Jesse laughs. “Ow! Well, it’s pretty
tender. You don’t have to touch it, Allie.”
I drift off again.
I moan turning my head. Damn I have a
headache. I open my eyes slowly and blink a few times. Fuck, what
is that bright light. I close them again and moan.
“Baby? Cassie, are you awake?” I hear
Jesse whisper. He sounds really close, like his mouth is right by
my ear. I turn my head slowly towards his voice and open my eyes
again. I am frowning and squinting my eyes. He half stands and
reaches up and a light goes off. Whew! That’s much
better.
As he takes my hand, he starts
brushing my hair away from my face. “Cassie, you scared me. I
didn’t think you were ever going to open those beautiful eyes of
yours.” He gives me that wide gorgeous smile as he continues to
stroke my hair.
I smile a little back at him and sigh.
“How long have I been asleep? What day is it?” I ask in a croaky
voice.
He’s rubbing my hand as leans over and
gently kisses my lips. He doesn’t pull back too far from me. “Baby,
it’s been three days.” I raise my eye brows. “Wow, really?” He
nods.
“Yes, you had a small concussion and
have really been out of it. I was so scared, baby,” he says with
tears forming in his beautiful eyes.
I turn my hand over and slide my
fingers into his. I smile at him. “Your eye looks like it hurts.
Are you ok?” I ask him.
He nods. “I’m fine. Don’t you worry
about me. I want all your strength to be used in getting better,
ok?” He kisses my forehead.
The doctor came in and told us that I
could go home but told Jesse if I couldn’t seem to wake up and be
coherent then he needed to call an ambulance. He didn’t feel as if
Jesse would need to do that, and I just needed plenty of rest. He
told me that my arm was definitely pulled out of the socket. He
informed me to keep the sling on for about a week and it should
heal just fine. He also told me that the MRI they took showed that
I didn’t have a concussion, but I still need to be
watched.
While we were waiting for the
discharge papers, the officer came around and asked all his
questions. I asked where the other man, Mick, was and if they had
found him somewhere. The officer looked confused. Jesse told me he
would tell me everything later, but he wanted me to get some good
rest first. I was too tired to argue.
Once we were back at Jesse’s house it
was hard to get any rest. I thought hospitals were busy, oh not
compared to Jesse’s house. Allie and Tyler were there and even
Thomas showed up. They seem to be cleaning and cooking and
constantly trying to make me comfortable. I was getting absolutely
no rest! But, I was so glad they were there.
For the next week, I got so much rest
I was about to bust out of the house. Jesse wouldn’t let me do
anything, he barely let me walk. “I can walk, Jesse. Seriously.” I
rolled my eyes at him.
Thomas had apologized to me and Jesse
before he left but said it was only out of concern. I can tell by
the way he talked to us that he thinks we would be better apart
from each other. He still acts like I am not good enough for Jesse.
Sigh.
We decide to head back to Kansas. I
want to see my friends. I have missed them terribly and I know they
are worried about me. I called Stella on Jesse’s phone and after
she quit screaming at me, we had a really nice long talk. I didn’t
go into detail about everything that happened, but she got the jest
of it and was just happy I was ok. Jesse and Tyler are loading the
SUV with our things while Allie and I are packing a lunch for the
trip. It’s hard for me to do some things with one arm.
Tyler is going to fly back to LA with
Allie and then they will come to Kansas in another week to
visit.
“I think you need a couple of apples,”
Allie suggests. “And maybe some grapes. Oh! I got some peanut
butter crackers too. Let me get them.” I put my hand on her arm.
“Allie? Are you ok? What’s wrong?” I ask.
Allie stops and looks down. “It’s
just.” She looks up at me. “I was so worried about you. It took too
long to get here to see if you were ok. I don’t want to go back and
be that far from you and Jesse. I miss you guys too much,” she
sniffs.
I go over and hug her. “I miss you
too. More than you’ll ever know. But it will only be a week and you
will be with us again. I can’t wait for you to spend a week with
us. Maybe we will have found the perfect house by then and you can
help me decorate.” I smile at her. She pulls away and holds my
hand. “Shopping! Now you’re talking!” She laughs.
