: Chapter 17

“IT SERVES YOU RIGHT for using my shampoo. You’ve probably had an allergic reaction to it or something. Will you keep still?” I huff at Reed, who’s fidgeting and scratching at the back of his head.

“It’s completely organic. What’s there to be allergic to? Besides, I use it to jerk off with, not wash my hair.”

He grunts as I smack him around the shoulder.

“Just let me look. Then I can ask Maria what she suggests. She makes all her own home remedies for things; she’ll know what to do.”

I run my fingers through Reed’s hair again as he sits on the sofa in front of me.

“Fuck, Harls, that feels good. Do it again, harder.”

“Um, Reed? I think I’m going to go see if Maria’s home.”

“What? No. It’ll be fine. Just give it another scratch, Angel, and then let me take you to bed. I’ve had a bitch of a busy day and just want to get naked with you.”

“You have visitors.”

“Yeah, tons. All at the office. All fucking day long.”

“No, Reed.” I search again to confirm my suspicions. “I mean, you have visitors.”

He’s silent, so I add, “You know, cooties, lice, nits, crawlers, whatever you want to call them. You have them. In your hair.”

His shoulders stiffen in his immaculately starched work shirt he’s still got on after coming in the door ten minutes ago.

“I’m a grown man, Harls. I do not have cooties.”

I fight to hold in my giggle at how sulky he sounds. I bet if I look at his face, he even has his bottom lip poked out.

“I’m well aware what a big boy you are, Reed. But I am telling you. You have them. I can see them walking around and—”

“Stop. That’s… Eww.” He scratches his head again and then inspects his hand. “What the fuck? How… Oh, for fuck’s sake.” He scratches again with both hands and lets out a long, low groan.

“I don’t know. We all had them when we were at school. It’s usually kids who spread them. Don’t tell me you never got them?”

“I didn’t,” Reed grumbles.

“Maybe they couldn’t afford the tuition fees at the snooty boys’ school you and Griffin went to.” I laugh as he looks at me darkly.

“Book Page.” He sighs.

“You think Paige gave them to you?”

“Probably. Stuart said after we went for dinner with them the other week that her mom had found some.” Reed drops his head into his hands and presses his finger and thumb into his eyes. My heart squeezes at the sight of him. He’s exhausted. He’s worked really hard this week. I’ve already been in bed some nights when he’s finally gotten in. The election is a little over a week away, so things have been even busier than usual.

“I’ll run up to Maria and Griffin’s and we’ll sort you out. Don’t worry, Daddy, I’ve got you,” I whisper in his ear, earning myself a small smile from him. I plant a soft kiss on his cheek and then rush upstairs.

Ten minutes later, I’m back down, sitting on the sofa with a very quiet, somber Reed sitting on the floor between my legs with a towel around his shoulders.

“This stuff smells delicious.” I sniff the home remedy Maria gave me as I pour a little of the oil between my hands and rub it into Reed’s hair. He leans back toward me with a soft moan as I massage it into his head. He’s been so quiet this evening and I’m hoping it’s just because he’s tired and there’s nothing wrong.

“This won’t take long. I just need to rub it all in and wait fifteen minutes. The oil will suffocate them, and I can comb the dead ones out. In fact, I will just comb as soon as the oil’s all in. I can take my time, so I don’t miss anywhere.”

I run my hands through Reed’s hair again and smile as he leans into my touch. This feels weirdly intimate. I mean, sure, we have wild and dirty sex every day, but he’s always the one leading it, the one in control, the one on top, literally, or behind or wherever. But never below. Reed never lets me ride him. Never even lets me straddle him when he’s sitting up. Sex with him is incredible, but he always controls the pace, whether it’s hard and fast, or slow and deep. It’s always him. Never me.

I try and push Bea’s words to the back of my mind as they threaten to come and cause me unnecessary paranoia. She insinuated Reed doesn’t kiss, only likes sex from behind, which is just not true. He kisses me all the time. And he loves being on top of me and holding my gaze as he fucks me slowly. It’s not like he has an issue with intimacy, because he clearly doesn’t. Sickness creeps into my stomach and sits there like a weight, pulling me down inside as I recall what else she said about him using my name and me going on top. That much is true. He never calls me Harley, or Harls, when we have sex. I never noticed before, but after the day in the park, I realized Bea is right. And the going on top thing… she’s right about that, too.

