“She was poisoning everything?”
“I think so. It got so bad at the end that I wouldn’t even eat takeout that I’d left on the table. She would tell me I was being crazy but I didn’t trust her anymore. I put a lock on my bedroom door, and the next day, I came home to it unlocked. When I would call Amy, she would get so sweet it was almost sickening.”
“Margarete sweet?” I snorted. “I find that hard to believe.”
“Yeah, you’re telling me. I wanted to call her more—both of you. I wanted to stay in touch and bring her to me for summer visits, but all it took was one conversation with my mother to know that could never happen.”
“How so?”
“She pressed me,” she said with another shudder. “She wanted to know what Amy was like, and at first, I thought she was just being friendly, but it got strange. She would press for Amy to come and visit, pretend to be a doting grandmother and loving mother. It wasn’t until she asked about Amy’s health that I stopped calling home in front of her.”
“My God,” I whispered.
“It was a losing battle no matter what I did. If I didn’t speak to you and Amy, I was isolated and easier for her to play, but if I did get ahold of Amy, she would try to get me to bring her there. The guilt that I had to live with every day was almost overwhelming. She reminded me of my father’s death at least daily.”
“What a monster,” I hissed. “You should have told me. I would have come and gotten you. We could have dealt with her together.”
“That may be believable now, but at that point, I didn’t think that you wanted anything to do with me. The only thing I knew was that the longer I stayed away, the safer our daughter was.”
“You made a huge sacrifice for us,” I said. “That took a lot of courage.”
She snorted. “I wish I could say it was courage, but even now, I look over my shoulder and jump when my phone rings. She is so manipulative. I didn’t even want to call you until after I heard that the doctor had locked her away. I don’t know how far her reach goes, but the way she was before” —a shudder rocked her shoulders— “I wouldn’t put anything past her at this point.”
“It’s over now, okay?”
“Yeah,” she muttered.
The word didn’t sound sincere but I was worried about digging any deeper. Our relationship was going to have to be a two-way street if it was going to work. Taking a deep breath, I turned back to her and smiled.
“Thank you for sharing with me. I promise that I won’t let her come near you or Amy ever again.”
“I don’t think that’s a promise you can make.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
She shook her head again, her dark locks trembling. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Can we please move on to something else? Like why are you so willing to work things out when you hated me a few years ago?”
“I never hated you, Julia. You should know that,” I said quickly.
“That may be the case, but I had some pretty nasty emails, calls, and messages from you saved on my phone for years until my mother found them. I ended all contact with you then.”
“Julia, I was a different man. When you left, my life was going down in a rapidly moving tailspin. I lashed out at you, but I know now that it wasn’t your fault.”
“It was my fault, though, Aaron. It doesn’t matter what happened to me after I left. It doesn’t change the fact that I was still the one to walk out that door. How can you be so willing to forgive me for that?”
“Because you had good reason to leave!” I said a little louder than intended. “Julia, I pushed you away. After the accusations and the way you looked at me when you found out that Jenny had been in our home, I panicked and tried to take control of you like you were just a possession. I’m the reason you left.”
She shook her head and took my face in her hands as she stood above me. I was still on the bed. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pressed my head against her stomach as she spoke.
“Aaron, we both made a lot of bad choices and wrong decisions over the years, but we can’t change that now. All we can do is move forward.”
“That’s all I want, for us to move forward again as a family. I want us to be whole again. You don’t know how happy I was to see you the other day. It’s been too long.” Her body stiffened a little and I looked up. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m happy that we can talk too. I do want to start rebuilding the relationships from my past, starting with you and Amy. But you need to know that I’m not going to come to Arizona and stay with you.”
“Well,” I muttered. “I guess I hadn’t really thought that far ahead. I was just enjoying the ride.”
“Me too!” she exclaimed. “I’m so happy to hear you say that. What we have going on right now, reconnecting and bringing our family together again, is so wonderful, but that doesn’t mean I’m sure that I want to dive right back into being the other half of your whole.”
