by Naomi Niles
The moment our bodies had a chance to rest and recuperate, I was anxious to repeat the process again. Peter seemed to have the same inclination because an hour after the heat of sex had melted into the sheets, it was renewed again, either by myself or by Peter. We fucked three more times that night. I had so many orgasms that I lost count after the fourth one. They blended together in one giant blur of ecstasy.
We clung to each other’s bodies as though we were saying goodbye. We ravaged each other as though we were the last two people on earth and the survival of mankind depended solely on us. The whole night was eclipsed by the sound of our lovemaking.
And when morning dawned, it was with the sage quiet of calm. It was a calm that gave no promises, but it was beautiful nonetheless.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Peter
I woke up with the most blissful sense of calm. I felt as though I had been asleep for a thousand years and had finally woken up after an eternity of rest. I tried to stretch, but Madison was wrapped around me, her leg thrown over mine.
I gently eased her into a more comfortable position and then I turned so that I could admire her. I froze in place as I realized we were not the only two people in the room. Sam was standing at my door, leaning against its frame casually with his usual cheeky grin in place. He gave me a salacious wink and then the thumbs up.
My eyes went wide and instinctively I moved to make sure that Madison was properly covered up. She was naked beneath the sheets, but she was properly covered, except for one shapely leg that peeked out of the covers.
I turned my gaze on Sam and narrowed my eyes at him. “Get the fuck out of here,” I mouthed to him, taking the time to enunciate each word so that he got the hint.
His grin got wider. “Pull the sheets back a little,” he said back, gesturing for me to remove them completely. “Just give me a peek.”
“You fucking pervert,” I whispered.
Madison stretched in her sleep, and I could tell that she was beginning to wake up. I turned furiously to Sam and shot him the middle finger, which for some reason he found hilarious. He held onto the doorframe as he laughed silently and completely ignored my silent gestures of profanity.
I was just about to disentangle myself from Madison and kick Sam out of my room when she turned around and opened her eyes.
Those beautiful green eyes fell on me for a moment and then they turned to Sam. She blinked at him once. “Morning, Sam,” she said, as though it were a perfectly normal experience to find him in the room.
His eyes went wide, and I realized that he had never meant to be seen by Madison. His antics were for my benefit alone. His cheeks colored instantly and he darted out of the room, as though Madison hadn’t said a word. She laughed.
“He’s shy in the mornings,” she said. “Who would’ve thought?”
I stared at her, amazed by the carefree tact she had displayed. She didn’t seem shaken or annoyed. In fact, she seemed downright amused. “Does he usually crash in on your slumber parties?”
“He probably would if I had many of them,” I answered. “As it stands…you’re one of the few.”
“Lucky me,” she said, as she leaned in to kiss my lips. “Good morning.”
I smiled and relaxed into her. “Good morning. That was quite a night we had.”
She sighed deeply. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to walk straight today.”
“Oops.”
She laughed. “That’s okay,” she said. “As problems go, that’s a good one to have.”
We snuggled under the sheets together and it felt as though we were cut off from the rest of the world. We lay next to each other in silence and I took a moment to savor that rarity. It was hard to find someone that you could talk to. But sometimes, it was even harder to find someone you could be silent with. There was a comfort in our lack of conversation. It meant that we didn’t need to say anything to be understood. Somehow it felt safe.
“Peter.”
“Don’t go,” I moaned, pulling her closer to me.
“How did you know what I was going to say?” she asked.
“I just did,” I said, with a shrug. “Stay.”
“I wish I could,” Madison sighed. “You have no idea how much I wish I could just stay here with you. But I need to check on my brother…and Polo. And I have work, too.”
“Work,” I nodded. “I keep forgetting that other people have work.”
“You’re starting soon,” she reminded me.
“Not nearly soon enough,” I said.
She leaned in and kissed my cheeks and eyelids. Then she pushed back the covers and got out of bed. I lay there, admiring her alluring nakedness. I admired the way her hair fell down her back in messy waves. I admired the way her slim thighs moved as she walked. I admired the feminine curves of her body.
“You’re staring,” she pointed out, breaking through my observation.
I smiled. “Can you blame me?”
She slipped on her panties and then she looked around for her dress.
“It’s under my desk,” I pointed out to her.
She picked it up and slipped it on, over her head. I got up and offered my shirt to her. “Sam’s outside,” I said. “And that dress is…a little more information than he needs.”
“Thanks,” she laughed.
Madison pulled my shirt around her shoulders. It swallowed her completely, but I liked it anyway. She leaned in and kissed me again. I pulled on my pants and walked her outside. I could hear Sam and John in the kitchen, but I didn’t stop to say hi.
“I have a confession to make,” I said, when we were on the porch.
“Oh?”
“I found myself talking to Polo yesterday,” I admitted. “I was talking to him like he was a real person, as though he could talk back.”
