Mikala's Passion (Pulse Series Book 2) (44 page)

Still seated deep within her, their intimate connection holding them in place, he pulled back enough that they sat gazing into each other’s eyes, lost in the moment. Mikala brushed back droplets of sweat trickling from Mason’s hairline with her palms and smiled. He leaned in for a kiss and whispered I love you against her lips. Her tongue licked across his lips as a tear ran down her cheek.

“Baby, what’s wrong, what’s with the tears?” Mason asked, capturing a tear on the tip of his finger and studying it.

No reply.

Lifting her chin so she had to look at him, he asked, “Sad?” and made a pouty face.

Mikala giggled, shaking her head and then nodded a yes.

Confused, he lifted her from the floor and carried her back to the kitchen setting her on the counter and handing her a board and marker.

Mikala blushed and wrote.
I couldn’t hear you cum.

Mason shook his head and laughed as he wrote.
But didn’t you feel me cum?

Yes.

I don’t understand.
He furrowed his brow.

There’s just something about the sound you make when you cum that tells me I’m enough for you.

Mason wrote.
Maybe this will convince you that you’re more than enough for me.

The board flew across the room and Mason clasped Mikala’s face in his hands and planted the most sensual, breathtaking, smoldering kisses of all time on her mouth until he pulled away and she was gasping for breath.

He cocked a brow and tipped his head, his smile one of great accomplishment when she grinned into his face and she fanned herself with her hand.

“Actually baby, I’ll never get enough of you,” he confessed, though she couldn’t hear a word he said.

He scooped her into his arms, made a beeline for their room and threw her onto the bed. He wiggled his brow and stroked his manhood until she held out her arms with heavy want in her eyes and he proceeded to make love to her three more times before the sun rose.

There was a time when the expression,
silence is golden
rang true. And there was a time when Mikala would have given her eye teeth for a bit of peace and quiet. But when you lived in a world of constant silence, it was anything but golden.

Mason left a note on the board in the kitchen with,
I’ll be gone a few hours, love you
, written in pink with a smiley face. Mikala stared at the words then wiped them away.

She sat at the kitchen window with a coffee, watching a truck delivering large boxes to the building at the back alley. The three men heaving them about were yelling with wild hand gestures and full belly laughs, and all the while it was inaudible to her.

It was the most frustrating, exhausting and truly exasperating thing, not to hear. It affected every part of her life. She hadn’t realized that without hearing there was no speech, fine for everyone else around her, they didn’t have to put up with her cursing, though that’s all she wanted to do.

Funny how other senses took over when one was missing. She could smell the hops from the beer each time a lid was popped from a bottle and she knew what the lunch menu was before seeing it each day, just by the smells wafting from the kitchen.

As she sat looking around the room, she played the memory game for each item. The clock hanging by the stove with its second hand counting away the time, that made an annoying tick for each second, it was now gone. The whoosh from the fan blades over her head, it was also gone and the iPod sitting in the docking station on the counter could have been playing at full volume, but she’d never know it.

Standing in the kitchen, she reached over and turned on the tap watching as the water poured from the spout onto the stainless steel sinks surface, it should have sounded like a small steel drum. She pushed the button on the dishwasher and watched as it came to life, she hit the power on the iPFod and turned the volume full. Even the timer on the stove as it wailed was silent. As if on a strange mission to hear something, anything, she plodded on through the apartment turning on whatever made sound. The vacuum came to life as the power head moved forward across the carpet all on its own, Maury Povich and his beeping tirade of guests appeared the TV screen and she watched the green line on the screen lengthen as she turned the volume full. The red rows of lights on the stereo danced up and down to the beat as it played, dancing higher as the volume increased. There was one thing she did notice though. With all the sounds came vibration, she could feel it in her feet. And when she touched her hand to the surface of the stereo, she felt its beat surge through her body to her chest, but even as she closed her eyes and imagined it, there was no sound.

In the washroom, she turned on the shower and stared at the water rushing from the rain head into the drain. She flushed the toilet watching the water swirl away. The hairdryer, her electric toothbrush and the water as it poured into the bathtub, all played on in a teasing hush.

She dropped to her knees beside the tub and allowed the flood gates to open, she was tired of crying but that’s who she was now, a huge sobbing mess.

***

“What the fuck?” Landon yelled.

The apartment overhead was roaring with noise, it had awakened him from a sound sleep. He raced up the stairs three at a time and burst through the door. He followed Mikala’s path of appliances and gadgets, turning each off. The tap running into the sink, and timer, the dishwasher and i-pod, the vacuum and stereo and TV, he silenced them all. Once he came to the washroom and found Mikala slumped on the floor, he understood, she was having a personal meltdown.

He turned everything in the bathroom off before walking over to the tub and turning the tap, startling Mikala when he did.

Landon smiled down at her and held out a hand. “Oh princess, what are we going to do with you?” he said, helping her to her feet. He sat on the tubs edge and offered her his lap, she sat and he rocked her gently while she sobbed into his t-shirt.

