Fighting Me (9 page)

Making my way down the hallway, I walk into my room and slam the door behind me. Beyond frustrated, but not just because Mack thinks it’s funny to cry wolf. I’m more upset about the fact that my dick was all set to be balls deep inside Rae. The way she felt beneath my hands was fabulous. My fingers itch at the thought of touching her again. Then there is the fact that there is some truth to what Mack said. I need to loosen up some. We are safe here, I know that, for the most part. Hell, I plotted all the damn security precautions myself, with no room for error. Rolling my shoulders, I crack my neck and look at myself in the mirror and grin. To hell with it, if they want me to relax some and have fun, then I will. I just hope that Mack is prepared for all that happens when I do.

Grabbing a pair of shorts from my bag, I walk into the bathroom and stop dead in my tracks when I see Rae in the floor, sobbing. Her arms wrapped around her knees, holding them tightly to her chest.

R
unning into the house
, I was scared out of my mind. It was happening again. Instantly, I was transported back to five years ago. Feeling helpless and unable to do anything about it. Just like the day I lost Joshua. When Mack laughed and said it was a joke, my vision went completely black. I lost it. I’ve never hit anyone in my life.

Walking into the bathroom, I slump to the floor. Pulling my knees up, I bury my face and the emotions pour out of me. I cry, not just for Josh, but it’s a release of emotion and adrenaline as well. When you lose someone who was the center of your world, your biggest fear is for that to happen again to someone you care about. The hurt is one that aches for an eternity and is only dulled by giving yourself over to it and being strong enough to come out on the other side.

You die, just the same as they did, only you’re forced to keep breathing. You never forget, even though their faces seem to fade further and further away, you just simply learn to exist without them. You move on, whether you want to or not. I chose to push on because it hurt too much to keep looking back.

It doesn’t mean it’s always easy, it just means it’s what has to be done.

At the Daycare, I was reborn in a way. The children came in and were safe. I relied on that. I began to get stronger, knowing that the past could never repeat itself, because I refused to let it. Tonight, though, between Henry and me on the beach and Mack’s idiotic prank, my emotions have been put through the ringer.

“Jesus.” His sharp growl makes me jump. Instantly Henry is at my side, his broad shoulders pressing into the corner of the vanity as he kneels down to meet my eyes. Cupping my jaw, he swipes away tears with his thumb. “Mack’s a shit. Don’t let him get to you.”

“No, it’s fine.” I sniffle, swiping angrily at the tears that keep falling. “I’m fine, it just scared me, that’s all.” Looking up at Henry, I groan. “Is Mack all right?” I ask, still not able to believe that I actually hit him.

Henry’s shoulders shake, his body vibrating with silent laughter. “Don’t worry about Mack, Slugger, I think he’ll be just fine. Although, I think you scared him just as much as he scared us. I’m not sure a woman has ever tried to kick his ass before. I’m not sure he knew what to do.”

I giggle, unable to help myself. Burying my face in my knees again, my whole body shakes as I laugh. My emotions are off the damn wall. I go from wanting to tear Henry’s clothes off, to terrified, to angry, to sobbing my eyes out, now I’m hysterical?

“That’s a beautiful sound.”

Looking up into his eyes, I am unable to resist smiling when I see a grin spread across his face. Taking my hand in his, Henry helps me stand to my feet. Grabbing a wash cloth from the shelf, Henry turns on the faucet and wets it before tilting up my chin and wiping gently beneath my eyes. His fingers graze my cheek, making me shiver.

“You know, you don’t have to tend to me,” I say trying to grab the cloth from his fingers. “You’re not on duty with me, Bear.”

Henry scowls at me. “I didn’t come in here to tend to you, Rae.” Brushing his thumb over my bottom lip, his eyes soften. “But, here I am, drying your tears. Now, I’m going to kiss you because I need to taste you again. Then, we are going to get out of here and get revenge on Mack.” Wrapping an arm around me, he pulls me flush to his body. “If Mack wants to see me unwind, Firecracker, I’m all about showing him how it’s done.”

Then his lips are on mine.

Hard, hot, and demanding, Henry’s mouth moves against mine like he’s trying to devour me whole. My brain short circuits, all I can do is grab his arms and follow his lead. His tongue runs over my bottom lip before sucking it into his mouth and tugging with his teeth. I gasp in surprise, and he starts to pull away, but I pull him back into me causing his hardening erection to press into my stomach. Knowing that I do that to him is a fucking high like no other. Every woman needs to know that they are the reason you are battling splitting your zipper with your hard on. It’s an ego boost, plain and simple. Men can give you sweet words and can tell you anything you want to hear, but let’s just face it, there’s no denying a crotch tent.

