Page 80 of Breakaway

“Jesus fucking Christ,” he rasps, the sound of his zipper being lowered making Andi squirm. “I want details, Briggs. Tell me what she feels like as you fuck her nice and slow.” I nearly convulse with pleasure, not realizing how hot it’d be to manufacture this moment, to control each of our releases.

“She feels like heaven,” I respond, dragging my cock in and out, keeping my rhythm steady and slow, just as Raiden requested. “Her ass is so fucking tight, it’s strangling my dick.” The three of us moan in unison. “And she fucking loves it. Practically begged me to give her my cock.”

“Is that right, mama?” he asks, his own grunts joining the both of ours. Andi gushes, flooding my fingers with her arousal.

“Oh, she likes you calling her that, don’t you, baby?” I fuck her harder, unable to hold back a second longer. She whimpers, going limp beneath me as I pump my hips faster and faster. “I hope you’re close, because I’m about to fill her ass with my cum.”

“Fuck,” he swears, the sound of my hips slapping against her ass cheeks mixing with our grunts and groans.

I pinch Andi’s clit, knowing it’s what she needs to push her over the edge. A strangled scream escapes her, her muscles milking my cock and forcing my release to surge forward. Hot spurts of cum flood out of me, coating her insides and marking her as mine. My cock twitches for several seconds, my breathing ragged as sound slowly starts to penetrate the ringing in my ears. Andi’s damn near comatose, her exhausted body limp and sated.

“Well, it’s safe to say that you and I can share,” I joke, huffing out a chuckle as I carefully ease myself out of Andi’s ass. She whimpers, causing my heart to squeeze from how full it is. I love this woman so much. Raiden snorts in response to my comment, his own panting audible over the phone.

“You okay, baby?” I lift Andi, kissing her cheeks, belatedly noticing the tear tracks streaking them. Alarm flares through me, my entire body stiffening in response, terrified I’ve hurt her and didn’t realize it. “Angel?” I prod more forcefully, clueing Raiden in that something isn’t right.

“What’s wrong?” he demands, but I’m too focused on Andi to bother responding.

Her eyes slowly open, those two-tone irises momentarily distracting me, and then she mutters, “Happy tears. Cathartic,” she emphasizes, a heart-stopping smile curving her lips.

“Briggs!” Raiden shouts. “What the hell is going on?”

“She’s fine, Detective Hardass.” I roll my eyes at his dramatics, only able to joke because I’m not in his shoes. “Gotta go. Enjoy cleaning the cum off your pants.” With that parting comment, I end the call, knowing he’ll be raging when he makes it home.

“Let’s go, Angel. You need to soak for a few minutes,” I urge, helping her from the bed. I preen like a fucking peacock as I watch her wobbly legs attempt to hold her body weight, then scoop her up and carry her the rest of the way. As we pass the dresser, I snag the baby monitor, sparing it a brief glance to make sure Hudson is still sleeping soundly.

“Briggs! I am not light, you crazy man,” she chides, trying to squirm free, but my hold is iron-clad.

“I’ve been called much worse, baby. You’ll have to do better than that,” I jest, but those memories I’d effectively banished while getting lost in Andi are trying their hardest to trickle back in. The vitriolic blame that was placed at my feet and the angry slurs that were hurled at me–they’re begging for an opening so they can terrorize my thoughts and send me into a spiral I can’t find my way out of. I can’t do that, though. Andi needs me here, not lost to my demons and high as a kite.

Taking a steadying breath, I place my girl on her feet and begin running us a bath. Ensuring the water isn’t too hot, I plug the tub and take a seat on the ledge. Both of us naked as the day we were born, I spread my thighs and tug her closer, placing a gentle kiss on her stomach. Framing her face with my hands, I catalog every nuance. The freckles dotting her cheeks and nose, the way her lashes are a shade darker than her hair color, creating a sooty look along her waterline.

In the depths of my fractured soul, I know that every inch of her was made for me. I wasn’t even living before she came along. I barely existed, one minor inconvenience from checking out completely. Only now am I able to recognize how badly that would’ve hurt Col and Dayton. But I couldn’t see past my own pain to understand that my actions were affecting more than just me. It’s difficult for me to acknowledge that I have people in my life who care when I don’t feel that I’m deserving of it.

“What do these mean?” Andi asks quietly, grazing her finger over the tattooed slashes covering my skin. I stiffen reflexively, not wanting to discuss something so dark right now. I don’t want this moment to be tainted with the pain of my past.

