Allison started to wrap my hand in gauze while she spoke.
“Cedric…that man…Nate…he was my ex-boyfriend. We broke up months ago as soon as I realized he had a serious drinking problem. He was a good person for a long time,
taught
music
at
Berkley
and
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everything. I had no idea he was an alcoholic until the very end of our relationship. He hid it well from me for most of the time we were together. One night, he came home drunk and hit me and that was the last straw. I never wanted to see him again and I never did after that. Tonight was the first time I saw him since that night almost six months ago. I opened the door without checking, because I thought you were early.”
Allison shook her head, crying and repeated, “I thought it was you…I thought it was you.”
My heart was breaking as more tears fell from her eyes. I wanted to touch her, comfort her, but resisted. To think that I had something to do with him gaining access to her tonight made me physically ill.
“Did he…do anything to you?” I asked.
I needed to know.
She sniffled. “He forced himself on me, but only kissed me and groped me, but 300/727
he wasn’t able to do anything more. You came in right when he was…about to, though. I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t here, Cedric.” It made me sick that he even got that far. And to think, I sat there and witnessed some of it through the window first hand before I realized she was actually being assaulted.
Allison finished wrapping my hand and kept her hands on mine when she finished.
The will I had to resist her moments ago disappeared as I took my hand from her grip and wrapped it around her shoulder pulling her into me with my forearm.
Her head leaned against mine and I just held her there and closed my eyes, listening to her heart beating rapidly against my chest. She must have been able to feel mine too, because it was absolutely racing.
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We stayed like this for about five minutes before I pulled away to look at her.
She looked up at me with those beautiful green eyes and I noticed a small bruise on the ride side of her face and pushed back suddenly.
“That fucker hit you too?” I seethed.
“Yes. Right before you walked in,” she said never looking away from me.
“Mother fucker,” I said, taking my good hand and gently caressing the area.
My feelings were so strong for this woman. It hurt me so much to see her physically harmed.
Allison closed her eyes as I held her face with my hand and rubbed my thumb gently across the bruise.
“I am so sorry this happened, Allison,” I whispered.
“Thank God you were here. I can never thank your mother enough for sending 302/727
you tonight. And I’ll never be able to repay you,” she said.
My emotions were running wild and I pulled her head back toward my chest, holding her there.
I didn’t know if I could ever let her go tonight. She had been through hell, but she still looked so incredibly stunning, even with mascara running down her cheeks and a bruise on her face.
Looking down, for the first time, I realized she was wearing such a hot little outfit and wondered if she had dressed that way for me. But instead, she got Nate showing up. That thought made me sick all over again.
After many minutes passed while I held her head to my chest silently, listening to her heartbeat, she looked up at me with those beautiful green eyes again and we continued to stare into each other. But this time instead of pulling her face back into my 303/727
chest, I placed my hand on her chin, pulled her mouth straight into mine and buried my tongue down her throat.
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CHAPTER 17
ALLISON
Lying in Cedric’s arms felt like home.
He was cradling me as we both tried to process what had happened with Nate. I had expected to get close to him in some way tonight, but the circumstances that got us here, were far from what I could have ever predicted. His saving me from Nate’s advances forced
a
quicker
and
more
intense
connection.
As he held me in his arms, I thought about how much this man’s mere existence had consumed my mind over the last two months.
I had imagined being touched by him for so long, but never could have predicted exactly how amazing it felt actually being 306/727
this close to him. I couldn’t quite understand my unusual obsession with him that began from that very first time I laid eyes on him at the diner. We haven’t even been together for any significant amount of time, but I feel so attached to him, like he was always mine in some way. But that’s the problem…he isn’t.
I wanted so badly to kiss him, but couldn’t muster the courage to make the first move. I closed my eyes and prayed that he wasn’t turned off by what happened tonight and that he understood that Nate was a distant part of my past and not a reflection of me.
His heart was beating against mine and I looked up at him. I didn’t say anything, but the voice in my head silently willed him to kiss me.
Please kiss me.
We stared at each other for what seemed like minutes and then he gently put his warm hand on my cheek. I thought he 307/727
might pull me close to him again, but this time he pulled my face into his and our lips smashed together.
I immediately opened my mouth and let his warm tongue slide into my mouth, blasted by the heat of his intense breathing.
At first, he kissed me slow, alternating between burying his tongue into my mouth and kissing me softly on the lips, his teeth gently brushing against my chin.
I wanted more.
I opened my mouth wider and kissed him harder and fast. He immediately reacted and grabbed my face and kissed me harder too, plunging his tongue as far in my mouth as it would reach. Our tongues danced roughly and when he moaned, the vibration sent shivers throughout my body.
He stopped kissing my mouth abruptly and moved his lips down to my neck kissing me gently, but stopping just short of my cleavage. This felt so good, but I licked 308/727
my lips missing the feel of his mouth on them. I wanted his mouth everywhere and closed my eyes, relishing every warm breath on my body.
I wanted him to go lower onto my breasts, but he immediately worked his way up my neck again but this time his kiss was rougher. Our lips met again and I returned his kiss feverishly, grabbing his shiny, thick hair running my fingers through it as I pressed my mouth firmly into his.
As our tongues circled one another, his hot mouth tasted like sugar and wine.
The taste mixed with his musky scent was driving me mad. The heat of his chest pressed against mine was too much to bear. I sighed into his mouth as we continued to kiss hard and he responded with a louder moan that I felt at the back of my throat.
I had never wanted anyone more in my entire life and felt like I was about to lose it.
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I pulled back never turning away from his electric blue eyes, which were now darker with want. Breathing heavily, he continued to hold my face and stare at me.
My feelings were too strong. I had to do this. I had to know. It was killing me.
“Cedric,” I said, my voice raspy. I could feel my armpits sweating.
“Yes?” he whispered, smiling softly at me.
“Your girlfriend…where is
she?” I asked, clearing my throat.
Cedric’s face turned beet red, but his eyes never moved from mine. He shook his head back and forth as if to snap himself out of a trance. “What? What do you mean?”
“Your girlfriend. Karyn. Karyn Keller.” Cedric moved back suddenly as if taken aback by my knowledge of her name.
The sudden absence of his touch and the seriousness of his expression scared me.
Was he mad at me for asking?
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“What?
How…how…what
about
Karyn?” he asked, looking confused and a little furious at the mention of her name.
“I saw a picture of you with her in the newspaper,” I said.
“The paper? What?” His eyes squinted in confusion.
I nodded. “Yes…in the gossip section.
It was taken a few days before Thanksgiving at some fundraiser.”
He turned away from me as if to process something and then closed his eyes for a moment, opening them and looking back up at me.