Chapter 30
I
woke up with a groan and could feel the sun coming through the window, creeping up on my body. There was no way I was getting up. I heard Henry yawn. I tried opening my eyes, but they were not cooperating.
“Morning, my sexy love.” His voice had that rasp that I loved so much. I felt his naked body against mine, which made me realize that I was naked, as well. He was aroused, as usual.
It dawned on me that I was hung over, and I think I did things with Henry the night before that I wouldn’t normally do. My entire nether region was a little achy. I got up the courage to open my eyes, as I rolled over to face him.
“Is the wild beast tamed within you?” I squinted. “If it isn’t, maybe I can try to tame it again?” He had an evil grin plastered on his face, and he started to kiss my neck.
“You are so not funny right now, Henry Daniels.”
He laughed. “No? I kind of like that untamed beast that lives deep down inside of you. Quite frankly, it’s fucking sexy as hell.” He stretched in a very cocky manner. I continued to squint. “What do they say? ‘In wine, there is truth’? Maybe, in this case, in whiskey, there is revelation. It surprised me. You discovered new things that you fucking loved.” He grinned with pride.
“Oh, my god, Henry.” I smacked his chest. He laughed again. “We should get up and get going.” I tried sitting up, but my head wanted to split open. “How can you drink so much all the time? You rarely seem to get a hangover.”
“Lots of practice conditioning the liver.” He kissed my forehead. “Just rest. I’ll take care of it.” Henry crawled away from me and got out of bed. I peeked at his body while he dressed. I couldn’t help but smile. Pulling his shirt over his head, he headed toward the door, but he looked back at me once more.
“Just so we are clear…even if you don’t remember our little adventure last night, I do, and it was absolutely brilliant.” He winked at me and left the room.
I was so embarrassed that I pulled the covers over my head. I only remembered bits and pieces so I wasn’t even sure what he was talking about. What adventure? I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to know.
I reluctantly rolled out of bed and started to get dressed. I discovered that I had another sore spot that I would rather not discuss. I felt mortified.
While trying to shake the whiskey fuzzies and wandering thoughts of my brain, I glanced out the window and was shocked at what I saw. There had to be at least six inches of snow out there, and it was still falling at a heavy rate.
“Shit!” I stumbled over my shoes, trying to get dressed. I leapt out of my bedroom and started pounding on doors. “Get up! Everyone up! There’s snow on the ground!” I heard some mumbling and groaning behind the doors.
I ran downstairs while buttoning my jeans. Henry was standing with his hands in his pockets, looking out of the window in the dining room.
“Well, at least we have four-wheel drive.” He turned around. Everyone else was filing down the stairs, all gasping over the fresh and continuously falling snow. “Let’s dress appropriately for the weather and pack up.”
Henry started rummaging through the bags and boxes that Sophie, Claire, and Thomas had brought back from his apartment. He pulled out his ball cap and found his winter coat. He tossed an extra coat to my brother. I watched Henry meticulously load up his vest and put it on over his t-shirt.
I ran upstairs and rummaged through my parent’s closet, pulling out a couple heavy coats, along with hats and gloves. I searched for boots and winter clothing, as well. Luckily, my mother and I wore the same size. Sadly, our styles were on opposite ends of the spectrum. I wasn’t an Ann Taylor kind of girl…more like a Gap kind of girl.
I heard someone at the door. I looked and saw Claire standing there. “Claire…here.” I tossed the clothing at her.
“Thanks,” she said. “I’m going to go search through the rest of the closets and see what I can find. Extra linens and such. Nick is going to go to the garage to look around for anything survival related.”
“Okay.” Claire turned around to walk away. “Claire, wait.” She stopped and looked at me. “Thank you.”
“For what?” she asked, confused.
“For a lot of things, but specifically for making Nick happy.” She smiled. “You both deserve happiness.”
“Yeah. A little happiness in this crazy, fucked up world is hard to find, but I think we have.” I laughed. Claire sounded so funny when she swore. I was pretty sure I would never get used to hearing her say it.