Without Claire

by Mallory Funk

  I start thrusting in and out of her. There’s nothing gentle about this. We are both moaning. I see Claire’s hands fisted into the sheets in front of her. She’s pushing herself back onto my cock hard. All you can hear is the sound of skin slapping. I bring a hand forward, and pinch her nipple. My other hand is on her hip. Claire lets out a scream when I pinch her nipple again harder.

  “Oh fuck… fuck… Sam, I’m going to come, baby…” She starts moaning louder. I move my hand from her breast to her clit as I am fucking her hard. I feel my balls draw up, and I know that I am ready to burst.

  “Fuck, Claire, I’m there, baby. Come for me,” I say through clenched teeth.

  “Sam… fuck!” she screams into the mattress. I feel her walls clench around my cock, and I’m a goner. One. Two. Three more thrusts, and I am spilling myself inside of her. I am emptying everything that I have in her until I am drained. After I’m done, I collapse on top of her careful enough not to put all of my weight on her. We are both breathing heavily. I kiss her on the back, and I don’t miss her body shudder when I pull myself out of her.

  “Let me grab a cloth to clean you up, baby,” I tell her softly.

  I grab a warm cloth and wipe her up. She barely moves when I do. “I think I need a nap after that. That was intense,” she says crawling up my bed.

  “Did I hurt you at all?” I ask her with worry in my tone.

  “No, baby. Just the right amount of awesome. Don’t worry, if I didn’t like it, I would have told you to stop,” she mumbles into the pillow. I can’t help but chuckle and crawl into bed beside her.

  I kiss her on the cheek. “I love you, baby.”

  “I love you too, Sam. I’m just going to have a little rest before I go home and write, okay?” she asks me, and my good mood leaves. Fuck. I hate the thought of her leaving, but I want it to be her choice to stay.

  “Okay, baby. Have a rest,” I tell her. I close my eyes soaking up every moment she’s in my arms. One day, I will ask her to move in with me. I hope that day is soon because I can’t take much more of this. I can’t sleep when she’s not in my arms. I know already that I have a long night ahead of me.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Claire

  I wake up a couple hours later with a smile on my face. I had always written or read about sex like that in books. I never thought I would be one to experience it myself. Sam’s arm is on my stomach, and he’s lying on his front. He’s snoring softly, and I can’t help the sigh that escapes. I love this man so much. I reluctantly slide out from under his arm, and find some clothes. It gets harder and harder to leave as the days go on.

  I put my clothes on, and grab my purse and phone. I take one more look at Sam, and drag myself out of his room before I climb back into bed with him. I am slowly walking down the stairs when I see Liam and Cole heading out.

  “Heading home, little Claire?” Liam asks as he holds the door open for me.

  “Yeah, got to get back to writing. You know, books aren’t going to write themselves,” I tell them walking slowly to my car.

  “You don’t really seem like you want to go home,” Cole says. Home. Yeah that place hasn’t felt like home in months, and I know it has something to do with a Hastings brother that I’m in love with. I can’t help but think that I am walking away from my home right now to go to a place that has become cold and lonely.

  “Yeah, I guess not,” I tell them truthfully. They share a look with each other.

  “Why not just move in here. You’re here all the time anyway,” Liam says like I hadn’t ever thought about it before.

  “A certain person hasn’t asked me, and I don’t want to move in if he doesn’t want me to,” I tell them as I climb into my car and shut the door.

  Once I am on the road, I grab something to eat so that I don’t have to cook. I quickly eat, and then start to write.

  I don’t know how long I write for, but my eyes are burning from looking at a screen for too long, and my head is barely able to stay upright. I save everything on my hard drive, and stick it in my fire proof safe. Call me paranoid, but it’s something that I got used to doing in case anything happened. I turn off my computer, and slide myself into bed without even changing my clothes. It doesn’t take me long to fall into a dreamless sleep.

