Page 29 of Sac-rifice (RBMC: Cleveland, Ohio Chapter #7)

COR

“W here are you?” Shane asked, running past my room and down the hallway in record time.

My body thrummed with silent laughter when he huffed as he snuck into my bedroom.

I smiled, watching him through the cracks between the horizontal slats of the closet door.

Being with him was easier than I expected.

I figured after so many years apart there would be an awkward stage if or when we worked out our problems, which meant I got over myself and forgave him.

Shane lifted the pillow and chucked it over his back, growling as he dropped onto the bed.

He was facing away from where I was hiding, so I quietly waited behind him.

My patience growing thinner with each passing second.

When we were kids, I never dreamed we’d still be playing this silly game as adults.

I guess some things never changed. Honestly, I didn’t think we would have played it as teens, but we happily did.

If I really thought about it, not much about our childhood was what people considered normal.

Actually, hide-and-seek might have been the only part of our fractured past that kept us from completely breaking.

“My Little Dove, I know you’re in this room.” He flung his body backward onto my mattress and folded his hands behind his head. “I have no fucking clue where you are hiding, though. I give up. Go ahead and come out.”

A loud shriek flew out of my mouth so fast there wasn’t any hope in controlling its volume.

The biggest smile spread across my face as I flung my closet doors open.

“Are you being serious? You better not be lying, Shane Poe! You’re not the liar in this relationship; I am.

!” I rambled as the words raced out of me.

I ran across the room and jumped on top of him. “I won?” I breathlessly asked. I needed to hear him say it. His arms wrapped around my back, and he smirked, flipping us over. I gasped. He wasn’t distracting me; I knew what he was doing. I swatted at his chest. “Say it! I did, didn’t I?”

“You did.” He nodded, kissing the tip of my nose.

“’Bout dang time!” I yelled, raising my hands over my head and wiggled my body, doing a victory dance—well, as best as I could with my back on the mattress. “Congratulations!”

“Huh? You’re the one who won…” His voice trailed off, and his mouth formed an ‘O’.

“Uh huh,” I nodded. “The only thing you said you ever wanted was for me to win, and I finally did!” I declared, proud of myself.

“Yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. “I did. Didn’t I?”

“You damned liar!” I smacked his chest and scowled at him. “I thought it was some sort of generic answer, but after a while, I believed you!” I pursed my lips and glared at him.

He laughed and ran the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip. “I did want that.” He leaned down and softly kissed my forehead. “I’ve always wanted you to have the life you deserved, and back then, you deserved the world. You still do.”

I smiled shyly and chewed on the inside of my cheek.

“ Did ? As in past tense? Tell me what you wanted. I’ve waited over twenty years to beat you, and now that I have, I find out you never got what you wanted.

What was it?” I wrapped my legs around his, pulling his body against mine.

“I want a real answer. Don’t give me something you randomly think of. ”

He ground himself against me, and an unintentional moan left my mouth.

I wanted him, but I could hold out longer than he could.

I wasn’t letting him take advantage of my ADHD by distracting me with what he was planning to do to me with his ripped body.

He was giving me the truth this time. I’d make sure of it!

“This,” he admitted, pressing his lips to mine. “I wanted you.”

“Me?” I squeaked.

“Yes, Corinne Lacey, I’ve always wanted you in one way or another.

First, I wanted you as a friend, and once I had that, I wanted more.

When we held hands, I had to kiss you. After that, I was done for.

Ruined. I couldn’t get enough of you. Still can’t.

I’ve done things for you that I would never dream of doing for someone else.

Hell, I even let you believe I peed on myself when we were kids because I didn’t want you to be embarrassed. ”

“You did pee on yourself,” I said, remembering the first time Davey had gone after me, and he hit Shane instead when he intervened to protect me.

“No, Cor. That was your pee. It got on me, and you thought?—”

“I thought you were so scared you peed on yourself, too,” I mindlessly recalled.

“Mmmhmm. You didn’t seem to feel as bad knowing you weren’t the only one who did it, so I never corrected you.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because I think I’ve always loved you, Cor.

Even before I knew how to love someone, I think I loved you.

” He repositioned himself, kneeling on the bed with me between his legs.

My heart raced faster than I thought it ever had in my life.

I’d never questioned that he cared about me when we were together.

Yet, when we were apart, I lied to myself, hoping the lies would erase my pain.

The truth was I had always thought about him and missed him even when admitting it was too painful to accept.

