24. Sawyer
My hand was coveredin blood. Mine, Aaron’s—a mixture coated my knuckles. The vibrations of the speakers outside followed us through the screen door and everyone slowly shifted back into party mode.
“Where is your first aid kit?” she asked, tightening the ponytail high up on her head. I pointed at the cupboards above the fridge and scooted myself onto the kitchen counter. She walked back over to me, pulling my hand into hers. “What were you thinking? Nevermind. You weren’t. Clearly. You’re too drunk to be thinking.”
She tore open the antiseptic wipes and immediately the stench of any pure alcohol wafted through the air. It made the liquor that’s been passed around tonight smell like fruit juice.
“I’m not drunk.”
“Yeah, well neither am I anymore. Talk about sobering up,” she huffed out.“I had it handled, you know,” she wiped at the broken skin on my hand.
I flinched at the stinging sensation. “I am sure you did. But I’m not sorry that I hit him. I didn’t like how he was touching you. He ruined everything,” I said as I hopped off of the counter.
I planted myself in front of her, she stumbled back just a step. I watched as her chest heaved up and down with every deep breath that she took. The overhead light shined down on us, on her, making the sweat look more like a sparkle across her collarbones.
“You were glowing down there,” I said in a lower tone than before. “Lucy, you should have seen yourself from my point of view. But then that scumbag put his hands on you and took that shine away. Even for a second, I hated it.”
The rage that I felt only minutes before started to filter through my body again. But then she looked at me in a way only she knows how.
She let out a heavy sigh as she searched my eyes, neither of us were able to find the next words to say. She pressed her head into the center of my chest and started to rub the side of my arm. She dragged her hand down to mine, holding the bloody fingers in hers. Aaron’s hard head hurt, it’s all cement up there, but the pain hurt a lot less in her hold.
The pain hurt a lot less in her hold.
“Lucy, I could watch you dance and smile and laugh forever. Oh, you have no idea how bad that I want to.”
She dropped my hand.
“Sawyer—”
“No. I want you to listen to me,” I took her head in between my hands. Her cheeks squished up under my grip, we couldn’t help but snicker a bit. “I want to be with you. And I know what you’re going to say. You have to go back to Arizona. You have to be the badass woman that you are, I’m not going to ask you not to be just that. But I also need to ask you to be with me. You don’t get it, it’s a need. I need you, Lucy. We can figure the rest out at a later time.”
She pulled herself out from my hold and walked a few steps away, turning to face away from me. “I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m not the type that can just figure it out,” she muttered into the ground. “Things need to be structured. I can’t afford them not to be. I have to know how things will work before I jump in.”
“I know that you’re that type, and I lo—ike, I like that you’re like that,” I said to her back. I wish she would just look at me, let me look into those beautiful green eyes. “I like everything about you, what about that don’t you get? I will go at your pace, I will fly to you every weekend if you’d let me. If you want to drop me the second your plane touches down, then that’s okay, too.”
I paused.
Her shoulders raised with a heavy sigh, then she brought both arms to the center of her chest. I could see the chain of her necklace move against her neck. It’s how I knew she was fully concentrating on my words, processing them completely. She only fiddled with her necklace when something really struck her.
“I’ll be heartbroken, but I would rather go through the pain if it meant I had the chance to give my heart to you. For what it’s worth, though, it’s already yours. I don’t want to go another day where I don’t get to call you mine, Lucy?—”
She whipped her head around at me and ran straight into my arms. The reminisce of Lucy’s IPA melted off her lips and onto mine. Our tongues danced along to the beats of the far-off music, and our breathing mirrored one another.
It was heavy, it was loud, and the sounds of our panting and lips smacking drowned out the singing and screeching of those thankfully still down by the lake. But before I knew it, there was inaudible chatter filling my ears; I tried to ignore it. Louder and closer, we were interrupted by two voices crossing the threshold into the kitchen.
