Sinners On Tour 04 Wicked Beat (27 page)

“Try forever.”

“Yeah, let’s do that,” he said. “Let’s try forever.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think I want to get married.”

“Why?”

“To have a family.”

“Oh.” She went very quiet. “You know I can’t give you a family, Eric.”

“You’ll be my family. And maybe we could adopt some kids, if you want.”

“Adopt?”

“There are lots of kids out there who need a good home. I know. I used to be one.”

“Let me think about it.”

He knew she dreamed of having kids of her own, but it wasn’t possible. He’d give her time to adjust to the idea.

“You deserve a woman who can give you kids of your own,” she said after a long moment.

“I honestly don’t want kids of my own. I want to adopt.”

She fell silent again. She still hadn’t spoken when he turned into his driveway. He parked the car and turned to her.

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” he said.

She closed her eyes and shook her head.

“Honesty. Remember? It’s the only thing that works between us.”

“I feel so selfish.”

“Why would you feel selfish?”

“Because I want to say yes. I want to marry you. And I want you to give up having kids of your own to be with me. And I would absolutely love to adopt children and raise them with you.”

“How is that selfish?”

“It’s all about me.”

“Us,” he corrected.

“You only say you want to adopt to make me feel better. Don’t you think I realize that?”

He shook his head. “Not true. I want to adopt the most troubled kids in existence. The ones who act out and get into trouble. The ones failing at school and in so much pain you can see it in their eyes. The ones so terrible that no one could possibly love them. I want that for a kid, because no one ever did it for me. I was that kid, Rebekah. Now who’s selfish?”

She reached across the car and wrapped her arms around him. “I want to adopt that kid too,” she said. She kissed him tenderly. “I want to marry the wonderful man he became.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Glad that’s settled. Let’s go get naked.”

She laughed and let him drag her out of the car through the driver’s side door. He carried her through the garage, into the kitchen, and set her on the table.

“Did you really just agree to marry me?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Your mother is going to kill us both.”

“Please don’t mention my mother. I’m all horny and still completely dressed.”

“Let’s remedy that now.”

His fingers moved to the buttons of her blouse and he released them one at a time, slowly revealing her flesh to his eager gaze. She loosened his tie and drew it over his head, before working on unfastening the buttons of his shirt.

“Tomorrow we should pick out an engagement ring,” he said.

“You’re thinking entirely too much,” she said. She slipped under his arm and headed toward his bedroom. He followed, the look in her eyes already stealing his thoughts. She dropped her shirt in the hallway, and instead of entering his bedroom, went into the living room.

“I think I’ll watch a little TV,” she said.

“Huh?”

She unfastened her pants and slipped out of them before sitting on the sofa. When he sat beside her, she looked up and said, “Go sit in the chair over there.”

“I thought we were getting ready to have fantastic makeup sex.”

“We will. In a little while. I’m not in the mood right now.”

She turned on the TV and leaned against the cushions in nothing but her bra and panties. “Go sit over there,” she repeated.

He groaned and moved to the chair across from the sofa. “Do you really want to watch TV?”

She grinned wickedly. “Of course.”

As soon as he sat in the chair and turned his attention to the TV, she began to rub her mound through her panties. So she didn’t really want to watch TV. She wanted to put on a little show. Hell yeah. He was more than ready to watch that.

She propped her feet on the coffee table and slid her hand into her panties. He couldn’t see what she was doing to herself inside those panties. Could only imagine her fingers sliding over her slick folds. Disappearing into her tight pussy. Eric was instantly hard and ready to devour her. But he stayed in his chair and just watched.

Rebekah’s eyes were closed, but her mouth was open as she continued to give herself pleasure just out of sight. Her nipples strained against the lace of her bra. She moved her free hand to massage her breast and pinch her nipple through the fabric.

“Oh, oh, oh,” she gasped. “I’m coming. I’m coming.” Her back arched off the sofa, and she shuddered hard.

Eric winced and pressed a hand against his cock, throbbing inside his shorts. He hadn’t had sex in almost a week, and watching Rebekah get herself off had him on the verge of orgasm. She would have to help him regain his staying power.

“Take off your panties,” he requested breathlessly.

She cracked her eyes open to look at him. “You first.”

“I’m not wearing any panties.”

She chuckled. “You know what I mean. Show me your cock. Is it hard?”

“Have you ever known it not to be hard?”

She grinned. “Not often.”

“Well, it’s behaving in its typical manner right now.”

“I want to see.”

He unzipped his pants and lowered his underwear until his cock sprang free.

“It’s definitely hard,” she said. “Make yourself come and I’ll take off my panties.”

“Take off your panties, and I’ll make myself come,” he countered.

