Breathe Page 34

Malachi held her eyes and didn’t move.

  She ignored this and whispered, “Okay.”

  Then she lifted her hand and ran it through his hair before she straightened away.

  “See you soon, honey,” she said softly.

  He swallowed, his eyes darted to the nurses then back to Faye.

  Then he nodded.

  “My brave Malachi,” Faye whispered, reached out a hand, touched his bicep then she looked through the nurses, bent, grabbed her purse, smiled at Malachi and, finally, her hand found his and closed around it so tight, he felt pain.

  “Later, buddy,” Chace murmured and Malachi looked to him but said not a word.

  They passed Dr. Hughes who was hurrying in and so intent to get to Malachi, she only jerked up her chin at them on her way. Faye didn’t notice. She walked out, her neck twisted to look back at Malachi.

  She finally lost sight of him and looked forward but she didn’t speak.

  Chace led her to her parents. The instant they stopped close, Silas spoke.

  “Rosalinda’s. My treat. Liza, Boyd and the boys are meetin’ us there.”

  Chace stayed silent, letting Faye decide their evening plans.

  “Sounds good,” she said quietly.

  There was her decision. She needed family.

  So she’d get it.

  “Right,” Silas muttered, taking all that was Faye in carefully as Sondra silently did the same then Silas looked up to Chace. “Liza and Boyd have hit the road. So should we. Meet you there.”

  Chace nodded, got a clap on his arm from Silas, a smile from Sondra after she kissed her daughter’s cheek. They followed them to the elevator and walked out to the parking lot together.

  Sondra and Silas separated from them to head to the Wrangler and they both did this on waves.

  Chace jerked up his chin as Faye waved back and he walked with her to the passenger side of his Yukon.

  “Beep, honey,” she muttered, her eyes on the door but Chace used his hand in hers, his other hand going to her waist to assist and he turned her, back to the truck and moved in.

  Her surprised eyes lifted to his.

  “Assure me you’re all right,” he demanded.

  “I –”

  “He’s fucked up, Faye, and that was intense. But he’s nine. He’s got you, he’s got me, your parents, your family, a doctor who I’ve been told is highly skilled and gives a shit and nurses who handle him with care. Once he’s outta there, he’s got everything when he had nothing. He’s young enough that no matter what fucked up shit he’s endured, he can be guided out of that into trusting something good. It’s new. He freaked. He’s latched onto you. But that will subside, darlin’. We’ll work it and he’ll be okay.”

  “Chace, I’m fine. Just hungry.”

  He blinked at her words and calm tone after her hand nearly crushed the bones in his then he studied her face in parking lot lights.

  After he did this awhile, he told her, “You cannot keep shit buried. We got a long row to hoe with this. You give him strength, you unload on me the shit that causes in you so you can give it to him. Starting now. Deal?”

  She leaned into him, got up on her toes and whispered, “Chace. I’m fine.”

  “Baby –”

  “Except I need a burrito. Stat.”

  Chace stared at her.

  She lifted her hand and curled it around the side of his neck.

  “Two days ago,” she said softly, “not knowing where he was and the state of him, I was not fine. Now, he’s messed up but he’s safe and I know where he is so, I promise, honey, I’m… fine.”

  She held his gaze as he tried to read hers.

  Then she stopped giving him time and stated, “Feed me. If you don’t, all the way to Rosalinda’s, I’m explaining the entirety of the history of Angel, the vampire with a soul given to him by gypsies as punishment for him killing one of their own. This history will range from Buffy, The Vampire Slayer through to Angel, his own TV show. I’ll also add my opinions on why they should never have cancelled Angel. I’ll tell you now, this is multi-part and doesn’t all have to do with the fact that David Boreanaz is hot. And, if you delay, I might even have time to get into why I think Joss Whedon should be recommended for sainthood.”

  She had her moment.

  Now she was fine.

  So Chace dug into his jeans, pulled out his keys and beeped the locks.

  Faye grinned.

