Forever and Almost Always

by Bennett, Amanda

  “There’s something else I need to tell you.”

  Great. Just when I thought everything was going to be fine, then he goes and says the one little sentence that held the power to change my entire world.

  “I got us the one bedroom. I got it. I went to the landlord this morning, and there is one available. It’s right downstairs by the pool. It’s the corner unit and it’s ready for us whenever we’re ready.”

  I sat there shaking my head, “Seriously? You had that look on your face, because of an apartment? You can’t do that, Dax.” I was completely caught off guard when he started laughing.

  “I’m so sorry, baby. Did you think it was something bad?”

  “Well yeah.” I giggled under my breath, and Dax continued to fall into hysterics. “You suck!” I pushed against him, but he grabbed my arms and pulled me underneath him, pinning me to the bed.

  “Can we get to the make up part now?”

  Before I could get my answer out, his lips were crushed against mine. His tongue slid across my lower lip, but there was no way I was going to allow him to skip past the me being upset part.

  “Dax, stop.”

  He flung himself back on the bed and let out a loud sigh. “I thought we were okay now?”

  “We are, Dax, but you have to give me a little bit of time to get over it.”

  “Well how much time, Charlee? This is bullshit. I fixed the situation, isn’t that what you wanted?”

  My brows pulled together as confusion settled in. “What do you mean, you fixed the situation?”

  Dax jumped up off of the bed and started getting dressed. “I’m going to go tell the landlord that we’re going to move today. Work for you? Good. I’ll grab some boxes from him also.”

  “DAX, WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU FIXED THE SITUATION?” I was now screaming at a closed door and ten times more frustrated than I already was. I threw the covers off of me and started grabbing everything out of the closet. I didn’t waste my time folding anything, seems how we were literally moving only twenty feet away.

  Once I had the closet cleared out, then I started pulling all of the dishes, pots, pans, and utensils out of all of the cupboards. When Dax walked in a little while later, I didn’t expect him to walk in laughing. Or for there to be another person with him. I turned around and faced Dax and Trevor in nothing but my underwear. I leaned back against the kitchen counter with my hands on either side of me, holding me up. I watched as Dax’s face turned every shade of red you could imagine. Trevor just stood there next to Dax, mouth dropped open, eyes firmly fixed on my bare breasts.

  “Dude, stop looking.” Dax punched Trevor so hard in the arm that he quickly turned and walked out the door.

  “Charlee, what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” He was rummaging through my drawers, trying to find something to cover me up with.

  “This, I pointed at my half naked body, is not my fault. I didn’t know you were bringing Trevor back with you. I was just packing like you asked me to.”

  “That’s bullshit and you know it.” He was now standing firmly in front of me, his hands on mine as he leaned in towards my face. “But you do look, damn good packing like that.”

  “Ah, flattery will get you nowhere right now.”

  He pushed back from the counter and started walking towards the door. “Then could you at least put a shirt on? My friends don’t need to see any part of my girl.” The door clicked behind him and I knew that he was giving me a minute to put something on, but I wasn’t so sure that he would be happy with my choice of outfit.

  When him and Trevor walked in a couple minutes later, I was back in the kitchen finishing what I had started.

  “You call that covering up? Charlee, I don’t know what the fuck your problem is today, but could you please, put on some decent clothes?”

  I looked down at the sheer tank top and matching shorts I had pulled on, and laughed. I laughed loud and strong and damn it, it felt great to laugh. When I couldn’t get myself under control, Dax made is way over to me. He pulled me tightly into his chest and hugged me with more love and understanding, than I thought possible for him. He knew what I was doing. He knew I was trying to get his attention. He knew I needed time to process everything, and most of all, he knew that I wasn’t backing down from something he owed me.

  When I finally caught my breath, I hugged him back and placed a chaste kiss to his cheek. “I’ll get dressed.”

