Devin-2 (13 page)

“Sweetheart, let me get you home. I think once you get some rest, your head will stop spinning. Come on, baby, in you go.” She sat down and he picked her legs up and set them in the car.

As the door started to shut, he stopped it suddenly and leaned in to kiss her.

The kiss was quick and soft, but she felt it all the way to her toes. For those few seconds, she completely forgot about her head.

He got in on his side and before he put it into gear, he reached across her and pulled the safety belt over her lap. He brushed her breast and she moaned and looked up at him.

Devin’s eyes had darkened to almost black and he looked pained. Before she could ask him if he was all right, he buckled her in and put the car into gear and pulled away.

“Veronica, baby, I’m taking you to my house just outside of Columbus. And if you don’t want to end up in my bed, naked with me inside of you very soon afterwards, I would suggest that you tell me now. I have never wanted a woman like I do you and every time I touch you, the need gets stronger. So, what’s it going to be?” He never took his eyes off the road, but his grip on the steering wheel looked painful.

“I want to go home with you. Austin and Ben are gone, and the house is...

I’ve never had sex before. I’m probably not any good at it anyway. But I thought you should know, you know, just in case that makes a difference to you.” She had to clear her throat three times before she finally got it out.

Nothing was said for a few miles. She shifted on her seat and wondered if there was a way for her to open the door and just tumble out into the oncoming traffic. She thought it would be better than sitting here in the dead silence of the car. She had never told anyone she was a virgin. Austin knew, of course, and more than likely Ben, but no one else. She wondered if he thought she was some sort of freak.

“Are you on any sort of birth control?” His voice sounded all husky again and she shifted again in the seat. The things he did to her with his voice, she could only wonder what he would do with is body.

“Yes. I never...that is to say, the thought of sex was...I never...sex was never really a big deal before. I’ve had...hummm, offers before, but the thought of a man touching me sort of made me...I would throw up mostly.”

“You want to throw up when I touch you, Veronica? When I have your nipple in my mouth or my body pressed to yours, do you feel sick then?” She glanced at him. She wondered if he was making fun of her, but didn’t think he was.

“No, you don’t make me sick. I do feel things when you touch me—things that I know as desire and maybe a need, but I don’t really understand them. I’m not stupid. I know what sex is and how all the parts fit together, but reading about it and doing it I don’t think are the same.” She felt her face heat up and reached to roll down the window for a minute.

“No, they aren’t the same. And I know you aren’t stupid—you are far from it. This sickness, does it have anything to do with your father? I don’t know what happened that day, but I’ve seen enough cases and talked to Damon enough to know that your dad wasn’t as saintly as he professed.” Ronnie looked out the window. No, her father was not saintly—more evil than anything. She wasn’t sure what to tell him, but if he wanted to have sex with her, she needed to let him know. It may not have anything to do with him, but she wasn’t sure what it would do to her once she and Devin started it.

“If we could please wait to get to your house, I’ll tell you everything. If you want to be with me in that way, then you should know what kind of person I come from.”

“All right. But, Veronica, it’ll matter little to me. I’ve already fallen in love with you.” She didn’t say anything. He would probably change his mind soon anyway.

~CHAPTER 13~

“I remember my sisters’ third birthday like it was yesterday. They were both dressed in bright pink dresses and their hair was tied back in pink bows, as well.

Margo had on white stockings and Holly’s were white with tiny hearts on them.

She had gotten the heart ones because she had made our father come fastest for two nights in a row.”

“Christ,” Devin hissed. They were sitting on the couch in his living room.

There was a fire in the hearth and the room had been tastefully decorated for Christmas. She looked at his tree and continued.

“I had just finished clearing the table while they had all gone into the living room. My mother was already out; it was late enough in the day that she had had plenty enough to drink. So it was just the three of them.” Devin pulled her into his arms and she leaned her back against his chest.

“When was this and how old were you? I know that your sisters were born in November, but your file didn’t have anything much about your birth.”