Madison smiled. “As long as he didn’t tell you all the things I’ve told him about you, that’s okay.” She gave me a wink and a kiss and headed off to her house. I watched her until she’d disappeared through her front door and then I walked into the house towards the kitchen.
The moment I walked in, John and Sam stood dramatically. Then they started slow clapping as though I were some kind of hero. I rolled my eyes and shook my head at them. “You guys are so fucking lame.”
The two of them sat back down and I could see that the atmosphere had relaxed considerably since the day before. I took a seat and accepted the glass of juice John passed to me.
Before Madison and Victor had arrived the day before, I had explained in part what had happened at her house to Sam and John. Both had been suitably shocked, but I was relieved and gratified to realize that they both agreed with my decision.
“How is Madison?” John asked.
“She seemed pretty fucking happy,” Sam interjected. “What I saw of her, at least.”
I punched him in the arm and ignored his loud groan. “Obviously, she’s relieved. She didn’t want to have to see her brother get dragged off to jail.”
“What’s his plan?” John asked.
“That’s up to him,” I said. “As long as he treads the straight and narrow, I have no objections to anything he wants to do. Either way, he’s lucky; he’ll have Madison’s support the whole way through.”
“Have you made your peace with him?” Sam asked.
“For the most part,” I nodded. “I did save his ass from jail, so I accept that that’s buried the hatchet. Still, I’ll be watching him.”
“Any follow ups from the police?” John asked.
“Not since yesterday,” I replied. “It seems an open and shut case, though. I doubt it’s going to go any further.”
“Does that mean you’re in the clear?” John asked, with an edge of worry in his tone.
“I think so,” I nodded.
“That was a pretty big risk you took.”
“And I’m well aware of it,” I nodded. “But the thing about being a police officer is that you know how to cover up your tracks.”
“Comforting,” Sam said sarcastically.
“I don’t know if it was the right thing to do,” I admitted honestly. “But it’s the only decision I felt I could make, given the circumstances.”
“For what it’s worth, I think you did the right thing,” Sam said, and John nodded along.
“You’re not just saying that?”
“As if I say anything just for the sake of saying it,” Sam said, rolling his eyes at me.
I smiled and took a deep breath, trying to put the burden of the past few days behind me. “Why don’t we go look at the new addition?” I suggested. “We haven’t really given it the opening ceremony it deserves.”
“That’s a great idea,” John nodded as he and Sam rose from their seats to follow me to the new room.
It looked spectacular and even I was impressed by how amazing it had turned out. The fact that it was a family effort made it all the more meaningful.
“You guys like the furniture?” I asked.
“It’s great,” Sam nodded. “Although I’d probably say that about a cardboard box.”
“Gee, thanks.”
Sam laughed. “No seriously,” he said. “This looks great.”
John walked around the room and examined the stuff that I had picked out with Madison. “Some of these pieces are actually quite tasteful; you didn’t do this by yourself, did you?”
I smiled. “Madison helped,” I admitted.
“By ‘helped,’ do you mean she picked out all the furniture and you just stood there and nodded?” John clarified.
“Pretty much,” I laughed.
“It just goes to show, huh?” John said in a thoughtful voice.
Sam and I exchanged a glance. “It just goes to show what?” Sam demanded impatiently. “Finish the thought man.”
John smiled. “It goes to show what a woman’s touch can do. We’ve lived in a house of guys for as long as I can remember and, let’s just say it shows. This room is worlds apart.”
“Maybe we should ask Madison to re-do the whole house?” Sam suggested.
I smiled. “I bet she’d like that,” I said.
“The wall needs something,” John said in a distracted way.
“The wall?” I repeated, frowning at him.
“This one here,” John pointed out to me. “It looks a little bare.”
“What would you suggest?”
“A picture perhaps,” John spoke as though he were talking to himself. “And, I think I have just the thing.”
He turned and left the room, leaving Sam and I to wonder after him. Sam turned to me and shrugged. “I think its old age.”
I laughed, and Sam and I continued to survey the room together. John came back a few minutes later and in his hands, he carried a framed picture. He turned it over so that Sam and I could see it better. I froze as I saw the image nestled in the frame. It was an old photograph of the whole family, including our mother. She was sitting in the center of the frame with Talen in her arms.
She looked impossibly young and extremely beautiful. Her eyes shone, but there was a sadness there that was impossible to deny. She was smiling ever so slightly, but I could see it for the mask it was. Dad was standing next to her, tall and broad shouldered with a massive smile on his face. Alan, Sam, John, and I were crowded around both of them, fighting for a prominent spot within the family dynamic.
“Jesus,” I breathed. “That looks like an eternity ago.”
“Look at Talen,” Sam breathed, edging a little closer.
“He must have been about five months when that picture was taken,” John said, peering over so that he could look at the picture, too. “I was around eleven.”
“I barely remember taking this picture,” I said.
“I do,” John said softly. “It was a pretty nice day actually.”