  “Thank you.” He sighed as he released me.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  It only took the three of us, about an hour to move all of our stuff down to the other apartment. It wasn’t much more spacious than the other one, but at least our bedroom wasn’t in our living room. My mom even gave us part of her sectional couch, so we would have living room furniture. It wasn’t much, but it was our home. It was the place I felt the safest with the man I loved more than anything.

  Trevor was lounging on the couch watching TV, when Dax came up behind me, wrapping his strong arms around my tiny waist. I closed my eyes and breathed him in as he tenderly placed his chin on my shoulder.

  “You know I love you, right?”

  I nodded, not ready to speak about the incident that happened this morning. I was determined to make this the best thing for the both of us.

  “Charlee, I would do anything for you. I hope you know that.”

  “I know that, Dax. I do. Hey good news, Smokey is moving in with us.”

  “What?”

  Smokey was my cat. I had gotten him when I was eighteen. It was the one thing I had always wanted when I first moved out of my mom’s house, and lucky for me she let me bring him with me, when I had to move back in. He was an orange tabby with absolutely no neck and a personality exactly like mine. Needless to say, I didn’t bestow him his name. When I had first gotten him, I needed someone to watch him while I went to work. I was dating one of the guys that worked at the sandwich place next to the dry cleaners I worked at, and his friend offered to watch him for me. It was his second day with me and I was having a hard time trying to name him. When I went to pick him up that night, the guy who had been watching him had gotten him high and said he liked it. He named him Smokey, and I guess it stuck, unlike the relationship. That ended that night, and I never looked back.

  “My mom can’t take care of him, he’s not hers. I told her I would go get him tonight. He’s my cat, Dax. I can’t just get rid of him.”

  “I know, baby. It’s fine. I like him. We can be our own little family now.”

  I smiled a wide genuine smile at the thought of us being a family. I knew I was nowhere near ready to get married, let alone start a family, but one thing I did know, was that I wanted it with Dax.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Dax

  Trevor and I were playing video games when someone knocked on the door. I knew I hadn’t invited anybody else over, so I was confused as to who it would be. That was, until Charlee came running out of our bedroom at the speed of lightening.

  “I’ve got it. I’ve got it.”

  I should’ve known it was Taylor that was coming over. I’m sure the minute she heard that Trevor was here, she came running. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen with those two, but I knew it wouldn’t end well. Trevor had never really been a one woman man, and from what I knew of Taylor and her past, she needed that.

  “We will be in the room.”

  Charlee was practically having to pull Taylor along with her. Her and Trevor were looking at each other like they were about to pounce on one another, right here in our living room. When Taylor and Charlee were out of view, Trevor shook his head and went back to our game.

  “What the hell was that all about?”

  “What are you talking about? Dude, I have a girlfriend.”

  “Yeah, I know. And you guys are so great together.” Heavy sarcasm coated every word. Trevor and Jess were probably the worst couple of all time. She would cheat, then he would cheat, and then there were buckets of lies in between. Dysfuncti
onal didn’t even come close to covering their relationship.

  “That’s cool if you two want to hook up, but I’ll warn you now, she’s damaged goods.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Apparently a few months after she found out she was pregnant, she ended up marrying the guy. I was friends with him for a bit, but Tripp is into things that I’m not cool with. Charlee tells the story a little bit different than Tripp does, but he’s not a very trustworthy guy, so I choose to believe my girlfriend on this one. He was best friends with Charlee’s ex. They all lived together at one point before Taylor got pregnant. He has a kid from a girl before Taylor, and he constantly cheated on Taylor and doesn’t take care of his little girls, at all. He’s a bit of a douche. Anyway, I’m just saying, you might want to think long and hard about starting something up with her, unless you want a relationship.”

  “Thanks for the heads up, but I think I’ll be okay.”

  “Whatever you say, man.”

  About an hour passed before the girls emerged from the bedroom. We were all getting hungry, so Trevor and I offered to go grab some dinner for all of us. When we got back, the apartment was empty. Taylor and Charlee were nowhere to be found. I went and grabbed my phone from the bedroom and dialed Charlee, but it went straight to voicemail. I had Taylor’s number, but I really hated calling her. Even though she was Charlee’s best friend, that didn’t necessarily make her mine and the less I had to talk to her sometimes, the better.

