A Survival Romance Story
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“The hell you say!”
I blinked, and then I realized I’d been so deep in thought about the new story idea that I didn’t even hear them.
“What?” My eyes flew open. “Sorry, I was lost in my thoughts,” I lied. It had nothing to do with the new story idea. Nothing at all! And it sure as shit wasn’t because my brain was so busy trying to come up with ideas on how I could get myself out of this mess I’d gotten into, that I completely blanked hearing a conversation.
“You were thinking again. What is this about a book?”
Oh God!
Shit!
Why did she have to ask? Why couldn’t she just keep her damn mouth shut!
“It’s just something that came to me.” I sighed.
“Well, we’re going to talk about that later. We’ll need to get started packing for our trip today.” She turned and headed toward the door. “I’m tired from all this moving stuff.”
Yeah, yeah… pack away your worries, honey… just don’t think too much—that’s the best advice anyone ever got. I rolled my eyes. “Sure thing.” I tried to sound casual.
She didn’t look back at me or anything, but she walked out of the room and down the hall, not saying another word. At least now I knew for certain there was no way I could go after her and make any kind of attempt at getting some answers.
She had to know by now that I would have done just that if I could have, and she probably knew that, too. So… why bother trying when she knew exactly what kind of monster I was before I’d even met her.
I shook my head and leaned forward on the table. My fingers gripped tightly around the edge.
“Hey, you okay?”
I looked up and saw her standing in the doorway. The light from outside was streaming in through the glass door behind her, making her skin gleam. For some reason, I felt like she needed to be protected. Like maybe I could keep her safe if I stood right here next to her, and I could somehow shield her from everything bad that might happen.
Maybe… I’m just being stupid, I told myself. Maybe it was only the heat. This was Texas for God’s sake. Hot as hell most days, but that shouldn’t affect me in a way where I felt like I had to protect her, should it?
“What? Oh yeah,” I answered casually.
“So what did you want to talk about?”
“Oh, uh…” I cleared my throat and sat straight up. “Nothing really. Just work things and such.”
Her brows furrowed a little bit. “Okay.”
That was good enough for now; she didn’t push for more information, and at least I didn’t feel like I had to give it to her. At least I wasn’t the asshole who was always prying into other people’s business anymore. I wouldn’t put her through that kind of crap, not after what had happened the last time.
I stood up and walked over to the door. “Well, let’s get a move on.”
“Yeah… I guess we should.” She followed me slowly as we walked out the front door. “It’s pretty warm outside already,” she said when we stepped outside.
“Yeah, it is,” I agreed. “Let’s take the air-conditioning inside for now.”
She nodded and followed me into the house. We made our way upstairs and went our separate ways to get ready for our trip. When I heard her bathroom door close, I quickly stripped off my shirt and jeans and grabbed a pair of shorts before walking out and heading for the shower.
Once under the water, I let my head fall back against the tile wall and closed my eyes. I tried to clear my mind of everything else except the hot stream coming down on me. I wanted to try to focus on the new story ideas and get my thoughts organized, so I could write down whatever ideas I might have.
But instead, my mind kept drifting toward my mother and father. It wasn’t fair to wonder if they were okay, or even still alive.
I knew they hadn’t gone anywhere, because if they had, then I would have gotten an email from one of their accounts telling me so. They wouldn’t have stopped communicating with me just because they were dead.
But that also meant that they weren’t okay either. Because they didn’t know what was happening. They didn’t know that I existed or even about all this. How did I explain that? Was it even worth trying? I mean, it would never work.
If I told them, they would probably try to find me and bring me home, which obviously wouldn’t end well for anybody involved. That was assuming that they hadn’t killed themselves already. And who knows—maybe that was exactly what they’d done. Who knew what had happened between then and now.
It hurt knowing they were gone. It hurt not knowing where they were. But it also brought me relief… at least a little bit. Because now I wouldn’t have to worry about what to tell them about any of this.
And now… I wouldn’t have to worry about anyone else finding out about me either, not unless I told them, of course. But that meant letting someone else into my life again… trusting another human being once more. That was something I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to do again after what had happened with my parents.
Not only that but what if that person turned out to be as much of a piece of shit as they were in the beginning? What if I got close to them only to discover that they’d been hiding secrets too?
I let the water run cold and then stepped out of the shower. I dried myself off, then pulled on a clean pair of boxers, and slipped back into my clothes from earlier. As I walked back through the bedroom, I paused when I reached the window.
The sun was starting to set, casting the room a pink glow. I stared out at the night sky for a few seconds before pulling myself away from the window. There was no point in thinking about anything else right now other than getting ready for tomorrow’s trip to Houston.
Once I finished dressing, I checked on Kelsi once more before leaving the room and heading downstairs. By then she was dressed and waiting for me at the bottom of the steps. Her hair looked wet, and there was steam curling around her shoulders as she smiled brightly at me.
“Hey!” she greeted me excitedly as she stepped towards me.
“Hey,” I replied with a smile as I took her hand in mine. “You ready?”
“Yeah! I’ve been ready since last night,” she teased.
“Yeah… that’s how I felt too.”
We both laughed, and for a moment I forgot about everything else. I focused solely on the girl I loved, who seemed to want nothing more than to make my day better. And I wasn’t going to stop her from doing that any time soon.
***
The drive to Houston was easy but long. Thankfully we got to take Highway 75 to get to the city rather than Interstate 10. It was a long drive, but at least it was scenic and gave us a chance to talk while we drove. It was nice to get some small talk in and learn about her.
She told me that she’d grown up in the same area and gone to high school here, though I couldn’t remember ever seeing her in class before. Apparently, she’d dropped out her junior year and had spent the rest of the time working part-time jobs. It wasn’t until she’d started college that she met her boyfriend and got serious.
