ALLUSIVE AFTERSHOCK

by Susan Griscom

  “How convenient. You swear you didn’t peek or cop a feel?” Jeez, Adela. He saved your life, again, and all you can think about is whether or not he looked at your naked body or touched it? And really, would Court actually lower himself to feel up an unconscious girl?

  “No! I would never take advantage of you or any girl that way.”

  I sighed and relaxed. I could tell he told the truth.

  Until he said, “Well, just a little.”

  “What?”

  “No! God, no. I didn’t touch you. I only saw one breast. Then I looked away. I swear. You have no idea how hard that was. I should be recommended for sainthood.”

  “Sainthood?” My voice squeaked again and I coughed. “I suppose you’d like me to thank you for getting me naked and sleeping with me.”

  “Well, no, not when you put it that way, but I was shivering too until I crawled under the cover with you. Then I warmed up instantly. Are you upset?”

  I thought about that for a couple of seconds. “No. Surprised, but not upset.” I’d never been naked with a boy before. I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about it.

  “Well, if it makes you feel any better, I’ve never been naked with a girl before.”

  I swear he must have just read my mind again. “Really?” Somehow, on some level it pleased me to know that. I stayed with my back against his chest, feeling it expand with each breath he took and I wondered what his skin would feel like under my fingers.

  “Are you feeling any better?” Court’s breath warmed the nape of my neck.

  “A little. I guess I caught a cold.”

  “God, I thought you had pneumonia or something.”

  I took a deep breath and coughed. “I think I’ll be okay. Where are we?”

  “Don’t know exactly, but the house was vacant. We stumbled on it, almost literally, after escaping the forest fire.”

  “Forest fire!”

  “You don’t remember? You were pretty out of it. I had to carry you for a long time and we almost didn’t make it because the fire circled around us so fast.”

  “You carried me?”

  “Yeah.”

  His lips smiled against my neck and I couldn’t help but smile too.

  “How long?”

  “A couple of hours, I think. My arms almost fell off. Well, not really, but they are still a little sore.”

  I suddenly had newfound admiration for Courtland Reese. He’d saved my life three times now and this last time sounded extremely difficult. A part of me wished I’d been conscious for it but another part was glad I’d missed it.

  “There’s a small pile of firewood outside in the shed. If we had food, we could stay here indefinitely. That is until the owners come back and if they do, we could get arrested.”

  Adela turned her head toward me. “Arrested?”

  “Yeah, squatters are usually frowned upon. But under the circumstances, I think we’ll be okay. We can stay here for a while, at least until you’re strong enough to travel and our clothes dry. Then we should head out. This isn’t our house and I have no interest in being arrested for trespassing.”

  “Good point.”

  Court reached out and touched our clothes. “They are still pretty damp. Are you hungry?”

  “Yeah, a little. What did you have in mind?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t go out and hunt until my clothes are dry.”

  We stayed still under the cover. I didn’t move to face him and he didn’t move behind me at all, from what I could tell.

  “Hold on,” he said and got up from the floor.

  “Whoa,” I said and covered my eyes with my hand.

  “Whoops.” He covered his privates with his hands. “Sorry, I forgot. I got excited when I remembered the oatmeal and hot chocolate in the backpack. Just keep your eyes closed for a couple of minutes.”

  I peeked through my fingers and saw his backside as he rummaged through the pack. The smooth ripple of muscle at his shoulders, the slick curve of his backbone ending at the firm seat of his tush got me a little squirmy. When he finished fishing through the bag, he stood and turned toward me. Wow. I closed my fingers tighter over my eyes again. I had never seen a naked guy before. Something told me this was an exceptionally nice one though.

  “Keep your peepers closed,” he said, laughing. “I need to pour water into the cup and set up the grill.”

  “They are closed,” I giggled.

  When he finished, he pulled back the covers and slid in next to me. I scooted a little away from him.

  “Sorry, it’s difficult to get under without contact.”

