A/N: Well howdy there, readers. I'm so sorry! There's no excuse I can make for the lack of updating. I went through crazy writers block and school was intense. Luckily it will be summer soon and updates should come much faster then. Until then, I hope you enjoy this. As always, feedback is appreciated. SEE THE END AUTHORS NOTE and please answer the question contained therein. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Not mine, sadly. I may not own Marinemett, but the Marine I do own says hi!
Chapter 7:
"Absence is to love as wind is to fire; it extinguishes the small and kindles the great."
- Roger de Bussy-Rabutin
I whimpered in response to the vaguely dirty words before I attempted to stutter out an explanation. "Emmett, I don't… I mean, I haven't…"
"You don't… touch yourself? Not ever?" he asked, shocked.
"Not since I started dating," I admitted softly. "That's what I have you for."
"But we talked about this the other night."
"I really thought you were kidding. It's been a while since I've… indulged in some self-love," I answered with a giggle. "I didn't really need to."
"Mmm," he mumbled in agreement. "But thinking about you touching yourself while you're talking to me is so hot. Please, Bella? For me?" he begged. His voice deepened as he whispered, "Don't worry, babe. I'll talk you through it."
"Okay, hold on," I responded nervously after a minute and set the phone down on my pillow. My hands reached for the waistband of my sweatpants and I managed to shimmy them down my thighs, past my knees and kicked them to the foot of the bed. I picked up the phone again and whispered softly, "Ready."
Emmett laughed and at that moment I could almost see the smile on his face. "Are you wearing panties?"
I giggled at the obvious enthusiasm his tone portrayed. "I am. They're the lacey black ones you liked so much. Remember? You saw me putting them on and took them right back off me." The groan that echoed through the phone made me smile widely.
"Baby, you know what that does to me. You little tease," he answered, his voice echoing harshly in the background.
"Where are you?
"Don't ask, babe. There is only one place here to get privacy and I promise you don't want to think about it." He paused before continuing, "Do you remember that night before I left? God, Bella, it's all I can think about. You on your knees, with those pretty lips wrapped around my cock. Do you remember how turned on you were, baby? How wet it made you to suck my dick? It's so hot that it turns you on that much."
"Only when it's you, Emmett. I only like it with you," I whimpered back. I slid my hand down under the blankets and pressed down gently between my thighs to ease the ache his words had provoked. My breath caught and I moaned at the momentary spark of pleasure.
"Are you touching yourself, sweetheart?" The only answer he received was a soft moan that made him chuckle. "So eager. Do you remember what else happened that last night? You pushed me down against the headboard and put my hands behind my head. You told me I wasn't allowed to touch. I sat there and felt your tight little pussy riding me while your beautiful tits bounced in front of me and I couldn't do anything about it. I love it when you take charge, baby."
Emmett had always been very vocal in bed. He was quick to let me know that he liked what I was doing, that I was beautiful, that I felt good, but this conversation was a level of dirty I had never heard him reach. Every word that poured from his lips went straight to my aching core. I hurriedly pushed my panties to the side and firmly pressed my hand against my throbbing clit. My breath hitched as my fingers teasingly brushed over my entrance and I whimpered softly.
A responding groan echoed through the phone. "I love the sounds you make, babe. The first thing I'm going to do when I get home is bury my head in between your thighs so I can hear you make those noises all night." At his words, I roughly pushed two fingers into myself and the palm of my hand scraped against my nerve center. A harsh moan ripped from my throat and I lost control of the words coming out of my mouth.
"Emmett, I need… I can't… God, I wish you were here." The words streamed from my mouth as my hips frantically thrust against my fingers. "I need you to touché me, I need you inside me."
I heard a muffled curse from the other side of the phone and the distinctive noise of skin hitting skin; knowing he was just as turned on by this as I was brought me to a new high. I could feel myself getting closer, but I needed to hear him first. "Emmett, please. Talk to me."
