Fighting Conviction by Greer Rivers

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Devil paced as Dr. Layton pulled the stethoscope away from Ellie’s chest and hung it around her own neck. “Except for your knuckles, Devil, there’s hardly a scratch on either of you. From what y’all are telling me, it’s miraculous you came away with only pink skin to show for it. I’d say you’re completely fine, but doctors are at least supposed to say ‘take it easy for a few days.’ It’s in our oath.” She winked at Ellie and gave a warm, reassuring smile that eased the tension in Devil’s body.

He’d known Ellie was okay. The paramedics even cleared her on scene, but Devil had wanted a second opinion and insisted they take her to the hospital. There was no way in hell he’d have let her leave there if she hadn’t been given a clean bill of health.

Jaybird had been a wreck. He and a very pregnant Jules had sat with Devil late into the night while Ellie was overseen in the ER. As soon as the doctor was finished with her, Jaybird hovered, asking her a million questions and not letting her so much as fucking breathe. Devil had wanted to tell him to back the fuck off, but he understood Ellie’s brother was just as worried as he had been.

When he noticed Ellie getting tired from having to convince Jaybird she was fine, on top of the fact that she was already exhausted from fighting for her life, Devil had stepped in. She’d tried to say she was fine, that she didn’t need the rest, but the fatigue in her posture said otherwise. He’d told Jaybird to leave, reassuring him that he could see her in the morning. Whether it was Devil’s clenched fist, or the catch in his throat as he’d told Jaybird they needed time to decompress, for some reason, the man listened.

After Jaybird and Jules left, Devil had to practically pry Ellie from the hospital waiting room. She’d been waiting there with Virginia’s parents, but they’d insisted Ellie go home and rest, reassuring her they’d call when Virginia woke up from her successful surgery.

When he and Ellie were finally on their way back to BlackStone, Ellie coughed and Devil had flipped his shit, terrified he, the doctor, and the paramedics had all missed something. He’d called the doctor the BlackStone Crew had on retainer for serious injuries, or for when Devil was compromised. At the time, Devil was worried both might be true.

“Thanks doc.” Devil shook her hand before walking her out. When they got to the door, he turned to watch Ellie drink a sip of water before triple-checking with Dr. Layton. “You sure she’ll be fine?”

Dr. Layton smiled and followed his gaze over his shoulder. “It’s nice to see you care. Your bedside manner is usually so… detached.”

Devil’s lips tightened as he silently swore to change that about himself. It wasn’t fair to him or even everyone else that he held them at arm’s length. After Draco, the closest man he had in the Crew to call a best friend was Jaybird. And even Jaybird had been the last to know about his feelings for Ellie.

Well, next to last.

He glanced back again before turning to Dr. Layton.

“She’s different, huh?” The knowing smile got on his nerves but he grunted his assent. Dr. Layton chuckled. “I’ll leave y’all be, then. Remember...” She lowered her voice. “Nothing too strenuous.”

Devil groaned. “Goodbye, doc.” Dr. Layton laughed on her way out and Devil closed the door behind her. He leaned against it before scrubbing his short beard with both hands. Finally, he looked up and narrowed his eyes at Ellie.

She sat on Devil’s bed, freshly showered and wearing his T-shirt and boxers. He hadn’t been able to be in his apartment while she’d washed up. His emotions were too raw and he knew if he was alone with Ellie, he’d smother her before the doctor even had a chance to listen to her lungs. After he’d laid Ellie on his bed and given her clothes to wear—despite the fact she had her own just next door—Devil had run to the gym and beaten a punching bag with his bare fists while he waited for Dr. Layton.

But now they were alone and Devil had some things he needed to get off his chest.

“Don’t you ever do that to me again, Ellie. That’s almost three times now I’ve been afraid for your life.”

Ellie averted her eyes and played with a loose thread on his comforter. “I know, Dev. I’m sorry. I should’ve stayed home—”

He was in front of her and lifting her chin in two strides. “No, you don’t know the terror I went through when I realized you were gone. The panic that almost gave me a heart attack when we realized you were at Burgess’s. The way my heart ripped open when the fucking roof collapsed in on that house. You don’t know—”

“I know…” Ellie’s caramel eyes widened with tears and her lip trembled as she tried to look away. “I’m sorry. I get it—”

“No, you don’t get it.” Devil tightened his fingers on her chin to keep her from looking anywhere but at the sincerity on his face. “You couldn’t because… I haven’t told you yet.”

She tilted her head in question. “Haven’t told me what?” She bit her trembling bottom lip and his desperate need for her shot straight to his cock.

Using his thumb, he tugged her lip from between her teeth and bent to meet her gaze. With one hand on either side of her hip, he caged her in before brushing his lips against hers and pulling back to look in her eyes.

“That I felt all those things because I was so scared of losing someone else I care for. Someone I love.” He cupped her jaw with one hand. “Especially before I even got the chance to tell her.”

