Love of Truth

by C. T. Oliver

  “Yeah, I went with the guys for a drink. I texted you.” Craig runs his nose down the side of my face. “God, you’re so soft and warm.”

  “Craig, is everything okay?” I ask, trying to not to melt at the feel of Craig’s lips trailing down my neck onto my shoulders.

  “Everything is going to be fine.” Craig shifts me back into my side, pulling me tightly up to his chest. I feel one of his hands run down my stomach to cup my tender sex while his other hand cupping and kneading one of my breasts. His erection presses between my butt cheeks making me feel wanted, sending shivers up my spine. “Oh, baby. You’re the rush of tranquility to my soul.”

  I push my bottom against his erection and reach back to dig my hand into his hair. My hips start to move on their own. My clit seeks pressure from his possessive fingers and the excitement immediately builds in my lower stomach. Craig starts to rock his hips and when the head of his erection slightly touches my puckered opening, waves of enjoyment goes through me. One day I will get the nerve to ask Craig to take me there, tonight it’s about needing each other and giving comfort.

  I tug on Craig’s hair to bring his lips up to mine. I feast on the mint and taste of scotch that still lingers on his tongue. Craig’s thumb puts the right amount of pleasure on my clit as his index and middle fingers know just where to find my sweet spot. I moan into his mouth as my hips buck and rock until the build for release is near where I’m just about to taste euphoria. As my slick sex tightens around Craig’s fingers. He pulls them out just as I’m standing on the cliff and enters me with a hard thrust from behind sending waves of sensation throughout my body as I scream out my pleasure into Craig’s mouth.

  I let go of Craig’s lips as the last of the spasm leaves my limp body. “Oh, Craig,” I moan, feeling every sensation on my sensitive skin.

  “That’s it, baby. Feel me inside of you, because I’m always going to be here,” he says through gritted teeth as he slams harder and harder into me with every word. “I’m always going to be there to take care of you, to pleasure you, and to love you.”

  Craig turns me onto my stomach and I instinctively arch my bottom high in the air. The move pushes him further into me and the feeling is heaven. I feel him hover on top of me as his lips trickle kisses up my neck and finally takes my earlobe between his lips. His hands make their way over my tingling skin to cup my breasts. I love how he knows just the right amount of pressure to drive me crazy. I’m overwhelmed with his touch, his scent, and his sound. Every fluid thrust of his hips pushes me closer to another explosive release.

  “Baby, I can never get enough of you.” Craig picks up his thrusts and I start to tighten around him, feeling my hair pulling orgasm just over the horizon. “You are mine and I love you and will protect you until my last breath.” Craig slams into me hard and holds onto me as we both jump into euphoria.

  I feel Craig shifting my bone numbed body on top of him, holding me tightly to him. His heart beating wildly against the side of my face as he runs a hand up and down my back. “Craig, what’s wrong?”

  He lets out a long breath. “Everything is perfectly fine as long as I have you in my arms,” he tightens his arms around me.

  I turn my head, resting my chin on his chest to get a better look into his eyes. “I’m not going anywhere, I’m yours.” Craig’s face relaxes and he is back to his confident self. “I made you dinner. Did you get a chance to eat it yet?” I place a few kisses on his chest, taking in the clean soap scent that still lingers. I can’t help the odd feeling something is bothering Craig, but I’ll let it go for now since he seem to be relaxed again.

  “No. I only hunger for you.” Craig pulls me up to his lips and gives me the sweetest, most gentle kiss. “I love you, Amelia.”

  “I love you, too.” I hold his face with both my hands and look into those amazing teal-grays that I have fallen so madly for. “Maybe if you eat, you’ll feel better.” I say, adding a perky smile to make him smile.

  “Sure,” Craig pulls me into a tight hug and shifts so he carries me off the bed, but not before Larry comes crawling out from under the sheets, letting out a few barks. “Little man was sleeping with you tonight?”

  “Yeah, he’s been acting kind of weird since this afternoon.” I wiggle out of Craig’s arms to pick up his button up shirt as Craig pulls on his boxer briefs.

