Two Summers Ago, the World Went to Shit

Chapter 22: Hope in the Horizon

Chapter 22: Hope in the Horizon

After everything that happened in Nashville between Bailey and Lola's death, the freaks at the hospital, and the deaths I was responsible for, we decided we shouldn't waste any more time by lingering in that godforsaken place. After we'd left the hospital, we headed north once again towards the infectious disease research laboratory in Missouri that we talked about before I lost Bailey and Lola. With the day only beginning, we were able to make the drive before it was dark again, keeping us out of danger from the decomposing bodies after those of us still living.
I was nervous. I couldn't deny it. I was hoping I would swoop back into the dark reality at least one more time before we arrived so that I could have something to go off of if we did find a researcher or scientist, but it seemed like for now all I had was the small glimmer of the idea of a cure being possible—I just didn't know how. I didn't know how I would explain that to a doctor either. 'Yeah, every now and then I fall into this parallel universe where the zombies aren't zombies even though you see them as zombies. I talk to them, and they talk to me—and they told me there's a loophole for a cure.' It just sounded bizarre and insane. They would literally think I was mental, but it was the truth. If zombies are possible, shouldn't that be proof enough that this was within the realm of possibilities?
So, still hopeful of finding this mystery loophole cure, we drove straight to the University of Missouri without any detours and stared at the huge buildings anxiously once we'd arrived. There were scattered zombies here that were probably students who were in the middle of their lives when the military from wherever started killing people.
Most of the lingering zombies were still wearing fraternity and sorority tees or collegiate gear that once defined their place on this campus. Being here brought back memories of my time in college. I'd spent four years working so hard for a degree I would probably never get the opportunity to use. But in those four years, I dealt with some of the biggest heartaches I'd ever encountered that played a role in defining who I was today and the relationships I had, especially with Jackson and Caleb.
The biggest shift in my life occurred when I was at the end of my freshman year of nursing school. I was attending New York University, which was about three hours away from Schoharie, the city I grew up in. My parents had been raving on and on about how they missed me and wanted to meet my nonexistent friends and see my dorm I'd decorated in all of my favorite pastel colors. I was their baby, so they were still adjusting to an empty nest back at home while I was away.
I was honestly excited to see them because I hadn't really made any friends, but I was too embarrassed to admit that to them. They were confident that I would be flooded with friends once I started school, and that gave them peace in knowing I would never be alone. But the truth of the matter was that I was alone. I was alone more than not, and my roommate was never around even though we rarely spoke when she was. So, when my parents texted me to see if it would be a good weekend for them to drive down, I was ecstatic. They were on the road within minutes, and I sat by the clock all morning waiting on them to arrive. I'd framed a collage of pictures of me and Caleb to gift to them once they got here, and I smiled to myself knowing they would love it. I held on to it for hours and hours just eager to show them and be filled with the happiness they always delivered in their presence.
When the afternoon came, and I hadn't heard from them, I got this pit in my stomach. It was that feeling when your heart seems like it's beating through your fingertips, when you feel pale from your blood pressure bottoming out, or when you were on the edge of a cliff looking down at the far drop to the dark hole below you. I just knew something was wrong. I called their phones over and over and over again until it finally stopped ringing and their voicemails were full. I laid in my bed in a panic trying to figure out what to do. I eventually picked up my phone and called Caleb who answered after two rings.
"Hello," he answered worriedly.
"Caleb, have you heard from Mom and Dad? They were coming to visit me, but they should've been here hours ago. I can't get them to pick up," I said nervously.
"No, I haven't. I can try to call them if you want me to," he suggested as I heard a knock on my dorm door.
"Hold on, Caleb, I think that's them," I said.
I ran quickly to open it, smiling because I thought it would be my sweet parents waiting to surprise me. Instead, I was greeted by two police officers with glum expressions on their faces. I dropped the phone to the ground knowing they weren't here for any good reasons. I could distinctly hear Caleb talking from my phone on the ground asking if it was them and then concerned once he heard me sob helplessly and uncontrollably on the other end of the phone. My heart shattered into a million pieces, and I never fully recovered from that day.
The police officers tried to console me while they began explaining the car accident that took the lives of both of my parents. They said a tractor trailer's brakes went out going through a traffic light at about eighty miles per hour when my parents were driving across without fully having time to react to the horn of the massive truck hauling down the hill straight towards their vehicle. They both died on impact. It happened one mile away from campus, one fucking mile.
