And Back Again

Chapter 1

"Z?" Angel asked, out of breath. "Are you okay?" Gently he rolled her over to see her face was red with beads of sweat glistening on her forehead.

"Aside from the clump of hair you pulled out and the bruising that's likely to form, I'm fine." She said, looking at the deep red line across her lower abdomen from his forceful thrusts pushing her hard into the footboard.

"Sorry," Angel complained, kicking his boots off and yanking his jeans from his ankles.

Zara crawled back into their bed and grabbed her phone from the nightstand. She checked the time to see it was a quarter after two in the morning. "You okay? I mean, I know you're not. What's wrong?"

Angel shook his head. "Just a bad fucking run. Did I really hurt you?"

"Oh baby," she said softly, "You take it out on me anytime. You need to work out that aggravation and I'd be lying if I said a good rough fuck isn't fun sometimes."

Smirking, although somewhat sadly, Angel kissed her. "I love you."

"You better," she yawned. "What happened?"

"Shitty weather, then Creeper went down, the truck got a flat and traffic sucked the whole way back," he complained. "Besides, I don't like leaving you here alone on the long ones, I hate you sleeping by yourself."

"I slept here alone for years before you moved in," she reminded him. "I'm okay and I'm capable."

"It's gonna be another couple years before you let me put any of my shit up," he said jokingly.

"Whatever. Go shower, you stink," she complained.

"You're all sweaty," he told her as he stripped the rest of his clothes off. "You need a shower too."

With her hair still damp from her shower before bed, Zara got up and started the water in the en-suite bathroom. "Yeah, it's been a while."

After the shower, and round two, neither Angel nor Zara were ready to sleep. They both pulled on underwear and white undershirts and went into the middle bedroom. It was once strictly her art room but since Angel moved in it became more than just that. The two of them turned it into somewhat of a hangout area as well as a studio, just for the two of them.

"Creep okay?" Zara asked as Angel pulled two beers from the wine fridge.

"Yeah, scratched up but fine," he shrugged. "You talk to your mom? Ask her about Christmas?"

Zara looked away shamefully.

"Z, come on," he chided. "It's been six months since that shit went down, I been living here for almost four. You gotta talk to her."

"We talk," she said defensively.

"You know what I mean," he groaned. "Did you ever thank her for this wine thing?"

"Yes," she laughed. "I told her we kept beer and liquor in it and she said she knew we would but it's classier than a mini fridge."

"I love Holly," Angel laughed.

"And she loves you," Zara rolled her eyes. "You two should run off together."

"I'm good," he said, looking at her lovingly. "There's no one I want to be with more than you."

"You're sweet," she said, yawning, "But I'm ready to go to bed."

"Go," he sighed, "I'll be in soon."

On her way out the door she stopped and kissed his cheek. "I'm glad you're home."

"Yeah me too," he agreed. "Good night."