Pretty in the Dark (Dark and Wild #2)

Chapter 22

22

JUNIPER

H eat flooded through me.

When Jaxon screamed out the sheriff’s name during Kage’s interrogation, cold rage had replaced the gut-wrenching fear I’d felt over Stacy’s abduction.

The fucking sheriff.

I should have known. It was no mistake that he’d been the one to show up at the bar that night in Denver to tell me about Edmund’s death. It had been no mistake that he’d made it known, in no uncertain terms, that I had to come back home to Wild.

Disgust made the bile in my stomach churn, as a splitting headache threatened to bear down on me.

I should have killed him. I should have done it the minute he appeared outside my bar.

Cade had wondered if the sheriff was being paid to feed Edmund information, well I knew it to be true. I’d known it until I’d turned old enough to fight back and refused to be the payment for his sick deeds. That’s when Edmund started using my brother as leverage to get me to do what he wanted. He couldn’t control my body anymore, so he controlled me in other ways.

The pictures had started shortly after my mother died. When Kage had revealed that Edmund might have had her murdered and why, part of me already knew the answer. What better way to hide a murder than to have the sheriff in your back pocket? I should have demanded that the photos were burned. I should have exposed the sheriff for who he was. A disgusting man who preyed on the innocent instead of helping them.

But I couldn’t, because it would have left Dean exposed.

So I’d left Wild and left that girl behind with it. The woman that came back didn’t let the past control her anymore. No matter the lingering effects and the headaches that the trauma brought with it.

‘Post-traumatic stress disorder’, the free clinic volunteer psychologist had said, when I’d finally gone in for testing and no one could figure out why my migraines were so bad.

Did I know who did it? Yes.

Did I want to press charges? No.

It didn’t matter. I was gone. Dean was safe.

And I had an entire file drive secured away with enough proof to put the sheriff away for life three times over. That had been my insurance policy for when I left. Edmund couldn’t touch Dean, because then they both would burn.

But then Cade had discovered my secret and killed the sheriff for me. I realized as much during Jaxon’s confession, and the images of Cade’s bloodied and cut up hands flashed into my mind. Cade had gone to question the sheriff himself after I’d mentioned it. He’d once again stepped in between me and the darkness. He’d protected me. He’d killed for me.

When Kage was finally done and had exhausted all possible information from Jaxon, we’d left his broken and bloodied body, and headed back into the night.

He’d brought me to Cade’s townhome at my request with just one piece of information. “He’s not trying to lie to you, Juniper. He’s trying to protect you from himself.”

And then he’d sped off into the night to leave me to face off with all 6’ 4” of brooding asshole.

A brooding asshole that had been standing in his kitchen, a fine sheen of sweat over his muscled frame, and dark, gray sweatpants hanging dangerously low over his hips when I’d come up the stairs and entered his home.

I hadn’t really known what I was going to say once I’d gotten there. Thank you seemed too casual. Fuck me now, please —seemed too brazen. It wasn’t until I saw the pain and uncertainty in his eyes that I’d finally understood what Kage had meant.

Cade couldn’t accept the darkness in himself, because he didn’t think I ever would.

The words had poured out of me. Stacy was gone, and I needed him. I needed Cade. All this time, I thought I could handle Edmund on my own, but I was wrong. Just like all this time, he thought he could change who he was for me, but he was wrong. We needed each other if we were going to survive what was coming.

And what was coming was nothing short of a war.

“I love you, Cade Black.” I watched as my words cracked the walls he’d built up around himself, and they came tumbling down as he finally realized the truth. I was not afraid of the dark. I was not afraid of him.

Desire burned through me as he pulled me to him, heat blazing from his body where my hands gripped firm muscles and slid over sweat-soaked skin. His mouth enveloped mine, and it was like he was inhaling me, devouring me, owning every single inch of me.

He was going to tear me apart, and I was going to let him. My nails raked down his back, and he hissed as I practically tried to climb his tall frame, grinding myself against him. His hands gripped my ass, lifting me, and I locked my legs around his waist as he carried me up the stairs to his bedroom and dropped me on the bed.

“Strip.” He growled the command, and I didn’t have to be told twice. His thumbs hooked under the waistband of his sweats and as he tugged them down, his thick cock sprang free. My mouth and other parts of me watered at the sight, and I sank down to my knees as he fisted the thick length in front of my face.

