by Rye Hart
I nodded, then realized he couldn't see me. “Thanks, Eli. That helps. I'll let the cops know and maybe they can find someone,” I said.
“Hannah?” Eli's voice came out tight.
“Yeah?”
“Take care of yourself, please,” he said.
His words took me by surprise. “Why would you –”
“It's just – well, people who get close to me, people I care about – seems like they tend to end up dead.”
“They were addicts, Eli,” I said softly. “You know I'd never –”
“I know, but – just be careful, okay?” he said. “I don't know what I'd do if anything ever happened to you.”
I found it hard to swallow, with the lump that had suddenly formed in my throat. I should have probably made some sort of cynical remark, but I could tell he was serious. Truth be told, I wasn't sure what I'd do if anything had happened to him either. But, I wasn't in the right frame of mind to admit that.
“Don't blame yourself, Eli,” I said. “You couldn't possible have saved Shawna. Or your mom.”
“Yeah, well –” There was shouting in the background, someone called his name. “I have to go, Hannah. Thanks for calling me and telling me about Shawna. I'm sorry you had to see that.”
“It's my job,” I replied. “I see that sort of thing all the time. I'm just sorry it was someone you knew.”
He hung up the phone, and I stared at it for a long moment before putting it back into my purse. The night was still young, and the ER needed me, so I'd have to pull myself together. I washed my hands, splashed some cool water on my face and walked out into the chaos of the Yora County Hospital once again.
Standing at the nurse's station was a familiar face in uniform. Officer Chris Abbott shot me a sympathetic smile as I joined Sarah and the others.
“Hannah, Officer Abbott was trying to find out anything we knew about the Jane Doe,” Sarah said.
“Uh yeah, about that. I have a name now,” I said. “Eli said she crashed at his place a few times about a year ago. Her name was Shawna Deerborn and she was from Portland. But, as far as he knew, she had no living relatives.”
Aside from Aubree, I thought to myself. For some reason, I hesitated and didn't mention the child. I probably should have, but it wasn't like a two-month-old baby could identify her mother's remains. Besides, I had no idea what it might mean for the little girl and my brother, and until I knew more, I didn't want any more drama to befall either of them.
“Thanks, Hannah,” Chris said, shooting me a charming smile.
I blushed and looked away. Chris had been friends with Eli back in the day, as was typical for a small town. Everyone knew everyone else. Chris grew into an attractive guy with clean-cut blonde hair and hazel eyes. His face was a little too chiseled for my liking – too many sharp angles and a chin that was a little too square – but most of the nurses found him to be the epitome of hot.
It just so happened, he also seemed to have taken a liking to me.
“Mind if we talk, alone?” Chris asked. “I have a few additional questions. Maybe you could help me with them?”
“I highly doubt it. Like I said, I only met her briefly yesterday, but sure. I can try,” I said, looking at the other nurses. “But I can't be gone long, we're short-staffed.”
“I won't keep you long, I promise,” he said.
He crossed his hand over his heart and winked at Sarah before motioning for me to follow him. We walked outside the emergency room doors and headed for a little table in the courtyard. The air had a slight chill to it, and I hugged my arms close to my body. Chris removed his jacket, like a gentleman, and handed it to me before sitting down.
“Thank you,” I said.
“Of course. I'm the reason your outside, after all,” he said. “I was just hoping you could help me with a few little details.”
“I'm afraid I don't know much more about Shawna,” I said, getting straight to the point. “Like I said, I only met her once, last night at The Pig's Ear, and really, only for a couple of minutes at that.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You met her at The Pig's Ear? Last night?”
“Yeah, she came to talk to Eli,” I said. “Then she left. He said he hadn't seen her for months before that, and only knew her briefly back then.”
He wrote something down, then looked back up at me as if waiting for more information. I had none to give him so instead, I switched the topic.
