Page 54 of Sunrises & Salvation

HUNTER

I ’m sweating. My body is damp with perspiration, and a headache is blooming behind my eyes.

The bright light creeps behind my eyelids, and I squint harder to fight it.

I groan, hoping someone will take pity on me and take away the sunburn that I feel on my face and shoulders.

Apparently sunscreen doesn’t work as well if you keep getting in the water, duh.

I feel a cold hand touch my face, and I moan in pleasure. It feels so nice against my heated skin, and the fingers gently massage until my face is cool and covered in… aloe vera?

I try to sit up, but then the same hands that were massaging my face softly press against my chest to push me back down onto the couch.

“Don’t get up yet, let me finish putting this on you.” Adam’s voice is close to my ear, his warm breath coasting over it and causing goosebumps to break out over my skin.

His hands go to my chest and shoulders next; I’m soaking up the feeling of being pampered. I could lie here all day and let him do whatever he wants to me.

A chuckle rumbles and I peek my eyes open to see Adam’s smiling face staring down at me, with so much love in his eyes I could burst.

“Whatever I want, is that right?” he murmurs, his voice sultry, and I have to swallow to clear my throat.

“Did I say that out loud?”

“Yes, you did, and if you two are about to have sex on the couch, at least let me leave the room first,” Kian says.

I dart up too quickly, and my head cracks against Adam’s.

He drops back onto his heels with a hiss, holding his nose in his hands.

A drop of crimson flows out between his clasped fingers.

“Shit! Hold on!” I say, panicked, my heart racing and chest constricting.

I grab the blanket that’s pooled around my legs and hold it up to him, moving his fingers out of the way to hold the blanket to stem the blood flow myself.

His eyes are pinched in pain, and I bite my bottom lip to try and distract myself from my eyes watering.

I don’t know if I’m crying because my head hurts or how awful I feel for hurting him.

“Your hands are shaking.” Adam’s eyes meet mine, a slight sheen covering the blue mismatched irises. His words are muffled by the blanket, but I don’t dare move it. I’ve had plenty of nose bleeds, so I can normally handle it better. It’s different when the person you love is on the other end.

“I’m fine, baby.”

“Ugh, I’m going to go throw up now,” Kian says, and I hear him chuckle as he and Trent walk into the kitchen. Good, I don’t need them in here while I’m having a near breakdown over this.

I keep repeating how sorry I am over and over again, knowing that the words lose their meaning the more they’re said, but there are no other words that can express the depth of despair I feel.

If only I hadn’t sat up so fast, if I had actually listened to Adam and stayed lying down, I wouldn’t have hit him.

“Stop overthinking it. It’s fine, Hunter.”

“But I hurt you,” I say pathetically.

He doesn’t say anything, and I focus my attention on the black TV screen behind his head. Maybe later we can watch a movie, and I’ll make him the best dinner he’s ever had to make up for this.

Adam presses his forehead to mine, and I have to move my hand so I don’t accidentally bump against him.

He doesn’t say anything, and I wait with bated breath.

I wish he would get mad at me, yell or scream or something, so then we can move on.

I’ll be sad for a moment afterward, but I would understand why.

“I love you, baby.” He breaks the silence, his words strong and bold.

A tear escapes my eye and runs down my cheek.

“I will always love you. No matter if you head butt me, burn this cabin down, sink the boat, wreck my car. Whatever you do, you will never, never, make me love you any less. Okay?” I don’t know why I’m crying; all I know is that the despair I feel from his words crashes over me like a wave.

The years I dealt with people taking their aggression out on me really messed me up, and apparently no amount of medication will help.

“I’m sorry,” I say on a hiccup.

“Don’t be sorry, Collins. I know you, and I know your heart.

You don’t have a mean bone in your body.

I just need you to know that as well.” He grasps the back of my neck, holding me in place while he pulls our foreheads apart.

Adam leans in and ghosts his lips across mine, the delicate touch makes me crave more.

More of him, more from him. Anything he’ll give me.

He kisses my upper lip, in that one spot his attention is always on. I don’t know what his obsession with that scar is, but I hope it never goes away.

“I love you, too,” I tell him, chasing his lips when he leans back. I don’t want to be apart from him. I want to sew us together so we never have to be separated, but in a healthy way. Not a toxic way.

