Author's Note:
Hello all! It's Sunday! And time for a new chapter. ;D
As always, HUGE thanks to all my FANTASTIC reviewers. Big hugs and kisses to: waiting-for-you443, valerioux, Karmitara, BearPlusCat, BeautifulSamurai, Chibi-Lazy14, iamanimefreak13, SistershoOK, aliciacevbra, loopymama, Xerzo LotCN, Anna5949, stranger1999, Starstruck-MJ, quidditchChick6, Lucinda, NaLuAlways26, Katnibal94, maria Paula5659, CodenameMise, CrazyZaika, Leomae2.0, Starstruck-MJ, Catleana, Konasuki Profitt, Jonahziuss, and UzumakiDavis27. You guys are all amazing. :D
Alrighty! On with the show!
And stay tuned for the sneak peek at the end. ;D You'll definitely want to see this one.
"Mavis…what happened to him?" Lucy whispered in horror as she knelt next to a very passed out and beaten up Natsu.
He had bruises on just about every visible inch of skin, and he was covered in scrapes and cuts. Dirt caked him from head to toe, and his hair was matted down to his head and hung in his eyes.
"It looks like he picked a fight with the forest…and lost." Wendy agreed, already working her magic on the worst of his injuries.
"Oh Natsu…." Happy sniffled, hugging his arm and staring up at him with big watery eyes.
"He'll be okay Happy… don't worry. He's been hurt much worse than this before."
"You think so Luushy?"
The fact that the blue cat was slurring her name was a very good indication of how upset he was, and she nodded before picking him up and hugging him.
At that point, Wendy interjected with, "It looks like he broke his wrist and has a couple of fractured ribs, but those are his worst injuries. So he should be okay."
"Of course he'll be fine! Wendy is tending to him after all." Carla declared with pride and a dash of arrogance.
Happy detached himself from Lucy and switched to hugging his girlfriend with a tearful cry of her name. Meanwhile, Lucy practically melted with relief at the confirmation that he would be alright, even though she had been the first to say it.
Before long, all of Natsu's worst injuries had been taken care of… though he still looked like he'd been dragged through hell and back. However, even with Wendy's treatment, he still hadn't woken up – which concerned them all. Lucy had been worried about how he would react when they found him, but staying unconscious wasn't a good solution to the problem either.
Once Wendy was done healing him, she sat back and just looked at him for a long moment, and then her eyes met Lucy's and they shared a worried look.
"So…now what?" Lucy eventually inquired tentatively.
"Well…I've done all I can for him. So…" Wendy responded, chewing on her lip and looking back down at his prone body.
"Why isn't he waking up?"
They all turned to Happy, who had voiced the question that was sitting heavily in all their minds.
"I think it's just exhaustion. My magic isn't picking up anything overly wrong with him…though he is really dehydrated."
"Oh… so he's just sleeping really soundly."
Lucy nodded. "Yeah Happy, he's just super sound asleep."
"It's probably closer to being passed out than mere sleep."
"Carla's right… he's not conscious at all. But he's not in a coma, so he should wake up on his own sooner or later." Wendy added, though she sounded a little more troubled than Lucy would like.
After a long pause, Lucy cleared her throat and offered, "Well… if there's nothing more we can do here, then we should probably get him somewhere safe and comfortable."
"Our house is closest!" Happy chirped, and she nodded, having visited their cottage more than enough times to know it was true.
"Right, let's get him home."
"Aye Sir!"
Of course five minutes later, the blue cat was singing a very different tune.
"So… HEAVY!"
"We can take breaks whenever you need to Happy, you're doing great!" Lucy called, knowing that he wasn't actually making a fat joke for once – though she knew from experience it could easily turn into one.
To get them both back, Lucy was piggybacking Natsu and holding onto him tight with both arms and legs while Happy carried her. She understood his complaint to be honest, because she was having a rough time holding up Natsu. How much did the guy weigh?! He wasn't much taller than her, but she KNEW she wasn't this heavy. He had to weigh at least 200 pounds if not more. Just how much muscle did he possess?
"You sure you're doing okay?" Wendy asked worriedly next to them, having agreed to follow them back to Natsu's house and do one last check-up before she left.
"Yeah…we're okay…" Lucy huffed while Happy just grunted.
They both only lasted another ten minutes before needing a little breather, and they set down in a small clearing by a stream. Lucy let Natsu flop to the ground as gently as she possibly could under the circumstances and then planted her feet – which put her standing awkwardly over him. With a blush, she quickly swung her leg over his prone body and took a couple of steps to the side so she wouldn't be straddling him.
