Dead Eye (Choni)

Fourteen

"I can take care of myself, thanks." She harrumphed, crossing her arms over her chest stubbornly.

"That doesn't mean you have to." I recalled, and she rose a brow. "You've always had to take care of yourself, and of everyone else, but I want to take care of you for once." I admitted, walking closer to her.

"I hate you, Cheryl." She reminded, and I shrugged, stepping closer and taking her hands in mine.

"And I love you more than I've ever loved anyone in my life." I assured, looking into her eyes deeply. "I'd do anything for you." I swore, making her scoff.

"Go jump off the train." She barely jested, and I exhaled.

"Please, Toni." I pleaded, my heart throbbing against my chest in time with the cracks that so ceremoniously chiseled their way into my already fragile heart. "I need you to look at it from my perspective, please." I whimpered, and she rolled her eyes, ripping her hands from my grasp.

"What do you think I've been trying to do for the last two months, Cheryl?" She cried, a sob escaping her lips as she collapsed to the ground, her hands on her knees, body hunched over her legs as her beck shook and racked in sobs. "All I've been trying to do is comprehend what can drive someone to do something like this, and there are no reasons I could think of," her voice cracked, and she took in a deep breath before looking up between strands of her uncombed, unwashed hair. "Out of every reason I forced myself to look at, none have brought me to your conclusion." She sniffled, and I dropped to my knees.

"Think of all the people who we know have been killed by Hiram so far. That doesn't include the people we never found out." I requested, "My parents," I held up to fingers, "Jason, Heather, your dad and brother." I held up the sixth finger, and Toni met eyes with me suddenly.

"You." she whimpered, and my heart shattered. All the cracks needed was a single straw to send it crumbling apart, and this completely destroyed me.

"Me." I gulped.

"I-I..." Her fingers trembled, and hair was suddenly being pulled back by her hands. "I just don't want you to get hurt." She admitted, and I rose a brow.

She ran her fingers through her matted hair and turned to lean her head against mine.

"For the first three weeks you were gone, I thought your attacker killed you." She admitted to me for the first time ever. "When I found out you were fine, I wished, for a brief second, that I was right." Her voice cracked, and another tear fell down her face between us. "And for the next five years, I was angry at myself because of that brief second. More mad at myself than I've ever been in my entire life." She sniffled, "Cheryl, I-I can never really stay mad at you." She reminded, bringing her hand up to caress my face for a minute. "But more than anything, I'm angry that you were so selfish that you were willing to put yourself into the danger of being killed again, just because you felt like you had to."

"Toni, I-I'm sorry." I whispered, and she shook her head.

"Stop apologizing." She demanded, and before I could respond, she had grabbed my face and pulled it against hers, her tongue delving between my lips immediately. I got up on my knees, and felt her do the same before roughly straddling me. Her breathing was already heavy, hips rolling against me in a rushed, sensual manner that made my stomach churn in the best way. "I'm still," she moaned when my hands gripped the flesh of her backside at one particular buck of her hips against mine, "so, so mad at you." She moaned, and I hummed, wrapping my hands around the back of her neck, my thumbs braced on her cheeks tenderly.

"I can live with that," I muttered, and I felt her hands slither down to untie my sweatpants, tugging them down my hips roughly. I untied my cloak from around my neck and laid it behind Toni distractedly before tilting her back and unbuckling her pants. It wasn't thirty more seconds before my skin was flush against hers, her breasts slick against mine, our skin itching to be close. She slid her left leg between mine, her other around my left leg, and ripped my hair close, making me his as she tugged on my locks of hair and stroked her tongue against mine. She moaned against my mouth as I rolled my thigh between hers, her hands moving down to my back, feeling my muscles tense up as I humped her leg, desperate for release.