Chapter 19

Rabbits.

If one animal could be used to describe the way Sookie and I acted around each other, it was a rabbit.

Because we fucked just like them and it was fantastic!

I swear to God, she touched my dick more than I ever had. Every day was like I was coming home from fighting a war and no sooner was I through the door than she was on her knees, thanking me for my service by servicing me. Instead of my norm of being taunted by the near full box of condoms still in my nightstand, our roles had been reversed. My new normal was that now I was the one taunting them.

Because we fucked all the time without them and it was fucking fantastic!

Literally.

By the end of our first official week as boyfriend and girlfriend Sookie was practically living with me. I marked the occasion with flowers – I wouldn’t be caught short on that again – and then she marked my back with her fingernails when we celebrated on the kitchen counter while our dinner burned in the oven. If fucking each other had been a crime, we would’ve been convicted in a heartbeat. We left trace evidence everywhere.

And did I mention it was fantastic?

I was happy. She was happy. And we weren’t the only ones who noticed we were happy.

Chow quizzed me left and right, wondering out loud why I was smiling all of the time. He didn’t believe me when I finally told him I had a girlfriend. And when I insisted I wasn’t joking, he asked if I’d met her on Facebook and started calling me Manti Te’ric.

His belief in latex glove fairies wasn’t the only reason he could be called an asshole.

But he was the one who nearly died from heart failure when Sookie walked into my office later on that day and pounced on me, not realizing he was in there too. It marked the first time in our relationship where she had been the one wearing a blush while I wore a shit eating grin.

It too was fantastic.

Of course we didn’t have sex all the time. We talked all of the time too. Sometimes even while having sex.

That was really hot.

But if we couldn’t be in the same room, one of us either called or sent a text to let the other know we were thinking of them. It was a relationship dynamic I had always wondered about after seeing firsthand how Madden’s wife had him on a very short leash. Rightfully so, considering he had a reputation for having a wandering eye, but even so I  thought it would feel suffocating to have to be glued to my cell phone at all times. But it turned out it didn’t feel smothering at all. I knew I didn’t have to check my phone every five minutes and when work beckoned, I didn’t. We each had jobs that meant we would be busy doing other things where it wasn’t practical or even possible to answer a call or text. Which was why it always felt all the sweeter whenever I did get to hear her voice or read a text from her. And as much I loved reading about the dirty things that were on her mind at any given time, my favorite text had to have been when she told me what happened with Alcide.

The day after the fire he had gone back to the station and told everyone about Sookie and me. Only in his version of the events and how they unfolded that night, we had been sitting in a tree, K I S S I N G.

Sookie may have said we weren’t twelve, but I wasn’t so sure about Alcide.

She’d laughed along with him at first because she was a good sport. But when he wouldn’t let it rest, by the end of the second week, Sookie decided she’d had enough. She repaid him by leaving a beer bong on his desk (to help facilitate him mastering the art of fast paced swallowing) along with a bunch of bridal magazines.

And she’d waited to do it right when she knew his girlfriend would be stopping by.

Apparently Debbie had seen the magazines before Alcide even had a chance to get back to his desk and she automatically assumed the beer bong was for his future bachelor party. Every day since then she had been stopping by the station and using her bare fingered left hand to gesture at everything at every opportunity.

But it wasn’t his ring finger that Alcide had taken to showing Sookie whenever she snickered from her desk watching the two of them.

Sookie laughingly told me she actually feared for her life when she – accidentally-on-purpose – dropped a folder at his feet while he and Debbie were standing in the hallway. He automatically knelt down to pick it up and Debbie squealed out loud thinking he was about to propose.

And according to Sookie, his deer in the headlights look was fantastic!

The only thing that wasn’t fantastic was, knowing I was still holding something back.

Not accidentally. It was absolutely on purpose.

