27. Caleb
TWENTY-SEVEN
Caleb
“The time to prepare is over. It’s too late if you aren’t ready. The time to take shelter is now. Repeat. Take shelter immediately.” The radio crackled as if airing the announcement had already taken too much effort.
Leaving it on only wasted what battery life was left. I twisted the volume control until it clicked with finality. We were on our own. Alone.
The air had already become muggy inside the cottage, stifling. The rain pelted the thin glass of the windows in intervals that lasted longer each time. Sideways rain was inevitable in these kinds of storms, but it sounded as if it was chipping away at the glass. Chipping away at the shingles and the siding. Grinding down our shelter.
The grayness of the squall had taken over, settling on the sound with giant tentacles that stretched far beyond what our eyes could pinpoint.
“Shit,” I whispered.
“What is it?” Margot’s eyes follow mine.
“The end of the pier.” I pointed and we watched as the farthest boards popped in the violent slosh of tide and wind, and flipped onto the small beach next to the marina. “It’s getting worse. Fast.”
It was only the beginning. The nails and screws that held the dock together were up against the turbulence. The boards flew through the air like the keys being ripped off a piano. Margot ducked involuntarily when one landed in the yard.
She clutched my arm. Our eyes locked.
“The tide is rising,” I reported.
“But it wasn’t supposed to happen this fast. I thought I had time to leave.”
“The sound shouldn’t be this rough.” I didn’t want to accept that the storm was so far off course and all the predictions so inaccurate that we were in danger because we stayed behind.
I knew I had interrupted Margot’s plans to go to my parents’ house. But once we saw each other, we knew the conversations we had in front of us weren’t going to happen over there. We had to stay at the cottage and sort everything out.
We lost power four hours ago, but neither of us was concerned until now. I was starting to think I had prioritized the wrong things.
Now, when I watched the white caps whip into the bulkhead and approach the porch. Now, as I observed the flowers folded over in protest to the salt water.
“We’re stuck, aren’t we?” she whispered.
My strong fingers circled hers, drawing her hand toward mine. “I think we should move to the upstairs closet,” I explained. I didn’t want to scare her.
Margot nodded, ready to follow me along the steps.
“I’ll grab the flashlights, candles, and radio. You get the snacks and drinks, babe.” I winked, a tiny reassurance that we could make it through this together. We lingered in front of the kitchen sink.
My fingers brushed her hip, my thumb indenting at her waist. I looked in her eyes, sifting through the gaze that landed on me.
My eyes suddenly narrowed as I yanked her hand and jerked her away from the kitchen windows. My body sprang forward, pulling Margot with me.
“Run!” I yelled.
Margot sprinted behind me. There wasn’t time to tell her what I saw. “In here.” I held the door open under the staircase, and she ducked under my arm into the darkness.
I wrapped my limbs around her as we crouched on the floor together. Her eyes squeezed together. Our breathing was short and erratic. The warmth of the cedar closet was almost suffocating, but I wouldn’t let go of her, and she wasn’t going to let go of me.
The howl of the waterspout was deafening.
We’d never prayed together before, but we did now, murmuring promises and commitments we didn’t know if we could keep, but were willing to barter.
My lips pressed into her temple. “Babe, it’s quiet. I think it’s passed over us.”
“It’s gone?” she eked slowly.
I cracked open the closet door.
“Let’s go back to plan A.” I turned to face her.
“We can’t go to your parents’ house now.”
“Okay. I mean plan B, I guess. If the water keeps rising, we need to be on the upper level. Let’s take the supplies and go upstairs. We have a long night to get through. We can do this. I know we’re going to be okay.” I squeezed her hand.
“And if another waterspout springs up?” she asked.
“That closet upstairs under the attic stairs is still a stable spot to ride out the storm. It’s better than letting the lower level flood us out.” I had been considering our options for a while.
It only took a few minutes for us to gather provisions for the upstairs. By the time we settled in the closet, it was dark. It didn’t matter that we couldn’t see what was coming. There wasn’t enough light to alert us anyway.
Margot leaned against one wall with her legs stretched across the floor. Her toes can almost touch the opposite side. I positioned myself against the other. I had to bend his knees to fit. Margot jerked forward.
“It’s just one of the shutters caught in the wind,” I explained as the wind banged it against the side of the house.
“Right.” She exhaled.
“Let’s see what the latest report is.” I flipped on the radio. I had to bang on the back and cock the antennae in different directions before we could hear.
“Storm surge is at a record high. Find high ground. Tornado activity is prevalent in the area. Bridges are underwater. Evacuation routes are closed.” The announcer sounded far away.
I tossed the radio in the hallway. “We don’t need to hear anything else. We’re here for the night. That’s all that matters right now.”
