23. Hope
23
HOPE
“ H ey, did you ever get to see your parents the other night?”
At the question, Parker lifted his face from my shoulder. “What?” Bleary-eyed and tousled, he looked as if he’d just woken from a year-long nap.
We were still perched on the edge of the hot tub with my legs around his waist and his cock wedged inside me. So this might not have been the best time to start a regular conversation, but a thought had struck me as I’d been stroking his back and coming down from my high.
I’d wondered how many hugs he’d gotten since his parents had died. I mean, I’m sure Thane’s mom and dad had taken care of him just fine, but the way he clung to me left me to believe it’d been a while. Then the reminder that he’d tried to contact his mom and dad had fluttered through my head. And before I knew it, I was blurting out the question.
“When you went home with the Happys on Monday,” I clarified. “Did you get to see your parents?”
“Oh.” He blinked, then pulled me off the edge of the tub and back into the water. I unpeeled my legs from his hips as we were separated. But he kept his arm around my waist so firmly that he settled me sideways right back onto his lap as soon as he was seated, as if I were some child preparing to tell Santa what I wanted for Christmas.
All I wanted was more of him.
“No,” he answered flatly before he pressed his lips to the side of my neck and then just kind of remained there nuzzling my throat with his nose. “I didn’t get to see them.”
I swept my fingers over his hair. “Raina mentioned something about…syncing right. What does that mean?”
Parker straightened from my throat to look at me. He didn’t seem annoyed by the question, maybe just puzzled as to why we were even talking about it.
But then he explained, “I have to sleep at the same time that she does and be near her to even begin to share a dream.” Grasping a piece of my hair, he began to play with it. “And that’s already hard enough to accomplish because I haven’t slept well since?—”
When he broke off, I already guessed the answer. Not since his parents had died.
“I didn’t know that,” I murmured, kissing his temple. “I’m sorry.”
He blinked at me, clearly not sure how to take my show of compassion. Then he scooped a hand around the back of my neck and pulled me in until our cheeks touched, and then, stroking my hair, he went on with his story.
“In theory, I’m supposed to get sucked into her dream, where we meet up on this beach with Union’s brother, Hayes, who’s some kind of guide on the other side. Then Hayes is supposed to go off and find whoever we’re looking for and bring them back in the next dream. But…”
When he winced, I filled in the blanks. “He hasn’t been able to find your parents.”
Parker shook his head regrettably. “Not yet,” he admitted. “The last time we managed to meet with Hayes, he said he had a lead, but I haven’t been able to share a dream with Raina since. What’s worse, if I’ve been drinking or taking any kind of medicine to help me sleep, which is more often than not, she gets pulled into my dream, where there is no beach or spirit guide from the land of the dead waiting to greet us.”
“Oh boy,” I said with a quick grin. “I can only imagine what kinds of crazy, depraved things she saw in your head.”
He studied me for a moment before admitting, “She saw you.”
I blinked. Then my lips parted. “Wait. You seriously had a dream about me?”
He nodded. “A sex dream. A pretty R-rated one too.” Sliding his hand from my knee up the outside of my thigh, he grinned lasciviously. “Wasn’t as good as reality, though.”
My mouth dropped open wide. “Oh my God. I—” Straightening in horror, I repeated. “Oh my God. She’s going to tell Foster.”
“Already did,” he answered with a careless shrug.
I shook my head. “But—Jesus, Parker, aren’t you worried that he’ll tell everyone, and then they’ll start watching us and know ?”
He scoffed. “Relax. It was just a dream. Union knew that. I doubt he’ll spread it around, and even if he did, no one would suspect a thing. We don’t exactly scream best friends, let alone fuck buddies, when we’re around them.”
“That was before we actually became fuck buddies,” I argued. “We might be more obvious now.”
“Then I’ll make sure to toss you the occasional glare in public just to throw them off the scent. It’ll be fine.”
He began to kiss his way around my ear, and I shuddered, tipping my face to give him more access. “That might work.”
“We’ll make it work,” he assured, growing more amorous as his hand slid between my legs.
My thighs loosened and my head fell back. But God, I seriously could not get enough of his touch.
Smiling because at least Parker was suffering under the same affliction, I buried my fingers in his hair only for something to occur to me. “Wait.” Lifting my face, I blinked at him. “You tried the dream sharing thing on Monday night.”
He glanced up distractedly before returning his attention to the strap of my soaked teddy. “Yeah. So?”
“So…” I started to smile slowly. “That was before I asked you to have sex with me. You were already dreaming about us hooking up even then.”
He sent me a warning glance. “Don’t turn it into a thing, Langston.”
But I couldn’t help myself. This was just too juicy. Playfully dancing my fingers up his bare chest, I sang, “You wanted me first.”
Catching my hand in a firm grip, he snorted. “Not if you were thinking about me while you were with other guys, I didn’t. Besides, you fucking flirted with me all Monday night long. You started this.”
I gasped indignantly. “I didn’t flirt with you on Monday.”
“Oh, really?” His eyebrows arched before he started quoting, “You’re just jealous I didn’t climb on top of you. Don’t pull my hair too hard; I might like it. Thanks for the ride .”
Throwing my head back, I laughed outright and nudged his shoulder. “That is not at all how I said that last line.”
He smiled along with me, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “Well, that’s how I heard it.”
I shook my head over his insanity, only for a wave of dizziness to swamp me. “Whoa,” I reached for the edge of the hot tub while vertigo took over and the whole balcony started to swim.
“What?” Parker asked, his voice alert with concern as he caught my hand to help ground me. “What’s wrong? Hope .”