  Chace bent his head and touched his mouth to hers.

  They heard a short honk of a car horn and they both turned their heads to see Sondra and Silas in the Wrangler driving past, Sondra giving them a wave.

  Faye waved back as Chace reached around her to open her door.

  He closed it after she climbed in.

  Then he rounded the hood, folded in and took his woman to have a meal with her family.

  * * * * *

  She was finding it even though Chace was going slow, gentle, loving the feel of her, the smell of her, the sounds she was making.

  But he knew by the noises, the way her body was shifting under his, the way she was tilting her hips with each stroke to get more of him and the fact that she wrapped one leg around his ass and pressed the inside of her other thigh against his hip that it was building.

  He slid his lips from her neck over her jaw to take her mouth in a deep, slow kiss as his hand found her arm, slid down and wrapped around her wrist to pull it from around him. He twisted his hand, linked fingers with hers then pressed their hands into the bed, also moving so his forearm would take his weight.

  He kept kissing her, thrusting deep but sweet and slow as he moved his other hand to find her arm and pull it from around her. Sliding his hand down to hers, he shifted it to her side, pressing her hand flat against her skin, gliding it up, in, up then, his hand over hers, he cupped her breast with it.

  His thumb moving hers, he rubbed it tight over her hard nipple

  And he got it. Her hips jerked, she gasped against his tongue, her leg tightened around his ass and she came.

  Fuck, he loved that about her. Fast and hard or slow and sweet, she found it with just his tongue, her nipple and his cock.

  Sometimes just his tongue and cock.

  He moved faster, kept kissing her, thrusting harder and she took him, tipping up for him, giving him all of her as she kissed him back until he thrust deep, stayed planted and poured himself inside her as he groaned down her throat.

  Fucking magnificent.

  When he came down he found she was running the tip of her tongue along his lower lip, something he liked, something he liked to do to her, something he taught her.

  Then again, he’d taught her everything.

  She was his in every way she could be, his in a way most men never got a shot at.

  His.

  Yes.

  Fucking magnificent.

  His tongue gently pushed hers back into her mouth so he could kiss her deep, slow and long before he let her mouth go and trailed his lips back to her neck.

  She’d wrapped her arm around him again and she moved her foot that was in the bed in order to wrap her leg around the back of his thigh.

  Their hands were still linked in the bed beside her.

  He’d fucked a lot. He’d also made love. It couldn’t be said there weren’t women he’d cared about that he’d shared quiet moments like this with, as close as they could get.

  But none of them felt like Faye. None of them smelled like her. None of them tasted like her. None of them curled their fingers between his quite as tight. None of them felt nearly as sweet wrapped around him, their soft bodies pressed under his, taking his weight. None of them, after taking her, made him feel clean and like everything was right in the world as long as her body was in his bed.

  Not one.

  Not even close.

  “So, debriefing way late, dinner with your family went good…” he paused, “both times.”

  He muttered this against the skin of her neck, felt her body
give a soft jerk of surprise under his then he heard a soft giggle escape her throat.

  That felt good. It sounded good. Like everything was right in the world, just because they were together in his bed, even when everything was not.

  She’d give him that if she was twenty-nine or seventy-nine and he knew that right down to his soul.

  He lifted his head and looked down at her to see she was smiling.

  “Maybe for you,” she replied. “I found it annoying.”

  “Just so you know, I get a second, I’m hiding the scissors,” he informed her.

  “That actually didn’t happen.”

  He grinned and dipped his face close. “Faye, you’re lying.”

  Her eyes shifted side to side before she muttered, “Well, if it did, I blocked it out.”

  They came back to him when he stated, “That I believe.”

  “I’m the middle child,” she began to defend herself. “Liza and Jude always ganged up on me.”

  “That I believe too.”

  “So, if I were to wield scissors, it was probably necessary. Self-defense.”

  “That, sorry to say, darlin’, doesn’t jive.”

  She rolled her eyes and muttered, “Whatever.”

