Holding Up
Chapter 12
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The elevator pinged open, and once again I'd let Brendon lead the way. The hallway was long, and yet I'd only seen two doors, one on each side at opposite end. Because of course Brendon had the second closest thing to a penthouse suite.
I glanced up, seeing a slight smirk on his face. Cocky fucker. I wanted to kiss that smirk right off him.
He moved to grab his keys from his pocket, only they were on the side closest to me. And instead of doing something normal like dropping my for a moment, or even asking me to get them, he instead reached his free right arm around his torso to fit into his pocket. The act brought me even closer again him and at this rate, I felt like I was going to pass out. Maybe I shouldn't kiss him, I don't know if I could actually handle that.
The slight clink of his fob tapping his sensor preceded the sound of his lock clicking into position and Brendon opened the door, allowing me to walk slightly ahead of him while still keeping his soft grip on my shoulder. The door clicked shut behind him, and after a few seconds I could hear the lock click back into place. Of course his door automatically locked itself, because why wouldn't it. We kicked our shoes off at the entry way, leaving us in our socks.
"This is me," he muttered, squeezing softly as he led me to the living room. It was massive, and each inch was spotless, like he'd had a maid come in everyday to clean, it wouldn't surprise me if he did.
"Wow," I whispered. His condo was stunning, with windows taking up the full wall, and a large sparkling white quartz island that transitioned into his kitchen. Black cabinets lined the wall, a shiny high end silver fridge breaking up the dark wood.
But his living room was amazing, the walls opposite the windows were entirely bookshelves filled with medical journals and classic novels, organized by genre and then author name. A plush looking dark couch that was probably the length of my own living room sat perfectly in the middle, a matching love seat and arm chair on either side. All faced a humongous 100' tv screen that seemed to double as a full size mirror with how polished it was. The hall leading to what I presumed were bedrooms was wide, I could probably lay down and just barely touch each side if I did. There were a few doors leading down, and I guess he'd probably had at least two bedrooms and an office down there, as well as a couple bathrooms. I was naturally very jealous, thinking back to my small, messy apartment right outside of china town that came nowhere close to the magnificence of this place.
"This is- your home is beautiful."
Brendon smiled, tapping my shoulder before leading us over to the humongous couch. And my heavens it was so much better than I could've imagined. I felt like I was sinking into a cloud, but at the same time, there was enough support I knew my lower back wouldn't hurt after sitting on it for a few hours.
I practically moaned at the plush cushions and Brendon chuckled at my reaction pulling me further into his side. "You like it? Top of the line. Has great lumbar support."
I hummed in agreement, moving my left hand to cover his pec, letting my head fall into the crook of his neck, snuggling into him.
"I'm very jealous right now." I admitted moving my thumb in soft circles against his meaty pec. I wanted to bite that too. Frankly, I don't think there was a part of Brendon that I didn't want to sink my teeth into. Maybe people had got it wrong, maybe I was the shark here.
"Well you'll just have to stay here more often then."
I froze, my motions pausing as I took in his words. But as if he hadn't just dropped life changing news on me, he only shifted, pulling out his phone from his back pocket and clicking open DoorDash. "What do you want to eat?"
I faltered, trying to unscramble my brain in order to respond.
"Uh, Thai? I guess- if that's okay?"
Brendon hummed, and if I had it in me to look up at him, I'm sure I wouldn't seen him smiling down at me as he typed away, pulling up a restaurant that was probably twice as expensive as Thai food should ever be.
He handed the device over to me, and I quickly added an order of yellow curry into the cart. It was typically what I got, and I did not have it in me to try and decipher the rest of the menu for something new.
Brendon added his own choices into the cart, and within two minutes of opening the app, he'd placed our order, showing a delivery time of 35 minutes.
He leaned forward, and when he did I think something clicked in me, finally having processed what he'd said earlier. He wanted me to come over more, to spend time with him outside of coffee dates and brief run ins at work. And I wanted it too, so, so bad.
So when he set his phone on the mahogany coffee table in front of us, and fell back into his seat beside me, I couldn't resist it anymore. I sat up, probably a little too quickly, because Brendon's previously content face turned slightly concerned.
