Chapter 148: Waking Worries

When morning came and Summer's eyes opened it took only a few moments for her to recall the previous days events. The horrible realization that everyone had moved on without her, formed new relationships without her. Crumbling is what she would call her life at that moment.

Then her mind travelled, crossing over the dazed, teary walk back to the bullhead station. The twenty minute ride from Patch to Vale proper and her trek all the way to the hotel Parc had booked for himself and the girls. It was blurry and lacked detail but it was clear enough for her to know exactly what had happened.

And when it got to the point of her arriving before Parc's door and how she practically lunged onto him, forcing her lips onto his. Even the frantic undressing that followed and the way he went down on her. The ghostly feeling of his tongue probing her depths and the slight suction he gave her clit still lingering in a foreign portion of her mind.

'Oh god what have I done!?' Summer sucked her lips into her mouth. Her eyes wide as she lay on her side, her hands laying limply before her though one clinging tightly to a rough, slightly darker hued appendage to her own. Beneath her she could fell another hand holding onto her bare body pressing her into the warmth producing Parc. Her mind was in panic mode wishing to coil into a ball in guilt for what she'd done with a boy over less than half of her own age younger.

Her head remained still but her eyes darted about searching for an escape but Parc's hold on her was too strong… too… comforting. 'Dammit Summer! Really!?' she screamed internally 'with a boy old enough to be Yang's boyfriend!?' just the idea of Yang drew her to a sharp, downtrodden hiss as the memory of overhearing Tai and that Mauve woman's engagement only resounded like gongs in her ear.

It brought along with it another pang of guilt, not for Parc and what she had done to him. But for her daughters, she was free from that island, free to go home to see her daughters and yet she ran away and left them without knowing she was alive. And with them heading off to Beacon in a few hours she wasn't going to get the chance to for weeks, months even.

It brought another tear to her eyes; one she couldn't wipe away from Parc's hold on her. 'Stop it Summer, you've been waiting ten years. Another few months isn't bad,' didn't stop her from sniffling and swallowing down the flem it produced.

"You're not very good at pretending to be asleep," Parc voice resonated in a soft whisper from behind her.

Her breath hitched, her heart feeling like it had skipped a beat.

"I-I wasn't pretending to be asleep."

Parc's hand unfurled, his fingers loosening from her own with his arm raising to bring his hand to her cheek and wipe away her tears. His other kept beneath her curled around her waist while gently stroking his thumb across her side. "You're also not very good at lying." When the tears were gone he went to stroke a strand of hair back over her head. His body lifting enough that he could bring his face beside hers, "and you don't need to." Puckering his lips, he plastered a single lengthy kiss on her cheek before retracting back down onto his pillow.

It was abundantly apparent to him that Summer's cheeks had flared to a bright red from the action. Not just from the smoke practically gushing from her ear but also from how nearly every inch of her body against his had heated.

Were he able to see Summer's expression he would see her eyes darting every which way, her lips practically gone and sucked into her mouth unsure of what to do after that. When her mind began to calm down—an action that took a considerable amount of minutes—she had found it within herself to force herself to flip and turn herself to face Parc directly. Staring him in the eyes, hers watery while his were soft, caring with his lips also curled up slightly.

"Did… did you know?" she questioned; her voice shaky.

Parc nodded immediately, "I saw him walking past the restaurant we were at yesterday. Sorry I didn't tell you."

Summer's jaw trembled, her teeth nearly chattering as she curled slightly into a ball, "it's… it's fine… I don't think I would have believed you if you told me." As her head tilted down, she was able to catch a glimpse at Parc toned body, though his faintly outlined musculature was not what took her attention but the sheer, hair raising amount of small and large scars dashing his body.

Once again, her breath hitched, the sight was too horrible for a boy is age. He was too young to have had these types of wounds. One of her hands reached out and her finger came to trail along a set of three scars cutting across from his should down to his belly, all three looking to have been inflicted at the same time or just moments apart from each other.

"Got those from a psychopath," he spoke drawing Summer to quickly pull her hand away and look to his eyes. "His name was Zank the beheader. Crazy bastard," flipping onto his back he put his only free hand beneath his head and stared into the ceiling, the blanket dropped to barely cover his lower half as he pulled his leg up. "Had a bunch of voices in his head that made him go insane. Eventually it got to the point where the guilt he'd wracked up from all the people he executed and their voices speaking in his head got loud enough that he finally broke and went on a murderous rampage. His M.O, beheading his victim."

Parc chuckled recalling the memory feeling simultaneously a faint itching feeling across the scars. "He was actually planning on me being his next target. And well, considering I'm still alive and he's not, it didn't go very well for him."

Silence reigned for a few breaths before Summer mumbled out, "I'm sorry," her finger trailing across the scar. It was the only thing she could think to say. Sorry.

"Don't need an apology for something you had no part in. Me dealing with Zank was part of the plan, or well, finding him was part of the plan. Getting sashimied by the bastard wasn't. though, to use your own word, sorry things didn't work out as you'd hoped."

The lump at the back of her throat only grew larger when he said that, "I… I was being delusional. I didn't want to believe that Tai would just up and find someone new. I spent so long on that rock with only the thought of him and my family keeping me sane that I didn't even think about the what ifs. What if he moved on? What if Ruby didn't remember me? What if they wouldn't take me back? Now I won't know for who knows how much longer."

"Why do you say that? Ruby and Yang are close by and Tai, yes, while he may have someone new, he's still there, he's still the father of your daughter. So while he may not take you back as his wife, he wont abandon you."

"No, Parc," Summer whined her expression growing strained, "it's… Tai, he… he would leave that woman to be with me. I just know it, he would do anything to make Ruby happy. She called her 'the best not-mom in the world.' Tai would do everything to give her the best REAL-mom in the world. Even if it means breaking up his engagement with that woman. I… I don't think I could live with myself if I did that to him. I don't want to be a homewrecker, not when he just gets engaged."

Parc kept his lips sealed and solemnly stared at the ceiling for a breath before turning to look her in the eyes. "Then what about Ruby and Yang? Would you want to meet them and not Tai? Just let Tai and that woman have their time before showing yourself after the festivities?"

Wiping a bit of snot from her nose she smiled weakly, "I don't know… I think so? It's just… they're starting Beacon soon and I don't want to bother them. I don't want to bring them out of their lessons and distract them."

Shaking his head, Parc released a chuckle and a sigh, "you are way too selfless for a woman who's been trapped for a decade." His hand trailed to Summer's cheek as he leaned in close, pressing his forehead against hers while taking a large amount of pleasure in seeing her go red, "but that's a charm you have." Pushing forwards a little more, his lips came to press against her, she didn't resist, her eyes widened and then narrowed nearby to closed.

Every soft undulation of their lips grinding together sending pangs of pleasure through her body. There was no lascivious tonguing, no exploration. Simply a reassuring connection of two bodies.

When he parted from her she was left with a longing for him to continue. The calming it gave her nearing the point of addictive in its quality. She knew it was wrong, immoral even for a woman of her age to be so calm about doing it with a boy his age but that didn't stop her from enjoying it. From wanting more.

"Be honest with me Summer… do you want to go and see Ruby and Yang? Ignore Beacon, ignore Tai. Just tell me if you want to see them." He asked her, foreheads still connected.

Her lips trembled, the words stuck, but raising through her throat and into the open. "I want to see them. I want to see them so… so much."