Page 136 of The Spider & the Storm

I somehow forgot about the conversation in the truck as she undid my jeans and worked her hand into my briefs. The throes of desire had the power of lulling a mind into the false sense of assuredness that nothing outside of bodily needs truly mattered. And right now, all that mattered was the way herhand fit so perfectly around the length of my erection. How soft her skin was, how good and efficient she was at jerking me off while kissing and encouraging with gentle sounds of praise. How the pleasure built higher and higher, like building blocks being stacked toward a ceiling of Technicolor static, so close now that I could almost touch it.

Then … she stopped. Her fingertips dragged down my erection from tip to base as her entire hand slipped away. I whined pathetically, gasping as the brink of ecstasy fell out of my reach.

“Don't worry, baby,” she said, peppering kisses along my jaw.

Stormy lifted away from my side and pulled my jeans and briefs down to my knees. I opened my eyes to stare into hers, pleading through labored breath, and she smiled as she straddled my waist and painstakingly lowered herself onto me, one inch at a time.

“Now, be a good boy and come for me.”

And, God, I did.

***

We lay together in the darkness, but neither of us was asleep. I could hear the gears of Stormy's mind working, almost as loudly as mine, and I wondered what she was thinking. Yet I wouldn't ask. She would tell me if it was something she wanted me to know, and after a few more moments of silence, she did.

“Charlie,” she said quietly, her fingers moving in gentle circles against my chest.

“Yeah?”

“Are you sure you want to come with me?”

I held back a sigh and nodded. “Yes.” It was mostly the truth.

My ears were met with silence once again. The smile I'd been wearing was quick to evaporate into the night as unsettling intuition gnawed at my gut. There was more she wanted to say, probably just hanging at the tip of her tongue, but too unsure of how to say it. We hadn't talked any more about Luke or what he'd done or anything after I told my story. I'd been grateful at the time, but now, that gargantuan elephant in the corner of the blackened room wouldn't stop staring me down. Sooner or later, the fucker was going to start trumpeting, and I wasn't sure my sanity could take it.

“You can tell me what you're thinking,” I said, hoping she'd take the bait.

Luckily for me, she did.

“Your brother …” Her voice faded with hesitance as one finger traced a line down the length of my sternum and back to the base of my throat.

“Yeah?” I asked, gruff and nearly defensive.

Relax.

“You mentioned he had been engaged?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“Was this why they broke up?”

That made me smile, even if it was melancholy. Somehow, I didn't think Melanie would've left Luke for murdering Ritchie.

“No. She had left him long before that happened.”

Stormy hummed a sound of contemplation, then sighed. “Does she know what happened?”

“I don't know,” I answered honestly. “As far as I know, neither of us has seen Melanie since they broke up. I don't know how I would've gotten in touch with her even if I'd wanted to.”

“You didn't try?”

I shook my head, frowning at the ceiling. “I didn't think it'd be a good idea to drag her back into his shit when she’d only left because she needed to get away from it. I mean, for all I know, she's already married to a great guy, living in a nice house with a couple of kids.”

It was what I had always hoped for her anyway. It was what she had always deserved.

“When were you last in Connecticut?”

“Five years ago.”

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