Predator - A Stand Alone Suspense Romance (24 page)

A deep groan rumbles in the back of his throat and his body tightens over mine. I get a delicious view of his neck and the curling ink and I sink my teeth into it. Instead of pulling out he slams in deeper, shifting me upwards, and I gasp loudly against his neck.

I hear cursing in my hair and then he grabs my face. His hands cup my cheeks hard and his eyes burn into mine as he brings my face to his. His breath is hot on my lips, setting them on fire, and I whimper against him when he pulls back. I want him to kiss me so badly.

“Only me,” he growls and bites my bottom lip.

My body trembles against his with want. There are no bad memories threatening this moment between us. Damian’s managed to shove them away, making sure I only see and feel him.

There is no fear, no shame – just us.

“No one else touches you ever again,” he breathes into my mouth and I inhale all of him. He slams back into me, and I cry my pleasure out.

His lips tease mine biting and nipping, but never kissing. I don’t get my kiss.

The man holding me is everything but sweet. He’s exactly what the ink on his skin represents.

He’s predatory.

He’s dangerous.

He’s mine.

I smile against his lips and he increases his pace, slamming hard into me. It wipes the smile right from my face and my body tenses under his. He bites at my bottom lip again and moves harder against me, drawing another moan from my quivering body.

I’ve never had sex like this. Usually the guy just gets on, grunts for a minute and then comes.

Damian keeps his eyes on mine.

He keeps talking to me.

He holds my attention with every thrust.

“You’re mine.” The words seep into my bones.

His thrusts speed up and it’s hard and fast, just like he said. My body tenses until it feels as if I’ll explode into pieces. His hands move in under my ass and he moves even faster, taking me over the edge.

I cling to him as his body starts to shudder against mine. I hold him as tight as I can while he slams into me one last time. In that moment it feels as if he’s trying to become one with me.

His breaths are hard in my ear before he lifts himself on his elbows and he just looks down at me. He said there won’t be any I love you’s but the look on his face tells me differently.

“You’re mine, Cara Ellison,” he says my full name and tears form in my eyes.

“I’m yours, Sam Rees,” I whisper, because my heart is too full. This is the one moment we get to be ourselves. This is the part of us no one else will ever see. This is what makes us one … sex and secrets.

Damian~

Cara fell asleep a while ago. I’m lying on my side, just staring at her.

I’m glad I was able to hold myself back. If I had fucked her the way I really wanted to, I might’ve scared her shitless.

I’ve spent many mornings picturing how I’d take her but all those fantasies pale in comparison to finally being inside her. Her body’s reaction to me was so hot. Fuck, it’s making me hard again.

She stretches out and turns on her side, her back facing me. I want her again, and I want her now. I reach for the blanket and pull it back slowly, exposing her body to me. It feels like I’m unwrapping a present.

I move closer to her, pressing my body against hers. I move her hair away from her neck and press a kiss to the soft skin, right where her neck curves into her shoulder. Her body jerks, and I take it as a sign that she’s waking up.

Feeling her heat, smelling that fresh scent that always clings to her skin makes me rock my hips into her ass.

“I just want to fuck you all night long,” I growl in her ear.

A sound ripples up her throat and it makes me go ice cold. I’ve heard that sound before, and it was on the memory disks. It’s like a broken whimper, but then it turns into a feral growl and she swings her arm back. Her elbow connects with my chest and then she darts forward.

Her eyes are still closed as she falls off the side of the bed. In stunned stupor I watch her head slam into the corner of the bedside table, and then she darts up and runs out of the room.

Only then does life return to me.

What the fuck have I done?

I jump out of bed and quickly pull on the pair of jeans that were still lying on the floor.

I can hear her yanking at one of the doors and then her desperate cries reach me and I run for her. Coming out of the room I’m just in time to see her yank the door open.

“Cara!” I yell as she runs into the night.

As I run out onto the porch I see her slam full on into a tree. Fuck, that’s got to hurt. “Cara!” She bounces back and then darts around the tree.

