Page 24 of Hold Me
Suddenly, his fingers leave me and his throbbing thickness fills me, making me gasp. His moves are urgent and swift as I hold onto him, the pleasure getting more intense with each deep thrust. I whisper his name over and over again, and when his lips meet mine, something crashes to the ground near the couch, but I couldn’t care less. All that exists in my world now is Caleb. And he’s mine. All mine.
When I’m finally able to stand, I lift myself off the couch. Caleb gets up too, and I realize we somehow knocked over one of the glasses that was on the small table in front of the couch, and the glass broke into a dozen pieces that are now all over the floor, and some are even on the small, round carpet. Caleb mutters a curse and I realize he stepped right into the middle of that mess.
“Wait! Don’t move!” I say as I scramble to get my clothes. “There’s glass everywhere.”
“I can clean it up.”
“No. Stay where you are.” I rush to get a broom and dustpan, then carefully scoop up all the glass from the floor around Caleb’s feet. When Caleb lifts his foot, I can see blood staining my white carpet. “Oh God, you’re hurt. Sit on the couch.”
“It’s nothing.” He doesn’t seem overly concerned, but he does as I tell him. “Sorry I ruined your carpet. I wasn’t looking.”
“I don’t care about the fucking carpet.” I rush to the kitchen and throw the glass into the trash, then head to the bathroom for some antiseptic, gauze, and some tape. Caleb’s lips part in surprise when I kneel on the floor in front of him and take hold of his injured foot.
“Really, it’s fine. You don’t...” He tries to take the antiseptic from me, but I shake my head.
“No, don’t move.” I can’t see any pieces of glass stuck in his skin, so I gently dab at the gash, wrap the gauze around his foot, and secured it with a small piece of tape. “There. All done.”
He offers me a smile, and I notice the dark circles around his eyes. One glance at the clock tells me it’s pretty late already and he must be tired. Besides, my muscles are aching too, and I can’t wait to lie down for a bit.
“Let’s go to bed,” I say.
His brow creases for a moment, but he follows me to my room. I don’t know if he expected us to have sex the whole night, but I don’t think either of us could do that right now.
As we snuggle together in my bed, I can’t help but feel like he and I belong together, no matter how weird that seems. All I know about him is that he won’t hurt me, and for now, that’s all I need. I’ve always thought that finding a connection with strangers is impossible, but now I’m not so sure. And I think Caleb likes me as much as I like him. With those thoughts, I drift off to sleep.
I wake up with a gasp, my throat dry. Disentangling myself from Caleb who has one arm and leg draped over me like a hot blanket, I get to my feet and switch on a little lamp, then pad to the kitchen to get myself a glass of water.
As I sit at the kitchen table, I hear a scream. Letting go of the glass, I run toward my room. Caleb is twisting and turning in his sleep, the covers hanging over the edge of the bed.
“Heather, no! Heather!” he cries out, and I climb on the bed, reaching for his arm. As soon as I make contact, his eyes fly open and he nearly scrambles off the bed.
“Hey, it’s okay. It was just a dream,” I say.
His eyes are wide, his chest heaving, his forehead covered in sweat. He finally lets out a loud breath and closes his eyes briefly. “Did I... Did I wake you?” Concern creases his brow.
“No, I went to the kitchen and I heard you yell, so...” I shrug. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” He smiles at me, but it doesn’t reach his eyes.
“Does this happen often? The nightmares?” I know he doesn’t have to tell me anything, but I’ve never seen anyone react that way.
“More than I’d like it to,” he admits, and I’m surprised that he answered.
“Who’s Heather?” I ask, and his body goes so still that I’m not even sure he’s breathing.
“No one,” he says quickly, and I fight the urge to roll my eyes. Is Heather Caleb’s girlfriend? I swallow hard. Great. That would be just my luck.
“So you’re having nightmares about no one. Right,” I bite out before I can stop myself. “Is she your... girlfriend? Someone you care about?” I know I shouldn’t be asking, considering I’m just his client, but if he has a girlfriend, then I’ll definitely have to step away from him once and for all, even if they aren’t together just now. If he still cares about her, there’s no place for me in his heart.
“She was my girlfriend.” His dark eyes meet mine. “She’s dead.”
My hand flies to my mouth, my eyes widening. “Oh God, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. She died a few years ago.” His face is an expressionless mask, but his eyes betray the grief. Is that why he’s doing this? Because the love of his life died and he thinks he’ll never find someone like her?
“How did she die?” My voice is almost a whisper.
He shakes his head, lowering his gaze, and I know he doesn’t really want to talk about it. Suddenly it makes much more sense why he expected the lovers in the movie we watched to end up tragically.