“That feels nice.” Reed sighs as my fingers massage his scalp.

I try to shut all thoughts of Bea out and concentrate on what I’m doing as I rub the oil into his hair.

“You’ll probably have to wash your hair a couple of times to get the oil out, and we should probably treat me as well. They like to transfer. And don’t go believing that nonsense about them only liking dirty hair, or clean hair, or whatever the rumor is, because I can tell you, me and my brother and sister all had them as kids and Mom used to make us wash our hair every other day. I think that’s a lot for a kid at that age. I’m sure they don’t need to wash it that often, it doesn’t get oily. Do you know how often Paige washes hers?”

I pause and lean around so I can see Reed’s profile. He’s chuckling. His dark brown brows pulled together as his eyes crease up.

“What’s so funny?”

“I don’t think you need to treat yourself, Harls. They’ll have jumped off your head so they can get some peace—Ow!”

I tug on a few strands of his hair and then pick up the fine-toothed comb Maria lent me. “Oh, did something hurt? It must have been a cootie biting you, trying to get through your thick skull.”

Reed’s shoulders shake as he hooks his arms around the back of my calves and strokes his hands up and down my legs. I can hear the amusement dancing in his tone as he talks. “Harley?”

“What?” I mutter as I comb.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” I sigh.

“I mean it.” He squeezes my legs with his large hands. “It should be me taking care of you.”

“I’m not taking care of you. I’m doing it for the cooties.” I sniff. “They’ve had enough of you as well. We are the worst couple for cooties. They hate us. Me for talking. You for being annoying and unfairly handsome. They’ll never return. They’ll put up a sign warning all future cooties to proceed at their own risk.”

Reed laughs as his fingers knead into my calf muscles and he massages them before letting out a deep groan. “Fifteen minutes is a fucking long time.”

“It’s been five already.” I keep combing as I sigh in ecstasy at the way his skilled fingers are working me. “You’re impatient.”

“When it comes to you, I am. I need you, Harls. I need to be in our bed with you. I needed it hours ago.”

I recognize the extra weariness creeping into his voice tonight. It’s the same as every night this week so far. And each of those nights he’s fucked me deliciously slowly, spooning me from behind. He must be exhausted with everything at work.

“Won’t be long,” I whisper.

He turns around and gifts me with the most beautiful smile. His smoky quartz eyes hold mine, and I lean down and kiss him, ignoring the fact he’s covered in oil that will go all over my t-shirt. I kiss him and kiss him and kiss him.

When I open my eyes, he’s looking at me in a way that makes hidden parts of me fizz and flutter and explode into showers of warm stars. I oil my hair quickly, and then we go to the bathroom and wash in silence. I wash Reed’s hair and he washes mine. We don’t seem to need more words tonight. We are both content to just smile at one another. As I rinse the shampoo suds from my hair, Reed strokes me, keeping his eyes glued to mine the entire time. He strokes my face, my neck, my breasts, my stomach. Featherlight touches everywhere, except between my legs, where I so desperately ache for him.

After we get into bed, I expect Reed to want the tired, slow spoon sex, but instead he pulls me to him as we lie facing one another and wraps one of my legs around his waist. Then he puts a condom on and slowly sinks inside my body with his eyes on mine.

“You’re beautiful,” he murmurs as he kisses my cheeks first, then my eyelids, then my nose, and finally my lips. “You’re so beautiful, Harley.”

“Is Reed all set for the election next week?”

“Yeah, he is.” I smile at Suze across Maria’s kitchen island as she pops another chip in her mouth.

We’ve decided to have a girls’ night in. Reed and Griffin are out at a bar, so we’ve taken over Maria and Griffin’s penthouse. It looks like an explosion in the snack aisle at the grocery store. Bowls of chips are scattered about, along with various dips, hot baked doughballs, vegetable sticks, and spring rolls. And two empty bottles of wine so far.

