“And Outlaw Al,” she added.
“Al lives on a diet of canned meat cut by canned beans. His residence is a lean-to in an alley. His best friends are twenty-five feral cats and he can pack all of his belongings in a shopping cart and not one of them is something anyone in their right mind would want. All of that is f**ked up shit. Just not the annoying kind.”
He heard her quiet, musical laughter and, like he always did when he heard it, he savored it.
When he lost it, he ordered gently, “Right, baby, time for you to go back to sleep.”
“Okay, honey.”
He closed his eyes as that went through him.
He loved her calling him Chace.
But her calling him honey was something else. Something pure. Something magical. Like the first snow of the season falling at night. You wake up to it, make coffee, wrap up in a jacket and scarf over your pajamas, tug on thick socks and sit outside on your porch, drinking coffee that makes your insides warm but seeing your breath puff out in front of you, the air coming out clean and going in cleaner.
It was a little common miracle but even common, that made it no less miraculous.
The first time she’d done it, it felt like he’d been touched by the hand of an angel and he hadn’t gotten over feeling that every time she’d done it since.
He opened his eyes and asked, “You got the directions to my place?”
“Yeah,” she replied softly and that went through him too. “I think I’ll be there around quarter to seven.”
“All right, honey.”
“You sure I can’t bring anything?”
“Just you.”
“Okay, Chace.”
That went through him too, always.
“Go back to sleep.”
“Okay.”
“Later, baby.”
“’Bye, Chace.”
He disconnected, tossed his cell on his nightstand and rolled to his back, his eyes going to the ceiling.
Misty had slept in the master.
Chace had slept in the guestroom.
A month after she died, he’d gotten shot of his old bed that she slept in and bought a new one. Spent a whack on a mattress that felt like sleeping on a firm cloud. It was spectacular.
Tonight, Faye would be in that bed with him, her hair, her scent, her body, her crystal blue eyes all a pillow away.
A clean bed, unsullied by the garbage that used to be his life.
His bed.
He shoved his hand behind his head at the same time he lifted his knees and wrapped his other hand around his cock.
Then he closed his eyes and went through one of the many scenarios he’d be taking Faye through in the coming months. This one involved a lot of Faye using her mouth. He took his time. He did it stroking lazy at first, firmer and faster later.