  “What happened when he started to act weird?” Craig asks while picking up Larry and follows me down the stairs.

  I head towards the kitchen and pull out the huge bowl chicken yakisoba I made earlier and place it in the microwave. “We were walking back from lunch and stopped to talk to one of my students and he’s been kinda clingy since then.”

  “Which student?” Craig’s brow knit together.

  “Jason, you know that one guy who stayed back to introduced himself on the first day.” I bring the bowl of yakisoba over to where Craig is sitting with Larry in his lap.

  “Hmm, just be careful around him, okay?” Craig says with a determined look on his face.

  “I’m careful around everyone.”

  Craig’s concerned look shows all the lines on his forehead. “I know, but just be aware. He seemed too nice.” Craig looks to be in deep thought for a second before turning back to his calm and collected self. “Baby, how about this weekend we lay low? Just stay in the apartment, like when we were on vacation, a couch day.”

  I pout my lips to the side, pretending to think it over. “Okay, I don’t see anything wrong with that. You know I can’t say no to you massaging my feet all afternoon.” I smile widely and hand him a two-finger scotch.

  Craig gives me a sexy grin as his eyes travel down my body. “I’m just being good and touching you all over, baby.”

  “Craig?” I reach over to take Larry into my lap.

  “Hmm?” Craig mumbles around a mouth full of noodles.

  “Everything is okay, right?”

  Craig reaches over and pulls my stool closer to him. “As long as you’re by my side, everything is going to be fine.”

  I close the fume hood and step back to admire my masterpiece. In reality, it’s a whole bunch of flasks and condensation tubes hooked together and connected to a vacuum with a Bunsen burner to start the reaction, but understanding what each part of the hookup does and getting the final product is really what makes it a work of art.

  Before continuing with my experiment, I sneak a peek at my phone for a message from Craig, and like always, there is one waiting for me. I can feel my cheeks warm and the idiotic grin across my face while reading Craig’s descriptive text about a repeat of the kitchen sex we had over the weekend and reminding me of our coffee time later in the afternoon.

  “Whatever you’re reading must be very funny judging by the smile on your face.”

  “Jesus! You scared me.” I rub my chest to keep my heart from bolting from under my sternum and take a few steps back from my unwanted visitor.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. Your door was open and so I came in.” My visitor nervously plays with the strap on his leather messenger bag.

  “It’s fine. How can I help you, Jason?” I take a few more steps back and a closer look at him through my safety goggles. He’s dressed differently, in dark trousers with a button up and a blazer instead of his usual jeans and sweater combo. His hair is combed back and he’s wearing a messenger bag instead of his backpack. Strange.

  “Well, I didn’t know if you’ve thought it over, but I’m still very interested in becoming your lab assistant.” Jason starts to rummage through his bag and pulls out a folder. “I took the liberty of looking into some grants for you. I think there’s a few that would be perfect for your proposal.”

  “Um, that’s very nice of you, Jason. But you have to understand that I can’t afford to have an assistant and I would feel very badly if you worked for free.” I walk to the other side of the lab workbench where all my notes are scattered to put some space between Jason and me.

  “I wouldn’t mind at a
ll. For once, I’ve found a field that I’m really interested in. I know I don’t have any lab experience to sign up as a teacher’s aide, that’s why I’m hoping I can just volunteer for you and then maybe next year qualify.”

  Jason’s justification breaks my heart. I understand where he’s coming from. It wasn’t until my junior year when I was finally qualified to be a teacher’s aide, and even then, I didn’t get to do much other than set up the labs for experiments. At the same time, Craig’s words of warning are in the back of my mind.

  “Because you barely have any lab experience and are not familiar with the chemicals, I don’t feel safe having you help the in lab. But I can relate to your situation, and it seems you excel at research, so how about I give you topics to research and we’ll go from there.”

  Jason’s face lights up. “Sure, I think that would a great start.” He comes over to where I’m stationed at the workbench and starts to pull out a notebook and pen.

  “Okay, I’m going to start this experiment and then I’ll come over and we can brainstorm.” I check my phone one last time for a text from Craig before leaving it on my notebook to tend to my experiment.

