by Alex Grayson
She ignores my question until she’s done with the coffee pot, and then turns around to face me, leaning back on the counter.
“About two and a half years,” she replies, shocking the hell out of me.
“What?” I yell. “And I’m just now hearing about this? Does Jaxon know?”
“No, Jaxon doesn’t know. No one knows,” she says quietly. I can see the worry in her eyes, but there’s also determination.
“Why, Mom? Why would you hide this from us?” I ask. I’m hurt that my mom has kept this from me, from both me and Jaxon. This is huge and obviously a big part of her life.
She walks over and sits in the chair beside me and grabs my hand. “Sweetie, how do you think Jaxon would take this? You know how protective he is. Do you honestly think he’s going to be okay with me seeing Levi? You know how he’s been with us women since your father left.”
I get it, I really do. But to keep something this important from her children hurts.
Mom continues, “At first it was just the two of us having fun.” My eyes bug out at that. She sees and scolds me, “Oh, come on, Mia. I’m a mom, but I’m also a woman. Moms can have fun, too. Anyway, after a few months, things started to get serious. I knew Jaxon wouldn’t take it well, so we wanted to keep it secret for a while. Then Bailey came and, well, you know what went down there. I didn’t want to add more stress to Jaxon’s plate. I knew I couldn’t tell you because I knew you would go straight to him and Anna. It was just never the right time to tell you.”
I look over to Levi and see his soft and kind eyes pointed in Mama’s direction. The look in his eyes says that he holds very deep feelings for her.
I look back to my mom and ask her, “How serious is it?”
It’s Levi that answers and I look over to him.
“I love your mom, Mia, and she loves me. It’s been really hard keeping this from you and Jaxon, but I understand her reluctance and haven’t pushed it. We decided to tell you both at Jaxon and Bailey’s anniversary party tomorrow night.” He stops and watches me for a few minutes before he continues, “I’ve asked Lilly to marry me, and she said yes.”
I suck in a breath at that. Wow, I really didn’t expect that. For over two years, my mom has been keeping this big secret from me, and now these two people are telling me they are getting married. It’s been twelve years since my dad left. Now that I think about it, I have noticed a change in my mom. After my dad left, there was a sadness that always surrounded her. After a while, that sadness lifted, but there was always a lingering part that stayed. Sometimes I would see my mom staring out into space with a sorrowful look on her face. Looking at her now and thinking back the last two years, I don’t remember seeing that look anymore.
I squeeze the hand that she still has in mine. “Are you sure this is what you want? Are you happy?”
She smiles one of her brilliant smiles, her beautiful two-tone eyes light up, and I have my answer. She says, “Yes, baby, I’m very happy.” She looks over to Levi and reaches with her other hand to him. He gets up out of the chair and grabs it, bringing it to his lips for a kiss before placing it over his heart. “I’ve never been happier. I love him,” she finishes simply.
I get up out of my chair and pull her with me. She releases Levi’s hand, and we both envelope each other in our arms. “I’m so happy for you, Mom. You deserve to be happy,” I say in her ear.
She pulls back, and I see tears in her eyes. “Thank you,” she says quietly with another smile and kisses my cheek. I smile back at her.
I look over to Mr. Hatley and see his gaze still on Mama. He really has it bad. You can plainly see the love shining out of his eyes. When he brings his eyes to mine, they lose the love-struck look but still carry happiness.
I step up to him and give him a hug as well. At his ear, I say quietly, but not so quiet my mom doesn’t hear, “You hurt her you won’t have Jaxon to worry about. I’ll cut of your balls with a dull blade, and then make you eat them.” I hear my mom choke on a laugh.
When I pull back, I see amusement in his eyes. “Roger that, Mia. You have nothing to worry about. I’d rather cut off my own balls and eat them than hurt Lilly.”
I see sincerity in his eyes, and I know he speaks the truth. He really does love my mom and would do anything to keep her happy.
I smile at him. “Just so we’re clear.”
He smiles back and says, “Crystal.”
