Rough Around the Edges (40 page)

Her climax hit her with a shudder and a hitching breath, snapping him out of his thoughts of the future. As her channel shrank around his cock, he thrust hard and slipped a hand between her thighs. Her clit was swollen, hot. He drew his thumb across it, then began a circular massage.

It was like magic – she tensed on top of him, breathed harder and squeezed her eyes shut. He kept his open, not wanting to miss a second of it. Some part of his mind urged him to memorize the moment in detail, to hold onto it and save it for when he’d miss her, for when she was gone.

But that was stupid. She wasn’t going anywhere. He ignored the urge but noted everything about the moment anyway – not because he was going to lose her, but because it was a memory worth keeping.

When she opened her eyes, their gazes locked. Hardly a second passed before she squeezed him internally, the walls of her pussy drawing tight around his cock, half a moment of heat and pressure sending him careening over the edge.

He groaned as his climax crashed down on him, such a rush of fierce pleasure that it felt more like being pulled under a wave and overtaken than anything else. “Fuck.” The friction created by the slide of his dick against her inner walls sent heat rippling through his entire body, permeating every hot muscle.

She sighed too, still squeezing him, still bearing down on him so that he came deep inside her. When the intensity ebbed he remained buried to the root anyway. She was still straddling him, sitting upright, but they were fitted so snugly together that he could feel her heartbeat, or maybe it was only his own pulse echoing throughout his entire body and ringing in his ears.

She slid off of him and curled on the mattress at his side. They lay there like that for a long time and didn’t say a word. Nothing needed to be said. The first true moments of peace they’d had in a week hung in the air – something sensed, almost tangible. It weighed down on his chest, but it was a good weight, one that reminded him his heart was still beating along with hers.

After a while of simply breathing and existing beside her – something he couldn’t bring himself to take for granted – he helped her dress. With an arm in a sling, she’d stopped wearing bras around the apartment. She’d said they were more trouble than they were worth if she wasn’t going out, and he hadn’t put up much of an argument. When she turned to face him, fully dressed, her black t-shirt clung to her curves, showcasing her breasts and nipples, which were still hard.

He stared as real life crowded his mind again, dispelling the lazy satisfaction sex had left him with.
“My parents called when you were in the shower this morning.” She’d looked so gorgeous, so tempting that when he’d walked into the room to tell her, he’d forgotten. “They mailed plane tickets. Sent them via overnight express. They’ll be here tomorrow.”

Ally held his gaze. “When is our flight?”

“Four days from now. I told them we’d need a little time to tie up loose ends.”

Four days wasn’t much, but that would be for the best. Manny’s funeral had already taken place and Maria was staying with a family member in another county, away from Baltimore. After all Ally had been through … there was only so much closure a person could take. After that, lingering in hurtful places was risking more damage. Instinct told him it would be best to move on quickly, so he hadn’t protested when his mother had chosen such a close flight.

Ally simply nodded.

“On one of those days, I’d like you to come with me to Quantico.” He knew she’d agree – she was selfless like that – but he couldn’t help but tense up inside anyway, bracing himself against hearing the suggestion repeated back.

“Quantico?”

It didn’t sound quite as strange on her lips as it felt on his. “I’m going to take my Marine Corps friend up on his offer before we leave. It might be my last chance to see him for a while.”

It would be right and – just maybe – it would be good for him. In any case, it would be wrong to leave without saying goodbye to someone he’d been to hell and back with.

“Are you sure you want me to come?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” He couldn’t help but grin. “At least if you come along, it’ll look like I’ve accomplished something during the past year.”

She returned the expression, and it was nice to see happiness reflected on her face, even if it was teasing. “Some trophy girlfriend I’ll make with my arm in this sling.”

He shrugged and lifted his injured arm. “We match.”

“Yeah, we match like a pair of cracked salt and pepper shakers match.”

“I’ll take that. It makes me look a little less pathetic.” A lot less, actually. Ally was gorgeous enough to distract anyone from the fact that he had nothing else to brag about.

Eyes suddenly serious, she leaned against him, wrapping an arm around his waist. “Are you sure you want to return to New York?”

“Absolutely sure. The shooting, Manny and everything really put things into perspective. Keeping you safe is a lot more important than my pride. Besides, I’m going to pay my parents back for the moving expenses. And I’ll accept a job, but I’ll work for my paychecks, too. It’s not like I’ll be living off their charity.”

It wouldn’t be that bad, really. It would be a hell of a lot better than staying in Baltimore and spending every night and day scared to death that Ally would be hurt again.

She wrapped her arm more tightly around him. “I spoke to mamá this morning. She wants to stay in Frederick County with my uncle.”

“Is she sure? Because if she wants to come to New York, I’ll make it happen. She won’t be alone and she won’t have to struggle.”

“She doesn’t want to move that far away. If she did, she wouldn’t be able to visit my father.” Ally’s voice softened, but she continued to embrace him.

“Well, it’s her choice. Maybe when your father finishes his sentence, they’ll consider moving to New York together. Seems like they both could use a fresh start.”

It was too bad that moving to New York meant being close to only his parents, who he didn’t – couldn’t – appreciate in the way she appreciated hers. He was determined to live in peace with his family, but it seemed like a waste that he’d be keeping his mother and father at an arm’s length while Ally missed hers.

“Maybe.” Ally took a quiet breath and held it, exhaling softly against his chest. “So you’re sure about all of this. Really sure?”

