Crypt Keeper, page 3
“Damon, listen to me. You need to leave now.” I kept my voice low as I brushed passed him and began ascending up the next flight of stairs.
He didn’t leave, and as he continued to follow me I kept moving. I needed to get into my apartment and put some walls between me and Damon Night before Levi did something both of us would regret.
“Molly, there are some things in life that there aren’t explanations for,” Damon kept on blathering, the poor bastard. He hadn’t a clue that his need to fuck me might end his life in this dimension. And dammit, I didn’t want to have to explain things to him when he passed on to the next. Been there, done that, got the fucking t-shirt and hated it!
It was time to get ugly. “Yeah, well this isn’t one of them. Now listen up asshole, you and me—it isn’t going to happen.” As I turned around thinking that was that, Damon’s chest was inches from my back. He felt larger somehow and my body remembered how that big body felt against me. Panicking, I took the next couple of steps two at a time and then turned around and shouted, “Can I make this any plainer for you? Get lost!” He looked crushed. His reaction was so severe that I almost relented but the burst of frigid air made me choose against it.
Damon felt the chill; he was still close enough to me that I could see the goose bumps popping up on his forearm. His fist clenched as he looked around. “No. You’ve made yourself perfectly clear. I’m leaving.” Although he didn’t, he just stood there glancing around the hallway.
Feeling like a heel, I shoved my key into the lock and went inside my apartment and shut the door.
A shirtless Jewels was straddling some guy on my sofa and they were going at it like horny teenagers. After I cleared my throat she was on her feet and tugging her shirt back over her head. “Oh, you’re home early? I thought for sure I wouldn’t see you for hours yet.”
“So I see,” I said, feeling like a parent who caught her kid making out with an older boy. She knew I didn’t want her to let other dead people know about my ability. I’d moved to get away from that. The dead were always drawn to me and others like me. We had an aura or some shit, so I’ve been told, making us extremely attractive to those on the other side that got lost on their way to the next dimension. I’d never actually met another person like me besides my grandmother. Acting like I didn’t see them was my only defense when I was spotted; it was tiring to say the least. Most of them were so confused and desperate that they’d hang around for days sometimes before giving up and moving on. Sometimes I’d take pity on one of them like I did with the girl tonight and help them move on. That was the catch twenty-two; the more I used my ability the more others seemed to be able to locate me. You’d be surprised how many young college students had died on campus by some freak accident or the other.
“Um, this is Deacon.” Jewels pointed to the dark-haired guy dressed head to toe in leather. Now her change in wardrobe made perfect sense. His jaw had dropped the moment I’d walked through the door. He was being drawn to me like a bug to a flame. Jewels elbowed him in the side. “I said be cool,” she whispered through gritted teeth. He shook his head and attempted to relax his facial muscles and deny his natural impulse to hurry to me. He lifted his finger and saluted me as if everything here was perfectly normal.
My head began to ache. “Look guys, I think I need some time to myself, okay?”
“Yeah, sure, Molly. We’ll get out of your hair.” She reached down and grabbed Deacon by the arm. “Come on, babe, let’s get going.”
He stood, his pants still undone and he jerked his arm away. “You said you’d ask her to help me.”
Jewels let out a nervous laugh and pointed to his undone leather pants. “Later, okay?”
As he fastened his pants the tough exterior melted away exposing a hurting young man. Like Jewels he too had died young. You could always tell. There was something in their eyes that gave it away, a longing of sorts. My heart began to hurt for him like it did with all the others I’d come across over the years. Now I wanted to help him. “No, sit down. Just let me grab a Woodchuck cider.”
Deacon beamed with hope as they all did until they realized I couldn’t bring them back to live in this dimension as a living being. Why they always believed I could was beyond me. All I could do was help them adjust and assimilate into their new lives.
Chapter 3
“No woman gets an orgasm from shining the kitchen floor.”
