Love's a Bitch, then We all Die Ch. 02

In moment like these, people like to say that they feel like life slows down to allow them to notice everything in excruciating detail. I've always felt life speeds up, flashing your entire life before your eyes so you can see just how many mistakes you made and give you enough time to eloquently wish the world would fuck itself, before you know nothing else.

"Someone grab that man!"

Security started running, but it was too late. He had come with an agenda and in my experience, the crazy are more successful than the determined in getting what they want. I watched as Matthew Houston tried to jump in the way, yelling for A.Kendall to get down as J. Korcheck pulled out a gun. People were screaming even before the shots tore through M. Houston, throwing him back with force onto Amy's body. They went down together, the sickening crack of Amy's neck snapping as it hit the marble edge of the altar, lost in the chaos erupting in the church.

Her flowers fell out of her hand, sunlight glinting off of the shiny gold band on her left hand.

Maybe it was the band that did it. Maybe it was realizing that he'd finally lost the girl of his dreams. Or maybe it was the armed security running towards him with guns that made Josh realize that this wasn't going to have a happy ending. Whatever his reasons, his gun went off again and I made a face as the body dropped in front of our pew.

I looked at Sebastian as guards came running to check his pulse. "This is your mess. I'll see you later. Come on Miranda."

We slipped out of the pew, careful not to step into the widening pool of blood. We watched as Amy and Matthew rose from their bodies, looking around at the mess. It should have been the saddest day of their lives, but when they saw one another they both laughed, grabbing each other and holding on so tight that I couldn't tell where one of them left off and the other began.

"They look happy."

Miranda sounded surprised. I guess most people would have been. There was carnage everywhere and three people's lives had been abruptly snuffed out. But I understood why they were able to smile at us as they walked away from their old lives without a care in the world, holding each other's hand securely as we led them out of the church. They were together. They had kept their vows, defying death's attempts to keep them apart.

I nodded. "Yeah, they're happy. It's as it should be. Sometimes, love is all you need."

"You sound like a convert."

I stiffened, turning slowly. When I saw Garrett, the tightness in my chest increased. I felt like I was being smothered beneath bricks of emotion. I didn't know what to feel as he stood there, familiar in his blue jeans and jacket, his eyes filled with the two things I hadn't expected to see in his eyes after the way I'd treated him; forgiveness and love.

My throat clenched as Miranda gently touched my shoulder. "I'll take care of the Houstons. They have their happy ending. You take care of yours."

I inhaled when she walked away, Garrett silently holding out his hand. I looked down at it then paused. My eyes narrowed as I noticed the pale gleam of gold on his left hand. I hadn't noticed it before but when he caught me looking, he reached for me. "I put it on the day of your funeral," he said quietly. "I never took it off. "

There was so much to say and for the first time in my life I couldn't find any words. I should have been happy. Hell, I should have been bouncing off the walls for joy. I had a guy who had tried to protect me and lost everything for it, a guy who still loved and wanted me after I had been an inexcusable asshole. He was wearing his wedding band - our wedding band and still I wanted to cry.

I was turning into a sap. I sniffed, concentrating on my pink toenails peeking out of my open toed pumps for a moment before I met his eyes. "Garrett, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. You were right and I reacted badly because I was bitter and resentful and basically I'm just a miserable bitch and..."

He cut me off with his mouth on mine, smothering any protests that I might have made if my arms weren't wound around his neck holding onto him so tight I might have broken a few ribs if he wasn't dead. I moaned against the warm, wonderful pressure. Then his lips opened, pressing deeper against mine. My body shuddered again and I let my lips part under his urgency. His tongue barely flicked against mine before he abruptly pulled away.

"What's the mater?"

"Not here. Too many people. Damnit. I don't think I can wait till we get back to your place, Al."

I had made him wait for five years. I had waited for this for even longer. There was no way in hell that I was going to go one minute longer than I had to without feeling him hot in my mouth, spilling heat down my throat or deep inside my body when he cried out.

My mouth went dry at the visuals and I tried to concentrate through the lust fogging my brain. My eyes met his when I got an idea that was depraved enough to make me blush. I bit my lip then grinned as I tugged him with me.

