Perfectly Toxic (The Sterling Shore Series Book 9) (24 page)

Chapter 47

BELLA

My phone is dead, and quite frankly, so am I.

Work was brutal, and I almost got into a fight. Almost. Yep, I chastised Ethan for getting drunk and punching someone, yet I almost knocked a girl out while I was sober. Sheesh.

I need a break.

I also need something else… And I’m not calling Ethan to get it. He can grovel for a minute to make up for his assholish texting. This is supposed to be a relationship, not a freaking booty call arrangement.

At least, I think it’s supposed to be a relationship.

Water drips on top of my head, and I curse as I look up, noticing my ceiling has a huge wet spot on it. What the hell? It hasn’t rained in days.

There’s a puddle on my floor, and a wet spot on my roof. It’s a one-story home, so it’s not like there’s an upstairs bathroom.

Groaning, I toss a pan under the drip, deciding I need that release more than ever before I deal with that mess.

Sliding under the covers, I turn on my Magic Wand, picturing Ethan’s body over mine as he takes his time torturing me with his hands and mouth. The second the vibrations hit the right spot, I keep it there, not wasting anytime to hurdle myself toward the finish line as I put that Jacob’s ladder image to work.

But… The fucking thing dies right before I orgasm, and I curse and groan and beg it to work. I haven’t replaced the cord that psychotic cat chewed up, so I can’t charge it.

“Damn it!” I snap, deciding to do things the old fashion way just to get my release.

Frustrated, I toss aside the useless wand, and I move my fingers down right where I need them, taking myself to that finish line at a much,
much
slower, more laborious pace. Just as I reach the brink, I’m screaming for all the wrong reasons as pain slices through my hand and tears spring to my eyes from the surprise attack.

My eyes dart down to see the kitten from hell savagely clawing my hand and thigh, swiping at my moving body parts through the blanket like this is a game instead of a desperate masturbation.

“You evil bitch!” I snap, and she leaps off me and scatters when I jump off my bed.

My eyes scan the room, but it’s like the little devil has disappeared. Cursing, I go and wrap my bleeding hand with some bandages, because I bleed much too liberally, and I don’t need to drip blood while jilling myself off.

The last thing I need is for my vagina to look like a damn gory porn film gone wrong.

Assuming Bananas ran out, I go and shut my bedroom door, then hastily resume my position on the bed.

It almost aches when I restart the process, angrily searching for the release I need before I kill someone, now that I’ve been teased and denied twice. The second I feel the tightening in my core and chills wash over my skin, the psychotic cat strikes again, and I scream as pain sears through my hand, once again robbing me just before I can reach the crest.

“You’re dead!” I screech as she flees from the bed.

Somehow my room door is open, as though it didn’t latch. Her tail is all I see running through the crack of the ajar door. “Dead!” I repeat, throwing on an abandoned pair of pajama shorts.

I don’t trust that damn cat around my vagina, so shorts are necessary.

Chapter 48

ETHAN

Bella’s car is in the driveway, and I head toward the door, debating knocking or abusing the entry code I changed and just walking on in. Walking in would prevent her from slamming the door in my face or—

“You evil bitch! I hate you!” I hear her yelling, pausing my internal argument with myself.

Who is she fighting with? I don’t see another car.

Something tumbles to the ground and crashes as someone races through the house. Is she fighting?

No, no. Bella wouldn’t be fighting, would she?

“You’re going to die, you psychotic, bald pussy! And I’m going to eat you! You hear that? You’re what’s for dinner tonight!”

The fuck…?

I really hope that’s the cat she’s talking to, and not her vagina. Then again… Well, both options sound crazy.

Trying not to laugh, I push open the door, deciding not to knock. Bella is standing in the living room with a pan raised over her head, and her eyes scouring the floor until they reach my feet and slowly lift to meet my gaze. A glance shows me a messy bandage on her hand, but I’m more concerned with yet another weird thing my girl is doing.

My lips twitch as I cock an eyebrow at her. I also brace, ready to block the pan, in case she throws it at my head.

