Page 36 of Ice
She pulled away from me, and seemed to curl in on herself, hugging her stomach.
“I’ll get fired. I can’t be a rehab therapist who got arrested for drunk driving. What the hell was I thinking?”
“Were you charged?”
“They took my licence, Ice. They may suspend me for a year or something. I have to go to court.”
“Jesus. Okay, we’ll figure it out. Right now, I can’t sit here and look at you like that. You’re scrunched up and freaking out, and I can’t bear seeing you that way. You’re the strong one out of the two of us. I want… fuck that… Ineedto hold you. You gonna argue?”
She shook her head, and I raised my eyebrows.
“You want me to fuck my shoulder up reaching for you? Or are you gonna climb up here and let me hold you?”
“Into your lap? Like a child?”
“Like a woman who needs fucking comforting. It’s not like I’m asking you to climb on my dick, Lissa. I just want to wrap my arms around you, and make you feel safe. Is that too much to ask?”
She shoved up from the sofa, and stared down at me, her fists clenching and unclenching.
“This is wrong.”
“It’s less wrong than getting caught drinking and driving.”
“Bastard. I didn’t come here so you could judge me, or throw it back in my face, dammit.”
I stood up. “That’s not what I’m doing. Jesus, stop resisting me. Just fucking come here.” I reached out with my good arm, and pulled her against my chest again. It felt right when she was pressed against my chest, with my arms around her. It felt like it was where she was meant to be. Mine. Safe in my arms. And fucking mine.Definitely mine.
Lissa
Whydiditfeelso right to be in his arms? Why did it feel right to have called him for help? He wasn’t someone I should be interacting with outside of our appointments. I was responsible for his journey back to health, and away from his addiction, but maybe I’d found a new addiction of my own; Ice.Something about him called out to me, something kept dragging me back to him.
“Lissa?”
I realised I was rubbing my face against his chest, breathing in his manly, musky scent, like it was my own personal calming balm.
“Sorry.”
He chuckled. “No, I like it, I do. It’s just that I feel like I need to do more to look after you. You need to be looked after, don’t you?”
I swallowed hard, offering him one of his own single nods in response. Even that small movement rubbed my face against that firm chest again, filling my nose with another calming whiff of his scent.
“It calms me,” my whispered words were out, before I could stop them.
He stroked my hair. “Being hugged?”
I nodded, and then found myself once again wanting to be as honest as possible with him.
“Your scent.”
He chuckled again, a rumble that filtered through his chest, and into me.
“Is that your way of telling me I smell?”
I found myself smiling in response. Even after having fucked up my life tonight, I could smile. Because of him.
I lifted my head to look at him, our slight height difference putting me closer to his face than I’d expected.
“Good. You smell good. I like the way you smell. It’s… it makes me feel safe.”
