Safe With You: Winter's Rose #1 Read online

  “You don’t believe that,” she whispered. She turned her eyes up to me, reading me right.

  “No, I don’t.” I leaned my head down and kissed her lips before pulling back. “Until I have proof that he was the one sneaking in here, though, there’s not much we can do.”

  “I know.” She looked past me to the open doorway. “Did you make us pancakes?” She pasted a small smile on her face, attempting to lighten things up a little.

  “I did.” I grinned at her before standing up and holding my hand out to her. “Only the best for my lady.”

  She giggled as I led her out the door, allowing me to pull a seat out for her.

  “This is different.” She placed her clasped hands on the table, playing along. “It’s usually the other way around.”

  I placed the stack of pancakes in between us. “Are you a honey or a sugar fan?” I grinned down at her. Instead of reaching for the honey, I moved the sugar bowl closer to her.

  “You know me well,” she teased.

  I watched her sprinkle sugar over her pancake, chuckling when she wrinkled her nose at the jar of honey. I reached over and offered a raspberry to her. She took it from my grasp, nibbling it before leaning forward and pressing her lips to mine.

  I hummed against her mouth, tasting the juice from her lips. “Fuck, that’s sweet.”

  She giggled before spearing a bit of pancake and feeding me with her fork. “This is nice,” she whispered.

  “What is? Feeding me?” I grinned. “I like it, too.”

  “No!” She giggled once more. “This is.” She reached across and took my hand in hers. “Being close to you.”

  “I’m assuming this didn’t happen when you were with David.” I rubbed my thumb along her knuckles, trying to take the sting out of my words with my touch.

  She sighed. “A lot didn’t happen when I was with David.” She sounded so despondent that I had to ask the next question.

  “Did he ever hurt you?” I stared into her eyes, wanting her to see that I wasn’t judging. Just like she didn’t judge me.

  “No.” She shook her head. “He never laid a hand against me. He...He wasn’t ‘boyfriend of the year’ sometimes, but I guess I can’t have been the easiest partner to have, either.” She shrugged her shoulders. “When your partner goes elsewhere for sexual gratification,” she mocked, “it’s never a good thing.”

  “Nothing wrong with the sexual gratification you offer as far as I can see,” I joked, wanting to lighten the storm that I could see brewing in her eyes. “You’re not to blame for his issues.”

  She nodded at me before her eyes flicked past me to the clock hanging on the kitchen wall. “I need to get going.” She wiped her lips before standing up. “Will I see you later?”

  “I suppose I can be seen with you,” I joked. “I’ll stay here and wash the dishes and I’ll come by and see you this afternoon.”

  “I look forward to it.” She leaned up to kiss my lips before she was dashing out the door.

  I wasted no time in filling the sink with bubbles, rinsing the dishes before popping them in the dishwasher. It had become a long-used habit of mine to rinse dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. James called it obsessive but he was a messy fucker compared to me.

  Opening the main door, I froze when I heard the landline ring. I waited a few moments, nosily seeing who was calling her. After a few rings, a beep sounded, identifying that the answering machine had kicked in. Seconds later, a voice rang out, shattering the silence of the apartment.

  “Charlie, it’s me.” David. “I need to see you. I’m sorry about this morning. I handled it wrongly. Come to me. I’ll be at The Glass Eye at two this afternoon. Please. Once you hear what I have to say, I know you will understand.”

  The call ended, and so did my patience. That fucker had just fried my last nerve.

  Walking down the block, my mind was six hours ahead of me. That arsehole was playing mind games with her. He was trying to corner her—make her feel something for him. After this morning, when I’d watched her cower at his words, I knew that outbursts like that weren’t a new thing for her. She had been too calm during it. He may not have hurt her physically, but I saw first-hand what shouting at someone and belittling them every day could do to a person’s self-esteem. It destroyed them from the inside out and there was no way in hell that I was going to just stand there and allow him to spin his games on her.

  There was no way that I was going to lose her to a piece of filth like him.

