by Hazel Kelly
“So…?”
“So Patrick and I are going to stay with Silvia Juarez for two weeks while we figure out something more permanent.”
“That’s kind of her.”
“She swore it was okay,” she said. “Insisted, really. I guess she couldn’t have left her husband without support and wants to pay it forward.”
“And Patrick can really go back to school on Monday?”
“Yep. And I’ll be able to take on some extra shifts since Silvia works from home, which will help me get back on my feet.”
My eyes watered. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear all this.”
“The only downside is that I have to go to counseling,” she said. “It was once of their conditions.”
“I’m sure it’s a condition for a reason.”
“I know,” she said. “And what choice do I have? The way things were going I was going to lose both my boys.”
“You wouldn’t have lost us.” I wrapped my arms around her and pressed my cheek against the top of her head. “But we might have lost you.”
“It’s going to be a long road,” she said. “But I think I’m finally ready to make things right.”
“Good for you. For all of us.”
“And I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you sooner, Luke. I knew you were right. All along I knew you were right.”
I leaned back and cocked my head.
“But I didn’t really believe I could get away. I thought I would only make things worse for us,” she said. “But now that I know I have options and support, I actually have hope. I actually believe I can come out the other side of this. Like those other women did.”
“Me too, Mom. Me too.”
She smiled.
“And you don’t need to apologize. All I ever wanted was for you and Patrick to be safe and happy.”
“We will be,” she said, squeezing my hands. “Better late than never, right?”
F O R T Y O N E
- Rosie -
“Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”
It was one of my favorite quotes from Jane Eyre, but every time I thought about it, it made me feel further away from finishing my paper about the theme of isolation in the Brontë sisters’ novels.
Of course, the real problem was that I wasn’t thinking about the characters of Jane and Rochester at all. I was thinking about me and Luke…which is probably why I’d only typed fifty words in the last half hour.
What was it about trying to do work on Sundays? Oh wait—I knew. The problem wasn’t Sunday at all. It was the plethora of drinks I had on Saturday night.
I closed my computer and decided that only a walk around the block—and maybe a Big Gulp—would get me back on track. But when I opened the door, Luke was standing there with his fist raised as if he were about to knock.
“Hi.”
He grabbed my shoulders, walked me back inside, and kicked the door closed behind him. “I don’t know how I can ever thank you.” He kissed me, and all the sluggishness I felt before was replaced with electricity.
“Thank me for what?” I asked between kisses.
He pulled my shirt off over my head. “For not minding your own business and for siccing your mom on mine.”
I laughed. “That’s a funny way to—”
He kissed me again and started undoing the buttons on my jeans.
“To what do I owe this flight of passion?” I asked as he dropped down, peeling my pants to my ankles.
I tried to push them the rest of the way off with my feet, but before I could, he scooped me up and lifted me onto my raised bed. I leaned forward and pulled my jeans over my heels, kicking them to the floor while he bolted the door and slid the secondary chain lock into place.
“No one is going to come in here.”
“Good,” he said, pulling his shirt off, his breathlessness making his abs look extra cut. “Because I don’t know how long this is going to take.”
“What?”
He pulled his jeans off and then used his strong arms to hoist himself up into my bed without stepping on anything, a feat I’d yet to pull off despite practicing every night.
“What’s gotten into you?” I asked as he lowered his body on mine.
“Rosie.” He pushed my hair out of my face.
“What? I feel like a broken record. What?!”
His eyes searched mine. “Thank you.”
“For…?”
He dropped his lips to my forehead. “For saving my life.”
“I think that’s a bit of an exaggeration,” I said. “But if you’re absolutely hell bent on making it up to me—”
“Every day for the rest of my life.”
My eyes smiled. “It was nothing.”
“It’s everything,” he said, shaking his head. “What you did for my mom… What your mom did… What you got your mom to do—”
“Shhh,” I said, pressing my finger across his lips. “Can we not talk about our moms when your hard-on is raging against my crotch?”
He tilted his hips so it rubbed it against me. “You have no idea how raging it is.”
“I have some idea,” I said, grinding against him. “Plus, I have a surprise for you that’s only going to make it worse.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Another one?”
“One I’m hoping you’ll be even more excited about…pun intended.”
“I’m not sure I can handle any more excitement.” He lowered his lips to my neck and started sucking his way towards my collarbone.
“I’m on the pill.”
His face popped back up. “What?”
“You heard me,” I said. “I felt you hear me.”
He kissed my lips, dipping his tongue so deep in my mouth I felt it between my legs as he pulled the straps of my bra down my shoulders.
I arched my back and reached behind for the hooks, scrambling to get it off as he kissed my sensitive skin. I wanted him so bad my body burned, but as usual, he got distracted by my tits and took them in his mouth in turn, sucking my puckered nipples between his teeth and flicking them with his tongue until I moaned.
