I wasted no time ya
nking - yes yanking -
her shirt over her head. It was at that moment that I realized just how long it had been since I'd been in this…position. With everything going on in our lives
, it was like my body just forgo
t to care about sex, but with her under me and wanting me, it cooked me like a brush fire. I feverishly finished disposing of the clothes that hindered me and when my rib cage touched her sweet belly
,
a loud, embarrassing growl reverberated through me.
It didn't matter that I c
ould feel her ribs because she'd
gotten so thin, as had we all. It was still
her.
She giggled and rubbed her cheek against mine
; scruff against softness
. "I'm already yours, you Neanderthal. No need to stake a claim."
"Sorry," I said sheepishly, which pissed me off
,
in fact.
"Don't be sorry," she said and then took my lip ring between her teeth. I panted. "It's very cute."
"I don't want to be cute right now," I insisted and buried my face in her neck. She laughed again, but it was a breathy laugh of surrender. "
I just want to make the world disappear
,
except for this little
,
tiny r
oom."
"Please
," she begged, her cool fingers pressing on my back.
And so I did
,
finally,
slowly, fiercely and happily.
Oh, Happy Day.
Sherry
“I’ll keep watch tonight,” Miguel announced. “Everyone
else
go to bed. Tomorrow
, we're outta here
.”
No one put up any fight. We all drifted up and away. I saw Riley from the corner of my eye as she went to stand beside Miguel with Jethro. She was keeping watch, too.
I peeked over to see Lily had conked out on the sofa end. Danny reached down and picked her up gently. “I’ve got her. Go to bed.” He glanced between us. “You need it more than any of us. Glad you’re back to the land of the living.”
I fought to not roll my eyes. “The death jokes are too soon,” I snapped.
He nodded and smiled small indicating
that
he knew that. He and Celeste took
Lily
,
and Merrick lifted me up
in his arms
. He carried me to our room and as soon as the door shut, it was like giving my body permission to freak.
I immediately started to shake and heave. He took us to the floor
and
wrapped his arms around me
as I cried all over his shirt
. He pressed me and squeezed in that re
assuring way of his
, up and down my body in waves
. I lifted my
face and slammed my mouth to his out of necessity. He let me know that this was what he needed, too, by gripping my legs and pulling me over him.
With deft hands he pulled my shirt over my head and pressed me against him. The sigh that escaped his lips was full of
relief as
his hands wandered me
as if he was checking to see if I was
still
really there in his palms.
I knew this ordeal had shaken him, too, not just me. I couldn’t imagine what it must have been like for him to go through that. I’d ask him about it, but for now…
His face, from not shaving f
or days, maybe even a week
, was coars
e, but it just added to my pleasure. It grated the skin of my neck and the tickly sting ignited me.
He let his hand run up my ribs and I sucked in a breath. He spoke against my temple. “When I
think about never touching your skin
again…about never feeling your breaths against my neck…never seeing your pout face again.” I chuckled sadly and accepted his kiss on the corner of my mouth. “I can’t think about it. It hurts too much.”
“Then don’t think about it, Merrick,” I coaxed and pulled his shirt over his head, too. “Just don’t think at all.”
He took my mouth deliciously before rolling us and placing me under him
so I could feel his weight, the heaviness that I never thought I'd feel again
.
This wasn’t sex. This wasn’t just making love
either
. This was about being as close as humanly possible. Not only was he careful and slow as if we had all day and night, but he was hungry yet sated in a way that I’d never seen before. One second he was a gentle starving man, the next he was a happy and serene guy with touches more gentle than I thought possible to still feel them.
After some hours
- hours
!
-
and lips tender from kisses, we lay akimbo on the mat, both breathing deeply and soundly.
We listened to each other’s breathing for a long time, switchi
ng positions and repositioning. Both of our sighs were telling of the inability to sleep for some reason. It wasn't that I wasn't comfortable or happy or…sated. I just couldn't turn my brain off.
Eventually, after I’d rested on Merrick’s chest for a while and neither of us had gone to sleep yet, Merrick sat up with us. “Put your clothes on,
honey,
” he urged.
I looked at him blankly in the dark and he helped me put my shirt and jeans on. Then he took my hand and led me into the dimly lit hall. It only took a second to realize where he was going. When he slipped into Lily’s door I smiled at the big sap.
He pulled me down with Lily in the middle of us and we both wrapped our arm
s
around her.
She stirred.
"Daddy?"
"Right here, Lily bug."
“Daddy, you’re hogging the
blanket.”
We chuckled, but I soon heard Merrick’s sigh as Lily wr
apped her little arms around my
neck. I pressed as close as I could get, Merrick’s
arm squeezing my waist gently as I was encumbered with warmth and love.
Finally. We all slept as a family. One big, happy, glorious, special, unconventional, beautiful family.
"Oatmeal, bug. We don't know when we'll eat again. It might be a while until we get there," I urged her. I was packing up food in the kitchen and had Calvin and Franklin getting the food from the one pantry with food in it. I looked around the room. Mrs. Trudy's handmade apron that I still wore sometimes was hanging there by the fridge.
My engraved wooden spoon that Danny made for me, that table that held good and bad memories.
Phillip being flipped over the top by Jeff, Merrick and my morning after breakfast, getting to know Marissa, Lily eating her noodles… So many dinners and discussions. So many things that would be so hard to forget.
I shook my head and turned my necklace charm in my fingers. It was warm to the touch as if telling me something, a signal maybe. That everything would be ok and that everything happened for a reason.
I took the two canvas bags I had and placed them by the stairs. Everyone was bustling about through the commons room and hallway. I watched Max as he perused the bookshelf. He looked sad on a whole new level. I understood. Trudy had been his charge and now we were leaving the only thing he had left of her. He made his way to the old record player
and ran his finger down the length of it.
I went to his side and picked up the Etta James album we’d played over and over again. I put it on the turntable and let her loud croon distract me for a few seconds. Everyone else stopped, too, bracing themselves on the walls and stairs. We just listened and it seemed that though our lives were splitting at the seams, there was hope on the horizon.
I laid my head on Max's shoulder and f
elt a loud sigh go through him as
At Last
played.
I found a dream that I could speak to
A dream that I can call my own
I found a thrill to rest my cheek to
A thrill that I have never known
And you smile, you smile
Oh, and then the spell was cast
And here we are in heaven
For you are mine at last.
"I miss her, too," I told him. "I miss her a lot."
"But once we leave this place, she'll be gone for good," he mused and looked around. "
At least here, I was surrounded by her things. When we leave this place, it's like my failure of keeping her safe will be unbearable."
"Max, what was her task?"
"I…I don't know," he stuttered. "Why?"
"How do you know her task w
asn't to stab and distract the T
aker?"
"I would have felt…" His brow bunched. "I mean my conscience was buzzing, but that was because she was in danger."
"Maybe," I mused back. "Either way, you and I both know that you didn't stop Mrs. Trudy from doing anything
that
she wanted to do."
His lips twisted. "I know. I just wish things would have been different."