Never Let Me Go (Derek Hale Fanfiction Book #3)

Chapter Eighteen: Handle With Care

                                   My alarm went off at eight a.m. the next morning, much to my disgust. It’s frickin vacation and I should be able to sleep in! But since I was still withholding my pregnancy from the rest of the family, I was more or less forced into running with my mom, who told me to meet her in the kitchen at eight-thirty. Ugh.

“What was that?” Derek groaned throatily, his eyes not even opening as he rested his face on the top of my head and tightened the arms that were wrapped tightly around me, securing me in the cocoon of his embrace. His skin was unusually warm, even for him, and the heat radiating off of him helped with my incessant chattering, which had kept me (and consequently, Derek) up for half the night. My body wasn’t used to the chillier Ohio air, and I hadn’t packed anything warm enough to protect me over night. As I wriggled out of my fiancé’s vice and tripped to the bathroom, I was sporting a t-shirt, underneath one of my sweatshirts, underneath one of Derek’s sweatshirts, and a pair of sweatpants and my Uggs. Yes, I’d went to bed with my Uggs on.

“Just my alarm.” 

                                    “Why the hell are you up so early?” Derek moaned from the bed when I returned from my trip to the hallway bathroom, his bare chest capturing my attention as I twisted my hair up into a fresher bun, stripped off my two sweatshirts, and slapped my cold cheeks to help my brain wake up at such an ungodly hour. Yikes. My normally tan-ish skin was white as a sheet, and my lips were tinged blue underneath the dried and cracking pink skin, I saw as I peeked into the mirror that hung above the dresser above Erica’s bed. Shrugging at my pitiful appearance, I skipped over to the bed and jumped on top of Derek, clutching his head in my hands as a surge of intense passionate emotions came over me. He seemed pleasantly surprised at the urgency of my kiss, as I attempted to convey the extent of my feelings for him in the movement of my lips. I never wanted to let go of Derek; having him here, beside me in bed, holding onto me all night made me realize that there was nothing else I could ever want out of life. When I’d texted Derek late last night, telling him I was freezing cold and couldn’t fall asleep, he’d snuck into the girls’ room and crawled into bed with me, offering me his sweatshirt and rubbing up and down my arms to help me warm up. It didn’t hurt that his body temperature was insanely high as well, and with him coiled around me, I’d finally managed to stop shaking from the icy tremors that had rocked through me. The way he’d taken care of me, in a way that I’d never noticed before...I loved him more, all of a sudden. If that’s even possible.

                              “Derek?” I whispered into his ear, humming with pleasure as his warm, thick fingers danced across my now-exposed skin, massaging and rubbing and stroking my back, arms, and waist. I felt him nod above my head, and I lifted my chin to rest on his chest as I peered up at him. 

“I want to marry you.”

“I know; I want to marry you, too. That’s kind of the point of this thing, you know?” Derek chuckled, lifting my left hand to point at the engagement ring on my finger. Stealing out of his grasp, I propped myself up higher on his chest so I could stare into Derek’s enigmatic hazel-green eyes, which managed to express everything he was feeling to me and only me. When we were around others, he was as closed off as a deactivated iPhone.

“No, Derek - I want to marry you now. Like right now.”

“Are you serious?” Derek hissed in hushed disbelief, sitting up and pulling me closer, further onto his lap. I nodded, the excitement rushing through me as the honesty behind my words rang true in every cell of my being. I wanted to marry Derek; I wanted to be his wife. But more importantly, I wanted him to be my husband. I never wanted to wonder if we were going to get into a huge fight and one of us was going to call off the wedding and break our engagement. I never wanted to wonder if we were drifting apart. I never wanted to wonder where Derek was, or who he was with, or if he was in danger. I never wanted to fear that I was going to lose him. I never wanted to let Derek go.