“Do you think there's something going on in Yora?” I asked. “All the drug overdoses lately, and the gun violence? I can't imagine this is normal for a town our size.”
Chris shrugged. “It's nothing new,” he said. “Yora has always had its problems.”
“I don't remember it being this bad –”
“You weren't a nurse before either. You didn't see it up close and personal like you do now,” he said.
There was a strange tone in his voice that made me study his face a little closer. It had hardened and darkened a bit as he spoke. It was as if he was trying to hide any emotion from showing on it. After a minute of me staring at him, he relaxed and reached out for my hand.
“Hannah, I know it must be hard for you to come back, after all these years, and see the true Yora with all of its blemishes and ugliness,” he said. “It must be like someone pulled back the curtain, allowing you to see the dark underbelly and the worst parts of the town. Trust me, I get it. Being a cop, I usually see so much I'd rather not see.”
“I bet,” I said, rubbing his arm as I stood up. “I should probably get back to work. Unless you have any more questions for me?”
“No, you're good to go, Hannah,” he said, standing up alongside me. “Unless, of course, you're up for that coffee date I keep asking you about –”
I sighed. Maybe it was written on my face, because Chris put his hands up in defeat. “I get it. You're not interested in dating,” he said. “But, if you ever want to chat about Yora, you know where to find me.:
“Thanks, Chris,” I said, heading back toward the hospital entrance.
I wasn't sure why he and Eli were no longer friends. Maybe, it was because they'd taken such different paths in life? Chris followed in his father's footsteps and became a cop. Eli was, well, Eli. Tending bar with no idea what he was doing with his life. I glanced back at him and couldn't help but see the troubled expression on his face. He was worried about something. About me? I didn't know and didn't really feel like pondering it at the moment.
I gave him a smile and waved before going back inside the hospital.
Chapter Seven
Elijah
Aubree had just fallen asleep, and with my head resting on the back of the couch, I'd just started to doze off when the front door of Hannah's apartment opened. It was still dark outside, but a hint of light was making an appearance in the sky, which meant it was really damn late, or really damn early, depending on how you looked at it.
Since I hadn't been asleep yet, it felt late as hell.
Hannah tried to be quiet as she slipped in through the front door, and at first, I didn't think she saw me sitting there. Her hair was pulled back in a tight bun on top of her head, no bangs or anything to soften her face, but she didn't need it. Her face was angelic as they came. When she caught me staring at her, she smiled. The smile though, was quickly replaced that with a serious expression that bordered on the grim.
“How long has she been asleep?” she whispered.
“About half an hour,” I said.
She motioned for me to follow her into the bedroom, and she closed the door behind us, allowing us to talk in a voice above a whisper. Seeing her in the now harsh light of the bedroom, I could tell something was bothering her. Her eyes were dark and heavy, her smile forced, tension radiating from her body.
“What's wrong, Hannah?” I asked.
She walked over to her dresser and pulled out some pajamas, all without saying a word. She didn't answer my question, so I walked over to her and grabbed hold of her shoul
der, forcing her to look at me.
“Hannah, talk to me, please,” I said.
“It's nothing, Eli,” she said, holding her pajamas in her arms. “Can I change, please?”
I let her go and she slipped into the bathroom, quietly shutting the door behind her. I sat on her bed, tracing the pink flowers of her bedspread with my finger as I waited for her to come back out and talk to me.
Something was wrong. I knew Hannah and could see it on her face. Maybe it was about Shawna and that whole scene. That would probably fuck with anyone. But, maybe there was something more. We had been so caught up in my problems, and she had been doing so much for me, that she'd been kind of neglected. I could see that she was going through some shit and needed me.
She stepped out, wearing a long heather gray nightshirt and a pair of short-short style underwear with pink fringe at the bottom. Cute, sexy as hell, but totally unintentional. After all, Hannah would never try to entice me intentionally. That wasn't her style.
Besides, she'd already told me, in no uncertain terms, that fucking her was off the table.
