Chapter 40

CHAPTER FORTY

TAVISH

I don't know what happened in the bowels of that ship. One minute, I was present with them, and the next, the world fell away and I could see and hear, but my brain just stopped processing all stimuli. It shut down, which makes the fact I lashed out the way I did even more confusing. Especially because when I think back, I knew it was Draven. How Daddy knew what to do to bring me back to him is also a mystery, but he did.

He always knows what's best.

He does, which is why I'm standing in the shower in our bathroom in the castle with the water from all the showerheads pulsing at me after I saw a physician, Draven called. The doctor gave me the all clear, so Draven brought me upstairs, started the shower, and stripped me down when I couldn't seem to do it myself. Then he'd helped me into the shower.

"Take yer time, lad. I'll be waiting for ye when yer done."

That was forever ago. Daddy said I could stay in the shower as long as I want, and I'm going to take advantage of it. I know I'll have to get out soon, because the water will run out soon, but I'm not turning off the water until it's too cold to stay put.

Leaning my head against the tiles, I sigh. It's over. I should be ecstatic. I should be dancing and singing, but I can't quit crying. I'd like to say I don't know why, but I do.

Because it's not over.

It never will be.

Evil will always exist.

It lives inside us all.

Some of us just choose to do good instead, but then there are those who turn from good.

Those people, people like Samuel, and the Senator, and the movie star, and so many others, will always exist.

They will always take from people like me, and Maeve, and the others rescued from that boat.

They will always kill those they deem used up or not good enough or a threat.

They will have to fight. We all will.

Our fight will never end.

And fighting means sacrifices will need to be made.

It means there will be losses to grieve.

Like Daddy is grieving for Maeve.

I can't get the sight of her lying in a pool of her own blood out of my mind. Then there was Samuel—the sight of him missing half his face, and Daddy cutting Samuel's head off. I still can't believe we all stood in that room talking, and they'd brought a baby in there.

Were they crazy?

Or were they just immune to it?

Whatever it was, I never want to see something like that ever again. After Daddy made me let Doc fix up the cut on my head, I'd been a little more aware, and when I looked around, the bodies had disappeared. I don't know how they managed it or where the bodies had gone, but all that was left was the blood.

When I asked to go home, he bundled me and the baby and several others onto the boat. The one I watched the guests arrive in earlier. I don't know where the baby is or any of the others, and I really don't care right now. Daddy will take care of everything. Or Mack. Or Cato and his guys, whose names I still don't know. I don't care about any of that, either.

The water finally turns cold, and I sigh, turning it off and stepping out of the shower just as Draven comes through the door, pulling a towel from the towel warmer. He must have turned it on after putting me in the shower, because I always forget the thing exists until he wraps me in a toasty towel.

Smiling, I step toward Draven, toward the man who stood toe-to-toe with evil, putting his life on the line to tell me he loves me. He's freshly showered and so freaking beautiful. His hair is down and still damp. And fuck me, he's wearing gray sweatpants. The outline of his dick is on full display. My Daddy is one of those rare guys who are both a grower and a shower. Even soft, he looks large and in charge. I lick my lips at the sight of him.

There will be time to mourn and time to plan what's coming. But for now, I plan to celebrate and put the ugliness behind me for the time being. Because while there will also be days like today. Days where good overcomes evil. Where the weaker are victorious and victories need to be celebrated. We will never know when the next one will be.

Draven dries me off from head to toe, and I let him, rejoicing in his care of me. When I'm dry, he wraps the towel around my waist and drops a kiss to my forehead, lingering there before saying, "I pulled out those pajamas you want."

"I don't want them. I want you, Daddy."

"Tavish…" he begins.

"Please don't deny me. I need you. I need you to replace the ugly with beauty. The bad pain with the good. I need you to remind me that sex isn't some depraved act, but about love and passion and desire."

His eyes tear up, and I think he's going to turn me down, but his hands slide around me, gripping the tops of my thighs. Picking me up, he sits me on the vanity. His lips descend and capture mine. I open to him immediately, wrapping my legs around him.

Our tongues lick at each other before twisting together. The kiss is slow and sensual and so fucking hot. He's both giving and demanding and I'm breathless and panting in no time.

His mouth drifts from mine. Lips, tongue, and teeth move over my jaw to my ear. He sucks and nips at the tender flesh of my earlobe and that spot under my ear that's like hitting the nitrous button on one of those suped up race cars to my libido. My dick goes from half mast to rock hard so fast, it's almost scary.

"Daddy!"

"I got you, min karlek," he murmurs, tilting my chin back as his lips suck their way from the side of my head to the other.

He gives the same treatment to that side before taking my mouth again. His hands roam over my body and mine mirror his on his body. We pinch and twist each other's nipples. Gasps and groans fill the air around us as we explore the other's body.

His fingertips are rough and they give me the chills as they trace over my body, lighting my nerve endings on fire. The man is intoxicating, and I'm getting desperate.

Using my feet, I drag his sweats over his ass and down his thighs. My hands follow behind, tracing all the skin I've uncovered. Nails dig into the plentiful bounty he was blessed with in the ass department and I pull him to me.

Our cocks align, dragging over one another.

He growls, thrusting against me, painting me with his precum and him with mine.

I gasp, whimpering into his mouth.

"I need ye, Tavish. Like hellfire burning."

I can feel the truth of his words. He's trembling against me. My body mirrors his. It's like they're begging for one another. Like they'll rattle apart if we don't give in. As if the need is too great to be contained.

"Then take me, Draven. I'm yours."