“Fuck, V. Give me some credit, you don’t think I know my girl?”
My girl.
Bishop is leaning his shoulder on my passenger door, a grin planted on his handsome face. His golden blond hair is pushed back out of his face, and he’s staring at me. He’s looking at me like all girls want to be looked at.
That look that makes time suspend for just a solitary moment. All the commotion, the anarchy, everything is paused and the world hangs between us. Our eyes keeping each other grounded to the bond we could no longer deny.
I felt like someone had pressed slow-motion on us, and the vibrations of soft violins danced through the wind. Everything felt alive, brought to life by our electrifying connection. A child had finger painted the sky. Soft yellows, dark oranges, and bursting reds meshed together in a blissful symphony. The rays of light cast a glow onto his face, highlighting his sculpted cheekbones, and steady jaw.
He was a piece of art brought to life by the sun, and I was simply a spectator fortunate enough to witness it.
My feet start a leisurely walk in his direction before it becomes a steady run. When I am close enough I launch my body at his, and he catches me gracefully. We feel like two puzzle pieces that’d been searching eons to find each other. For this moment to come together. My arms are locked around his neck, my legs looped around his waist while his arms press me into his body. My head is buried in his shoulder, breathing his scent.
He smells like sunshine.
“I missed you too, my Vallie girl.”
BISHOP
The wind was blowing throughout the car, the sound of music coming from my speakers. I looked over in the passenger seat seeing the only person who has the ability to take my breath away.
I have never been so terrified looking at anyone in my life. I know if I give her the chance, she’ll be the woman I can’t live without. Hell, she’s already there. The one thing I promised myself I’d never do. To rely on someone for happiness, to trust someone with what I feel.
She’s leaning her back on the passenger door, her legs are across the console and her feet are resting in my lap. Every once and a while she’ll lean her head back out the window to let her hair blow in the wind. Her feet move in tune to the music, and the smile that sits on her face is enough to make me drive her around for hours upon hours.
My stomach is a mixture of unease and contentment. I feel my hand grip the steering wheel a little tighter. What was worse? Leaving Valor and never speaking to her again? Or allowing myself to fall into her until I can’t figure my way out?
It all feels like a double-edged sword. My biggest fear and losing the one person who makes my blood pump. I never wanted to be my father. I never wanted to trust someone with my heart just for them to leave and take a piece of me with them.
I feel her body move towards the back seat, grabbing another piece of the pizza I had picked up before getting her from practice. Pepperoni and cheese, extra pepperoni. It never changes with her. I didn’t really do too much planning for this. I just knew she was getting restless in my apartment. I knew not going out in public was taking a toll on her.
I’d been ready to tell JR for a few days now. I was tired of Valor leaving after only staying the night for one day. I wanted her in my bed all weekend, not just every other day. I wanted her near me all the time.
She’d been in and out of my bed since her birthday. I’d given in to her. It had been game over. Once I was inside Valor, I never wanted to be inside anyone else. I fucked her wherever I could─shower, kitchen, balcony, floor. Hell, I can’t remember the last time we had sex in my fucking bed. My hands were always on her.
I wanted to be surrounded by her at all times. She made my life a little brighter.
The only way I could explain what being with Valor felt like was sleeping on my right shoulder. Vallie rests on her right side, doesn’t matter what position she falls asleep in, she always ends up on her right side.
I hated cuddling. I wasn’t the kind of guy who held girls until they fell asleep. Fuck all that. After I hooked up with a chick, I wanted to leave. It’s one of the reasons I never brought them to my place, to avoid her staying over. We fucked, and I left. That was it.
But after the sweat from Valor and my sexual escapades dried, all I wanted was to feel her warmth pressed against me when we fell asleep. To close my eyes with the smell of her lavender shampoo filling my senses. She’s like a personal scent diffuser.
So because I want her close to me, I have to sleep on my right shoulder. I have an injury in that shoulder, and it hurts like a fucking bitch sometimes. But I would rather wake up with an ache from hell and barely get any sleep than to not be touching her.
Having her around my apartment brought it to life. The music was always loud, and it was always made in the eighties but it was her. Everywhere she went, everything she touched was intensified. Walking around my space as if she owned it, and if I’m honest, she did. The nights she wasn’t with me, it felt a little dimmer. She was the light in my home, in my life.
I knew that telling her dad would allow her to fully give herself to me. She’d stay the weekends, and not just days. It wasn’t telling the world about her that worried me. Fuck, I wanted to claim my territory. I hated how guys stared at her. Valor was oblivious to just how hot she fucking was.
It wasn’t telling JR. I was prepared for the ass beating I was going to get from him. I wasn’t holding back because of her dad. I was holding back because of myself.
I watch as she takes the first few bites of the greasy slice, humming happily to the sound of the music.
“You are still the messiest eater I’ve ever met,” I comment, moving my eyes to her and then back to the road.
She lifts her foot and then drops it on my thigh roughly digging her heel into my muscle.
“I am not!” she calls, with food still in her mouth as she does. I choke out a laugh, reaching over with my free hand. I look over at her, swiping my thumb across her chin. I collect the excess sauce on my thumb before bringing it back to my mouth. I suck the tomato flavored paste off, a smirk settling on my lips.
I can see her blush out of the corner of my eye making me smile. That tough girl act on the ice? Yeah, it melts as soon as she’s in my arms.
“Whatever,” she grumbles, finishing the slice of pizza with an attitude.
I’d been driving around back roads in the more rural areas outside of Chicago for a few hours now. I knew she needed a break and I wanted to see her happy. Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” comes on the radio. I roll my eyes, looking over at her for a second.
“What is up with you and eighties music?” It’s all she listened to. Not just some of the time. It was all the time. She never listened to anything made in today's time. I’ll give it to her, she’s consistent.
“My dad. Simple as that. When I was young we’d listen to it for hours in the house. It feels like a part of me now. Just like you probably have something special you share with your family.” She pops a few Lemonheads into her mouth.
At the word ‘family’ I tense involuntarily. Yeah, Valor. I do have something special I share with my mother and father, it's called pain. An intense amount of grief. The kind of pain that makes looking at Valor hurt.
“Not really,” I replied firmly. I return my gaze to the road in front of me. One hand on the steering wheel and the other is on Valor’s legs in my lap.