Mikala's Passion (Pulse Series Book 2) (43 page)

“I love you,” she said loudly, because she had no idea how it sounded in the room and Mason said the same as he brushed his fingers over her cheek and allowed her to cry.

***

“This is Dr. Cupo, the specialist we talked about,” Dr. Blake said, as the sour faced man stepped forward without offering a handshake.

“Let’s keep this short and sweet, I have a full caseload to run through before the days out,” he said, to a less than impressed Mason who didn’t bother to answer. “Extensive testing proves inconclusive.”

“What exactly does that mean?” Mason asked, as his eyes traveled between the two so called experts before him.

“It means all the tests show no reason for Miss Santino’s hearing loss. There are no visible signs of trauma to the ear drum or ear canal. The CT scans show no visible trauma to the brain, other than minor bruising. ”

“Will she hear again?”

“Only time will tell,” he said, handing Mason a slip from a prescription pad. “I have prescribed ear drops to be administered each morning and at bedtime. I would like to see her in one month or immediately should she regain her hearing.”

‘Should she’ played over and over in Mason’s head, like annoyingly repetitive lyrics from a bad song. Bedside manner was obviously skipped over when he went to medical school, the man was callus and cold and Mason wondered if the shoes were switched, whether he would be such a prick.

“It’s time to take Mikala home,” Dr. Blake gestured to Mikala’s room. “I believe she will be happier with friends and family around. One thing Mason, don’t baby her. As much as you will want to, she needs to adjust. I strongly believe this is temporary but she still needs to accept that life goes on, even without sound.

“Here’s your tea,” Eden roared.

“Sweetheart, you really need to stop yelling, she can’t hear you no matter how loud you get.”

Eden smiled awkwardly as she handed Mikala a cup, then sat across the table from her. “I can’t help it.”

Mikala slid a board and marker across the table to Eden. She took her own and wrote.
Stop talking about me.

“How did she know?” Eden asked Mason, as he took a seat beside Mikala giving her a peck on the cheek.

“She’s deaf, not stupid,” he said, as he wrote on his own board.
Eden’s giving me a headache
and Mikala laughed for a brief moment.

You are taking it well.
Eden wrote.

How would you like me to take it?
Mikala wrote.

Be nice sugar.
Mason wrote and raised his eyebrows.

Sorry.

“Not taking it as well as you’d think, she has many the temper tantrum, we’re running out of dishes,” Mason told Eden, as he scribbled on the board.
Don’t even think of throwing that cup.

Fuck you.
Mikala quickly wrote before heaving the full cup of tea at the wall.

Jesus Mik. Take a fucking chill pill,
he wrote and slammed the board onto the table, before she scraped the chair across the floor and flew down the hall, a resounding crash echoed as the bedroom door slammed behind her.

“This is what I’ve been facing each day since she called off the wedding,” Mason told Eden, bending to pick up pieces of shattered china from the floor.

Eden grabbed a dish cloth and wiped the wall after dampening it, “Oh my God.”

“Oh sweetheart, you have no idea.” He tossed the china into the garbage and mopped up the tea. “This is a good day. Normally she won’t come out of the bedroom. She won’t talk to me, pulls away from me whenever I attempt to touch her and other than sleeping there’s nothing happening in our bed anymore. TMI, I know.”

“Have you set a new date?”

“Seriously?” Mason laughed, raking his hands through his hair. “Marrying me is the last fucking thing Mik wants.”

It didn’t take long for Mason to notice Eden’s silent wheels turning. Once Eden got an idea in her head, it was there until she acquired what she sought.

“Got a calendar?” Eden asked.

“On the fridge,” Mason said, as Eden walked over and flipped to the next month. She took a green marker from the table and circled Saturday the seventh. “Keep this day free.”

“Eden what are you up to?” he asked. “Whatever it is let it go, sweetheart. I’ll say it as nice as I can manage, butt out!”

“The less you know, the better,” Eden warned, like a woman on a marital mission. Her body was still there but the mind had left the minute she had asked for the calendar. “I’ll be in touch. Tell Mik nothing.”

She was up and out the door and Mason wondered how much more he could take.

***

Tears came so easily now, she didn’t care who saw her cry.

Mikala rolled onto her side and stared at the pink diamond glittering in the sunlight on her bedside table, reaching over she shoved it behind a book out of sight.

Yesterday would have been their wedding day, instead she spent the day in bed crying and alone just the way she wanted it.

There was no one to blame but herself for her unhappiness, she chose to cancel the wedding, it was all her doing. In a moment of self-pity, she forced Mason to call everyone and tell them the wedding was off. Mason was hurt at first, but soon got over it after finishing a mickey of Jack and spending the rest of the day passed-out in the hideaway.

A black dress bag hung from the door frame of the closet, her wedding dress sealed inside, she forced herself off the bed and hung it in the back of the closet and closed the door. She slumped back against the door and slid to the floor as new tears replaced the tear stained lines on her face and she sobbed her heart out.

Knowing it wasn’t the worst thing in the world not to hear, she simply couldn’t deal with the fact that she wouldn’t hear Mason when he vowed to love, honor and cherish her. And worse still, she wouldn’t hear her own voice vowing the same. Therefore it made perfect sense at the time to call it off, to give Mason the reprieve he needed to walk away from a life of caring for an invalid.

He was so angry after making the calls to cancel everything, that when she shoved him away, he scribbled his message and stormed from the room, she felt the vibration of a door slamming.

You’re not a fucking invalid sugar, everything else works just fine, quit the pity party and accept that I’m not going anywhere. If you never get your hearing back,
I don’t care
. I want you, all of you, the good, the bad and the parts that don’t work like they used to.
Give me a few years and I’m sure there are parts of me that won’t work that great either. Marry me or don’t I’m not leaving. You can’t push me away.

