Tending Their SECRET (15 page)

“Ellie,” I say, afraid of what’s going to
come next.

“I couldn’t let him hurt those girls. I know
the men had already raped and abused them, but this time it would
be my fault. So I did the only thing I could think of. I did what I
had to do in order to make myself come. I pretended it was you who
was touching me. And I came for them. More than once. I knew it
wasn’t you touching me, that the hands on me weren’t yours—they
didn’t feel like yours—but I made my body believe it was you so I
could give them what they wanted from me.”

“Jesus.”

“You can leave. I’ll understand.”

She’s got to be kidding. “I’m not leaving.
Not now, not ever.”

* * *

Ellie

“Even after what I told you. How I used you
to get off for other men?”

“That’s not what you just told me.”

“It is. Didn’t you listen?”

“Yes. I heard you tell me that you used me
to save not only a bunch of teenage girls, but yourself, too.”

“I came for them, Aiden.”

“But you knew it wasn’t
them. You
couldn’t
come for
them
. You came for
me.
And I am so fucking glad that you did. That I was
able to help you, even while I wasn’t there. It was my touch you
imagined, all the while knowing that those men hurting you weren’t
me.”

“That’s what my shrink and Nate told me.
Jade said it too after I had Nate tell her. I didn’t really believe
any of them.”

“Do you believe me?”

“I want to.”

He moves off the couch to
kneel in front of my chair. “Then do it, because I mean what I’m
saying. You did not hurt me—or us—in any way. You
survived
, Ellie. You’re
still here with me, letting me kiss you, and hold your hand. I will
take that over any alternative. You need to forgive yourself,
because from my side of things, you did nothing wrong.”

“Nate said you’d say that, too.”

“My best friend is pretty smart sometimes.
Don’t tell him I said that, but he is.”

“They saw me, you know,” I tell him, putting
my head back down to look at our joined hands.

“Matt and Nate?”

“Jake, too. I was naked…and I was about
to-to come again when they walked in. I stopped, but they saw.”

“That’s why there’s not much left of the
guys who touched you, huh?”

“No. That was Reina, Jade, Isa, and Audrey.
They took out those bastards while the guys led the team that took
out the other men in the compound.”

“Am I supposed to be upset because my
friends saw you like that? Because again, they helped save you.
Knowing them, it embarrassed them as much as it embarrassed
you.”

“It did,” I tell him, giving him a real
smile as I remember the first couple of weeks when we got back.
“Only Nate could look me in the eye after, and that’s just because
he understood.”

“They’re good with you now, right? I mean,
Jake and Matt didn’t seem any different around you when I saw
them.”

“Yeah. I told them all I knew they all
looked away after seeing that I was naked—because they did. They
looked at everything but me until I had a sheet thrown over me. I
basically said what you just said, that they saved me, so it was
okay. The girls told them it was okay, too.”

“Good. Is there anything else you need to
tell me?”

“No, but your reaction was the one I was
hoping would happen. I honestly didn’t think it would be the one
I’d get, but I asked to come here because I was hoping.”

“That’s good, right?”

“Yeah. I-I just wanted to ask you for
something. You don’t have to do it. I mean, maybe you’ll want to. I
don’t know.”

“Anything. Absolutely anything you ask me is
going to be a yes. So go ahead and tell me what I need to do for
you.”

“Ever since that day, I’ve felt…dirty, and
gross. I couldn’t let you touch me because I felt like it would be
wrong to come for you when I came for them with you on my mind. I-I
want to be clean, and I want you to touch me.”

“My bathtub. That’s why you wanted to tell
me here.”

“Yes. Will you help me get clean, and
replace those fake touches with your real ones again?”

“Yes. A million times yes. That’s the
easiest yes I’ve ever had to say in my life.”

Ellie

“Bubble or bomb?” Aiden asks, holding up the
different bath products from Lush.

“Um, both?”

“Of course,” he tells me with a smile.

While the tub fills up, I reach over and
pull his light blue shirt off. It’s the one I bought him on our
date last week, the one with those little holes all over the front.
I laugh, thinking about all of those women from the bar clawing at
him to tear his shirt, but never getting him.

