Page 127 of Light Up The Night
"I am not sure you know what you're asking for, darling. Hyperfixation is no joke."
I grin. "I'm eager to find out, then."
She isn't fucking kidding.
Over the next seventy-two hours, we barely leave my bed. I bring food and we eat it in my bed together. Watch movies on my laptop. Sleep.
And make love…
Frantically.
I lose count of the number of times we have sex over those three days.
She is, quite literally, insatiable.
I've always had a sex drive so high that no one I've ever been with could keep up. I was always left wanting more and knowing that whoever I was with wasn’t ready for me yet. I've literally had girls tap out and go home because I’ve left them—well, never mind.
Cadence?
By the end of three days of near-constant fucking,I'mthe one worn out and barely able to walk. My balls are so drained they feel empty and shriveled.
It's glorious.
We find a rhythm,then. I eventually have to go back to work, which sucks. But Cadence has to figure out her life and she says she needs time alone to do so, which means she encourages me to go back to work and leave her to think.
Which I do. And I discover aspects of joy in life that I didn't know existed. I see things that are beautiful and I FaceTime her just to share them. I have a spare moment or two and I call her just to talk. To hear her voice.
Within a week and a half, I come to the not exactly shocking conclusion that she is my best friend, even more so than my boys. I mean, it's different, but still. I get Fee and Bear, now. How they choose their women over the crew more often than not.
It's lessthan two weeks to Christmas—a holiday I've never had a lot of time or patience for. Growing up, it was never a big deal. It's not like Mom ever put forth the effort to make it special. If we got gifts at all, it was shitty stuff—one year, I got a GI Joe, but a dollar-store knock-off version that broke that same day. So yeah, Christmas has always been whatever for me.
But I realize that to Cadence, Christmas is vitally important.
Her parents, she tells me, always made Christmas special, even in Africa where they didn't have the stuff to make it look like Christmas as we’d know it. To her, Christmas is the most important season of the year.
And fuck me if I know how to do that for her.
I figure a nice date downtown is a good place to start.
I find her on the phone when I come home from work, discussing with her folks the logistics of getting her stuff shipped up her. She greets me with a bright smile. "Hold on, please, Mother.” She mutes the phone and kisses me, soft and sweet. "I missed you."
I pinch her chin playfully. “I’m gonna shower real quick. And then we're going on a date."
Her eyes go wide, big and bright. "A…date?"
I laugh at how eager and excited she sounds. "Yeah. I realized today that I'm a terrible, horrible, awful, shitty boyfriend. We've been together for almost a month, not including the time we spent together when we met, and I’ve never even taken you on a real date."
She shoots to her feet, vibrating with excitement. "A date! With my boyfriend!" She unmutes the phone. "Mother, I am afraid I must end the call. I am going on adate.”
I hear her mom laughing happily on the other end, and wait as she says her goodbyes and ends the call.
"What should I wear?"
"Somethin' warm. I figured we'd walk around downtown. It's all lit up with Christmas lights. Looks pretty and, like, festive or whatever."
She's about to pop with excitement, bouncing on her feet and clapping her hands. "Is there a Santa Claus?"
I laugh, and kiss her. "Yes, there is."
