Fade to Black by M. Stratton Page B

was so warm. “Good morning. I was going to start the coffee.”
    “Let’s see. A sexy, beautiful woman
snuggled up with me, or coffee? Such hard decisions so early
in the morning.”
    “Little boys rarely let you sleep in.”
    “Big boys rarely let you sleep.” He nibbled
on her ear while sliding his hand down her hip.
    “Someone woke up all frisky.”
    His hand paused on her hip. “Frisky? I’m
not a damn cat.”
    Lily chuckled under her breath. “How about a big, frisky lion?”
    “I don’t think the word ‘frisky’ should
ever be used to describe me.” He dug his fingers into her hip, tickling her.
“Wouldn’t you agree?”
    Laughing, she said, “Oh… of course… what…
was… I… thinking?”
    “Exactly. Now let’s see what word we can come up with to better describe my manly
attributes.”
    “Cuddle-bear? Snuggle-bunny?” She laughed harder as he growled at her.
“What, you don’t like those?”
    “Awesome!” Leo’s voice called from the
hallway. He ran and jumped on both of them, wiggling and working his way
between them. “I win.”
    “What? How did you win?” Lily asked.
    “Just cuz. What’s for breakfast? I’m starving.”
    Lily slid off of the couch. “You always
are. How about you, my little frisky snuggle-bunny?” She jumped out of the way as Devlin just missed grabbing her.
    “Oh, I’m hungry. No doubt about that.”
    Lily turned around and looked at him; his
eyes burning with passion were locked with hers. Instantly her body responded
to him and she knew it was going to be a long time before she could have him.

 
    ~^~

 
    “Why do you keep looking at the clock?”
Devlin asked.
    “Because, Dory should be
here by now. She’s late,” Lily said as she started to
pace the room. Dory had called last night and wanted them all to get together
for lunch, even introduce her new girlfriend.
    “I wouldn’t worry, why don’t you give her a
call?”
    “I have been calling her, and texting. Nothing. This isn’t like her.”
    “You did say she has a new girlfriend.”
    “If it was anyone but Dory I’d have to
agree with you, but no, not her. Have you ever had that deep in your gut
feeling that something was wrong?”
    He shook his head, “No, no I haven’t.”
    “Well, that’s what I have now. You don’t
understand; I’ve known her forever, if she’s going to be late, which is rare,
you’ll always get a phone call. If you need her, she’s there for you. Hell,
when I went into labor with Leo she was at the hospital before my husband, and
she was two hours away! No, something’s wrong. I’ve got to see her.” She picked
up her keys, running down the stairs, not caring if Devlin was behind her or
not, thankful Leo was over at Billy’s playing this morning.
    The urge to get to Dory was clouding
everything and making her shake. She tried to open her car door but was unable
to. After the second attempt to get into her car, she was surprised when Devlin
took the keys from her hand. “Here, let me drive. We don’t need you in an
accident.”
    She looked at him with huge eyes. “Please
hurry.”
    Leading her around the car, he gently sat
her down and buckled her in. “I’ll do my best.”
    Sitting in silence, except to let him know
where to turn, she couldn’t keep her hands or legs still. Under her breath, she
kept muttering, “Please let her be okay, please let her be okay.”
    Once they skidded to a stop in front of
Dory’s house, she was off in a flash, running up to the front door. She turned
the knob and flung the door open, her heart racing and everything bad that could
possibly happen flowing through her mind. She fell to her knees when she got to
the kitchen as a scream retched from her body. “No, no, no!” she screamed as
she crawled over to her. “Please wake up, please be okay. Come on, Dory. Don’t
you do this to me. Devlin! Call 9-1-1.”
    With shaking fingers she attempted to find
a pulse. Looking at her open eyes, Lily knew in her head