Chapter 33

AVERY

I found Cyrus in the kitchen when I went downstairs. I checked the living room first and when I didn't see him there, I knew that he had to be in the kitchen. Somehow.

He was sitting on one of the kitchen stools by the island and he was shirtless. Since he hadn't seen me yet, I took some time to enjoy the view. He was facing sideways so his body was in profile from where I was standing.

He was so big, his shoulders so wide and stacked with muscles. His head was bent low and he seemed to be busy on his phone which was why he hadn't seen me yet.

Unable to hold off anymore, I padded over to him. Just because we didn't want to have sex yet didn't mean that we couldn't make out.

His head lifted when he saw me coming and his eyes widened when he saw that I didn't stop walking until I was standing between his legs. He spread them more to accommodate me and I rewarded him with a smile.

"What are you doing?" I asked, tilting my head to the phone he was still holding.

He shook his head immediately, placing the phone on the counter. "Nothing important."

Good.

I decided to tease him a bit. "I think your briefs were made for me."

"Huh? How?" His eyes dropped to said briefs and I shifted back to give him a better view-which had been my plan all along.

I lifted the shirt and turned, giving him a premium view of my backside and the long hiss he gave was pretty audible. Even though he hadn't wanted it to be.

"Avery..." He drawled.

When I turned back around, his eyes were filled with liquid heat, silently begging me to give him something and and like a moth to a flame, I was helpless not to give. I closed the little distance between us, bringing our chests flush together. Because he was sitting and I was standing, there was not much height difference between us.

I slid my hands around his neck and laced them together at the nape of his neck. Idly, I played with the hair there.

"Permission to kiss you, Cyrus?" I whispered against his lips, already moving in for the kill.

"Permission granted." He whispered right back and I didn't waste a second in fusing my lips to his.

God, I missed kissing him. And the way he kissed, it was enough to make me forget about the decision to take things slow. The man was so skilled with that tongue of his.

I jumped, groaned and moaned at the same time when he flicked his tongue against the roof of my mouth.

He did it again. Slowly this time and I swear, goosebumps broke all over my body. My knees threatened to give out. Just from a single kiss.

He pulled away and nibbled on the corner of my lips. "My shirt looks so good on you."

"It's a really nice shirt." I didn't even know what I was saying at this point.

"You make it look good. I can't remember it ever looking this good."

Well, I wouldn't argue with him. Couldn't even if I wanted to. How could I when I was in heaven?

He moved his lips to his favourite and the most sensitive parr of my body-my neck. It was my weakness, apparently. Kiss my neck and I turned into dough in a man's arms. Cyrus, to be precise.

He did that thing where he flicked his tongue against my skin, nipping on the skin gently so that it wouldn't break, but strong enough to leave a mark.

I was starting to think he had an obsession with marking me.

"I promised that we wouldn't have sex tonight." He admitted into my neck.

"To who?" I frowned.

"Myself."

"Oh."

His hands slid to my ass, contradicting what he just said, and he squeezed. "You have the world's most phenomenal ass on you, young woman."

"I thought you were a breast man." I wondered out loud.

In his car when I had bared my breasts to him, the expression he had worn was one of a starving man who had been presented with a huge meal. Or a man in the desert, presented with a tall glass of water.

But he had that same expression now that he was feeling my ass.

Now, I wasn't sure.

"I'm a you man."

That was the absolute worst thing to say to me right now because my insides turned into mush and the urge to have sex with him quadrupled. How on earth was I going to fight it now?

I pulled away so that I could stare into his eyes and gauge his reaction for what I was about to say. "You know, we don't have to have sex."

"I know, but-"

A sudden explosion rocked the house and threw me into Cyrus' body. We would have both toppled to the ground had he not braced himself and caught me quickly.

I turned wide, panicked eyes at Cyrus. "What was that?"

My voice came out shaky. My hands had slipped to his shoulders and I noticed that they were shaking too. For some reason, I couldn't move. I was frozen on that spot.

"That's strange." Cyrus scowled, shifting me backwards a little so that he could stand. "I'm not sure it came from the house. Maybe-"

Another explosion sounded and it seemed to be coming from the living room. This time, tremors travelled along the building and the ground shook. The sound was too close to not be coming from this house.

"If the first one wasn't from here, this one definitely is." I tried to sound normal, but my voice shook again.

I had almost been killed twice. Not again. Not again.

What did these people want with me?

Who were they?

I couldn't be getting attacked again. I just couldn't! I didn't live a loud life. Not a lot of people knew me. My only friends were Jemima and Mariah and I had a solid relationship with them! Most importantly, I didn't go around looking for trouble!

So why were a lot of people after me?! For what reason?

Strong fingers gripped my shoulders and shook me until my eyes came into focus. I looked up into Cyrus' hard eyes.

"Listen to me, Avery. Are you listening to me?" He waited to make sure that I was listening then when I nodded, he continued. "You're okay. I'm going to go the living room to check what's going on and you're going to go into my room and stay there until I come upstairs for you. Okay?"

"Don't go out there." I said robotically.

"I have to. I need to know what's going on."

I shook my head before he could even finish his statement. "We're going to go into the room together."

What the hell did he think he was going to do if he went out there? Fight? I knew he was more than capable of the task, but he didn't know how many people were out there. And they had weapons! I was pretty sure that was a bomb they just threw into the house.

"Avery, listen to me." The steel in his voice, which he had never used on me before, had my eyes flying up to his again. "You're going into the room. I'm going out there."

I didn't know how he managed to convince me but I was nodding, agreeing to this sick thing he was saying.

We heard voices coming from the living room. Not voice. Voices. Plural. There were a lot of men out there.

"Go. Now."

With one last look at him, I turned and fled up the stairs, praying for his life with every single step I took.

When I reached his room, I ran inside and closed the door quietly and slid down, resting my back against it. I didn't want to be here. I wanted to be on the other side, with him.

No. I wanted the both of us to be on this side. Safe from them.

Who could they be anyway? And what exactly did they want?

On both times I had been attacked, it had only been one person. One man. But this time, from the voices I heard, I knew that there were a lot of people out there. And how the hell was Cyrus going to hold his own against them?

I wanted to cry.

I had a feeling that something bad was going to happen and I couldn't shake it. I just had this feeling in my gut that Cyrus would not be able to fight these guys.

I heard commotion from downstairs.

My legs started bouncing restlessly in agitation. I kept trying to convince myself that he was okay, that nothing was going to happen to him, that he had pretty much assured me that-

My blood ran cold. He hadn't promised me that he was going to be okay. He only said that he would come back upstairs for me.

What if he didn't? What if he wasn't going to be okay?

I slapped my hand to my mouth to surpress the squeak that came out.

Oh my God. I couldn't believe my own stupidity.

How on earth had I left Cyrus to fend for himself against those people? He wasn't a machine! He didn't even stand a chance against them!

Before I could loose my nerve, I stood up, opened the door and flew down the stairs.

Not knowing what I was going to walk in on.