by A. C. Bextor
I laugh and he winces, feeling my body still surrounding his. “We’re past that. Put me down.”
“No, we are not. The asses are out for a drink. I got time.”
“Well, use it. Get me off the wall.”
“Right,” he replies with a shake of his head as he gently pulls me away from the wall and cradles my now sweaty body against his, moving us to the bedroom.
Once Hayden is finished and spent, we settle in my bed. “Don’t mention the wet spot,” I remind him, cringing at his prior attempt at flirting.
“Wasn’t going to, but I will since you mentioned it.”
“Sick.”
Pulling me closer, I rest my head on his chest and relax under his fingers as they run thoughtlessly through my hair. His heartbeat under my ear is the only sound I hear in the quiet of the room. It starts to slow from our workout and I close my eyes, embracing its quiet rhythm.
*****
Hayden
“What did you do at Bean’s?” Lacey asks with curiosity. She must not have had a chance to ask Travis.
What did I do at Bean’s?
I’ve thought about that the entire time I was racing to get over here to her. When I left Bean sitting in her chair, readying herself to have a meaningful conversation with her next victim, Travis, I was confused.
Bean brought up a valid point which scared me. It was meant to make me stop and think, I know this much about her. If Bean’s pinning you down and talking to you, she expects you to walk away with a clear head. I didn’t. I’m confused.
All the way here, I thought about Lacey and what she was offering me. It’s not much but other than Jenna, this is the most exclusive relationship I’ve ever desired to have. I’ve admitted to myself and others that I like Lacey. What comes next though, I don’t have answers for. Over the past couple of weeks, since meeting her, I haven’t thought about another woman. I haven’t wanted to take a nameless face to bed. If I offered Lacey more, I believe she’d take it. Maybe she’d be skeptical, but I know she’s starting to care about me.
I smile through the answer to her question. “Bean wanted to talk. When she does, she brings us all around the table with her cooking. She knows we won’t refuse it.”
“I like her.”
“She’s a quick one. Gotta watch her.”
She prods for further information, as though unsure I’ll give it to her. “What did she want to talk about?”
“She gave me some pictures of us. She had some for the rest of the guys, too. And Sarah.”
“Pictures?”
“Yeah, of us as kids. She has one of Travis in his Halloween costume. He was a cowboy one year.”
I think back to all our holidays and how different it would’ve been for Lacey to be a part of them. She missed out on a lot of good times growing up.
“Travis as a cowboy. I wouldn’t have thought.”
“Don’t think too hard. It was a picture taken in June. He wore that bitch for a year.”
“Oh, God.”
“Yeah. The Halloween after that one, he was a ghost. He thought he was pretty badass, too. As if a white sheet with cut-out eyes and a drawn-on black open mouth was scary as fuck.”
“Bet he was funny, though.”
“He was.” I stop, looking down at her, and she looks up, resting her chin on my chest.
“He would kick my ass for telling you this, but that year he was moodier than usual. He was pissed because the rest of us were all dicking around and he wanted to hit as many houses as he could before we had to be home. He went ahead of us taking his frustration with him.” Stopping again, I look to the ceiling; she watches me intently as I try to control my laughter. “It was raining. He was rubbing it in our faces that his head was covered and he swore he wasn’t cold, but it was fucking freezing outside in the dark. Ace and I were going back and forth about how stupid Trav looked in a wet sheet. Anyway, he kept walking ahead. He had a paper bag, not plastic like the rest of us.”
“Paper?”
“Yeah, like an old grocery bag. He started getting tired and wouldn’t admit we were done for the night, so he started dragging the bag on the grass and sidewalks without thinking.”
“Oh, no,” she says, I can tell she’s picturing her brother’s sad expression before I finish telling her what happened. I love her for that.