  I wake up a couple of hours later with the smell of smoke in the room. I blink, open my eyes, and the room looks hazy. Automatically, I cover my mouth and nose with my hands. I look around, and all I see is smoke. I reach around for my phone, but I can’t find it. My bedroom door is open, but I don’t see any flames, so I walk into the hallway. I feel the warmth throughout my apartment, but I can’t tell where the smoke is coming from. My apartment if on the seventh floor, so I need to find a way to make it out of there. I know that inhaling all of this smoke isn’t good for me.

  I start walking to my front door, but the red light around it suggests that isn’t a good idea. I can already tell that I am stuck in here. My heart is pounding hard in my chest, and I try to think of something else. No. Please no. I just got my life back. This can’t happen.

  I run to my patio door not thinking of what else I can do. I still don’t know where my phone is, and I don’t know if there is a fire department on it’s way or already here. My throat is dry, and I don’t remember ever being this scared. My patio door is locked, and with my hands shaking, it’s making it harder to open. I start cursing, but after a few more tries, I get it unlocked and opened.

  I’m shaking and my heart is pounding. All I can think about is how I need to get out of here. I need Sam.

  I look back into my apartment, and my front door is on fire now. The walls around it start on fire. I take a breath, and look around for a way out. I see the fire exit in the middle of the patios. I’m not sure if I can make it, but I know that I have to try. I climb over my patio stretching my arm out to the ladder. My fingers touch it, and I let out a sigh of relief. Once I can grab it with my first, I make a move to get myself on the ladder.

  I start climbing down the ladder in relief that I was able to get onto it safely. The relief is short lived as an explosion comes from one of the apartments causing me to let go of the ladder. I know I’m not that high up, but I am high enough to do some damage. I let out a scream when my hands fall from the ladder. I try my hardest to grab onto something, but my fingers keep slipping. All I can think of is Sam. Tears form in my eyes when I think of Sam. My head hits the ground, and that’s when everything goes black.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Sam

  I am hanging out with my brothers Cole and Liam. They told me how Claire looked like she didn’t want to go back to her apartment, that she had told them that I had never asked her to move in with me, and that she looked sad when talking about it.

  If I had known she was ready to move in with me then I would have asked her a long fucking time ago.

  I’m about to call her, when my phone rings. I look down and frown when I see Thomas’ name. Why would he be calling me?

  “Thomas…?” I ask quizzically.

  “Sam, you need to get to the hospital right away. It’s Claire.” He makes a choking sound when he says her name. My heartbeat quickens at the mention of her name and hospital in the same sentence. No. Fuck no. Not my Claire.

  “What the fuck happened? Is she alright?” I ask rising to my feet and grabbing my keys off the hook. Liam and Cole follow me. No doubt because of the sound of panic in my voice.

  “Fuck, I don’t know. There was a fire at her apartment. The hospital called me just now. I’m already on my way there. They said that she was unconscious when they found her, but that’s all I know.”

  “Fuck, I’m on my way right now.” I hang up the phone, and make a run for my truck.

  “What the fuck is going on, brother?” Liam asks grabbing my shoulders.

  I know that he can see the panic in my eyes when concern is conveyed in his own eyes.

  “Fuck. There was a fire at Claire’s apartment. She’s at the
hospital. We’ve got to go. Fuck!!!” I run my hands through my hair.

  “Fuck. Okay, I’m driving. Get in,” Liam says to me, and then tells Cole to tell the others. “Get them to meet us at the hospital,” Liam yells as we jump into the truck and drive out of there.

  Cole

  Fuck. Fuck! Not Claire. Nothing can happen to her. She’s become a part of this family.

  Once my brothers speed out of the driveway, I run into Paige’s house. Everyone is awake sitting in the back yard talking. Even Paige’s brothers are there. Thank fuck. I can tell everyone at once. Then we can get the fuck out of here.

  “Everyone, we have to go! We need to get to the hospital. Get up let’s go!” I say in panic. Fuck, I can’t even control the choking sound in my voice.

  “Cole, what the fuck? What’s going on?” Trevor comes to stand in front of me. He grabs onto my shoulder, so I have to look at him.

