Chapter Twelve

CHAPTER TWELVE

Jade

I wish I could say that I got myself together after sneaking back into 7D’s apartment to find everything set to rights. Or that I didn’t rush down to the lobby when I saw the mailman approaching so I could see if mail easily still fit into his slot, or if there was some struggle involved because 7D hadn’t cleared out his box in days. Or that I didn’t sit up at all hours of the day and night listening. But hearing… nothing.

I was actually avoiding calls from my mom because I knew that, of all people, she would be the one to pick up on something being wrong with me. I just wasn’t quite sure I wanted to talk to anyone about my concerns.

At least not without some other bit of information to go on.

I tried to remind myself that if 7D wasn’t around anymore, like I sincerely suspected, that eventually his rent was going to come due. Then maybe I could convince someone that something happened to him.

Even if the blood was cleaned up, the police had ways of finding traces of it.

I knew that because my paranoia and lack of sleep had led to a researching problem.

I was practically a pro when it came to crimes and cover-ups now.

The only thing my research hadn’t given me was the ability to compartmentalize the situation, to just let it drop so I could eat or sleep or even just think straight.

I wasn’t sure how people who witnessed actual, for sure crimes managed to ever go back to their lives. I kind of maybe overheard one and I was a freaking wreck.

I did manage to finish my canvases for Mrs. Jackson. As well as one for Lily, Curtis, and their kids since I knew they weren’t long for the building either.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to function without someone else around that I knew, that I felt like I could run to if I was feeling threatened or like I was losing my damn mind.

I was in one of my daily spirals when there was a knock at my door.

My whole body jolted as I shot off the couch in my bare feet, the blanket I was wrapped in pooling on the floor as I stared at the door like it might burst inward. Like the bad guys who wrote the note might try to force their way in and attack me in the broad daylight.

Realizing I was being stupid, that it was probably Lily, Mrs. Jackson, or even William showing up for some reason or another, I forced myself to move forward, ignoring the chill working its way up my spine as I got closer to the door.

When I looked out the peephole and saw a very welcome face, I practically clawed at my locks in desperation to get them free, to get Levee in my apartment with me.

The door was no sooner open before he was stooping downward.

Before I could even guess at his intentions, his hands grabbed the backs of my knees and pulled me right up off of my feet.

My arms flew around his neck instinctively, holding on for dear life as he held me aloft as he moved into my apartment.

He kicked my door closed. Then he slammed me back against the wall just to the side of it as his lips crashed down on mine.

He swallowed my surprised gasp as he kissed me with a sort of frenzied desperation, like he’d been dying to do exactly this for so long that he couldn’t control himself now that it was happening.

My body sank into his as my arms wrapped around him more tightly, wanting him as close as possible, to feel the comforting strength of him around me.

Levee’s teeth nipped my lower lip, nipping just enough to drag a moan out of me.

Taking the opportunity, his tongue slipped in to toy with mine, making desire spark and catch fire, spreading wildly through my system that was desperate to feel anything other than the unending uncertainty and fear it had been riddled with for days.

My hand slid up Levee’s neck, slipping into his hair and tugging. His groan vibrated against my lips as he pressed me more firmly against the wall.

His hardness was pressed against me and I didn’t hesitate to hook my legs around his hips so I could rock against him.

Levee’s hands slid up my thighs, slipping under my skirt, then continuing their path upward until his fingers were teasing the edge of my panties over my hip.

He pulled himself back from me, dragging a frustrated grumble out of me that quickly fell away as his hand slid under my panties.

My head fell back against the wall on a moan as his fingers wasted no time sliding inside of me. A welcome fullness. A needed friction. A perfect distraction .

Levee’s head ducked, teasing his lips and tongue up my neck as his fingers started to rock inside of me, gently at first, then a little more quickly, roughly, as my mewling sounds became desperate moans.

His head shifted up, teeth nipping the lobe of my ear as his palm flattened against my cleft, engaging my clit.

“Hardly been able to think of anything but this since the laundry room,” he murmured against the shell of my ear as his fingers got more insistent. “But this time, I think I need more than just a taste,” he said as his fingers slid out of me.

There was a moment of a sort of all-consuming disappointment as his hand left my panties, as he pulled away from me and forced me to stand on my own two feet.

But then he was on his knees in front of me, his head tipped back, hungry gaze on me as he reached up under my skirt to slowly draw down my panties.

My stomach felt coiled, my muscles weak and shaky in anticipation as I looked down at his gorgeous face.

He lifted each of my feet, getting my legs free, then leaned down to slip under my skirt.