“He seems calm about it. Tired, but calm,” I say, thinking about how worn out he’s looked this week. But despite it, the attention he’s giving me has only increased. It’s like something shifted between us since the cooties were evicted. He would always kiss me goodbye before work in the morning. But now he’s taking twice as long to do it, holding my head in his hands, stroking my face. We often end up having sex against the wall in the hallway minutes before we both have to leave. Him in his suit, me with my panties pushed to one side and my lips on his as we pant out our pleasure together and he tells me how much he’s going to miss me. Then he kisses me in the elevator if we’re alone, before holding my hand until the very last moment on the sidewalk where we have to part ways.

Reed Walker is firmly embedding himself deeper in my heart each day.

“He should be. I’m sure he’s going to win,” Maria says, refilling Suze’s empty wineglass.

“I hope so. He deserves it. He’s worked really hard, and he’s passionate about it.”

“He’s passionate about you,” Suze pipes up, taking a large sip of her wine.

I drop my head with a smile. “He’s… he’s pretty great.”

“I knew it. I told you, Maria, I’m going to need two wedding outfits at this rate. One for you and Griffin, and one for Harley and Reed.”

I shake my head and hold my hands up. “Whoa, Suze. That is totally jumping the gun. I’ve no idea what’s going to happen after the election, let alone years down the line.”

Reed hasn’t mentioned anything post-election. I guess he’s too busy to even consider it. But I know if he wins that he’ll be given Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s official residence to live in for the length of his term. And I imagine he might have his own personal security. Or will he? I have no idea how these things work.

“What are you going to do when he stops paying you?” Suze crunches down a chip, the sound disguising the rumble of dread I swear I just heard roll in the pit of my stomach.

I haven’t thought about what happens when this all ends. I’m still getting four thousand dollars per month at the moment. Money which I need. But after the election, our fake dating arrangement, the money—which feels weird accepting now with how things are between us—it all stops.

“Um.” I chew on my bottom lip and Maria places her hand over mine on the counter.

“You don’t need to worry about that, Harley. I’m sure we can work something out. Griff—”

“No,” I cut in, more forcefully than I intend. “No,” I repeat softly. “Griffin does a lot for me already. All that time off I needed when it happened, and then my last pay rise. He’s a great boss. I would never expect more from him. I’ll… I’ll figure something out.” My shoulders slump as a million options run through my head. None of which are viable. Reed won’t want me to go back to honey-trapping, not that I’d want to. That is if Reed and I are still together. “I haven’t told Reed what I need it for yet. But we’re visiting my family for the weekend, and he’s coming with me. So I guess he’s about to find out.”

“Good. That’s good.”

“Is it?” I look at Suze. “It’s good that he’s about to see how messed up things are?”

“All families are messed up.” This time, it’s Maria I look at, who gives me a comforting nod.

Guilt weighs heavily in my stomach as I look into her eyes. She’s had it worse than me. Her parents, her dad… they were hardly model examples of strong family values. But my parents? They are. Or at least, were before the incident. We were the sweetly sickening family who always got along, always helped out the neighbors, were always laughing and joking. We looked perfect to the outside world. And we were. Before. Now we’re a shell of what we used to be, and I don’t see a way back. Ever.

“Yeah. I suppose they are.” My thoughts flit to Reed and what Riley went through. How his family moved them all to California afterward.

No one passes through life without collecting scars along the way. Some are just harder to hide.

“Are you going to sleep in the guest house when you go home?” Suze chimes in, raising a brow at me with a smirk. “Or are you going to have to keep the noise down in the main house?”

I shake my head with a laugh. She always knows how to lighten the mood. Suze has been sex obsessed ever since her and her ex, Curt, divorced. It’s like she’s had a new lease of life. She’s always going on dates, some funny, a few too many disastrous, and some with the kind of wild, experimental sex stories I didn’t expect to hear first thing on Sunday mornings when she likes to call me and share the previous night’s antics. Thankfully for me, she hasn’t had any really weird ones for a while. The last one was when the guy, Hank, liked his cat to watch. He’d talk to Mr. Sunshine, as the cat was called, during sex. Suze said she gave up on any ideas of a serious dating future together when all Hank did was look at Mr. Sunshine mid-thrust, telling him not to be jealous that he was enjoying another pussy. She did give Hank a second chance, which I couldn’t believe at the time because apparently, he had an unusually curved dick that rubbed in all the right places—Suze’s words, not mine. But the final straw was when he jumped off Suze when she was just about to come and ran over to help Mr. Sunshine hack up a furball on the carpet.

