Page 13 of Erik's Redemption
She whimpered as her walls stretched around him. Oh God. Every time he was inside her, she felt like a missing part of herheart had been returned. Like everything was finally right in the world.
He lifted her hips and brought her back down, his tongue tangling with hers.
“I love you so damn much, Angel,” he breathed against her lips.
“I’ve never loved anyone like I love you, Erik.”
The words seemed to propel him to move her hips faster. To pump up into her with a new need. The desire in her lower abdomen built, the throb intensifying. There was almost a desperation to the way Erik touched her. Was he scared the dream would come true? That he’d lose her? Didn’t he know that every breath she took was for him?
Tears pooled in her eyes, and she tightened her arms around him, like she could somehow lock them in this moment forever.
He cupped her breast, his thumb grazing over her nipple. And even though she tried to hold off, she couldn’t. She broke. Her back arched, her head swung back, and she screamed Erik’s name.
His mouth shifted to her neck. “You’re so fucking beautiful, Angel.”
He kept pumping, kept lifting her up and lowering her back onto him, prolonging her orgasm, until finally his world splintered along with hers. He grabbed the back of her neck and tugged her to him, their lips colliding in another passionate kiss.
And for one fleeting second, Hannah could almost convince herself that this moment could put back together whatever had fractured them this last month.
CHAPTER 5
An incessant beeping pulled Hannah from her sleep as light hit the backs of her eyelids.
Good God, it was her pump. She needed to change it.
Blindly, she reached over and grabbed her PDM, squinting as she hit different keys to make the beeping stop. But she knew the only way toreallystop it was by changing the damn thing.
Dropping the PDM back to the nightstand, she reached across the other side of the bed, expecting to find Erik…only for her fingers to brush over cold sheets.
Her eyes flashed open. He wasn’t there. The bed was empty…again.
Her heart squeezed so hard in her chest it was a physical pain. Last night had felt like the wall between them had finally crumbled. Like Erik had finally returned to her, and maybe they could get back on track.
Only, if that were true, wouldn’t he be here?
She swallowed, lifting her phone and spotting the text from Erik.
Erik: Hey. I had to get up early to help Dad with a few jobs. See you tonight. Stay safe.
He’d used the “I’m helping Dad” excuse a few times. Sometimes it was his mom. Occasionally his sister. Mostly he’d left the bed early to work out or do some prep for a job.
No part of her believed they were things that needed doing at the crack of dawn. Hechoseto get up and do them early because that was more appealing to him than waking up together. Holding each other. Talking.
What was going on between them? At some point, something had happened. Something had damaged them. She just wished she knew what.
With a long exhale, Hannah rose from the bed and went downstairs into the kitchen to change her insulin pump. When the world felt heavy around her, and she had to do anything for her diabetes, she suddenly hated every part of her type 1 diagnosis. She hated that her pancreas didn’t work the way it was supposed to. That the disease was incurable. And she hated that she was required to do so many more things just to survive than most other people.
Yeah, today was definitely one of those days.
In the kitchen, she deactivated the pump using the PDM before pulling it off. Opening the second drawer, she then pulled out a new Omnipod. From the fridge, she took some insulin, then, using the pen, injected about a hundred and thirty units of insulin into the pod. The beep told her it was ready.
Hannah held the pod against the PDM so it could prime by circulating the insulin. When it was finished, she pulled the stickers off the back of the pod and pressed the pump to her right thigh, keeping it on the same side of her body as the monitor.
Lifting the PDM, she hit start, then scrunched her eyes as those damn clicks sounded. There were five before the pump pierced her skin. She flinched. Shealwaysflinched. It wasn’t actually that painful—the countdown was worse than the pain—but it still bothered her.
Twenty minutes later, showered and dressed, she burned her toast and realized they were out of oat milk. Great.
With a huff, she pulled out the box of Frosted Flakes. Of course, without the oat milk, she had to eat them dry.
