past them and into my soul. That damn man had a hold on me, one I couldn't deny. It was insane, but I didn't care. I wanted something-anything-to take me away from the pain I'd felt.
He was the perfect distraction. Tall and handsome and with a promise that he would never ever hurt me.
I didn't really care where this went. I just knew that I needed to dive into it and let it take me for the ride. I needed something new, something different from the life I'd been living.
I needed a man like Zach Murdock.
I reached for my skirt and pushed it down, stepping out of it. I was in my high heels and panties, and I felt sexy. For the first time in a long time, I felt absolutely fucking smoking.
And I could tell by the look in Zach's eyes that he agreed with that assessment. I grinned up at him and walked towards him. "I'm afraid you are going to have to help me out of the last little bit here. I don't think I can do it by myself." I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him over towards the bed until he dropped me down on it.
"I think I can do that," he said as he looked me over, licking his lips.
He pulled his own shirt off then started on his jeans. Fuck, he was so fucking hot, and we both knew it.
He was the kind of guy who I was sure got all the ladies. Why he wanted me, I had no an idea, but I wasn't going to say anything to jinx it.
I just basked in his rippling muscles. He was built, trained for harsh conditions and even harder work, and it would be a lie to say I didn't enjoy looking at his body. He was perfect and beautiful and just about everything I wanted to see.
I ran my hand over his chiseled muscles and remembered what they felt like when I was riding on top of him, my hands splayed over his chest as I looked down at him.
"Willow, you are making me really damn hard. Feel what you are doing to me."
I ran my hand over his pants and found him there, hard and hot and ready for me. I unbuckled his pants and pulled them down, watching as his cock sprang out of them. He was still so large that I was shocked. I couldn't believe how big he was. Or how I somehow fit that in me.
Fuck.
I was going to do it again too. I licked my lips and grasped the base of his cock, then I did something I'd been wanting to do since I first saw him.
I put my mouth over that giant cock and swirled my tongue over the head of it. Fuck, it was so huge I could barely fit it in, but his moan let me know that I was doing just the right thing.