I put my arm around her waist. "It is."
"Good. Because I want to have a permanent bachelor pad."
"Like me living there put a damper on that," Keira teased.
He laughed. "Good point." He jumped into his truck. "I"ll see you guys later."
"Bye," I said with a wave.
When he was gone, we walked back into the house. Her smell started to stain the air again. Her knickknacks were around the house. The pillows she made were on my couch. Her toothbrush was back in the drawer in the bathroom. All her stuff was here-joined with mine.
"It"s good to be home," she said.
I smiled. "It is."
She sat on the couch and kicked off her shoes. "Moving makes me tired."
I sat beside her. "Me too."
She and I hadn"t discussed Adrianna since the incident happened. I wasn"t in the mood for s.e.x knowing what she did to me. If I weren"t unconscious for the whole thing, I would probably be permanently scarred. Thankfully, I was. Now it was just a bad dream. Keira deleted the pictures off her phone and I never looked at them. I didn"t want to see the disgusting things she did to me.
She patted my hand. "Are you okay?"
She hardly ever asked me that. "What gave me away?"
"Your eyes."
"I guess I"m still hurt...but I"ll get over it."
She gave me a long look before she finally looked away. "What should we do on our first night living together?" She grabbed the remote and smirked at me.
I knew what she was thinking. "I Love Lucy?"
"Yep."
"Sounds good."
As the weeks went by, the pain left my heart. The anger was still there but it would always be there. Since I could rip her face off, I was unable to do anything to relieve my anger. I decided to let it go and forget about it. The longer Keira and I lived together, the happier I became. We spent our afternoons in the backyard working on the garden, and we made dinner every night. We hadn"t made love, but we slept in each other"s arms until the sun rose the next morning. She was the best therapy I could ever have.
During the last week of school, we completed our finals. I hadn"t studied much because I didn"t care about my grades at this point. Keira didn"t study because she claimed you couldn"t study for math. You either knew how to do a problem or you didn"t.
I waited outside her math cla.s.s until she emerged.
When she saw me, a smile lit up her face. "Hey, handsome."
"Hey, baby."
She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me, giving me chills like she usually did. "You want to buy me lunch?" A playful look was on her face.
"I always want to buy you lunch." I took her hand and walked with her to the lunch hall. I was in the mood for a burger and fries. Hopefully, they had it on the menu today. "How was your final?"
"Fine," she said. "My professor used all the same problems from the previous tests."
"Sweet."
"Not exactly a challenge..."
I smirked. "Nerd."
"Well, so many students in this country aren"t skilled in math because teachers make it too easy."
"If they don"t know it by the time they get to college...they"re never going to know it."
"Not true," she said firmly. "I"ve helped a lot of people catch up on grade school algebra and geometry."
"But you"re a genius." I kissed her on the cheek and kept walking.
We walked inside the lunch line and got our food. I got a mushroom burger and she ordered a salad. After I paid for our food, we headed to a table outside and placed our trays down.
Keira stayed on her feet, staring at something.
I looked in her direction and saw the culprit of her interest.
It was Adrianna.
She wasn"t worth my time or my anger. I sat down and ignored her, pretending I didn"t see her. When I looked up, Keira was marching toward her, the threat in her tense muscles.
s.h.i.t.
I abandoned the table and came after her.
"You d.a.m.n c.u.n.t!" Keira yelled in her face.
Adrianna smiled then stepped back. "You"re upset your man slept with me and liked it."
Keira slapped her hard across the face, making Adrianna gasp. "You raped my boyfriend-a s.e.x crime." Keira grabbed a fist full of hair then socked her in the face. Adrianna whimpered then fell to the ground, blood coming from her lip. "And now I"m going to make you regret it."
I grabbed Keira by the wrist. "Baby, don"t."
She twisted from my grasp and didn"t look at me. "Stay out of it."
Bran rushed to the commotion. "Pound her face in, Keira!"
"Do it!" Tony said when he reached her.
Scotty stood on the other side of me. "Keira is too far gone. She can"t even hear us."
Keira grabbed Adrianna by the arm and pulled her to her feet. "You"re absolutely despicable. How dare you trick Liam into helping you, only to betray him like that? If you really loved him, you wouldn"t treat him like that."
Adrianna tried to get away but Keira held on tight. "No. You think I"m going to let you get away with this?" The rage was in her eyes. She slapped her hard across the face, making tears come out Adrianna"s eyes, and then shoved her back to the ground. "Get up, c.u.n.t."
Adrianna curled into ball on the ground, crying.
"If you expect me to feel sorry for you, don"t." Keira stared down at her, the fire burning in her eyes. "If you come near Liam again, I will beat your face so hard people will actually think you have an abusive boyfriend." Keira shook her head and stepped back. "There"s nothing to see here." She walked away back to the table.
The guys stared at Adrianna, and no one moved to help her. There was no pity in their eyes. Then they turned away and followed Keira. I stayed and stared at Adrianna, feeling the sympathy move into me. But then it disappeared once I remembered what she did to me. I tried to believe that people were good, but not all of them were. She may come in a pretty package, but she was a monster on the inside. And she got what she deserved.