I blamed myself for a long time, constantly thinking that if I hadn't been so incapable of finding friends and wasn't so alone my parents wouldn't have been on their way here that day. They would've encouraged me to go out and make memories, but instead I just wanted my parents to be here to hold me and see all I'd accomplished in my first year. I just wanted my parents.
I'd bawled my eyes out for hours while Caleb hopped on the first plane he could to New York. He found me curled up in my bed with red, swollen eyes before climbing in to hold me while he tried to be strong for the both of us. Neither of us spoke a word, we just stayed in each other's company until we found the strength to stand. We were both extremely close to our parents, so it was a detrimental loss to me and him. It was a detrimental loss to the world.
A part of me hoped that Caleb would finally give up Oklahoma and come back to New York, but he just couldn't move past the life he'd built down there. He stayed around long enough to help me plan a funeral, and after the headstones were laid on their graves, he was back in Pocola. I tried to understand why he felt like Oklahoma was home for him, but I never comprehended the connection he had with it.
The night of their funeral, I found myself sitting in the dark parking lot behind the funeral home on the cold, wet asphalt in a silky black dress symbolizing death and grief. Someone had walked up behind me, gently rubbing my shoulder before joining me on the ground. I turned to my right to see who it was, and it was Jackson. He'd flown all the way to New York to attend my parent's funeral, and it made me feel so cared for. Even though subconsciously I knew he was here in support of Caleb, it still meant something to me that he came at all.
Jackson and I weren't super close at that point, but we had shared a few moments with each other from time to time in our previous encounters. He always made me feel comfortable with his presence and his careful, gentle demeanor that took me to places no one else could. He wrapped his arm around me before giving me a gentle kiss on my cheek. I rested my head on his shoulder just taking in everything that'd happened. It didn't feel real. It still doesn't.
After my parent's funeral, I really shifted as a person. I'd known about my bipolar disorder for several years, but it'd been controlled until that point. I stopped taking my medication and spiraled on campus during a manic episode, and that's when I was hospitalized for a period of time while I recovered mentally. I wasn't there against my will, but I didn't feel like I could leave because I wasn't ready to be back on my own.
Caleb came and visited regularly during his off time at work, but I kept hoping one day I'd see Jackson walking through the door with him. I always felt like he saw me when no one else did, or maybe I was just being delusional about his gestures. Besides, he was with Sophie at that time. Was he just comforting me because I was his best friend's sister? Did he genuinely care? I battled with that for several days while I was in the inpatient facility. Then, one day, Jackson did walk through that door.
I was lying in bed facing away from the door when I heard it open. I assumed it was a nurse or Caleb, so I continued to sulk and ponder my thoughts until I saw his face. He looked sad, broken even. I furrowed my brows in confusion while quickly sitting up in the bed. I think I hurt more when he was the one who was distraught and sad. It made me nauseous seeing him in pain like this, and I wanted nothing more than to make his pain go away from whatever was making him feel this way. I watched as he sat down in the chair beside my bed and buried his face in his hands.
"Jackson," I asked before he took a deep breath.
"My mom died last night," he choked out before tears rolled down his puffy cheeks.
My heart sank.
"Oh Jackson, I'm so sorry. What happened," I asked sympathetically.
"She had a heart attack," he said crying into his palms.
     I picked at the skin around my fingernails as I tried to think of ways to make him feel better like he had done for me when I was in his position not all that long ago. I knew from experience that there was close to nothing anyone could say to make it better or make it magically go away somehow. All I could offer him was moral support and just being with him because damn it was not easy going through that kind of loss alone. So, we sat there in silence and in each other's company the entire night. Nothing happened between us, it never did, but I was okay with that.
The relationship we had then was more important than any romantic relationship we could have had. But now that I had the opportunity to experience what it was like to be loved by Jackson, I never wanted to lose him at all—in any aspect. He was the strength I needed to carry on each day, he was the air I needed to breath, he was my beginning and my ending—he was my everything. To be loved by Jackson was consummate, remarkable, incomparable to anything else in this ordinary world.
I looked over at Jackson while we sat still in front of our last hope of a cure as so many memories rushed back just seeing a college campus. I wasn't sure how it made me feel. I looked down and took in a deep breath as he grabbed my hand, squeezing it gently to comfort me. Caleb smiled up at me through the rear view mirror before we all simultaneously exited the car.
