“Nope. I had to imagine them. As it turns out, when you’re imagining things so vividly, your brain uses all its focus on creating and has no energy left for worrying. Want to try?”
She blew out a sigh.
“Fine. But just for a minute.”
CHAPTER 20
Sutton
Soft voices woke me up a while later. I opened my eyes to see Theo gently picking Charlie up. The way she clung to him like a koala filled my heart. During the day and when people were around she kept an almost professional distance between them. It was clear she loved and adored him but she didn’t hug or act like the other kids. I didn’t know if the way she was clinging to him was normal for them or if she’d just been that worried but it made me love the little girl even more. She really only trusted Theo with her softness and who could blame her? She’d been through god only knew what before he found her.
Theo met my eyes and held up a finger, letting me know he’d be back after dropping Charlie off in her own bed. I sat up and put my hair up in a quick bun before anxious energy sent me scrambling out of my bed so I wouldn’t have to face Theo’s intoxicating energy while alone in a place where people oftentimes did things together. I didn’t need that kind of stress when facing him alone for the first time since our night on camera.
I’d resorted to pacing the hallway in front of my room when Theo came back. His eyes were dark as he leaned against the wall opposite me and watched me. He was more intense than normal, which was impressive, and I could somehow feel his restless energy buzzing around him despite his calm demeanor. I waited for him to start the conversation but he just watched me.
I took a deep breath and stopped pacing.
“Charlie was scared.”
He looked down at the floor and when he looked back up at me through his dark lashes the look on his face was haunted.
“The job took longer than expected.”
When I managed to tear my eyes away from his eyes I saw there was a bruise forming on the left side of his temple. I gasped and rushed forward without thinking.
“Theo! What happened?”
He spoke around what sounded like glass in his throat.
“Sutton… I don’t feel…very controlled. We should talk later.”
I ignored the warning and took his hand. Dragging him into my room and then my bathroom, I pushed him so he’d sit on the rim of the tub while I searched the cabinets for a first-aid kit.
“That looks awful, Theo. What were y’all doing that ended in your face looking like that?”
His hands were white-knuckling the edge of the tub and his breathing had grown labored.
“Sutton, I-”
“Charlie was worried sick. She said you don’t normally stay out that late. She was shaking, Theo. What were you doing in the middle of the night to end up with a knot on the side of your head? Who hit you?” I was stuck. I couldn’t stop imagining someone hitting my sweet Theo. It didn’t even occur to me until later that I was thinking of him as mine.
Theo exploded towards me, so fast it made me scream. He picked me up and roughly pinned me to the bathroom door with his face buried in my neck. He inhaled deep enough that his chest rattled against mine and when he blew that giant gust of air out his hands fisted in my hair. I whimpered, torn between arousal and fear that I’d upset him.
When he spoke, his voice was raw against my throat.
“I shouldn’t. Too rough. You’re too soft. I can’t help it. I want to consume you. I want to do things to you that no one would think to do to the women in their life. I want to fucking break you and then build you back up around me so I can live inside you. You should run and hide from me, Angel. Get as far from me as you can.”
Maybe I should have. I mean, I definitely should’ve. Instead, I tightened my hold on him, wrapped my legs around his waist a little tighter.
“I’m not a good man.” He raked his teeth down the side of my neck and there was as much pain as there was pleasure. “I picked your lock and came in here last night. I watched you sleep. I sucked your fingers clean, Angel. I barely stopped myself from crawling into your bed and tasting you directly at the source.”
I gasped at the image. I’d known he’d come in but hearing him admit it was deliciously dirty. He’d sucked my fingers clean…That thought melted the reasonable part of my brain.
“I knew you came in.”
He growled and bucked his hips so I bounced into the door harder. His hands had an iron grip on my hair and it was painful enough to make my eyes water but the rest of my body responded like he was giving me a long, decadent massage. I melted for him. If he’d told me he was taking my virginity right then and there, I would’ve let him. I would have begged him.
“You like my hands on you, Angel? You want to know where else they were tonight? Maybe that’ll convince you to push me away before I hurt you.”