  “It’s okay,” I said, not wanting to sound too much like a prude but didn’t want to appear like some nympho either and prayed the clothes would dry soon. “Are you sure there’s nothing we could wrap around our bodies while our clothes dry?”

  “Pretty sure. The bag you carried with the extra clothes got left behind while I tried to save us from becoming crispy critters.”

  “Oh.” I smiled, a little embarrassed. “It’s just that … it would be nice to sit up.”

  “Wait. I have an idea.” He popped up to a sitting position. Easy for him—all he had to worry about was his lower half.

  “What?”

  “We can sit and face the fire and drape the sleeping bag over the front of us. You can have most of it. You have more to cover.”

  “Okay, let’s give it a try.”

  “You first.”

  I sat, pulling the sleeping bag with me, holding it over my breasts and crossing my legs in front of me, leaving Court completely exposed. “Ooops.” I giggled nervously and closed my eyes as he sat next to me and covered himself. Our backs were still bared and Court reached around and pulled the excess sleeping bag around my back.

  “Thanks.” I smiled and sneezed.

  “You’re welcome. Warm enough?” he asked as he put his arm around my shoulder.

  “Yeah, I think. How about you?” I coughed.

  “I’m good.”

  I glanced behind him and his entire backside was still uncovered.

  “How can you be fine when your back is hanging out?”

  He leaned forward, and using the strap of the backpack, he grabbed one of the cups from off the grill and set it in front of me. I reached for it but he grabbed my hand.

  “Careful. Give it time to cool. It’s a little hot.”

  I left the cup on the floor and stirred in the oatmeal, inhaling the rich scent of brown sugar, cinnamon, and apples. “Smells good.” I licked my lips and spooned some into my mouth. “Tastes delicious. Now if I could just get rid of this cold everything would perfect. Well, almost perfect,” I added as I thought of Ambrosia and Aaron and wondered if there was anybody keeping them warm tonight.

  We ate the oatmeal and sipped hot chocolate. I coughed almost every two minutes. We must have sat like that for hours.

  “How long do you think we can stay here?” I asked.

  “Well, at least until our clothes are dry.” He grinned and sipped his hot chocolate.

  I glanced around the room. “There is literally nothing in here except us and the few things we brought in. Even the walls are bare, no shelves or anything.”

  “Except for the brown wooden panels lining the lower half of the wall. Every room but the kitchen has them,” Court added.

  “I think I heard my mother refer to that stuff as wainscoting one time when we were at the hardware store. She had talked about decorating the twins’ room with it, only she wanted white. My dad talked her out of it for some reason.” I studied my hot chocolate as though I might be able to see in it just where my family was. I worried about my little sister and brother. They must be so scared.

  Almost as if he knew my thoughts, Court said, “Adela, I’m sure the twins are in good hands.”

  “What if we don’t find them?”

  “We will. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not the next day, but we won’t stop looking until we find them. I’m sure they are in a shelter somewhe
re safe. I think we are about half a day’s walk from the next town. We can stay here until you’re better. I don’t want you collapsing again and I don’t think I’m up to carrying you anymore yet.”

  “I guess I’m pretty heavy.”

  “No, you’re not heavy at all, for short distances. I’m not a body builder and holding a hundred pounds in my arms for a long time was a little difficult. I had you on a board for a while, similar to the one you and Max had me on, but it had a tendency to attract passengers.”

  “What?”

  He laughed and told me about how the board got heavy from the wet leaves piling under it as he pulled me along. “I knew you couldn’t be gaining weight and nothing seemed to be on top of you. I finally looked under the board and all the mud and leaves had accumulated underneath, making it very tough to pull.”

  I coughed, and then coughed again as an annoying tickle gained momentum in the back of my throat. I couldn’t stop hacking and had to put my cup of hot chocolate down before it spilled.

  “You sound like you’re getting worse, not better.”

  “No,” I said, finding my voice again. “This is just a tickle. I am feeling much better. Maybe not up to walking yet, but better.”