All great reasons, along with the men I met honey trapping, to be single.

Until Reed.

“We’ll probably be in the guest house. They’ve made some changes inside the main house, so we couldn’t stay there now.”

“Well, that will be nice for you and Reed. Like Suze said, it will be more private for you both,” Maria says.

I love how different my friends are. Suze will just come out with what’s on her mind, whereas Maria is all grace and elegance. The two of them together means I always get the best advice. Direct and to the point, no holds barred, as well as considered and diplomatic.

“Actually, can I ask you both your opinions on something?” I reach out and take a chip, scooping a giant lump of guacamole onto it.

They both look at me, waiting. There’s no need for them to answer. We all know that we can discuss anything together.

“It’s something Bea said that’s been bothering me.” I chomp the chip down, barely tasting it. “She said Reed has issues that only a person who’s known him a long time will understand.”

Maria nods in understanding. She and I both worked out about Riley being assaulted in the past. But I know that’s not what Bea was referring to. She was talking about Reed and what he does, or doesn’t do, when it comes to sex.

“She asked if he kisses me and uses my name during sex, and well… he’s always kissed me a lot, like constantly. I just thought she was making shit up, you know? Trying to rile me for whatever reason. But then I thought about it, and I realized he never used to use my name during sex.”

“Used to?” Suze asks.

“Yeah. He’s only said it once, the other night.”

I cast my mind back to cootie night. It seems so long ago now, given the number of times we’ve had sex since, and he hasn’t said it. But that night, he did. I know I didn’t imagine it. He sank inside me and held my gaze, and he said it with such an emotional tinge to his voice that I can still hear it now. “You’re so beautiful, Harley.” I swear I felt so close to him that night. But since then, although he’s been extremely attentive and showered me with kisses and gifted me with intense orgasms while his body is connected deeply with mine, he hasn’t said it again. Not once.

“And then she said, does he ever let you go on top? And I don’t know… it bothered me. Because she’s right. He never does. I’ve tried, and he moves me.”

“Maybe he’s just overcome in the throes of passion and just wants to be the one controlling it. Can’t help himself but fling you around and fuck you ten ways until Sunday. It’s probably a compliment. Sex with him must be—”

“Incredible,” I finish for Suze, heat blossoming in my cheeks. “Really incredible.”

“Maybe it was just a one-off,” Maria suggests. “He probably doesn’t realize he did it. Why don’t you try telling him it would turn you on to set the pace?”

“Tell him you want to ride him like a prize bull at rodeo,” Suze practically shouts as the front door opens.

We turn to it guiltily as Griffin steps into the apartment.

“I heard nothing,” he says as he walks over and kisses Maria on the cheek, before saying hello to me and Suze.

We catch each other’s eyes and bite back our laughs as he wisely excuses himself and disappears off toward their bedroom.

“How’s he feeling about the impending fatherhood?” I ask Maria.

“Um, pass.” Maria laughs, looking at the egg incubator sitting further along the kitchen counter.

“What are you going to do with it when it hatches?” Suze questions.

“I’m not sure. I’ve been looking for a sanctuary. But because he’s a pigeon, no one is interested.”

“Could you put him in the nesting box? Maybe one of the pigeons will adopt him as their own and take care of him?” I suggest.

“I don’t know. I’m not sure whether they can smell us on him and then not accept him. I’m researching it at the moment and calling around for advice. It’ll all work out.”

I smile at Maria’s calm confidence. She’s never easily fazed.

“Oh God,” Suze whines. “It’s late. I have to get back for the sitter. As always, ladies, it was lovely.” She jumps up and begins tidying up bowls and glasses, but Maria shoos her away.

We say goodnight and I go down to the street with Suze and see her into a cab before heading back up in the elevator. She told me again on the way down that I should just pounce on Reed, pin him down and have my way with him because he would probably love relinquishing control for once.

