<<

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to get back to having a sexual relationship with Eric. It was just that I got a little sad when I saw bandages that I still had covering my wounds. I was healing quickly, and the stitches were gross looking. They weren’t sexy. I didn’t think Eric was so shallow that he would be too grossed out by them to be turned on by me anymore. He loved me. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have stuck around for the last week.

Eric started making us lunch but rather than watching him cook, I went back to my bathroom and peeled off my clothes. I turned to the right and slowly took off the bandage on the right side of my lower back. The wound wasn’t very big, but it had been deep. I was lucky that Debbie had missed my kidney.

There would be a scar there once the stitches were removed, probably the following week. I ran my finger over the stitches. They itched sometimes, but I resisted the urge to scratch them.

I still had bruises on my back, ribs, stomach, arms and legs from the places I had been beaten by that psycho bitch. I looked like I had been through the ringer, and I couldn’t seem to see what Eric would find sexy about me. Yes, my boobs were bigger, but so was my stomach.

I turned to face the mirror and peeled away the bandage on the inside of my left thigh. The knife had nicked my femoral artery, and it was the reason I had lost so much blood. I couldn’t remember how she had managed to stab me there, but it was obvious to me that Debbie hadn’t just wanted to hurt me; she wanted me dead.

If Jason hadn’t been smart enough to get a towel and put pressure on my leg, I probably would have died. If Debbie had stabbed me just a quarter of an inch higher, I’d be dead. A quarter of an inch. It was hard to wrap my mind around it all.

Did I really deserve what had happened to me? I’d made a mistake with Alcide, but did that mean I should pay with my life for it? Why didn’t she attack Alcide? It was easy to assume that it was because I would be easier to take down than a man at least seventy pounds heavier and at least six inches taller than her.I probably outweighed Debbie by fifteen or twenty pounds, but I was shorter than her.

I was angry with myself for not being more cautious. I knew Eric was right when he said something even worse could have happened to me if I had stayed in the bathroom, but it was hard not to think of all the things I could have done differently.  My hand traveled up to my stomach, where it still was when Eric came into the room.

“What if there’s something wrong with the baby and we just don’t know it yet?” I asked.

“I don’t like that game,” he said. “If there’s something wrong we’ll know when we know, and we’ll deal with it.”

“I can’t stop thinking about it,” I said. “I tried to keep the baby safe, but what if it wasn’t enough?”

Eric came over and put his hand over mine on my stomach. “The fact that you were beaten and stabbed, and this bump is still growing is a miracle. Have a little faith, sweetheart.”

I nodded and swallowed the ball of emotion in my throat. I didn’t expect the worry to completely go away, and I found myself having one of those moments where I wished I had my gran or my mom there to talk me down. I needed to call Tara and talk to her. She was a mother, so I was sure she would understand my feelings. I couldn’t wait to see her. I missed my best friend.

“You’re right,” I said.

“I know it’s hard not to worry, but once we’re parents we’ll be worried the rest of our lives.”

“Yeah, I think I’m ahead of the curve on that.”

“I’d say we definitely got a jump start on the gray hairs,” he smiled.

“If it means I get to have a healthy baby, I’ll take them.”

He shrugged and said, “I’d look sexy with gray hair.”

“I can’t picture it,” I said as I looked at his reflection.

“Oh come on, it may not be as sexy and salt and pepper hair, but you know I’m going to age sexy.”

“I guess I’ll find out,” I shrugged.

“Especially if I ever get you to agree to marriage.”

“Maybe someday. Feel free to keep trying to convince me,” I smiled at the mirror.

“I’ll start with feeding you this awesome lunch I just made,”  he said, and kissed my shoulder.

“What did you make us?” I rubbed my stomach.

“I want to test your nose,” he said. “You tell me what you think it is when you smell it.”

“Ummm, okay. Let me just get new bandages and some clothes on.”

“I’ll wait for you in the kitchen unless you want some help.”

“No, I think I can do it. The one on my back is a little tricky, but I can handle it. I’m going to have to do it myself when you’re gone.”

