for the next few weeks, arvin watched the preacher's every move. he'd thought about bringing calypso along, but had decided that it was best for her not to have to see that, especially considering what she'd already been through. he simply told her what he was doing, but that it wasn't safe for her to come along and that was that. she didn't try to argue. she was smart enough to know why.
so arvin stalked the preacher alone, and he didn't like what he saw. whenever teagarden finished working on his sermons, evelyn reaster would bike over to the church. he would take his flashy white sports car and drive them out to the same clearing in the woods where arvin and calypso had spotted him with lenora, though they hadn't known at the time. what teagarden did with the reaster girl made arvin sick to his stomach, thinking about how that girl was too young to say yes and too gullible to say no and how the twisted preacher had done the same to his lenora. once they were done, the reaster girl biked away, and teagarden sniffed her panties before discarding them in the grass beside his parked car.
next, arvin watched him from the window of his house. he came home after fucking the reaster girl and collapsed in a chair as his wife baked him a cake. when it came out of the oven, he beckoned her over. she slipped off her bathrobe to reveal a pretty white nightgown, and knelt down in front of him. he took her head in his hand and began forcing it up and down on his cock, ignoring her gagging sounds. arvin couldn't bear to watch much more. his blood boiled as the poor woman's head was pushed down onto teagarden's dick again and again, clearly wanting to be let up but not wanting to disappoint him. unable to see a woman treated that way any longer, he crept back to his car and drove home.
when he arrived at the house, calypso was fast asleep in the bedroom. she'd left a bowl of soup and a slice of bread on the bedside table, and she was curled up in one of his t-shirts on her side of the bed. he watched the way her plump lips parted to let out the slightest of snores, and found himself mesmerized by how peaceful she looked. she had such an expressive face; there was always some sort of emotion splayed across her features. but when she slept, she was completely relaxed. arvin's heart ached as he realized how much he'd come to care about her in the past months. he'd been in love with her for awhile, but he hadn't said it yet. the moment he realized that he loved her was when he walked into emma's room to ask if she needed anything on the day of lenora's funeral, but calypso was already there, holding emma's hand as she cried herself to sleep.
arvin knew what he had to do, but he knew he couldn't bring her with him. it was too dangerous. calypso had bigger dreams than most people in coal creek. most girls would be content to marry a mediocre lumberjack and live out their days in a ramshackle cabin tending to their children, but she wanted more. she'd told him a few times of how she dreamed of living in a big city like chicago or cincinnati, or even new york. she had a beat-up postcard of los angeles in her backpack, and often talked longingly about celebrities like ava gardner and marilyn monroe. arvin's future was empty anyway; he was going to lay asphalt until his back gave out. but he was convinced that calypso had greater things ahead of her, and he wasn't about to take that away.
his heart began to ache, and he was forced to look away from her peacefully sleeping form. he went out into the barn to find uncle earskell, who was indeed smoking a cigarette and staring off into the distance. arvin lit one of his own and sat down next to the brooding man. he wanted to be able to say goodbye to earskell and emma, but he knew that they were better off not knowing anything in case the law came looking for him.
"uncle," he said, tears threatening to spill, "you have to be good to grandma. you know that she ain't hardly been out of her bed since the funeral?"
"yeah," said earskell blankly.
"grandma needs you," said arvin, thankful for the darkness of the musty old barn. "all right?"
earskell nodded, and arvin went back inside. he wrote a quick letter to emma and began to pack up his things. he threw a couple of his clothes into a rucksack, collected what little money he had, and slipped on a denim jacket. he had just loaded his father's luger when he heard calypso shift to the right.
her eyes fluttered open. "hey, arvin," she said sleepily. "you back?"
"yeah," said arvin, trying to discreetly wipe his tears away as she rubbed her eyes and sat up. "just got in."
"is that your daddy's gun?" asked calypso, rubbing her eyes.
"uh..." arvin tried to put it away, but she was wide awake.
she sat up indian style in the bed and motioned that he should do the same, so he mirrored her position.
"arvin," she said softly, "i always knew this was going to happen."
"what was going to happen?" asked arvin, praying she would go back to sleep so he wouldn't have to tell her goodbye.
"you were going to kill teagarden," she said bluntly. "i'd do the same, if he'd done it to my sister."
"you would?" asked arvin, taken aback.
calypso nodded. "i used to want to kill my father. for what he did to me. hell, i still kinda do. but that was different. no matter what he did to me, he's my dad. but teagarden's not your blood. even if he didn't put that noose around her neck, he's the reason lenora's dead. it's justice."
"kinda what i figured, darlin'," said arvin, managing a weak chuckle. "he started this fight, now i've gotta finish it."
"we," corrected calypso. "we've gotta finish it."
"calypso," he began gently.
"did you think i'd let you go without me?" she asked. "look, arvin, i want that son of a bitch dead almost as much as you do. do you really wanna do the job alone? besides, there's nothing for me here."