"You know what I never got to do? I always wanted to fuck you in the kitchen. That day you came over in that little tiny jean skirt… damn! You're going to wear it for me when I get home, baby, and I won't be able to stop myself. I'm going to push you into the counter, bend you over, rip down your panties, and fuck you from behind."
My breath quickened and my hips lifted off the bed as my climax overtook me. I moaned out Emmett's name and slumped down into the bed. I could hear Emmett still going over the phone. Picturing him with his cammies pulled down, fisting his beautiful cock while thinking about fucking me gave me a burst of power. After I caught my breath I whispered, "God, baby. I could almost feel your hand fisted in my hair, pulling me back toward you. It feels so good when you get rough."
His breath hitched and he moaned as he came. We were silent for a moment while I tried to slow my racing heart. Emmett chuckled softly. "Dirty girl. I find it hard to believe you've never done that before, Bella."
"You find it hard to believe, do you?" I asked with a giggle. "I haven't. You just bring out the best in me."
"Did you enjoy that, sweetheart?"
"It's not as good as having you here, but it made some of the ache go away," I answered.
"You were aching for me?" he teased gently.
"It got so bad I was tempted to ask Edward if I could borrow his bisexual boyfriend for a night," I teased back.
"I've only been gone a couple days and you're already trying to replace me. Naughty little girl, I ought to spank you when I get home."
Although I knew he meant it as a joke, I felt my skin flush and the wetness begin to gather between my thighs again. My response should have surprised me, but I had realized months ago that anything Emmett did in bed was pleasurable and I should just lay back and enjoy it.
My silence must have lasted longer than I thought because Emmett started backpedaling. "Baby, I was kidding. You know I would never do anything you didn't want me to, right?"
I smiled at the gentle, consoling tone of his voice. "What if I don't want you to be kidding?"
"Ohh…" he moaned into the phone before laughing and replying, "Well that's one visual that's going in the spank bank."
I laughed and decided to move the conversation forward. "So tell me about base life. How was your flight? How are the guys? What's the weather like? What are you going to be doing?"
"Woah, babe. Slow your roll. The flight was fine, there was some turbulence and it seemed to take forever, but obviously I made it here in one piece. They guys are fine. Perverts, rednecks, and butt pirates mostly, but I've missed them…"
"Please don't ever say butt pirates in front of your brother," I begged.
"…As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, I'm happy to see the guys, but I would much rather be home with you. What was the next question?"
"The weather. Or base life, either one."
"The weather is crap. It's hot and sunny and sandy and windy and if I lived here I would want to kill myself. There are these horrible wind storms called shamals, where the winds get up to 75 miles per hours. They blow sand all over everything, shit falls over, our tents fly away… You know that cliché about Hell? 'If I owned Iraq and Hell, I would rent out Iraq and live in Hell.' That applies very well here." He laughed harshly before continuing. "As for base life we, we practice being in the field, we eat, sleep, fuck around, wait for letters… Send me a dirty one, will ya?"
"I don't know about that. What if one of your buddies gets his hands on it?" I asked.
"Baby, I would never let it out of my sight. That letter and your picture will be in my pocket at all times. Well, except for occasional masturbation sessions."
"God, you're a pervert," I teased with a grin.
"You love it, " Emmett responded.
We talked for a couple more minutes before Emmett had to go. I made him promise to be safe, I got him to email me his address, and then hung up before I started crying. He told me that he would be calling around the same time every Wednesday unless they were out in the field. I didn't ask what 'out in the field' meant because I really wasn't sure I wanted to know. I made a mental note to get some pictures developed at Walgreens tomorrow and to see if I could use the kitchen at Edward's house to bake some cookies to send before I passed out with a sated smile on my face.