By the time I walk through our apartment door, I’m more determined to set my unease over Bea’s words to rest once and for all. There’s nothing Reed isn’t telling me. Maybe he couldn’t get close to lovers in the past and didn’t kiss them or use their name, and preferred to fuck from behind, like she implied. But I know that isn’t true anymore. He’s passionate, and he’s present when we have sex. He’s not avoiding eye contact with me, or only fucking me hard. Reed kisses. Reed does gentle. Reed does slow.

A soft melody is drifting through into the hallway as I take my shoes off and close the front door behind me. I recognize the song, “She’s the one.” I didn’t realize Reed knew it. It’s an old one, but I’ve loved it ever since we went on a family holiday to London as kids and it played on the radio the entire trip.

I walk into the living room and lean against the doorframe, watching him. He’s sitting on the sofa in just his cotton pajama pants and his reading glasses, guitar across his lap as he plays the chords and sings the words softly.

My heart thuds heavily in my chest; its rhythmic beat pulsing in my ears, perfectly matching the tempo of the music. Reed’s eyes are closed and he’s in his own world. His deep voice rolling out each word with such emotion that my eyes prick with tears, and a lump lodges itself in my throat.

Everyday Reed Walker is beautiful.

But like this? He’s devastating.

As if he can hear me thinking about him, his smoky eyes open and rise to meet mine as he sings the last note. Then he smiles at me and places the guitar down, propping it against the sofa.

“Don’t stop,” I beg.

He stands, opening out his arms, and I run straight into them, relishing their warm strength as they wrap around me. I dream of staying like this forever, with his softly sung words in my ears and his protective arms holding my heart against his.

“You were playing. You were singing.” I beam up at him and he looks embarrassed, dropping his eyes to the floor with a shy smile.

“It’s been a long time. I’m pretty rusty.”

“You were perfect.” I wrap my arms around his neck and pull his lips down onto mine. “Completely dreamy. You could sing me into your bed, no problem at all with a voice like that.”

He grins against my lips. “Or I could entice you there with the promise of what else my mouth can do.” He grabs my ass in both hands and squeezes, pulling me tighter to the erection, straining against the fabric of his pants as he sucks on my bottom lip.

“My memory’s hazy. I don’t recall what your mouth does exactly.” The words have barely left my lips before Reed swoops down and kisses them away until I’m whimpering into his mouth. “Oh,” I whisper as he pulls back, leaving his lips lingering over mine as my body hums with electricity. “Now I remember.” I smile softly and run my fingers over his jaw.

“I’ve missed you today, Angel. God, I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you, too,” I gasp as he slides a hand under my dress and inside my panties, finding me hot and wet.

“Fuck, Harls, you’re always ready for me. I want to fuck you so bad, Angel. You’ve no idea how many hard-ons you give me. It’s a miracle I get any work done, knowing this perfect pussy belongs to me.” His voice is low and gravelly, and it only serves to make me wetter as he finger-fucks me with delicious, slow strokes.

“Reed,” I cry as he presses the pads of his fingers to my G-spot. It feels so good. He’s so in tune with my body that he knows exactly just where and how to touch me to have me quaking in his arms within minutes.

I’m at his mercy. There’s no doubt about it. Reed thrives off dominating me, and what’s more, he knows it turns me on. He knows nothing makes me wetter than relinquishing control to him.

But not tonight.

Tonight, I want to be the one choosing how hard we fuck, how deep I take him. Tonight I want to be the one taking the lead.

He holds me around the waist with one arm while he continues the erotic assault between my legs. I grip his shoulders as my breath shallows. I can’t come yet. It’s too soon. I want to come riding him, looking down into his eyes as I sink down over every hard inch of him, feeling the way he stretches me.

He takes his glasses off, smiling at my disappointed huff as he drops them onto the sofa. Then he lifts me, and I wrap my legs around his waist.

“I’ll fuck you wearing them another time, Angel. Promise.”

“You better,” I whisper, heat spreading through my body as his lips find mine again.

He carries me to our bedroom, kissing me the whole time. I sink my fingers into his hair and stroke the back of his neck, which elicits a deep groan from his throat.