Mikala caught a glimpse of her reflection in the standup mirror and cringed. Her hair was matted and dull, her already pale face was white like a ghost, her eyes were circled in black and her cheeks were hollow from the pounds she had lost from not eating. She touched her fingertips to her bare lips, the color missing, now dry and cracked and licked moisture back into them with her tongue.

Crawling on her hands and knees closer to the mirror, she sat and stared into her own eyes. They were empty pools of green, sad and vacant, her sparkle was gone and the whites of her eyes were so bloodshot they looked like they had been bleeding.

Her eyes moved down to the ratty t-shirt, tea stained and wrinkled beyond belief, she tugged at the hem and smoothed her hand over her chest but the wrinkles wouldn’t leave, memorized into the fabric. The cut off sweatpants, resembling shorts, were two sizes too large and her legs looked skinny and unkempt. She hadn’t bothered to shave, or apply lotion to her dry skin, and she hadn’t used deodorant in so long she was offending herself. The bright pink nail polish on her toes was chipped and in dire need of repair and a trimming.

“You’re a mess,” she whispered against the mirrors surface leaving a cloud of condensation on the glass.

She crawled into the bathroom and climbed into the shower without undressing. She sat on the floor allowing the hot water to soak into her skin. She thought of all the ways she pushed Mason away, including letting herself go and realized it hadn’t worked. He was still there, still fussing over her and loving her even as she attempted to reject him.

He really wasn’t going anywhere.

Mikala rose to her feet, stripped from her clothes and reached for the shampoo bottle. Tears streamed down her face as she cleansed her body, her mind and her soul and vowed to give life a second chance without the aid of sound. She deserved that much and Mason did too.

***

Mason stood at the sink washing out his coffee cup when a pair of arms wrapped around his torso and a soft warm body pushed against his back. He caught the scent of pears and dried his hands, clasped onto Mikala’s hands and spun her around to face him.

He beamed at the sight of her in one of his dress shirts, with her hair pinned up and bright red lipstick gracing her beautiful full lips. He held her arms out and looked her up and down, tapping his big toe to the side of hers noting freshly painted toenails and a silver toe ring she hadn’t worn in forever.

Releasing her hands, he fisted the lapel of the shirt and yanked her forward, his fingers trailed along the white pearl buttons and he grinned into her face before tearing his fists apart and watching pearl buttons scatter to the floor.

Naked beneath the shirt, he slipped it over her shoulders and let it fall to her feet. She was perfection, her porcelain skin was covered in a layer of goose bumps, her nipples puckered, a silver chain hung around her waist with a tiny set of handcuffs dangling from it. Mason swirled it around his index finger and smiled into her eyes. He hadn’t seen it in a very long time, he had actually forgotten giving it to her, she wore it always until her belly swelled beyond its length and she was forced to take it off while she was pregnant.  She wore it as a submissive would wear a collar for her master, a symbol that she belonged to Mason alone, no other man could claim her. She was honored to wear it and here it sat around her waist again. She handed him a paper from the shirt pocket and smiled as he read it.

You remember the chain as do I, today I return it to my waist and wear it with pride to tell you I love you and I am forever yours.

I may not hear the words when you say them, but I remember the sound of I love you leaving your lips and always will.

Forgive me for my stupidity.

I love you.

They didn’t need words as Mason lifted her onto a stool and pulled his t-shirt over his head. It landed in the dirty dish water as did his sweatpants. He stood between her legs in nothing but a pair of socks, dipped a single digit between her folds and groaned when he discovered how wet she was.

“I need you now,” Mikala whispered, in fear of being overly loud and embarrassing herself. She rarely muttered a word for that very reason.

He pinched her chin between his fingers and mouthed, “I need you too, baby.”

Mikala wrapped her legs around his hips and moaned as the head of his cock slid easily inside her. She was so wet and ready.

His lips pressed to her ear and she could tell he was speaking, she could feel his hot breath against her ear, though she couldn’t hear a thing.

“Oh my God sugar, I’ve missed the feel of you.”

The feel of her muscles as they grasped onto his cock and he slipped deeper into her felt like heaven, Mason’s eyes closed as he threw his head back and waited for her to adjust. She pinched his nipples and laughed when his head jerked forward and he sucked a breath through his gritted teeth.

“Fuck,” he growled, drew back and rammed into her.

“Fuck,” she moaned, sinking her nails into his shoulders.

Pain for pleasure wasn’t his thing but at this moment, he was as turned on as he could get. Mason palmed her butt cheeks and lifted her into the air. Still buried to the hilt and growling like a wild animal, Mason backed her to the heavy plate glass window in the living room and heaved her against the glass.

Her arms spread across the glass, her fingers squealed down it as she fought to grasp onto something while Mason thrust rough and hard into her.  Her body slipped easier up and down the glass as a thin layer of perspiration coated her back. His rhythm was fierce, uncontrolled and feral and her panting and gasping for air only egged him on more.

She wished she could hear the desperation behind heavy breaths to reach orgasm, the whimpers he let out as the last of his climax shot from him and the soft humming sound he purred when he was well sexually satisfied. But as each thrust increased in pace and she felt him thicken as he neared climax, she could only imagine him breathlessly saying, “Are you there?...I’m going to cum.”

Mason thrust forward and held deep inside as his seed filled her, he pulled back repeating the motion, Mikala could feel his cock pulsing and then they slowly glided to the floor. Mason cradled her as they sat with their legs tangled together, his hands grazing up and down her spine, her hands raking through his hair.