With this Blood……Part 12
Mick kept glancing at Beth as the two drove home. Her attention was clearly elsewhere as she seemed to stare almost dazedly out the passenger side window.
"Are you sure that you're all right?" he asked her yet again, and once more he was rewarded with a half hearted smile and a quiet, "I'm fine." He didn't buy either the smile or the answer. And as each second ticked by, his concern began to escalate.
After finishing his conversation with Josef on the balcony, the two had rejoined the ladies in the dining room. Pleasant conversation pertaining to nothing important had been exchanged and then the evening had ended with Mick and Beth leaving while Josef stayed behind with Elena. To say that Beth had been distracted on the trip down the elevator would have been an understatement. And because of that, if nothing else, Mick had decided it would be better if they left Beth's car at the hotel and took the Mercedes back to his place.
Arriving at his building, the two exited the vehicle and endured another silent elevator ride. Once inside his apartment, Mick decided that he couldn't stand it any more.
"Tell me," was all he could think of to say.
At first it seemed as if she was ignoring him and then suddenly she snapped out of her reverie. "Tell you what?" came her confused reply.
He shook his head in disbelief. "Tell me what's bothering you. Tell me what she talked to you about. Tell me why you haven't said more than two words since we left the hotel."
Beth opened her mouth to respond and then closed it. She set her purse on one of the chairs along with the envelope of financial records that Elena had given her earlier. She walked a short distance away and seemed to be intently staring at something on the floor. Looking back up at Mick, she had a look of determined concentration on her face. "There's just…….there's just so much to take in."
"Like what?" he asked, as he moved in front of her, his hands gently grasping her upper arms and sliding down until her hands were firmly held in his.
She smiled at the gesture and gave him a genuinely affectionate smile. "Everything. She told me about where she was from, what her life had been like at the beginning. She told me about all of the places she's been throughout her life and how each had presented its own problems and challenges. I can't even begin to fathom everything that she's been through, or what she's seen or experienced. You know?"
Mick nodded his head, because he too couldn't wrap his mind around it all. He still wasn't sure what to make of Elena, but he clearly had changed his opinion of her, at least slightly, as a result of what he had been told that evening. He still had yet to figure out what her interest in Beth was, but for some reason, he no longer felt that she was the threat he thought she would have been previously. He silently prayed that his instincts were right as far as that was concerned at least.
"I know……she's been through a lot. That's for sure. But……I guess if you lived 1500 years, you'd be able to tell a story or two as well." He smiled warmly at her, hoping to put her more at ease and maybe open up a bit more. Because for some reason, he got the feeling that her reticence had more to do with something else other than Elena's history lesson.
A loving smile graced her lips as she looked at him. Then she let go of his hands and wrapped her arms around him, melting into his body. He heard a contented sigh escape her as he gathered her to him and embraced her fully. As much as loved just holding her, her gesture bothered him. It almost felt as if she were trying to hide, to escape from something.
With a worried frown, he started, "Beth….."
"Shhhhh…..not now. Just…..just hold me……please," she implored him, her voice soft and almost inaudible as she buried her face in the hollow of his neck.
If he hadn't felt worried before, he certainly did now. But he did as she asked. He held her as tightly as he dared, his anxiety growing with each tick of the clock on the wall and with each beat of her vibrantly alive heart.
The two remained locked in each other's embrace for some time, slowly swaying to their own unheard rhythm, breathing each other in and content to just, be. And as the moment expanded, Mick began to wonder even more about what Elena had told Beth. Had she told her all of the pitfalls of a human and vampire relationship? Did the horror stories of the past only manage to worry Beth all the more about their possible future together? Is that why she seemed so afraid suddenly? Was she regretting what had happened between them just yesterday? Now that he'd had a taste of what life with her could be like, Mick knew that it would kill him to let her go. But if she truly was afraid of what might lie ahead for her, he knew that he would indeed give her up. It would easily be the most difficult thing he'd ever done, but her happiness and well-being would always come first with him.
Mick was startled out of his downward spiral of panic when Beth was actually the first to pull away. She again took his hands in hers and asked softly, "Do you need to sleep in the freezer this evening?"