~ Betty Friedan
I woke to the sound of Control by Puddle Of Mudd playing and I knew I was not alone. He loved to do it to this type of music as did I, something only he was privy to. I was naked, my skin on fire with the weight of his cool body between my legs and it was more than welcome. The anticipation of the pleasure to come was overwhelming as his lips trailed down my neck; I arched my back to give him better access. “I’ve missed you, M.” Only Levi called me M, and the way it sounded deep and husky when he was aroused was always my undoing. He knew every square inch of my body, having spent years learning all the ways I liked to be touched, kissed and stroked. To resist him was an impossibility. He lifted his weight off me. I instantly protested, reaching out to pull him back to me. He chuckled, pleased that he still had this power over me. “Always the impatient one, my M.” He settled himself beside me, his hand moving slowly down my stomach to the sweet spot between my thighs. My hips lifted to meet his talented fingers and he instantly withheld the pleasure from me. “Uh uh. You know the rules.”
“Fuck the rules,” I nearly growled, evidence of my frustration. My life was a constant frustration and the release that I had with him was always welcome. I should resist. we both should. We’d tried, or rather I’d tried, but there was just something about Levi that was irresistible to me.
He chuckled again; he loved this side of me. “Open your eyes if you want what I can give you.” I did. I needed it more than I had in a long time. His beautiful face was close to mine and I sighed as my heart leaped for joy. His hair was shaggy, falling forward onto his face. I brushed the dark brown locks that were a shade darker than mine behind his ears to devour his perfect face with my eyes. It was a masterpiece, as if chiseled out of stone. That proud nose, strong jawline and plump lips were as enticing as his hazel eyes were. “There’s my M. Tell me what you need.” His fingers went to work on my flesh with determination.
“Oh God, Levi,” I groaned, shutting my eyes in pleasure, my release so close.
He stopped and I nearly screamed in irritation. “The rules, M.”
“To hell with your rules.” I slammed my body on top of his and rolled him onto his back and straddled his thigh the way I liked. Two could play at this game. Just as he knew me I understood how his mind worked, how his body thrummed with energy under my fingers and I would be as merciless as he was. His eyes burned with lust as I violently slapped his hands away as they reached for my breasts then pinned them above his head. “My rules now,” I purred as I rode his thigh. “And I’m taking what I want,” I panted, so close to the edge.
He pulled me off a second too soon, slamming my back against the bed. “No, M. I’m fucking you my way tonight. I plan to taste every square inch of your body before this night is through. I and only I shall possess you—you are forever mine and you don’t even know it yet.” His arm slid under my rib cage, lifting me to his mouth to nip and suck my nipples till they were aching and my need for release increased to atomic levels. Wrapping my legs around his waist I rubbed myself against him making the groaning sounds he couldn’t resist. “You are bad girl M, and I’m the only one on the planet that knows it.”
My lips parted as my eyes met his. I was finished with this little game. “Then fuck your bad girl like she deserves. Hard, fast, and without mercy.”
He made that sound deep in his throat that make me hotter than hell, and a second later my hands were pinned above my head and he was slamming into me as his mouth crashed down on mine. I groaned, biting his tongue as he thrust into me over and over with the hot grinding motion he did so damn well and it shattered me like it did every time. Throwing my head back, I screamed as the mother of all orgasms sent me soaring. On my way down Levi moaned, his body quivering against mine and I wished the moment would never end.
But it did; it always does. Levi got up and shut off the radio before crawling back into bed with me. Tucking me into his side like we’d slept for all those years, everything felt normal, wonderful and right. It wasn’t. He was dead and I was alive, although right now I just didn’t give a damn.
The coolness of his body temperature had always puzzled me. No other dead person felt as cool as he did. It was always welcome against my feverish skin. Neither one of us slept; we just stayed in bed holding on to one another without a word until the sunrise. The elephant in the room had been ignored and for that I was grateful.
