Faster We Burn

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    “Thanks for that. I wasn’t sure what they’d say about all this.” I motioned to the drawings that had stained my sheets a bit.
    “Anytime, sweetheart.” He took his clothes back off. “Now where were we?”

 
     
    Chapter Twenty-five
     
     
    Stryker
     
    Katie and I spent the next few hours alternating between getting closer and eating the rest of the ice cream Lottie had stocked up on, and sometimes combining the two, which was the most fun.
    “How long do you think it’s going to take to wash this off?” The marker had faded from her skin a little, but she was still a walking, talking canvas. “I would like to leave this room at some point and rejoin the world.”
    “Why? The world is so overrated.”
    “True, but I think our friends might like to see us.”
    I kissed her shoulder. “You, maybe. I’m fine with staying in this room with you forever.”
    “That would be a bit of an issue when the semester is over and summer break comes and we have to move out.”
    “We could hide in the ceiling and then wait until everyone left and only come out at night to get supplies. Like vampires.”
    “You have put way too much thought into this. But seriously, I need to shower. I need to…do something.”
    “I have something you can do.” I took my hand and slid it down her stomach.
    “Fine, if you want, you can come shower with me. I need someone who can reach my back.” She got out of bed, then put my hand on her waist.
    “I wish we could save it somehow,” she said.
    “Are you at all opposed to nude photography?” My phone sat on her desk, and I reached for it, turning it on.
    “I guess not, as long as these don’t end up somehow plastered all over the internet.” I was about to answer her when I saw another text from Ric.
    Enjoy it while it lasts .
    Katie was waiting for me to answer.
    “What’s up?”
    “Oh, nothing. Just…Trish, being Trish.” Fucking Ric. That was why I’d left my phone off.
    “You sure?”
    “Yeah, fine.”
    I looked back at her, putting a smile on my face. She studied me for a second, and I thought she was going to demand that I tell her, but then she smiled.
    “Where do you want me?” she said, posing and throwing her head back. God, she was stunning.
    I moved the blankets on her bed so she could lay out and took first pictures of her front, moving from her neck on down. I grabbed a lamp to give us better light and she struggled with trying to stay still. I couldn’t believe she was letting me do this, and then it hit me.
    She trusted me. Not only did she love me, but she trusted me.
    Fuck.
    She trusted me enough to let me take pictures of her naked and keep them on my phone and not share them. That meant she probably trusted me to not fuck anyone else. Too late.
    I took the pictures of her back and her hands and finally, the bottoms of her feet.
    “Done.”
    I kissed them and she squirmed.
    “Shower?”
    “Only if I can come,” I said, making her squirm again as I dug my finger into the arch of her foot.
     
    ***
     
    I wrapped her up like a mummy and made sure the coast was clear before we hit the shower. The handicap shower, which was bigger, was known as the ‘couples’ shower’, she said, and more than a few couples had partaken in water conservation.
    “Is it working?” She said as I scrubbed her with her most exfoliating soap and this loofah thing she’d brought.
    “Sort of.” I rubbed harder and her skin turned red, but there was still a little bit of the drawing left behind. She was busy working on her front, checking her arms and stomach to see if it had faded.
    “You know, you could have just kept it. Would have come off eventually.” I ran my hand down her back and touched her, sliding one finger into her.
    She made an incoherent sound and I dropped the loofah.
    “Maybe we just need a little more friction,” I said.
    “Mmmm,” she said, bracing herself on the shower wall.
    By the time we were done, the pounding water had taken care of most of the drawings.
    “Too bad neither of us has a tub, because a good soak would have probably taken care of this, but it wouldn’t have been as much fun,” I said, pushing her back up against the wall as the water poured down on our heads.
    “True,” she said, putting her hand on my heart. “I love you.”
    “I love you, too.” So much that I wasn’t sure if I could take it, if I could handle how I felt about her. I pressed my forehead