“You’re perfect. So fucking perfect.” He drops me down onto the bed gently and grabs a condom from the bedside drawer, pulling his pants off and sliding it down onto his thick cock as I lie on my back panting from our kiss.

“I could live in your pussy for the rest of my life and die a happy man.”

I laugh as he peels my soaking panties down my legs and throws them across the room. And then he’s on me, his thick head nudging against me.

“Reed?” I moan, as his lips go to my neck, and he groans a deep, masculine sound that sets butterflies free throughout my body. I’m too wrapped up in the pleasure coursing through my veins to get the words out. To voice my fantasy and tell him I want to ride him until I explode around his cock.

“Yes, Angel?”

He circles his hips, stretching me around the tip of his cock. I arch up toward him and moan, getting carried away. I could so easily dig my heels into his gorgeous, tight ass and allow him to fill me like no one else ever has. The way I love. The way that has fueled me every day for the past few weeks.

But I don’t.

I can’t.

I want to banish Bea’s words out of my consciousness once and for all and this is the only way to do it. She has no right taking up space in my head, making me doubt, for even a second, that what Reed and I have isn’t completely real, or that he’s holding back from me. I should never have let it get this far. I should’ve forgotten every word the second they left her lying, distrustful lips.

I kiss Reed harder, moaning into his mouth as I wriggle below him until he moves back instinctively to give me space to get comfortable. The second he pulls back, I push on his chest and roll us so I’m on top of him, our lips still locked together. I lift my hips away from him so I have enough space to slide my hand down between us. Then, without missing a beat, I position his cock against me and sink down onto it, my body trembling as I stretch to take him.

“Reed,” I moan against his lips. “That feels so—”

He freezes beneath me and breaks our kiss, both of his hands gripping my upper arms so tightly that I swallow down the cry that’s bubbling in my chest. His gray eyes are staring at me, but he’s not seeing me. It’s like looking through a window at the storm that’s raging on the other side.

“Reed,” I whisper. “What’s wro—”

He flips us back over, his eyes suddenly on fire. They look almost black as he grips my wrists and pins them on either side of my head. Then he thrusts into me hard, knocking the air from my lungs.

My mouth drops open and all I can do is stare at him as he fucks me. Fast, deep, punishing hits that drive me up the mattress underneath him.

“You like that? Tell me you like that.” He juts his chin out, growling the words.

I nod, my cheeks burning, because despite his reaction hitting me like a blow to the chest, my body is a traitor when it comes to him. Everything about the way he fits inside me, like he was made for me, and me for him, has me racing toward a climax before I can even process what just happened. Before I can feel hurt, or confused, or angry. Before I can feel anything else, blinding pleasure silences everything.

“Reed,” I pant as he stares at me with a dark intensity I’ve never seen in him before.

“Tell me how much you like Daddy’s cock filling you.” He bucks into me wildly, his heavy balls slapping against my skin, and I whimper, my wrists burning beneath his palms. “Tell me!”

“I l-love it,” I cry, my legs shaking as he pauses to circle deep inside me, giving my clit friction against his body.

“Good girl. You’re mine, Angel. You’re fucking mine.” He thrusts so hard that I cry out as my breasts bounce in the small space between us. “Say it!”

“I’m yours.” It’s an effort to get the words out as each pump of his hips forces the air from my lungs. I look up at him and wonder how I’m still breathing, let alone speaking.

“Don’t fucking forget it. You. Your cunt. Your ass. Your pretty pink lips. All mine. And I will fuck them whenever and however I see fit. Understand?”

I nod mutely, but Reed tightens his hold on my wrists as he circles inside me again, dragging across my clit with his body until I’m trembling beneath him.

“Understand?” he hisses, circling again as the peak of my build up slides within reach, my stomach coiling in anticipation.

“Yes. I’m yours, Reed. I’ve been yours since the first night you touched me.” I suck in air as though I might pass out any second. My head is light, and I force myself to focus on Reed’s voice.

“Wrong, Angel. You were mine a long time before that. You’ve always been mine. And you always will be.”

“Yes,” I cry, bucking in his firm grip, my eyes wet at the corners from the overwhelming need to come. The need to be his and have him own me forces my concerns and doubts to the far corners of my mind.

