Charity For Nothing: The Virtues Book III (25 page)

She was beautiful, laid out in my bed on the black sheets, hair fanned out around her head, a golden halo; my personal angel. She held onto my shoulders, her eyes for mine, her voice a plea that was soothing to the ear as she begged me to make her come again. I obliged her, I couldn’t deny her, and with every panting breath, I think I was falling even more in love with her.

I slid my hand between us, teased her clit, and lit the match that sparked the inferno inside of her. Her pussy clenched around me, hot and wet, milking my cock until I just couldn’t hold back anymore. I came with her, sparkles and little white flits of light taking over the edges of my vision as synapses overloaded.
Jesus
she was fucking amazing. Beautiful, warm, caring, and everything I needed right now. An anchor in the light, a chain to follow out of the dark and self-loathing.

I collapsed on top of her and gathered her close, her slender arms going around my shoulders, pulling me down on top of her, holding me even closer as we panted together, our heartbeats pounding from the rush that we found in each other’s bodies. Her lips found mine and kissed them softly and I withdrew from her body, shuddering at how sensitive I’d become. I lay beside her, and pulled her tight against my chest and swore, that I’d never let her go again. That I’d work on me, and work on making us a thing, because I wasn’t sure, after having this taste, I would ever be able to go back to doing the alone thing without imploding.

Charity had quickly become a need in my life that I just never expected.

Chapter 31

Charity

We slept, close and warm in each other’s arms, which was a feat considering how high Nothing had the AC up in his house. Sometime in the morning, a mechanical sound woke me. Or maybe it was Nothing, who’d gone stiff beside me.

Men’s voices filtered through the front of the house and Nothing bolted upright, reaching into the bedside table’s drawer and drawing a pistol. I froze.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. The gun making me uneasy.

“Someone’s in my yard,” he said. He pulled on a pair of jeans, setting the gun down on the nightstand to do it. I stared at it for several heartbeats and jumped when he snatched the firearm up again.

“Stay here,” he ordered. As soon as he was out the bedroom door I scrambled for my gym bag and pulled on a pair of shorts and a loose tank top, forgoing a bra or panties. I needed a shower, so as soon as things were sorted, I would be handling that.

I found Nothing standing in his front doorway, gun hanging limp and forgotten in his hand. Outside, men worked to offload a foreign piece of machinery off the back of a giant flatbed truck. Towards the front of the flatbed, near the cab of the big rig, a tree sat, the ball of roots wrapped in burlap.

“What’s going on?” Nothing called out to one of the men, confused.

“That Charity behind you?” the man called.

Nothing looked back over his shoulder and frowned, but I was grinning, “Yes! I’m her, are you Bobby?” I asked.

“Sure am, sorry it took me so long to get out here, I had to do some digging through the assessor’s office to find out where the utility lines are buried. They’re on the other side of the driveway, so we should be good to go. Is this a bad time?” he asked, glancing between Nothing and the gun in his hand.

“Bad time for what? What are you doing, bro?” Nothing tucked the gun into the back of his waistband and I smiled.

“Faith called Bobby for a favor for me,” I explained.

“Favor? What favor?”

“It’s a lemon tree,” I said and wrapped my arms around his waist. I kissed the back of his shoulder, “It’s Katy’s tree,” I murmured against his skin.

One of the men called out and Bobby turned, “Got the tree spade all ready to go, should only take about an hour to do this, you good?” he asked Nothing, who was standing there a little shell shocked I think.

“Good?” he asked, staring in disbelief at the tree on the back of the truck, “Yeah, good, we’re good…” he said and Bobby gave him a nod, turning and striding back down the driveway.

Nothing twisted and raised an arm and I ducked, tucking myself into his side.

“You did this?” he asked.

“Yeah, it was Bobby’s idea to bring a tree as old as Katy would be, though. I can’t take credit for that.”

“I can’t imagine what this cost you, Baby…”

“Nothing, I mean, it didn’t cost me anything… Bobby wanted to do it.”

He leaned on me heavily, as if the wind had just been knocked out of his sails and I smiled, kissing his cheek.