She lifted her hips off the sofa and pulled her panties down. When she removed them, she opened her legs wide so he could see all that she’d kept hidden. He let his mind drift to fantasy. Pictured himself rubbing his cock head in the slick moisture between her thighs, slipping inside her, retreating. His hand began to move over his cock.

“Stroke it faster,” she requested.

He obeyed.

“Harder.”

Yes, harder.

“Faster, baby, faster.”

“I want to be inside you.”

She slid a finger into her pussy. “Like this?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you want to come inside me?”

He bit his lip and nodded, almost ready to explode.

“Come here.”

He moved from the chair and knelt between her open legs.

“Take me,” she whispered.

He rubbed his cock over her opening, teasing her. Making her want it.

“Oh,” she gasped when he slipped the head into her hot body.

He bit his lip and watched as he fucked her shallow, inserting just the head before withdrawing completely and slipping in just an inch again. She wriggled her hips, tempting him to take her deeper, but he refused. He continued to thrust into her a few inches, knowing if he plunged deep he’d come.

Rebekah moved her hand between her legs and stroked her clit, rotating her hips to stimulate his cock head each time he thrust into her.

“That actually feels really good,” she gasped, “but it makes me want you so bad. Ah, God, Eric, just a little deeper. Please.”

He gave her another inch, but still pulled out completely with each thrust.

Her excited cries had him by the balls. Lured him deeper. He lost control and thrust deep. She moved her hand out of the way so he could rub his groin against her clit as he drove himself into her over and over and over again. When she cried out and her pussy clenched around him, he let go, still pumping into her body as he came.

He collapsed against her and nuzzled her neck. “I love you,” he whispered into her ear. “Rebekah.”

The next afternoon, Rebekah kissed Eric and smiled up at him. They had skipped lunch at Brian’s house to stay in bed for another six hours. She had been tempted to stay there all day, but she had a few things she needed to take care of. All Eric could talk about was buying her an engagement ring. And she was going to let him.

“Do you want me to pick it out, or do you want to help me?” he asked.

She couldn’t even imagine the ginormous ring he’d end up buying. She’d have to walk around with her hand in a vault. “I’m sure you’ll go way overboard if you pick it out yourself. I’m going to pack some stuff at my mom’s house. How about I meet you at the mall for dinner, and we can go shopping afterward?”

“Okay.”

She kissed him again and hugged him for several minutes. She honestly did not want to let him go. Ever. But she’d eventually need clothes. And she missed the weight of her butterfly necklace and bracelet against her skin as a constant reminder that Eric thought she was beautiful.

Rebekah climbed into her car, and after waving good-bye, she headed toward her parents’ house. She knew there would be a confrontation with her mother. She was looking forward to it. To standing up to the woman who had tried to rule her life for twenty-seven years. Yet part of her wanted to curl into her protective shell and sneak back to Eric and never confront the woman at all.

When she let herself into the house, her mother was standing in the foyer. “You spent the night with him, didn’t you? That dirty rock star.”

“Well, yeah. I didn’t sleep in my car.” She tried to walk around her mother, but she grabbed Rebekah’s arm.

“You’ll be lucky if Isaac will ever take you back now. You didn’t have sex with that man, did you?”

“Multiple times, Mother. We’re getting married.”

Her mother’s pupils dilated. Rebekah’s heart thudded with fear. “You are not marrying him. You are marrying Isaac. He told me last night that you said you would marry him.”

“I said that over a year ago. Before we broke up.”

“He was in tears.”

“Tears?”

“Yes, tears. He said he has never loved a woman the way he loves you, and the thought of losing you was tearing him up inside.”

Isaac had
cried
in front of her mother? What in the world was his damage?

“I’m sorry I have to hurt him, Mom, but I don’t love him. I love Eric.”

“I don’t care who you love, you’re marrying Isaac.”

“This isn’t the seventeenth century, Mother. I can marry whoever I want. I’m a grown woman. I can make decisions for myself.”

“Bad decisions. You always make bad decisions. First you decided you wanted to be a mechanic. A mechanic! Your father said you should be allowed to choose your own career, so we let you go to that vocational college, and after you graduated you worked in a garage for what? A month?”

“Six weeks,” she mumbled. “I don’t like working on new cars. They have too many electronics.”

“So you decided you wanted to go to college to be an audio engineer like your brother. You went to Alaska each summer to work on fishing boats and oil rigs. Why?”

“To get away from you, maybe?”

“That’s lovely, Rebekah. Where did you learn to speak to your mother that way?”

“Let go of my arm. I’m leaving.”

“And then you got sick during your junior year. You know why you got sick?”

“Because I had cancer?”

“Because God is punishing you.”

