Back to Life (16 page)

“Thanks,
love. Now, you go sit your sexy ass down in that chair and let me feed you,”
she said, swatting me back on the bottom. I smiled and walked over to the
table, taking a seat. She brought everything to the table and finally sat down
next to me. She piled food onto my plate and then added some to hers. As we sat
together eating breakfast and talking, I was even more sure about my revelation
last night. I for sure wanted to marry Rory, sooner rather than later. I also
didn’t want to freak her out. She’d gone through something traumatic in her
past, and it took her a full four years to start to live again. She also told
me before we officially starting dating that there was more to the story than
she’d told me. As much as I loved her and didn’t want to push her, I really did
want to know what else happened after her ex was killed. She told me that it
was a cold case, who knows? I was a cop, so maybe I could help if I had all the
facts. It was something that was bothering her so badly and I wanted nothing
more than to help her and make all her bad memories go away. But, I promised
not to push her, and I was a man of my word. I just hoped she would decide on
her own to completely let me in.

Once
we were finished eating, Rory stood up and began to clear the dishes when I
grabbed her wrist and stopped her. “What is it?” she asked me.

“That
can wait. Come here,” I said, taking the dishes from her and setting them on
the table. I guided her over to my chair and she surprised me my hiking up a
long leg and straddling my lap. Our lips instantly met and my hands glided
along her back and down to her bottom. I slid my hands into the back of her
panties and rested them on her ass. Feeling myself getting harder and harder as
she grinded her heat against me, I growled, “My bed. Now.” I stood up while
still holding onto her and she wrapped her legs around my waist. I captured her
mouth once again, where it stayed while we raced down the hall toward my
bedroom.

“Okay,
next question,” Rory giggled. “What’s your favorite color?” We were laying in
my bed, still naked, and wrapped up in my sheets, and Rory was firing about a
zillion questions at me. Lying with her wrapped in my arms, I felt at peace.
Feeling her beautiful decorated skin against mine was about as close to heaven
as I will ever get. I was lying on my back with one arm pillowed behind my
head, and the other was wrapped around her, holding her and keeping her as
close to me as possible.

Smiling,
I said, “My favorite color? I don’t know. I don’t really have one. What about
you?”

She
snuggled against me. “Pink.”

I
laughed. “Pink? Really?”

“I
may look all tough and bitchy, but I am still a girl and I am a sucker for
anything pink,” she said.

“That’s
so cute,” I said, and she shoved against my bare chest.

“Shut
up,” she laughed. She leaned up and kissed me. “Love you,” she said.

I
took a deep breath and sighed from somewhere deep in within me. Warmth spread
through my chest hearing her tell me she loved me. I will never get tired of
hearing it. “I love you too, angel.”

She
cocked an eyebrow at me and smiled. “Angel, huh?”

“What?
You don’t like it?”

“I
like it. I definitely wouldn’t call myself an angel, but I like it when you say
it.”

I
furrowed my brows. “Why wouldn’t you? Can’t you see how amazing you are?”

She
bit her bottom lip and frowned. “No, Liam, I can’t.” Before I could say
anything else, she shook her head slightly and smiled at me. “Okay, enough
questions from me. Now it’s your turn to ask me something.”

I
knew the time for serious talking was over before it began. There was so much I
wanted to know about Rory, so much I was curious about. But, I also promised
not to push her and to let her talk when she was ready. I put on my best smile
and decided to stick to something simple. “Okay, I have a question.”

“Okay,
shoot,” she said, leaning against me even more.

“I
absolutely love your name, but I was curious. Is Rory short for something?”

The
carefree happiness in her eyes was suddenly replaced with what irritation and
anger. “Yes,” she said, matter-of-factly.

“Okay,
so what is it?”

She
inhaled and let out a long sigh. “Aurora.”

I
smiled at her. “Aurora? Really?”

“Yes.”

“That’s
such a beautiful name. Why don’t you go by it?”

“Because
I hate it,” she said through gritted teeth. Her beautiful chestnut colored eyes
were dancing with flecks of gold. I had noticed that when she was angry or
upset her eyes almost looked like liquid gold.

“Why?”

“Because
of what it represents.”

“Okay,”
I said, not really knowing what else to say. I could see that she was
contemplating whether or not she wanted to elaborate. Finally, she looked down
at my chest and began to trace the outline of the praying hands tattoo with her
finger and she exhaled the breath I hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

“When
I was born, my parents chose to name me Aurora after ‘Sleeping Beauty’ because
they thought of me as most parents to a baby girl do…I was their princess. They
had their perfect, strapping, all-American son in Brody, and I was going to be
their perfect little princess. It was pretty apparent by the time I was four
that I wasn’t what they were hoping I’d be. They put me in all kinds of stupid
baby beauty pageants, and dressed me in the frilliest shit they could find. I
would have gladly spent my days with Brody playing in the mud outside rather than
wear a dress and learn a tap routine, but they still forced me into that life
until they finally relented when I was eight,” she said. She paused for a quick
moment, and continued.

“Do
you know that Brody was the first one to nickname me Rory? He couldn’t say my
name when I was born because he was only three years old at the time, and
‘Aurora’ came out sounding like ‘Rory’, and the name just stuck. Well, at least
it did with him. He is the only one in my entire family that calls me that. My
parents hated it, especially my mother. She had always wanted a perfect
daughter that she could shop with, get pedicures with, and look down their
noses at lesser people with, and instead she got me. A loud mouthed, crass,
bitchy little girl that was in an eternal bad mood unless Brody was around.
They tried everything to get me to act like the way they thought a lady should,
but it just wasn’t me. That’s why we moved to Indiana from Chicago. They
thought that if they took me from my comfort zone of blending into the background
and thrust me into a tiny little farm town like Selma that I would be forced to
either change myself or be ridiculed for it. As you can guess, that didn’t go
well.”

