He sets me down on the couch and pulls a throw up to put it around my body, tucking me in all the way up to my shoulders. “You stay here and I’ll take care of it.” I watch, amused while he pulls his pants back up and then his belt.
“I hope you didn’t get any glass in your boxers.”
He grunts at me. “Har-de-har. That’s a good one. If I did, you get to pick it out of whatever body part it’s in.”
I sit back and smirk at him. “Sounds like fun.”
“I can guarantee it won’t be.” He heads to a closet in the kitchen that he knows holds my broom and dustpan. “I should probably get a sweeper and pick it up that way but I’ll get the big pieces first. Then we’ll be able to get a better look at your parent’s picture.”
I grunt, sobering, hiding my face in the blanket, hoping he can’t see me cry. I feel on edge and out of control. It’s like having sex with Jeremiah took away my past somehow. It’s the weirdest feeling and I can’t shake it.
I don’t even get any damn afterglow which is entirely unfair. I want to cuddle with him. Want to fall asleep in his arms this time.
Instead I sit, naked, on my couch under the covers and watch my lover pick up the pieces of what’s left of my memories.
And if that isn’t the saddest thing you’ve ever seen, I don’t know what is.
After he picks up the big pieces he goes back for my vacuum cleaner and turns it on. I slide down on the couch and snuggle my face into the pillow, exhaustion tugging me under.
I wake in the middle of the night, confused and sore as hell. I groan when I sit up and push my hair out of my eyes. The light in the kitchen is still on but all the other lights are off. I look around and find Jeremiah sitting upright, asleep, on the matching chair. His big body doesn’t remotely fit and he’s twisted into a pretzel.
My heart skips when I realize he didn’t leave me. He didn’t even take the bed. Just bedded down in a chair with no pillows and no blankets.
“Jeremiah, wake up,” I hiss softly, not sure why I’m whispering. His eyes pop open and he smiles groggily.
“You’re awake.”
“Why didn’t you go to sleep in the bed?”
“I didn’t want to move you. You looked so peaceful I didn’t have the heart to. And I wasn’t about to sleep in a whole other room.”
“It’s not like I would have known. I was asleep.”
“Doesn’t matter. It’s all good.”
“Your body looks like a pretzel.”
“I would gladly suffer a little discomfort to be with you, Midge. Nothing can stop me from being with you.”
“What if I tell you to leave?” I snip.
Worry and hurt slip across his eyes. “Then I’d do what you ask me to do. Is that what you’re asking?”
I try and keep the frown on my face but I can’t. I grin at him. “No. I’m just teasing you.”
He shuts his eyes and then opens them to glare at me. “I oughta tan your ass for scaring me like that. Smart ass.”
I giggle when he stomps across the room and throws me, naked, over his shoulder. “Tell me where your bedroom is cause we’re going to bed. Together.” He cracks his big palm across my ass and I yelp, trying to whip around and glare at him.
“Hey. That hurt.”
“Good. You damn wildcat. Next time you try and play some damn trick on me, you remember that. I won’t be so nice then.”
“Neanderthal.” But I nod to my bedroom and he strides through the darkened house easily. When he pushes the door open and throws me on the bed, I get an uneasy, strange feeling. Like my past is being wiped out again. I have my parents’ master bedroom now and the boy I used to know is looking down at me, lust in his eyes while he crawls over me.
He sees the fleeting fear in my eyes and stops. “What’s the matter, baby?”
I sit up and pull the blanket over me. “I don’t know. I just feel strange tonight. It’s like my past is being wiped out by our future and it’s kinda freaking me out. Like I don’t know who I am anymore.”