“A lot of people love you,” I observed and he just shook his head, mystified. We stood in his doorway, letting the air conditioning cool our backs as the Florida heat swirled in front of us, and watched the installation of the new tree. It took minutes with the giant tree spade machine, but then Bobby and his crew took the time to take up the sod around where the old tree had been and lay it in front of the new one so Nothing wouldn’t have this giant bald spot in his lawn. That’s what took the real time. When it all was done, Bobby came up to the porch again, smiling proudly.

“What do you think?” he asked and turned to look at the lemon tree, standing proud in the spot in Nothing’s yard that the old one had resided in before the driver had taken it out, long before I’d ever resided here. The only giveaway that anything had been there was the sad, lonely ring of bricks that’d been left behind. Let’s face it; I was a sucker for a rescue in any form, and right now, this felt like one.

“It’s beautiful,” I said with a smile, while Nothing stood mute. I don’t know if it was a loss for anything to say, or if he were emotional, or what. His face certainly gave nothing away.

“I don’t know what to say, man.” Nothing scoffed, “I’m just… I don’t know, I’m speechless.”

Bobby’s face split into a wide grin and he held out a hand. Nothing grasped it and they pulled each other in for one of those manly hugs, slapping each other heartily on the back.

“I can’t thank you,
any of you
, enough for this.”

“Just try not to let this one die, eh?” Bobby pulled a folded piece of computer paper out of his back pocket and handed it to me with a wink. “Care instructions,” he said and I smiled.

“I’ll do my best,” I promised and with a backwards wave, he went back up the driveway to oversee the removal of the heavy equipment. Nothing pulled me back into his side and I cuddled there, comfortably.

“You’re incredible, you know that?” he asked.

“How so?”

“You seriously did all this, even after I treated you –“

“Shush,” I said and he looked down at me, raising an eyebrow, “It seemed like the right thing to do,” I shrugged, “So I did it.”

“Well thank you. I think she would love it. I know that Corrine would have…” he fell silent, his mixed feelings playing out in a war of expression on his face. I hugged him around the waist and looked up at him.

“Let’s grab a shower,” I soothed, changing the subject.

“Then what do you want to do?” he asked.

“I don’t know about you, but it’s been ‘go, go, go, go, go’ since I got here. I would love a lazy day in bed having sex, oh, say, two or nine times.”

“Hmm, not sure we need a shower for that if we’re just going to go and get messy again,” he observed.

“Right, but that’s half the fun, isn’t it?” I asked.

“Good point,” he smiled, and it was a genuine smile, one that warmed me from the inside out.

“So how about it?” I asked.

He kissed me as an answer and swung the front door shut on the outside world. I wrapped my legs around his hips and his hands on my ass, he carried me back to the bedroom. He set me down on the bed and returned the gun from the back of his waistband, to the bedside table.

“Is that really necessary?” I asked and he looked me over.

“Yeah, I’m afraid it is. The guys, however many of them, that were waiting for you and the one that took you back at the hotel, they’re in the wind. Somehow they got tipped off before the Captain and your sister got there. Better safe than sorry, Baby.”

My libido cooled a degree or two.

“Oh. Thank you for telling me.”

“What?” he asked, my face giving me away.

“Did they kill him do you think?” I asked softly, and he gave me a sad sort of little smile.

“That’s club business, he won’t ever come after you or hurt you again, that’s all you or I need to know.”

“You sound so sure of that.”

“I trust the Captain, and my brothers.”

“Even after they held back that information?” I was genuinely curious and he nodded.

“Yeah, that was different,” he said.

“How?”

He looked thoughtful, “It’s hard to explain, honestly. There are certain things that are unshakeable in this life. Them hiding what Corrine was up to behind my back, I get why they did it. Does it make me happy? Not at all. Does it cast some doubt? On some things, yeah, but not on the really important stuff.”

“The men who took my sister being more important?”

“And you, Baby. They’re an outside threat. Let me ask you something, you and your sisters are at a club, right?”

“Okay,” I agreed, listening to his scenario, relishing that his hand had found its way to the top of my thigh, a warm weight full of promise against my skin.

“Say Faith and Hope start arguing.”

I laughed a little, “Not hard to imagine, okay, go on…”

“Out of the blue, some random drunk bitch comes up and tries to start shit with Faith, what happens next?”

