Constructing the Soul

by Annabella Michaels

  We visited with Mrs. Stevenson for a while longer and Morgan hung the last picture then we said good night. I was smiling as I stepped out of her apartment, glad to finally understand and to have made a new friend out of my neighbor.

  “Thank you,” I said quietly. “If it hadn’t been for you, I might have never understood what was going on with her. I would’ve missed out on what a kind and remarkable woman she is.”

  “You’re welcome,” Morgan said with a shy smile that did strange things to my stomach. I cleared my throat.

  “Why did you come here?” I asked.

  “I need to know why you ran away and why you’ve been avoiding me,” he answered bluntly. I felt my stomach drop and as tired as I was, I knew that I couldn’t put him off any longer.

  “Come on, we can talk in here,” I told him, opening my door for him.

  I followed Akio into his apartment. I’d tried to give him space since it was obvious that he wasn’t ready to talk to me, as evidenced by his lack of response to the numerous texts and voice messages I’d left him. I’d held out as long as I could, but after a week of not hearing from him, I just couldn’t do it anymore. I enjoyed spending time with him. He made me laugh and he made me smile, he made me happy. I wasn’t going to let that go without a fight.

  “Would you like anything to drink?” he asked. I shook my head and he motioned for me to sit down. I chose to sit on the couch, leaving room for him next to me, but he sat in the chair instead and looked at the floor.

  I let my eyes wander over him, drinking him in like a man straight out of the desert. I noticed the dark smudges under his eyes that told me he hadn’t been sleeping and my hands itched to reach out and run my thumbs over the soft skin. I stared at his full bottom lip, missing the taste of him. I missed the way he felt in my arms and the smell of his skin and the sound of his laugh.

  I missed Akio.

  “Why did you leave?” I whispered. His eyes shot to mine and he opened his mouth, but I held my hand up, stopping him. “Don’t tell me it was a work emergency either,” I warned. “A work emergency wouldn’t have kept you from picking up the phone or returning my texts. Something happened that made you run and I want to know what it was.” He stared at me for several seconds, looking as if he were debating whether or not to answer.

  “Why don’t you start by explaining what that little reunion or confrontation or whatever the hell you want to call that thing between you and your ex and Bryan was all about?” Akio crossed his arms and his chin jutted out defiantly.

  “Okay, I’ll tell you whatever you want to know,” I responded quietly. I leaned forward with my elbows on my knees and folded my hands together. Akio relaxed his arms and his face softened when he saw that I wasn’t going to argue with him.

  “David and I were good friends all through school, but never anything more. One night at a party, we started talking and decided to go out on a date. We had a lot of mutual interests and we had fun together so it continued and eventually we were dating exclusively. Things were good for a while, but then we started to drift apart. We’d go whole weeks where we barely said a word to each other…” I drifted off. David and I could go a week without talking and I’d been fine, but one day without Akio had me wanting to crawl out of my skin. The last week without him had been a lesson in torture. The meaning behind that was not lost on me.

  “So you two just drifted apart?” I looked at Akio and saw the doubt in his eyes. He knew there was more to it than that.

  “Not exactly,” I said. “We both realized that things were starting to slip away so we decided to move in together. You know, the whole out of sight, out of mind thing? I guess we figured that if we lived together then the opposite would happen and we’d be forced to interact, but instead, the distance became even more glaringly obvious. I thought that no matter what, we would always be friends though. It never even occurred to me…” I shook my head.

  “We’d both been really busy, my best friend and foreman, Bryan, had been calling off work a lot and I’d had to cover both of our jobs.” Akio’s eyes widened at the mention of Bryan’s name, but he remained quiet, letting me tell the story in my own way. “I managed to get away a little early one day and I went home with the plans to spend some time with David, maybe take him out to dinner. He was in the shower when I got there, but when I opened the door, I realized he wasn’t alone and to make matters worse, he was in there with Bryan.”

  “Oh shit!” I heard Akio gasp. His face was a mixture of sympathy and horror and God, I loved him even more for it.

  “Yeah, I thought they were my friends, but it turns out they’d been seeing each other behind my back,” I explained. It was funny how their betrayal didn’t carry the same weight since Akio had come into my life. It was as if the light that shone from him had banished out all the shadows of my past and made them hurt less. I rolled my eyes at the direction of my thoughts. When had I turned into a teenage girl?

  “I’m sorry they did that to you, no one deserves that. It explains a lot though,” Akio said quietly.

  “How so?” I asked, tilting my head at him. His eyes moved to the floor, avoiding my gaze.

  “You’d been trying to work things out with David and he meant a great deal to you. It had to hurt very badly to see him with your best friend, of all people. You want him back and then to see him still with Bryan when we ran into them in town, no wonder you were so upset.” My jaw dropped open, but Akio continued before I could say anything.

  “Where did I fit into all of this?” he asked quietly. “Was I just the rebound guy? Someone to help you pass the time until you could get David back?” I heard the resignation in his voice and my vision went fuzzy. How could he even think that?

