All That Matters: A Duskwood Fanfic

5: The First Night

I slipped back into the room with several bags full of clothes, food and other necessities. Jake had lost everything except for the clothes on his back and his cell phone; given the fact that his clothes reeked of smoke he had needed something to change in to. Lilly had snuck Jake in the motel while I stopped at the store. Lilly had worked at the motel for a while; so, it was easy for her to sneak him in without anyone noticing.

The bathroom door was still closed, so I knocked before looping a bag of fresh clothes on the doorknob before turning back to the room. I tilted the TV so that I could easily see it from the small two-person wooden table and quickly set out the food. Jake had to be starving.

The door creaked open and he stepped out as I sat down in the chair. The shirt I'd bought him clung tightly to him, displaying the tight lines of his muscular arms. I stared, mouth gaping a little farther open than I'm willing to admit. He cleared his throat, tugging at the shirt a small smile on his lips as he watched the blush creep on my cheeks. I'd been caught.

"Chinese food?"

"Of course." I replied like it was something we'd decided together. In a way we had, when he'd first asked me if I liked it in hopes of taking me on a date. Right now, this was as close as we were getting to a date. I'd gone a little overboard, judging by the twenty some-odd containers that littered the table now. I personally enjoyed an array of different flavors and this way I was guaranteed to get something he liked.

He slide easily into the empty chair, the one I'd pulled closer to me so that he'd be able to watch the TV too. Not at all because it put him closer to me. I flipped on the TV, changing it to one of the motels free movie channels. Instead of watching the TV I watched him pile food on his plate. Judging by the way he took some of almost everything he definitely wasn't picky. That was good to know. My gaze slipped from his plates towards his arms again. The last thing I'd expected was for him to have that much muscle. Sitting in front of a computer all day long wasn't know to produce that. I licked my lips, stabbing a piece of Sweet and Sour Chicken and popping it into my mouth.

We took turns, glancing between the TV and each other. I wondered if he could feel the tension rolling off my body or if he was thinking the same thing I was. We were, at the very least, seizing each other up. Somehow things were both awkward, and comfortable between us at the same time. I didn't feel the need to say anything as we eat and apparently neither did he.

I was exhausted, and if the tired look in his eyes was any indication he was too, but I wasn't ready to sleep just yet. I needed more time. Time to memorize his face, his voice and the way my body tingled with anticipation any time he leaned closer to me.

"Did you read what happened?" I finally asked, we had yet to speak about the mines at all. Even though it was over I had no doubts that he would want to know everything. Jake was the kind of person who liked to collect information. To research, to know.

"Parts of it before my phone died." He slide the phone onto the table with a shrug. I gingerly picked it up, I had picked up a few chargers just in case and quickly found one that would work. While he plugged it in, I moved over to the bed. The chairs weren't exactly comfortable, and for this conversation I needed comfort. "It was Richy all along."

"Yes." I nodded crossing my legs underneath me. "I should have seen it."

He tilted his head quizzically at me before crawling onto the bed next to me, as though he had done it a hundred times. I could already feel the tension, the awkwardness between us receding as we dove into the topic that had consumed us from the very beginning.

"You did. At least somewhat. Do you remember questioning his story about Hannah's last day? Or questioning the attack on him?"

I nodded; he was right about that at least. But I'd made the mistake of tucking the information away and not investigating it. If I had then maybe Richy wouldn't be dead right now. He'd be in jail, but at least he'd be alive. I told Jake so.

He reached out, linking his fingers through mine. "Stop blaming yourself Charlee. None of this is your fault. Richy made his choices, however ill-thought out they were. If it hadn't been for you, we would have never found out the truth." I opened my mouth to speak but closed it as he shook his head. "I told you in the beginning that you were the key to it all, and you were. In a way, you saved us all."

With a grunt I flopped down on the bed before twisting to my side so I could see him. I wanted to tell him he was wrong, that I hadn't saved anyone but I knew it would be no use. Jake was just as stubborn as I was, I wasn't going to change his mind and he wasn't going to change mine. He flipped to his side as well, so that we were laying face to face mere inches away from each other. So close that I could feel his body heat.

"How-how did you get out?" I asked, not wanting to dwell on Richy for too long. I was pretty talked out when it came to that subject having gone through it three times already. If Jake had read the messages he knew just as much as I did. We usually spent time talking things out, dissecting each and every clue but this time I didn't feel like we had to.

He sighed, his eyes focusing on a point somewhere behind me as he began to talk. "The smoke and heat filled the mine so fast I was nearly blind. I don't know how long I walked around like that, not long. There was a moment...a moment where the smoke was so thick, I was sure that it was the end. That I was going to leave you, and I swear I could hear you calling my name." His eyes darkened as he stayed transfixed in the memory. "I knew it was crazy but I followed the sound of your voice into a small dark cave. And there it was, a hidden trap door. Somehow you saved me Charlee."

"But I didn't...I couldn't..." I hadn't been there; I'd been miles away pacing my apartment thinking about him. Pacing my apartment as I waited for a sign of life. Begging for a sign of life.

His lips pressed against my forehead. He was closer to me, and I hadn't even noticed that he had moved. My entire body tingled as I looked into his eyes, which were no longer looking behind me. No, this time they were staring into my eyes as though he was looking right into my very soul. And I no longer cared how, all that mattered was that whatever it was that had guided him it had guided him straight back to me.

His free hand, the one not tucked under the pillow, cupped my face. His thumb lightly tracing my cheek; his lips parted as we leaned into one another. This time there would be no distractions, no younger sister coming in and breaking us apart. No, this time it was only us. Only the need to feel his lips on mine.

My eyes fluttered shut as his lips brushed mine, a wave of warmth washing over me, my body pushing itself against his. For a moment I forgot to breath as shivers of pleasure followed in the wake of his hand traveling down my side until it rested on my hip. My hand knotted into his silky straight hair as the kiss deepened. A groan escaped the back of my throat as his tongue found mine. And I was lost; lost in the hungry crash of our lips, my heart pounding its way out of my chest. The sensation was maddening, thrilling and I would never, never been able to get enough of it. 

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Awh man, that kiss though. <3 

xoxo