Center of Gravity (Marauders Book 3)
Page 33
“Wow!”
We lay in silence and listened to Sprout’s heartbeat for a long time, and the steady thumping calmed me down.
“Sounds strong,” I mumbled and moved closer to Mitch
“Sure does,” he said with a smile. “How about a bath to get you relaxed?”
“I was going to, but I don’t have the energy to even do that.”
“I haven’t forgotten your list, so I was thinking skinny dipping is on the agenda for today.”
“Mitch…” I started, but then the idea of taking a swim in a lake hit me. That would be really nice. “Where?”
“I happen to know a place,” he smiled.
“Yeah?” I wasn’t surprised. He seemed to really know places, and he’d taken me to quite a few of them. All great.
“Yeah, and I’ll take you there if you promise to not try this stunt again.”
“I promise. I think I just wanted to mope alone.”
Mitch took the Doppler from my belly and put it on the nightstand before leaning over me.
“No moping alone, Gimp. Besides, we’re gonna live together soon, so you can’t run off.” He gave me a long kiss. “Get a towel, and I’ll get you out to the car. Where does it hurt the most?”
“My back and the leg,” I mumbled and buried my face into the crook of his neck. “You make me feel like an ass when I avoid you, and then you come and are all sweet and nice to me.”
“Yeah,” he chuckled. “Don’t tell anyone how sweet and nice I am. Would totally ruin my rep. Besides, you’re gonna be naked in the water. I’m so gonna get some.”
I had been a bit skeptical, but he really liked me pregnant. I’d even been worried he’d find it disgusting, but that definitely didn’t seem to be the case. If it hadn’t been for the pain, I would’ve been perfectly fine with being pregnant; I still felt beautiful. Violet had warned me that it would change, though. Towards the end, she’d felt like bulldozer, and I had a feeling she was right. All the more reason to take advantage of still feeling quite pretty.
The bump was getting bigger, and it was almost getting to the point where I could see Sprout move, and I could clearly feel when she had hiccups, which she had often. Doctor Magda had said it was something they could get when they swallowed the fluid too fast, and when I told her how often Sprout had them, she’d told me she’d be gluttonous when she was born.
Mitch came carrying a knapsack and my cane, but he didn’t give it to me, instead he put an arm around my waist. “Lean on me.”
I couldn’t sit on his back even on good days, but with my leg in this shape it definitely wouldn’t happen, and I missed piggyback riding on him.
We took the truck, and I had no idea where we were going. I’d realized fairly soon that I’d missed a lot of places just around Greenville when I was younger. There wasn’t much I’d seen, and when I’d asked Mitch about it, he’d just laughed and said he’d been riding around days at a time when he finally got his first Harley. He’d been everywhere in the area at least twice, and he had his spots.
A couple of times his phone had woken me up in the middle of the night, and he’d taken off. It was Eliza who couldn’t sleep, and he took her out for rides. I’d had no idea he had sleeping problems, and I had never noticed how he sometimes left the bed in the middle of the night to work a couple of hours before he came back and went to sleep. I had, however, asked him what he did if he woke up in the middle of the night when he was at my place, and he’d said he just creepily stared at me when that happened. That’s when I’d told him to start bringing his laptop when we were at my place, because the creepy staring felt a little scary.
He turned off the main road and in along a gravel road.
“Tell me you’ve been here before,” I said.
“You need to start trusting me, baby. There’s a small lake just up the road here. Not many people know about it.” He turned his head and smiled at me. “Don’t want anyone to catch us the first time you go skinny dipping.”
“Thought that was the point with skinny dipping.”
“Nope. Point is to drive each other crazy and then fuck in front of the campfire. Or in your case I think we’ll keep the fucking in the water.” He gave me a huge smile. “Now when we can.”
It took me a while, and then I laughed. Water and condoms didn’t really work, so if he was planning on having sex with me in the lake, it could only mean one thing.
“You did all the tests, and this is just a way to make a big thing out of us having sex without a condom for the first time.”
“Ah-ah,” he pointed at Sprout. “Second time. Although I thought we’d try to take notes on how fucking awesome it is this time.”
“Take it you were clean then?”
“No. Thought I’d fuck you bare and then tell you what meds you need to get rid of my fuck bugs.”
“Asshole,” I said and laughed.
He stopped the car and I noticed the lake. It was really small, but it looked nice.
“I’ll start the campfire while you wrestle your clothes off.”
“Hey, if you want any, you’re gonna have to be nice.”
“I know you, Gimp, you always want some,” he chuckled and jumped out of the truck. I waited and he came over to my side and after opening the door he helped me out. “If you ask nicely, I’ll help you with your clothes.”
“Please.”
“Hmmm, I’m not convinced you meant that.”
I’d been trying to find the perfect moment, but had realized I had no idea what a perfect moment really was, and this seemed like a good time. I’d had a shit day, he’d been a great guy, and he was about to make things even better—so I said it.
“I love you.” Mitch stopped, and turned towards me, pulling me closer, and I put my arms around his neck. “Is that nice enough?”
“Yeah.” His smile was huge, and he squeezed my behind. “That’ll get you whatever the fuck you want.”
