The Beginning of Us (37 page)

For the rest of the night, we make love. We don’t fuck or have sex, we make love. I felt everything he said to me earlier in the day. I know that this is exactly where I want to be. With every stroke of his dick inside me, slowly and passionately, I know that we love each other. We love each other enough to move on with our lives, together.

Lying next to him, curled into his side with my legs draped over his, I kiss his jaw line and nibble on his shoulder, showing him everything he has shown me. That I am his. I belong to him.

Quickly getting out of bed before he can stop me, I grab the tee shirt from the dresser. The one that told the world that I belong to this man, and slip it over my head as I climb back into bed. I wasn’t lying when I said I would wear this shirt with pride.

Lying back on his chest, he kisses my head, tells me goodnight and that he loves me.

I raise my head and look into his eyes, trying to express the regret that I have felt for everything that happened a year ago. I told him everything he needed to hear in that moment.

“Good night Skylar. I love you. Get some rest; we’re going to have a long day tomorrow. We have to tell Kylee our plans to live here and get her furniture here. She’s going to need a bed.”

“We probably should go buy you a bed too. I don’t think your mom will let you take your bed from her house.”

“Don’t worry about that, I already have a bed,” I say, smiling coyly.

“What do you mean?”

“My place is right here, Sky. If it’s okay with you, I’ll be sharing your bed, for as long as you’ll have me.”

Skylar grabs my face and smiles at me like he just won the lottery then kisses me deeply. He moves his hands to my hair and pulls slightly, to angle my head better to get the deep kiss he desires. I have heard about those kinds of kisses that leave you breathless and seem like they last forever. That is exactly what this kiss is to me. When he finally breaks, I have to catch my breath and blink the little white dots away from my eyes.

“Sweets, I’ll have you forever and always. I can’t wait for tomorrow. I get to wake up with the most beautiful girl in the world, wearing my shirt and she loves me just as much as I love her.”

“It’s going to be a good day. Now go to bed, no more hanky panky,” I say swatting his hands away as he tries to get them underneath the shirt.

“We have the rest of our lives for hanky panky, sweets. Good night, Mira. I love you.”

Those are the last words I hear before drifting off to a peaceful slumber. I know I’m going to sleep better tonight than I have in a very long time.

Chapter Eighteen

Mira

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

I didn’t think I set the alarm? God, it must be really late in the day, the light is so bright as I try to open my eyes. I try to reach over and shut off Skylar’s alarm, but my arm feels funny. I must have slept wrong.

Last night, in bed with Skylar, was the most amazing experience of my entire adult life but something doesn’t feel right. I know that Sky doesn’t have Egyptian cotton sheets but these sheets are just not comfortable, almost scratchy against my skin.

As I try to get my eyes to adjust to the bright light, I finally get them open. Well not really
open
, open, but more a squint. Something’s really wrong with this.

I don’t feel any warmth next to me in bed. He might be lying further away from me but my arm feels like it weights a hundred pounds and can’t be moved to reach for him.

Getting familiar with my surroundings, I realize I’m not in Skylar’s room. I’m not even at home.

“Skylar,” I manage to whisper. My throat is so dry, like a desert. I feel like if I were to cough, dust would fly from my mouth. Just trying to mutter those two syllables hurt like hell. I really could use some water.

Trying to move my muscles, any muscles, to get out of bed is killing me. My body doesn’t want to cooperate with my brain. I manage to turn my neck and see what is really going on.

I’m in a hospital. I’m lying on a hospital bed a little bigger than the ones that I’ve seen before. The bed is wrapped in the generic, zero comfort stock white sheets and I’m covered with a similar one.

It pains me to move but I scan the room with my eyes, trying to figure out what is happening. The beeping noise, it isn’t my alarm clock. It’s some kind of machine that has a tube coming from a bag of clear liquid. My eyes follow the tube down and notice that the end of it is stuck in my arm. An IV? What the hell happened?

Did something happen at the apartment? Did we get robbed and I was injured? Was one of those biker guys the robber? Did they want to hurt me to get to Skylar? If I’m in this bed, where is Skylar? Oh God, oh God, did something happen to him? My stomach starts turning, running through all the possibilities.

