London Harmony: Roctoberfest (8 page)

When we made it outside into the crisp October air, I moved my hand from her hip to around her shoulders when she leaned in for warmth.  She was such a  tiny thing, I bet she froze in like four seconds in the winter, there is no way she could store much heat in such a compact package.

I took a second to look at her clubbing gear.  She opted for almost all black including a black leather jacket.  She had that knit sleeve on again.  And she opted for some black sneakers instead of flats or low heels.  It was all purr worthy.

We walked up to her car.  A small yellow Prius C.  I had never really seen one of the compact Priuses before.  It was cute, like her.  She paused before she reached for the door.  “Want to take a walk?  Or do you want to drive around a bit?”

I saw her shiver.  “Its nippy out tonight, let's go for a drive?”  She grinned and hopped in and I heard the door unlock and slid in on the passenger side.  She hit the power button and we were soundlessly on our way.  As odd as it sounds, that was the first electric vehicle I had ever ridden in.

I wanted to hold her hand but as it was the only one she had available to drive with, I snagged a belt loop.  I caught a little quirk of a smile at the corner of her mouth when I did.  I tugged at the loop to let her know I had caught her.  Then her smile bloomed as she glanced over at me.  “I know it's weird, but I like it when you do that.”

I showed a toothy smile. “Me too.  Makes me feel connected.  Close... I don't know, I sound like a bloody git.”

She chuckled and shook her head.  “Not at all.”  Then she tilted her head in question as she watched the road.  “How do you do it?”

My brow furrowed.  “Do what?”

She shrugged. “Make me feel like a normal girl.  You somehow wormed your way around all my shields that took five years to construct.  You got me coming out in public.  You got... close... when I swore I'd never let anyone in.”

I tugged her belt loop.  “It was all you, not me.  You're easy to talk to... and hot.  I can't believe you want to associate with a schlub like me.”  I grinned then leaned toward her to touch shoulders for a moment.  Then in my best approximation of Mick's deeper voice I added, “And you are a normal girl.  You say you're not and you'll have me to contend with.”

She playfully shuddered.  “Wow, you do her voice well.  It has the same ummm... interesting  impact.”

She glanced at her right shoulder then the road and I yanked her belt loop hard.  “Hey!”

She scrunched up her nose at me cutely.  “Fine!”

I said as she pulled us into a car park with a view of the Thames. “So tell me more about your family.  From what I've seen of the diverse mix so far, it must be pretty brilliant.”

She turned to face me in her seat and she snagged one of my hands in hers, stroking my thumb with her own and I grabbed her opposite belt loop.  Good lord, I was lost in those dark orbs that seemed to want to pull me in and consume me.

She shrugged and said, “Not much to tell.  Mum and dad met in the Physicians Peace Initiative.  They were always flying off to some cause or another.  Since mum couldn't have children of their own, they decided to adopt.”

She smiled a little. “Back then, they were in Taiwan, working with setting up vaccination programs in smaller villages and helping to set up clean water supplies.  Mum says that when they were doing vaccinations in one of the orphanages, it was love at first sight.  She saw this baby girl and just knew they had found their first child.”

She shrugged her shoulders.  “Of course dad says having children of your own is addictive and you can't have just one.”  She chuckled a little.  “I think someone needs to teach him moderation, but mum is just as bad.”

She tilted her head and released my hand to run her hand along my braid.  “So three brothers and two sisters later from just about every impoverished country out there, and we have the most amazing family ever.”

I smiled at the thought.  Then she looked self-consciously at her right shoulder.  “They'd still be out there helping people if I hadn't been so stupid.”  She looked back at me and was silent. Mei looked to be making a hard decision, then she exhaled and nodded once to herself and then said, “After I had graduated, I split time between my band, Haunted Lullaby, and going on aid and peace missions with my parents.”

She sighed.  “That's how we ended up in Mozambique with a group clearing landmines for villages to plant farms.  It is where we found my baby sister Angie.  We hung around after the area was deemed clear while my parents worked on the adoption.  I can't tell you just how adorable my soon to be sister was, the perfect baby girl.”

