Threads In My Storm, Part II

He wondered, what if, what if this was some sort of a… no. She couldn’t. Could she? Maybe his fiancé didn’t want to be married? What if this was part of her plan to break us up? Her friend and her? Maybe they were in this together, to get him out of her life? Maybe she found someone else? He still couldn’t believe she was so cruel to him.

Five Mile Inlet
The place glared back at him, from his chart. All his life, this number, the FIVE had been a thread. His address had a five. His college dorm had a five. Five Five Five.

Could Five Mile Inlet be something, too? Maybe this was it, time to go ashore, and see if he could find a life. He turned towards the new marina, and his future.

“Fifth Precinct, How Can I Help you?”

When the officer heard her voice, he struggled to keep calm. She could sense it. She could hear his frustration when she called. He gave the same answers, over and over. ‘No. No news. No, no one reported as a John Doe in hospital without ID. No… but we’llcallyou if we have anything.’ She even heard him, tense, rushing like that, his words colliding, to get her off the phone. Again. As soon as he could.

Five More Weeks

Her emails bounced back, Account no longer in service. Phone calls went to a dead end voice mail. His mom hadn’t heard a thing in all this time, either. His mom, still no word. Her voice, more and more worried, as each day passed. A mother’s fear, for her baby.

Five Hours later, I was tied up and power hooked to the pagoda on the dock. For better or worse, I knew, I would stay here for the rest of the dead of winter. Being at sea was no place during the dead of winter. I left the boat, to pay for my mooring, and set up my accounts. At the Marina Office, I asked for and got directions to the nearest grocery. They even let me borrow the peddle tricycle with wagon back for stocking up.

Once all my food and supplies were put away, I strolled to the Main Street just a block from the docks. I found a tiny diner and pub that reminded me of the place where we both worked. I had few choices, this little town only had a couple of places open in the dead of winter. I found the owner easy to talk with. She was, perhaps, 45 or so. Nicely put together, very curvy and her Red Hair made her appear a fiery demon? Her laugh sounded nothing like my fiancé and for that reason alone, I could smile when I heard her laugh.

It didn’t take long, before she and I were talking… there were no more than a dozen total in this place. She tried to ask, but I still wasn’t able to talk much. Not to women. I vowed never to get to close again. Days later, we talked again.

Never mind that we were strangers, she still offered me a couple of nights a week, helping in her kitchen and a Saturday and Sunday morning, helping her father do breakfasts.

Five Days Later, The Storm Swirled In My Head

I couldn’t take it any longer. Same as it ever was, I needed to get the pain out. So, as I did for the past few weeks, I sat on deck, stripped bare, no one was ever here most days. The sun was at its most intense, so, one leg, then the other, over the back transom, and I slipped into the icy cold.

THAT SHOCK, always made my body ache. ALWAYS. I forgot the pain in my head. Forgot the storm in my heart. All I could do was try to breathe. Deep breath. Try to keep my arms moving, and legs slowly scissoring. Keep moving. Let the pain numb my head, and let the storm clear.

That call shocked me. The Stranger. That's what we all called him; the Marina called me, knowing he worked for me. I rode as fast as I could to the office, where he was bundled in a half dozen blankets. He sat there, eyes closed, shaking and shivering. They found him, floating a few feet from his own boat. Naked. Almost blue. Of course they called me, I was the town’s nurse, doc, and EMT of a sort. I had been a nurse in the Army, before settling here. Some random dart to the map, and I was here, putting down roots.

So, they called me, and I took him back to my place, behind the diner. I had left my dad, to take care of the four or five people who came today. I wrapped the Stranger in new blankets, and pulled him close, to me on the couch. This would never work. He needed more heat. So, I did the logical thing. My own body heat. I stripped, pulled him to me and rewrapped the blankets around us both. My body against his bare back.

Four Hours Later
I felt him wake with a start, my body still pressed against his. I was in a dream state too. It had been some time, maybe four months, since I was with someone. .. and years earlier since my own fiancé’s life was cut short in an attack in the Sandbox of the Middle East. It felt good to hold someone again. He was confused, and barely awake. His eyes, not focused, really.

“Shhhh, you’d had a shock. They found you hypothermic, just floating. Naked. What were you thinking?”

I could barely make out that he was talking, and it sounded like gibberish, to me. We both drifted away, again, soon enough.

I woke, this time, feeling someone, pressing into me, from behind. I felt so relaxed, and safe, in the strong arms holding me. I had no idea who this was, but it was my own home. At least that was good. Then, it slowly came back to me. The Stranger. Well, Nick I knew his name, but we all called him Stranger for that first week, so the name stuck. He seemed ok with it. I knew he worked on the boat. I saw his arms, clearly muscled from that. And of course, when I wrapped the blankets around him, I saw the rest of him. Clearly, fit. Clearly strong. Powerful. At the time, hours ago, I shook my head and went into Trauma mode.

Now, though, those powerful arms holding me. The hardness pressed against me… well… I am only a woman. I turned, and saw him, looking at me. I saw sad eyes. Pain. He wanted to say something, but I pushed a finger against his lips. Silence. He understood.

“Shhh. What ever it is, I am sorry you hurt. Shhh. Just close your eyes, and let me help… shhh” my own voice getting quieter, each moment.

I kissed his ear, first. Then, a little kiss on his jaw. Another. Each kiss, a little closer, to his mouth. Until I was barely touching his own lips, with mine. Barely a whisper, and I said my fourth “shhh, let me help.” With another kiss, I took his lower lip in mine. Softly, little kisses. All the while whispering ‘shhh…’

He had stopped shivering, until that big kiss, on his lips… then, his entire body, shook from the bottom of his spine along, to the shoulders.
If his eyelids were open, I wonder if his eyes rolled up and back? What started for him, became a hunger for me, too. I needed to do this for me, as much as for him. I keep up my kisses, whispering ‘shhh,’ and kissed my way down his no longer blue and cold body. I could feel the heat immediately. I could feel his need, as well. His need was so great. He cried out, with his release. Now, I needed him.

Four Kisses
First, he kissed my mouth hard. Then, two strong arms took me, and flipped us both. Him, no longer under me, he flipped my onto my back. He grinned, then, whispered, “shhhh’ with his mouth and his eyes sparked. I focused on his mouth, as it descended on my neck… then, “shhhh…” and another kiss on my shoulders. Each kiss, each ‘shhh…’ brought him lower and another kiss.

I don’t know when I stopped watching, only that I had my eyes closed. Head slightly tilted back, and my need pushing up to meet his mouth. When he first kissed me, I heard from somewhere, a small moan. His second kiss, and I heard that moan again, finally realizing it was coming from my own mouth. His soft, warm mouth, kissing me. I have no idea how long the kisses continued, but finally I begged, “PLEASE!”

Soon enough, I exploded. A storm washing over me. My body released. I had been with a man, before. This was someone who was so intent on giving, not taking. This was someone solely focused on me.

Four More Ragged Minutes

It was a bit before I could breathe again. My body was still feeling the storm, slowly washing over me, and my breathing was finally coming down. He softly whispered, ‘shhh…’ and kissed his way back to my face. He put me in his arms, rolled me to my side, and wrapped around me, holding me from behind. I felt more safe with this Stranger than I have felt in a decade. He held me, safe, and we drifted, together.

Please follow along, as next week, I will release PART III, the final part of the Scholar and Scribe / @dreemport Challenge.