The socks he left for her were thick and when she pulled them up went almost to her knees. It made her giggle that he'd made a point to ensure her feet didn't get cold. He'd left a neat pile of clothes on top of the toilet for her with her spare glasses case resting on top. The sweatpants were soft and the tee shirt had been washed so many times it was almost threadbare. She didn't bother to put her bra or underwear back on, they were both sweat soaked and gross. She also didn't bother to pull her hair back, when it was wet like this it could take all night to dry, and pulling it back would just take longer.
She stepped out of the steamy bathroom and into the apartment itself. He'd turned off all the fans except the one that turned lazily over the bed. He was putting the last of the books back on the last book case when she found him. "You work fast," she said, settling cross-legged on the now empty bed. He glanced at her over his shoulder.
"You did the hard bits." He nodded at her face, "Those are cute."
Adina smiled, "Thank you," her spare glasses were heavy-framed, made to look like a vintage cat eye but with a wood grain. They were different and she'd bought them on a whim. But she liked that they were heavy enough she could wear them while lying on the couch and not worry about getting them bent out of shape. She could also count on one hand the amount of times she'd let herself be seen in glasses by someone other than Trish.
"Food's on the way," he was focusing on reorganizing the books on the shelf.
"Thank you for dinner," she said, watching him shift books around. She'd taken them down in order, so if he was shifting things now, he was reorganizing. Adina almost asked him how he was categorizing but decided it was more fun to just watch his face. The faces he made as he looked at title and author and then considered the books already on the shelves were fascinating.
"You're welcome," he said, but his attention wasn't on her. She flopped on the bed, reaching behind her for a pillow and her phone and moving around to a comfortable position. She had a text from Trish wanting to know where the hell she'd been all day, so Adina started filling her in. She was sprawled on the bed, her legs splayed in what she could describe as a "goddess pose" if she wanted to sound like it was intentional, but really she was just sprawled with her legs open because it was comfortable.
He glanced at her every so often and Adina resisted the urge to smirk behind her phone. She couldn't decide if he kept checking on her to see if she was bored, or to see if she was still there. Trish was, of course, highly amused that Adina had "adopted the puppy" and taken it upon herself to clean his place. So he's perm, then?
Adina rolled her eyes, I don't know, he's definitely fun to look at, she tapped back, refusing to fully commit.
Oh is he now? Pics, please. She laughed and Mathias looked at her over his shoulder.
"What're you laughing at," he put the last book on the shelf and bent to pick up another stack.
"Trisha doesn't believe your gorgeous," Adina said, "She's demanding photo evidence." He laughed and she smirked, "I would have taken a picture to send to her, but I didn't want you to feel cheap."
He put his stack of books on an empty shelf and turned to look at her, hands on hips. Adina arched an eyebrow, sitting up on her elbows just a little so she could look him in the eye. He opened his mouth to speak and then launched himself at the bed. She shrieked, fully expecting a tickle fit. What followed was somewhere between wrestling and extended groping. There was also a good bit of laughter. At some point he grabbed her phone, pulling her to him and positioning the phone to snap a picture of the both of them laughing as it turned into a round of keep away.
She was laughing when she managed to get the upper hand, or, rather, she found herself straddling him, her hand on his wrist while the other strained for her cell phone. He was holding it just out of reach. She bounced forward, almost grabbing the phone out of his hand and he flipped her on her back, his face was right against her breasts and she laughed when his lips found her nipple through the tee shirt. "You're distracting me!"
"Is it working?" He slid the phone across the bed and it ended up against the pillow.
"No," she giggled, shoving his chest. He made a move to kiss her and there was a knock on the door. Adina laughed when he collapsed against her, making a frustrated sound against her breast. "Your pizza's here."
"Your pizza," he said pointedly, climbing off the bed to answer the door. Adina flipped over and grabbed her phone. There was actually a string of pretty decent pictures on her camera roll, she sent it to Trish, here you go, quit your whining.
When he returned to the bed she was sitting on the edge, her feet on the floor, sitting expectantly like a good student. He laughed, putting the pizza box on the bed next to her and the two liter of soda at her feet. Adina kissed his belly through his shirt, "Are you going to stop to eat?" She said, resting her chin on his belly and staring up at him.
He smiled, lifting a tendril of hair from her forehead. "In a bit, I'm almost done."
"Want me to wait?" She said, her eyebrows lifting in question.
Mathias bent, catching her chin with his finger, "No," he said against her lips, "Enjoy your-"
"Oh for fuck's sake, she really is your girlfriend." He froze over her, clenching his jaw and closing his eyes, Adina wondered if it was in resignation or defeat. He straightened slowly and looked coolly at the woman on the other side of the screen door. She looked disgusted. Adina realized it was the woman from earlier.