Chapter
twenty-five
For the first hour of our drive back to
Kansas, I slept on and off. We stop for lunch on the side of the
road and eat in the car.
“So, what happened to Mick, Jesse? I know it’s
something bad. Please tell me,” I beg.
He wipes his mouth with his napkin and takes a
drink of water then clears his throat. “Ty found him. About 2 miles
from the house, in the trees. Baby, I don’t think…” I interrupt
him. “Please I want to know. I have to know, Jesse,” I say
firmly.
He turns in his seat and faces me, picking up
my hand.
“Baby, Ty found him in the trees. He was half
buried. He was mutilated.” He shakes his head and I wince. “Ty said
he has never seen anything like it before and he has seen a lot.” I
start biting my lower lip and tears form. He leans over and pulls
me by the neck until our foreheads are touching. “It’s not that I
wanted to keep it from you, but I didn’t want you to have that in
your head.” He kisses my forehead.
It’s not that I cared for that horrible man,
hell I hated him and what he did to me but no one deserves to die
that way. No one.
I look at Jesse and shake my head. “I just
wanna go home, our home. Take me home, Jesse.” He nods and turns
around to start the car. I lean my head against the seat and just
stare at him. How did I get so lucky to have such a wonderful
Savior? I smile.
Two hours later we drive into the small town I
call home. Even after sleeping off and on the whole way here, I am
exhausted. We decide to get a hotel room first, get unpacked and
rest.
~*~*~*~
Later that evening I start to wake up from a
nap on our hotel bed. I feel the bed move and look up to see Jesse
hovering over me with a smile on his face. “Well, look who decided
to finally wake up,” he says with a playful grin.
I reach up and pull on his arms until he is
almost laying on top of me. “Hmmmm, best thing to wake up to your
beautiful smiling face,” I say. “Ya know we, um, haven’t, you know,
been together since everything happened.” I peck his lips. “I think
we are overdue, don’t you?” I peck his lips again in a different
spot. “I mean (peck) we wouldn’t (peck) want to get (peck) out of
practice.”
He pulls back a little. “There is nothing on
this earth I would rather do, but don’t you think you should heal
some more? I don’t want to hurt you and have it take longer for you
to heal again.”
I giggle. “Jesse, I’m not going to break. The
doctor said to wait a week. Wait! Are you scared of me? We’re gonna
have sex some time, right?” I start to tickle his sides. He is
laughing and squirming on top of me.
“Stop! I am going to fall on you, Cassie!
Stop,” he says laughing.
Suddenly, he falls over to my right and rolls
over onto his back. I am on top of him in an instant looking down
at him my long hair creating a wall around us. We are both
breathing heavy and still laughing, looking at each
other.
I lean down and smash my lips into his. Our
hands are all over each other and we are kissing with fever. He
holds me and rolls us over until he is on top of me again. We never
break our kissing and we hurriedly undress each other.
I am withering beneath Jesse as he sucks on my
right nipple. I reach my arms around his waist and slide them down
to his bottom and squeeze. That sets him off and he groans loudly.
I can feel the tip of his cock by my opening. If I just move a
little more that way he will slide in. I move enough that I can
feel him move into me a little. I buck my hips and it slides in
more. Apparently he knows what I am trying to do so he helps me out
by pushing all the way into me. He pulls his mouth off my nipple
and buries his face into my neck.
He begins to suck on my neck as we rock
together. He lifts his head and locks lips with mine. I meet him
with every move until we are groaning into each other’s mouths. One
last push and we are falling together in total bliss.
We lay there holding each other breathing
heavy our bodies trembling.
Jesse finally regains himself, gets up and
goes into the bathroom. I can hear the water streaming in the sink.
He comes back out and cleans both of us. Damn that feels good. I
will never get tired of that. I will never get tired of making love
with him. God, I love him!