Wendy hopped over and inspected him to make sure that he was still doing alright – especially his ribs, since that was where Lucy was holding him up.
"He seems like he's doing well… but I'll give him a little more just to be sure." she said as she hit him with another dose of healing sky magic.
That also gave Lucy and Happy a little time for a breather, and they both plopped to the ground and huffed and puffed for a bit.
…
This pattern repeated for the next several hours until they finally reached Natsu's home around nightfall. After one last quick check up, Wendy and Carla headed back to their home for a much-needed night of sleep.
"Thank you both so, so much. You guys were lifesavers, we couldn't have done it without you."
"Of course! I'm just glad everything turned out okay." Wendy chirped with a smile while Carla nodded and said, "Indeed."
"We told Juvia and Gajeel we'd join them on a mission, but they aren't leaving until tomorrow afternoon. So we'll pop by in the morning and check on you guys again before we leave."
Lucy's eyes widened, surprised and feeling guilty that she had asked Wendy for help with something so strenuous right before a mission. "I'm so sorry! I didn't know you had a mission tomorrow! You must be exhausted after everything…"
"No, no! I'll be fine. Don't worry. I told them I had to help you with an emergency and might not be able to make it, and they were very understanding. But since we got back in time, I'll let them know I can come after all."
"Okay…if you're sure…"
"Of course she's sure. Helping each other in moments of crisis is what a guild does!" Carla barked aristocratically, and Lucy sent her a grateful smile.
"Exactly!" Wendy agreed with a happy grin, and then turned to head out the door. "Well… see you tomorrow! Oh, and be sure to try and get some fluids in Natsu if you can. My healing magic took care of any damage the dehydration caused his body, but it can't give him water."
"Okay, thanks. I'll be sure to do that."
Lucy and Happy waved goodbye to them as the other two took off, leaving them alone with the unconscious lump of fire dragon slayer. As soon as they were gone from sight, Lucy sighed and closed the door, turning to face the mess that awaited her. Predictably, their house was a disaster zone, and she really just wanted to clean it up… but under the circumstances she figured that a simple tidy would have to suffice.
"So what now Lucy?"
"First, we need to get all the trash and…whatever all this stuff is out of the way so Natsu can rest comfortably on the couch."
He was currently on a pile of trash, dirty clothes, and who-knew-what-else that hid the couch from view.
Happy winced and looked like he would protest at first, but after a stern eyeballing he deflated and mumbled, "Aye Sir…"
So, for the next half hour or so, they grabbed armfuls of stuff and simply shoved it into one designated corner. The trash Lucy went ahead and put in a pile just outside the door, and she started a pile of dirty clothes as well, but mostly they just cleared space. Eventually Natsu was actually lying on the couch and looked significantly more comfortable than before, especially since she'd put the blanket from his backpack over him and tucked his pillow under his head.
"There…much better." Lucy stated, looking him over with a tired smile and her hands proudly perched on her hips.
"Yeah…" Happy huffed from his spot on the floor, sounding much less enthused.
She glanced at him and then turned towards the kitchen. "Right. Now I need to see what kind of food you guys have. Natsu's probably going to be starving when he wakes up."
Of course naturally when she opened their big box fridge, it just had fish in it. With a sigh, she let the lid drop back down. "Yeah…I figured as much. Well Happy, it looks like we're going to be eating some of your fish."
He grimaced but for once didn't protest, probably because he was already more than half asleep. With a fond smile she went over and gently picked him up before placing him in his cat bed, snickering a little when he drooled and mumbled something about Carla. Yep…definitely asleep now.
After tucking him in, she sighed and went to sit on the hammock, the only other available sleeping space. She knew Natsu usually slept here, but she had no idea how to get him in it while he was unconscious – so, she supposed that just meant they had to trade places. Getting in proved a bit of a problem though, since she wasn't used to hammocks.
"Shit…" she hissed as she rubbed her head where she'd whacked it on the floor after sitting and toppling backwards.
"Okay, let's try this again shall we?"
With a hairy eyeball trained on the thing, she gingerly sat again, aiming her butt right at the middle. This time she managed to gingerly perch on the hung netting, but quickly found out that the next part was even more difficult. When she attempted to swing her legs up onto it, the whole contraption wobbled back and forth like a boat in a storm, and she squawked bloody murder and flailed until it ultimately dumped her once again onto the floor.