“What?” I asked.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I’d put my heart on the line, waiting for her to come to me and share. I thought that in doing so, I would have gained some of her trust, but it was going to be harder than I’d assumed. She still wasn’t ready to be in a relationship with me. It was a blow that hurt. I shrank away from her and looked away as she sat down on the bed next to me.
“Aaron, I don’t want you to close me out again, okay? This has nothing to do with you. I know that I want to move back to Arizona, but I can’t tell you that I’m ready for us to be together again when I’m not. I didn’t want you to think I was being dishonest.”
“No, its fine. Thank you for being honest. Can I ask what’s holding you back?”
She shook her head. “I just have some issues that I still need to sort out with my mother. I don’t think I can commit to a relationship when I’m still so damaged.”
“Julia!” I shot back. “You’re not damaged in any way! Your mother is the one who is sick, not you.”
“I still feel like she’s waiting for me back at the house. I have nightmares that she’s giving Amy a smoothie. Her doctor, you, everyone is just standing around and watching as Amy falls onto the ground, and then Margarete points her bony finger at me and they all agree with her that I’m the killer.”
I grabbed ahold of her, using more force than intended to pull her to her feet, and I shook her gently. “Look at me,” I demanded. “You’re not a killer. Your mother is a murderer, and we’ll make sure that she never sees the light of day again, but you have to trust me. I can’t take your leaving us again.”
Her soft, broken and sorrowful eyes lit up a tiny bit. “Aaron, I can’t offer you a future. I don’t even know what next week holds for us.”
“I know, but I don’t need you to be certain because I am. I know that somehow, we’ll get through this in the end. It doesn’t matter if it’s as friends, lovers, or a married couple.”
The sob racked through her body as she threw her arms around me. “Thank you so much, Aaron. I don’t know what I would do without you. I’ve been so alone.”
“I know,” I cooed over and over again as I stroked her hair.
It was heartbreaking for me to see her in so much pain but I had to sympathize. She’d endured years of emotional abuse to protect her daughter. Part of me wanted to rage and demand to know why she didn’t reach out, to try and understand her reasoning for dealing with everything alone. Yet another part of me, the side that I chose to listen to, told me to just hold her, that all she needed was a familiar shoulder to cry on. She just needed me to be her safety net, and I wasn’t going to let her down, not again.
“Aaron, I know what I want,” she whispered softly to me as her fingers trailed up my back.
I shuddered with the familiar desire she always stirred inside me. “Julia. You’ve had a rough time. Maybe this isn’t the best idea.”
Her warm laughter was disarming. “I don’t care anymore about what’s right and what’s w
rong. For years, I denied myself the most basic and wonderful pleasure by leaving you. Even if it’s just for tonight, won’t you help me to relive those glory days?”
“Are you sure?” I asked in a hoarse voice, my cock already standing at attention.
Her hands ran down my body and a groan slipped past my lips. Her skilled fingers trailed the outline of my shaft through the thin shorts that I was wearing.
“I’m positive,” she whispered.
Julia
The world around me slipped away. For the first time in what felt like centuries, I was relaxed and I felt safe. Aaron always made me feel that way, warm and comforted, but once the fire was lit, as it was now, I felt a burning need for him. We stopped being co-parents, ex-spouses, and strangers brought together by fate in that moment. I was no longer a mother and daughter or drowning with guilt. The only thoughts I had were of Aaron and the way he now dragged his fingers down my arms, tugging the thin strap of my dress down with them.
I was on vacation. Putting on a bra hadn’t even crossed my mind, and now I was grateful for that. Aaron’s eyes grew large when he pulled the dress down over them. I groaned when he ran his large hands up my abdomen and thumbed my tender, erect nipples. I sucked in a sharp breath as the familiar sensation of pleasure washed through my body. He pressed my nipples down into the soft flesh below before pinching them between his fingers and tugging on them again.
