The Trust Ch. 06

Seeing the gleam in his eyes, she leaned down and kissed him, throwing a leg over him as his arms encircled her. Grinding herself against him as their kiss grew feverish, grinding harder as he got harder. She reached back and guided him, sliding down his length as he sighed her name.

Cindy hung up the last new top in her new closet and turned to Brigid, catching her by surprise as she stepped up and kissed her. She thought she'd misread things for a second, as Brigid stiffened, then sighed inwardly as the pretty redhead's arms went around her and she returned the kiss.

"What was that for?" Brigid asked her as they pulled back from the kiss, puzzled but having enjoyed it.

"I just wanted you to know I was okay with it." Cindy told her, and tried to lean in for another.

Brigid was more confused though, so she pulled back a little. "Okay with what?"

"With whatever arrangement you have in mind in exchange for my staying here. I'm fine with it, in fact I think I'll enjoy it." Cindy told her, and Brigid felt her stomach knot up.

"Oh, No honey." She told her, gathering her into her arms and hugging her. "No one here is going to expect you to do that." Feeling Cindy stiffen a little, she let her go, but took her hand and led her from the closet. Looking around, she silently cursed the one chair idea for these rooms, knowing the edge of the bed was out of the question. Crossing to the desk, she pulled the chair out and over by the recliner.

"Have a seat." She told Cindy, sitting on the school chair herself.

"If you don't want that, what do you want?" Cindy asked, sounding unsure now as she sat as far away from Brigid as she could in the big chair. And fiddled with the new glasses that they'd gotten from a lenscrafters in the mall. It broke Brigid's heart and made her consider what it was she did want.

"I don't have any expectations of you Cindy." She began. "I guess I didn't think very far ahead today. I just know I like you. When you played today, I felt the pain you put into it, but there was also the memory of love, of your father. It spoke to me I guess. Like he was reaching out through the music, begging for someone to see his daughter." And she paused, getting up and squeezing in beside Cindy as her eyes welled up and tears ran down her cheeks. Taking her in her arms as the girl turned into her and wept.

"I couldn't leave you there." She said quietly, as much to herself as to the girl.

When Mason got back to the hall, Katey told him Marcus was out walking somewhere, so he went looking. He was a little surprised to finally spot him and Danny sitting at the base of one of the old elms talking to Eric Braden.

"I've done my best to teach the lad how to scrap." Marcus was saying, and Mason figured he'd switched topics when he saw him approaching, so he waited for the barb as he sat cross-legged on the grass by them. "But I'm afraid my daughter pampered him too much, why I've never even seen him get properly drunk."

Eric just grinned at Mason, confirming his theory about the subject change. In fact, they had been talking about the way the war in Iraq had changed to nature of security companies like Big Ben's. Before the war, Ben had tried to hire retired law enforcement officers exclusively. Simply because of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act, that allowed them to carry in all fifty states. When the statute was broadened to include active duty military personnel, it opened the door for people like Eric. The only caveat, was that Eric and the ones like him had to spend a certain amount of their time doing security work for the military. Usually port security or filling in for the embassy guard force cuts.

"Ben wants to see you when you get a chance." He told Mason, sticking a stalk of grass in his teeth. "I suppose I could help you toss him around some if you think it would help." He told Marcus, but winked at Mason. "We could probably toughen him up."

Marcus grinned but shook his head, "I'm thinking he's probably got too many bad habits by now, living with all these girls."

Mason had been gathering a handful of grass, and with a casual flick and a grin, he tossed it in Marcus' face, rolling to the side as Marcus lunged at him howling. Mason wasn't fast enough though, and Marcus got a hold on his legs and started crawling up him. Danny was dancing around them cheering them on as Eric looked around before settling back with a grin of his own.

They wrestled, one then the other gaining the upper hand briefly, until Marcus managed to stuff some grass in Mason's mouth. Laughing and rolling away as Mason sputtered and spit. Propping himself up on his elbows, chest heaving like a bellows, Marcus looked over his shoulder at Eric. "See what I mean?"