She laid there, staring up at it with bloodshot eyes and contemplated just sleeping here for the night… but she was just irritated enough to take it on one more time. Once again she grabbed the blanket from the ground and cautiously parked herself in the hammock. Then, with a deep breath, she swung her legs up and laid back in one motion, trying to do her best to not wobble around even though the hammock made her feel like she was falling once again. This time though – because she didn't thrash around trying to get her balance – she didn't capsize, and the thing eventually settled into a gentle rocking motion instead of turbulence.
"Thank Mavis…" she sighed, carefully tossing the blanket over her legs and tucking her balled-up jacket behind her head. "How does Natsu do this every night?"
She probably would have grumbled about it more… except she was already drifting off to sleep, the exhaustion finally catching up to her. As it did, she curled up more under the blanket and breathed in Natsu's scent, which lay a little too strongly on the blanket she was currently under. But for once, she didn't mind the smell, even if it bordered the realm of body odor.
After all the stress of the past few days, being blanketed in his thick scent was oddly soothing.
…
… many hours later…
When Natsu slowly started waking up, he had absolutely no idea what day it was, what time it was, or where he was. All he knew was that he felt like absolute crap.
It took a really long time for him to get his brain in gear and remember what the hell happened to make him feel so shitty – but as soon as the memories finally hit him, he shot upright, wild-eyed and worried that he'd been sleepwalking back to Lucy again. To his shock, as soon as he looked around, he realized that he was sitting on the couch in his own house… and had absolutely no idea how he'd gotten there. Had it all been a dream?
No, definitely not. There was plenty of dirt and crap crusted onto him that said he'd been wandering around the woods for days. So then how did he end up back at his house?
More importantly though, he was way too close to Magnolia! He had to get out of here and away from Lucy! That thought got him off the couch and heading for the door at top speed, but before he'd taken more than a couple of steps something distracted him. He froze and slowly turned to see Lucy out cold in his hammock.
His first reaction was, 'Oh shit!' and he backed up so fast that he fell over backwards and landed on his ass. Pretty quickly though, he realized that the thing he was freaking out about wasn't happening… he wasn't having an uncontrollable need to run over and rape her. When nothing happened for a few minutes, he slowly began to discover that he wasn't feeling any of the unbearable urges he'd been dealing with for the past few days.
There was still a lingering fire burning deep inside his gut that he guessed came from not finishing all the mating stuff with Luce, but thankfully it was controllable. It was dull enough that he'd probably be able to keep it under wraps as long as he didn't get too aroused and kept his dick to himself.
As soon as he realized that it was all finally over and he didn't have to be afraid of his own body doing something horrible to Lucy without his permission, a wave of relief nearly turned him into a soggy pile of goo. But quickly following that was all the guilt from what had happened, and he felt absolutely terrible… worse than he'd ever felt in his whole life.
Before he'd made the conscious decision to do it, he had scrambled across the floor to kneel next to her. He saw his hand reaching for her and – even though all he wanted to do was maybe stroke her hair or something – he pulled it back, realizing he didn't have that right anymore. Instead, he put his hands on his knees and bowed his head, whispering, "I'm so sorry Luce…"
"N-Natsu?"
His eyes flew open and he looked up… right as her eyes cracked open.
…
For Lucy, she was just coming out of an extremely deep sleep…. the first real sleep she'd gotten since Natsu had gone running out of her apartment. She wasn't exactly sure what had woken her up, other than some kind of light breeze brushing over her and the sense of someone nearby. The second her eyes opened, it was to the sight of pink hair, and she instantly knew whose presence she'd felt.
"N-Natsu?..." she mumbled sleepily at first, but then her brain turned on like a switch had been flipped and she was sitting up ramrod straight in the hammock.
Unfortunately, she sat up way too fast and ended up capsizing with a screech that would have woken the neighbors… if he had any.
"Woah! Watch it!" he yelped and managed to snag her outstretched hands.
He yanked her forwards to keep her from toppling over backwards and slamming her head into the ground like she'd done last night… but of course that meant she flipped forwards practically right into his lap. She crashed on top of him and they both went to the floor, though Natsu managed to land on his forearm, so he didn't fully collapse onto his back.
"Luce! You okay?! Oh…shit…sorry…"
He scrambled back and gently - but very quickly - shoved her off him. It was so abrupt that Lucy was left sitting on her knees wondering what had just happened and almost got her feelings hurt. Did he not want to touch her now? Why? Was it because of what they'd done?
