by Kat Addams
Terrance
I drove to Betty’s house in nervous excitement. I couldn’t believe I’d committed to an overnight stay with her family. I barely even knew Betty, and if her family was anything like her, I was fucked. She scared me but in a way that I liked. Not only physically, but in my feels too. The way she couldn’t keep her hands off of me the other day had me ravenous for her. Sure, women loved to touch my rippled abs. But Betty usually held out. But that last time I had seen her, she’d let herself go.
The second she had trailed her palm down my chest, my dick had jumped in my pants, begging for more. If I hadn’t had Maisy with me, I would have grabbed her hand and taken her to my truck. It wouldn’t have been the first time I screwed in the backseat of my truck. I hadn’t bought an extended cab just because I needed space and a place for a car seat. Being a single dad limited my options on fuckery. I took it where I could get it. This old truck of mine had been my mobile hotel for years.
The women I’d dated didn’t seem to mind. Almost all of them were more than happy to strip down and bounce on my ride—in my ride. My stamina ran like a diesel too. Slow to warm up, but once I got going, I barreled through. Unstoppable. From my experience with Betty the other day, her libido perfectly matched mine. Except I’d never been submissive before.
All the women I had ever been with weren’t exactly shy about what they wanted, but they had never been ballsy enough to take it from me either. Even the ladies in the strip club liked to play like they were some type of wild animal, but when I got them alone, they just went with the flow. My flow. I set the pace, and they followed through. But with Betty, the way she’d grabbed me, using me how she wanted … damn. She’d made my balls tingle, my dick twitch, and my heart flutter.
I hadn’t had the heart flutters since I was with Maisy’s mom. For the longest time, I’d thought she had taken those flutters with her, and I’d never see them again. I’d thought I was dead in love, and no one could awaken that side of me again. My focus remained on my daughter anyway. I didn’t have the time to let myself feel flutters. The dates I’d been on in the last few years were short-lived. There were lots of one-night stands, flings, and absolutely no flutters.
But Betty …
After getting a taste of her, my entire body had fluttered. I wasn’t exactly truthful when I told her that Maisy insisted on seeing her. That part was real. But I had left out that I wanted to see her again too. I couldn’t hold out. I wanted to get this thing moving along and finish what we had started. Maisy had been the perfect excuse.
A pang of dad guilt shot through me as I realized my kid was my wingman. I quickly shook that thought away, remembering what my dad had said at the hospital after Betty left.
“You’d better not let that one go,” my dad said, settling back into the hospital chair. He had a smirk on his face, as if he knew an important secret and wanted to dangle it in front of my face, teasing.
“Why? We’re just dating. Nothing serious.” I shrugged my shoulders, avoiding eye contact with my daughter, who was staring up at me with her puppy-dog eyes. I wasn’t sure what she wanted.
Bullshit. I knew. She didn’t want me to let that one go either.
“Because of the way you two looked at one another. Haven’t ever seen that look on you before.” He kept smirking. “Not even with … you know …”
“And how was that? How did we look at each other?” I tilted my head, waiting on whatever excitement he was trying to hold back.
“Like this, Daddy! I saw it too!” Maisy said, wiggling her brows up and down her tiny forehead so fast that I thought they’d fly off.
“Okay, this convo is over. Let me find a nurse, so we can get out of here!” I turned on my heel to go, leaving Maisy’s wiggling brows and my dad’s roaring laughter behind me.
I fumbled with the radio, stopping on a rap station before quickly turning it to something different. I didn’t want Betty to think I was stereotyping and listening to rap for her. That would be just the thing she would accuse me of doing. I had to be on high alert not to offend her.
She had already told me not to stereotype when I insisted I was the man and I’d pay for the plane tickets. That had been a feisty and quick conversation that ended with her saying, “Boy, bye,” and hanging up the phone before I could argue.