  “Dude, where did everyone go?”

  “I have no clue. Charlee’s phone is going straight to voicemail.”

  “Well, should we wait to eat?”

  “Nah, let’s just eat. I’ll save them both some.”

  About twenty minutes later, Charlee and Taylor came strutting through the door with a ton of Walmart bags in their hands. Charlee must’ve known I was confused by the look on my face, but she just laughed and walked back to the bedroom.

  “Are you gonna eat, baby?”

  She instantly appeared in the archway. “Yeah. So I bought a game for all of us to play.”

  “Oh yeah, and what would that be?” She pulled out a maroon box with beige letters across it. “Scrabble? You bought Scrabble for us to play?”

  “Yeah. I remember one night at the old house you were telling Wilton how much you loved the game. I figured I would buy it for us.”

  I grabbed her wrist and pulled her down on my lap. Her lips were soft against mine and if Trevor and Taylor weren’t over, I would’ve taken her right then. “Thank you, baby.”

  “Of course.” She kissed the tip of my nose and sat up in my lap, reaching for a burrito.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  The next month went by fast and smoothly. Scrabble nights had become our thing once a week, and Trevor and Taylor were becoming regular staples in our house. Charlee was working a ton lately, but I didn’t mind so much. Between both of our incomes, we were finally able to live normally. We weren’t struggling to pay bills and it was nice to have some extra money to play with.

  The situation with Rachael had died down, and we were definitely making a great effort to move on from it. We spent every Friday night over at Charlee’s mom’s house for family dinner, and I was warming up to her family quite nicely. Everything felt right in the world, and with us, and it felt amazing.

  Trevor and I were just finishing up a huge project for one of the freeway ramps, when a brilliant idea hit me. “Hey Trev, what do you think Charlee would say if I asked her to marry me?” I heard Trevor’s tools clank against the hard metal before I even looked up at him.

  “Dude, are you serious right now?”

  “As a heart attack. What do you think?”

  “Well she’s a cool girl. I think you guys are really good together. Yeah man, go for it.”

  “Cool. You almost done with your side?”

  “Yeah, just finished up.”

  “Well let’s get cleaned up and head to my house.”

  The entire ride to the apartment, I started to second guess myself. I knew what we both wanted. Hell, we had talked about it enough. There would never be anybody else for me, so why not make it official? I was just hoping that Charlee wouldn’t think I was jumping the gun.

  I called Taylor on my way home and told her my plan. She said she would stop and grab the ring for me on her way over. It wasn’t anything spectacular. We couldn't really afford anything like that, but in the back of my mind I figured if she said no because of the ring, then maybe I had her all wrong. I had picked out a simple white gold band for her and one for me. Later on down the line, I would replace it with something as beautiful and amazing as her.

  We all walked up to the apartment at the same time. Charlee must’ve had to work late, because usually she was home before me. “Hey baby, you just getting home?”

  “Yeah.” She stopped in front of our door and kissed me, long and tender.

  “Thanks.”

  “Hey Trevor, how was work for you guys today?”

  “It was okay. We finally finished the structure for the overpass for the freeway. It looks awesome.”

  “That’s great.”

  We filed into the house, one by one and just as I went to shut the door, Taylor showed up. “Just in time.” I silently thanked Taylor and we walked inside. Charlee had gone back to change out of her work clothes, and I hurried to get myself prepared to ask her to be my wife. I had Taylor ready with the camera and Trevor put on some radio station that was playing a goofy love song at the moment. When Charlee came out from our bedroom, she shook her head and laughed.

  “What the hell is going on?”

  I bent down on one knee and looked up at Charlee, as I held the ring out in front of me. “Charlee, I promise to love you for forever. Please say you’ll marry me?”

  Her hands flew up to her mouth and the tears began to flow freely from her eyes. She held out her left hand for me and quietly whispered yes.

  “What? Say it again.”

