Burning Desire

Race

"Automatic response." I muttered as she straightened up, coming in level with me once more.

Her silver eyes shimmered like moonstones and she smiled, clearly understanding what I had meant. Without pause, she leant in and softly pressed her lips to mine, immediately awakening the lust and desire that she always instilled in me. I longed to feel her beneath me and kiss every single inch of her body until my name sprung from her lips in a sweet plea for the sweetest release. I almost forgot where I was, her enchanting spell stealing me from the present and inviting me to set up home in the vibrancy of every desire I had about her, but as she pulled back, I regained the feeling of the rocks beneath my fingers, and my feet.

"Thank you." She whispered, "But you'll regret it when I win."

With a teasing wink, she scarpered, a renewed burst of energy sending her off at a lightning speed. I couldn't help but laugh as I watched her progress, enjoying the view that she was providing when I found my gaze wandering to her perfectly toned backside.

Back on the ground a good while later, I indulged in a celebratory brag for a few moments, laughing as Lacey rolled her eyes. We'd had a few extra climbs on the various differently angled walls, and although the scores were close, I'd successfully beaten her, securing my free drinks and food for the evening.

After driving to the store and picking up a six pack, we grabbed a chinese and went back to mine, setting up in the living room, and tucking into the variety of dishes.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Lacey asked, filling a prawn cracker with an assortment of rice and meat.

I didn't have to ask what she meant, the topic she was referring to was clear. Honestly, I didn't want to talk about it. Ever. But at the same time, I was being plagued by thoughts and concerns over what to do next, and with Lacey, I felt like it was okay to say them out loud.

"I don't know what to do." I sighed, flicking my fork through my rice and spreading the meat through it, watching the dark sauce seeping into the grains, filling them with flavour. "Marya's always wondered about her. She's never had a mother, she was just a baby when she left. How do I tell my little sister that her 'mother' is only a few miles away, that I've seen her, that she's just discarded her and carried on... Do I even tell her?"

I groaned, the pros and cons of the situation racing through my head at lightning speed, talking me into acting, then talking me back out of it mere seconds later.

"I think you already know the answer to that question." She replied tenderly, resting her hand on my knee. "You have to tell her. She deserves to know, and you deserve to have a clear conscience. She's a grown woman, it'll be a shock, but she can handle it."

I knew that she was right, but I had no idea how to break the news.

"I never imagined that she'd still be around here after all these years." I said bitterly, snapping a piece of prawn cracker off and tossing it into my mouth.

"She never tried to get in touch?"

I let out a cold laugh at the very idea that she would care enough to attempt such a thing.

"That would insinuate that she gave a damn." I replied. "She walked out all those years ago, and that was the last any of us heard from her. She didn't even care enough to tell my dad why."

Anger coursed through me as I thought about all the pain that she had caused us over the years. But this time, it didn't consume me, I was calm with Lacey by my side, even whilst my insides were blistering with fiery rage.

There was so much that I felt like I should have said whilst I had the chance. So many things that she should have known. Like how Marya came home in tears when she was a little girl, because girls in her class teased her for not having a mother. How she used to draw pictures of us as a family, and add in different looking women each time, trying to place some kind of face to the woman that was missing from her life. Of course she grew out of those things, but there was no mistaking the toll it took on her, and even to this day, I know that she misses having a mother to be there for her and guide her, to take her hand and to comfort her. I wanted Erika to know these things. To know that when she left, she took a piece of our family with her. A piece that we never got back, and that we were never able to replace. I felt like a failure for not having told her, not blurting it all out until she was unable to even look at me because of her disgust at her own behaviour.

"You're not a failure for that. You don't have anything to tell her." Lacey said soothingly as I let her in on my thoughts. "She left you, she has no place knowing those things. You have all the family you need, and your sister will see that too."

I couldn't help the smile that crept onto my face, this woman had a way with words, that was for sure. Even in my saddest, darkest moments, she was able to say just the right thing to turn it all around.

"Thank you." I whispered.

"You're welcome." She chuckled. "Now, what do you say to more of these ribs?"

Her eyes widened as she swooped on the dish of peking ribs, muttering about how deliciously moreish they were. The adorability of the act had me laughing, watching her beginning to unload them onto her plate, and pushing the whole Erika fiasco from my mind for a while, ready to just relax with this amazing woman by my side.