“Hope would probably smart off to the bitch, and put her in her place,” I said.

“Right, but she was just fighting with Faith a second before,” he said.

“Right, but Faith is Hope and my’s sister, we get to say shit to each other, some hooker in a club doesn’t.” I said and Nothing smiled.

“Exactly.”

“Same principle, huh?”

“Exactly the same. When the threat’s over, we’ll go back to our inner dealings but until then, there’s a job to be done. The stupid shit, and really, it’s all stupid shit, is on hold until then. When something like this is in our face, it makes us appreciate each other all the more.”

“Like family,” I intoned.

“Some family is related by blood, but sometimes, chosen family is a bond that’s stronger. Fuck knows, I cut ties with a lot of my blood relations when they had a fit about Corrine and I still, to this day, don’t regret that decision. It’s a little ironic now.”

“How so?”

“Pretty sure my folks would have loved you, nice college girl, goals in mind, studying medicine,” he smiled and tucked some of my hair behind my ear.

“Corrine wasn’t like that?” I asked softly.

He shook his head, “It wasn’t that she wasn’t like that, Corrine just didn’t have a calling, not like you or me. She didn’t know what she wanted to be, other than a wife and mother. She was phenomenal as the latter. I couldn’t have asked for a better mother to my child. Just turns out she wasn’t so awesome at the first.”

That weight of sadness was back, dragging Nothing’s shoulders down, but I was grateful he was
talking
about it. Even if it was just to me. He was fulfilling his promise, sure, but he was also, every time he talked, letting some of that weight go. I could see that his grief would always be a part of him, but it didn’t have to be the totality of his existence. I was relieved that he seemed to be seeing that for himself now.

“Hm, thank you,” he said, shuddering as if coming awake after a long silence.

“For what?”

“Sticking it out, being here now, mostly for listening and not judging.”

“You’re hurting,” I said softly, “It would be pretty shitty of me to judge you knowing that, wouldn’t it?”

“Mm,” he nodded, “When you put it like that, yeah, I guess so.”

“Did you ever think that maybe, just maybe, the other guys just couldn’t deal?”

“How do you mean?”

“I mean, for three
years
they’ve watched you languish, knowing what they knew, afraid to tell you, and all the while holding it in and watching you spiral further and further down into your grief… I’ve only known you a short time, and insane attraction aside,” I shifted, straddling his lap so I could look into his eyes from a scant few inches away, “
I
hurt for you, I can’t imagine how the lot of them were feeling about it. I can imagine, a lot of those feelings translated to frustration and I know when I’m frustrated, it translates fairly easily to anger…”

“Smart girl,” he murmured, hands smoothing up my ass, under my shirt so he could touch skin. I closed my eyes, relishing the touch.

“Like that?” he asked, voice husky with desire.

“Very much,” I whispered.

“Hmm, me too.”

He pushed my shirt out of the way and fastened his mouth over one of my nipples, teasing it with his tongue. I shifted, grinding myself against him until we both reached that fever pitch where it was all we could do to get rid of our clothes and join together in a frenzy of need and mutual heat.

As he was last night, so he was this morning, tender, careful with me and,
dare I say
, loving. He moved inside of me with a singlemindedness towards bringing me pleasure, with no obvious thought or care towards his own. It wasn’t something I’d ever really encountered before and it upped my desire for him all the more.

I held his hair back from his face, so I could see him clearly, as he moved above me and begged him, when he’d held me on that precipice for too long, “Nothing,
please?
” and it was like my plea was music to his ears, his eyes drifting shut, head turning so he could kiss my palm.

“Touch yourself for me, Baby. I wanna see,” he murmured and I let my hand drift down between us, teasing my clit gently with my fingertips.

“
Oh, god,
” he groaned and surged into me that much harder, hitting all the right points. I gasped and arched, coming around his cock in a tight, pulsating, rhythm. Nothing cried out and jerked, and I felt his dick twitch in counterpoint as we fell back to Earth together. He leaned down carefully over the top of me, and kissed me, a slow, languorous kiss that melted me into the dark sheets.

He felt just so damn
good.