Skylar has to be here. I can sense him. I know his presence anywhere, and his scent. I have burned the way he smells into memory so I could never forget. Where the hell is he?

When I turn my neck in the other direction and try to focus my eyes, I see Skylar sleeping awkwardly on a chair in the corner of the room. Saying his name didn’t work. Maybe if I try I can make some kind of noise.

I see that there’s a nurse call button lying on the bed next to me. I try to move my hand to grab the call button, but it isn’t cooperating. It’s like my brain is telling it what to do, but it’s not listening. I begin sobbing, painfully sobbing, and I see Skylar stir in his chair. I just want to get up.

I think with all my might to get my hand to work with my brain and finally get one finger stretched out to the buzzer. I shove the buzzer off my bed, but it’s connected to a cord that’s attached to my hospital gown. My panic is mixing with my sobs. There is no worse feeling than not having control over your body and right now I’m in pure hell. I just want to crawl onto Skylar’s lap and have him hold me.

Skylar stirs again as my heaving whisper of cries continue. His eyes flutter open and then a look of almost pure shock is written across his face. He stands from the chair looking at me as if he’s seen a ghost. Carefully walking over to me, eyes almost popping out of his head, I hear his voice, “Mira? Mira, can you hear me?”

My sobs slightly lessen as I nod my head, in short up and down motions.

“Mira, I’m here, I’m here, shhhhh,” Skylar says, brushing the hair off my sweat soaked face and rubbing my head. “I’ve got you, you’re ok. Just breathe sweets.”

Again, I nod. “Water,” I croak out.

Skylar walks over to the table next to the chair he was sleeping on and grabs a white plastic cup with a straw sticking out of it. I watch him walk over to the sink in the opposite corner of the room, rinsing the cup and filling it with water. He slowly moves back to the side of my bed, placing the straw in my mouth to let me have a sip.

I don’t know if it’s because of the amazing sex last night or if it’s because I’m so parched, but this water might be the greatest thing I’ve ever tasted. I can’t help but attempt to devour the entire cup, but he stops me, removing the straw from my mouth.

“Slow down sweets. There’s more where that came from,” Skylar jokes.

After having some water and quenching my thirst, my throat feels a lot better. I try to move my arm to hold Skylar’s hand as he pulls a chair to the side of my bed and leans towards me. My arm still feels heavy and stiff. I can move my fingers but the actual lifting; it’s harder than it sounds.

Sky must have noticed me staring at his hand so he leans on the bed with his elbows on the thin mattress and puts his arms at a ninety-degree angle and rests his chin on his closed fists. Why is he acting so strange? He must know I want to hold his hand, but he makes no gesture to oblige. If anything, he’s trying
not
to touch me.

“Skylar?” I’m able to get out much easier now. It took me a little bit of time to annunciate his name, but at least I said it without pain.

“Mi, I missed you so much. I knew you would come back. God, I just knew it. Everyone thought I was crazy, but I wouldn’t give up on you. I couldn’t.”

I glance at the cup of water that Skylar set down on the table next to my bed. He read my mind, when he lifts the straw again to my mouth to let me drink. Removing the straw from my mouth, he places the cup back on the side table. I cock my head to the side, trying to process what he just said. He missed me? Why? Knew I would come back?

“Mira, can you talk to me? Can you tell me what you remember?”

Taking a deep breath I start to talk, but my brain feels clouded and I’m not sure if I can form a coherent thought, but I try anyway. I need to understand what happened between going to bed and waking up in a hospital room.

“I remember Kylee leaving to go back to Grand Rapids to get her stuff,” I say slowly. My head is so jumbled it feels like I have lost a whole period of time.

“Then we were lying on the couch watching a movie,” I say. Skylar is staring at me, with a similar confused look on his face. How are we not on the same page?

“The last thing I remember is going in the bedroom, making love and going to sleep in your arms. And now I wake up here. What happened babe?” I ask, taking a deep breath. I really don’t get why it’s so hard for me to talk or speak a few sentences without feeling completely winded, like I just ran a marathon. I am utterly exhausted from speaking just a few words.