“I was four. My birth date is May twenty-sixth. The reason there are no records is because I was born at home. I was told that my mother went into labor with me while my father was at work and by the time he got home, there I was.

He told me that since neither of us was dead, there didn’t seem to be a reason for him to call in a doctor. I’m not sure if that’s the real reason, but it’s the only one I know.

“The table was cleared and I was putting the things in the trash when I heard them. This was different than the other times they had sex. I went to the door just as he, my father...they were all naked and my sisters were on either side of him.

He was inside of them with his hands, stretching them, he called it. I suppose that was what he was doing. Suddenly, he picked up Margo and put her on his lap. She had done this before and when she saw me looking at her from the door, she stuck out her tongue. The next instance, she was screaming. He had...he impaled her on him. I don’t think they had ever gone that far before.” She was crying now. Not for her sister, because for as long as Ronnie had lived there after that day, her sisters had never complained about what he had done. She was crying for the lost innocence that day—both theirs and hers.

“Go on, baby, tell me the rest. What happened next?” She felt his arms tighten around her and she held his arms to her.

“When Margo stopped screaming and was only crying, he rolled her to her back and pumped into her. I couldn’t see them at that point, but I could hear him. He kept telling her over and over how tight she was and that she was his special angel. When he threw back his head and shouted out, he saw me. I didn’t move, I couldn’t move. He stood up when he was finished and turned toward me. I didn’t want to look, but I glanced down at his thing—his penis. It was covered in blood. I...I had to grab onto the wall before I passed out while he ran his hand along it, spreading the blood over the end and it got hard again. He lifted Holly by her hair and guided her head to him and she licked him clean. I didn’t make it to the bathroom before I started throwing up.” She was sobbing now. In all the years since she had left home, she had never thought of that day and now it came rushing into her like a missile. Devin turned her in his arms and held her close to him, rubbing his hand up and down her back while he kissed her head. She wasn’t sure what he was saying, but it was soft and kind and she felt it in her heart.

She must have fallen asleep because when she opened her eyes, she was in a bed with the covers tucked tight around her like a cocoon. She had to struggle for several minutes to get up. Her pants and shoes were off, but her shirt, bra and panties were still on. There was still blood on her shirt and bra from yesterday so she opened the massive closet on the far wall and pulled one of his shirts off the hanger and pulled it on over her panties. The others pieces of clothing she carried with her.

She found him in one of the rooms downstairs. He was on the phone when she walked by and he waved her inside. She didn’t know where to go so she sat on the chair across from him. He hung up a minute later.

“How do you feel? I bet you’re starving. I was going to order us something, but if you’d rather go out, we can do that too.”

“No. If you don’t mind, I’d rather not go out. Besides, I don’t have anything to wear. I hope you don’t mind about your shirt. Mine was covered in blood.”

“No, I don’t mind. In fact, wear whatever you want of mine. I love seeing you in my shirt all tousled like this.” He pulled his chair back from his desk and patted his lap. When she was seated in his arms, he continued. “Are you really okay?”

“Yes. I’m sorry. I’ve probably ruined the mood for you, huh?” She leaned back against him and looked around the room.

It was a beautiful study/office. She could see herself working in a room like this. The walls were covered in shelves and most of them were filled with books.

And pictures—of the family she had met and some of them she had not. She looked at the picture of the older man with Devin’s mother and recognized Devin in the man. She leaned forward and picked it up.

“It’s my grandfather. This was his house. He let me buy it from him before he died. He let each of us buy one thing that he treasured most. I got this house, Spencer got his car, let’s see, Byron got his art, and Nicky bought the Grant building from him. Damon bought his home in France. And Jamie bought his boat. They were things he treasured because he said he had spent time with our grandmother with these things and wanted us to earn them. He always made us earn everything, including our educations. I miss the old buzzard.”

“I take it he was your father’s father. You look a great deal like him. What were their names?” She set the picture back down on the shelf and looked at him.