Gracie and Mel entered the room linked together laughing, faces turned in towards each other.“Oh, I—We’ll leave you two. Sorry,” Mel interjected. They turned away, mumbling little nothings under their breath like little school girls.
I’m still getting interrupted by employees when trying to kiss Lucy, and I’m not even at work. But I don’t think I have seen Mel that animated, ever. Unless it was to be a smart ass. Those were some genuine expressions coming from my little grump of a best friend. For that alone, I wasn’t as pissed off. Only barely.
I tugged at my already tight jeans and adjusted myself while Lucy wiped at her bottom lip and tamed her ponytail. I turned to wrap my hand up with an ace bandage.
I spoke into the counter, “You tell me what you want, and I’ll give it to you. I’ll give you everything.”
She pulled out the bar stool that was tucked under the counter and perched herself up on it. I didn’t need x-ray vision to see the gears cranking inside her head, they were so loud that I could hear them. Lucy’s face scrunched up in a deep thought, a bunch of hemming and hawing was muttered under her breath. I wanted nothing more than to climb into that head of hers and know what she was thinking.
The only time she would lift her head from the array of first aid supplies was when a premature firework was lit off from the other end of the lake. Other than that, she focused on crumpling up the used band-aid wrappers and sanitizing wipe packets.
As she shifted in her seat, a whiff of her perfume and the mutual, lingering arousal hit me like a ton of bricks. Thump…Thump…Thump… My heart was beating inside of my head. If Mel and Gracie never walked in, I could still be tasting her.
“What do you think of me staying with you tonight?”
You’re joking.
“You’re joking.”
She shook her head. “You’re right, Sawyer. I need to take each day as it comes. And I want to spend my days with you. Of course, I do,” she said right above a whisper.
I spun her around on the stool and swooped her up in my arms. My mouth consumed hers, pressing my body as close to her as I possibly could. And she did the same.
I spoke into her mouth, “Follow me.” I placed her feet back on the ground and started ahead of her with my hand extended behind me. She intertwined her fingers into mine and followed afterward. I wanted to kiss her over and over and over. But I didn’t want to risk anyone walking in and ruining this moment… again.
Through the kitchen and off the dining room, I led us into the sunroom. Not much besides a couple of rocking chairs and a day bed that faced the water filled the space. The golden hue from the outside lights cast a glow, leaving a silhouette of Lucy’s body on the wall behind her.
She stepped towards the window and watched as everyone danced and gathered together in crowds. She let out a small laugh beneath her smile as she observed each person, but all I could do was stand back and look at her. Her happiness from earlier was back.
Her shoulder, the crook of her neck. They exposed themselves in a way I believed they were made just for me. Like her skin was meant to be kissed by only me.
I came up from behind her and I trailed my fingers slowly up along her arm, landing my hand atop her collarbones. She tilted her head welcoming me with a faint moan, only for it to get trapped in her throat. I felt her tremble slightly beneath my touch.
“You smell amazing, Lucy,” I said into her hair.
I moved onto her other side, brushing her skin the same way, and her arm filled with goosebumps. I placed myself between her and the window, she let out a small whimper as I hoisted her back in my arms.
She giggled, “Hi.”
“Hello,” I growled out.
Her legs wrapped around my waist and her arms locked behind my back, I could feel her breasts press hard into my chest. I moved my hands beneath her ass, then gave it one hard slap. She let out another whimper, this time louder and right into my ear. My body filled with warmth and my heart started to beat faster.
I walked us backward, falling onto the daybed. Straddling my waist, Lucy slowly gyrated her hips into mine. My pants became tighter, I was certain that I was going to break right out of my zipper. I pulled back at her hair, exposing, elongating her neck to me.
I sat up and took a bite out of the side like she was the sweetest apple I had ever seen.
“You taste even better,” I said as I ran my fingers over the individual indentations.
I had the honor of making my mark on Lucy Collins.
“You haven’t tasted anything yet.” She pushed me back down on the bed and started to leave small pecks down my chest.
