I had gone most of my life never knowing any.
Did his actions mar that, or maybe only amplify that?
I guess that was for the individual to decide, depending on what lens you saw the world through.
Me?
I said it only made him better.
How many others would turn the other cheek, feel sick to their stomachs at night knowing they were doing nothing about a situation? The majority of people, that's who.
Not Edison.
Edison saw a wrong, and he righted it.
Sure, it was bloody and painful.
But sometimes the punishment needed to match the crime.
He understood that.
He lived his life by that.
"So what you're saying here," I started into the silence after his words that I knew must have been painful to him, waiting to learn if I was sickened by his truth or not, "is you can teach me to curse people out in Russian. I mean everything sounds more savage in Russian. I want the guys at work to piss themselves when I break into another language."
"That's your response to all of this information?" he asked, tone guarded, something I really didn't like coming from him.
"Did you expect fainting? Edison, I went to that guy's house last night to kill him. I have no place to judge. Besides, even if I were the type to judge, I think what you have done is warranted. I think it brings some justice where it is sorely needed. Besides, seriously, did you think I was the kind of woman to faint? Come on."
"So that's it? You're just cool with it."
"So long as you don't get caught," I agreed, giving him a smirk. "You get sentenced to twenty-five to life, don't be expecting weekly visits from me. I got shit to do."
"Just conjugals then," he shot back, smile wicked.
"Well, duh," I agreed. "I can't go twenty years without a good fuck."
His head ducked at that. "Can't get enough, huh?" he asked, hand moving out to slide down my thigh, snagging my knee, dragging me until I moved to straddle him.
"Of you?" I asked, feeling his hands slide up my thighs to slip under the tee, cupping my bare ass, dragging my pussy against his hard cock through his thin pajama pants. "Never."
There was the rumbling approval in his chest as he reached between us to free his cock, letting my pussy slide against him with no barrier.
"Soaked," he growled as he reached toward the nightstand, snagging a condom that he ripped open with a tooth. "Take me in," he commanded a moment later after protecting us.
I didn't need any more encouragement than that.
My hips shifted up, and I took him in, doing so slowly, enjoying every thick inch, wanting to savor the way he filled me.
But as soon as he was settled deep, the night full of adrenaline and uncertainty making my body needy for release, I rode him hard and fast, feeling the sweat start to slick both our skin.
Edison's hands slid down my arms, snagging my wrists, twining them around his neck. "Hold on," he demanded, stopping my motion as his hands moved again down my sides to my hips, then thighs, then curling under my knees.
"What are..." I started, only to lose my sentence on a gasp as his hands yanked my legs up to my chest, coaxing my knees up and over his shoulders.
Once settled, his hands slid around my lower back, anchoring me to him, allowing him to control the pace, meaning there was no more hard or fast or wild.
His eyes held mine as he eased me back, then pulled me close again, rocking his cock gently inside me.
And as much as my body needed release, there was an understanding of the importance of this moment.
Over the past few days, I had let down my guards, I had given him my truth.
Tonight, he had given me his.
And that was big.
I wasn't so jaded that I couldn't understand how rare that was for people like us, how significant.
It wasn't time for a fuck.
It was time for something more, something deeper, something that acknowledged the connection between us.
It was time for something that it was clear we both felt.
Love.
And therefore something I had never experienced before.
Lovemaking.
Sensing the shift in understanding in me, Edison leaned forward, taking my lips to his, softer, but somehow deeper than ever before.
I felt it as we moved together - a heavy, weighted, pulling sensation inside.
It didn't surprise me in the least that as slowly as it built, when it crashed, my orgasm was almost overpowering, was strong enough to bring the tears to my eyes again.
But this time, I didn't fight them. I didn't try to hide them.
There was no reason.
Edison had seen every part of me.
And embraced it all with open arms.
I didn't need to hide anymore.EPILOGUEEdison - 1 day"Busy night," Reign greeted me as I walked into the kitchen to make coffee, knowing that Lenny had all the morning cheer of a raccoon with rabies before her fix, and wanting to head that off.