Like A Rock

Chapter 18

So Much More

**

In an effort to avoid being cross-examined until dawn about her ability, Sookie had the inspired idea of pretending to be asleep when we returned from our ‘date’… I wasn’t sure it would work, but our friends were too annoyed that she was sleeping in my arms to listen for tells that she wasn’t… for that matter, they didn’t seem to notice we were covered with sand either. They pouted in silence and trudged from our room.

We’d returned more than an hour before dawn, giving us the time we needed to shower… and discuss why I wanted Sookie to have my blood. As rational, if not appreciative, as she was about my reasons, the idea of taking my blood was something else entirely…

Given how willing she’d feed me, I couldn’t begin to begrudge her for being squeamish in regards to taking blood for the first time… But if I hadn’t thought of something, I would have laughed at the look on her face… Knowing I only needed to give her a few drops of my blood, I ran out my fangs and bit my tongue, disguising delivery with a kiss… but the last thing I remembered clearly was the way her blood tasted mixed with mine after she nicked her lip.

**

As I came back to myself, I struggled to remember something after that kiss. I was sure I hadn’t just died for the day. I always remembered that…

But as soon as my senses returned to me, I was distracted.

Sookie’s warmth pressed against my side was the first thing I noticed, and as soon as I inhaled, I let myself slip into her decadence.

She’d covered us with the comforter, tenting in her scent…

I rolled to meet her, wrapping my arm around her waist, spooning behind her, burying my nose in her hair, growling, “You’ll spoil me.”

She cooed, “That’s the idea.”

“Do you have any reason to think the boys will walk in?”

She arched her back to rub against me and sighed, “Not while they’re napping.”

I opened my mouth to clarify, knowing I probably wouldn’t have managed to say more than ‘no cage’, but she was already reaching back…

Wedging her hand between us…

Taking hold…

Stroking…

Releasing a quiet grunt as she pushed back…

Twisting her hips in spite of the desperate hold I had on her shoulders so I could be as lost in her scent as possible…

Everything was so surreally perfect I was left to do nothing but enjoy the sunshine and how she moved…

It was fucking phenomenal.

And it only added to the experience that I could feel her… and how much she enjoyed what she could do to me.

Even once we had both cum, the lazy spooning was still incredible…

I couldn’t remember a time when I’d ever just laid anywhere, holding someone just because I wanted to… because I enjoyed it…

Pipe dreams of being able to have more of it, at least in part, on a nightly basis…

Fantasizing about what a few nights in the Caymans would be like.

Knowing Sookie had already solidified herself as Mine…

Completely agreeing with her contented sigh that we were ‘happy little puzzle pieces’, and wondering if she had any clue how profoundly accurate that was to me.

**

I’d lost the concept of time enough that I felt like I could ‘waste’ the whole night where I was. Fuck the baseball game and fuck Saâd for expecting us to leave the Sunshine State.

Sookie finally moved to roll towards me, stirring a fresh concentration of sunlight from her hair and asked, “Want to hear about my day?” but she breathed the words as though she was afraid full voice would break something.

Her scent, her eyes… there might not have been anything about her I couldn’t let myself get lost in.

“I do, but I can’t promise I’ll remember anything.”

She giggled quietly, “Consider me warned… Well, after we fell apart this morning, I made the executive decision to wake the boys up. We went out to breakfast, then the Miami Seaquarium. We bought stickers and pencils from the gift shop for Cort’s class to accompany the video he made of the dolphin show… just in case his teacher doesn’t go for the baseball report…  We stopped to get a couple of duffle bags for the stuff I accumulated. We stopped for lunch… Then I took the boys to the beach and let them swim until they were completely exhausted… Now they’re sleeping like little angels.”

“And you slipped into bed with me, smelling like sunshine.”

“As promised… even though I should be pretty pissed at you.”

“Whatever I did, I’m sorry. Please forgive me… What did I do?”

“More like what you didn’t do… You didn’t tell me I’d get stoned from taking your blood.”

What?

“Stoned?”

“Mmmmm hmmmm, stoned. One minute we were kissing, and the next we were all over one another… It was better than when I tried ecstasy… what I remember of it anyway.”

I was almost positive that wasn’t normal.

“You felt high after taking my blood?”

“Not really high… it’s hard to explain… more like… it was like being in your mind while we attacked one another… I don’t remember everything, but that’s the only complaint I have.”