But I didn't care, I leaned forward, my hands practically found themself moving to his face, cupping his chiseled jaw in my hands. There was a brief pause, one where our eyes locked, where I could see his own darken with want and that was my final breaking point. I pulled him to me, and he eagerly wrapped his own arms around me, one flying to the back of my neck, the other dropping to right below my shoulder blades, his thumb brushing my ribs, and our lips crashed together. It wasn't slow, but it was perfect. His lips were softer than I'd dreamed of, softer than this damn couch we were sitting on. And boy did he know how to kiss. I may have initiated it, but he quickly took over, melding us together with a ferocity I didn't know what possible.
I'd never understood what people meant when they claimed to feel fireworks when they kissed someone. Maybe it was because I'd never really felt too deeply about anyone else I'd kissed. But this kiss didn't feel like fireworks, rather it was like electricity flooded my veins, setting my whole body alight. I didn't know my body was in the dark until right now, with Brendon's thick fingers tangling in the hair on my nape, thumb pressing down on my pulse point. His other hand moved against my side, pressing into my ribs like he was holding himself back from wandering further to my chest.
I wanted to be closer, I wanted to straddle him and press against him as his tongue slipped into my mouth. I fought him for dominance for maybe five seconds before giving in, letting him lick and suck my lip into his teeth, biting gently down on my flesh. I whimpered, not from pain, but from pleasure and the need to feel more.
Just like always, Brendon knew what I wanted. And while I couldn't straddle him due to the pressure it would put on my knee, that didn't mean he couldn't pull me down, flipping us so his body hovered over me, his own knees slotted between mine and the couch, and the thoughtfulness of his actions almost made me sob.
Instead of cry, I moved my hands to his hair, reaching up and pulling him further down into me. Heavy gasps filtered between us, teeth clashed against each other as we both became desperate. The tip of his nose pressed into my cheek, sometimes knocking into mine as we tilted our heads every which way in an attempt to meld into one. It had been so long. Months of pining, and soft touches could only fill the void so much.
His hand had shifted from my neck, and instead he let his forearm prop itself against my head, though his hand still managed to grip my hair by my ear, giving soft tugs as he maneuvered our kiss.
One particular hard tug had me moan against him, briefly forgetting how to kiss as I focused on the nice ache he'd caused at my scalp. The hand I still had in his hair tugged back, and he grunted against me this time. Fuck, he sounded so hot. I pushed past his grip, forcing my other arm under his, looping against his back. I tried to grab onto him, but his back was so damn taught with muscles that I could only drag my nails against him, catching onto his t shirt.
That alone was enough motivation for him and his right hand pushed off the couch, moving up to finally, teasingly trail across the soft of my stomach, up to grasp the underside of my breast. Another whimper, followed by me sucking his lip into my mouth this time encouraged him, and soon enough his hand was engulfing my large chest, palming and squeezing at the soft flesh that was becoming more and more sensitive. It was so addicting I didn't even get to think about how he was holding himself up with one arm, practically in a knee plank on a soft couch.
I couldn't think period. Not about anything other than how dare I go so long without doing this.
"Brendon," I whined, digging my acrylics into the tight skin of his traps. I broke our kiss, gasping for air. my head lolled to the side as the feeling of his hand groping my tit became too much to bare.
"Yeah, Sweetheart?" Brendon's deep baritone voice whispered back before he was tugging my head to the side, ducking to lick a long strip up my neck.
My whole body shivered, but he didn't give me time to recover from the cool air chilling my skin before he was kissing and biting my neck. My back arched, forcing the hand on my breast harshly into his stomach, not that that stopped him either, only giving my tit a rough squeeze in return.
A needy moan slipped past my lips as he nipped at the skin connecting my neck to my collar bone. He then licked softly at where he'd bit down on, soothing the aching area which was certain to bloom red. He repeated this all up and down my neck, and each time he'd bite down, I'd dig my nails deeper into his back, scratching down it before fighting to get a better grasp of him.
It was messy, and hot, and dirty all the same but I couldn't get enough of it. My eyes fluttered open, and instantly I locked onto the sinewy muscles straining from his neck. When I'd been dragging my hand along his back, I'd tugged the fabric down, revealing a nice chunk of bare flesh exposed to me. It was only fair, the shark had bitten me so I got to do it back.
