Page 19 of Burn for Me (The Last Snow of the Season 2)

Chapter Thirteen

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Rumer

The evening is winding down and I have to admit to having a great time. I'm more than a little in love with Ross and Kim, Mark's parents. They brought his brothers with them when they came over. Well, not all of them. I found out there are a lot of Youngs. Apparently, Mark has six brothers. Four of the younger ones came with their mom and dad. One is off at college and the other one has joined the military. Kim told me a little about how she worries about Mark and Micah because of the professions they have chosen but she relies heavily on her faith to help get her through worry. She is one more brave lady and I love her a little.

Ross, Mark's dad, is just as sweet. They work well together. And it's pretty clear how in love with his wife he is even after years of marriage. After they leave, Mark, whose arms have been wrapped around me for a good part of the night, leads me back into the house. Before I can bring up the boxes again, he takes me by the hips and sits me on the table we just ate dinner with his family at.

He takes a seat in a chair in front of me and pulls up closer to the table. "What are you doing?" He doesn't answer me. "Mark?"

There is a sparkle in his eyes that makes my heart lighter. He gives me a gentle push, leaning me back before he says a word. "I'm having dessert."

"Mark, this is...we just...your family..." I have no fucking idea how to tell him how taboo this is for me.

"My family is great, but they aren't here now. And it's been way too long since I've had you under my tongue." He spreads my thighs wider with his shoulders and settles in for the 'meal' he plans to enjoy - me.

We end up making love on the table...twice. And he talks me into staying with him another day. When I'm with Mark all of my good sense just disappears and I can't remember the important things like returning to the life I had before I met him or the fact that we aren't being safe or responsible every time we make love.

I wait up for him the next night and when he gets home, I can tell something’s not right. His first words to me to tell me weren’t required, but they don't help either. "Don't freak out."

"What happened?" Yeah, it's too late for that. If he didn't want me to freak out then he shouldn't have told me not to do it.

"I just left Milly's apartment."

Why would Mark be at Milly's?

"Her apartment was broken into?"

"What?! Why?"

He's nodding his head before I even ask. "I don't know but I do know she is with Jag now. He took her home with him and I'm certain he won't let a damned thing happen to her. So, you don't have to worry."

He promises to keep me informed if they find anything else out. And so, it goes for the next two months. I stay with Mark, and he takes care of me. We have Sunday dinner with his mom and dad and all I can think about is how bad all of this is going to hurt me when it ends. I graduate in one week. Instead of graduation, all I can think about is afterward. What do I do? Mark's helped me fill out a lot of my paperwork and most of my mail comes to his house now just because it's easier since I seem to always be here. In eight weeks, I haven't been back to my aunt's house once.

I sit down and think of last night's dinner when Kim asked us if we were going on vacation with them this summer and without hesitation, Mark looked to me and said, "I'll have to ask the boss about that but I think it would be fun."

At first, I thought he was talking about his captain at the precinct but it slowly started to sink in that he was talking about me.

"What?"

"Do you feel up to going to the beach with the family for a few days?"

He was asking me. Giving me the choice. In fact, ever since I've been with Mark, he has been showing me in little ways how much control I have that I didn't have before him. Little things like that have me falling more and more in love with him.

I unpack more and more of the meager three boxes of my things that he brought over to his house the first day. At first, I didn't want to unpack anything because I didn't expect to stay but over time Mark wore me down and I started taking things out and putting some things around the house. This particular bag I'm unpacking was the one I took with me to the cabin. It's stuffed full of sweaters and winter stuff that I don't need right at the moment but I probably shouldn't leave them packed for so long either.

Out of the bottom of the pack falls a little plastic bag wrapped around a purchase I made the day me and Mark drove off the mountain and I feel like my heart is made of lead. Lead that has suddenly fallen to the floor somewhere near my bare toes. During all the stress of that day, I managed to sneak away once. I told Mark it was to go to the little diner down the road to order us some lunch but while I was waiting on our food, I snuck into the pharmacy across the street from the diner.

And now here it lays. The reason I was so insistent about coming down that stupid mountain in the first place. It must have been the questioning or the sight of Tinsley being wheeled out of the cabin on a gurney wrapped in a body bag that diverted me from my goal. It hits me hard that thinking back I haven't had a period in two months. Ten weeks to be exact, maybe longer.

I sit down on the bed heavily and wait for the dizzy feeling to pass. What the fuck? If I'm not pregnant there’s something wrong with me. I'm pretty regular - or I was up until Mark. I go to the bathroom and take the test. Mark’s not due home for a couple of hours - unless someone dies and then he might be a little longer. This is a small town most of the detectives work with the surrounding towns and cities but since Mark is new, he stays pretty local.

The seconds tick by so damn slow I might die from it. It doesn't even take the full three minutes before I see the lines. Oh, fuck! Oh, shit! Oh, GOD!

I don't think. I just run. Ironically Jag lives close to Mark. Me and Milly walk to one another's houses - well, once they caught the killer who tried to kill Milly too. Milly will be able to offer me a new perspective on all of this crap. She found out she was pregnant a couple of weeks ago. She and Jag are ecstatic about it. But then again Jag already has a ring on Milly's finger.

Mark hasn't said one word about marriage. With a family like his, he would surely be thinking about that if he were serious with a woman -wouldn't he? So, the fact he hasn't mentioned anything about it must mean that he has no intention of marrying me. And now I'm fucking knocked up. Great. Mark is a good man - a good person - he'll try to do the right thing and marry me even though he doesn't want to. We might even be able to fake it for a couple of years but then he'll meet some girl, some girl he actually wants to marry, and then the problems will start. We'll start fighting and he'll come to hate me and resent the child.

I stop in the middle of the sidewalk. I can't let Mark know. I can't let him find out I'm carrying his child. I...I have to leave before any baby bump becomes noticeable. Which means I have to leave soon. I have to go back and pack all of my boxes - all three of them - up and...wait. Where the hell am I going to go? I can't go back to my aunt's. Not with a baby on the way. She barely let me stay there when it was just me.

I hurry on to Milly's. Thankfully Jag is at work so we can speak without me having to worry about someone overhearing us. I'll just have to swear Milly to secrecy. When Milly opens the door for me, I lose it. I fall into her arms and start sobbing my heart out. This morning I had everything - everything. Less than twelve hours later I have nothing and no one. What am I going to do?! Where am I going to go?! Why does life have to be such a bitch to me?!

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