  “We can give it a day or two. Tomorrow I’ll go hunt up something to eat. We still have enough water to last a couple of days. I haven’t really had a chance to see what’s in the kitchen. My first priority was getting us dry and warm and I don’t think you’d like me traipsing off to the kitchen in my birthday suit.”

  I picked up my cup again and sipped thinking about that for a minute and the silence between us hummed through the air and stuck between us like a brick wall. Was he thinking about me being naked? I cleared my throat. “Um … the fire is getting low again. Can you reach a log to put on it?”

  “Yeah.” Court leaned over, grabbed a log, and placed it on top of the charred one and within a few seconds, the fire flamed. He put on another and it soon caught as well. “At this rate, I might need to put on some wet pants and go outside to get some more wood.”

  I nodded.

  “I think I’ll do that now since it isn’t raining. You’d better close your eyes.” He pushed the blanket off and stood. This time, I did close my eyes.

  “I’ll be back in a jiff.”

  I coughed and stared at the flames. Court sure was different from Max. Much different than I thought he would be. Max probably would have told me it was my turn to go get the wood, sick or not.

  I jumped as Court shoved open the front door. His arms were loaded with wood and he dropped them in a messy heap next to the fireplace. “I’ll go check and see if there is anything in the kitchen we could use.”

  He came back in just a couple of minutes empty handed. “Nothing there. I didn’t see a ‘For Sale’ sign anywhere outside. I wonder who owns this place.” He unbuckled his pants and quickly slipped back into the sleeping bag before I even realized he’d undressed again.

  “How are your burns and your ankle?”

  “Not too bad thanks to a great girl I know.”

  I smiled. “Good. Let me see your hand.”

  He held it out to me and I took it in mine, turning it over and studying the back side. The blisters had all but disappeared. I looked at his face and our gazes locked until that irritating tickle grabbed hold of my throat and I coughed again.

  “Want to lie down?”

  “I think so. My head is hurting from all the coughing.” I lay back on the carpeted floor and Court came with me, pulling the sleeping bag over us. I lay on my side and he draped his arm over my shoulder. His warm breath against my neck comforted me. We were naked under the covers, but he clutched my hand in his and he never touched me anywhere else. I was beginning to like sleeping with Courtland. Tomorrow I would ask him to tell me how the rumors started, but for now, I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 30

  ~~ Courtland ~~

  Sunlight warmed the lids of my eyes and they blinked opened. The sun filtered in through the curtainless window, warming the room. I lay next to Adela, my entire body stiff, afraid to move a muscle. If I moved, she would know how much I wanted to make love to her. I closed my eyes and tried so hard not to think about this girl, so naked and smooth beside me. An impossible task. I thought I would go crazy with desire for her, but I didn’t want it to be like this. Not here, not under these circumstances.

  I peeked over her head at the fireplace. The fire had died out completely. I hesitated to get up and start it again for fear of disturbing her. The more sleep she got, the better. She’d hacked on and off throughout the night so I knew she didn’t get a very restful sleep. Neither had I, but not because of her coughing.

  She stirred next to me and I thought about what lay deep in the pocket of my pants.

  “Good morning.” I whispered the words just in case she wasn’t awake.

  “Hmmm …” Her hand brushed against my thigh and I stiffened in more than one place. My heart pounded against my chest ready to explode, and it wasn’t the only thing. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to …

  Adela turned to face me and I stared at her beautiful sleepy brown eyes.

  “The sun is bright. It feels good,” she said, not noticing how still I was. I swallowed and continued to gaze into her eyes, watching the golden speckles disappear under her lids as she leaned in and pressed her lips to mine.

  She stopped kissing me and blushed. “Um … there’s something touching my leg and it’s … pulsing.”

  Now I thought I blushed. “Sorry.” I scooted back from her—a little—so my bottom half didn’t come in contact with hers. The idea of sex kept me awake most of the night, but I wasn’t sure how Adela was feeling about it. We hadn’t talked about it at all. But I did know I wanted her to decide. I wanted her to want it and when she did, I wanted it to be special for her. Yeah, sainthood for sure.

