Page 102 of Diesel's Perseverance
“What’re you doing?” His unfocused eyes wandered around the room.
“Sleeping. Do you want a glass of water?”
“Nah, I want a beer.”
“I think you’ve had a lot of those.” She wrapped an arm around his waist and guided him to the bed. “Why don’t you take off your boots, relax, and I’ll get you some water.”
He sat on the edge, his body swaying slightly, his gaze glassy as he stared ahead.
“Do you want me to help you with your boots?”
“Nah, nope, you don’t have to do that,” he said as he continued swaying.
Myla bent down. “Lift your foot.”
“I’m good. Really, I am,” he said, his words slurring together.
“Just do it for me, please?”
“Okay, okay, but my boots are good. They’re like you… good and nice, you know?”
“Yeah, I do,” she said, pulling off one of them. “Now the other foot, please… the left one.”
“What did I leave?”
Myla tapped his left leg, he raised it, and she yanked off the other one. She coaxed him down on the pillows and tugged at the sheets underneath him. After much exertion, she finally succeeded in getting him under the covers.
“I’ll be right back with your water.” She hurried to the minifridge and pulled out a cold water bottle. “Here you go.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll figure it out,” he replied.
Of course, what Diesel said didn’t make sense. She placed the water on the nightstand and headed to the bathroom. When she returned, she heard soft snores coming from him. The corner of her mouth twisted up slightly. She glanced at the couch and debated whether she should sleep the rest of the night there or go back to bed. Diesel was so out of it, that he’d probably sleep the rest of the night and most of the day away, so Myla walked around to the other side and slipped between the covers. She reached out to shut off the lamp and then burrowed down into her pillow.
It had been many months since she’d slept next to someone. Freddy had moved to one of their many guest bedrooms a few months after he and Peter Cano had become business partners. He’d told her it was better for her since he didn’t like waking her up all the time. Freddy would come home at all hours of the night and sometimes not until the following morning. She’d grown used to his absence and filled up her empty time with reading, art classes, visits to the museum, lunches with some of her acquaintances from art school, and perfecting her cooking skills by watching tons of videos on a slew of different internet platforms.
Freddy, you pushed me so far away.That thought made her sad. The idea of him lying on a metal slab reminded her of her own mortality and that her life, or anyone’s really, was just a tiny speck on the earth’s timeline. Even though things weren’t good in the relationship for many months before he disappeared, they shared some wonderful and loving moments together for over two years. Thinking of him and his death created a profound loss of closeness and shared memories, even though the ending of their time together was fraught with suspicions, recriminations, and abuse.
Wiping away the tears that slipped from her eyes, she sat up and switched on the lamp again. After rummaging through her makeup pouch, she secured the bottle of Excedrin PM, poured out two tablets, and washed them down with a couple of gulps of bottled water. Diesel was breathing quietly now, deeply asleep or, more than likely, passed out. She punched her pillow into a more comfortable shape, pulled the covers up around her shoulders, closed her eyes, and let the tablets do their magic.
***
Myla woke upto the rumbling noise of engines, the smell of gasoline, and the feel of Diesel’s erection against her lower back. She heard his deep, even breathing and tried to slow her beating heart. Being this close to him was making her body hum and she had to shutthatdown right away.
“Morning.” A carpet of goosebumps flashed down her spine at the sound of his deep voice.
“Good morning,” she mumbled. “Did you sleep okay?”
“I did,” he said, his hot breath brushing against the nape of her neck.
“That’s good. You were pretty smashed last night,” she said.
He chuckled. “Was I a big pain in the ass?”
“No, you were cool. I thought you’d be totally hungover today.”
“I got up earlier this morning and took a shower, so that helped.” Tightening his arm around her waist, he pulled her closer to him. “I like the way you feel against me.”
His deep voice washed over her, fanning the desire inside Myla. She softly ran her fingers down his corded arm, loving how the dark hairs stood on end. Nestled against him, she felt warm, safe, andalive. She turned over onto her back and studied him—his hair was tousled, his seriously blue eyes were no longer bloodshot, and the smile playing on his lips was beyond sexy.