I woke up Thursday morning suddenly grateful that I only had one class on Wednesday, so I hadn't missed too much in my depressed funk. I had three classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but luck had been with me on Tuesday. Two of my classes had been cancelled, allowing me to take Emmett to the bus while only skipping Nutrition. Sadly, today was a full day. I went to all three classes and I was done by 1:30. I had called Edward after my Organic Biology lab and he was going to run errands with me and then help me bake Emmett cookies. Edward's version of helping usually meant he was going to sit in the kitchen and chatter and steal cookie dough while I wasn't looking but, helpful or not, his presence was always comforting.
We chose five pictures to send in the care package. The first was a picture of me, Jasper and Edward that Emmett had taken at dinner at Jasper's house. The second was of Edward and Emmett, standing with their arms around each other and broad grins on their faces. It had been taken the same day as the first one. The third and fourth were both of Emmett and me. In one, Emmett was standing behind me, his arms wrapped around my waist and his chin resting on my shoulder. We had been at the park and I was watching the boys play football. It was windy and our cheeks were pink from the cold but we were both smiling happily for the camera. The second picture of the two of us was from Halloween. Emmett had his arm wrapped around me and I was leaning into his side. Seeing us in our costumes made my mind run wild and I hoped it reminded him of our first time. I scribbled a quick note on the back of the picture: "When I see these costumes I always think of black, silk sheets." It may not be have been a dirty letter, but I thought it got my point across. The final picture was just of me. It was a picture that Rosalie had taken at the party the night Emmett and I officially met.
After placing the pictures and letters Edward and I had written in an envelope, we retired to the kitchen to bake. Edward plopped himself down on one of the kitchen chairs as I pulled out the ingredients and bowls I needed to bake my famous oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I preheated the oven and had just started mixing the first ingredients when Edward spoke.
"So, how are you doing?"
I sighed and replied, "I'm fine."
"No, I mean, how are you really? Come one babe, this is me. No judgment, I just want to make sure you're okay."
"It's hard," I answered after a minute. "I didn't think it would be this hard. He's only been gone for two days and I'm already going nuts without him."
"Did you talk to him yesterday? He said he was going to call you."
"He did and it made it better, but only for a little while. Now I'm back to missing him and being depressed," I admitted with a self-deprecating chuckle. "I used to be independent and self-sufficient. I didn't need a man to be happy. Gloria Steinem would be ashamed."
"She was married, you know. Loving someone doesn't mean you're a doormat. You can love a man and still be independent."
"Says the woman in your relationship."
"Hey!" Edward exclaimed. "I am not the woman! Jasper and I are equally manly."
"Oh please. You may not be flamboyant, but you're still more of a fairy than Jasper. He owns you, I've seen it," I answered with a smirk.
"Can we stop talking about my sex life, please?"
"You always wanted to talk about it before. Now that you actually have one, the subject is off limits? Cruel. My boyfriend is in Iraq, I need to live vicariously through you. Where is your boy today?"
"He has class and then soccer practice."
"Oh my God! Your fairy is a field fairy!"
"Shut up, short stack," Edward scolded me with a grin. "No more mocking my man."
"Nice alliteration there. Have you heard from your brother?"
"He called me for a minute yesterday, just to let me know he got there alright. We didn't chat or anything. He was anxious to talk to you."
I smiled happily at the thought and put the bowl of cookie dough in the fridge. At Edward's questioning look, I explained. "That's the secret to making my special oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. You have to put the dough in the refrigerator for half an hour before baking. It stops the cookies from spreading and keeps them nice and soft." I glowered at him darkly before continuing. "But if you tell anyone, I'll kill you. It's my secret recipe."
Edward laughed and pulled me down in his lap. "God, you're a good girlfriend. If I were straight I'd steal you and chain you to my stove."
"Barefoot and pregnant?"
"That's the only way," he answered with a wide grin. My hand hit the back of his head with a loud THWAP.
"Let's go watch a movie while we wait for the cookies to be ready."