It fell over him, blocking him from view as his lips met the inside of my knee then blazed a delicious trail up my thigh.

His tongue discovered the crease where my hip met my thigh, dragging a little whimper out of me as my legs trembled in anticipation.

Suddenly desperate to watch, I ruched up my skirt just as his head shifted, his hair tickling my thigh for a second before his tongue was on me.

My breath felt constricted in my chest as I watched, as I felt, his tongue slowly slide upward.

Every inch of me felt poised for the moment his tongue flattened against my throbbing clit.

But I swear I nearly came right then and there, I was so far gone, I was so needy for him.

He made a sexy little rumbling sound against me just before his tongue started to work me.

Slowly, like he had all day, like he wasn’t killing me little by little with each passing second.

His hand reached for my leg, cradling it over his shoulder. He slid up my thigh to grab and hold onto my ass as his other hand moved between us again, his fingers surging into me.

My chest felt tighter and tighter as my breathing went faster and more shallow while he worked me with his tongue and fingers.

My moans were starting to sound like cries just as his fingers turned inside of me, stroking slowly across my top wall.

The orgasm shot through my system too quickly to prepare for it, making my whole body shudder hard as a strangled cry escaped me.

My hands grabbed at him, one going to the back of his neck, the other grabbing his shoulder to keep myself upright as the waves crashed through me over and over.

Levee kept working me through it, dragging it out until I felt wrung out.

Only then did his head turn, pressing a sweet kiss to my inner thigh before moving to stand.

He reached for me again, hoisting me up around his waist, his hands sinking into my ass as he turned and walked toward the living room. Turning, he dropped down, taking me down, straddling him.

I wanted to just nuzzle into his neck, to cling to him with as much neediness and desperation as I was feeling right then.

I let myself have a moment, my lips pressing into his neck, breathing in his crisp scent. Something citrusy and clean that I couldn’t get enough of.

A little rumble moved through him, vibrated into me, sparking the flame of desire through me again as he swallowed hard.

I kissed my way up to his ear, then down his jaw until my lips claimed his.

With one orgasm to take the edge off of my own need, my lips were soft and lazy for a long time, just soaking up the feel of him, the comfort of his closeness.

It wasn’t long, though, before my own desire was rising to meet his.

When his hands grabbed my hips and dragged me downward until there wasn’t a whisper of air between us, making his cock press against my cleft, the little spark became a fire once again.

I pulled back, loving the raw hunger in his dark eyes.

His hands slid up from my hips, grabbing the hem of my tee and slowly lifting it, exposing me inch by inch.

I lifted my arms up over my head, and he leaned forward to free me of the shirt before sitting back and soaking in the view.

His hands rested lazily at my waist for a long moment. It wasn’t until a little whimper of need moved through me that his gaze cut to mine, his hunger undercut with a spark of amusement.

But then he was leaning forward, his face pressing between my breasts. I felt him breathe me in as my hand slipped into his soft hair.

Then he was shifting and sucking one of my nipples into his mouth.

The desire was a white-hot fire that burst through me, making my skin feel too heated, too tight to contain all of that need.

Levee’s teeth grazed the tightened bud, making my thighs clamp to the sides of him, my cleft rocking against his hardness.

He teased me with lips and tongue and teeth until I felt like I couldn’t take it. Then moved across my chest and continued the sweet agony.

When he finally moved back, I was the one quickly losing my grip on my control.

My hands yanked at the leather vest he was wearing. With a chuckle, he sat back to help me remove it. That wasn’t nearly good enough, though. I grabbed his shirt, pulling it until he took over and pulled it off, tossing it carelessly to the side.

A little whimper escaped me at the feel of his bare skin on mine as I leaned forward to steal his lips. But just for a moment before the need to explore him became too strong to ignore.

I kissed down his neck, over his collarbone, down the center of his chest, then took a moment to tease my tongue over his nipples before continuing down.

His abdominal muscles were tensed with his desire, each of them tightening as my tongue and lips moved over them.

I scooted off his lap, lowering my body down between his thighs.

My hands went across his stomach to the waistband of his jeans, working his button and zipper free, then reaching inside to free his cock.

Levee’s hand clenched his own thigh, like it was taking actual effort not to reach for me, not to draw me down onto him.

He didn’t need to hold himself back. I had no intention of torturing him.

I leaned down, teasing my tongue around the head of his cock, then down and up the underside of his length.

A rumble moved through Levee as his hands reached out, gathering my hair and moving it out of his way. He twisted the long strands around his fist, then held it against the back of my head as my lips parted and started to take him in.