For a second, she started to go down the rabbit hole of depression, growing increasingly sure that Natsu was either disgusted with her… or that the memories of what had happened between them made it too awkward for him to touch her… or something equally sad and disheartening. However, as soon as she risked looking into his black eyes, all those feelings melted away to be replaced with warm fluff. The only emotion she could see in his face was concern for her, as if he was afraid that she was scared of him now.
Following on the heels of that relief, she immediately remembered finding him all beaten up and how worried she'd been about him last night. It was amazing that she had even temporarily forgotten since he was still fairly scraped up and bruised and covered in all kinds of dried muck.
"Wait never mind all that, are you okay?! We found you passed out in a clearing, and Wendy said you must have been running around in circles for days based off your scent trail. What happened? Did you hurt yourself? Do you have a fever? You've got to be starving and dehydrated!"
His eyes flew wide and he stared at her with a totally shocked expression for a brief moment, and then he abruptly ducked his head and hid behind his hair – which flopped in his face since he apparently hadn't spiked it recently. That was understandable since he'd obviously had other things occupying his mind for the past few days… like surviving in the woods.
"Of course I'm fine… I'm the one who should be asking you if you're okay after what I did to you…" he mumbled, sounding utterly unlike himself and absolutely contrite.
A few drops of liquid hit his knees. She wouldn't have noticed except one happened to catch the light and caught her attention with it, and suddenly she realized that he was actually crying. At that point, her heart totally melted…. not that it wasn't already a puddle of jelly when it came to him, despite her best intentions to harden it against his dubious charms.
"Natsu…" she sighed, and reached out to stroke his hair.
He froze utterly still, as if shocked that she was willing to touch him. Ignoring his reaction, she continued to softly answer his question. "I'm fine. Porlyusica stopped by thanks to you, and I'm all healed up now. I don't blame you for what happened. Everything's okay, really."
His head flew up and he fixed her with shocked and almost angry eyes. "Everything's not okay! I raped you Lucy, how is that okay?!"
She winced a little but managed to keep her cool. "You didn't rape me Natsu."
"Yes I did…I took you without permission. That's rape!"
With a sigh, she wondered how the hell she was going to convince him otherwise without completely blowing her cover and spilling the beans about her feelings for him.
"How much do you remember of that night?" she quietly asked, deciding that it was the safest place to start.
"Not…much."
He seemed ashamed of that fact, but she was quite honestly very relieved. Hopefully that meant he didn't remember her confession… or anything that would indicate how much pain she'd been in.
"Well, if you did remember, then you would know that you stopped before actually uh…doing it. You did force a few kisses and stuff, but you didn't rape me."
"But…I know we ended up having sex. How'd that happen if I stopped?"
"Because…" she sighed again, this being the hardest part to explain. "I gave you permission."
There was a long pause, in which she blushed and he stared at her with a blank expression. Then suddenly the silence was broken when he burst out, "Why the hell did you do that?! You had to know I was out of control and that I'd hurt you!"
"Yeah…I knew it'd probably hurt. But it would have hurt anyways since I was a virgin. And…I just…. Look, don't worry about it okay? I still think it was the right decision to make. I don't regret it and neither should you."
"That's not gonna cut it Luce… there's no way you would've agreed to something like that without a damn good reason. I'm gonna keep on regretting it until the day I die unless you tell me something to change my mind, and I really don't see that happening."
She grimaced. Why did he have to pick today of all days to become super dramatic? Why did he have to make this so ridiculously difficult? Couldn't he just accept that she was okay with what had happened and move on? But no, he wanted her to give him an explanation that would convince him he hadn't raped her.
"Natsu…." she groaned, and then sighed, glancing off to the side as she flushed a little with discomfort. "Oh fine. If you really need me to go into detail… when you thought I was rejecting you, you looked…I dunno. Broken. It wasn't really you… it was whatever took over when you…uh…did all that stuff. But…I got this feeling, like you'd shatter into a million pieces and would never come back together right. I know that sounds weird, but it's true."
She paused to heave another sigh, and then finished with, "I couldn't stand seeing you like that… so I gave you permission to continue."
When she glanced back, she was surprised to see that his eyes were wide and gazing off into the distance like he was lost in thought or stunned. He must have sensed her staring, because his somewhat glazed eyes flicked over to meet hers, and then he cleared his throat to answer the silent question she sent him.
