Page 30 of Jacob Michaels Is Not Jacob Michaels

Chapter 7

Are you scared?

No. I’m just lost.

I’d be scared.

I have no reason to be scared. I just don’t know what to do. Things are changing. She’s worried.

What do you think we should do?

I don’t know. I don’t know anything right now.

I wish I could help you.

We could…run away.

Together?

Would you run away with me?

Of course, I…did you see that?

What?

Rob! Run!

Why? What did you see?

Rob!

“Rob?”

Knocking.

Lucas’ voice.

When I sat up in bed, shaking off the afternoon nap sleep, Ernst was standing on the bed like a meerkat at attention. The visual made me want to laugh, but I chose to rub my eyes instead, wondering when I had drifted off. The way Ernst had been standing, the feeling that we had both drifted off for a nap gradually hit me. Everything going on around us was sure to tucker a fellow out, so climbing into bed led to the inevitable.

“Are you in there, Rob?” Lucas’ voice and another round of soft knocking sounded from the door.

“Yeah.” I croaked, then cleared my throat. “Hold on.”

Ernst looked over at me warily.

“Hide for now, Ernst.” I winked at him. “It’ll be okay.”

Ernst nodded, then hopped off the bed and disappeared underneath. Whether he was hiding under the bed or had used the shadows underneath to just…leave…I wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter. I bounced to the side of the bed and slung my legs over. Since I knew that Lucas wouldn’t be ignorant enough to bring Oma to my room with him, I quickly unlatched the door and swung it wide. Lucas was standing there, a crooked smile on his face. He had on his work jeans, a long sleeve flannel, his Carhartt, and it was evident that he had been working all day.

Before I could stop myself, I had twisted my fingers in the front of his shirt and pulled him into the room. I slammed the door and locked it behind him and had shoved Lucas towards the bed before he could utter a word. Lucas looked at me with wide eyes as I pulled him into me and smothered his mouth with mine. My fingers traveled down to his waist to tug his shirttail out of his jeans before they moved to the front to start undoing buttons. Lucas looked up at me with wonder as I pulled my mouth away from his to work on extricating him from his shirt.

“What’s gotten into you, babe?” He chuckled appreciatively.

“I missed you so much.” I exhaled.

“I missed you, too.” He reached up and ran a thumb along my cheek as my fingers continued working.

“How much did you miss me?” I asked as I pulled his shirt open and pushed it over his shoulders and off of him.