Drowning to Breathe by A. L. Jackson Read Free Book Online

let go,” I warned, the demand gruff as I pulled out, the wide ridge of my head just barely hanging on. Then I slammed back home.
    Shea cried out as her walls gripped me tight.
    “Fuck…baby.”
    I pulled in a breath, trying to keep my shit together. A furor of energy lifted high, dipping low, saturating our skin in sweat. Pulsing and pressing, a force neither of us stood a chance to resist.
    And I knew if I ever lost her I’d no longer know how to survive.
    I moved in her.
    With her.
    Neither of us gentle.
    Every touch rough, every thrust and bow of our bodies sharp and severe.
    I slipped a hand between us and began to work Shea’s clit.
    And I could feel it, the way every inch of her tightened, how she started to glow.
    Heat covered us, ripples of energy, this girl a summer storm.
    Fierce and turbulent and beautiful.
    “Come, sweet girl,” I whispered, when I felt her hanging on, like maybe she didn’t know how to let go. I increased the pressure, increased my pace.
    She was staring at me when she came undone.
    Splintering.
    Her focus went hazy, as if she were floating with the stars.
    She took me right along with her.
    We stayed there for the longest time.
    Elevated.
    Absent.
    Present only to each other.
    Finally, I slumped down on top of her. I propped my weight on the bend of my knee and an elbow so I didn’t crush her. I pushed back the mounds of her mussed hair, just needing to see her.
    This girl who was so gorgeous and broken and scared.
    The woman who’d become my responsibility.
    My future.
    Because I’d be damned if I remained a prisoner to my past.
    One I’d never walk away from again.
    I loved Shea Bentley and she loved me.
    It’s where it started and where it ended.
    Nothing before or after or in between mattered.

    “Do you think this is wrong?” Shea’s muted voice broke into the heavy silence.
    Where we lay under the covers in her bed, I pulled her closer. She curled her back into the den of my chest. “What?” I asked.
    The house was quiet and the hour was late. Darkness clung to most of her bedroom. Only slivers of moonlight slanted in from the window.
    “Me being here, finding comfort in your arms, when Kallie is alone.”
    My heavy exhale scattered the hair on her shoulder. I understood her guilt, but I didn’t want her feeling it. “Let me ask you something. If you could be doing absolutely anything right now that would get Kallie home sooner, would you be doing it?”
    “Of course,” she answered without hesitation.
    I pressed a tender kiss behind her ear. “Then I think you already know the answer to that.”
    Shea pulled in a shaky breath. “I hate she’s with him and has no idea what’s happening.” The air hitched in her throat. “I hate I have no idea what she’s going through. What could be happening. Hate I’m lying here, useless to help her. Unable to protect her like I always promised I would.”
    She shuddered and I held her closer.
    “She has no clue who he is, Sebastian. She doesn’t even know about him. The only thing I’ve ever told her was she didn’t have a daddy. I told her it was just her and me and that was all there was ever going to be.” Her voice trembled and rolled. “She has to be so scared.”
    “I know,” I murmured back.
    I let myself imagine what Kallie was going through right then. The quiet terror she must be feeling. Let it wreck me a little more, knowing Shea was imagining the same thing.
    I played with a long strand of her hair. “I trust in my team, Shea. Anthony and Kenny have always been there for me, and they’re going to find a way to set this straight. They’ve never let me down before and I know they’re gonna do everything in their power to fix this. And I’m going to be there every step of the way. Fighting. Giving it my all until that little girl is in your arms. You understand what I’m telling you?”
    It meant I wouldn’t sleep, wouldn’t eat until Kallie was safe.
    She choked. “What if he hurts her? What if