“He bit my nipple. Drew blood. Then he flipped me over onto my stomach,” I said, reliving the way his teeth had felt as they bit down into my flesh over my shirt.

“Did he fuck you?” Bear asked, lifting up his head so he could witness my answer.

“He said he was going to wreck my body, tear me apart and send you back the pieces,” I whispered.

Bear growled and pulled off my panties. “What are you going to…” I started, but stopped when Bear pressed the cool washcloth between my legs.

“Did he touch you here,” Bear said, dragging the washcloth through my folds and across my opening, cleaning me of the dried blood.

Of Chop.

I nodded. “With his finger, he scraped me. Inside. With his nails.” Bear dipped his head between my legs and dragged his tongue across my clit and through my folds, pushing it up into my opening and pulling back out again. I started to shake and for the first time in days it wasn’t because I was going into shock.

Or maybe I was.

Trembling because of one long lick of his hot wet tongue across my core and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could remain standing. The heat from the fire and the heat radiating within me was too much. It was too hot. It was too…oh my god, he did it again.

“Holy fuck,” Bear growled. Leaning in again he asked, “Did he touch you here?” Right against my clit as ran the cloth between my legs again, but this time he nudged my thighs apart and reached further, pushing the cloth between my ass cheeks and I winced at the contact.

Bears eyes shot up to mine.

“Just with his thumb and then he tried to use his… he was going to…but he didn’t get far. There was an explosion and then I was in a car or something with a guy name Gus. But it hurt. It hurt so bad,” I admitted. “It was like he was using a power drill on the base of my spine.” Bear lowered himself, his big hands braced on the inside of my thighs, spreading my legs wider to make room for him. I pushed against him, feeling suddenly ashamed and embarrassed, but he didn’t let me.

“Ti, let me see. Spread your legs for me. Open up and let me see what he did to you. Let me take from you what he did and make it better.” Reluctantly, I opened my knees and Bear sucked in a gasp.

“You’re bruised up. But it’s healing,” Bear said, shocking me when again his tongue took the same trail the cloth had taken, first dipping into my folds. I thought he would stop when he got further but he didn’t, he trailed his tongue between my cheeks and lapped over the sensitive bundle of injured nerves, cleaning me in a way the cloth couldn’t.

“Bear, you don’t have…” I said, trying to pull him up by the hair. He swatted my hand away and pressed a kiss over the tight and damaged bundle of nerves.

Everything inside me clenched and the sensation took me by such surprise that I clamped my thighs around Bear’s head, releasing him when he chuckled into my core. I groaned and then clamped my hand over my mouth.

“Did you tell me everything, Ti?” he asked against my clit before sucking it into his mouth. My hips jumped toward him but he held me firmly in place.

“Yes,” I answered, breathlessly.

Bear stood up suddenly and I fell back into the chair in surprise. “Then we’re done here,” he said, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, his voice raspy and scratchy. He doused the bonfire with water from a red beach bucket and shot me a look of complete disgust before heading across the grass, back toward the garage.

He left me in the dark, alone, half naked, humming in the places his tongue had been, and wondering what the fuck just happened.

He hadn’t healed me at all. He hadn’t made me forget.

No, if anything, he’d just broken me more.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Thia

Mosquitos the size of small birds buzzed around my ears like small vultures circling the air above its intended prey. I don’t know how long I sat out there, but by the time I figured out how to move and trudged back to the garage, Bear wasn’t there.

He didn’t come back that night, or the next morning. It was for the better, anyway. The door knob had been replaced at some point but it wasn’t locked anymore. I wasn’t a prisoner. He wasn’t keeping me there anymore.

He was telling me to leave.

He WANTED me to leave.

He didn’t have to tell me twice.

I hated Bear. And not just because he left me in the dark without a backwards glance but because I didn’t want to hate him. I didn’t want to like him either, but like an idiot I let down my guard and invited myself to be his joke once more.