Mick smiled and shook his head, his eyes drinking her in, amazed yet again at how lucky he had become. "No…..I should be okay until tomorrow."
"Good," was her only reply as she turned and headed toward the stairs, her one hand still clasped with his.
Once upstairs, Mick watched as she began to slowly peel off her clothes. He stopped her hands and pulled her toward him. "You know that we can't……"
Beth smiled knowingly and placed one finger on his lips in order to silence him. "I know. I just need to be near you tonight. That's all," she explained, her eyes glowing in the shadowy darkness.
His hands caressed her arms and then slowly drifted up to her face. His thumbs tenderly stroked her cheeks as he gazed into her eyes. He was still desperately trying to see what she had been trying to hide from him since leaving Elena's penthouse suite. There was something there, some look he couldn't define or interpret. But he also saw the love and caring that she felt for him and he was temporarily blinded by it. It washed over him and left him momentarily speechless. He'd had no right to ask for her love or even to expect it, but he was eternally grateful for it just the same, leaving him humbled. He lowered his lips to hers and the two shared a tender, almost chaste kiss. The incendiary passion from yesterday was replaced by the soul-binding tenderness of two hearts seeking the other and reveling in the joining. Where last night's fervor had united them in body, tonight was meant to secure their spirits.
After the two discarded their clothing, they climbed into the bed and wrapped each around the other. With one hand, Mick gently stroked Beth's arm as it lay draped across his chest as his other hand absently played with her long blonde hair. He knew the movements were lulling her into sleep as he could hear her heartbeat slow and her breathing become more shallow. He stared up at the ceiling and wondered if he would be able to sleep at all that night. Too many things had happened in the past 48 hours, too much information had been brought to light for his mind to shut down enough for him to slip into unconsciousness.
Beth stirred slightly in his arms as she snuggled closer to him. He smiled as he watched her burrow her way more fully into his embrace.
"I'm going to miss this," she whispered almost breathlessly.
Every muscle in Mick's body tensed, every nerve ending firing. "What did you say?" he asked more loudly than was necessary, startling Beth from her quasi-dream state.
Partly sitting up, a worried look on her face, Beth asked back, "What? What's wrong?" Her eyebrows were furrowed, her eyes staring intently into his.
"What did you just say?" he repeated, his face a mosaic of tension, worry and panic.
Beth looked down at her hands as they clasped the edge of the sheet covering them both. "I…..I'm not sure," she stammered. Mick watched intently as she tried to compose herself. "Oh," she began, "I think I said that I'm glad that I didn't miss this…….or something like that. You know…..that I'm glad that I stayed here tonight instead of going back to my place. Why? What's wrong?" she questioned again, as she looked back at him.
Mick studied her. Even in the near darkness, he could see she looked troubled. Was it just because she had been startled awake or was there something else? Something she was hiding from him, maybe?
When he didn't answer her directly, she reached out and gently stroked his cheek. "Mick? What is it?"
He stared at her for a few more seconds before slowly relaxing, the worried look gradually bleeding from his face. "Sorry…..I thought that you……that……." he began and finally just shook his head. "Never mind. I was probably just imagining it."
"Imagining what?" she asked, her face still full of concern.
"It doesn't matter. Come here," he softly commanded as he opened his arms to her yet again.
She hesitated for a second or two more before finally acquiescing. The two slowly settled back into their former positions although both were still far from relaxed. Mick could hear her take a breath before trying to speak and quickly hushed her. "It's okay…..just go to sleep."
He laid there for many minutes more waiting for her to finally relax enough to get some rest. And finally after almost a half hour, he could feel slumber overtake her. When he was sure that she was truly fast asleep, he finally let his mind wander to what he was sure he'd heard her say earlier. One of the "gifts" of being a vampire was the ability to hear and discern what others, what humans, couldn't. He was 100 positive she had said that she was going to miss this. A thousand thoughts raced through his head and none of them were good, none were reassuring.
And for the rest of the night, he did nothing but worry.
To be continued…………
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