“Not the kind I dole out.”
“I know that. Let me get the groceries, and then I need to get going.” He walked back and forth to the door, retrieving all the food and then giving the delivery man his tip. Aino pushed herself off the couch and walked into the kitchen to begin putting things away. Anthony kissed her on the cheek. “If you need anything, just call. When do you want to go to the club?”
“I will give him a few days to adjust to being home. Maybe Monday or Tuesday after the stitches come out. I have to call Laney and get the name of the woman who creates her custom-made stockings. I want black with flaming dragons.”
“Good thought. Gotta go. Take care of him.”
“I will. Thank you, Anthony, you are the greatest.”
“I know,” he replied with a wink as he walked to the door. Aino returned to the groceries, thinking that Condor was not the only one who needed a nap.
The weeks passed as Condor slowly recovered. Aino made daily trips to the club, bringing him back information of current events. Jeffrey stayed with him during the day, and after Aino recovered, she let the second- and third-shift nurses go.
Dr. Athens called every couple of days to check on things and said that he wanted Condor to come in for tests. Aino made the appointment for the next day and then called to make sure Anthony could come get them. With the convenience of the wheelchair, it was little problem to get Condor out to the limousine.
She finished cooking dinner and then said good night to Jeffrey. He often stayed to eat with them, but he already had plans for the evening. “I will see you in the morning. What time are the tests?”
“They want him there at eight. After we get him there, you can split if you want. Dr. Athens said he will be there most of the day.”
“Okay. You can call if you need help getting him home. I left his meds and his sleeping pill on the table if he wants it. See you tomorrow.”
“Good night. Have a good time.”
Condor picked at his food, his expression thoughtful. “I haven’t seen you go out dressed to play. Are your clothes in the car, or haven’t you been?”
“I have only been going to check on things. Why?”
“Did the surgery do something to you?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Did it kill your sex drive?”
“No, it didn’t.”
“So? It has been almost a month since the accident. Who are you fucking? Do I at least get to know who has taken my place?”
“Condor! That is a rotten thing to say. I am not fucking anyone. It hurt too much after the surgery to even think about it, and now, well, I just haven’t. It’s one of the reasons I don’t play at the club. I just don’t want to get all that fired up.”
“Promise?”
“Yes, I promise. I’m not fucking anyone.”
“Really?” he said with a slight grin.
“Give me a break, yes, really! Is that why you have been sulking the last few days?”
“Jeffrey and I were watching a movie where the guy is in a coma and his wife is having an affair with his doctor.”
“You have to be joking.”
“Well, I wasn’t thinking of Dr. Athens. Maybe Anthony or someone at the club.”
“I’m being a very good girl and waiting for you. It’s strange. I don’t find anyone else really attractive anymore. I know you are here, and I couldn’t betray your trust like that.”
“I know you are dying, but I’m glad to hear you say that. When are you heading down south to check on things?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t even thought about it. It’s a long drive when I have to go both ways in the same day.”
“Why don’t you go tomorrow? I can have Benny or Ant come stay with me if you don’t want to drive back.”
“Let me think about it.”
An odd silence fell between them as they ate, and when Aino got up to wash the dishes, Condor said softly, “I want you to stay down south.”
“What?”
“I want you to go for a while and not come back. I can take care of myself.”
Condor expected her to yell or protest, but she turned away from him, going back to the dishes. He lay watching her back, and when she turned off the water, he expected the bomb to drop. Aino remained silent, keeping her eyes turned from him as she walked into the bedroom, slamming the door so hard it made the paintings on the adjoining wall rattle. In the movie, the wife had been shattered when her husband woke up and threw her out. The scene had been intense, tears and sobbing that had echoed from the speakers to fill the living room with grief. Aino’s reaction was nothing like the movie, and he was left alone to wonder what she was thinking. The ticking of the wall clock became unbearably loud and an eternity seemed to pass as he stared at the door, waiting. Nothing happened, and if she was angry or crying, he heard no sounds of it.
Condor pushed his head back into the pillow. It had been a test to get her reaction, and he was the one who had failed. He pushed himself off the bed and into the wheelchair, rolling it across the room. The door was unlocked, and he went inside, seeing the open suitcase on the bed. Aino came out of the bathroom, glaring at him. “What do you want?”