“Is this what you want, pretty girl?” He rubbed the tip against my lips, painting them with the pre-cum that was leaking from it, and I licked it like the delicacy it was with a moan. “You want to be my dirty girl? To worship my cock while I pray to your pretty pussy?”

I answered by opening my mouth, as he slid his length past my lips and down my throat until my eyes watered. Then he pulled out and did it again. He hissed. “God, your mouth is perfect. So fucking perfect. Do you know how many nights I used to get off thinking about ruining your fucking throat?”

He shoved his cock in again, gripping my head and holding me still as he fucked my mouth and throat. “Eyes up here, Juniper. You told me you can handle my darkness. We’re about to find out.” His foot nudged my legs apart and I moaned around the thick length in my mouth. “Play with your pussy and show me how wet that cunt is for me.”

My fingers drifted down to where my legs were spread wide for him, my thighs glistening with wetness, and I moaned again when my fingers found my clit and began to dance around it.

“That’s it. Fuck yourself on your fingers. But don’t come. Those orgasms are mine.”

He’d never spoken to me like this before. He’d been bossy and demanding, but the dirty words had always seemed to dance just on the edge, never spilling over into the filthy way he growled at me now. He gripped my hair harder and began to fuck my mouth in earnest. His abs bunched and flexed as his cock swelled in my mouth, burying himself down to the hilt. My eyes watered as I was forced to choke. Meanwhile, I matched his pace as I furiously fingered my dripping cunt in time to his thrusts. I was close, so close. Stars danced behind my eyes, but then he pulled me off of him with a growl.

“What did I tell you, pretty girl?” He fisted his cock, pumping the spit-soaked length over and over as jets of come splashed out and landed on my neck and chest. “Your orgasms are mine.”

I whined in protest as he pulled me to my feet and pushed me back toward the bed, where I landed with a bounce. “Cade…” but he cut me off.

“Listen to me, Juniper. I’m going to fuck you. I’m going to use you. I’m going to own every inch of you.” He unceremoniously flipped me to my stomach and pulled me back to the edge of the bed, where he shoved his still-hard cock inside me without warning. The stretch and burn as his thickness filled me, had me panting as I tried to push back and take him deeper. But he propped a knee up next to me, grabbed my hands and pinned them to my back, stopping me. “And when I’m done, I’m going to have you coming so hard you won’t remember your own name.”

He was in control. Complete and total control as he worked his length in and out of me, like he was imprinting himself permanently inside of me. Over and over again, he brought me to the edge of orgasm before denying me with a quick pinch to my clit, or moving me into a different position where I’d sob in frustration and need before he was sliding home inside of me once more.

My hands roamed my body, cupping my breasts as they bounced with every thrust while he had me on my back now, my legs thrown over his shoulders. I slid them down my stomach to my aching center as I heard myself begging for release. “Please…please Cade…”

His eyes were locked on to where we were joined, watching as his hips rolled into mine and his cock sank deeper into my heat. “You have the prettiest pussy, Juniper. You were made to take me, pretty girl.”

“That’s it.” He growled, as he noticed my fingers dipping into the dripping mess that was my pussy. “Spread yourself for me. Let me watch you come apart.”

“Come for me now, pretty girl.” He commanded, with another deep thrust of his hips.

I shattered as the tips of my fingers just barely grazed the sensitive bud, and he timed his thrusts to roll into each quiver as I barreled headlong into the orgasm that he’d denied me all night.

In the next moment, he pinned my legs to my chest as I screamed his name, pistoning in and out in a punishing rhythm as he fucked into me. “Yes, squeeze my cock, pretty girl. Fucking hell. I’m going to come inside you, Juniper, and you’re going to take all of it. All of me.' He groaned and slammed home deep inside of me, filling me to the brim as he pressed me to the bed.

We stayed like that, our breathing heavy and chests moving in sync as my heart pounded in my ears, and my eyelids fluttered with the aftershocks. Ever so slowly, Cade shifted off of me and pulled me to him, my head resting on his chest where I listened to his heartbeat, strong and solid in my ear. As my eyes softly closed, heavy with sleep, I drifted away into the peaceful, dreamless darkness.

And in the dark, with Cade, I was finally home.