Out of Time: A Military Romance Page 11

  He didn't respond. She smiled. He was still her stubborn husband. And he was hurt. She would heal him and help him, if it was the last thing she did.

  Chapter Ten

  Present - 6:45 A.M. December 24, 2016

  RacePoint Lighthouse - Massachusetts

  Asha opened her eyes. She lay naked on the bottom bunk of a bed with a quilt and blanket over her. She heard music playing. That is what woke her. The sound of the Tony, Toni, Tone song “Anniversary”. She sat up on her elbow and looked around. She didn't see or hear Ice. Then she heard him singing. Asha eased out from under the bunk bed. She found his shirt and covered herself with it. She put on her panties. She walked to the door and looked out into the kitchen.

  "Do you know what today is..." he sang.

  Asha smiled. She remembered the first time he woke her with breakfast in bed playing this song. It was their first anniversary, a Christmas Eve they spent in Mississippi visiting his folks. It was the year Ice and his father made peace with one another. He loved the song and sang off key while she ate. Those memories were some of the most precious. He looked up at her while he scrambled the eggs.

  "Do you know what today is?" he asked her.

  She nodded. She walked out to him. "I could never forget what today is."

  "You sure about that?" he asked.

  "What do you mean by that?"

  "Nothing, sweetheart. It's just been a long time."

  "Not my fault, you left me. Remember? You..."

  "Asha? I'm not blaming you. I'm just being honest. A lot has happened. Right?"

  Asha sighed. "Yeah, yes."

  "Hungry?" he asked.

  "No." She turned and went back into the room and sat on the sofa. Why make her remember the love she had for him? Was he just going to torture her with memories of everything special they had lost? If so she needed to go.

  "Asha?"

  "I want to go to the lighthouse and use the phone," she sniffed back her tears and pouted.

  He came inside the room. He stood over her. "I was hoping last night changed that. That you would stay. I was hoping that whatever love you had left in your heart for me would keep you here with me."

  "You had so many chances, Ice. And now? You're sick. I don't know what to do about that."

  He lifted her chin. "Do nothing. I was sick long before the leukemia. The day I signed those divorce papers, it became terminal for me. My bitterness, that darkness that chased you out of my life. The one that crept into our marriage the day Thatch died trying to save my life. It took you from me. The only person in the world I needed more than anything, and I let my own self-hate take you from me. Like a black hole. It sucked all my faith in us, in God, in everything. It made me a monster. I'm glad you left. I'm glad you were strong enough to leave. I'm just sorry I was too weak to tell you how much I love you."

  Asha nodded in agreement. "You treated me like I was the enemy."

  "I was selfish. And I'm being selfish now. I can't let go of you. Not again."

  "You always had the power in our marriage, Ice. Always. And that was because I trusted you."

  "You don't trust me anymore?" he asked.

  "I'm trying. You were my first everything. My first boyfriend. My first lover, my first husband. The very first man to break my heart. And I let you control us, everything. But I'm not that naive anymore. I'm not her. I'm my own woman."

  "I want to know her. I'm miserable without you, Asha. I just want Christmas. That's all. Nothing more."

  "But what if I want more?" she asked. "What about me, Ice? I can't lose you all over again."

  He gave her a weak smile.

  "Let's talk about that tomorrow, okay Butterscotch?"

  She laughed a little. Ice forced her to stand. "What is this you're wearing?" he asked.

  "I don't have any clothes," she said as his hand went down her curves.

  "I told you, your things are in the closet."

  She frowned. "I thought you were playing?"

  "I planned this, remember? You left some of your clothes behind after the divorce. I kept them," he said. She watched as he went to the closet and showed some of her clothes hanging in there. Two years old. But they were all there. Asha smiled.

  "Are you sure those are my clothes and not some of your lady friends?"

  "I haven't been with another woman since the day I gave you that promise ring."

  Asha smile faded. "I don't believe you."

  He shrugged. "It's true."

  Asha sighed.

  "I never slept with Howard. I kissed him, yes. And I was thinking about it. But... I never did."

  "What about marriage before sex," Ice asked.