“Is my chest funny all of a sudden?”

“No, I was laughing at your shirt.”

“You bought me this shirt.”

“I know. It just dawned on me that the holes
could look like claw marks.”

“The only woman getting close enough to claw
me is you. Do you want to sink your nails into me while I make you
scream?”

“Yes.”

“Good answer,” he tells me, breaking out one
of those sexy smiles of his.

He kicks his shoes off while I undo his
belt. Once I have his pants and briefs off, I take his hands in
mine. I lead his hands to the zipper on my corset and let go as he
starts to pull it down. This is the first time he’s going to see me
fully naked in months. I’m not scared, but I am nervous that I
won’t be as sexy to him as I once was.

“Stop overthinking.”

“I’m trying to.”

“You stop me if it’s too hard, okay?”

I nod as my top drops to the floor. Aiden
waits for me to nod again, and then reaches for the side zipper on
my skirt. Once that’s on the floor, he hooks his thumbs into my
panties as he looks me in the eye. I wiggle them off since he’s
refusing to look down. I know he’s doing it to make me feel more
comfortable, and I appreciate it.

“You can look, Aiden.
I
want
you to look
at me.”

He steps back, and I watch as he gaze
travels over me. He bites his lip as he keeps his hands clenched at
his sides. I reach out to turn off the water, and then take one of
his fists in mine, and climb into the tub with him. Again, he waits
for me to take the lead.

I motion for him to sit, and then turn
around, sinking down into the water in front of him. I move his
hands to my shoulders, and lean back to kiss him. He massages my
shoulders, until I break away from him.

“Make me feel the real you again,
Aiden.”

He nudges my head to the
side so he can pepper my neck with soft kisses as his hands move
lower. He cups my breasts lightly, softly running his thumbs over
my nipples. He still has the bandages on his hands, and the
roughness of the gauze against my skin feels so good, and his
fingers feel so much like
him
that I can’t stop the moan from coming out of my
mouth. He caresses me gently for several minutes before gently
pinching my nipples. I arch into his hands, and he gets a little
more aggressive. I’ll be the first to admit that I have tiny
titties, but he’s never made me feel inadequate, worshipping them
like they’re Double Ds.

“I love your tits, Doll. Fucking love
them.”

I turn my face to capture his mouth as I
tilt my body, letting him know I want his hands lower. He takes the
hint, and moves them down to trace my ribs with his fingers, before
running them over my hips. He tickles my belly button, making us
both laugh, and then his mouth reclaims mine as he slides one hand
over my ass and one over my folds.

Again, he’s gentle at first, just gliding
his hands lightly over me. As I open my legs wider for him, he
swipes a finger over my clit. I practically fly out of the
water.

“Easy.”

“It feels so good.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes. It’s good.”

“That’s nice, but I’m looking for more than
good. So you just lie back and let me bring the amazing.”

I do as he says, and Aiden delivers on his
promise. He’s never been a musician, but he knows how to make me
feel like he’s composing the greatest love song ever written as he
makes my body sing. I’m coming within minutes, his fingers inside
of me, and his mouth marking my neck.

“Amazing,” I tell him, kissing him once
more.

“I told you,” he says, making me laugh.
Which I know was his intention.

“Thank you.”

“It was really okay? You’re okay?”

“Yes. I’m happy. Really happy. I never
forgot how you touch me, but I needed to feel it again, so I could
solidify it in my brain as well as my heart.”

“’
I love you.”

“I love you, too. Now can I…um, well…can we
make love? With me on top? Is that okay?”

“I think I may have lied
earlier.
This
is
my easiest yes ever.”

“I was hoping you’d be on board.”

“See? I’m making all your hopes come true
today.”

“You are.”

I waste no time in turning around and
sliding down onto his fully hard cock. I could feel it growing
against my back while he was taking care of me, and I knew then
that I was going to go through with my plan to go for it all today.
I know he’ll stop if I feel weird, but, right now, all I feel is
amazing. I’m thankful once again for Audrey, and the super
contraceptives we all have because of her. I love being with Aiden
without anything between us.