  “It’s Claire. There was a fire at her apartment. Thomas called Sam and they are on their way to the hospital.” A sense of panic comes over everyone’s face at the mention of Claire. She means more to this family than she realizes.

  “Is she…fuck, is she okay?” Paige asks on a whisper. I shake my head. “Fuck, I don’t know. We’ve got to go. Thomas, Liam, and Sam are already on their way. We have to go.” I start walking to the cars. I know that everyone is following by the sound of all the foot steps behind me.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Sam

  Fuck, we are sitting in the waiting room when the rest of my family comes running in. The hospital called Thomas because he’s her emergency contact. Since he was the only constant in her life for so long, she put him on it. Stephanie is here with him, and holding his hand. I know he sees Claire like a daughter. There’s worry and unshed tears in his eyes.

  Paige comes running up to us. “What happened? Is she okay?” she asks with worried eyes.

  Thomas clears his throat. “We don’t know. They said that the fire had started on her floor. The fire department had just pulled up when they had seen her on the fire escape ladder. They were climbing out of their truck when an explosion on one of the floors below her apartment went off. It caused Claire to lose her grip on the ladder, and she fell off. They came to her right away, but she was already unconscious. As far as they could tell in the ambulance, her leg had broken in the fall. They think she hit her head pretty hard to black out that fast. That’s all we know. Fuck.” Thomas scrubs a hand over his face.

  My own eyes fill with tears as I hear the story again. Fuck. If I hadn’t been such a coward and asked her to move in when we both wanted it, she wouldn’t have been there. Fuck, she has to be okay. I had just found my one. I can’t lose her already.

  I don’t know how long we sit in the waiting room. It’s been a couple hours, and we haven’t heard anything. We all take turns pacing. Then a man with a white coat comes into the room looking around.

  “Claire Daniels family?” When we all stand up, his eyes go wide.

  “You’re all family?” he asks looking at all of us.

  “Yes, and I’m Thomas, her emergency contact. Can you tell us if she’s alright?”

  “Of course.” The doctor clears his throat looking at all of us before setting his gaze on Thomas again.

  “She is stable. She has a broken leg and arm from the fall when she landed on them. One arm has some second and third degree burns on it which I think would be the side where the explosion was. She’s going to have some scarring from it. She also inhaled quite a bit of smoke, so her voice is going to be tender for the next while. Fortunately for her, she wasn’t that high up when she fell. She had already made it pretty close to the ground. When she fell, she hit her head. There wasn’t any swelling, but we still won’t know if there was any damage until she wakes up.”

  I can barely breathe when I hear what kind of condition my girl is in. Fuck.

  “Can we go in and see her?” Paige asks.

  “Yes, but only two at a time right now since she needs her rest. Just ring us as soon as she wakes up if we aren’t in the room. The nurse will show you where she is.”

  Everyone ushers Thomas and me into the hallway to follow the nurse.

  Once we get in, I let out a choke. Fuck, she looks rough. She’s pale, and the cast on her arm and leg break my heart. I see the bandage on her other arm going down to her fingers. She also has an I.V. sticking into her hand. There’s a gash on the side of her head where she hit her head. Slowly, I walk over to her bed, and sit on the chair beside it. I put my hand on hers. It’s hard to do with the cast, but I don’t want to touch the other one because of the burns.

  Thomas sits on the other side, but he has a hand on her leg. We both don’t say anything. We just sit there in silence, and watch her. I don’t want to let her out of my sight. I know that I will have to tell Derek to take care of the gym for the next while so that I can take care of Claire. After this, I know that she will definitely be moving in with me. There’s no way I can let her go back to her own place now. Fuck, I would just follow her and move right in, or across the hall, if she fought me.

  The police came in to get a statement from Claire. She still wasn’t awake, but they said that there was someone in one of the apartments who passed out with a lit cigarette.

  There were fire alarms sounding throughout the building which was probably what woke up Claire. They said that she was lucky to get out in time. There isn’t much of her apartment anymore. Most of the apartment has been burned pretty badly. They said that they would call when she would be able to go back to see if there is anything worth saving.