  She shot him a withering glare. "The rules go out the window when you are divorced."

  Ice shook his head. "Guess I deserved that."

  "On second thought, I am hungry." She left the room before they began to argue again. In the kitchen she saw he had cooked bacon and eggs. The toast was sitting in the toaster. She fixed her plate and grabbed a piece of toast. Her stomach was in knots. She kept thinking about his diagnosis. She didn't know much about leukemia but she was certain there were ways some people survived or lived with it. When Ice walked into the kitchen she looked up at him. And then it dawned on her the real purpose God brought him back to her. To heal him. She would convince him to go into treatment. The very best kind. She'd find the doctors. She'd destroy his cancer and maybe, just maybe, get her husband back.

  He sat down. "Tell me about your life now, Asha. What do you do for this bank?"

  "Work, stuff. I started there after I moved back to New York. Remember the fight we had? The one..." her voice trailed off. "The one when you told me I was smothering you and you couldn't take it."

  He nodded.

  "I was going to tell you about the job offer. I wasn't sure if I wanted to practice that kind of law. Needed to take some classes to do it. But you thought I was trying to pressure you to move again. Anyway, when you said you didn't care if I stayed or left, I decided."

  "What did you decide?"

  "If you didn't care, neither did I. There was no more fairytale, Ice. Christmas, all of it. Make-believe. The real world was about winning and losing. I was losing my marriage. So I decided to win in my professional life."

  "I was a shitty husband," he admitted.

  "No. NO! You weren't. That's why it hurt so much. Things fell apart when Thatch died, when they all died. The man they pulled out of the sea was different. And I didn't understand that. I thought if I pushed you to get over it you would. You needed to do it your way. I should have never..."

  She dropped her fork. She put her face in her hand. "I should never have sent you those damn divorce papers. I should never have left. A good wife would not have done that."

  "You think this is your fault?" Ice asked.

  "Yes. And now you have cancer. I was your wife!"

  "And I was your husband. That was supposed to come first. Not my guilt and not my pride. You were supposed to come first. If I had signed those damn papers and taken the Sector Commander appointment, I wouldn't have gone out that night. I wouldn't have cost my men their lives. I have to live with that, baby. But the one thing I can't live with is you blaming yourself. None of this was ever your fault. I want you to understand that."

  She stared at him. "I missed you, Ice. So much."

  He smiled. "I'm so relieved. I thought you hated me."

  "I kind of did." She wiped her tears and smiled. "Just a little."

  "Guess what I got?" he asked.

  She picked up her fork and started to eat some more of her breakfast. "What?"

  "Backgammon," he said.

  "Really? You want to get your ass kicked?"

  "I've sharpened my skills," he winked.

  She smiled. "You're on."

  21.

  "I won!" she laughed. Ice stared down at the game board, baffled. How his woman managed to always roll double sixes was a mystery to him.

  "There is som
ething up with you and backgammon," he said.

  "The only thing up is my score. Sorry baby," she said and leaned over the board to kiss him. "I need to shower. Do you have a spare toothbrush?"

  "I have everything you need. Even kept your panties."

  "You're so freaky!" she laughed.

  Ice smiled.

  "Okay, we can play another game when I get out. Or is there football on today?"

  "You're going to sit back and let me watch the game?" he asked.

  "If I can get a good foot massage, yes, I'll let you watch. I'll watch with you."

  He chuckled. "Deal."

  He watched as she scrambled to stand. He got a good view of her thighs and panties. He almost offered to join her in shower. But he didn't want to push his luck. Last night was a gift. If she gave herself to him once more he'd want it to be because she wanted to.

  Ice put up the game board and got up from the floor. He did a little tidying up. It had been a long time since he enjoyed Christmas Eve. The idea to try for this holiday was only a thought at first. But now it was his reality. He wasn't sure whether to be happy or sad over her return into his life. He knew it would only cause her more pain in the end. The headache he'd had since he woke eased. He glanced up to the clock on the wall. It was time for another dose of his medicine. He picked up the glasses they drank eggnog from and took them into the kitchen.