“The hole at the bottom of the bag was small at first. Toby kept running behind him picking up all the candy he was dropping without him knowing and putting it in his own bag. By the time we got home, my dad, Trav’s dad, and Bean were waiting for us at Trav’s house. Once we got in and changed into warm clothes, they started searching the candy, like all parents did then. Trav’s dad poured his on the table finding the bag was nearly empty. He didn’t get it until he saw the bottom of it and the hole the water had caused.”
My laughter takes up the room, I imagine all she can think about is Trav without any candy on Halloween. It makes her sad; I hear it in her voice. “Stop laughing. That’s awful.”
“Nah, he only cried for about an hour. Toby being the same person he is now, giving and genuine, gave him his candy back plus some. It ended well and Travis survived. Lesson learned.”
Sitting up on her elbow, she looks at me and questions, “What lesson are you talking about, Hayden? Paper versus plastic?”
My face gets serious as I take a strand of her wild hair and push it behind her shoulder. “No, Lace. Lesson that as long as we stuck together, we’d always have each other’s back. Even then.”
“I didn’t have that growing up,” she confesses with sadness.
“You do now,” I remind her with confidence.
“What were you that year?”
I pause my hand in her hair, thinking and recollecting the moment. “I was a Power Ranger, I think. Ace was a WWF wrestler. Toby was a professional basketball player.”
“Where was Sarah?” she asks, obviously wondering where the last of our group was that night.
“Ace wouldn’t let her go with us because it was too dark.”
She sighs, Ace still not being her favorite, I can tell. “Imagine that. Poor girl.”
“Don’t feel sorry for the little terror. Ace gave her enough candy to make her insane with sugar for days after.”
Resting her head back on my shoulder, she closes her eyes and takes in the evening. Changing the subject, she inquires, “Why’d you come in like that tonight?”
“Like what?”
“Quickly, horny, crazy—”
I cut her off with a pull of the hair at the nape of her neck and whisper my own confession to the room. “I missed you today.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
LACEY
AFTER FALLING ASLEEP with Hayden, I’m woken up by the sound of Travis and Ace arguing in the living room. I hear doors being opened and closed, then Raegan’s laughter before the front door slams shut. Then there’s only silence.
Trav’s home and it’s an internal debate I think over before deciding to get up to see what’s going on.
When I make it to the living room, I find Travis sitting on the couch holding a beer with one hand and running his hands through his short-cropped goatee with the other. As soon as he catches the sight of me, his eyes narrow. “Hayden found his way here, I’m guessing?”
“Is that your way of telling me I look thoroughly good and fucked?” I sneer in warning, not wanting to get into this with him again.
Putting his hand over his eyes and visibly cringing at the idea, he explains the obvious I had missed. “No, damn it. Lacey, his clothes!” He points to Hayden’s clothes lying along the living room floor. I grab my shirt, hoping he hasn’t seen it yet and throw it on over the one I’m wearing.
“Oh, yeah. He’s here. He’s sleeping. I heard voices and woke up.”
“Raegan,” he says. “She had to use the bathroom.” He smiles into his beer before taking another drink.
“Are you feeling better?”
“Yeah.” He raises the bott
le in the air. “Hair of the dog and all.”
Walking to him, I take the position at the other end of the couch and watch the muted television screen. After a few seconds of silence, I watch him start to adjust on the couch as if he’s getting up. “Travis?”
He stops and looks to me softly, allowing my tone to penetrate. “Yeah?”
“Are you okay now? With Hayden and me, I mean?”
“No, but yes.”
“What does that mean? That’s a woman’s answer.”
“I’m not okay with it, but you said you’re an adult and I told you how I felt and what I thought would happen. If that’s enough for you then it’ll be enough for me.”
“Thank you.”
“You like him, too, huh?”
“Yes. I do.”
“I’ve never seen him happy like this. With one girl, I mean.”
This surprises me. Hayden and I just started this arrangement so I’m not sure what to expect, but Trav’s known him since they were kids. I don’t know what to make of it.
“I’m happy, too.”
Getting up, he moves toward the kitchen so I follow his footsteps, staying closely behind him. I hear him say before I start to turn toward the hall, “I’ll still kick his ass if he hurts you, Lacey.”