I watched him light the fire, and then he came over and started to unbutton my shirt. As soon as it was open, his hands stroked my belly and he smiled.
“Kind of like the idea of having both my girls in front of me.” He leaned forward and gave me a kiss. “I love you, too.”
He helped me with the rest of my clothes, and then started on his own. I couldn’t help smiling when I noticed that he had a pretty impressive hard-on.
“You shouldn’t laugh at a guy’s dick,” he scolded me as he came up to me.
“I’m not laughing, I’m smiling. I like it. Gonna help me out into the water?”
“Yeah.”
He put an arm around my waist we walked towards the lake, and into it. The water was warm, and he’d been right, it took a lot of pressure of my body, and it definitely eased a lot of the pain. I sighed in relief when I was neck-deep in it.
“So, first time skinny dipping,” Mitch smiled. “It’s nice.”
“Yes,” I agreed. It was a very different feeling compared to having a bathing suit. I swam up to him and put my arms around him. “Thank you.”
“Did it help?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” He lifted my legs and wrapped them around him. I could feel his dick resting between my legs. “Try floating.”
“I actually can’t,” I laughed. “I sink like a stone, and it doesn’t matter what I do.”
“How can you swim if you can’t float?”
“I float as long as I move, but I can’t float on my back. I know it sounds strange, but trust me, I really can’t.”
He shook his head with a smile and gave me a kiss. “Maybe you can now. You got a pretty impressive belly now.”
I sighed, but let go of him to try. Just as expected, I immediately sank. Mitch pulled me up, and he was laughing.
“You really do sink like a stone. That’s insane.”
I tried to rub the water out of my eyes. “I told you!” I latched on to him again. “I’ve never had sex in water.”
“Turn around,” he mumbled.
“Feeling better?” he asked.
“Much better,” I answered with a moan. “Think you’ve got magic hands.”
“Sure do,” he mumbled, and then I felt his dick between my legs. “Spread a little.”
I tilted my head back to rest on his shoulder, and felt him come inside me. We both took a deep breath and froze up.
“Oh fucking hell,” he muttered, but he didn’t move. “Give me a sec.”
“That’s good,” I said, because it felt amazing. I didn’t know if it was that we were in water, or if it was just that he didn’t have a condom, but it felt amazing. Closer, somehow. “How did we miss this the first time?”
“I have no fucking idea,” he groaned and finally pulled out before gently pressing back inside. “Fuck, Anna. That’s… oh, shit.”
I turned my head, and he gave me a long kiss while he kept moving carefully. His fingers started to play over my clit, but I took his hand.
“Careful,” I smiled against his lips. “I want to last.”
“Okay,” he laughed. “Think I’m just scared I’ll shoot off prematurely, because this is fucking fantastic.”
“Are you in a hurry somewhere?” I asked.
“No?”
“Then we have all night.”
He shook his head. “Got a lot longer than just tonight, babe, ‘cause I ain’t using a condom with you again. Ever.”
I moved forward until he slipped out and then turned around. I held his eyes as I wrapped my legs around him and took him inside again. He was right, it was amazing, and I didn’t ever want to use a condom again. I ran my fingers through his beard and kept holding his almost-black eyes with mine.
“I love you,” I said, and he hugged me as close as my belly would let him.
“Again,” he smiled.
-o0o-
The fire was still burning, and Mitch was sitting between my legs, massaging the bad leg.
“Why don’t you talk to Irina about a job?” he asked me. “I’ll ask around, too, if you want me to, but hasn’t she already offered you one?”
For the first time since the accident, I’d actually considered it. I honestly thought I’d be able to work at the ballet. I even wanted to, because I was missing it, and I’d have liked to be a part of it even if it wasn’t as a dancer. Lately I’d started missing the ballet in a different way than I had before. It wasn’t the crippling missing, but more of a longing to be part of it again, even if it wasn’t as a dancer. Earlier it had more been that I missed dancing, but now it was other things, more basic things. I even missed the damn smell of the ballet, and the sounds—just the general feeling of being in the middle of it.
“She offered to look into it. Maybe I should ask her again.”
“Think you’d be okay with it?”
“I think so.” I thought about it some more. “Think I’d be more okay with it if you went with me to the ballet again.”
He laughed. “Think that’s the kind of thing you do for people when you love them.”
“I’ll come with you to some bike convention or something,” I offered, and he laughed again.
“I’ll hold you to that.” He leaned down and gave Sprout a kiss. “How’s the leg now?”
“A lot better. Thank you.” I pulled him down next to me. “I feel a lot better in general. Thank you for ignoring what I said.”
“Oh, Gimp, I’m so gonna remind you about that,” he laughed. “Wanna stay here for a while longer?”
“Yeah. I do,” I said. He pulled a blanket over us and held me tight. “Promise me we’ll do this again, soon.”
“All you have to do is ask, Gimp. I’ll take you skinny dipping every fucking night if you want to.”
-o0o-
He woke me up before the sun came up, and we had sex again. It truly was different, and he loved it as much as I did.