I slid past Eric and went into the bedroom where I had my dressings sitting up on the dresser. Eric had been changing them for me mostly. At my appointment with Dr. Brigant the other day he suggested that I keep the dressings off for part of the day because fresh air would help the healing process. I still had to keep them covered while I was bathing, but at least I could shower again.

I covered the one on my leg and then turned to look in the mirror over the dresser to cover my back. It was a little crooked, but I covered the spot I needed to cover. I grabbed a nightie from the dresser and headed for the kitchen. My nose smelled bacon.

“I smell bacon. Did you just make me bacon for lunch? I’d be okay with it if you did,” I smiled at Eric.

“I did,” he smiled back.

“Just bacon?”

“There’s also bread, tomato, lettuce, and ketchup for me.”

“You run three four star restaurants and you eat bacon and ketchup sandwiches.” I shook my head and went to the fridge to get some sliced turkey.

“I usually have bacon and coleslaw sandwiches, actually,” he said. “But when I was a kid it was bacon, tomato, lettuce and ketchup.”

“Weirdo.” I grabbed some colbyjack cheese, too.

“You seem happy with what I made you, so zip it.”

“Yes, sir.” I took my extras over to the counter and started building my sandwich.

Eric already had his made, and sat down at the table with it. I joined him at the table and we ate together in a mostly comfortable silence. I still couldn’t drive because of the medication I was on, so Jason was going to take Eric to the airport. I was going to go with them. I didn’t need Jason to stay at the house with me like I thought I might. If he stayed it would be because I was a little freaked out about being home alone.

A brief conversation with Portia the day before let me know that Debbie was still in jail. Her parents were refusing to bail her out. Alcide wasn’t bailing her out either. I wasn’t generally an advocate for violence, but I’d have a hard time feeling any sympathy for Debbie if she pissed off the wrong person in jail and got beat up or shanked for it.

Of course I wasn’t hoping for it either.

After we finished eating, I volunteered to clean up the kitchen. I was stalling for time. Deep down I knew I was worried for nothing. If Eric and I had sex it would most likely still be as amazing as it had ever been, but I couldn’t get it out of my head that I would somehow be not as good as before.

Instead of psyching myself up, I was psyching myself out.

“Why don’t you leave the dishes for me, and we’ll go put on the new movie we rented?” Eric asked. He put his hands on my shoulders and gently squeezed in a comforting way.

“Okay, then I’ll just put away the leftovers,” I said. I felt like I needed to do something to burn off the nervous energy running through me.

“Sookie,” he said, and turned me around to look at him. “We’re not having sex tonight.”

“What? Why not?” I asked, even though a part of me was relieved he had taken it off the table. The rest of me was disappointed in myself because I knew it was my fault he had.

“Because it’s turned you into a nervous wreck and I’d rather you be shaking in anticipation, not looking like you’d jump if a gnat cut a loud fart.”

He got me to laugh, I had to give him credit for that.

“I’m sorry. I know I’m deep in my own head and I’m probably flipping out over nothing but it just won’t stop,” I apologized.

“Then we should wait,” he shrugged. “I can wait. It’s not a big deal.”

“But it is a big deal. I know it’s not everything in our relationship, but it’s a part of it and I don’t want us to be thrown off track like this,” I told him.

“It’s temporary though. It’s not like you’re saying no until after you have the baby and lose the baby weight.”

I snickered. “Yeah, for now. God if I’m already this neurotic I can’t wait to see how I am after giving birth. Seriously, if you want to bail, I wouldn’t blame you,” I joked.

“I don’t want to bail,” he smiled. “Now take a deep breath and come watch a movie with me. No expectations of anything sexual involved.”

I did as he said and took a deep breath before letting him lead me to the living room. I sat on the couch while Eric got the movie all cued up.

“What are we watching?” I asked him. I hadn’t seen what he’d picked up last time he went out.

“It’s a little different from what we’ve been watching,” he said as he came to sit next to me. “It’s a scary movie.”