Her eyes seemed to cloud and her face looked as if she were tasting something bitter as the memories swirled around her.  “I was in the new fields where they were planting cowpeas, playing football with some children.  The ball rolled off and a boy, Jelani, and I went running after it.  I still remember his triumphant smile as he got the ball first as I reached out to grab it.  Then the world blew up.”

A single tear rolled down her cheek.  I wiped it away with my thumb and I cupped her cheek.  She was still in another world as her haunted voice continued.  I felt like someone had grabbed my heart and was crushing it at the despondent tone in her voice.  “He died in front of my eyes before I could understand what was happening as I was blown back away from him.  A mine had been missed in the sweeps.  His body protected me from the brunt of the explosion and shrapnel.  But my arm was still torn away from my body and I almost lost my leg.  I still hide the other scars on my left arm.”

She leaned into my hand and closed her eyes, more tears flowed from her and me. “He was just a little boy.  Not even ten, and he's gone.  He's gone and I'm still here.  How is that remotely fair?  He hadn't even started to live yet.”

She looked a little angry as she said, “That same mine, took my parent's life away, they stopped going out on peace missions as I went through recovery.  They stopped practicing medicine to care for me.  It wasn't until months later when I realized that I had died that day too when I was moved back in with my parents after I was released from the hospital.  Beside my bed at home, was my guitar.”

She shook her head. “Music was the other half of my life, and I just stared at the guitar in one hand and it may as well have been a rock.  In one instant, the landmine has stolen four lives.”  She inhaled shakily.  “I think I may have done something drastic if it weren't for my brothers and sisters.  They didn't seem to care I was damaged, useless.  They loved me unconditionally.  They helped me chase the darkness away.  My brother took over in my band and I was on the sidelines, looking into a life that had once been mine.”

She looked at her hand and flexed it then smiled.  “But after stumbling upon a video online of an ex-military street performer playing some old seventies rock on an electric guitar with one hand.  I had hope that one day I could get my music back.  I researched the man and found that there was a playing style called finger style that was designed specifically for people with the use of only one hand.”

She grabbed my hand with hers again and compared the size of her delicate hand with long, graceful fingers, to my big bear paws.  A small smile creeped its way back onto her face and her eyes started to twinkle again as she laced our fingers. “Over the past four and a half years I found my music again.  I'm nowhere near my old skill level, but I can make music for my younger siblings.  It kind of gave me a small measure of hope again, seeing their little smiles as Robbie and I play for them.”

I had to blink a couple of times then sputtered out, “Nowhere near your old skill level?  You were bloody brilliant behind the stage!”

She blushed and said, “Still not good enough.  Maybe one day.”  I went to tell her just how good she was when she shut me up with a kiss.  We broke apart for a second and she giggled. “I go through all this effort to get you alone for my own nefarious purposes and you want to spend the time talking instead of...”

She kissed me again, her tongue brushing my lower lip, coaxing me, asking permission to explore.  I sighed into the kiss and allowed her in, where she took control of me, gently probing.  She did have a persuasive argument there.  I surrendered to her and I found myself party to one of the most arousing, erotic, snogging sessions I could ever imagine.

It was all a happy haze, at some point we had made it to the Flotilla and she had me down to my knickers and bra on my bed.  She made a woman of me a couple times already and I tried to turn the tables and take control and give as well as I got.

She would let me run my hands over her tight little body over her clothes, and I even made her climax once with my leg pressing between her legs.  But she would push my hands away any time I tried to get them under her clothing or take her clothes off.

She would reassert control and make it so very hard for me to think of anything but the pleasure.  She started sliding my knickers down my legs as she licked her lips seductively and I reached for the buttons on her jeans and she again pushed my hands away and started kissing down my belly. 
Fucking A woman!
  I growled and backed off.

She pulled back and looked at me from where she straddled me, a hurt expression on her face.  I snapped at her, “Bloody hell woman.  You're making me feel like a pillow princess here.  I can't be that for anyone.  I want to give pleasure too!  God, I sound like a muppet.  Most girls would kill to let a hottie like you own them.  But I want to show you what you do to me and you won't let me.  If you let me, then I'd be your bottom anytime.”

