Fallen Too Far (Too Far, #1)(59)

She fell onto the bed, no longer able to hold herself up. She turned her head to the side to look at me. “Why?”

She didn’t realize where I had shot my release. “Let’s just say I need to clean you up,” I explained.

A giggle burst out of her, and she buried her face in the covers.

I loved hearing her laugh. I also loved standing here and staring at her ass covered in my come. Those two things combined were pretty damn awesome.

She needed to sleep. I couldn’t make her lie here with my come on her because I was a f*cking caveman. Moving around her, I headed for the bathroom and got a warm, wet washcloth, then headed back into the room.

I could see her eyes follow me and the sleepy, satisfied smile on her face. I had put that smile there. I didn’t know if she was supposed to work tomorrow or not, but she wasn’t working. I would deal with it. I had to talk to her. She had to know.

Her dad was here. It was time I faced it and fought for her.

I cleaned the come off her bottom. “All clean, baby. You can crawl on up and get covered up. I’ll be right back,” I told her.

But she didn’t move. I walked around and looked at her face. She was sound asleep. I smiled at the thought of her falling asleep while I was cleaning her up. The possessive beast within beat on his chest.

I picked her up and moved her to the pillow, then covered her carefully. Leaning down, I pressed a kiss to her head. “I will fix this. I swear I will make it right. I love you enough to get us through this. I just need you to love me enough. Please, Blaire. Love me enough,” I pleaded.

She didn’t move. Her slow, even breathing never changed. But I hoped she heard me in her sleep. And that tomorrow she would remember.





CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN


I couldn’t sleep. I lay there for hours, watching Blaire sleep in my arms. She had curled up against me and clung to me as if I were her only warmth. The fear that I might never have this again was very real. As much as I didn’t want to believe she would leave me, I knew I could lose her. How would I survive that? I pulled her closer to me and held her tighter. If I could just take her and run away. Never let her know the awful truth. Why did I always have to hurt her, when all I wanted to do was protect her?

“I love you,” I whispered into her hair.

That had to be enough for us.

I watched the sun come up and the morning grow brighter. Blaire needed sleep. She’d probably sleep until noon. I had to talk to my mother and Abe before Blaire woke up. They needed to know how I felt about her. She had become my top priority. That had to be made clear.

Closing my eyes, I inhaled her and soaked in the feel of her in my arms. So trusting. Forcing myself to get out of bed, I moved her over and out of my arms. I was ready to go downstairs and deal with the truth. The ugly, horrible, sordid truth that was going to hurt her. I couldn’t stop that. I could just hope that I was enough to help her heal.

I

I pulled on my clothes and headed for the stairs, then stopped and looked back at Blaire lying in my bed. She was curled up in the covers now. Her long blond hair was fanned out over my pillow. As a child, I had often wondered if angels were real. By the time I was ten, I had decided they weren’t. That was all bullshit. I realized now that I’d been wrong.

Blaire was my angel.



Abe was standing in the kitchen, drinking a cup of coffee and looking out the window. This was the man who had abandoned my Blaire. He’d let her bury her mother and left her to figure it out all on her own.

I hated him.

He didn’t deserve Blaire.

Abe turned and met my glare. A frown tugged on his mouth, and he took another sip of coffee before turning to look out the window again. He was used to my hatred. But he had no idea how high it had risen since he’d seen me last. I wanted to start ripping his arms off his body. Just looking at him infuriated me.

“Are you going to ask about her?” I snarled.

He shrugged. “She’s here, I assume.” He assumed. He didn’t care. He just assumed.

“What f*cked you up so badly that you could be so heartless?” I asked, hate laced in my words.

“A pain like you could never understand, boy,” he replied. His voice was empty of emotion.

“She buried her mother by herself, you son of a bitch. And you knew it.”

He didn’t reply.

“She is so f*cking innocent and alone,” I said, needing him to acknowledge her, or I was going to lose my shit.

“She isn’t anymore, is she? Innocent and alone, that is,” he said.

My anger hit a boiling point, and I moved across the kitchen. He turned just in time for me to grab him and throw him up against the wall. “You motherf*cking piece of shit! Do not ever, and I f*cking mean ever, insinuate for a minute that Blaire is anything less than innocent. I will end you! I don’t give a f*ck who wants you!” I was yelling.

Abe had dropped his coffee, and the cup had shattered on the floor, but I ignored it. He didn’t look like he cared. There was an emptiness in this man that I didn’t understand. It was as if he had no soul. “Did you sleep with her?” he said calmly.

I slammed him against the wall again, hard enough to rattle the walls and send plates falling to join the broken cup. “Shut up!” I roared.

“Rush!” My mother’s hysterical voice broke through my rage.