Page 90 of Reclaim Me

“I’m fine,” I assure him, reaching for the band of his sweatpants. He shakes his head, stopping me with gentle fingers wrapped around my wrists. His eyes rove over my face.

“You’re not fine, Rae, and that’s okay. We don’t have to do this.”

“But I want to.” Desperation threads its way through my words. “I want to, Hunter. I need to. Please.”

He sighs and lets go of my wrists, allowing me to continue undressing him. I wrap my fingers around his shaft, and his head falls back as he lets out a shuddered moan. The tortured sound is a call for connection that demands to be answered by my soul. I grip him tighter, running my hand up and down his length until his jaw turns rigid and there’s precum leaking from his tip.

“Rae.”

“Come here,” I tell him, and he steps forward, allowing me to circle his hips with my legs. I hold him close, the heels of my feet digging into his ass as his dick notches at my entrance. Hunter’s eyes flare with the desire to continue, even as he shakes his head.

“Let me grab a condom.”

“Don’t stop,” I whisper. “Stay right here with me, please.”

I wrap him up tighter, pull him in closer, and he’s strong enough to pull away, to stop this, but he doesn’t. He stays with me like I’ve asked him to, and when I roll my hips in a silent invitation, he thrusts forward, giving me the first glorious inch of his dick and the feel of him unobstructed by anything else for the first time.

“More.” I pull him down for another kiss, and he reciprocates, giving me exactly what I’ve asked for. It’s like nothing I’ve ever felt. His bare skin, my slick channel. His lips on mine. The quiet, soft suction of my pussy as it clutches at his veined flesh every time he advances and retreats.

Hunter wraps his arms around me, lifting me up off of the counter so he’s the only thing holding me up. And he does hold me; he holds me so tight I’ll be surprised if I’m not bruised in the morning. His fingers dig into my hips as he lifts me up and then slams me back down, over and over again, until my pussy is spasming on his dick, and I’m filled with the heat of his cum.

And even once he’s done, he doesn’t put me down. He carries me up the stairs, into his bedroom, and then straight to the shower, where he cradles me in his arms and washes my hair and then my body, pretending not to notice when the tears return.

It rains on the day of Will’s funeral.

Which makes the day feel that much more surreal. I cry when I put on my dress and again when Dee does my makeup. I cry when we walk into the church and when they lower his casket into the grave. I cry when it’s all over, and the repast begins when everyone sheds their grief and brings out the smiles, trading memories over food brought by all the people Will helped keep alive.

I don’t have an appetite, but I stay in the kitchen, fixing plates with Dee and her mom, Emma, by my side.

“Don’t put that much,” Emma says, eyeing the large scoop of macaroni and cheese I’ve just dug out of the pan in front of me. “We’re going to run out.”

Dee stretches her eyes to silently admonish her mother for fussing at me. “Things are winding down, Ma. Most everybody has already come and gone.”

She’s right. The only people still here are her, Emma, Jayla, and Nate, who is out in the yard with Hunter. I glance out the window to see if they’re still in the backyard talking, and they are. Well, talking isn’t exactly the right word because things look far too tense for them to just be having a normal conversation.

“But what if they get hungry later?” Emma asks. “You haven’t eaten a bit of food today, Rae; you can’t send it all out the door.”

“I’m not hungry,” I say, turning my attention from what’s happening outside the window and back to the plate I’m fixing for Nate’s wife.

Emma’s disapproval is clear, but she doesn’t say anything more. She just continues to cover the dish in her hand with aluminum foil and puts it in the fridge. When she’s done, she comes over and wraps me up in a tight hug, kissing me on the cheek.

“I love you, baby girl.”

“I love you too, Em.”

“I’m going to go get Jayla,” she says, releasing me. “Dee, meet me at the car in five.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

When we’re alone, Dee gives me a sympathetic smile. “I can stay if you want me to.”

“No, I think I’ll be okay. I’m probably just going to spend the rest of the day in bed.”

“Okay.”

She gives easily, thinking I’m too fragile to be pushed. She’s probably right. I feel too fragile for most things right now, too fragile to be awake, too fragile to be upright, too fragile to be wondering what’s happening with Hunter and Nate in the backyard. All I want to do is sleep, and that’s what I will do when the last of our visitors go.

Dee helps me finish making the plates for Nate’s family and clean up the kitchen, and then she pulls me into a tight hug and presses a kiss to my forehead.

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