Tempest turned to face me on the bed and tucked her legs underneath her. "It's a grifter thing," she said. "You don't turn someone else in. And family..."
"But you didn't turn them in," I said.
"I threatened to," she said. "And I was serious. I would have. I think I would have turned them in and watched them go to prison. It was wrong. I was angry and hateful and I wanted to hurt them for taking me away from West Bend."
Away from me. I knew that's what she meant.
"So what happened?"
"They left," she said. "Hit the road. Disappeared."
"Without you."
Tempest nodded. "Poof," she said. "Gone. I've put out feelers, tracked them here and there, just to keep tabs on them. I wanted to make sure they were okay. My mother sent me postcards a few times. I don't know how she found me. I guess she's keeping tabs on me just the same as I am on her.”
I reached out and cupped her face with my hand, my palm resting on her cheek. Running my thumb along her chin, I said, "Why the hell didn't you just come back to West Bend?"
Why the hell didn't you come back to me?
Tempest bit her lower lip, and I ran the pad of my thumb over her lip where she'd pulled it between her teeth. "Back to you?" she asked. "You hated me. And your mother had a point. You were going to wind up getting a college scholarship. You had everything going for you to get the hell out of West Bend. You didn't need me holding you back, getting you in trouble when I stole stuff from someplace or conned the wrong person."
"Tempest," I began.
"No," she said. "Don't give me some bullshit about that not being true. It's exactly what would have happened. I would have ruined you." She shrugged away from my hand and looked down at the bed. "I would have, and you know it."
I wanted to tell her that she ruined me anyway. When she was gone, I had nothing left. For years, that's how I lived. As if I had nothing to live for.
I was angry at the goddamned world.
But she silenced me before I could say anything, climbing onto my lap and pressing her lips against mine.
We didn't speak after that. Instead, she slid onto my cock and we found a gentle rhythm as she wrapped her legs around my waist and rode me until we finally came together in a blinding explosion.
When she came, I didn't take my eyes off her. I tried to memorize her expression, to etch it onto my brain, save it in my memory so that I could retrieve it in the future.
I knew what was happening between us couldn't last.
This moment was fleeting.
Everything was.
When I woke, sunlight was streaming through the windows and bathing the room in its golden light. Beside me, Silas pressed his body against mine. When I moved, he murmured something and pulled me tighter against him.
Lying in bed like this with him was a first. When we were teenagers, it was frantic coupling in an abandoned hunting cabin or outside on a blanket under the stars. Never like this.
It was nice. But at the same time, the bitter sweetness of it broke my fucking heart.
Silas slid his hand down the side of my hip, nuzzled his face against my neck. "Good morning."
"Good morning."
Silas ran his hand over my hip, his erection pressed into me. My body immediately responded, my nipples hardening as he brushed his hands over my breasts. "Tempest," he said, his hand moving back down to grab a handful of my ass. "I can't get enough of you."
"You sure had me enough last night," I said, barely able to keep the smile from covering my face. "I barely got any sleep."
"Mhmm," he murmured. "Are you complaining? It doesn't feel like your body is complaining." He reached down between my legs, found my clit and simultaneously pulled my ass against him.
I laughed. "I'm not complaining in the least," I said. But I swatted his hand away. "I have to pee."
I slipped out of bed, dodging Silas and laughing as he lunged at me, trying to make another grab for me. Inside the bathroom, I brushed my teeth and generally made myself presentable, marveling at my horrendous case of bed-head.
Silas pushed open the door and walked inside.
I whirled around. "Silas!" I squealed, my voice high pitched. "The door was closed. Inappropriate, much?"
"What? I'm out there about to piss myself," he said, grinning, standing in front of me, morning wood evident.
"So you're about to pee in front of me?" I asked, shielding my eyes and stepping around him. "I don't need to see that!"
"Are we not in that place yet?" he asked over his shoulder as I shut the door behind me. I heard him chuckle.
"No!" I yelled. "We are definitely not in that place."
When he emerged from the bathroom, he stood, hands on his waist. "So, no peeing in front of you," he said. "Anyone ever tell you you're kind of a prude?"
"Yeah, I'm totally a prude" I said. "Just because I don't want to see you take a leak. I'm like a fucking nun."
"You've got a dirty little mouth," Silas said, grinning. He grabbed my waist, his hand circling around it, to the small of my back.