35. On A Mission

35

ON A MISSION

" Y ou're quiet," Kelsey said three hours later.

"What?" Van asked, turning to look at her.

"You're quiet. Almost distracted. I picked a cop movie thinking you'd enjoy it over a rom-com."

"Thank you for that."

She laughed and turned in the chair to put her leg under her hip. They were reclined back some and she put her chin in her hand, her elbow on her knee.

"Did watching that depress you over being done in law enforcement?"

"No," he said.

He was back to simple quick answers. Like the guy she'd met months ago.

Something was going on.

"Did you want a different snack? You didn't eat anything."

She'd made her way through half a bag of popcorn and a lot of M&M's. More than she wanted to admit.

"I wasn't hungry."

She frowned and then moved over to crawl into his lap, her knees straddling his hips. "These chairs are nice and big. Do you think Barry wanted you to get freaky down here?"

He closed one eye at her. "What happened to you thinking sex and my grandfather were gross?"

"You're right. I was thinking of us and sex though. Nothing gross about that."

She could feel him growing under her hip so at least he wasn't unaffected. That was something.

"No," he said. "Nothing gross with us. Get undressed."

She wiggled her eyebrows. "How about half undressed and fast? I'll ditch my jeans and you undo yours. Aren't you thrilled we don't need condoms anymore?"

"Stop talking, Kelsey."

She laughed and got off of him, undid her jeans and dropped them down fast along with her panties. She pulled her shirt off but kept her bra on. Her socks were still on and she held back the giggle over that.

She climbed back on Van, spread her legs and dropped down on top of his dick.

She let out a groan and held still for a moment, but Van had other ideas.

He lifted her and held her hips up a bit, his fingers digging into her flesh, and started to push up furiously as if something was chasing him and he had to outrun it.

The fact her body was building for an explosion was the only thing that let her just be and take it as it was happening.

Van seemed to be on a mission and she was letting him control this time together.

One of his hands released her hip, slid through her hair and wrapped his fist in it and yanked her down, his mouth crushing hers.

There was a bit of pain in her scalp, but all it did was light another fire in her.

As hard as Van was lifting into her, she was slamming back down until it felt as if the chair was going to tip.

He shifted some so that she sat back up and didn't have as much top weight going.

"I'm so close," she said. "Don't stop."

"Touch yourself," he demanded.

Her hand slid down and started to rub her swollen skin. Her head went back, her muscles started to convulse and her body let loose a ton of tension.

Both his hands were squeezing her hips to hold her in place as he came and made more noise than he ever had before.

He was moaning, his eyes were closed and he almost looked as if he was in pain.

She collapsed down on him, she was so spent.

Bad move.

The recliner they were in was tipped back and actually went crashing to the ground, her on top of him, their feet up in the air while they were still joined.

"Fuck," he said. "Are you okay?"

She was laughing so hard she couldn't answer him.

He moved her off of him and she rolled so that she was sitting on the carpet bare assed naked. "Oh my God. Are you okay? I didn't break your dick or anything, did I?"

"Hardly," he said. He was standing and pulling his jeans up, then helping her stand.

"I need the bathroom," she said, rushing to the one that was in the basement and cleaning up.

When she opened the door to come back out, Van was standing there with her jeans and underwear in her hand.

"Frankie had an accident," he said. "I think we scared him."

She started to laugh again. "I'll take care of it."

"I've got it," he said. "My fault. I was a little rough."

"Don't pull that whole you're a lady thing again."

"Nope," he said. "I learned you're not one." When her jaw dropped he tapped her nose. "You told me that. Remember?"

She couldn't dispute it and watched him walk away while she pulled her jeans on.

"I'll let Frankie out," she said.

She took her puppy out the door to the basement that went into the yard. Frankie did his business in the fenced-in yard that Van had. She did love this house.

What a great place it would be to grow up.

"It's all set," he said when she came over to help.

"That was fun," she said.

"You always find the fun in everything," he said.

"Let's go upstairs," she said. "I want to talk."

"Great," he said. It was the tone of his voice that had her holding back a sarcastic comment.

Though that did sound more like him.

When they were settled into the living room up on the main level, she asked. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said.

"Van. Something is going on. When I came back with the food you were different. You weren't even paying attention to the movie. Then the whole sex down there. I loved it. I really did. But it's like you were trying to exorcise a demon or something. If my head starts spinning don't blame me."

He didn't laugh. She didn't know why she thought he might.

"It's nothing," he said.

"It's something. I feel like I always have to pull teeth with you. I don't get it. You know I love you. You love me even though you don't say it much."

"Do you want me to be one of those people who says it every time I hang up the phone or walk out the door?"

It was the appalled look on his face. "No. When people say it that much it's no different than a greeting or goodbye. That isn't me. It's not how my family has ever been. I'm just saying I know you love me even though you don't say it often."

She wasn't sure why she brought it up. He was going to think she was needy when she wasn't really.

Maybe she was still put out that it took him so long to keep taking steps in his life when she would have raced everyone to get to the end, then gone back to go through everything again looking for more details.

"Then what is going on?" he asked.

"You tell me. I told you I came back and you were different. I feel as if something happened and you won't tell me. I just don't understand why you can't share with me."

"I waited to go to the storage unit with you," he said. "That's sharing."

She frowned. He had a point. "Are you feeling overwhelmed?"

"The understatement of the year," he said. "But it's not that."

She saw him hedging. "Tell me what it is," she said. "I'm going to bug you all night until you do. If you don't think I will then ask Duke or my parents. They will tell you I'm relentless."

"I believe it," he said. He grabbed his phone, unlocked it and tossed it to her.

Kelsey picked it up and hit the messages button. It was the only reason she could think he'd do it.

The last one was from his father.

Her eyes went wide and she read the message, then noticed that he hadn't replied.

"Are you going to talk to him?"

"I doubt it," he said.

"Don't you want to know why he's reaching out after all this time?"

"Not really," he said. "Because if I talk to him right now I might just verbally beat the shit out of him."

Her heart broke hearing those words. "Do you think he knows you're here?"

"I doubt it," he said. "If he did, he'd say something. He might even go off and start bashing my grandfather."

"You don't have the answers you want, do you?" she asked.

"Nope. Not sure I'll get them. I have to decide when enough is enough," he said.

"It's never enough," she said. "At least from my experience. But you have to make that decision on your own."

"You're not going to harp on this with me?" he asked. He looked shocked.

"No. I know you think I'm all fun and games and don't take anything seriously. Most times that is probably right. But not this. This is something you've got to do and I'll be by your side to support you when you make that decision."

"Thanks for that," he said, pulling her under his arm.

"You're welcome. I think it has more to do with once you beat the shit out of him I'll want to give him a kick or two while he's down. I know, it makes me a horrible person, but I don't give a shit."

He kissed her on the top of the head. "Makes you my perfect person."

She smiled and knew that maybe she was helping him heal after all.