"What do you want, Gina?" Mathias walked the few steps back to the screen door and put a hand on the handle, but made no move to unhook it and let her in.
"What you're not going to introduce me?"
Adina's stomach growled and she looked sadly at the pizza box. She wondered if it would be rude to start eating. She glanced back him and she could tell by the set of his shoulders he wasn't happy. He darted a quick glance at her over his shoulder and she shrugged. He sighed. "Adina, this is my sister. Gina."
"We met earlier, actually," Adina said softly. She looked past him to the woman on the other side of the door. She was a little taller than Mathias, but she could be wearing heels. She wasn't unattractive, by any means. Adina could see the resemblance when she was looking for it. They had the same eyes. She smiled at her, "Hello again."
Gina sniffed, crossing her arms under her breasts. "You wanna tell him I'm not going to rip your hair out, white lady?"
Adina laughed, "Mathias," he looked back at her and the look on his face stopped her. He rolled his eyes and turned back to the screen door. His sister stared back him looking nine thousand percent done with his bullshit. He flicked the hook on the screen door and stepped back so Gina could enter.
The screen door creaked as she stepped into the apartment. Adina had been right, she was wearing heeled boots. If it was slightly less tense, Adina would ask her where she got them because they were cute. Adina's phone buzzed, Trish was responding to her text, but she didn't move to get it. She was a little worried if she moved something disastrous would happen.
"Looks good in here," Gina nodded at Adina, "better than usual."
"Thank you," Mathias said pointedly. "What do you want, G?"
"Kenny said you were sick. I came by earlier but she was here," she shoved her hands in her back pockets. "So what gives? You sick?"
"I was," he nodded at Adina, "I was at her place."
Adina coughed, "I'm gonna...yeah," they weren't paying attention to her anyway. She opened the pizza box and grabbed a slice, then got up from the bed and went to the screen door. If they were going to fight she wasn't going to be in the middle of it. She pulled the apartment's door closed behind her.
As soon as the screen door slammed shut they started shouting. She jumped and shook her head. They weren't speaking in English and she wasn't sure she wanted to know anyway. She leaned against the door frame and took a bite of the pizza she no longer wanted.
"You always have that effect on people?" Adina jumped again, looking past the ring of light from Mathias's porch light. The orange glow of the cherry on a cigarette glowed, bobbing at waist level and she walked toward it. Gail was sitting in a foldable lawn chair outside of her own apartment. She nudged an empty chair with her pinky and Adina sank into it.
"Are they fighting about me?" She asked, turning toward the older woman. Gail snorted, flicking cigarette ash away from Adina. "Right," she sighed.
"You're not surprised, are you?" Gail took a drag of her cigarette. She eyed Adina and nodded approvingly, "Good." She blew the cigarette smoke toward the parking lot. "I didn't take you for the naive type."
"I'm not," Adina said, taking a bite of the pizza and chewing thoughtfully. "She telling him to dump me?"
"Go ask her yourself," Gail said. She laughed, "You didn't think it was gonna be easy."
"No, I guess not." Adina tossed her hair back from her face. Something thunked inside his apartment and she flinched. "They ever get violent?"
"I've never seen Mathias hit a woman," Gail said, eyeing Adina thoughtfully. After a while she said, "He's a good man."
Adina peeled a piece of pepperoni from the pizza and thought about eating it but the raised voices inside put her off it. She tossed the pepperoni slice into the dirt of the parking lot. "Would his being with me be less of a big deal if he were an asshole?"
Gail laughed that raucous laugh. It reminded Adina of a raven's caw. "I like you," she took another drag of her cigarette. "He cares about the tribe."
"He doesn't strike me as the type to let other people tell him what to do," Adina said, trying to take another bite of the pizza, but she couldn't do it.
"Either toss it or eat it, but don't play with it," Gail lifted the handle of a five gallon paint bucket and Adina realized it was a kind of trash can. Inside was about a carton's worth of cigarette butts and some empty beer cans. Adina tossed the half eaten pizza slice and Gail let the bucket fall to the pavement. She lit a new cigarette on the cherry of the old one. "He doesn't like being told what to do," she said, "but he can only be pulled in so many different directions before he gets pulled apart."
"Yeah," there was a hollow in the pit of Adina's stomach. She crossed her arms under her breasts and stared hard at his SUV. She tried to think of what Trish would say at a time like this and came up empty. She could feel Gail's eyes on her and she tried to get her breathing under control. There was no reason to cry. Not yet, anyway.
Gail's cigarette bobbed and she nodded slowly, "So it's like that."
