29. Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Tatum

Each thrust inside her is like another nail in the coffin. With each thrust, I lose myself to her more and more. But I don’t stop. Even though there’s this little voice in the back of my head telling me not to do this. It’s wrong. It’s going to blow up in my face. It’s not worth it. I’m a piece of shit. The list goes on and on.

But it was her idea. She wanted to do this. She asked me. She said please.

“Do you want me to come inside you?” I ask when I feel myself getting close. It’s been a while since I’ve fucked anyone and her pussy is so tight, despite not being a virgin like she claims.

“God yes,” she says, and I hear the need in her voice.

“I’m close,” I tell her.

She moans in response, her nails digging into the back of my neck .

I grind against her, going deeper until the orgasm crashes over me. I come hard. It leaves me breathless. With my heart pounding, I roll onto my back beside her.

The air is filled with our heavy breathing, the scent of sex and sweat in the air.

The sun is fully up now and I’m starving. I close my eyes, needing a few seconds of rest before I get out of bed to clean up and make breakfast.

I’m just about sleeping when sniffling has me glancing over at Devon, and there’s no doubt about what I heard.

She’s crying.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, pushing myself up onto my elbow and gripping her shoulder. She shrugs me off.

“Nothing, I just… I wasn’t expecting to feel so—” She throws her hands up and lets them fall back to the bed. “I don’t know.”

“You wanted to do this,” I snap at her, panic settling in my chest.

“I know that, Tatum,” she fires back.

“So, what, you regret it now?”

Why am I offended? Why do I fucking care if she regrets it? I want her to regret it. That’s the point here.

But it’s just like her to do something like this. She convinces me to fuck her, to take her “virginity,” and now she’s going to cry because she regrets it? Fucking typical Devon.

“I don’t regret it, I just wish things were different.”

“Different how?” I ask.

“With us!” she shouts. “Me and you. They aren’t supposed to be like this.” She gets up, searching for her clothes and puts them on when she finds them. “How do you not care? How doesn’t this bother you?”

Because I’ve had years to be angry about it.

Because I’ve already been hurting for so long.

Because I’m past the hurt and moved on to revenge.

I shrug because I don’t know what to say.

She scoffs, shaking her head. “I should have known you haven’t changed.”

She turns to walk out.

“Hey, you did know that!” I call after her, scrambling out of bed to get to my feet. “You said it. You said you knew things would go back to the way they were when we left here. That I’m different when we’re out in the real world.”

She whirls around in the doorway, and I stop short, just a few feet from her.

“But you don’t have to be!”

Her eyes are red, filled with tears. I hate seeing her cry… but I can’t stop this.

“You don’t know anything about me,” I argue.

I snatch my sweatpants from the bed and shove them before pushing by her and going to my room.

How this girl manages to make me so fucking angry, I’ll never know.

Even when I’m trying to be nice, to win her over, I can’t. She gets under my fucking skin and eats away at me like a goddamn termite. How am I ever going to finish this if I can’t keep my fucking cool? One second, she’s being affectionate and loving; the next, she’s biting my goddamn head off. She’s impossible to deal with !

I fall onto my bed and take a fucking nap.

When I wake up, I’m calmer. A little better. My head is clear and as I think through my options, weighing the pros and cons, I know what I need to do to fix this. There’s only one thing that can fix this.

I go in search of Devon and find her in the kitchen. She looks up at me as I turn the corner, and I go right to her and pull her into my arms before she has the chance to say something.

“I’m sorry,” I tell her, hugging her tightly. She’s stiff in my arms, confused over my actions.

This is how I prove to her I’ve changed, because old Tate would never do this.

I need to lay myself bare. I need to make myself vulnerable. She may not know what I’m doing, but she can tell that I’m not giving my all. She knows I’m holding back, because even though I say she doesn’t know anything about me, she does. Devon knows the parts of me other people don’t. She may not know my favorite car or anything about my job, but she knows me . The parts of me I don’t want anyone to know at all.

I need to do this right, and the only way I’ll ever get Devon to let her guard down is to let mine down. It’s all or nothing.

I take her face between my hands and stare into her eyes. When I speak, I keep my voice calm and even.

“I shouldn’t have yelled at you, and I shouldn’t have left, but I’m just as upset about this as you are. I hate how things are between us. Hate how bad it’s gotten.” I’m losing myself the more time I spend with her. What is real and what isn’t? “I don’t want to fight with you, Devon. I want to make this work. I need to make us work.”

The only way I’ll ever win her over is if I do this. I have to forget about the way she hurt me while remembering why I’m doing this. It won’t be easy, but I never back down from a challenge.

“I don’t want it to be like this,” I add.

“Neither do I,” she whispers, her bottom lip trembling.

I search her beautiful green eyes, and though I’m hesitant over what I’m about to do, it needs to be done. I have to do this.

All or nothing.

“I love you.”

Her lips part. “What?” she breathes out.

“Devon, I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember. I—”

My words are cut off when she grabs my head and pulls me to her. She kisses me firmly, like she means it. She kisses me like she’s missed me. Like she needs me.

She moans into my mouth, and I turn us so her back is to the island. She gasps when her back hits it. I lift her up and place her on it, and we both work at getting her pants down while refusing to part from our kiss. Once hers are gone, I get out of mine and shove inside her without warning.

She cries out, her head falling back. I take the opportunity to nip at her neck, sucking at her skin. This position is very different from the other, so it likely hurts. She’s probably still sore from before too. But she doesn’t tell me to stop. Devon buries her face in my neck, holding me close as I fuck her.

“I love you, Tate. So much. I swear I always have.”

I smile inwardly.

That’s exactly what I’ve been waiting for. Exactly what I needed .

And all I had to do was let out the bullshit that’s been holding me down for years.

“You have me now,” I tell her. “I’m here.”

I find her clit, rubbing it with my thumb as I fuck her harder.

“Come on my cock, Dev. Let me feel you.”

“Tate,” she whimpers, digging her nails into my back.

“Come on, baby. Come for me.”

Her pussy chokes my dick, fluttering around me as she comes with a loud whimper. My orgasm hits me seconds later, nearly bringing me to my knees.

We hold each other, breathing heavily. Neither of us moves for a long time.

“Let’s shower,” I finally say.

She agrees with a head nod, and I help her to her feet before following her upstairs. All the while, there’s a smile on my face.

Because she’s exactly where I need her to be—finally.