“I love you, too,” I told him, leaning forward and kissed his tattoo covered six-pack. He shivered beneath my touch and a low throaty groan rattled out of him as I licked across his stomach.

“If you keep that up…” He paused, and I glanced up. “You know what? Never mind. You’re doing a fantastic job, Little Dove.”

I giggled, undoing his jeans. He stood, yanking them down in a hurry, and tossed them over his shoulder with a growl.

“I fucking love you more than life itself,” he stated, wrapping his arm around me and guiding me back to the mattress.

He slid down my body, positioned himself between my legs, and flung the hem of my dress upward, away from my lower body.

“You dirty little dove.” He grinned up at me, clearly appreciating the fact I’d decided to forgo panties today.

Okay. Some things had changed since we were kids.

The tip of his tongue slipped up my folds, and I arched my body closer to his mouth.

I needed more. His teeth lightly bit down on my clit, and I whimpered.

I had always been taught that pain and pleasure didn’t mix, but for the life of me, I had no idea why anyone would ever tell anyone that.

Maybe they hadn’t found their person, but I’d been lucky enough to find mine when we were kids.

He had always been the one to protect me, never really asking for anything in return.

So when he’d asked me to marry him, I accepted without hesitation.

Not because it felt like an obligation, but because I couldn’t picture my life without him.

My greedy fingers fisted his hair, and I rode his face, enjoying his hot breath against my core. I loved this man, and he loved me, and that was enough. I stopped caring about how long we had been apart and started loving the time we had together.

I felt the pressure inside me building as his pace increased, and when I cried out with pleasure, he smiled against m, and then looked up at me with a dopey smile on his face.

“Better than getting a lollipop any fucking day,” he mumbled, taking my hands in his before he lightly kissed the back of them.

“Huh? What about suckers?” I panted, trying to catch my breath as he left a trail of kisses from my wrist up my arm.

“Nothing really. Forget I said it?” His mouth met mine and caught my bottom lip between his teeth, and playfully nipped.

“I love you,” I mused with a small grin.

I’d drop it for now, but I would get to the bottom of it eventually.

He flattened his palms onto the mattress, the muscles beneath his colorful arms flexed as he lifted his body, repositioning himself on his knees.

I sat up, running my fingers up his defined muscles to his shoulders, admiring all of his ink.

The tattoos and beard suited him. He was the sexiest man I’d ever seen, and he was all mine.

“Wanna show me how much?” He slyly grinned, stroking his length from base to tip.

“Mmmhmm,” I purred, licking my lips, and took him into my mouth.

His hands fisted my hair, guiding me while he thrust over my tongue toward the back of my throat.

If I would have known this was what we could have been doing while I was mad at him, maybe I would have forgiven him sooner.

I’d lied to myself before to get through things that I hated, so I probably could have worked out some understanding sooner.

He groaned, picking up speed before jerking out of my mouth, only to cover my swollen lips with his. His kisses were rough and desperate, and I couldn’t get enough of them. He leaned over me, rubbing his tip over my sweet spot, and I moaned his name as we lost ourselves with each other.

We’d spent a big portion of our lives loving each other from a distance, robbed by heartache and tragedy.

It took the vengeful hands of Davey’s brother and Stacey—one of my high school bullies of all people and the woman who had tried to help the asshole kill me—to remind me of the importance of forgiveness and that if someone accepted you, the good and bad parts, it shouldn’t be taken for granted.

Maybe we should all live our lives a little less seriously and a bit more carefree as a child would.

Children didn’t spend years hating someone for leaving them.

They weren’t happy that it happened, of course, but as soon as their person returned, all was forgiven with a smile on their face.

Perhaps I’d gotten it wrong when I thought kids hadn’t lived enough to make big decisions, much less mean what they said.

I thought our childhood dreams were nothing apart from pretty lies.

Yet, when I was younger, I remembered telling Shane he was more than enough.

Even when he wasn’t with me, he’d protected me.

He was my escape from the darkness, and his eyes were the ocean where I found my freedom.

As we’d gotten older, I didn’t know how to forgive him for leaving me.

I tried to hold onto the hate and pain that gnawed at the marrow inside my bones.

Thankfully, I wasn’t only born with a stubborn soul, but with a reckless, demanding heart that forced me to remember that the weight of love was a heavy one.

Loving someone wasn’t always light and carefree.

Love could be painful and put you through endless years of torture, but if you had a heavy heart like mine, love could also mean freedom and hope found in an intense set of sea green eyes.

The End