“You’ve got a big smile on your face, Doll.
Are you enjoying your ride?”

Instead of answering, I place my hands on
his shoulders, and rock harder onto him. The water is sloshing over
the sides of tub, and we’re both covered in bubbles. It’s erotic
and I think that the heat blazing between us could actually set the
room on fire. When he catches my nipple between his teeth, I dig my
nails into his shoulders and arch my back into almost a perfect “C”
as I come hard. He follows me less than a minute later, thrusting
into me hard enough to turn my aftershocks into yet another
orgasm.

I collapse against him, placing kisses all
over his chest and neck. “That was…”

“Oh yeah, it was.”

“We should get out of the tub before our
skin gets too wrinkly.”

“You’re assuming I can move.”

“Don’t act like you’re anything less than
super-human. This is me you’re talking to.”

He laughs, and then proceeds to stand with
me in his arms. He moves his foot to pop the drain open, and then
steps out, making his way to the bedroom. We’re not going there to
sleep if I have anything to say about it. At least not yet.

* * *

Aiden

We’ve only been asleep for about an hour
when my doorbell starts to ring. I ignore it at first, and then the
pounding begins. I know it’s almost noon, but no one should be at
my door.

“Police,” I hear, and fuck if that doesn’t
get me out of bed.

“Aid?” Ellie asks in a sleepy voice.

“Just go back to sleep, Doll.”

“That’s the police,” she says, sitting
up.

“I’ll see what they want. It’s probably
nothing.”

I grab some shorts and a shirt off the
floor, and practically run to the door. Whatever they’re here for
is not something I want Ellie involved in. She’s finally working
past the shit she went through, and she doesn’t need to deal with
any of mine. I open the door and am crowded backwards by the six
cops that stream in.

“Were you involved in an altercation at your
mother’s bar last night, Mr. Ford?”

There were witnesses, and surveillance
tapes, so I’m not going to lie. “Yes. A patron got handsy with our
manager, and I punched him.”

“You did more than punch him. Witnesses say
it took four men to pull you off of him.”

“I don’t like seeing women get
mistreated.”

“The woman in question, Elletra Gallagher,
is your girlfriend, is she not?”

“Yes. I am,” Ellie says, walking into the
room in her outfit from earlier.

The detective asking the question looks
surprised to see her here. “When did you get here, Miss
Gallagher?”

“We left the bar together and came straight
here. We’ve been here ever since.”

“At no time could he have gone out without
you knowing?”

“No. We just fell asleep about an hour
ago.”

“I see. I’m going to need you to come down
to the station and make a statement to that effect. And Mr. Ford,
I’m afraid that we’re going to need to take you in for further
questioning.”

“On what charges?”

“The man you beat up was found dead in an
alley not far from here.”

“I told you we’ve been together all this
time. Why are you taking him in?”

She knows how these things work, but I think
she’s too freaked out to think clearly at the moment. “It’s fine,
Ellie. I’ll go with them.”

“No, it’s not fine. You were here with me.
There’s no way you could’ve killed someone last night, or this
morning.”

“Was anyone here with you?”

“No, Detective. We don’t invite extras to
our fuck-a-thons. Sorry to ruin the fantasy.”

Shit. She’s going to get herself arrested,
too. “Calm down, El. Please.”

“I suggest you listen to your boyfriend and
just come and give your statement.”

“Fine. Okay if I take your car, Aid?”

“Of course.”

I walk over and kiss her, not caring that
these men are waiting. “It’ll be fine. There are cameras outside
that will show I never left. You know I didn’t leave. They won’t be
able to hold me long.”

The cops insist on cuffing me, saying I’m a
risk to them. They have no idea. Ellie follows us out, and I hate
that she has to see me being put into the back of a squad car. I
know she won’t care, because with her job, she could be arrested by
accident, too. Faith was once, and they got her out. They’d get me
out if I didn’t have an airtight alibi. I do, though, so I know
what I told her it true. They can’t hold me long. And hopefully,
she’ll hold back, and not end up in the cell next to me.