"but if we get caught, it'll turn your whole life upside down," said arvin. "look, i don't have a future. plain and simple. i'm gonna be layin' asphalt until i die. and i'm fine with that. but you, you have a future. i see the way you look at that postcard. if we get caught, all that goes down the drain for you. i don't wanna be the reason you're cooped up in a jail cell for the rest of your life, darlin'."
"we won't get caught," said calypso, like she was begging. "look, when are you gonna get it? you're my future. nothing i ever do is gonna mean anything unless you're there with me." a tear ran down her face. "i love you, arvin."
"i love you too, darlin'," said arvin, his voice cracking.
he leaned forward and kissed her, cupping her face in one hand and placing the other on her waist. the kiss grew hungrier, more urgent. arvin shifted so he was sitting on the edge of the bed, and calypso moved to straddle him. as soon as she settled in his lap, his tongue slipped into her mouth, and he explored every inch of the familiar territory as though he was tasting it for the first time.
calypso felt arvin's tongue slip between her lips, and she tentatively ground herself against him.
he broke the kiss, and their foreheads touched as they panted.
"darlin'," he said. "do you want this? i need to know that you truly want this."
"i want this more than anything, arvin," she said, and she meant it. "do you want this?"
"i've wanted this since you first got into my truck," he said. "i love you, calypso."
warmth spread throughout her body at the words. "i love you too, arvin," she said, barely managing to get the words out before his lips were on hers again.
***sex scene***
she resumed her actions, rubbing herself against his clothed dick. he groaned and bucked his hips up, and she let out a moan as his jeans rubbed her covered clit. he rolled them over so they were laying down, him on top of her, and kissed down her neck until he found her sweet spot and sucked a purple hickey onto it. he sat up and admired his handiwork as he took off his shirt. she was the one who broke the kiss this time to look at his chiseled torso, defined just enough to be perfectly muscular but not unnaturally so. she couldn't help but run a finger down his abs, marveling at how cut they were.
he let out a low chuckle that had her rubbing her thighs together and pushed her shirt up around her hips, revealing her white bikini-style underwear and the wet spot she'd made in them.
"you know i love it when you wear my shirts," he whispered in her ear. "but i think it's time we take this one off."
before she could even reply, he was pulling it over her head. her nipples hardened in the cold air, and she let out a shiver. arvin flicked her nipple with his tongue experimentally, smirking when she jolted underneath him. he kitten licked it and rolled the other between his fingers before switching until she was squirming underneath him, jutting her hips up to try and gain some friction where she needed him most. he continued to tease her nipples as his other hand traveled down and began to rub her pussy with his palm through her panties.
she gasped and frantically rubbed herself against his hand, moaning as she finally got some relief. no one had ever gone through this much foreplay with her before, and she was loving every minute of it. it was as if arvin already knew everything about her body, which strings to pluck and which chords to strike. his fingers dipped teasingly below the waistband of her panties, and she dug her nails into his back in anticipation.
one slender finger swirled around her hole lightly to collect the juices that had gathered there, and she moaned at the feeling. he swirled the moisture around her clit, and she practically melted into him. all too soon, he removed his finger, but it was soon replaced with his tongue. he licked every inch of her throbbing pussy, and she clapped a hand over her mouth to avoid moaning too loud. no one had ever gone down on her this well before, and she knew she was done for when he began to lick and suck her clit roughly and pump two fingers in and out of her. she had just enough time to grab a pillow and put it over to face to muffle her voice as she came with a scream, her orgasm crashing down on her. she could feel her pussy pulse around arvin's fingers, and she writhed underneath him as his forearm held her down by her hips so he could help her finish the orgasm.
he got up, lips dripping with her juices, and kissed her. calypso had never tasted herself this vividly before, and she liked it. she went to unbuckle arvin's belt, but he stopped her.
"tonight is about you," he said huskily.
he undid his belt and took off his pants and boxers, hard dick slapping against his stomach. calypso let out a moan at the sight. he rubbed the head of his rock-hard cock along her still-sensitive pussy before slowly pushing in, filling her up like no one ever had. he quickly put a hand over her mouth when he saw her about to moan, and began moving. he started out slow, but gradually increased his speed until he was going inhumanly fast, her eyes rolling back up into her head as she neared the second orgasm of the night. she grabbed one of his hands and put it around her neck. he let out a chuckle, not even tired from pounding into her pussy, and gently squeezed the sides of her neck just enough to restrict her breath slightly. his thrusts grew more erratic, and he reached a hand down to rub at her clit and sped up. she came just before he did, seeing stars as she was thrown off the edge, and he did the same as her soaking walls squeezed his cock. he pulled out and came on her stomach, not wanting to take any chances.
arvin quickly got up and grabbed a towel, wiping off her stomach gently as she lay recuperating from her orgasm. he put on his underwear and helped her get her arms through his t-shirt. she was still halfway dazed, so he climbed into bed and covered them both up, knowing that his revenge could wait until morning as she mumbled a hazy "i love you" and cuddled up against his chest.