Absolution (The Titans of Founder's Ridge) by Nichole Greene (little red riding hood ebook free TXT) 📕

time. I know he’s gone dark, but after what we heard today…” Levi trails off and looks between Ivy and me. “It was just bad, okay?”

“He told me what was said.”

“Then that’s all you need to know,” Levi says. I can tell by how dull his usually sparkly eyes are that there’s something he isn’t telling me. “I’m going to take a shower.”

Griff follows me out to the living room and sits down beside me on the couch.

“Have you taken you pain meds?” he asks.

“Not yet. I wanted to talk to Con before I did since they knock me out,” I say to his back as he stands to get water and my bottle of pills for me.

“Here,” he holds out the correct pills—because, of course, he memorized the times for each—a glass of water, and some crackers. When I don’t immediately take them, he leans down face to face with me. “Take the pills, drink the water, and eat the fucking crackers right now.”

“Calm down,” I roll my eyes at his commanding tone. “That domineering shit doesn’t work with me, you know.” I toss the pills in my mouth and swallow.

“Really?” He smirks at me. “Because you just took your meds.” He sits down on the opposite side of the couch and pulls my feet into his lap when I scowl at him. “Relax, let’s just watch a movie and let Con have some space for a bit.”

I wake up in a fog to familiar arms sliding under me and pulling me from the couch. As soon as Connor pulls me to his chest, I nuzzle against his neck. I try to wake enough to completely focus on the conversation I hear between him and Griff.

“You have to tell her,” Griff says in a hushed whisper.

“I’m not ready to tell anyone,” Con replies. “You’re the only person I’ve told about what my uncle used to do to me.”

“She deserves to know. You’ve always known you’ll have to tell her eventually. It’s why you fight. It’s why you don’t sleep.”

“Yeah, I’m aware that it’s the root of everything wrong with me,” Connor snaps while his fingers flex around my ribs and thighs. “Everything is so fucked because I’m holding on too tight to what happened to me as a kid.”

“Fuck off with the self-loathing and fix it.” Griff snarls in an aggressive whisper.

I force my eyes to flutter open and manage to mumble some incoherent syllables, enough to get them to stop fighting. They stare each other down for another minute before Griff kisses my temple and stalks down the hall to the guestroom he’s staying in.

Con carries me into our bedroom and lays me down on the bed. He hooks his fingers in my leggings and peels them off my legs, making sure not to move me around too much. He pulls my arms out of my hoodie one at a time and gently pulls it over my head. He moves to stand up, but I wrap my arm around his waist. Every innocent brush of his fingers over my bare skin has me waking up.

“I need you,” I say quietly.

He turns and stares down at me, his beautiful green eyes heavy with guilt and pain. Several pieces of his dark hair flop across his forehead. In the glow of the city lights from the window, he looks like a dark prince. His jaw ticks as his gaze burns into me.

“We shouldn’t,” he says as he leans down to kiss me. “You’re still healing.”

“I don’t give a fuck,” I say against his lips. “I need to feel you. I need to know we’re alive and okay.”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he rests his forehead against mine, holding the rest of his weight off me.

“You won’t,” I lift my hips to grind against him, “you couldn’t.” I give him a bite on the neck right below his ear, knowing full well how much it turns him on.

“Tell me if it hurts,” he says with a growl against my lips.

My hands are already sliding down his back and into his shorts, pushing them down as his mouth assaults mine. He’s being careful in every way, but his kiss is just as wild and possessive as ever. His tongue sweeps against mine with an urgency I can feel. He bites my lower lip hard enough that I get a brief taste of blood.

He works his shorts off, getting completely naked. Then he slides my panties over my hips and down my legs. He looks up at me with a mischievous grin before running his fingers up my calf, behind my knee, and up the inside of my thigh. He drags his finger slowly and way too lightly over my slit. He repeats the movement over and over, driving me absolutely insane with need. I whimper when he finally parts my folds and circles his finger around my clit. He uses the perfect pressure and strokes to have me panting on the edge of an orgasm before withdrawing his fingers and lowering his mouth to my aching pussy.

He alternates slow, lazy licks of my pussy with targeted, precise suction on my clit. I come apart when he adds his fingers, stroking inside me at just the right angle to make my vision darken around the edges. His tongue laps at me through the aftershocks of the orgasm.

“Are you good?” he asks in between placing light kisses on my neck.

“Yes,” I shift my hips and feel him at my entrance. “Connor,” I beg when I feel him hesitate, “please.”

“Since you asked so nice,” he fucking smirks at me right before he slowly glides inside me. Our movements are perfectly in sync as we make love slowly. He treats me with a tenderness that’s rare for us. I wrap my leg around him to try to increase his pace, but he keeps steady, giving me long, slow thrusts. He keeps going until I eventually orgasm, my clenching sending him into his