Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

SEBASTIAN

T he morning brings thoughts of last night on a loop in my mind. I picture it all over and over again. Every blow delivered to her perfect ass, the way she defied my commands and loved being punished for it. I'm so fucking amazed by her strength. I thought she was going to lose it last night after things were done. The way she had tears streaming down her face made my whole fucking heart sink. I was so worried I had hurt her somehow. I'm still not one-hundred percent certain that I didn't fuck up something, but she insisted that everything was okay, so I have to take her at her word.

The morning light peers through a small gap in the curtains, illuminating the side of her face. Her eyes are closed and her breathing even. She's still sound asleep. I stare at her in awe for what feels like forever, just watching her be so worry free and peaceful. I know that she's so haunted by the things that were done to her. Hell, I'm haunted by the very minuscule amount of torture I witnessed on one video. That was one day out of hundreds that she'd had to endure .

I place a soft kiss on her forehead before I quietly ease out of bed. I remember how much my girl liked that crawfish omelet I made for her, so I thaw out a bag of crawfish tails from the freezer and get to whipping my wrist in the kitchen. I turn on Solomon Burke radio on Pandora with the volume low while I cook two omelets and some toast.

A sleepy Bristol emerges from the bedroom wearing nothing but an oversized tee of mine that stops just above her knees. Her hair is sticking up in multiple directions and there's leftover eye makeup below her eyes. She's sexier this morning than she was last night. My dick twitches in my shorts as I eye her. She offers me a sleepy smile and sits down at the bar, resting her head in her hands as she observes the plates of food on the counter.

I divvy up the omelets and toast and set a plate down in front of her.

"Good morning, sleepy girl," I smile.

"Good morning," she rasps.

She digs into her omelet before I have a chance to sit down. I pull up a seat at the bar next to her and I find my eyes drawn to her. More-so than usual. It's as if our whole dynamic changed last night and now we have this deeper connection. I feel a need to just… see her. Feel her. Be near her. It's stronger and more prevalent than it's ever been.

"What?" She asks as she shoves a bite into her mouth.

I shrug, stabbing a crawfish tail with my fork. "Nothing. Just in awe of you."

Her cheeks redden and she looks over at me with a smile on her face.

"I'm nothing special, Bash. If anything, I'm the opposite of special. There's nothing awe-worthy of a woman who's been through what I have. "

The distant look in her eyes makes me want to slam my fist straight through Patrick's face. I can't fucking wait to get my hands on that sorry son of a bitch for what he's done to her.

"Baby, you're fucking perfect. In every goddamned aspect of the word from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet, there isn't a single thing in between that is less than absolute perfection. And I'm willing to spend however long it takes showing that to you."

The look on her face tells me she doesn't believe me.

She smiles, but it doesn't reach her eyes.

"Sometimes being with you doesn't feel real. It's something that I keep thinking I'm dreaming or making up inside my own head, yet here you are. Every day. In the flesh. I wake up to the most amazing reality. I never thought this would be my life. Thank you, Sebastian. For saving me."

"I didn't save you, angel. That was all Mo."

"No, it was you. He saved me from my situation. From my circumstances. You saved me from myself. From the hell that lurks in my mind. From every bad thing that's ever happened to me. You save me every single day."

Tears trickle down her face. I set my fork down and scoop her from the barstool she's sitting on. Her head rests on my shoulder as she cries softly.

"I'll save you every day for the rest of my life, Bristol. That's what you do when you love someone."

Her head snaps up, her eyes locking on mine. Her eyes are wide and her brows are drawn, as if she's processing whether or not she just heard what I said.

"I love you, Bristol. I think I have loved you from the first time I saw you standing in my clubhouse, a scared and broken mess. "

Tears flow faster down her cheeks now and she smiles at me, a real, genuine smile.

"I love you, too, Sebastian."

I place my thumb on her chin and pull her lips to mine. Our kiss is wild. Messy. It's all raw and tears and emotions meshing together. She wraps her arms around my neck and I cup her ass as her legs wrap around my waist. We make love and lay wrapped in each other's arms for hours, ignoring the rest of the world.

