CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

          THE WOMAN STIRRED, THOUGH HER EYES STAYED CLOSED AS SHE SNUGGLED FURTHER INTO HIS CHEST. Rio's eyes fluttered open and he looked down at her lazily to see she was still peacefully asleep. Gently, he reached for her face and brushed a strand of dark hair from her cheek before his fingers trailed down her bare shoulder, down her arm and back up again. He watched as goosebumps erupted on her skin in the wake of his touch.

The dark sheets were pooled at their waists and he glanced towards the clock momentarily to see it was ten in the morning. The warmth of her skin against his own made him release a soft sigh.

Lucy's eyes shifted behind their closed lids and his hand fell to her waist and he rubbed lazy circles on her skin. He watched her a moment longer until she murmured something incoherent before her eyes slowly blinked open. They were still filled with sleep when she met his gaze.

"G'mornin'." he muttered, soft smile on his face.

His face was adorned by purple bruises and Lucy furrowed her brows as she reached up to brush her fingertips over them carefully. He watched her do so and kept his face still as she touched his face.

"Does it hurt?" she wondered sleepily.

"Nah," he grabbed her wrist and lowered her hand to his chest after pecking her palm. "i've had worse."

The woman nodded to herself and reached down to grab the sheets to cover herself to which he chuckled with amusement. Her cheeks tinted pink and she buried her face in the crook of his neck.

"What? You going all shy on me now, ma?"

"Shut up." she muttered, her warm breath hitting his throat.

Rio let out an amused huff and grabbed her chin, careful for the healing cut, and lifted her face to his own. The woman scrunched her nose at him before their lips met, soft and warm. His other hand moved down the curve of her spine and when he reached the back of her thigh, he hoisted her up towards him so that she was straddling him.

Lucy squealed and gripped onto his shoulders, the sheets falling away from her chest as her nipples brushed against his skin. 

The kiss was a mess and she melted into him as the sheets pooled around both their bare waists again. He hissed against her mouth when her core brushed against his hardening cock. He had a firm grip on the back of her head, fingers tangled within her messy dark locks, while the other gripped her ass and pushed her further into him.

Rio dug his fingers into her skin and she let out a whimper when he twitched against her sensitivity between her thighs.

"Hmm?" he hummed, tilting his head slightly to bite her earlobe. "Wanna go again? Want me to make you feel good some more?"

Lucy moaned in response and scratched her nails over the back of his head. She clenched around nothing and tried to press her legs together around him and he pulled her lobe between his teeth once more and tugged. They were flush against each other and there hadn't been any thoughts in her head from the moment she awoke. 

"Are you gonna use your words, ma?"

"Shut up," she repeated, eyes clenched shut when he pinched the skin of her ass and she ground down on him.

"Such a filthy mouth." he tutted, leaving open mouthed kisses on her neck. "Gonna use my cock to shut those pretty lips up. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Fuck, Rio." she cursed and he grinned against her skin. 

Her hands moved back towards his chest before she took hold of his shoulders as he reached down between them to grab himself and slid it along her core. He coated her wetness around before pressing the tip inside and she let out a shaky breath in anticipation.

Lucy sunk down a second later, done with the teasing and bottomed out. Rio let out a hiss and held onto her hips with an almost bruising grip. His head fell back against the headboard and she chased his movements with soft kisses against the eagle tattoo on his throat. 

"Fuck, Lucy." he grunted as he looked at her with hooded eyes. 

She traced the outlines of the tattoo with her tongue and he could come right then and there. Lucy whimpered when he moved her hips in circles when she kept still. Hips bumped against each other as he slowly began to thrust up into her. His hands squeezed her flesh, absolutely drunk on the feeling of her mouth on his throat and her core wrapped tightly around him as he moved them together.

"Feels so good." she breathed as she picked up the pace. 

There was cool air coming from the creaked open window to their left and the sounds of the city life below them went on deaf ears. Their sounds of pleasure mixed together and she could not stop the whimpers that escaped from between her lips. 

One of his hands still gripped her hips tightly while the other crawled up her back and tangled its way between her hair as he grabbed the back of her head. He pulled her face away from his neck and brought his lips back down onto her own. 

Lucy let out a particularly loud moan when he hit just the right spot inside of her and he pulled her lip between his teeth. "You like that? You like it when I touch you like this?"

"Jesus fuck." she cried, clenching her eyes shut.

Her walls tightened around him and he pushed her down onto his cock in quicker thrusts as he rutted up into her, his own breathing laboured. He could feel her heart thunder against his chest as her breasts brushed against his chest. The sounds she made only urged him further on and he could feel her clench that indicated she was close.

"That's it, mama." he grunted. "I got you."

"Oh, god." she whimpered, every thrust send shocks of pleasure through her body. "Please, please ... please."

Rio reached down between their bodies and pressed the tips of his fingers against her clit, rubbing quick circles on the nub. Lucy dropped her forehead against his as her breath hitched in her throat, brows pulled together and eyes clenched shut.

"Fuck, look at you taking me so well." he breathed, as his nails dug into her hip. "Keep doing that, sweetheart."

