Senior Prom 8
I stood statue still, staring at the figure in my bed.
It was dark in the room and I'd just come from the brightness of the bathroom, so all I could see was a silhouette. I was afraid to move, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the dimness, straining to see who was waiting in bed for me, praying I didn't have another freaky stalker.
It was a man. I could tell from the shape. Long, lean lines, stretched out on his back with arms up and crossed above his head, framing his face on my pillow. Joe, I thought, relaxing a little as I made out the dark hair tumbled over the forehead.
Bare, muscled chest, with the sheet covering him to the waist, his skin dusky against the whiteness of the bedding. I studied the chest, trying to spot the darker outline of Joe's eagle tattoo, but seeing only a void.
The tingling began in the back of my neck and worked its ways down to kindle every nerve ending in my body, raising goosebumps all over. Not Joe, I realized. Ranger.
Or fear.
I shivered.
After standing there for an eternity, still unable to see more than the shape, I shifted my weight to one foot and inched the other backward. If I could get back to the door I'd just flip the light switch so I could see. Plus I'd be closer to escape, just in case.
The voice stopped me in my tracks.
"Come to bed, Babe."
Ranger.
I walked over and climbed up next to him, clicking on the bedside lamp as I passed. Kneeling beside him I realized why I thought it was Joe at first. Without his shirt it was obvious how much weight he'd lost, at least twenty pounds. He was thinner than I'd ever seen him, his ribs prominent, his chest and shoulders lean sinew and defined muscle over angular bone.
I took his face in both hands, studying it. His eyes were deep sockets, surrounded by creases of fatigue. I'd thought he looked tired and drawn when I first saw him in my living room, but now he looked exhausted beyond reason.
"What are you doing here?" I asked. "I thought you were going home to get some sleep."
"I need to hold you."
Tenderness for him flooded through me, swamping me in a sea of feelings. Last year when he almost died right here in my apartment, I finally admitted to myself that I love him. I love two men, Joe and Ranger, and I'd told Joe I loved him that very night in the car on the way to the hospital.
But I never told Ranger.
"Ranger," I began, but then I saw the pain cross his face. Just a flash, and if I didn't know him so well I'd have missed it.
"Are you hurt?" I asked.
He shifted, just a fraction of an inch, the twitch of a muscle, and I looked down. Almost invisible against the white of the sheet was more white, wrapped around and around his waist.
Bandages.
I moved the edge of the sheet down a couple inches to reveal red seeping through the bandage, staining the right side.
"Omigod, you're wounded," I said, reaching toward the edge of the bandage to see how extensive the damage was.
"Babe."
The single word stopped me dead, the warning in it enough to tell me that I shouldn't touch.
My eyes overflowed with tears. "My God, Ranger, why didn't you tell me you were injured? Before, in the kitchen, I must have hurt it, made it worse. I'm so sorry."
"It's nothing. Just a little scratch."
Sure. Right.
"It's bleeding. I think I should call someone to take a look at you."
"I just need sleep, Babe. Come to bed."
Behind his blank expression the depths of his eyes told me the mission had been bad, things had gone wrong. Written there were horror and sorrow and pain, plain to my sight.
"Be right there," I said, getting up and grabbing a t-shirt and panties. I changed in the bathroom and rushed back to him, pausing when I saw the closed eyes, the steady rise and fall of his chest. In just those few seconds of waiting for me he'd fallen asleep.
He looked so young and otherworldly lying there. I'd never seen him asleep before, and he had the face of an angel, long dark lashes resting on cheeks defined by sharp bones, all planes and angles. His lips were full and firm, the top a perfect cupid's bow.
My heart was so full that tears stung my eyes again. When had he gotten so far under my skin, into my blood, into my heart? He'd become a part of me without me realizing it, as essential as the very air I breathed. And I'd never told him how I felt about him, how much I loved him.
I'll tell him tomorrow, I vowed.
I studied the red stain on his side for several seconds. It wasn't getting bigger, so maybe it stopped bleeding.
I probably shouldn't get in bed with him, I thought. I didn't want to make his injury any worse. Maybe I should just sit in the chair here and watch him sleep, keep an eye on his wound so I could call someone if the bleeding got worse.
I started to move a pile of clothes off the chair, perfectly silent I thought, until his voice came again.
"Come to bed, Babe. Please."
One of Ranger's eyes was cracked open just a fraction and I gave him a small smile as I clicked off the lamp. Taking care not to bump against him, I slid under the sheet that he held up for me.
The instant I was prone he turned toward me, rolling me onto my side facing away from him and pulling me close. His bottom arm was under my neck, bent at the elbow to rest across my chest, the hand holding my upper arm. His other arm wrapped around my waist and belly, fingers tucked under my hip.
He kissed the side of my head, rested his cheek on my curls and was asleep again an instant later.
If we were any closer he'd be inside me, I reflected, staunching a tremor of lust as I felt his heart beating steady against my back.
I lay relaxed in his warmth and thought about the men in my life. I loved two men, but more and more over the past year I'd come to realize my love for Joe was more of the friendship variety. The primary reason I wouldn't consider marrying Joe and having a family with him was lying right here holding me.
Tomorrow, I thought, floating on a river of contentment. Tomorrow I'll tell Ranger I love him.
An abrupt bouncing and rolling like a storm-tossed sea woke me, and I squinted in the brightness of the overhead light.
"What the fuck is going on here?" a furious voice ground out.
TBC