“What kind of scary? Demons possessing a house scary, serial killers knocking on the front door scary or there’s a psycho with a chainsaw chasing fake tits scary?” I asked him.

“The first.”

“Seriously?! Eric, I hate that stuff! And you’re leaving me alone in an empty old house that makes a fuck ton of noise at night,” I folded my arms over my chest in a huff. Was he kidding me with this?

He smiled and turned on the TV to reveal that we were actually watching the newest Nicholas Sparks adaptation.

I crinkled my nose and said, “I’ll take the horror movie.”

“This is a horror movie.”

I laughed again. “Okay, that’s true, but I don’t want to see my lunch in reverse. Why in the world did you get this?”

“I thought you liked chick flicks.”

“Not like this. I think I’m the only girl in the world that saw The Notebook and hated it with a passion,” I informed him. “Now if you would have brought back 50 First Dates you’d be speaking my language.”

“Shit,” he hung his head.

“You get points for trying.”

“Maybe, but I should be able to get things like that right,” he said and tossed the remote aside. “I asked you to marry me for crying out loud.”

I turned his face to mine and said, “Yes, you did, and if you’ll recall, what were my reasons for saying it was too soon?”

“I had a friend growing up whose parents got married two weeks after they met, and they’re still happily married to this day,” he said. “I felt like I could do that with you. I still do. I just wish I could fast forward the next few months and get moved down here so we can really get to know each other better.”

“Eric, you’re here right now. I’m here right now. Ask me anything you want to know and I’ll tell you. Anything.”

“What’s your favorite comfort food?”

“Pecan pie. Preferably warm with chocolate ice cream, but I’ll settle for just pie,” I told him. “Yours?”

“Mashed potatoes,” he said. “Preferably with country gravy.”

“Yum. I’ll have to teach you the recipe for the gravy we use at the restaurant. We use bacon grease instead of butter in the roux.”

“Genius,” he smiled. “What’s your favorite comfort movie?”

“Hmm… that’s a tough one,” I said. “I think I’ll go with Little Women.”

“I’ve never seen it.”

“I’m not surprised,” I chuckled. “It’s one of those movies that I’ve seen so many times that I’ll put it on just for background noise.”

“We should watch it tonight.”

“We can, if you want. It’s got a pretty good cast. I prefer the nineties version of it. Christian Bale is in it.”

“Then let’s watch it together,” he smiled. “And we can keep asking each other questions.”

“Okay.” I got up off the couch carefully and went to the set of shelves where my DVDs were. “What’s your favorite comfort movie?”

“The Big Lebowski.”

“Really?” I pulled the movie from its spot on the shelf.

“I’ve seen it probably a hundred times.”

“I think I saw it once but I’m not sure. If I did, it obviously wasn’t that memorable,” I shrugged and took the rejected movie out of the DVD player.

“It’s one of those movies you either love or hate,” he shrugged.

“Favorite band?” I asked to keep things going.

“Cheap Trick,” he said. “Yours?”

I smiled at his answer as I turned around. “I like Cheap Trick. Last time I went to go visit Tara we went to a karaoke bar near her house and ended up singing ‘The Flame’ rather terribly.”

“I’d like to see that,” he grinned.

“See, yes. Hear? Noooo.” I was a terrible singer, although I thought I sounded pretty great after three Blue Moons and two taffy apple shots.

“I’m no singer either,” he said. “But I’d still love to hear how awful you are.”

“Then make sure you’re at the Hummingbird on the last Saturday of every month in the summertime. We do karaoke out back,” I informed him.

It’s like a grown up picnic back there. We serve just beer, but only by the bucket, and we play horseshoes, bags and one Saturday a month, we karaoke. It’s fun and it brings in more business.

“I can bring our baby out to hear Mommy sing,” he smiled.

“Hasn’t the baby been through enough?” I snickered and put the DVD of Little Women into the tray.

“I think the baby will think you’re the best singer in the world.”