  I spend the rest of the afternoon shifting through the grants Jason has printed and outlining topics he needs to research in order to understand the proposal. Despite his overly friendly nature, Jason is smart, organized, and asks great questions. He’s a good student and seems genuinely interested in chemistry.

  My lab door opens and slams against the wall making me jump off my wooden stool as Craig and Cory rush in strategically scanning the room for insurgents as they were trained to do. Craig rushes over to me, holding me at arms length by my shoulders. “Are you alright?” Craig’s eyes scans my over my face and down my body checking for any bodily harm.

  “Ye-Yes, I’m okay. Why wouldn’t I be?” I ask in a frantic voice.

  “Oh, thank God.” Craig pulls me firmly into his body. “You didn’t answer my texts and your calls went straight to your voice mail. I thought something happened. You never turn off your phone, so we decided to come over and check on you.” Craig’s voice trails off as his eyes land on Jason.

  “I didn’t turn off my phone.” I reach for my iPhone from the workbench. “That’s strange, it’s off.” I look up at Craig’s face that’s showing all his worried lines. “Hey, I’m okay. It must have just crashed and I didn’t realize it,” I say, trying to comfort him.

  Craig nods and looks over at Jason. “It’s getting late in the evening, how about you guys call it a night.” Craig suggests with a firm voice. Jason, without looking up, packs up his things and scurries out of the room in less than a minute.

  “Okayyy. Please explain why you just raided my lab and then scared off my student?” I ask, standing back from Craig with my hands on my hips. In the corner of my eye, I can see Cory slowly retreating out of the room, walking backward thinking he’s not drawing any attention.

  “I was worried out of my mind. You didn’t answer your phone! Amelia, I said I was going to protect you and I had to know you were safe.”

  “You know that was a very irrational and extreme act.” I can feel my face warming up from the anger simmering within me. I don’t like to be treated as a damsel in distress.

  “I think that’s what happens when you’re in love,” he smirks.

  I narrow my eyes at him. How can he laugh at a time like this? “Craig, I feel there is something wrong that you’re not telling me. Please, don’t keep things from me. We’re supposed to be in this together.”

  “We are in this together. I promise to be truthful with you, but what I need is to know that you’re safe. Can you please do that for me?”

  “Of course I can, bu—”

  “That’s all I need to know. Please stay in contact with me throughout the day so I don’t worry,” Craig says in a soft voice. At that moment I can see all his vulnerability and concern.

  I walk over and wrap my arms around his waist. “Okay, I can do that.” I look up into his eyes. “You’re starting to act like my father and Tim.”

  “Well, you know what they say, girls end up marrying me—”

  I quickly cover Craig’s mouth with my hand. “Don’t! Father left mom and me.”

  “Oh, Amelia. You know I would never leave you.” Craig holds me tighter to his body and buries his nose in my hair. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  My face is buried in his chest and I breathe in his scent. All is right again with the world as long as I’m in his arms. “You didn’t. I just don’t want to think about it.”

  “You have nothing to worry about. I’m here and I will protect you and your heart from all hurtful things.” Craig place kisses on top of my head as I tighten my hold around his waist.

  “Will you two stop groping each other? I’m starving! You promised me dinner,” Cory yells from the door.

  I step out of the apartment building and pull on the hood of my trench coat to protect my hair from the rain. I breathe in the fresh crisp Spring rain and stand back to take in the scene of the busy city. Tourists rushing to get cover while locals casually stroll to their destinations. Across the street, Pioneer Square houses a corner of local food cart vendors where people are lining up to get dinner and on the corner the Starbucks is packed with evening caffeine addicts. I have always loved downtown Portland; it’s busy but very laid back with the city’s weirdness. Since moving out here from the suburbs a few years ago, I have not looked back.

  I look at my watch and see I am on time to meet Craig for dinner. Since his attempt to rescue me in the lab last week, I have been better at staying in touch with him throughout the day and it has eased some of his worries. He is more of his quiet thinker self. Though Craig’s behavior is odd, it’s certainly not strange compared to those of father’s or Tim’s. I chuck it up to military men being overprotective.