“You weren’t… Did I hurt you?”

“No… not really. I mean, I have a couple of bruises on my thighs, but they could be from the beach. They’re in the same place you grabbed me when you went down on me… Is your memory hazy too?”

“Yes… I’m as surprised as you are. I would have warned you if I knew it would happen.”

“I wouldn’t have-”

Before she could finish, the comforter was yanked from over us to reveal Connelly… and his sense of humor.

He asked, “Can I join the cuddle?” but his eyes quickly glazed over.

Fuck.

Before his shock could develop into enough curiosity that he actually ventured onto the bed, I snatched Sookie up and carried her to the bathroom… taking the time to lock the door as though it would do any good… starting the shower and dumping shampoo onto her hair…

As anxious as I was to protect Sookie from her scent, she was amused.

While she let me wash her hair, she giggled quietly, “It’s okay. He was just clowning around.”

“I molested you when I smelled it the first time.”

Amused and perhaps a bit melancholy… she was grinning at me whenever I glanced at her face while I bathed every inch of her body. She only moved as I positioned her until she was completely rinsed… and then she moved to the back of the tub. I’d been so preoccupied by cleaning her, she actually had to remind me that I smelled like she had.

She waited patiently, like she had the night before, wrapped in a towel and hugging the one she’d grabbed for me… and while I dried myself, she ran a brush through the hair that could harness sunlight.

As she opened the door to our room, she wiggled her eyebrows and sighed, “You make me want to quit my job and move to the beach. You’re a bad influence.”

“You shouldn’t have said that.”

She stopped so suddenly that I bumped into her…

Connelly… at his fucking age… was sitting on the foot of my bed, wrapped in the comforter he’d pulled up to his face… His eyes were closed and he was taking such deep breaths that he was moving his cocoon.

Blue Velvet came to mind.

He didn’t open his eyes before explaining, “I heard whispering. I was just going to make fun of your lie in. This is…”

He was moaning.

I finished, “Sunlight.”

He groaned, “I knooooooowww… I changed my mind, brother. Don’t bring her over until the last minute.”

Sookie giggled as she walked towards her suitcase. “He can’t bring me over. He needs someone to babysit his little friends during the day…”

That was much higher on the list than she thought… but that’s when it occurred to me that there was a list at all… lurking in the back of my head. I was more concerned that she’d be frightened by the concept than get attached to it.

Connelly added, “At the beach.”

While Sookie carried her clothes to the bathroom so she could dress, I passed Connelly to go to my suitcase.

“You realize you’re going to reek of sunlight and cum for the night, don’t you?”

“I’m fine with that… Sookie’s cousin… Hunter’s mum, she’s Fae too…”

“And a selfish cunt from what I gather. What’s your point?”

“I want to track her down. I’ll keep her as a pet. She sounds like the type… At least her family will know she’s safe.”

Sookie snickered in the bathroom. “Hadley Stackhouse Delahoussaye, born September 3^rd, 1978. Good luck with that, but keep in mind that we get to whoop her ass before you get to fall into your Fae-hole.”

He sounded retarded when he laughed, “Funny, that is.”

Sookie asked, “Why?” as she pulled her jeans on. “When she took off, she took her mom’s gun and all the cash she could find and that included what my husband and I were saving for a crib. She’d been using drugs and drinking, so the second I got home from work to find Hunter with Gran, I took him to the ER to be sure he wasn’t born addicted to anything. He was so newborn that his cord was still wet. She was wearing designer clothes, but she didn’t even leave a diaper bag for him. Nothing. Alcide and Jason went to the baby store while Gran and I were at the ER with him… She’s exactly the type to be happy with material crap. Give her something shiny to play with and put up a high fence. Bon chance.”

I chuckled, “I doubt Adele would agree to that.”

Sookie huffed, “I doubt she’d be pleased if any of us opted to live life as a mooch, but I think knowing Hadley was being kept by someone who would take care of her would be better than the mystery she’s got now… Like I said, bon chance.”

I nodded to agree with that, and when I flipped the lid of my suitcase, there was another surprise waiting for me… A parcel… a beach towel sitting on top of my clothing… and the scent of sunlight was filling the room again… If she kept that up, she’d find herself held hostage on a boat in the Gulf. Indefinitely.

