Honor: a novella (12 page)

“Thanks for the ride, I just hope everything is okay with Lilly and Ryan,” I said.
 

“I am sure they are fine. So you work with Lilly?” he asked.
 

I looked over at him as he drove. “Yes, I do. How long have you worked with Ryan?” I asked, trying to make small talk.
 

“Not long, I just transferred from the California office.”
 

I tried to act interested as he continued talking. A song, which I hate, came on the radio and he turned it up. He began singing along with it, and it took all that I had not to roll my eyes as he kept looking at me. Did he think he was impressing me?
 

Three things were obvious about this Paul guy. One, he had bad taste in cologne. Two, he had bad taste in music. Three, he couldn’t sing to save his life. I was so thankful when he pulled into my apartment parking lot, even though he turned into the wrong side.
 

“Which building is yours?” he asked.
 

“You can just drop me off here. Thanks!”

He pulled up by the curb and told me good night.

Chapter 20

I reached for the door handle to get out of Paul’s car and he locked it from his side. I turned to look at him. “What in the hell are you doing?” I asked. I was now a bit scared, and was thinking of the fastest way my foot could reach his balls; unfortunately, his car was small and there wasn’t enough room.
 

“I have felt this connection with you all night,” he said as he reached over to rub my thigh.
 

“Don’t touch me!” I screamed.
 

At that moment, as he began to lean over towards me, the glass from his window shattered into a thousand tiny pieces, flying all over both of us. I pulled my arms to my head trying to dodge the glass. I saw an arm come through what was left of the window and pull the door off of the car. I could hear it hit the cement with a loud crash. The next thing I knew, Paul was being pulled from the car, and I watched in horror.
 

It was Osric. He took Paul and slammed him into the hood of the car so hard that the hood caved in and shook me in my seat. Osric walked over to the passenger side door and ripped it from the car. The metal made an awful screeching noise. He put the door down with one hand as if it weighed nothing.

“Did he hurt you?” he asked as he reached in and lifted me from my seat.
 

I was in shock of what I had just witnessed. “No, I am fine.” I was staring up at his face, not noticing that he was carrying me and walking towards my apartment. “Your face is bleeding,” I said to him while trying to wipe away the blood with my hand.
 

He took the stairs three and four at a time as he approached my apartment. He put me down and I unlocked the door. He came in and I shut and locked the door behind us. I ran to the bathroom and gathered stuff to clean his hand and face. I ran back to the living room and crouched on my knees in between his legs where he sat and began cleaning his face.
 

“Osric, how did you know where I was? Don’t get me wrong, I am so thankful you showed up, but how did you know I was in trouble?”
 

He looked down at me after I had cleaned his face and had started on his hand. “Lilly called me from Ryan’s cell phone. She said her phone had gone dead and that guy told them you just left the concert alone. They left right away to find you. I got into my truck to go out and find you. You two passed me so I turned around. I got to you as you started screaming…and you know the rest.”
 

I grimaced at his hand. There were cuts all over it. “Thank you for rescuing me.”
 

He just stared down at me. He raised his good hand and took the rag from mine and began wiping underneath my eye. I quickly raised my hand to my face to feel that I had a cut under my eye. He slowly bent down and kissed the cut. He moved to my lips and softly kissed me. “I have missed you so badly,” he whispered against my lips.
 

I stretched up on my knees and wrapped my arms around his neck. “I have missed you so much more.”
 

He pulled me into his lap with my legs straddling his. We slowly kissed as I ran my hands through his hair.
 

“I don’t care about any of it, just as long as I can be with you,” I told him.
 

He started kissing my neck and then returned to my lips. “Tell me you love me,” he whispered.
 

“You know I do,” I breathed in between kisses.
 

“Say the words,” he said.
 

I raised his hurt hand and kissed it gently. “I love you. You are the only one I have ever loved.”
 

He cupped my face and began fiercely kissing me. He rose from the couch and walked back to the bedroom carrying me to the bed. He quickly took his shirt off and stepped out of his shoes. He pulled his jeans down and stood before me naked.
 

I physically ached for this man. I started taking my clothes off as he climbed onto the bed and began helping me. Once I was undressed, he pulled me on top of him and our bodies became one. We were lost in each other. I cried out his name as he told me he loved me. We laid there tangled in one another’s arms, and peacefully fell asleep.
 

The sunlight filled the room as I woke to Osric’s handsome face staring at me. I laid on my stomach with the sheets knotted around me. He laid next to me tracing the outline of my arm with his index finger. “I love you,” he said.
 

I smiled at him. “I love you.”
 

He got up from the bed and started making his way to the bathroom. “I am going to shower,” he said.

I laid there for a while and thought of what I had seen the night before. I was grateful for the turn of events that had led me back to Osric. I got up and got dressed and decided to make us breakfast. Once I had finished the omelets and set them at the table, he came into the kitchen in just a towel.

“You made breakfast?” he asked.
 

“It is the least I can do for my hero.”
 

The cuts on his face didn’t seem as bad now. We sat and ate breakfast together as I asked him questions.
 

“So how strong are you? Could you pick up a car?”
 

He laughed. “I don’t know. Can you?” he asked.
 

I giggled at him. “Yes, I do it often. Can’t you tell?” I flexed my sad arm muscles at him. He laughed at my show. “So how old are you?”
 