Beneath me, his whole body was tensed, and I felt high on my control over his desire right then.

So I worked him achingly slowly for a long few minutes. Until his breath was coming in short, shallow little huffs and his hand was tightening on my hair.

Only then did I start to suck him harder and faster, my head twisting as I moved, tasting his desire in my mouth as his labored breathing was disrupted by increasingly rough groans and curses.

Suddenly, his hand yanked hard at my hair, making little sparks of pain shoot across my scalp as he pulled me back until his cock slid from between my lips.

He didn’t let up, and the pain had me moving as he was silently directing until I was straddling him again.

Leaning forward, his lips took mine.

Hard.

Deep.

Bruising into mine.

His free hand went to my ass, dragging me against him, and the feel of his cock against my cleft had a long moan escaping me, my thighs shaking with the effort not to just lift up and take him in. Like both of us were aching for.

Sensing my desperation, likely feeling it himself, his hand released my hair as his body shifted, allowing him to reach into his back pocket to grab his wallet.

He fished out a condom, and as I leaned in to nip his earlobe, he made short work of protecting us.

Both of his hands went to my hips, dragging me against him again, then rocking me against him until I was drenching his hard length with my need.

“Let me feel you,” Levee groaned, his hands sliding to my ass, sinking in, as I shifted up, positioned myself, then slid down onto him.

His sharp exhale was overpowered by my deep moan as he slipped into me, stretching me inch by inch, making me his.

“Fuck,” he groaned as I took him to the base, needing a second to adjust to the feel of him, the depth of him.

His fingers tightened on my ass, but he didn’t try to make me move until my own need became too strong to ignore.

I rode him slowly, caught up in the sensation of him moving in me inch by delicious inch.

But it wasn’t long before the coiled need in my core had me riding harder, faster.

His hands made me take him faster still as our breathing went shallow, as sweat started to slick our bodies.

The orgasm came on slowly, then all at once, making me choke on a moan as it slammed violently through my system, deep, hard pulsations of pleasure that had my whole body shaking with their intensity.

“Fuck, baby,” Levee groaned, rocking his hips up to me when I couldn’t even think of moving by myself anymore.

I collapsed into him, spent.

But Levee wasn’t done with me. Not yet.

He pushed me off onto the side of him, then rose up, getting onto his knees as he turned me, pushing me up onto my knees, then bending me over the arm of the couch as he moved in behind me, then slammed deep.

My lips against the arm of the chair muffled my cry as he filled me again, the new angle making his cock slide against my top wall.

He moved with slow, deep thrusts at first, giving my body a chance to both recover and rekindle with need.

As soon as my hips were rocking back into him, though, his hands sank into my hips, pulling me back against him as he thrust. Harder. Faster.

My moans, his groans, and the sounds of our bodies crashing together filled the apartment, reaching a fever pitch as Levee got me right at that precipice again.

“Come for me,” he demanded, voice rough, close himself.

Just like that, I did, pressing my face into the couch cushion to muffle my cries as he fucked me through it, then slammed deep, body jerking as he found his own release.

There was nothing for a long time in the aftermath save for our labored breaths and the distant sound of reggae music down the hall.

Eventually, Levee leaned forward, pressing a kiss between my shoulder blades before slowly moving away from me.

Silently, he yanked his pants up then made his way down the hall toward the bathroom.

Alone, I was too spent to do anything but flop onto my back.

That was exactly how he found me a moment later when he reappeared shirtless with his jeans hanging low on his hips.

If I thought his build had been impressive when he’d been sitting, it didn’t hold a candle to how magnificent it was when he was standing.

“Fuck, that’s a good view,” he said, reaching up to run a hand through his hair as his gaze moved over my bare body.

“I was just about to say the same thing.”

“Yeah?” he asked, that playboy smile toying with his lips. “Reconsidering using me as a model?”

“Oh, I’ve already drawn you,” I confessed.

“No way,” he said, smile going even wider. “Can I see?”

“Sure,” I said, going ahead and stretching like a cat, enjoying the rumbling sound that moved through him at it, before unfolding and climbing off the couch.

I could feel his gaze on my ass as I walked toward my little art corner of the apartment, grabbing my sketchbook, then making my way back to the couch.

He’d already moved to sit, so I dropped down next to him, my legs draped over his, still craving that closeness, as I flipped open the cover of my sketchpad.

“May I?” he asked, reaching to flip the page.

“Sure,” I agreed, letting myself rest against him as he flipped through all of the sketches I’d been fiddling with since I moved in. Half-finished ones of my apartment, of my neighbors, of the building itself.

