Phoenix (16 page)

He brings one hand to my head and fists my hair, his breaths coming out
quick and fast. I keep my eyes on him as my mouth sucks his thickness. I relax
my jaw so that I can take as much of him in as possible. My hands grip his
muscular thighs as the warm water swishes around us; it gently caresses our
bodies, making us all slick and bringing an added pleasure to the act.

I let him slip from my mouth and then nuzzle his cock lovingly. I adore
doing this for him. It turns me on almost as much as having him inside of me
does. I want him to know that there’s no seediness to what we’re doing. It’s
affection and love and a need to make him feel as good as he makes me feel.

He watches me run the tip of my nose along his length. “Where did I find
you?” he breathes. “Sometimes you don’t seem real.”

“I’m real, Phoenix,” I whisper.
And I love you,
I want to add but
I’m too frightened.

When I take him back into my mouth we both become frenzied. I want to
make him come as I swirl my tongue around his head, causing him to groan and
swear in Greek. I like it when he swears in Greek, so deep and guttural. I suck
on him hard as my head rises and falls and he continues gently fisting my hair,
his eyes never moving from my lips.

I feel his legs tense and if it’s possible his cock grows even harder,
ready to explode. He tugs my hair then, growling and spurting his hot cum into
my mouth. I keep my lips on him until he is empty, then I swallow. He stares at
me with black eyes before pulling me to his chest.

“No woman has given me that in almost a decade,” he murmurs into my ear.

“I’m glad I was the one to give it to you,” I reply.

A silence ensues before he asks quietly, “How do you do it?”

“How do I do what?”

“Make it all feel so cleansing. It’s like you are restoring something
inside of me, Eve. Something I thought was lost forever.”

I turn my face into his chest, ensuring that he doesn’t see the tears
fill my eyes yet again.

The next day at
work I’m more tired than usual. Phoenix stayed the entire night and neither of
us got much sleep. At the end of one of my classes, a skinny brown haired boy
with glasses comes and tells me that I’m his favourite teacher this year. I
smile at him, not knowing how to respond. He grins sheepishly and hurries from
the room.

Perhaps I’m taking to this job more than I thought I was.

When the final bell of the day rings I wait until my class has vacated
the room before I slump back in my seat, exhausted. It’s so hard to concentrate
on doing a good job of teaching when all my brain wants to think about is
Phoenix. The feel of my hand sliding along his chiselled torso is etched into
my mind. I have never felt anything more perfect.

A minute later there’s a knock on my door and Tim ducks his head inside.

“Mr Gale, what can I do for you?” I greet him and manage a small polite
smile.

He tried sitting with me at lunch earlier today, but I sat beside two
older female teachers before he got the chance.

“Call me Tim, please,” he says and steps into the classroom, closing the
door over a little behind him. “I just thought I’d pop by to see how you’re
doing.”

“Oh, there was no need. Everything’s going fine. I really like teaching
here.”

He pauses, running a finger down the side of the blackboard and then
gives me a strange look. He pushes his designer black rimmed specks up his
nose.

“That’s great. You look really pretty today, Eve.”

“Uh, thanks,” I reply, uncomfortable with the compliment and his intense
stare. It reminds me of how he looks at me in the staff room every lunch time.
He doesn’t think I notice, but I do and it’s unnerving.

“You should come to dinner with me, just the two of us.”

He steps closer so that his knees hit the edge of my desk. My throat gets
tight. It feels like he’s crowding me and my claustrophobia rears its head,
making my palms grow sweaty. The noise of the students out in the corridor dies
down as the last few leave to go home.

“Oh, that’s really nice of you to offer, but I can’t. I’ve got plans.” I
begin organising some papers on my desk and slipping them inside a folder,
hoping he’ll accept my brush off and leave.

He frowns and leans down to me. “Come on, you can give me one dinner. I’ve
been dying to get you to myself, Eve. Every day I watch you float into the
staffroom in those thin summer dresses and all I can think about is seeing what’s
underneath.”

God. That sounds like a whole hell of a lot more than dinner.

“Tim, I said I can’t. Now please, could you move away? You’re standing
far too close.”

He doesn’t move. “Why are you being difficult?” he questions, irritated
now. Did he think I’d fall at his feet or something?

“Because she isn’t interested,” comes a dark, dangerous voice from the
doorway.

I raise my eyes to see Phoenix standing there, his entire body coiled
tight. My throat constricts even more, if that is possible.

Tim turns and gives Phoenix a condescending glance. “And who are you
exactly?”

His snide tone causes Phoenix’s jaw to move in a way that puts me on
edge. He’d been like this with Maxwell, too, ready to pounce, but in my mind my
brother had deserved his aggression. Tim might be a touch sleazy, but he’s
harmless.