“I doubt it, but then I don’t think it’s smart to let a baby judge a person’s character,” I said as I returned to the couch. “And my favorite band is Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.”

“Good band,” he smiled. “But I have to disagree about the baby thing. Babies know when someone is a shitty person. They just do.”

“And how do you know this?” I asked as I made myself comfortable beside him.

“TV,” he deadpanned.

I rolled my eyes and started the movie.

“Favorite subject in school?” I asked him.

“Home Ec.”

“Mine was biology. I was really good at animal dissection. I’m not sure what that says about me.”

“That you were Dexter Morgan in a previous life.”

“Maybe,” I snickered. “If I wouldn’t have discovered my talent for cooking I would have been a nurse.”

“Both noble professions in my opinion,” he said. “You’re taking care of people. My family wanted me to get into finance, like my dad. They weren’t happy at all that I went into food.”

“Have they changed their minds since you’ve become so successful at it?” I couldn’t imagine not having support from my family. Gran had always encouraged me to follow my passions and Jason loved that he got free food, so he sure as shit never complained.

“They still look down on me for it, but I think they’re secretly pleased that I have money. I grew up in that high society world of coming out parties and private schools in Connecticut. What I’m doing for a living is considered below my station in life to them,” he said. “My father is one of those uber Republican types that hates hand out government programs until he needs them, which he did when the economy crashed. He wouldn’t even take a pay cut to save his company, which is ridiculous because we come from old money. It wouldn’t have hurt him at all.”

“No offense, but what a dick,” I said.

“None taken,” he laughed. “I can’t wait to tell my parents they’re going to be grandparents. They’re going to flip out.”

“Especially when they find out you’re not married and your baby mama is a redneck chef from Backwater, Louisiana.”

“In all seriousness, please don’t take offense when they treat you like a second class citizen.”

“I’m used to rude and entitled. I run a restaurant, remember?”

“True,” he laughed.

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” I asked.

“I’m the only disappointment my parents procreated.”

“You are not a disappointment. Your parents are fools,” I corrected him.

“I know,” he smiled. “I figured that one out a long time ago. And I’m happy now.”

“Good. You should be proud of your accomplishments, even if your parents’ blood is a little too blue to see the value in the work you do.”

“I’m very proud, and it led me to you, didn’t it?”

“Sure seems that way.”

I laid my head on Eric’s shoulder. It was nice just sitting with him like we were. I was going to miss him while he was gone.

♥  ♥  ♥

Sookie and I watched Little Women, which actually made me a little misty eyed near the end, and then cleaned up the kitchen together before heading to bed. She crawled in and watched while I packed my suitcase back up. I’d be in Kansas City for two days, then New York for a couple more.

“I should probably bring more clothes with me when I come back,” I said as I put my suitcase on the bed.

“Yeah, that would probably be a good idea. Are you going to keep your apartment in New York?”

“I don’t know. It would be nice to have a place there to go when I have to go back for things. Or for us to have when we need a vacation.”

“Yes it would,” she agreed.

“Unless you make me pay rent here, I think I can afford to keep it.”

“I wasn’t planning to, but if I was going to charge I’d let you pay me in orgasms,” she informed me.

“Is that so?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

She nodded slowly and bit her bottom lip as her cheeks turned pink.

“Is someone suddenly in the mood?”

“Maybe,” she said casually.

“Then maybe I feel like taking off my shirt,” I said, and pulled it over my head.

“I’d take mine off but then I’d be naked,” Sookie said as she turned onto her side. She brought one knee up just a little and slowly slid her toes against her other calf.

“And that would be a problem?”

“I suppose it wouldn’t be,” she said, but didn’t move to take off her nightgown.

“Should I be moving my suitcase off the bed?” I asked.

“Only if you think it’ll be easier to pack on the floor.” Sookie started to move the silky fabric of her nightgown up her thigh at a painfully slow rate.

“You’re making it difficult for me to concentrate.”

“And that would be a problem?” she lifted an eyebrow.

