29. July 5th

29

July 5th

I shoot up off the bed I am on. My hands find the material below me and I squeeze onto the soft sheets. My eyes blink rapidly as I try to gain my bearings.

"Good morning." Darius's voice cuts through my confusion.

I turn my head, and there he is, leaning against my bedroom door, sitting on the ground exactly where Grayson usually is.

Axel isn't in my room, just Darius. The realization leaves me anxious. Off-kilter. I can tell something isn't right.

I meet Darius's eyes and my breath stutters. His left one is practically swollen shut black and blue, his cheek purpling, his lip split. I observe the rest of him. His knuckles are scabbed, a bandage is over his forearm.

"What happened?" Dread and guilt layer themselves up my throat until I can hardly breathe.

"It isn't your fault. I need you to understand that what these men do, it is on them alone."

A memory seeps through. "Where is Grayson?"

Darius cringes and slowly carefully lifts himself off the ground. He tries to hide it but I can see the slight limp as he approaches. "He's going to be okay." Darius's voice is matter-of-fact, holding no emotion.

He lays gently down next to me, tugging me to his side.

"It would have happened eventually. We needed to be ‘taught' a lesson. The Thornes own this town."

Mulling over his words, I turn on the bed and carefully trace the line of his split lip.

Darius leans into my touch.

"Where's Grayson? Please. Stop hiding things from me."

Darius recoils but remains silent for a few more moments. His attention is focused firmly out the window.

The blinds are pulled back, it's dark outside, but I can tell the sun is on its way up.

He finally comes to some decision and returns his attention to me. "He's in the hospital."

I gasp and my fingers stutter on the corner of his mouth.

"Come here." He gently moves me up and onto his lap so that I am straddling him.

I try to escape. "I'm going to hurt you."

"You won't." His hands find the backs of my thighs. His calloused fingers stroke the exposed skin leaving prickles in their wake.

I carefully place my hands on his solid shoulders. Warmth courses through my veins.

I watch his face. I imagine if I were to look in a mirror the same emotions would be reflected.

Worry. Want. Concern. Lust.

Love?

I'm sorry, Tripp.

I lean over until my wild curls fall forward. I watch Darius as slowly, ever so carefully, I press my lips to his.

I can tell he is shocked but then the fingers on my thighs squeeze. He presses me as tightly to him as he can. My tongue licks carefully along his lips. He groans, the vibrations causing heat to furl deep in my belly. The kiss starts slow, languid, calm. But then I nibble gently on his bottom injured lip.

It ignites him.

Before I can grasp what is happening, he has us flipped. His knees between my thighs. One hand catches in my hair, yanking my head exactly how he wants me, the other one reaches above us holding himself from crushing me with his weight.

He pulls back. "Wildflower. I need you."

He ignores his injuries completely as he reclaims my lips, consuming me.

The kiss deepens. His tongue clashes with mine, the metal piercing hitting my teeth with a clink. He grips my hair so tightly it is just on the cusp of pain.

I moan softly into his mouth, rolling my hips upwards. I need the friction. Something. Anything. I can feel the hardness of his cock. My core throbs. My body is demanding more. I want more.

Finally, when stars begin darting behind my eyelids he separates from me. He leaves me a breathless panting mess. He has scorched me, touching spots inside my heart that I thought were walled off.

As if reading my mind, Darius releases my lips. "Can I taste you?"

His question throws me off, but in this moment, I take a page from Axel. I don't think, I just live in the moment and agree, "Yes."

The one word is all it takes. I watch Darius transform before my eyes. He is no longer the friend that he has been, he is a predator, the storm, a hurricane. "I have something I want to try. Do you trust me?"

I realize with certainty, that even with what they hid from me, I completely trust Darius. He has done everything to be there for me, to keep me safe. "I do," I murmur the words, looking up at him through my lashes.

"Good." He leans back up and reaches into his pocket for something, for a moment I think it's going to be a condom, but then he pulls out something metal. "I think you'll like this."

My attention shifts when he abruptly yanks my shorts down, and I look up just in time to see him putting something back into his pocket.

He shifts down the bed and flashes me his tongue. There is a larger metal part on it now. I am not quite sure what he has done until he finds his way to the apex of my thighs. Until his tongue makes it to my clit.

