Forbidden

Chapter 21

Shane's POV-

I made us some tea and poured her a bath with bubbles. I escorted her to the bathroom as she turned to me, her eyes pleading with me not to leave.

“I won't.” I tell her. Her hands slowly unbuttoned my shirt as I looked at her. I reached up to grab her hands and stop her. She was now crying silently.

“I should have known you wouldn't...” She says.

“It's not that.” I tell her and then hold her to my chest as she cried into me. “Just let me take care of you.” And she pulls away from me suddenly calm and looks me in the eye and nods. I unbuttoned my shirt, then undid the knot at the back of her now ripped halter dress. I let the piece of clothing fall down to the floor as I examined her body for any scrapes or bruises I fell to my knees when I saw a bruise darkening on one of her ribs. I tenderly fingered it and lay my head on her stomach hugging her to me with my hands on her hips. I kissed the bruise tenderly as I stripped her of her underwear. I looked up and saw her head leaning back a glistening tear being shed and her breath catching. I slowly got back up as I found another bruise on her shoulder and I kissed that one tenderly as well while I unclasped her bra. I let her get in the soaker tub and settle in while I jumped out of my underwear and got in, behind her. I took the loofah and began to soak her shoulders and back with suds and water. She lay into me and wrapped my arms around her. I found myself no longer able to contain my emotions. I was able to hide the fact that I had silent tears falling down my face by sitting behind her but now, the heaving of my chest was giving me away. The last thing I wanted to do was be the weak one in all of this when I should be her rock. I couldn't forgive myself for not being able to protect her any better.

Devon's POV-

I felt Shane begin to shake behind me and realized something wasn't quite right. Well, nothing was right from the get-go but something was wrong. I turned to find him on the verge of massive sobs. With what had happened, we were both so focused on me that I never took into account if he had suffered at all through this attack. I quickly got out of the bath, wrapped my robe around me and then pulled him to follow me. I wrapped a towel around his waist and he sat down on the ledge of the tub hunched over, his face in his hands.

“I'm so sorry I wasn't here.” He tells me.

“What?” I said almost at a whisper. “But you were.”

“I shouldn't have left.” He says softly. I stood in front of him, rubbing his shoulders and upper back, whispering “It's okay. I'm fine.” over and over again. As he calmed, his arms found my hips and pulled me in closer to him as his face pressed against my stomach. I held his face against me, running my fingers through his hair. I held him like this for what felt like minutes until I felt his hands start to rub up my waist, his face now buried into my womb, he began to stand. I let my arms cascade over his shoulders until they land on his biceps, our faces but a few inches apart, watching our eyes communicate with one another, trading off on our mixed emotions. I could feel my breathing getting heavier as my need to feel him all over me became overwhelming. I know he could see it in my face. It was equally written on his. I took the skin on his pecks in my mouth as I kissed him and began kissing down his torso. I felt the growl building inside of him through my lips and the rippling effect I had on the muscles of his body as they tensed accordingly to where my kisses landed. I felt his hands reaching for me, to bring me back up to face him and so I abide.

“Let me help you see how you're not to blame for any of this.” I whisper on his lips.