Innocent Lies (17 page)

“What are you talking
about?”

“I called and invited Sarah,
Deacon, and their dates over for dinner.”

“Why?”

“Because they are important to you.
So that makes them important to me. I figured it was time we got to
know each other better.” He smashed my face between his hands and
smacked a loud kiss on my lips. “Now go get ready, because you’re
naked under that blanket and if you sit here much longer. Screw the
food, I will have you over that island and enjoy every damn moment
of it.”

In the bathroom, I
pushed the hair off my face and stared at myself in the mirror. I
had to look different, more mature maybe. I certainly felt
different. To be honest, I was sore as heck and felt like I had run
a marathon. I finally for once saw Sarah’s appeal in all that
hanky-panky, but didn’t want to classify what I shared with Ethan
in the same category as all of Sarah’s conquest. Ethan and I shared
a bond. That had to make it that much better. I removed my hand
from my head and watched my hair go wayward. It all stuck up to the
left except the one stray piece that went to the right.
Screw it.
I found a hair tie in the basket of bath products
Ethan had bought for me and brushed it into some order of tidiness.
I dug around the basket until I found my toothbrush and freaked. I
never brushed my teeth after puking my brains out.
He kissed me with vomit breath, UGH.
Calm down, he still wants me. It must be love.

Ethan had laundered and neatly
folded my clothes, leaving them on the dresser. I was sort of
hoping to get to don another outfit of his. I dressed quickly.
Sarah could’ve already been there and I didn’t want her and my Mr.
Sexy-god-of-a-man alone in the same room. I took one more nervous
look in the mirror and decided it would have taken more time than I
had to look good. I gave my body one more shake and rushed to the
kitchen.

I thought he had a hodgepodge of
food the first time he invited me over to dinner. Well, it had
nothing on the buffet laid out over the counter. Ethan had been
chopping veggies for the salad.

“Come here, babe.” He pinched off a
piece of mint chocolate truffles and held it up to my lips. I
eagerly gobbled it down. He smirked. I could never resist his
charm. I moaned as I chewed. This man’s cooking was seriously above
par. He smiled and continued to hold a bite up to my mouth. I took
another bite, letting my tongue run across his fingers. I loved the
ease in which he moved around the kitchen. I didn’t, however, love
his attire. Sarah, the girl who saw every piece of eye candy as a
challenge, was scheduled to be there any moment; and Ethan had
nothing on but a pair of unbuttoned jeans and an apron. I tapped
his shoulder, letting my finger trace over his new tattoo. “Ethan,
put some clothes on.”

“Oh, yeah.” He
gave me this knowing smirk and grabbed a shirt hung on the back of
the barstool. “I was airing out the new ink.” He turned as I
brought his bottle of beer to my lips. “When did you start
drinking?”

“Oh, didn’t I tell
you. This hunk, with a big manhood, has taught me all kinds of
naughty behaviors.” I winked and took a gulp of the beer. A small
drop clung to my bottom lip. Ethan’s eyes bored into me as I wiped
it away. Nervous under his stare, I twisted my head to the side and
picked up a chip.

He touched my chin and lifted it
up, bringing my eyes to his. They were burning with a fiery lust.
“Maybe, he will teach you some more. If you’re a good
girl.”

“Pay attention,
Sarah will be here soon.” I thumped my fingertip on his nose. “What
did the old tat mean?”

“It’s the symbol to our clubs. It
is usually the first tattoo we all get.”

“Was it yours?” My
fingers sprawled out over his stomach. His first tattoo. The symbol
of his family. To think he erased it and replaced it with a token
of us caused my heart to hammer in my chest.

“Yeah, I got it
when I was sixteen in a drug induce craze.” His hand grazed over my
backside as his other hand drifted down my side. He gripped my ass
and pushed me against him.

“Sorry.”

“For what?”

“For causing you to cover it up. I
know it was special to you. But thank you, it means a
lot.”

“First off, the only thing special
in my life is you. Secondly, I’m glad you like. My bro might get
mad, but I think it’s my favorite.” He kissed me, slowly and
deliberately. Lost in each other, we were interrupted by the
cellphone. “What,” he spit into the phone.

Ethan’s face went pale. His hand
slipped in my back pocket where he worked his fingers painfully
into my flesh. “Is everything okay?” I asked.

He didn’t acknowledge me, just
stood there listening to the person on the other line. He let me go
and yanked his fingers through his hair. His face got whiter. I
kept waiting on him to say something at least look at me. Anything.
“Fuck,” he said, slamming the phone against the wall.

I reached for his arm. He didn’t
so kindly shrug me away. I was more scared than I have ever been
with him. His eyes had lost all tenderness, and were so dilated
they appeared black. I stared into the eyes of a man who had lost
all control. “What’s wrong?”

“That damn bastard
Larry O’Neal called and told my dad I was with you. Shit. Shit.
Shit. I expect this crap from Victoria not him.” He pulled his hair
and rammed the back of his head into the kitchen cabinets. “Call
your friends tell them tonight is off. I’ve got to get home
now.”

“The district
attorney? Why?” I asked.

“Because he is a
S.O.B., Dylan, they want you dead.” He closed his eyes and muttered
a stream of words I was relieved not to understand. My heart
stopped. I touched his face, his hair, even his shoulder. I was
breaking right in front of him.

“Dylan. Beautiful Dylan.” His hands
rammed in my hair. “Nobody is ever going to touch you. I’ll take
care of it.” My breathing was ragged and on the verge of
hyperventilating. Ethan’s lips were smooth as he kissed around my
mouth never actually touching it. His thumb stroked my jaw. “Shush,
trust me.”