“Are you going to say something?”
“What would you like me to say? I’m tired of begging you for a place in your life. I am tired of waiting for you to get better and see that things won’t be all that different between us. I have run out of ways to show you how much I love you. If you don’t know by now, then you never will. If you do know, then you obviously don’t return the emotion in any way besides words. Words are cheap, and the cost on my heart is too high for me to stay here and listen to them. I called Anthony. He is coming over until they can find a nurse to come stay with you. Now get out!”
“I don’t want you to leave.”
Aino slammed the lid of her suitcase and latched it. “You just told me to leave!”
“I didn’t mean tonight.”
“What the hell is the difference if I leave tonight or tomorrow? Who is the sadist here? The woman who is clinging to a lie or the man that wants to watch her mourn the death of her soul just a little longer? In my dreams you are always dead. I should have realized that you actually are. You have become a sissy wimp who has given up his love of life. You are so damn busy sitting around feeling sorry for yourself that you can’t see past the end of your nose. If you want to be alone, then fine, be alone. It is tearing my heart out watching you, and I don’t have a magic wand that is going to make you all better. All I have left is the ability to get out and hope that I am never stupid enough to fall in love again. It fucking hurts too much.”
Aino hoisted her case off the bed and stumbled past Condor with it. He grabbed her, and she tried to shrug him off, but his grasp was too strong, his fingers digging into her arm. Aino dropped the suitcase. “Let go of me!”
Condor dragged her backward, kicking out the back of her knees and sending her staggering backward onto the bed. “Will you slow down and talk to me?”
“Why, so you can fuck with my head some more?”
“Damn it! This wasn’t supposed to happen. You were supposed to come crying to me and tell me how much you loved me and needed me. You were supposed to say that you couldn’t live without me and that we could live happily ever after. You are right. I was fucking with your head, but not like you are thinking. I messed up, and now I don’t know what to say besides I’m sorry.”
Her gaze narrowed as she stared at him. “What are you talking about?”
“I have been watching too much television. It has affected my judgment.”
“You threw me out because of something you saw on television? Jeffrey is giving you too many drugs. Do you want me gone or not?”
“No. I want you here. I only said what I said because I wanted to see how you would react. It was a really fucked-up thing to do. Did anyone scan me to see if I have brain damage?”
“I will suggest it tomorrow. Don’t you ever do something like that to me again! It hurts me every time you try to push me out of your life. This was your last chance. I don’t ever want to hear that you don’t want me or that you are not good enough again. I love you, and if you can’t return my love, then speak now. I am done putting up with your shit, and next time you won’t stop me from leaving.”
He grimaced, the expression filled with adorable guilt. “Okay. I think you are right. The painkillers are affecting my better judgment. I promise to think before I open my idiotic mouth. Please don’t leave me. Put your stuff away.”
“Maybe I should leave it packed.”
“I deserve that. Aino, I’m sorry. I do love you, but it is so damn hard watching you go off to the club and wondering what you are doing. I haven’t been out of the house in forever, and I have nothing to do but lie here and think. I make myself insane with my thoughts, and then at night I don’t sleep. I want to be in here making love to you, and I can’t. I’m not blind. I see what you do for me, and it makes me feel all the more helpless. I can barely get into the bathroom by myself. I watch shows on television as if drawn to them like a bug to a light. I always seem to find the ones where the man is recovering from an accident and his life turns to shit. You said that you were gonna get out so that your love for me couldn’t hurt you anymore. That is exactly what I have been thinking. If I make you leave, then you will be gone and I won’t have to worry anymore. I can just get the hurt over with and try to start my life again. I’m so scared of losing you that I am pushing you away to spare myself. Can we try again?”
“Make love to me.”
“That’s helpful.”
“I am serious. If that is what you are worried about, then do it.”
“How do you propose I do that, smart-ass?”
“Why, is your dick broken? Has your tongue ceased to function? Your fingers work well enough to hold a fork and gently wipe your ass, don’t they? Are you such a control freak that you have to be on top?”
“Sarcasm taken. I have been thinking of typical, straight sex, and it won’t work. I do think that I have brain damage.”