     I could feel the heat from the sun beaming onto my skin, like actually feel it. It felt so rejuvenating. I looked over at Sophie who'd been holding on to Grace the last hour of the car ride, smiling at the sight of them. She was so good with her. She kept Grace calm and happy, and it made me see Sophie for more than I'd seen her before. She was becoming worthy of my trust and love in this small family I had now. I could see potential for her and my brother which sounded so weird, but I really could. I knew he would bring out the best in her like he did with everyone he met.
I gazed up at the big sign displaying the name of the school before slowly walking towards the entrance. The campus was huge with tons of buildings labeled with areas of study like the business and law schools. None of us had ever been here before, so I knew we'd have to do a little exploring before we found the research laboratory. I figured the best place to start would be the first building where the registrar and admission offices were.
I was the first one to walk through the doors before being met with a warm breeze. There was a musty smell that filled the air which wasn't unusual nowadays. There was no power, but luckily the natural light shining through the windows and doors helped illuminate most of the inside.
     I took a look around as everyone else came in behind me. The first thing I noticed was a huge glass trophy case positioned straight ahead filled with dozens of awards, metals, trophies, and team pictures. To the left I saw a financial aid office as well as a few other small offices, and to the right I saw a longer hallway full of more offices and a door that led outside at the end.
     I began taking careful steps in that direction before stopping in front of a door that said Karen Hayes, Admissions Counselor in white letters across the frosted glass. The room appeared dark behind the window positioned in the center of the door. I turned the knob and entered when I was immediately met with a single zombie dressed in a light pink sundress. It was a heavy set woman with brown hair and brassy highlights surrounding her graying skin. On her dress there was a name tag with the name Karen Hayes embedded on it.
     She lunged after me as her body seemed unsteady over the two feet beneath her. Her jaw was extending open and shut like an angry snapping turtle, her teeth clanking together each time. I didn't have a weapon on me, so I kept both of my hands pressed against the decaying body to protect myself from being bitten. I gazed around the room for something to kill it with as Caleb and the others nervously watched from the doorway. Eventually, Jackson stepped up behind me while I groaned irritably before reaching over and stabbing his knife straight into her head. For a second I felt weak just feeling his body up against mine and feeling his breath on my neck when he whispered, "I know you could've handled it, but I just wanted an excuse to get close to you."
God it sent chills down my spine.
I smiled hoping he wouldn't notice, but he knew what he was doing—he always did.
I exhaled from feeling exhausted, watching the zombie collapse to the floor. There were small traces of blood underneath my fingernails from my hands sinking the dress into softened flesh, oozing blood through the fabric. I watched as he stuck the knife back down into it's holster. His eyes met mine, and I gave him a devilish smile before brushing past him to continue exploring the office.
      Caleb, Sophie, and Grace hung back in the hallway while the two of us rooted around in the room. It wasn't long before I found a brochure with the layout of campus bunched up in a clear plastic bin attached to the wall. I unfolded it and stepped back out into the hallway with Jackson and the others to get a better look from the light beaming in from the nearby door.
Studying the paper, Caleb pointed towards the right hand corner as he recognized the laboratory labeled on the page.
"Okay, so the lab is on the back side of campus, and this is where we are now," he said moving his finger to the building we were currently in.
"Lead the way," I suggested as Caleb nodded.
     He took off towards the door at the end of the hallway with Sophie and Grace right behind him, and Jackson and I lingering in the back. I tucked my hair behind my ear once I stepped outside onto the concrete sidewalk and watched my brother eagerly take us in the direction of the laboratory. He'd taken the brochure in the hallway and was using it as if  it were a map that led to buried treasure with an X marked on top. I guess to him finding the laboratory with a doctor or scientist would come pretty close to finding treasure. I knew it would feel that way for me at least.
I guess I'd been drowned in my own thoughts while we walked in silence because I jumped slightly when Jackson called my name.
"Sammi," he repeated.
"What? I'm sorry," I said blinking and turning to face him.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," I said rubbing my arms and staring blankly at him.
"No, actually, I'm not. Uh, I'm nervous, and I'm feening," I admitted as I battled with feeling uncomfortable, unable to keep my hands and arms still.
"Is there anything I can do," he asked helplessly.
I frowned and shook my head, refraining from elaborating further.
     It was a particularly warm day as summer was beginning to heat up, and I could feel sweat rolling down my back with each step we took on the campus. We were approaching an open courtyard filled with a dozen or so zombies walking in confused circles until the wind carried our scent to them. Their circles turned to bee lines toward the five of us in an instant. My first thought was protecting Grace, so I instructed Sophie to keep her distance and stay back.
