Wild Wind: A Chaos Novella (Chaos #6.6)(27)

“Maybe for some. I don’t think so. I live loud.”

It was cautious when she said, “All right.”

And he knew this was cautious because it seemed from what she was saying that Archie lived wide, not loud.

But Jagger felt that was a match.

“But for this, you and me,” he carried on, “I think it’s okay, it works for me, because we have time and it doesn’t seem like…there’s no race to…”

He couldn’t figure out how to finish that.

“Get it all in before it all ends?” she suggested.

He closed his eyes.

She cuddled closer.

“We have time, Jagger,” she assured.

His voice was thick when he said, “Yeah.”

“That’s the difference, you know, for us?”

“Uh…” he said, because he didn’t know.

She tipped her head back and he lifted his.

“My arrows, your race. That’s how we are. That’s what we learned to be. They taught us the biggest lesson we’ll probably ever learn, and it’s a lesson they would never have wanted to teach. We now have no choice but to live like that. But with each other, we can have quiet. With each other, we can slow down. With each other, we can be right where we are. That’s the difference. That’s me for you and you for me. Do you feel that?”

Oh he felt it, all right.

He nodded.

“That’s why I don’t wanna fuck. Because I really do wanna fuck. But that’s not us. It’s not for now. We have time for that. We need to wait for that time. Yeah?”

He could not believe he was doing it, but he nodded again, and he meant it.

“We’ll know when it’s right,” she said.

“Totally didn’t agree with not making out with you, though,” he pointed out.

She smiled up at him.

Then she slid up him.

He took her mouth.

It was slow and warm and wet, and it lasted a long time.

And he couldn’t believe it was him who did it, but it was him who eventually ended it and said, “Ready for bed?”

“Yeah, baby.”

They grabbed the drinks they didn’t fully drink, the pillows and the lamp.

They took turns in the bathroom, her last, and he was in her bed, which was a mattress and box spring on the floor with some kind of carving on the wall at the head, a fitted sheet, no top sheet, and a ton of pillows and blankets. The nightstands were wooden trays on the ground on each side.

He was in his boxer briefs.

She came out in a tank and panties.

He’d turned out all the lights but the one on a tray by the bed.

She left it on when she slid into him, so he pulled her close, rolled into her, reached and switched it off.

You could hear the traffic on Colfax, city lights were coming in the windows, but Archie pulled the covers up over their heads and suddenly, they were alone in the world.

“Locked here, with me,” she whispered.

With her words, it felt like his entire chest was banded iron tight.

But the second he had that feeling, it released.

So Jag tangled up with her, kissed her shoulder and settled in.

“Sleep, Archie.”

“Okay, baby.”

She shoved her face in his throat.

And as she drifted off to sleep, Jagger wondered.

He wondered if his dad laid awake with his mom pressed close and he thought, being just like that with her, that the world was completely right.

And he really hoped his dad had that.

Even just once.

He hoped his dad had that at least once.

Before he died.





Chapter Six



Since Eternity

Archie



The next morning, Jagger turned and sprawled over onto his back when Archie slid away from him in bed.

She sat on the side and took him in.

His messy, thick, overlong, dark hair.

The heavy stubble on his strong jaw.

Those damned lips that were perfect.

He had a smattering of hair on his chest and belly, it wasn’t thick or long, though it got dense where it led into his boxers.

He was cut in a lean way.

He was really tall.

He had some tats on his arms, but the one that took her attention was over his heart.

It said K.D.H.W.G.

She had no idea what that meant, but she could guess “D” was Dutch, “W” was Wilder and “G” was Graham, his dad.

So the others: Mom and Stepdad.

Stepdad got better billing.

Real dad coming up the rear.

They’d be getting into that.

She sat at the side of the bed and she wanted to touch him, but she didn’t.

If she did, she wouldn’t stop.

She might not ever stop.

Archie was not afraid of that thought.

He gave her peace.

She was at one with anything, because of him.

She wanted to crawl into his lap like a little girl.

She wanted to ride his face like an Amazon.

She wanted to press against his back on his bike.

She wanted to stand by his side on the edge of the Grand Canyon and stare at forever.

She wanted to trade shots of raw spirit with him in Nepal like Marion in Raiders of the Lost Ark.