“Wewill make our own fire,” she whispers. Annie’s eyes stay trained on mine as she clasps onto my shoulders. “Blake.” She says my name loud and purposeful. A breath gets caught in my chest. Her voice is soft and angelically sweet. Her tone is even and clear, and I’m shocked and thrilled to hear it. “I love you.”
“Annie.” A crushing swell of relief pours from me. There it is. My gift. I pull her into my arms, grinning from ear-to-ear. Tears come, and I don’t fight them. “I love you, too.” I smother her face with kisses before pulling back into a stream of moonlight. “Thank you. Your voice—that was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard. You’re perfect. I want to hear you all the time. Please—never hold back.”
She bites over her lip with a smile. Annie pulls me down into a kiss that’s fueled with emotion—with the start of our forever—with the magic she’s just dusted the room with by way of her voice. Annie is an angel in the way she looks, acts, and sounds. There isn’t a wicked or cruel bone in her body. It’s a miracle she even looked twice at me.
Olivia tries to claw her way to the forefront of my mind, but I’m on lockdown. Tonight is about Annie and me celebrating our love.
Our clothes disband as we tug and pull our way into oblivion. My hand rides low on her hip until I’m right there over the most tender part of her. Annie is soaking wet, happy to see me in the best way possible. My finger pushes inside her, my thumb working her folds just enough to start the party. I need to get her there tonight. It’s like my brain has thrown it out to my ego like some sick challenge, and in no way do I want to lose. All of the stars have lined up. This is our moment. I won’t let a single thing—a single person, least of all myself—ruin what we have. Every moment that we’ve ever shared is culminating in this one spectacular night, and to give Annie this gift would top it all off with a nice, neat bow.
I whisper a dozen I love yous right into her ear without giving it much thought. I can’t shut it off. I want to tell her I love her, that I need her, on a loop. The words demand to rip from my throat like a battle cry, like an apology. Her body writhes beneath me. Annie pulls away from my kisses as she gasps for air. She’s so close, and I want her to take it.
I get off the couch and drop to my knees, slinging her thighs over my shoulders and go for it. Annie is dripping wet, hot as a bonfire, and I bathe my face a moment before tracking my tongue up to right where it needs to be. Her fingernails dig into my shoulders. Her gasps grow with intensity, more audible by the moment. So close. I press in just enough, loving her with my entire being the only way I know how and don’t relent until she lets out one last audible cry. Annie shudders, locking her knees over my head, and I can’t help but smile right into her thigh. A heated gush comes from her. It’s my turn to take it, and I do—water for my thirsty soul.
Annie coils my hair in her fingers before forcibly pushing me off.
A dark laugh rattles from deep in my chest as I glide over her. I lean in to dot her lips with a kiss, but she turns away. I bury one in her temple instead before digging my face into her beautiful hair.
It’s quiet save for the sound of our heavy breathing, the drumming of our hearts. I want to ask her if she liked that, if she’s ready for more—tell her that I love her, but I’m soaking in the moment, enjoying the hell out of this too much to pull us out of it.
Our bodies fuse together. Annie was right. This erotic heat is all we need to keep warm.
We don’t need any assurances to fill the moment.
Annie and I have moved beyond words.
Our love is palpable, tangible, in every sense of the word, real.
Annie is my present—and she’s most certainly my future.
Olivia pops into my dark mind like a demon.
Point taken.
The next day, I take Annie back to Whitney Briggs. We hit her dorm first so she can shower and change. We didn’t want to get out of bed this morning, just made love again like we had the entire day to do it. I made breakfast for her this time, and we curled up watching morning TV. It felt natural, necessary as breathing. I’d move the entire mountain that Hollow Brook is set on just to have Annie in my bed nightly.
English is her only class of the day, so she asked me to hang out on campus until she’s through. I promised her a trip to our special spot just above the Witch’s Cauldron. I think that’s the place I’ll break both her heart and mine trying to explain the crap out of Olivia. I’m not sure there’s enough time in the world to relay exactly how and why that relationship came to be. For sure no one can break Olivia down into sound bites.
I head off toward the student union and pick up a catalog for spring semester. It’s already time to register, but I’ve yet to figure out if it will even be feasible. I’m not sure if Olivia will keep the baby for a few days then drop it off on my doorstep the first chance she gets or if I’ll be exiting the hospital with him myself. I might need to sit out the rest of the school year and save up for fall. I’ve already contacted the daycare center on campus. As long as I’m fulltime, they’ll watch him for a discounted rate that can be rolled into my student loans. The only reason I’m at Whitney Briggs is the scholarship I scored my senior year in high school. Both Benji and I qualified for financial aid to cover the rest. We were pretty determined to get our degrees. Watching our father roll in and out of AA all our lives pretty much solidified the fact we wanted out of our crappy neighborhood and away from good old Pops for good. Not for good. As much as he was spectacularly lame as a father, we loved him. Hell, I still do. Now Benji isn’t here, and I’m not in school. So much for all our scholastic dreams coming true.
“Daniels!” A male voice shouts, and I turn, looking into the crowd as the bodies merge into nearby buildings. Must have imagined it. The thick scent of coffee drifts from Hallowed Grounds, and I start heading in that direction. Just before I duck inside, a heavy hand falls onto my shoulder.
I turn to find the unwelcome mug of one of the Edwards brothers. Bryson. Next to him is his mirror reflection, Holt, with an equally pissed look just for me.
“What’s up?” I nod toward the growing line inside. “You guys want some coffee? I’m buying.” It’s a friendly gesture on my part, but judging by their long, hardened faces this isn’t a friendly visit.
“No thanks.” Bryson does a quick sweep of the campus. Half the staff at the Black Bear attends Briggs. I’m assuming he’ll want to keep the witnesses to a minimum when he slaughters me.
Holt nods to the parking lot, and we walk over in silence, me like a prisoner headed to death row. Hell, I won’t make it to death row. They’ll probably shank me before they speed the hell out of here.
I stop just shy of the forest adjacent to the lot. That’s it. I’m not giving another inch. If they want to pummel me in the bushes, they’ll have to drag me there first.
“Let’s have it. What’s this about? You want my balls on a platter? Tell me what the hell for.”
Holt comes at me and shoves me hard into the trunk of a pine.
A shooting pain knifes through my back as a branch impales me just below the shoulder.
“Shit.” I shove him the hell off me. I’m through with playing nice. I’m fucking pissed. I don’t really care if these idiots and I ever get along. “I’m not anybody’s bitch so hands off. Got it?”