Phoenix ignores Tim’s comment and strides toward him. “You heard what she
said. Move.”

Tim folds his arms across his chest and looks down his nose at Phoenix.
He’s about two inches taller than him, but more or less stick thin. What
Phoenix lacks in height he makes up for in girth – not to mention the pure
danger seeping from his pores. How does Tim not realise the mistake he’s
making? I want to get up and stand between them but I’m glued to my seat.

Tim laughs. “I’ll move when I feel like it.”

Tim is an armchair warrior. I often hear him chatting with some of the
other male teachers in the staffroom about the latest computer games he’s
played. I imagine he’s one of those men who have deluded themselves into
thinking that because they’ve won a fight in virtual reality that they can do it
in actual reality, too.

It looks like Phoenix is trying his hardest to hold back, to not give in
to Tim’s taunt. Unfortunately, Tim makes the mistake of giving Phoenix a little
shove in the shoulder. Milliseconds later Phoenix has Tim’s neck in his grip
and Tim’s eyes are bugging out of his head. He turns and slams him into the
wall by the blackboard, lets go of his neck and punches him hard in the gut. I
blink fast and try to block out the memories. It is the exact same move Maxwell
used on me the very last time he beat me.

It was the day I got accepted into my post-grad course at Uni. The letter
had come in the mail and I had been waiting for it nervously. I secreted myself
away in the shed out the back of our house to read it. When I opened it and
found I’d gotten in, I let out a little squeal of delight and pumped my fist
into the air.

I hadn’t realised it, but Maxwell had been spying on me. He didn’t live
at home anymore, but he was there most days visiting. He strode into the shed,
sneering at me, and swiped the letter from my hand. He mocked me with his ugly
words, telling me how I thought I was better than him because I’d gone to
college, but that I was no better than trash. Tearing the letter to shreds and
tossing it to the floor, he advanced on me, took my throat in his grip and
slammed me hard against the wooden wall. Then he began punching me in the gut,
exactly like Phoenix just punched Tim.

The beating went on for a long time and now I am hyperventilating as I
remember each and every second of it. My body had been so, so very bruised, but
not broken. Never broken. Maxwell might be an idiot, but he’s clever when it
comes to covering up his abuse.

The next morning I packed my things and moved into Harriet’s. She had
been asking me to move in with her ever since I turned eighteen, but I had
refused. I didn’t want anyone to think I was using her, but after that beating
I knew I couldn’t live at home any longer, and with my student loans I couldn’t
afford to rent my own place.

Goose pimples cover my skin and my heartbeat races. I can’t breathe, can
barely see. I blink several times to try and regain my composure. When I have
calmed down enough I find Phoenix kneeling in front of me and Tim is nowhere in
sight. He must have fled after I started having a panic attack.

Phoenix’s hands are on my wrists, rubbing soothing circles into my skin.

“Please stop touching me,” I croak.

He pauses and quickly withdraws his hands. “Eve, I didn’t mean to scare
you. That man just…I couldn’t stand how he spoke to you.”

“I need to go home,” I whisper and begin to stand.

I can’t look at him. The memory of Maxwell’s beating is too strong and I
can’t take the violence he just inflicted, the movements mirroring my brother’s
all too closely.

I thought I could handle this side to Phoenix, but right now I just need
to be away from him. Shoving my things into my bag, I hurry past him and out of
the school. I can hear him calling after me, but I don’t turn back. When I’m on
the road walking towards my cottage I hear a vehicle driving slowly behind me.

I quicken my pace.

The vehicle stops and a door opens and slams shut. Then there are feet
pounding down the road toward me. Tears spill from my eyes as I break into a
run. I’m not fast enough though, and then two strong arms are wrapping around
my waist and pulling me back.

Phoenix’s chest is rising and falling as he holds me to him. I try to
struggle free but it’s no use.

“You can’t run from me, Eve. Not now,” he says, his voice pleading. “I am
in too deep. You are in too deep.”

I blink away the tears but they just keep on falling. His arms around my
waist tighten and then his lips are in my hair.

“Christ, I’m so fucking sorry I hit that man. I just can’t stand the idea
of anyone taking you away from me. It makes me want to hurt them, and I hate
that. I hate the side of myself that is still a killer.”

My body stops resisting him now as I sink back into him. I can’t let him
think he’s still a killer. I’ve been doing so well trying to get him to accept
that he’s a good person, one worthy of redemption.

“When you hit him,” I explain in a weary voice, “it brought back a very
bad memory. Maxwell hit me once in the exact same way you hit Tim. I got lost
in the memory and panicked. I’m sorry that I ran.”

At hearing my words Phoenix goes tense, and I can hear his angry
breathing. He takes a deep breath and calms himself.

