I’d missed art. I’dmissed tattooing. I’d missed so much from my old life, before him, the man I no longer even intended to put a name to, because he didn’t deserve one. What I’d missed the most was Henley, the man who, right now, was groaning with pain on the sofa. He’d stepped into helping with manual labour before he was fully healed from getting his ass kicked, but he wouldn’t admit to it.
I rubbed the heat rub into his shoulders and massaged them with both hands, feeling him sagging in my grip, a low groan falling from his lips.
“My god, Glory. I’m not being crude here, but that’s better than sex. Keep doing that.”
I put more force into my fingers, and particularly my thumbs, working on the knotted muscles around his spine as I tutted at him.
“Better than sex? You must be doing it wrong then, because I disagree.”
He was holding his long hair over his shoulder, but he still managed to tilt his head and wink at me. So cute, even when he’s suffering.
“Maybe I need to do it more, just to compare, you know.”
I lifted my hands, coated with heat rub, and grinned at him.
“Want me to give you a hand job? I think you’ll enjoy how this stuff heats you up.”
He jerked away from me, horror painted across his face, and I giggled at that typical man reaction. Heaven forbid we threaten their precious ‘junk’.
“Are you fucking insane? My dick likes to not be on fire, thank you so much.”
I shrugged. “So you don’t want hand jobs, I get it.”
A sly look crept into his eyes then, and I could almost hear the words before he said them.
“Your mouth’s nice and warm.”
“Ohhh so you’re in so much pain, but you can get it up for a blowie?”
I’d never been that fond of doing that, but for him, I’m sure it wouldn’t be so bad. He grinned widely then though, and I knew he had something worse in mind. Worse? Maybe not worse. Maybe less acceptable.
“Well, I mean, you offered me a part of you that’s never been pleasured before.”
I knew it. “So you’re in pain, but you can get it up if you get to fuck me there?”
He shrugged a shoulder. “I’d do it for you. I’m a giving kind of guy.”
I got up to wash my hands before I did accidentally touch something that caused one of us pain, and he followed me, completely misunderstanding my behaviour.
“I’m not pushing you, sweetheart. I was just bantering or whatever. You’re right. I am in pain, so rest is probably best.”
I dried my hands and tossed the towel aside, cupping his face and leaning close to kiss him.
“I didn’t want to get heat rub in places, Henley. I was being sensible. You’re welcome.”
He grimaced. “We’re not old enough for sensible yet, are we? I’m still young and reckless.”
He’s almost thirty, but whatever, I guess that is still young. Young enough for us to have a whole life together, without the missed years being such a huge problem. It gave us time to grow up enough to recognise we were each other’s forever.
“What if we go fool around and see where the evening takes us?”
“It’s like we have the same brain, sweetheart. You read my mind.”
Neither of us expected him to doze off within minutes of being on the bed together, but clearly it’s what he needed. He’d been on high alert for so long, watching over me, waking up at all hours when I’m screaming, and then getting attacked.
Every time I woke from a nightmare, he just naturally assumed it was Sean returning to haunt me, but the truth was those nightmares were few and far between now. The more frequent one lately was Henley’s attack. In those dreams, those horrors, that call wasn’t to say he was injured. It was the worst possible call I could receive about him. They’d killed him and I never got to talk to him once more. He’d been taken from me, from the world, and I’d been powerless to prevent it.
Sometimes the dreams were worse than that, if you can imagine that. We’d be out together, doing something fun, and he’d be attacked by a crowd of bikers right in front of me, while I helplessly watched him being beaten to death, screaming my name, and reaching for me, even as the blood poured from him, and he faded away. Those were the ones that had me screaming now.
