Into the Light

84

She had a beautiful, happy smile on her face as she laughed at something. God, I hated to be the one to take that smile away. She was enjoying herself, living her life as she should have been able to the first time. "Hey Colby, what's wrong?" Tara asked, her smile disappearing as she took in my expression, I guess. "Huh? Nothing. Just tired. It's been a long day. I came to pick up Anna, because I'm probably gonna pass out early tonight," I replied. She narrowed her eyes at me. "You sure there's nothing wrong?" I faked a smile. "Yes, I'm sure, Tara. Just tired. Missed my girl. That's all." "OH, you missed your girl, huh?" she said, with a sly grin. I just rolled my eyes. "Yes, I did." "Welp, she's right over there," she said, and held her arm out of the way so that I could walk in. Anna was so engrossed in whatever she and the other girls were talking about that she didn't see me at the door. She held a giant slice of pepperoni pizza with banana peppers in her hand. She opened her mouth, ready to take a bite, when she noticed me. "Colbyyy!" she yelled and jumped to a standing position on the bed. The cheese on the pizza hovered dangerously close to the end of the slice. I could see Cassie eyeing it. "Hey," I said, laughing at her exuberance as I walked to the end of the bed. "Give me the pizza," Cassie said, holding out a paper plate for Anna to drop it on. "Oops, sorry," Anna replied, bashfully and set the pizza in the plate. She turned back to me and gave me another of those beautiful smiles. Without warning, she jumped into my arms and threw her legs around my waist. I grabbed her under her thighs to keep her steady. She threw her arms around my neck and clung there. As soon as I made contact with her, everything else seemed to disappear. All that mattered was that she was back with me, in this moment. "Hi," she said and giggled. I just smiled slowly, then leaned in and pressed my lips to hers. Her hands tightened around my neck, with her nails digging in just a little. "Wow," I heard one of the girls whisper but I wasn't sure who it was. My attention wasn't exactly on them. Instead, it was on the feel of Anna's lips against mine, the way her tongue danced with mine, the fell of her chest pressed up against me, the way she tightened her legs when I nipped her lip, the feel of her jeans in my palms. All of that and more. I was lost in her. I squeezed her thighs a little, earning a little mewl that I swallowed. "If they keep it up, you're gonna lose your room Cassie." That was Tara. I knew that smart ass mouth. "Oh, no hell they aren't!" Cassie exclaimed, making the rest of the girls laugh. "They're cute. Let them be for a few minutes. Which of us still gets treated like that after only a couple of hours apart?" Ah, sweet Devyn. I loved that girl. Tara let out a bark of laughter. "If Jake is on the game, he won't even notice that I'm gone." "Griffin always noticed. Of course, we didn't spend that much time apart when we were dating," Xepher replied, with a small laugh. All of this was background noise in my head, while I concentrated on showing Anna exactly how much I did, in fact, miss her. "Oh, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN HERE?!" Kevin's booming voice surprised me. I tore my lips from Anna's and whirled around to face the door, with her still latched around my waist. "I was a little busy, Kev," I replied, cocking an eyebrow at him. He stood in the doorway to Cassie's room, with one of his shit-eating grins on his face. "I noticed,' he replied. "This is a family show though, Colby. No mature content, mister." "Definitely not now!" I exclaimed. "You interrupted it!" I heard Sam laugh and saw him standing just to the side of Kevin, peering in. Seeing him reminded me of why I was here and of what we were up against. Here I was just making out with a beautiful girl, with impending doom hovering over our heads. "I gotta go," I said, holding Sam's gaze. He nodded slowly. "We should go. Are you ready?" I asked, looking at Anna. Her lips looked so kissable and so very close to my own. No. I had to go. Death was coming. I had to get her out of here. Those eyes though. Those shining emerald eyes that seemed to almost steal my breath every time I looked in them. Death. Go. We had to go. "I haven't finished my pizza," she said, making no conscious move to get out of my arms. "We'll take it with us," I replied. "Can you get the pizza?" I asked Sam. "My hands are a little full." The others laughed again, and Cassie helped Sam get the right pizza. "All of this?" he asked. "Yeah, we got like 6 whole pizzas. This is the one she picked," Xepher said. "Okay then," he said, taking the whole box. Anna started pressing tiny kisses to the tender skin of my neck and my body jerked beneath hers. She giggled and kept going. Apparently, she liked the affect that she had on me. I had to admit that I liked it too. She always surprised me. I remembered a time not that long ago, when she wouldn't have been so bold as to kiss my neck. "Jesus Christ," I hissed out when I felt her teeth graze my earlobe. Again, she giggled. "Have you been drinking?" I asked. "Nope," she whispered. "We have to go now," I said, my voice cracking like I was a 13 year old boy, when she decided to drag her tongue down the side of my throat. "Looks like Anna is hungry for more than the pizza tonight," Cassie said, laughing. I almost groaned when I thought about the fact that Anna definitely wasn't hungry for what I wanted. Just the few minutes that she had been in my arms, my pants had grown incredibly uncomfortable. "Nice seeing you ladies," I said, taking one hand away from Anna's thigh and waving at them. "But we gotta go." "Byyyeee," Anna said, taking her lips from my neck for a few seconds to say goodbye. I carried her all the way to the car, with Sam opening the front door for me. Just when I was about to set her down so that I could open the back door, her teeth pressed into my neck.