“Right! Okay!” My mom says with a clap. “That went easier that I thought it would. Now we just have to get Jaxon on board.”
“Yeah, good luck with that,” I say, laughing.
Her happy expression dims a little, and I feel bad for my remark. I rush over to her and take her hand in mine. “Mom, it’ll be okay. It’ll definitely be a shock for him and he’ll be hurt that you kept it from him, but once he sees how happy you are, he’ll get over it and give you his blessing. I’m sure of it.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I know I am. He wants you happy, too.”
Levi walks up to my mom, puts his arm around her waist, and gives it a squeeze. He kisses the side of her head and says, “He’ll come around, my sweet. He just has to get used to the idea.”
She lays her head on his chest for a minute before pulling away.
“Okay, how about I whip us up some dinner. I’m starved.”
We break apart our little huddle and both Levi and I help Mama make dinner. As we sit down to eat, I watch the both of them. They are so comfortable with each other. You can tell they’ve been together for a while and are at complete ease with each other.
I feel another pang hit my chest. This is the second time I’ve felt jealously over the couples around me. I hate the feeling and wish it would go away. What is wrong with me? I’ve been fine, well, maybe not fine, but I’ve been okay for the past ten years. Why now, all of a sudden, am I having these feelings? Is it because Mac, for some unknown reason, has decided he wants to talk about what happened so long ago? Why is he trying to dredge up the past? Why bring it up now after all these years? And why is my traitorous heart wanting to listen to him? Nothing he says can make me change my feelings for him. He’s hurt me too much, almost beyond repair. I need to find a way to push him and his demands away, before I give him the opportunity to destroy me again.
Chapter Six
Mac
Her legs…
I laugh at the antics of Andrew happening before me. The man amazes me to no end with his ability to hit on every man within a one-mile radius. So far, I’ve avoided his whoring ways tonight, thank God. His current victim is Ethan, and the look on Ethan’s face is priceless. We all know he’s harmless, but it’s still amusing to watch what he comes up with next. The slogan of the night for Andrew’s never-ending ridiculous shirts is ‘Behind every gay man is another gay man.’
Ethan looks like he wants to crawl in a hole and die. Karyn, who is standing beside him, is doubled over, laughing. Andrew just offered himself to Ethan to practice on if he needed help with ‘getting it in the hole’. Apparently, he and Karyn went put-put golfing the other day and Karyn whooped his ass. According to Karyn, he kept complaining that he couldn’t get it in the hole and attracted a big crowd.
“All you need is good aim, man. You grab hold of your stick and line it up with the hole. After that, it should plop right in,” Andrew says, trying to explain it to Ethan, which only causes us around them to laugh even harder, and Ethan to turn ten shades of red. Poor guy, I feel sorry for him.
Andrew hears my laugh and brings his gaze to mine. Ah shit! He lets loose a big smile and I know I’m in trouble.
“Well, hello there, Sheriff. I didn’t see you standing there. You need some of Andrew’s advice too?”
I rock back on my heels and take a swig of my beer before replying, “Nope, I think I got it.”
“Are you sure? I’d be more than willing to go one on one, just to make sure. You never know, you could be doing it all wrong. Maybe you should show me what you got a
nd I’ll be the judge on whether you got it right or not.” Sweet Jesus! The shit this man comes up with astounding.
I chuckle at his play. “Think I’ll pass, Andrew. I haven’t had any complaints so far, but if I ever need help, you’ll be the first to know.”
He gives me a wink and says, “You do that, Sheriff Sweet Cheeks.”
I give him a chin lift and turn to walk back to the house to grab another beer. Once inside, I notice that the kitchen is filled with every kind of food imaginable. It’s Jaxon and Bailey’s anniversary party and Jaxon’s family really knows how to throw a shindig. They leave tomorrow for their weekend getaway. Jaxon told me that he was taking Bailey to Islamorada, Florida down in the keys.
Just then, I hear the door slide open and I look over. Mia steps inside and yells over her shoulder, “I’ll grab it, Bailey.”