So I did, pushing his head further into my own neck before latching onto his. His deep groan shook me to my core as I mirrored his actions, giving small nips behind his ear, down his neck, and harsher ones against his shoulder. I'd had just barely enough sense in me to keep me from bruising him above the collar. I ducked, dragging my teeth against his prominent Adams apple before returning to his collarbone.
"Fuck, sweetheart," he groaned against my neck, and pride swelled in my chest. I don't think I'd be able to hear him call me that in public ever again. I barely reacted normally before this happened. But hearing Brendon grunt it out between hickies, I'd never be the same.
I wanted to hear him say it again. But then he called me something even more earth shattering, "shit, Scarlett, you feel so good under me."
The combination of his words and the use of my name had me biting down on his shoulder a little harder than I'd intended. How we were fully clothed and he was making me feel this way I had no idea. But it scared and excited me for the future if this was just an intro to what I could expect.
Just as my teeth released his trapezius, the sound of his phone ringing, and buzzing on the coffee table filled the room.
A mutual groan of annoyance escaped us both at the interruption. His head fell into the crook of my neck, sighing before pushing up and off me kneeling over my body and straining to grab his mobile.
"What?" He practically snapped down the receiver. Maybe it said something about my psyche, but hearing him go from sounding so sinful, moaning my name against me to then snapping at some poor random person was downright sexy.
I moved to grip his thigh, loving the fact that my palm looked dwarfed in comparison to the massive limb. A warning glance was sent my way as I squeezed it much like he was doing to my tit one minute earlier. Yeah, I for sure had to bite this soon.
"Go up to the twelfth floor. The door is across from the elevator and to the right."
Brendon hung up shortly after, tossing his phone back onto the table and leaning over me once again. "Watch it, sweetheart, let's not start something we can't finish."
I pouted, but he only smirked down at me, pressing a deep kiss against my puffy lips with surprising gentleness. This was more like what our first kiss probably should've been like, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. Yet again, the many sides of Brendon only kept pulling me further into his trap, one I never wanted to escape.
A knock on the door was our interruption this time, and Brendon pushed off of me, rolling his eyes as he sauntered over to the entryway. I was left breathless, lying in a heap on the couch. My hair was certainly a mess, my shirt had ridden and bunched up at the waist.
I was exhausted, yet all I could think about was when could we do it again.
The sound of the front door slamming shut was enough motivation to sit myself up, and I attempted to make myself somewhat presentable as utensils and dishes were grabbed out of cupboards.
It didn't take long for Brendon to return, holding two bowls of curry and rice, a silver spoon in each one.
I had no interest in eating anymore, but with the way Brendon was looking at me, despite him feeling the same, it was clear I had no choice. He was very insistent on monitoring my health, and making sure I ate enough was just par for the course.
So instead of pulling him back on top of me, I took the bowl out of his hands, our fingers grazing in a way that had me shivering once more. He grabbed a remote, switching the tv on to some nature documentary, providing me with a slight distraction to allow me to actually eat my food.
It was upsettingly good, I knew I'd compare all my other curries to it from now on which sucked because it was so expensive.
I'd managed to eat about three quarters of it before giving up and setting it on the coffee table. Brendon had given me such a large portion to match his own, and while I certainly could eat, I could not eat that much.
I fell back into the couch when I was done, wordlessly wrapped up in strong arms almost immediately when I did. He'd finished his food a few minutes before I did, impressive given how much it actually was.
And despite how hot and heavy things had been not too long ago, we'd fallen back into a very domestic embrace.
"How's your leg holding up?" Brendon's voice broke the calm, because of course he needed to know how my healing was going.
"Not too bad. It was a little sore around noon, but I managed to steal some ice packs from Perlah and that helped."
"Can I see?"
My heart fluttered, but I nodded, giving the surgeon permission to get up. He moved to kneel before me, and my eyes caught on the large hook of his nose. I loved his nose, it was big, and it was sharp just like the rest of his features. It emphasized the slight way his eyes sunk in near the end of a work day, it made him look more intimidating, more like the Adonis he was.