  “Baby,” he called softly and when she looked back at him, he told her quietly. “Told you I’d love ‘em.”

  Her eyes went hooded, the tip of her tongue slid out to lick her lips then she whispered, “Good. I’m glad.”

  He’d seen her tongue so he dropped his head to retrace its path.

  When he lifted his head, her eyes were still hooded but the look on her face was entirely different. A look he was coming to know. A look he liked.

  “You want more, baby?” he asked gently.

  Her teeth came out to bite her bottom lip briefly before she let it go and whispered, “You have to go to work tomorrow.”

  She lost her mind when he had his mouth between her legs. Even just coming, it’d take him fifteen minutes, she’d come just as hard or harder and he’d still get decent shuteye.

  Worth it. Absolutely.

  He bent his neck, kissed her earlobe and in her ear, ordered in a whisper, “Go clean up. Come back, I’ll give you more and eat you.”

  Her head turned slightly so her lips were at his neck even as her three limbs convulsed around him and her fingers laced with his tightened.

  “Yeah?” she whispered.

  Fuck, he was still partly hard inside her, just came and his dick still twitched at that one, breathy word filled with want from his girl.

  “Yeah,” he whispered back.

  “Slide out, Chace,” she breathed and slowly, he slid out.

  Slowly, she slid her lips up his neck.

  Change of plans. Eat her until she found it. Then fuck her until he did and hopefully she did again.

  He kissed her shoulder and rolled off.

  She gave him a small, semi-shy grin then hustled her ass to his bathroom.

  When she came back, not yet completely comfortable with her nudity in front of him, she was wrapped in his robe that was on a hook on the back of his bathroom door.

  His mother bought him that robe post-Misty. Somehow when she was over, she’d discovered his old one was gone, this being because Misty, in the beginning, had taken to wearing it. So when her shit went, his old robe went too.

  Another woman had worn the robe Faye now wore. He didn’t like that and made a mental note to get rid of it and get another that was just hers.

  She left it on when she crawled into bed.

  Which meant he got to take it off.

  This he did ten minutes later.

  Ten minutes after that, after he’d made her come, he was back inside her to find it himself.

  And just like Faye always did, she found it again too.

  Chapter Fourteen

  He Was Gone

  Chace was outside the Station putting the crate with Malachi’s books in the back of the Yukon when his phone went.

  He slid the crate in, straightened out of the truck and grabbed his phone.

  The display said, “Faye Calling”.

  He hit the button and put it to his ear.

  “Baby.”

  “He moved his fingers and toes!” she screeched in his ear.

  Chace dropped his head and smiled at his boots.

  That morning, he’d gone for a run, come home, dragged his girl out of bed and into the shower then he’d taken her to La-La Land. They got breakfast while Faye filled Sunny and Shambles in on all things Malachi. He left her on the sidewalk outside La-La Land with a kiss. He was going to his truck and drive to the Station. She was walking the two blocks to her place to change then go to the store to get Malachi treats and last, to the hospital.

  He’d separated from her a little over two hours ago. After a briefing from the boys that coincided with the two he had from Deck the day before, he’d asked the interns to modify their search to include missing siblings. Then he’d taken care of some business and now he was on his way to the hospital to check in and get Malachi his books.

  He was doing this because the kid had nothing. Those books, the way he had them organized, meant something.

  So Chace was going to take them to him.

  “They said he ate all his breakfast even though they had to help him and he’s been awake all morning,” she told him. “He hasn’t spoken yet but when I walked in he smiled at me.”

  She said this like her favorite movie star walked off the red carpet, picked her up in his arms, carried her to his limousine and drove off into the sunset with her.

  “Great, honey,” Chace muttered.

  “They’re moving him to a normal room now. But they say they’re only keeping him another day,” she stated.

  “Karena is meeting with your parents as we speak, Faye.”

  “I know, Mom called and said that’s why they’re not here. Is that going to go okay?”

  “Yes.”

