Monsters 10: Bittersweet

I spoke to him like I was reading softly to a child. I barely raised my voice to express any sort of terror as I told my story. Maybe that made him nervous, that I hadn’t reacted. When I told him what he wanted to know, save for one exception, he was watching me carefully.

“So…you had to…do those things?” He struggled with the words, like they hurt him to say. “Why you? I mean, why not someone else? You were just minding your own business and they--”

I sat up and reached for Devon. I pressed my lips to his, and he wrapped his arms around my waist, holding tightly and sliding me onto his lap. He moved the hair from my face and looked at me. There was the worry again.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I’ve tried to figure that out before.”

“I can’t lose you,” Devon whispered, moving to kiss me again. “When you left that night, I thought you left for good. I even went to your parents but they said they hadn’t seen you. I thought you were just blowing off steam, that when I found you I was too late. I wish I’d known what was really happening.”

“You didn’t know,” I said, my voice even. “I didn’t even know it was going to happen.”

He blinked at me and I could see his mouth moving, working up the courage to ask me something. I nodded.

“So, those are the dreams? What you did, I mean.”

I exhaled. I was hoping the question had been more personal. But, then I realized if he had asked it, would I have been able to answer? Since what he wanted to know was what had been forming in my subconscious, I guess that was easier.

“Partly,” I said softly. I shifted against him and his eyes fluttered

slightly. “So, are you satisfied that you know now?”

Opening his green eyes, Devon smirked. He wrapped his arms around me and flipped us, locking my wrists above my head with one hand. His other hand slid under my shirt, searching. I squirmed.

“Hardly,” he replied before his lips found mine.

I grinned against his mouth, fingers sliding along his back, nails pressing into his skin. When I dragged them down, he let out a growl and kissed me harder. He squeezed my wrists while his other hand slid across my ribcage. When that hand had disappeared, a cool breeze wrapped around me, like his flesh had been the only thing keeping me warm.

When he tangled his hand in my hair, I took advantage of his distractions and slipped a hand into his boxers. When I touched him, he moaned and bit down on my lip. I didn’t even mind when I tasted blood.

“Not fair,” he said hoarsely as he pulled his head away from me.

“It’s plenty fair,” I told him.

He brushed his lips against my ear and whispered, “I’m afraid you’re wearing too much clothing.”

When he had completely stripped both of us and buried himself inside me without wasting any more time, I bit my lip to keep from being too loud. It felt like months had gone by since we had been like this, but it had only been a few weeks.

When we finished, he wrapped the bed sheet around us, his breathing heavy as lay next to me. Devon ran his fingers through my hair and, when he saw that I was staring at the ceiling, he gripped my chin and turned it so that I looked at him. Then he asked me something I wasn’t prepared for.

“Do you ever dream about Quinn?”

I blinked at him after his question, though it sounded like more of an accusation, and opened my mouth to speak. But my body decided to react first and I hit him, my palm tingling as I drew it back away from his face. My eyes widened.

He looked equally surprised, pressing his hand to his cheek. “It was just a question. What’d you go and hit me for, Lex?”

“Sorry,” I said.

I moved away from him. I stood up and started to get dressed. I needed to go somewhere and think, even if it was close to midnight. I heard him behind me, moving off of the bed. I had my back to him when he came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my body, pulling me against himself.

“I shouldn’t have asked you that,” he mumbled, his lips against my neck. I shivered as his hands found my hips. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry I hit you.” I reached my hand back to stroke his cheek. When I turned to look at him, his lips crashed down on mine, never allowing me to speak.

Devon lifted me, and when I wrapped my legs around his torso, he slid into me again. My back hit the wall of our room, and I heard things crashing to the ground. When the lights that filled the room went out, I figured he’d knocked over the lamp.

Somehow, hours later, I woke up on the floor with one of our wool blankets wrapped around me. I opened my eyes and was met by the soft glow of the early morning outside. I sat up, looking at the bed. Devon was there, sleeping, sprawled out, and still very naked.

I chuckled softly, yawned, and lay back down. I’d let him deal with the mess he made.