Runaway Pt. 03

And Noah.

His eyes met mine in the mirror, dark and yearning, watching my every expression as he took me. He towered over me, skin gleaming, his chest powerful and beautiful and in that moment, mine. I couldn't see the joining of our bodies, but I could feel it. The walls of my pussy embraced his cock as he stretched me open and his skin slapped against mine, hard and freeing and so, so right. A shudder of pleasure ran through my body as I submitted to Noah, to the way he made me feel, to what his body could do to mine, and I moaned as I abandoned any inhibitions I had left.

Grey drops of fog broke our gaze as the mirror clouded. Noah thrust into me hard, his fingers digging into my hips, and then released me. His cock slid out and I was momentarily disappointed before he pulled me up from the counter and turned me around.

"I need to look at you." His voice was hoarse and grating, darker than his eyes and full of a need that made me tremble. He grabbed the back of my thighs, just below my ass, and lifted me onto the counter with a strength I hadn't seen before.

I squeaked in astonishment and grabbed his shoulders to steady myself. Noah pushed my thighs apart brazenly and stepped between them, burrowing his cock back inside me in a single, swift motion. I cried out as another shudder ran through me and he kissed me, roughly nibbling at my lip.

"You see how fucking hot you are?" he growled. "You know how badly I've wanted to fuck you like this?"

"Ungh," was all I could say as his lips mashed against mine. A hand moved beneath us, his fingers vigorously moving against my clit. He rubbed firmly, and between the sensations of his fingers and his cock, I could hardly think.

He kept talking as he fucked me, punctuating his words with hard, deep thrusts as he worked my clit. "Perfect, beautiful, innocent little Miss Lacey." Another soft bite on my lips. "You're so fucking tight. Fuck."

My entire body was shaking as he spoke, trembling in anticipation as a fire sparked in my stomach. It was too much and, at the same time, not enough. His teeth grazed my lips, one hand working my clit furiously while the other held me to him. His cock was so deep, impaling me again and again and driving me crazy. Around us, the air was thick not just with humidity but with a scent that muddled my mind, sweet and musky and it came from us. His words penetrated the foggy haze that enveloped my mind, echoing in my brain as the fire in my stomach caught, and then raged, and then I was lost.

The sound I made bounced off the walls of the bathroom, reverberating between us as I clung to Noah. My orgasm exploded through me, merciless in its consumption of my body. I knew Noah was speaking, but for the life of me, couldn't make out what his words were. His hand never stopped moving, just tormented my clit as my body clenched uncontrollably.

He came after I had regained the slightest bit of control, enough to realize my fingernails were digging into his back as his head buried itself against my shoulder. His last few thrusts were erratic, hard staccatos that were solely for him, not for me. He cried out against my neck; his arm constricted around me as he squeezed my body as close to his as he possibly could.

Long after he finished, as we caught our breaths and regained our composure, Noah stayed inside me. He held me closely, his face still against my neck as his cock softened. His hand rubbed my back gently, comfortingly, though I wasn't sure whether the comfort was for me or for himself.

When he finally pulled himself out of me and lifted his head, his forehead was furrowed with worry. Before he could say anything, I kissed him.

"You're okay?" he mumbled against my mouth.

"Yes."

He moved back, his grip on me loosening. "Shit, Lacey. That was..." He trailed off, shaking his head as he wiped his face. "You sure you're okay?"

I was more than okay. I was elated. I was glowing. I was reasonably certain that if I slid off the counter at that moment, my legs would give out from under me.

"I'm okay."

"I didn't hurt you?"

"Not even a bit."

He smoothed my hair back off my face, dark eyes searching mine for any sign of untruth. Not finding it, his face relaxed and he kissed me again.

"So, Miss Lacey. You've had sex twice, two different ways. You like it better softer or a little rougher?"

"Yes."

His laughter echoed off the bathroom walls as he helped me off the counter and into the shower.

**

"...just left Cornwall. We should be there in about an hour."

"Perfect timing," said Sean. "We'll pick you up at Gare Centrale. Now, listen carefully. It's a big station, really busy. We'll meet you by the Tim Horton's."

"Tim Horton's, got it."

I heard someone speak indistinctly in the background before Sean spoke again. "Right, there's two. We'll meet you at the Tim's inside the station, not the one outside."

"Who was that?"