His hands were surprisingly nimble as he pushed my loose pant leg up to my thigh and worked to undo my knee brace. My breathing quickened at the new position, this was very different than the times he'd looked me over in an exam room. He might've sat with me, but he's never kneeled before me.
My brace found itself gently placed on the floor beside us. There were some faint red lines just from having worn it all day, but it really did look amazing compared to when he last checked it two weeks ago.
My swelling was basically gone, just a slight amount of puffiness around the two inch long scar. Brendon took off my ankle brace and sock next, and revealed the same thing. Pale skin covered in soft red lines that would fade in twenty minutes, and a long, white scar that puckered at the edges. The scar going up my calf was longer than my knees. It went from the top of my foot to halfway up my shin.
The hand wrapped itself around my calf, the pad of his thumb tracing around my scars, giving each equal amounts of attention. This must've been one of his weird surgeon things, most definitely replaying the actions of cutting me open and performing my surgery replaying in his mind.
And then, in an act that I'd never once expected from Brendon, he bent forward and pressed a soft, quick kiss to each scar. It was like he was claiming my leg just like he'd claimed my lips earlier.
He looked up then, finally looking away from his masterpiece and into my eyes, and that now familiar heat flooded my stomach. I needed him to either stand up or finish what he was now starting.
"Bren..." my voice trailed off, physically frozen as he kept trailing his hands around my leg. He was know kneading soft circles into my calf, releasing tension I didn't know I had. It made sense, I hadn't been able to properly stretch in ages, so to have his magic hands help relax my taught muscles felt unreal.
"You're taking care of my leg so well, baby."
I wanted to roll my eyes and remind him again to watch his verbiage. But the way he was currently pressing down, knowing exactly where I needed him most and how much pressure to use had me second guessing myself. My leg was fully attached to my body, even when it was broken it never came close to needing to be amputated. So it was mine. I knew that. But at this point, I think it was equally Brendon's.
He could claim my limb as much as he wanted if he just kept touching me like this. It felt so nice after a long day of work, I'd had to stand and walk around more than usual which had only exacerbated my symptoms. And with a few strokes, Brendon made it all fade away, leaving trails of heat in his stead.
"Feels nice."
Brendon hummed, grinning as I didn't correct him. The shark was beginning to reveal himself, circling from the shadows, getting closer and closer to his prey. Me.
"Yeah? You like when I massage our leg baby?"
Oh it was ours now? It was probably the closest we'd ever get to a compromise on it, and I was in a daze so I readily agreed, "yes, you're so good at it."
I was failing to match whatever innuendos he was nailing on the head but I really couldn't think anymore to properly flirt back. I needed his hands higher now, the dull throb I'd gotten so used to now a whisper of a memory.
My lack of quip didn't seem to bother Brendon, my praise being more enough to fuel his admittedly large ego.
Against my will, however, something deep flashed in Brendon’s eyes, and those large, warm hands of his left the skin of my knee.
“C’mon, we should both shower and get some sleep. It’s another long day tomorrow.”
My heart plummeted, that was the exact opposite of what I wanted right now. I didn’t want to sleep, I wanted him. What I hated more was that I knew he was right. My head would be killing me after my little breakdown, and I was so exhausted, and upon the mention of a shower my skin felt so gross like the hospital air had followed us here.
But Brendon knew what I needed. It didn’t matter what I wanted, what he wanted. He’d made it clear it was his duty to take care of me. And he would, even if it made the both of us upset in the moment.
So, begrudgingly, I let him show me his guest bathroom, and showered off my day. I wished he had joined me, but that would’ve led to the opposite of what cleanliness the shower was supposed to result in.
By the time I’d changed into the pair of sweats and old college shirt he’d leant me, I found him in his room, also freshly showered, and to my disappointment and relief, actively putting a shirt on. I’d have rather seen him without one, but it was fun to watch his muscles move with his actions.
And the smile I got when he turned around, a real, genuine smile at my appearance, made any lingering sense of sadness at the untimely interruption of our… moment on the couch, fade away from my mind. I could wait a little longer, I suppose. As long as he kept looking at me like that, I could wait.