She was the one who wanted to take me on this little trip, but even still, my dad had raised me to be a gentleman. Minus the stripper alter ego that shook my dick at women, I always treated the ladies top-notch, like the queens they were. Maybe I had mommy issues—scratch that. I knew I had mommy issues. I shuddered, disgusted with myself. I was a single-dad stripper with mommy issues. I had to keep my head in the game and remain focused on growing my money, so I could be a single-dad bar owner with no issues. I laughed to myself.
As if people were walking around this planet with no issues. Speaking of …
I pulled into Betty’s driveway, nearly hitting her as she marched toward my truck.
“Jeez! You scared the crap out of me! Didn’t know you’d be waiting outside. Hey, where’s your mom?”
I hopped out of my truck and ran to help Betty with her luggage, but she shrugged me off. She had texted me earlier in the week, asking if I cared if her mother tagged along. Of course, I wanted Betty to myself, but who was I to say no to Betty’s mother?
“She’s not coming.” Betty bit her bottom lip and avoided my gaze, throwing her overnight bag in the bed of my truck.
I heard the frustration in her voice and hoped this wasn’t a bad omen of our first trip together. “Why not?”
“Because that’s just how she is. Can’t depend on her for shit. She’s probably too busy nursing one of her deadbeat boyfriends after a binger.” She climbed into my truck and buckled her seat belt.
I noticed a slight tremble in her hands before she curled them into fists and shoved them under her armpits, folding her arms like armor against her chest.
“Oh. But you bought her a ticket,” I said, pulling away from her house.
I flipped my bright lights on and focused my eyes on the dark road ahead of me.
“Nonrefundable too. She doesn’t care. And neither do I. This is our vacation. I’m not going to let her or anyone ruin it.” Betty leaned her head back. “You know, I don’t say this often, but you were right on driving. I can sleep. I guess that’s one pro of giving in to you.”
I laughed, thinking back on our conversation the day before.
“So, I’ll pick you up at four thirtyish,” I said.
“Do what?” Betty huffed so loud that I had to hold the phone away from my ear. “Why can’t I drive?”
“It’s only to the airport. Besides, I’ve seen how you drive.”
“The hell does that mean?”
“You said yourself that you’d been trained by a race car driver.”
“I didn’t say he trained me. He screwed me. Took me for a ride. Showed me around the track. Know what I’m saying?”
A searing heat shot through my chest before quickly fading into an unsettling feeling. If whoever Race Car Jones was had taken Betty for a ride instead of her taking him for a ride, I had competition. I could never picture Betty being submissive, but the thought of her looking up at me while on her knees did set me on fire.
“You mean, you tied him up and rode his pocket rocket?” I probed, hoping I wasn’t coming off too obvious.
“No. I mean, he grabbed his stick shift and took me for some laps.”
“I thought you were only into being the dominant one.” I lowered my voice and stepped out the back door of Scarlett Herb. I hadn’t planned on taking a break, but this conversation called for privacy.
“How did we go from arguing over who was driving to talking about my sexcapades? You tell me yours. I know you’ve had a lot of partners. I’ve seen the way you move them hips. If I were blind and I felt you move on me like that, I’d think you were Black.”
“Actually, I am one percent Nigerian. I did one of those DN
A test things.”
“Explains the dick and the dance. But you gotta work on some things. You’ll figure it out once I throw you into the pit of my family.”
“What things do I need to work on?” I sat down on the stoop of the cement stairs and pulled at my collar.
The leaves were beginning to change. Before too long, the holidays would be here, and a blanket of snow would cover Outer Forks. I wasn’t a fan of snow, but ever since that damn Frozen movie, Maisy had become obsessed with snow. One time, when I’d left her alone for two minutes, she’d gotten into the pantry and ripped open a bag of powdered sugar. She tried to make a snowman on the dinner table by mixing water, soap, and powdered sugar. That had been three years ago, and my floors were still sticky.
“First, you need to learn to give a Black woman her way. Or else you’re in trouble. Actually, all women.” She laughed into the phone.