I pushed the lantern closer to the door and slid toward Margot. My hand curled around her thigh. My fingers traced the inner softness of her skin. The floor creaked under the shift of my weight. We paused, listening to the wind howl and the rain batter the house.
“We’re safe in here, Margot,” I promised.
She smiled. I felt the familiar pull tugging us closer together. The adrenaline that had raced through my veins now begins to drain from my limbs. I wondered if we could replace fear with need.
“What if we aren’t any safer up here?” she asked. It seemed like she was testing me.
“Then we’ll die very happy and distracted,” I answered with a cocky smile.
“Distract me first before the hurricane rips off the roof,” she dared.
“Hell of a way to end the summer. Don’t you think? First the sailing accident, now a hurricane.”
She touched her thumb to my lower lip. It was a move I usually made. “Caleb.” Her voice was breathy and unstable.
“Yeah?” I couldn’t wait to see what she did next.
“You really came back for me?”
“I did. I traveled through a hurricane for you.”
“Why did it have to be like this?” she asked. “You didn’t say goodbye. You left without saying anything.”
I hung my head. I didn’t know if I could explain it to her. If I could tell her how gutted I’d been. How it was like my heart had been ripped out of my body. I didn’t know something could break me the way leaving her had. I had to try to explain it. She deserved an explanation.
“I couldn’t see you. If I did it would have broken me, Margot.”
A tear slipped down her cheek.
“It did break me. You wouldn’t answer my texts, my calls, nothing.”
“I know. I know. But if I had tried to say goodbye after all those promises I made, I wouldn’t have left the island. I wouldn’t have been able to see you and know it was possibly for the last time in who knows how long.”
“But then why did you come back?” Her eyes searched mine for answers.
“Because I realized that it didn’t matter what I was worried about. I can do a hundred different jobs on Marshoak.” I looked toward the tiny ceiling. “Okay, maybe not a hundred, but I can do other things here. I was obeying orders, trying to keep my rank and my position. I didn’t want to disappoint my family and destroy the legacy all the men before me created. I’m supposed to be an upholder of that legacy.”
She stroked the side of my face. “I’m so sorry, Caleb. I’m so sorry Dean went after you because of me.”
“It wasn’t because of you. But it doesn’t matter anymore. I’m out of the Coast Guard.”
“What?” Her voice echoed in the closet. It was as loud as the wind.
“I haven’t filled out the paperwork yet, but after we make it through the hurricane, I’m going to tell Guthrie they have one less rescue swimmer. I’m not going to Virginia.”
“Are you sure?”
“I thought it would scare me. It doesn’t it. Being without you is what scared me. I wished I’d figured it out before I took the ferry.”
She pressed her forehead to mine. “I wished you’d figured it out too.”
I breathed her in. I inhaled her. “I won’t leave again. I swear.”
Our eyes met, and I lowered her to the floor of the closet. I took my time, kissing her. I lifted her shirt, dropping kisses on her stomach, making a pathway to her breasts. It took no time to toss her bra to the side, peel the tank top over her head. I lapped at her nipple before drawing it deep in my mouth.
“Ohh,” she moaned. “Promise me again.” Her breath was heavy.
“I promise.” I switched to her other tit, flicking my tongue over it wildly. Margot writhed beneath me, reaching for the button and zipper on my shorts. I shirked them down my legs along with my boxer briefs. My cock sprang forward.
I wanted more of her. I kissed along her ribs and over her navel, pressing her knees wide. Her center was wet and warm. I drew a slow lick along her velvety lips.
She hissed, pressing her hands into the back of my head. She wanted it deeper, slower. I drove my tongue inside her, twisting it back and forth while she rolled with the movements. God, I loved her. I loved every part of her body, the sounds she made, the way she tasted. I could do this all night as long as the roof stayed attached to the house. I gently sucked her clit, intensifying the pressure until she came in my mouth. Her eyes lit with passion and fire.
“I want you,” she whispered. “I want you so much.”
I nodded. “Ditto, babe.” I pressed up on my palms, kissing her roughly as my cock moved into position. With a wild thrust, I was inside her. Our tongues tangled as she met each drive of my cock with a hard tight squeeze. Oh, she was fucking amazing.
The house rattled around us. We looked at each other, smiled and I kissed behind her ear and against her neck. I squeezed her breast, taking her nipple one more time. It drove her crazy. I felt the way she clenched me, gripped me, made me harder with each squeeze.
We were so good like this. I thought about the first time we were together this summer in my room on the base. There had been a storm that night, too. But this was different. Fucking her like this. Fucking each other with this much love and intensity was like nothing I had experienced.
We came together as the storm crashed and raged outside the cottage.
I hilted myself deeper, filling her, loving her, gazing into her eyes as she called my name.
“I love you, Margot,” I growled as my release exploded.
We clung to each other, and nothing else mattered in the world.