I wanted to tell Sookie about my curse. I really did. Keeping it from her was the only thing about our relationship that felt wrong. I felt like a fraud for allowing either one of us to get in any deeper with each other without revealing my quirk, but I never found the right time. The right words. I’d hoped Corbett or Kevin would be able to track down Dawn. That Naked Zack or his trusty sidekick Bro would turn up again. To find out what had been done to her so it would give me the opening to tell Sookie about me, my curse, and I, but they hadn’t been found.

And with every uneventful update from the paranormal pair, I didn’t know what I felt more. Frustrated or relieved I’d been spared for at least one more day.

But it helped being able to go home to Sookie and work out my frustrations with her in my bed, so we both could find a different kind of relief. And as great as it was, sex on a daily basis with her wasn’t the only perk that came with being in a relationship with Sookie.

My official boyfriend status came with my own official seat at the Stackhouse dining room table for their weekly family dinners. Not only was her Gran’s cooking better than anything I’d ever tasted, but it was fun family entertainment all around watching Jason mope around like he was a dead man walking thanks to his forced grounding. Even Adele found it amusing and would flash us a wink and a smile when he wasn’t looking, while using a stern edge to her voice telling him he should be grateful and maybe it was a sign from God that keeping his privates private was a good thing.

So Jason waited until she was in the kitchen to bitch privately that God didn’t give him balls only so they would turn blue. Now that I was consistently worshipping at the altar of Sookie, I couldn’t disagree with him.

I’d also been invited to tag along a few more times to visit Sookie’s mother and I enjoyed those as well. But I could tell Sookie was still apprehensive, waiting for me to freak out whenever Michelle started to talking to an empty chair. Being the good husband he was, Corbett was usually there and would take a seat in it, actually answering her back even though I was the only one who could hear him. It was sweet, in a sad sort of way.

And while I could tell Michelle liked me, Sookie’s Gran – dare I say – loved me. Maybe even more than Sookie whatever-she-felt about me, but I was okay with that. I was a patient man. A patient and petrified little bitch of a man. Because while I may have already figured out I was in love with her, I’d sure as hell kept that to myself too.

After all, it just seemed like one more thing that could possibly scare her off. I had enough to deal with as it was.

It was during the weekly family dinner at Adele’s house on the day after our official one month anniversary (Sookie was still walking a little funny and I was still smiling about it), when another relationship perk made itself known.

“Are you both coming up on Saturday for the fair?” Adele asked.

Fair? There was going to be a fair? Where I could be tortured by Sookie, watching her do sinful things to a candied apple?

A cotton candy covered Sookie…

“Sure,” I spoke up immediately and glanced over at Sookie’s smiling face. “We don’t have any other plans, do we?”

That was another relationship dynamic I was quick to fall in line with. Having to ask someone else for their opinion before I automatically made plans.

I was okay with that too.

“That depends,” she replied before turning her suspicious eyes towards Adele. “Are you entering their annual bake-off?”

“I am,” she smiled back. “I think my pecan pie has as good a shot as any this year.”

“Oh. Well then.” She let out a tinkling laugh and added, “I’ll be there with bells on.”

And if I had my way, not long after that my little Tinkerbelle would be wearing nothing but cotton candy.

That Saturday we got to Bon Temps a little after four in the afternoon. We planned on staying the night at Adele’s house since Sookie was sure we’d both be beat by the time it was over. She was also sure her Gran would expect us to sleep separately, but that was okay with me.

Corbett could get into that house just fine and the cotton candy would keep until the next day when we got back to my place where he couldn’t.

The fair looked to be in full swing, with the entire town in attendance, and Sookie seemed to know each and every one of them. Walking through the crowd hand in hand was like something out of a dream. A dream I’d never allowed myself to have because I never thought I’d find someone who would want to attach themselves to me.

Literally or figuratively.

Maybe Sookie was actually a unicorn.

I’d lucked out that she hadn’t caught me talking to anyone who she couldn’t see too, but I knew it was only a matter of time. I even had another reminder of that fact when we’d stopped for gas after getting off the interstate and I’d been forced to watch Maudette’s final moments over and over again while I was waiting to pay for ten gallons of unleaded.