"Don't worry about it. Repeat that back to me, Lace."

I rolled my eyes. "Gare Centrale, big station, meet you at the Timmy's inside, not the one outside, don't worry about whoever reminded you of that."

"When did you get so snarky?"

His words were teasing but good-natured, and I smiled.

"See you soon, Sean."

"Can't wait. Love you, sis."

It wasn't until I hung up the phone that it hit me. My smile faded slowly at first, then disappeared all at once.

"We're almost there."

The starkness of my voice made Noah look up from the battered novel he was reading.

"Yeah, we are."

I couldn't read whatever emotion it was that flashed in his eyes. It may have been heartache.

Though, it also may have been relief.

"I thought I'd feel happier."

Noah's hand caught mine.

"What do you feel?"

"Nervous. A bit sad."

He squeezed my fingers lightly. "One adventure ends, another begins."

I tried to smile as I nodded, but the question about whether that next adventure would include Noah was left unspoken.

Green fields passed by us as Ontario turned to Quebec. Noah's hand remained in mine as I stared out the window, not really seeing the landscape that pressed us ever closer to our destination. My thoughts were consumed as everything caught up to me. My father had really, truly disowned me. My childhood home, the only place I had ever lived aside from the dorm room he paid for while I was in college, was no longer my home.

The money I had in the bank seemed like so much a week earlier. Faced with the fact that I no longer had a home to go to, though, it seemed sparse. I had enough to get by for a little bit, but I also had nothing to my name except what was in my backpack, no job, and no prospects for one.

I hadn't asked Sean how long I could stay with him, or even if he had room for me to crash for more than a couple of nights. I also hadn't seen Sean in years. What if we didn't get along anymore? What if he thought I had waited too long to find him?

What if he didn't like me?

"Nickel for your thoughts?"

His voice startled me. My hand fell from my neck, where I hadn't realized I was twisting the silver cross he'd bought for me.

"Don't you mean penny?"

"Nah. They got rid of the pennies, remember?"

I snorted softly.

"Talk to me."

"I think I just realized I'm technically homeless."

"Don't think your brother's gonna take you in?"

I shrugged.

"It'll work out."

"How do you know?"

"Don't. But worse comes to worst, we head back to Toronto and crash with Tom and Jenny for a while. Tom'll let me work with him. Probably help you find a job too, while you figure shit out."

A shred of my nervousness disappeared. "You'd come with me?"

"'Course. You don't know where they live."

"I do. The Uber picked me up there."

"Shit. Looks like you don't need me after all."

"Yes I do."

Noah went quiet, looking down at our hands. The shred of nervousness that disappeared came back, along with some of its friends.

"Are you... will you stay? With me, I mean?"

"Lacey, I—"

He was cut off by an announcement on the intercom. I bit my lip, hoping he didn't notice how sweaty my palm had suddenly become.

When the announcement stopped, Noah didn't speak right away. I stayed silent as well, willing myself not to ask any more of him than I already had. It nearly killed me, though, as every fibre of my being wanted to beg him not to leave me.

He squeezed my hand again when he was ready to talk.

"I'm gonna stay with you while we figure out what's next," he said softly. "Can't promise more than that. We just don't know what's gonna happen with your brother. Let's get there, get you settled in. If he doesn't want me there, I can—"

"That's not an option," I interrupted.

"It's not up to you."

"If he doesn't want you there, I'm not going to stay there either."

"Don't say that. Anyway, I got friends in Montreal. Or somewhere near Montreal, at least. But I got places I can crash."

"Do you just have friends everywhere?"

He laughed. "Been around the country a couple times now. You meet people here and there."

I nodded but didn't say anything. That unspoken question swirled around us, prodding to be asked. When the tension became too much, Noah cleared his throat.

"Do you want to talk about... this?"

"What do you mean?"

"This. You and me."

"Do you?"

"Not really." He squeezed my hand softly. "I don't want to think about it having a time limit."

"Good. Me neither."

We didn't talk about it. We sat on the train, holding hands until Noah wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I pulled my feet up on the seat, leaning against him as we looked out the window and watched fields turn to trees, trees turn to roads, and roads turn to buildings.

The shreds of nervousness turned to worry and the worry to fear as Montreal appeared on the other side of the window. When Noah finally kissed me on the top of the head and said we should get ready, I was paralyzed against him, tears welling up in my eyes.

