“They killed my dad… or are just as guilty of pulling the trigger as whoever did kill him,” she whispers.
“They did, and they’ll pay for it, my love. I’ll bring everyone one of them to their knees,” I say, kissing the back of her head.
“Will you really?” she asks.
“They’ll kneel before you and I’ll kill them all.” I say and pull her tight to my chest.
We lay together for a long time, just Sophia, me, and our fur babies. And maybe… maybe there’s a baby in in her sexy tummy too.
I know Sophia’s head is full of swirling thoughts. Deep, dark thoughts that hurt and cause her pain. My first instinct is to put her at ease and erase those thoughts from her brain. But I can’t. It won’t help her in the long run.
It won’t do a damn thing to fix what’s been done and will be done.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the laptop, Sophia?” I ask, and I’m generally curious why she hid it from me.
“I didn’t think about it honestly, James. I swear I didn’t,” she says and rolls out of my arms for a moment to reposition herself facing me.
“Then what happened?”
“I saw Amanda and it clicked in my brain that she might have it. I don’t know why I didn’t instantly tell you. Maybe I was afraid of what I’d find… But I should have told you, should have trusted you because…”
Her words trail off again and fade away.
“Because?”
“Because you would have been there with me, and you would have known what to do,” she says meekly, like she’s ashamed of what happened.
“We’re a team now, baby, like it or not. We can’t keep secrets like that if they’ll affect your safety,” I say and slowly trail my fingers up and down her spine.
“I know,” she whispers. “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. Fuck, James, it hurt so bad when I read those things my dad said. Finally finding the truth was so awful, so vile, I couldn’t breathe,” she says.
I feel her hips moving toward me so I keep moving my hand up and down her back.
“You have to remember to breathe, though. It’s what’s going to get you through this. Breathe and understand that shit happened, but I have you. I’m going to make sure they pay for this,” I say.
Lapsing into silence, we simply hold each other, sharing the same air and space. It’s not a perfect moment with all the death and destruction hanging over our heads like a gallows noose, but it’s the best we can hope for right now.
Expecting Sophia to fall asleep in my arms after all the shit that’s happened, I’m surprised as fuck when I hear her taking a deep breath.
Then quickly another.
Like she’s smelling me…
“James?” she asks suddenly.
“Hmm?”
“What’s that smell?” she asks.
“Raw man?” I ask in confusion.
“No, that’s not it,” she says and leans in closer to sniff my shirt.
A breath later she quietly retches.
“You feeling sick again, babe?” I ask and pull back to look at her.
“No.” She shakes her head. “Your shirt… it smells awful.”
Again, she softly gags.
“What?”
This is a clean fucking shirt…
“Yeah,” she says and turns her head away from me. “Get it away from me, it smells really bad.”
Pulling back more, I yank the shirt up my body and over my head. “I’m sorry, babe...” Tossing the shirt across the room, I move back into our embrace and ask, “Is that better?”
Leaning in close to my chest, she sniffs and nods her head. “Yeah, I think so.”
Then she starts sniffing lower and gags again. “James…”
What the fuck?
“Yeah?” I ask, confused as fuck.
How the fuck do I smell bad?
“It’s the pants…” she says quietly.
“Are you for real?” I ask, raising my voice a little.
“Yep.” She looks up at me with a smirk. “They smell like douchey frat boy.”
I’ll fucking kill her.
“That’s it,” I growl. “Little brat needs a spanking.”
Smirking at me, she says, “Give me my bras back and I won’t have to call you out.”
Shaking my head, I sigh at her and her little games. I was trying to be good and calm for her, but she doesn’t know what the fuck she does to me. She just doesn’t understand the barely controlled fucking monster I keep inside me.
“Shower time,” I grunt out as I pull her body close to mine.
“What?”
“Yeah, you smell like puke,” I say and stand up from the bed, dragging her with me.
She starts to protest but yelps when I lift her up and toss her over my shoulder.
“Shower time,” I say and walk toward the bathroom.
Sophia slaps at my back, trying to get me to put her down, but her blows do nothing to stop me.
“Put me down, James,” she shouts.
“No,” I say firmly.
“Fine,” she snaps.
Grabbing the waistband of my sweats, she yanks them up, toward my head.
Stopping in the middle of the doorway of the bathroom, I ask, “Are you fucking serious?”
“Put me down!” she snaps at me again.
Ignoring her and the massive fucking wedgie she gave me, I yank the shower door open and carry her in.
Walking over to the stone bench along the wall, I set her down and cross my arms.
“Do you really think that was a good idea?” I growl.
“You can’t just force me to do things, James,” she growls back as she stands up and stares into my eyes.
Shaking my head at her, I say, “It’s not forcing you, Sophia.”
“No?” She puts her hands on her hips and I try my best not to laugh at how fucking cute she looks.
“It’s taking care of you,” I say, and push my sweats down my legs so they pool down around my feet.
“I can take care of myself, dammit!” she shouts, instantly telling me her emotions are still in turmoil from today.
“I know you can, but from time to time you need to let someone else do it,” I say calmly as I watch her shift her weight to her right leg.
She’s going to bolt as soon as I start pulling my sweats off my feet.
“Don’t try to run, Sophia,” I say.
“You…” she starts only to growl in frustration.
“I know you, Sophia,” I say and kick my sweatpants out the door.
“No, you don’t,” she says before letting out a long sigh. “You can’t possibly know me as well as you think you do.”
Moving to stand in front of her, I grab the hem of her shirt. “You’d be surprised.”
I’ve spent far too many nights watching her from afar.
Pulling her shirt up, I manage to get it past her stomach before her hands drop down to stop me. “Stop it.”
“No. If you keep this up, I’ll drag you back to the bed and be forced to give you a sponge bath.”
Those cuffs and chains won’t rust. I made sure that they could withstand any fluid when I purchased them. Soap and water won’t be an issue.