238. Chapter 238

It takes a few days.

A few days full of blood and full of agony, full of torture.

A few nights full of shower after shower, red rings around the tub, full of tears, full of screaming nightmares.

It takes a few days, a few nights, for Maggie to feel comfortable giving in to Alex’s persistent requests for sex. A few days, a few nights, for Maggie to feel like she’s not taking advantage of the pain of the woman she… loves. Loves. Loves.

They’re laying down and they’re kissing, and it’s the first night since Jeremiah betrayed them that Alex hasn’t wept, that Alex hasn’t tried to drink. The first night she’s making jokes – bad ones, granted – the first night that her eyes are clear, that she slept through the night before.

They’re laying down and they’re kissing, and it’s soft and it’s gentle and it’s loving, Maggie’s hands on Alex’s jawline, her thumbs swiping across her cheeks, Alex’s hands skimming Maggie’s sides, Alex pulling back slightly to ask if her hands can slip under Maggie’s shirt, and Maggie nods, because yes, god, please, yes.

She sighs in time with Alex as her hands traipse up her skin, under her henley, tracing every curve, every contour, and when she breaks their kiss to look up into Alex’s eyes, she knows exactly what Alex wants.

“You sure?” she asks, and Alex licks her lips and nods, because yes, god, please, yes.

Maggie’s fingers tremble as she shifts so Alex is laying next to her, so she can strip Alex’s clothes off, so she can undress the woman she loves, so she can kiss and lick and nip at every inch of her skin.

Alex starts with sighs and whispers of her name, but soon, sighs are becoming gasps, screams, and whispers are becoming moans, ragged pleas.

“Maggie, I… I want…”

Maggie pauses and stares up Alex’s naked body with wide, patient eyes. “Tell me, sweetie. Tell me what you want. Tell me what you need. I’ve got you, Ally. Tell me what you want.”

Alex chews on her bottom lip as she stares down at Maggie, considering, considering.

“I don’t want you to make love to me.”

Maggie tenses slightly, already cursing herself, because she should have known it was too soon, that Alex was still hurting too much, that –

“I want you to fuck me so hard I forget where I am.”

Oh. Oh. Oh.

Maggie’s mouth runs dry and she has to try to swallow several times before she can croak out something approximating speech, and Alex watches her like she’s the most radiant thing she’s ever seen.

“I uh… yeah. Yeah. I can do that.”

Alex’s eyes flash, and her voice drops an octave or two. “I know you can.”

Maggie gulps and crawls up Alex’s body to kiss her mouth, softly at first, then harder, stronger, firmer. Alex moans and grabs up at her hair, at her strong shoulders, at her back, at her ass.

“Maggie, please,” she begs, and Maggie complies, slipping her thigh between Alex’s open legs, staring down at Alex, already panting, as she starts to move.

“Fuckkkk,” Alex whines, and Maggie tosses her head back and bites her lip, because Alex is so damn soaked for her, because Alex is grabbing at her ass, at the back of her thigh, thrusting up as she yanks Maggie down, scratching perfect lines down Maggie’s back as she tosses her own head back into the pillows because fuck, yes, Maggie, god, please don’t stop, please, harder, please, please, please.

“I love you, Alex,” Maggie tells her, because she might be fucking her as hard as Alex is asking her to, but her hand is resting like a pillow behind Alex’s head and her other arm is wrapped under the small of Alex’s back, enveloping her body, holding her, loving her, embracing her.

“I love you, Ally, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.”

She repeats it like a mantra. She repeats it like a prayer. She repeats it like a promise, because she’s exactly what it is.

“Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, Maggie,” Alex whispers, prays, cries. “I love you too, I love you, I love you, I love you.”

She clutches onto her like she is her lifeline, like she is her anchor, like she is her rock, like she is her oxygen, because she is, she is, she is, and when Alex cums from the pressure of Maggie’s thigh between her legs, she brings Maggie’s lips to her own and Maggie swallows the soft gasps, the sudden shudders, the perfect convulsions, that rock Alex’s body, that rock Alex’s heart.

“I’ve got you, Alex. Always and always,” Maggie promises as she kisses every inch of Alex’s face.

And Alex, trembling and satiated and safe, believes her.