Apparently, she’d had quite the reputation in high school, mostly because her boyfriend cheated on her. After that she’d sworn off relationships, focusing solely on finishing school. She talked about him like he was already gone as if he’d died years ago instead of months prior.
I listened intently as she explained how much they’d loved each other growing up, and how happy they were to finally have found one another in adulthood.
They dated for three years and then decided it was time to move in together. When they first started dating, her boyfriend had lived across town with his best friend, but eventually, he bought a condo near campus and moved in with her. They’d stayed together for five years before things started to go south.
“He started getting really secretive,” Kelsi said with a shrug. “At first I thought maybe it had something to do with him and his roommate getting into trouble again, but then he started acting strange, too, and it didn’t matter.”
She sighed as she shook her head. “I should have seen it coming, honestly, but I was so blinded by how happy we were and how in love I was with him that I just ignored all the signs. He’d spend days at work without calling or texting me to see where I was. He wouldn’t come over anymore unless I called him, even though he used to call every weekend before that.”
“Did you ever think it was cheating?”
She nodded, a look of regret crossing her face. “At first I did, but then when he denied it, I convinced myself it must have been stress from school that made him pull away from me.”
I frowned as I tried to wrap my head around what she was telling me, wondering how such a thing could happen to two people who were supposedly so in love. I didn’t want to press her about it too much, not wanting to upset her even more. But there was still so much I wanted to know and so much I needed to find out.
“And then? How long did this go on before…”
Kelsi shrugged uncomfortably as she glanced out the windshield. “Well, the last time we went out together was for our six-month anniversary. We were supposed to spend the day together, but he showed up drunk and barely able to walk straight.
He was supposed to be meeting his best friend for drinks after their basketball game that afternoon, but he couldn’t get himself out of bed and said his stomach hurt.”
Kelsi looked over at me and gave a soft smile. “That’s when I knew something was wrong.”
The next few hours consisted of her talking about him like he was already dead. The way he always kept secrets, the way he avoided her calls, the lies that came so naturally to him and the way he treated her whenever she caught him in them. It wasn’t until late in the day that she began to relax and lighten up as we pulled into a hotel parking lot in downtown Houston.
“So are we staying here tonight?” she asked as we stepped inside the lobby and made our way to the front desk.
“Nah, we’re heading down to San Antonio tomorrow morning,” I responded. “There are a couple hotels along the riverwalk that we can stay at for a few nights.”
“Oh,” she replied with a sigh. “Do you want me to go home first or stay with you tonight?”
I chuckled and shook my head. “It’ll be fine. You need a shower more than anything right now anyway, so why don’t we just hang out in the room, order a pizza and watch some movies?”
She grinned back at me and nodded, looking happier than I’d ever seen her. We checked in with the clerk behind the counter, leaving everything but the room key on our credit card, and made our way up to our room on the fifth floor. As soon as we got inside, Kelsi turned to look at me, an eager expression in her eyes.
“You’ve gotta give me a massage,” she demanded as she reached forward and wrapped both arms around my neck.
I laughed and leaned down to kiss her as I slipped my hands into her hair to pull her close to me. “How does this sound?” I teased as I pressed my lips against hers softly.
“Sounds good to me,” she whispered against my mouth as I let my hand fall down the nape of her neck to squeeze her shoulders lightly. “I’m tired, sore, and in desperate need of a relaxing evening.”
“I agree completely,” I muttered as I pulled away from her long enough to grab the remote control. Then I returned her lips to mine, slipping my tongue between her warm, moist lips as I felt the tip of hers brush against mine.
When our lips parted, I took advantage of her pouty expression, leaning forward and kissing her cheek before sliding my tongue across her earlobe. Her whole body tensed beneath my touch as I moved my lips slowly down her jawline, pausing to suck on her lower lip and gently lick at the sensitive flesh surrounding her teeth before moving down even further.
I paused for only a moment to take in the view before me, drinking in the sight of the beautiful blonde goddess standing in front of me. She was wearing a pair of black leggings and a matching tank top, both of which hugged her curves tightly while exposing her flat tummy and small breasts to my gaze.
And despite the fact that she had been crying all day, she still looked absolutely stunning.
Her long, thick legs were exposed by the way her shirt sat low on her hips, and I found myself staring longingly at the large scar on her left thigh just above where her skirt met her pants, unable to resist the urge to trace its length with my fingertip.
“What’s gotten into you?” she whispered quietly against my mouth as she pushed her chest up against mine, letting her hands slide down and wrap around my waist.
“Not a damn thing,” I growled back as she tugged my shirt off, causing me to laugh and push her back slightly before taking another deep breath in and releasing it. “But there’s nothing wrong with getting what I want whenever possible.”
We shared a brief kiss before I turned and led her into the bathroom, quickly pulling open the shower door and turning on the water so we could strip each other bare. As I stepped into the shower, I pulled the curtain closed behind us as she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me, pressing her body up against mine as she kissed me passionately.
After a few moments, Kelsi pulled herself away from my mouth and leaned up to stare into my eyes. “Are we really gonna do this?”
“What is ‘this’ exactly?” I teased, wrapping my arms around her tiny waist and feeling her hardening nipples poke against my chest as we stood there under the warm spray of the shower.
She smiled and slid her arms around my neck before leaning forward to capture my lips with hers again. “I want you to make love to me.”
“Is that a bad thing?” I murmured through our kisses as my hands slid down to cup her ass, squeezing it and making her gasp slightly. “Because I definitely don’t think it’s a bad idea…”
She giggled and pushed herself back, reaching around me and grabbing hold of the showerhead before turning it on full blast and sending streams of hot water cascading over us both. She then grabbed my hand and brought it up to her breast, giving my fingers a soft squeeze before letting go and turning the temperature dial all the way down to cold.
The End