"You can do this," he whispered when I didn't move.

"What if I can't?"

"Came all this way just to pussy out?"

"Maybe. I run away from everything that scares me."

"Know for a fact that isn't true."

I twisted in my seat, turning to look at him.

"You've seen me do it multiple times."

He kissed me, comfortingly steady and reassuring.

"Also seen you naked and shaking in fear. Didn't run away then."

"That's different."

"How?"

"I wanted that. I'm still a coward about everything else."

"Pretty sure a coward doesn't travel across the country by herself getting up to all the trouble you did."

"That was because I was running away."

"You called your dad. You hung up even though you knew what it meant."

"That was—"

"Was not something that a coward does." He kissed me again, his magical lips melting away some of my fear.

The train stopped and people began to bustle around us, heading for the doors.

"Come on. Let's go meet your brother."

He still had to urge me off the train, trying to prevent people from pushing against me as we stepped onto the platform. Maybe it was just because I knew it was our final destination, but the station itself seemed to be more massive than even Toronto. People walked in every direction, stepping around each other without missing a beat in an intricate dance that I had never learned.

Noah taught me the steps as he took my arm, leading me through the throngs of people towards the main hall of the station. Once we were there, we stopped. Noah let go of my arm as I saw the familiar red letters of the Tim Horton's glowing brightly.

"See him yet?"

I searched the faces of the people waiting nearby, but didn't see one that belonged to my brother. Still we walked closer, and I was so focused on finding Sean that I almost didn't hear Noah's next comment.

"Holy shit, that lady over there looks just like you, Lacey."

"Lacey?"

Time seemed to move like syrup—the thick, cheap, sickly sugary kind—as I looked towards the voice that called my name. When I saw the woman Noah was talking about, I turned back to him, an incredulous look rivalling the one he'd given me when the beat-up old sedan pulled up in front of us in Hinton spreading across my face.

"Lacey!"

I turned back to her.

"Mom?"

**

Noah's arms stopped me from running.

I had already taken two steps backward when he caught me, strong arms that rooted me to the floor. My eyes hadn't left her face, a reflection of mine, brown eyes wide on a freckled canvas that gave a hint of what my future held. Emotions coursed through me, betrayal and confusion and guilt. The instinct to greet her respectfully was strong. The instinct to run was even stronger.

"Goddamnit, I told you two this was a bad idea."

A tall man with blazing red hair and chiselled features was standing just behind my mom, shaking his head as he grimaced. Beside him stood a man I hardly recognized, yet knew instantly. No longer the scrappy-looking teenager with curly hair that fell into his eyes, Sean's face was tensed into a worried frown. He stepped away from the red-haired man and past our mother, holding his hands up in surrender.

"Lace, just let me explain—"

"What the fuck, Sean?!"

The words were out of my mouth before I knew what I was saying. I clapped a hand to my mouth, startled by my sudden outburst.

"Lacey Marie!" Mom gasped.

"Come off it, Mom," Sean said. "Lacey, look. There's a lot to explain, I know—"

"You tricked me."

"I didn't," he insisted. "I swear to God. I just, we thought you might not come if you knew—"

"I'm not going back." My eyes focused back on my mom. A desperate, wild ferocity was pounding in time with my heartbeat. "I'm never going back there."

"Neither am I."

Could something have surprised me more than hearing her say that? Maybe.

Maybe if the sky had turned green and the sun was replaced by two glowing hockey pucks. Maybe if Roger had appeared alongside her, repented, joined a seminary, and was devoting his life to helping spread the word of God on humanity's first manned mission to Alpha Centauri.

In terms of actual, realistic possibilities, nothing could have surprised me more.

It was only as I stared at her dumbfounded, Noah's arms still loosely gripping me as if I would sprint away at any second, that I saw the differences in her. Her eyes, so similar to mine, were rimmed with red, swollen against her freckled skin. Tense lines snaked away from the corners of her mouth, a strange mix of sadness and relief as she pressed her lips together.

And her left hand, furled into a fist around the strap of her purse, was missing the plain gold ring my father had sworn an oath on so many years ago.

Noah released me as my shoulders sagged.

"What..."

"We have a lot to talk about, sweetie."

"Let's do that at our house," said Sean. "Please, Lacey? Come with us, let us explain?"