I wanted to tell her. I needed to tell her. Hoped to convince her I wasn’t crazy and that I could actually see dead people, all the while hoping she wouldn’t run off screaming into the night.

I’d gone running with her on more than one occasion. She was quick on her feet and didn’t get winded easily. I’d never catch her.

But I also had to consider if she did believe me, I would also be forced to admit Michelle couldn’t really see Corbett. I wouldn’t outright lie to her, so I would be forced to destroy whatever hope she had that her mother wasn’t ill.

And I wasn’t looking forward to it. Any of it.

I was pulled from my inner debate by the sound of a gruff voice, huffing out, “Stackhouse. Come to see the little people? Shreveport not doing it for you anymore? Or are you just here to keep an eye on your violent offender of a brother?”

Given his uniform, I guessed him to be Kevin’s replacement. He was big and burly, but not like Alcide was. Alcide’s girth came from time spent on a weight bench. This guy’s appeared to have come from one of the kegs at Merlotte’s.

And I’d guess it to be sour beer given the look on his face.

“Roscoe,” she nodded towards him with a glare of her own. “I’ve come to visit my hometown and spend time with my family. Unlike you, I don’t need a gun strapped to my side to prove I can hang with the big boys. And since I don’t want to give my brother any reason to actually commit a crime, I won’t tell him what you said so he’ll be forced to beat your ass like it’s freshman year football tryouts all over again. Now why don’t you just run along and go find Boss Hog. If you’re lucky, he’ll choke on a corn dog and you can finally be the big fish in this little pond.”

She didn’t wait for any kind of verbal reply, seemingly satisfied by his nonverbal cues she had gotten to him. His screwed up beet red face was response enough for her to pull me along with her when she started walking again. Sookie waited for us to get out of earshot from him before grumbling, “I always hated that asshole.”

Recalling our second trip to Bon Temps together right after Maudette’s murder, I finally put all of the pieces together and asked, “That’s the guy who got hired over you?”

“Roscoe P. Coltrane,” she nodded. “AKA Andy Bellefleur. His family history in Bon Temps goes back as far as ours does, but he’s always been snooty. Him and his sister Portia. Like they’re better than everyone else. I’m sure he danced a little jig when he got the job over me since he’s still bitter about Jason beating him out for the first string quarterback spot back in high school. It didn’t help his ego any that Jason was two years behind him, but it certainly helped their winning record. He gets his attitude from his grandmother Caroline, who he still lives with. She hides it better and is always polite when she speaks, but she carries an air of superiority around with her.” Smiling wider, she added, “Apparently she’s been blessed with unscented defecation.”

“That’s handy,” I laughed, but before I could say anything more we ran into Jason.

Or rather, he ran into Sookie in a childish attempt to knock her down.

She’d let go of my hand and used his momentum to have him underneath her with his arms pinned behind his back before I could say cotton candy.

It was still at the forefront of my mind.

“When are you gonna learn?” she laughed.

“Never,” he snorted, while struggling to free himself. “I’ll never accept my baby sister can hand my ass to me.”

Funnily enough, I accepted and even expected her hands to be on my ass.

“I’m surprised you’re actually here, messing with me when you and your God given blue balls are finally out of lockdown,” she huffed, trying to keep him underneath her.

“I’m out on work release,” he huffed back before trying to free himself by bucking her off of him. “Geez Sook, you put on some weight?”

Only by a few ounces.

We were sure to try and get our fill of each other before heading to Bon Temps, so she was full of my cum.

It was, perhaps, the only downside to no latex.

He earned a punch to the back of his thigh for his snide remark, so he finally gave up struggling and said, “Gran said I might get an early parole if I behaved when I drove her over here.”