"Hm?" Adina inhaled sharply, blinking hard so she could turn her attention back to the older woman. Gail's eyes glittered in the shadows but she didn't say anything. Adina forced herself not to blink or look away. She wasn't ashamed of having feelings for him. They were silent for a long time, listening to the rise and fall of the voices in his apartment.
"You got it bad," Gail said finally and she coughed into her fist and Adina wondered if she weren't also laughing at her.
"Do you blame me?" she sighed, shoving her fingers through her hair. It was damp and starting to frizz as it dried.
"No, I can't say that I do," She put out her cigarette and opened a beer. Whatever she was going to say was drowned out as Mathias's door slammed so hard the walls shook. Adina cried out, jerking in her seat and making the cheap aluminium creak. The screen door slammed shut and his sister stormed out swearing. She didn't acknowledge Adina or Gail and moments later her car peeled out of the parking lot. Gail touched her knee gently and Adina jumped. "You're okay," she said quietly.
Adina nodded, her movements jerking. She wiped her palms on the sweatpants. "I know," she said a little defensively. "I just…" she sighed, throwing herself back against the chair. "That surprised me," she said by way of explanation.
"Mm-hm," Gail took a sip of her beer.
She stood up, little pieces of gravel dug into her feet through the wool socks. Adina's arms tightened under her breasts and she stared down the breezeway, her back to the apartment. Her thoughts were swirling. There was quite a lot she wanted to say, but nothing she really could say without sounding like a crazy person. She forced herself to breathe, one of her hands slid up to her neck, the other fisted at her hip.
She heard the screen door creak open and closed her eyes. She had almost gotten her breathing back under control when she felt his hands on her hips. Adina let her head fall back against his shoulder. She didn't say anything when his hands slid from her hips to her belly, sliding under the hem of the shirt.
"Evenin' Mathias," Gail said, setting her beer at her feet and reaching for her pack of cigarettes.
"Hey Gail," he said, his lips were against Adina's ear. She let her eyes fall closed, proud of herself for not immediately demanding he tell her what his sister said. "You hungry? We've got plenty of pizza in there."
"That stuff'll kill ya," she said, taking a drag on her cigarette. "Gina was in a good mood."
He snorted, "Gina needs to mind her own damn business."
Adina turned her head so that her forehead rested against his jaw, "Maybe she's just worried about you."
He shifted, eyes darting from the top of Adina's head to Gail and back. "Maybe," he said carefully, his fingers tightened on her skin. "But her methods suck." She let her head fall back against his shoulder and he tucked his chin so he could meet her eye. The silence stretched.
"Son of a bitch," Gail said, finishing off her beer can and tossing the empty into the paint bucket. "I'm not going to get a damn bit of sleep tonight, am I?"
888
The darkness was different in his apartment than hers. It was heavier without streetlights and neighbors with headlights. Quieter too. She was settled against the pillow as he slid under the blankets. They'd stripped together and were under the sheets naked, but neither made a move for the other.
They'd gone back into his apartment and chatted about inconsequential things. She'd responded to Trish's texts by rote. He'd finished replacing books on the shelves. The crash she'd heard was the sound of his sister throwing books against the front door. Adina was more relieved about that than she wanted to admit.
He lay down facing her, pulling a pillow under his neck. The dark surrounded them but wasn't total. Adina could see the curve of his jaw, his eyes shining in the dark. She reached for him, her fingers curling around his jaw, her thumb brushing his cheekbone. Mathias blinked slowly in the dark. "Gail says you can only be pulled in so many directions before you're torn apart," she said quietly.
"You're not pulling me away from anything," he said softly.
"Okay," she lifted her hand from his cheek and her fingers traced his lips.
He sighed heavily, "This morning I had to tell a woman that the guys who sold her kid bad drugs won't see jail because the feds don't think they have time to deal with it." He reached for her in the dark, his hand curling over her shoulder and sliding down her rib cage. "Her son is dead. And it shouldn't have happened, but who cares, right?" His fingers tightened on her hip. "I had to beg her to file an official report. Out here people would rather go to a vigilante than the cops. Cause the vigilante can do more."
"Mathias," she slid her hand from his jaw to his chest. He closed his eyes and her heart ached for him.
"I can't do anything," he sighed, rubbing his chin against the arm that was shoved under his pillow. "There's so much...I'm fucked," he made a frustrated noise. "And no matter how much I do it's not enough."
"Sweet man," she murmured, sliding closer to him. Her fingers flexing on his chest.
"You're the one thing," he broke off, his fingers left her hip and he rubbed his hand hard over his face. He opened his mouth to speak again and abruptly closed it, rubbing his cheek against the pillow again. Adina stayed silent, watching the emotions play across his face. The frustration, the anger, the duty. She wanted to tell him that he deserved to feel supported. That a person could only give for so long before they needed to get back. She thought of what Cady had told her about the way he was treated, and the way he'd been at her house earlier. How he was now. He seemed so...lost.