I could only nod, still gazing at the naked spot on Mom's finger.

The red-haired man stepped forward. "Well, now that we've gotten the initial drama out of the way, welcome to Montreal." He extended his hand. "I'm Rick. I'm so glad to finally meet you."

I blinked off the shock long enough to be polite. "S-So nice to m-meet you. I'm Lacey and th-this is Noah."

Rick grinned at Noah as he shook his hand as well. "Hell of a story you two must have."

I pretended not to notice my mom's hand tighten on her purse as she took in the sight of Noah. Her eyes flitted to the long hair brushing the collar of his jean jacket, silently judging his worn clothing and beat-up shoes. He either didn't notice or pretended not to, as well, and nodded solemnly at Rick.

"It's been an adventure."

Sean hovered nervously behind Rick until I finally looked at him.

"You're shorter than I remember," I said.

He snorted. "You're taller than I remember."

Both of us fought back tears. Neither of us were successful as I lurched forward to hug my brother for the first time in nearly ten years.

When we parted, our hands mirrored each other as we hurriedly wiped our faces.

"Um, Sean. T-This is Noah. He—"

"Made sure my precious runaway sister didn't end up dead in a ditch somewhere." Sean forewent the handshake and hugged Noah tightly, much to Noah's obvious surprise. "Thank you. I don't know what the hell happened this past week but thank you."

Noah nodded stiffly as Sean released him. "Uh, thanks. Good to finally be here."

Mom stepped forward, albeit hesitantly. "Hello, I'm Barbara Stephens."

Noah was taller than Sean, almost as tall as Rick, and yet he seemed to shrink as my mother sized him up.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Stephens." His voice was restrained, barely wavering but nowhere near as steady as it usually was.

"Just Barb, please." She extended her hand. "I owe you some gratitude for taking care of Lacey."

"It was no problem."

The tension between the two of them was more than obvious and I shifted uncomfortably. Sean seemed to notice too, and thankfully stepped in.

"Well, let's all get going. We have a lot of catching up to do."

Mom looked at me. "Does your new friend—"

"Noah is coming with us."

"Of course he is," Sean said quickly. "It'll be a bit squishy in the car, but we'll all fit."

Mom nodded tersely and hesitantly touched my arm.

"I'm glad you're okay."

I bit my lip and nodded, trying not to cry again.

"Thanks, Mom."

**

It was the most uncomfortable car ride of my entire life.

Rick tried to gallantly insist that Mom sit in the front seat, but she shook her head pragmatically.

"There'll be no room for Lacey if we put both of you giants in the back seat."

She was unfortunately correct, and so I sat in the middle seat, squished between her and Noah.

They were both so tense and rigid that it was like sitting between two filing cabinets. I probably wasn't much better, but at least they each had a door on the other side that they could lean into. I had no choice but to press against Noah on one side and Mom on the other.

Putting me in the middle seat was also likely a prevention method. There was a 50/50 chance that I would have opened the door and jumped out of the car somewhere in the middle of downtown Montreal, and I was fairly certain everyone else suspected that.

I itched to grip Noah's hand as we drove, but they were clenched tightly in his lap. Instead, I took in the sights of the city that I had somehow missed while we were on the train.

Unlike Toronto, Montreal wasn't all angles and corners and shining buildings. It was a whimsical mix of old and new, huge stone cathedrals on one corner and shining glass high-rises on another. None of the other cities we had been to had the same sort of historical feel, the sense of rich tradition and modern life twisting around each other like ribbons.

As we left downtown, we wound through streets lined with trees and houses on hills, beautiful places that looked like something from a storybook. Sunlight shone strongly, bathing the world in an early-evening glow, and I imagined it streaming through kitchen windows and onto patios as people sat down for dinner.

We turned into a quiet neighbourhood about a half hour later. The houses there were large, manicured lawns with cheerful flower gardens bordering the properties. I knew which house was Sean's before he pulled in. My mom's car was parked in the driveway, comically out of place in comparison to the other expensive cars parked along the block. As soon as we were parked, I scrambled out of the car behind Noah.

Sean's house was quaint in that it was small and had a cottage-like feel from the stonework on the outside, but it was clearly designed to look that way. The small yard was lush and green, shaded by a large, healthy tree that branched across his yard and the one next to it.