Sookie released him and they were still getting up from the ground and brushing the dirt away when I felt another hand loop through my arm. Looking down I saw Adele glaring at the two of them as she said, “I wouldn’t expect any calls from the governor any time soon,” before she turned to me and whispered conspiratorially, “Maybe if we keep walking and act like we don’t know them, no one will know we’re actually with those two knuckleheads.”

“We can try,” I smiled and led her away. We both ignored the sounds of laughter, intermingled with slaps and punches being thrown behind us, while I escorted the eldest Stackhouse to the tent where the baking contest would be judged.

And her age wasn’t the only reason why she was the most mature of the bunch.

But I actually liked Sookie’s playful nature. Given what she was forced to deal with thanks to the nature of her job, I was impressed she didn’t let it affect her all that much. She had her prim and proper side when it was warranted. And she definitely had her badass side which I liked very much, but I liked that she still had a childlike carefree spirit. It wasn’t something I’d ever been able to have, but by being with her I finally got to experience what it was like. It was one of the things I loved most about her.

Not that she would know because I was still too chicken shit to say the words.

Once Adele was settled and became engrossed in a conversation with one of the members of her club, Sookie pulled me away. We ended up walking hand in hand, silently circling the fairgrounds, and I could tell she had something on her mind, so I waited for her to say it.

Like I said. I was patient.

On our first loop around I noticed Rene in the crowd. He was there with his sister along with whom I assumed must be his girlfriend Arlene and her two kids. When he caught me looking at them, his eyes got just a fraction harder, but he still managed to smile and nod before looking away again.

Weirdo.

On our second loop around the crowd I saw Sam Merlotte. He’d set up a small tent selling sodas, beer, and sandwiches, but when he saw me with Sookie, the look on his face told me mayo wouldn’t’ be the only thing coating my sandwich if I dared to order one from him.

Thanks. But no thanks.

On our third loop around I noticed Bill Compton talking to a dark haired woman I hadn’t seen before when Jason seemed to appear out of thin air next to them. Seeing his flirtatious smile directed towards her and the grimace on Compton’s face, I chuckled and nudged Sookie saying, “He’s at it again.”

I was certain Sookie would feel compelled to go and pull him away. Or at the very least, Justin Timberlake him and put his dick in a box.

A locked one.

So I was shocked when she stopped walking and turned to stand so that she was facing me with her back to them. The fear in her eyes made my mouth start to open so I could ask her what was wrong. Or offer to go and tackle Jason myself if that was what she was afraid of, when she halted my unspoken suggestion – that would likely only result in me needing medical attention – by blurting out, “I love you.”

She…what?

She chewed on her lower lip while I chewed over her words, with my eyes darting around looking for the ghost of Ashton Kutcher thinking I must be getting punk’d, when she said, “I know we haven’t been together for very long. It’s only been a month and I know you’ve never been in a relationship before and I don’t want to scare you off, but I’ve known for a while and I can’t hold it in anymore. You’re so great. A great person, not to mention great in bed, but you put up with my dipshit brother and you don’t look at my mother like she’s crazy. And you’re sweet with my Gran who’d probably give me a run for my money if she were fifty years younger. You’re kind and smart and sexy and you’re not put off by my job or try and act like an overbearing ass like you have to prove something because I carry a gun. You’re just perfect really and I just had to tell you.”

I was still stunned silent. Silent for long enough that she looked even more nervous and dropped her gaze, adding, “I don’t expect you to say…”

That’s as far as she got because my lips landed on hers, cutting off what was sure to be her ridiculous notion that I didn’t love her back. Ridiculous because I’d known I loved her an hour into our official relationship.

Not that we were keeping score.

When the catcalls from the passersby got loud enough to intrude on our in-lovely little world, I pulled back and looked her in the eye. Finally admitting out loud one of the many things that had been plaguing my thoughts where she was concerned by saying, “I love you too.”

“Really?” she asked, still looking apprehensive. “It’s okay if you don’t. I mean I don’t want you to feel like you have to say it back to me. I know it’s early on and I’m your first girlfriend. I’d just be happy if you didn’t leave me standing here in a cloud of dust and take off for the hills after I dumped that on you out of nowhere.”