Her pajamas weren't the only thing that caught my eye, though. Tears had been wiped away, leaving wet streaks on her cheeks. Her eyes were red and puffy. I stood up and crossed the room. I went to her quickly and was standing before her in a flash. She tried to look away from me, but I lifted her chin and forced her to meet my gaze.
“What's wrong, Hannah?” I asked again, this time more firmly.
“What you said on the phone, Eli –” her voice cracked.
“Yeah, about what?”
“About if something were to happen to me. Did you mean it?”
Her blue eyes looked so crystalline and pure. Like an endless sea, deep and unfathomable. The presence of tears didn't help matters. My insides were tied in knots as we stared into each other's eyes. I wasn't sure what she wanted. What she wanted me to say. I wanted to give her what she needed, but I didn't have the first clue what that was.
“That I wouldn't know what I'd do without you?” I asked. “Hell, yeah, I meant every word.”
“Why? Why would you say something like that to me -- after what we've been through?” she asked, her voice sounding miserable. “You knew what that would do to me.”
I ran my fingers gently along her jaw and chin, and she didn't stop me.
“You're mad at me for caring about you now?” I couldn't help but laugh at the irony. “Hannah, I can't help how I feel – you don't want to be with me, fine. But, you can't stop me from loving you –”
Before I finished the sentence though, she reached up to smack me, but I caught her hand and held it in the air. She might think that fighting me was the way to keep us apart, but she was damn wrong. The more she fought, the more I wanted her. Her feistiness was one of the sexiest things about her.
Hannah backed up, her back against the wall and her hand still in mine. I pressed that hand above her head, and I pressed my body to hers. I expected her to fight back, to tell me to get off her, but she didn't. She stared up at me with lust in her eyes. Her tongue licked her lower lip, and I watched every movement, remembering the way her mouth used to taste. Deciding that we'd already pushed things that far, I did the unthinkable – I leaned down and kissed her.
Her lips didn't part for me, not at first. She was stiff and unmoving against me, but she didn't fight it either. I nibbled her lower lip and she whimpered, finally opening her mouth and allowing our tongues to meet.
“Eli, I –”
“Shhh,” I whispered, dropping down to kiss along her neck and jaw.
She leaned her head back against the wall and let out a deep sigh. Her free hand moved along the base of my neck, and I let go of the other one I'd been holding.
“Stop fighting it, Hannah,” I said. “You know you want this as much as I do.”
She relaxed in my arms as she succumbed to the need inside of us both. I lifted her off the ground, pressing her up against the wall, and kissed her long and hard as she wrapped her legs around my waist. My erection strained against my jeans, pressing against her tiny little body and she groaned against my lips.
“I need to be inside of you, Hannah,” I muttered, turning around with her still in my arms.
I carried her to the bed, and together, we fell upon it. I slipped her shorts down and tossed them on the floor, and found she wasn't wearing panties underneath. I rubbed myself against her smooth skin, pressing between the folds of her until I could feel her wetness.
She was soaking wet. There was no denying her lust for me now.
I fingered her tight little pussy while kissing her soft, tender lips. Her body arched upward, begging for more. I couldn't wait a second longer, so I removed my belt and tossed it to the floor. She fumbled with my zipper, her entire body trembling with need. I helped her with the zipper, and she slid her small hands down the waistband of my pants and took hold of my cock. I groaned and my eyes nearly rolled back in my head.
“Jesus Christ, Hannah –” I growled.
She stroked the head of my cock, rolling the pre-cum around the tip as she stared up at me with large, doe eyes. God, she was so fucking beautiful. No woman had ever come close to her, in all these years. No one did it to me like Hannah Ross, my own stepsister.
I inched my jeans down on my hips, and Hannah helped push them the rest of the way off. I kicked them free along with my boxers. Hannah pulled on me, yanking me until I fell down on top of her. She wasn't begging with her words, but her movements and that look in her eye told me everything I needed to know.