I walked back to the table and sat down. Keira started eating like nothing happened. The guys studied her then averted their gaze. When I looked back at Adrianna, she was on her feet, heading to the parking lot.
"That was f.u.c.king bada.s.s," Bran said. "She deserved worse."
"I didn"t think you had it in you," Scotty said with a smile.
"No one messes with my boyfriend like that and gets away with it. If she comes near him again, I"ll break that pretty neck of hers."
"Let us watch," Tony blurted.
I stared at Keira fondly, moved by her protection of me. She was an innately peaceful person. Even when she was threatened, she didn"t immediately lash out and fight. Seeing her seek out Adrianna then give her a beating was a surprise I never expected to see. But I knew that"s how upset she was. It was nice knowing my girl would do anything for me, that she had my back when there was nothing I could do. I wanted to make Adrianna feel nothing but pain, but I was unable to because of my s.e.x. Keira took care of that for me.
"You don"t feel bad, right?" Scotty asked.
"No," Keira said. "And I never will."
We were watching TV on the couch, snuggled together under a blanket. My hand was gliding through her hair, making her sigh peacefully while she lay on top of me. Instead of watching TV, I chose to watch her.
"Baby?"
"Hmm?"
"I really appreciate what you did back there. I feel like I"m the one who has to protect everyone else. Never once in my life did I feel like I had someone to protect me."
She sat up and looked at me. "Really? I thought you would be mad."
"Mad?" I laughed lightly. "She really hurt me, Keira. I put aside my hatred to help her when I thought she needed it. She used my past against me to manipulate me. And then she violated me in the worse possible way. No, she deserved what she got. I only wish I could have done something to her."
"It"s not too late to call the cops..."
"We"ve deleted the pictures...it is too late."
She kissed my forehead and moved into my lap. "Are you okay?"
"I am now." I pulled her closer to my chest and let her body rest against me. Feeling her heartbeat kept me calm. As long as I had her in my life, I would be okay. We would be okay.
"I"m sure she won"t bother you again."
"She would be stupid to," I whispered. "Not when my lady is a bada.s.s."
She laughed. "I"m definitely not a bada.s.s."
"You"re a formidable opponent."
She shook her head. "I weigh a hundred pounds and I"m barely five feet tall. I"m not exactly scary."
"Like I"ve said several times, size has nothing to do with it. You"re strong, Keira. You took me on pretty easily."
"Because you let me," she teased.
"Well, I may have..."
"See." She grabbed the remote and turned off the TV. "I"m tired."
"Ready to go to bed?"
She yawned. "Yeah."
I scooped her into my arms and lifted her from the couch. "I"ll give you a ride."
"Thanks," she said with a giggle.
I carried her upstairs then gently placed her on my bed. Then I pulled my shirt and jeans off then got into the sheets.
After a sigh, she got up and opened my drawer and pulled out a shirt. With her back to me, she started to change. She removed her top then reached her hands behind her back, unclasping her bra. When I saw her bare skin, my body came to life. She unb.u.t.toned her shorts and pulled them off, revealing the black thong she wore.
My c.o.c.k was harder than a rock.
She grabbed the shirt from the drawer and started to pull it on.
Unable to wait a moment longer, I hooked my arm around her waist and pulled her on the bed, making her lay on her back. I moved over her, my face hovering above hers.
There wasn"t a doubt in my mind that Keira was the one I shared my soul with. No one understood me better. No one could relate better. We had our differences, but she"d grown so much. When I was the strong one, the unbreakable one, she was weak. But now everything was different. She was a strong woman with confidence and strength. She put me to shame in almost every way. She hurt me in the past, but that was forgotten. She proved she wasn"t afraid of me. She proved she trusted me. And she proved she would never hurt me again. I was tired of waiting to be with her. I needed her now.
My mouth sealed over hers and my lips parted hers, breathing deeply into her. A quiet sigh escaped her lips and her fingers moved into my hair. Her legs wrapped around my waist and squeezed me, anchoring me to her.
I never wanted her to let me go.
My hands glided over her soft skin. The scars from her past were barely noticeable. All the love I gave her masked the permanent marks. My fingers glazed over her hips, feeling the steep curve, and then I felt her smooth legs. Her thighs were toned and powerful. Her strength was the biggest turn on in the world. I didn"t like chicks that were skinny and bony. I loved Keira"s curves. She had the hips and stomach of a real woman, and the chest of a fantasy.
Her hand moved to my boxers and started to slide them down. "How far did you want to go?"
I didn"t answer her.
She got my boxers off and then my hand gripped the back of her thong. I yanked it free of her long legs then separated them with my knees. Our obvious height difference made me move up higher than I normally would. My hand moved to her lower back and I lifted her slightly.
I put my c.o.c.k at her entrance, and she moaned into my mouth, knowing what was coming. My arms shook in excitement. I hadn"t felt her in so long. I fantasized about her and missed feeling her intimately. Our souls touched and thawed the ice around my heart.
Needy, she grabbed my hips and separated her legs further, wanting me right then and there. Her nails dug into me, the excitement heavy in her eyes. She was just as desperate for the connection as I was.
Slowly, I moved inside her, feeling the lack of friction all the way through. I leaned far over her, moaning while I felt the slickness. "s.h.i.t, you feel good."