“My butt hurts, let’s go sit in the living room?” he said, lifting her into his arms and carrying her to the sofa.

There were notepads with a number of pens and pencils and colored markers with dry-erase boards all over the apartment, it wasn’t hard for Landon to locate one.

You’re very noisy this morning, what’s up?
He wrote.

I’m not going to apologize.

I did not ask you to.

Good.

You need to do something constructive with your time.

Like what.

I do not know.

Well genius you’re helpful.

I can leave.

No.

Princess, consider the pity party over.

Pity Party?
She wrote and raised her eyebrow to dramatically highlight her words.

You can’t hear, I get it, but you are being a nasty bitch with everyone.

Now I’m a bitch?

Yes.

Thanks.

UR welcome.

Is there anything else you’d like to say before I kick your ass?

Landon laughed.
Tough bitch.
He wrote.

You have a way of making me feel special.

You have friends remember?

I only need Mason.

What are you scared of, that we might find out you’re deaf?

I am deaf.

So.

She scowled.
So? So it sucks.

Sure it sucks, but life goes on. It’s not like your life is over.

It may as well be.

I could take you over my knee, you’re being selfish, life isn’t all about Mikala Santino, there are other people all around you that love you and you’re pushing them away with your self-pity bullshit.

Why don’t you leave?
She pointed to the door.

Because I care about you.

She cocked her brow and laughed.

You know what I think you should do?
He wrote.

What?

Write your wedding vows.

Duh! Not getting married, don’t need vows.

When you come down off that ivory tower of yours, remember a certain man named Mason hasn’t walked away, yet!

What does that mean?
She glared.

It means, Mason loves you, he hasn’t given up on you and he wants nothing more than you two to get married and get on with life.

As she started to write Landon put his hand over hers and wrote.
Write your vows.

He nodded with a smile and brushed his knuckles across her chin and tapped his fingers on the last words he wrote.

“See you later, princess,” he said, even though she wouldn’t hear. “Hopefully you come to your senses, sooner rather than later.”

As the door closed, Mikala rose to her feet and walked to the bookcase where she pulled out the latest copy of the Elisabeth Grace novel she was reading. She fanned to the center of the book and removed several loose pages. She made another coffee and sat at the kitchen table reading them over and over.

I don’t want mushy vows full of bullshit promises and endless what-I’ll-do-for-you’s.

I just want to tell you that I love you.

I love you because you love me.

Because you see me as no one else can and you accept me with all my flaws, my imperfections and my filthy mouth.

I look forward to the ups and downs.

The rainy days and lightning storms.

The times we may not agree and the fights over nothing.

I look forward to disappointments and struggling to get through tough times,

To battles for bathroom space and being woken up at crazy hours for no reason at all.

To dirty cups in the sink and the toothpaste squeezed from the middle.

To the good times and the bad, the happy and the sad,

I look forward to it all.

I love you simply because you are you,

Don’t ever change.

She laughed at the sight of her cell phone racing hysterically in a circle on the table. She looked at the screen and smiled at Mason’s face.

Do you miss me yet? I miss you! M.

It was then, that Mikala learned the full impact of her self-pitying behavior. His text was sent jokingly, but she could read the sadness written between the lines. He was holding onto whatever she gave him, which certainly wasn’t a lot these days, waiting like a desperate puppy for a pat on the head, just a bit of needed attention.

Come home soon,
she texted.

RU ok sugar is something wrong? M.

I’m ok, but something’s most defiantly wrong.

Baby ru sick, I’m on my way. M.

No Mason, I’ve just been very wrong.

I don’t understand ???

Nvrmnd. I will see you tonight when u get home. I love U.

I love U 2 sugar, u sure ur ok?

Mikala laughed as she texted back.
Get to back to work and btw I
do
miss you.

***

For the rest of the day, Mason checked his watch to the point of being ridiculous. His crew was getting pissed off with his lack of attention, he was allowing minor mistakes to get past his normally exquisite mind for detail and any mistake when it came to home security was a major one.

If he had said sorry once, he had said it a million times with each fuck up and finally made his excuse of a headache before leaving.

The drive was a killer as traffic crawled along the highway. An accident was the cause for the delay and as he drove past and noted how minor it was, he sat cursing the rubber-neckers who slowed to see, for making the drive that much longer.

Pulse was busy but the music wasn’t overly loud, a few people danced and a group of ladies, clearly a bridal thing by the one girl wearing a veil, hooted and hollered for Carl to bring another round.

“Right with you ladies!” Carl yelled, as Mason tried to sneak by. “Hey Mase, Mik wants you to bring this up with you.” He pointed to a pizza box and bottle of wine on the end of the bar.

“Thanks Carl,” he shouted, over the whistles from the bridal party as he watched Carl nearly get eaten alive when he brought them a tray of fancy cocktails.