Chapter 226

#Chapter 226 – Midnight “So, what do we do now?” I ask, sighing and looking up at Victor.

He shoots me a little look that says, plainly enough, how the hell should I know. I just grimace and tuck the note into my own back pocket, taking his hand.

“Well,” I mutter, trying to lean into the hopeful state that the day in the cabin gave to me. “I guess if the forest took the magic away…it thinks we can survive without it?”

“That assumes that the magic is on our side in the first place,” Victor points out. “And isn’t just luring us out here so that we can…be eaten or something.”

I can’t help but laugh a little at this, imagining that this whole thing was some kind of absurd setup so a huge bear could leap out of the woods and consuming us whole or something. And then I c**k my head to the side, wondering why on earth I think that’s funny.

“I guess would be a great deal of effort,” I consider aloud, “to bring us all the way out here just to eat us now. If the forest was going to kill us, it could have done it ages ago.”

“Maybe it’s a witch,” Victor continues, smirking down at me, “and she just wanted to get our kids in that cabin. Fatten them up a little.”

I wrap my arms around his waist and smile up at him, grateful for his subtle little sense of humor that keeps me from tipping into gloom, even in our darkest moments. “Well, good luck with that, witch,” I call out to the forest. “They already eat enough for an army, and they’re still bean poles!”

Victor smirks down at me, running his thumb along the length of my cheek. “They’ll get bigger someday. Big hulking teenage wolves, draping themselves all over your living room furniture.”

“No,” I reply, frowning and shaking my head. “I’ve decided to keep them small. I don’t want big brutes like you for sons, I want little pocket-sized sons. As soon as we get home, I’m starting a regiment of coffee and cigarettes for them to stunt their growth.”

He laughs and pulls me close, lowering his head to rest his lips against my hair. We stay that way for a moment, denying our reality, just taking comfort in each other’s warmth.

But after a moment, we can’t deny it any more. What are we gonna do, Evie? He asks, placing the words in my mind.

“I don’t know,” I respond out loud, pulling my head back from its place on his chest and looking up at him. “I guess…the forest was telling us to trust our instincts yesterday. What are yours telling you to do now?”

He looks around the beautiful grove, considering. “Well,” he replies after a moment, “It doesn’t feel wrong to be here, but the note said the falls are too far. So, let’s go back a little. See what we find.”

I nod, agreeing, happy to follow his lead. Victor gives me an extra little squeeze and then unwraps his arms from their place around my shoulders, letting me go. He keeps a hold on my hand, though, as we turn and walk back through the forest.

I start to notice it now more, the wilderness through which we walk. On our trip towards the falls I had been concentrating on watching the magic flow through the trees. But now, with the absence of that distraction and its light, I truly start to notice the beauty of this place.

The blue moonlight filters through the trees, lighting up a valley of ferns. Pretty little silver toadstools peek through the greenery wherever they can, and vines with tiny white flowers cling to tree bark, working to bring their blooms closer to the sky.

“Wow,” I murmur. “It’s so beautiful here…”

“I know,” Victor replies, and I can tell that he’s likewise moved by the sight of it. “Do you want to…stop here? For just a minute?”

“Yes,” I respond, my answer coming almost instantly. It just feels…right.

So, we do. In the little grove of trees, acting completely on impulse, we stop. Victor goes further, lowering himself to the ground with a great exhalation of breath. I join him there, but am surprised when he lays fully out on the ground, closing his eyes and putting a hand behind his head.

“What are you doing?” I whisper, laughing a little. “Shouldn’t we be…looking for something? Or someone, or her or whatever?”

“No,” he murmurs, reaching for my wrist and tugging me closer to him. “I already found her. I’m good.”

I laugh and take advantage of the opportunity that Victor presents to me, swinging one leg over his body and straddling him, settling my rear comfortably on his hips and resting my hands on his belly.

Victor smirks and then opens one eye, peaking up at me. “What are you doing?” he asks.

“Don’t worry about me,” I murmur cheekily, stretching my arms above my head and making sure Victor has a full view of me as I pretend I don’t realize precisely how raising my arms likes this presses my ass more fully against him. Victor takes the bait, as I knew he would, his eyes opening fully and flashing a bright green as he moves his hands to grasp either side of my hips.

“Evelyn,” he growls. I can feel him growing thick beneath me and I grind my hips harder against him.

“Don’t try to play coy with me, trying to get me all worked up just because you’re bored. I’ll call your bluff and throw you down right here in the dirt -”

I laugh and lean forward further, moving my hands from his stomach to his chest so that my belly is flat against his. I keep moving my hips, though, teasing him. “No, you won’t,” I reply lightly. “You’re a clean boy. You don’t like to get dirty.”

“Oh?” he asks, riled. He raises himself to his elbows, bringing his face closer to mine and raising an eyebrow. “Are you accusing me of being vanilla?”

“No,” I say, slowly shaking my head, allowing my hair to fall into my face just a little. “I just think that you’re the kind of guy who…would rather have s*x on nice clean sheets. Instead of the forest floor.”

He scrunches his nose, replying with his knee-jerk first thought. “Well come on, Evelyn, that’s just good hygiene –“

I laugh, sitting up and pressing my hands harder against his chest, pushing him back down to the floor.

“See?” I say, grinning at him. “You’re all clean.”

“And you’re what,” he says, disgruntled. “Dirty? Come on, Evelyn,” he says, shaking his head. “The minute your bare ass touched dirt, you’d be shrieking and jumping off the ground –“

“Well,” I interrupt, c*****g my head to the side. “That’s why I’m on top.” Then, slowly, teasingly, I start to unbutton the top of his shirt.