FOREVER MINE

by Michelle Lee

  “Thank you, you look amazing yourself there, Mikey.” She giggles and rubs her nose against mine, running her hands in the back of my hair. I love when she holds and rubs my head like that. I’m putty in her hands.

  “Mmmm, I love that.” I tell her almost growling in her ear.

  “I know.” She whispers against my mouth right before she kisses me and nibbles my lip. “I know something else you’ll love.” She is still holding my lip captive in her teeth.

  I forget there is anyone else around when I’m with her. I would never act this way with an audience but I can’t help it. She has a way of closing out the rest of the world no matter where we are. My hands are wandering the smooth planes of her back; each vertebra, each rib, her shoulder blades; finally finding a home at the spot between her hips and lower back resting on skin and satin.

  She leans in close, I can almost see into her dress through the keyhole opening, she whispers in my ear, very low, very deliberate, “I’m not wearing panties.”

  My heart has stopped. My pants are five sizes too small. And the limo stops. Of course it does. I watch as she shimmies across the seat and gets out of the car. We’ve talked about this for some time. We have been dating since fall. We have had Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and my birthday together. I am going away for college in a couple weeks and Charlie so far, is still going to community college. I hope to change that but for now I will take what I can get.

  She wants to have sex tonight. She wants me to be her first and she wants to do it before I leave. What is more memorable than prom night, right? She said it is cliché but doesn’t care. When Charlie makes up her mind she really makes up her mind. So, we told her mom she was staying at Sam’s. Tomorrow we are all going to the beach, and she would just leave from her house, since they want to get on the road early.

  In reality, we have a hotel room waiting. We really are going to the beach, but she is not leaving with Sam, I will be driving her. We plan on going to some after parties and then being alone. I wasn’t sure how Charlie was still feeling about the whole situation, until now.

  Taking a deep breath, I get out of the limo, adjust myself, and come face-to-face with a scowling Brody. The girls have walked inside already. I look back to him and raise my eyebrow as if asking ‘what’.

  “I know what you are going to do with her tonight. You had better make this right for her; she has some notion that you’re this great guy. You break her heart and I’ll break your face.” He pokes me in the chest.

  “Brody, no matter the threats you throw at me, the looks you cast my way, the things you say to or about me, none of it matters. I will be the one with Charlie tonight. I will be the one inside Charlie tonight.”

  “You’re a fucking pig.”

  “I might be. That doesn’t change the current situation.”

  Brody grabs the lapels of my jacket and gets in my face just as the door opens, and Charlie is there, “Hey guys come on, Brody what are you doing?”

  “Nothing.” He let’s go.

  “Well, let’s go, we want to dance.” She is vibrating with excitement.

  “We’re coming.” I say. “We start walking, I grab Brody to slow him up a little, and whisper as I pass him, “Just a thought while you’re riding your high horse. Charlie chose me. She has no idea you even exist. Unless it’s to pick up the pieces after someone else has hurt her feelings. Oh, and in preparation for our evening, she isn’t wearing underwear. To show how much she wants to be with me, me Brody, not you.” I smile at him knowing how jealous he is feeling.

  I walk past him and grab Charlie around the waist and kiss her deeply, grabbing a handful of ass to show off for Brody. She returns my kiss with matched vigor and moans a little when I grab her. Brody storms past us and I don’t see him for the remainder of the evening.

  **********

  Michael doesn’t like to remember the past. He doesn’t like to remember how much she loved him. All it does is remind him of everything he lost. Everything she took away when she left him. He will get her back. Then, she will never leave.

  CHAPTER 26

  Brody is sitting at the kitchen table with Charlie on his lap, and once again he has his tongue down her throat. He doesn’t remember how they got here so quickly. He has his hands under her shirt touching her bare back. She is moving her hips while their tongues duel, driving him completely nuts.

  He grabs her hips and stands up, her feet wrap around his waist and he holds her ass in his hands as he carries her to the living room, and sits on the couch with her back on his lap. She moves her mouth to his neck, and licks and bites his ear lobe. She sits up, and starts unbuttoning his dress shirt, still on from work, watching him as she moves her fingers to the next button, and the next, until all the buttons are undone.

  She slowly slides her hands under his shirt. She skims over the planes of his chest as she moves the shirt off his shoulders and down his arms. Completely, exposed she licks his collar bone. His hands grab the back of her head and he pulls her hair a little bit. Not enough to hurt her just direct her back to his mouth. He devours her. He is a starved man at his last supper. She responds with just as much enthusiasm.

