Page 78 of Existential
THIRTY-THREE
Hooch
The answer can’t be so simple. A woman with no special skill, no particular tie to any of our allies or enemies, a woman with nothing to give me but herself. Isn’t that the most special gift of them all, though? I guess. But am I worthy of it?
All I can do is hope to prove that I am.
“You okay?” I give her a smile as she jostles and rolls on my hips while I walk us inside.
“Yeah,” she half laughs. “Strangely enough I am.”
I pause long enough to place a quick kiss to her soft lips, and then open the door with one hand before maneuvering us through the narrow doorway. She begins to fidget the closer we get to where the entrance hall opens out to the heart of the industrial building: the common room.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
Her lips twitch in a small smile as her fingers tease the lengths of my hair. “Maybe you should put me down.”
“Give me a good reason to.”
“Because it’s kind of embarrassing.”
I drop her to the floor a couple of yards short of the entrance to the common room, and promptly pen her against the wall with my forearms leant either side of her head. “Why?”
She shrugs, failing miserably to look anywhere that doesn’t involve me. I’m all over her, in front of her, around her, and exactly where I want to stay.
“I guess I’m not used to PDA is all.”
I chuckle, my overgrown hair falling forward as I duck my chin. “You better get used to it, Dee, because there’s no way you’re gonna stop me from lettin’ every one of those fuckers in there know—including one in particular—that you belong to me.”
“What did you call me?” Her eyes twinkle in the soft hall light.
“I said you were mine?”
“No.” She smirks. “Not what you said. What you called me.”
It takes me a minute to realize what it was. “Dee?”
“I like that. Nobody’s really given me a nick name before.”
“Darn sight fuckin’ easier than twistin’ my southern tongue around your whole name.”
Her eyes narrow in challenge. “That so, Josiah?”
“Get my drift?” I smile back. Fuck—I haven’t smiled this much in years. “What’s wrong with fairy, though?”
She shrugs. “I don’t like being reminded how small and fragile I can be.”
“That’s not why I called you that.”
Her eyes find mine. “It’s not?”
I shake my head, and then kiss the top of her head. “It’s because you’re magical. There’s something about you. Something I picked up on, even when I was first being an asshole to you. In fact, it’s probably why I was an asshole to you.”
“Because you didn’t like it?”
“Because I thought I didn’t need it.”
She pushes up in the space between us, slow and careful. I lean down, my shoulders hunching as I strain to meet her short height. But it’s worth the discomfort. Fuck is it worth it.