I pulled my car up in a wooded area near the cargo loading planes. I just wanted to see if I could figure out what was going on and why Marcus was involved. But it was impossible to see what was happening. It was dark out, and the way the plane was angled, I couldn’t see anything that was going on.
It was impossible to even know what people were in the plane or what was going on during this trip he was taking. I wanted to be supportive, but I couldn’t trust anyone yet. There was just a lot going on for the kids lately, and I didn’t have the energy to trust people.
I left my vehicle and walked around to a different area so I could get a slightly better view. I watched in silence as the ten duffle bags were unloaded from the Jeep to the new cargo plane. I assumed the bags were still full of guns, but I had no way of knowing for sure.
I continued to watch as a group of other men, who looked very similar to Marcus, arrived and started to load themselves onto the cargo plane. The men all seemed to know each other very well as they greeted each other and joked during the process.
Whatever it was that this group of guys was doing for a job, it seemed pretty dangerous. They all were bringing on black duffle bags that seemed to look a lot like the ones that Marcus had had in his home.
I closed my eyes briefly to imagine what these guys needed all these guns for. Nothing that I could think of seemed like a very legitimate business. Although I was sure that somewhere there was a fake Twitter account for these guys and their sexy hot bodies.
The other men were the first to get on the plane, and Marcus seemed to be in charge, so he waited and got onto the plane last. I watched each of the bodyguards intently as their muscular bodies seemed to have no problems with anything that came their way.
It did seem pretty odd to me that Marcus and the other men were going to be able to take this private charter jet over to some undisclosed location where they needed all those guns. How could any of this be legal?
I watched as the private plane took off, and I couldn’t help thinking that something illegal was going on. The longer I stood there, the more I was sure of this idea. There was no way Marcus worked for a police department or even a special agency; they didn’t let their men travel on private jets.
Perhaps I totally did not know him. Maybe he was a bad guy that I was falling for because he was so damn hot? Was it possible that I couldn’t tell a criminal from a good guy at all?
It was hard to differentiate between the Marcus I knew and the Marcus that I saw loading up guns onto that private jet. The Marcus loading up guns seemed very deadly. The look on his face was serious, and he was not someone you would want to mess with. The Marcus I knew was kind and caring and willing to carry an injured woman a half of a mile to her home.
I turned my car around and made my way back home. There was no use trying to figure things out right then; Marcus said he would be gone for a couple days, and that meant I wouldn’t hear from him that whole time. At least we had gotten to talk a little bit before he left.
The next day, I was preparing my photos for my art show, and I got a Skype call from Marcus.
“Hello,” I said as I held the phone up to my face.
I had never Skyped anyone and wasn’t even sure why I had the app on my phone. Probably something Willow thought I needed. When I bought my phone, she had made sure to install every possible application she thought I would want to use.
“Hey, I promised to do better. So here I am,” Marcus said.
He was wearing a T-shirt and looked very casual in a hotel room. I couldn’t help smiling at the effort he was making to stay in touch. I also couldn’t help wishing I was in that hotel room with him. I bit my lip as thoughts of him naked rushed through my mind.
All it took was seeing him face to face, and I automatically assumed my thoughts from the night before were ludicrous. This man wasn’t some sort of criminal, he was sweet and kind and clearly very into me.
His smoldering brown eyes looked at me as if I was the only woman in the world. It felt good, but it felt like he could tell exactly what I was thinking.
“Where are you?”
“Chicago.”
“Doing anything fun?” I didn’t want to come out and ask exactly what he did for work or why he was in Chicago, but I desperately wanted to know.
“Nope. How about you? That’s a sexy top’ let me see it.”
I was out in my garage and wearing a torn up old T-shirt. I had gotten it while visiting Paris, and it always gave me inspiration. I set my phone on the table in my garage and took a few steps back.
“It’s nothing but a rag,” I said.
“Yes, it’s horrible. Take it off,” Marcus said as he leaned closer to his camera and smiled.
Then I did something that was totally out of character for me. I lifted my T-shirt up over my head and threw it to the other corner of the garage. Marcus’s jaw instantly dropped. His eyes widened, and he liked what I had just done. I saw the look on his face, and I loved it.
Slowly I moved back toward the camera and let my fingers play with one of my nipples. I moved in nice and close so Marcus could see what I was doing. He still had not said a single thing since I took my shirt off.
“Mmmm, I wish your lips were right here,” I said as I let my finger circle around my hard nipple.
“You don’t know how bad I wish my lips were there too.”
“Show me,” I said.
It was fun to play this game. Marcus could only see my breasts at the moment and couldn’t see my face. It gave me a weird sense of confidence that I had never really felt before. I certainly would not have felt this confident if I was standing right in front of him.
“Oh, you can’t handle seeing this,” Marcus said in his usual cocky tone.
“You’re right. I better just get dressed and get back to my art show displays.”
I looked at the screen, and there he was, sitting in some hotel room chair with his cock out in his hand. The camera watched as his hand slid up and down the shaft, and I got wet just seeing him.