“Wow,
your parent’s sound like dicks,” I said, and she softly laughed, a bitterness
in her voice.

“The
biggest. I rebelled more there than ever before. I swear I was in the
principal’s office for something stupid at least once a week.”

“Troublemaker
from the start, huh?” I asked, and she smiled at me.

“You
know it.”

I
trailed my fingers along the curve of her spine and she shivered. “So, that’s
why you don’t like being called Aurora? Because of your parents?”

She
nodded. “I hate it because every time I hear it, I am reminded of everything my
parents tried to make me do and force me to be.”

I
cleared my throat. “Yeah, I know how that feels.”

She
leaned her head in and kissed me. “Well, you are lucky. You and your dad seem
to be forging ahead. I am essentially an orphan,” she laughed, trying to make
light of it all.

I
frowned at her. “So, is that why you don’t talk to your parents anymore?” I
asked.

She
stiffened against my body, and her eyes narrowed. “No,” she said quietly.

“What
is it, angel? What are you thinking about?”

She
shook her head and blinked her eyes a few times. “Nothing. I don’t want to talk
about my asshole parents anymore when there are so many other fun things we can
be doing,” she said, her tone turning from angry to seductive in the blink of
an eye. She trailed her hand from my chest down my taut abs and then under the
sheet, grabbing hold of my semi-hard dick.

I
sucked in a breath and groaned. “God, baby,” I moaned.

I
felt her sliding her hand up and down my shaft, but instead of me getting hard,
I felt like I was getting softer. The look in her eyes when I asked my last
question…something was off. I gently moved her hand and stopped her. My dick
would be killing me for that later.

“What’s
wrong, babe?” she asked me. “Are you not in the mood?”

I
smiled a crooked smile at her. “I’m always in the mood for you, angel. It’s
just that…why did you shut off like that when I asked about your parents?”

She
sighed. “Because I don’t want to talk about them anymore, Liam. Just let it
go,” she said, reaching her hand back down under the sheet again toward my
dick. She pressed her lips to my throat and began kissing me lightly.

I
stopped her by sitting up. “Rory…” I could practically hear my cock screaming,
“Shut
the fuck up and let her do what she wants!”

She
sat up and looked me pointedly in the eye. “Don’t, Liam. Just don’t.”

“Don’t
what? Ask you a question?”

She
threw the sheet off of her and she stood up quickly. She spun around, her fiery
auburn hair whipping around her like flames. “Why are you pushing this Liam?
Why are you asking me questions I don’t want to answer right now?”

I
stood up and looked into her eyes, which were liquid gold again. We both stood
face to face, completely naked. “I am just trying to get to know you, Rory. I
love you! Why are you freaking out over this?”

“I
thought you weren’t going to push me to talk about things I wasn’t ready talk
about, Liam. What happened to taking any part of me you could get?”

“I
am willing to take what you want to give! It’s just…”

“Just
what, Liam?” she snapped.

“What
if I want more? What if I want to know everything? What if I want all of you?”

Her
eyes narrowed at me, but confusion clouded them. “All of me? What does that
mean?”

“It
means that I want to marry you, Rory!” I shouted before I could stop myself.

She
gasped loudly and her narrowed eyes went wide. The gold in her eyes turned
dark, and there was an onyx-colored ring around them. This wasn’t anger
anymore…it was fear. “W-what?” she whispered, a horrified look on her face.

“Rory,”
I said softly, “I want to marry you.”

She
began to back away from me. “No,” she said, “no, I have to get out of here.”

I
took a step toward her, my hand reaching for her. “Wait, angel, don’t go. I’m
sorry.”

When
I touched her arm, she flinched away from me like I’d electrocuted her.
“Please, don’t call me that. I have to go,” she said, looking around for her
clothes. She bent down and picked up my tee shirt, but then threw it back down
on the floor when she realized it was mine. I tried to pretend it didn’t hurt,
but it did.

“Rory,
don’t leave like this! We can talk this through, don’t run away from me!”

She
after she picked up her jeans, she glared at me, her eyes gold again. “Just
stop! Let me go!” she shouted. All I could do was stare in shock as she grabbed
her clothes and barricaded herself in the bathroom. Once I got over my shock, I
pulled out a pair of pajama bottoms from my dresser and quickly slid them on as
I walked to the bathroom.

I
banged on the door. “Rory, come out here and talk to me. Look, I’m sorry I
pushed you. I won’t do it again, baby, I promise. Just please don’t go. Stay
with me,” I pleaded. I was crazy in love with this girl and I didn’t care if
begging made me look like a pussy. I couldn’t let her leave when I just broke
one of the first promises I made to her.

She
ignored me as I heard clanging and banging in the bathroom. “Leave me alone!”
she screamed, sounding half crazed.

I
felt a mixture of anger and fear, and it was making me crazy. I wasn’t going to
let her leave here like this. “Rory…”

“Just
STOP!” she shouted, and I punched the wall in frustration.

“FUCK!”
I yelled, throwing my hands in the air and walking out into the living room. I
placed my hands behind my head and tried to calm my fears by taking deep
breaths.
She’s just upset
, I thought.
You put too much out there too
soon. Just don’t let her leave.

At
that moment, she came charging out of the bathroom and was headed toward the
front door. I took my hands down and turned around to walk toward her. “Baby,
please, don’t do this,” I said, in a softer tone of voice. The expression on
her face was heartbreaking. “Please.”

Her
eyes were filled with tears and they were pouring down her cheeks. “I have to.
I can’t do this to you. You shouldn’t want to marry someone like me. I…” she
stopped for a moment, “I’m too broken.”