I jump over the banister and set after her. We’re both barefoot so it’s not one of the easiest runs I’ve ever had. She’s fucking fast. Not even the branches lashing at her slows her down. I don’t think she’s feeling any of the pain in her shocked state. Her body must’ve gone over into survival mode, and it’s killing me that I was the one to trigger that in her.

She’s heading in the direction of the beach. I start to catch up with her and as I reach for her, she ducks and screams. She darts forward again and for a moment my heart stutters with pain. Seeing her like this is eating away at me.

We reach the embankment that leads to the beach and in horror I watch her take the leap. Her body slams hard into the sand, and then she struggles back to her feet. I take the leap and my legs shudder with pain as I slam into the sand so I can only imagine how much pain that must’ve caused her.

I get up and go after her as she starts to wade into the ocean. Her shorter legs are making it hard for her to run in the water and it slows her down a lot, enough for me to catch up. I run straight into her, and wrap my arms around her, locking her arms to her sides.

As I yank her out of the water, she starts to scream and struggle against my hold.

Once I have us back on dry sand, I take her down. I lock a leg around hers and move a hand up to her forehead, securing her against me so she can’t hurt herself anymore.

“You’re safe,” I rasp the words out. It doesn’t do anything to calm her and I take a few deep breaths before I say in a neutral tone, “Cara, you’re safe. It’s me, Damian.” She growls at me and I whisper urgently, over and over, “It’s Sam. You’re safe. It’s Sam.” I say the words until my voice cracks under the heartache I’m feeling for her.

She stops her wild thrashing, and for a moment all I can hear is the ocean and her feral breaths racing over her lips.

She starts to tremble in my arms, and then her body jerks us to the side. She heaves and I quickly roll her over so she’s on her hands and knees. It’s just in time as she vomits.

I quickly gather her hair behind her neck and I wish there was more I could do right now.

I sit on my knees next to her until she starts to jerk with dry heaves and sobs. I can’t hold back my own tears. I hate seeing her like this. I hated it the first time, and I hate it now.

I sit flat on my ass and pull her into my arms. The emotions swarming inside of me is just too much. I feel rage. I feel a deep craving to kill every single person who has ever hurt her. My chest aches for her. My heart breaks for her, and my soul screams for revenge for what has been done to her.

She’s gasping for air through snot and tears, and I know I have to do something to calm us both down.

Before I can think of something she starts to pound her tiny fists into her chest. “I feel them all the time,” she rasps between cries. “It never stops.”

“Tell me,” I whisper hoarsely. It will haunt me forever, but I need to know what happened so I don’t trigger a panic attack like this ever again. “Tell me what they did, Cara.”

She shakes her head, and for a minute I think she’s not going to open up, but then the words start to spill over her lips. I’m bombarded with image after gruesome image.

Certain words hit harder, imbedding themselves into my gut.

‘They shoved me face down every time.’

‘I was breathing in chunks of vomit and still they wouldn’t stop.’

‘It felt like I was being stabbed, over and over and over.’

‘It hurt so much.’

‘I feel defiled … just ruined beyond repair.
’

All of that pain for one man’s greed. I’m going to kill him.

He’s a dead man walking for fucking with the woman I love.

Cara~

It feels as if it just happened again, every single revolting second.

I can’t remember much of what actually happened the past few hours. Damian says that I took off running through the trees and into the ocean.

I’m sitting in the bath, staring down at all the scrapes over my chest and arms. My feet sting but I grit my teeth as Damian pulls thorn after thorn out.

“What about your feet?” I whisper.

“Don’t worry about that now. Let’s just get you cleaned up and in bed.”

As he continues to clean my feet, I just sit and stare at his face. That worry muscle is jumping over time. He looks like he did back when he found me, like a killer.

He rinses both my feet off and then grabs a towel. “Come on,” he says gruffly.

It feels like a freight train went over me. I move gingerly as I get out and then step into the towel.

I look up at Damian and whisper, “What are you thinking?”

I need to know that he’s not angry with me.

I need to know that I haven’t pushed him away with the crazy scene from earlier.

