Catalyst (19 page)

             
"What's so funny?" he said to us, but he spoke low into her ear. I felt like I was eavesdropping so I turned to go. Neither one cared about me at all. I laughed as I watched her turn and he practically devoured her mouth right there in the middle of the kitchen
as he lifted her up
.

             
I sighed as I started back to
my room. Cain needed to get up
so he c
ould get his things ready too, b
ut when I got there he was gone. I peeked in the hall and decided I would try his room. He was
there, bent over
stuffing some clothes into a green duffel bag.

             
"Hey."

             
"Hey," he answered and stood up to tower over me. "I was about to come get you."

             
"You were?" I said suddenly solemn, knowing we had only minutes until he was leaving
, and my voice practically gave that away
.

             
"Yeah," he answered softly
as he grabbed my hand and gently toyed with my fingers
. "Don't be mad at me, ok?
I wanted to do this another time, but seeing as how we escaped death
at the facility
, and know a
ll of each other’s secrets,
and I'm leaving,
it seems to fit the situation.” I looked at him puzzled at what he was getting at. He didn’t waste an
y time. He
let my fingers go, held
my face gently
and spoke softly
,
but with conviction. “I am so
crazy about you, L.
”

             
“Cain,” I sighed his name and felt all my breath leave my body.

             
“
I love you." He let me absorb that for a few torturous
,
silent seconds before going on. "
Just know that I’m saying something to you that I’ve never said to another living soul.
Not my parents, not my fiancé, n
obody.”

             
He leaned in and kissed me. He didn’t wait for me to answer him. He doesn’t seem like to type to want me to say it just because he did. He’d want me to say it w
hen it was true for me. When he wa
s certa
in about something, he just did it and dealt
with the consequences.

             
He
did
n’t know that I
was in
love him too.

             
I kissed him back eagerly. I wrapped my arms around his neck, feeling his hands slide down from my face all the way to my hips. He was doing
amazing things with his tongue as
I broke off
,
before I got too breathless and cou
ldn’t speak to say what I
had
to say without another second going by.

             
I ran my hand over his head, scratching with my nails as I did it, over and over again
to gather my courage
. He groaned.

             
“You already got me, L. No persuading required.”

             
“It’s hilarious that you like that so much.” He just smiled and closed his eyes as I continued to scratch and rub his s
calp. Now or never. “I love you
too, Cain,” I whispered.

             
He opened his eyes
as they snapped to mine
, sea green and honest. He watched me closely for a few seconds.

             
“I didn’t say it just so you would-”

             
“I know that, b
ut I knew already. I was just to
o chicken to say it first
.”

             
He smiled
slow and smug
, looking thoroughly pleased
and very much Cain
.

             
“Really?”
he said, his voice a happy growl.

             
“Yes…
really.”

             
He yanked me to him and pressed his face into my neck.

             
"You're rattling my bones right now, L."

             
"I have no idea what that means
,
but it sounds good enough," I said through my giddy laugh.

             
"It means," he said suddenly serious and once more took my face in his hands, "that I
am so incredibly happy with you
. I don't think y
ou realize what that means
."

             
"I can guess," I answered back softly. "I love you," I said it again to make sure he got it.

             
"
I'm gonna leave with that," he replied quickly and then pulled me to him, almost roughly. He held me close and still for at least a minute before looking up again. "I'll say it to you when I get back," he said, his voice grating and rough.

             
I nodded in
understanding. This was not a
goodbye.

             
He pulled me along with to him to the stairs.
A devastated crowd was gathered
there. This was it.

             
"My group is the first one to leave," Cain told me. I looked around and saw them already making their way up the stairs. "Don't worry. I'll make sure to keep them all in line," he joked.

             
"I'm sure you will, Sergeant."

             
"Don't you wrinkle that pretty nose with worry," he whispered into my hair. He'd said that to me once b
efore and it almost broke my no-
crying resolve.

             
"Ok," I said and cleared my throat before smiling at him. His ocean eyes never left mine. We heard
Jeff saying it was time to go behind us a
nd it was painful as his words
lanced through my chest. Three days. I could make it for three days. This wasn't just stupid girly things though, this was worry. They would be out there for three days in danger. I was terrified for them.

             
I looked away to see them all saying their own goodbyes. Jeff was hugging Sherry
,
and Lily was practically forming a hug assembly line.

             
"Hey," Cain turned my face up
to his.
"I see a wrinkle," he said and tapped my nose.

