Arik #2
We lay there for hours, taking in the view, talking about everything and nothing, and feeling the cool breeze against our faces until the sun rose high in the sky.
From time to time, I would pull the hair back from her neck, nuzzling my face into the crook, and gently kissing her sensitive spots until I felt her shiver against my torso.
I held her in the abyss of pure bliss that surrounded us, feeling her settle into me and her mind go quiet as she drifted to sleep.
Hours later, when she awoke, the sun was setting. I had held her there, wrapped up in her the same way she was wrapped up in me. It could have gone on for centuries and still not had been long enough.
She woke up slowly, gently, as I tightened my grasp around her and brought my lips to her neck once more. I wanted, deep in my bones, for this to be the best moment of her life.
“Rested?” I whispered into her ear as she yawned softly.
“I can’t believe I fell asleep. Apparently, that’s all I do here,” she quipped with a laugh.
I bit down on her shoulder so gently, giving in to my desires for a single second. She moaned lightly as her fingers laced into mine.
“Now, I did have Sam come put up this glorious umbrella so you wouldn’t get a sunburn,” I said, smoothly between gentle kisses across her neck.
Claire looked up, admiring the umbrella before looking down at her body that was cast in shadow. “Oh, that was sweet of you,” she said, the smile slipping through her tone as her hand squeezed mine.
Her body jolted upright as she grabbed her phone and whispered, “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”
I rubbed my hands along her back, already knowing what was to come.
She slammed her phone down onto the cushion and threw her back onto my chest again, “No response from the winery. Nothing. No meeting. Another fucking day. Fuck this guy.”
Good. I love when people follow directions.
“Now. We could stay here forever or go for a walk on the beach. What do you prefer?” I asked, hoping desperately she would reply with, “Arik. I love you. I am going to stay here forever. Please, take me. Now!”
“Beach. I think beach,” she said softly, her brain and body were still waking up from what resembled more of a six-hour coma than a nap. “Just let me use the bathroom and check in on my family.”
“Absolutely, love,” I replied with a smile as her body left mine, leaving my soul aching as I watched her disappear back inside.
I listened intensely. She spoke on the phone to her mother.
Her tone was sweet yet solemn, as if she were holding back a dam filled with fears.
I found myself tiptoeing through the house toward the chamber before I could even process my actions.
Emotions of sadness and guilt flooded her as I paced the hallway outside the chamber.
I wanted to rush in and hold her. I wanted to calm her.
I wanted to take her sadness and pain like my very life depended on it.
Once the call ended, I waited. I waited for the jagged emotions clashing in her mind to settle. I waited for her to calm herself, which was excruciating. And when the time was right, I opened the door.
“Knock, knock. You okay, love?” I asked, my head peeking into the room to see her sitting on the edge of the bed. She quickly wiped a tear from her face and looked away.
“Oh. Claire. Please, tell me what is wrong,” I begged as I approached her, sitting next to her on the bed and keeping distance out of respect.
“I’m fine,” she insisted, blinking up at the ceiling as if that alone could stop the tears from falling.
“Claire, please,” I whispered.
A single tear rolled down Claire’s neck as she spoke.
“Oh. You know. Just talking to my mom.” She took a deep inhale, her breath shaky.
“It’s hard. I am still here. I just feel guilty.
” The tears began to fall again as she blurted out, “Fuck, I’m sorry.
I just emotionally vomited on you…and after such a beautiful morning. ”
Her head fell into her hands as her shoulders rose and fell with her sobs. My hand met her upper back, rubbing gentle, comforting circles while she cried. Finally, her body leaned in toward mine. Her head pressed into my chest as I wrapped my arms around her.
“What can I do Claire? What can I say?” I questioned, unsure of how to handle her raw emotion. Whatever she needed, I wanted to do it. And whatever she needed me to be, I wanted to be it.
“It’s fine. I just needed a minute,” she responded between breaths, her face lifting from her hands to reveal the pink streaks of raw emotion that bled from under her eyes. She looked shattered and my new obsession, other than her entirely, would be to put her back together.
“Claire. It is already nearing sunset. How about we get you in the bath? You can just relax for as long as you would like. And when you are done, we can have dinner…and rest…and lie in bed…and just be. Anything you need,” I pleaded as my hand rested on her thigh, and I awaited her response.
She nodded as she gulped back a new emerging round of fresh tears.
“Okay. You sit here. I will handle everything,” I said, comforting her with my words as much as I possibly could.
I moved to the tub surrounded by stone that sat in the corner of the bedroom nearest to the bathroom.
I could feel Claire breathing—slowly inhaling and exhaling in counts of four—as I lit lavender candles along the stone ledge that crept up the side of the wall.
I returned to the bed and picked up the remote to close the blinds, one by one, for her privacy.
Next, I filled the tub with warm water and lavender bubble bath, watching as the bubbles reached the top edge of the tub.
“All right, almost there,” I crooned quietly as I scanned her emotions.
Raw.
She was devastatingly raw, and it was like a knife straight through my chest until it came out the back directly between my shoulder blades.
“I have one of my cotton shirts for you when you get out and a few towels here,” I said as my hand brushed up against the supple white terrycloth. “I’ll take your clothes down and put them in the wash so they will be ready for you in the morning.”
“The morning?” Claire questioned as her eyes glared at me.
“Yes. I…I am sorry. I assumed you would want to stay again. I can take you back to the hotel later if you would like,” I stammered, shocked by her question.
I thought we had a nice day? Maybe she was too emotionally spent and needed some alone time? Regardless, she needed to be here…with me.
“I’m sorry. Yes, I’d love to stay again. I didn’t mean to bite your head off. Dinner after the bath should help. Maybe I’m hangry,” she said with a laugh, the corners of her mouth attempting to turn up into a smile despite a frown fighting viciously against it.
“Absolutely. I will leave you to your bath. I will be out in the living quarters whenever you are ready. No rush.” I smiled as I walked toward the door, closing it tightly behind me.
How do I tell her that I understand exactly what she is going through without coming off as an invasive dick? I cannot. There is no way. I was an invasive dick.
As I made my way down the dark stone hall and up to the living quarters, waves of her emotions came crashing again. The sadness, the fear. And then…anger?
No, no that’s not Claire.
Something was off.
I ran through the room toward the terrace, quickly pushing back the glass doors and making my way to Sam without pause. He stood guard at the corner of the terrace, his vision locked on the last sliver of sunlight that peered up from the edge of the dark sea.
“Is something going on, Sam?” I questioned as my eyes scanned the surroundings.
His face looked puzzled as he shifted toward me. “No…not that I know of. Is everything okay?”
“I do not know. I noticed anger. It was very distant but close enough to cut through what I was sensing from Claire,” I replied as I continued to look around, hoping for an answer other than what may be obvious.
“I mean. Is she angry?” Sam questioned, his tone low as he dropped his head.
“No. I do not think so. And, anyway, it did not feel like her,” I replied.
We spoke to the other two conti that flanked the staircase at the patio level.
The four of us stood in the sand, scanning the horizon for anything out of place.
As the sky turned from orange to dark blue and stars began to scatter across it, the feeling only grew louder.
Until finally, in the distance, movement made its way toward up the shoreline slowly.
“Fuck!” I yelled, panic filling the air around us.
“I see them,” Sam muttered as he motioned to the conti below, his finger pointing toward the boat in the distance.
Despite my panic, a smile crept its way across my face as the hunger settled deep in my core and blurred everything else out of existence. “We have company.”
Finally.