His lips connect with mine again, and every time he pulls back for a breath, I swoop in to take more. The hunger for him is coursing through my veins, last night wasn’t enough. I need him. I need to feel his body around me, hear his moans and his cries as I have him the way only I can.

“I need you,” I say against his lips.

“Then have me.” He stands up, and bends over, wrapping his arms around my waist and lifting me up.

His nose has stopped bleeding, but there’s a small trail of semi-dried blood leading down to his mouth.

I attempt to wipe it away with my thumb, successfully smearing it across his upper lip instead of away.

“Let’s get this blood off you first.” I lead him away from the living room, down the hall, and to our bedroom.

I hear Trent and Kian in one of the guest bedrooms, their murmured voices barely making it through the shut door.

Good thing ours is at the end of the hall, or they would be hearing an earful.

When we make it into the bedroom, I guide Adam to sit on the bed. I grab a rag from the bathroom, wetting it to wipe his face off.

“Maybe we should shower first, I’m still covered in dried lake water.” He says when I have all the blood wiped off his face. His mismatched eyes bore into me, heating the blood coursing through my veins until I’m worried I’m going to incinerate.

“Good idea.” I grasp his hand in mine, his large palm swallowing my smaller one. His touch causes sparks to travel up my arms.

I turn on the water as he gets undressed, stripping himself sensually while I stand and ogle at him.

The muscles of his forearms bulge with every movement, and his abs contract when he bends over to pull his shorts off, the tattoos on his leg begging me for a scrap of attention.

The need to bite and kiss him all over is intense.

The marble tile is cold against my feet.

Steam billows out of the shower, and when Adam is completely naked, he approaches me unabashedly, his dick and balls swing gently with every step he takes.

Blue eyes staring down at me, his pink tongue licking over his lips and beckoning me to press my lips against his.

His stubble covers the carved edge of his jaw, stopping right at the smooth expanse of his neck.

Adam’s phone rings from his pants pocket, breaking our loaded silence. I can see the resolve on his face; he wants to ignore it. He’s going to ignore it.

“You should answer it. It might be important.”

“Nothing is more important than you.” My cheeks flush. It’s because of the heat from the water, not from his words.

I wait patiently, cocking my eyebrow at him. When he realizes that I’m serious, he bends over to reach into the pocket on his pants. I see the flash of his puckered, pink hole and my cock twitches inside my swimsuit.

He turns around and his eyes snag on my dick pressing against the damp material. His eyes meet mine, and I gesture my hand toward the still ringing phone.

“Hello,” he answers. I peel the stretchy nylon material over my dick and it rolls, getting tighter around my thighs, and I fight with it to get it all the way down until it falls to my ankles.

“That’s good to hear, I’m glad you called.” His tone is reserved, different from how he sounds when he’s talking to clients. Adam nods a few more times, making affirming noises every so often while he listens to the person on the other end of the line.

“Talk soon.” He pulls the phone away from his face and presses the end button.

“Who was it?” I’m nosey, sue me. But he’s mine, so the least he can do is tell me who it was.

“Danielle.” I shouldn’t have asked; those negative feelings from the past push to the forefront of my mind. The heartbreak and despair I felt when I heard them talking about me through the dorm room door feels as fresh today as it did almost nine years ago.

He hasn’t mentioned her once since we’ve reconciled, and I guess I just thought she disappeared. Or maybe that our friendship was a figment of my imagination.

Adam bundles me in his arms, our naked skin pressing together, sticky from the steam of the shower. His heart pounds in his chest, pressed against mine, sharing one pulse.

“We don’t talk much anymore, but she called because she heard news about my father’s lawyer.

He and a few of their other acquaintances were caught money laundering.

She thought I should know.” He spits the words acquaintances out like it’s vile, acid lacing his tone as he talks about the man he’s only mentioned a time or two before.

“Is he the reason you and Danielle had to…” I trail off, not wanting to rehash the past.

“Yes, he’s the reason me and Danielle had to jump through hoops.

After graduation, I got half of my inheritance.

Way more than I was originally expecting, and I threatened to air out the dirty laundry I had on him.

He didn’t know I was gathering up information on his backdoor deals and the other sketchy stuff he had been a part of while my father was alive. ”

“And now?”