With one hand, I reached between our bodies and pressed against her clit, needing the pressure to send her over the edge. But Parker, just as stubborn as she’d ever been, didn’t let it go that easily. She pushed and struggled to take control, but her body tensed under mine as her climax grew closer. Her nipples grew impossibly harder, and I reached down between thrusts to pull one into my mouth, smiling against her skin when Parker gasped with pleasure.
The distraction worked, because in the next few moments, Parker went completely still under my continued thrusts. Then she shattered in my hands and around my cock. She pulsed, clenching uncontrollably, and cried out as she fell over the cliff of ecstasy.
“Jeremy!” My name on her lips, Parker was overcome with her orgasm, and I couldn’t take it anymore.
I bit her nipple lightly, then let it go with a soft ‘pop’ and pressed my lips to hers before I let go and grabbed her hips, thrusting into her as hard as I could.
“Hold on, Parker.”
When I saw the pleasure-filled way she looked at me, I lost it. All I could do was fuck her. I gave her every ounce of my body, my strength. Everything I was, I gave to her in that moment, and as the agony of my climax left me stiff and unable to move, the look on Parker’s face burned itself into my brain.
Our labored breathing was the only thing to break the silence between us, and I finally extricated myself from her body. Before she could get up, I retrieved a towel from the bathroom, got it slightly wet, and then with every care in the world, I cleaned our mess from her body, relishing the way she shivered and moaned when I caressed her skin.
She didn’t say a word, but she curled into my embrace when I pulled her into my arms a minute later. For the first time in my life, everything felt like it was right. Parker lay in my arms. Her heart beat in a steady rhythm in tune with my own, and I listened to every thump while trying to figure out if I should tell her how I felt.
“Next time,” I whispered into her hair. “Next time, we’ll start out in the bed.” I kissed her head, like a sap, because I couldn’t believe that I finally had the woman of my dreams in my arms. I never, in all the years that passed, thought that we’d be together. And now that I had her, I wouldn’t be letting her go.
Parker sighed, content and happy. Her body relaxed into mine. For another thirty bliss-filled seconds, we enjoyed the silence of the night together. Then I watched as Parker sat up and slid out of my bed, turning to face me with an inscrutable expression on her face.
“Thank you, Remy.”
I smiled, unable to help myself. “Don’t thank me, Parker. I should be thanking you. You’re fucking perfect. I can’t wait to taste you on my lips, too.” Just the thought had my dick starting to harden again, and I sat up so that I could reach for her and pull her back to the bed for more fun.
“I am leaving.”
With three little words, my entire world tilted on its axis. My hands dropped down to the bed, and I shook my head.
“W-what?” stuttering, I tried to understand what she’d just said. “When? For how long? Why not stay the night? It’s late already.”
She didn’t hide her nakedness, didn’t try to grab a cover for her body, and I struggled not to stare at her tits and picture her under me while she spoke.
“Thank you for giving me back life. For reminding me that there’s pleasure in life.” Parker smiled at me, like I’d done her a favor by screwing her until she screamed out my name.
I still didn’t understand. A haze of bright light filtered over my vision, making it even harder to comprehend what was happening. “What?”
“I’m leaving.”
My pulse raced, and my breathing grew short as I tried to think of how I could change her mind. “I heard that, and I told you that you don’t have to leave.”
Parker leaned forward and caressed my cheek with her hand.
“I don’t think you understand.” She pressed a soft kiss to my lips and pulled back before it could become anything more than that. “I’m leaving Birch, forever.”
Those simple little words should mean nothing, and yet they had the power to bring me to my knees.
13
Parker
Rose and Emma both stared at me like I’d grown a second head. We were sitting in the cafeteria at Birch Elementary, getting ready to watch the kindergarten students give their first winter concert, and I’d just dropped one massive bomb.
After I’d left Remy’s house, I half expected him to tattle on me, running to his mother and Rose, demanding that they do something about me leaving. But as one day, and then two, and then even more passed, I didn’t hear a single word.
I did, however, see him everywhere I went. He and Daisy patrolled at Nox’s school. I saw him at Lucy’s almost every day. Even the grocery store, where I stood four people behind him in line. Every single day, I saw Remy somewhere, and when I did, the image of him wrapped around my body filled my head, reminding me of what I couldn’t have.
Now, almost a month later, he still hadn’t told a single person about my plan to leave Birch. All of which led me to dropping that particular announcement to not only Rose and Emma, but to Vanessa Townsend, Remy’s mother, as well.
“If that’s what will make you happy. I’d just hate to see you leave your home before you’re ready. Especially when you have a community here that loves you, and a family that would be lost without you and Nox. Not only that—” Rose’s cut-off statement took me completely off guard, and I couldn’t ask her about it because the lights were shut off and all of the students filtered into the room.
I stared, enraptured, as I waited for a glimpse of Nox. He’d refused to let me help him get dressed, choosing his own outfit. Then he’d shoved himself into his jacket before I could see what he picked to wear. Needless to say, I was sitting on the edge of my seat, hoping he didn’t show up in pajamas. Yes, I could have forced him to wear what I wanted him to, but part of raising an independent young man was allowing him the freedom to dress himself. A choice I had regretted the moment I made it.
Still, when he marched out wearing the blue suit I’d bought him at the beginning of the school year, with a red bow tie, my eyes definitely started watering. Not only because of what he chose to wear though. I also noticed the gold and purple medal stuck to his chest. He’d pulled Danny’s Purple Heart out of the medal case and had it pinned to the left side of his heart. I’m pretty sure that in that moment, my heart broke and healed itself almost instantaneously.
Next to me, Rose took my hand in hers, and I heard the shocked gasp leave her chest. “He looks just like Danny.” I looked over to see a slightly unfocused expression on her face and a smile I hadn’t seen before.
He really did look just like his father, down to the way he held himself. And when they all started to sing, Nox stood out more than the rest of the students in the crowd, except one. Next to him was his best friend, Everett James, who insisted on being called Rett. He, too, wore a blue suit with a red bow tie, and I had the suspicion that Rett and Nox had conspired to dress alike. Looking around, I saw Rett’s father standing on the other side of the crowd, wearing a leather vest and silently cheering his son on.