by Mia Carson
“Mommy!” Abby called from the bath, using her two-tone sing-song version of the word. “I’m done!”
“You’re being paged.”
I rolled my eyes as I grinned. “So I hear.” I turned away but turned back to him and gave him a quick kiss before I hurried to the bathroom to help Abby dry off. She could dress herself, but her drying skills left a little something to be desired.
I wrapped her up in the towel, and held her close as she shivered. After a moment, she warmed and had enough of that, so she squirmed her way out of my hug and put on her bright red pajamas with the cartoon penguin wearing earmuffs on the front.
I sat down in her bedroom with her favorite book, Goodnight Moon, and waited for her to finish brushing her teeth. She was yawning as she stepped into her room.
“I want Levi to read my story.”
“I can do it.”
“Levi. He said he would.”
I grinned. “Okay, let me check.” I kissed her on the cheek and carried the book with me to the living room at the front of the trailer. “She wants you to read her story.”
He nodded. “I told her I would.” He took the book from my hand. “This doesn’t have a lot of big words in it, does it?” I snickered. “Be right back.”
When he disappeared into her room, I tiptoed down the hall and listened.
“Goodnight Moon…In the great green room…there was a telephone…and a red balloon…and a picture of…the cow jumping over the moon…” he read slowly.
I liked his voice. His rich baritone seemed to bring new life to the rhyming of the book, and I liked the fact he was taking his time and not rushing through it. I peeked around the corner. I’d read the book to her so many times I had it memorized, and I knew he was approaching the end.
“Goodnight stars…goodnight air…goodnight noises, everywhere.” Abby yawned hugely as he slowly closed the book. “Goodnight, Abby,” he said as he rose and then bent to kiss her on the forehead, pulling up and straightening the linens on her bed.
I pursed my lips and quickly hurried to the kitchen so he wouldn’t know I’d been watching. I didn’t have a dishwasher, so I started putting away the dishes I’d washed two nights ago as an excuse for being there.
“Finished?” I asked even though I knew he was.
“All done.” He sauntered up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist as he nuzzled my neck. “I need to go. I still have to check in.”
I groaned silently. I didn’t want him to go. I was torn. Have him stay, or stick to my rule of not having men over when Abby was home.
He kissed me on the neck again and slowly drew his hands back. “I’ll see you in a day or two.”
“Tomorrow?” I asked hopefully.
“Probably not.” I felt a crushing disappointment. “I have something I need to do.”
“Okay,” I murmured.
“Hey,” he said, turning me to face him. “It’s not like that. I’m working hard to convince my family you’re telling the truth.”
“And that’s what you’re doing tomorrow?”
“Yeah. I’m going to try to track down Cat and talk to her.”
“What good will that do? She won’t tell you anything, even if you do track her down. And so what if she does tell you? She’ll just deny she said it, just like she denied she did it. You still won’t have proof.”
“I don’t need proof, not like that. All she has to do is say something to me. If I tell Mom and Dad I heard the truth with my own ears…” he paused and shrugged, “then it’s another step in the right direction.”
“I think you’re wasting your time.”
“It’s mine to waste.”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Last I heard she’s living in Abilene.”
“I’m going to pay a friendly little visit to her mom tomorrow. Try to set up a meet with Cat, and we’ll see what happens.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because I don’t want to lose my family.”
I frowned. “I don’t understand what any of this has to do with your family.”
“If they make me choose between them and you, they’re going to lose. I don’t want that.”
I stared at him and slowly began to shake my head. “No. Don’t do that. I don’t—”
“You’re not,” he said, his voice soft but firm. “Right now, they’re trying to come between us, and I’m not going to allow that.” He softened. “Actually, that’s not completely true. Dad and I had a frank discussion this morning about you. I think they know where I stand, and he backed down. But I don’t want you tolerated on my behalf. I want you welcomed as a member of the family, like you used to be. Maybe if I talk to Cat, I can have my cake, and eat her too.”
It took me a moment to catch what he said. “Naughty.” I paused as I held his gaze. “You’d really choose me over your family?”
“I already have. Give me a kiss. I need to go.”
He leaned in for a parting kiss, and I decided that wasn’t enough, not nearly enough. “Don’t go.”
“I need to get checked in before it gets late. You know they—”
“No, I mean stay with me tonight,” I said, talking over him.
He paused. “What about…?” he asked as he jerked his head in the direction of Abby’s room.
“We’ll just have to be quiet.”
“And in the morning?”
“You’ll join us for breakfast.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
He held my eyes for a long time and yawned with comic exaggeration. “Suddenly I’m exhausted and ready for bed.”
I smiled. The exhaustion I’d been feeling at Dolly’s vanished. God, I’d missed him so much. “You know what, so am I.”
I finished putting away my dishes, mostly to make sure Abby was asleep. Having her walking in as Levi was, as Mackenzie put it, loading his clown into the cannon, would be even harder to explain than her seeing him in the morning. Tomorrow, Mom and Dad would know that Levi and I were sleeping together, but I honestly didn’t think they’d care. I think he’d earned that right in their eyes.