Ellie’s breath hitched and he took the opportunity to dive in, to drink her in like the water his body was so parched for ever since that damn fire. Adrenaline still raced through him, mixing in with the relief she was safe and alive.

He threaded his fingers into her hair, loving that it was already down so he could twist the tendrils in his grasp. His other hand lifted her ass and she encircled his waist with her legs. Just like everything else about them, their bodies were already so in tune with each other that she seemed to know what he wanted before he had to ask.

With her in his arms, Devil climbed one knee after the other and laid her out on his bed, gently so she wouldn’t be jostled.

He bent to her ear and bit the lobe before growling, “I need to be inside you, Ellie. I need to feel how fucking alive you are.”

“God, yes, Dev. Please, I want you.”

Without wasting another second, he stripped her down completely, tossing the clothes to the side before doing the same with his tank top.

When she lay back against his pillow, he kneeled between her inviting legs. Ellie gulped and he grazed the column of her neck with his fingertips as she swallowed. She reached for him and he intercepted her hand with his before continuing his trail with the other to trace the valley between her breasts. They were already a warm, rosy pink from the fire and desire for him.

“Need to feel your skin against mine.” He blanketed her body with his and whispered over her lips before sucking on the plump bottom one that always drove him crazy. Dancing his tongue against hers, he swallowed her gasp as he teased her nipples into peaks with his fingers.

Leaving one last deep kiss with her lips, Devil dipped down to capture one of her pretty rosebuds in his mouth and his hands curved underneath her soft mounds.

“These…” He sucked a peak into his mouth and swirled around the bud with his tongue. When he’d earned a breathy moan, Devil flicked his tongue over the bud the same way he had her clit, and loved the way she whispered his name as he let the soft mound escape his lips. “These are the perfect size for my hands. When I see you, my fingers ache to tease them into hard diamonds.” He blew at the wet peak, playing out the fantasy he described and rolled the other between his fingers.

Pushing her breasts together until they almost touched, Devil left small nips around each bud, trading back and forth. When he released them, he continued open-mouthed kisses along the outline of her breasts. His fingers pinched her buds and she hissed his name in pleasure underneath him.

She squirmed and dug her fingers into his shoulders before wrapping her legs around him. From his position, her wet heat against his abs promised warmth as she began to undulate under him, no doubt searching for him to fill her.

Ellie trembled and moaned his name into a whine. Knowing she was ready for more, Devil gave her a final wet kiss on each nipple before spanning his hands across her torso and sucking a wet path down her body. When he got to the golden curls between her legs, he dove his nose in and breathed his own shower gel mixed with her natural essence. “I’ve been dying to taste you again.”

He dove his arms under her legs and positioned her over his shoulders before spreading her center with his fingers. “Your pretty clit’s glistening for me, baby.” Using his tongue to trace her slit, he chuckled against her as she writhed and moaned under his attention. When she almost wriggled out of his grasp, he tapped her clit with his fingers and she yelped with surprise.

“Stop moving, angel.” As if his words controlled her movements, she went limp in his hands and he smiled when her fingers held on to the bedspread for dear life. “Good girl,” he whispered and smiled against her pussy as her breaths came in pants.

“Remember, our rooms are soundproof. I want to hear you scream my name.” Devil shifted his elbows on the bed, propped her ass in his palms, and used his hands like a table for his feast. He massaged her entrance with his tongue before he pulled her hips closer to his face so he could pierce his tongue deep inside her.

Ellie called out his name and tugged at his hair in a painful grip making Devil close his eyes as his cock wept from the tip. He swiped his tongue up her center, drinking in her sweetness before laying her back down, taking a finger and pushing it into her tight channel.

“Fuck, baby. I want the first time you come tonight to be on my cock, but I want you to be ready for me more.” He caressed the inside of her pussy. “Although… you’re soaked for me, aren’t you?”

“Yes, Dev, please… I want you inside me. I’m ready.” Her breathy moan went to his cock as she lifted her head to watch him and bit her lip.

He grinned, but shook his head. “Not yet. But you will be.”

She was ready, but he wanted her to be so blissed out when he entered her for the very first time that she only felt pleasure. With that goal in mind, Devil stroked her clit with his tongue at a new speed until her body started to tremble.

She clamped her legs around his head and he slapped her ass to get her to relax, loving the yelp she gave him. He curled his fingertip up to focus where she was most sensitive, ready to hear her scream so he could finally push inside her. Grinding his slacks against the bed, he almost groaned out in frustration at the lack of relief. Nothing else would do at this point except for her tight grip. But he had to wait.

When Devil added a second finger, she squeezed hard on his hair. Little pinpricks of pain from her blunt nails digging into his scalp made him harder. A long moan escaped her and he sucked her clit between his lips before vibrating his tongue against the tight little nub.