Without looking in my direction, she heads towards the hallway. Not looking a gifted horse in the mouth, I take this opportunity to talk to her. I follow behind her and I see her walk into Lilly’s bedroom. I stop just outside it and wait for her. When she emerges a couple minutes later, she has her head down and looking at something in her hand. Right before she runs into me, she looks up and stops.
Today she’s wearing a black halter-top that leaves her beautiful colored shoulders bare. She also has on a white ankle length flowing skirt and black flip-flops. The sight of her in front of me makes my dick get hard. Of course, anytime she’s within seeing distance, my stupid fucking dick gets hard. It has a mind of its own and right now, it’s screaming, ‘Mine! Take her!’
Ignoring my possessive cock-mind, I take a step in her direction. She narrows her eyes at me and takes a step back.
“Stay away from me, Sheriff. Bailey’s waiting on me and I need to get back out there,” she warns.
Fuck! I love it when she calls me ‘Sheriff’. It’s something new she’s picked up. I don’t know why she calls me that. Probably to make our encounters less personal by not using my name. What she doesn’t realize is that by her calling me ‘Sheriff’, she’s made it more personal because she’s given me a nickname. Whatever it is, it makes me want to use my handcuffs on her in a way that they’re technically not supposed to be used.
“She can wait, Pix. We need to decide when we’re going to have that talk.” I take another step towards her, and again, she takes another back. Every step I take, she matches me by taking one back. Soon she’ll hit the wall and have nowhere else to go, which is just fine with me.
“I’ve already told you, we’re not going to talk. There’s no sense dredging up the past. It’ll only make it hurt again and you’ve already hurt me enough.”
I flinch at her statement, knowing what she says is true. I know what I did hurt her. I also know how much it hurt her.
After trying for days, without success, to talk to her. I finally got my first glimpse of her, and it nearly brought me to my knees. Eyes that were once filled with laughter and love looked dead and sunken in. The hair that I loved so much was chopped off and I could tell she had lost some weight. I knew right then that I had no chance. She was already suffering enough; I couldn’t make her suffer more. So I let it be, hoping that one day I would get the chance to explain, maybe when I no longer saw the terrible sadness in her eyes.
That time never came. Even now, I see the sadness lurking in her eyes. She may try to hide it, but it’s there.
I’m standing right in front of her now, and as I expected, she backed herself into a corner where she can’t escape. I bend down to her level so I can look at her properly.
“You’re not the least bit curious why I did what I did?” I ask.
I see her swallow and her eyes dart away from me before she mutters, “No.”
I reach up and rub my thumb along her jaw line. She closes her eyes and leans her head back against the wall.
“You’re a terrible liar, Pix.”
Her eyes whip open at my whispered words and she opens her mouth to speak, but I stop her before she has a chance to.
I tilt my head to the side and slam my mouth down on hers. Her mouth is still open from her impending rant, so I take advantage and slip my tongue inside. I groan into her mouth at the first taste I get of her in ten years. It feels like coming home for the first time in forever. Her taste is intoxicating. She tastes just as I remember: peaches and crème.
She’s stiff to start with and gives me nothing in response. It doesn’t last long though. Soon she has her arms wrapped around my neck and is tugging at me to get closer. I oblige and plaster my body against hers, smashing her against the wall.
I use one of my hands to grab her short hair and angle her head so I can get at her mouth better. My other hand goes down her back, past her ass, to her thigh to gather the thin material of her skirt. Once I have her skirt hiked up and I have my hand on her bare thigh, I tug until she lifts her leg and wraps it around my waist. I feel the heat of her pussy against my cock and it nearly drives me crazy. I grind it against her and she lets off a low moan in my mouth.
I release her lips and trail them down her neck. Fuck! She tastes so damn good! I nip, suck, and feast on her neck like a fucking starved animal. I can’t get enough of her addicting taste.
When I’m at her ear, I whisper, “Wrap both legs around me, Pix.” She immediately complies and brings both legs around my waist, putting her pussy in better contact with my erection, causing me to groan. I barely hold on to my control, both of our bodies begging me to take her.