  “No!” I shouted. Akio’s head shot up at my sudden outburst. “No, Akio, you’ve got it completely wrong. I don’t want David back, he and I were all wrong for each other. I figured out a long time ago that he and I should have never tried to be more than friends. That was never more glaringly obvious than when I saw him in the shower with Bryan and I realized that I was more upset about being lied to by two people I trusted than the fact that our relationship was over. I was upset when we saw them that day, but not because they were together; I was upset because I didn’t want them touching you. I didn’t want the ugly part of my past to be anywhere near you.” My heart was racing with what I was about to say, but I drew in a deep breath and continued.

  “I figured something in me was broken because it hadn’t hurt as much as I thought it should when David and I broke up. I assumed maybe I just didn’t feel things as deeply as other people did, but Landon told me that it was just because I hadn’t met the right person yet.” I let out a small laugh and shook my head. “I told him I wasn’t sure there was someone out there for me, but I was wrong.” I stared directly into Akio’s eyes to make sure he was listening and would hear my next words.

  “I knew I was wrong as soon as I began spending time with you. Things with David were comfortable and easy, but when I’m with you, I feel like I’m on the most exhilarating roller coaster. There’s that intense chemistry between us, I know you’ve felt it too, but it’s more than that. I feel happier and more complete when I’m with you. You make me think about the future and dream about things that I used to never think were possible.” His eyes widened and I could see cautious hopefulness staring back at me.

  “Then why didn’t you open the door?” he whispered.

  “What?” I looked at him in confusion, trying to make sense of his words.

  “After we ran into David and Bryan, I knew you were upset, but you left me standing there on the sidewalk while you climbed into your truck and you never opened my door. Then you did it again when we got to the cabin. You just got right out and never came to open my door for me,” he explained and I hated the way his voice shook.

  “I told you before that the guys I’ve dated have never treated me like an equal. They’ve always seen me as someone who needed to be taken care o
f, but could never help take care of them. Most just saw me as a good time, someone they could play with until the right guy came along. Then you came along and you opened doors for me.” The awe in his voice made my heart hurt.

  “I know it probably sounds crazy and that to most people it’s a very minor thing, but to me, opening my doors meant that I was special, that I was important. It was a way of saying that I was worth the extra time and effort it took to make that gesture. I didn’t realize how much I’d grown accustomed to it, until it was gone and then I felt unimportant. Coupled with the fact that it all happened after you saw your ex and I felt like the same thing that had happened with all those other guys was about to happen again.”

  “Is that why you took off and wouldn’t talk to me this past week?” I asked incredulously.

  “I know it probably doesn’t make any sense to you, but yes. I left because I had to protect myself. The other men hurt me when they treated me that way, but it was nothing compared to what you could…” Akio trailed off, stopping himself from finishing what he was going to say. I stood up and went over to his chair then knelt in front of him. I reached for his hands and was grateful when he didn’t pull away.

  “I am so sorry that I hurt you, I had no idea what opening the door meant to you. I promise that I will never let anything distract me again from making you feel like the most important person in the world to me because you are. I love you. I’m completely in love with you. You could never just be a rebound or someone to help pass the time. Akio, to me, you’re the main event.”

  Akio looked at me then in a way that I would carry in my heart forever. It was a look filled with wonder and hope, happiness and completeness; all the things I felt when I looked at him.

  “I’m in love with you too, Morgan. I have been for a long time,” he whispered.

  I leaned forward then and cupping his face in my hands, pulled him towards me for a kiss. Our hearts spoke to each other in that kiss, things that we could never express with mere words and I finally understood what my cousins had told me about finding your soulmate. They’d said it felt like you’d finally found the other half of yourself and that’s exactly how I felt about Akio.

  I woke the next morning and smiled when I saw Akio. He looked like a starfish with the way he was sprawled out next to me in the bed. He’d barely been able to keep his eyes open after our talk the night before so I’d sent him to bed while I’d walked through his apartment, turning off the lights and making sure the door was locked. He’d already started to doze when I crawled into bed beside him, but he woke up long enough to curl his body around mine and whisper that he loved me before he drifted off.

  I could understand his exhaustion because I hadn’t slept very well the week before either, but lying in his bed with his warm body pressed to mine and the knowledge that he loved me as much as I loved him, I was able to sleep better than I could ever remember.

  I took advantage of the fact that he was sleeping soundly to let my eyes wander leisurely over his tight little body. His silky black hair which lay messily in all directions was in direct contrast to the crisp white pillowcase beneath his head. His long lashes were fanned out over his delicate cheekbones and his full lips begged to be kissed.

  His chest rose and fell with his even breathing and I longed to trace the flat brown discs of his nipples with my tongue. I could see the firm muscles of his abs, not protruding from his body, but lying just under the surface of his skin like a quiet strength. The sheets had made their way down to his waist and he had one knee curved out from under the covers. My mouth watered as I pictured what he had hidden right below the thin material.

  I moved slowly, carefully lifting the sheet to reveal his cock that was half hard and resting against his thigh. I kept my eyes on his face as I lowered my head and took him in my mouth. His eyes sprung open with a gasp and I chuckled around my morning treat.

  “Good morning, baby,” I whispered and then flattened my tongue and swiped it up the length of his shaft.

