I See You Part 27

My body was so tightly strung that I knew . . . I knew whenever the next blissful hard came I would come crashing down around him. And I wanted to so badly. Each time he backed away left me ready to scream for more, ready to beg for that much-needed end, yet all that left my mouth were whimpers and moans.

He removed my legs from him and pulled away from me, but just as I was about to protest he slid down my body and covered my s.e.x with his mouth. Within seconds of his teasing, the tightening inside me became too much, and my body began trembling, and suddenly it felt like I was weightless as warmth surged through my veins.

I was still struggling to catch my breath, slowly coming back to earth and the bedroom when Jentry flipped me to my stomach and pushed me up onto my knees. Keeping my chest on the bed, he took both of my hands in one of his and rested them at the small of my back as he roughly pressed into me again.

"Jentry!" I breathed; my body shook fiercely as my second o.r.g.a.s.m took over the first.

My legs trembled. I was barely able to keep myself up as he pushed into me over and over, nearing his own release.

He abruptly released me and curled over my back, his body tense and tight against mine. One of his arms wrapped around my stomach to keep my body pressed against his; the other shook as he struggled to keep both of us up, his hand planted firmly on the bed inches from my face.

His chest moved roughly against my back as he slowly lowered me to the bed, and every inch of my skin covered in goose b.u.mps when he lowered himself enough to press his lips to the base of my spine, then higher and higher until he was covering me again, and his mouth was at my shoulder.

Hard and soft. I knew I would never have one without the other, and I wouldn't want it any other way. Because this sweet, tender side of him was just as incredible as the body-numbing s.e.x.

He gently rolled me onto my side and curled his body around mine so that he was facing me, but I was so physically and emotionally exhausted, I could barely keep my eyes open.

"Sleep," he said gently. "Just know that when you wake up, I've got a year to make up for."

I smiled lazily and ran my fingers across his forehead and down his cheek. "We have a long, long time to make up those months lost, Jentry."

"I don't plan to spend the rest of our lives making up what I've already lost with you. I've got a lot to look forward to with you, so give me a week or two, and then it's only present and future."

My eyebrows lifted and a startled laugh escaped me. "You want to make up for a year in a week or two?"

Dark eyes dipped down my bare body, making me feel too warm, and somehow, impossibly, I wanted to feel him again.

"Aurora . . . yeah." His husky growl had me biting down on my bottom lip.

"And what happens when these two weeks are over, and you have to actually talk to me?" I asked teasingly. But even as I said the words, I moved closer to brush my mouth across his.

Jentry held my face away from his to study me for a second. "You didn't have to take your clothes off for me to fall in love with you. If you had changed your mind in that room and all we'd ended up doing was talking to escape the party, we still would have ended up right here."

I curled my hand around one of his and stared at him in wonder. After a few moments, I whispered, "Thank you for not letting me go."

His eyebrows pulled together as confusion settled over his face.

"If you had ever truly let me go, we wouldn't be here." I leaned forward to kiss him soundly, then settled down with my head against his chest. As I had the night before, I drifted off to sleep listening to Jentry's beating heart while he slowly pulled his fingers through my hair.

27.

Present Day

Jentry

"I just, I can't-I don't know how to handle this," Aurora said in frustration the next morning. She stopped loading up the box in front of her and leaned against the wall.

"Well, unless you plan to write 'fragile' on it, I don't think you need to handle with care," Taylor mused sarcastically.

"Funny." But Aurora sounded defeated, and when she saw me take a step in her direction, she put a hand up in silent plea for me to stay. "I'm fine, this is just throwing me off. In my head . . ." She trailed off, and looked sadly at all the boxes around the room. "I obviously know that Declan is okay, and that we're just moving his stuff back to your parents' house," she said to me. "But I keep starting to feel this overwhelming heartache, and I start to panic. Because when Declan was in a coma, I was terrified of having to box up his stuff for Linda if he never woke up. So doing it now is making that come back even though that isn't the case. And-I don't know. It's frustrating and I can't make it stop."

"Do you want Taylor and me to finish this?"

"No," she said quickly. "No, we'll be done in a minute or two. It's just weird. I don't know how that fear is even able to slip in. I feel like I'm devastated, and then I remember that he's fine."

"Well," Taylor said, "if it makes you feel any better, I don't know how to handle the fact that I've been here for two hours, and Linda hasn't shown up to say something ridiculous to you." She sighed longingly. "I like b.i.t.c.hy Linda. She's easy to make fun of."

"Taylor . . ." Aurora didn't try to continue, just shook her head and went back to packing.

If I hadn't seen the way Mom treated Aurora firsthand, Taylor's words would have bothered me more. "Still my mom," I reminded her as I finished closing up a box.

Taylor widened her eyes as she picked up her box to leave, giving me a look as if she didn't care. "She's still super-rude."

"Enough." Aurora gestured in the direction Taylor had gone. "I'm sorry. You already know about her-"

"No filter," I finished for her, and smiled. "Aurora, it's fine."

"But she is the best."

"Of course I am," Taylor said from the doorway. "I'm gonna make a coffee run. Rorie . . . usual?"

"Please. Extra shot of espresso," Aurora mumbled from where her head was buried in the box.

Taylor glanced at me and mouthed, "I'll make it two." Then louder, "Want anything else while I'm out?"

I looked over to Aurora, who was shaking her head. "I'm fine. Just get me whatever you're getting Aurora."

"Want me to take the boxes over to Declan so there's no awkward moments? Yes? No?" Taylor asked, drawing out the word.

"No, I'll do that later," I answered. "Let me get my wallet for you."

"Well, isn't that sweet. Except I already have someone who funds my caffeine addiction, so we're covered." She blew Aurora a kiss and said, "Don't have a panic attack if I'm not here to watch it. Love you!"

