as I hit the spot inside of her, her nails digging into my skin. “More.”
Cupping her tits, I push them up, my mouth sucking on her nipples as I continue plunging into her from below. Without anything between us, every touch, every push seems to intensify. The pressure starts building at the back of my spine.
“So close,” she whispers, pressing her forehead into the crook of my neck. Her movements are jerky, and I can feel her walls start to quake around me.
“Me too, baby. Me too.”
Digging into her hips, I push upward, meeting her thrust for thrust. When her climax overtakes her, her walls squeeze so tightly around me I can only see stars. Fuck it. Rolling us so she’s on her back, I lift her hands over her head, interlocking our fingers. I plunge into her harder, faster, deeper. Marking her in the most primal way imaginable. Just like she marked my soul.
Yasmin calls out my name as another orgasm hits her, this time pulling me over the edge with her, completely lost in sweet oblivion.
“What happened?” Yasmin asks softly, threading her fingers through my rumpled hair. We have yet to get out of bed, not that it’s high on my list of priorities because the moment we do, the reality I’ve been fighting will catch up to us.
Being here, just lying with Yasmin in my arms with nothing between us, it’s like we’re in our own little world, and nothing can touch us.
Or maybe I was just fooling myself all along.
My whole body goes stiff at her words, but she doesn’t pull back. Her fingers continue drawing patterns all over my chest. “Since I haven’t heard from you I figured you were still home.”
“I was, but I had to show my face. I don’t want people to start asking questions.”
Yasmin hums her agreement quietly. The silence stretches between us. She doesn’t probe with her questions, not that I thought she would. Instead she waits me out, giving me time to figure my shit out. Her fingers slowly trace patterns on my skin.
“She’s dying,” I admit softly. The words are like a knife to my heart. And every time I say them out loud, it’s like I’m opening the wound all over again. “She’s been rapidly declining ever since the day you left, and it’s just a matter of time now. Probably days.”
My eyes fall shut. I try to swallow the lump in my throat, but it’s no use.
“I can’t watch her die.” The words come out husky, barely audible, but by the way Yasmin’s hands tighten around me, I know she heard it. “I have to go back tonight, but I can’t force myself to sit in that car and drive back home just to watch her die.”
It’s the first time I dared to say it out loud. My confession. My shame. But what is a little bit more on the big pile I’ve been harboring these last few months?
Her finger stops for a second before resuming the pattern. “I’m so sorry, Nix.”
“How can you feel sorry for me?” I look down at her. She can’t be serious, can she? “I’m the coward who’d rather leave his family to deal on their own than go back and face the reality.” I shake my head, disgust filling me. “Here I am, judging my father, when I’m just like him.”
“You listen to me, Nixon Cole.” Yasmin gets up, her hand cupping my chin and turning me around to face her. “You’re nothing like your father. Nothing. You hear me? He decided to leave and let you deal with all that’s happening all on your own. Yes, technically both Jade and you are adults, but he’s your father, her husband, he should be the one here helping you all get through this. It’s normal that you’re scared, it’s normal to want to run away from what’s happening, because it’s awful. Nobody should have to go through what you guys are going through, but that doesn’t make you the same as your father. You know why?”
“Why?”
She lifts her chin a notch. Tears shine in her eyes, but she doesn’t let them fall. “Because despite your fears, despite your need to run away, you will go back home and stand by your family like the loving, honorable man I know you are.”
“I don’t know if I can do it.”
Her fingers skim over my cheek, a soft smile curling her lips. “Well, then it’s a good thing I believe in you enough for