  “Sure?” she pressed.

  “Yeah, baby, I –”

  He stopped speaking because he felt a nasty prickle on the back of his neck. There was a presence with him. Not a good one.

  His head came up and he saw his father walking his way.

  No.

  Shit. Fuck.

  No.

  “Chace?” Faye called as Chace stared at his father who was staring at him.

  He turned, lifted a hand and slammed the back to his truck, assuring her, “It’ll go fine.”

  “Is everything okay?”

  She read him instantly even on the phone. He wondered, distractedly, if it was that obvious or if that was how far he’d let her in and he decided it was both.

  “Yeah,” he lied, shifting around the side of his SUV. “I’m comin’ to you now. Bringing his books.”

  “I don’t think he can hold them yet.”

  “Maybe not but he’ll want ‘em.”

  She was silent a second then he got a quiet, sweet, “Yeah.”

  “Chace,” he heard his father’s terse voice call as he yanked open his door.

  “Gotta go,” Chace muttered into the phone.

  “Oh, right. Okay, see you soon,” Faye said in his ear.

  “Chace!” his father clipped.

  “Who’s that?” Faye asked.

  “No one. Gotta go, honey,” he whispered, angling up into the truck. “See you soon.”

  “Soon,” she whispered back. It was hesitant. She knew he was lying since someone was calling his name. It sucked doing it but he disconnected quickly as he tried to pull the door closed.

  This didn’t work because Trane Keaton was standing in his door hand on it, firm and strong, holding it open.

  Chace’s eyes went to his father.

  In the many jokes life had to play on him, it saw fit to make him look like his father. Same height. Same build. Same hair. Same eyes. There was barely any of his mother in him, even though she was blonde and blue-eyed. He got what he got from his father. He’d heard it fro
m his father’s cronies since he could remember.

  Spitting image, Trane.

  So Chace knew in thirty years, he’d look like his father.

  Straight, lean, the strong features and good looks he’d been fortunate to be endowed with hardly faded. He was the kind of man whose looks enhanced with age, then, as that advanced, grew interesting, still retaining the handsome, the strong, the vital.

  If Trane Keaton was another man, Chace would look forward to this and appreciate his father gave him good genes.

  Instead, he dreaded a lifetime of looking in the mirror and remembering his father.

  “You’re not returning my calls,” Trane accused, his voice hard, his face angry. He was pissed he had to make the trek from Aspen. Pissed his son didn’t do his bidding. Pissed to see Chace in jeans, a shirt, sweater, coat and boots with a badge on his belt folding into a Yukon when he should be wearing a five thousand dollar suit folding into a BMW.

  “No, I’m not,” Chace confirmed then ordered in a cold voice, “Step back.”

  “I need to speak to you privately and immediately.”

  “You aren’t gettin’ this, Dad, but that is not gonna happen.”

  “You aren’t getting this but that is not going to happen.”

  Jesus, he was thirty-five and the man was correcting his fucking English.

  “Step back,” Chace growled.

  “You live with rednecks, Chace, but you don’t have to sound like them,” Trane returned, voice superior and fuck, but Chace hated that and Trane talked like that all the time.

  “Got somethin’ to do, step back.”

  “Personally, I blame Jacob Decker. I should have put a stop to you spending time with him when you both were at school. Your mother wouldn’t hear of it. Now I hear he’s back.”

  Chace’s body went solid.

  He was making a point and not the usual one.

  Deck hated Chace’s Dad. Trane Keaton returned the favor.

  Deck won a full scholarship to the private school Chace attended but he didn’t come from money. His father was an electrician. A skilled trade but not acceptable in the life of the Aspen Keatons. It didn’t matter that Deck had an IQ of one fifty, a certified fucking genius. He was not good enough for Chace. When Deck didn’t go on to cure cancer or help the government create space age weaponry but used his superior reasoning and higher intellect to do shit that was a little fucking scary, Trane felt this was proof positive he’d been right all along.