His lips trail to my neck. “Can we go back to my place and talk? I’ll
feed you and then you can sleep. I can sense you’re tired.”

“Okay,” I murmur, turning to face him and placing a soft kiss to his
cheek. He takes my hand and leads me to his truck, helping me up into the
passenger seat. The drive to his cottage is quiet and when we get there he
leads me into the living room, sitting me down on the couch.

“I bought a chicken. I’m going to put it in the oven with some potatoes
and then we’ll talk,” he tells me tenderly, slipping my shoes off for me and
lifting my legs up onto his sofa so that I’m lying down. He props a cushion
under my head, flicks on the television and then goes to prepare the dinner. I
sink into the soft, comfortable couch and close my eyes. Before I know it, I’ve
fallen asleep.

“Eve, wake up,” calls a low, attractive voice.

I blink my eyes open and find Phoenix sitting by me on the couch, my legs
draped over his lap and my bare foot in his hand. He has removed my socks and
is massaging my feet. I rub at my forehead.

“How long was I out for?” I ask.

“Only a couple of minutes. I didn’t want to wake you but we need to
discuss what happened at the school.”

“Yeah, I guess. Mmm, that feels so good,” I moan as he presses his
fingers into the arch of my foot, relieving the aches and tightness.

Phoenix’s stare grows heated at the noise I make, but he doesn’t try to
touch me anywhere else.

“Do you get panic attacks a lot?” he asks, still massaging, his focus on
my foot rather than my face.

I laugh joylessly. “Sadly, yes. I never tried medicating for them. I’ve
always wanted to be strong enough to overcome them naturally. It’s a work in
progress.”

“And is it always memories of your brother that provoke them?”

I nod. “Pretty much. As you’ve probably already guessed having met her,
my mum is no prize piece either, but she never went out of her way to be cruel.
Maxwell though, he was always active in his mistreatment. Even when he moved
out of the house he’d be there all the time, so I never really got away from
him until I went to live with Harriet.”

“Tell me about that,” he probes, eyes flicking up to meet mine.

I swallow. “I got a letter informing me I’d made it into my top choice
postgrad course. I was over the moon. Maxwell hated it whenever I was happy
about something. Most of the time I hid it, but he’d been spying on me when I
got the letter. I’d been spending more and more time at Harriet’s, so his window
for bullying me had grown even smaller. I think he was frustrated by that.
Maxwell is so unhappy that he needs a punching bag to make himself feel better.
I was it.

“That day was the worst he’d ever beaten me. I was sore for weeks. During
the night I packed all of my things and left for good. Harriet was horrified
when she saw me and tried to get me to go to the police. I couldn’t do it. I
know it doesn’t make any sense, but I was so ashamed. I’d been institutionalised
by Maxwell to the point where I thought people would blame me for being the
victim. Looking back on it now I know how wrong I was, but at the time I was
trapped by my own fears.

“As time passed I came to learn that cutting him out of my life and
making a future for myself, a happy one, would be its own revenge. Maxwell will
always be hateful. You could spread the evidence of his sins out before him in
plain and simple terms and he would still come away convinced he’s in the
right. There is no way to enlighten a person like that.”

When I look at Phoenix his expression is so black I practically jump in
fright. “Oh, there are ways, Eve.”

“You mean by hurting him physically?” I ask with despair. “That would
only make me as bad as him.”

“No. No, it would not. He cannot get away with what he’s done,” Phoenix
practically growls.

“Harriet always said when fighting devils, be careful not to become one. When
I think about getting back at Maxwell, and believe me, I’ve thought about it a
lot, I can only ever see myself being tainted by it.”

“Let me do it for you. I am already tainted,” says Phoenix. “And when it
comes to devils, I have fought ones far greater than your brother.”

I shake my head and look away. “I can’t let you do that.”

“They are staying at the bed and breakfast in town, you know. I saw them
coming out of there this morning.”

Oh, no. I’d thought that since I hadn’t heard from them that they’d given
up and left. Or that they were too afraid of Phoenix to return. I was wrong. I
give Phoenix a look that communicates my utter exhaustion.

“I called my sister yesterday and discovered that the story about my dad
being in debt was all a lie. I can’t believe I’d almost fallen for it.”

“I will make sure they are gone by tomorrow,” says Phoenix with
conviction.

“How?” I whisper.

“You don’t need to know how.”

“Yes, I do.”

“Eve,” he growls, his hand moving up my leg and caressing the back of my
knee. “You don’t need to know. Let me protect you. I
need
to protect you
from them. I always thought my years of fighting were meaningless. A simple
case of bad luck in a bad world. Now I am coming to believe that I was being
made into the man who would defend you. I want to give you the gift of my
protection. Take it. I am good for nothing otherwise.”