Chosen by the Fates

Waking Up Safe

I remember the headache. Pain so severe my entire body gives out. Falling. Loud noises and growling. A frigid wind, chilling me to the bone even with my winter jacket on. I feel myself being lifted in strong arms, then hauled over a shoulder. Possibly the least comfortable way I’ve ever been carried.

The cold dissipates, the noise becomes distant. Then my weight slides down against a warm chest. The heartbeat is one I’ve known forever. I don’t know how. It doesn’t matter. I know I’m safe.

Then darkness takes me.

“Aisling?” The voice is familiar. Ashleigh.

I awake on the beach. Black sand beneath me, the sky is electric blue. Bluer than it should be.

Ashleigh is sitting beside me, expression and bright eyes writ with worry. “Are you alright?”

I stare at him, confused, “Why wouldn’t I be?” I feel fine.

He hugs me tightly. With his chest pressed against mine I can feel his heartbeat. A heartbeat I have known forever. I am Safe.

“How did we get here?” I push back to look around. Weren’t we somewhere else? I reach up to touch my lips. We kissed.

Ashleigh is watching my face with a curious expression. “What do you remember?”

“We kissed.” A flush rises to my cheeks even as I say it. I look around once more. This place is familiar. Being here with him like this. “I’ve had this dream before.”

Ashleigh arches one eyebrow, “Do you think this is a dream?”

I nod slowly… then stop to look at him once more. What I know and don’t know seems broken. I can’t quite remember anything before the beach. But I remember being on the beach with him before, “It must be.”

Ashleigh considers my answer, then reaches out to brush my hair from my face. His fingertips are delicate and soft, “How does your head feel?”

That's right. I'd had a headache and the pain had gotten worse. I sigh, appreciating his concern. My head doesn’t hurt anymore. “My headache is gone.”

He smiles at that, expression still lost in thought. “That's Good.” His voice is low, filled with the weight of unspoken concerns.

I reach up to take his hand in my own. His hand is warm. “I’m sorry for worrying you.”

He studies me for a long moment before answering, “You really should stop apologizing so much.” The tone of his words is soft.

I bite my lower lip and nod. I don’t know if I can actually promise that, I’ve finally realized that his walls are built around a deep well of pain. And for some reason, I feel responsible for it.

I trace circles across his hand with my thumb. Then I lie on my back, pulling him down beside me to stare at the technicolored sky. The sand is warm and firm beneath us. “What if I say thank you instead?”

“Why?” He brings my hand up to his lips, gently kissing it.

I close my eyes, enjoying the vivid feel of his warm lips caressing my hand. I turn to regard him when I finally answer, “Because I appreciate your company, and for some reason I always feel very comfortable with you.”

Ashleigh snorts at that. “When you first met me, you told me off for touching you without permission.”

I look back up at the sky, considering his words. “You know, I think even then a part of me felt confident in being completely myself around you. Thank you for taking the time you have with me.”

Ashleigh laughs, “I was being presumptuous.”

I grin, “Thank you for finally recognizing that.”

We laugh together, watching radiantly colored clouds drift by. Birds dart around through the waves.

I study his face. I keep dreaming of him. The thought reminds me vaguely of something we’d been talking about. Something about visiting dreams. “Is this a dream you’ll remember?” I don’t entirely know why I ask, but it seems important.

He looks deeply into my eyes, his tenor barely a whisper. “Yes.”  

“Will I?”

“I hope so.” His voice is soft, and more than a little sad.

I lean close, my lips almost touching his. He closes the distance deliberately until our lips meet softly. I tease his lips lightly with my tongue, until he presses closer, mouth opening to mine fully. I sigh into the kiss, savoring the feeling as we explore one another’s mouths.

He pulls me bodily toward him, one hand tracing small circles along the skin of my side and back as the other grips my a*s rightly. He delicately traces my body with his fingertips until he is petting the nape of my neck, sending shivers down my spine.

I roll onto him, stretching out against the length of him. My hands roam his body, fingertips gently tracing his muscles and form, hands sliding down to follow the sharp arch of his pelvic bones lower. Our tongues slide along one another and tangle until we are breathless, both our hearts pounding. When we break for air, I resist the temptation to do more. 

Everything about him feels so natural. As if I've known him forever. I shift my body along his to snuggle against him, my head resting over his heart.

He enfolds me in his arms, holding me closely. I listen to the all too familiar rhythm of his heart until I drift off to sleep.

***

I drift into a waking state, the feel of a warm pressure against my shoulder, and the purring warmth of Miss Meow Meow on my chest filling me with a sense of comfort. I take a slow, deep breath. Enjoying the moment. When I open my eyes and look to my shoulder I find Ashleigh asleep sitting upright on the floor against the couch. His eyes are closed, his breathing heavy and slow with sleep.

