Liability (Suncoast Society #33)(61)

And that crazy little f*cker was still out there, somewhere.

Maybe I’ll be the one wearing prison orange if I get my hands on him first.

She was glad Cole hadn’t let her see the video footage last night. That’s not what she wanted in her brain. It was bad enough seeing Mason in that hospital bed.

She didn’t need another nightmare. She was already living one.

After getting the coffee started she returned to the bathroom and started the shower, standing there, staring into the mirror as steam filled the bathroom. With a deep breath she unbuckled her collar and laid it on the counter before getting in to shower.

Mason’s shampoo, Mason’s soap. She used it instead of hers, wanting to smell like him.

I have to pull it together.

Still, she broke down again, quietly sobbing with her forehead pressed against the tile wall.

He’ll make it. He has to make it.

Only when she had cried that out of her system did she get out, wrapping her wet hair in a towel and grabbing Mason’s robe from the back of the bathroom door.

It took every ounce of will she had not to pull some of his dirty clothes out of the hamper and smell them.

Cole was still asleep when she quietly got his keys and walked outside to get their bags from the trunk. She refused to look at the back of Mason’s car as she did. Overnight the sprinklers had come on and washed the last traces of the accident from the sidewalk.

I need to make him proud of me.

She knew Mason would want her to be strong for Cole, not make him shoulder this alone. It was only that thought that kept her vertical as she carried their stuff inside and then returned to the bedroom to check on Cole.

Still sleeping.

She fixed herself a cup of coffee and drank a few swallows of it before making Cole’s the way he liked and carrying them both to the bedroom.

He was lying pretty much in the middle of the bed. As if seeking out her or Mason in his sleep.

She set the cups down and plugged his phone into Mason’s charger. It was nearly seven now.

After hanging the damp towel back in the bathroom and combing out her wet hair, she sat on the bed for a moment, behind Cole, and stared at him.

I can do this.

She kept Mason’s robe on and stretched her body out along Cole’s back, her arm around his waist, her other slipping under his pillow and cradling his head. At first she wasn’t sure he’d awakened, until she felt the silent sobs wrack his body.

She kissed the top of his head. “I’m here,” she whispered. “We can do this.”

He pulled her arms tightly around him as he cried, the sound breaking her heart, her soul, shattering her into a million pieces a second time. She held on to him, afraid to let go for fear of losing him to his grief, needing to be his anchor as much as he was hers.

“I can’t do this without you,” he finally said.

She closed her eyes and pressed a kiss to the nape of his neck. “I know. I can’t do this without you, either.”

He finally let go of Mason’s pillow and turned in her arms, now wrapping his around her and staring down into her eyes. Those sweet blue eyes of his.

“I know you need me to be strong for you. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.” She forced a smile. “We’ll take turns falling apart.”

He kissed her, and she wasn’t sure when it went from soft and gentle and comforting to devouring and possessive and frantically desperate.

Then he rolled on top of her, the robe falling open as her legs parted for him, wrapping around him, his cock sliding home with a sigh from both of them as he laced fingers with her and pinned her arms over her head.

Her eyes dropped closed, her body taking over, on total auto-pilot as his lips crushed hers in a kiss she hoped never ended.

“Eyes open, pet,” he hoarsely said.

She obeyed.

One perfect moment they both needed, a connection, a reminder. They didn’t just belong to him, they belonged to each other as well. They’d desperately need that through the coming weeks…and months.

Cole rested his forehead against hers as he slowly f*cked her, not for pleasure, and she knew it.

His soul called to hers through his gaze and she answered, trusting, letting herself go and fall into subspace, needing this and him and completely unapologetic.

“Come for him,” Cole whispered. “You come for him. Show me what a good girl you are for him.” He squeezed her hands tighter, his strokes harder, deeper than she was used to from Cole.

The way Mason unapologetically f*cked her. The way Mason f*cked him. Deep and raw and without holding back.

She tipped her hips back slightly and there was the spot.

Cole continued to channel him. Even his voice sounded deeper, the inflection Mason’s. “Be his good pet. Be his good girl.” He forced her head to the side with his and nipped at her neck. “Good pets come when they’re told to.”

He bit, hard, and she fell over the edge as he started slamming his cock into her, not a hint of gentleness and driving even more pleasure through her until he finally came with a grunt of his own and fell still, his weight pressing her into the mattress.

She pulled her hands free and wrapped her arms and legs around him as he started trembling. He tried to get up but she wouldn’t let go, making him stay there.

And then his tears started again. She let him roll them to their sides as she held him.