by Lux Miller
He nods and drops his mouth to my breasts, sucking my nipple back into his mouth. He shifts his weight slightly, and I can feel the wetness seeping out around where his dick has started to soften. I can feel a tight knot building in my belly again as he continues to lightly thrust his semi-hard dick inside me. He relentlessly sucks my nipple, and I know at this rate that we’re going to go for round two.
But my phone has other ideas. The notification goes off again, and I groan. “Ugh, I better check that.”
Eli nods and stills his movements while I try to reach for the phone. Realizing I can’t with him still inside me, he pulls out, a coating of slimy wetness on both of us. I reach up to my bedside table and grab my phone, swiping the screen right without a second thought. I have to look twice at the picture that pops up on my phone because it’s hard to tell exactly what it is, besides a massive tangle of arms and legs.
I gasp shakily as I recognize the face of the pretty woman staring back at me. She has her mouth halfway down a man’s dick while she straddles his face, which is buried between her thighs. I instantly recognize Helen, but I can’t tell exactly who the man is. It’s certainly not my father, that’s for sure. I narrow my eyes as I realize that there’s more than one picture. I scroll through the set of five pictures, and as I get to the final one, I feel my insides churn.
Staring at me from my father’s bed is Eli. He looks younger with less muscle and less scruff, but it’s definitely him. And he’s naked. His damn dick is proudly on display while Helen… my fucking stepmother… has her hand wrapped around it and what looks suspiciously like cum dripping out of her mouth. The caption at the bottom reads, ‘A little something for you to consider before you do more than just fuck him. Don’t be stupid.’
Eli must see the concern on my face, because his entire body goes rigid. He cocks his head to the side, looking at me with concern. “I’m sorry. We shouldn’t have done that. I’m clean, I swear. I was just tested a couple weeks ago, right before we first hooked up…”
I shake my head, bringing one hand to my mouth. I don’t know if I’m trying to hide my disgust or keep down my tacos, but either way, I’m not doing a very good job as I feel a burning sensation creeping up my throat. I look up at him with tears brimming in my eyes. I throw the phone at Eli and screech, “Was that before or after you fucked her?”
He picks my phone up with alarm, and his eyes widen. He opens his mouth to say something, but I shake my head quickly, flailing my hands around as I try to find something to cover up my naked body. He sighs heavily, brushing a hand down my side in a caress that almost feels loving, “That happened a long time ago, Ashley. And it was a mistake…”
I can feel hysterics creeping in, and I roll away from him. His hand falls to the bed, and he looks shocked. I’m trying not to have a complete breakdown as I scramble away from him on the bed. I finally grab hold of fabric and snatch it onto the bed. To my relief, it’s our shirts. I yank mine on and throw his at him. “You should go, Eli…”
He opens his mouth again, but I still don’t let him speak. “Eli, there’s nothing you can say right now to make this better. Just go…”
He stares at me incredulously as he pulls his t-shirt on, then hops around as he wriggles his jeans on. He pauses and looks over at me, and I shake my head. Then I raise my voice and scream at him, “Go! I don’t ever want to see you again…”
EIGHTEEN
Eli
Stumbling out of Ashley’s apartment was like being kicked in the gut and forced to run a mile. It hurt. It physically hurt, and no matter how much I tried to inhale a deep breath, I just couldn’t seem to inflate my lungs. When the elevator doors slide open, I trip over the threshold and catch myself on the wall. Everywhere I look, the mirrored surface reflects my despair. It’s hard for my brain to even process what just happened.
Half an hour ago, I was sitting on top of the world. Quite literally, since we were in the penthouse apartment. But I was making love to the most incredible woman I’ve ever met. Just when I let my guard down, the universe walloped me square in the face with a mistake from my past. I thought I had finally taken a step toward escaping the life I was born into, but just as quick as a text message notification, every hope of ever starting anew was shattered.
I growl at my reflection and punch the wall, wincing as my knuckles pop against the solid surface. I shake my hand and rear my foot back to kick the wall, then decide better of it as the doors slide open at the ground floor. I step out of the elevator and sigh heavily. Staying with Ashley tonight was supposed to be the start of the rest of my life… instead, it very well may be the end of it.
If Trevor sent that God-awful picture (and who knew there was a whole fucking set? Trevor never mentioned there being anything more than the video originally. I guess he took stills from it.)... if he sent that picture to Ashley, it means he knows about Ashley and me. I was so careful not to leave any hints whatsoever. So incredibly diligent about wiping any specific references to “Prince” being her. In fact, he was just pissed off at me, because he thought I was fucking around with a dude. Not that it’s his business who I fuck, but he didn’t give any indication at all that he had any clue what was going on.
As I walk out of Ashley’s building, I glance up up into the sky, squinting as I try to see her apartment. It’s dark on the top floor, at least on this side of the building. If she’s still up there, which who am I kidding, where the hell would she be if she wasn’t? If she’s still up there, I wonder if she’s as upset as I am. And what about? Is she pissed that I fucked Helen? Because, honestly, I wasn’t the only dude riding that merry-go-round…
I grumble to myself and lean back against the brick wall of Ashley’s apartment building and dig into my pocket. I have no cell phone, since Trevor took mine, so I’m going to have to get creative on how the hell I’m going to get home. As I pull my hand out of my pocket, I roll my eyes. I have a twenty, a ball of lint, and a peppermint to somehow get to the other side of New York. And honestly, I’m not even sure I want to go home right now.
