Chapter 15 - Michelle
"Brent," I shouted, "leave me alone! I'm going back, right now."
I tried to sit back up but Brent grasped my shoulders and held me back down.
"You're not going anywhere," he said, "not until you explain what the hell just happened."
"Why should I explain anything?" I said, crossing my arms. "I already know!"
"Know what?" Brent demanded.
"I know you're already planning on getting rid of me. This was just some fancy sexcapade for you. Too bad you wasted your time - you'll have to explain that to your other sluts you have back at the hotel."
Brent crouched down so we were eye to eye.
"I'm not 'getting rid of you'," he said.
"It's just like high school graduation all over again," I said, turning my head away from him. "I know how this plays out. This time I'm not letting you hurt me like that again."
"I'm not going to leave you, Michelle," he said, the consolation underlining his words.
"Fool me once, Brent, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me," I said, rejecting his attempt at smoothing things over.
Brent stood up.
"In high school - I know - I screwed things up," he said, walking around to where I was staring to avoid his gaze.
"That's an understatement," I said, reacting immediately with scorn.
"OK," he said. "I fucked things up, bad."
"No disagreement there," I said.
"But I didn't know what else to do, Michelle. Every time I thought we could get closer, and get to know each other at a deeper level, you pushed me away."
"You should have kept waiting," I said, rebuffing his attempted explanation.
"I should have. But I was young. I didn't know then what I know now. After graduation, I knew I had to become a pilot to escape my father. It was the only way. And I knew I had to do it immediately, or it would hurt you even more if I just stuck around and let our relationship lingered."
"It's too late," I said.
"No," Brent said. "It was too late for us then. But not for us now. I'm different. You're different. I want to make things better for us. For you and no one else."
I wanted to accept his words. I wanted to believe everything he was telling me. My mind was opening up to him again but then I felt the rebuke of my heart. The memory of the journal entry I found stashed in his emergency supplies bag swatted away any chance of forgiveness.
I stood up and looked him in the eye.
"Nice speech," I said, reluctant to express being moved at some level by his words. "But I saw your journal entry."
Brent looked puzzled.
"Journal entry?" he asked.
"You know what I'm talking about," I said. "The one about the other woman."
"I swear, Michelle, I don't," he protested.
"Don't lie to me, Brent," I said, walking over to the journal still on the floor from last time. "Don't say those lies all over again."
Brent squinted his eyes and crossed his arms. I knew he knew something was coming.
I picked up the journal and held it in front of him.
"Is this yours?" I asked, like I was playing for a jury in court.
"Yes," he said. "It's mine."
I shook my head with disdain.
I rifled through the pages, each feeling as heavy as lead, each a hammer shattering a piece of my heart.
"Is this your handwriting?" I asked, holding up the page with the incriminating journal entry that I had read before.
"Yes, Michelle," he confessed, "but -"
"Don't interrupt," I said. I swallowed and tried to read the words on the page but it hurt to move my tongue. I clenched my fist and tried again.
"'Today is the day I truly know I am alive,'" I said, reading his journal aloud. "'I was imagining talking to her of our plans together. What we wanted to accomplish and become.'"
"How could you, Brent?" I interrogated him. "How could you lead me on like this?"
"Michelle, you don't understand," he pleaded.
"I understand perfectly well," I said. "Goodbye."
I threw down the journal and stepped out of the shelter into the darkness. I didn't want to be around him - it hurt just to be near him.
I heard Brent's footsteps running after me.
"Michelle, wait!"
"No!" I shot back, not even knowing where I was walking. Suddenly I was floating in the air.
I looked down and saw Brent's arms wrapped around my waist, lifting me up.
"Leave me alone!" I shouted, my legs kicking.
"We're settling this once and for all," Brent said, taking me back to the shelter.
No, I worried, no he wouldn't do that. I didn't want to see what was going to happen next. I just wanted out.
Brent set me down.
"Don't move," he said.
He walked over to the journal and picked it up. After opening it up to the page I was on, he stood beside me and forced it in my hand, holding it tightly with his own.
"I'm going to read the next page," he said, sternly.
He turned the page over with his right hand, holding mine with his left, and then started reading.
"It's everyday that I realize how lucky I am to have her. There's no one like her, There's been no like her until now. Because she's changed into a woman even more beautiful than she was before. That's my Michelle. That's the woman I love who I will do anything for."
My hand started shaking even though Brent was holding it. I felt my whole arm shaking and I braced myself with his body, leaning into him.
Brent put his hands on both sides of my face and gazed into my eyes.