Her mother’s words punched Rebekah in the stomach, and her heart gave an unpleasant lurch. “That’s not true.”

“It is. I know it is. You’re lucky He let you live.”

“
He
didn’t let me live. Medical treatment let me live.” Rebekah yanked on her arm. “Let go.”

“He took your ability to have children, Rebekah. God is punishing you. Punishing you for making bad decisions.”

“Punishing me? What did I do that you think is so wrong?”

“All those bad decisions, Rebekah. Your whole life. Cancer was your wake-up call.”

“It
was
my wake-up call. It showed me that I have to live life to the fullest each day, and the only one who has ever made me feel truly alive is Eric.”

Rebekah twisted her arm, not caring that her mother’s grip would leave bruises. Mom refused to release her no matter how hard she pulled.

“I’m moving in with Eric. We’re going to get married and adopt kids. That’s what I want.”

“What you want doesn’t matter, Rebekah. All that matters is what God wants.”

“How do you know what God wants?”

“He talks to me.”

“Mom,” she said, “I think maybe you need to talk to, not God, but a psychiatrist.”

“You think I’m crazy?” Mom shook her head in annoyance. “I want what’s best for you. You know Isaac stood by your side the entire time you were sick. He’s a good man.”

That was true. He also did some pretty sneaky, conniving things to come between her and Eric. “If I promise to talk to him, will that get you off my back?”

“Are you going to marry him?”

“No.”

Mom scowled, and then she got a peaceful look on her face. “Yes, talk to Isaac. God will bring you back together. I have faith.”

Rebekah did plan to talk to Isaac as soon as she left. She had a few choice words to share. Words her mother would be embarrassed to know her daughter knew, much less used.

***

Eric sat in the restaurant where he and Rebekah had agreed to meet for dinner. She was over forty minutes late. She wasn’t answering her phone. He was starting to worry. He didn’t want to leave the restaurant and miss her, but something wasn’t right. He wanted to believe that she hadn’t gotten cold feet and run for the hills, but that was better than the thought that something bad had happened.

Another ten minutes passed. Another. A petite woman entered the restaurant and his heart stuttered, but it wasn’t Rebekah. When he couldn’t stand it any longer, he dialed her parents’ house.

Mrs. B answered the phone. “What do you want?”

“Rebekah was supposed to meet me for dinner after she stopped by your house. Have you seen her?”

“She’s not here.”

“Did she make it there?”

“Yes, but she already left.”

“How long ago?”

“Almost an hour ago.”

“She should have been here by now,” he muttered, more to himself than Mrs. B.

“I don’t think you’ll be seeing her anymore. She’s with Isaac now.”

He didn’t want to feel the jealousy those words inspired, but he couldn’t help it.

“With Isaac?” he questioned breathlessly.

“I told you they were meant to be. As written in the good book,
Isaac
brought
her
into
the
tent
of
Sarah,
his
mother,
and
took
Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her.
Isaac loves Rebekah. She will become his wife.”

“What?” Was she quoting from the Bible?

“I promised God that if He spared Rebekah’s life, I would do His bidding. I promised.”

“God’s bidding?”

“The book of Genesis speaks of it:
And
Isaac
prayed
to
the
lord
for
his
wife, because she was barren. And the lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
” Mrs. B muttered under her breath. Eric wasn’t sure she knew she was still on the phone. “Though barren, Rebekah conceived. Isaac prayed, and Rebekah had two sons. There is still hope for her. My daughter. My Rebekah. Still hope. She must… must be with Isaac. Must be. So she can have babies. And he loves her. Isaac loves her. Loves Rebekah. It is God’s will.”

Eric was starting to think that Mrs. B was off her rocker. “Where is Rebekah?” he asked.

“When David was paralyzed, I knew God was punishing me again for allowing Isaac and Rebekah to break up. I promised if he spared David that I’d make sure Isaac and Rebekah would end up together. I promised. They must stay together, you see. I cannot live through another tragedy brought upon my children. I cannot.”

“You honestly believe that, don’t you?” Eric asked, flabbergasted. “That the bad things that happened to Rebekah and Dave are a punishment from God.”

“Leave Rebekah alone. I will not let you come between her and Isaac again. Will not.”

“Can I speak to Dave?”

The woman’s demeanor changed from demonic to angelic in an instant. “Dave is with his physical therapist. Did you know he stood for the first time the other day? I’m so proud. I think he’ll be walking soon. God answered my prayers. I must live up to His expectations.”

Eric decided Mrs. Blake needed a new jacket. A jacket with sleeves that fastened behind her back.

“Okay, thanks.”

Eric hung up and tried to call Rebekah again. He wondered if she had any idea how unbalanced her mother was.