  The day passed slowly and then the deadline approached.

  “Are you going to tell me what the problem is?” James asked, tossing the rag on the bar in front of me. “You have been away with the fairies all day.”

  “David turned up at Charlie’s place this morning. He called her a slut.” I shook my head regretfully. “I may have hit him.”

  “Of course you did,” he replied. “Is she okay?”

  “As well as she can be. I don’t think this is the first time that he has ever gone off on her like that.” I ground my teeth, hating the idea of her putting up with that. “Why would she do that?” I asked, voicing my thoughts. “Why would she allow it?”

  “There’s a fine line between love and hate, bro.” He cleaned a glass, focusing on it instead of me. “Mum loved Dad, but I think there were times where she hated him as well.” He looked at me. “Did you tell her about...?”

  “I did, yeah. She took it better than I thought she would.” I stood, tucking the stool in closer to the bar. “I’m going to go.”

  “Is this a good idea?” he asked, knowing full well where I was going. “She might not understand.”

  “I don’t care right now. This has happened before on my watch.” I walked to the door, resigned to my decision. “I’m not losing Charlie to the same mind-fuck game that I lost Mum to.” I didn’t mention the voice message he’d left on the machine. I knew James would only read too much into it. He would tell me to butt out and insist that it wasn’t any of my business. He would probably be right, but the way I was feeling... I didn’t want to think about it.

  Walking into The Glass Eye, I looked around, trying to find him. I didn’t want to do this publicly, but I also wasn’t going to just sit back and watch him dig his claws back into Charlie. Spotting him, I didn’t stop until I was pulling a seat out in front of him. Sitting down, I leaned back, secretly gloating on the inside at the look of panic on his face.

  He quickly wiped it off before his face morphed into an icy mask. “What do you want?” he asked. “I have a meeting in a few minutes.”

  “She’s not coming,” I said coldly.

  “So she sent you, did she?” he asked. He curled his lip in disgust, before reaching for his glass of scotch. He knocked it back before loudly tapping it back down on the table. “Couldn’t come here and answer to me herself, could she?”

  “She doesn’t need to answer to you.” I said it slowly because he needed to get the fucking message. “She has a new life now, David. You are the one that fucked this up. You are the one that cheated on her and you are the one that thinks it's okay to speak to your woman like a piece of shit.”

  “What the fuck do you know?” he slurred. “I know that you think you know her but you don’t know fuck all. You don’t know her.”

  “You’re right,” I agreed. “I don’t know every little thing about your relationship with her and you know what? I don’t need to.” I stood up and took a small step away. “It’s time for you to let go now, David.” I tucked my hands into my jean pockets. “I don’t want to see you hanging around her building anymore.” I raised my eyebrows at him. “This is me asking nicely. I won’t ask again.”

  I turned around and walked away, leaving him with his alcohol and hopefully, down a path that was far away from us.

  12

  Charlie

  It had been several days since I had last seen Alex. It didn’t worry me, but he had been oddly quiet lately. I hoped that would change tonight
. It was Thursday evening, and I was hoping to convince him to come around to mine if he wasn’t working at the bar. Addie was out with friends, which meant that I would be all by my lonesome.

  Climbing the stairs, I dialled Alex’s number, feeling the tiredness of the day seeping into my bones. Curling up with him on my sofa sounded like the perfect ending to my day.

  “Hey, darling,” his voice echoed down the line. “How was your day?”

  “It was okay. I’m just getting home and I—” I approached my door, freezing at what I saw.

  The word ‘SLUT’ was graffitied in a vertical line down my door.

  “Hello? Charlie?” Alex asked at my silence. “Are you still there?”

  “I’m here,” I choked out. “Alex, I need you.”

  “I’m on my way.” Seconds before he hung up, he said to James, “I’ve got to go. Watch the bar.”

  Tears stung my eyes, but I didn’t want to break out here in my corridor. I didn’t want to break at all. I wanted to be better than that. I slid the key in the lock and walked inside. I left the door open and headed to the kitchen, grabbing the bottle of wine from the fridge that I had tucked away. Uncorking it, I filled a large glass before taking a seat on the worktop and waited for Alex to arrive.