He stared at me for a moment. “If I tell you, it won’t upset you?” He waited, as I rolled my eyes at him. “I was born in the seventh century, in the year 680 AD.” I was shocked, and hoped it didn’t show on my face, but he wasn’t fooled. “I knew it would upset you.”
 

I shook my head at him. “What about the town you were born in, what was the name of it?” I asked.
 

He crossed his muscular arms in front of his bare chest. “Capernaum,” he said.
 

“I knew it!” I said.
 

“You knew what?” He squinted his eyes at me.
 

“I did some research myself while we were apart,” I said blushing. “Your last name means
craftsmen
in Greek,” I added.
 

“Very good,” he said as he took a sip of his coffee.
 

It was hard to talk while he sat there in just a towel. I didn’t want to upset him, but I asked anyway, “What about your father?”
 

He looked down at his empty plate in front of him. “All I have to go by are theology books. They all say the same thing: he was put in a place of eternal darkness to await the Day of Judgement.” He seemed lost in thought as he said this.
 

“What about you? This won’t happen to you will it?”
 

He looked up at me. “I am not sure. I can’t give you an answer.”
 

We both sat there in sadness for a moment. I got up from my seat and went to sit in his lap. I wrapped my arms around him as he folded his arms around my waist. We heard the neighbors laughing as they came marching up the stairs to go next door.

“The bad part about living in an apartment…noisy neighbors,” I said smirking.
 

“After last night, I had a thought. I don’t ever want anything to happen to you Honor. Move into my house with me…please?”
 

I stared at him. I was shocked again by this amazing man. “You want me to move in with you?”
 

He smiled his dazzling smile. “First, let’s see if I am strong enough to carry you into the bedroom.” He stood holding me effortlessly and carried me into the bedroom with me laughing the whole way.

Chapter 21

It was Monday. Lilly waited by the employee entrance for me. “What happened to you?” she asked. I told her the whole story and she sat there with her mouth hanging open. “Paul called Ryan and told him three guys jumped him and trashed his car. He said he was too scared to call the cops because he had been drinking. So he called a cab for himself and a tow truck for his car.”
 

I now looked at her with my mouth open. “Well, that is a lie.”
 

We had moved over to my desk as I put my stuff away.
 

“So you and Osric are back together?” she asked. I smiled from ear to ear like an idiot. “Good. Oh…I have to redo the seating chart for the wedding now.” I laughed at her. “I can’t wait to tell Ryan what Paul did. What a douche bag!”
 

“Lilly,” I said. She stopped talking and looked at me. “Thank you for calling Osric.” She just smiled.
 

“Lilly, come give me a hand please,” Brenda asked as she passed by carrying a stack of books. Lilly smiled at me again and followed Brenda.
 

As the weeks past, Osric and I slowly began moving little things to his house. My lease was up at the end of February and that was coming quickly. One day he showed up to the library with a huge moving truck. He stood in front of my desk and asked, “Can I have your keys?”
 

“You are going to move all my stuff by yourself? You don’t want any help?” He looked down at me and rolled his eyes. “I do believe I might be rubbing off on you.” I smirked at him.

I held out my keys to him. He took my apartment key off the key chain and handed them back. “I will see you at home,” he said smiling as he walked away. I sat there and watched him leave.
Home
, I thought. I liked the sound of home being where he was.

The day went by quickly, and I was ready to see if he had moved everything on his own. I pulled into his long driveway. I saw his truck and car, but no moving truck. I walked through the back door into the kitchen and I could smell that he had been cooking. I came into the living room and noticed some of my furniture had been added to his. I made my way into the front room of the house and noticed he had put my table there, making it like a dining room. It actually looked nice. In the library I saw all my books had been put onto the empty shelves, and my living room chair and ottoman set next to the large windows. I walked up the stairs and heard the bedroom shower.
 

I entered the bedroom and saw my dresser now sitting next to the wall. I wondered where he had put my bed and then looked across the hallway to what was an empty room and spotted it. He hadn’t just moved everything, he had made the house look nice. I heard the shower turn off, so I sat on the bed and waited for him to come out. He emerged in just a towel.
 

“The house looks really nice. I don’t know how you did it all.”
 

He smiled. “Thank you.” As he walked into his closet, I was tempted to follow him, but restrained myself. He came back out dressed, and ran his hand through his hair. “I talked to your parents today,” he stated.
 

I looked at him. “You talked to my parents? How?”
 

“They called your apartment and I answered. Your mom said they were home from your aunt’s wedding. Then your dad asked if I could come and redo some cabinets in their bathroom.”
 

This sounded funny to me. “Did they ask you what you were doing at my apartment? Did they even ask where I was?”
 

He laughed as we walked downstairs. “It isn’t your apartment anymore, I turned in your keys. I told them you were at work. They never asked why I was there.” He stirred whatever was on the stove.
 

“You cooked?”
 

He bent down and kissed me. “I did. Let’s eat, because I am hungry.” He retrieved bowls from the cabinet and filled them with what looked like stew. We sat down and ate.
 

“This is amazing,” I told him.
 

“You will have to tell your parents that you live with me sooner or later.” The thought made me nauseous. I moved the stew away, unable to eat anymore. He stared at me with a confused look.
 

“I will, but I just don’t think they will be too happy about it.”