She whispered in the broken voice of a little girl.  “I... can't.”  I reached slowly forward and gently grabbed the bottom hem of her shirt.  I paused and dipped my head to look into her eyes in question.  I heard her take a deep breath then she closed her eyes and nodded.  I slowly pulled the shirt over her head, exposing the creamy skin I sought.  I bit my lower lip in want as I reached out.

I looked down at Kacy.  My heart was about to beat out of my chest.  How did I get into this position?  How did she make her way past every defense I had?  God, she was beautiful.  I was really letting her see my shame.  She bit her bottom lip which just warmed me in all the right places.

Then she reached out and I pulled back.  She gave me a reprimanding look and I froze and nodded once.  Then her hot hands were on me.  The look on her face wasn't that of revulsion or pity, it was a look of reverence, of worship, of wonder.

I shivered as she ran one hand down my left side, and one along the ragged scars of my right.  I flinched but noted she didn't.  She leaned up and kissed me softly between my cleavage then blew on the wet kiss, causing goose-flesh to spread across my entire body, making me shiver with delight.

I refocused on her, she had been talking.  I tilted my head in question, I could feel the heat on my face.  She repeated in a hoarse voice, “Too many clothes.”  There was hunger in that voice.  I smiled at her as her hands slid around my back and worked at my bra clasp.  I agreed and we started tearing at what little clothing remained on us.  I gleeped in joy as she flipped us like I weighed nothing to her and she was on top, pulling my jeans from my legs.

I had only had two lovers in my life.  Terrance Gregory back in secondary school.  I felt so underwhelmed when we snuck away into his mother's greenhouse.  I lost my virginity to him, but I didn't feel the passion I though I should.  It wasn't until the following year when I met Julie that I found out why it lacked passion.  Men were not my thing as Julie demonstrated again and again.

We had broken up the year of the accident.  She couldn't handle all the extended periods I was away on peace missions with my parents.  It was a civil breakup and I still think of her from time to time, whenever I feel alone.

I looked at the tall woman who was making it her sacred duty to touch every inch of my body with awe in her eyes.  Miscellaneous shrapnel scars and all.  I smiled at the fact that I hadn't felt alone since the moment I met her.  To some, she may not be classically beautiful, but to me, she did something I liked a lot every time I looked at her.  I wanted to possess her and be possessed.  Her smile owned me, how else did I explain that she is the first person to see me unclothed since after the accident?

She had this certain look I can't explain, a cuteness that coupled with that smile that was just so... perfect to me.  She got my motor running with just...  my mind fogged over and all thoughts were replaced with heat and passion as her talented mouth reached her intended target below.

I had never made love like that before.  She brought me places I never knew existed and she was punishing me for not allowing her to please me.  She complained about not wanting to be a pillow princess, but she was certainly trying her best to make me one.  I growled, I just couldn't have that.  I turned the tables and straddled her.  Panting and sweating.  I whispered to her because I had no voice at the time, “Buckle up for round three Kace.”

When we collapsed in each others arms an hour later, I smiled at the look of through satisfaction on her face and whispered to her in amazement, “Who are you?”

She pulled me to her and her eyes looked to be watering as she just shrugged and whispered back, “Yours.”

Wow.  I liked that answer more than I would care to admit.  I snuggled in and we drifted off into a pleasant sleep.  I heart me some Kacy.

***

I was torn between laying on the ground looking at the bloody mess where my right arm used to be, or by a voice I was getting addicted to saying my name.  “Mei.  Mei, wake up, you're dreaming.”  I opened my eyes and I was laying on my side looking into brown eyes so deep it would take years to find their depths.  Her face was creased in concern and I just laid my hand on her cheek then smiled reassuringly and snuggled in.

I whispered, “It was only a nightmare.  But you're here and it is all better now.”  She pulled me to her and I buried my face in the crook of her neck and inhaled her scent deeply.  Oooo there was a bare neck just right there for the taking.  I was no fool, so I went to work marking my territory and she squeaked and curled her toes.