“Good girl. Now come on my cock. Come all over my cock, Angel. Scream my name,” he grits out, causing my chest to shudder.

His name. Call his name.

The first wave hits me moments after his words, and I writhe underneath him, lifting my lips toward his for a kiss. Desperate to have him closer to me, to feel him swallow my cries; sucking them in and replacing them with kisses like he so often does when I fall apart.

Not this time.

This time, he screws his eyes shut and clenches his jaw as I come undone around him. Alone and unseen.

He leaves me to shatter around him, with his body buried deep inside mine.

Without him.

Physically, we couldn’t be any closer, but it feels like there is an ocean separating us. Reed, my Reed, leaves me trembling beneath him as he pulls up a mask, closing me out for the first time ever. Fucking me with only his body, his beautiful heart missing.

And my traitorous body ignores the voice in my head that’s screaming that something isn’t right as I come again a second time, and then a third, one orgasm rolling into another as I whimper and my eyes blur.

“Fuck, I love your cunt, Angel,” Reed growls, his eyes screwed shut, lost in his own prison as he keeps fucking me. He swells inside me, every muscle in his body tense as droplets of sweat drip from his broad chest down onto the fabric of my dress. “Angel, you’re so… fuck, Angel, you’re—”

“Harley!” I cry as my body continues to suck his in greedily and pulsate around his. “Call me Harley, Reed. Please, please,” I beg, sucking in giant breaths as my orgasm takes over my senses to the point I’m delirious, like an observer to my own body’s pleasure.

An observer to whatever the hell is going on right now.

Reed freezes, his eyes snapping open like I’ve broken a spell he’s been under, and they widen with shock as he stares at me. I search them, my body still coming in ripples around his, stealing the breath from my lungs. He swallows so hard I can hear it over my own panting. Then he releases my wrists suddenly, like they’ve burned him. He holds himself up on one arm, his free hand flying to my face and cupping my cheek with sudden tenderness.

“Harley, Angel, I’m so sorry.” His eyes search mine with a wild, haunted look that makes my breath catch in my throat and ice scatter up my spine.

He’s still nestled deep inside me, my body reeling from his touch, but my throat burning with unexpressed emotion.

“Reed?” I croak.

“I’m so sorry.” He drops his forehead to mine, and presses kiss after kiss to my lips as I clench around him, feeling his unfinished desire still burning through the hardness of his cock inside me. “Harls,” he whispers as I flex my hips, encouraging him to keep moving. I don’t want him to stop. I don’t want it to end like this. I need to see pleasure on his face again. I need it more than ever.

“Please, Reed. Look at me.”

He lifts his head to mine and begins to mirror my movements, slowly sliding his cock into me. His eyes are laced with the same darkness as before, but I can see Reed in them again. My Reed.

Nothing has ever looked more beautiful.

Relief swirls through me as he gazes into my eyes, his pace increasing as he looks at me in that familiar way I’m used to. Only there’s an extra depth to his eyes now, like he’s seeing something new for the first time.

“Harley, Harley, Harley, Harley,” he chants quietly, his voice thick with emotion as he drives himself deeper.

“I’m here,” I whisper as I hold either side of his face between my hands.

The intensity in his gaze ratches up a notch to blinding and his body shakes as a pained groan leaves his chest and he comes hard inside me.

Hard enough that I feel like a piece of his heart just broke off and fell onto me.

I look up into his smoky gray eyes and see that the storm in them has passed.

“Fuck, Harls. I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry. I need you, Angel. I need you.”

His whispered pleas are desperately kissed into my lips and breathed into my body as I wrap my legs around him and hook my ankles at his back, wanting to touch him with as much of my body as I can. I hold his face in my hands and welcome every promise he bathes me in as he says my name again and again.

“Harley,” he murmurs, kissing me again. “Harley.”

My name falls from his lips so many times it begins to sound like a melody.

I press our faces closer together as I kiss him back. I don’t know what just happened. But I know one thing, and it turns the blood in my veins to ice as the realization settles.

Bea was right.

And what’s worse is that she knows something about Reed that I don’t.