“I know,” I sighed. “You would have protected me.”
“We all would have protected you,” Archer said, and I shivered at the deep growl in the back of his throat as he said it. It excited me on some primal level, it struck me as possessive. As if they were right, I’d never go through life unprotected again. “Fuck, Ev, if I’d known…”
His voice trailed off as he gave into his feeling of helpless desperation.
We continued up to the house and went inside, and as we crossed the threshold it felt like I was crossing into a new life. A brand new future, one that was uncertain and no longer safe. No longer planned.
“I need to call my lawyer,” Valen said, pulling his hand off my back. “Shit, I need to call him right now. We need to prepare before they come looking for her.”
“Yeah, we can’t sit around talking about protecting her now if we aren’t ready to fight for her, to do whatever it takes to keep her safe,” Kingston said.
“I’ll take her for a shower, you call your lawyer, and Kingston, contact your dad and find out what’s going on over there,” Archer said, taking charge of the situation.
I nodded and let him lead me upstairs to his room. I let him undress me as I receded into my head again. I became an automaton, just existing in my body but not feeling it. I couldn’t help but notice the fine red flecks that had spread across my shirt, an abstract painting in miniature that represented the end of Everly as I’d known her.
I existed in some between space now, where I was still wearing the flesh of the girl who had been molested and silenced by her shame. The girl who had thought about death way too often, her own death that is, and had almost given into the crushing weight of depression more than a few times.
But now I was heading towards a new Everly. A girl who knew her own strength. Who knew the lengths she’d go to in order to stand up for herself, and for somebody else. Somebody who needed her to stop what was coming down the track.
Reg would have molested Nat if I hadn’t shot him.
That was the raw, gushing wound of information that flashed in my head like the neon sign to a cheap motel.
He would have done it, so I’d stepped up.
I hadn’t been able to protect myself all those years, but I’d protected her and in the process, I’d become somebody new.
A girl filled with righteous fire and determination to never be used like that again.
“Are you okay, Ev?” Archer asked me gently. He wasn’t the gentlest of my three boys. That would be Valen, but he was emotionally supportive when he needed to be. He was intuitive, and despite his brash outward behavior, he had a caring, tender heart when it came to my comfort.
“I’m okay,” I replied in a wooden tone. I was still stiff, as if the tension hadn’t left my muscles just yet. “I mean, I’ll be okay. I don’t know if I’m there yet.”
“You’ll be more than okay,” he said and stood behind me. He lifted my hair and kissed the back of my neck. “You’ll rise out of this like the Phoenix. You’ll be reborn, my sweet, beautiful girl. You know, when we first got the word that you were our Tribute, I saw something different in you. I knew you’d be the hardest one to break, but I knew we had to come together to care for you. And I was right. And now I can see that we didn’t need to break you, you changed us and brought us to you.”
Tears rose behind my eyes at his words, and I turned around to kiss him. He was being so delicate and careful with me that I couldn’t believe he was the rough boy who had treated me so badly at school. I couldn’t fathom that he’d changed that much in the short time I’d known him, and yet on the other hand, I could believe it. Because I had changed as well.
His mouth was hot and hungry, or maybe it was mine. Maybe I needed him to cover me with his desire and help me strip away my former identity. I wanted to be involved in the sex that I had now; I wanted to take charge and allow things to happen to me. To make them happen. My desires were there to wipe the slate clean and bring me solace in the midst of confusion and torment.
I helped him this time, and he was stripped in mere moments. His body was glorious, he was so tall and broad shouldered. So muscled and perfect, like a magazine model come to life for my pleasure alone.
I was no longer passive in what happened to my body, I was participating. I was ready for it, and after Kingston broke me in the night before, I was ready for more.
“Please,” I murmured against Archer’s mouth and ran my hands down his chest to the waist of his jeans. “I want to see you. All of you.”
“Of course,” he growled. “Anything for you, Ev.”
He picked me up in his arms and carried me, our mouths never breaking apart as we headed towards his bed. He reached it, backed up and sat down, keeping me on his lap.
His cock was massive, and just as gorgeous and thick as I remembered it. I wanted to taste it again, but I wanted it inside of me even more. I needed him to split me open and fill me up. I craved it like it was my medicine. Like it could tear me apart and bring be back together.
“Are you okay with this?” Archer asked, lifting me up and kissing my neck. His shaft jutted up between my legs, resting and rubbing against the soft mound of my pussy. “I don’t want you to do this unless you really want it.”
“Oh, I fucking want it,” I exhaled as I pulled him tighter against me. “I need it, I want to feel whole and loved and safe. I want you to make me feel good so I can forget what happened for a short time.”
He didn’t respond with words, but he kissed me again. This time he kissed along my collarbone to my shoulder, then lifted me and sucked my breasts, one by one. I hovered over his cock head now, it was so close to my entrance I could practically feel it drawn to me. I tilted my hips so he would have nowhere to move other than up and inside.
“Oh fuck,” he groaned as I teased the head with my swollen, soaking wet slit. “Fuck, Ev, you’re driving me crazy.”