     Caleb and Jackson both had knives on them to use as weapons, but as we've established, I had nothing. I scanned the area in hopes of finding something, anything, when Sophie got my attention, pointing to an abandoned tool bag by a nearby maintenance shed. I ran over to it while Caleb and Jackson distracted the group of zombies, killing them one by one while trying to avoid being bitten in the process.
     I dug around in the bag until I pulled out a hammer. When I turned back to go join them, one of the zombies had snuck up behind me, grabbing onto my shoulder. I panicked, trying to push it away until I was in a position to use the hammer. I finally found the opportunity to drive the curved end of the hammer into it's head when a second zombie came after me. The first zombie collapsed, and I tried to remove the hammer from it's skull. I struggled for several seconds, becoming overwhelmed with defeat.
"Seriously," I sighed to myself in annoyance before giving up my efforts to salvage the weapon.
     Caleb and Jackson had almost cleared the rest of the zombies with three remaining, including the one currently trying to kill me. I was running out of options, so I decided to see if the maintenance shed door was unlocked. Once I grabbed the handle and discovered that it was open, the zombie and I found our way into the dark, damp shed. I could no longer see the zombie because the door had shut behind it, eliminating any light from the sun. I knew it would still be able to find me despite the darkness because I was tripping and falling over numerous objects basically ringing the dinner bell for it.
     I continued to stumble over equipment and tools, blindly feeling of anything I could until I got my hands on what felt like a power drill. At that point I was banking on good faith and a charged battery to kill this zombie, so I plunged the drill bit towards the temple of it's head holding down the button and hoping for the best. To my surprise, the battery had a little bit of juice left and drilled straight into the zombie's brain as I put pressure behind it. It fell to the ground when I felt something crawl onto my hand from the drill. I screamed bloody murder, frantically shaking and wiping off the spider that'd found it's way onto my hand. Caleb and Jackson swung open the door afraid that I'd been bitten or hurt. I embarrassingly tried to catch my breath as the two of them hurried over to me.
"Did you get bit? Are you hurt," Caleb asked.
"Uh uh," I said shivering from feeling disgusted by such an intricate, tiny creature.
"Why did you scream," Jackson asked worriedly.
"It's nothing," I said brushing them off.
"Sammi," Jackson insisted.
"It was a spider, okay," I said displaying my disgust once more.
Jackson looked at Caleb as the two of them spouted out in laughter while I rolled my eyes irritably.
"It was gross," I said storming out back into the courtyard where Sophie and Grace awaited us.
They followed behind me still chuckling to themselves while I annoyingly walked away from the shed.
"Do you even know where you're going," Caleb asked playfully.
"Ugh, just get me away from that shed," I said stopping to wait on them to catch back up to me, crossing my arms.
They continued to laugh and mock my girly antics, and even Sophie snickered once she saw that I was okay. Caleb took another look at the brochure, and we began walking again. I knew we were getting close. My stomach was turning knots thinking about each possible scenario to entering this laboratory. There could be nothing left, no one. There could be more psychopaths waiting to kill us. But maybe, just maybe, there were still people here formulating some kind of cure for those like me. I didn't want to get my hopes up, but I couldn't help but feel optimistic for once.
I looked up from the ground in front of me to see a big brick and metal building ahead of us. This was the university's laboratory for infectious diseases and research. This was my last chance to see if there was a future for me. I stared up at it intimidated by the power it held just hoping we didn't lose Ryan, Lola, and Bailey on this journey for nothing. I hoped the people I sacrificed and killed along the way weren't at the expense of my own selfish protection without even receiving the prize needing to be won. I sighed deeply just continuing to close the gap between me and the answers I hoped I'd be given.
Once we reached the front of the laboratory, I glanced at everyone in the group before finding the courage to enter. I grabbed the handle of the door, pulling it towards me when I got a whiff of clean, refreshing air for the first time in a while. Inside there was a narrow hallway that led to a big secluded research area to the right with a space to the left that led to supply closets, a conference room, and computer rooms.
Before I could even begin making my way down the hallway I was met by a man who had just exited the room on the right. He was middle aged with graying brown hair and glasses. He looked well kept, and I couldn't help but become overwhelmed with excitement when I'd noticed he was wearing a white coat. His eyes grew wide when he realized he wasn't alone once he'd approached the end of the hallway. He stopped and looked at each of us before speaking.