It took me three times as long to put away the dishes as it should have. If he wanted to get some, he needed to stop distracting me with his soft touches, and most especially, his nuzzling of my neck. He’d wrap me up, his hands pulling my ass back into his crotch, and I’d stop whatever I was doing and soak it up like a sponge. At least it was giving Abby time to be good and asleep.
I put the last glass away and turned in his arms. “You’re an ass, you know that?” I grumbled playfully.
He gave my butt another slow caress. “Maybe, but I’m not as nice a one as yours.”
I snickered. “Is that all you think about?”
“When I’m around you, hell yeah!” He paused and became more serious. “Does my teasing bother you?”
I smiled slyly. “Only if you can’t back it up.”
He visibly relaxed. “I’ll do the best I can.”
I stretched up for a kiss. “You’ve been doing fine so far.”
He kissed me, pulling me in tight as my arms circled his neck. It was the perfect blend of last night’s tenderness and this morning’s fire. The kiss slowly dissolved.
“You think she’s asleep?” he asked.
“Probably.”
“Good, because I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up before I take you right here.”
“Is that what you were doing, waiting for Abby to fall asleep?”
“That, and I couldn’t keep my hands off you. We have a lot of time to make up.”
I pulled him into another long kiss. “We certainly do,” I breathed as his lips covered mine.
When the kiss dissolved again, he took my hand and led me down the hall, slowing as he passed Abby’s room and glancing in. As I passed, I stopped him and slowly closed the door until there was a four-finger-width crack. It might not make any difference, but I felt better.
/> In our bedroom—I smiled that I was already thinking of it as our bedroom—we undressed. Goddamn if Levi wasn’t easily the sexist man I’d ever seen outside a magazine, on television, or in a movie, and even then, there were damn few that could surpass him.
I licked my lips, wanting to taste his lips and his cock. My trailer felt slightly cool to my naked skin, but the coolness was no match for the heat raging inside me. We crawled into bed, and he immediately began kissing his way down my body. He’d always put me first, even when we were younger, but tonight, I wanted to please him.
“No,” I whispered, pulling him back up beside me. “Please, I want to,” I continued as I began a slow crawl down his body, licking and kissing. When I took him into my mouth I watched his face as I slowly swallowed him. I could take all of him, but it wasn’t easy, and I’d gagged myself the first time I’d tried because I’d gone too fast. Rather than spoil the mood, it had only excited me more. No man had been big enough to do that after I’d learned how to take a man deep.
As I worked him over, watching his face twist in pleasure revved me up. I was going to make him come because I wanted to see if he could fuck me after he came, like he had our first time. I hadn’t thought much about it at the time, but I’d since learned that most men lost their erection after orgasm.
He held out a long time, but finally… “I’m going to come,” he hissed.
“Then come,” I murmured as I feathered kisses over the delectable toy I’d been given for the evening.
I plunged him deep again, struggling to take the last little bit of him. He groaned low and deep as his hands pressed ever so lightly on my head. He grunted softly as he filled my mouth, his face so sexy as he sneered in rapture.
“Fuck,” he breathed as he relaxed.
“Now,” I purred as I slowly moved over him, “I want you to fuck me.”
He may not be nineteen anymore, and he did soften slightly before becoming steel hard again, but he’d more than satisfied my request, pounding into me until I groaned softly in rapture. As I snuggled into his side, warm, relaxed, sleepy, and well fucked, I smiled at my clock. It was just now my bedtime. I kissed his chest and closed my eyes, listening to the slow, deep, thumping of his heart, the heart he’d given to me. The sound lulled me into sleep. I was still smiling as slumber pulled its darkness over me.
Levi
The sound of a ringing phone stopped with a click as someone on the other end of my call lifted the receiver. “Hello?”
“Mrs. Meyer? Levi McCormick. How are you?”
“I’m fine, Levi. I heard you were back in town. What can I do for you?”
“I’m getting in touch with old friends, and I’d like to catch up with Cat. I understand she’s in Abilene now. I was wondering if I could get her number, or if you’d have her call me.”
There was a long pause. “Aren’t you seeing that Johnson girl again? You know she accused Catherine of drugging her. Can you imagine such a thing?”
I grimaced. I had known this would be tricky. “Yes, ma’am, I know. I suppose you heard about Steve and me?”
“Yeah.”
“That kind of put a new prospective on things. Getting tossed in the pokey will do that to you.”
Janice Meyer laughed. “Yes, I imagine it would. You’re not seeing her anymore?”
“You know how it is, her being a single mother and all,” I said, trying to be vague enough that she’d draw the wrong conclusion without me outright lying. I was willing to lie to get the information I needed, but I wanted to save that as a last resort.
“I don’t want no trouble for Catherine. She had to leave town after all the accusations, said she couldn’t stay here anymore. Mary Ella Johnson had no right to accuse my girl of doing that to her, spreading lies like she did.”
“No, ma’am.”
“You’re not looking to stir up trouble?”