My phone was ringing on the bedside table. Levi reached over and grabbed it and held it up for us to read the caller ID. The moment I read Damon Night’s name my heart sank. Oh hell. The elephant just sat his fat ass on both of us.
His body tensed so tightly he nearly felt like stone. I opened my mouth to explain that there wasn’t anything between us when he spoke. “That asshole has a death wish.”
Sitting up and putting my hands on his chest I whispered, “Levi, no. He doesn’t mean anything to me. I told him so last night.”
“I heard you, but that was only after you sensed my presence.” He looked betrayed and it broke my heart. “M. You are too good to be manipulated into a life that doesn’t have to be. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. Ever.”
Taking his face in my hands, I searched his eyes and in this light the boy that had helped me at a time when I needed it most was peeking through the eyes of the man.
He’d been the one that taught me to control how much I exposed people to my abilities and that lying to those that didn’t understand was necessary for my survival. He’d been there through my plethora of meltdowns. One night especially stuck out in my mind as I stared into the face of my savior. I’d had a bad time in high school; I always seemed to stumble on a determined deceased during class changes. This one girl just wouldn’t leave me alone. I’d lost it and told her off right in the middle of the hallway full of kids. As the crazy insults began to fly I had a mental breakdown, running from the school and out into the street. I’d just wanted to end it all. I’d nearly been hit by a bus when Levi swooped in and carried me away. I’d fought him, screaming and clawing his face, furious that he hadn’t let me die. He simply held me as I cried, rocking me like a small child in his lap. He swore to me that day like he had so many times before that he’d never leave me and he’d never let me die. After that day he helped me improve my ability to ignore the dead. I learned how to give the answers the teachers and doctors wanted to hear.
Levi had always been there; he’d been the only one to help me escape from a few terrifying encounters caused by my abilities. As hard as I denied my ability, it kept rearing its ugly head every chance it got.
I owed him so much. “I have always been honest with you, haven’t I? That’s the one constant between us—we don’t lie to each other. Ever.” This honesty had sometimes kept us apart while he cooled down. He had a wicked temper that made my anger disorder seem like nothing.
He gave me a quick head nod and set the phone back down on the table. He pulled me on top of him, our noses touching. “I have to tell you something and you’re not going to like it.” My heart sank as I tried to move off of him. He wouldn’t allow it, wrapping his arms around me like a vise. “Not that. Never that. You are it for me, M. No one sees me the way you do.” I relaxed, feeling like a total hypocrite. I’d been the one that insisted we move on, the one that proclaimed we were doomed as a couple. I had no right to be upset if he found another woman that suited him in his dimension. He kissed my lips softly then whispered, “There was an accident.”
My heart leapt into my throat, “Not Thomas!” My eyes welled up with tears. My half brother was the only good thing that came out of my father’s marriage to the monster and even though I hadn’t seen him in three years, partly because of the damage I feared I’d cause him and partly to save myself from heartache, I loved him with all my heart.
“No, M.” He wiped the tears from my cheeks with his thumb. “It’s your father. He was on the ladder cleaning out the gutters yesterday and fell. He’s dead.”
“Dead?” I felt numb. My father and I never had a close relationship and it only worsened after my mother left, unable to cope with my issues. To his credit he did stay and had been the one to take care of me, or at least he tried to until he found a woman to do the job. “I don’t think I’ve spoken to him in almost two years.”
“I know, M.”
“I can’t believe Step Monster hasn’t called me. How is she handling it?” My father had remarried Evelyn Frasier when I was ten and she disliked me as much as I did her. Levi and I started referring to her as Step Monster when I was eleven. He’d been my rock for as long as I could remember. He’d always had the ability to make me feel safe even as a child. He was only two years older than me; however, I felt like he was much older. It’s funny how two years seems like a lifetime to a child. I honestly believed that I wouldn’t have survived without him. I began tracing the tattoos that covered his chest and arms with my fingers. He’d always had tattoos even as an early teen, although he had a lot more of them now. I’d asked about them the first time I saw them; we’d gone swimming in the lake out behind the asylum. That had also been the first time we been together. I’d never been shy about my attraction to him and neither had he to me. I’d asked him over and over. I always wondered what they represented or meant to him. He’d simply shrug his shoulders and say “I have them because I need them.” Then he’d shut down, and once he shut down that was the end of it. I’d searched online for something similar but always came up with nothing. Eventually I’d let it go.
