Surviving Raine (Surviving Raine 1)

“Harder, Bastian…please!”

“Fuck, Raine!” I slammed into her again, not even able to comprehend how she could put up with my caveman approach of fucking her in the men’s dressing room at a department store, let alone ask for it harder. I wasn’t about to deny her what she asked for, but it still made me wonder what the fuck I had ever done to be worthy of her.

“Ohmygod…ohmygod…” Raine began chanting in a tiny, breathless whisper. Her heels dug into my ass, and her fingernails nearly clawed through my skin as I kept pounding into her until I felt her stiffen and clench around me. Not wanting to waste another moment, I let go, holding my hips tight against hers and growling low in my chest, forcing myself not to scream.

I held myself tight against her, which held her tight against the wall.

“Bastian…that was…” Raine took in a deep breath and then let it out slowly. “That was intense, to say the least, but I don’t understand why…”

“I’m fucking terrified, okay?” I interrupted. “I could…wrap my head around it – around you wanting me…around all of this – when we were there, but not now, not here. Not out here, where you have access to millions of other guys who aren’t as fucked up and worthless as I am…”

“YOU…ARE…NOT…WORTHLESS!” Though she didn’t actually yell the words, her tone was loud and fucking clear. The fingers she had buried in my hair tightened and pulled, twisting my head so I was looking right at her. “You are the most wonderful, beautiful man I have ever known. I love you, and that hasn’t changed just because there’s concrete under our feet instead of sand!

”

“If you left me…” I couldn’t even finish the thought, let alone the sentence. My whole body tensed up again.

“I know you’re scared.” Raine’s fingers traced over my jaw, and her voice softened. “I understand that, Bastian. I don’t know what else I can do but tell you to have faith in me – in us. I want us to stay together.”

“I want to believe you, Raine – I really do, but…I just…”

“I know,” she said, her voice softening. “I know how hard it is for you to accept it, but I still love you and that’s not going to change.”

“I love you, too,” I mumbled back, feeling completely chastised and a little whipped. I didn’t mind feeling whipped, which also scared the fuck out of me.

“We’ll make this work,” Raine said, her lips trailing across my jaw. “We’re still together, Bastian. Even when we are in a crowd, we’re still together.”

I stepped back, my cock getting cold as it slipped out of her warmth. I lowered her gently to her feet and started to yank my pants up from around my ankles.

“Take those off,” Raine said with a sigh.

“Why?”

“I need your boxers back now.”

“Oh…um…yeah, I guess you do.” I snickered a little, dropped my pants, and watched her shimmy my boxers over her legs. She checked herself in the dressing room mirror to make sure they weren’t showing. I pulled my shorts back on and then realized Raine’s torn panties were still in my fist, so I shoved them into my pocket. Raine leaned over and picked the lounge pants, a pair of shorts, and two shirts up off the floor. She held them up for a moment and then shoved them into my hands.

“These will all fit you,” she said with a nod.

“How do you know?” I asked.

“Bastian.” Raine looked up and smiled slyly, “there is nothing I know more about than your body.”

I guess I couldn’t argue too much about that.

“If you ever want a refresher course, you make sure to let me know, okay?”

“I just might do that.” Raine smiled, took my hand in hers, and opened the door.

There was a decent-sized crowd when we stepped out of the dressing room, some glaring, others smirking. Lindsay looked at me with narrowed eyes, and I met her stare. I pulled the panties I had torn off out of my pocket and tossed them at Raine’s friend.

“She’s gonna need a replacement for these,” I said with a smile and then sauntered off towards the checkout area.

* * * * *

“Hey, Raine,” Nick gave her a big, warm smile which made me want to punch him. He held up a large bath towel. “Since we didn’t get you guys to a hotel or anything, I figured you might at least want to spend a little time in the shower. It’s a tiny thing, but the water’s heated.”

Nick had rented the four-room house near the docks about a month prior, and the three of them had been using it as a base of operations while searching for us. Lindsay had been here since she discovered John Paul hadn’t given up hope, and she and Nick had obviously hit it off pretty well. We had been there all of about fifteen minutes, and he was asking Raine to get naked. All right, it was obvious that he was with Lindsay, who was also standing right there, and he was only trying to be nice, but it still fucking pissed me off.