Shattered (The Protectors 11)

His eyes were speaking for him loud and clear.

Caleb slid off the bed and dropped to his knees in front of me. His hands came up to clasp the sides of my face. I expected him to kiss me, but instead, he ran his tongue along my chin, collecting his own semen. Then he covered my mouth with his and I eagerly drank every drop of the salty, bitter fluid that he fed me. I reached down and covered his ass with my hands, then pulled him forward so he was straddling me. Our spent cocks brushed against one another as Caleb wrapped his arms around my neck.

“Thank you,” he whispered against my mouth, then he tucked his face against my neck and just clung to me.

An unpleasant sensation went through me and it took me a moment to figure out what it was.

Fear.

But fear of what?

Losing Caleb?

Keeping him?

I wanted to laugh as the answer became obvious to me.

Both.

Chapter 14

Caleb

“We don’t have to do this,” I said as I followed Jace down the dimly lit sidewalk. “I’m sorry I blew up at you like that.”

I felt my cheeks heat as I remembered the way I’d gone off on Jace that very morning. I’d called him an overbearing jackass after he’d refused to let me go ashore with him to the local convenience store that also had a small laundry attached. Between being confined to the boat for nearly two weeks and Jace’s distant attitude, I’d been at my breaking point and I’d just needed some kind of change in my routine. When I’d insisted that no one would recognize me in the few minutes it took to toss our clothes into one of the half-dozen washing machines, Jace had calmly reminded me it wasn’t safe.

An argument that had held little water with me, since there was still no evidence that I’d been linked to the shooting outside Richard Jennings’ house.

Jace had insisted we still needed to be careful about anyone seeing me, but I hadn’t been so sure that was the reason he’d been unwilling to even consider the idea of me going ashore with him. Maybe if he hadn’t spent the better part of a week avoiding me even when we were in the same room together, I would have believed it was just his overprotective nature kicking in.

From the moment Jace had lifted me off the floor and settled me on the bed after the epic blowjob he’d given me, I’d sensed a subtle shift in him. He’d suggested I get cleaned up, even though he’d been the one covered in the remnants of our cum. Then he’d left the room without another word.

And my insecurities had kicked in big-time.

I’d obsessed over the fact that I’d been too rough with him, especially by the end when I’d fucked his mouth without any kind of consideration. I’d had that done to me more times than I wanted to admit, but when Jace had refused to let me pull out of his mouth, had even looked up at me with lust-filled eyes, I’d wanted to believe that he really was enjoying what was happening. I’d lost control after that. Jace had come too, but maybe it had just been his body’s natural reaction to the stimulation.

My worry had continued to grow and grow as Jace had withdrawn from me both emotionally and physically over the subsequent hours, but when I’d tried to talk to him about it that night as we’d been getting ready for bed, he’d brushed off my query about whether he was okay or not with a comment about being tired.

He hadn’t held me that night.

Or any that had followed.

And a part of me had died each time he’d said goodnight and then turned his back on me.

During the days, he’d spent most of the time moving the boat around the bay. We’d made several round trips over the same area, so even the scenery had started to feel stifling after a while. Jace had gone ashore a couple of times to get us groceries in the past week and each time he’d brought me back some Sno Balls.

Every time I saw them now, I just wanted to cry. It was almost like they’d become a consolation prize.

I didn’t want the damn Sno Balls.

I wanted Jace.

“It’s fine,” Jace said. “It’ll be dark and since it’s a weeknight, there probably won’t be many people around.”

The answer stung. Not because of what he’d actually said, but because he hadn’t responded to the hurt and confusion he must have been able to hear in my voice.

As bad as the last week had been, Jace had taken things to a whole new level of hurt. It wasn’t something I’d even noticed until I’d been getting dinner ready almost a full forty-eight hours after our sexual encounter.