"Come on. I have an idea."

He followed without question, his trust warming me even more than his passion did. We moved quickly to the back of the church, walking towards the cemetery on the grounds. It was a beautiful place with rolling green hills, the headstones creating an artistic backdrop that was popular with budding photographers in the area. Today it was quiet, with only the sound of the birds to break the silence.

I walked past a row of headstones towards the stone mausoleums where families were buried together, destined to spend eternity together. Personally I had always thought it was a terrible idea; your family drove you crazy in life and even in death you couldn't escape them. When my parents had decided to spend most of their savings on one for our family, I'd thought it was ridiculous. When mine had been the first body to go in there, I'd been pissed. Now I was glad, because it would have been just a tad awkward to get my rocks off with the family "watching."nside it was cool but not musty because of the jasmine incense - my favorite - burning in a holder. Candles were scattered everywhere, casting flickering shadowed on the wall. A small altar set up in one corner for people to pray. There were cobwebs stretching across it which answered my question of exactly how many times anyone had come to pray for my soul.

I snorted and then turned to Garrett. He arched a dark brow as I grinned. "You've got to be kidding, Ally."

I shook my head as I hoisted myself up onto a stone bench, patting it gently. "Nope. I'm the only one in here. My parents couldn't afford building this and exhuming my grandparents to bring them over from their plots in California. So far I'm the only one in residence."

His grin spread slowly across his face, his eyes darkening with amusement as he moved over to me, kneeling down between my legs. "This is disturbing on so many levels."

"Welcome to my afterlife."

"Our afterlife," he corrected, then nuzzled his head against my lap. My head tipped back with pleasure when I felt the heat of his breath through the material of my dress. His hands gripped my thighs gently pulling me to the edge so my legs dangled over his back and shoulders as he kissed his way slowly down my thigh, pushing up the material at the same time.

"I thought you couldn't wait."

"I thought women wanted romance."

"The only thing I want is your cock inside of me, pounding me senseless."

"Which is entirely possible on a stone table."

He grinned and then pulled me up abruptly, lifting me into his arms. I heard him groan as his hands slipped beneath my backside to hold me and he felt only smooth, bare skin. He moaned deep in his chest and then was pushing me up against the wall, his lips against mine. I moaned this time, long and deep as pleasure ripped through me. It had been so long since I'd felt like this. Too damn long.

My hands roamed his body, under his shirt, exploring the warm skin and taut muscles of his back. When he pressed his hips against me, I tossed all of my fantasies out the window because reality was a hundred times better. He was hot, hard and ready and I smiled against his mouth. I'd caused this. He wanted me, me, Allison Blake, reaper and resident pain in the ass.

The mad rush of desire, the warmth of touching someone, the thrill of knowing that I had this power thrilled me, made me feel all ,'I am woman, here me roar.' I arched my hips against his, rubbing back and forth against his erection, feeling him jerk against me as the stiff material of his jeans gently abraded tender skin, making it more sensitive to every touch.

His groan was torn from him as I reached down between us and helped him undo his belt so we could push his jeans down to his knees. His voice was husky in the dark as he caught my hands and pushed them against the wall, resting against them just enough that I couldn't move them. It had been so long since he'd touched me that I let my eyes close from the sheer pleasure of his hands on mine, his body stiff and ready against me.

I squirmed, trying to speed things up, but his hands closed tighter around my wrists, reminding me that this was his show. "You're driving me crazy."

"That's the point."

"Not that I don't appreciate the attention, Garrett, but maybe a bed might be better for this. Less chance of my ass chafing against the sto..."

I squealed as he cut me off, nipping hard over the front of my dress. My body arched as he yanked the top part of my strapless dress down to reveal my breasts, the stiff material pushing them up in offering to his mouth. His thumb traced a circle around one stiff peak, making my body ache as his mouth traced a damp trail of heat to the hollow of my throat. I sucked in a hard breath as he kissed it then moved lower, his kisses dropping a few inches every time until he licked into the warm place between my breasts. He lingered there and I felt a wave of pleasure sweep through me as he traced the swell of my breast with his tongue, melting me from the inside out.