She’d carefully wrapped a pair of my jeans and a new Yankees T-shirt and sweatshirt in the towel, pre-scenting my clothing for me…

As Sookie joined us, dressed in full Yankees gear that included a Jeter jersey, Connelly asked, “Anything else I should know?”

“Trey, retired cop and friend of the family, does a weekly check for her, but she’s managed to not be arrested all this time. If I had to guess, she’s probably blown her way out of trouble.”

He finally opened his eyes to ask, “Is she any good?”

How would Sookie know?

“Her boyfriends thought so, but… I’m sure you’ve got a different idea of a proper blow job than some hick who’d woo a girl in the cab of a pickup. She doesn’t have wisdom teeth to get in her way though.”

He moaned, “Noted,” and closed his eyes again.

I dressed in my jeans and T-shirt, but left the sweatshirt so the scent wouldn’t wear off before we could leave. As I folded it, I offered, “He’s completely serious.”

“I can tell. So am I… I’m gonna go wake the boys and order room service for dinner. It’ll take them a while to get moving and if we skip the restaurant, I won’t be rushed when I pack up.”

“Should we leave him here?”

She shrugged. “It’s not like he’s hurting anything…”

But he was successfully giving me the fucking creeps.

I actually shuddered as I followed her from the room.

She called back, “Connelly, I’ll dump the contents of the minibar on you if you try to bail on your phone-date with my Gran. Don’t OD.”

He moaned, “Noted,” again.

All I could do was hope he’d regret covering himself with my scent later… I could chase the creeps away by fucking with him.

**

Sookie hadn’t been exaggerating when she said it would take a while to rouse Cort and Hunter. While she had to resort to antagonizing them to wake them, she explained that it was one of the reasons why she wasn’t worried about them being alone for a couple of hours. It might have taken a marching band to wake them… As it turned out, I was to blame for why it was so much more difficult…  They were so focused on my mind, basking in it, Sookie couldn’t even tell if they were dreaming because they’d insulated themselves so well.

What’s more, they weren’t ‘morning people’. She warned me that they would be ‘zombies’ for the first hour they were awake. They unconsciously showered, dressed and moved about, but didn’t really wake up fully until they were eating breakfast.

Hunter had been the first to stir and immediately staggered to the bathroom grumbling about his full bladder. When Cort was finally awake, he stayed where he was and barked, “I’m AWAKE!” every few minutes while his brother showered.

Hunter still climbed onto my lap after he dressed and dozed off again until room service arrived… I’d only meant to sit on the sofa long enough to tie my shoes before helping Sookie gather everyone’s things… but he just… made a bed of me.

And honestly… fuck the collateral perks of being with a Faerie… I was letting myself get too fucking attached to those boys. Sookie wasn’t the only one who was Mine… in under a week no less.

The first coherent and non-combative thing either of them had to offer was after they settled at the table to eat their meal… They asked me how long Gawain waited for us at the airport. It was the first thought I gave to my phone since I rose, and it was normally the first thing I reached for.

As it turned out, I had several messages waiting for me. After Gawain recorded a nine-minute message berating me for leaving him at an airport for four hours, his female companions called to inform me I’d pranked him so well that he was pouting. Cort and Hunter laughed until rice shot across the table from both directions.

They were nearly finished with their meals before they were done trying to mimic Gawain’s accent (and trying to convince Sookie that ‘cont’ and ‘fwcar’should be allowed on the once-in-a-while list) when Cort decided to change the subject…

“New doors.” I was opening the door for Edward and Richard at the time.

“What has new doors?”

He mumbled past a mouthful of ‘orange crispy beef’, “The book room. It doesn’t have windows ‘cept fer the glass doors. Ya could stay there if we hung new doors… Or we could block a bedroom window an’ me an’ Hunt can get bunkbeds. Either-or, yer not gonna need yer extra houses. Yer bein’ Vamp-napped.”

Hunter offered, “We should double up… he’d be closer, an’ we can still get to the books durin’ tha day.”

They wanted me to move in with them? And they were thinking about my safety?

I knew it was at least partly because of how well they’d slept, but still… that annoying Grinch cartoon where his heart grew three sizes came to mind at the same time that I started panicking because I didn’t want Sookie to feel pressured… I fucking loved that they liked me enough to consider it, even if I was just a novelty to them, but…

The fucking Grinch was winning, and that might have been because it wasn’t as though I had any fucking experience with making rational relationship moves…

Fuck Whoville and fuck Pam for making me watch a Dr. Seuss cartoon.