  In the kitchen he tossed back a few prescribed pills. It was then he felt the first drip of blood from his nose. He grabbed a paper towel and put it to his nose. He tilted his head back and kept the blood at bay. It stopped.

  Ice exhaled. He tossed the bloody paper towel in the can. He turned on his iPod and queued up Tony, Toni, Tone – “Anniversary” again. He was a country music kind of man. Though he'd date many women of color he was in no way willing to give up his Travis Tritt and Kenney Chesney. But Asha's music choices were so close to who they were as a couple, he was drawn to it. Like this song. The one they often played on Christmas Eve. He knew every note, every pitch and every lyric. He began to hum along with it while rinsing a cup.

  "Ice?" he heard her say.

  "Yeah." He looked back over his shoulder. Ice dropped the mug in the sink. Asha stood before him in a white garter belt and stockings. She wore no panties, no bra. Nothing but the garter belt and stockings. The ones he kept since their honeymoon. His favorite.

  "Remember this?" she asked. She put her hands to her hips. It had been a long time since he saw her in something so sexy. He soaked in her beauty. Asha hadn't aged. Her heart-shaped face with slender brows and cat-like, long-lashed eyes was the same. Her high cheekbones and familiar pouty lips were the same. Her skin had no imperfections, not even a scratch or bump. Her hair, damp from her shower, was thicker and crinkly. And of course her breasts were two things of beauty. She had a very slender waist in comparison to her large breasts. It would make most men think they weren't real. But Asha was 100% God-created woman. The only difference was a bit more thickness to her thighs, hips, and ass, but all of that was perfect to him as well.

  He didn't get this view last night when he made love to her. While she slept he lifted the blanket to see her body, but it was dark in the room. Now there was no denying what he had so carelessly tossed aside.

  "You trying to give me a heart attack, Asha?" he asked.

  "You brought this here?" she smiled. "You kept it?"

  "You left it behind. I didn't throw anything away. But that—that I take wherever I go," he said. She grinned for him, that pretty, bright smile she had for him on their wedding night.

  "I sent your mother your things. I couldn't look at them," she confessed.

  "It's okay. I needed to look at your things. Made it hurt a little less."

  She walked over to him. He took her hand and spun her around to get a closer look at her. She was exquisite.

  "Today is our special day. Come on, I want to celebrate the way we used to," she said. He didn't object. She walked him back to the bedroom. He stood before her and she smiled up at him.

  "Sit down," he said.

  She did what he asked.

  "Lie back," he told her. "No. Forget that. Don't lie back. Get on your hands and knees," he told her.

  Asha turned on the bed and got on all fours. She faced the headboard. She parted her knees, and knelt forward on her arms and elbows to give her ass a sexy lift. She glanced back over her shoulder. Ice pulled his shirt over his head, leaving just his rosary around his neck. He kissed the cross and then removed it. He set it down on the dresser. She found it strange in that moment. Yes, he believed in God, but when his desires took over him, he never removed the rosary. She often had to remind him to. There was a calming respect he seemed to have for the symbol of his faith, a slight difference only a wife could notice. And in a blink it was gone. He untied the string to the front of his sweat pants and dropped them. He stepped up and dropped a knee on the mattress. His hand caressed up her thigh slowly. Contentment and peace was what she felt under his touch. That too was something she hadn't noticed last night when they made love.

  "Go forward," he said. She crawled forward. Her face was only a few centimeters from the headboard. The instant his tongue traced the rim of her sex before taking the plunge, she breathed in soul-drenching drafts to keep from climaxing. She gyrated against his mouth with eagerness. The tip of his tongue flicked at the rigid knot of flesh that held the most sensitivity for her before he sucked and pulled on it until her pussy walls vibrated. Her breath caught. Her toes curled. And then he spread her butt cheeks and went further. His tongue was wet and warm as it slicked over her perineum and glided all the way back to her butthole. The pull of arousal in her body stretched. The tense coil of pleasure in her belly unwound... slowly. And so it went until she clamped her thighs together and nearly dropped on the bed climaxing. Asha bit down into her pillow. She remained mute, flabbergasted.

