Fighting (54 page)

I
fell asleep holding his hand.

I
woke up and twisted my neck to squint at the clock to see it was nine in the
morning and then gazed at Ethan's strong profile.  His eyes were still closed
and his breathing still deep with sleep.  My icepacks were missing, which meant
he either removed them in the night or I slung them to the floor.  I was curled
around him with my head resting on his shoulder.  I slid my palm over his chest
and he didn't open his eyes but he did groan and roll his body into mine, so
that I was pushed onto my back and his face pressed into the crook of my neck
as his hand swept down my side.

I
smiled and ran my hands down the back of his head and neck.  "How do you
feel?"

He
groaned again and rolled off of me and to his back without opening his eyes. 
"Like shit.  The pain killers have officially left my system," he
croaked.  He rubbed his eyes and yawned.  "Maybe I shouldn't have been so
enthusiastic last night," he muttered.

I
lifted the sheets to crawl onto him and saw he was already hard.  Well, it
was
morning.  I straddled his hips and laid my chest against his so we were
aligned.  I tucked my face into his neck and he hummed his voice at me.  His
hands palmed my hips under the sheets and caressed down to wrap around my
thighs and squeeze lightly. 

"Maybe
not," I said. 

"But
it was worth it," he said.

Yes. 
Yes, it was.

His
eyes were still closed as I lifted my face and shook all of my hair out to hang
in front of my face.  I kissed his lips lightly and then kissed my way down his
neck and chest, dragging my curls after me so that it tickled his skin.

"What
are you doing?"

I
didn't answer.  I just swept my hands over his chest and stomach and kissed all
over his body in a path going south, shifting my hips and face lower and
lower.  I ran my nose in a circle around his belly button and tossed the sheets
off of us completely.  I licked a path up the indent of his hips that I drooled
over on a daily basis and wrapped my hand around him and he snapped completely
awake.

His
hands moved my hair and framed my face and lifted it to look at him.  "You
don't have to do anything you don't want to," he rumbled, sleep making his
voice raspy.

"I
don't
ever
do anything I don't want to do," I said. 

And
then I dipped my head and licked him from base to tip.

"
I
know
," he groaned, his head falling back to the pillow. 

He
closed his eyes tightly and then they snapped back open to watch me as I took
him in my mouth and sucked.  I'd never done anything like this, but I wanted to
make him feel good, so I improvised.  He touched the back of my throat briefly
and my eyes flashed at the foreign feel of it. 

Minutes
later, after I thoroughly explored him to the sound of his near constant vocal
encouragement, he pushed lightly on my shoulder and gasped out, "Alex! I'm
gonna --"  He came.  Having no experience in this, I still knew that I
didn't have to let him come in my mouth.  But I did anyway. 

He
threw his arms out by his sides and was panting, staring at the ceiling much
like I was the night before.  "I want to kill the motherfucker who taught
you how to do that, but I also want to buy him a beer," he panted.

I
laughed a deep, throaty laugh and collapsed beside of him.  I turned my head
over on the pillow to find him watching me laugh with a smile on his face. 

When
I calmed down, I said, "You
are
the guy who taught me how to do
that."  He looked confused, so I said, "That was my first time, and I
just kept repeating stuff that I did that made you react . . .
positively."

He
rolled onto his side and gathered me in his arms, pulling me close. 
"That's really good fucking news," he said on a smile.

His
hands skimmed over my body with intent, but I stopped them and his brow
furrowed slightly.

"You're
injured," I said.  "It's my turn to take care of you."

His
expression grew tender and he leaned in to kiss me softly.  There was a knock
at our door and he instantly threw himself away from me and onto his back with
a huge, dramatic sigh. 

I
laughed out loud and he muttered, "Maybe if I answer the door naked, they
won't
want
to interrupt us."

"At
least you came," I whispered directly into his ear.

He
hummed in agreement as I briskly kissed his jaw and got out of bed.  The sheet
was partially covering him but I could still see the indention of his hips as
he watched me get dressed with a sexy, lazy expression that was borderline
predatory.  I figured that if I didn't hurry, he would yank me back into bed
and fuck me before I could escape, the prospect of which made my toes curl and
me
want
to linger nearby, half-naked and waiting.  But I didn't.

I
dressed in my pajamas that I never changed into last night, pulled the sheets
up to his chest and walked to the door to look through the peephole.  I opened
the door and stood back so he could see both of our faces.

"What's
up, Ollie?" I smiled.

"I
have Ethan's medicine.  Brooks forgot to give it to you last night."

He
handed it to me and I tossed it to Ethan, who caught it without looking away
from us.  Show off.

"Thanks. 
Are we going to breakfast or something?" I asked.

"Yeah,
in about half an hour.  The hotel has continental breakfast and Spencer is
already down there with August.  He'll probably still be eating by the time the
rest of us go down."

"Yeah,"
I smiled.  "Probably."

He
glanced at Ethan, who was naked but decently covered and sitting up to swallow
his pills, and then back to me.  He swallowed nervously and put his hand on the
doorway to fidget around.

My
guard raised and I looked at him suspiciously.  "What's up with you?"
I asked.

"I
just . . . you know, I just didn't get a chance yesterday to tell you how glad
I am that you didn't leave us behind for that douche bag Fletcher.  And that
you're okay."

I
didn't know if I should hug him or shove him playfully, so I did neither and
instead, stepped forward to kiss him on his cheek, which he didn't expect. 
"Love you too, Ollie."

"Uh. 
Yeah.  You know. . . love you, whatever," he mumbled awkwardly.