I knew what he wanted. It was a game we’d played before and one that I had dearly missed. He led me forward by my nipples until his legs brushed against the bed, careful not to tug on his grip. I reached between his legs and grabbed ahold of his shaft through his swim trunks. He shuddered, his eyes rolling back in his head for a moment. I took advantage of the temporary distraction as I quickly worked my free hand into his pants. His cock felt burning hot in my hand, and I knew that I wouldn’t last long.
I wanted to taste his skin. I shoved him back against the bed, and he lost his grip on my nipples. Before he could reach for them again, I grabbed his cock with both hands and dropped down to my knees. He always seemed to bring out the freak inside me. In a split second, I had my slippery mouth wrapped around his throbbing cock. The salty precum on my lips continued to push me closer to the edge as my body pulsed and begged to be filled with him.
I’d always loved taking his manhood into my mouth. It gave me a sense of power and control that I secretly craved. As I moved slowly from the bottom of his shaft and back up to swirl my tongue around the sensitive head, he became lost in the action. I let go of his cock, taking it deeper into my mouth and feeling his coarse blonde curls brush against my face just as I cupped his balls. The action was one that drove him absolutely insane.
He thrust forward, grabbing the back of my head and shoving me down further on his cock until there was nothing left. I gagged against the sudden intrusion, but it was by no means unwelcome. He released the animal inside me, the predator hunting that sweet moment of blinding pleasure. Ripping myself away from him, I shoved him back on the bed and crawled up his body. Feeling the cool air brush against my dripping wet entrance encouraged me forward even faster.
I wanted to be romantic and take things slow but I couldn’t hold back. Aaron saw the wild desire inside me and quickly flipped me over so I was on my back. He ripped his shirt off and ran his fingers up my legs, squeezing my ass just as the tip of his cock broke through my slippery entrance. He plunged inside me, filling the void and stretching me open. The sudden burst of pain made me scream out. I quickly buried my face in the pillow, the screams of passion barely muffled.
I wiggled my body up and down, slowly getting into the same rhythm as him. I matched his every thrust. Feeling his thick shaft as it penetrated deep inside me was crippling me with pleasure. I couldn’t move as I moaned beneath him. He did all the work as he cupped my breasts and buried his face deep between them. I wrapped my legs around his body, forcing him in with more vigor.
“You’re going to make me come!” he growled.
I wrapped my arms around his body, lifting myself up off the bed and digging my nails into his back. That was all it took for him to bite down on my neck and thrust into me with a vengeance. The passion started to crescendo as I squeezed him tighter with every ounce of my being. The orgasmic eclipse ricocheted through my body, the vibrations shaking me to the very core. The world had stopped moving as we fell, exhausted, onto the bed.
A cloud of smoked filled the air above me. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It was easy for the memory to slip out. The only time I was ever around smoke was after sex with Aaron. He loved a puff or two afterward. I loved the smell as it lingered in the air. My body felt like I’d just run a marathon, but as I looked over at Aaron, I felt the desire starting to build like a slow burn deep inside me.
“That was not what I expected,” he said breathlessly.
I pouted. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
He laughed. “A good thing. A very good thing. It was very unexpected, but I always love a good surprise. Maybe we can try it again later and see if it still feels the same.”
“I’ll have to think about that. If I remember correctly, you still owe me a dinner and a night on the beach.”
Aaron smiled and pulled me closer to him. I wrapped my sore legs around his and kissed his chest softly. I didn’t want the dream to end, but I knew that nothing was going to get accomplished if we spent the whole time lying in bed. He tapped out the cigar and rolled over, his fingers trailing up between my thighs. I knew we needed to leave, but I couldn’t bring myself to speak as he kissed my neck.
“I have a better idea. Why don’t you let me return the favor from earlier? You don’t know how much I missed the taste of your skin, Julia.”