“On that note, I think I’m going to wake him so he can go. We don’t need the cowboy getting pissed at the Indian when the cowboy mistakes the moans from the next room as pain.”
A moment passes, and I’m biting my bottom lip trying to hide my laughter as I continue toward the bedroom. Before closing the door behind me, I hear Travis bark, “He’s a dead man for telling you about that fuckin’ costume.”
Jumping on the bed, I wake Hayden by showering him with quick kisses. His reaction, as I had expected, was to take me hard again. This time with his hand over my mouth, so Cowboy Joe doesn’t have to suffer through another visual as the one I had just described to him.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Hayden
TRAVIS HAD CALLED earlier to tell me he, Rae, and Ace were headed to Las Vegas for a few days to help Rae’s dad finalize his long, messy, and drawn-out divorce. Raegan’s mother is a bitch. I’ve never met her but hearing Travis and Ace explain her place in Rae’s life, I’m glad I missed my chance.
Lacey and I have planned a relaxing break from the rest of them and we’re doing it our way.
“I’ll catch a cold if you make me do this,” she tells me, struggling to find a valid reason she can’t go without clothes.
“You’re making excuses now. And not good ones.”
“I’m not. It’s not summer, Hayden. If I get sick, I blame you.” She removes her shirt, lifting it over her head. I congratulate myself quietly for my creativity as I watch her chest bounce with each move she makes in removing her bra shortly after.
“Pants?” I say, pointing to the offending jeans blocking the rest of my view of her perfect body.
“God, you’re ridiculous.”
“Nope.” I smile, and it’s returned with what she must believe is a childlike evil eye.
“Come here.”
“I’m sore,” she tells me, then adds for reiteration, “Daddy.”
“Buzz kill.”
“Sex fiend.”
“You’re the only girl I know who uses a safe word for no reason.”
“Is that what that is?”
“You calling me ‘daddy’ shrinks my cock, so yeah, it works just as good.”
Moving her hair off her chest and placing it behind her back, I rest my hands on her thighs as she positions herself on top of me, staring into my eyes. My body enjoys the feel of her, even in the face of her rejection.
“Dinner is at five,” I remind her. Cathy is making dinner for us. Lacey’s going to meet my father tonight. I’ve never brought home a woman I’ve cared anything about to meet him. I’m nervous of his reaction.
Lacey rests her cheek on my chest, wrapping her arms around my neck and holding me tight. “I’ve never met an exclusive’s parent.”
Her confession confuses me. I don’t like to think about the men she’s been with before me, but she’s told me about Alec. “Douche didn’t have parents?”
“Yeah, but they didn’t live close and he never cared if I met them or not. He met my mom, though.” Her eyes roll, remembering how she left both him and her mother the night she came to see Travis. She finishes telling me what I already know. “Obviously they got along well.”
“You’re not fucking my dad.”
“Eww!”
“Dad’s like me.”
“Hot?” she says, pulling away from me and lifting her eyebrows with orneriness.
“Sexy? Charming?”
“All the above. He likes women more than I do.”
“Not possible.”
I tread lightly here, not knowing the reaction my dad will have to her but hoping he’ll respect and understand my decision in bringing her to him. She’s Trav’s sister, so of course he’s curious. I don’t want him too curious.
“Dad’s a recovering alcoholic,” I admit.
“Yeah. You and Travis both told me this.”
“Before, when he was sick, he was different. I feel like I’ve just started to get to really know him.”
She brushes my cheek with her fingers, resting her palm against my face. “No matter what happens, it’ll be okay.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to say three words I’ve never said to another woman, ever. Lacey has to know I care about her. The thought of not seeing her every day, not having her in my bed or hearing her voice on the phone when she calls for no reason has left me unsure and confused.
I’ve never fallen in love before. I don’t know if this is how it feels.
“Are you really sore?” I ask, distracting myself the best way I know how. Sex.