He dropped me off at home, since he was going directly to work, and I found Irina in the kitchen.
“Hey,” she said, and looked surprised. “Why are you coming home now?”
“We spent the night outside, and he was going to work.” I sat down in front of her. “Listen, my boss is becoming something of a problem, and I was wondering if you could maybe look into something at the ballet. Anything really. Or… anything you think I could do.”
Her smile became impossibly big. “I’d love to. I don’t know of anything right now, but I’ll let them know you’re interested.”
“I don’t really have any qualifications.”
“Honey, you know as well as I do that you’re qualified for a lot of the jobs there simply for having been a dancer. There are some things only dancers understand.”
She was right about that, but I highly doubted I’d be able to train anyone, but I still hoped it would work out somehow, because the more I thought about it, the more I wanted back.
“I talked to Mitch the other day about moving,” Irina continued.
“Oh… And?”
“He said it was pretty much up to you, but we also said that we’d look into doing it in about a month.”
“So how does that mean it’s up to me?” I asked. “Sounds like you’ve already decided.”
“We kind of did,” she admitted. “But you need to get this place ready before Sprout arrives. You don’t want to be in the middle of renovations when she’s born.”
“Okay. I think we should do it in about a month.” Since that was what they’d obviously already decided, I might as well go with it.
“Good.” Irina stood up. “I need to get to work, and it looks like you need some sleep.”
I did, and after a cup of tea I went to my room. Which I assumed wouldn’t be my room for much longer. I wasn’t angry, I knew I had a tendency to push things ahead of me, and I’d been worried about setting a date. It seemed so definitive, which, in all honesty, was the point. We needed to decide and get things done. Mitch and Irina were the same in that aspect, and I didn’t even want to know how much planning they did over my head, because I had a feeling it was quite a lot—at least when it came to the moving. I did pick up my phone to call Mitch, though.
“Miss me already?”
“No. Just calling to let you know I’m on to you and Irina. You’re making plans without me.”
He just laughed. “Yeah, but I know you’re perfectly comfortable telling me to go to hell if I step over the line.”
“I am, but I think about a month is a good thing. And she’s looking into a job for me, too.”
“Great. Let me know what she says. I’m going to have a word with your boss, though, and don’t even try to stop me.”
“I’m gonna try, but I have a feeling it won’t matter. Just keep in mind it might just get worse.”
“It really won’t. I can guarantee it won’t. Get some sleep, baby.”
“Talk to you later.”
“Yup. My place tonight. I wanna test sex without a condom in a bed. I think it might be good.”
“I’m sure it’ll be good.”
“Shit. Gotta go. Love you.”
He hung up before I had time to answer, which was just as good because his ‘love you’ threw me off a little. It wasn’t that I didn’t like it, but it felt a little strange. Like we’d gotten to the point where we said ‘love you’ instead of ‘goodbye’ really fast. But then we’d done everything fast, and I just hoped we weren’t going too fast. It didn’t feel like we were, but I was still worried. I seemed to be the only one worrying, though. Everyone else seemed to think it was all good, so maybe I should just go with that, too.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Take Me Home
-o0o-
“Think Vi could do a wall painting at the new place?” Mitch asked Mac. “We’re starting the repainting next week, and Anna said one or two wall paintings would be okay.”
�
��Sure.”
“We can pay her.”
“Don’t think she’ll accept the money, but you can ask her. Did you decide on the other colors?” Mac asked.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Brick said, “but would you like some cranberry juice to go with that discussion?”
Mitch and Mac closed their mouth and shook their heads in unison.
“Good,” Brick continued. “Since we’re done with the pussy talk, maybe we can get this meeting going? There are some things we need to go through. The first shipment is going out from New York on August 12th. Bear and I are leaving for Amsterdam a week later.” He looked at Mitch. “Means I’m missing your birthday, but I think you’ll survive.”
“I’m pretty sure I will,” he agreed.
More than anything, he was glad he didn’t have to go with them, since they were closing in on Sprout’s due date by then. That in combination with him still being really worried about Hump mean he didn’t want to leave Greenville unless absolutely necessary. Since Patricia’s murder, Hump was gone again. No sign of him what so ever, but then the only signs of him had been when he popped out to kill someone, so Mitch wasn’t that surprised about it anymore. It still haunted him, but he wasn’t surprised.
Either way, he didn’t want to leave Anna behind. He knew she had protection at all times, but he still felt a need to be the one who kept an eye on her. It might just be that he still was at the stage where he wanted to be close to her all the fucking time.
“How often do you think they’ll want someone from us to go over there?” Sisco asked.
“Don’t think they’ll make any demands,” Bear answered. “Us going there this time was more of an invite to show us their routes and shit like that, but I’d say we still should go now and then, as a sign of good faith. But I’m guessing most of you wouldn’t mind going pretty fucking often anyway, so that shouldn’t be a problem.”
“No we wouldn’t,” Bull said with a scary smile. “But everything is go, then? Cartel got their shit down, too?”
“Yeah. They’re really eager,” Brick answered. “And I always get worried when they’re eager. I’m just hoping it’s not going to end up being our problem.”