             
"Nope." I gulped. "No wrinkle. I'm fine. Be careful, ok?"

             
"I will, promise."

             
He used his gentle fingers on my chin to lift me and bring me to hi
m. I found myself winding my arms
around him furiously, my hands bumping onto the bag on his back. He let it slide to the floor and engulfed me in his arms. With my feet off the fl
oor I could do nothing but hold on
and pray time would stand still. But it didn't and all too soon he was putting my feet back to the floor.

             
"Bye, my lovely," he whispered and then leaned down to retrieve his bag.

             
"Bye, sweetie pie," I whispered back.

             
He turned to go, letting our fingers hang on until the last second before they let
go. I held my breath. I had to
until he was out of sight. This just didn't make any sense. I was so crazy about this guy. I'd
never been like this before. I had
love
d
Michael, of course, but it wasn't like this.
This was more than love, this was a need.

             
He followed Jeff and Marissa up the stairs and turned back once to smile and wink at me before disappearing. My breath still held, refusing to let me relax. I waited and the seconds ticked by. The pressure in my chest was so unbearable so I took a breath.

             
All it did was allow the tears to come. I wiped them away, thinking how stupid I was as I turned to go back to my room, when I felt a
hard strong
hand on mine.

             
I jerked around quickly to see him there. He pulled me to him and whispered in my ear, "I love you too, L."
I did one of
those annoying half laugh/half
cry things. He kissed m
e quickly and forcefully, reminding me that he could be sweet and cute, but at the heart, he was rough and rugged and all male. It was one of those fascinating things I loved about him.

             
He turned to go, smirking smugly at my inability to form words, and quickly ran to catch up with the rest of them. I touched my lip. I could still feel the imprint of his lip ring, or maybe it was all in my head. Either way, I found myself smiling and then caught myself.

             
No. No smiling until he walked back through that door.

Wooden Pony

Chapter 12 - Sherry

             
"Lily," Mig
uel said sweetly and lifted her,
"I've got to run fast
,
but I wanted to give you this first." He handed her a little wooden carved
pony
that fit in her hand
. She squealed and lifted it to her face to nuzzle it. "I made that for you."

             
"You did?" she whispered, enraptured in her awe of him.

             
"I sure did, little sheila," he told her and kissed her forehead before handing her off to Merrick. "You make sure to think of a good name for her while I'm gone
,
ok?"

             
"She'll miss you," Lily told him.

             
"Well, I'll miss you," he said and tweaked her nose before winking at me and turning to go.

             
"Be c
areful, Miguel," I told him
and wrenched my necklace charm back and forth
. "Come back, ok?"

             
"Will
do,
"
he confirmed and nodded.

             
"You're weaving too, Daddy?" Lily asked Merrick
,
but her eyes never left her wooden prize.

             
"Yeah, baby, I am," Merrick sighed his words and hugged her to him.

             
"I'll miss you. Can you bring back another watermelon?"

             
"I'll try real hard," he told her with a smile for her naiveté.

             
He let her down and she trotted her pony in the air towards the commons room. Then he turned to me.

             
I was neve
r one to hide my feelings
and though I knew it probably didn't make him feel any better about leaving, I couldn't stop the tears that decide
d
to fall
right then.

             
"I know," I groaned, "I know. I'm
being silly."

             
I
pulled him down and
looked at his mark once more to make sure my cover-up job was still good. When I straightened again h
e looked pained, his lips twisted in a half frown.

             
"I'm sorry,
"
he said roughly.

             
"It's ok. It can't be helped." I reached up and let him pull me to him. I wished I had the Keeper's mind talk at that moment so Merrick didn't have to hear the tears in my voice as I pleaded with him with everything in my soul. "Please, please be careful."

             
"Of course."

             
"M
ake sure you come back."

             
He pulled me back to look at him. His hand cupped my cheek in his way that was as loving as it was possessive.

             
"Always," he said firmly.

             
The tingles that had started months before at his very first touch were ever present.
They traveled along with his touch across my cheek and down my neck.
My everything was walking out the door. I
sighed and breathed through it.

             
He lifted me once more and kissed me. His
arms snaked around my waist as
he squeezed and held me there. His stubble rubbed my cheek and it reminded me of things from last night; feverish hands, traveling lips, melding and hanging onto every second we had together. He'd been ferocious and
I had been in a fevered scuttle. It was a magical combination for us and I couldn't stop the smile as I thought about the marks on my neck and other places. He'd never been very good at
not
making marks on me. It was funny, really.