by K. C. Crowne
“What do you mean? Bad service?”
“No, loud music. Like from a bar,” Mason said. “So, I’m going to call Sam and have him run over there and check on him.”
My heart broke at the thought of Eli throwing away his sobriety over this. All the pain I caused him… It made him backtrack into bad habits and routines.
This was my fault, and I needed to be the one to fix it.
“No, Mason, I need to talk to him. Do you mind--”
I didn’t even finish my sentence.
“Not at all. I can drive you over there, and hopefully we get there before he’s too far gone.”
Ooo000ooo
“Well there’s his truck, so I guess I was right about him being at the bar,” Mason said. He cursed under his breath as he parked beside Eli’s pickup.
He removed his seat belt, but I stopped him.
“Let me go talk to him alone,” I said, softly.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure,” I said. “We have a lot we need to discuss, and I think it would be better if it was just the two of us.”
Mason scanned the periphery of the bar, and I remembered what Eli had said before, at the pharmacy.
“Looks like there’s only one entrance and exit, and the bar is packed, so it’s unlikely anyone is going to be able to hurt me in a crowd of people.”
“I’ll be right here if you need anything, and Eli will most certainly put aside his feelings to protect you if need be.”
“Thanks, Mason,” I said, removing my seat belt and climbing out of the truck.
I walked toward the doorway, taking calming breaths as I tried to settle the butterflies in my belly. This was it, I had to come clean. About everything. Including the child growing inside of me.
Before I even opened the door, I heard country music blasting from the building. Once I stepped inside, the music caused me to cringe, bringing on an almost instant headache. But I pushed through.
The place was small, but fairly packed. My eyes darted around the room, searching for Eli.
“Hey there, sexy,” a voice said from behind me, his words slurring.
I ignored the drunk and kept searching for Eli.
Finally, my eyes landed on him. He was at a table in the corner, by himself. A can of Coke in the palm of his hand. He turned the soda can around, studying the lettering as if it was the most interesting thing in the room.
I was relieved to see him nursing a Coke and started toward him just as a voluptuous blonde slipped into the booth beside him. Her blue jean skirt was nearly short enough to show all her private bits, and her tiny little crop top barely contained her massive breasts. I stopped in place, unsure if I should approach.
Then she leaned into him, whispering something in his ear. I watched a smile spread across his face, and even though I had no right to be, I was instantly filled with jealousy.
He’s mine, I thought at first.
Then I remembered… No, he’s not mine. Not anymore.
IT Didn’t make the emotions swirling inside of me easier to deal with however.
She laughed, throwing her head back as if whatever he said back to her was the funniest thing she’d heard in years.
My stomach twisted, and there was a burning in my throat that made me fear the worst - I was going to be sick.
My eyes scanned the room, this time looking for any sign of a bathroom. I found it, on the opposite end of the bar, requiring a walk past Eli and his busty beauty.
I turned on my heels and rushed toward the exit instead. I barely made it outside before launching my dinner into a nearby bush.
I do not want to go back in there.
I don’t want to see him with another woman.
God, this was such a horrible idea.
Chapter 16
Eli
“Sorry, Brittany, is it?” I gently slipped away from her.
“Bethany, actually.”
“I’m really not interested in--” I stopped mid-sentence as I saw someone that looked like Charlotte out of the corner of my eye.
“You keep saying you’re not interested, but you’re not going anywhere either, sugar,” Bethany said, stroking my arm.
I yanked my arm away, nudging her to let me out.
“I need to go,” I said.
“You don’t need to go anywhere,” she purred.
“No, I mean it. Let me up.”
Maybe it was the tone I used, but Bethany’s face shifted. She slipped from the booth, giving me access to freedom. I watched as Charlotte hurried out the front door, so I made my way across the bar as quickly as I could, making a beeline for the exit.
I pushed open the big, heavy wooden door and scanned the area. I didn’t have to look far to see Charlotte’s red hair. She pushed it back from her face as she threw up.
I ran to her side.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she muttered.
Mason was getting out of his truck, answering my next question - how did she get there.
“You said you wouldn’t go to the bar,” Mason scolded, reminding me a lot of our dad when we were younger.
I held up my hands in mock defeat. “I ended up here, but I swear to you, I’ve only had Coke. You can ask the bartender.”
Mason’s eyes narrowed, but Charlotte answered. “I saw him with a soda, he’s not lying.”
“Why did you bring her out here? It’s not safe,” I growled.
“She wanted to talk to you. It seems there’s been a misunderstanding,” Mason said, handing her a bottle of water from the truck. “If you’ve not been drinking, want to take it from here?”
“Sure, I can bring her home,” I said softly. “Get back to your family.”
“Is that alright with you, Charlotte?”
“Yes, it’s fine,” she said, her voice sounding gravelly. She took a big, long drink from the bottle. “Go on home, Mason. Eli and I just need to talk.”
Mason waved as he headed for the truck and climbed inside. I waved back as he drove away.
I shoved my hands deep in my pocket and stared at the ground, pretty confident that I knew the subject of our conversation at the very least.
