“My mother had to work late one night and my dad went on a bender. He was ranting and raving, drunk and high, convinced that she was cheating. When she came home, he was waiting with a knife and stabbed her to death.”
My heart completely breaks into pieces. It fucking shatters at her words and the way her voice says them. She’s completely devoid of emotion, and yet, she sounds broken with each uttered word.
“Then when he’d seen what he’d done, I guess he realized that there was no way out of it. He’d killed her, so he slit his throat. I came home from a date with Joey to them both dead in the kitchen.”
“Fuck,” I hiss. “Fucking fuck, Tullie.”
Her gaze shifts back to mine and she shakes her body once as her eyes regain their focus. “It was a long time ago, almost ten whole years.”
Lowering my head, I press my forehead against hers as I close my eyes. “Not long enough, baby. Don’t think a lifetime would be long enough to get over something like that.”
“Probably not,” she whispers.
“Know that for a fact, Tullie.”
We don’t say anything for what feels like a lifetime, then I feel her lips touch mine. “I don’t think about it when I’m with you,” she whispers.
“I don’t think about Antoni when I’m with you,” I respond.
She smiles against my mouth. “We’re a mess, Louis. A complete mess.”
I chuckle as she climbs over my body, spreading her thighs as she straddles my hips. Her hand reaches between us and she strokes my now half-mast cock until I’m completely hard. I let out a groan as she sinks down on my cock.
“Let’s forget all of that,” she breathes as she leans forward, pressing her lips to my own. “Let’s just feel and fuck, then fall asleep.”
Lifting my hand, I tangle my fingers in the back of her hair as I keep her mouth against mine. Thrusting my hips from beneath, I meet her downstrokes and we fuck one another until we both swallow one another’s cries of ecstasy.
Tulip doesn’t make a move to shift off of me, instead, she buries her face in my neck, my cock softening inside of her and she lets out a sigh before she whispers against my skin.
“I like you inside of me, Louis. Everything about you feels safe.”
Wrapping my arms around her, I hold her tightly until I feel her body relax and the room fills with her soft snores. I don’t sleep though. I’m going to be shit in a few hours when it’s time to start my eight-hour training session, but I find that I don’t give much of a fuck.
Holding Tulip when she needs me, that means more than sleep ever could. My girl has been through hell, she’s seen things that nobody should ever see and through all of that she’s come out on top. She’s the sweetest kindest woman I’ve ever had in my life, and I can’t deny that I feel undeserving of her.
Chapter Nineteen
TULIP
My eyes are sore and raw, my head pounding and I wince at the sound of my alarm going off. With a grunt, I feel Louis’ body shift beneath mine and then the alarm stops. His mouth touches my temple and he inhales deeply through his nose.
“You’re calling in today,” he rasps against my head.
I let out a moan and roll over onto my back. I force my eyes to open, and I grunt when I see Louis’ looking down at me, far too awake. I feel like I slept maybe five minutes, and my eyes are puffy from crying. I hate that, hate everything about it.
“I have to go to work,” I lamely state.
He shakes his head slowly. “You need to rest. Are you telling me you don’t have any sick days saved up?” he asks, arching a brow as he continues to look down at me.
Licking my lips, I let out a sigh. “What will I do all day?” I ask.
Louis smirks and I have a feeling this is the smug look he gets on his face when he’s won a fight. He looks downright victorious and he didn’t even have to try that hard.
I’m exhausted. Between working at the grocery store, dancing, and Louis, I haven’t slept more than three hours at one time in so long that I can’t even remember when it was, months ago, at least.
“Sleep,” he murmurs. “Stay right here and sleep naked, wait for me,” he practically purrs.
Shaking my head, I let out a small giggle which feels good, deep down to my soul. Lifting my hands, I cup his cheeks and look into his green eyes. “As great as that sounds, I don’t think I should. Maybe I can go back to my place and pack some more after I sleep a bit longer?”
He dips his chin, his lips touching mine. “Okay. Eat lunch with me before you go? I always break for lunch.”
Touching my tongue to his bottom lip, I nod my head. He sucks on my tongue, then releases me and practically flies off of the bed with a push-up. I blink as I watch him. He’s naked and his perfectly sculpted ass slowly walks away from me.
Grabbing ahold of the comforter, I wrap my entire body inside of it like a burrito and curl into a ball, closing my eyes as I hear the shower water turn on. I’m almost asleep again when I hear a noise at the door and then a voice booms throughout the room, echoing in a way that I didn’t even think was possible.
“Stop givin’ it to your woman and get your ass out here.”
Holding on to the comforter a bit tighter, I pray that whoever it is doesn’t try to pull it off of the bed. I let out a sigh of relief when I hear the bathroom door open. Then Louis’ voice fills the room and I allow my body to completely relax.
“Aaron, I’m taking a fuckin’ shower, get outta my room.”
There’s a moment of pause and I hear the other man grunt. “Boy, yesterday you were a plain fuck up. Get out here, now.”
The bedroom door slams and I feel the bed dip next to my hip. Louis tugs the comforter down, only exposing my head and face. His eyes search mine and his lips twitch. “What are the chances you’ll go back to sleep after that?” he asks softly.
“Probably absolutely none.”
He nods his head a couple of times before he leans down. His lips touch mine, then I sigh as I inhale his scent. He’s so clean, fresh from the shower still with small droplets on his skin that his towel missed.
I want to tug him down and keep him in here with me. He must be able to read my mind. His lips twitch into a small smile as he stands from the bed. “Later, I promise. Aaron’s going to bust in here again any second, and I don’t have any desire for him to see you naked.”
Wrinkling my nose, I shake my head a couple of times. “Me either,” I say.
Louis chuckles. “If you want to leave before lunch, I won’t get mad, just leave me a note in the kitchen,” he calls out from his closet.
“Okay. I probably should get an early start. I can probably get the packing finished and then when the girls come over, all we’ll need to do is load everything up and bring it here,” I say, thinking about all the things that I need to do in order to close out my apartment and move out.
Louis is quiet and I wonder if he’s re-thinking everything. He appears out of the closet, dressed in his exercise clothes and I lose all train of thought. I still don’t know what he’s doing with me here in his bed. He’s so perfect in every way.