Larry swallowed too hard to pretend he wasn’t worried. He should be worried because I was pissed and my back hurt so much that I could barely walk. Yet, I pretended to be at the top of my game. Like I learned in roller derby, never let your opponents see your weaknesses.
I didn’t even back out of the house. Instead, I walked out with those bears in my hands until I was on the driveway and Dylan stood next to me.
“I’ll drive you into town,” he said, wiping his bloody mouth. “I’m sorry he hit you. I hope the Johanssons do kill him.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I can’t believe those old fucks jumped me. I thought I was better than that.”
“I was very disappointed in you too,” I teased, limping now. “Where will you go?”
“I’ll stay at a friend’s house until I find a place. I assume you want to go to your boyfriend’s house.”
“Thank you for helping me,” I said, standing next to his Harley.
“I’ll never been able to think of you as a sister, Lark. I just can’t.”
“We’ll be friends then.”
Dylan smiled before grimacing and touching his bloody mouth. “Are you taking those bears with you?”
Glancing down at my hands, I threw them both on the driveway. As I watched them shatter, I was really saying goodbye to this part of my life. Good riddance to all the bullshit, I was a new Lark now. From this day on, I was the muse Aaron saw when he looked at me.
Chapter Twenty Eight - Aaron
The moment I saw the red mark across Lark’s face, a little part of my humanity died. While she entered the house and tried to explain, I heard only part of her words. The ones about who hurt her and who needed to bleed.
Rage like I’d never felt before surged through me until I could barely breathe, let alone think. I needed to hit something. No, someone. The urge to hunt down the fucker who hurt my woman was too intense to deny. I hungered for revenge.
Until I stared into Lark’s terrified eyes and my breath caught. She was in a panic. Balled up in front of me like a frightened child, she waited for my rage to erupt. A part of me, deep under the rage, realized she thought I was going to hit her.
Unable to speak calmly, I stormed from the room and to my gym. The bag felt my vengeance in a way I couldn’t deliver on the fucker who deserved it. I bashed my fists against the bag until I worked off the edge of my anger. When I felt more in control, I returned to find Lark in the exact spot I’d left her. She looked too afraid to move. She even flinched as I knelt in front of her.
“It’s okay,” I soothed.
“I’m sorry.”
“You did nothing wrong.”
“Please, don’t go over there.”
“I won’t. Do you want to go sit on the porch?”
Shaking her head, Lark whimpered, “I want…”
When she didn’t answer, I caressed her cheek. “What do you want, my muse?”
“I want you inside me,” she whispered, her arms wrapped tightly around her body as if for protection. “I need you to be mine.”
“I am yours. I’ll always been yours.”
“You belong to your temper right now. It’s like Raven was before she left me.”
“I’ll never leave,” I said, tugging her gently to her feet. “Let’s get you cleaned up in the shower and I’ll show you how I’m yours.”
Finally, a little smile emerged on her frightened face. “I stood up to Larry. I even made him bleed.”
Smiling tightly, I knew I was grinding my teeth. I needed to make the bastard bleed, but Lark wanted me to calm down. Even in the shower with her pale skin soapy under my fingertips, I couldn’t stop grinding my damn teeth. Almost as if I would explode in rage if I didn’t hold my jaws tight.
Lark was happy though. When I paused soaping her and stared at where a nasty bruise was forming on her back, she wiggled her butt at me and grinned. Sharing her smile, I tried to focus on her as she leaned against me while I teased her nipples.
Despite her hunger, I could only think that if Lark was Cooper’s girl then Larry would be dead. My friend wouldn’t stand down. Nothing would keep him from killing the fucker like he killed the bastard who hit Farah. Instead of protecting my woman, I was letting the bastard walk. Tomorrow, Larry would be strutting around as if he hadn’t a care in the damn world. No way was that happening, yet Lark wanted me to back off.
“Oh, Aaron,” Lark moaned as if an hour earlier she wasn’t beaten by a man twice her size.
Turning to me, Lark stared into my eyes and I knew. The wait was over and she needed me inside her. My little muse stepped on the side of the tub, reached up to my shoulders, and lifted herself to meet my hips.
“My pixy climbs like a monkey,” I teased as she pressed down and I filled her.
“This is forever.”
For the first time since pounding the bag, I stopped grinding my teeth. I’d get my revenge later. For now, there was only Lark under the hot water.
“Fuck me harder,” she whispered, wrapped around me. “I feel like you’re holding back.”
“I’m still pissed and I don’t want to take it out on you.”
Lark pressed her forehead against mine and stared into my eyes. “Never hold back. I’m tougher than I look and I want all of you.”