“It’s just-- It isn’t what you probably think, Eli. I saw the text, and I know Peter said I’d killed your baby, but that’s because of how it always felt to me. He knew I felt guilty for losing the baby, and that it’s affected me for years - he was just trying to hurt me. But the truth is, I had a miscarriage. Maybe it was my fault, maybe it wasn’t. But I wanted that child, Eli. I wanted that child more than anything in the world.”
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she stopped to take a deep breath before continuing. “And I know you probably won’t forgive me. I can’t blame you for that. I kept it from you. At the time, I thought I was protecting you, but you deserved to know what happened to your child. To our child. And the real reason I ended up leaving.”
She seemed to wobble, and I reached out to her, offering her a steady hand. My heart broke for her. All this time, I had been thinking about me, me, me - how could she have not told me. It only just hit me that she was hurting too, more so than me and in ways I couldn’t possibly understand.
“Charlotte, I forgive you. I just-- It all took me by surprise, that’s all. I needed time to think.”
She let out a sob, covering her mouth as if trying to hide it.
I pulled her into me, her head nestled against my neck. I stroked her hair and just held her tightly, letting her know that she wasn’t alone. I might not understand all the emotions she was going through, but I wanted her to know that I would take care of her.
She lifted her head and looked me in the eye, not saying a word.
“Let’s head home and we can talk in private,” I said, pushing a strand of hair out of her face.
She nodded, but still didn’t say a word. She wiped at her eyes and stepped away, and I walked her to my truck. I helped her to climb up inside and went around to the driver’s
side.
“Can I ask you something?” she asked.
“Sure.”
“I know it’s none of my business, but who was that girl you were talking with inside? You two seemed--well, close.”
I couldn’t hold back the chuckle. “Sorry, don’t mean to laugh,” I said, as I started the engine. “It’s just, I would hardly call us close. She was a drunken mistake from about a year ago. One night that I honestly don’t even remember because I was too wasted. She was one of the last straws for me. I knew that if I could lose entire nights and not remember what I’d done, I needed to put a stop to the drinking. I hadn’t seen her since that night, and until she reminded me who she was, I had no clue. Didn’t even recognize her. I know that makes me a bit of an ass and I probably owe her an apology.”
My voice dropped off at the end. Again, I had focused so much on myself, I had never really thought about what I’d done to the women I’d slept with before cleaning my life up.
“Sorry for making assumptions. I just saw the two of you laughing, and you seemed to be flirting.”
“Oh hell no,” I said, stifling the laughter. “I’m sure she’s a nice enough girl, but she’s not really my type. I don’t remember what she said that I laughed at, but I was just trying to be nice. Sometimes to a fault, I guess.”
I looked over at her and caught her looking at me. I smiled and she looked away.
“So why isn’t she your type? She seems pretty enough.”
“I guess, though I tend to prefer redheads myself,” I said with a smile. “But it’s more than that. She’s still into the party scene, for one, and I’m done with that. I’m ready to settle down, have a family one day if that’s still in the cards for me, and from the little I talked with her tonight, I don’t get that she’s in the same place, nor will she be anytime soon. I just don’t feel like wasting my time with someone who isn’t headed in the same direction as me, you know?”
“So you’re still interested in having a family?” she asked, her voice softer than before.
I gripped the steering wheel with both hands and cleared my throat, trying to think of the least-awkward way of saying this. Considering where we were - unsure if a relationship would be in our future or not - I didn’t want to put any pressure on her.
“Yes, if it’s in the cards. Seeing my brothers happy has awoken that desire in me again, I guess.” I said. “But to be honest, no woman has ever lived up to you, so I haven’t found anyone I want to spend my life with yet.”
She got quiet for a bit as we drove along the dark mountain roads. I had a lot on my mind, mostly about how things might have been different if I had never moved her out to San Diego. Maybe if I had never joined the Navy, we could have had the family we always talked about. I had no doubt the stress of the situation had some role to play in the miscarriage.
I pulled into the driveway to home, and for half a second, I thought she might be asleep until she sat up straighter and cleared her voice.
Her voice came out as a soft whisper. “You know I would have never aborted our child, Eli. Right?”
My grip on the wheel tightened.
“I wouldn’t have thought so, but I know you were unhappy there in San Diego, so I wouldn’t hold it against you if you had.”
“I was unhappy, yes, and a bit lonely, but the real reason I ended up leaving was that after I lost our baby, I just sort of-- well, I broke down. And you were so far away, I had no friends or anyone to help me. It was all a bit too much.”
A fist tightened around my heart.
“I should have been there for you.”
“You couldn’t have known, Eli.”
I parked the truck in front of the house, but neither of us got out of the vehicle. I stared straight ahead at the rental house I’d been living in for just over a year. I imagined the home that was being built on the property I bought with my brothers. I had requested several bedrooms, plenty of space for a growing family.
It could have been the space for Charlotte’s and my family.
Charlotte’s touch surprised me as she reached across and stroked my arm. I looked up at her and the pain in her eyes hurt like a knife to the gut.
I just wanted it all to go away.
“I should have told you, but instead I ran away,” she said. “I threw everything away.”