I briefly consider crashing in one of the homeless shelters in the city, because let’s face it… if Trevor has sent that picture, I’m basically homeless anyway. That job I love? Yeah, it’s good as gone… fucking the boss’s wife typically ends with the end of your employment. Sometimes with the termination of your life in some cases. Thank God Helen is his ex-wife, and there’s no way to really date the photo.
Unless of course, you saw me naked. I doubt Pierce Rogers is going to be itching to strip me down, although if he finds out I’ve been fucking his daughter too, he might be willing to throw me off a bridge. It’s probably best for me, even though there’s likely nothing left for me there, to go home and face the music. I made my bed, and now I get to lie in it.
The twenty dollar bill, surprisingly, gets me across town with a little to spare. The cabbie drops me off at the long path that winds through some of Pierce Rogers’ gardens to the quaint little three bedroom cabin where I live with Trevor and my stepsisters. I trudge inside and let the door slam behind me, the sound echoing all around.
I hear a sharp squeal of surprise and peek into the living room to see Layla sprawled on the floor beside the couch. My bet is she fell asleep while reading, and my storming into the house startled her awake. I grunt and kick at the floor, and she looks up at me surprised. “What’s wrong, Eli? You look like your cat died…”
“I don’t have a cat,” I grind out and stalk off into the kitchen.
She follows me quietly and leans against the wall, her book perched in her hand. “It’s a metaphor, brother. What’s your deal? Dad riding your ass again about something? I thought he was thrilled with the way the SoHo gardens were coming?”
I grab a beer from the fridge and twist off the lid, throwing the cap at the sink. It clangs around and settles down in the drain. I roll my eyes as I think out loud, “Great, something else for him to bust my balls about.”
Layla tilts her head to the s
ide. “What’ve you done now?”
I take a huge swig of my beer and then stare at her over the rim of the bottle. “He’s literally blown my life to smithereens. My job’s done. He can take the SoHo gardens and shove them up his ass, because I won’t be stepping foot on another one of Pierce Rogers’ properties again.”
Layla wrinkles her nose and sets her book on the kitchen island. It’s times like these that I wonder how she can stand to be around her sister. I think Layla’s good at heart, but then again, she willingly defends her sister’s behaviors. She’s engaged in a few of Lacey’s more unsavory behaviors herself, but at least she doesn’t make it a habit of sucking off old dudes for cash. In another lifetime, she and I could have gotten along.
She shakes her head at me. “Eli, Dad’s been gone all day…”
I shrug my shoulder and tilt the bottle of beer up, gulping down the nasty liquid in several swallows. Then I lob the bottle at the trash can, wincing as it misses and shatters on the tile floor. “Doesn’t mean he couldn’t destroy my life from afar. He took my fucking phone this morning, and my guess is, he fiddled around in it until he got it unlocked, then he made good on his threats of blackmail.”
Layla swallows and glances over her shoulder quickly, then looks back at me. “Eli, Dad left that phone he took from you here. I saw Lacey with it earlier. God, what did she do? What did you do?”
The one voice in this world that makes me cringe replies from in the other room, “I did what Dad didn’t have the guts to do. What he should have done weeks ago, the minute he suspected what was going on. I ended Eli’s stupid, little charade.”
Layla’s head bobs in my direction. “What charade?”
Lacey laughs out loud and reaches underneath the couch. With a smirk, she pulls out the boot stashed there. “I thought something was up with you on the night of the Halloween ball. This just proves it. It places you there, which means that despite Dad telling you that you couldn’t go, you went anyway. So, since you’re being a disobedient little shit, I dug around in that shitty burner phone of yours and found out that Eli here has a little friend… that’s he’s been fucking… seems he’s as good at sleeping his way around as I am.”
Layla gasps and looks at me, her nice-girl facade fading more and more the longer Lacey stands there. “Eli, Dad beat you for daring to go near that ball… and you still went anyway? How?”
I shrug, “A little help from my fairy godfather.”
Lacey busts out laughing, “Probably the guy he’s been fucking with. Yanno, when Dad wasn’t looking, I forwarded that incriminating picture of you getting it on with Pierce Rogers’ wife to his new little boyfriend and warned him off. Told him he shouldn’t be stupid. My guess is that’s why he’s in such a funk now. You ruin my prospects, I’ll ruin yours.”
It all makes a bit more sense now. Trevor didn’t make good on his promise… his stupid daughter fucked things up by trying to be sneaky.