I’ve had the luxury of getting to know the kept-to-herself girl that sat along that damn lake for the last month. She turned out to be the beautiful and strong, yet perfectly complicated woman that I can’t imagine my life without now.
The way she moved, hovering over me, she made me believe I could do anything. Like I could write poetry or ballroom dance if I wanted to. She was dainty, elegant—and sexy. She’s undoubtedly the sexiest person I’ve ever laid my eyes on and I felt my entire body become electric under her touch. She shimmied her way down my torso, unzipping my pants as she reached my waist.
I watched as her gaze locked itself on my dick as it sprung out of my jeans. She flashed me a devilish grin before moving her warm mouth down over me. I let out a hushed gasp and threw my head back. She looked up at me through her eyelashes while I was still inside of her, then let out a muffled laugh that sent vibrations up my entire body.
I threaded my fingers through her hair and started moving her head up and down on me. Faster, stronger with every tug. She didn’t balk. She took it all, all while spit was dripping down both sides of her mouth. The tip of her tiny nose bobbed against my groin.
Lucy pushed herself up off of me and stood at the edge of the bed. She kicked off her boots and moved onto lifting the hem of her dress.
“Wait, wait, wait,” I pushed up on my shoulders. Shallowed breathed as ever. I covered her hand with mine, stopping her as she reached her hip bones. I had let my insistent need for her cloud my decisions. “I don’t want you to think that this is the reason I said what I did. This isn’t what I am looking for with you. I want everything with you.”
She slid the rest of her dress up above her head, “I know,” she said, smiling down before climbing back on top of me. “You said you wanted to give me everything. So give me everything you got, Banks.”
She pulled at my shirt, convincing me to pull it off in solidarity. Though there wasn’t much convincing needed. Lace underwear was the only thing that acted as a barrier between us, her nipples played peek-a-boo beneath a bubblegum pink, satin bralette. I couldn’t help myself but lean forward to take a nibble.
She yelped and tugged at the top of my hair, pulling my head slightly back. She stared into my eyes like she could see every part of my life that I had ever lived. And I wanted to share all of it with her.
“Okay, okay. I like where your mind is at, but don’t start any hair pulling just yet.” I leaned off the side of the bed, Lucy still pooled in my lap. I held onto her with everything that I had. She let out a roaring laughter right into my ear, I couldn’t help but laugh over the awkwardness that was occurring. I felt like I was in my early twenties again, giddy and excited—and completely ungraceful.
But that’s how she made me feel. Like a young’n, and not like I was thirty-eight.
I scrambled for my jeans that we threw on the floor and pulled out my wallet. I went to pull out a condom, but she stopped it from even leaving its slot.
“No need,” she said as she pointed to the patch on her lower back.
I ran my fingers over the thin square. Almost too thin, I wouldn’t have realized it was there otherwise.
“That”s fine and dandy, sweet thing, but I am well aware that these little guys,” I said, tapping the outside of my wallet, “do a lot more than act as birth control.”
She bit her bottom lip before kissing me. Tenderly, softly.
“You’re truly amazing, you know that. But I will say, I’m cleared. And I don’t know about you, but?—”
“I am, too.”
“So,” she kissed me again, “Give me everything you got, Banks,” she whispered into my ear.
The eye contact that we shared was constant. Neither of us looked away for even a sliver of a second. Our touches were natural—as if we had memorized the feel of each other”s bodies in another lifetime. Her glow was back. I was certain of that. And the utmost passion and love radiated off of her.
Lucy lowered herself onto me right as another round of fireworks began to blare in the distance. Her eyes rolled back, and I started to thrust into her. Striking displays of red, white, and blue, then all of the colors of the rainbow ran through my body the same way that they filled the sky. On their own, and then all at once.
I did not only have Lucy, but she had me. All of me, for as long as she wanted. My mind, body, and soul belonged to her.
The sparks had ignited and flew through the sky tonight, and I was scared to ever know a day that I didn’t feel exactly how I felt at that moment.