“So do I. Would you like to come over and lie on the bed? There is no reason you have to sleep out in the other room anymore. I think you can get around well enough now to come in here.”
She was being snappy to get him angry, and it was working quite well. Condor rolled himself over to the side of the bed and raised the chair halfway, pushing himself up. The plaster cast had been replaced with one filled with air, and his leg had healed enough that he could put small amounts of weight on it. He balanced and then turned around, sitting back on the bed and lifting himself to shift backward. The movement obviously hurt his hip and ribs slightly, but she could tell that it was a dull pain rather than a roaring scream. Aino watched him and smiled. “Bravo. Are you in agony?”
“No. I know that I am still healing, but well, it was tolerable. Now what?”
“Your call.”
“Strip.”
She slid from the bed and pulled off her shirt, dropping it with a flourish to the floor. She wiggled out of her pants and as usual had nothing underneath. Aino hopped up onto the mattress, stepping to either side of his body as she moved forward. She stopped, standing over his hips and shrugged. Condor shook his head, sticking out his tongue and rolling it suggestively into his mouth. “My hip is still complaining from the move.”
She moved higher up on the bed, and his hand went to the back of her leg. He urged her downward, and she knelt on one side, taking care not to put pressure on his shoulder as she straddled it with her other leg. Condor pushed a pillow up behind his head and reached into the bedside table. The tube of cinnamon-flavored gel was within easy reach, and he pulled it out, unscrewing the cap with his teeth. The fluid tasted excellent and also got very hot as it was rubbed in. Aino squirmed, the chill of the liquid feeling strange. He dropped the tube onto the table and began to slowly massage it into her, spreading her pink lips with his outer fingers as his inner two caressed her. Aino closed her eyes, his stroke gentle and then slightly rougher. He worked her outer nerves, her clit, and the sensitive flesh throbbed at his touch. The gel grew hot, her skin warming to the point of being almost uncomfortable. When he blew a gentle breeze over her, she grabbed for the headboard, her back arching as she inhaled a deep moan of air. His fingers worked in slowly tightening circles, and when he touched her swollen clit, sliding back the outer covering to lap at her cinnamon flesh, she missed a breath.
He felt her jump and looked up to see her head lulled to the side to rest on her shoulder. She had her eyes closed, and when he reached back into the open drawer, she didn’t see him. His tongue kept her occupied as he removed the glistening gel vibrator and set it under his head to warm the cold plastic coating. Her muscles twitched under the caress of his mouth, the whimpers escaping her throat growing more frequent. Condor slid the toy up into her and heard the sound of her nails dragging against the maple above his head. She opened her eyes, the orbs glossy and wide as she looked down at him. He had forgotten how expressive her face was when she was in the building throes of orgasm, her lips open, her tongue flickering over them as her breathing became more erratic. She appeared drunk on the pleasure, and he smiled, burying his face into her as he stroked her with the warm wand. “I want you,” she whimpered in a desperate voice, leaning back slightly to stoke his dick with her palm. The pain was fading in his hip, and Condor responded to her touch as if she held magic in her skin. Aino slid back, impaling herself with the vibrant, flowing heat of his dick. Her movements were gentle, the newly healed skin pulling slightly as she squatted to put almost no pressure at all on his body.
She was in control, holding him down with a single palm to the right side of his stomach. The feel of her was magnificent, her pulsing muscles encasing him with wet heat. Condor ground his teeth, the caress of her body drawing him into a place of wondrous sensation. “You had better make this quick. Oh shit. I forgot how great you feel.”
“I know. My intention was to remind you.”
With a final thrust of her hips, she enveloped him, sealing his cock within the climactic pulsing of her cunt as she threw her head back, releasing a howl of pure enjoyment. Condor felt her body tighten around him, the throb of her muscles drawing from him the electric pulse of climax. His vision swam out of focus for a moment, and he closed his eyes, a growl mixed with laugher leaking from his throat. He had an urge to push upward and into her, but she was holding him tightly to the bed, her nails digging into his abdomen to remind him not move. Her body quivered with sensation, and he ran his fingers up her leg, still moaning softly as she cautiously leaned over to kiss him.