I smiled, hearing that familiar sound. No one laughed like Betty. The sound she made was enticing. She had one of those laughs that called to you across the room. People gravitated toward it, curious if it was contagious. Hopeful. Everyone needed a laugh like Betty’s.
“I’m starting to see that. But—”
“Don’t say but. I hate that word. Don’t you dare say but. Everything you say before but is canceled. That’s the truth.”
“Okay. I won’t say but. I will say that I want to drive because I am out of the way to the airport. So, you’d be picking me up, turning around, and then heading to the airport. It doesn’t make sense. Plus, let me at least do something. You bought the ticket and refused to let me pay. You’re the one taking me to Memphis. I’ll take you to the airport.” I leaned my shoulder against the cold iron railing.
I’d said my part, and I was too tired to argue. If she still wanted to be stubborn about it, I’d let her. I didn’t have the energy to deal with it.
“All right, I agree. Makes sense. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Really?” My heart lurched down into the pit of my stomach.
I’d had no idea convincing her would be that easy. I wondered what she had planned or if maybe my sexual questions had frazzled her into cutting the conversation short.
“Just this one time. But if you get us there late because you drive like a grandma, we’re going to have problems.”
“I promise to be on time and not drive like an old lady. I’ll put my lead foot on and leave my compression socks and bunion cream at home.”
“Okay, boomer. Let’s see how well you stick to your word. See you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow,” I said, grinning into the phone.
I wanted to bring up the race car driver again, to prod into her personal life some more, but she’d already drifted off to sleep. Her head was leaning against the passenger window. Those luscious ruby lips of hers weren’t flapping for once, but instead, they were shut in the softest of expressions. She almost looked innocent while she slept. Almost.
Her eyes flew open the second I parked my truck. We both let out tired groans as we stretched and gathered our bags before heading into the airport. Luckily, Outer Forks was dead at this hour. We moved through check-in and boarded our almost-empty flight with ease. I stuffed our luggage in the bin above us and settled into the seat beside Betty. She hadn’t spoken much at all since I picked her up.
“Tired?” I asked, rubbing her shoulder.
She flinched, closing her eyes for a split second. Her chest stopped moving before she took a deep breath and spoke, “I’m sorry. I’ve been quiet. I know. Yes, I’m tired. But it’s not physical. I have that dragging mental exhaustion that some people seem to do to me.” She let out a sigh.
Anxiety rose into my throat, tightening my chest. I hoped I hadn’t crossed the line by asking about the race car driver the other day. “Was it something I said?”
“No, of course not!” She reached out and rubbed my knee before twisting her body to face me. “It’s not you. It’s my mom. For some dumb reason, I actually hoped she was coming, that this time would be different. It doesn’t matter. We’re going to have a good time. You get to meet my aunt May. Or whatever her last name is these days. Can’t believe she’s married now!”
I tried to listen as best as I could and offer empathy for her wishy-washy mother, but the way her hand rested on my leg distracted me from any words coming out of her mouth. All I could do was stare at her parted lips and imagine the way they’d tightly wrap around my cock. Fantasizing about that bubblegum-pink tongue sliding back and forth over the tip sent my foot bouncing in anticipation. I tuned every word she said out. I couldn’t help it.
“Are you okay?” She laughed, bringing me back down to reality. Her mouth grew even wider, showing me the back of her throat.
Damn, I want to blow my load back there. Watch her swallow every ounce.
“Yep. Why?” I said, continuing to stare at her mouth.
“You’re breathing funny. And you can’t look me in the eyes. I asked you how Maisy was doing, and you just grunted. I asked about your dad, and you grunted. I then asked you about your right big toe, and you grunted. What’s up? What are you thinking about?” She pulled back in her seat and shimmied her top down, exposing the slightest hint of cleavage.
“Oh, you’re a tease.” I shook my head.
“I know. Just wait until we get to that hotel. I’m going to show you how much I can tease.”
“I thought we were staying with your aunt or family. You got us a hotel?”