  “Well hey there, little lady. Are you waiting for a handsome guy to sweep you off to dinner and show you a good time?” Dark eyebrows wiggle suggestively at me.

  I giggle senselessly like a schoolgirl in spite of myself. Dressed in all black from his Burberry pea coat down to his Italian loafers, Cory embodies the phrase ‘tall, dark, dangerous, and handsome’.

  “You know I am, but we have to wait for my sexy man.” I step under Cory’s umbrella.

  Cory winces as if I slapped him across his handsome face. “Ouch! That hurts, Shorty. But you’ll just have to settle for the more handsome one,” Cory gives me a crooked grin that I’m sure has melted the panties off of numerous girls. “Craig’s prep class is running late so he asked me to take you to dinner. You know I can’t turn down an opportunity to eat on my brother’s dime and have a pretty lady on my arm,” Cory offers me his elbow.

  I take Cory’s offered elbow and we head towards the Fox Tower. “I like how you subconsciously placed ‘pretty lady’ after your beloved food.”

  “I did, didn’t I? Huh.” Cory’s forehead scrunches up in thought.

  “What? What are you thinking?”

  “Nothing. I guess I never thought about it like that.” Cory looks off into the distance.

  “What do you mean?”

  Cory shrugs his broad shoulders. “I just wonder if that’s how I truly value it.”

  “Whether you love food more than a pretty lady?” I ask, raising an eyebrow at him.

  “Yeah,” Cory’s body suddenly stiffens and he strategically looks around before walking a little closer to me.

  I can’t help my little laugh at his preposterous contemplation. “Well, what do you love more? Companionship with a lady or a good sandwich?”

  “What kind of sandwich?” Cory’s smile lights up his face, though his eyes work at lightning speed scanning our surroundings.

  “Really? Does it matter?” I ask dryly.

  “Well, yeah. If it’s PB&J, I’m going with a date with a pretty lady. If it’s a meatball sub, I have to see how pretty she is,” Cory answers with such seriousness as he opens the door f
or me to enter the building. He enters after me, but not before taking one last look over his shoulder.

  “You’re joking right?” I ask, unbuttoning my coat and handing it to the check-in attendant.

  Cory turns his head to the side and raises an eyebrow at me before stepping up the maître d. “Patrice for two, please.” Cory’s gentlemanly smile has the maître d opening and closing her mouth like a fish before she’s able to find her voice to show us to our table.

  After twenty minutes of debating our dinner entrees, Cory and I sit back with our cocktails in hand and stare out onto the twinkling city below. “I never get tired of this view.”

  “Are you going to miss it when we move up to Seattle?” Cory asks from across the table.

  I shrug and bunch up my lips in thought. “I haven’t really given it much thought. First I have to get into a school. But, I don’t think so. Seattle is a lot like Portland’s younger preppy brother.”

  “Oh please, don’t play coy. We all know you’re smart.” Cory sits with his back against the wall and scans the room casually.

  I subconsciously turn around and mimic his actions, but don’t see anything out of the ordinary. “Who’s playing coy? I’m being realistic. And hey, you didn’t answer my question earlier, if you were serious or not.”

  “Interested in my love life, are we?” Cory playfully pouts his lips and raises an eyebrow looking at me skeptically.

  “So what would it be?”

  Cory seems to thinking it over. “Words from the great Joey Tribbiani, ‘I want girls on bread!’”

  I laugh in spite of myself. “I don’t know how you do it.”

  “What? Eat bread?” Cory jokes.

  “No, date a lot of girls.”

  Cory’s chuckle trails off as he looks down at his crossed legs deep in thought. “I can’t say that I’m not envious of the friendship you and Craig have.” A wistful look crosses his face and in nanoseconds it’s gone. “But you know, nice guys always finish last.” Cory holds up his tumbler of whiskey. “Here’s to never finishing last.”

  I look at Cory cynically before clinking my glass to his. “Here’s to finding you companionship.” Surprise crosses his face before he nods and finishes off his drink.