“Nope,” I said, and unfastened my pants. I was already getting hard. My cock and I really missed having sex with her.

“You’re not done packing yet,” she said with a smile.

“I can pack in the morning,” I shrugged and dropped my pants and boxers.

Sookie kept playing with the hem of her nightgown, but stayed on her side just watching me move. I moved my suitcase back to the floor, and then reached down to start stroking myself. She watched me and moved her hand between her thighs.With her legs closed and her nightgown still mostly in the way, I couldn’t see exactly what she was doing.

“Does that feel good?” I asked her in a strained voice.

“Mmhmm,” she hummed and then closed her eyes.

I moved to climb onto the bed, and laid down next to her. My hand kept stroking, and I leaned forward to kiss her.

“Can I feel?”

Sookie nodded and moved her hand out of the way for me, parting her legs a little more in the process. I let go of my cock and slowly moved my hand between her legs. She was wet already, and so warm. I ran my fingertips through her folds and brushed them against her clit, making her gasp.

“You feel so good and I’m not even fucking you yet,” I smirked.

“Then we need to fix that,” she said, and reached over to stroke me since I wasn’t doing it myself.

“Are you ready for me?”

I slid two fingers into her, causing her to moan.

“Yes,” she said in a breathy tone and moaned again when my fingers curled just right.

I pulled my fingers out of her, and looked her right in the eyes as I licked them clean.

“Mmm, best dessert ever,” I grinned.

“Crazy man.” Sookie let go of my cock and slowly got up on her knees. She lifted her arms so I could undress her.

I pulled her nightgown off and tossed it to the floor. I didn’t hesitate to make myself friendly with her boobs again, and she certainly appreciated it. Her fingers threaded through my hair to hold my head in place, and in a matter of seconds she was panting softly.

“Holy cow,” she mumbled. “I think being pregnant is making everything extra sensitive.”

I pulled back and smiled, “Then I’ll make you come many times tonight.”

“You always do.”

“There’s a reason I’m the best.”

“Cocky,” she said, but then she turned around and bent over so she was on her hands and knees.

“You like it,” I said, and ran the head of my cock through her folds.

“It is one of your best features,” she said.

“Yeah?” I asked, and then started to push into her slowly.

“Mmm… definitely,” Sookie moaned.

The heat of her felt so fucking good, and her tight pussy felt like it was slowly sucking me deeper into her. I started to thrust shallowly when I was halfway into her, and waited to go any further until she begged for it.

“Eric please,” she moaned.

“You want it deeper, Lover?” I asked, and sank just a little deeper.

“More.” Sookie looked over her shoulder at me.

I couldn’t take the pleading and hungry look on her face, so I sank as deep as possible and stayed there.

“Fuck,” I groaned. “I missed this.”

“Me too,” she panted and her head dropped down to the mattress.

“Touch yourself, baby,” I said as I started to thrust. “I want you to come twice, and I’m not going to last long.”

I saw her hand move and felt the effects of what she was doing when her muscles started to flutter.

“Eric, faster,” she moaned.

I did as she asked and started to move my hips faster and faster. The fluttering of her pussy quickly got more and more intense, and she was moaning and panting with every deep thrust into her.

“Ohmygod, ohmygod,” she chanted as her first orgasm started.

“Fuck, yes,” I groaned loudly and kept fucking her through it. She came so hard it threatened to pull me over the edge, but I used every ounce of self control I had to hold on.

Sookie went limp and moaned through the aftershocks. I slowed my thrusts and leaned over her to kiss a trail up her back and to her shoulder, then her neck.

“Think you can do that again?” I whispered in her ear.

“Uh huh,” she breathed.

“Keep touching yourself,” I said, and straightened back up to keep fucking her.

Sookie kept her hand moving, but her head stayed on the mattress. Her hips rocked back to meet my thrusts. My hands squeezed her ass and pulled her back into my thrusts after another couple of minutes. I was ready to blow, but she wasn’t quite there yet.

“I’m close, Sookie,” I told her and started to really pound into her.

