“Eamon,” I beg, “please.”
Eamon
I don’t make her wait long before I’m plunging into her, buried to the hilt. Pulling back enough to drive deeply into her again, I continue thrusting harder and faster. She’s gasping and moaning—so close to coming. I press the pad of my middle finger to her clit and begin circling quickly. That’s all it takes for her to cry out her release. When I feel her inner walls contracting around me, I come again with a growl. Dragging us to the floor, I wrap my arms around her while we regain our breath, properly warmed up now.
“Wow…” Norah eventually murmurs. “That was intense.”
“You won’t find any complaints from me,” I respond.
“Mmmm,” she hums in agreement. “So. What about that trip?”
I kiss the top of her head, happy to spend all day every day like this if I could. The feel of her naked skin, covered in our sweat, pressed against mine is an aphrodisiac of its own.
“Right. Where do you want to go? And how long can you be away?”
“Can we do a week? Is that too long?” she asks.
“No, not at all,” I tell her. “Have you been to Avon? It’s a quiet place, very few people.”
“I haven’t been,” Norah answers. “Sounds perfect though. Let’s make it happen, Kennedy.”
We spend the rest of the evening planning our holiday and eating take-out. Once the rental is booked and the leftover food put away, Norah leads me to the bedroom. We love each other slowly, kissing, caressing, and tasting leisurely. We come simultaneously, foreheads pressed together, and eventually, drift off to sleep, limbs tangled together and blissfully sated.
I’m dreaming about being buried deep in Norah on the beach when my phone starts ringing. I reach for it intending to send the caller to voicemail so I can go back to my dream, but I pause when I see that it’s my Mam calling. It’s half past four in the morning. She knows the time difference and never calls at this time. My pulse starts to skyrocket.
“Mam,” I answer immediately, voice thick with sleep, “is everything okay?”
She’s crying frantically, and I think my heart stops. “What is it? What’s happened?”
I untangle myself from a sleeping Norah, careful not to wake her, and pad into the living room.
“Eamon,” my Mam cries, “it’s your sister.”
Fear grips me as I sink to the couch. “What’s happened to Caitlin?”
“They found her a few hours ago, barely breathing,” she tells me through sobs.
“Is she…alive?” I whisper, the words barely able to leave my mouth.
“They have her hooked up to so many machines, Eamon. She’s unconscious, and her blood tests show high levels of heroin. They’re worried about brain damage.”
“Fuck,” I mutter. “Was anyone with her?”
Sniffling, she says, “No, she was found behind one of the shops. The fella that found her thought she was…dead. I’m afraid that if he’d found her later, it would have been a reality.”
She breaks down sobbing again.God, Caity. My emotions are all over the place. I’m scared of losing my sister but angry at her for putting herself in this position to begin with. I’m also ashamed of ever loaning her money and overwhelmed with worry for my mother.
“I don’t know what to do,” she says, interrupting my thoughts. “I wish your Da were here. He’d know what to do.”
I rub a hand over my face, sighing heavily. I already know what I’m going to do, but I say, “Tell me what the doctors are saying.”
“Right now, it’s a waiting game,” she tells me. “They’re going to do all sorts of scans to see the extent of the brain damage, but they’re also concerned about organ failure. Given the amount of heroin in her body, it will be a miracle if she comes out of this unscathed. Oh, Eamon. Where did I go wrong with her?”
“Shhh, Ma,” I comfort her. “You didn’t do anything wrong with Caity. She knows what’s right and wrong. Her behavior doesn’t reflect the type of mother you are.”
“Do you suppose it’s because she had fewer years with your da? You were older and had more time with him. She was such a wee wan when he left us,” she cries.
My eyes prickle. I think of my Da often, but hearing Mam talk about him is painful.