"You're the only one I care about, Michelle. You're the only one I ever cared about. I know I made mistakes in the past. This isn't a mistake I'm ever going to make again. I swear to you."
My heart hammered against my chest. Damn. Damn it. I had been on the verge of total devastation, total heartbreak, and was pulled off the edge. I tried to speak but I couldn't. I had no words.
I wrapped my arms around Brent and he held me tight.
"God, Michelle," he said, "you're the only one I've wanted like this."
My arms ran along the thick cords of muscle in his back and I felt his embrace like an immovable column that will always keep me secure.
"You're so damn beautiful," he said, lifting up my chin to gaze into my eyes.
He kissed me and waves of heat ran down my chest as his lips caressed mine. I felt myself letting go of all that had plagued my mind, all the doubts that had formed and were forming about us.
He turned my chin to the side and kissed my exposed neck, and I shivered at the sudden warmth and his gentle but firm clasp keeping me close to him. He licked along my neck up to my ear and I close my eyes and moaned as I felt his inextinguishable desire for me.
His mouth hovered just above my ear and he ran his hands into my shirt and held my breast and instantly blood ran to my nipples held softly between his fingers.
"I want you so fucking bad," he whispered. "I want to show you how much I need you."
I closed my eyes and nodded - to him, to myself, to the uncontainable desire enveloping us both.
He unbuttoned my blouse and put it on the ground, and then took off his shirt. I felt his smooth and hard pecs and his six pack abs each like inviting ridges down to his hardness grinding into me. My wetness was flowing down my leg as he grinded his thick cock into me and I imagined how good it would feel to finally be stretched out by him.
Brent guided me down to the makeshift bed and pulled down my pants. I looked down after he got them around my ankles and saw his straining cock practically bursting out of his briefs.
I reached out to touch him but before I could his lips had reached my wetness and his tongue lapped away longingly. My hips arched and he held them down with his hands and pressed his face in even closer.
"You taste so good," he said.
I could only moan in response, my conscious critical mind was now long gone, and I only was left with pure passion, pure desire.
He licked me over and over again and I felt my orgasm building as I squirmed.
"Michelle,' he said, his voice husky, "I need to be inside of you."
I looked down at him and saw him holding his cock thick and hard and glistening with precum.
I gazed into his eyes as he slowly entered inside of me, his size bigger than I thought I could take, yet so satisfying and hot as my pussy welcomed him.
He closed his eyes and grunted as I felt that he was fully inside of me now. I held his shoulders as he began thrusting with a steady rhythm, grinding his pelvis against my clit to add to the overwhelming pleasure.
"I've been wanting this so bad," he whispered.
"Me too," I whispered back, now knowing that this is what I deserved, the man, connection, and joy that I deserved and that no one could tell me otherwise.
As he increased the pace of his thrusts, I began moaning uncontrollably, and I dug my fingers into his back. His breath was hot and fast against my neck and the weight of his body pressed against mine, his abs rubbing on my stomach with every thrust.
"This is just for you, Michelle," he said, whispering in my ear.
Finally with his words I was sent over the edge, the warmth exploding in waves from my pelvis and core throughout my body. My arms contracted around his body as I tightened around his cock and felt my sense of self disappear into a pure sense of pleasure and love.
Brent, too, began moaning as his breath quickened and his cock uncontrollably pulsated inside me, leaving his hot cum buried within me. His body shook and he collapsed over me, his hands warm around me, his lips softly kissing mine.
We held each other in this incredible afterglow, the storm outside appearing to sound no louder than the gliding of a cloud on a calm summer's day. The brightness of the fire flickered and the shadows danced along the wall with the fire's crackling as if it were all in applause for us.
I ran my fingers through Brent's hair as he held me.
"Do you understand how I feel about you?" he asked quietly.
"Yes, Brent," I said, my eyes still closed in the incredible afterglow of our passionate collision. "Yes I do."
"I want you to know that I would never let anything happen to you," he said. "Nothing is ever going to hurt you."
I nodded my head. I opened my eyes and saw his beautiful smile. Even after all the craziness of the last day, he still looked as handsome as ever, as if he were born to survive in the wilderness.
"Brent," I said, touching his cheek, "thank you."
Brent smiled and kissed me again.
"You never need to thank me, Michelle. Anything I do I will do it for you. You can count on that."
Brent rolled over to his side and drew me close to him. He wrapped one arm around me and held my ribs.
"I forgot you had been hurt here," he said, touching where I had felt the pain earlier.
"I did, too," I said, smiling.
I looked out into the forest and was no longer crushed by the darkness. Outside there was a chance for something new, and the sun slowly rising through the night to welcome us to the world again.