everything he offered. And I didn’t seem to be able to keep my lips from his. Those kisses were all I needed—that, and him, and the orgasm that threatened as I whimpered into his mouth.
“Give it up, Jess,” he told me, pressing his forehead to mine.
I didn’t need to be told twice. Everything felt overwhelmingly intense, the time we’d spent apart only intensifying the sensations. Coming with him inside me… crying out into the curve of his shoulder, him trembling inside me… not exactly something we hadn’t done before, but it wiped me out.
Him too, if his inelegant crash on top of me was anything to go by. I huffed, laughed, and wrapped my arms more securely around him as he carefully pulled his cock from my ass. Then I licked his ear, because it was gross and I wanted a reaction.
Chapter 5
“Y OU ’ RE DISGUSTING ,” Will grouched, poking me in retaliation. I squirmed away and distracted him with kisses until it was safe to settle back in his arms. He sighed heavily, and I reached for a hand towel, quickly wiping us both down.
For a while, we lay together in bed. This was a luxury. At home, we didn’t often have time to be naked and lazy, not when there were chores to do and jobs to worry about.
Will reached for my hand and tangled our fingers together. I squeezed back, letting him know the contact was appreciated, then shuffled to lay my head on his chest.
“You okay, baby?” he murmured softly.
“Yeah.” I sighed deeply, gathering the scent of him into my lungs.
“Is this better? Being in our own place, I mean. If you don’t like it, we can always go back to your dad’s. I don’t mind.”
“It’s good. We can’t do this at dad’s house, and I think we need it.”
“I think so too. I just don’t want to take you away from your family, if that’s where you want to be.” Will ran his hand down my spine. It was still sticky with sweat—for all of Will’s bitching about air-con, I hadn’t turned it on, and it was fairly warm in the house.
“We’re close, here, without living on top of each other. I don’t want to leave yet but we all need some space.”
“There’s no need for us to go anywhere at all.”
I recognized that voice, the half on a yawn that told me he was all fucked out and sleepy. I hadn’t brushed my teeth or locked the front door or turned the lights off in the hall, and I couldn’t find the energy to care. I found the sheets with my feet and kicked them up over our legs, kissed Will’s cheek, and let go.
O F COURSE , that meant I didn’t sleep very well and was awake in the night to do all of the puttering around I didn’t do before we went to bed. I wasn’t sure if Will ever woke up when I did my late-night wanderings. I would be surprised if it didn’t disturb him; it wasn’t something I did at home.
The rules of everything had changed since we’d gotten on the plane here, I mused while collecting bits of sandpaper from the living room and stacking them neatly in order of roughness. I didn’t have any thick socks or house slippers here, so padding around in the dark, barefoot and wearing boxers, was a fairly risky activity.
I was careful not to let the screen door slam behind me when I walked outside, not wanting to wake or alarm Will. The grass was deliciously cool beneath my feet, even if it was dry and scrubby rather than richly wet. The moon hung huge and low in the sky, meaning that even without any streetlights, I could see all the way to the end of our street.
It was eerily silent at this time in the morning, with not even a restless dog or the chirping of cicadas for company.
The night was one for feeling terribly alone in the world, like there was no one who could understand the sharp edges of my grief, the heavy weight of responsibility toward a younger sister and completely lost father. I didn’t want to be angry at Mama—she’d lived her life on her own terms and left it on the same. It was what all of us would
Learning to Kill: Stories