  Akio smiled at me with those big brown eyes so full of love even in their sleepiness and my heart skipped a beat. I wondered if he had any idea the kind of power he had over me. I swirled my tongue over the head of his dick and then sucked him into my mouth, feeling him harden and lengthen until the tip was snuggled deep inside my throat. I moaned at the taste of him and his hips shot off the bed as my mouth vibrated around him. I bobbed my head up and down, alternating between sucking and tonguing him until I felt his hands pushing my head away.

  “I want you to come down my throat,” I complained and he made that sound I loved, the one that sounded like the mewl of a kitten.

  “I want that too, trust me,” he said, surprising me by sitting up. “But you’re not the only one who’s hungry. Lie down,” he ordered and I scurried back up the bed with a smile on my face.

  I rolled onto my back and Akio threw his leg over me, straddling me in a sixty-nine position. I felt his lips on the inside of my thigh and I reached up and bit one of his firm ass cheeks. He retaliated by sucking one of my balls into his warm, wet mouth and swirling it around with his tongue and from that moment, it was game on; each one of us trying to outdo the other as we raced towards the finish line.

  I could feel my dick being sucked down into the tight constraints of his throat and when he swallowed around me, I had to fight to keep from exploding. I wanted to hold off as long as possible because I wanted to come with him. I wasn’t sure why, maybe it was left over emotions from the night before or having spent the last week without him, but it was important to me that we share that moment together.

  I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold out forever though, especially with Akio’s talented mouth, so I doubled my efforts on him. I stuck a finger into my mouth, wetting it, then used it to circle his pretty hole. His hips bucked back, seeking more so I slid my finger inside his tight channel at the same time I sucked his cock into my mouth. He moaned loudly and laid his forehead against the inside of my leg, his hot breath hitting me as he panted.

  I slid my finger in and out, coaxing him open and shivered when I was rewarded with a burst of pre-cum which I drank right down. I was thirsty for more and I couldn’t wait for him to shoot down my throat. The room filled with the sounds of slurping and moaning as we worked each other into a frenzy.

  The dual sensation of his taste on my tongue and his lips around my cock had me hovering on the edge, so I sucked him harder and slid my finger further inside him, crooking it at just the right spot. Akio stiffened above me and salty goodness filled my throat at the same time I spilled over into his waiting mouth. We continued sucking and licking each other clean until every last drop was gone and the tremors had finished wracking our bodies then he climbed off of me and turned, laying his head on my shoulder.

  “Good morning,” he whispered and I chuckled at the satisfied grin on his face.

  “Good morning,” I whispered back, bending my head for a kiss. “I love you.”

  “So, I didn’t dream that part?” he asked, his eyes sparkling with happiness.

  “No, baby. That part is all real and it’s never going to change,” I assured him.

  “Good, because I love you too.” Akio leaned up for one more kiss and then laid his head back on my shoulder and began tracing patterns across my chest. I sighed contentedly, enjoying the feel of him in my arms. It was so quiet that I would’ve thought he’d fallen back asleep if it weren’t for his finger still moving over my skin.

  “Do you have any plans today?” I asked.

  “No, why?” Akio shifted his body so he could look at me and folded his hands over my chest, resting his chin on them.

  “I want to spend the day with you and I have something to show you,” I said, sifting my fingers through his hair.

  “The last time you had something to show me, we ended up having sex in the back of your truck,” he teased, wiggling his brows at me. My cock stirred in response to the memory.

  “Are you complaining?” I as
ked, lowering my voice in the way I knew drove him crazy. It worked because he wriggled his hips against the bed.

  “Not at all,” he answered then laughed as I flipped us over so he lay pinned under me.

  “Let’s get a shower so we can get going then,” I told him, pressing my lips to his. We were both breathless when we ended the kiss.

  “Wait, I was kind of hoping the thing you wanted to show me was in this bed,” he whined playfully. “You know, kind of like that thing you do with your tongue and my ass…”

  “If you get in that shower right now, I’ll show you that thing I do with my hand on your ass,” I promised.

  “Get off of me, you big oaf, I have an appointment with my shower,” he joked, pushing on my chest and rolling out from under me.

  “Big oaf?” I sputtered. “That’s it, you’re getting more than one spanking.”

  “Promises, promises,” Akio yelled over his shoulder then shrieked loudly when he saw me jump out of bed and start chasing him down the hallway to the bathroom.

  This…this is what I have been waiting all my life to find, I thought as I caught up to him and wrapped my arms around his waist, silencing his laughs with a kiss. I’d finally found it and I wasn’t ever going to let it go.

  I pulled into the parking lot and smiled as I looked at the non-descript gray building in front of me. I’d been considering what I was about to do for a long time and finally made the decision to go for it. I turned to look at Akio who was staring at the front of the building with his face scrunched up in confusion. The look was adorable on him and when he turned his head towards me, I couldn’t resist leaning over to kiss the tip of his nose.

  “You wanted to show me an animal shelter?” he asked.

  “No, this is just a stop along the way,” I explained.

  “Do you come here often?” I laughed and Akio rolled his eyes as he realized how his question had sounded.