“When will you be back?” I asked as I picked the camera up and moved it to my face.
I bit my lip slightly and licked my lips at the thought of feeling him inside of me again soon. I wanted my lips around him. The primal urge to taste him was overcoming me, and all I could think of was when he was going to be back in my bed.
“I’ll be there for your art show. I promise. You know I’m okay with that dorky guy keeping you company. I think I understand your needs in that area,” Marcus said as he moved the camera up to his face.
“What do you mean?”
“You have an insatiable appetite. I can tell. You hide it well, but you need to be touched every day, don’t you?” he asked as if he actually knew every detail of my sexual life.
“I didn’t really want to have this conversation on the phone.” I laughed.
“I’m man enough to know that no other man will fill my spot. And I’d rather know there was a good man like that neighbor of ours who was taking care of your needs.”
“It really doesn’t bother you?” I asked a little weirded out by how comfortable he was.
“Not at all. Sex is fun. It’s supposed to be something that revitalizes you and makes your day better. I don’t have weird hang-ups about it like a lot of people.”
“Marcus, I know it’s weird,” I started to say before he interrupted me.
“It’s not weird. You decide what type of life you want, no one else. Trust me, I’m into weird.” He laughed. “You don’t even know the half of it.”
“Really?”
“Yep,” Marcus said, and I had no choice but to believe him. He was very definitive in his answer. “I’ve never been a fan of vanilla bedroom activity. It excites me to know that you aren’t either.”
Marcus moved the camera back to his throbbing cock and then back up to his face, and I suddenly felt embarrassed now. His chiseled jaw and defined muscular torso made me nervous. I could feel the flush of red taking
over my face.
“I’m really nervous. I’ve never had a show as big as this one,” I said in an effort to distract from our sexual conversation.
I didn’t have the nerve to tell Marcus that I was actually pretty vanilla in the bedroom. Despite having several live-in boyfriends, the sex I had with them had been pretty tame. No crazy toys or positions, and I’d never even had a threesome. But that was a lot to explain, and for the moment, I was just really happy that Marcus and I seemed to have a connection in this department.
“Don’t worry, people will love you,” Marcus said confidently.
“What are you doing in Chicago?”
“Just work stuff. Nothing exciting.”
“I really am so nervous about this show. I’m afraid I’ll get there and no one else will show up. Or worse yet, people will show up and say the photos are as bad as their six-year-old child. I don’t know if I can take that kind of rejection.”
“You’ll be great. I’m going to get going; sorry I have to run, but it’s a busy few days. See you soon,” Marcus said, and he was quickly off of the call before I could even respond.
As we hung up, it struck me that I felt bonded to Marcus. We had not known each other for long, and I certainly did not know much about him. But I felt somewhat different about him and me after our conversation. I still wanted to find out all of his secrets, but I was alright waiting for a little bit if that was what he needed.
Sexuality was funny that way. As soon as I met a person who didn’t judge me for my choices, I automatically felt a stronger connection with them. I sought out those connections in this time of my life and thrived on them greatly.
I finished putting one of the frames together for a picture and then made my way inside. As I walked across my yard, I thought I saw a light turn off from inside Marcus’s house. I watched patiently from the comfort of my living room, just to see if anything unusual happened. I wanted to see if anyone else was coming or going from his house. He certainly had not talked about anyone being at his home, but then again he might not want to share that information until necessary.
As my phone rang, I was momentarily distracted and pulled back into my own life. It was Rob, my date from the other night, and I sat on the couch to answer the call and talk with him. I’d really hoped he was going to call me.
Chapter 12
“I can’t stop thinking about you,” Rob said in a deep sexy voice.
“Well, we did have a fun night together.”
“I’m getting ready for my big art show, you’re welcome to come if you’d like. But my other boyfriends will be there as well.”
Sometimes fiddle farting around my lifestyle just didn’t feel right. I just let it out there and waited to see how Rob would react. I wasn’t even sure I liked the guy all that much yet, but he did have a certain way about him in the bedroom that was hard for me to just give up.
“How many?” he asked without skipping a beat.
“Probably both of them.”
“So you’re dating around. I can respect that. No woman should tie herself down to just one man before he’s proved himself.”
“Actually,” I said with a dramatic pause. “I don’t usually date just one guy. In fact, I used to live with three men at once.”
“Did you sleep with them all?”
“Yes, but not at the same time,” I replied.
I’d found that the best way to communicate what I liked in my life was being honest. Either the guy was into the same things as I was, or he wasn’t. My lifestyle wasn’t exactly something that a guy would agree to unless he was already an open-minded person.
“So they all know about each other?”
“Yes.”
“And they are fine with sharing you?”
“Pretty much. But my current arrangement is in development. And I’m not inviting you to move in or anything. Come to my art show, and just see how things go.”
“Why?” Rob asked and caught me a little off guard.
“Why come to my show?”