Once he has returned from disposing the wash
cloth he gets into the bed and pulls me to his side. I lay in my
favorite position, my left arm across his waist and my head on his
chest with my left leg over his.
He is playing with my hair and I am rubbing my
hand back and forth across his chest. This is the best feeling!
This is unbelievable! I am so overflowing with love right now I
could explode! I can’t believe after everything I have been
through, we have been through, we are here together. I drift off
with happy dreams.
Chapter
twenty-six
I am so excited to take Jesse to the Café. I
can hardly wait. “Hurry, Jesse! I want to get over there! I can’t
wait to see everyone and introduce you to them!” I yell. He is
taking forever in the bathroom. Oh, my God! What in the hell is he
doing in there? I thought girls took the longest time getting
ready, Oh, no!
Finally Jesse comes out of the bathroom and
looks at me perplexed. “What?”
I roll my eyes. “Seriously?” He walks towards
me, “What?” He asks again. Oh. My. God! I just turn around, go get
my purse and go to the front door of our room. I open it, look at
him and wait, tapping my foot on the floor.
He laughs. He laughs? Really? He comes over to
me and grabs ahold of my shoulders. “Baby, calm down. They’re your
friends. You can relax.” Then he kisses me.
We walk into the Café, hand in hand. Wait!
What in the hell is that smell? I cover my mouth with my hand and
run to the bathroom which is way across the room. Oh, my God! I am
not going to make it! I push open the door so hard it hits the wall
behind it and I run into the nearest stall, slamming the door open.
I barely bend over the toilet and throw up everything I think I
have ever eaten in my life!
I hear someone running into the bathroom.
“Cassie? Cassie, are you ok pumpkin?” Oh, my God, that’s Stella.
How embarrassing. Stella is the sweetest woman you will ever meet.
Almost too sweet. She is in her mid-fifties with a blonde bob and
makeup that is caked on her face. But she would give you her right
arm if it helped you in any way.
I stand up, shakily, and go to the sink. As I
run the water, I splash some on my face and look up into the
mirror. Wow! I look horrible. I am pale and have circles under my
eyes. Lovely. My stomach is really queasy but more stable, I
think.
I turn around and Stella grabs me into a huge
hug. “Oh my pumpkin. I can’t believe you’re back. I was so worried
about you,” she says smashing me into her chest.
“Um, Stella, Stella,” I choke out, “can’t
breathe.” She pulls away at arm’s length. “Oh, sorry pumpkin. You
know how excited I get.” Do. I. Ever!
I take a few deep breaths and hear someone
running, coming closer, really fast! Jesse comes sliding in the
door, skidding to a stop before he rams into the wall.
“Jesse! This is the women’s bathroom! What are
you doing in here?” I yell.
“Oh, sorry. I wanted to make sure you’re ok,”
he says panting. He is bent over with his hands on his knees
looking up at me. “I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to
check.”
Stella puts her arm around my shoulder.
“She’ll be just fine, um, Jesse?” She asks. Jesse nods as he tries
to get his breathing under control.
Stella clears her throat. “Well, I’ll bring
her out in just a few minutes, ok?” She says sweetly. Jesse looks
at me. I nod and half smile as I shrug my shoulders. Jesse stands
up. “Ok, I’ll, uh, see you in a few minutes, right?”
Stella lets go of me and ushers Jesse out of
the bathroom. “Yes, yes, she’ll be out in a few, bye!” She waves
her arms and shoos him.
She closes the door, turns around and leans
her back against the door. “Now pumpkin. What the hell is going on
with you?” Oh, my!
I look down at my hands that I am wringing. “I
don’t know exactly. Well, not really. I mean, I’m not sure, um.”
Stella walks over to me and lifts my chin with her hand.
“Pumpkin, look at me. You know you can tell me
anything.” I move my eyes up to meet hers and I start crying. She
holds me and we stand there for a long time.
“I don’t know Stella. The last couple of days
my stomach has just been in knots. I mean, I know that I’ve been
under so much stress so that’s not unusual, right? But, I just have
a funny feeling and I’m scared.” I say my chin
quivering.