  ~~ Adela ~~

  “It’s okay. You don’t need to pull away.” Court’s vibrant green eyes stared into mine and before I could blink, he was kissing me. His tongue pushed its way through my lips and swirled with mine and I suddenly wanted to devour everything he offered. My heart raced faster and faster as his lips moved to my neck and his dark curls tickled my cheeks. I closed my eyes as his hand took hold of my right breast. I jerked in response, not because I didn’t want him to touch me, but because I was startled that it felt so good.

  “Is this okay?” Court’s voice was deep and husky and something tingled deep inside me as his warm breath flowed over my ear.

  “Yeah.” I reached out and touched his chest. It felt much better than I had ever imagined. His muscles were tight as I pressed my fingers against him. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do so I moved my hand down to his stomach and this seemed to make him flinch, in a good way, I think, because he started kissing me again. I moaned into his mouth; my body turned into a fireball, heated with passion that I never knew existed and when he stopped kissing me, I mumbled against his shoulder. “Have you ever had sex before?”

  He stopped everything and lifted my chin with his hand so that we were eye-to-eye. “No. I haven’t. I told you I’ve never been naked with a girl before.”

  “Yeah, but you can still have sex without being naked.”

  “I guess. I think though, when I do it, I want it to be special for the girl. I mean, keeping part of your clothes on just seems … too incomplete.”

  “Yeah, maybe sort of rushed or something?”

  Court kissed me again. The kiss deepened and breathing became very difficult, especially since I had that stupid cold. His body tensed against mine and suddenly, he stopped kissing my lips and moved to my neck.

  “Court?” I whispered.

  “Hmmm?” he said between fluttering little kisses under my ear, making me tingle and driving me crazy.

  “Do you want to?”

  He stopped kissing me, lifted his head and stared at me. “Do you?”

  God, I really think I did. This was
crazy. Up until a week ago, I’d always thought Max would be the one, but here I was with Court and I didn’t think about wanting it to be Max. I found myself saying, “Maybe. But wouldn’t we need something … you know, protection?”

  He surprised me and got up out of the sleeping bag as I watched him in all his splendid nakedness walk over to his pants and reach deep into the front pocket. He all but ran back to the sleeping bag and slipped back in beside me, yanking the cover over his body, scooting into the same position we were in as though he had never left.

  “What did you do?” I asked.

  “I got one of these.” He held up a little square, cellophane packet and I knew immediately what it was. I’d seen a condom before, once, in the bathroom at school. One of the girls, I remembered, Crystal Walker, had one. I’d seen them at the store in boxes, too, of course, but Crystal’s was the first one I had seen inside the cellophane package all flattened out in a little circle. The one Crystal had was orange.

  “Where did you get that?”

  “Cooper gave me some right when we were leaving.”

  “Cooper?” My cheeks flamed hot and Court touched my hair and said, “It’s okay. I never asked him for them. I think he just assumed we might need them because you slept beside me in his barn … I mean, maybe he thought we would do it or did do it. Adela, I told him we didn’t, but he gave them to me anyway.”

  “What color is it?”

  He laughed and then kissed me softly. “I didn’t look.” He held it up to the light. “It’s purple. Is that okay?”

  “Yeah. Purple will work.”

  “Good.” He fell silent and twirled a strand of my hair around his finger. “Adela, you know I love you and, well, we don’t need to do this if you’re not sure. I wanted this … I mean your first time to be special. Are you sure you’re ready?”

  Chapter 31

  ~~ Adela ~~

  I knew Court loved me. He’d told me, shown me in countless ways over the past week. Even over many years there were little things—his sudden shyness when I’d get too close, the way he’d watch me—but at the time, I was too blind to see. Yes, I wanted this. But something in the back of my mind kept saying no. “I do, I really do …” But I’m scared.