Chapter 27 David... Is That Blood?!
I call Nico from the house phone a few minutes after David leaves, explaining that I’m at his place, and I don’t think I’ll be back at the club. He drops my things off a little while later, exchanging a minimal conversation with Marcus, who is now stationed at the door.
David doesn’t contact me for the rest of the day. I figure the ‘sorting out’ will be something to do with the guys that tried to grab me, so I wait a little while.
But then 6pm comes and goes. And so does 7pm. Before I know it, it is 8.30pm and I still have no indication of where David is, or when he is coming back.
I’ve wasted the hours up until now talking to Sel, updating her on the weird ass situation now, and maybe hinting that she definitely should not look at the cameras from today.
I know she will anyway.
Eventually, I start trying to bug Marcus about when David will be home. At 10pm, he still has no updates for me, so I just give him a new cup of coffee and bid him goodnight. He helps me lock up the apartment, including the windows and some rooms I never even noticed before, and I get into bed, disappointed that I’ve once again submitted to David way too easily, and still haven’t gotten the release, or the answers, that I want.
A few hours later, just as my body is settling into a deep sleep, I am being woken up.
“Hey doll, you awake?” Comes a low, beautifully soothing voice in my ear.
I stir groggily, rolling onto my side to look up. David is sitting on the bed beside me, a soft smile on his lips as he takes his hand off my shoulder.
“Hmm…” I groan as I push myself to sit up. “What time is it?”
“Little after two.”
I sit up properly, rubbing my eyes a little before fully taking him in. His shirt is dishevelled, and he looks tired. About as tired as I feel. He also smells a little smoky. Wrapping the sheets around me, I shift as he just runs his eyes over me.
“Where have you been?” I ask.
“Dealing with some things.” He responds vaguely, looking down at his hands, rubbing his thumb over his palm as if he is trying to rub something off of it.
“David… I don’t… Is that blood?” I squeak, rushing forward to grab his collar, which has small red flecks over it. He puts his hand over mine and guides it away.
“Do you want to eat?”
“I… no David, I don’t want to eat.” I groan, rubbing my hands over my face. “I need to know what the hell going on!”
“I told you, I had some things to sort out.”
I scoff and throw the sheets off me, getting out of the bed, walking to the door with the intention of getting a glass of water to wake up properly, and calm down.
“When I asked for you at the club, it’s because you reminded me of you.” He says, still sitting on the bed.
I freeze before I reach the door.
I hear him shifting, and then his footsteps are walking across the room.
“The way you walk, how you act, it made me think of you. And the reason I was there, the whole reason I was even at the club is because I needed… I’ve spent over a year trying not to act on the feelings I have for you. So… I needed someone who reminds me of you.” His voice has dropped to a whisper by the time I feel him behind me.
I am breathing deeply, staring at the door with wide eyes as my brain processes his words. My inhale is shaky when his fingers graze my arm.
“I didn’t like that I didn’t know it was you.” He continues, his fingers gliding down my shoulder blade, to the small of my back. “Because I wanted to be able to choose to do all of that… with you. I don’t know how I didn’t realise… I guess I never thought it would be possible to have you in that situation, to do that with you, so I never saw what was right in front of my face.”
“David I didn’t–” I start to say as I turn around to face him.
“I’m not going to say that I understand why you didn’t tell me.” He interrupts as he puts his hands on the door, either side of my head. “But I do realise something.”
“What… what’s that?”
“We’ve both been keeping secrets this whole time. About our jobs, about how we feel. And we’ve both been lashing out because of it. In some… twisted way, we’re exactly the same. Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t have any more secrets to share. So I’m a bit done with being angry.”
“I…” I swallow. “Me too.”
“And if we’re both finally on equal footing…” He muses, one of his hands going to my hair, playing with a stray strand as he speaks. “The only question left is, what do we do now?” He mutters, his eyes looking between mine as I stare up at him with a dumbfounded expression.
“I didn’t realise there were options.” I reply instantly, making him smile.
“You think I’d ask you to stay here if there were no options?” He says, with a slight chuckle. “As long as you’re done slapping me Doll, and you actually listen when I tell you you’re in danger, we have whatever options you want.”
“I thought… I didn’t think you’d want to carry any of this on. After what I did and–”
“What we both did. Like I said, I’m not perfect either. So, do you want to stop?” He asks, as I stand frozen, captured by his intense gaze.
“Never.” I whisper, before watching his lips curl into a smile.
The hand he has on my jaw guides my mouth to his, capturing my lips in a deep kiss that makes my toes want to curl into the carpet.
His other arm wraps around my waist when he realises I’m about to stumble from the movement, pulling and anchoring me against his body, while his tongue slips between my lips.
When he pushes me back against the door, my hands fly up to his chest, the material of his shirt scrunching in my fists, and finally start kissing him back. He lets out a little groan into my mouth, sensing my body responding to him, and his hands tighten on me, his kiss getting more urgent.
Moving my hands to his shoulders, I feel his hands slide down to my ass, gripping and tugging me upwards until my feet come off the floor. Wrapping my legs around him, he responds by pushing his hips against me, anchoring me between his body and the door as his tongue tangles with mine.
One of his hands runs down to my thigh, the other disappearing under the loose T-shirt I’d worn to bed, my skin shivering under his fingers as he runs them across my side. I arch into him, his hand instantly filling the gap between me and the door, then he steps backwards as he holds me to him.
Kissing him with a chaotic eagerness, he walks over to the bed I just left, sitting down, and pulling me onto his lap. His mouth moves to my neck, giving me a moment to breathe, which I then struggle with as his teeth nip my skin.
I feel the desire coursing through my veins, and I scramble to undo his shirt buttons when his hand covers mine, making me still.
He looks up at me.
“We’re not doing that tonight, Doll.” He mutters, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
I blink at him for a few seconds too long. He licks his lips briefly, moving his hands to my jaw and gently guiding me down for another kiss. One that I don’t return.
“Why?” I breathe, my brain finally catching up as I pull away. “I thought–”
“I already know every inch of your body, Nora.” He says in a matter-of-fact way, but it still makes my body heat up. “I’ve worked with you for over a year. But those were two separate things.” He places a kiss to my jaw. “Now it’s like I’m discovering you for the first time, all of you.” Another kiss lands on my neck. “And I refuse to rush it.”
“So…” I pause. “You’re… we’re taking this slow?” The question comes out as a breathy mumble, as his tongue runs over my collarbone, and one hand slides back round to my ass.
“Yes.”
“Cause it doesn’t feel like it.”
“Slow doesn’t mean boring, Doll.” He quips, with a light chuckle, his hand moving from my jaw down to the back of my neck, threading through my hair and tugging my head back so that he has more access to leave open mouthed kisses on my already burning skin.
“Does this feel boring?”