She moaned loudly and said, “It’s okay, Eric. Let go.”

“I want you to come again,” I insisted.

“I’m trying,” she said.

I slowed down again and reached under her to play with her nipples.

“Relax, baby,” I whispered.

“I’m trying,” she said again.

“Do you want to stop?” I asked gently.

It would fucking suck, but I got the feeling she was getting frustrated.

“No, keep going,” she said.

I wasn’t quite on the edge anymore, so I started thrusting slowly again, hoping to build her back up. I kept pinching and rolling her nipples, and she kept touching herself.

“Harder, baby,” Sookie panted.

My hips moved faster and I pounded into her harder. I was getting close again, and there was no way I’d be able to hold back this time.

“Come for me, Eric,” Sookie said, but she didn’t seem to be close again.

I wanted to ask her to come with me, but I didn’t think it was going to happen. I couldn’t hold out anymore so I straightened back up and gave her a half dozen more thrusts before I lost it and came hard with a loud groan.

“Mmm… was that good?” Sookie asked.

“Yes,” I panted. I wanted to collapse on top of her, but I knew I couldn’t so I pulled out of her and fell to the side instead.

Sookie moved so she was on her left side, which meant her back was to me. It took me a minute to figure out she was crying and trying to hide it.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked and tried to pull her gently so she would look at me.

“Nothing,” she said in a shaky voice. “I don’t know why I’m crying.”

“Are you sure? Is it… was it me?”

“No, it’s not you.”

“Did you enjoy it?” I asked. “No regrets?”

“None. It was good.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know why I’m crying,” she said again.

“Do we need to ground the baby?”

“I think the kid’s already in solitary confinement,” she sniffled.

“I don’t like that she’s messing with our sex life already. And making you cry.”

“Me either,” she said.

“At least we both got off?”

“Yes we did.”

“It was good sex, love,” I said, and kissed her neck. “I’m glad we did it.”

“Me too,” she said. “I should probably go clean up just to be safe.”

“To be safe?”

“Yeah, so I don’t get anything on my thigh that I shouldn’t,” Sookie said as she sat up with a wince.

“Oh,” I said, and sat up. “Let me go get a wash cloth. You stay put.”

“No, it’s okay. I got it,” she told me.

“Okay,” I said, but I got up anyway to pack.

Sookie got up and went to bathroom, and closed the door. I frowned, but I knew there wasn’t much I could do to fix things. We probably shouldn’t have had sex. I started packing everything and by the time my suitcase was almost full Sookie still wasn’t out of the bathroom. I went ahead and pulled some boxers on and knocked on the door.

“You okay, Sook?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said quietly.

“Can I come in?”

“I’ll be out in a minute.”

I heard more sniffling.

I wasn’t sure if I should push or not. This was the kind of thing she was talking about when she said we needed to know each other better. I didn’t know when to push and when to back off.

“Okay,” I said finally, and finished packing. I made sure I had everything ready for my flight in the morning, and then crawled into bed to wait for Sookie.

Her minute was more like ten, and when she came out of the bathroom she had clothes on. I hadn’t even seen her bring anything in there with her. She turned off the bathroom light and climbed into bed.

“Talk to me,” I said.

“I don’t know why,” she said. “I told you I cry at everything lately.”

“That was more though. At least it felt like it.”

“Eric, I said I don’t know like six times so please stop asking,” she said in frustration.

“Right,” I said quietly, and sunk down under the covers. “Goodnight then.”

“Goodnight,” she said. Her voice was back to being shaky.

I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to help her or comfort her, but I didn’t want to upset her further. I rolled onto my side and tried to go to sleep but when I heard her sniffle I couldn’t take it anymore. I rolled over and curled up behind her. My arm gently pulled her close and I kissed the back of her shoulder. All I did was hold her, and I hoped it was enough to let her know that she had me in her corner, no matter what.

She cried a little while longer, but then her breathing evened out and I knew she was asleep.

“I love you,” I whispered, and closed my eyes and hoped sleep would find me too.

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