“Course I did! I can’t be getting it on at my family’s house. That’s just nasty. Don’t you know, I can’t keep my mouth shut? How do you think I am in bed? Might as well hold a concert in my bedroom. I didn’t get to finish the other day. I have finished at least eight times since then but not with a man. And not with Tito, my muscleman. Or Terrance, my muscleman. Whichever alter ego you’re bringing tonight.”
“I’ll bring them both.” I grinned.
The plane pulled out of the terminal and accelerated down the runway. Every small bump we glided over sent Betty’s boobs bouncing. My head bounced in rhythm.
“A spit-roast. Now, you’re talking.” She had that wild look in her eyes again that made my asshole clench tight.
“Hold up now. I didn’t say anything about adding another.” I put my hand up in protest.
“I’m just messing with you. We can talk about that at a later date. You’re all mine tonight.” She wiggled herself into a comfortable position as we lifted off the runway.
“No deal. I’ll never consider sharing you. You’re not too much woman for me. I can handle you by myself, thanks,” I huffed.
I mentally pictured myself and the race car driver tied up in her dungeon, both of us pining for her attention. I clamped my jaw shut, grinding my teeth.
“Puh-lease. You don’t know who you’re talking to, but you’re about to find out.” She rested her head back and closed her eyes, blowing out her breath like she’d just heard a load of bullshit. But the smile that crept over her face, the one she fought to hold back, told me otherwise. She liked what I’d said.
Little Miss Badass Betty wants me to make her mine after all…
We stepped out of the plane and into stifling heat. I’d already broken a sweat before we left the airport.
“Damn. I had no idea Memphis was this hot! It’s fall! What the hell?” I stuck my tongue out, panting.
Opening the airport doors to the outside felt like opening the gates of hell. A blast of heat struck me so hard across my cheeks that I was sure Memphis was really Satan’s oven. That was fitting, seeing that Betty was from here. I thought I’d tease her a bit about it, but the look on her face told me she wasn’t in the mood.
“If you can’t handle the heat, better get outta the kitchen! Besides, it’s the Dirty South. We don’t have that fresh mountain air here like we do back home. What do you expect? This is my hometown. They don’t call it the city of Grit and Grind for nothing. The only reason I haven’t moved back is because the
re’s no way I’m leaving DTF.”
“Why did you move away from it then?” I asked, slowly trailing behind her.
I waded through the heat like I was swimming in molasses. I’d always considered Outer Forks a part of the South, but we had the luxury of higher elevation, which meant non-swamp-like heat in our summers.
“My mom and her twin sister moved to Outer Forks together when I was younger. Then, they had some drama and split. Probably why she isn’t coming. She thinks her evil twin sister will show up at Aunt May’s. Anyway, I was little. I don’t remember much of Memphis, except for when I came here to visit family. It’s my type of place though. You’ll see soon enough.”
“I’m not sure I could handle the heat, but if you say so. Where to? I’ll get an Uber.” I pulled my phone out of my sweaty-ass pocket, noticing the couple next to us scoffing.
In Outer Forks, no one batted an eye, seeing Betty and me together. But I had already seen a few vicious glances toward us in the airport. I pretended not to notice. I didn’t want to upset Betty, but I was sure she had seen them too.
“Central Station. And thanks. For once, we aren’t going to fight over who drives.” She walked a few steps down from the couple, set her bag on the sidewalk, and plopped herself beside it.
“Time to get back up. He’s already here,” I said, showing her the screen before pulling her back up to her feet.
“This is going to be a long day, Terrance. But let’s try to have some fun. You hungry? Maybe he’ll swing by somewhere and get us food. I could use a slab of ribs and a cold beer.”
“It’s nine in the morning!” I laughed, reaching my arm around her and pulling her into me.
Her body softened at my touch, quite the opposite of what mine was doing. One caress of her shoulder, and my dick throbbed. I moved my overnight bag in front of the bulge growing in my pants.
“And? You know you’re going to have to stay intoxicated to put up with my family. Better stop by the liquor store anyway. Can’t show up empty-handed.” She sighed, fanning herself.