“No.” Her voice is raspy as she starts to move on top of me, shifting back and forth over my cock as it strains in my jeans. “But you’re still dressed.”
Standing up, I pull her with me and walk to my bedroom. She wraps her body around mine and breathes softly in my neck in response.
For the first time in my life, I’m about to make love to a woman.
*****
Lacey
It’s changing. I feel it. The dynamic of our arrangement is evolving. To what, I’m not sure. We’ve spent nearly every day together since this started, and over time, the casual and flirtatious banter has continued, but with less intensity. We talk more. Our day-to-day lives are tangling together. He feels it, too.
This morning, Hayden was different. He used my body, but not for the purpose he’s used it before. He wasn’t searching for sexual release. He held onto me as though I’d disappear if he let go. His thrusts were gentle, considered and cautious. The words he used weren’t crass or meant to spur me into climax. They were genuine and loving.
After sex, Hayden spent the day holding me in bed. His fingers ran through my hair with ease and he was settled and relaxed in the quiet of the room. It wasn’t until hours later that he offered to shower with me.
Using my ‘daddy’ reference, I coaxed Hayden into avoiding another round of sex. I am sore, the best kind of sore, but my body is aching with exhaustion.
Hayden’s childhood home is nothing comparable to what I’ve ever seen before. The immaculate lawn, the brick exterior, and the Mercedes sitting in the garage as we pull up all brag the perfection that must be Hayden’s father.
“One person lives here?” I ask, pointing to the house in shock.
“Yep. It’s a little ridiculous, I know.”
“It’s beautiful, Hayden.”
“It’s a house; nothing more, Lacey.”
Brian is sitting in his living room when we walk in. He’s dressed casually in a V-neck sweater and dark-wash jeans. His feet are bare. His hair is in perfect order and I smell his cologne as I enter the room. He starts to stand and I can’t help but stare at his tall and broad form. Clearly, Hayden gets his attractive loo
ks from his father.
“Lacey,” he says with a smirk. “It’s good to finally meet you.” He reaches his hand out in gesture and I make a move to grab for it, but Hayden pulls it back with a skeptic look of apprehension.
“Where’s Cathy?” Hayden clips, causing me to feel uneasy.
“Ah, right,” Brian answers the distraction. “She’s in the kitchen. Dinner’s about done.”
“You have a beautiful house, Mr. Flynn.”
“Brian, please. Let me take that.” Brian walks closer and helps remove my jacket as Hayden stays close, watching his every move. “So, you’re Travis’s little sister. The similarities between you two are striking.”
“I’ve heard that before,” I reply, quickly looking at Hayden who appears to have started to relax. “You and Hayden could be brothers.” I’m not lying when I say it, but a grunt from Hayden infers he thinks I am.
“We’ve heard that before,” Brian repeats my words. Looking to Hayden, Brian offers, “Would you like anything to drink? Cathy bought beer.”
Hayden pauses, but answers, “You sure?”
“Hayden.” His father’s tone is sarcastic. “I was a scotch and vodka addict. Beer never appealed to me.”
“Okay. Sounds good.”
“I’ll take one, too, if you have it,” I add.
The woman I assume is Cathy walks in the room, beers already in hand. She had anticipated Hayden’s arrival and his nervousness. Her smile is wide. She’s taller than I am, her hair a dark brown but mixed with slight grey. Her eyes are blue and genuine.
“Introduce us, Hayden.” Her voice is light and sweet.
“Sorry. Lacey, you’ve met my dad, Brian. And this is his friend, Cathy.”
“Hello, sweetheart.” Cathy comes to me and hands me my beer with a wink before turning to Hayden and reaching up to squeeze his cheek roughly. He laughs in response but steps back, taking me with him around my waist.
Throughout dinner, I learn Brian has been pushing Hayden aggressively to get a full-time job. He admitted to everyone that it was he who’s held Hayden back from the adult life he deserves but vows the time of Hayden needing to rescue him is long gone.