Lucy held her breath as she felt her orgasm approach rapidly and she tried to keep up with his movements. She bit her lips harshly when it hit and her movements sputtered to a stop, but he kept a steady pace. The woman cried out and not soon after did his movements get messy as he chased his own high right after her own.

Their breaths mingled together and he tugged her head back by the hair gently and looked at her reddened face as she came down from her high. He brushed his thumb over her lip, where she had bitten herself, and offered her a lopsided grin.

Lucy leaned back slightly and winched at how sensitive she was with him still inside of her and rested her palm agains hist chest. His eyes raked over her frame shamelessly before he glanced down at where they were still joined and he bit his lip with a glint in his eyes.

"What?" she muttered, doing everything in her power not to hog the sheets and cover herself again with the way he was looking her up and down. He pressed his tongue against the inside of his cheek and shook his head with a grin.

"You're my girl, right?" his dark gaze met her own as he tilted his head to the side slightly. "Just letting you know I don't share."

Lucy let out an amused huff and shook her head. "I'm taking a shower."

          THE HALLWAY WAS DARKER THAN SHE REMEMBERED AS SHE REACHED THE TOP OF THE STAIRS OF HER APARTMENT COMPLEX. It wasn't crawling with cops, there was no police tape and when she caught sight of her door it looked exactly as it had done before he had kicked it down.  Her downstairs neighbour had even greeted her when she entered the building as if she hadn't heard anything that evening. 

Lucy stood there for a good fifteen minutes before she had gathered the courage to plunge the key into the lock and look inside.

The woman had no idea what to expect and it made her even more nervous. Now, as she stood before her door she realised she really was never going to think of this apartment as a home. Even if Richard was no longer able to terrorise her or other tenants. It was always going to remind her of what occurred within that apartment. 

"Lucy!" The woman jumped and turned around swiftly to see Annie and Beth make their way up the stairs. "You're alive!"

The brunette took in her friends as they shot her a smile. It hadn't even been a week since she saw them last and Annie had cut her hair in a bob and dyed it platinum blonde. Beth reached her first and pulled her in a tight hug before holding her at arms length.

"You look so much better." she admitted as she took in her healthy looking skin. "Did you recover from your flu?"

"Yeah," she nodded as she adjusted her weight to her other foot. "I did. Sorry for not replying to your texts. I was really out of it."

"Uh, apology not accepted." Annie crossed her arms over her chest. "You hung up on me last night I called you and then blatantly ignored me."

"Leave it, Annie." grumbled Beth. "She was sick. Last time you were sick the world almost ended."

Annie held up her hands in defence and Lucy let out a soft chuckle at their bickering before the youngest said. "Can we come in? We have so much we need to discuss. Like important stuff."

Lucy hesitated before nodding her head and turning her back toward them as she twisted the key in the lock. Her heart was hammering inside of her chest and with a quick breath she pushed the door open that led straight into her living room and it was not what she had been expecting.

There was no blood, no glass and no sign of a struggle. It was completely spotless from the looks of her. Her coffee table had been replaced by one that looked almost exactly the same. The rug she had underneath it had been replaced with one that was even prettier than the one before and her sofa was different as well. No longer dark green but instead a burned orange that she really liked. 

"Ohh, I like it." said Annie as she dropped herself onto her couch with a grin on her face. Lucy closed the door behind them and placed her phone onto the coffee table as she looked around the room with a bit of doubt. "When did you do all this?"

"Just before I got sick." she muttered. "Needed a bit of a change."

"It's nice." agreed Beth as she sat down beside her sister. "Anyway, this isn't why we came here. We have to talk to you."

"Remember how I called you about gang friend getting arrested yesterday?" asked Annie to which the brunette nodded her head carefully. "Well, he got free last night and he knew it was us!"

"What do you mean he knew it was you?" tried Lucy as she sunk down onto the chair opposite of them. 

"He shot Dean." said Beth as she crossed her arms over her chest. "He showed up at my house late last night and he'd beat him up. He was waiting for me and wanted me to kill Dean and when I refused he just outright shot him in the chest."

Lucy blinked at her friends and shook her head with confusion. "What? What are you talking about? Is Dean okay?"

"He'll live." nodded Beth. "But we're still in danger and I don't think he's going to stop making our lives miserable until we're all six feet under."

The brunette opened her mouth to say something but no words came out, she was for once, speeches at the revelation. Of course she had know he hadn't gotten into a brawl with the feds but she had not expected him to do this. Or maybe she did. He was still a gang leader and she had seen his violent side before. It was who he was. And she could also understand his anger towards her friends after the stunt they pulled but she just hoped he'd let it go. 

She should have known better.

"So ... what do we do now?" she wondered as she leaned forwards with her elbows resting on her knees. 

Her phone buzzed and the three of them looked down at the device momentarily and her eyes widened as Rio's name popped up on the screen. The room fell silent and before she could grab her phone, Annie had snatched it away from the table with wide eyes.

"Why the fuck is Rio texting you about your dinner preferences?"

Oh shit.

sorry for the wait loves. I unexpectedly got my wisdom tooth removed on wednesday and i've only been able to write now without a splitting headache. hope you're all doing well and enjoyed this chapter