He
turned to leave and Ethan yelled out, "Keep your hands off my woman!"

I
smacked a hand to my forehead and grinned at Ollie as he flicked Ethan off and
then fled.  I shut the door and leaned against it.  Ethan lounged against the
headboard and crooked his finger at me.  While that was almost too sexy to
resist, I didn't want to be late for breakfast because there could only be one
reason why we would have been delayed.  Everyone would know we couldn't keep
our hands to ourselves.

I
stayed where I was.  "Note to self: Ethan gets cocky after morning
sex."

"Correction,"
he said.  "Ethan gets
playful
after special attention is paid to
his dick, no matter the time of day."

I
threw my head back and laughed.  He motioned for me to come closer again but I
shook my head.

"You
know I want to," I said.

He
pulled the sheet down so I could see the indention of his hips, which I was
beginning to think he knew how much I loved.  Probably from how often I ran my
fingers over it, and now my tongue, too. 

"I
do
know you want to," he agreed. 

"But
we can't.  We'll be late.  And they'll know why," I said meaningfully.

"I
don't care," he said.

"I
do."  He frowned and I said, "They're family.  That would be like
announcing freely to your mother that I just went down on you."

He
scowled at me.  "You will never,
never ever
, mention my mother
while one of us is naked or in the same sentence as mentioning sex,
ever
again
," he reprimanded me.

"Okay,
Boss.  But you see my point," I laughed.

"Yeah,"
he exhaled.

We
got ready and refreshed each other's bandages and walked to the door hand in
hand right as Brooks knocked on it.  We all went down to have breakfast
together and generally enjoy ourselves after a fucking mess of a few weeks.

We
went for a stroll through the town after breakfast, stopping in random shops
and ate at a nice restaurant for lunch, like normal people.  Ethan dropped my
hand and wrapped an arm around my shoulders to tuck me into his side as we
walked down the sidewalk aimlessly.  I wrapped my arm around his back and we
walked in sync as we watched Spencer run ahead of us, jumping flips over random
obstacles and dodging pedestrians.

"I
swear if he breaks his legs, I'm not carrying him," Ethan said.

"If
we have to, we'll drag him behind us on a skateboard," I chuckled.

Brooks
slowed down to walk by my side and said, "So I've been scouring the
internet for a new location for our new home.  I think we should just buy an
already existing house instead of building one.  That would take forever, and I
just want to be
home.
  We were located near Boone but I'm thinking we
might should move just outside of Asheville.  It's very similar terrain and
atmosphere.  What do guys you think?" he asked us.

"Sounds
good to me," I said.

"Anywhere
far away from my family is fine with me," Ethan said.

Brooks
sped up to approach August and I looked over at Ethan.  "You don't like
your family
that
much?" I asked.

"It's
not that.  It's more like I don't want to get roped into going to too many
family things.  I'd rather say, '
Oh I can't, I have to work out of town. 
Sorry
.'  Our holidays are more of a headache than family fun time."

"That
sucks," I said.

"Yeah. 
I'm taking you home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, though."

"You
go home for the holidays?"

"Normally. 
But now . . . I'll probably go for a day or two
before
the holidays so I
can spend the actual holidays with Brooks and the others.  But you're coming
with me wherever I am.  It might actually be bearable with you around."

I
smiled and laid my head on his shoulder.  "Whatever you want," I
said.

He
kissed the top of my head and we followed Brooks and August down the sidewalk. 
Oliver raced Spencer down the sidewalk and almost ran into a lady with an arm
full of bags.  We both laughed as he took extreme measures to dodge her and
ended up falling on his side.

"I'm
not carrying Oliver, either," he muttered.

I
touched his hand that was dangling over my shoulder and tangled our fingers
together.  "I wish you could have met my parents," I said quietly.

He
pulled me tighter against him.  "Me, too," he said.

"I
think I want to call my aunt, meet up with her.  See how she's doing.  I
haven't even talked to her on the phone in a year or seen her in almost
two."  I straightened my neck and looked at him.  "I want to bring
you home with me."

He
kissed my forehead and stayed close to say, "Sounds like a plan."  I
laid my head back on his shoulder and he muttered, "Even though I know you
just want to use me for my body to make all the other women jealous."

I
laughed out loud and smacked at his chest playfully.  "Nothing gets past
you, Boss."

That
evening, we walked into a restaurant that had a crowded bar and a live blues
band.  The lighting was low and the music was loud enough that we had to talk
directly into each other's ears to be heard.  We all sat down at a table
together and had to rely mostly on hand signals to communicate, but it was more
exciting than annoying.

The
lead singer of the blues band was an older gentlemen who was sitting on a stool
and crooning to his electric guitar in a way that you just knew he lived a life
full of passion and regret.  My eyes were riveted on his hands and the
soulfulness with which he sang as we ate our food and enjoyed the mellow yet
still electric atmosphere.

Ethan
leaned into me and said into my ear, "I'll be right back."

I
watched him go and smiled, thinking of that morning and how
I
made
his
body sing.  I finished off my beer that I felt free to drink now that I wasn't
driving and we weren't on the run from anyone, and the band finished the song
and started in on a new number.  Ethan reappeared at my side right as I set my
empty glass on the table but he didn't scoot by me to sit back down in his
seat.  I looked up at him to find him staring down at me with determination in
his eyes and I quirked a brow at him in bewilderment.

"This
one is for Alex, from Ethan.  He's calling in the bet, and all he's asking for
is a dance," the lead singer announced, his scratchy voice resonating
around the room.