Chapter Fifteen

I hurried back to my mom's apartment building, completely creeped out by what had just occurred. I'd started out with a fast walk that had quickly turned into an all-out run. When I turned the block that she lived on and literally ran into Reid, I nearly let out a scream. He grabbed me by the elbows to keep me from falling backwards and I froze.

"Jesus, Karli, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"I—I, uh, nothing is wrong with me." I caught my breath and looked up at him. "Why would you think something was wrong?"

"Because I get up at 4 am to pee and check on you and you're nowhere to be found. Then I come downstairs to see if you're out here for whatever reason and you come running around the corner like a bat out of hell." I shrugged.

"I just felt like a run." It was easier than explaining what had happened.

"At 4 o'clock in the morning?" He peered at me with suspicious eyes and I nodded.

"Sure, why not?"

"You are so weird sometimes."

"Well, excuse me for wanting to keep in shape." He shook his head and led me up the stairs to the front door. He was completely quiet until the elevator ride.

"Look, Karli, if you don't want to tell me what you were doing, that's fine. I'll trust you since I have no other option. But I still think it's stupid for you to go around roaming the streets in the middle of the night. There are bad people out there." I looked at him, but he wouldn't look at me.

"Do you intentionally say stuff like that so that we'll fight?"

"Stuff like what?"

"'I'll trust you since I have no other option.' What is that even supposed to mean?"

"It means that we could either argue about what you were doing at 4 in the morning or I could just let it go and not fight."

"It's not considered letting it go if you bring it up, Reid."

"I'm not demanding that you tell me where you went. That's letting it go."

"No, you're not demanding anything because I'd tell you fuck off and you know it."

The elevator doors opened and I quickly stepped out, not waiting for him. I got to the apartment door and used my powers to unlock and open the door, not wanting to bother fishing a key out of my pocket. I went to my room and slammed the door, not replying when he called my name. He stood outside of my door for a second before just opening the door. Before he could get a word out I spoke. "Trying to make me feel guilty for not telling you something isn't going to make me tell you. And you shouldn't be trying to make me feel guilty in the first place."

"I wasn't trying to make you feel guilty."

"Yes, you were, Reid," I began, losing my anger, "I don't have to tell you everything that I do, and you shouldn't expect that of me."

"Look, Karli, I know that you've been through a lot with your mom today and I was just checking to see if you were sleeping. When you weren't there I got worried and thought instead of frantically looking for you, I checked to see if you just needed some fresh air or something. I barely get outside the door and you crash into me looking with a terrified expression on your face. God, you make me feel like an asshole for trying to take care of you."

"I don't need you to take care of me, Reid, I'm a big girl, I can handle it."

"No, you can't. You try, God knows you try, but you can't hold it in forever."

"So, what, exactly? You want me to scream and cry because I've had a shitty couple of years? I'm not that girl and if you're looking for her, you're barking up the wrong tree."

"I'm just saying it wouldn't kill you to talk about it."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Yeah, I noticed." He sat on the bed beside me, but I wouldn't let him hold my hand. He gave an exasperated sigh and ran his hands down his face. "I'm bad at this."

"At what?"

"Dating you. I say and do all the wrong things, and it sucks, but I'm doing my best." I looked over at him and really did feel guilty. He was trying, and I was picking fights with him.

Why hadn't I just told him where I'd gone? It would have been so much easier that way. I thought it was strange that I hadn't just told him, but I assumed I was just freaked out by the old shop lady. She knew I was something, but she didn't know what. Then again, maybe she was just bluffing. But I didn't like what she'd said about seeing my death.

I was still in my head thinking about what she'd said when he broke the silence. "Still mad?"

"Yes, but I'll get over it." He smirked at me and grabbed my hand.

"Can I kiss you?" I stuck my cheek out and he kissed it gently. "Thanks." I turned my face and let him kiss me on the mouth.

"I'm sorry," I murmured against his lips. And I really was.

"Me, too." I ran my fingers through his shaggy blond hair, pulling him closer to me to deepen the kiss. God, if he couldn't do anything else, Reid Garwin could kiss; and there was just something in that kiss tonight that made me want more, made me crave it.

He moved to my neck, leaving wet kisses behind before he tugged gently on my earlobe with his teeth. Reid knew it drove me crazy and I felt him laugh when my fingernails dug into his jacket. Curling his hands around my lower back, he held me against his body as I scratched his scalp with my other hand. He knew how to get me going and I returned the favor.