Then he got to the first of him. It was the roughest of all of them, his features not fully fleshed out since I’d only seen him once at that point.

But the next few were much more detailed.

Yes, few. What can I say? When you had that gorgeous of a subject, you drew the hell out of them until you got every detail right.

“So,” he said when he got to the final one. It was my favorite. Not only because it was a really good representation of his handsome face, but because I’d managed to capture that boyish smile and that playful light in his dark eyes. “You think I’m kinda hot, huh?” he asked, shooting me a smirk.

“Kind of is an understatement,” I admitted, never feeling any embarrassment over my feelings and desires.

“Suddenly wish I could draw,” he admitted, teasing a hand up my thigh. “Because I’d like to be able to look at this whenever I want.”

“Give me your phone,” I demanded.

“Okay,” he said, reaching for it without hesitation, even unlocking it for me.

I opened the camera, then handed it back to him as I slid away to get into a long pose, my arm draped over my face.

I had no shame about my body. But every girl knew better than to let a man have a naked selfie of them with their face showing.

“Seriously?” he asked, sounding both shocked and excited at once.

“Hurry up. I’m kind of cold over here.”

“That’s… not a problem from my point of view,” he said, making my lips curve up as I heard his shutter click once, twice. “You’re really gonna let me keep these?” he asked as I moved in at his side again to look at the end result.

“Yeah, why not? It’s just a body,” I said, shrugging. “We all have them.”

“Trust me, doll, not everyone has this one,” he said, looking down at the pictures, then letting me watch him create a password protected folder to store them in.

“I think any of my puritanical ideas about the human body fell away the first time I sat in an art class and a nude model walked in.”

“Male or female?”

“Both. I’ve drawn dozens of nude models. Men, women. Thin, voluptuous. Early adulthood, middle-aged, senior…”

“Really? Seniors?”

“Yeah. The body is beautiful. Even the things we typically don’t find attractive about ourselves. Rolls, cellulite, stretch marks. They’re really beautiful when you’re looking at them with kinder eyes.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever met someone as positive as you are,” he said, watching me for a long second. “It’s nice.”

“We’re all here such a short time. It feels like a crazy waste of precious time to be cynical and moody all of the time.”

To that, he let out a little laugh. “Try telling my uncle that?”

“Some attitudes, I fear, are generational.”

“That’s the damn truth,” he agreed, nodding.

“Was your father like your uncle and grandfather?”

“Yeah. Mean sonofabitch. More violent than my uncle. Then again, Uncle Will didn’t have kids, so who knows if he would have knocked them around too if he had.”

“You broke that, though,” I said, wrapping an arm lightly around him, not caring if I was coming off a little clingy. This was the best I’d felt in weeks. I was going to hold onto it as long as I could.

“Well, I don’t have kids. But if I did, I wouldn’t put a hand on ‘em. I’m assuming your parents didn’t hit you?”

“No. My parents were big on teaching natural consequences.”

“Natural consequences?”

“So, if I colored on the walls, the natural consequence was I had to be the one to scrub it off. If I spilled a drink, I cleaned it up. That kind of thing. The consequence was always related to the indiscretion . It taught me to think of the outcome before I did something. And if I didn’t want to spend an hour scrubbing the wall, I should just get a piece of paper instead. That sort of thing.”

“Yeah, seems a lot healthier than being told you’re a worthless piece of shit, smacked around, and sent to your room for a week. Oh, shit,” he said, looking taken aback at the way water flooded my eyes. “Didn’t mean to make you cry.”

“I just can’t imagine being that cruel to a little kid,” I said as he reached out, wiping the single tear that escaped off of my cheek.

“You’re gonna be a good mom someday,” he told me, sounding certain of it.

“And I think if you decide to have kids, you’ll be a great dad. I mean, look at how you take care of your uncle. And he doesn’t make it easy.”

“That he doesn’t,” he agreed.

“How’s his hand?”

“Wouldn’t let me look at it. But now that he’s got the electric wheelchair, it will put less pressure on it.”

We stayed just like that for almost an hour. Mostly naked. Just talking.

Until my stomach that I’d neglected to feed for almost a full day at that point decided to make its objections known.

With that, we got dressed enough to be able to answer the door when the pizza we’d decided to order showed up.

It was the most normal I’d felt in weeks.

But the second he walked out of the door, it all came flooding back.

Then three days later as I was walking in late from a gallery opening I’d attended, a shadow moved out from the corner of my vision. And before I could react, could even draw in a breath to scream, it was on me.