“My grandmother was Elizabeth Marie Damon Grant and my grandfather was Spencer James Devin Grant. Devin was his mother’s maiden name and he was named for her and then me for him. My mother said I even act like him too.

He was a doctor of law. And a Circuit Judge. He died five years ago, just after my grandmother. It hurt them both badly when my dad died. Gramps always said a man should never outlive his child.”

“So who are Byron and Nickolas named for?” Ronnie got up to take a closer look at the pictures now that she had some history.

“Smart girl. My father is named for Gram’s side of the family. Her mother’s maiden name is Nickolas and my dad’s middle name —only the one—is Byron.

Nickolas Byron Grant. Come here, Veronica.”

She looked at him over her shoulder and shivered. His eyes had darkened again and she felt the heat from across the room. When she didn’t move, he stood and moved toward her. Watching him walk was like seeing what sex looked like if it moved.

His body was hard and strong. She wanted to lean into him and never pull away. The closer he got to her, the stronger her pulse picked up, and she could feel her body reacting to his. When he ran his finger slowly down her arm, she could feel the heat of his touch through his sleeve she had on.

“You asked me if you ruined the mood and I wanted to tell you that you didn’t. You only changed it. I want you more now than I did before. You have endured so much and I can’t believe my luck to have you here with me.”

“You still want me? After all of that, you still want to have sex with me?” She knew that she sounded surprised by his declaration, but she had fully expected him to turn her out.

“No, baby, I never wanted to have sex with you. I want to make love with you and to you. I want to feel your body under mine. I want to taste you and make you mine. I’m in love with you, Veronica.”

She didn’t know what she had expected him to say, but that was not it. He loved her? How was that even…

“You don’t need to say that to have me stay with you, Devin. I want to be here with you.”

He picked her up in his arms and sat down with her across his lap in one of the wingchairs by the window. Then he adjusted her around so that she was straddling his hips, much like she had been when he had made her come in his car. Only this time, she was nearly naked. She tried to pull his shirt down to cover herself and he stilled her hands.

“I love you, you stubborn woman. I love you with all my heart. I want you right now, in an hour, and will probably in the morning too. But I do want you.

But if at any time you want me to stop, I will, and I won’t hurt you. I won’t make you feel bad for it. All right?”

She nodded and leaned in to kiss him.

~~~

Devin held himself back from the kiss. He didn’t want to frighten her or make her feel like he was going to hurt her. He had spent the better part of the last three hours on the phone with first Damon then Morgan.

Morgan had been raped and sent to prison for killing the man who had done it to her. Randall, the rapist, had kidnapped her from her home and had tied her to a bed in his basement. He had done unspeakable things to her, raping her with not only his body, but with whatever he could find to use on her. He had also sold her to his friends when they came by. When the police had come to arrest him, Randall had gone to get a gun to kill her then probably himself. Morgan had broken her hand several times by bashing it against the wall and the headboard of the bed to pull her hand free of the handcuff. When he came through the door, she overpowered him and killed him with his own gun. Had not the police gotten there a few minutes later, she would have turned the gun on herself and had, in fact, had the gun pointed there to do so when a young rookie shot her in the arm to stop her.

“You have to let her talk about it. No matter how hard it is to hear, she needs to get it out,” Morgan told him.

Devin did not tell her the details, but had hinted enough of them to let her know that he was worried about Ronnie. She had also advised him to have sex the first time in a bed. It would make her feel like he cared about her and not the act itself. With that in mind, he picked her up and carried her to his bedroom, the one she had been asleep in.

Laying her down on the mattress, he stood over her and, when she looked panicky, he kneeled down on the bed and smiled at her. He sat on his heels between her legs. His cock was protesting the tightening of his groin area, but he mentally promised it that it would be well worth the wait and a little discomfort.

Without taking his eyes from hers, he ran his hands up her calves then her thighs. Her skin was warm and smooth. Then he remembered something Damon had said. “Tell her everything you’re going to do to her.”