She giggled as I checked the mark I left for size and color consistency.  I pulled back and grinned at her.  I felt like a bloody schoolgirl around her.  Everything was new again.

She smiled and kissed the scars on my right shoulder and sat up.  She gave me a demure look.  “Help a girl pack?”  Then she paused and sniffed and crinkled her nose.  “After we wash the smell of sex off ourselves.”

I reached down under the covers and found my target between her hot thighs and said playfully, “In a minute, can't you see I'm working here?”  Her silence was all the agreement I needed as I headed under the covers.  Mmmm... now let's see what mischief I can get into.

Soon we wound up giggling in the shower as we washed each others backs.  For some reason, I found that simple act more intimate than anything we had done prior.  It was a proprietary thing that you did for your lover, and only for her.

She paused and then ran a washcloth along the scars on my side in silence.  I felt so naked.  Well aside from being naked.  She moved slowly down then turned me and looked me in the eyes and she smiled.  If there was any revulsion there, I didn't see it and I was glad we were under running water so I could hide my tears.

We got dressed and then combed out each others hair.  Her braid the prior day was driving me wild, but I think I liked it fanned out over her shoulders just as much.  I had thought she was joking about having four boxes worth of belongings.

But when she pulled out four boxes and we packed everything into them I had to ask.  “Why so little?”

She crinkled her nose and thought a moment.  “It is a trick a friend taught me. He was in the foster care system his entire life, and he had learned that the golden rule was never to have more than can be put in the boot of a car.  Since you never know when you will be moved next.”

She shrugged.  “The same goes for a runaway.  I never knew who's floor I'd be crashing on next.  It was easier to travel light.”  Why did I find that sad?

I thought about growing up without my family, they were my anchor, the one good thing in my life.  I couldn't imagine them not being there.  I voiced that, “It must have been lonely living without your family.”

She stood up tall with a smile on her face.  I had to crook my neck up to look at her.  Is it wrong that I found her height sexy?  She shook her head. “Who said I was without family?  Carol, Darin, and  Michaela are my family.  In all but blood.  They love me and I love them, that's what real family is.”

I smiled at that and then contemplated it for a moment.  In all but blood?  That was just like me.  I looked up into her twinkling eyes and crooked a finger at her, asking her to come on down to where the air was thicker down at sea level.  She bent and I gave her a feather light kiss.

We looked around at the empty cabin and I asked offhandedly.  “You ever wonder about them though?  Your parents and your brother?  I mean, they were your family for over half your life.”

I felt like I was prying, but I wanted to understand her better.  She was silent for a bit and then she said, “Sometimes.  Not my parents so much.  They were supposed to love me unconditionally, but they showed beyond a doubt that that isn't true.  But my little brother... I often wonder how Michael turned out.  I hope he got over his hate and bigotry.  I think it was just a reflection of my parents own vitriol.  I mean, how can you love someone one moment, then suddenly hate them because of one tiny aspect of their life?  My sexuality does not define me.”

I couldn't imagine how I'd handle it if my family ever turned on me.  My life would be over.  I love all my little snot nosed siblings. 
Well, most of them are bigger than me now but you get the point.

She reached out and knocked me out of my thoughts by grabbing my belt loop on my jeans.  I don't exactly know why, but I love it when she does that.  It is like she is holding my hand, like it is just a normal thing to do.

Then we both jumped at a knocking at the door.  We exchanged a smile and opened the door to a smiling Mick.  That woman scares the hell out of me, but she has a certain vibe about her.  When she isn't making you want to drop your knickers, she seems... I don't know.  Fierce?  Like if you are lucky enough for her to consider you one of her friends, then you have a friend for life that you can depend on.

She said to my girl, “Got bored. Thought we'd help you pack and move.  I'm beyond curious to see this studio of yours.”  Then she looked at me and winked.  I blushed.  None of her friends seems to give a rat's ass about my arm and I really like that.

She pulled back a bit and a grinning Animal and Carol showed their faces.  Kacy grinned like the cat who ate the canary and said as she motioned to the four boxes by the door.  “Done and done.”