I watch his sleeping features, and find myself involuntarily reaching up to my lips. I remember very clearly that I dreamed of him on the beach again. This time the dream was mostly innocent. In my dream he wanted me to remember him when I woke up.

Why on earth would he sleep like this? It can’t be comfortable. And how did we get back from our walk?

I remember my headache, and then the sensation of being carried. I must have had too much to drink.

I glance at the clock. Four in the morning. Alarms will be going off soon, we’d agreed to leave at 4:45 AM. I sigh at that.

I scooch a little closer to Ashleigh’s, until I'm pressed against his back as well as his shoulder, resting my head against him to close my eyes again.

He stirs and blinks. “Aisling?” His voice is hushed. I nod into his shoulder. He shifts to face me, checking me over. “You passed out, I was really worried.”

“I probably just had too much to drink. I feel fine now.” I smile sleepily at him. I remember something else from my dream, a promise I made to apologize less and thank him more. “Thank you for taking care of me, and worrying about me.”

He looks unconvinced about my reasoning, but relieved I feel better.

In the quiet of this space, with him watching over me, I no longer feel self-conscious about my dreams.

“I keep dreaming about you. You tell me you’re real. This time we kissed.” My voice is soft, I feel vulnerable sharing, but also warm and safe curled up like this.

His eyes seem so impossibly bright as he looks at me, an indecipherable expression writ across his handsome features. It’s like he wants to say something, but can’t find the words.

I study his lips. The dream is so fresh in my mind, I’m overcome with the urge to make a comparison, “May I kiss you?” My tone is hesitant.

He answers by leaning in to me, brushing his lips against mine. The heat of his breath so close to my mouth sends my heart racing. Everything feels the same. It’s uncanny. I slide my hands up his chest, gently twisting the collar of his shirt into my grip to pull him over me.

Miss Meow Meow gets up without question, stretching and hopping off the couch as Ashleigh acquiesces to my nonverbal request. His weight presses me down into the cushions, our mouths open and our tongues tangle together.

I can feel the pounding of his heart against my breasts, and the length of his c**k hardening against my thigh. My core tightens, growing hot in response to the pressure of his erection. My hips involuntarily arch, pushing the hard length of him against the heat between my legs. Our kiss deepens with him groaning into my mouth.

We shift our bodies until our legs are entwined, his erection rubbing against the sensitive area between my legs. I gasp, breaking our kiss. We are both breathless and flushed, his eyes are feverishly bright. “We did this in my dream. It felt exactly the same.” I swallow hard.

“I know.” His tenor is broken, and low with arousal.

“That’s not possible.” And yet, I sense that he is being completely honest with me.

“Isn't it?...” He pauses, and then shifts to sits up, pulling me after him. “I wouldn’t dare to do it all out here...but-” His voice is soft as he turns on the couch, sliding me into his lap with my knees pressed against either side of his hips. The feel of his erection shifting against my core sends a shiver down my spine. I settle down onto him and his eyes roll back and close, a small sound of pleasure escaping him, “Gods.”

He takes a deep, slow breath before opening his eyes to look into mine once more. Then, very carefully, he takes each of my hands in his. I watch our hands curiously.

He purposefully draws my hands toward my back, sliding his arms around to encircle my waist as he pins my hands behind me. This is exactly how he held me in my dream. My cheeks flush, eyes widening a bit.

He’d told me so many times in my dream that he was real. Why not just outright say it when we were awake? He tried, though. We kept being interrupted, and then tonight it was my headaches.

He watches me as the pieces fall into place in my mind.

I don’t know what to say, I don’t even know that I entirely believe it yet. But I’m not sure how any of this is possible otherwise. And everything about him feels safe. So instead of speaking, I lean in. He pulls me the rest of the way into another long, breathless kiss.

This time I push him back down onto the couch and climb on top of him. Our eyes remain locked until our mouths meet once more. His tongue explores every part of my mouth. I entwine my body around his, bucking my hips just a little into his. He gasps, kissing me harder and gripping my hips tightly to pull me closer into him.

Alarms begin going off throughout the house.

We break the kiss for a breath, and I trail kisses down his jaw and neck. Then I rest my head against his chest. “Nothing about everyone waking up right now is fair.” I whine quietly.

“It’s not. But we can nap on the drive and on the plane.” He gently rubs my body with one hand.

Yea but that's all we'll be doing. I sigh. “Is that how you guys do it?”

He nods, “Mhm.”

“Why didn’t you just come out and tell me about the dreams?”

“That’s difficult for me to answer. Suffice it to say, I can’t. At least for now?”

“Is there more to all this then?”

Ashleigh nods.

The house begins stirring awake as the brothers go into the bathroom. Tiffa stumbles into the kitchen and starts the grinder for fresh coffee out of habit.

I close my eyes, enjoying the warmth of Ashleigh and the familiar sound of his heartbeat while everyone else wakes up.