“No, why have several guys, and what’s really in it for them. They are sharing you; it doesn’t seem beneficial.”
“In your last long-term relationship, what would happen if you had to cancel a date? If you needed to work extra hours for the whole week? If you really wanted to go see that new Star Wars movie and had no one to see it with?” I asked in an effort to explain how my lifestyle worked well.
“So you don’t get mad about those things?” Rob laughed.
“No, you see if you’re having a busy week, I can encourage you to do your best work and make that promotion you’ve been wanting. If you have to cancel a date, I can be understanding and caring. And if you really want to see the latest Star Wars movie, you’ll have a group of guy friends that understand and care about you to go with, because I’m still not going to it.” I laughed. “It’s a unique way of living; I’m just seeing if you’d be interested at all. If so, come to my art show and meet two guys that I think are really great.”
Rob was quiet for a minute as he seemed to be thinking about how to respond. My gut told me that he was going to be coming to my show.
“I’ll come to your show. You’re a cool girl, and I’d like to get to know you.”
“Great, I’ll text you the details,” I said with excitement.
“This is going to be interesting,” he replied quietly before hanging up.
It was, in fact, going to be interesting. I really did think that Stanley, Marcus, and Rob would get along great, but for some reason, I felt like our group wasn’t full yet. I’d never set a limit on the number of men I wanted to have in my life, and I didn’t plan on doing that, but something that Marcus had said was lingering with me. He said he was into weird stuff, and I was intrigued. What could he think was weird compared to me having multiple boyfriends? I couldn’t wait to hear all about it and figure out if this group of guys could work for me in more of a long-term situation.
As I got up from the couch, I continued to watch his house and felt like I was going crazy. No lights turned on or off, and there certainly did not seem to be anyone running around outside. There wasn’t even a car around. I looked at his house for nearly an hour before I finally gave up the idea that someone was actually at Marcus’s house.
I was a little paranoid, though, and took some time walking around my house and checking all the door locks and windows. I headed upstairs to my room.
For some reason, I felt scared. I had lived in my grandparents’ house on and off for years even though I had only recently moved in full-time; not once had I ever felt afraid while I was there. My instinct was that someone was watching me from afar, and I either needed to confront them or pretend that I didn’t notice them. Unfortunately, I had no idea what I should do or if there was even a person out there that was watching me.
It took me forever to fall asleep that night because of my fears. But the following night was better, and I soon forgot about the mysterious light I thought I had seen at my neighbor’s house.
Chapter 13
“So tell me more about this mysterious neighbor man,” Willow said as she and Marv helped me bring my pictures to the art gallery.
“There’s nothing much to tell. He’s a mystery man,” I said as I laughed.
“You haven’t found out any more about him? Does he know about your lifestyle?” Marv asked with a playful nudge to my shoulder.
“Yes, he does.”
“Really? And he’s okay with it?” Marv questioned before Willow kicked him in the shins.
“Stop, it doesn’t matter. It’s her life,” Willow defended me.
“Nope, I haven’t found out too much about him,” I said answering Marv’s first question. I guess he doesn’t like to reveal too much about his life.”
“You’re lying to us,” Willow said as she stopped and looked me in the eyes.
“What? There has been nothing to lie about. I don’t know anything about him.” I continued to bring my pictures out
to Marv’s truck.
Willow and I had been friends for a long time. I would have told her if there was anything I knew for sure, but I didn’t know much. And I wasn’t about to tell her I’d seen him carrying large bags of guns in and out of his house. At least I wasn’t going to tell her until I knew more about what they were for and why he had them.
Behind me, I heard Willow and Marv having a little bit of an argument. Marv was telling Willow to leave things alone, and Willow was telling Marv that he didn’t know what he was talking about. It was actually very funny to listen to the two of them argue. They were both good friends and always thought they knew what was best for me. I was lucky to have them in my life.
“OK guys, I’ll tell you the truth. I fell down a mountain, and he carried me home; we had sex. We had sex again just the other night. I’m pretty sure he’s an elite killer, and I don’t know where he is at or what he’s doing now, and I’m perfectly fine with that.”
Willow broke out in hysterical laughter. Her body was bent over, and she held onto the table for support. I wasn’t exactly sure why she was laughing so hard, though.
“Oh Isabella, you are so funny. I love your sense of humor.”
Sometimes honesty is better than any lie you can tell. I knew Willow wouldn’t believe me. I knew that the idea of me sleeping with a stranger would not be something she could even comprehend. But to me, Marcus wasn’t a stranger anymore.
Yes, I did not know much information about him. I wasn’t too worried about it, though, the man did live right next door. Sooner or later, I would find out more about him, which was a natural thing that happened over time.
“Well, I’m glad my life is amusing to you,” I said with a smile.
“Seriously Isabella, you should stay away from that guy. Whatever he’s doing, it’s probably illegal. Only criminals like to keep their life so shrouded in mystery,” Marv said as he continued loading the artwork into his truck for me.
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