I barely remember the drive to the hospital, and found my way up to the intensive care unit. Miley was in a waiting room with another woman, who was in the midst of what I can only term hysterical weeping. "Demetria," Miley said when I walked in, with Jessica sobbing into her shoulder. She looked helpless, and I fought down an odd urge to laugh out loud. "I'm here, I'm here," I said sourly. "Where is she?" "She's using the bathroom," a new voice said from close behind me, and I turned around to look directly into a pair of large brown eyes. The eyes were framed by dark brown locks that fell around a delicate, narrow face. She wore a faded blue button-up shirt and a denim skirt - the sort of clothes you throw on when you leave a hotel room in a hurry. "I'm guessing you're Jennel," I held out my hand. "I know you're Demi," she greeted me, shaking my hand firmly. "I've heard a lot about you." "You have?" I asked in surprise, with a sinking feeling that I might have wasted my time coming all the way down here. "Uh oh." She smiled a smile that said she would have laughed if her mother weren't in the hospital. "No, don't worry, mostly from Ellie. We talked almost every day." "Really." My voice was fairly ungracious, I suppose - I wondered why Eleanor had never bothered to mention her to me.
"You meant a lot to her - I saw you at the service yesterday, but Mom didn't want anyone to talk to you." I felt my forehead wrinkling. "You're not lobbying very well for me to go in there." She smiled that smile again. "I'll bet." She looked past me at Miley "How's she doing?" I turned as well. Jessica was still sobbing. Miley glanced at her, then back up at us. The helpless confusion on her face was priceless. I would have laughed, if it weren't...whatever. "All right, fine, fine, fine," I growled. "Let's just get this over with."
My hands slid across her ribs, exploring smooth, creamy skin, feeling the shudders in her stomach. I found the tiny stud in her navel, and moaned as she sucked my tongue when I touched it.
She gasped, pulling her mouth free and leaning her head back as my hands slid up, finding the edges of a simple bra. I nuzzled her throat, rubbing my cheek against her skin as I traced little circles all over her torso with my fingertips. She clutched the wall, her legs still pinned open and up by mine.
I panted into her neck as I tried to squeeze my hands behind her to undo the bra clasp, but her back was wedged too tightly against the wall.
I couldn't wait, though. My hands tried to tug her shirt up as I licked her collarbone. Her whimpers were exciting me again to the point where I nearly ripped her shirt open.
Then my concentration snapped as I felt her hands slide up the back of my thighs and under the hem of my dress to cup my bare buttocks. She squeezed, massaged with hands that held a noticeable tremble, and then she pulled me up against her. We both moaned loudly as our pelvises ground together, and I would bet that both of us had the exact same thought - were it not for her skirt having fallen back down, my pussy would have just touched hers.
I leaned up to kiss her again, my hands on her arms as she held me against her, our bodies pressed close, and as I let my arms slide up around her neck, our kiss deepened and slowed.
The tiny closet was now very hot thanks to us, and our heated bodies were pressed so close together that the raw lust seemed for some reason to melt a bit, turning from a raging current to a slow, liquid heat like running molasses.
I released her hair with one hand to work it back down between our hips. It was time.
A pair of very bleary red eyes looked at me in disbelief. "What are you doing here?" "Good to see you too, Tammy," I said dryly, closing the door. Jennel seemed surprised as I closed her out of the room as well, but I guess something in my expression told her that she didn't need to worry. She really didn't, either - if I were just going to kill her, I would have done it before now. "Who let you in here?" "Eleanor put me on the approved visitors list for both of you - don't ask me why." Tammy glared at me, walking a bit unsteadily back to her hospital bed. "Why did you come?" "Miley called me." "What does she have to do with this?" "Jessica called her - Miley drove her back to her hotel, so I guess her number is the only one Jessica had." Tammy snorted. "Fine. You're here. Congratulations, you got to see me fall apart. Now get out." "Oh, shut up," I said wearily. "I'm here because Eleanor would have wanted someone to take care of you - and since you were clever enough to alienate her entire family..." "I don't need to be judged by you, you smart-ass little -" "Tammy." My voice was flat. "I'm here. You're in the hospital. You need to stay here. Jennel says that the doctors think you had a heart attack." "It wasn't a heart attack," she said scornfully, pulling the sheet over herself. "It was a fainting spell." "What is this, merry old Windsor? You dropped like a rock at a restaurant right after burying Ellie. What did you think you fainted from, fear of seeing her ghost?" "Don't talk to me about Eleanor," she snarled, but I cut her off again.