My hips lifted towards him of their own accord as he sank back between my legs, and I squeezed my eyes shut as he used the wet tip of his warm tongue to trace along the edge of my underwear.
Finally, he curled his thick fingers around the fabric and pulled it down so the heat between my legs was free to mingle with his warm breath.
“Fuck,” I whispered as he laid his tongue against my wet slit and licked his way up to my clit.
He lapped at it, crushing it over and over until waves of heat rose through my body.
I slid my hand in his hair and clenched my fist, turned on by the rhythm of his moving head as his tongue circled my burning bud. “Luke,” I moaned, suddenly conscious of his fingers spreading me open.
Slowly, he pushed three of them inside, stretching my pussy wide until he was knuckle deep and had forced all the air from my lungs.
I whimpered as he worked me, his tongue turning up the heat so high the back of my eyelids turned white.
“You’re so wet,” he said, his heavy fingers fluttering inside me. “I love how wet you are for me.”
I was helpless as a rag doll by the time he stopped twisting his wrist, and as soon as he pulled out of me, I gasped for an overdue breath.
His wet palm came down on my breast, kneading it as my aching nipple slipped between his fingers.
“I need you inside me,” I begged. “Please.”
He ignored my plea and moved his tongue faster until the buzzing in my clit vibrated up my spine.
“You’re going to make me come,” I said, digging my nails into the blanket as he kept me on the brink. I could hear his tongue splashing inside me, and when I tried to scoot away to relieve some of the intense pressure, he pinned me down and sucked my bud between his lips, dragging his teeth against the sensitive skin so bright heat shot up my body.
Then his tongue w
ent to work again, and I couldn’t hold on anymore. My hips bucked and my shoulders curled off the bed as he covered my pulsing pussy with his mouth, scooping me out and funneling my pleasure down his moaning throat.
I collapsed back against my pillow, panting as I basked in the bliss he’d inflicted on me.
And as my eyelids grew heavy with satisfaction, I listened to him feast on me like a hungry bear, knowing he wouldn’t stop until he’d had his fill.
F O R T Y T W O
- Luke -
I would never tire of drinking her pleasure. She tasted so sweet, so light, and it invigorated me from head to toe to make her feel so good.
After all, she would never understand the weight she’d taken off my shoulders, and I would never be able to make her feel as free as I felt now, as hopeful, as head over fucking heels.
I knew I was falling for her, falling further every day, but I had underestimated the depth of her feelings for me, and I would never underestimate her again.
Her swollen clit was so hot it burned my top lip as I drank her desire.
“Wait,” she said, grabbing my hair. “Stop.”
I licked my lips and raised my head from between her thighs, staring up her soft torso to where her pale breasts rose and fell with her breath.
“I need a second,” she said, dropping her head back on the pillow.
I smiled and leaned forward, kissing the delicate flesh of her stomach as I crawled over her. “You okay?”
“I thought I was starring in a Red Bull commercial for a second there.”
“Flying, were you?”
“I thought I would never stop coming.”
“Me neither,” I said, flashing my eyebrows.
She dragged her fingertips down my cheek. “I hope you don’t think you’re done.”
“What?”
“I still need you inside me,” she said. “Like you would not believe.”
“Say no more,” I said, sitting back on my heels.
“Wait.” She sat up and reached for the elastic at the top of my boxers. “I want a taste first.”
“Just a taste?” I asked. “’Cause sometimes you say that and you get greedy—”
“Look who’s talking,” she said, lifting her chin to get me to rise to my knees.
Once I did, she worked my boxers down my thighs, freeing my heavy dick. “You’re hungry for it,” I said. “I can see it in your eyes.”
“You know me so well,” she said, tucking her legs behind her.
I sat back down between my heels and put one hand on her painted concrete wall, bracing myself as she took me in her hands, her eyes flitting up as she began to stroke me.
I clenched my jaw as she squeezed tighter, my whole body standing at attention. I was sensitive to the mere thought of her touching me, but once she did, I was helpless. Suffocated by my arousal and drowning in how desperate I was to fill every corner of her mind and body.
I glanced down at her lips and surged against her palm, inhaling sharply as she reached her other hand forward to fondle my balls.
She looked up at me and licked her dark lips while her fingertips massaged my sac until it grew heavy in her hand.
“You’re torturing me, you know that, right?”
“You deserve it,” she said, opening her palm so my dick lay against it. Then she leaned forward and dragged her tongue around the rim of my head.
I groaned with equal parts pain and pleasure.
A moment later, she began kissing along the ridge, her fat lips working their way around a little bit at a time.
My hand on the wall made a fist as I watched her make out with the tip of my dick, her tongue shooting beams of heat down my shaft into my sensitive balls. “Fuck, Rosie.”
“Not yet,” she said, a subtle smile teasing her lips before she dragged her parted mouth down the length of my cock so lightly I might’ve believed it were a feather if I weren’t so close.