I place one of my hands on her ass and discover bare skin. I nearly come in my jeans when I run that same hand around until I find the small strip of material that lies between her ass cheeks. I bring my other hand up to her top and yank the material down, exposing her gorgeous breasts to my hungry gaze and mouth. I lift and slide her up the wall with the hand that’s still on her bottom until her tits are directly in front of me. Leaning forward, I take a nipple in my mouth and bite down gently.
She cries out and my hand immediately goes to cover her mouth. I look up at her and say, “Shh, baby.”
She knocks my hand away and looks down at me with glazed over eyes. Grabbing a handful of my hair she snarls, “Don’t fucking stop, you bastard.”
I chuckle at her demand and follow her order by sucking her nipple back in my mouth. I hear the thump of her head hitting the wall and feel her hands rest on my shoulders. Releasing one nipple, I move onto the next.
She grinds her center against my stomach where it’s resting and I feel the wetness through her thong getting my shirt wet. I put one arm under her ass so her thigh is resting on my forearm. My right arm muscle strains to keep her upright so I can lean back a little and put my other hand against her wet pussy.
“Goddamn, Mia, you’re fucking soaked,” I growl at her.
“Just fucking touch me already, Goddamn it!” She growls back at me.
My cock hardens even more and my blood pumps faster in my veins at her aggressiveness. I take the tip of my thumb and slide it under the skimpy material of her thong. I’m met with the hottest, wettest fucking pussy I’ve ever encountered. I slide that same finger up her slit until I reach the bundle of nerves at her center. She lets out a low moan when I reach her clit. When I look up at her, she has her head back with her mouth open, panting heavily.
It’s one of the sexiest sights I’ve ever seen, and it makes me want to thump my chest in triumph for putting it there.
I slip two more fingers inside her panties and run them along her wetness. I use one finger and put just the tip inside while I still use my thumb on her clit. I feel her bearing down on me, trying to get more of my fingers in her. I push the rest of my finger in and add the second.
“Oh, God, more,” she breathes.
“Look at me, Pix,” I tell her, my voice husky.
She looks down at me with lust-filled eyes, eyes that I see every time I fall to sleep.
“You want more?” I ask.
“Yesss!” She hisses back at me.
&nb
sp; I remove my fingers from her pussy and she lets off a whimper. She doesn’t have long to wait to realize that I’m not done. I rip the material away from her pussy and slam three fingers in her.
Her body jerks at my intrusion and moans loudly, but not out of pain. My eyes are still glued to her face and I’m enraptured at her expression. The hands that are on my shoulders dig in almost painfully. I pull my fingers almost all the way out and roughly push them back in.
“Fuck, yeah,” I hear her say. “I’m almost there. Please, don’t stop.”
The truth of her words is in the spasming I feel in her pussy. She clenches her walls, trying to bring my fingers in deeper. The sight of her above me with her beautiful breasts on display and on the verge of exploding has my body on edge. It takes everything I have not to open my jeans and pull her down on my demanding and deprived shaft.
Just as I’m about to circle her clit with my thumb, I hear a noise out in the kitchen. I still my movements and cock an ear in that direction.
“Mia,” I hear someone call out.
“Fuck,” I hiss and feel Mia stiffen above me.
I quickly remove my fingers from my favorite spot and lower her down the wall.
Just as her feet hit the floor, someone steps into the mouth of the hallway. I look and see Jesse standing there. The hallway is dark but not dark enough. There is no way he won’t see what we were just doing. I press my body up against Mia, who still has her breasts hanging out of her top and her skirt hiked up. Rage hits me at the thought of Jesse seeing any part of her body. He doesn’t move, just stands there staring at us. I decided he’s seen enough.
“Leave,” I growl over at him.
My tone snaps him out of his daze and he jumps a bit and spins around.
“I…uh…sorry. Jaxon sent me in here to see what was taking so long. I’ll…I’ll just leave you two alone,” he mutters the last and then skedaddles out the hallway. A few seconds later, I hear the door close.
Looking back at Mia, I see her eyes on me, and they are not happy.