Levi
I woke alone in bed, but the sounds coming from the kitchen assured me Katie hadn’t run off. My head thumped—a dull ache I’d grown too accustomed to over the years but hadn’t experienced half as much lately. The memories she drew out of me, evoked emotions I couldn’t deal with, without the alcohol. I had pills for those feelings, but I’d been trying not to take them as much because of AJ. I didn’t fault her. None of it had been her doing. The sound of her voice cooing at AJ roused me, and I listened for a moment as she chattered to my son who couldn’t hear her without his aids.
My thoughts raced to him. He was my penance and my curse. God sent me a child to make up for the ones lost, demanding I care for one when so many had been sacrificed. I was also convinced He wanted to be certain I did it alone, as I was the lone survivor when I shouldn’t have been. His curse on me, He took out on the innocence of my son. The screams would haunt me, but my child would never hear such horror. He’d also never understand laughter with friends, or the moan of a woman under him. Images came to mind of Katie curled around me, unafraid, intrigued. She marveled at my leg like it was a great mystery of creative genius, not something repulsive like I’d felt at first. She didn’t treat it as a novelty, like many of the women who liked to ride me. She let her hands discover me, her eyes not able to see each scar, each cut sewn back together. The feel of her leg wrapped over mine, tucking her foot under the opposite calf, lingered. She’d woven us together.
Her soft giggles roused me from the bed. I pulled on my jeans, skipped a shirt, and stumbled onto a scene that nearly knocked me off my feet.
“Good morning,” Katie said, seated in a chair facing AJ in his highchair. She still wore my shirt and she was feeding AJ baby cereal. She’d taken his hand and placed it over her lips, muttering mamamama, and I could see his lips moving to match the vibration of hers. The image so domestic, the gesture so sweet, I fell to my knees before her. I shoved her chair, so she faced me, and curled my upper body over her legs. My arms wrapped around her waist and I tugged her forward until my head rested in her lap.
“What’s this?” she giggled, running a hand over my head, scrapping her nails over my scalp in the way I’d grown to like.
“Good morning,” I muttered into my shirt. My shirt, covering her body as she sat in my kitchen feeding my son, and nothing ever looked so right to me. My mouth lowered to her thighs, and I kissed her cool skin. Pushing up the hem of my too-long shirt, I pecked a pattern, rising higher, smelling her hint of arousal. A clatter behind me reminded me where I was, or rather, who was with us. Spinning to face AJ, he made no response to the noise of the dropped spoon but stared over the edge of the highchair.
“Okay, little buddy,” I mumbled, standing quickly, and lifting AJ out of his seat. “I need five…no ten minutes alone with Miss Katie.” I jiggled AJ as I walked toward the exit of the kitchen. Spinning, I faced Katie. “Don’t move,” I snapped, wound tight, but winked to soften the command. I set AJ in his crib with the music machine on a dancing bear. He might not hear the subtle sound but he loved the visual. I returned to the kitchen.
“Where was I?” I dropped to my knees again and spread Katie’s. “Thank you,” I said, lowering my head to her thighs, returning to kissing her, my mouth ready for more.
“What did I do?” She giggled coyly. Not knowing the words to explain what I thought she’d done—staying with me to hear my story, feeding my son this morning—I decided to show her my appreciation. I lifted the hem of my T-shirt and tugged her by her thighs to the edge of the chair.
“Levi?” Inquisitive and intrigued, just like she’d been last night, I wasn’t wasting another chance with her. My fingers slid forward and brushed over the center of her damp panties. “Levi,” she snapped with no conviction. I slipped a finger over the elastic band and instantly met skin slick with desire. Using one finger, I tugged the material forward, forcing her to raise up and allow me to remove her underwear.
“Levi, I…” My mouth on her warm core stopped her thoughts. Her responding moan, throaty and guttural. She was salty and sweet, and the best breakfast I’d tasted. Hooking one of her legs over my shoulder, I continued to devour her like a succulent feast. Her thighs twitched on the chair and her hands slipped to grip the seat. My tongue delved deep, drinking her in like nourishment for my heart. Her hips moved in response to my attention and my hands slipped forward to cover her ass as best I could. I moved her in a rhythm that forced her to make love to my face between her thighs. She groaned my name as she hit her release rather quickly. I continued to lap her up until I sensed she could take no more. I kissed the inside of each thigh, trailing my tongue down the length of one before crossing over and kissing her knee. The deepest blue eyes met mine when I looked up. A heavenly sky beamed down at me.
“What was that?” she giggled, nervous and lazy. The dilation of her pupils told me the desire came fast. She had been ready for me.
“I lied last night. When I said, it was dangerous for you to build me into a fantasy.” I paused, my hands stroking over the thighs, massaging her warm skin, drawing strength from her heat. “I’d done the same thing. After that first kiss, the one outside the bathroom at your aunt’s. I held onto that kiss, knowing you’d give me another if I could prove myself, be worthy.” I swallowed hard, afraid to look in her eyes but needing the connection with her skin. “Be worthy of you.”
My hands worked harder on her thighs, gripping tighter as my nervous energy grew. She placed her hands on each of mine and stopped the motion. I risked looking upward and found her mouth open, prepared to speak, but I continued.
“I held on to the fantasy that you might wait for me. When it was dark, when it was hot, when I heard sounds that frightened me, I told myself you waited for me, and I could face what needed to be faced to deserve another kiss from you. A hero’s kiss. And when I saw you again, and you told me you were still waiting, it helped me through the tough times, imagining, pretending, someone was waiting for me. Shit, Katie, I held that hope in my heart as I screamed in pain, screamed for life, when I should have died. My will was conflicted. I should have gone with them, but selfishly, I wanted to come back to you.” My final admission crushed me, and the tears streaming down her face added to the walls crumbling down around my heart. She lurched forward, wrapping her arms around my head, enveloping me into her middle.
“I’m here, Levi. I’m still waiting, and I’m right here when you’re ready to return.”