"I'm here," she said finally, because she had to say something. There was so much more she wanted to say, but it wasn't the time. Actually, she realized, he didn't need someone else to talk at him, to tell him what he should or shouldn't be doing, it sounded like he was doing plenty of that himself. She inched toward him on the pillows, shifting on the mattress. The blankets were heavy on top of them and he shifted, letting her move closer. His arm curled around her on top of the blankets and she smiled in the darkness. "I'm here," she said again, just before her lips touched his.
He froze for a moment and then gave a great shudder, his hand grasped her back through the blankets. He kissed her and there was desperation there. She sighed into his mouth and kissed back, leaning into his body and giving him what he needed. She crowded his body, her breasts pressing into his chest as she eased him back onto the pillow. Her leg curled over his hip and she slid on top of him as he eased onto his back. He moaned against her lips and she deepened the kiss.
When she lifted her head to feather soft kisses over his forehead he kissed the column of her throat and she made a noise of pleasure deep in her throat. "I'm here," she whispered, her lips brushing his ear. Her fingers slid under the pillow on either side of his head and she shifted, rising over him as the blankets slid down her back. His clung to her, his arms tightening around her as her lips closed over the pulse at his throat.
His fingers tangled in her hair as she kissed down his body. She stopped at his chest, her lips closing over his nipples, first one, then the other. Her teeth and tongue made a gentle path and he groaned low. Adina smiled against his chest, her fingers exerting gradual pressure. She glanced up at his face as she traveled lower on his body. His eyes glittered in the dark and she met his gaze boldly, if this were any other time she'd be daring him to tell her to stop. Instead she let him see her intensity, the naked feeling.
When her fingers closed over his arousal he moaned and she gloried in the sound. She wondered distantly when was the last time he allowed someone to do this to him. Not just going down on him. She settled between his legs and her fingers caressed his thighs as her lips closed over the head of his penis. He let out a long, shuddering moan and she felt her lips curve into a smile against him. Adina closed her fingers around him and lifted her head briefly, running her tongue up the length of him. She worked him with her fingers as her mouth attended him.
Her lips and tongue were insistent and her fingers were supple. She curled one arm possessively around his thigh, her fingers gently caressing patterns in the skin there as she pleasured him with her mouth. His moans were low and hoarse, then longer, louder. Her lips closed over the flesh at the base of him and she tongued gently. He was rocking his hips into her, his fingers tangled in her hair. She kept up, not stopping even when he started begging.
She giggled against him and he jerked beneath her. Adina lifted her eyes, quirking an eyebrow as if to say Oh, you like that? He writhed beneath her and she giggled again, making another noise low in her throat. He tried to glare, but ended up closing his eyes and bucking beneath her as she sucked him harder. He was going to come soon. She could feel it. She lifted her head, her fingers didn't stop their pressure as they moved against him but she found his gaze and held it for a long moment.
She turned her head and placed an open mouthed kiss against his inner thigh, her eyes not leaving his. He groaned, the muscles in his thigh jumping. "You're going to come in my mouth," she said, her lips quirking into a smile. He grunted, his fingers digging into the sheets. Adina's fingers caressed the muscles in his belly and she watched as they jumped beneath her nails. "You're going to come in my mouth," she said again, her lips closing over his head and she sucked gently. He made a sound that was almost a yip and she resisted the urge to laugh. "Come for me, Mathias," she urged before her lips closed over him again. He exhaled and it was ragged, when he breathed in again it was too quick. She redoubled her efforts and let him dig his fingers into her skull.
His hips jerked beneath her and he groaned. Her pace quickened. He breathed her name and moaned long and loud. He grasped the headboard behind him, his hips jerking wildly. When he came it was on a long, loud cry. She took everything he had to give, lifting her head only when he'd fallen back onto the bed, spent, shaking. She pressed a kiss to his abdomen, just above his bellybutton and continued the slide back up his body.
Adina's lips closed over the hollow of his throat, "I'm right here," she repeated softly, laying back against the pillow. He followed, turning his body so that he was lying against her breasts. He was silent for a long time and she curled her leg over his, wondering if he'd fallen asleep. She trailed her fingers through his hair, staring up at the ceiling in silent contemplation.
"Thank you," he said finally, his voice hoarse.
"You're welcome," She said softly as his arms curled around her, his hand tightening possessively on her ass. Her fingers kept their traveling through his hair.
"Don't leave," he said quietly, so quietly she wondered if he hadn't spoken at all.
She stretched her neck, her lips brushing against the top of his head where it lay on her breast. "I'm right here."