I shook my head and swallowed as the world slowly started to right itself again. “Just got dizzy for a second. I’ve probably been in the water too long.”
“We’ll leave, then,” he decided immediately, lifting me with him as he rose and causing gallons of water to cascade off us.
“But I was having fun,” I protested even as I let him take my hand to help me out.
“We can have fun anywhere,” he assured, holding on tight as I slowly swung my leg over the side.
Gah, I was starting to feel shaky and nauseous too. I made sure not to mention that, though. Parker already seemed worried.
As water kept pouring off me because I still had clothes and shoes on, I cringed. “I’m getting the floor all wet.”
“Fuck the floor. It’ll dry.”
I nodded and took a step toward the sliding door that led back inside, only to stumble in my heels.
“Hey,” Parker said, tightening his grip on my hand that he’d never bothered to let go of.
“I’m fine,” I assured, waving away his concern. Then I grumbled, “Stupid heels,” as I bent my knee to bring my foot up behind me so I could unbuckle the strap and tug the shoe off.
Parker stayed beside me, holding my hand as I removed the second. Once I was barefoot, I blasted him with a relieved smile, announcing, “All good. See.”
And I took another step forward to lead the way inside, determined to show him that I was fully recovered.
Except two strides in, my knees buckled and the world slanted sideways. “Shit.”
“The hell?” Parker caught me in his arms and hauled me completely off my feet so he could carry me. “All good my ass. What’s going on, Trouble?”
“I don’t—” Turning my face into his bare, wet chest, I closed my eyes and drew in his natural scent that I could still make out over all the chemicals that had been in the water. Breathing him in helped tamp down the nausea, and my brain started to work better. “Damn,” I remembered. “I forgot to take my nightly meds.”
He swerved an incredulous glance to my face. “Missing one dosage does this to you?”
“Sometimes,” I slurred, closing my eyes and beginning to pet his arm since goosebumps were popping out on my own flesh.
“Is it too late to take them now?”
“No.” I shook my head and rubbed his skin a little more aggressively to warm him up. The air-conditioning was running full blast, I swear. “Probably a good idea to take them now.”
“Okay.” His voice was calm as he lowered me. “Do you have them here?”
I opened my eyes and glanced around to find us in the bedroom already. When my bottom hit the mattress, I tried to arch right back off it. “I’ll get the sheets wet.”
“They’ll dry ,” he ground out in a harder tone before gripping my face to gain my attention. “Hope, where are your pills?”
I blinked sleepily and tried to focus on his eyes. “In my purse. Foyer. Table.”
Gah, but that hot tub had seriously zapped all the energy out of me. Sleep suddenly sounded incredibly nice.
In front of me, Parker nodded and then let go of my face before hurrying off.
I took that moment to slide off the bed to keep it from getting soaked. But it was so freaking cold in here. Shivering, I hugged myself as I crumpled onto the floor where the carpet seemed to offer a smidgeon of warmth.
When Parker returned, he had my whole purse along with a bottle of water, and he was still buck-ass naked. I blinked up at him, entertained by the sight, while he paused in his tracks when he found me trembling in a ball on the floor, hugging myself for warmth.
“Stubborn-headed woman,” he muttered and knelt in front of me.
After unscrewing the cap on the water, he handed it to me and upended the purse to make all the contents spill across the carpet. Tampons, receipts, mini hand sanitizers, lotions, wallet, spare change, and hair scrunchies everywhere. When half a dozen pill bottles spilled out with them, Parker started snatching them up, one by one.
“Which ones?”
I squinted through a fog to read the labels before picking three. “These.”
“Okay.” He nodded and opened them for me, so I only had to hold out my hand as he dropped the required amount of pills into my palm. We repeated the process until I’d taken everything I needed.
But Parker still watched me closely as he asked, “Is that it?”
I bobbed my head and shuddered, hugging myself tighter before I admitted, “Cold.”
“I’ll get a towel.”
As he popped to his feet and disappeared inside the bathroom, I tried to peel the strap of my teddy off my shoulder, but as wet and plastered to my skin as it was, it might as well be glued on. Growling in frustration, I gave it a tug to no avail.
“Here. Let me.”
Not realizing Parker had returned, I blinked up at him blearily and watched as he methodically went about stripping me, looking about as affected as if he were taking the clothes off a mannequin.
“You look really good walking around here naked,” I said, gifting him with a tired smile.
He grunted and then scowled at my teddy before ripping at the cloth to help remove it. Then he finally glanced up, distractedly answering, “Yeah. You too.”
I glanced down at myself before slowly picking up the tattered remains that were still hanging off me. “My teddy.”
“It served its purpose, trust me.” And Parker finally managed to shed it from me with one last violent tear. Tossing it aside, he wrapped warm terry cloth around my shoulders and started to rub heat back into my limbs.
Amazed by how charitable he was being, I blinked up at him and mumbled, “Thank you.”
He didn’t answer, just picked me up off the floor so he could stand with me in his arms and deposit me back onto the bed. From there, he crawled in with me and covered us both with the blankets, probably to ensure that I wouldn’t try to climb off again.
But I couldn’t deny that I liked all his toasty flesh pressed up against mine. Burrowing into his side, I rested my head on his chest and wrapped my arm around his waist before sighing.
“Yes. Now this hits the spot.”
He tightened his arms around me and kissed my hair. “What else do you need?”
“Nothing,” I realized. I had everything right here. The world was perfect. But then my eyes closed of their own volition, and I slurred, “Maybe jus’ a little nap.”
From there, I knew no more.