“No, ma’am. I’d like to talk to her and see how she’s doing, that’s all. If you don’t want to give me her number, maybe you could have her give me a call if she’s interested? If not, well, no hard feelings.”
“Maybe I’ll do that. What’s your number?” I gave it to her and she repeated it back to me. “I’ll give her a call and see if she’s interested in talking to you.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Meyer. I’d sure like to catch up. I kind of miss my old friends.”
“I can imagine. You getting settled in okay?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’m staying with my parents for a while, but I’ll get a place of my own.”
“Well, we’re glad your back.”
“Glad to be back. I’m looking forward to hearing from Cat,” I said, trying to sell Cat’s mom on the idea.
“I’ll give her a call right now.”
“Well, no matter what, thanks Mrs. Meyer.”
“You’re welcome, Levi.”
I hung up and stepped out of my room. The wheels were in motion. Now all I had to do was wait. We were eating dinner when my phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Levi? Cat Meyer. Mom said you wanted to talk to me.”
“I’m in the middle of dinner with my family. Can I call you back in, say, ten minutes? Maybe get together?”
“Really? Sure!”
“I’ve got your number. Ten minutes,” I said and hung up.
“Who was that?” Mom asked.
“Catherine Meyer.”
“The one Ella said drugged her?”
“One and the same.”
“Why is she calling you?”
“Before dinner I called her mother and asked her to have Cat call me.”
Mom and Dad looked at each other. “How’d you get her number?”
I grinned. “I found an eight-year-old phone book in the side table where the phone used to be. I looked her up. She still has the same number.”
“What are you up too?” Dad asked, his voice full of both interest and concern.
“You wanted proof. I’m going to try to get it.”
“By talking to Cat Meyers?”
“Yep.” I pushed back from the table. “It was good, Mom. I’m going to call her now. It’s still early enough. I may run into Abilene and have a drink or two with her, if she’s available.”
“That’s an hour each way!” Mom cried.
“Yeah, I know, so I need to get hopping.”
“Levi, why can’t you—” Mom began before Dad put his hand on her arm.
“Let him do this.”
“But—” she tried again, but Dad was shaking his head.
“Let him be, Judy. He’s a grown man. He needs to know, one way or the other.”
“And if she won’t tell you, or tells you the same thing we’ve been telling you all along?” Mom asked me, her disapproval of what I was doing clear in the set of her face and the slight narrowing of her eyes.
I shrugged. “It won’t change my opinion, but what if she confirms Ella’s story?”
“Why would she do that?”
I rolled my hands over and held them out in front of me palms up. “Maybe she won’t, but I have to try.”
Mom sighed. “Fine. Do what you have to,” she said with a dismissive wave. “I think you’re wasting your time.”
I grinned. “You sound like Ella. She said the same thing, and just like I told her, it’s my time to waste.”
That statement finished the conversation, so I retired to my room where I could talk in private. I shut my door as I pressed redial on my phone.
“Hey, Levi. Good to hear from you.”
“You too, Cat. I was wondering if you’d like to get together for a drink sometime.”
“Maybe. I thought you were seeing Ella again.”
“I was.”
“Was?”
It worked on her mother, so I thought I’d go to that well again. “Yeah. Did you hear I was picked up for assault and battery?”
“No! Really! For what?”
“Steve and I had…a disagreement in Dolly’s. Dolly calle
d the cops and I ended up in the clink.”
“Over Ella?”
“Yeah. He was groping her, I tried to put a stop to it. I thought I was doing her a favor, but later she told me not to get involved and to, more or less, mind my own business. On top of that, Mom and Dad are pissed at me, and I’m banned from Dolly’s for God knows how long. Who needs that kind of aggravation?”
“Jesus. I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Yeah, me too. So, here I am.”
“Then sure, I’d love to have a drink with you sometime. What works for you?”
“I’m available any time after dark, including tonight.”
“Tonight?”
“Yeah, tonight works for me if it works for you.”
“I don’t have to work tomorrow, so tonight would be great. Where do you want to meet?”
“Anywhere is good for me.”
“Want to meet at my place?” she asked, her tone inviting.
“Your place sounds great.”
“Fantastic. What time?”
“I need to wash the dust off, so say, eight?”
“Eight would be perfect.” She paused, and I could sense she had more to say, so I waited. “How long do you think you’ll stay?”
I put a smile in my voice. “However long you want me to.”
“That could be a while. We have a lot of catching up to do.”
“So long as I’m back by about 9:30 or ten tomorrow morning, I’m good.”
“That’s perfect. I’ll text you my address.”
“I’ll see you in about ninety minutes.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
“So am I.”
The moment I hung I started stripping out of my clothes for the shower. I needed to hurry. I dashed through a shower, threw on some clothes, added a sport coat for style and warmth, and hurried out to find Mom and Dad.
“I’m going to meet Cat. I might be late. Don’t wait up.”
Mom looked like she’d bit into something sour. “This is a dangerous game you’re playing. What if you find something you’re not looking for, something that goes against what you believe? I don’t want to see you hurt again.”