Something in her gaze changes, and she drops the pan to the floor with a loud
clank
before rushing toward me. This time, I brace for a physical attack. I won’t hurt her, so I’ll stop her from hurting herself if she tries to hit—

My words die in my head as she grabs the back of my neck and jerks me down, catching me off guard as our lips collide almost painfully. All thought ceases when she brutally kisses me like she’s starved, and she climbs up me until her legs are wrapped around my waist, tightly clenching me between them like she might cut me in half if I try to get away.

Not that I want to get away. This is definitely better than the reception I was expecting.

“Give me an orgasm now,” she demands against my lips, causing me to bite back a smile.

“As you wish, princess,” I say, grinning against her lips as I carry her to the bedroom.

“Kill that stupid fucking cat if she tries to interfere,” she tells me between kisses, which is too confusing to even address right now.

As soon as I drop her to the bed, she pushes her shorts down her legs and spreads wide without an ounce of shame. I really fucking love that about her.

“Now,” she snaps, apparently in a hurry.

I don’t waste time. While she starts tugging her shirt over her head, I drop down to my knees on the floor and jerk her hips to the edge of the bed. My face disappears in the V of her thighs, and I suck her clit into my mouth, taking no prisoners.

Her gasps and moans are all the fuel I need, but when she grabs my hair, pulling me impossibly closer, I growl against her, drinking in her taste. My cock is like stone and painfully digging into the front of my jeans despite the thin layer of protection my boxers give.

All I want to do is bury myself inside her right now, but not until she’s got what she wants.

Her legs tremble, and she goes from pulling me closer to trying to push me away. The second she cries out my name, I tear my mouth away and stand up, undoing my jeans as quickly as possible.

When my cock springs free, happy to be unrestrained, my eyes roam down the very naked body of Bella, who is eyeing me lazily as a relieved smile curls her lips. Seeing her like that is not going to help me last long, but since she just got hers, I’ll settle for a quickie.

Lifting her legs, I lean down between them, staying on my feet next to her high bed, and then I thrust in. Her moan is tortured and euphoric at the same time as she grabs my wrists, the only part of me she can reach.

My hands move to her hips, and I anchor her in place as I thrust in over and over, feeling her encase me tightly. My cock drags out, and slides in with ease, the suction too good. Watching her watch me is too much and will have me exploding too soon, so I drop my eyes to where my cock is moving in and out of her.

I take it back; that’s too much.

Each time my dick disappears back inside her, I edge closer, riding the line of too fast, but I lose my mind when she suddenly clenches around me, finding a second orgasm. She calls out my name again as my thumb brushes over that sensitive bud of hers.

I follow her over as my balls tighten and heat slices up my spine. Release shoots out of me like a cannon and into her, and I groan as my legs curse me for standing.

A tremor wracks my body, and I drop to Bella, kissing her lazily as she drains me. Breathing heavily, I break the kiss and bury my face against her neck, letting the high wash over me until I can get my head working again—obviously I mean my thinking head, not my fucking one.

“Guess you’re not mad at me anymore,” I tell her, still a little breathless.

She laughs and groans at the same time before running her hands through my hair. I love being able to feel that. Hell, I love being able to feel everything these days, and I have no idea how I handled being numb for so long.

“I really wanted to make you grovel longer, but you have impeccable timing,” she says through a winded tone.

I don’t ask questions, because, hell, it’s Bella. I’ll be more confused by the explanation than the intrigue.

Kissing her neck, I slowly start to raise up, but something slaps the floor hard in another room, causing Bella to screech and me to jerk out of her, ready to handle whatever it is.

“That fucking bitch!” Bella hisses.

Laughing, I pull my jeans back in place—since I never fully got out of them, and tuck everything back in where it goes before going to inspect. But when I reach the kitchen, I realize the cat had nothing to do with the sound.

Part of Bella’s ceiling is on the floor, and a pipe is spewing water from the ceiling. What the hell is a water pipe doing up there?

“The hell?” Bella harps, coming up beside me.

“Why do you have plumbing in your ceiling?” I ask her, confused as I walk toward the door.

“Do I look like I know anything about plumbing?” she asks me, following close behind until I start heading outside. “And what are you doing?”

“Shutting your water off at the main before your entire house is fucked.”

