Finding Solace

“Is it working?” I ask through broken breaths.

“It’s working.” He moves, going deeper. “The fair was fun, but if I could spend every night buried inside you like I am now, I’d never leave this farm.”

“We were arrested. That wasn’t fun.”

Laughing against the back of my head, he says, “We weren’t arrested, but fuck, you sure do know how to use that smart mouth of yours sometimes.”

“Too much?”

“No, it’s fucking sexy as hell.”

Currently pinned to the counter in front of the sink, my skirt is bunched above my ass. My panties are in shreds on the floor. His shoes push against my boots while he pushes into me.

Again.

And again.

Closing my eyes, I chase the darkness that alights with fireworks of desire. Fuck, I want it. Like him, I want it so badly I can taste it—salty sweet—from an hour earlier when I made Jason fall apart, dropping his guard and getting off as he watched me take him deep in my mouth.

He’s close.

His thrusts are becoming erratic.

I’m close.

The thought of him being turned on turns me on. So much. My fingers sting from the pressure of holding the edge of the counter so hard. Leaning onto my elbows, I feel his fingers dig into my hips as he comes. Mine follows fast. My mouth falls open, releasing a rough moan as his name drags through my body’s vibrations.

Reaching behind me, I fist his T-shirt as my breath returns to steady. Opening my eyes, I scream, pushing off the counter in front of me.

Those eyes.

The eyes that have haunted me.

“Shit.” Jason jumps, tugging his jeans up. “What happened?”

Pointing toward the window, I say, “Cole. Cole. Co—”

“Cutler? What? Where?” Jason spins me around to face him. “Where, Delilah?”

“Out back. He’s out there, Jason. I saw him. I saw him watching us.”

He’s running out the back door before the words leave my mouth.

Was Cole real or an apparition? Is he here? Surely, I’m hallucinating. I run to the front door to look for his car, and when I swing it open, I’m charged—one hand covering my mouth and the other holding the back of my head. I scream, but it goes unheard beyond the palm of his hand. My eyes are wide while Cole pushes me deeper into the house.

“Shut up,” he demands between gritted teeth.

I’m grappling for anything I can grab while being shoved too fast to comprehend what’s happening. I’m shoved backward into the hallway, my back hitting the corner before we clear it. Anger has swallowed his reasoning with none left to be found in his eyes. There’s no stopping him. He pushes harder as I wince in pain. With his hand over my mouth, my attempts to scream are squashed again. My eyes water, and fear for my life takes over as I try to grab his wrists to pull them away.

Cole’s body is hard, harder than natural. As I stare into his bloodshot eyes, the pupils are pinpricks, his strength extraordinary.

He’s not drunk.

He’d be sloppy.

He must be high on something.

I scream as I claw at his arms, but nothing deters him. With the strength of an army, he pushes me into my parents’ room. The door is locked, and I’m shoved to the ground. “You think you can make me look like a fool and get away with it? Is that what you thought?”

Scrambling away from him, I feel my back hit the bed, and then my hands go up in surrender. “Listen to me, Cole—”

“No!” I’m whacked with the back of his hand, and my ears start ringing. “I told you to stay away from him, and what do I find out? He’s living here, and you’re fucking him.” He stands over me, fury surging through a vein in his forehead, making it bulge. “You let him treat my wife like a whore in the kitchen. Is that what you want? You want to be treated like that?”

“He’s going to kill you when he finds us.”

“Do you let him fuck you in our bed?” His eyes dart to the mattress before returning to me again. “Like I used to fuck you?” Reaching for his belt, he starts to undo it.

Red-hot panic runs up my spine. The sound of his belt through the loops. His rapid breathing. The crazed look in his eyes. Too many memories flash before me, and I become paralyzed with fear. But somewhere in the alarms of my brain, I hear Jason’s voice through the noise. “If I see you within ten miles of that farm, or my girl, I will fucking end you.” Jason’s here. I feel him near. He knows my house like the back of his hand.

I look back at Cole, who’s not in his right mind. I won’t be able to reason with him, but I won’t die on his timeline either. While his hands are busy, I grab one of his legs and yank it forward, sending him to fall on his backside. He’s too quick to recover for me to get far, my boot grabbed as I lunge away from him. With my body free as he holds me, I push off the wood floor to get to my feet. We both are upright at the same time, but he rushes me again in another onslaught. Jumping onto the bed, I roll to the other side and start running, but he grabs my hair and yanks me to the ground, my head hitting the floor when I land.