“Shh.” I cradled her head in my hands, leaning in closer to her. I placed a kiss on her forehead, my lips lingering there as I tried to think of how I could fix all of this, how could I make it better. “It’s okay, Charlotte. You were going through a lot. I forgive you.”
Her head tilted upward, and she stared deep into my eyes. The pain had been replaced by something else entirely. Her hand ran along the side of my face.
“I love you, Eli. And there’s something I have to--”
“Shh,” I said again, placing my fingers against her lips. “Taking it slow, remember?”
Truth was, I loved her too. I never stopped loving her.
“But I have to--”
I don’t know who kissed who, but her words were cut off by our lips somehow finding each other. She gasped and opened her mouth to me, my tongue moving before I could even think to talk myself out of it.
“Let’s go inside,” she whispered against my lips. Her hands pulled at my shirt, as if she was trying to stop herself from ripping it off of me.
I stumbled from the truck, and my head was spinning as we rushed inside. I told myself, on the walk up the stairs, that I wouldn’t fall into her bed - I would control myself. She was vulnerable, I needed to give her space.
But as the front door opened, it was Charlotte whose hands were all over me. Her lips met mine again, and even though I knew I should tell her to stop, I couldn’t do it.
I couldn’t stop.
Neither could she.
We made it to the top of the stairs, and since her room was closer than mine, we ended up there. It hadn’t even hit me where we were at until we fell into her bed.
It was like my hands had a mind of their own, pulling at her shirt and lifting it up over her head.
“Yes, Eli, please--” Charlotte moaned into my ear. “Don’t stop. Please.”
How could I resist the begging? Especially when I wanted exactly the same thing she did?
My crotch ached, my cock begging to be free of the jeans. All the blood rushed south to my groin and left me thinking with the wrong head.
I unclasped her bra, and those beautiful, round breasts fell into my hands. I squeezed them gently, my fingers grazing the perky pink nipple. Charlotte gasped, her head going back into the bed.
“Yes, Eli…”
“We should--”
“No, we shouldn’t stop,” she said, her eyes popping open. “I know what I want Eli. I’m not under some elusive spell, I made a mistake years ago when I left you, and now… well, now I want to make it right. I want us to be what we always should have been.”
It was what I wanted to.
“I love you, Charlotte,” I said.
“And I never stopped loving you, Eli,” she said, her hand stroking the side of my face.
I slipped her leggings right off, rolling them down the length of her body, and I followed them until I was on the floor, staring up at her. I nudged her thighs apart. The smell of her hit my nostrils, and I was a goner. I closed my eyes and dove between her legs, my tongue parting her sweet lips.
She tasted divine. Better than I even remembered, in fact. With my hands on her ass, I pulled her into me, burying my face into her sweetness.
The feeling of her body writhing against the bed caused my cock to throb with the building pressure. I needed release, but not before I felt her quivering orgasm with my tongue.
Her hands were in my hair, stroking the back of my head as I teased her most intimate parts, licking and sucking until I found that perfect rhythm that tightened her entire body and made her breathe heavier.
“Yes, yes, Eli… Oh God, yes,” her thighs squeezed my shoulders
as her nails dug into my scalp.
I knew she was close, so I kept up the rhythm. I could hardly breathe, my face was buried so deeply into her, but I didn’t even care. I cared for only one thing.
Come for me baby, I thought to myself, unable to speak the words because my mouth was simply too busy. My tongue began to ache, but I wasn’t going to stop - nothing in the world this side of death by suffocation would make me stop now. I’d pass out before I stopped pleasing her with my tongue.
And when she let out that scream of pleasure, I knew I had succeeded in my mission. That didn’t mean I stopped - oh no, I kept it up, drawing out the orgasm as her pussy spasmed around my tongue and her cries grew louder.
No, I didn’t stop until her body jerked in response and she let out a gasp, signaling she was oversensitive.
I backed away, staring up at her with her sweet honey soaking my face and beard.
Her eyes were partially closed, almost a sleepy look on her beautiful face. But she stared down at me too. A lazy smile on her lips.
“Come here,” she said, motioning for me. “I need you, now.”
I stripped off my pants, letting them fall to the floor as I stood up.
“Shirt too, please,” she said, her voice wispy. “I need to see all of you.”
“Your wish is my command,” I said with a grin. I’d do anything for this woman, literally anything she asked for. If she wanted to see me shirtless, then by all means, I’d never wear a shirt again, even in the cold, Utah winters if that made her happy.
I ripped my shirt off over my head and tossed it to the floor.
“God, yes, Eli,” she purred. “You’re so sexy.”
“Not as sexy as you, trust me,” I said, wiping away some of the wetness from my lips.
I fell to the bed, our bodies instantly entangled as I hovered above her, staring into those beautiful, blue eyes. Her legs wrapped around me, her back arching upward to bring us even closer together. We kissed like that, my aching cock rubbing against her wetness as our tongues explored each other’s mouths.
It almost felt like the first time for us all over again. The night that we had given our virginities to each other. We were so eager to explore every inch of each other’s bodies, and we could have kissed all night - just rubbing our naked flesh against each other. Mostly because we were nervous, I suspect - and I had wanted to make sure she was ready and absolutely sure she wanted it.