"Um, hello. I don't believe I've met any of you before," he said.
"No, you haven't," I choked out.
"I suppose you've come here looking for something in particular. Is that right," he asked placing his hands in his coat pockets.
"Actually, yes. This is going to sound far fetched, but I'm hoping there is someone here who has started working on a cure for," I paused, looking around before shrugging my shoulders and gesturing my hands, "this."
He looked down before smacking his lips together.
"You wouldn't be the first person," he said with a hint of disdain.
"So you know how it ends, right," I asked, fishing for an ounce of sympathy.
He remained quiet while Caleb stepped up to speak.
"My sister was given the infection somewhere around a year ago. She doesn't have much time to waste. If there is anything," he began before the man interrupted.
"I'm sorry. I can't help you," he said before turning to walk away.
"That's it? You don't have anything," Caleb asked angrily.
"I've tried hundreds upon hundreds of combinations of formulas in treating this disease, every single person in the same predicament as your sister. I'm afraid my research is nearing the conclusion of being incurable."
My heart dropped thousands of feet beneath the earth's surface as I tried to let this prognosis sink into my mind. As I stood there facing this man, the world crashing around me, Grace began crying. I turned towards Sophie as she tried gently rocking her, but she only continued crying. Me too, Grace, me too. I held out my arms to grab her as the man started to walk down the hallway towards the supply closet.
"Come here, sweet pea. Mommy's got you," I said quietly while trying my best to hold back tears.
"Is that your daughter," he asked, immediately stopping once he'd heard me talk to Grace.
"Yes," I said with slight confusion as she began to stop crying from my gentle touch.
"How old is she?"
"About three months," I said rubbing her head softly.
"You were given the infection while you were pregnant?"
"Yes," I answered once again watching as his demeanor changed drastically.
"Come on," he said waving for us to follow him.
I turned to look at Jackson who seemed optimistic. We gave each other a glimpse of a smile while following behind him now walking in the other direction back towards the research area. He took hurried steps towards the entrance of his big lab while we tried to keep up. He opened the door, holding it for all of us to enter. Once we were inside, I saw another man who looked to be around my age with jet black hair, bright blue eyes, sleeve tattoos, and a septum piercing.
I'm not gonna lie, he was very good looking, but there was something about him that was off-putting. I just hadn't quite figured it out yet. I watched his body language once he saw me, and he seemed intrigued by my presence or maybe he pitied me like everyone else. I could feel myself blush as he smiled at me with his perfect, white teeth. Was he actually off-putting or was I trying to find a reason to avoid thinking about how attractive he was? I didn't know. Don't listen to me.
The man in the white coat made his way over to the attractive guy, introducing him to us.
"This is Gage. He's my assistant," he said as Gage shyly raised his hand to wave at us.
"Gage, this is our next trial patient," he said as he waited on me to say my name.
"Sammi."
"Sammi, I've never had anyone come here who received the injection while they were pregnant. This is incredible."
"So, what does that mean," Caleb asked.
"I think Sammi's daughter could be the key factor in creating a cure for her infection. Think about it, we give pregnant mothers vaccinations all the time to help protect them and their babies from potential diseases. The babies can respond in a variety of ways, one of those being producing antibodies to protect against the active diseases incorporated into the vaccination. I can take antibodies from her child to create a cure for this disease, but it would only be specific to her. It wouldn't work for anyone else," he said.
"But if this works, it could open up a new world for others in this position."
I was ecstatic. I'd never even thought that Grace could be the loophole to this infection in my body, but it made so much sense. This was exactly what I'd hoped would come out of this journey. For once, something was going according to plan. For once, I felt like I was being given a second chance, or third, or fiftieth.
"It's going to take a bit of time to gather my thoughts and really understand the steps I need to take, but I can at least start doing some preliminary studies and learn about you and your daughter's immune systems and how you are each responding to the injection," he said grabbing a clipboard.
"Can I get a blood sample from you," Gage asked.
I nodded before taking a seat in the gray chair positioned beside him.
He put a pair of gloves on before preparing to wrap a tourniquet around my arm. Once he got closer, I saw him staring at the needle marks on my arm from my struggle with ketamine and fentanyl. I was ashamed to admit that to him, but he questioned it. I had no choice but to share this battle with him.
"What happened there?"
"Um, I, I have an addiction to ketamine and fentanyl."
He laid the tourniquet down before turning to face the man, scientist, whatever he was considered.
