I'm an a-hole. I know. But a busy busy a-hole which is why the wait has been so long. And when you consider the fact that I wasn't even planning on continuing this series for quite sometime, this update is actually pretty damn lucky. Yeah...
Anywho, I have been very busy. I'm taking French this summer because...well I hate myself apparently. I just wanted to give you guys something. Thanks again for all the patience and all the great reviews.
Lucas gingerly touched the pink bruise on his cheek and sighed heavily, before turning the bathroom light off and walking into his and Peyton's bedroom. His mind was wound up, already thinking about who he could call at the hospital to prove Dan was lying. Dan had to be lying. He was lying to get close to his family and it wasn't going to work. Then, his mind instantly chastised him for even entertaining the thought. What did it matter whether Dan was telling the truth or not? The man had nothing to do with them anymore. Nothing.
He had called Haley and his mother to warn them, in case Dan decided to show up on their doorsteps, not that everyone wasn't already on alert. He then had to explain to his ever curious daughter that the less scary man who had shown up in the backyard and the scary man at the park were one in the same, and he had simply shaved his beard off. That seemed to be the only positive thing that came from Dan's visit because Anna had no trouble going to sleep in her own bed that night knowing that her grandfather wasn't a scary Bigfoot, but a normal man who Anna thought "looked like he should have a "suitcase" and wear a tie."
"I can't believe he hit you," Peyton murmured for the third time since it happened.
"Luke?"
"He murdered his own brother in cold blood, Peyton. Punching his son in the face is small potatoes," Lucas grumbled back. He'd been in a foul mood since that evening, escaping to his office shortly after dinner, and only resurfacing to help ready the children for bed.
Peyton knew this was difficult for him. And she soon came to realize this same behavior is what worried her into believing he didn't want to be with her during their senior year after Honey Grove. Lucas tended to shipwreck himself on his own little island and then proceeded to build walls around the island so no one could reach him.
Peyton sighed as he paced up and down their bedroom, raging to himself.
The only problem with that was, they were no longer seventeen. They were married and they had worked out a way to cohabit the said island. Finding herself afloat by herself was not an option. She needed him too. As much as she knew he needed her. What Dan had said to her that evening had shook her and she needed her husband to hold her and tell her everything would be okay.
She needed some certainty.
"Luke? Baby come to bed. Lucas," she reached out and grabbed hold of his tee shirt, stilling his movements. "Lucas, come to bed," she implored.
He looked at her kneeling there on their sheets wearing a pair of little blue shorts and one of his button down night shirts that was far too big for her and hung off one of her shoulders. Her hair was an angelic halo around her beautiful alabaster face and those eyes….Those green eyes.
Lucas flushed at the lovely sight before him, and felt himself instantly calm down. He'd forgotten his best medicine. Raising a corner of his lips in his signature smile, he climbed into bed beside her and together they lay down. He shut off the light and rested his head on her chest, arms circling her waist. Peyton stroked his hair, kissed his forehead, and held him tight.
He'd he married his medicine. This is what will heal me, he thought, thinking back to a day in high school when he had sought comfort in her embrace.
"Dan said he's dying," he whispered, moodily. Peyton raised her eyebrows.
"What?"
"He claims he has six months to live if he doesn't get a heart transplant."
"Is-is it his HCM?" Hearing the tremor in her voice Lucas sat up just a bit to look at her.
"Peyton, the man is obviously lying. It's what he does best after murdering, and sucking the happiness out of people's lives."
"What does he want?"
"Peyton…It doesn't matter what that bastard wants. If it's redemption, he knocked on the wrong damn door."
"I just-was wondering," Peyton shrugged, feeling a weight in her chest that wouldn't go away.
"Why? What did he say to you outside?"
"He just…mentioned all the sickness that runs in both our families, Luke."
"Our families? You mean my HCM?"
"And Ellie's cancer," Peyton added, quietly.
Lucas stared at her through the darkness, keeping his mouth sealed shut for the moment. If he opened his mouth a string of loud, angry curses would leave it and he would wake the whole neighborhood. That wretched son of a bitch.
"He implied that there might be something more wrong with your heart. He was rambling Luke. It doesn't matter what he said. He said some awful things, but knowing what they are isn't going to make this any better for you."
Lucas closed his eyes briefly, before opening his mouth to speak. He was touched by her attentiveness to his feelings, but the last thing he wanted to do was burden his wife with his issues.
"Peyton, I don't want you to carry this by yourself. What he said, it hurt you. It frightened you. Don't be afraid alone okay?"
"Same goes for you too buster," Peyton said, poking him in the chest. Lucas leaned down and kissed her bare shoulder in reply, before looking up at her bemusedly. She knew him entirely too well.
"Are you at least going to see if it's true?"
Lucas sighed and rolled onto his back, pulling Peyton atop him to snuggle into his chest and wrap a long bare leg around one of his own.
"I don't know. Either way….he wins somehow."
"He only wins if we let him get to us, Luke."
"Then I guess he wins," Lucas murmured, with a shrug. "I know what you're afraid of. I'm terrified of the same thing."
"You are?" Peyton leaned her head back to look at him.
"Sometimes," Lucas's voice came out choked and Peyton pressed a comforting hand to his face. "I watch them playing in the yard or sleeping and I wonder which one of them I passed it down to. Which one of my babies did I give a broken heart?"
"Lucas," Peyton gapped, feeling the sudden sting of tears at his pained revelation. She rested her forehead against his and pressed kisses to his face. "Baby, this isn't your fault. This isn't anyone's fault."
"I could never regret their existence, Peyton, but we never talked about what we could be inflicting on the kids."
"Lucas what are you saying? Do you not want anymore children?"