  There is a knock at the door. They both stop. They wait, the doorbell rings. Charlie jumps off me and the couch, fixing her clothes and blushing flame red. I need more than a wardrobe change. I need a cold shower and maybe a couple of minutes alone to change the color of my balls from the spectacular shade of blue they just turned. Since, neither is happening I try to fix myself the best I can. Shirt buttoned, check. Hard on tucked, check. That’s as good as its getting at the moment.

  Charlie looks at me, nods, and opens the door. “Good evening, Officers.” Moving aside and sweeping her hand, “Please come in.”

  “Hello. I’m Officer White, and my partner is Officer Allen.”

  Officer White looked like a very normal very average Middle American man. He had brown hair, brown eyes. He was, not too tall not too short, average. He was thin but not skinny. His whole face transformed when he smiled, though. His nondescript eyes sparkle with devilish humor. He has two huge dimples in his cheeks. It gave him a boyish quality that was endearing. He looked at Charlie with his boyish good looks and dimples and smiled like he knew we were caught.

  “Hi Officer White, My name is Charlie and this is Brody. We have been having some issues with an ex of mine.”

  Smile getting bigger, Officer White looks Charlie up and down and says, “An ex you say?”

  I walk over to her and put my arm around her waist. “Please, let’s go into the kitchen. This may take awhile. Can I get you anything to drink; water, soda, juice?”

  Looking at my arm around her waist, understanding the meaning of it, Officer White nods at me and we all go to the kitchen.

  As soon as the Officer turns his back Charlie steps away from me and gives me a look that says I’m in trouble later. She didn’t miss what happened between me and the cop. “Crap.”

  She marches into the kitchen and looks at Officer Allen, whom has yet spoken or been spoken to, “Is there anything I can get you Officer Allen?”

  Officer Allen is female. She is a tiny little thing with black hair and blue eyes. She is the exact opposite of White. She is so gorgeous it is intimidating. Perfect straight white teeth, formed a big genuine smile. Charlie used to say there is nothing worse than a pretty girl who was nice, too. It made it hard to hate them. Just having met her we really didn’t know if she was as nice as she seemed, but she was putting on a good show if she is pretending.

  They sit down at the table and retell the events of the last week. When they’re done I can see the exhaustion in Charlie. Her eyes are sad, blood shot, and watery. I hate the shame I see there. I know she has never seen a therapist after what happened. I think she needs to. I will talk to her about that, later though. I feel like I say that a lot. Later, always later.

  CHAPTER 27

  Charlie is sitting in her room listening to music on her iPod. She h
as some older songs on it that she listens to when she feels sad. Right now she has Sorrow by Flyleaf playing. She is trying not to be depressed but she is losing the battle.

  She had to come up to her room after the police left. Retelling her story has been taking its toll on her. On top of that she feels embarrassed by what happened with Brody. She practically threw herself at him. He wasn’t protesting, but what if he thought he would hurt her feelings if he did. She is so confused.

  As she sits contemplating her dilemma, a song by Firefly called, What I’ve Overcome, starts playing. The song is about; the freedom the girl feels now that her past is erased. The healing she has gone through to find the passion she can now feel. The song makes her think of Brody, if she could just put Michael in her past once and for all, could she have a future with him?

  She remembers how he put his hand around her waist when Officer White showed a little interest. She would have a talk with Brody about that later. She will not be treated as a possession. He will respect her and let her handle any advances by the opposite sex. If she needs help she’ll ask.

  Touching her lips she sighs, I guess there is a lot Brody and I need to talk about, she mumbles out loud to herself. What does this mean for their friendship? Could they pretend it didn’t happen? Do they want to? Frustrated she gets up and throws open the door, and comes face to face with Brody, mid knock.

  He lowers his hand, “Hey, I was going to knock. I didn’t know if you were still awake?” He looks a little defeated.

  “I’m still awake.” I cringe at the obvious. “I was coming to talk to you.” I move aside to let him in.

  “Oh?” He walks in a sits on the bed.

  I walk toward him straightening my back and firming my resolve to fix this, whatever this is. “First, don’t ever have a pissing contest with another guy over me. I hate that you treated me like a ‘thing’.” He hangs his head. Good. I can see he feels bad. “Second, I have no idea what happened tonight between us, and I can’t even begin to process what happens now.” I hate the panic that has crept into my voice when I was trying to sound strong. I can feel a lump forming in my throat making it impossible to swallow. My eyes are starting to burn and the silence has lasted too long.

  Brody pats the bed next to him. I shake my head no; if I go there now I will lose all of my resolve. He sighs, and speaks low almost afraid of the words he is saying. “I am so sorry I acted that way in front of Officer White. I didn’t think. I was feeling very possessive. I have watched in the back ground for so long, waiting patiently, to be noticed by you. I just wanted you to see me.”