Laying my head on his chest I hugged him close. He could always sense what I was feeling even when we were far away from each other. He said we were connecting on a level that no one could understand. I used to think he was just sweet talking me; however, the older I got the more I comprehended his meaning. I would lay down my life for Levi and considered it on many occasions. It would be so much simpler for us if we belonged on the same dimension. He wouldn’t hear of it.
“I’ve got you, M. I’ll never leave you,” he whispered into my ear.
Sucking in a shaky breath I asked, “Tell me about Step Monster.”
He nodded. “You know her. She hasn’t shed a single tear, always thinking of herself and how put out she is by the situation. Oh, that reminds me—you’re supposed to get a phone call from the attorney’s office in the morning. They’re having the reading of his will at the house immediately following or before the funeral, whichever your Step Monster decides. Either way the funeral is scheduled for Friday.”
“In two days. I suppose I’ll have to cancel my classes and go.” The funeral wasn’t the thing I dreaded the most. It was all the dead that congregated around my family home that I feared having to deal with. There were swarms of them there. I suddenly felt exhausted. “I’m tired.”
Levi stroked his fingers across my back, an act that always soothed me. “What’s with the rubber band around your wrist?”
“Ugh, don’t remind me. After last night I’ll have blistered my wrist.”
“What are you talking about?” He wasn’t going to let it go.
“I’m trying to quit cussing, okay? I’m supposed to snap the band against my wrist every time I slip.” I felt his chest vibrating against my face and knew he was laughing at me.
He pulled the injured wrist up to his mouth, and after removing the rubber band kissed it softly. “I love your dirty mouth.”
“You’re the only one,” I yawned.
“Sleep, M. I’m here and I’ve got you.” He was here and I felt safe, even if I was the only one that could see him.
A thought ran through my mind and I had to ask, “Did you leave a kitchen chair by the bed the other night?” He went still. “You did! I busted my knee on that stupid chair,” I mumble with all the outrage I can muster in my current state of exhaustion. “I’d finally gotten rid of all the dead kids leaving shit around my apartment to try to gain my attention and then you start.”
He began stroking my back once more. “I’m sorry, M. I like to watch you when you sleep and I was sure that I wouldn’t let you get any rest if I got into bed with you.”
I should have been furious that he was spying on me while I slept but I wasn’t. It comforted me to think he has been here with me. Later after I’ve rested I may not feel that way. Shutting my eyes I welcomed the darkness.
~~~
“I see Jewels has been by,” Levi said to me over the bar that separated the kitchen from the dining and living room. I was sitting at the kitchen table sending out emails and praying that I wouldn’t miss anything important. I’m horrible.
My hands froze on the keys. “Um, yeah.” I was worried that his feelings were hurt that I hadn’t enforced the decision I made to stay away from all dead. He didn’t seem to be bothered as he took the bag of Walkers chips Jewels had left in the pantry and sat down next to me at the table. “I’d much rather see evidence of her presence here than the dead man who took you out last night. Some assholes never learn until you’re stuffing them into a pine box,” he threatened with a straight face as he ate the chips.
After hitting send on the final email that I would be going out of town on a family emergency, I closed the laptop. “Levi, we talked about this three years ago before I left. We both agreed that it would be best for both of us if we lived in our own dimensions.”
“No. I didn’t agree. I supported your decision to continue your education so you could help screwed-up kids. And I still support that—no one needs to grow up like you and Jewels.”