“Dev!” At the scream of his name, she trembled around him and he let her ride his face until she collapsed back against the bed. When she finished, her gorgeous face was flush from her orgasm, but her hungry eyes said she was ready for more.

“Dev please. I need you inside me.”

“Believe me, I need that more than you right now.” He stepped off the bed to pull off his slacks and boxers. When he was naked, her eyes went wide and he palmed his cock. “Baby, you mentioned before… I’m clean, but I’ve got condoms—”

She shook her head. “No. I want to feel you. I trust you.”

Devil gave a swift nod. Of course, he would’ve done whatever she wanted, but fuck was he glad she wanted to go skin to skin with him. He rubbed his shaft roughly up and down, spreading the moisture from the tip to help him slide inside her. Not that he needed it. She was already dripping for him.

“Before we do this, I need to tell you…” He climbed over her and settled between her legs. Lining his cock up with her pussy, he dipped shallow strokes at her entrance to soak his shaft in her arousal. He pushed back her hair to watch her face as he tested how deep he could go before he met resistance, making sure he didn’t thrust until she was ready. “I’m so fucking proud of you. You fought tonight. I’m not ready to hear the whole story yet. But I know you fought for your life and goddamn am I grateful.”

He smiled, hoping he was showing her what he felt for her before he said it. “I heard you yesterday before you fell asleep.” Her eyes widened with surprise and her cheeks tinged pink. “I heard you and I should have told you then, too, but you were braver than me.” He brushed his lips over hers before whispering in her ear. “I love you, angel.”

At the same time as his confession, he gripped her hip with his free hand and on the last shallow dip of his cock inside her, he pushed into her tight wet heat. She drew in a sharp breath and he grabbed her lip with his, sucking it in as he stayed still inside her. Her channel squeezed around him like a vise, prompting him to moan against her lips. He’d never been bare with anyone before and fuck, did it feel like heaven inside his angel.

“Tell me when I can move, baby.” His breaths came out in shudders as his entire body fought not to come on the one thrust.

She settled her hands on his shoulders and wrapped her legs around his back before taking what seemed like a fortifying breath of her own.

“I-I’m ready.”

Devil dragged his cock out of her tight sheath before easing back inside her, already holding on to his release by a thread. Ellie moaned his name low and he couldn’t stand it anymore. “Fuck, Ellie, I’m trying to be gentle, but I almost lost you tonight.” He kissed up her neck and whispered into her ear. “I need to feel you come alive on my cock.”

His name moaned on a breath was his only response and he began to move inside her at a harsh cadence. Despite his warning, he gauged her reaction to make sure she wasn’t in pain. Each plush muscle squeezed his cock like a fist as he plunged inside her. Still, she hung on to him, her eyes closed in rapture as she whispered yes under her breath. Her fingers dug into his back as her legs clamped against his ass, helping him keep a swift pace.

His woman was a fucking natural at knowing exactly what he needed. She moved against him, her lithe body meeting his, stroke for stroke. Pleasure rippled down his spine with every thrust, threatening to make him spill inside her too soon, but from her quickening pants he could tell she was seconds away.

Letting go of her hand, but keeping his speed, Devil cupped her jaw before tracing her neck. “One day I’m going to choke you while I come inside you. Would you like that, angel? Being completely at my mercy while I fuck you?”

Ellie’s breath hitched as she nodded before giving him a delicious moan, “Yes, sir…”

“Fuck, baby. That fucking word.” Holding her collarbone, Devil left his thumb in the vulnerable little valley between her neck and her chest and used the angle to his advantage. He pulled back, and pushed into her tight sheath at a punishing speed, working to get that spot deep inside her.

“God, oh, God.”

“Not, God, my angel.” He thrust in and ground against her clit. “I’m your fucking Devil.”

“Dev!”

“Good girl.” His words came out in a harsh breath as her body vibrated against him, choking his cock inside her tightening channel. “That’s it, baby, come all over my cock. Let me feel how alive you are.”

Her body danced against his as she gave in to her release. The bottom of his spine tingled until he lost all the control he possessed. His speed grew slow and inconsistent until he grabbed her ass and tugged her body flush to his, leaving no space between them. Light flashed in his eyes and he was blinded by the pleasure.

“Fuck, angel,” he growled as he came, still dragging his cock in and out as her pussy milked the last drops of his cum. When he was spent, he collapsed over her, barely catching himself before he fell.

He stayed inside her and flipped them over to lay her on top of his chest. As he brushed his lips over her hair, he lifted her head up by her nape so he could kiss her sweet mouth again.

“I don’t think I’ll get over seeing it, you know.”

Ellie peered down at him between the lashes of hooded caramel eyes. “See what?”

He stroked his thumb down her cheek and took a mental picture of the soft, sated smile on her face. The one he was quickly becoming addicted to seeing.

“Heaven, angel. I see Heaven with you.”