The Club

CHAPTER 23

"I've seen pictures of this place, but I never thought I would ever come here."

He walks up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist. "And now that you're here?"

"It feels weird." I relax backward against him and continue. "I can't describe it. To touch the walls and know that he spent so much time here. It's like I'm connected to him right now. Does that make any sense?"

"I can't say that I know what you're feeling but that doesn't mean it doesn't make any sense. I think you've felt that way even before we got here."

I nod. If there's anyone I felt connected to prior to this whole debacle it would have been him. And it still is so maybe it's not that I'm suddenly feeling connected to this place or really anything having to do with the club. "Some part of me thought coming here would bring me sudden clarity on the whole key thing."

"And?" he asks.

I shrug and look around the area again. "Nothing. I still have no idea what the key is or where I'm supposed to find it. I've wasted all this time searching for something that I'll probably never find."

He releases his hold on my hips and steps around to face me. Bringing his hands up to either side of my face, he suddenly has my full attention. "You need to stop getting in your head over this. You'll find it. You have to."

The desperation and agony on his face is worse than my own. I'm a ticking time bomb and I'm going to explode any day now. I should have never gotten married to Graham. I was being too damn selfish but I couldn't give up on even a short time of happiness. I should have thought about him though. On the fact that I will be leaving him behind when I'm gone.

By the looks of the anger in the sky I have a feeling that rain is coming soon. With one last look at the bridge, I drag Graham with me back to the car. The car ride is really short and it doesn't take long before we're pulling back into the motel parking lot.

As soon as we step foot out of the rental car and shut the doors, the sky opens up and rain pounds down on us. I let out a laugh. It couldn't have waited thirty seconds before it started doing this? Graham runs around the front and grabs my hand pulling me toward our hotel room. Not that it really matters how fast we get there because we'll already drenched. As we reach our motel room door, he jiggles keys out of his pockets, and I shiver in the coldness that hits me straight to my bones.

When he finally gets the door open, we hurry in, and he slams the door behind us. The windows rattle from the intense storm that surrounds us but my focus is solely on Graham. He's standing near the door in his soaking wet clothing and I hover near the bed. I bring my hands down to the bottom of my t-shirt and I drag it over my head before tossing it behind me in hopefully the direction of the bathroom. He's frozen in his place as I pull down the zipper on my jeans and struggle to grab the fabric down my legs. As the jeans slap against the wall behind me after I toss them, t breaks Graham from is trance and he quickly sheds his clothing off with only his boxer briefs remaining.

He cranks the heater on and follows me into the bed where I'm already shivering underneath the blankets. Laying back on the bed he drapes his body over my own. It doesn't take long until my body is shaking for completely different reasons. I slide my legs open and he swiftly falls in between them. I release a moan as he presses down into me not doing a thing to relieve the throbbing at my core. I turn my head to the side as he kisses his way up my neck to my lips.

"We don't have to rush into this if you don't want to. I'm fine with waiting."

Feeling the rejection, I turn my head to the side when I ask, "Do you not want to do this?"

"Are you kidding?" He reaches down and cups my face turning it back so we're looking at each other. "Of course I want this."

I let out a small sigh at his silliness. "Graham, we're married. If we were wanting to slow things down, we probably shouldn't have done that first."

"Wait. Do you regret getting married?"

"That's not what I meant...just shut up and kiss me."

"Sorry, I'm just—"

I don't give him a chance to continue his nervous ramblings. I pull his face down to mine and slam my lips on his. He rocks himself into me and I wrap my legs around his waist trapping his body to my own. I moan and shudder as he hits in just the right spot.

I break our kiss long enough to breathe out, "We still have too many clothes on."

"I agree," he grunts out.

I release my tight hold on his waist and relax my legs. We quickly scramble out of our remaining clothing items and I gasp finally taking a minute to gaze at his body from head to toe. When our eyes lock, the intensity of lust is full and I pull him back down to the bed with me. He settles himself between my legs again and I wrap mine around his waist pulling him closer to me. The buildup intensifies as he's so close but not quite there. I try to rock myself up to reach him and that does it.

He pushes himself inside and I gasp at the close contact. We fit perfectly together like two halves of the same whole and I can't imagine it ever being better than this. He holds himself for a minute but it doesn't take long until we're moving. He keeps his eyes locked on my own the entire time and it doesn't take me long to find my release as he reaches his hand down between us. A few moments later he follows behind me and groans out his own.

"I love you, Erika."

"I love you, too." I hold back everything else I want to say. It's not so much that I'm scared of dying anymore it's the fact that I won't be with Graham anymore. In the short time we've been on this trip and together I know I've found my soulmate. I guess that's life's last joke on me. I finally founded what I was looking for this entire time and he was right in front of my face. And I didn't find him again until right before I'm going to die. Well fuck you, life. Fuck you.