“I’m not just saying it to make you feel better,” I softly smiled, hoping to reassure her. “I felt it on the night you agreed to be my girlfriend and that feeling has only gotten stronger with every passing day.” Wrapping my arms around her, I tilted my forehead to rest on hers and looked into her eyes, saying, “I love you Sookie Stackhouse. Dipshit brother and all.”

A happy, if not relieved, expression lit up on her face as she chuckled, “And that is one of the many reasons why you’re so perfect.” She rubbed her body against mine, tempting me into a public indecency charge, and said, “But I’m a dipshit too. I’m the one who told Gran we would be staying with her tonight and then waited until we were surrounded by a town full of people to tell you I love you. There’s nowhere for us to go and celebrate.”

She was right. Not about being a dipshit, but celebratory in-love-fucking would have to wait.

I wasn’t so sure I was that patient.

It turned out Sookie wasn’t feeling all that patient either. We managed to make it through the judging contest. Adele won first prize with her pecan pie and after having enjoyed it on more than one occasion, I wasn’t at all surprised. But apparently everyone else was. Her win was considered a big upset because Roscoe’s grandmother always won with her chocolate cake recipe and Sookie told me later on her Gran beating Caroline Bellefleur felt better than if she had won the job over Roscoe.

And then she tested my already proven for-shit willpower by furtively stroking the front of my pants and whispering about God’s plan and how she never would’ve met me otherwise.

I couldn’t say what God’s plan was. Mine was finding a dark corner where we could make in-love all night long.

Jason had disappeared soon after the winners were announced, I assumed with the brunette I’d spotted him stealing from Compton earlier, but he’d at least left Adele’s car behind so she wasn’t stranded.

And we weren’t forced into driving her home.

Sookie told her we still wanted to hang around for a bit, but as soon as Adele’s tail lights had cleared the parking lot, she was pulling me back towards my car. We went at it in the front seat like a couple of teenagers until Roscoe hit the siren on his patrol car as he passed us by. I was guessing he didn’t see the way Sookie chose to acknowledge his cockblock with her one finger salute, but she had me drive to a secluded spot on the other side of town where we could be alone.

And celebrate.

In my backseat.

Not quite all night long, but it was close enough.

And I was happy. So happy that I doubted there was anything that could take the smile from my face. Sookie loved me.

What more did I need?

It was hours later by the time we got back to the farmhouse, but seeing Adele outside pacing on the front porch, I suddenly felt like an asshole. She must have been worried about us being gone for so long if she was still up at that hour. Sookie didn’t look too worried about it, so I thought maybe it was something Adele always did whenever she stayed over. But just as I was pulling to a stop to park on the side of the house, I stopped the question my lips were in the process of forming.

Because in that moment, Corbett walked out of the house. Not that it was unusual to see him there, but what was unusual was the fact Adele seemed to be able to see him too.

I only knew for sure when they hugged one another.

And seeing them, I then knew something else for sure.

Sookie was already climbing out of the car and it took a second for the shock to wear off, with the dread already building in the pit of my gut, when Corbett looked to me in a panic and yelled, “Stop her from going inside!”

“Sookie!” I called out automatically. “Wait!”

My feet had carried me forward and I grabbed onto her arm before she could reach the porch steps. Not knowing what was waiting for us both on the porch and inside the house, she smiled back at me saying, “You can’t possibly want another round in the backseat. And you can’t possibly think if we did I’d be quiet enough to not wake Gran. I’d probably wake up the entire cemetery.”

Adele’s eyes went wide, either from hearing her granddaughter’s admission or the fact I knew they were there, while Corbett still looked horrified. But his next words told me it had nothing to do with what Sookie had said.

“Don’t let Sookie go in there,” he pleaded. Glancing back at Adele, he looked both loving and furious as he added, “Momma didn’t die peacefully in her sleep.”