Trusting Love

"If you ever need me, regardless of where you are or the time of day, call me." Trevyn had said and Trev always kept his promises to her. In the year she had known him he had never let her down. Why had she not trusted him? Most of all, why had she not listened to him?

"He is going to kill you if you stay." He had stated the last time she had seen him.

"No," she denied with stubborn defiance. "He loves me!"

"I would never lay a finger on you, not like that." His midnight eyes intent upon her, a look that always ignited something inside her she did not want to acknowledge, the effect on her the same. Her heart missed a beat before racing, a tingle flowing down her spine, curled around her stomach and exploded in delicious fireworks.

That was why she had never listened, his interest in her and her unwanted reaction to him.

Her core creamed at the velvet tone of his musical, molten voice, the heat in her stomach settling on that lusty part of her. Anger flared in her at that, she was not a slut to lust after another man when she was in a committed relationship!

"Mom says never trust a man who wants to get into your pants by trashing your man."

"Hence the crude phrasing." He stated dryly, suppressed anger in his voice.

She gasped, hurt. She knew her mother was rough around the edges but that was uncalled for, the woman had worked herself half to death so that her daughters could have a future, she deserved better. Fear stopped her from hitting him or scratching his eyes out as she wanted, he was so big and if he turned on her, she would not survive.

"You always listen to her don't you? Even to the point of staying with a man who uses you as a punching bag." He grated, violence brimming in his eyes. She was immobilized as he stalked near, her eyes wide on him. Framing her face, he touched his forehead to hers. "You make me so furious, so angry, yet I would not hurt you for the world. But here you are afraid of me and not that monster you claim to love." He gritted his teeth, "A white man is not the one beating you."

Her throat ached with her determination not to cry, pain filling her heart at his words. Why couldn't he respect her choices? If he truly cared about her, he would want her to be happy and she was happy. She did not need him ruining her fragile balance. He did not have to accept her decision just be her friend as he claimed to be, of course he probably thought as her friend he could undermine her relationship and she would just fall into his arms.

Which she was currently in danger of doing, his body almost touched hers, strong and well-defined, heat that magnetized her body until all she wanted was to mesh them together. He was so tall she had to crane her head to look into his eyes, their ardent depths mesmerized, aroused and scared her. He was so intense, his model perfect face frozen with unbearable need and aching love, love as clear as day, so fierce and irrevocable. How could he feel that way about her and why? He had everything he could possibly want, rich, cultured and so sexy he was every girl's fantasy. She on the other hand was just a white man's black bastard, unworthy of any acknowledgement.

Caught in his enthralling gaze she could not look away as he lowered his head for a kiss. Her breath caught as liquid desire flowed through her veins as his hot hungry lips took command over hers. Instinctively her arms wrapped around his shoulders her body curving into his and she opened up to him. Pleasure inundated her as his tongue swept through her mouth, tasting her as none ever had. He drank from her in long hard possessive sips, swallowing her hopeless moans, his slow hands sweeping up and down her back. Held secure in his muscled power she melted into him. En-flamed she devoured him, passion she had never experienced poured out of her with a raging need to consume and be consumed. Fire conflaged between them, need denied for too long. Nothing mattered beyond the desire necessitated.

She could not get close enough, the clothes between them felt so coarse, a hindrance to her need. Frantic, her hands swept under his t-shirt pushing it up as they glided over his ribbed torso, heat flamed from him and through her with delicious sensuality as she reveled in his hardness.

In one swift move, he had the shirt off, breaking their kiss for an instant that to her hungry need was like forever. She protested the separation only to rejoice at the feel of his naked skin, that erotic, delightful tensile silk scorching her through the confines of her clothes. Frenetic hands worked on the buttons of her blouse, tangling together in their mutual need, her bra unceremoniously ripped from her.

In unison, they groaned as her ripe breasts flattened against the rock-hard heat of his chest. She held him tight to her, reveling in the rough silken feel of his chest hair against her sensitized nipples. With slow erotic desperation, her nails raked his naked back to his growling approval. The animalistic sounds he made should have shocked her but for some reason they excited her, driving her desire for him higher. Never had she felt like this, so sexy and irresistible he could not get enough of her, his lips devouring her, his hands blazing across her body.

Breaking their kiss his lips closed over her nipple with devastating surety. A tug of pure sensation wrenched through her, connecting every erogenous zone she had including some she had been unaware of. She arched her back to give him more of herself, her hand holding him in place as she tossed her head back and screamed her pleasure. With teeth and tongue, he teased her, reducing her to mindless pleasure. Without reason she called out his name, rubbing her aching pussy against his thigh to relieve the pain of it. She needed more, wanted everything he had to give.

Nothing had ever felt this good; no touch had ever driven her like his. One of his hands toyed with her other nipple, pinching it between his fingers, pulling with just the right amount of pleasurable pain. She had never been one for the pain pleasure scene but this was too arousing, exquisite. Her body jerked with it, burned for more, undulating against him as her hands roamed his

Reacting to her unspoken need her cupped her butt then splayed her hot center against his straining shaft. Pleasure pierced through her nave to the rest of her body, a shock of electrical bliss freezing her in time with the twin assault of his teeth on her tender nipple before her body convulsed.