Mick backhanded Darin in the gut and said playfully, “See?  I told you we should have come sooner.  Our Kace isn't one to let moss grow on her.”

Animal comically picked her up by the waist and moved her to the side and stepped into the cabin.  He kissed Kacy's cheek and actually patted the top of my head as he moved past.  He grabbed a couple of the boxes then grinned a toothy grin.  “Don't listen to her.  She's the reason we're late.”

Kacy shook her head with a smile and said, “Late?  I didn't even know you were coming.”  He shrugged and stepped out.  The other two women streamed in.  Caroline gave us each a hug, she was such a cute person, I swear she tries to make sure everyone is happy all the time.

Then Mick looked at us expectantly, both arms wide.  “Where's my sugar?”  Then she captured us both in a silly side to side hug.  “Ahhhh... that's the ticket.”  Then she slapped Carol's shoulder as the blonde attempted to grab a box.  “Gossip with the two glowing ones, I got the boxes.  I know what they were up to last night.”

Oh bloody hell, could I possibly blush any more?  My girl looked to be in the same boat as me, and the blush looked wonderful on her as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.  Mick winked at us as she carried the two boxes off.  One must have weighed half of what I did, but she hauled them around like they were full of feathers.

Caroline just stood there with her tongue in her cheek, a self-satisfied smile on her face.  Kace just said, “Oh shut up woman.”

Then Caroline said, “I guess this means I'm really going to have to ask Ian out then.  I can't be the odd man out now can I?”

Kace shook her head. “Stop talking about it and just do it already Carol.”

The blonde waved her off.  “Fine, if I must.”

Then she looked around and did a crooked nose scrunch.  “You're already set?  You really need to think about actually owning something one day Kacy.”  There was a sad tone in her voice.

My new girlfriend chirped out, “I own my drums.  Well... after two more payments at Broken Note.”  She tugged at my belt loop.

Carol looked at my hip then at me with a grin.  Then looked up at the brown eyed cutie in the room. And retorted with, “Cradle robber.”  I squinted at that, we were the same age.  Then I remembered what Kace had said about her band mates not knowing her age.  They thought she was in her late twenties like they were.  I shoved Caroline's shoulder playfully and we all chuckled.

Then Kace looked around and sobered suddenly.  She looked at the tiny counter of the kitchenette and she signed the exit papers sitting there and left her key on top of them.  She led us to the door.  “I think I'm really going to miss this place.  As sad as it sounds, it was the adventure of my life living here on the water.”

We stepped out onto the deck and she locked the door to her cabin one final time.  Then she brightened. “I have my own flat.”  Then her look turned silly.  “With no bloody furniture.  I think I need to go shopping for at least a futon or something before we need to be back at Jubilee Gardens tonight.”

I bit my lower lip, squinted an eye, and said,  “I... have the furniture from my place before I moved back in with the folks after...”  I couldn't say it so I just continued, “It's stored in our garage.  You're welcome to any of it.  Wouldn't take much, your studio is teeny tiny.”

Her smile bloomed and she asked with humor tinging her voice, “Take me to meet the parents?”

I suppressed a chuckle and bumped my side into her and sputtered, “No it's... I...”  I exhaled.  “Do you want furniture or not you wanker?”

She nodded cutely.  I don't know why, but her imposing height just made the gesture almost... adorable?  Vulnerable?

She balanced herself on the edge of the gangplank and looked back over the five barges that were all lashed together, then let out a breath and we walked down to where Animal and Mick were organizing the truck.

I did a double take when I looked back.  On the top of the barge marked Tennessee, at what I think they called a pilothouse, was Paya Doshi, hugging her ever-present iPad to her chest. She had a look a proud mother would have, seeing her child off to Uni or to her own flat.  I took a moment to realize that the woman was born for the position, Tabitha Romanov could not have picked a better person to head up the project.

Kace detached from me and stepped up to Mick and pursed her lips and squinted an eye.  “Can I borrow you and your truck after we drop my junk at my flat?  Mei says she has some furniture I can use at her place.  I can pay in Franco's pizza.”