Just a Game Ch. 04

She finally had to drop the vibrator and push it away, curling into a ball on her side as the aftershocks continued to shake her body. When she came to her senses she could hear herself making pitiful whimpering noises and took a deep breath to force herself to stop. The vibrator was still going strong somewhere near her foot and she reached down to turn it off and then dug through the sheets to find her phone.

"Gabe?"

"Welcome back." He sounded amused and she couldn't help giggling a little as she turned off the speaker and held the phone to her ear. "Damn, Cassie that was the hottest thing I've ever heard."

"Really?"

"I swear to God."

"Did I shock you?"

"I was definitely not expecting that."

"Did you come too?"

"Fuck yes I did."

"Good," she said, her voice coming out as a whisper. Suddenly she felt like crying despite the endorphin high, or maybe because of it. Her body felt over-sensitized and she closed her eyes and imagined him in bed with her, his body curled protectively around hers as he stroked her arms and back gently. "I miss you so much. I wish you were here."

"Aw babe, me too."

His voice was so soft and familiar in her ear that if she kept her eyes closed she could almost pretend he was really there. Cass felt silly for the tears that were welling up and she squeezed her eyes shut to stop them, but couldn't disguise the sniffle.

"Hey now, don't do that."

She tried to stop and catch her breath, but to her annoyance a few sobs escaped instead.

"Cassie baby, you're breaking my heart. What's wrong?"

"Sorry. I'm not...it's just I'm all shaky from...you know."

"I know, baby." He sighed deeply. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Hearing the words and saying them made her feel a little better. She wiped at her eyes with the corner of her sheet and sat up on the edge of her bed. "Can you come this weekend?"

"I wish I could, but we put a bunch of bear baits up today and I have to go out and check them on Saturday. I don't want to leave them up too long."

"You're catching bears?"

"No we don't trap them, it's just to get an idea of where they are. We dangle treats from trees in different places the forest and go back a few days later to see if any bears have tried to get at them. But if I leave them up too long they'll attract bears from further out and bring them in to where the people are. It's not safe."

"Oh." She tried not to let her disappointment come through in her voice, but it had been two weeks since they'd seen each other.

"What about the next weekend?"

"I have a dance competition in Birmingham. But my spring break starts the next weekend. If I can find a ride I could come see you." She brightened considerably at the idea of spending a whole week with him.

"Oh, um, I hate to say it, but Aaron's spring break is the same week and he's coming up-"

"You've got to be kidding me."

"I'm sorry babe, we've had it planned since before my mom's wedding. I guess I should have said something sooner, I just wasn't thinking about it. But there's no reason you can't come too. I'd bet he'd even give you a ride."

"You and me and my brother in a cabin in the woods is not my idea of a pleasant vacation. And as okay as he says he is with us being together I don't think it'd be very much fun for him, either."

"Invite Jill and Avery. We can make a big party out of it and they'd all distract each other enough that we could maybe get some alone time, too."

Cass considered it a minute and began to see the appeal of the idea. "That actually sounds like it could be a lot of fun."

"It would be. There's tons of stuff to do here and I've got some friends who'd love to come party with us."

"Okay," she said, a bright grin on her face. "I'll call Jill and Aves and see what they're doing and let you know."

"Cool. I'm actually kind of excited about this."

"Me too. I should go though. Grace is gonna be home soon and I should probably put on some clothes, not to mention hide the vibrator and fix my sheets."

"Alright," he said with a chuckle. "I'll call you tomorrow?"

"Okay. Love you."

"Love you too, baby. Bye."

Cass hung up and smiled to herself. Spring Break in the Chattahootchie...hiking, swimming, drinking, sneaking off with Gabe. Yeah, that definitely sounded like fun.