Part 19
Home from shopping, Stormy headed straight to the kitchen to clean it while AJ took her bag up to their room. Despite being tired, she wasn’t quite ready to face AJ….alone. She knew he still had questions and so did she but being alone, in the house…THAT made her nervous and she didn’t understand why.
AJ came back down to find her and stood just inside the doorway of the kitchen watching her as she bustled around cleaning. Deciding he needed to reassure her again, he grabbed her by the waist when she came near him. Holding her with one arm, he took the plate from her and set it on the counter.
"Stormy, stop for a minute."
"No, Alex…I need to clean up this mess."
"The kitchen can wait. I have a mess I need to clean up first."
"What mess?"
AJ looked into her eyes, a beautiful sea of cobalt blue full of turmoil and confusion. Tenderly, he cradled her face in his hands. "Stormy, I know you’re scared and it’s okay. I’m scared too."
"You are?"
"Hell yes!! Look at my track record."
"At least you HAVE a track record. I’ve been out on two dates and they were pity dates that my friends set me up on."
"Pity dates? I can’t believe that. Pity dates are for the ‘dogs’, not beautiful women."
Stormy put her hands on his. "I didn’t talk, Alex…not a word. Guys weren’t interested in the ‘freak’ who would just sit in the back silent as the brick walls that she was trying to blend into."
"That’s not completely true. I thought it was incredibly sexy that you didn’t talk. Without saying a word, you stole my heart. Come on, leave the kitchen and let’s talk."
Stormy tried to protest, "But…"
"No buts!! I want us to work so we need to talk. These dishes have waited this long, they can wait a little longer."
Taking her hand, AJ led Stormy into the living room where they sat together on the couch facing each other. As she stared at the fabric, a stray piece of hair fell from her ponytail and AJ pushed it behind her ear.
With her hands in his, AJ started, "Tell me something. What has changed in the last twenty-four hours?"
"Ever…."
"And don’t say everything. That’s too easy. Tell me EXACTLY what has changed between us."
Stormy leaned against the cushions as he played with her fingers. "Well…. we’re living together."
"Have been for a week. Try again."
"You know my name."
"Your real name, yes, but you’ll always be my ‘Stormy’."
"You met my family and you know my story."
"Okay…anything else?"
Stormy grew silent for a minute, then said, "I told you that I love you."
"But has that changed? My feelings for you haven’t changed…except to get stronger."
"I don’t guess they’ve changed…except to get stronger, like yours."
"See, not EVERYTHING has changed. There’s no need to be nervous."
"I know that in my head…."
"But?"
"But I can’t help it. I can’t help wondering how I’m going to hold on to you if I don’t…." Stormy dropped her eyes from his gaze, a slow pale red creeping into her cheeks.
"If you don’t make love to me?" asked AJ tenderly.
Stormy nodded her head but didn’t say a word.
"Baby, listen to me. First of all, we will go at YOUR pace."
"But that’s not fair to you."
"Why not? We’ve slept together ever since you’ve been here. Have I done anything to start something?"
"No, you haven’t but you said you were waiting for me to say your name. I’ve done that."
"That doesn’t mean I’m gonna rush into a sexual relationship that you aren’t ready for. You’re the one who’s made the contact…wanted my arm around you or reached out to hold my hand. YOU are the one who came to me in my bed. Why?"
"Because I trusted you….wanted to be near you."
"I want that too, Stormy. My prayers were answered this morning…when you said my name and told me that you loved me. Now we can build a relationship…slowly….if that’s what you want."
"I do want that! I can’t explain why I’m so nervous, Alex. I trust you completely. I have since that first night, in your car, when you took me to the hospital. Your voice and your eyes were so gentle. I mean, I knew who you were, obviously, but actually being with you…it was different."
"Can I hold you while we talk?"
Stormy smiled and moved to sit with her back against AJ’s chest. Taking his hands, she wrapped his arms around her. "I wasn’t really looking for you that night. I was looking for Howie but you came out first."
"So you already knew about us?"
"Yeah…from Tabitha."
"But you were scared in the car."
"I had just come to and was confused. I wasn’t sure where I was or who had picked me up. Remember, I ran because I thought Ricky’s enemies were after me. When you told me who you were, I relaxed…sorta. I was still a little scared of you…because you DID have the ‘bad boy’ image but the way you held me and wanted to protect me….it was so sweet."
