16. Chapter 16
Skye
S kye couldn’t remember a time she felt more content.
Despite the circumstances, she was completely comfortable and relaxed hiding in the cabin with Rabble.
Maybe the world was imploding around them.
Maybe her head still hurt from where she’d broken the coffee table with her skull, but this time and this place with him, felt perfect.
Almost like they’d drawn back the curtain of their past, allowing the natural light of simply being together come through.
Without much else to do, Rabble shared stories of his time in the military, though not many.
He deftly avoided topics and maneuvered around subjects that brought up dark memories.
Her heart ached for him. How could she not hurt for this man?
He also shared funny tales about the twins, how he met them and Elyza, how he considered them his family, and what those relationships meant to him as he grew into this handsome, brave, albeit scarred, man.
When she asked about his security work, he delved into the topic with gusto, and Skye lit up as she listened to him speak about something he was passionate about.
Unlike her parents and Dylan, Rabble didn’t speak to her like she was a child incapable of comprehending the way the world worked and unworthy of honesty.
Even though she couldn’t care less about politics or the circles her parents ran with, she caught the looks of disgust among the politicians and Gayle when they threw around names that meant nothing to her.
Rabble returned the favor, asking what she enjoyed most about college, which were her favorite classes, and how she discovered she wanted to be a teacher.
When he asked about her students, her heart melted; she loved talking about her kids.
She also shared how she became friends with Elyza and Kellyn and how they fit into Skye’s life.
Everything that had happened to her or around her while they’d been apart came spilling out of her.
The cracks in her heart filled with new details; like missing puzzle pieces, they fell into place.
It was like they were talking under the fence again, sharing parts of themselves they often kept safely tucked away.
They talked deep into the night until Skye yawned, struggling to stay awake.
When she headed to the bathroom to change and brush her teeth, she stared at herself in the mirror above the sink.
Her plain blue eyes were tired and her honey-blonde hair stood on end with frizz.
Smoothing the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes and the ones across her forehead, she sighed.
She felt rejuvenated after lounging with Rabble, but fatigue pressed down on her, making her limbs heavy.
Skye left the door open after she finished, and Rabble took his turn while she busied herself arranging the bed linens and pillows.
“Rabble, I was thinking…” She could feel the hot blush building, creeping from her neck to her cheeks, and she hated it.
Her gaze lifted to find him leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed and biceps bulging.
His eyes sparked with awareness but he remained blessedly silent while she worked up the courage to voice her thoughts.
She averted her eyes, swallowing thickly as she searched for anything to focus on besides the way his cotton sleep pants hung on his hips, the thin trail of hair down leading from his bellybutton and disappearing beneath the waistband of his pants.
Or how his stomach muscles clenched when she looked upon him.
Skye’s gaze landed on the mattress, and the air suddenly felt warmer.
“The bed is plenty big enough for both of us.” She said, "You don’t need to sleep on the floor.” Ducking her head, she busied herself with fluffing the pillows for the third time.
His voice rumbled, sending shivers cascading down her spine and covering her arms in goosebumps. “Skye, I’m perfectly fine on the floor.”
“I know,” she mumbled. “I know that, but I…I don’t want you to sleep on the floor.”
“Skye…” Rabble rubbed his hand over his face, a war waging behind his eyes until his jaw set, and he nodded.
She blew out a breath with a sharp bob of her head, threw back the covers on the bed she’d just made, and climbed under the blankets without glancing at him, giving him her back.
Several moments passed before the mattress dipped beneath his weight as he lay down beside her.
The soft fabric of his cotton pants rubbed against her legs, which her own worn sleep shirt left bare.
He rolled over and gently held her, careful to maintain enough space between them to keep her comfortable and allow her more than enough room to pull away.
She sensed the hesitancy in his body as he strained to help her relax and avoid crossing any boundaries.
She smiled softly; he really was a considerate man.
In that moment, Skye knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, he was still the same person she’d known before everything had gone to hell in a handbasket.
“Matthew,” she said, her voice little more than a whisper.
Those same muscles that labored to keep from touching her tensed at his given name, the name she had used only a handful of times in her entire life.
Relaxing against him, she waited for him to do the same and felt his resistance crumbling and he finally settled against her back.
The warmth of his large body curving around hers quickly lulled her closer to sleep.
As she drifted off, she thought she felt him sigh into her hair, kissing her sweetly, tenderly.
When the sky was at its darkest, Skye awoke with a start, her heart thudding loudly.
Her eyes darted around the dark cabin, searching for what had woken her from the deep sleep she’d been in.
The hoarse cry sounded again, part anguish, part rage, all escaping the lips of the man lying beside her.
She tried to turn over, but Rabble had wrapped his arms tightly around her.
She struggled to maneuver over until she faced him.
His eyes, scrunched tight beneath the lids, flitted from side to side.
A dream. A nightmare. He was trapped in a nightmare.
“Matthew.” She ran her fingers through his hair and down his jaw, feeling the scruff of his beard against her palm.
She traced a path across his brow, but try as she might, Skye couldn’t break through the haze of sleep that held him in its grasp.
So, she did the only thing she could think of that might calm him. She began to hum.
When his eyes opened into slits, they were haunted in more ways than one. She didn’t ask about his dream; he wouldn’t have told her even if she did. He had enough horror in his past that any number of things could have been plaguing him.
“You’re humming my mother’s song.” His voice broke with emotion and disbelief. “You remember her song?”
“Of course I remember.” Skye’s lips tipped up at the corners.
Rabble’s mom had been a sweet woman with a quiet voice that invoked feelings of sunny days and warm blankets.
She’d drawn a short-stick sometime early in life and ended up with a hateful, abusive husband and a beautiful, burdened little boy.
More than anything else, Skye’s heart had broken for Rabble when that car crash took everything from him, but she’d heard Mrs. Raden sing her song to Rabble more than a few times over the years they’d been neighbors.
Skye tipped her head up, coaxing his chin down until she found his lips with her own. She intended a gentle, reassuring press of her lips to his, a kiss full of her love and compassion through that brief contact.
Before she could pull back, Matthew rolled over, pinning her with his hips.
He took her mouth in a passionate, claiming kiss, one that spoke of hunger and longing as well as regret and pain.
She relinquished complete control to him and his take-charge personality.
She tangled her fingers in his hair, relishing in the silky softness of the strands.
He kissed down her neck, and the scrape of his stubble on her sensitive skin made her shiver.
They matched each other, want for want, need for need.
Finally, finally, her heart chanted as they let themselves explore the fire that had burned between them for years without acceptance. He held her tightly through the night, his rough, reverent hands gentle on her skin. She felt safe. Cherished. Beautiful. Loved.
The morning sun rose, its warm light streaming through the curtains in thin shafts, dappled by the thick foliage of the trees surrounding the cabin.
Rabble curled around Skye, his thumb rubbing soft circles on her hip as she drifted into an exhausted and sated, dreamless sleep, contented for the first time in years.