Page 74 of The Last Man on Earth
WEEKS LATER
Chapter 35
Vincent
I think Ari islocking her hair.
It’s in thin braids now, making her look damn near like a teenager. She’s fuckin’ adorable. Beautiful. My little island angel.
I love waking up to her every day.
The shelter is fixed, or I should say theceilingis fixed. It’s fortified, too. I built that shit to withstand a goddamn hurricane. I’ll be damned if that shit falls down on Ari again. Mother nature had me fucked up.
But on the flip side of it, we have plenty of fresh water.
And after the storm a few weeks back, there were so many downed limbs and branches, I was able to build a raft. It ain’t much, but it lets me go out deeper to fish. We’ve been eating good, at least compared to before.
Our bodies look different now, too. We’re both leaner. Our skin is darker, and rougher from the sand and salt. Ari jokes that we’re turning feral, but I think we both figured something out—this is life, now. All we can do is move forward.
We just ate lunch. Grilled fish and the rest of the dried apricot. Now, we’re lying on a mat I made out of palm leaves. Her skin is warm under my hands. Her heartbeat is steady.
Everything feels right.
We make love this time. We’ve been doing that more lately. Taking our time, staring into each other’s eyes, all shit I never really did in the past. Making love always seemed like something you do with your wife. The rest of these bitches, you slut ‘em out.
But my mindset is different now. Maybe I’ve changed, or maybe Ari changed me. I don’t know. But gazing into her eyes while I slowly rock in and out of her feels better than fucking them hoes ever did.
After we finish, I trace her collarbone, staring at the little tiny freckles on her cheeks that I can only see when I’m close like this. “What’d you wanna be when you grew up?” I ask.
She smiles. “I don’t even know. I changed my mind so much. There was teacher, marine biologist, ballet dancer, heart surgeon.”
“Damn.”
“Then at some point, I decided I wanted to see the world.”
“Well, you did that.” I grab a braid and play with it. “I didn’t have dreams.”
She looks me in my eyes. “I don’t believe that.”
“It’s true. I didn’t think I’d live this long. I guess I always figured something would take me out first…jail, the streets. Bad choices. I just never…planned on sticking around.”
Her eyes soften as she looks at me. “Do you see a future now?”
I take a deep breath. I have to think about that. “I don’t see the future,” I finally admit. “But I do think I’ll be around.”
She nods, and I kiss her, slow and deep.
After, I rest my head against her chest, listening to her heartbeat for a while. I feel tired, and heavy in a way that’s not physical.
“I’m feelin’ kinda stressed,” I murmur.
She runs her fingers across my scalp. “Go ahead.”
I kiss the curve of her breast, then take her nipple in my mouth. I’m gentle with it, because it’s more for comfort than desire.
This is part of my routine now. Something to do, something that calms me down and passes the time. Sometimes I do it to fall asleep. Other times, I do it to relieve my stress. To take my mind off everything. Ari gets turned on by it most of the time. When she gets too excited, she’ll play with her pussy while I nurse and make herself cum. Sometimes I finger her while I do it. Every now and then, she cums from it even when we’re not on that type of time, not that either one of us complains when it happens. But mostly, this is for me.
I suckle one side, then the other. Back and forth, I use her nipples to relax myself while she plays in my afro.