  I heard him running up the stairs and several moments later, I heard him.

  “What the fuck?” he muttered. “Charlie?”

  “In here,” I called. “Come and join me for a drink.” I took a large gulp of wine before looking up.

  He came around the corner and I could see the anger that was coursing through him was written all over his face. He didn’t even try and hide it.

  “I’m going to fucking kill him.” He stormed back to the door.

  I jumped in surprise when I heard the door slam closed. I put my glass down next to the half-empty bottle and hopped down, going to check on him. I half-expected him to have left and been on his way to see David. Instead, he was by the door.

  “Hey,” I whispered. “It’s okay.” It wasn’t okay but I needed to calm him down.

  “It isn’t okay,” he ground out. His hands tensed where he was holding the door frame. “He is lucky I am not ripping him apart right now.” The muscles in his back bunched and I knew that he was keeping a tight grip on his temper.

  “Is that what you want to do?” I asked. I reached over, closing the gap between us and stroked my fingers down the centre of his back. “You’re angry.”

  “I’m fucking furious.” His words sounded calm but the punch he delivered to the back of the door was anything but. If he’d hit the wall, I imagine he would have put a hole through the plaster.

  I took a step closer and laid my head against his back. His heart was thumping at a fast pace.

  “Why are you still here?” I asked, needing to know. “I want to know. How are you keeping so calm because I want to...?”

  “Because of you.” He sighed, reaching his arm behind him and resting his hand on my lower back. “If I do what I want to that piece of filth—if I let the monster out—I will lose you.” He turned around suddenly and took my face in his hands. “And I am just not ready for that to happen.”

  “I want you,” I whispered. I reached up, biting his earlobe before soothing it with my tongue. “I know you want me.” I reached down and rubbed him over his trousers. I grinned when I felt him harden at my touch.

  “Careful, Charlie.” He roughly grabbed me by my upper arms and pushed me back a little. He glared down at me. “You do not want me when I’m like this.”

  “You won’t hurt me,” I whispered. I leaned up and licked his bottom lip. I needed him to want to fuck me as much as I wanted him to. “I’m already broken, Alex. You can’t hurt me.”

  “You want me to fuck you, do you?” He spun me around and pressed me against him. He rocked against me, sliding his hand down over my stomach and between my legs, rubbing me over my leggings.

  “Yes.” I grabbed his wrist and rubbed his hand harder against me. “I want you to fuck me.” I reached back and slid my fingers into his hair. I moaned again when his teeth bit down where my neck met my shoulder. “I want you to break me.” I bit his bottom lip before thrusting my tongue in between his parted lips. “I want you to own me.”

  That was it.

  He spun me around and grabbed my upper thighs before lifting me up. “Wrap those legs around me.” He tapped my left arse cheek before he grasped them both in his hands and marched me into my bedroom. “You will probably regret this in the morning.” He kicked the door shut and lowered me to the floor at the foot of my bed. He dropped to his knees in front of me and grabbed the waistband of my leggings. He yanked them down over my hips, kissing across my stomach. He pulled them down to my knees, and I toppled backward onto my bed as he pulled my shoes off, tossing them to the corner of the room and continuing to rip my leggings and knickers off.

  I scooted backwards, straightening my legs out to help him pull them off faster, and he reached up, fisting his t-shirt before pulling it up and over his head.

  Climbing up on the bed, he spread my legs wider, yanking me closer to him. He smirked up at me before his mouth moved down on me. I gasped when he stroked his tongue up the centre of my pussy before he sucked my clit. His tongue moved fast, not giving me time to become accustomed to having his mouth on me.

  “Oh, oh fuck.” My arms gave way and my head crashed to the mattress. I arched my back, letting the pleasure he was giving me take over my body.

  “Off,” he mumbled against me, moving my t-shirt up my body. The noise sent sparks through me.