“Mira, I am really-” Skylar starts to say as I close my eyes. “Mira?” Skylar says with panic in his voice, jolting me back awake. I try again to lift my hand and am able to get it closer to Skylar. I just want to touch him, feel him. I need for him to touch me.

“Sky, give me your hand please.”

Skylar looks bewildered. Like I’m Medusa and I have snakes for hair. Reluctantly he places his hand underneath mine and I clench my fingers around what I can and hold on.

“Sky, please tell me what happened. Did someone break into the apartment? Are you okay? Is Kylee okay?”

Taking a deep breath, he lowers his head and starts to speak softly.

“I’m going to call a nurse, sweets. We can talk in a minute okay?”

“Sky, please just please tell me what happened? What happened between the time we went to bed until now? Did someone break into the apartment? Are you okay? Just tell me, please?”

“Mira, I really should call a nurse. They’re going to want to get updated vitals and make sure you’re doing okay,” Skylar says has he pushes the call button on a string.

A few minutes later a tall attractive blonde nurse walks into my room wearing dark blue scrubs. She has a very kind face and her name badge says Amanda. She walks over to my bed and pulls the stethoscope from around her neck and places the ear parts where they belong and bends to place the cold metal under my gown on my chest.

“Well hello Ms. Adams. I’m Amanda and I’ll be your nurse for the next few hours. Do you think you’re up for answering a few questions for me?”

“Yes, that’s fine, go ahead,” I respond.

“Let’s start with a few easy ones. Can you tell me your full name please?”

“Mira Rae Adams.”

“Good. Now can you tell me the full name of this young man?”

I look at Skylar and smile, “Skylar Landon McBride.”

The nurse looks towards Skylar and he gives her a nod acknowledging that I was correct.

“Mira, do you know where you are?”

“I’m at a hospital. I don’t know which one, but for sure a hospital.”

“Good job,” Amanda says as she’s sliding the cold metal of the stethoscope down the back of my gown, listening to my breathing sounds in my lungs.

“Last question and I’ll let you and Mr. McBride catch up and then you really should rest. Do you know why you’re here?”

“I have no idea what I’m doing here. Last thing I remember is going to bed with Skylar and then waking up here.”

Nurse Amanda gives Skylar a puzzling look and he shrugs his shoulders.

“You were in an accident, do you remember?” Skylar asked.

I shake my head no. It’s my turn to look at him confused. Oh my God, do I have amnesia? No, I can’t. I remember everything, except how I got here.

Trying to take in more of my surroundings, I see a lot of flowers, cards and balloons. A lot of stuff has accumulated for just a few hours. I wonder if my mom has been called. Has she been here? My eyes dart between Nurse Amanda and Skylar, I’m pleading with them to tell me what happened.

“Mira, look at me please?” Skylar pleads. I shift my eyes back to focus on his face. He looks different but the same, if that makes any sense. Of course, he’s still Skylar, but he looks exhausted. Normally his face is clean-shaven except for a goatee, but now he looks rough. A lot more facial hair and the hair on his head appears longer. His eyes look sunken in with dark rings around them. I start to feel panicked again, knowing that I haven’t just been here for a few hours. More like a few days.

I feel my breathing hitch and my heart start to pound. Tears well up as I ask him with my eyes to continue, not saying a word. If I speak, the dam will break.

“Mr. McBride, keep it simple. Don’t overwhelm her. She really does need her rest. I know it seems like she has been resting for a while, but she should take it easy,” Amanda says, attaching a blood pressure cuff to my arm.

“Mira, maybe we should wait to talk about the accident,” Skylar says squeezing my hand, trying to keep me calm.

“What the hell is going on, Skylar? This is all wrong. What the fuck is going on?” I ask trying to catch my breath.

“You were in an accident. The night of graduation, you and Danny crashed on the highway.”

“Sky, I know. Danny died. But what does that have to do with me now?”

“What are you talking about Mira?” Skylar asks me, confusion seeping out of his pores.

“Are you kidding me? Danny died that night, you were there. We went to grief therapy together. Why are you looking at me like that?” I yell. Ok not so much a yell, but I did raise my voice.

Skylar looks at me like I just said the Pope isn’t Catholic. “Danny just went home to shower and get a fresh change of clothes. He’ll be back in like twenty minutes.”