“I used to have nightmares every night about Afghanistan. Dreams where I was still out in the desert, stuck in a mission that wouldn’t end until the Humvee I was riding in drove into the range of some shitty but bizarrely effective homemade bomb. And I’d know it was coming, but I wouldn’t be able to stop it.

“Other times I’d dream that I was going back to be a part of the Marine Corps again, to put my uniform back on and return to the desert to do it all over again. Part of me would be terrified and another part of me would be so fucking glad I couldn’t stand it, because maybe if I could go back I could redeem myself, be a part of something again and stop my life from coming to a standstill where all I did was hurt and wait for it all to be over. But you know what I’ve been dreaming about for the past week?”

He could feel his pulse jumping in his throat as he held her gaze, his heart driven by the hint of adrenaline that had entered his veins, courtesy of the remembered nightmares.

“What?”

“You being shot. Me losing you. It all ending just after you came into my life and lit up all the dark corners, making me feel like maybe I didn’t fuck up so bad after all. Or at least, if I did, I could get over it, and there was more to life than being angry and empty and bored with the whole damn world.”

The new nightmares were even worse than the old ones. He could live without the Marine Corps, with being shortchanged by a bomb – he’d done it for a year already. But live without Ally? No. The idea made him feel hollow, deprived.

“I dream about losing you because that’s become my worst fear, because even when I’m asleep my brain doesn’t stop trying to work out a way to keep it from happening. So yeah, I’m sure I want you to come to New York with me. I’m sure I want to live with you. I want to be with you more than I want anything, and I’m not afraid to admit it.”

She sighed something that sounded a lot like his name, her eyes still locked with his. “Then I’m not afraid to go with you.”

* * * * *

“Feltz.” It had been forever, but all of a sudden, it didn’t feel like it.

“Moore.” Feltz flashed a huge grin from his seat at the bar, whirling on the stool to face Ryan and Ally. “Thought you were never gonna make it over here. I could’ve come to Baltimore, you know. Wouldn’t have minded the drive.”

A stab of mingled amusement and alarm crackled through Ryan like electricity. There were reasons why he’d come to Quantico. One of them being that Baltimore wasn’t his to call home or show off. It never had been. “Are you kidding? I guess you don’t have that shitty old Shadow anymore. Did it finally disintegrate into a pile of rust flakes?”

A year ago, Feltz had still owned his infamous rustbucket. More than a few of the guys in their unit had had a running bet on when and how it would finally expire. Standing there watching Feltz’ grin stretch even wider, Ryan wondered, for the first time in a year, who’d won the bet.

“Nah, I left the shitmobile behind in North Carolina. Upgraded to something made this century. Traded it in at a dealership. Got about two hundred bucks for it, too.”

“Wow. The dealer must’ve been feeling generous.”

So no one had won the shitmobile bet pool, then – no one in the unit would’ve put money on Feltz willingly giving it up.

“I don’t care what anyone says – it was a damn good car. But yeah, new state, new base – new ride. I’m a changed man. What about you?”

“I’ll be out of state in a few days, but I’ve still got my Mustang.”

“Oh, you mean the Super Snake? Yeah, I bet you still have that monster. Is that how you impressed her into going out with you?” He shifted his gaze to Ally. His eyes glittered when he looked at her, and his grin stayed so wide his face had to be hurting.

“Ally,” Ryan said, drawing the arm he had around her waist a little tighter, “this is Feltz, a good friend from my old unit.”

“Nice to meet you.” Ally extended her good hand and shook Feltz’.

“Why don’t we get a table?” Feltz said, rising and abandoning his empty beer glass at the bar.

A hostess led them to a booth in one corner, and Ryan settled into the bench seat. It was nice to be able to feel Ally against his side, to drape his arm around her shoulders. Her warmth kept him grounded – not that he really needed that, like he’d feared he would.

Feltz’ hair was still cut in a classic high and tight, and his face was as familiar as his voice. The only thing that had changed about him was his car, apparently. And somehow, the reality of Feltz’ sameness didn’t get under Ryan’s skin like the idea of it had. “So how do you like living the high life in Quantico?”

Feltz had always hated the muggy Carolina climate. He’d even blamed one or two of the Shadow’s breakdowns on the heat. Being stationed in Northern Virginia with a new car to obsess over had to be somewhere near heaven for him.

“It’s great. Thought I’d see more of you when I first moved up here, to tell the truth. Now you’re taking off to New York. Guess I’ll have to make new friends.”

“I’m sure you’ll pull it off.” Feltz had never been an introvert.

“Yeah, but it could be slow going without the shitmobile to bond over.”

“Is that what you call breaking down beside a swamp and having to walk five miles to the nearest town together – bonding?” He could still feel the heat of the Carolina sun burning the back of his neck when he thought about it.

“Hell yeah. It worked, didn’t it? There’s too much public transportation around here and not enough alligators. You walk five alligator-infested miles with someone, and you’re friends. It’s that easy.”

“There was only one alligator.” And they’d stayed at least five yards from it, even when they’d walked past the marshy creek it had been lounging on the bank of.

“It was a big one.”

“The mosquitos and the sun were way worse than the alligator.”

“Yeah, I remember you freaking out because you thought the sun was going to ruin that tattoo you’d just had done.”

That was about as exaggerated as the dangers of the lone alligator they’d observed from a distance, but he had been annoyed at having to spend time sweating outside at the peak of noon with nothing between his freshly-inked skin and the sun’s brutal rays but a thin t-shirt. The tattoo had taken a small eternity to finish, and it had been his pride and joy – second only to the Mustang – when finished.