Aurora rolled her eyes and shouted, "Back!"

I waited until I heard the door shut to say, "Even if I had never met you, I would have run screaming from Taylor that first night at the beach."

She laughed softly and closed up the final box. "She's fun."

"She's something," I corrected.

Her smile slowly faded as she looked around at the three remaining boxes in the room, her head shaking distractedly. "So weird. He's fine; I know that."

I walked across the room and pulled her away from where she was pinned between the wall and a box, and into my arms. I pressed my lips to the top of her head and kept them there when I said, "He's doing PT at my parents'. All of his stuff will be gone in a couple of hours, and if you want to come so you can see him, then I want you to."

Before she could speak, the front door opened and shut. Aurora c.o.c.ked her head to the side and called out, "What'd you forget, Taylor?"

My arms tensed around her when I heard the responding voice.

"My, my, my, my, my. We sure don't waste much time around here, now do we?"

Aurora's face fell. "Is that-"

A wild laugh came from the front of the apartment, answering her question before she could get it all out.

"Poor little Declan," Jessica began as Aurora and I hurried from the bedroom. "I could always go play nurse for him. Looks like he needs someone to take care of him now that Miss Perfect has moved on," she sneered, her eyes raking over Aurora as she spoke.

"Leave," I demanded.

"Whatcha gonna do if I don't, Jent?" She smiled wickedly, and turned in slow circles as she made her way back toward where the other two boxes of Declan's things were. She popped open the top box and looked inside. "What do we have here?"

"Jess, leave. I won't keep asking you."

She curled her lip, but didn't look up at us. "You're no fun anymore. Hey . . . remember when you used to say that if I wished real hard, the bruises would disappear? You lied," she said sullenly, and pulled her hair back to show faint fingerlike bruising on her neck.

"What happened?"

"Who cares? Not you!" she hissed. "Oh wait, do you? You gonna go defend your wh.o.r.e sister's honor?" She laughed loudly and began advancing on us. "You gonna go get mad? You gonna hit someone?"

"Tell me what happened."

"Why?" she snapped.

"G.o.d d.a.m.n it, Jessica, let me help you!"

"Help? You can't help? You'd only make things worse! You would ruin me; he ruined me. He ruined her!" Her wild eyes were still on me, but she was suddenly pointing at Aurora. "You're going to ruin her! It's inside you! You will hurt people if you keep running from who you are!"

The way she was screaming and looking at me was so like the way our mother had all those years ago. I could feel my anger simmering in my veins and my chest's movements growing more p.r.o.nounced.

Just as my hands started to clench into fists, Aurora slipped her hand into one of mine and squeezed tightly.

"I see you," she whispered from beside me.

And in that moment, I could see what Aurora had tried to tell me. Because I could feel it all-but I could also feel her.

And that anger was there, and it was simmering in my veins, but it was growing hotter and hotter because I was f.u.c.king terrified that there was a possibility that Jessica could be right.

I squeezed Aurora's hand back, and waited until I knew I wasn't going to yell at Jessica-something I knew she wanted so badly.

My chest was still rising and falling roughly, but my voice was calm when I finally looked my sister in the eye and said, "The only thing I could ruin is my life if I let you stay in it. You know when you can come back. Until then, I don't want to see you again. Leave, Jessica. Now."

Jess waited, seemingly unfazed, though I knew better. The way she was holding herself showed her hurt and disappointment, but after a handful of seconds, she smiled wickedly and turned toward the door. She swayed the entire way out, as if she didn't have a care in the world, all while singing, "Someone's gonna go boom."

Aurora exhaled roughly once she was gone, and tightened her grip on my hand. She twisted so she was in front of me, her head already shaking sadly. She didn't need to say anything, I already knew. Everything she was thinking was clear in the way she was looking at me.

She was proud of me.

She loved me.

She was worried about what would happen with Jess in the future.

"We just need to get through one tough situation at a time," she said warily after a minute of us just standing there holding each other.

"Yeah. I'd like to say that one's done, but I have a feeling she'll be the last."

"We'll figure it out." She buried her head into my chest, and didn't move until the door burst open again a while later.

Taylor came in already talking, and stopped walking abruptly when she saw us. She pointed at us with the drink carrier. "What's wrong? Did I miss something? If y'all were about to cozy, you can just wait, because it's Taylor time and I have my fuzzy socks."

"Oh, Taylor." Aurora laughed, and for the first time in too long, it looked like she was free of all the weight that had been pressing down on her. After pressing a quick kiss to my chest, she winked at me and turned. "Let's just say Linda has nothing on what you just missed, and other than that, it is completely unexplainable."

Aurora

I woke up sometime after Taylor had left that morning to an empty bed even though Jentry had been curled around me when I'd lain down, and it took a few seconds to realize I heard the shower running. A quick glance over my shoulder at the open window confirmed the sun was just getting to the high point in the sky, but my body felt tight, as if I'd slept for hours.

I stretched out my arms as I climbed off the bed, and had just started pulling off my shirt to join Jentry when I heard a noise from outside the bedroom, and wondered if that was what had woken me.

I pulled my shirt back on as I ran through the apartment to the front door, and didn't take the time to look out the peephole before opening it.

"Linda," I said in surprise, and after a short pause, opened the door wider to let her in. "Hi." I glanced around the entryway quickly, even though I knew I wouldn't find any boxes there. "Um, we finished packing up Declan's things this morning. Everything's in Jentry's car; we were going to bring it by later."

She didn't speak or look at me as she entered the apartment, just walked slowly toward the living room until she got to the first couch. Instead of sitting on it, she turned to face me, and my initial surprise at her arrival multiplied when I found her eyes filled with tears.

"Are you- Did something happen?"