I started to nod, but my head
involuntarily shook. “Sorry,” I whispered and rolled my head onto
his chest.

“I need to feel you and you have to
trust me.” He kissed the top of my head and then jerked my hand,
pulling me to the bedroom. He placed me on the bed and pushed my
hair behind my ear. “Privy, you can trust me. Anytime you want me
to stop just say so, I will, babe. Understand?”

I nodded as he kissed my forehead.
He walked to his closet. I heard him shuffling around and even
imagined I heard a chain rattling. He came out holding rope and a
black silk tie. “Hold your hands out.”

I hesitated. He jerked my hands
out in front of me. “I need you totally at my mercy. Don’t question
me. Just do it.”

“I can tell you no?”

“Always,” he
whispered and gazed down over my face. “This is what I know and the
only way I can convince you to trust me.”

“You won’t hurt me?”

Ethan took a step back, completely
and utterly stumped. “No.” He fell to his knees in front of me. He
looked torn. Ethan at my feet, staring at me with a steady,
helpless gaze, was the most chilling sight I had ever encountered.
Blood drained from my face. That phone call didn’t rip my heart
out, it ripped his. “This is for me. I need my control back. I need
to know you are mine.”

I held my hands out
and crossed my arms at my wrist. “Stand.” He ordered. I paled and
stood without a question. I didn’t notice the knife until he sliced
through the rope. My knees wanted to buckle as I was seized with
panic. I didn’t blink. He wanted to show me that I could trust him.
I would trust him. Without a sound, he bounded my wrist together,
knotting it firmly. So many questions flew through my mind, but all
that mattered was wiping the hopelessness from his face. He tugged
at the binding.
Fuck, it was
secure.
He glanced up and for
a moment I saw a flash of excitement in his eyes. “Are you sure,
beautiful?”

I nodded, vaguely lightheaded. I
was not sure at all. He reached up and popped the button on my
jeans, and leisurely pulled down the zipper. Without shifting his
stare from me, he hooked a finger in my waistband and yanked my
pants and panties to the floor. I started to step out of them when
he barked, “Don’t move.”

I stilled. He leaned forward and
ran his nose along my inner thigh. His eyes closed as he circled
his tongue over my opening. He flipped me around and shoved me face
down on the bed. My feet tangled in my jeans.

“Good girl.” He gently stroked my
behind with his oversized hands and slid a finger along my folds.
“I’m going to blindfold you now.” It was a different Ethan talking.
He was domineering and totally in control. My breathing was almost
nonexistent as I tried to scrabble around all the conflicting
emotions in me and prayed for some internal strength. His teeth
traced along my spine as his body descended over mine. “Hands over
your head.”

I did as I was told and he hooked
the rope around the bedpost. I tugged against the rope, gaining no
leverage. “Hold your head up.” He kissed my cheek. “I love you.” He
fastened the tie around my face and secured it tightly around my
eyes. Everything went black. All my senses were in hyper mode. My
hearing was more acute. Even my smell was more attuned with my
surroundings.

“This has to be
fast. We don’t have much time.” The words barely left his lips when
he thrust into me hard. “Babe, don’t go numb on me. I want you to
feel this.”

For the first time, I didn’t go
numb. I didn’t flashback to that night. I was totally in the moment
and cherished every second I could feel without the baggage of my
past. He started to pound into me, over and over again. I
whimpered.

“I love you,
beautiful.” His voice was raw and powerful. I exploded around him
as he pounded into me one more time. He collapsed on top of me and
quickly released the ropes and blindfold.

At that moment I trusted him
immeasurably and would have done anything for him. “I love you so
much. Trust me and I will give you the world. I will show you
things you only dreamed about. I will keep you safe.” He almost
moaned. I wrapped my arms around him wanting to lay there forever.
He pushed up. “We have to pack. We have to get out of
here.”

I laid unable to move and had to
resist the urge to brush the blond piece of hair that fell over his
forehead as he bent to pull the suitcase out from under his bed. He
started to throw random clothes into it. I noticed he opened the
third drawer from the top on his dresser and it was full of women’s
clothes. I looked away afraid to ask did he buy them for me or if
they were leftovers from other stray women. He zipped the
overflowing suitcase and tossed it to the floor. He caressed his
hand over my exposed breast. “Beautiful, you need to get dressed.
Thank you.”

I struggled to sit up as he helped
me redress. Gone was the dominant Ethan and in his place was the
sweet, caring Ethan that captured me. I could trust him.

The whole ride Ethan smoked one
cigarette after another. I was beginning to wonder where he was
keeping them all. I finally had enough and took the cigarette from
his lips, flicking it out the window. “Talk.” I
demanded.

We had been in that car for no
less than four hours and I was still uncertain as to what was going
on. We ran out of his house, leaving all that food still lying on
the kitchen counter.

“About
what?”

“What do I need to tell
Sarah?”

Sarah and her man of the day,
along with Deacon and Allison showed up within minutes of the most
intense moment of my life. Ethan told them he had gotten called
back home for a family emergency, and gave them a one hundred
dollar bill to pay for dinner. Sarah, however, could read me. She
knew it was more than a sick grandparent or unruly brother. And she
wouldn’t stop texting me.

“Ignore her.” He twisted the knobs
on the air conditioner, and switched the radio station. “Want to
play a game with me?”

“What kind of game?”

“Quid pro quo.”

I didn’t answer him,
but my blank expression gave me away.
Huh?

“Tit for tat. I
ask you a question about anything and you can ask me one. Hell,
I’ll be nice you can ask two. I figured you have more running
around in that beautiful head of yours than I do. You
first?”