His fingers wrap around my pony tail, letting me know that he’s back with me again, wrapping my hair around his wrist before pulling to tilt my head. I moan into his mouth, my tongue finding his. A growl rumbles up from his chest as he lifts me off my feet and places me on the white tile vanity. Stepping between my legs, he deepens the kiss. Both his hands cup my ass, rolling me into him again and again.

His lips move down my jaw before pressing them to the crook of my neck. His hot breath against my skin feels so good. My fingers slide up his back and into his hair, wanting to hold him there, because it feels good to get lost and forget everything else.

“You ready for some revenge, Rae?” he asks, his jaw ticking as his grin turns into a sexy as hell wicked smile. The dimple in his cheek is barely visible through his scruffy beard, but I can still see it.

“Revenge?” I ask, still a little dumbstruck by his kiss.

Henry chuckles. “Let’s go.”

Taking my hand, he helps me to my feet and leads me into my room. Grabbing the empty bag I use to pack Brannon and Jazzie’s beach things in, he heads out the opened French doors and down the cobble stone path that leads down to the beach, pulling me behind him. “What exactly are we doing?”

“Since Mack thinks I am such a crab ass, he needs some up close and personal time with some.”

I giggle and cover my mouth with both hands, meeting Henry’s eyes. Remembering how he acted earlier today when he saw them, I nod my head and reach down to grab one scurrying past me. “I hope your phone has a good camera on it because this needs to be on video.”

Henry takes the crab from my hands and shoves it into the bag before grabbing one from the sand himself. “Oh I’ll make sure of it.”

I scramble on the sand, trying to grab the crabs before they disappear into the water while Henry holds the bag. Both of us laugh, hoping like hell Mack doesn’t come out and find out what we are planning to do before we can get the crabs in place.

Walking around the main house, we head toward the smaller backhouse where Mack is staying with Luke, Kionna, Aiden, and Camaron. Henry surveys the house carefully, glancing at all the doors and windows before pointing to a set of closed double doors. “That’s his room,” Henry says surely. “He put himself on the ground floor and everyone else upstairs so that it’s easier for him to keep tabs on them.” Jiggling the door, he pops it open and scans inside to be sure Mack isn’t in there. Holding the door open for me, he gestures for me to enter. “He’ll regret that shit soon enough.”

Stepping into the room, I walk over dirty clothes and empty food wrappers. “He’s a slob,” I groan, kicking dirty jeans and boxers out of my way. “I’ve seen five year olds cleaner than this.”

“Shhh,” Henry says, jerking back the rumpled covers. “We don’t have all day, woman. We’ve gotta dump and run.”

Giggling, I run around the other side of the large king sized bed and help straighten the blanket and sheets while Henry dumps the bag of crabs onto the mattress. They look pissed as hell, snapping their tiny claws while we tuck the blankets and sheets in around them effectively caging them in. For now anyway.

Noise outside the door makes Henry stand ram rod straight. “Closet. Now.” Coming around the side of the bed, Henry grabs my arm and pulls us toward the sliding closet doors. Tucking us inside, Henry pulls the door closed, leaving just enough room for us to see the bedroom door and most of the bed.

“I’m gonna crash for a while, Aiden,” Mack calls stepping through the door and tugging off his shirt. Closing the door behind him, he doesn’t even bother with the light while fumbling over the pile of clothes I kicked to get to the bed. Henry wraps an arm around my waist protectively as Mack strips down to his boxer shorts and yanks back the blankets before slipping beneath them.

I giggle causing Henry to hand me his phone to hold as it records while he covers my mouth with his other hand and press his lips against the outer shell of my ear. “Wait for it.”

Mack tosses and turns, trying to get comfortable. Then it happens. “What the hell?” he yelps, sitting up in the bed. “Fuck! Shit! Ow! What the hell is going on?” Flinging off the covers, he slaps the lamp on beside the bed, staring down at the crabs not only attached to his shorts, but one dangling from his finger. “Sonuvabitches!” he screams, fumbling over the clothes and yanking open the door. “Aiden, goddammit, Aiden! Help me!”

Henry guides me out of the closet, his laugh vibrating not just his body, but mine as well. The rich, playful, carefree sound is something I didn’t expect to affect me, but it does. Heading up the hall, we both laugh as Mack attempts to shake them off while running and slamming into furniture as he screams for help.

“Ha!” Cam laughs, while Mack thrashes, kicking his legs and flinging his arms around, but the crabs hold firm, snapping and clinging to his clothes and skin for dear life. “Look, Mack’s a ninja.”

Aiden scratches his chin before shaking his head. “Mack the ginja ninja, I like it. You know, Mack,” Aiden laughs, while Mack leaps around like his ass has been lit on fire. “I’d think after some of the women we’ve caught you tappin’ you’d be used to handlin’ crabs.”