He laid me back on the bed and crawled on top of me, moving from my ear to my neck. I moaned softly and I felt his smile against my skin. I unzipped his jacked and pushed it down his arms laughing at the wide-eyed look he was giving me. He wasn't used to my dominance.

I leaned up to kiss him before grabbing the hem of his shirt and pulling it up enough that I could see his abs. I ran my hand over that porcelain skin and then traced them with my mouth. He took the shirt off the rest of the way and threw it on the floor. Smoothing my hands over his shoulders, I pulled him close to me. Those shoulders just did something to me that was more animalistic than human.

I pulled my own hoodie and shirt off at the same time, biting my lip to keep from smiling when I saw Reid's expression change to one of appreciation.

"Karli, you've grown."

"Well, it has been two years, hon." He looked into my eyes then and brushed a piece of my hair away from my face.

"Do you really want to do this?" He asked it so tenderly and I knew that if I said no, he wouldn't be angry or upset. I knew that if I wanted him to, he'd leave the room and we wouldn't discuss this again. I knew that he wanted me, but he would resist if I wasn't ready.

I'd made the decision long before he'd asked me, and there was no hesitation in my voice when I answered a simple "yes." And it really was what I wanted. As unsure as I was about every other thing in my life including Reid himself and the relationship we were toying with; at that very moment, all I wanted was to feel him inside of me.

I kissed him again as I brushed him through his sweat pants. He groaned into my mouth as I played with him, feeling him grown hard beneath his clothes. He called out my name once and that was all it took. I pushed his pants and boxers down, eager to take him in my mouth. I was met with the salty taste of pre-cum, rolling my tongue around the head of his dick. That was the best thing about having been with Reid before, we knew exactly how the other liked it.

"Fuck, Karli, no one does it like you do."

I stroked the base of him as I took it inch by inch into my mouth. I began a slow rhythm, quickening with every sound he made. Slowing my pace, I rolled my eyes up to look at him. He was looking down at me with a smile, his hands tangled in my hair.

I paused, taking as much of him as I could in and holding him before starting over again. When he was about to burst, he turned me over and pulled my pajama pants and underwear off in one quick motion. He spread my legs and gently settled himself between them. He stroked me gently, before slipping two fingers inside of me. I was already wet and more than ready for him. He finger fucked me fast, working me hard. He knew when to slow and then when to quicken. He knew what he was doing and I appreciated it.

I was teetering on the edge of an orgasm, writhing beneath him when he finally decided to take mercy on me. He aligned his body with mine and pushed inside of me as slowly as humanly possible. I was bucking against him, trying to hurry him, but he held me to the bed.

He grabbed me by the thighs and pulled me towards him until he was fully inside of me.

"Jesus, you're so tight."

"Like I said, it's been two years."

"You haven't had sex with anyone in two years?" I shook my head and wrapped my arms around his neck. "So wait, that means that I'm the only person you've ever had sex with?"

"Yeah."

"Nice." I laughed and kissed him.

"It's not that big of a deal."

"It is to me." He gave me a smirk and grabbed me around the waist, flipping us so that I was on top. "Show me something."

"How about this?" I asked, unhooking my bra and tossing it aside.

"That works," he said, cupping my breasts in his hands. He ran his calloused thumbs over my nipples and they immediately tightened. "Oh, yeah, that definitely works." I leaned down to kiss him, leaving a trail down to his collarbone. I bucked my hips once and gave a seductive smile when he took a sharp breath in. I did it again before I started a pace. I did the slow, fast, slow one that he liked and watched as his eyes roll back in his head.

I loved that I could give him so much pleasure. I loved that my body could do things for him that would leave him calling my name. I loved that when I looked into his eyes, I saw that he was thinking about me and loving every second of it. I loved that after two years, he still knew the special places I liked to be touched. It was like he knew the contours of my body as if he'd burned them to memory.

When he decided that I wasn't going fast enough to suit him, he flipped us over again. Pushing my spread legs towards my body, he drilled into me with everything that he had. As much as this was for his pleasure, this was also about me, and he never forgot that.

I let my fingers wander in tune to his thrusts until I came, screaming his name into the pillow. He came soon after with a whisper of my name.

He collapsed on top of me, catching his breath. I took in the hot scent of his body as I wrapped my arms around him.

"That," I began, breathing heavily, "is why I haven't had sex with anyone else." He laughed and kissed me, rolling to lie beside me. He held my hand and interlocked our fingers. I put my head on his shoulder and we both fell asleep that way.