"We'll need to wait until it's completely out of your system for the bloodwork portion of my research. That can take up to a month, but it's usually only a couple of weeks," the man said.
I looked down in embarrassment as Gage rubbed my shoulder trying to comfort me.
"It's not a big deal. We have a little bit of time to start planning out our next steps for curating this before we can accomplish anything anyways."
I fake smiled but was still humiliated that this addiction continued to wreak havoc in my life.
"So, what should we do in the meantime," Sophie asked as she gazed around the room.
"Well, Keith and I have been living in the dorms on the right side of campus since basically the beginning. We never stopped working after everything went down. People from all of the world have come here after disappointment from other research facilities, and unfortunately, we've been another dead end on their list of destinations. Some of them moved on, others stuck around in hopes that we'd have a breakthrough, and others have died while battling the infection. There's a set of dorms right up the sidewalk that no one is staying in. You all are welcome to stay there until we can get this thing going. How's that sound," Gage said warmly.
I looked at Caleb and Jackson who nodded agreeably.
"You said others have stuck around. Are they still here," Sophie asked.
"Some of them, yes. There is an apartment complex on the other side of campus where most of them live. Over time we've all kind of become a little community," Keith said.
"What does your stock of food look like," Caleb asked.
"Well, there is a dining hall in the middle of campus with leftovers from before, and the people that live here help keep the pantry stocked. You are welcome to anything, we just ask that you help out whenever you can," he said.
"Of course," Caleb said politely.
"Oh, and I forgot to mention that this campus runs off of solar panels and wind turbines, so you will have hot water and power in most areas except a few buildings."
We all cheerfully smiled, eager to relax for once.
"Let's plan to try and get blood work again in two weeks once the drugs are out of your system. I am eager to begin this process," he said confidently.
I nodded, and we all dismissed to find our next home within the dorms here.
     Shortly after, we were back outside in the warm, early summer air suddenly preparing a new life here on this college campus. We all found rooms close to each other on the second floor of the dormitory. Jackson and I were staying together with Grace, Caleb had his own room, and Sophie had her own; although, something told me that it may not stay that way for long with the vibes I was getting between the two of them.
While Jackson was checking out our room, I met Caleb in the hallway.
"So, I have a favor to ask," I said hesitantly while holding Grace.
"Yes," he said.
"You don't even know what I was going to ask," I said squinting my eyes in annoyance.
"You want me to watch Grace because you finally get alone time with Jackson," he said raising his eyebrows and folding his arms.
I squinted even harder before rolling my eyes.
"Actually, yes."
He held out his arms, taking Grace.
"You're the best," I said before smiling and hurrying to my room.
The dorm Jackson and I found had two twin beds on opposite sides of the room. We pushed them together to make one big bed, and I plopped on top of it, taking in a deep breath. He climbed on top of me playfully as I smiled up at him. He looked genuinely happy for the first time in quite a while. It was infectious.
"I love you," he said kissing me all over while he giggled at me jerking from being ticklish.
We both laughed.
"I love you," I said back.
"You heard him say hot water too, right," Jackson asked.
"Oh yeah," I said once he pulled me up off the bed, carrying me to the bathroom.
He sat my feet down on the cold tile floor before the two of us quickly undressed.
He reached in the shower to turn the water on, and soon enough we were both inside just letting the water embrace our bodies. It'd been a long time since I felt entirely clean and comfortable in my skin, but that was changing with this newly acquired living situation. I was hoping we'd be here for a while because I was getting tired of being a vagabond. I wanted to settle down with Jackson and the others and finally feel a sense of security. I wanted that so badly.
Once we'd freshened up in the shower, we began drying off with our soft towels. I wrapped mine around my body with my damp hair resting on my shoulders and the top of my back. He dried off with his and dropped it to the floor before walking up behind me. God, I was like a dog in heat. I just melted when he was close to me, touching me, kissing me.
As he stood behind me, he gently kissed my neck sending shivers up my spine and tingles through my stomach. He leaned up to whisper in my ear, "Get on the bed," and without hesitation, that's what I did.
He could cast a spell on me with his words and touch. Everything about him consumed me in a way that made me vulnerable to do anything he wanted from me. He could say jump, and I'd ask how high. So, I made my way to the bed after dropping my towel to the floor with him following quickly behind me. I couldn't tell you how long we were at it, but we migrated from the bed to the bathroom counter to the desk, and to the floor. I go weak in the knees just thinking about it.
I could get used to this.