Page 48 of Moonflower
“Cora, fuck,” Ezra grunts. He continues pounding into her while she clings to him, burying her face in his neck. “No. Look at me. I want to see you.”
She whimpers, straightening so he can watch her. Sloppily, he slams his lips to hers. Their kiss is nothing more than the suppressed want and desperation they’ve felt for each other for years.
He pulls away, keeping his gaze locked on her. “Shit. You look so beautiful like this.”
It’s almost like his words set off a chain reaction. Cora’s body convulses as she comes with a cry. And then Ezra groans, slamming into her one more time before he follows her.
“Oh my god,” she whispers once they’ve both come down. “Ez, holy shit. I almost never come like that.”
He nuzzles the side of her face. “That’s about to change, if I have anything to say about it.”
She snorts, rolling her eyes, but she’s smiling.
Gently, Ezra lets her down. He keeps an arm around her waist to steady her since she looks like she’s ready to fall over. Then he peers closer at the cross, reading the inscription.
He laughs, pointing to the ground. “We just fucked over a priest’s grave.”
Cora groans, leaning against him. “Definitely going to hell.”
He kisses the top of her head. “As long as you’re there, it’ll be heaven to me, Moonflower.”
. . .
Once we get home, Cora showers, and then Ezra crashes on the couch with his head in Cora’s lap. Hellraiser plays quietly in the background—it’s tradition that we always watch it on or around Halloween—but Cora and I aren’t paying attention to it. Instead, I’m trying to memorize the way every inch of her skin feels against my lips. Which, I’ve gotta say, is hard since Ezra is sleeping on her.
After a long kiss, Cora pulls away from me. Her eyes are earnest and somber as she says, “How have you been, Wild? Like, how have you really been?”
Hearing her ask makes my heart beat a little easier. Even while she was pushing us away, she was always there to listen when we needed her. She just wouldn’t let us be there for her in return. But now, it’s different. She’s still the one asking how I’ve been, but this time, I know she’ll give me an honest answer if I ask the question back.
“I’ve been okay,” I say. “Tired and overwhelmed. And . . . worried, I guess.”
“About?”
“The future, mostly.” I stare at the TV, not watching the movie but not looking at Cora either. “My parents aren’t the most supportive of me freelancing.”
“But you like it, right? And it’s working?”
“I love it. God, Cora, I love it so much. I just don’t fit in a classroom. But this? It works for me. And I’m helping so many kids click with math.”
Grinning, she squeezes my arm. “You’re good at making it make sense.”
“Yeah. But it’s just . . . not very stable, you know? The company could drop me at any time. And I have to figure out health insurance and all this other shit. Part of me wonders if it’s not worth it.”
Cora chews on her bottom lip for a minute, thinking. “But a normal job could do the same thing, right? Fire you at any time?”
“I guess so.”
“And it doesn’t sound like being in a classroom would make you very happy.”
“It fucking sucked.”
She sighs, leaning her head on my shoulder. With one hand, she’s absentmindedly running her fingers through Ezra’s curls. Her other ends up on my thigh. “Being an adult is scary.”
“It is.”
I didn’t realize she has more to say until she continues.
“But it sounds like you have a chance to do something that makes you happy, Wild. And it can’t hurt to try, right? Especially if . . .”