"You've improved a little since the last time we did this," I said breathily.

Please don't stop.

I felt his mouth smile against my skin and melted into the curve of his arms, strong and sexy as he pinned my hands to the wall. I watched the strong line of his neck, felt his hand on my wrists, the other pressed against my ribs as his tongue swept across my skin, exploring new lands for the first time.

I ached to touch him, to feel him hot beneath my hands, to pull up his tee shirt and rub my bare breasts against his chest until he felt like he was the one losing control.

"God let me go! I want to touch you."

He lifted his head to look into my eyes, a smile of wicked, male satisfaction sliding across his handsome face, taking my breath away. "Not a chance," he said, his mouth taking mine and all rational thought with it as his hand curved around my breast, his thumb strumming the nipple till I cried out into his kiss, dizzy with pleasure.

His hair tickled my throat as he bent down again, my body arching into his when all that wet heat covered my breast, sucking into his mouth, making me shudder when he used his tongue and teeth in ways that were probably illegal in most of the fifty states.

"God, Garrett, you need to let me go," I protested, trying to pull my hands from his grip so that I could touch him. He was strong for a dead guy and tightened his hold, crushing my wrists together, stretching my arms higher over my head so that he could keep me where he wanted me, exposed to his lips and tongue.

His free hand moved down my body, flipping my skirt up as he pressed me more securely into the cool stone of the wall so I wouldn't slip.

I cried out when his fingers slid into me, thrusting hard and deep into the slickness that welcomed him in with desperate relief. My body shuddered with pleasure when he slid his fingers up, curving them higher to find that spot deep inside that reassured me that there was indeed a Heaven and he was taking me to it every time his fingers stroked hard inside of me.

"God you feel incredible. I can't wait to be inside you. We're going to do this right here and I'm going to take you hard against this wall, so hard you'll remember me for weeks, remembering every time you breathe and your body aches, that you were mine."

My mouth went dry at his promise, my body turning liquid around his hand. I knew he felt it because he growled deep in his throat, the sound echoing off of the walls. I couldn't think anymore past what was happening, what Garrett was doing to me as he thrust his fingers into me, his mouth sucking me into his mouth, his hand bruising my wrists and reminding me that I was his.

Till death do you part.

I sobered at that thought, but I didn't have time to dwell on the implications of giving him what he had always wanted, because he suddenly moved his hand away and replaced it with his body. I felt the hard brush of his knuckles as he reached down between us and then my breath left me as he guided himself into me, pushing home with a firm thrust of his hips.

I had expected it to hurt, but there was only the feeling of fullness and then unspeakable pleasure as he began to move, pinning me to the wall with every hard thrust that threatened to split my body apart, his thickness moving in an out of that soft, wet heat that never wanted to let him go.

The visual made me dizzy, my hands clinging to his shoulders after he let go of my wrists to brace one hand against the wall, the other sinking into my hair to guide my mouth to his. He devoured my lips as he thrust into me, trapping me between the wall and his body till I felt my body start to tighten, swelling from the inside like a balloon that was too full, ready to burst.

"Ally," he murmured against my mouth. He said my name again and again till I answered him, our voices echoing together as his thrusts began to get faster and shorter, his eyes never leaving mine as he pushed every nerve ending I had to the edge of sensation, leaving me over-sensitized and vulnerable to the emotions I had avoided for all of these years.

This was why I had never slept with him, why I had always avoided this final intimacy that bared your soul and left you open to the pain that came with falling hard and deep, losing yourself in the eyes of the person who made your heart beat even after it had stopped.

I loved him. God help me, but I loved him. I'd loved him for years and now he was mine even if only for tonight, just for the fantasy.

Garrett thrust into me, crying out my name as his strokes went wild. I felt that coiling pleasure reach the breaking point, screaming his name as I came, looking into his eyes and crying out again and again with each wave ecstasy that flung me into the next, rolling me under over and over again until I submitted to the sensation, collapsing limp in his arms.