Holding myself above her, I kissed her lips once more as she wrapped her legs around me, arching upward as I thrust downward, my cock piercing the warm, wet center of her. As I slipped deep within her, joining us together at last, she cried out.
Hannah whimpered as my cock parted her sweet lips and called my name as I drove myself deep inside of her. The warmth of her pussy, along with the wetness, drove me mad. I buried myself balls deep into her with a low groan.
Fuck, she was tighter than I remembered. It wouldn't be easy to not shoot my load in seconds, finally getting what I'd been missing all these years. I gritted my teeth and tried to take things slow, but Hannah was a wild one – thrusting herself upward to meet my movements, raking her nails down my back as she groaned in my ear. She had ridiculous control over her kegal muscles too, tightening and releasing my cock over and over again until I couldn't think, couldn't feel anything except her body beneath mine.
“Yes, Eli – oh God, yes,” she whimpered, shuddering beneath me.
Hearing her say my name in the throes of passion – fuck, was there any better sound in the world?
Pressure built up in my balls quickly as I fucked her with everything I had. I'd give anything to make her feel good, to cry out in pleasure, to scream out my name over and over again as she came around my pulsing cock. I ground my teeth, trying to stop the inevitable explosion, wanting to prolong the act as long as I could. But, I felt the pressure continuing to grow inside of me until I knew it was only a matter of seconds before I burst inside of her.
As hard as it was, I pulled my pulsing cock out of her tight little hole, preparing to shoot my load anywhere but inside of her. The last thing I needed was another baby right now.
Hannah's legs tightened around me, pulling me into her, “No, Eli! Don't stop, please – I'm going to come.”
Fuck. She had me there. She pulled me into her and I thrust back between her lips, burying my shaft as deep as I could go as she screamed out, her nails digging into my flesh as she came beneath me. How could I deny Hannah that moment? I continued to fight against my own orgasm, but the spasms of her pussy combined with the sweet sounds coming from her were too much for me to bear.
“Oh fuck,” I groaned.
My head fell forward as I came, hard, inside of her, shooting streams of cum inside of her. She was still holding onto me for dear life, her own orgasm subsiding.
“Yes, yes, yes,” she whimpered, a smil
e stretched across her beautiful face. “Oh God, that was amazing, Eli.”
I collapsed beside her on the bed, reeling from one of the most intense orgasms I'd had in a long time. Well, since we were younger and had fucked each other senseless back then too. I rolled over on my side, and she was still smiling, just not as wide as before. We shared a look as the realization hit us both, hard.
I just shot my load inside of her, no condom. Unprotected, as far as I knew.
“I'll go to the clinic later today,” she said softly.
I stroked her cheek, pushing some loose hair away from her face, and kissed her. All of that could wait until later. Tonight – or rather, this morning – all I cared about was the fact that Hannah had finally stopped pushing me away.
Knowing her, she'd have her doubts again, she always did. But, I intended to enjoy the moment while it lasted.
“I meant what I said earlier,” I whispered, nibbling her ear lobe. “You can't stop me from loving you, Hannah. No matter what you do, I'll always be madly in love with you.”
Chapter Eight
Hannah
I let out a content sigh, closing my eyes as I rested my head against Eli's chest. His t-shirt was raised up just a bit so I could trace circles around his belly button with my fingertips, feeling the strength in his abs. Trailing my finger up higher, I noticed a new tattoo on his side. His mother's name along with a rose – her favorite flower – and her middle name.
Thinking about Eli's mother made me think about Shawna and his daughter, who'd been named after his mom. As the thoughts swirled around in my mind, I had to know something – even though it felt wrong to ask.
“Did you love her?”
My voice came out softer than I'd intended, and at first, I wasn't sure he'd heard me. After a few moments of silence, I lifted my head and looked up at him. He was looking down at me. He'd obviously heard me, he just seemed to be considering the question at hand.