  “Off!” he said again, this time smacking the outside of my thigh lightly with his order. He grabbed my wrists and helped pull my upper body up.

  I groaned, grabbing the sides of my t-shirt and pulling it up over my head. I threw it to the side on the floor before slumping back down.

  Alex flicked his tongue down lower, moving it inside of me. He reached up and rubbed his fingers over my clit. He did it again and I felt him groan against me. “Come for me, darling.” He spread my legs wider, digging his fingers into my hips. “Now.” He sucked me harder then reached up and grasped my breast roughly.

  I arched my back, moaning, calling out his name as I came for him and gasped when I felt him move back from me. I expected him to give me time to recover but I wasn’t getting that.

  “That was different.” I gasped, trying to calm my breathing.

  “That was nothing, darling.” He closed my legs before he grabbed me by my hips and flipped me over on to my front.

  “Wh-what are you doing?” I asked.

  He crawled over me and I felt the rough fabric of his jeans scratch against the side of my naked legs. He dipped his head and licked the column of my neck, grabbing my hair in a ponytail before tilting my head back. He leaned his face over mine and kissed me, our mouths upside down over each other’s.

  He pulled back after a moment before he moved down my body. Seconds later, I heard the sound of a tear and his groans filling the room.

  “Aren’t you going to take your jeans off?” I looked over my shoulder, giving him a pointed look.

  “Fuck no.” He smacked my arse cheek before he lifted my hips, bringing me closer to where he needed me. “I need to fuck you.” He reached down to grasp himself before he slid himself inside me.

  “That feels n—”

  Before I could finish my sentence, he slammed his hips forward, impaling me on his cock roughly.

  “Oh, fuck!” I shrieked. I placed my palms on the mattress, supporting my weight on them.

  Reaching down, he pulled my hair back, tightening it around his fist before he moved his other hand down and unclasped my bra. The straps fell down my arms, exposing my naked breasts to the air. He reached down and grasped them in his hands before pulling me back against him so that I was kneeling. He pressed his chest against my back as he continued to roughly pump himself in and out of me.

  Fuck me, he was big. He seemed a lot bigger in t
his position.

  “I love your filthy fucking moans.” He reached up and placed his hand around my throat before I felt his lips against my cheek. “You’re like my own wet fucking dream.” He trailed his hand down between my breasts before moving further down my stomach. “Don’t keep me waiting,” he whispered. He took my chin and turned my face to his, thrusting his tongue into my mouth, tongue-fucking me like his hips were. “Come for me.” He pinched my clit in between his fingers before rubbing it fast. “Come for me, Charlie.”

  He slammed his hips forwards, pulling back and repeating the action. He grasped my breast, pinching and pulling my nipple before I came apart, my inner muscles squeezing him.

  Moments later, he thrust a few more times and I felt him come inside the condom, groaning my name into my neck. He slowly moved us forwards, pulling out of me and laying us down on our sides so that we were spooning.

  After a few moments, I placed my hand on top of his where it was resting against my hip.

  “I feel fucked.” I gasped before letting a giggle escape.

  “Well, you did ask.” He chuckled, leaning over me and softly kissed my lips. He climbed off the bed, pulling the condom off and tying a knot in it. He tossed it in the bin before he began walking to the door.

  “Do you have to go?” I asked. I wrapped the blanket around me, not really wanting to flash Addie if she was home.

  “I’ll just go and call James to cover the rest of my shift.” He took his phone out of his pocket before looking back at me. “Do you have any of those caramel bites here?”

  I rolled my eyes at his shameful begging. “Check the fridge.” I had created a monster when it came to my desserts. I reached over and pulled a strappy top on before escaping to the bathroom to clean up. Pulling on a clean pair of pyjama bottoms, I went to the kitchen, feeling my stomach start to growl and pulled the drawer open that housed all the many takeaway menus, feeling his arms wrap around me.

  “What are we having?” he asked.

  I hummed before answering. “Depends what you’re hungry for.”