When my phone finally rings for the fifth time in a row, I answer it with Bristol curled into my side.

"Hello?"

"Hello. I'm calling to try and get in touch with a Miss Bristol Tullier."

Bristol's head lifts and she eyes me with furrowed brows. She extends her hand and I oblige. She presses the speaker button, looking at me with a side-eye.

"This is she."

"Miss Tullier. My name is Doc Evans. I'm a representative for your family's estate. Your parents had a large life insurance policy and you and your brother were named beneficiary. That means that you are the sole beneficiary. We've been in contact with your local law enforcement and, after determining that the investigation on you has been closed, we can issue a payment."

Bristol is silent, staring at the phone like it just sucker punched the air right from her lungs.

"Miss Tullier?" The man asks after about a minute of silence.

"I'm here," she says, her voice barely above a whisper.

"We just need you to verify some of the information to confirm that it is really you, then an account and routing number for where you would like the payment issued to."

He asks her for the address in which her family lived, her name and date of birth, the full names and dates of birth for every member of her immediate family, her social security number, and a few other details then asks for the bank account number once the verification was complete. She looks like a deer in the headlights.

"You can use mine," I whisper.

She nods. I scramble to locate the numbers in the notes section of my phone.

"Hold please," she says.

I point to the account that I haven't used in the last few years. It's got about a grand sitting in it, just to keep it active, but I don't use it.

She reads off the account and routing number and the man on the other end repeats it back to insure it's correct.

"Yes. That's correct."

"Okay. Let me just… there we go. A payment of nine-hundred eighty-nine thousand dollars has been issued. The bank will probably hold it and disperse it in increments. If you need anything or have any questions, please feel free to contact me at this number."

" Uh — umm okay. Thank you."

The call ends and she sits beside me, just staring at the phone. She doesn't move. She just sits, mouth hanging slightly open and staring down at the Home Screen of my phone, which consists of random apps and a generic black background with an angry wolf on it.

"Bristol?"

She snaps her gaze up to meet mine.

"Did he just say nine hundred thousand dollars?"

I nod. "Yes. That is exactly what he said. Well. Nine hundred eighty-nine thousand."

"Shut the fuck up!" She yells, jumping up onto her feet on the bed .

She jumps a few times, bouncing me all over the fucking place as I laugh hysterically at her.

I jump up and grab her, jumping up and down with her. The high ceiling in the bedroom allows me not to hit my head, but barely.

A loud cracking noise echoes through the air and we come crashing down as the mattress and the box spring tumble to the floor beneath us. We fall onto the mattress in a tangled mess and I try to break the fall with my forearm so I don't crush her.

We land unceremoniously and she's laughing so hard beneath me that she vibrates my whole body.

"I'll buy you a new bed," she pants out through her laughter as she tries to catch her breath. I roll off of her and pull her on top of me. She straddles my waist and stares down at me, hands planted firmly on my chest.

I wave my hand. " Ahh , who cares. It's just a bed."

"I'm buying us a big, jump proof bed. So we can bounce as much as we want."

I quirk a brow at her. "Oh yeah?"

She wriggles her brows and I can't hold back my laugh at how fucking silly she is. "Oh yeah."

My hands rest on her thighs and I inch them slowly up her hips, cupping her ass in both of my hands.

"Go get dressed," I instruct, trying to get her away from me before I can't stop myself from being balls deep inside her again. The longer I stare at her sitting here straddling me, the harder my dick is getting. I don't know how I have anything left to give but just looking at this perfect fucking woman has me ready and waiting.

"Okay, okay. Bossy." She swings her hips as she crosses the room and begins pulling clothes out of the closet. She slides on a pair of dark blue jeans, a pair of black boots, and a solid black tee shirt that hangs off her just enough to leave what's beneath it to the imagination.

"Where are we going?" She asks, spritzing herself with a body spray.

"To get your life back."