Thorns & Oranges

At What Cost?

Chapter Twenty-Four

I opened my eyes and watched him as he got up. "What, no cuddle time?"

That smile I only saw on the rarest and 'intimate' occasions was still stretched across his face as he disappeared into the bathroom only to reemerge a few seconds later without a raincoat on and a towel in his hand. As he passed the stereo, he turned down the volume and switched the station to classical.

Classical.

The sound was so unlike anything I'd heard before. I'd never really been a fan of classical music so as I listened to the strange notes as he walked across the room, I couldn't help the frown that appeared on my face. The melody seemed so unlike him but at the same time, an exact match as he sauntered without a care in the world.

"You're a cop pretending to be a gangster and you listen to classical?"

He collapsed on the bed next to me and pulled my one leg further apart so he could clean me up. No preamble, not even a questioning look to see if I wanted him to. He just did it. Exactly like he'd done everything since the moment I met him. It was then I realized Rey lived by no rational rules. There was no outline; he did what he wanted with an added air of superiority no one could match.

"I like classical." He looked up from what he was doing and smirked at me. "And you like classical." He sounded so sure of himself that it was insulting.

I shook my head. "I hate classical."

"Well then you're about to like it." He peeled the covers back and covered us both up. "Trust me."

"How..." My question was cut off as the towel was moved away and his hand replaced it. "Oh no. I'm not..." He kissed me again and that heavy feeling in my bottom half started building up again. "Rey." I turned my head so if my eyes were open I'd be looking at the ceiling and let out a breath. He moved closer to me, his side fully against me with the obvious evidence of excitement pressed against my hip. He moved one leg between mine, making it so my limbs were further apart.

"Now..." he murmured against my skin, stilling his hand between my legs. "We need to get something straight."

"Right this second?"

"I'll start again when you admit to me that I like you." I kept my eyes squeezed shut and shook my head. I wasn't going to give him that. I wasn't a hundred percent sure it was true even after he come here to stop me from doing the stupidest thing ever. "Look at me, Oranges."

I opened my eyes and turned my head so I was facing him. I was struck, yet again, with how perfect he looked to me. Even with his hair going in multiple directions from where I'd run my fingers through it and how red his mouth was from me kissing him, the fact that he was the most handsome gangster/cop wasn't lost. "What?" I said, trying to remember what he said.

He wasn't happy with that so he tried to jerk his hand away from me but mine instantly wrapped around his wrist, keeping it in place. No. I wasn't going to let him pull away from me.

"Tell me."

I stayed quiet for a couple of heartbeats, thinking it over as his command came back to me. "You like me."

His hand went back to resting on me voluntarily. "Which means?"

I breathed out. "Rey..." He rubbed a few times and then stopped, making me shutter and press against the back of his hand. "Why are you torturing me?"

"Because I need you to understand something."

"And what's that?"

"I care about you. I wasn't lying when I said it and I still do."