I woke up the next morning to still find Nicholas next to me. I smiledat him, his eyes deeply shut from exhaustion from the previous night.Let me tell you, it was wonderful, an experience I had never had and aride I would never forget. He took away my stress and loneliness, hehad kissed my neck, nibbled my earlobe, and purred in my ears.
I shuddered next to him, tickled by the adventure I encountered last night. So perfect I had never wanted it to end.
WhenI glanced over at him he was awake, his clear blue eyes piercing intomy soul. He wrapped his great arm around me and brought me closer tohim. Without thinking, I snuggled closer, hiding beneath his chin,feeling him breathe into my hair. Our bodies were still exposed andstill tightly wound together.
Outside it was early morning, thefrost fogging my windows of my living room. Thank heavens I live out inthe country, I would die of embarrassment if a neighbor happened to seeme. But I had no neighbors for a couple more miles, so I figured thingswere okay. Feeling warm lips press against my forehead, I realized hewas kissing me. I upturned my face and met his lips halfway, sinkinginto it. He whimpered against it, bringing me close abruptly as hegrinded against one of my legs. I pulled back a little, shaking myhead, dismissing the chance to go again.
"Why not?" Nicholas asked, making a frown.
I giggled. "It was my first time..I'm a little sore."
Hiseyes widened in what I couldn't read at first. Disgust? Astonishment?Concern? Then when he spoke I realized it was the latter.
"Oh! Areyou okay, Eboni? Is there anything I can get you?" he started asking,sitting up and almost heaving into a panic attack.
I put my hand on his chest and he relaxed beneath my touch. "I'm okay, just need to rest for a couple days."
"Coupledays..right." He lowered his eyes then returned them to my gaze. Ithought I drowned for a moment in hos oceanic eyes but when he edgedtowards me, planting another kiss on my lips I was rescued and couldlive again.
After dressing ourselves Nicholas invited to take meout for a late breakfast. How could I resist? I'm in love withpancakes. I nodded but firmly told him we're going Dutch, I was goingto pay for myself. He rolled his eyes murmuring, "Fat chance." Ilaughed and we hopped in my car driving into town.
We arrived at the same restaurant as the night before and were placed at the same booth. Deja Vu, much?
Anyway,he orders a huge meal of steak, sausage, eggs, bacon, biscuits, andgravy. I felt like a bird as I simply ordered two pancakes with a sideof sausage, my meal small and only ate half of my pancakes before I wasfull. He gobbled down his whole meal, leaving no crumb left behind. Iwas surprised and asked, "Hungry?"
He took a sip from his cup of orange juice, stating,"Had a busy night."
I laughed catching his hint. "Dork."
A few moments of silence passed when I brought up the topic, "So..you're leaving tomorrow?"
Ifelt a familiar ache renew itself, who knew when I would see him again?And I didn't want to be known that I sleep around, because I don't.Nicholas was my first. I wanted a relationship with him, I wanted to bewith him, I wanted to travel with him, right at his side. But thenagain, that could've been my high school self imagining that. We wereadults--adults that had intercourse--and he probably didn't think of mein that way anyhow.
His clear eyes stared at the spinning fan aboveus on the ceiling then with a thoughtful expression said, "I couldprobably postpone."
I quirked a brow. "Really?"
"Yeah. I couldsay the snow made it impossible to drive through the mountain. I may bestuck for a few more days," he pondered, rubbing his chin in asarcastic manner.
I couldn't control the girlish giggle that escaped. "Why would you do that?"
Ifelt myself blush, my cheeks became hot and my head spun like the fanabove our table. Nicholas got up from his side of the booth and came tosit beside me. He wrapped his great arm over me, and held my hand withhis other one.
"Because," he began, "I want to be with you longer."
Suddenlythe room started to sparkle, then shake like there was an earthquake,then my cheeks were wet. I wiped a little and discovered I had welledup some tears. I drank some water, giving him an apologetic look.
"What's wrong Ebs?" he asked, tugging me closer to him.
"Sorry..no one would have ever done that for me..." I trailed off, too shocked at how deep I felt.
Brushing his fingers over my hand Nicholas said, "What you need to know is that I had a crush on you in high school too."
I snapped my attention back at him. "No way. Get out."
He chuckled deeply, the tone of his laugh hanging in my ears. "It's the truth."
I can tell you this, I had no intention of focusing on anyone else other than Nicholas for the rest of the day.
Afterbreakfast, Nicholas wanted me to show him more of my farm and what thissmall town had to offer. Again, how could I resist? But I told himbefore doing so I would need to buy more sugar cubes for the horses atthe store. He obliged to that, patiently waiting in my passenger seatas I ran into the general store. I grabbed a small box of cubes andwent up to the register, waiting behind a man.
As soon as I had gotten comfortable in my place in line the man turned around, somewhat in a hustle, and bumped into me.
Ofcourse, Eboni Hawkins is a clutz, so I fell on my back hitting the backof my head on some shelves. Let me tell you I felt a sharp singe in myhead and couldn't feel nothing other than the pain, I didn't evenregister the man talking to me until the pain subsided. As my mindrecollected itself I was met with green eyes and a shaggy head of darkbrown hair.