Sanity returned at the shocking pleasure, she pulled then turned away from his disturbing touch shaking her head as tears flowed down her cheeks. Picking up her blouse she put it back on, trembling with the urge to fling herself into his arms. What must he think of her? She had thrown herself at him like a sex-starved wanton, humiliated herself with her lack of morals. Trev was a man of noble character, no matter how she had thought he wanted to come between her and Ray he would never resort to underhanded tricks. She was the one at fault here, the one in a relationship, the one who had just cheated.

Something needed to give, she knew. Her relationships with the two men had irrevocably changed and it was all her fault. Why couldn't she leave things as they were? She just had to taste Trev, see if the reality matched the fantasies she denied she had. Now a maw of her own making had swallowed her, she couldn't have Trev and now she had ruined herself for the man she loved. How could she even claim to love Ray when she readily fell into the arms of the first good-looking male to show interest in her in a long time? She had to put a stop to it, had to regain her balance somehow.

She turned to face him surprising the most forlorn dejected look she had ever seen on him. He looked so lost, so hopeless she ached, yet she could not change what was.

"I love Ray and he loves me." She declared in a pain-filled voice. "If you cannot accept that then I want you out of my life."

His face hardened, eyes devoid of anything pinned her to the spot. "That might be for the best." He agreed cold and remote.

Pain laced her heart and she had to struggle not to let him see how much he hurt her. She had not thought he could so easily cut her out of his life, obvious he did not love her as she had thought, that was her mistake not his. She had meant only to have him back off a bit, give her room to figure out her situation but he had made the decision for her. Only her heart bled, it felt as if it had been torn in two, like something fragile she had not realized she had had just been torn out. He meant more to her than she had thought but now it was too late.

That had been three weeks ago and now his words were coming true, Ray was going to kill her. He had said that before as he hit her but the look on his face had not been as it was now nor had he beat her in this way. Tied to a table leg she lay on her back on the wooden floor, the floor she kept army boot shiny, unable to move as he had already broken her legs. He sat on her broken ribs, repeatedly punching her face as he hurled profanities at her. Her crime? She had broken up with him two and a half weeks back.

After the passion she had shared with Trev and the realization of her true feelings she had recognized the futility of her relationship with Ray and how she had been hiding from herself for so long, believing lies thinking she would be safe from pain even as she was experiencing it. Ray choosing that time to hit her had also brought home some of the facts Trev had pointed out, he would never lay a finger on her. How could she have been so stupid?

Trev had most likely meant to call him on the phone but grasping that Ray meant to kill her this time and unable to get to the phone she started screaming his name. Ray had assumed he was her lover, the reason for their break up, and had been enraged, kicking her ribs with his hunting boots it was a wonder none had not punctured her lungs.

She could no longer shout but still she moaned the name of the one man who had never let her down, whose intense love she had experienced for a few precious moments before she had ruined it all for the monster who was now killing her. She knew she was close to her mortality and she wanted to die with Trevyn's face in her mind's eye, the love she had not dared feel filling her heart. Ray could take away everything else; he already had, but not that.

Why had it been so hard to love him when she had the chance? He would not have done this to her. In her stupidity, she had let her mother's experiences with her father taint her and yet fall for the same kind of man. Had she loved Ray or simply taken up with a man most like her father and fooled herself on the pretense of race?

She prayed for another chance at life, a chance to love a man who was as dangerous as he was gentle. Power radiated from every plane of his lithe muscular frame, confidence she had envied. Easy to be around she could talk about anything and be whatever she wanted -he had encouraged her- and she had started to let go.

"Trevyn!" she cried in a weak voice, fighting to stay awake, to hold on hoping by some miracle he would show up. It was irrational she knew but still she held on. Every breath was excruciating, aggravating her ribs, Ray's weight upon her squeezing her lungs, but she held on for Trev. He was strong, and he had been trying to teach her to believe in her own strength. She would hold on to the strength he believed she had for all she was worth.

A crash sounded nearby, vibrating through her skin more that it registered to her ears. She wondered if Ray had broken the table, she could no longer feel whether her hands were still tied to the leg nor could she see properly. A snarl of rage reverberated through the room, too guttural to come from a human and so chilling it brought her back to her senses. Ray would not be killing her after all; whatever animal had invaded her home would do the job, had she not been so close to death she would have braved the pain and ran. Only she would be unlucky enough to be attacked by a savage animal whilst its human counterpart was already killing her.

A dark shadow bawled into Ray, knocking him off her. The fear she had felt as Ray hit her was nothing compared to the terror she experienced as she listened to his screams. Horror and pain laced his voice and the animal snarls mingled with it to create a waking nightmare. She wanted to turn and see what was happening but agonizing pain precluded that.

Wolves. Their musky scent overpowered the coppery scent of her blood and terror. They were all around her, at least half a dozen. Two bracketed her to go where the other was mauling Ray and another sat besides her. Its eyes on her were quite intelligent, strange but she thought they were aware of her and trying to convey something. Whatever it might be, she was too terrorized to comprehend it, blood attracted wolves and hers was everywhere. She gave up the fight and blacked out.