“You two are fuckin’ hilarious, you know that?” Bumping into the coffee table, Mack tumbles onto the couch beside Aiden and Cam before rolling onto the floor. Cam yelps, leaping into Aiden’s lap while Mack flails in the floor like a fish out of water, the crab flying off his finger and landing on his bare chest before snapping at his nipple making him scream. “Would you help me before they snap off my dick?”

“Don’t be so crabby, muffin,” Henry says, angling his phone at Mack. “Looks like they just wanted to help you relax.”

I erupt into a fit of uncontrollable giggles causing Henry to grab his phone from my fingers when I nearly drop it. Mack’s eyes snap up, widening the instant he spots us walk further into the room. “You motherfuckers.”

“Big Man, you’re a goddamn legend,” Aiden says, leaping from the couch. Running over, he bumps Henry’s fist before taking the phone, hitting a bunch of buttons, and handing it back. “I can’t wait to upload this bad boy,” he says, running up the stairs.

“Oh, yeah, he’s a damn riot.” Standing to his feet, Mack yanks at the crab on his shorts causing it to fall to the floor. “Asshole,” he says, glaring at Henry. “I can’t believe you put these little bastards in my… fucking hell!” he shouts, jumping on the couch. “That little whore just bit my toe!”

“I’m positive those aren’t the worst things that have been in your bed, and they won’t be the last,” Henry teases. Walking over, he picks the crab up from the floor and holds it up to Mack’s face. “Isn’t it cute, Dominick?” he asks, holding it out as his little claws snap open and shut just inches from Mack. “Give it a kiss.”

“Get it out of here!” Mack shouts jumping off the back of the couch to the wood floor behind it.

“Well,” I grin widely, placing a hand on my hip. “You’ll have to tell that to the dozen or so probably still waiting for you in bed.”

Henry shrugs. “Payback’s a bitch, and so are you.”

Stomping around the couch, he glares between Henry and me. “You two are sick and twisted.” Yanking another crab from his shorts, Mack throws it at Henry. “Seriously, just sick as fuck.”

“Fuckin’ funny as hell,” Henry corrects him. “And effective. I don’t see you forgettin’ this lesson anytime soon.”

Following Henry out the front door of the house, I have to walk twice as fast as he does just to keep up with his long-legged stride. Reaching out, he takes my hand in his and leads us around the cobblestones to the doors to my room. Passing through the doors, he spins me around in front of him, lifting me off my feet as if I weighed nothing. “Gonna kiss you again, Rae.” One arm bands around my waist, the other pulling the tie free from my hair sending it tumbling down my back before his fingers slide through the strands. “You want this?” he asks, staring down at me. “Be sure, there’s no goin’ back once we do this.”

Holy shit!

His words are like gasoline on a bonfire, every molecule of my body is ignited and blazing out of control even though I see the red flags being waved, warning me off. I am torn. Thoughts race through my head, every question I have had about Henry since I met him, every different side of him I have seen. I want to make a rational decision, I really do. I want to play it smart. I have the whole devil on one shoulder, angel on the other scenario going on in my head right now. The good girl in me says that it’s not smart to get involved with Henry like this. That it can only end badly, especially since it seems like Mack has caused enough problems doing this from what I’ve pieced together from off the wall comments. Not to mention the fact that I spend as much time wanting to slap him as I do thinking about kissing him. The naughty, neglected Rae, who hasn’t had anything remotely close to sex with anyone other than herself and a vibrator hidden in her suitcase in longer than I’m willing to admit, is screaming from the sidelines waiting to be tagged in.

The internal struggle wages inside my head until the naughty side hogties and gags the good girl side and gives me a thumbs up.

Biting my lip, I not my head. “Yes,” I whisper, my breath catching in my chest when his hand slides down to cup my ass, silently urging my legs around his waist as he hitches up my dress.

“Just gotta tell me to stop if it’s too much, and I will.”

“Okay,” I nod, excitement coursing through my veins.

His erection presses into me, rocking into me in just the right places as he moves across the room. A moan escapes my lips when he squeezes my ass, only making him do it again. Harder.

Something flashes on his face, almost like pain and I start to say something, but just as quickly, it’s replaced with hunger. Laying me back on the bed, Henry brushes my hair from my face and stares down at me. “Beautiful,” he says crushing his lips to mine.

His hands slide down my body, pulling the top of my dress down as he goes. Trailing kisses down my neck, Henry cups the back of my neck, arching my body to give him better access. My hands slip into his hair, my fingers twisting and pulling as his lips continue to move south. Darting out his tongue, he traces the line of my bikini top while his hand loosens the tie behind my neck.