"I, uh… what you described… it's possible that when my instincts took over, I was more dragon than human. At least inside, ya know? Not physically. But, uh… my dad actually told me that if a dragon was rejected by their mate, it could end really bad. Like…going insane or suicide bad. So…"
Lucy could feel her eyes widening, and a surge of righteous indignation welled up inside her alongside horror and fear. "And you didn't tell me this?!"
"I didn't even remember it until you said those things! Dad kinda mentioned in passing… and I sorta thought that he was talking about dragons, not dragon slayers. Besides, I didn't really find any of that mating stuff interesting back then, so I didn't pay much attention when he talked about it."
"Jeez, that's so like you." Lucy eventually snorted, rolling her eyes. "Fine. But if that's true, then I'm really glad I went with my instincts."
"I… guess so." Natsu still didn't sound overly convinced.
"Let's just not worry about it okay? We'll let it go and pretend it never happened."
He blinked and stared at her. "Wait… what d'you-?"
She railroaded over him, wanting to change the subject already and get things back to normal as soon as possible. "Right now, I think the best thing to do is to get some food in your belly. I bet you're starving."
She stood, and his eyes followed her. A tiny bit of their sparkle returned at the mention of food, and his stomach gave an almighty roar that answered for him. She laughed and headed to his kitchen. "See? I'm right aren't I?"
"Yeah…"
"Well, we just have Happy's fish, but we can cook it up, and I'll buy him some more tomorrow."
"Okay." he said, and then his eyes darted around, quickly landing on the cat in question – who was still surprisingly sound asleep in his bed.
"He really tired himself out yesterday flying us both back here."
Guilt flashed across Natsu's face and remained in the form of a scrunch between his eyebrows. As he made his way over towards the cat bed, Lucy started digging through the fish fridge and pulled out specimens for cooking. Of course, naturally Natsu didn't have much in the way of cooking utensils… or an oven for that matter.
She was distracted by Happy's cry of, "Natsu!" and turned to watch the Exceed slam into his chest and start sobbing. "We were so worried! I'm so glad you're awake!"
"Hey there little buddy. Sorry for scarin' ya." Natsu said with a warm smile and started patting Happy on the head.
After watching for a while, Lucy cleared her throat and asked, "You boys ready to eat some fish?"
"Yeah!"
"Aye Sir!"
Of course, once Happy realized they were eating HIS fish, he protested… up until Lucy reminded him of her promise to take him to the fish market and buy him whatever he wanted for his help. Then he perked up and dug in with them. Some of the fish had been purchased pre-gutted, so she ate those – after Natsu had flash fried them – while he and Happy just ate everything and anything they got their hands on.
He seemed ravenous, and she grew even more convinced that he probably hadn't eaten anything in days… which was nuts for Natsu. It also reminded her to plop a glass of water in front of him and tell him to drink, which he did without any protesting.
Finally, once he had completely demolished Happy's fish, he settled back, looking significantly more content and at ease than when they started.
"That was great…" he sighed happily, and then burped and slumped a little in his chair.
"Yeah…" Happy agreed, but then worriedly looked at the empty box fridge. "But they're all gone now…"
"Don't worry. Remember, we're going on a shopping spree tomorrow." Lucy reminded him again, and he perked back up.
After that, there was a long silence, only broken by Lucy picking up her fish bones and walking to the door to toss them on the trash heap. The atmosphere was a little tense and awkward, full of unspoken questions from Happy and memories from the other two. She lingered near the door, wondering if maybe she should just leave now that Natsu seemed okay.
Before she could make up her mind though, the thick moment was broken by Natsu as he murmured, "You sure everything's okay?"
The fact that he was asking again just went to show how perturbed he was by it all. Normally, once she told him not to worry about something, he took her at her word and immediately let it go. But this time, when she turned to eyeball him, he was looking worried again and unsure.
"Yes Natsu, I'm sure. Everything's fine."
"But I-"
He was interrupted by a polite knock on the door.
"Oh! That's probably Wendy, she said she'd pop over to check on you."
Lucy quickly turned back towards the door and opened it again, greeting the blue-haired girl and white cat on the other side. "Good morning!"
"Hi Lucy! How's Natsu doing?" Wendy asked as she walked in, then spied said pink-haired person and immediately smiled. "Natsu! Oh good! I'm so glad you're awake!"
"Hey guys!" he shot them a smile that was only slightly dimmer than usual.
"Carla!" Happy cheered, hurrying over to his kitty girlfriend and giving her a little smooch, which she quickly ended.
"Tomcat…how many times have I told you not to do that in public!" she scolded haughtily, but Lucy could tell her voice lacked its usual bite.