“Later,” I promise, not missing the way her lips press together in frustration. I’ve skirted the topic so many times now; I’m surprised she hasn’t flat-out confronted me about my evasiveness. If anyone deserves the right to know what happened, it’s Andi, but I can’t bring myself to rehash everything so close to the anniversary. My sanity’s already balancing on a fucking tightrope, and one wrong misstep might have me freefalling into old habits I can’t afford to revisit. I’ve come too far, and relapsing would put my relationship with Andi in jeopardy, which is something I refuse to allow. The thought of losing her makes me sick.

Needing to change the topic, I turn the faucet off and sink beneath the water. Widening my legs, I take Andi’s hand and help guide her over the edge, sighing when she settles in front of me. Her back nestles against my chest, and I swear nothing has ever felt as right as having her in my arms. It’s incomprehensible to think I might have never had the chance to know her if it hadn’t been Raiden she confided in that day at the Farmer’s Market. Somehow, the stars aligned in my favor and brought me an Angel. My eyes track her fingers as she traces the branded S on her wrist. The scars littering my body, both real and fabricated with ink, likely reminded her of her own. I gently stop her ministrations, bringing the damaged skin to my mouth and pressing a reverent kiss directly over it.

“You belong to me, Angel,” I promise her, knowing the connotation behind my claiming is rooted in pure love. “You belong to Raiden.” Another kiss against her puckered flesh. “You belong to Colsen.” And another. “You belong to Dayton.” I lick my tongue across the scar she hates with every fiber of her being, needing her to understand that not one inch of her isn’t desirable to me. I want all of her, all the time, for the rest of my fucking life. “I love you, Angel. You make me feel like I have something worth living for. And for the first time in a very long time, I feel like I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. That’s you, baby. My goddamn Angel, sent to drag me back from the depths of Hell.” Her head falls back against my shoulder, eyes closing in contentment. I press a kiss to her pulse point, inhaling the scent that’s unique to Andi, like bottled sunshine.

“I love you, too,” she whispers, twining our fingers together and placing them on her abdomen, a grin forming as the baby starts to move.

“Hey, little love,” I speak aloud, stroking my thumb over the taut skin of Andi’s stomach. “Sorry for all the commotion earlier.” Andi snorts, her elbow connecting with my side and making me grunt. “I can’t wait to meet you. We’re going to be the best of friends, you and me. I’ll definitely be your favorite.” Andi’s chuckle causes the water to ripple around us, making me realize the temperature has dropped considerably.

I snag the bottle of body wash from the edge of the tub and soap up the loofah she uses. Once I’ve cleaned every inch of her, I drain the water and start the shower. Lathering my hands in Raiden’s overpriced shampoo, I take my time washing Andi’s hair, my cock perking up as she groans from how good it feels when I massage my fingers into her scalp. After adding conditioner and rinsing it out, I wrap my arms around her, swaying us back and forth beneath the spray. I could stay like this forever, but the sound of a certain toddler babbling to himself echoes through the baby monitor.

“You finish up, and I’ll get breakfast started,” she tells me, brushing aside the wet strands of hair obscuring my vision. Standing on her tiptoes, Andi seals her lips to mine, her tongue demanding entrance that I eagerly grant her. Backing her against the wall, I barely contain the urge to sink inside of her once again, but she pulls back before my dick can do the thinking, placing a kiss directly over my racing heart.

“I really do love you, Briggs. Don’t ever forget that,” Andi professes. Every agonizing second I’ve spent debating my life’s worth culminates in this specific moment in time. If I hadn’t been too much of a coward to put a bullet in my head, I wouldn’t know what it feels like to be loved by her. Thank fuck for small mercies.

43

Andilyn

After a rough night with Hudson, we spend our Monday morning traveling to Covey, hoping Dr. Taggart will have some constructive feedback for us. We keep having these minor regressions where Hudson has the best day, but then night falls, and he becomes inconsolable. I understand that grief isn’t linear, but I have this deep-seated fear that something more is going on. My anxiety is through the roof as of late, and I’m unsure if that can be chalked up to the impending changes that are about to happen once the baby arrives, or this sense of foreboding I can't seem to shake. When I belonged to Veritas, trusting my gut was necessary for my survival, but now that I’m no longer in a life-or-death situation, I’m hesitant to voice my worry. I don’t want to taint every moment going forward by seeing it through the scarred lens of my past.

“Angel,” Briggs calls, halting my wayward thoughts. The chatter of other parents finally registers as we patiently wait for Hudson’s session to finish. “You’re looking a bit stressed. Fancy a trip to the bathroom?” He quirks an eyebrow, a cocky grin morphing his already-handsome face into something decadently dark. My cheeks heat in remembrance, knowing the day we finally caved to our baser instincts was the catalyst for everything else.