My memory jerked into action, placing the name immediately in my head. Alarms rang and my heart leapt.
"Adam?" I asked, slipping my hand away slowly.
"Eboni?" He asked me, sweeping his eyes up and down.
Iwas about to give him a warm welcome when I took a closer observation.He had become pale, as if he hadn't seen the sun in months. His greeneyes weren't full of life as they used to be, always twinkling with aclue that he was on the way to pull a prank. There was a set frown onhis face but when I acknowledged it was really me with a nod, he seemedto acquire a shade of color then it drained away just as quickly. Hewas thin, not well kept as he used to be, and lanky--and taller. Whydid were my boys suddenly so much taller than me?
I also rememberedhow he had never wanted to speak to me again, how he had abandoned meafter our failed relationship, and acted like I never existed. This wasthe main reason why I didn't tackle him.
"What are you doing here?" I asked with a smile, hiding my fear that has finally perked itself up.
He shrugged. "Hunting."
Thiscaught me off guard. The Adam I knew would never harm a livingcreature. Since when did he get into hunting? I stopped myself. Therewas a six year gap.
"For what?" If he was hunting it could be apotential danger for my animals. But if it was something like deer,then I would have nothing to worry about.
"Wolves."
I stood frozen, immobile by his answer. Somehow I broke myself free and continued to smile.
"Wolves?There's hardly any of those around here," I remarked as I put my box ofsugar cubes on the counter. "Well, lets just say they're making acomeback." He knitted his brows in question at the box I was paying for.
"For the horses. I have a farm around here," I explained.
"Oh. You live here?"
I nodded. "Heh, must be blast from the past week."
"Whydo you say that?" He was so serious it kind of scared me. There was notan inch my Adam I used to know. I wondered if I had anything to do withhis change of behavior. I did break his heart.
"It's just thatNicholas showed up just yesterday and we've been hanging out. Nowyou're here. All we need now it just our strict math teacher then it'llbe like high school all over again," I joked a grin spreading acrossmy face.
Adam showed no amusement.
Tough crowd.
"You're with Nicholas? Now?" he started bombarding me with questions.
"Well...yeah...he wanted to see my farm," confessed I.
Adamthen got real close to my face, only inches away from me; our nosesalmost brushing. I recalled being this close once, when we had kissed.I had no intention, my lips were locked for Nicholas.
"You need tostay away from him." His hollow green eyes tore through me. Theyscanned every emotion and what felt like, my every thought. "He'sdangerous."
My eyes quivered. "How dangerous?" I didn't know if I believed him but I just wanted to hear what he had to say.
"Enoughto risk your life. Get away from him while you can." He sniffed my hairthen interlocked on my eyes, his sparking with lightening. "You smelllike him."
I was silent, my blood suddenly fuming.
"What do youcare, Adam? You just up and ignored me after high school. Six years.Was it really worth sacrificing four years of friendship? And nowyou're telling me Nicholas is dangerous? Saying I smell like him likeit's a bad thing?" I was seething. He had no right. Who does he thinkhe is? "How dare you. Hunt your wolves and get out of my town. I washappy to see you--but--you're not you. And this Adam is someone thatseems like I can't trust."
With that, I swept out the store, got into my car with Nicholas and drove back home.
Atthat farm we wandered through the pasture. Beforehand I had releasedthe horses to let them roam. I gave each of them two cubes. Jekyllrubbed his muzzle against my stomach searching for more, then whenNicholas advanced he trotted away with a snort. I took Nicholas's handin mine and led him to a creek at the end of the field. There we satand listened to the trickling water, the croaking frogs, and leavesrustling with the wind. Nicholas held me, I curled in his lap andkissed his chin. After a few minutes I said,
"I saw Adam at the store."
Nicholas seemed to become as still as iron.
"Really? How is he?" Nicholas continued, almost robotically.
I shrugged. "Not like Adam. He's pale, thin, and he seems to have no life left in him."
I lifted my gaze to Nicholas, my beautiful Nicholas. "He told me you were dangerous."
Nicholas was staring off at the creek, straying away from my eyes. "Oh yeah?"
"Yeah..but it doesn't matter. I was mad at him so I left him in the store," I concluded.
"What for? Weren't you two close?"
Thisconversation annoyed him, I could feel him tense beneath me. I didn'twant him angered so I felt along his arms and kissed his knuckles. Helet a breath, I was successful.
"Were," I hinted using past tense."We had a--falling out senior year. Six years no contact at all. Thenall of a sudden he just shows up trying to tell me to stay away fromyou. Why doesn't he like you?" I snuggled into his jacket.
Nicholasdidn't answer and I didn't press. I still had a few more days with him,maybe I could get more answers out of him later. Although he eyesseemed to be pained, a pain I couldn't name and wondered if I wouldever know.
To Be Continued...
((Please excuse the typos, it was 3am when I wrote this lol))
Tue Mar 12, 2013 6:21 am by mianmani
Subject: Who Cried Wolf? Page 4 