She curses as she follows me out, and I find the main, shut it off, and then grab my phone from my pocket to look for a plumber. But… I get a little sick when I see I’ve somehow pocket dialed someone. I really need a fucking lock screen, apparently, because that someone is my mother.

“Mom?” I croak.

A loud throat clearing is what follows my question, and finally a stammered, “Y… Yes?”

“Umm…. How long you been on the phone?”

“I… uh… Oh dear… I… I think I heard something I wasn’t supposed to.”

My eyes shoot to Bella’s as I pale, and her eyes widen as she clamps her hand over her mouth, smothering the laughter as her cheeks blaze red.

“I really didn’t mean to call you,” I say awkwardly.

“I…uh… figured that out. I tried to hang up. I promise. But… It just called me back. I uh… Good luck with all that, son.”

She hangs up, and I count the top ten list of humiliating experiences in my life. This one now takes a place at the top.

“Your mother heard us fucking?” Bella whispers, choking back another laugh.

“I have no idea what she heard exactly, and I’m really not going to fucking ask her. Ever. Like, this shit never happened. You understand?”

She bursts out laughing, but then she smothers it again when I glare at her. She mocks a salute, and I roll my eyes, cursing my phone as I resume my original task of finding a plumber.

I call the plumber while walking back inside. The asshole is going to take at least a week to get out here, possibly longer. Bella is frowning when I get off the phone and call another one. Five plumbers later, I settle for the first one, since the rest won’t be able to tackle a job like that for at least a few weeks.

“Looks like you’re staying with me,” I tell her.

I don’t like the look she gives me. “I’ll stay with Allie and Wren.”

“What the hell is wrong with my place?”

Her lips thin. “Have you bought a new bed yet?”

Ah
. “Yes. I got it yesterday.”

“I’ll still stay with Allie and Wren. I think we might kill each other if we’re together for that long.”

My eyebrows go up. “You mean fuck each other to death? Because I think we get along just fine.”

She gives me a withering look. “Ethan, we really don’t. We fight and we fuck a little too often. We’re great in short intervals, but too much time with anyone can grate on someone’s nerves.”

Now I’m pissed. No way do I want her over at Wren’s when she could be at my place. Then she couldn’t ignore me—or make me grovel—when she has to sleep under the same roof after I do something stupid.

And I’m sure I will do more stupid shit. It seems to be my specialty around her.

“You’re staying with me, and it’s really not up for debate,” I tell her as I stand and head toward her room. If she doesn’t pack a bag, I’ll fucking pack it for her.

“No offense,” she says, following me, “but I doubt I’ll survive all your partying.”

“It’s not like I party nightly,” I growl.

“Ethan,” she groans, following me into her small closet as I start looking through her clothes. Fuck it. I’ll just grab shit.

“Ethan,” Bella says again, as though saying my name over and over will jar reason into me.

Personally, I think I’m the only reasonable one in the room at the moment.

“We haven’t even defined our relationship or whatever this is yet.”

Is she serious?

“I’ve only been with you since we started this thing, and you’ve only been with me,” I point out, grabbing half her hanging clothes and pulling them out of the closet, forcing her to stumble out of my way or get walked on.

“But that doesn’t mean we’ve defined anything,” she continues, following behind me and trying to snatch clothes away. My iron grip prevents her from actually getting anything.

When I toss them onto the bed, Bella goes to grab them again, but I snatch her around the waist, easily lifting her and carrying her back to the closet so I can grab more shit.

She struggles, and I finally put her down, tilting her chin back as she glares at me.

“You’re mine. Is that definition enough for you? Now pack your shit or I will. Your choice.”

I expect to get slapped, but as always, Bella surprises me when she grabs the back of my neck—her favorite maneuver—and pulls me down.

I grip her around the waist, smashing her body against mine as our lips touch. The kiss turns hungry, her greedy little tongue demanding action from mine. Finally, I remember what I’m doing, and I break the kiss.

She looks dazed, as though she didn’t really mean to kiss me, but when I toss a duffel bag into the room, she snaps out of it.

“Fine,” she says quietly. “I’ll help pack.”