Page 54 of Falling in Between
Greedily reaching for his fly, I practically fall to my knees, already imagining what it will be like to take him in mymouth.
“As beautiful as you are on your knees, Demi,” he says, combing through my hair. “That’s not what I want. Not tonight.” He grabs my hand, pulling me to my feet before turning around and heading to thestairs.
I’m not exactly sure what just happened. Part of me is angry. Part of me confused. No man turns down oral sex, ever. I’m still beside the window when he reaches the top of the stairs and looks down over his livingroom.
“Come to bed,” he says before disappearing fromview.
I grab my underwear from the floor and slip them on and then pick up my jeans. Exhaling, I make my way to hisroom.
“You’re so strange,” I say when I crawl onto the bed next tohim.
“AmI?”
“Yes, what man turns down ablowjob?”
His brows pinch together as he tilts his head to the side, his eyes narrowing. “I just wanted to pleaseyou.”
“Well, I want to please you,too.”
He stacks the pillows behind him, then props himself up against them before pulling me to his chest. “This pleases me,” he says. “I don’t talk to many people like I talk toyou.”
Elijah is like a pendulum constantly swinging from one extreme to the other. I never know what toexpect.
He brushes his fingers through my hair. “Are you close to yourfamily?”
This is an area I don’t discuss. Some of it’s complicated, and some of it’s painful, and people too quickly judge you if the answer is no. “My mother,” I say. “She was my bestfriend.”
“I’msorry.”
I stare straight ahead at the wall in silence. He couldn’t have picked up onthat.
“What happened to her?” heasks.
I inhale, fighting the mounting tension in my muscles. “Carwreck.”
“It must be hard to lose someone you love.” He continues sweetly combing through myhair.
“Itis.”
“Do you havesiblings?”
“No, it was just me and her. after my fatherleft.”
I feel him nod. We sit quietly for a moment, holding each other in a soft embrace. I bring my hand against his chest, tracing histattoos.
“Your father is the stars?” he asks, drawing mecloser.
I can hear the rhythmic thump of his heart beat under my ear. “Yes,” I admit quickly and try to change the subject. “What about you? Are you close to yourfamily?”
“Only my grandmother.” And maybe that’s the invisible connection betweenus.
I assume we’ve both been hurt by those who should never hurt children. We know that unconditional doesn’t exist, every love hasbounds.
“What happened to your parents?” I ask, still tracking the loops of black ink on hispecs.
“My father died when I was five. I don’t really have any memories of him, and my mother…” He inhales. His heartbeat grows harder, faster, and I hear it beneath me. “Some people are better removed from your lives.” And there’s hiscello.
“I thought my father was the most amazing person in the world when I was little.” I sigh. “I looked up to him. My mother adored him. As long as he was with me I felt safe, like nothing could ever hurt me.” I laugh. “The fallacy of being a little girl, I guess. And then one night, before I went to bed, he opened my bedroom window and pointed out. He told me if I ever missed him to look at the stars. That he’d be looking at the same sky and missing me, too.” I shake my head. “He left that night and never cameback.”