His vibrating tongue.

"Holy fuck," I expel in a breathy whimper as shockwaves ripple across my nerves in thick long waves.

He pulls back for a moment and offers me a cheeky smile. "I thought you might like this."

He doesn't give me a chance to question why he had this on him as his tongue returns to my clit and I am once more at his mercy.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." I don't even need anything else. His tongue is making quick work of bringing me to the edge faster than I have ever gone.

He pauses for a moment and it is almost enough to let the guilt of what I am doing burst its way through before his long fingers are pushing into me, one at first in soft steady thrusts. Once I adjust, he adds another.

"Darius," I plead. I crave more and less of him at the same time. My hands find the mattress below, my fingers curling into the sheets.

He moves his tongue. Coupled with the vibrations, it's a new sensation that I have never felt before, but I fucking love it. So much so, that I would do anything in this moment for him to never stop. I am shuddering against the mattress unconsciously arching up into him while my hands keep me latched to the mattress.

His two fingers curl at a spot just inside that causes me to quiver.

"Darius, please," I pant the words out. I don't know what I am begging for, but he seems to understand.

His fingers begin to frantically pound a beat as they curl into the same spot just inside over and over again. He hums against my clit as his tongue and the piercing work me over.

I hit the breaking point as the pressure inside surges upwards and out.

The scream that leaves my body is a surprise second only to the excess wetness that rushes out of me.

"I—I—" I am suddenly unsure of what just happened. It felt amazing, but I had never felt exactly like that before.

Darius leans back on his heels and wipes his face. His very wet face. Darius's lips curl in satisfaction as he finds my attention on him.

"You squirted," Darius tells me.

"I'm sorry." Embarrassment is now wrapping up my stomach.

He shifts up the bed until he is once more hovering over me. I try to turn my head on the mattress, but he grips my chin, forcing me to look him in the eyes. "Do not ever apologize, you are the sexiest woman I have ever met and being able to make you do that? That's the biggest compliment I could ever receive."

Once more Darius is reassuring me and making every encounter a safe and comfortable experience.

Darius is stamping himself into my life. Into my very being. Existential dread drops like an iron down my throat. I try to swallow around it.

"Darius," I rasp the word out. "Please don't leave me." Terror suddenly strikes, causing my heart to beat rapidly. I'm inexplicably afraid that if this moment ends, I won't see him again.

My hands reach up to gently trace his bruised cheek. He leans into the touch, pushing down until I can feel his heart beating against mine.

A muffled noise sounds. It's his phone ringing.

"I'm not the one that keeps running away." He offers a bitter grin before kissing the tip of my nose and rolling carefully off of me.

This time he mutters in pain at the movement. He yanks his phone out of his pocket, answering it.

"Update? Is it time?" Darius barks the words into the phone.

A pause, he glances at me.

"Fuck off. I'm bringing her. You're a fucking idiot," he barks out in a harsh rasp.

He moves the phone to his shoulder and offers me his hands. I carefully take them and he tugs me up.

"We'll be there in an hour." He pushes me to the bathroom. "I know I was wrong. That doesn't help anything," he says into the phone as he closes me inside the bathroom door. I try to listen for the rest of the conversation, but I can't hear it.

Now that I am no longer in the moment with Darius, my mind is slowly processing the last day of events. Crippling depression and guilt trickle into me.

Auggie and Tripp were murdered.

There is something evil being hidden in plain sight in this town.

Carrie isn't okay. Julia isn't okay.

Darius and Grayson were hurt because of me.

Veronica knows more than she is letting on.

The sheriff has Auggie's car.

The totaled car looked like it had been hit by Maxwell's BMW.

I stare at my reflection in the mirror.

My copper curls are a wild mess, my stormy eyes are sunken and hollow, my lips are dull. I feel like I am slowly fading from existence.

I want to find out who killed Auggie and Tripp, but what about the living O'Briens?

I pull my hands back, I want to break, hurt, destroy.

"Wildflower!" Darius's stern voice breaks through the silence.

Fuck.

I jerk away from the mirror. I can't stand to look at myself. All I am doing is causing more harm.

I turn on the shower.