Page 81 of On the Mountain

“Wanted to see what’s mine,” he growled, gaze holding mine.

I loved it when he looked at me when we fucked, loved watching all the emotions playing across his face. My pleasure grew and grew, and I wanted to give him my load so he would give me his.

I wrapped my legs around him as he pounded me. My hand went to my dick, and I jerked myself off. My vision went blurry, the pressure inside unable to stay contained. I cried out, cock spurting, dizzy as I gave Crow exactly what he wanted.

“Mine,” he said against my neck, then bit down. I spurted again, Crow’s cock twitching inside me as he filled me the way he’d promised.

“God, that was good. So perfect.”

Crow pulled me to him.

“Thank you,” he whispered. “For loving me.” He brushed his fingers against my nape, then around to the front, drawing a familiar picture in my freckles.

“You don’t have anything to thank me for. I’m so fucking lucky I get to love you.”

I pressed my lips to his, kissing him until my jaw hurt and the cum dried between us.

“We need to get home,” I said eventually. “Mel and Izzy will be here soon. We need to clean up before they arrive.”

Crow groaned, but I knew he liked it. He made friends with them for me, but he enjoyed them too. They were the only ones to ever be in our house, and it was rare, but we had them over.

While some things had gotten much better, Crow would always be very specific about others: He refused to eat in restaurants, but would get something from Tranquil Brew as long as either me or Mel made it. Mel and Izzy had us over for dinner sometimes, and the first times he wouldn’t eat, but now he did. They were the only two people he trusted other than me.

And things had gotten better in Tranquility too. Most people left us alone. Four years ago Billy had gone to prison for burglary, and once he wasn’t around, his friends stopped bothering us.

Still, Crow hated to go to town, the mountain the only place he really wanted to be, but it was where I wanted to be too. It felt like our own world up here, like a piece of heaven made just for us, where I was safe and loved and comfortable.

Where I could sit in my room for days and not leave the bed if I wasn’t feeling well, where we grew our food, worked on vehicles, and lived a life that was perfect for us.

“If you insist.” Crow pulled up my underwear and jeans first, then took care of his own. He held my hand as we made our way back to the house. “I need to take orders to the post office tomorrow.”

He’d started selling his artwork online. Crow drew and painted nature and animals, and he had quite the following. No one knew who he was, just a man named Crow who painted nature like he was one with it.

“Okay. We can do it when I go to work.”

We got home, where the painting of Annalise that Crow had done three years ago hung above the fireplace. We’d burned the one of The Enlightened long before that.

We showered together, and then Crow pointed to my stool in the kitchen. I rolled my eyes, pretending not to like his bossiness as I sat there and watched him make dinner.

Mel and Izzy arrived not long after that. We had roast and potatoes, and laughed a lot, all of us happy, and then they headed back to town at about eight.

Afterward, we bathed together, Crow washing me and me him before we climbed into our bed.

“I love you,” Crow said into the dark, stroking my hair. “You are…everything to me. My salvation, my reason for being.”

I climbed on top of him, his arms wrapping around me as I nuzzled my face into his hair. “I love you, Crow. You’re my reason too.”

And he would be my reason for everything, every day, for the rest of my life.

Just like I knew I would be his too.