  Everyone comes and goes from the room since Thomas and I refuse to leave. I know she means a lot to everyone. I also know that Thomas sees her like a daughter, so he won’t leave until he knows that she’s okay. I tell everyone that they can go home, but they refuse. They all sit in the waiting room. Noah comes in during the night, and sits on the floor against the wall. I know he and Claire have become close. No matter how much they tease each other, it’s like a brother and sister fighting. I just nod my head at him.

  It’s early in the morning when I wake up. I look up, and see Claire’s eyes on me. Her fingers are wiggling in my hand, and she has unshed tears in her eyes.

  “Morning, baby.” I say in a whisper.

  “Sam.” It comes out sounding hoarse. I remember the doctor said that her throat was tender.

  “Don’t try to talk. You inhaled a lot of smoke.” She just nods her head. When tears spill down her cheeks, I stand up and kiss her forehead.

  “Fuck, baby. That was the scariest shit of my life. I thought I had lost you,” I whisper into her hair. I know my own eyes are filling with tears at the thought of never seeing her again.

  She nods her head. I know her throat hurts too much to talk, but I know what she wants to say without her ever having to say it.

  “Hey little lady, you scared the shit out of me,” Thomas says once he wakes up and realizes that she’s awake.

  “Thomas,” she says in low tone wincing at the pain in her throat.

  “Don’t talk, sweet girl. You just rest up, you hear? Don’t you ever scare me like that again, okay?” When she nods her head, he leans in and kisses her on the cheek. “I’m going to go get the doctor, and tell him that you’re awake.”

  When he leaves the room, she looks at me with questions in her eyes. I know that she wants to know how bad the damage is, but before I can tell her that, Noah wakes up from the floor. Her eyes go wide when he stands up. I don’t think that she realized that he was there.

  “Hey, little Claire. Glad you’re awake. You gave us all a scare,” Noah says in a soft voice.

  She looks at him and smiles. “Crabs,” she whispers, and we both bark out a laugh. Of course, the first thing she says to him is about crabs. I shake my head, and kiss her forehead again.

  When the doctor comes in, Noah excuses himself to tell the others that Claire is awake. The doctor asks if it was okay that I stay, and
she nods her head.

  She points to her throat, and he tells her that it’s going to be sore for a while, so she should stick to soft foods, maybe even liquids, for the first couple days. He tells her to limit her talking until she’s healed, and she nods her head to show that she understands.

  Once he is done checking her over, he says that there doesn’t seem to be any damage to her brain from the fall, and lets her know that she will be in the hospital for a couple of days because of the smoke she inhaled.

  After the doctor leaves, everyone else comes into the room ignoring the two- person rule. I can see the relief on everyone’s face when they see Claire. I tell everyone that she has to limit her talking, but that she had made an effort to remind everyone about Noah’s crabs. Everyone laughed. I think that helped ease the tension, and that’s exactly what Claire was going for.

  They stay and talk to her for a while. Right before they leave, all the guys kiss Claire on the cheek, and the girls hug her and tell her that they are glad she is okay. I can see tears form in Claire’s eyes. I know that she isn’t used to so many people loving her and worrying about her. She is going to have to get used to being taken care of by everyone. After almost losing her, I can see that it’s tough for anyone to let her out of their sight. That’s how I know how much she has come to mean to us all.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Claire

  Two weeks later

  It’s been a couple weeks since the fire. I still wake up in the night screaming in my sleep, and yelling for Sam. He always holds me tighter whispering in my ear that everyone is okay, that I’m safe, and that he won’t let anything happen to me.

  I haven’t had a moment alone since the fire. Seriously, either one of the girls, or Sam, follows me to the bathroom. I usually yell that I can go on my own which makes someone stand on the other side of the door “just in case.” I know that everyone was scared when they got the call from Thomas that I was in a fire. Sam had asked me to change my emergency contact information to him. I agreed since it seemed so important to him. Sam and I had a talk after I had come home from the hospital. Well, he talked and I listened since he still lets me barely use my voice because of the smoke. I think it was just to get his way.