Page 56 of Absinthe Dreams
“Charlie boy is going to be so happy he gets to go out tomorrow,” she said, and I nodded as she got off the back of my bike.
I clambered off myself and asked her, “You sure you’re doing okay?”
She paused in digging out her keys and looked up at me.
“Yeah, if anything, I’m a little unnerved athowokay I feel…”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, taking her helmet from her so she could get into her bag better.
“I’m a doctor,” she said with a shrug. “My first and foremost oath is to do no harm. I’m so relieved that he’s dead, that I worry my sense of empathy has somehow taken irreparable damage.”
I thought about what she said and harrumphed, saying, “You got a lot of feelings tied up into this Gordian knot of a disaster. I think you and your empathy are just fine. I think you’re tired from a long day, and that you didn’t get enough rest last night. I think it’s time we go inside, take a shower, wrap you up in something soft, give you something warm to drink, and you get some real sleep tonight. Lord knows, I’m not giving you any more dick until you’re right as rain.”
She laughed and slipped into my arms, keys in hand, wrapping her arms around me.
I held her against me and kissed the top of her head, and she sighed, melting and relaxing into me.
“All of that sounds really good, actually,” she murmured. “As long as you’re staying, right?”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Thought you’d never ask, baby girl.”
She chuckled and pulled away from me, and we went inside.
I took my time undressing her, kissing her lips, her neck, her chest. Scrub top, bra, peeling her out of her layers, and setting them aside.
She wanted to return the favor, but I couldn’t let her – not tonight. I stripped down quickly, efficiently, and joined her in the shower a moment later.
She tipped her head back and let the water slick back her hair and sluice down her face and body, scrubbing her face with her hands. She came up for air, droplets collecting like a constellation on her lashes. Those green eyes slayed me. The way she looked at me tamed whatever wildness or beast that I had in me.
I couldn’t explain the calm that swept through me at that look from her, but something on my face complicated things, or betrayed me, because the look in those green orbs turned stormy with doubt and something else that was unrefined.
“What is it?” I asked softly.
She stared up at me and asked bashfully, “I suppose this means that you’re going back to your life and I’m supposed to go back to mine.” Her voice was halting with uncertainty, and I had to smile.
“There’s no going back. Not from this.” I traced some of her blonde hair back from her face, a tendril clinging to her slender throat. “I’m in it to win it with you if you’ll have me stick around?”
I was almost afraid to look into her eyes. I felt pretty fuckin’ vulnerable in that moment. Like I was laying everything out on the line, all cards on the table.
She swallowed hard and said, “I’m not going to lie, I’m scared…”
“Of what?” I asked, cupping her cheek, stroking along her soft skin with my thumb.
“Of… of you going away. You know, to prison, or dying…”
“Everything has its price, baby. I can’t pretend bad shit’s not going to happen. But what I can promise is to be careful, and that I’ll always do my best not to get caught up or fuck up. This life, it’s rough. It’s not for everyone.”
“No, I know,” she said, cuddling into me. “I can’t deny that I feel some sort of deep connection with you,” she said.
“I can’t either,” I told her. “All I can promise is that you won’t ever be alone in being scared. I don’t want to be separated from you, either.”
She looked up at me, resting her chin on my chest, and asked, “So, what do we do?”
“Can we just take it one day at a time from here?” I asked.
She looked thoughtful, and when her eyes flicked back to mine, there was this light in them that lifted some sort of weight off my heart that I hadn’t realized had been weighing it down.
She smiled and said, “I think that’s the best way through things, too.”
