Ravenous - Helen Hardt Page 0,74
something to him.”
“He’s been doing a lot to help himself,” I said. “Through therapy and all.”
“No, this was different. Someone else is there with therapy. This was something he found. He took an active role and noticed something didn’t belong in the space. It probably has nothing to do with anything, but it helped him. I talked to Mel about it on the phone before dinner. She thinks this could be huge and that maybe we should let him take a more active role in what’s going on.”
“He’s ten.”
“I know, and Talon and Jade would probably never allow it, but Mel thinks it could bring him out of his shell. It already has, sort of. He smiled today, Bryce. He actually smiled.”
Marjorie’s grin lit up her whole face. Warmth surged through me. Those poor boys—Dale especially, who’d taken the brunt of the abuse to spare his little brother. Had my father done anything to them? I had no way of knowing. He’d died before the boys had been found, and as far as I knew, he hadn’t been in the Caribbean during that time.
I’d never know.
All I knew was that we had to put an end to this once and for all. For all our sakes, especially the boys’.
“What can Dale possibly do to help?”
“Little things, Mel says. We can ask his opinion on stuff. Obviously no one wants to put him in any danger, but he needs to feel like he’s a part of this, and today he did.”
I smiled. “You’re amazing, you know that?”
“Me? It’s Mel’s idea.”
“I mean with Dale. You’re just as much a parent to him right now as Talon and Jade are. You’re going to be…”
An amazing mother someday. She would be. She could be to Henry. She and I loved each other, so why hadn’t I been able to say the words?
“I’m going to be what?”
I gazed into her chocolate eyes. “You’re going to be well and thoroughly used before this night is over.”
I lifted her in my arms and carried her to my bedroom. Then I walked into the attached bath and turned on the shower. We undressed quickly and stepped in, letting the pelting warm water soothe the aches from digging.
She closed her eyes as she pulled the band out of her ponytail and set it on one of the shower shelves. “Man, that feels good.”
I inhaled, letting the steam from the shower infuse me. Yes, it felt good. Amazingly good. I pulled her to me, our slick bodies sliding together. Her height made her the perfect fit against me, the perfect yin to my yang. I didn’t kiss her, didn’t try to fuck her, though my dick was more than ready. Just held her, felt her warmth against me, inhaled the steam, and relaxed.
Relaxed.
How long we stood there, I couldn’t say. The water gradually morphed to lukewarm, and I grabbed a shower pouf and lathered both of us with my woodsy gel. When we were thoroughly clean, I turned off the water and handed her a dry towel.
“That was amazing,” she said.
“Nothing like a shower when you’re sore and dirty,” I agreed.
“No. I mean, yeah. But I was talking about just holding each other, you know?”
I smiled. “I know.”
“Not that I didn’t want more.”
“I did too, but we have all night in a clean, dry bed for that.”
“Last one there’s a rotten egg.” She threw the towel on the bathroom floor and ran into the bedroom.
I laughed. “You used to say that when you were little.”
She returned my laughter. “I never stopped!” She leaped onto the bed, her dark tresses a tangled disarray around her shoulders and chest.
She looked beautiful.
I joined her on the bed, and she snuggled into my shoulder.
“I love you, Bryce,” she said softly.
“I love you too, Marjorie. So much.”
Chapter Forty-Two
Marjorie
The first rays of sunlight streamed into the strange bedroom as I awoke to Bryce tugging on one of my hard nipples with his lips and teeth.
My hair was a dry and stringy mess pasted to my cheeks and shoulders, and I needed to rise soon to see to the boys and their breakfast.
Oh, but his sweet mouth on my nipple. His thumb and middle finger played with the other one, and for a moment I couldn’t decide which felt better, his mouth or his fingers, and then I stopped thinking altogether. What did it matter? It all felt amazing.
My hips began rotating of their own accord, and the lips of my pussy tingled as the tickle inside