  Ice settled on top of her. His hands went beneath her. One cupped her breast and the other cupped her sex. For a minute he ground his dick on top of her ass while kissing her shoulder, teasing her nipple, and pinching her clit.

  "You're mine again," he said. "All mine."

  "I'm yours," she groaned. Ice guided his dick inside of her. It prodded before the single thrust came that forced their reunion. She flexed her buttocks as his cock dug deeper and deeper. Asha's inner channel twitched and stretched. Her toes seemed to be frozen in a curled mode as he delivered on his sexual promise with thrust after thrust. He landed strike after delicious strike.

  Asha wanted to yield to the burning sweetness that seemed captive inside her thanks to her husband's loving, but she could not. On and on it went until she wept with appreciation. Ice stopped; he pulled out of her and dropped to her side. At first she thought it was his illness that made him relent. Maybe he was too fatigued? But he repositioned her quickly, almost desperate to get back inside of her.

  Asha was forced to lie on her back with him on his side. He pulled her leg ver his waist, and then lifted his pelvis and thrust back inside of her. The scissor position made his unimpeded glide go even deeper. And her lips quivered with unspoken passion. Now Ice could do what he loved most. He sucked on her nipples while he fucked her. She raised her arms above her head. He played with her clit as he fucked her at the 90 degree angle. She gyrated her hips and did the love dance with him. But not for long. Asha was the first to break down into a sob-filled climax. Ice wasn't done. He pulled out of her and got on top of her and then entered her again. She was still caught in the aftershocks of her passionate response when he was on her, his lips smashing her cries back down her throat as his tongue was in her mouth. He fucked her with such vigor she feared it would do him physical harm. He pinned her hands down and kept going. Her body pulsed with greed so she gave into his every demand. And then he grunted through his release, with his butt moving so sensually slow in rounded circles she was brought to tears. Before long she found herself climaxing again, this time with him.

  She h
eld onto him long afterward, his belly to her belly, his heart beating against her heart. They were so beautifully joined she wanted them to stay that way forever. She drifted on that feeling of love.

  22.

  Asha heard a whimper, a soft cry for mercy. She opened her eyes. The room was dark. She'd fallen asleep in his arms. But not any longer. She felt the bed moving and reached for the lamplight. She turned it on and looked over. Ice was sweating profusely and shivering. She sat up, alarmed.

  "Ice!"

  She touched him and his skin was blazing hot.

  "Oh no, baby, no," she said and snatched away the covers. It was then she saw bruises, one on his chest and the other on his arm, and another on his thigh. She hadn't seen them before. Where did they come from?

  There was no phone. No way to call for help. She touched his face, held it in her hands. "What do I do? Tell me, please," she begged.

  "Pills...." He pointed. He shivered so hard he began to curl up into a ball. Blinded by her tears, she was up and scrambling to the kitchen. When she arrived she found little. She didn't know where to look. She then checked the cabinets. There she found pills. Six pill bottles. She looked at them, not sure what to do. All of it looked foreign. Asha broke down in tears.

  "Please God. Please help me," she wept. She got a glass of water and then took the pills into the room. Ice was no better. His shivering was like that of a man with a seizure.

  "What do I give you? Tell me the name. There are too many pills, Ice. I don't know what you should take. Please baby, just try, please."

  She put the pills before him. He stretched his eyes and looked at the bottles. But he was slipping. He then pointed to one. She opened it and gave him two. She wasn't sure if that was appropriate. He swallowed them and drank the water.

  "We have to do something about this fever," she said.

  "Sh-sh-shower," he said. "Warm shower."

  "Okay, hold on." She went into the bathroom and turned on the shower. She turned the temperature to warm. She made sure of it. And then she came back for him. He seemed to be stabilizing. He wasn't shaking so violently anymore. She was grateful. She helped him out of bed into the shower. She got inside with him. She didn't care about her garter belt or stockings. She was with him. Ice fell forward, his hands resting on the tile walls. He let the water run from his head down his body. She used a rag to sponge him over, to soothe his body. She kissed his back and tried to comfort him. Soon he was breathing normally.