Sookie seemed perfectly calm when she offered, “It’s not like I plan to uninvite him, guys. His house is right around the corner and already safe for him. He visits at night anyway… We’ll get him a key.”

Good. That sounded rational.

And incredibly hospitable.

I offered, “And you can steal my peaceful mind while we’re vacationing. It won’t be long…”

Connelly shouted, “And then you’ll come to visit me! Eric and I will teach you to ride!”

Not if he successfully found Hadley.

While Sookie rolled her eyes, Cort and Hunter started going on about horseback riding… and spouting off horse stories they’d need to start reading to prepare themselves.

Edward and Richard cut their eyes toward my room and Edward whispered, “What’s he doing in there?”

“Making a complete ass of himself.” And still giving me the fucking creeps.

Seriously… I’d understand if it was just the towel from my suitcase (maybe), but the comforter I’d just fucked Sookie under? ‘Ew’ was not a word, nor did it work its way into my vocabulary often (no more often than I experienced ‘the creeps’), but… Ew!

Edward and Richard left their bags in the pile that had accumulated, and took several steps towards the living room furniture, but then they caught wind… literally.

They turned to stare at the bedroom door and asked, “Is that sunlight?” in unison.

Why not?

They could all rut around like pigs in the bedding I fucked my pet on. Nothing odd about that.

Edward took a step towards the room, but stopped himself. “Is that…” He leaned towards me and sampled my scent. “That’s what we were smelling last night.”

I nodded. “Sunlight clings to Sookie. She took Cort and Hunter to the beach for a while.”

Richard walked over so he could look into the bedroom without going in and chuckled, “We’ll make sure our place in the Hamptons is ready whenever you want to visit, but… ‘complete ass’ is right. It’ll be more fun, and a lot less creepy, if we just make fun of that stoned fuck later.”

Good boys.

They still stared into the room for a moment as though they needed to convince themselves to behave.

Edward was the first one to sit down, situating himself sideways on the sofa to address Sookie while she ate her dinner.

“If you’re eating now, we won’t get to play at a restaurant.”

She cringed. “Sorry. We did some sightseeing today and napped after, so we’re behind schedule… Since Saâd seems to want us out, I packed while we waited for dinner. We’ll play at the game if you want.”

“In a crowd that big?”

Sookie nodded, “And you can witness me making an ass of myself too… Jason bet me I couldn’t get a kiss from Derek Jeter. The stakes are too high to ignore.”

Richard joined Edward on the sofa and chuckled, “What are the stakes?”

“If I get the kiss, I have a grill slave for a month, including while we’re on vacation. If I don’t, he gets a pie, made fresh daily, for a month… I’d rather kiss Eric, but I don’t want to spend my vacation in the kitchen instead of on the beach either…”

Cort lost more rice when he growled, “More kissy-face crap… What’s the Hamptons?”

Richard offered, “Brother and I built a big house there decades ago. In the summer, it’s the most fun place in New York. Beaches, parties…”

Drugs, exhibitionism… the annoying heiresses who ‘forget’ to wear panties and crash into fountains…

It was more of a playground for the reprehensibly irresponsible socialites from the city… and the boring yuppies from the suburbs who compared their boats and golf handicaps with clenched jaws while wearing popped collars and Sperry topsiders. Edward and Richard thought they were hilarious, but I wasn’t sure Cort and Hunter would find the entertainment value in the self-professed elite.

I asked, “Is there anything for children to do?”

Edward and Richard stared at me while they considered the question… then they turned to each other and began whispering in French to elude the children… I was actually really proud of what they came up with.

Edward finally turned back to the boys and offered, “Read up on the Roaring Twenties, lads, and familiarize yourselves with Clue.”

They both asked, “The board game?”

Edward and Richard nodded slowly. “We’ll have fun…” Richard continued alone, “It’s cold right now, but you can dig for clams on the beach, and the maid will help you cook them. We’ll make sure you want to go back in the summer so you can enjoy the beach.”

Hunter mumbled to himself, “Roaring Twenties…” and then blurted, “Tha Great Gasbee! Gran! Can Gran come too? She loves that book.”

Edward nodded, “Your whole clan. Bring them all. It’ll be more fun with more people. Pam too, and Klaasje could stand to socialize with other Vampires.”

I chuckled, “Fuck you for making me want to weekend in the Hamptons.”

