Chapter Twenty-Seven

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Easton

E l? Ella? I call out to my sister, the other half of my soul, but she doesn’t reply. She’s not been talking to me lately, but I need her. Doesn’t she know I need her? She’s always been there for me before, but now she’s silent.

Archer drives my truck home, and I don’t speak the whole time, not out loud at least. I keep hearing what Gregory said, keep calling out to Ella but she doesn’t come.

It feels like I’ve been emptied out, like there’s nothing inside me anymore. Why does he do that to me? Why can’t I stop it? Today had been…it had been more than I expected. I hadn’t even wanted to go out, but we did, and it was perfect until Gregory had to remind me of all the shit I can’t get past.

“He’ll ruin your life…your career…just like he ruins everything he touches.”

I don’t want to ruin Archer. I don’t want to ruin anything. I want…I want to get better. I want to be better. How do I do that?

El, why aren’t you answering me? Are you mad at me?

It takes me a moment to realize we’re home and Archer’s hand is on my shoulder, trying to reel me back in.

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have anything to apologize for. Stay right there.”

He gets out of the truck, coming around to my side to open the door. The way Archer takes care of me makes me believe that maybe deep down, there’s a part of me that’s worth it if I could just bring it closer to the surface.

“Good boy,” he says when I take his hand and get out of the truck. Heat flares through me, the neediness I have for him growing. I don’t want to be what Gregory says. I don’t know if I am, but I don’t want to be. I want to be the man Archer sees when he looks at me, the one he tells me he loves.

He unhooks the dogs from their doggie belts, and the two of them run toward the house.

Once we’re inside, he takes the leashes off, that emptiness in me a vast echo I need to fill, and the only way I know how to do that is with Archer.

“Fuck me.” I take his face in my hands and pull his mouth to mine. My tongue slips inside, tasting the familiarity I’ve only ever had with him, the comfort I’ve only ever had with him.

Archer kisses me back, hands on my waist, fingers digging into me in the most welcome of ways.

I try to devour him, cling to him like if I let him go, he’ll disappear.

“Hey, slow down. We’re good. I’m not going anywhere. Maybe we should talk.”

We probably should, but I can’t, not now. “I just want to feel the way only you can make me feel. I’m so fucking empty without you. Need to be filled up by you.”

“Jesus. Yes. God yes.”

Our mouths fuse together again, and we find a way to stumble up the stairs while kissing. The second we’re in the bedroom, we pull apart only to kick out of shoes and remove clothes. It hurts not to touch him, to be away from him for one second. I maybe shouldn’t need him the way I do, feel like he’s what keeps me grounded, but I do, and I don’t ever want to lose that, to lose him.

To lose myself.

Archer’s arms wrap around me as he kisses me like he’s as hungry for me as I am him, as if he needs me just as much.

“He’s worth everything.”

I’ve never believed that. At least, not since Ella. I meant something to her. But when I lost her, I lost myself. Lost my worth. Dusty, Morgan, and Rhett tried, but they still couldn’t make me see, still couldn’t tear my walls down and silence how I feel about myself…but Archer is quieting those voices. Making me feel like maybe I’m worth fighting for.

Archer lowers me to the bed, pushing me up so my head is on the pillows. His firm, muscular body fits perfectly against mine, on top of mine. Hard cock against hard cock, heart against heart as he eats at my mouth like he might die if he couldn’t have me.

I spread my legs for him, wrap them around him, that ache to be filled by him consuming me.

And somehow, Archer knows. His mouth licks and sucks its way down my throat, his hair tickling my skin. “You need me inside that tight little hole of yours? Fuck, I need it too. I’ll always need you, East.”

I feel like I’m his, feel wanted, like in these moments, I can forget the words Gregory said to me, forget what I did to Ella.

“I’ll always need you too.”

He stills on top of me, pulling a sharp breath into his lungs. Then he looks at me and smiles, like I’ve made him the happiest person in the world.

Me. The unwanted one.

Gregory hadn’t wanted me.

My mom, though I know she loved me, initially hadn’t wanted me either. At least, she hadn’t tried for me. She’d wanted her girl. She’d wanted Ella.

Rhett and Morgan hadn’t wanted to take care of me.

But something about me makes Archer happy, and maybe that’s the light at the end of the tunnel, the full heart after years of it being broken…that I have him and he has me.

“Fuck me.” I need to have him inside me, need to be connected to him that way. I’ve taken other men inside me, but none of them filled the emptiness that Archer does.

He reaches over, grabbing the lube from the nightstand, slicking his fingers without ever taking his gaze from mine. “You’re worth it…worth everything. You’re so fucking good, sweetheart.” He slips his hand between my legs, pushing his finger inside me and making my body arch toward him. “So good. So fucking perfect.”

One of my hands fists in the blanket, the other clutching his forearm as Archer fucks me with one, then two fingers.

“I need this just as much as you. Want to be inside you all the time. Claiming you with my fingers and then my cock, marking you up inside to remind you you’re mine.”

“More,” I beg, earning myself a third finger, savoring the burn and the fullness, feeling like we’re a part of each other.

“God, I love you.” His lips find mine again, tongue fucking my mouth the way his fingers are tantalizing my ass. My skin sparks with an aliveness only Archer gives me, a want for more in my life than I ever cared about before him. “Christ, I need my dick inside you.”

He pushes to his knees but doesn’t pull his fingers out of me. Archer always knows what I need.

He uses his other hand to slick his cock with lube, then eases me over so I’m half on my side and half on my stomach, top leg bent and the other straight.

Archer straddles the bottom one and spreads my ass cheeks with his free hand. “Such a pretty little hole, sweetheart. And it’s mine. All mine.”

He pulls his fingers out, then pushes his cock inside in one swift movement. I cry out, all my nerve endings coming alive with the sharp sting of the welcome intrusion.

Archer pulls back, then snaps his hips forward, over and over and over again, shaking the bed, stitching me together, making me feel all those things he tells me I am: good, worthy, special.

My eyes roll back, mouth open, gasping and begging and maybe even crying. I taste salt on my tongue, and when I open my eyes, the world around me is blurry.

“Arch…”

“I’m right here. What do you need?” He kisses away my tears.

“You.”

“You have me.”

“Keep fucking me.”

“I’d never stop if I didn’t have to.”

He pushes me onto my back, then shoves inside me again, owning me the way I need. I end up on my hands and knees next. Every time I’m close to coming, he pulls back, changing position and prolonging the fusion of our bodies.

My balls are so fucking full, cock bobbing and aching.

Archer pulls me up so we’re kneeling in the center of the bed, my back against his chest. He fucks up and into me, one hand lowering to stroke my cock.

“No. Make me come without it. I can do it. I’m so fucking close.”

“Christ, you’re incredible.”

His movements become sharper, deeper, as Archer rails into my ass. Each time his cock brushes my prostate, he eases me closer to that point, the one where I lose control and let myself fall, knowing Archer will be there to catch me.

His teeth nibble my earlobe, and then he says, “I love you. Come for me. You’re so fucking good, East. Show me how good you can be for me. Come from my cock in your ass before I fill you.”

My whole world shatters, light flashing in my eyes as I give in, spurt after spurt, nuts rising and emptying as Archer fucks the cum out of me.

His hold on me tightens, cock twitching in my ass, as I feel the hot burst of cum filling me again and again and again.

I fall to the mattress, Archer slipping out of me, wild, heartbreaking cries spilling from my lips as he pulls me to him, pushing two fingers inside me, and holds me, telling me he loves me, until my world goes black.