He swallows, and then his eyes meet mine for the first time since we came home. Tears rush to my eyes, clogging up my throat. The sadness and anger in his eyes make him look wounded and it hurts so much to see him like this. 

“I’m going to kill him,” he says. “We’re going to fly to South Africa, and I’m going to kill him.”

The words shudder through me, cold chills racing up my spine.

I shake my head and take a step back from him. “N-no. I don’t want to go back there.” I wrap the towel tightly around me and then grip it hard to my body. “Can’t we just forget tonight and go on as if nothing happened? We’re just starting to make a life for ourselves.”

“Forget what happened?” he whispers. An enraged look tightens his features and he growls, “I can’t forget! Cara, you … the sounds you made! You puked on the beach. Fuck no, he’s dying, and he’ll die fucking slowly.”

I rush by him and go to the bedroom. I grab a clean shirt and slacks and quickly get dressed. Damian comes to stand in the doorway and he crosses his arms over his bare chest.

“You need to shower and then let me look at your feet,” I say in a rush, hoping he’ll drop this insane idea of his.

“Cara,” he says, sounding calm again. I start to straighten the sheets when he walks right up to me. He takes hold of my arm and turns me around so I’m facing him. He takes hold of my face, his palms cool on my hot skin. His eyes lock on mine. “We have to finish it. We either keep running or fight back and put an end to it. I can’t run. It’s not in me. I have to do this.”

“I’m not as brave as you,” I whisper, and then the stupid tears come again, making me look as weak as I feel. “I’m not like you, Damian. I’m a coward. I’d rather run.”

He shakes his head and presses his forehead to mine. “You’re not a coward, Cara. You’re so fucking strong. You’ve survived so much and you keep coming back from it all. You’re not a quitter, and that’s how I know you can do this with me.”

He presses a soft kiss to my lips and then catches my eyes again. “We promised to have each other’s back, Cara.”

I nod, unable to come up with any more excuses. I’ll have to face my uncle.

The next week is pretty much uneventful. I go to work as if nothing has changed. Damian said he’s been in contact with his friend Jeff to get us passports.

It’s a normal Thursday at the hardware store. I’m checking to see what we need to order for the following week while wondering why Thursdays always feel so long. It’s like two days got shoved into one.

I hear voices from the front of the store, and it sounds like Damian. I slowly make my way up the aisle with the list of stock we have to order.

Sure enough, Damian is talking with Joshua. When they both look at me, I force a happy smile around my lips.

I hold the piece of paper out to Joshua, “Here’s the order for next week.”

He takes it and then looks at me with sympathy, which confuses the hell out of me. “I’m just telling Alex that it’s okay for you to take some time off.”

“Huh?” the word pops from me. Now I’m even more confused.

“Yeah, babe, so we can go to your uncle’s funeral.”

The half stunned smile drops from my face and I’m glad Joshua mistakes it for grief.

“You can go now, Nina. I’ll get the Jameson boy to come help out after school for the next week.”

I nod mutely as Damian takes my hand. He pulls me to his side and then reaches a hand out to Joshua, “Thank you so much for understanding. She’ll be back in a week.”

Joshua waves a hand at us. “Sure thing.”

I feel like a robot as Damian walks me out of the hardware store and then helps me into the truck. I look down at my hands all the way home. 

When Damian parks the truck in front of the cabin, we both just sit in silence.

It’s Damian who breaks the silence. He opens his door, letting some of the stuffy heat out of the cabin. “We’ll meet Jeff tonight and then drive through to the airport. He has the tickets and passports.”

“What about visas? What about transport once we’re there? What about a place to stay? How will we get close to my uncle? How will we get back? What if we get caught?” The questions pour from me in a desperate attempt to find a reason to stay here … where we are safe.

Damian takes my hand and brings it to his mouth. His words are hot over my skin, “We won’t get caught. I’ve done my homework. South Africa has a high crime rate. Thousands of people die every day, and the killers are never found. I’ll hire a car under our fake names and we’ll stay at some cheap hotel.” He presses another kiss to the back of my fingers. “We’ll be fine. I’ll keep us safe.”