The Brick Wall

Chapter 57

Collins POV

  I should probably be giving a lot of thanks to the fact that Curtis kept my brain in overdrive all day long. If not for the utter feeling of exhaustion and no longer able to actually focus on all the new pieces of information from the day, I'd probably be sitting up rocking back and forth while I clutch my knees. But between the reruns of Scrubs on the television and Curtis massaging my scalp, I was out before the first episode finished.

  His touch amazes me. It can be so soft and reassuring, words spoken through his fingertips of tenderness. But they can be rough and strong, demanding of my attention to make sure I pay the closest of attention to whatever he wants me to hear.

  I couldn't pick my favorite if I tried. In a strange way, both bring me comfort.

  I'd woke up during the night to use the restroom, to find he had in fact kept his promise of a pillow barrier. I felt terrible as I returned to notice that it meant he was using the pillow that was meant to go under his head to keep us separated.  And because there weren't more pillows, he'd taken his side of the blanket and shoved it between us to create a wall along the lower half of the bed. Which gave me a glorious view of his bare chest.

  The man should always be shirtless, just my two cents.

  But I worried if he was chilly, and while I enjoy his arms around me, I doubt they're the best pillow in the world.  So, with a deep breath that I release incredibly slowly, I pull the blankets up and over him before laying the pillow by the headboard in the empty space between us.

  Softly, I tap against his shoulder. "Curtis?"

  "Yeah, baby?" he says drowsily.

  I wasn't prepared to turn into a puddle on the edge of a king size bed, but here we are.

  "Lift your head," I instruct him.  He must be half asleep because he follows my ask, moving nothing except his head. I shuffle the pillow between his head and arm. "That's better. Go back to sleep."

  I lay down, my back to him. I feel the bed shift, figuring he's reworking the pillow to however he prefers it.

"You okay?" he asks, reaching over to lace his fingers through mine that sit against my hip over the covers.

  "I just needed the restroom."

  "Is this okay?" He wriggles his fingers as though I don't know what he's asking.

  I swallow down a twinge of fear. This is Curtis, I tell myself. He's never given me a reason to fear whether or not he keeps his promises. 

  And hands are above the covers with space still between us.

  "Yeah," I finally answer.

  "It's okay if it's not, Collins. I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

  I tighten my grip. "I'm okay, promise."

  I totally was, completely and utterly okay. 

  Until I woke up feeling a nudge against my  backside.

  My eyes dart open, the sun just starting to peek around the blackout curtains.  There's warm breath ghosting over my shoulder and neck that definitely wasn't there just a few hours ago.  My hand is still held by his but it's no longer on my hip, it's fallen forward and is now resting over my stomach, still above covers at least. 

  One slight shift of my hips tells me that the nudge I felt was not by Curtis' knee, but his damn anaconda.

  My heart begins racing but I'm begging my brain to not freak out. It's a battle I know I will lose, and I have all of maybe five seconds before I'm waving the white flag of freak out. 

  Curtis' hand is over mine, but his fingers have gone slack through the last couple of hours. Carefully, with my lips pursed tightly, I slowly slide my hand and arm out from under his and begin to inch closer to the edge of the bed.  

  Either my depth perception is off or I completely miscalculated where my body was located on the bed because as I move my one inch closer to the edge, I fall flat out on the floor with a loud thud and a harsh, "Ouch!"

Curtis POV

  "What the hell?" I exclaim, jolting up in the bed to find only myself in the middle of it.

  There's a quiet whimper coming from the floor off of Collins' side. Leaning over I see her massaging her right knee.  "What happened?" I ask with enough concern that I'm getting up and out of the bed to help her.

  "No!" she yells out at me, holding up a hand to stop my pursuit.

  "Did you fall out of the bed? You need to let me help you, I'll go get some ice."

  "Curtis!" I hear her call my name as I'm looking around the room for the ice bucket.  "Curtis!" she calls again.

  "What, Collins?" I snap back, jerking my body around to face her.

  Her deep brown eyes are jumping sharply from my face down to my waist. She does it a couple of times before I finally follow her trek, to see a tent in my pants. 

  "Shit!" I fumble the ice bucket, my hands trying to figure out what to do until I land on covering my morning wood with the bucket.  

  I find myself looking at the ceiling of the room, turning back away from my girlfriend and pleading with my penis to stop trying to show off now of all moments in my life.

  "I'm sorry. I was worried about your fall and just jumped without thinking. It's not a big deal, I promise."

  "Yeah, you promised a few things last night," I face her, still holding the bucket in place, "and somehow I woke up to," her hand waves around in front of her, "that looking for a home."

  I glance over at the bed, noticing now that the blanket I had maneuvered between us, along with the pillow have been removed. "Hold on. I did what I said I'd do."

  She pulls herself up from the ground using the side of the bed. "And I felt bad about it so I gave you the pillow and moved the blanket." Collins climbs back onto the bed, placing her back against the headboard, pulling her pillow up into her chest. "But, you spoke to me. I thought you were awake enough to know that you reached over for my hand."

  I think back, remembering what she's describing slightly. However, I don't remember getting that close to her. 

  "You're a snuggler, aren't you?"

  Her question catches me off guard, and it takes just a moment for me to realize what happened. 

  I'd barely slept until she gave me the pillow, but it wasn't that or the blanket that changed how deep my sleep went.  It was when I took her hand, touched her the same way I did all those weeks ago before this thing between us became an us, that pulled me into a comfortable slumber.  

  Now that my hard on has diminished, I toss the ice bucket onto the bed and sit down in front of her. "I guess when it comes to you, it's just a natural instinct to want to be close to you. I'm sorry, Collins."

  "You don't have to apologize. It just, well, it just surprised me is all. Unexpected."

  "You gonna be okay?"

  She nods. When I open my arms for a hug she drops the pillow and falls easily into my arms. I breathe her in without thinking. My shoulders go rigid, back stiff.  Collins leans back. "You okay?"

  My bottom lip gets pulled between my teeth, expelling slowly. "Uh huh," I mumble, trying to sneak off the bed myself without drawing too much attention. "Why don't you order breakfast while I jump in the shower?"

  "Don't be too long."

  I give her a thumbs up over my shoulder as I walk to grab my clothes from my bag, all the while hiding the semi the smell of her damn shampoo just gave me. "No problem."

  I'm in and out from under the water in less than five minutes since it's ice cold.

*Unedited