“You sure do think highly of yourself, Lacey, despite the fact that you’re about as dumb as dirt. Despite his shortcomings, Pierce Rogers has impeccable taste. I’ve been inside his SoHo apartment twice now, and the man isn’t one for tolerating cheap things. I wasn’t with my boyfriend you twit… I was with Ashley Rogers, whom I’ve been seeing since the Halloween ball…”
Lacey sneers at me, sticking her nose in the air. “If I even believed that, considering you’d have betrayed the man twice, I’d think he should invest in some better security. He lets rats run around in his apartment when he isn’t home. He shouldn’t be surprised that his apartment has fleas.”
I narrow my eyes at Lacey. “I sure hope you like fleas. Because the shit you pulled by sending Ashley Rogers that picture didn’t just fuck up my life, though it succeeded at that too. You can kiss all of this... “ I motion around the room, then stare at Lacey incredulously, “...goodbye.”
Her mouth drops open, but she recovers quickly. “Wait, what? You’re serious? ‘Prince’ is Ashley fucking Rogers? Those dirty texts were to her? Eli! You’ve been fucking Pierce Rogers’ little princess?!?”
I nod, stepping across the kitchen floor and poking her arm with my finger. “I was, but you’ve royally fucked everything up. You really messed up this time, because Ashley is almost certainly going to show her father. And the minute Pierce Rogers sees the pictures of me with his ex-wife, every bit of luxury that’s been granted to you because of my work for him will be gone. You think he’s ever going to let me work on his grounds again?”
Lacey shakes her head and rolls her eyes. “Seriously, brother, why should I care what happens to you? Pierce Rogers employs Daddy, not you.”
I chuckle, my shoulders bouncing as I throw the last of my paltry belongings into a knapsack and sling it over my shoulders. “Because your daddy hasn’t lifted a finger to work for Pierce in five years. The only reason your idiotic father still has a job is because he’s been passing off my work as his for years now. Once I’m gone, so is your cash cow. And that’s if Pierce doesn’t want your father’s head for letting his teenage responsibility shack up with his ex-wife.”
Lacey stops laughing and stares me down. “Wait, why aren’t you bragging about banging his pretty, little daughter, too?”
I look away from Lacey. It’s none of her fucking business why I’m not bragging about it. To be honest, I don’t know why I’m bragging about messing around with Helen, either. She was a great lay, but that’s not news. Rich women know how to fuck, because they do it all the time. With their husbands, with their personal trainers, with the sons of their gardeners. But it’s all physical. That’s all we were to each other - strictly physical pleasure.
And I thought that’s what it was going to be with Ashley too, but something was different, especially tonight. Things with her were never normal, but instead of blind rage seething through my veins at the way Ashley tossed me out, I feel crippling pain. Despair even. Like I just lost the greatest thing that ever happened to me. Truth be told, I probably did. There’s no way Ashley will ever speak to me again, much less forgive me. It may have been a dumb mistake, but I have to own it. Turns out, the past can haunt you far longer than the guilt in the moment.
NINETEEN
Ashley
I don’t know what time it is in Tokyo, but it doesn’t take my father long to call me after I texted him in a frenzy. I told him it was an emergency and that I had to talk to him immediately. It took him less than an hour to return my call. Now that my phone is buzzing in my hand, I can’t stop my hands from shaking long enough to swipe it to answer it. I finally connect my finger with the touchscreen, and the phone lights up as the call connects.
I sniffle slightly and swipe the back of my hand over my face, smearing tears and snot across my cheek. I realize too late that he video-called me. For the first time since his divorce from my mother, I see true concern on his face. “Ashley. What’s wrong?”
I rub both of my palms over my face quickly and shake my head, trying to hide my face. “I look horrible right now! I, I just…”
His tone gets firm as I blubber about, unable to form a coherent sentence. “Ashley Juniper Rogers… if you pulled me out of a meeting with a company executive for silly games.”
I wince at his use of my full name. He never uses my full name. He hates my middle name because it’s my mother’s, and he says that it reminds him of the better times in their lives when they still loved each other. He sighs. “Ashley… what’s the emergency?”
I deflate and move my hands from my face, my eyes puffy from the crying I’ve been doing nonstop since Eli left. “I… I met someone…”
His face turns stern as his eyes narrow at the screen. “Ashley! I don’t want to leave a once-in-a-lifetime meeting to hear my daughter tell me she’s found another fling in the city. I don’t know how many more of your flings my heart can take… wait, are you crying?”
Nodding, I pick my phone up. “I messed up. I didn’t keep my distance this time. It all happened so fast, that I couldn’t
even think, much less make any responsible decisions. I’ve done some stupid things, father, but this one takes the cake…”
He sighs and slices a hand through his thinning hair. “Please tell me he didn’t give you something. I have a doctor on-call. Just tell me your symptoms, and I’ll call him and see what we can do.”
I bite down on my bottom lip and shake my head. Releasing my lip, I sigh. “It’s not what he gave me… it’s what I gave him… and it’s something I can’t get back, because I don’t even know how it happened.”
My father exhales heavily. “Okay, I have lawyers on speed dial too. How much was it worth? I need to know how high in the practice to go.”
My chest aches with a pain I’ve never felt before, and I shake my head at the screen. “Priceless. No lawyer can get it back, either.”
“Ashley, what on Earth did you give this boy?”