Emmett's care package was all together and chocked full of oatmeal chocolaty goodness. I had nursing clinicals in the morning but I promised Edward I would drop the box off at the post office when I got out. Today was going to be fun, school-wise. Today was the day I got to observe my first surgery. It was a simple hernia repair, but every nursing student was allowed to sit in the gallery and observe what nurses do during surgery. I had no real interest in being a surgical scrub nurse, but it was going to be very interesting to watch.
As it turns out, scrub nurses do a lot more than I had ever thought. They were involved in every aspect of the procedure except for that actual cutting open of the patient. Clinicals ended early to give us time to write up a report about what we had seen and how or whether it changed our goals for the future. The paper was easy to write because, although I now had more appreciation for the duties of a surgical nurse, it hadn't changed my goals for the future. I had known from the time my grandfather had died that I wanted to be a hospice nurse. My family had visited him in Ireland during his last few months and his nurse, Bridget, was the sweetest, most kind-hearted woman I had ever met. Her optimistic and unassuming wisdom had greatly helped me accept my grandfathers passing. I was only ten at the time, but I knew I wanted to be just like her when I grew up.
I wrote the paper quickly, changed out of my scrubs and headed to the post office. The standard postage for the box was $14 and they said it should arrive in about a week. By the time I arrived back at my dorm room, I was exhausted and I could feel the sadness creeping in. I had pushed the pain and longing to the back of my mind. I had focused on class, and then homework, and then creating Emmett's care package, but now that all that was done and my first weekend without Emmett loomed on the horizon, I could feel my stomach clenching and the emptiness inside me brought tears to my eyes. I turned off the lights and curled up in my bed.
The picture of Emmett and me at the park glared up at me from my dresser, so I reached down and picked it up. We were so happy in that picture. I traced my fingers over Emmett's face and smiled a bit at the image. He was sweaty and smiling and gorgeous in his faded USMC sweatshirt and jeans. His buzz cut had grown out a bit and the dark hair made his skin seem darker and his teeth seem whiter. He was handsome and sweet and he was mine. And he was halfway around the world in a war zone. The smile fell from my face as I considered the implications of this. I clutched the picture to my chest in an attempt to ease the ache inside me. I curled up in a ball and sobbed and begged God to bring Emmett back to me until darkness finally overtook me.
I woke up in the dark disoriented. I was holding Emmett's picture, but I could feel someone pressed up against me. Thinking my prayers had been answered I shot up in bed, startling the beautiful blonde sleeping next to me.
"Hey," Rosalie mumbled softly. "You okay? You were crying in your sleep."
I sighed and dropped back down. "I'm fine. I just… I miss him, I feel like I can't function; like I can't think." I turned over to face my roommate and furrowed my brow as a thought occurred to me, "Are we sure this bed is going to support both of us?"
Rosalie muffled a laugh in her pillow. "I'm sure we'll be fine, but if we do go down, it was your fat ass that did it."
"Bitch," I whispered and pushed her gently. I smiled as I delivered my response. "Besides, your boobs would be the reason. Honestly, with those life preservers you'll never have to worry about drowning."
"Okay, that's it," Rosalie growled before jabbing her fingers in my side and tickling me until I begged for mercy.
I had tears of laughter rolling down my face, a nice change from the last few days. "Thanks, Rosalie."
"Anytime, Bells. That's what best friends are for. If you ever want to talk about it, I'll be here, okay?" I nodded in response before turning over and returning to sleep.
People said time flies when you're having fun. From experience I could say this was true. However, the reverse is also true: time slows to a crawl when you're miserable. That first weekend felt like a lifetime, an eternity even. Rosalie stayed in with me on Saturday and we had a Saw marathon. There's nothing like gruesome, unadulterated violence to put your life in perspective. But even with twelve hours of gore and mindfuckery, the day seemed to stretch. Nighttime fell upon us and Rosalie was anxious to go see Tyler, so we decided to head to the boys house.