Then, right when I didn’t think I could stand it anymore, she swallowed me whole, sliding her wet lips to the base of my shaft as she kneaded my balls in her hand.
I let my head fall back when I felt her swallow, her throat closing around my head as I furrowed my brow and grabbed her shoulder with my free hand. It took all my strength to keep myself from fucking her mouth, but my curiosity won out, granting me the patience I needed to see how she would light me up next.
And it was worth the wait. She started moaning, bobbing me against the back of her throat.
“You’re doing it,” I growled. “You’re being greedy.”
She slid her head back, exposing my throbbing wet dick to the cold air outside her mouth. “You’re right,” she said, lifting her eyes to me. “So why don’t you fuck me already?”
I grabbed her shoulders and threw her down on the bed, keeping her pinned with one hand while I guided my dick to her slit. But I didn’t sink inside her right away. Instead, I watched her face as I teased her lips with my head, so close to giving her what she wanted, but waiting…waiting while her breath grew more and more shallow.
And then I plunged inside, watching her eyes and mouth widen as I took her breath away and fucked her so hard the bed knocked against the wall with my every thrust.
Her face furrowed as she took it, her eyelids fluttering as I hit her as deep as I could over and over, my balls slapping against the silk that poured from her.
I rose up and held her thighs against my hips, watching as my slick dick slid in and out of her.
While she struggled for breath, she lifted her head, biting her lip as she watched me pound her, as she watched my stomach flex with every thrust.
She squeezed her knees together, and I fell forward, slowing my pace when I realized I was close.
“Kiss me,” she breathed.
I dropped to my elbows and parted her lips with mine as she wrapped her legs around my waist. One side of my mouth started to smile, but the pressure was building too fast for me to give in to it.
“Come inside me,” she whispered, wrapping her hand around the back of my neck. “Give me everything.”
My face twisted in anticipation.
“Deeper,” she said through gritted teeth.
I locked my eyes on hers as I drove inside her, her tight pussy choking every inch of my dick.
“There,” she said, panting through parted lips. “Right there.”
I came hard, watching her eyes flicker as I emptied my load inside her.
A slight smile crossed her lips as she exhaled the breath she was holding.
My hips jerked once more, but I held my shoulders still so I could concentrate on the sensation of her pulsing around me.
“You didn’t close your eyes,” she said, blinking up at me.
“I guess I didn’t.”
“And?”
“And what?” I asked, still trying to catch my breath.
“Could you see it?”
“See what?”
Her eyes smiled. “How much I love you.”
F O R T Y T H R E E
- Rosie -
I looked up at him, admiring the rosy flush in his cheeks.
“I think I felt the love more than I saw it, to be honest.”
I laughed. “Good enough.”
He leaned down and dragged his warm lips across mine. “But I love you, too,” he said. “You know that, right?”
“Oh yeah? Since when?”
He pulled out of me, leaving my body longing for him all over again. “Let’s get under the covers,” he said.
I scooted to the head of the narrow bed and did as he asked, lying on my side to face him as he tucked my comforter around us. “Well?”
“When did I know I loved you?” he asked.
I nodded.
He propped his head up on his hand. “Probably the day you laughed in my face.”
“But that was a totally unlovable thing to do.”
He shrugged one shoulder. “And yet I fell for you anyway.”
I rolled
my eyes.
“But it wasn’t until recently that I knew you loved me back.”
“’Cause I just told you.”
“No,” he said, pulling my leg over his hip. “When you took Patrick out for the evening, I suspected it.”
Warmth spread through my chest at the memory.
“But it was only after my mom came to get him and told me what you did—what you got your mom to do—that I knew for sure.” He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me into the cozy space in front of his chest. “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.”
“I didn’t do it for you,” I said. “I did it for us.”
His blue eyes sprang into crescents.
“And because I wanted my spot in your bed back.”
He laughed. “Well, it’s all yours now.”
“Good.”
“But I really can’t thank you enough,” he said.
“You already have.”
“How?”
“By teaching me what really matters,” I said. “I spend so much time obsessing over my long-term goals, daydreaming about my hopes and dreams.”
“I can relate.”
“But none of those aspirations matter if we can’t enjoy the little wins along the way,” I said. “With the people we love.”
“True.”
“And the people we love have to be safe, first and foremost.”
He clenched his jaw.
“Which is really the greatest success of all, even though it’s one I always took for granted.”
“I’m sorry you learned that lesson because of me.”
“I’m not,” I said, laying my fingertips on the edge of his jaw until it softened. “It’s made me…happier.”
“How so?”
“Because I always thought success was a destination that was far away, and now I realize it’s not. It’s a journey. And I don’t have to wait to start enjoying it.”
“That’s kind of a nice way to look at it, I guess.”
“You guess?! I’m pouring my heart out here!”
He laughed. “Sorry. I just—I couldn’t help but wonder how your epiphany relates to our relationship, and being in your bed right now with your gorgeous body wrapped around mine feels a lot like success.”