All I could do was breathlessly nod my head as his fingers probed my tender body. I shuddered with desire as he kissed my shoulder and moved to my nipple. I quivered as his thumb found my clit. He rubbed my pearl as his fingers probed deeper into my body. I couldn’t stop my back from arching as I bit down on the pillow. He used his free hand and pressed down on my abdomen. I tried so hard to fight the coming orgasm and prolong the pleasure but it wouldn’t stop coming.
In one final thrust, I was pushed over the edge, and I writhed with pleasure. Every nerve ending in my body resonated with pleasure as Aaron pulled away from me. It took me some time before I was able to talk again. This time, when I said something to him, I made sure to inch away from the bed. If it were left up to Aaron, I would be shaking with pleasure every time I tried to leave.
“You’re going to be the death of me,” I whispered.
“Don’t tell me you aren’t having fun now, honey.” He kissed my cheek. “Are you sure you want to go out tonight? I think we should just stay in. We have the rest of our lives to see the outside world, but it’s not every day that I get you back.”
“Aaron,” I said cautiously. “I don’t want you to read too much into this, okay? I know that we’re in uncharted waters, but I still don’t know what I’m going to do.”
He sighed. “I don’t know why it’s so hard, but I’m not going to do this again. This is just fun.” Aaron lifted his hands. “No more from me, I promise.”
I sat down on the edge of the bed again and moved my hand toward his. “Please don’t be upset with me. I just have a lot I need to think about still.”
“I know, no more,” he muttered.
It was such a challenge to be with him. I wanted to tell him everything was going to be all right, but I still had no idea about our future. Every time he asked me about it, I felt more pressure coming in. It was going to be a challenge to find the time to get any thinking done.
“Just give me more time,” I whispered.
Once again, my thoughtful ex-husband took my insanity in stride and smiled at me. “Take all the time you need. Now, you said that you wanted to go out to the beach, and the sun is starting to go down. Everyone who isn’t staying here will be gone soon.”
I blus
hed. “Oh, really?”
He raised his eyebrows suggestively. “I’ve always wanted to try skinny dipping at night. What do you think?”
“I think you’re insane!” I giggled. “No one wants to see this old lady’s naked butt tromping through the water.”
“Baby,” he whispered as he kissed my leg. “I want to see every part of your body in that water. I want to kiss you and take you into my arms while we’re in there.”
My mouth fell open. I couldn’t believe how much I was considering his suggestion. It was crazy. We weren’t young teens anymore. I shook my head.
“I’m sorry. I’m just not that brave.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “That’s okay. I have all night to convince you otherwise.”
“Oh, my,” I said coyishly before falling back down on the bed.
I passed out on the bed, my hair still damp and smelling like the ocean. When I started to drift asleep around three in the morning, I felt more satisfied than at any other time in my life. I didn’t want to think about what would come after the vacation was over. I started to drift to sleep and immediately, my subconscious sprang to life. My mother was there, watching over me and Amy as we drank our smoothies side by side.
Our graves sat next to my father’s. My mother had her claws firmly dug into Aaron’s arms. It was torture for me to go to sleep. Less than an hour after drifting to sleep, I awoke in a cold sweat. It wasn’t the first time it had happened, and I knew it wouldn’t be the last.
Thankfully, Aaron didn’t wake up this time as I slid out of bed. I splashed cold water against my face and looked in the mirror. I could still hear my mother’s voice in my head, reminding me of how fat and old I looked. I’d tried to forget about her, but the constant calls were challenging to field. I never wanted to leave my phone off in case the doctor needed me, but she would call all the time.
“Hey,” called Aaron from the bed. “Are you okay, sweetie?”
“Yeah, just needed a drink,” I lied casually to him. I spun around and walked back over to the bed. “Go back to sleep.”
Second Chance Draft: A Second Chance Sports Romance (Pass To Win Book 6) Page 31