While she was smirking at the feline couple, Wendy had joined Natsu at the table. "Are you hurt? I healed what I could see last night, but I didn't know if there was anything that I missed."
"Nah, I feel great!"
"Oh good." Wendy sighed, sounding relieved.
After a few more minutes of chatting and checking on Natsu, Carla interrupted. "Wendy, we should leave now if we're going to meet Juvia and Gajeel on time."
"Oh right! Yeah, we're actually on our way out of town on a mission..." Wendy explained to Natsu, who looked a little confused.
"Awww…do ya have to go…?" Happy whined, pouting at Carla.
She sniffed snootily. "Of course! We made a promise, and it's very impolite to go back on your word."
"I guess…"
"Don't worry Happy, it's not going to be a long mission. We'll be back within the week." Wendy soothed, bending down to give the downcast cat a smile.
He perked up some. "Really? Oh good…"
"You really are a nuisance." Carla sighed, but her voice was fond rather than irritated.
"Aw, don't be like that Carla. I just miss you when you're gone, you know?"
They were so dang cute that it helped wash away some of Lucy's leftover tension and awkwardness. If only hers and Natsu's relationship could be so simple…
And with that last thought, all the tension came right back and she sighed, feeling like she'd gotten duped. It sucked to feel good one moment and then sad the next…especially when something so nice was the source of her sadness. This was going to be a real pain if she had these sorts of feelings every time she saw a cute couple. Lovey-dovey scenes had always inspired a little bit of jealousy and sadness in her ever since she fell in love, but those feelings seemed to have magnified significantly.
She sincerely hoped it didn't take forever and a day to get over her extra sensitivity towards romance, because it made her want to crawl in a hole and die.
To distract herself from the fresh wave of hurt, she turned to Wendy. "Thanks for stopping by and checking up on us. And thank you again for all your help yesterday."
"No problem! I'm so happy it all worked out."
With a few more hurried thanks and goodbyes, the sky dragon slayer and white Exceed eventually headed out the door. As they left, Lucy stared after them and once again contemplated exiting the premises herself. She hesitated at the door and bit her lip, chewing on it in mild distress.
Her heart felt split right down the middle. On the one hand, she desperately wanted some alone time to try and compartmentalize her scattered emotions. Yet…she also didn't want to leave him, especially after everything that had happened.
Heck, she wanted to take care of him…feed him some more…make sure he drank lots of water…scrub all the filth off him and get him into some clean clothes…and bandage his leftover scrapes and bumps…. but that was the job of a girlfriend. Well, she supposed it could be the job of his best friend too, but she knew good and well that she couldn't do any of that without her feelings getting involved. They were too raw and fresh for her to stay platonic.
No, the best thing for her to do right now was to get some space and screw her head on right so things could go back to normal between them. They didn't need any more complications, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could stay and keep herself together. The longer she was around him, the more she started to remember all the things she'd told herself to forget.
"I should, uh, probably head out too. I've got some stuff to do at my apartment." Lucy eventually mumbled.
Natsu's eyes flew to her. "You're leaving?!"
"Well…yeah. I'm sure you could use some rest and time to reconnect with Happy, right? And I need to go take a shower and get a nap. I'm still tired."
"Oh…okay. I guess…"
She wasn't sure she'd ever seen or heard him so obviously hesitant, and it hurt to know she was the cause. Her lips opened and shut on words that tried to come out, 'I don't want to go'… 'I'm sorry' … 'It's not about that night' … 'Please don't be sad' … 'I just need some space'… But none of what she was thinking made it past her lips.
Eventually she simply said, "Yeah…well, uh…yeah. See you tomorrow 'kay?"
She cringed as she left, feeling utterly stupid and inadequate for saying something so meaningless and running out on him when he was obviously still struggling with what had happened. But she just needed a little breathing room and a little time to stitch up her heart and remind herself to forget everything that had happened.
Sneak Peek
Before he knew what he was saying, words were spilling out of his mouth. "You don't want me?"
As he watched, her face totally changed into a different sort of expression... and then she whispered, "…of course I want you. Idiot…I love you."
He could've figured that out just by her expression, but hearing her say it made him feel like he was melting inside… and he couldn't remember the last time he'd been so happy. It was wonderful and amazing and awesome and perfect… up until his instincts woke back up and made him ridiculously horny and out of control again. Then, everything turned into a mess of heat and lust and pleasure.
As soon as he shoved himself inside her, he woke with a gasp and jerked upright.