Cort gasped, “You know!”

I nodded. “I might be looking forward to that as much as I’m looking forward to being shipwrecked.”

I was just about to take a seat on the armchair when there was a knock on the door…

Judging by the looks on everyone’s faces, they weren’t expecting company or deliveries… but Sookie mouthed, “Klaasje,” and made an anxious face.

That definitely put telepathy in the category of defensive abilities.

**

When I opened the door Klaasje was making almost the same face Sookie had made to indicate her mood.

“Fancy meeting you here.”

I thought I’d picked a more friendly greeting than coming out and asking why she was at my hotel room, but it didn’t seem to put her at ease at all.

She started, “Sheriff Teague Sheehan sent me to see that you and your party attend your function and then I’m to accompany you from the territory of Florida.”

Asshole. Not Teague… Saâd was behind that.

Klaasje looked like she was actively shitting in her jeans as she delivered the message. The poor thing needed so much help.

I leaned over and whispered in German, “Saâd continued to act like a cunt, so Teague told him he’d have us escorted out because you’re planning to leave with us already.”

She heaved out a deep breath and nodded. “Exactly.”

“Teague should have written a note to spare you the stress… Come in. Sookie and the children are just finishing their dinner.”

I could hear her sampling the air as she followed me into the room and, after everyone greeted her, she asked, “What is that lovely fragrance? Sookie’s perfume perhaps?”

“In a manner of speaking. It’s actually sunlight, but Sookie’s chemistry allows the scent to cling to her.” She wasn’t overwhelmed by the scent just curious about it… And then it occurred to me that she’d been held prisoner in a dark room for the last few years of her life.

Connelly finally left my bedroom, probably because he had a threshold for making an ass of himself, only doing that among friends. Lucky us.

His fangs were down.

And he didn’t care.

At least he shut the bedroom door behind himself.

Edward explained, “You missed that Sookie’s brother bet she couldn’t kiss Derek Jeter tonight…” And switched to German to tease the boys, “And we’ve invited everyone to stay at our house in the Hamptons for a long weekend. We’ll reenact the Roaring Twenties for the children. Full costume, a band and dance lessons, a bootlegger’s treasure hunt, and we’re going to put on a murder mystery like an Agatha Christie novel because they’re very well read.”

Klaasje squeaked, “How exciting!”

Judging by the looks on Cort and Hunter’s faces, they were doing their best to pick apart the translation… Agatha Christie would have been obvious for them. ‘Costume’ sounded the same in both languages…

Eventually Cort tossed himself onto the floor and groaned, “Yer killin’ me! I thought my head was gonna a’splode over bein’ a castaway!”

Perfect.

I chuckled and took my seat, nodding for Klaasje to join us, and continued in German, “We’re leaving for the Caymans next week for a short vacation. The children want to be castaways, so they’ll camp on the beach and forage. We’re planning a treasure hunt for that visit, as well as a few survivalist exercises. You’ll probably need a few bathing suits… Do you have any flapper attire?”

Klaasje shook her head. “I’m afraid not, but I can sew.”

“You’re welcome to do that, but I’m sure Pam will be able to help, and I’ll send your sizes to New York so you have dresses waiting when we arrive.”

The German conversation was actually beginning to increase Sookie’s anticipation too.

When I risked a look at her, she shook her head. “I want to be surprised with them. Don’t tell me a damn thing… and don’t make fun of me for being a big kid either.”

I might have thought she would be worried about spoiling details telepathically if she wasn’t feeling so positively enthusiastic.

“Yes ma’am… You heard her, boys. She wants to be in the dark. Any planning questions will go through me…”

Edward and Richard nodded and whipped out their phones to begin texting feverishly… and it seemed like the perfect excuse to have some fun of my own…

I added in German, “And have your men at the auction houses notify me… Period pieces. Diamonds, sapphires, pearls, platinum. Pocket watches were still in fashion at the time. Perhaps I’ll get lucky and come across a couple of those for the children… I’ll have fun scouring the antiques shops in my Area for that sort of thing too.”

Both of them stopped moving to look at me. Their eyes were bulging.

“What?”

They shook their heads and resumed typing, but Connelly was still staring.

“Jewelry?” At least he was still speaking German.

I nodded. “Yes.”

“You haven’t ever kept pets, Eric.”

“I still haven’t started.”

Pets are disposable.

Families aren’t.