“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he said when he pulled away to look me in the eyes.
Blissed out and quite speechless, I watched him reach out to his duffel bag and grab a condom package, never breaking our eye contact. He ripped it open, and my chest tightened in excitement. We were really going to do it.
“Do you trust me?” he asked me and positioned himself in between my thighs.
“Yes.”
He ran his hand through my hair. “I’ll make sure it hurts as little as possible.” I nodded and grasped his shoulders, mesmerized by the incredibly soft look in his eyes.
In one emotion-charged moment, he entered me and brought his lips to mine as he slowly worked his way inside of me. His tongue swept into my mouth, distracting me from my discomfort with its rousing strokes, and my heart pumped stronger, fueled by our love and need.
“Does it hurt?” His voice was strained, showing just how much he was controlling himself.
Did it hurt? Not really. I’d expected an intense pain, but what I felt was rather dull, and it gradually diminished the longer he remained inside.
“No.” He still didn’t move. “Um, you know...” I blushed. “You can move now.” I bit into my lip. “Please.”
His lips twisting into a ravishing smile, he began a steady pace that brought me rising pleasure, removing all the traces of the uncomfortable ache. No words were spoken as he showed me just how much he loved me, all those broken and misplaced pieces of our past gluing together into a clear picture of unity and devotion. Everything finally came into its place.
Our hearts beat in unison as we savored each other. I slid my fingers down his back and pulled him closer to me. His lips were hot and fiery on my neck as he increased his pace, which doubled my pleasure, making me create sounds I’d never thought I was capable of.
“You’re amazing, Sarah. So amazing,” he gritted out, beads of sweat sliding down his temples.
He brought my arms above my head and intertwined his fingers with mine. His lips matched his urgency, moving his body with mine in complete harmony, and once more my world exploded into potent pleasure that was heightened by the connection I shared with him, leading me into pure happiness.
“I love you,” we said almost at the same time, right before he came, hugging me close to him.
Later, we lay naked on the blanket in our afterglow, entangled together in an embrace. His fingers trailed my waist as he gazed adoringly into my eyes, which reinforced the powerful thread that held our imperfect hearts connected together. The crackling sounds of the fire completed the romantic atmosphere in the otherwise quiet room.
“How do you feel?” he asked.
“Like I want to do it a million times more with you.” He chuckled. I stroked his cheek and jaw idly with my finger. “And you?”
His arms tightened around me. “I feel so high.”
“So I’m your best drug after all.” I planted a kiss right over his heart.
“Definitely.”
I started making various shapes on his chest, gazing at each one of his tattoos. “I never knew it could be like that.”
I could practically see him smirk above me in all his smugness. “Yeah? That’s nothing, baby.” He tipped my chin and made me look up at him. “I’ll show you much more. The whole night.”
My cheeks burned, but I decided to turn this into a joke. “And the whole day. And the whole weekend.”
He pursed his lips together as if he was about to burst into laughter. “Insatiable much? Consider it done. I brought enough condoms.”
With an enormous smile, I closed my eyes and nestled against his chest, memorizing this moment forever. Just like he’d written before, we were two dysfunctional pieces that would find their way to become whole again.
He was the half that made me whole. He was the one that accepted all of me and made me a better person. He helped me realize I should always go on and fight to be stronger despite all the seemingly insurmountable hurdles in my way.
And I would cherish this night forever—the moment we crossed the last part of the bridge that separated us, embracing all of us.
The night we were together as one.
Chapter 21
NEXT SUNDAY ARRIVED too fast, ending the almost honeymoon-like days Hayden and I spent together. Hayden kept to himself the whole day, spending most of his time training for the fight. Luckily, Carmen was at work because if she were here, she definitely would’ve noticed something was wrong. She didn’t know what her son would go through tonight, and I didn’t know how to feel about it.
A tiring blend of emotions stayed with me all the time, and fear was the most dominant among them. Hayden and I didn’t speak much, especially since he didn’t want me there, but I refused to change my mind and stay home.
Blake arrived two hours before the fight in a rented Jeep. He was going to drive us to the warehouse, which was an hour’s drive away from Enfield, and Masen would wait for us there. Very few words were exchanged between us before we set out, and the silence in the car grew suffocating. I wished I had the right words that could break the tension.
“You won’t separate from Blake and Mace even for a second,” Hayden said and turned around in the passenger seat to look at me. “Got it?” We’d gone over this a dozen times already, but I nodded. “Try to be as invisible as possible. Keep your eyes open. And don’t even try to interfere in the fight for any reason.”
I gave him a hesitant nod. The last “rule” was the most difficult. I just had to stand there and watch him get beaten, but that was what I’d signed up for.
“After tonight, this all ends, right?” I asked, hoping they couldn’t hear how shaky my voice was. A ball of nerves tightened in my stomach. “You won’t be part of that world anymore?”
I didn’t miss the brief look he and Blake shared. “If everything goes well tonight, I’ll be out,” Hayden answered and turned back to the front.
I caught Blake’s gaze in the rearview mirror. His face was expressionless. “What?” I asked him.
“I still don’t understand why you had to come with us. You don’t want to be around those people and see those things.”
“I want to support Hayden.”
He held my gaze a moment longer, before he shrugged and focused back on the road. “You do understand that you can’t say a word about this to anyone?” His tone was condescending. “Absolutely no one.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I know. And it’s not like I even want to.”
“Good. Because it’s more than enough that you’re involved in this. We don’t need anyone else involved too.”
I gave him a sideway glance. “I know, Blake.”
Slowing down, he drove off the road and into a forest, following a path that could easily be missed in the dark.
“This warehouse is in a forest?”
“Yes,” Hayden replied.
“Why the warehouse? Why not that place you fought at the last time?”
“For safety reasons. If fights were only held in one place, the cops could easily find it,” Hayden said.
“Tonight’s fight is special because of all the money riding on it, and only the people from T’s inner circle are invited to watch,” Blake interjected and swerved to the right, which led us down a much narrower path. “So T arranged it at a lesser known place. We don’t want ‘uninvited guests.’”