  “Yes.”

  I was quickly on my feet and pulling her into my arms, leaving feather like kisses all across her face. I looked down into her eyes and smiled the biggest smile I could. “God, I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  Suddenly Trevor piped up from behind me. “Hey, why don’t we go to Vegas tonight and you guys can get married?”

  “Dude, what?” I was at a loss for words. I knew I was okay with that plan, but I glanced down at Charlee to see how she felt.

  “Um, well I do have the next two days off, but there’s no way my car will make it there and back.”

  “Mine will.” Taylor half shouted.

  Taylor had been in a relationship with some new guy for the last couple of weeks and they were already living together. He had just gone out and bought her a new car, so of course her car was our only option.

  “What would you tell, Dean?”

  I watched as Trevor shuttered at the sound of Taylor’s boyfriend’s name. Right before Taylor started dating Dean, Trevor had finally broken things off with Jess to be with Taylor. It’s just too bad Trevor never mentioned that fact to Taylor, because shortly after, she met Dean, and they have been inseparable ever since. I wasn’t complaining though, Charlee and I finally had alone time more than once a week, now that Taylor was pre-occupied.

  “I just won’t tell him. We can leave in like an hour. I’ll just tell him I’m going to stay at my mom’s house for the weekend.”

  “Taylor are you sure that’s a good idea?”

  I wrapped my arms around Charlee and lead her over to the couch. “Charlee, let her deal with it. What do you think?”

  “Well I’m okay with it. Of course I’m okay with it. I’ve been ready to marry you since the first day I saw you.”

  “Good. Okay well you two go home and pack some stuff, grab whatever you can for gas money, and then we will be on our way. An hour, right Taylor?”

  “Yeah, an hour and I’ll be back to pick you guys up. Oh my god, this is going
to be awesome.”

  “ROAD TRIP!!” We all shouted in unison, and then broke off in opposite directions.

  We didn’t pack a ton of stuff, given the fact that we would only be there for a night. Once all of our stuff was packed, Charlee and I decided to celebrate the fact that we were getting hitched. We didn’t make sweet, slow passionate love to one another though. I pushed her and pinned her against our bedroom wall, letting my lips fully explore every inch of her. I slid down on my knees and showed her exactly how I wanted to please her for the rest of our lives.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Charlee

  The engagement had been a shock, but the running to Vegas to get married had shaken me to my core. I knew I was ready for this, but my concern was with Dax. I was afraid he was doing this for me, and I didn’t want that. I wanted him to want to marry me right now. Not just do it because our friends suggested it. These were all the things running through my mind as he pinned me against the wall, capturing my mouth with his. I would’ve stayed on my path of over thinking, but when his warm breath hit my overly sensitive clit, I lost all rational thoughts.

  His tongue slid up and down in slow meticulous movements as his fingers slipped inside of me. With every motion, my body ached and greedily begged for more. I could feel my walls clenching his fingers, every time they threatened to pull out of me. Just when I thought I was about to lose it, he stopped. He pulled his fingers out of me and stood up. He slipped one finger at a time into his mouth, sucking off the remnants of me.

  “You taste so fucking good, Charlee.”

  A small smile crept across my face, as I became wetter with every word he spoke to me.

  “Are you ready for me, Charlee?” His voice was low and husky, and right in my ear.

  I nodded my head quickly and didn’t stop until his rock hard cock was pushing deep inside of me. He pumped in and out of me slow and torturously, and then fast. The mixing of the pace was bringing me closer to the edge a hell of a lot quicker than I anticipated. My legs clenched around his waist as my back and head banged against the wall repeatedly. My fingers slid down his shoulders, leaving tiny trails of blood in their wake. I couldn’t hold on much longer, and I could feel him getting closer as well. With one more hard thrust, we both came undone together. Our breathing was ragged and labored, as sweat fell from both of our bodies on to the other. My legs were trembling and I could feel myself slipping down his body. I squirmed to right my position, but I didn’t have to for very long. Dax picked me up higher on his waist and pressed against me.