The boys, plus Jasper, were seated around the low coffee table in the living room and had somehow managed to turn Uno into a drinking game. By the goofy smiles and the glazed eyes, it was easy to tell they had been playing for a while. Tyler jumped up to kiss Rosalie before turning to me.
"Rosalie, Bella, drink?" Apparently full sentences were beyond his reach at this point. I smiled and nodded my assent. I felt pressure on my wrist and suddenly the world shifted as I was yanked to the floor. I ended up in Jasper's lap with his arms wrapped around my waist.
His chin landed on my shoulder and his calm, smooth voice whispered in my ear. "I heard you wanted to borrow me for a night. Still interested?" He reached up and teasingly groped my chest while he spoke. I laughed embarrassedly and batted his hand away.
"How did you know about that?!"
"Emmett called Edward this morning. He had some interesting things to say."
I groaned and I could feel the blush spreading over my face. "I was just kidding! This is so embarrassing."
"Nah, I think it's cute you're so hot for me," Jasper replied with a smirk. "Besides, I hear you make fantastic cookies. If I wasn't so happy with Edward, I would be all over that."
"Maybe we should have a threesome," Edward piped in from the other side of Jasper. He slammed a card down on the rapidly growing pile on the table. "Uno, bitches!"
"Aww, a threesome with two gay guys? I'm touched, really. Except for the fact that I wouldn't actually be touched if we did it," I replied sarcastically.
"Sweetie, if I was going to have sex with a woman, it would be you," Edward claimed. "You're the only one I would ever consider turning for."
Tyler came back with beers for me and Rosalie and dealt us into the hand after Edward won. We spent the night playing Uno and drinking and it was the first time since Wednesday that I felt happy. I still missed Emmett desperately, but knowing I had this amazing group of friends a little brighter.
When I awoke the next morning, I was in a vaguely familiar bed, but I knew it wasn't mine and I wasn't quite sure how I got there. I rolled over to see what time it was and smacked into a man's very bare chest. It was firm, but not quite as broad as Emmett's. This thought incited panic. Oh God! Emmett! Was not here! So who was I in bed with? My eyes traveled up the firm, smooth expanse of skin to the grinning face of my best friend's boyfriend.
"Morning, gorgeous," Jasper smirked.
"Why am I in Edward's bed? Why are we in Edward's bed together? Where's Edward?" I questioned frantically.
A hand from behind me landed on my hip. "I'm right here, sweetheart," Edward answered.
A horrible thought entered my pounding head. "Guys, I thought you were just kidding about the threesome! I couldn't… I didn't…"
"No, Bella. It's okay. You just slept here," Jasper quickly soothed my fears. "You were kind of wasted, darlin', and you didn't want to sleep in the guest room without Emmett, so you just crashed here."
"Oh, okay. Good. Wow." I considered our situation for a minute before laughing. This was almost identical to waking up with Rosalie this morning. "How did all three of us fit in this bed?" Jasper and Edward cracked up before all three of us curled up together and went back to sleep.
The weekend ended much better than it began. I was so excited for Emmett's call that I could barely focus on anything else. Clinicals flew by in a happy haze, classes were quick. I took notes, I answered questions, but I really couldn't tell you what they were. I should have been worried about this as finals were only a few weeks away, but my whole world was focused on getting to Wednesday and my weekly phone call.
When Wednesday night finally rolled around, I was laying on my bed, studying for a Nutrition test and pretending I wasn't anxiously waiting for Emmett to call. I was so focused on my pretending that when the phone rang I almost jumped out of my skin.
The number flashing across the screen of my phone was international and I fumbled to get the phone open and put it up to my ear.
"Hey there, Marine."
"Hello, Beautiful."
A/N 2: So just for fun, I was thinking about doing an outtake with the suggested threesome with Edward, Bella, and Jasper. Just for fun, and I promise in the outtake they'll have Emmett'ss permission. Would anyone be interested in reading that? Let me know. Have a good weekend!