He regarded her face. There was sadness, surprise, and a hint of fear in her eyes that he wished wasn't there. They had decided to try to have another baby, just that morning but now, all those dreams of becoming parents again seemed dashed in an instant of doubt.
"I don't know Peyt. I don't know what the hell I'm saying."
Peyton asked the next question carefully, almost wary of his answer. "Would you not be here if you had a choice? Knowing that you would be born with HCM would you not want to be here?"
"Of course not," he whispered back, looking into her shining green eyes. "To not have known you or gotten the chance to love you, I would never wish that."
"Then don't take on any kind of guilt for something that you would change for them if you could. I know you would give your life if it meant they never had to hurt in any way, but…that's the way life is Lucas. There's hurt and we get passed it and sometimes we learn to live with it. Just like you live with your heart disease."
"And you," Lucas said softly, running his fingers through her soft curls. "You know about hurt, don't you my love. And look at you. You're a survivor."
"And so are you," Peyton replied. Lucas leaned up to kiss her gently on the lips, his breathing slow and even as he stroked her skin beneath her night shirt. He pulled back and looked down into her face. Her hair was a curly blonde halo on the pillows.
"You are so beautiful Peyton." He slowly began unbuttoning his wife's nightshirt.
Smiling, Peyton gave him a patented Peyton response of, "You aren't so bad yourself." The reply seemed to put everything left, right with the world. She was his constant. His touchstone.
He swept down to capture her lips once more. His tongue moved along her lower lip, tasting, teasing, and eventually seeking entrance into her mouth, which she gave readily.
His tongue disappeared into the warm luscious depths of her mouth. She tasted clean and familiar. The last button undone he wrapped his arms around her waist, moaning when she arched into him like a bow.
They broke the kiss momentarily to tug his shirt off and once it was cast aside he pressed his body to hers, reveling in the feel of her soft skin against his bare chest. He felt everything else beyond the space of their bed fall away and disappear. There was nothing and no one in this world but the woman beneath him, stroking his tongue with her own.
They pulled back for some much needed air, and Peyton sat up a bit to allow Lucas to pull off her shirt completely and toss it aside. He then buried his face into Peyton's exposed neck, nipping and sucking at the sweet skin there.
"Lucas," Peyton sighed. Moaning, Lucas kissed his way down to her perfect breasts, running his tongue along a blushed peak. Crying out as loudly as she dared, she lifted her hips as Lucas slid her shorts and panties down her legs. He pulled them off over her feet, and breathing heavily he dropped back down to press soft butterfly kisses upon her stomach. His hands spread her legs and he teased the insides of her thighs with his open mouth, dragging his lips against the silken flesh.
He peeked up at her, smiling against her as she writhed sensuously. He felt himself harden even more and moved his lips closer to the place she desperately wanted him. He moaned aloud at the scent of her, reached his tongue out to lick away the wetness that clung to her swollen lips. Her high pitched moan, made him twitch with want.
"Lucas, I want you inside me," Peyton tugged lightly on his hair to pull him up. As appreciative as she was at how attentive and willing to please her Lucas was, she wanted him inside her, filling her up. She wanted to be one with him, wanted to him to lose himself in her and her in him.
Seeing the want in her eyes, Lucas shed his boxers and crawled back up her body leaving languorous kisses and teasing nibbles as he went. He finally came back up to her lovely face and their lips crashed together once again in a heated kiss. Lucas rubbed his erection against her heat, cradled between her thighs.
Peyton flipped them over so she could bath his body in kisses before hovering over him to stare intently into his eyes.
She wanted to say so much. You don't deserve to have Dan as a father. He missed out. You make me fall in love with you all over again, everyday. William and Anna are so lucky to have you. I'm lucky to have you. Don't ever leave me. Hold me and don't let go. I love you. I love you. I'm still so in love with you.
The tear that dropped from her eye to his face and trailed down his cheek like it was his own spoke for her. Lucas felt his heart swell and his eyes burn as he pulled her face down to his own to interlock his lips with hers gently and then more forcefully as her body stretched and arched wantonly in his arms.
Reaching between them she grasped him, stroked the length of him. His moan made her smile and couldn't hold in a giggle as he bucked into her sending her body on a short ride. Her own moans joined his as she slipped him between her folds and rocked back and forth along his cock. The slick heat was unbearable.
"Oh God, Peyton you're so soft," Lucas breathed, grasping her head between his hands and attacking her neck as they drove each other crazy with the sweet friction.
"Mmm, Luke, God I need you,"
"Tell me what you want baby," he husked. "You want me inside you? Hm?" He nipped at her lips and with a hungry moan Peyton deepened it. "Tell me Peyt."
"I want you inside me, Luke. Fill me up."
"I want that too," he whispered against her, flipping them over effortlessly. "I love being inside you Peyt." Breathless sounds filled the room as he inched his way into her, slowly. "You know why?" Because you're so soft. And you're always so wet for me. Am I right?"
"Yes," Peyton sighed as he sank into her completely. She gasped in protest as he pulled out until just the tip remained surrounded in her heat and he began teasing her with only a few inches. "I'm always like this for you Lucas. Only you. Can you feel how wet I am for you?"
"God, yes," he wrenched out, dragging his tongue along her throat.
"Make me come Lucas," Peyton moaned. "I want you deep."
"Yeah?"
"I want to feel you," she pleaded breathlessly. Her breathless plea turned into a moan of pleasure as Lucas plunged in again, deeper this time. Peyton gasped urging him on with her hips as he began thrusting inside of her long deep strokes that shook them both with pleasure at every movement.
There were still worries beneath the surface as he sought her mouth with his for a hot kiss. Worries about their children would never abate or cease, but on this night as the breathy sighs and moans of their shared pleasure pierced the darkness he knew those worries, all of them would be shared. And that made all the difference.
Reviews make my muse dance.