Grey Thorns

Chapter 63- Feeling Alive

There was a video that was sent to my phone from Jamesworth. It showed the people being shot or decapitated. Who took the video, I don't know. But it was too brutal for me to watch, but I couldn't help but stare at the screen and cry.  I wondered why he sent it to me and not Liam. I jumped and almost dropped the phone when I heard Liam. I sighed to gather myself.

"Max!" Liam calls and I walk out to the back porch where he was. He was sitting on the edge of the pool looking innocent. "What?" I answer flatly and he smirks. "You should join me in the pool." he says and I lean my shoulder on the door frame. "And why should I do that?" I ask and he winks and leans back on his palms. Gosh he looked so relaxed. "Cause I have hard time containing myself when I'm around you." he says playfully and I shake my head. "You're something else, Liam." I say and walk back into the house. "So that's a yes?" he calls in and I stop in the middle of the living room and laugh. After thinking about it for a moment, I change into my bathing suit and take my time. 

He watches as I walk around the pool to meet him and he smiles as I sit on his lap facing him. "You took a while." he says and I laugh and look at his chest. "My apologies sir." I say sarcastically and he touches my hip. "You're gonna pay for that." he teases and kisses me. "What if I have nothing to pay with?" I play his game and he pulls my chin just barely a centimeter away from his. "I'm sure you have plenty." he says and parts my lips. Once I relaxed and let my hands rest on his shoulders, his hands picked me up by waste and I landed in the water. I squealed when I surfaced and pushed my hair out of my face. "You jerk, that wasn't what I was expecting!" I say and he was on his back laughing. 

"Oh come on, that was priceless." he says and I climb over the edge of the pool and let the water drip from my hair onto his neck and cheek. "I'm going back in the house." I mutter and stand up. "Max." He groans and pulls me back on the ground with my back wrapped by his stomach. "Loosen up." He frowns. I play with a lock of wet blond hair and frown. "I want to dye my hair back to normal." I mutter. "Why? I don't care about your hair." he says and I shake my head. "I do." I respond. "It isn't me." I add and he kisses my shoulder and rubs my arm with a sigh as he sits up and pulls me in his lap. "Okay, what's bothering you." he says flatly and I shrug. 

"Tell me, Max." he says in my ear as he kisses my neck. My eyes closed and I leaned back into him, trying to forget the war, forget Kurt and Gabriel, and forget being Gifted. 

"Has Jamesworth talked to you about the numbers he has over in Europe?" I ask and he sighs. "You're still on that." he says under his breath. "Um, yeah, last time I heard he has nearly 3000." he says and I open my eyes. "I need you to not think about that." he says lowly and I turn my head towards his chin. "I can't." I say and he kisses my shoulder. "Then think about me. That's who you have right now. Don't think about what's going to happen." he says and I sigh. He's right. I have him now, and I may not have him next week. I need him most right now and he's here. "I'm here right now." he reminds me and a shiver trickles down my spine and I sit forward before turning around to face him. He reaches up and touches my cheek before kissing me once. "Okay?" he clarifies and I nervously nod. 

I press my lips to his and lean my weight on my hand, which was on his leg. "You're right." I admit and climb back on his lap. He lays down on his back and I place my hands on the pavement by his head. I melted on his within seconds of his lips and he shifted to get his shorts off. He moved us into the water and rocked his weight into me. I tried to think about only present, the way his hands felt on my, the way his lips felt, the way he made me feel, but all that seemed to be on my mind was the video of all the people being captured and killed. Now matter the present feeling, I still feared one of those soldiers in the video being Kurt or Liam or any of the people I trained with. 

                                                                                   ***

He sent me another video he next morning of Cain, who I feared would come after us shortly. He stood on a podium in an audience. "The last Gifted remains here in America, and unfortunately she has escaped from our testing facilities. Until we find her, we will go through this entire country until we do. She is important to our kind and she must be found alive. We have new human resources we can use against the Arcs if they ever attack against us, and we will kill anyone and everyone until we find this girl. Max Wintres is her name. " Cain says.