Tears slid down her cheeks. Tears for me.

I walked her back into the shower, watched her eyes widen when the water hit her cooled skin. We showered in silence, letting the water wash over us.

I flinched again at the touch of my scars, my chest clenching. Her fingers followed the line down my ribs. It wasn’t the first time, but the shock of being touched was still an adjustment.

When the water was warm enough, I pulled her in front of me. Tears slid down her cheeks, leaving me amazed how she could be upset over what happened to me after what just happened to her.

I walked her back, a gasp as the water hit her skin. She began to relax, but as she washed her body, I noticed she was focused on me. After rinsing off, she reached out to my scar.

After what happened to her, she seemed transfixed on the skin, something she’d seen and touched many times before. She was soft and gentle and felt pain on my behalf without knowing what happened.

How the fuck could anyone hurt such an innocent soul?

The intimate touch as she moved around became more than I could handle. It was silent as we explored each other, my hand shaking as I caressed her still tense body. She was still stuck in her mind, so with each pass I reminded her where she was and who she was with.

There was nothing to fear with me. I pulled her hand up to my lips and kissed each knuckle. The gesture was too much for her, a hiccup leaving her.

I more than anyone knew the power of ghosts. Memories so real that you lose a sense of reality and time.

There was no space between us. Skin on skin as I kissed every part of her I could reach. With each kiss, her body relaxed, and I morphed from reverent to possessive.

“Relax, baby,” I whispered as I turned her in my arms. “Do I have your attention now? I need you here with me.”

She nodded and let out a sigh, some of the tension leaving her. It wasn’t enough.

I ran my hand down her side, caressed over the curve of her hip before slipping between her legs. She was wet not only on the outside, but the inside as well. Slowly, I slid two fingers inside while my other hand teased her nipples.

“Come back to me, baby. Don’t let them take you from me.”

The more I worked her over, the more she shook. I ground the heel of my hand against her clit, eliciting a long, drawn-out moan as her hands reached back to fist my hair.

“You are my cock slut, my sex goddess, and my beautiful girl. That’s all you need to know.”

She rocked in my arms, her breaths coming out in pants. With every thrust of my fingers I pulled her back until she froze. I worked my fingers faster, my teeth on her shoulder, and she let go.

Every muscle tightened, then released, her pussy pulsing around my fingers as she lost all strength. Her whole body was limp against me.

I held her tight to me, placing light kisses on her shoulder as I ran soothing circles across her skin.

“Feel better?” I asked with a kiss to her temple. “Are you okay now?”

She managed to nod, and I continued holding her.

It was a frightening seeing it on the outside in comparison to my own experiences. One I didn’t wish on anyone.

CHAPTER 20

I hated Andrew.

The next morning he was outside our building, waiting for Lila to come down. I really couldn’t stand him or the way he drooled over what was mine. What was the worst was the fact that they were touching.

Andrew’s presence was grating. I couldn’t stand having him so close, trying to angle into what was mine. He drove my possessiveness to a new level, one I’d never experienced before.

An hour later, when we arrived at the office, I fucked her in the elevator for it, destroyed her panties, and took the scarf that hid my marks. All out of anger, out of spite. There was no way he wouldn’t see and understand, truly, that she wasn’t fucking available.

I had her fucking panties in my pocket if he wanted fucking proof of ownership.

Still, later that morning, he was fucking leaning against Lila’s desk, forcing me to listen to his inane chatter. The blood pumped violently through my veins as I imagined the brutality I would deliver to his boy-scout face.

“Lila, it looks like you’ve got some dirt on your neck,” Andrew said.

The words drew my attention, and I turned just in time to see him reach out and try to brush it away. Lila sat there, rigid, waiting for him to realize and probably wondering what to say in response.

Andrew bent down, his eyes narrowing before he stopped and pulled back. “Oh, I see,” he said.

Yeah, take that, fucker.

There was a definite awkward tension between them, and I wanted to laugh.

“So, I was thinking that little gyro place for lunch down the street. Sound good?” he asked her.

Fucker didn’t know when to quit. Even if it was just as friends, even if he understood she wasn’t available, he was still trying to fucking get in.

“Yeah, um, they have really good chicken there,” Lila replied.

I stared at Andrew, the image of my fist hitting that pretty-boy face. He really needed to fucking leave.

Andrew’s eyes met mine, and he startled before glaring back. “What?”

I mashed my teeth together in an attempt to stay calm. “Nothing. Just trying to get some work done in here. Your persistent talking is distracting. Go bother someone else.”

The fucker actually tried to bait me, which only excited the beast. His posture told me he was ready, but just when I was about to stand and show him just what he was dealing with, Lila let out a loud sigh.

He looked down to her and relaxed a bit. “I’ll see you at lunch,” he said to Lila before finally getting the fuck out of our office. I suddenly had an inkling of understanding of Lila’s frustrations at Jennifer and the slut parade.

As soon as he was gone, Lila turned to me. I glared at her before mouthing, “Mine,” and returning back to my work.

She was having dinner with the fucker. For the first time in weeks, I was alone for dinner. I tried to work it off in the gym, running at near full speed until I couldn’t breathe.

Over the past few weeks, I’d lost some muscle mass, and it was noticeable. Not so much in the mirror as in my level of pain. Before returning to work, I ran almost every day and weight trained three to four days a week.

It paid off by reducing my pain and increasing my flexibility, but not enough that I could go without pain meds. Since I met Lila I let a lot of things slip, but mostly because my workout was in a very different form.