I didn't want to move. Life felt too good about now, as soft around the edges of my vision as Garrett's tee shirt was beneath my cheek. It smelled like him and like me, our scents mingling together just as our bodies had.

I murmured in satisfaction as his hand slid beneath my chin, tilting my head up so his lips could brush gently over mine.

"Wow."

"Head-banging, sweaty, screaming sex in the middle of a cemetery. That's a first." He started laughing when I poked him, resting his forehead against mine as he tried to catch his breath.

"Now you were saying something about a bed?"

* * * * *

I murmured in satisfaction, snuggling closer to the warm, firm body next to me. I grinned as I teased Garrett's flat nipples with the pad of my finger, watching when they stiffened and his body jerked in response.

"Are you trying to kill me?"

"What? You're tired already? It's only been..." I paused to count on my fingers. "Four times. Well, five including the cemetery. I'd say you have at least another two more in you before your dick falls off."

I shrieked with laughter as he shifted, rolling me underneath him to hold me. His body aligned over mine though he kept himself braced on his arms, his fingers moving gently through my hair. "There's nothing wrong with my dick, thank you very much. I was trying to be considerate since this is all new for you."

My brow arched. "And not for you obviously." My voice came out grumpier than I wanted it to and he smiled as he leaned down, taking my mouth gently but thoroughly enough to leave me fresh out of comments.

"No one else matters, Ally. It's all new for me because it's with you. There wasn't anyone after you and there never will be. You're it for me."

My expression softened as I reached up to touch his jaw. He turned his head, lips brushing the inside of my wrist to make me shiver. I drew him down to lay with me, his head resting between my breasts, the stubble on his cheeks a gentle rasp that had left whisker burns all over my body.

He was content and, for awhile, I was as well. Now all I could think about was what he had said. There would be no one else for him after me. After tonight, he was going to leave and I would never see him again or know where he had gone. I was going to lose him just when I had finally found him.

I exhaled hard and closed my eyes. I felt him shift, his thumb brushing over the line of my jaw with concern. "Hey, what's the matter?"

"Nothing. I don't want to talk about it. This is nice. Let's just enjoy this."

"Come on, Al. Talk to me. What's going on?"

I swallowed, sighing when his hand stroked through my hair. I opened my eyes, meeting the concern in his. Moonlight streamed in through the open window and played across his features, his loose hair framing his face and making him look even less like he belonged in my world anymore.

He was so beautiful it made my heart ache and I was really planning to take up the whole, 'is a heart really necessary when you're dead' issue to management.

"Garrett, why didn't you go into the light?"

"I told you. I wanted to be with you. I needed to make sure that you were all right and to explain what had happened."

I nodded. "And you did. You set things right between us. I don't hate you anymore and though I still wish you'd told me the truth, I understand why you didn't. Everything is the way that it's supposed to be...'

I let my voice trail off, watching as understanding dawned across his features. His jaw tensed as I smiled, trying as hard as I could to keep sadness out of it. I knew I didn't succeed, but playing stupid had always worked well before.

"I'm not going anywhere, Allison. I want to be with you."

"It's not a choice that we can make, Garrett. Cassandra was very clear about the rules. Ghosts can only stay earthbound until they complete their unfinished business. Then they have to go on."

"You knew this would happen?"

I nodded.

"Then why did you sleep with me, Ally? Why didn't you just tell me? We could have just...I don't know. We could have figured out something. Goddamnit."

He sat up and I let him have a moment before I wrapped my arms around him, my cheek resting against his shoulder, feeling tension vibrate through him. "I did it for the same reasons you left. I want what's best for you. Staying here isn't."

"I'd be with you."

"Yeah, but you couldn't ever really be with me. You're dead, Garrett. It's fucking unfair, but it's what it is. If you stayed here, you'd only ever be able to touch me, to experience life as a voyeur instead of as a person. I know you," I murmured against his skin. "That kind of lifestyle would kill you a second time, breaking your heart more a little everyday. I can't be responsible for that. It's just too much."

"So we only have tonight?"

"I think so. I don't know how this works. I was expecting you to poof, but maybe it's a whole Cinderella type of deal - you get a certain amount of time and then its over. Your guess is as good as mine."