Everlasting (Unrestrained 6)

"Fuck," he groaned, breathing in through his teeth.

When he was finished, he leaned over me, his hands on either side of mine on the marble surface.

"I needed that," he murmured in my ear.

"I did, too." I smiled when he kissed and playfully bit my shoulder.

"You came so fast both times. I've been depriving you, I see."

"You have been. You're very mean."

We laughed, because of course, Drake would never deprive me of pleasure. It was me who was always too tired for sex.

I hoped that would change, now that Sophie slept most of the night through plus had a nice nap during the day. I didn't feel nearly as exhausted as I had when she was younger.

I felt Drake slip out of my body and immediately grabbed a paper towel from the counter and placed it between my thighs.

"Gotta run," I said and ran to the bathroom to clean up.

Drake followed me and watched as I washed up.

"Let's have a shower," he said, as he turned on the water. When it was the right temperature, he opened the glass door and led me in. Then, he washed me, taking his time, his eyes on mine the entire time.

"It's nice to have you all to myself," he said in a deep warm voice. "I miss you."

"I miss you," I said softly. It was so nice standing there in Drake's arms as the water flowed over us, the warmth comforting. I could have stood there for an hour, enjoying the moment with Drake that happened all too infrequently.

When we went to bed later, after a drink of hot tea, watching the stars twinkle over the ocean, I felt like my life was finally back to normal. While I often fell asleep within seconds of my head hitting the pillow, that night I lay awake for a while, Drake's arm thrown around my waist, our hands clasped, and tried to appreciate what I had.

Chapter 8

DRAKE

Over the next couple of weeks, I spent most of my free time with Kate and Sophie. In addition, I visited several times with Brenda to talk about Liam while he was still at school. We discussed Maureen's mental health since Chris decided to return to his job in Kuala Lumpur. She thought Maureen was depressed and needed counseling if she was willing to leave Liam behind for six months at a time. I had to agree. For a mother to decide to leave their child behind, she had to be depressed and unable to face losing Chris.

I couldn’t imagine having to choose between Kate and Sophie.

I couldn't imagine it.

I would do everything in my power to not have to choose, but you can only control your own actions. You can't control the other person and I guess Maureen couldn’t convince Chris to stay in the USA.

I would have stayed with Liam, had I been Maureen.

If Chris was so selfish that he would rather lose contact with Liam than stay and work at another job, he'd in effect bailed on Liam.

Then Maureen did as well. It was horrible.

When Liam came home from school, I spent some time with him, sitting on the floor in his bedroom while he played with his video game, listening to him talk about school and how he liked being able to go with the other kids. He'd missed most of his first grade due to treatment and was a year behind, but he didn't care. He wanted to go to school. He loved being in remission and being able to ride his bike around the neighborhood, or play soccer with the other boys in the playground.

It would have been a shame to take him away from his life in California after finally getting healthy enough to go to school and be 'a normal boy.'

"Thanks for coming by, Drake," Brenda said when I went to the door to go home. "We'll get this figured out. Maybe if Maureen is away from Liam for a while, she'll realize that she can't be happy with him here, separated from her."

"I hope she comes to that re

alization before she goes. You know and I know it will be really hard on Liam if she doesn't come back and decides to stay."

Brenda shook her head sadly. "I don't know what happened to her, but she must really be broken about Chris's decision to go back to Indonesia. I hope she comes to her senses."