"What scared you at the hospital….with the nurses?"
"Ricky had told me not to trust anyone if I didn’t know them."
AJ thought about what she had said, then asked, "My mom…you weren’t scared of her."
"Not completely. You had told me about her and I’d seen pictures of her. I just wasn’t sure about having someone different here. I WAS uncomfortable at first because you two were arguing, like Ricky and Daddy use to and I didn’t want to be around that. I’d already lost my brother because of that kind of fighting. I didn’t want to lose someone else."
"Is that why you took off…when you walked in on us arguing?"
"Yeah."
"Would you have left if I hadn’t caught you?"
"I don’t know. I doubt it because I knew I would be safe here with all the security measures you have in place."
AJ grew silent again holding her close to him. It felt so right to have her in his arms and the empty feeling he’d had seemed to fade away. He didn’t care how long it took to be able to make love to her…as long as he had her that was all that mattered.
"Alex, why didn’t you tell me that you had seen the news report about me?" asked Stormy as she traced one of his tattoos.
"I was afraid that you would leave me," whispered Alex.
"Why?”
"No woman has ever accepted me the way YOU do. You knew me from the beginning with all my baggage. You listened to me tell you the stories about my addictions and the women. You knew all my faults and you still put your trust…your complete trust…in me and you didn’t want anything from me other than love."
"Your love is all I need," she said as she looked over her shoulder at him.
Leaning to her, he breathed, "You have that for as long as you’ll have me," as his lips touched hers. Softly, his tongue touched her lips and she parted them willingly. His tongue touched hers, tasting her and his own soft whimpers blended with hers. His fingers loosened the ponytail as they kissed, letting her hair fall around her shoulders. As he deepened the kiss, his fingers tangled in her hair holding her.
"Don’t ever think you aren’t good enough for me," soothed Stormy. "You deserve to be loved for you. You are a good man with such a big heart."
Stormy rested her head on his chest listening to his heartbeat as silence claimed them. He had calmed her nervousness and she was excited about what the future held for them.
After some time had passed, AJ asked softly, "Why don’t you want me to call you Danni?"
A smile spread over her face. "Ricky doesn’t even call me Danni.”
"Really?"
"Uh huh…he calls me Danielle…always has, even when I was little."
"Would you rather I call you Danielle?"
"No, I’m your Stormy but I guess when you introduce me, you’ll have to call me Danielle." Stormy tried to stifle the yawn but it escaped anyway.
AJ laughed, “I promise, just one more question.”
“I don’t mind. We’ve spent a week with you telling me everything about you. It’s time you heard everything about me.”
“Why don’t you like storms?”
Stormy grew silent and looked down as she began to play with the hem of his shirt.
“If you’d rather not talk about it, that’s fine,” assured AJ realizing that she was uncomfortable with the question.
“No, it’s something I didn’t want to tell my parents or Howie and Marcus. The night Ricky took off…he was going to take me with him but as we were leaving, a guy he knew and owed money to came after us with a gun. They got into a fight and the gun was dropped. I managed to pick it up so that this guy wouldn’t get it and shoot Ricky. He knocked Ricky down and started to stab him with the knife he had. I pointed the gun and pulled the trigger.” Stormy stopped to take a breath and AJ caressed her arm to reassure her that he was there. “Ricky took me back inside, told me NOT to say a word about it and he’d take care of everything. The best I can remember, the guy and the gun were never found. Storms remind me of that night and what I did.”
Her body was trembling now so AJ pulled her even tighter to his body. “I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t know.”
“You had no way of knowing, Alex.”
“So you really were suffering from post traumatic syndrome…like your mom said.”
“Yeah. I know now that it was self-defense but it doesn’t change the fact that I killed someone.”
AJ was at a loss for words so he just held her playing with her hair.
As he held her, Stormy began tracing the tattoos on his arm thinking about all that had happened. “You know…I don’t hate storms quite as much any more.”
“Why not?”
“Because I have you to hold me and you found me on a stormy night,” she whispered snuggling closer to him and yawning again.
AJ pressed a kiss into her hair as she closed her eyes. “I’ll make all the bad things go away,” he promised in a whisper that was never heard as Stormy fell asleep.
It had been a very eventful day all the way around and AJ welcomed the quiet once more. Slowly, he succumbed to sleep and they spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch in each other’s arms.