  The tears win the battle and are marching in a continuous line down my cheeks. I walk over to the bed and lift Brody’s head in my hands, holding his face I look deep into his eyes. They are the prettiest eyes, I have ever seen. They are cobalt, with grey and silver speckles; outlined in thick long black lashes. I could spend hours looking into his eyes and never be bored. There is always a new color or speckle waiting to be discovered.

  Crying and still holding Brody’s face I whisper to him, “I do see you. I have always seen you.”

  He reaches up and grabs my hands and pulls me to him. Standing between his legs with his head on my hip and his arms around my waist, I am no longer confused. I know I want to be with this man for the rest of my life. I will do whatever I need to, to make that happen.

  Brody releases his hold on me and looks at me and says, “So am I forgiven?” Never one for the moment to be too serious or serious for too long, Brody uses his humor to defuse the situation.

  “Yeah, you’re forgiven, just don’t do it again.”

  “You got it.”

  I sit down next to him on the bed. “Now what?”

  He lies back on the bed with his arms behind his head, “Now we sleep. I’m beat. It’s been a really long day.” He closes his eyes.

  I curl up on my side with my head on his chest. His arm comes down and holds me closer to him. I sigh and fall to sleep in a matter of minutes.

  CHAPTER 28

  In the morning Charlie wakes up to her alarm and realizes Brody is still in her bed. He is awake, looking at the ceiling; a serious look on his face.

  “Good morning, have you been up for awhile?”

  He quirks an eye at her “Yeah I was ‘up’, now I’m just awake.”

  “Oh, good.” Blushing she tries to sit up, but he holds her down.

  Still wrapped in his arms he presses his lips to her forehead. “I have to go away, to Chicago, for work. I will only be gone tonight. I will be home around lunch time tomorrow.”

  “Oh, ok.”

  “I’m sorry I forgot to tell you last night. I was wrapped up in other thoughts, and honestly I’m not used to telling anyone where I’ll be or what I’m doing. No one usually cares.” He lifts a shoulder in a shrug.

  “What about Steph? You guys lived together, she didn’t care when you didn’t come home?”

  “I eventually got around to telling her, usually the day I left, but like I said, she didn’t care.”

  “Oh, that’s kind of sad. I always thought you guys had this wonderful relationship.”

  “I thought so too. I guess we did to a point. We made great roommates. We did our own thing, split the bills, and the chores. Sometimes, we even had sex.” Laughing, he traces the wrinkle that forms in my forehead.

  It is affectionately known as my ‘dislike wrinkle’. Whenever I think too hard about something I dislike it appears. I dislike thinking about him having sex with Steph. “So, you will be back tomorrow?”

  “Yep, now I have to go shower in my room, unless you want to save water and shower together?” He wiggles his eyebrows.

  “Get outta here. I am not showering with you.”

  “Awe, come on I can keep it clean. Get it, clean? Shower?”

  Laughing at his lame joke, I tell him, “It isn’t in your DNA, to keep anything involving nakedness clean.” I stand and walk over to the door and hold it open for him, pointing the way out.

  He stands and stalks toward me his eyes, dark and hooded, stripping me where I stand. In a deep, husky whisper, “I promise you won’t regret it.”

  My mouth goes dry instantly. Other parts of me further south make up for the dryness, by becoming instantly wet. “Go. Or I promise you will.”

  Brody throws his head back and laughs, hard. “I’m going to have to step up my game. I forget you know all my moves.”

  “Pig.” I can’t help but smile. It happens before I even know I want to. I smile a lot around him. He has even made me smile while I cried. There is power in that.

  Brody walks past me, through the door, and down the hall. I close the door and lean against it. He is going to be the death of me. Shaking my head I get ready for the day.

  In the shower, it finally hits me, Brody is going away. I will be alone. I know I just said how ready I was to take on Michael and put this whole mess in the past, but that when I thought I would have help. Oh well, maybe it will be fine. Nothing will happen just because Brody isn’t home. How would Michael even know?

  Feeling more relaxed Charlie gets out and wraps in a towel. She is standing in front of the closet when Brody knocks and walks in.

  “Hey, you can’t just walk in here.” She can feel the heat in his gaze as his eyes take her in.

  “You should lock it, if you want me out.” He walks closer to her and runs his fingers through her wet hair, watching as the ends fall to her towel covered breasts.

  He sticks a finger into her towel and tugs the secured end away from the rest of the towel. Charlie gasps a little as the towel slides and exposes her to the cool bedroom air and Brody’s hot and hungry eyes. She can feel her nipples harden, and a heavy heat build between her legs. His eyes roam her body; he licks his lips and pulls her to him.