I stared at John’s face and my curiosity piqued. “Where did you even find that picture?”
“I found it in the attic when I was cleaning it out.”
“That was months ago,” I pointed out. “You never mentioned finding it.”
“I guess… I wasn’t sure if you guys would want to see it, given that Mom is there, too. So I framed it and kept it in my room. I don’t know why I decided to show it to you guys now. I guess I just thought…maybe it was time to move on. Fresh, new room, fresh, new start.”
“That’s a very romantic way of looking at it,” I pointed out.
“One could also call it optimistic?” John suggested.
“One could also call it stupid,” Sam said unexpectedly before he walked out of the room.
John looked after him and sighed. “I was afraid of that.”
“Leave him,” I said.
John hesitated a moment, but he took my advice and left Sam to deal with his feelings in his own way. I turned my attention back to the picture and stared at my enigma of a mother. Even after all these years, she was still just a beautiful stranger.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Madison
It was a beautiful day. There was nothing particularly spectacular about it. It was just my mood that was making the world seem brighter. I even wore my favorite white slip dress with the yellow daisies on it. I paired it with combat boots and a dozen different braids that I weaved over my head.
When I got to the salon, Whitney was the only one there. She was wearing denim shorts, a bright pink t-shirt, and a white jacket. Her hair was a brilliant shade of purple that held hints of violet when the light touched it. As odd as the combination was, it somehow managed to work on Whitney’s uniquely chameleon like features.
“Where’s Lola?” I asked, as I stepped into the empty salon.
“She’s taken the day off,” Whitney replied.
“I thought we had appointments today?”
“We did,” she said. “But I rescheduled all of them.”
I gave her a look. “What? Why would you do that?”
Whitney’s expression was careful. “Because I heard about what happened.”
I froze immediately. “Oh.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want to worry you,” I tried to explain. I didn’t like lying to Whitney, but I knew that telling her the truth in this case was not an option. It was simply easier to have her believe the official story. And given that the incident had coincided with my day off, I hadn’t even thought to tell Whitney about it.
“You just thought you’d let me read about it in the papers?”
I smiled. “If I thought you read the papers, I might have told you.”
She gave me a friendly glare. “Oh, very cheeky.”
“Well, do you read newspapers?” I asked.
Her face broke into a smile. “My parents asked me about it.”
“I knew it,” I laughed.
“Was it scary?” Whitney wanted to know.
“I wasn’t at home,” I said. The lie came easily to my lips now that I had resolved to stick to the alibi that Peter had provided me with. “It was my day off, my brother was in town, and we thought we’d take a short road trip as a way of mending fences, so to speak.”
“Did it work?”
“I think so,” I said cautiously. “I’m still a little…wary, but I have to give him another chance. He’s the only family I’ve got left.”
She nodded with understanding. “You must be relieved now, though. You don’t have to look over your shoulder anymore.”
“What exactly did the article say?” I asked.
“That the burglar was identified as your ex-boyfriend.”
“Oh,” I said. “I didn’t think they’d put that in there.”
Whitney smiled. “You should be happy he’s gone.”
“I am,” I nodded fervently. “It’s just hard to believe sometimes.”
“It was lucky that Peter brought his gun with him when he went to check your place,” she said, shaking her head. “Imagine if he was unarmed.”
“I don’t like to imagine it.”
“You still haven’t told me why you’ve re-scheduled all our appointments for today?”
“I thought you could use a day off. I thought we both could, actually. We should just go out, enjoy Fort Collins, have some lunch, do some shopping and just…have fun. We’re young, we’re hot, and we can.”
I smiled. “You’re right,” I nodded. “We can.”
“Shall we head out then?”
“Let’s,” I nodded enthusiastically.
It took us only fifteen minutes to get to the town’s hub and once we were in the middle of the shopping district, it was easy to put the past few days behind me. I actually found myself relaxing, letting the stress and worry of my latest ordeal melt away into memory.
“I think it’s time we get you some new clothes,” Whitney suggested, as she dragged me into a massive department store.
“I can make do with what I have,” I argued, as she pulled me along to the women’s department.
“I know you can,” she nodded. “But that’s hardly the point. Live a little.”
We were trying on dresses together in the same dressing room when I turned to Whitney curiously. “What’s with the spontaneous shopping trip, though?” I asked, as I tried on a bright red blouse. “I can’t believe this is all just for me?”
She smiled. “All right, it’s not all about you. It’s a little bit about me, too.”
“Do tell.”
“I was talking to my parents the other day,” she explained. “And they reminded me how hard I worked to get to this point. I busted my ass off these last few years in order to get my salon started. I barely did anything. I neglected my friends, turned down dates and basically cast off any hope of a social life.
“They just made me see that working that hard is not going to be worth it in the end if I stopped enjoying myself. I need to find a balance. And now that I’ve achieved my dream of opening my own place, I have the luxury of doing just that.”