by Amy Brent
“That is fucking awesome, man,” Trevor said. “I’ve really been worried about you. You need to take this girl out again. I can tell by the look on your face that you really enjoyed your time with her. I knew you’d get over this whole thing with your ex eventually. It just takes time and the right woman to pull you out of it.”
“Yeah, well I’m not finished,” I said with a sigh, leaning back in my chair. “She went to get water, and I passed out. When I woke up the next morning, she was gone. There was no note, nothing. She just dipped out without a word. In fact, I don’t think she ever actually got back into the bed. I think she dipped out as soon as she realized I was asleep.”
“That’s weird,” Trevor said. “Did anything happen?”
“No,” I said. “Nothing happened. We connected on a personal and physical level, not just a physical one. We hadn’t argued, she didn’t see put off by anything, and she was in a really good mood when she went to get something to drink. I looked everywhere to see if she left her number, but there wasn’t anything.”
“What about with the front desk? Maybe she couldn’t find anything to write on,” Trevor said, pulling at straws.
“I checked,” I said. “Nothing left there either. There was a notepad on the counter. She had ample opportunity to leave me something, anything, but she didn’t.”
“Dude, you have to find her,” he said. “You have to contact the club and see if they have any information. Or find the place she said she worked. What does she do?”
“She’s a graphic artist,” I said. “In Maine.”
“Oh, damn,” Trevor said. “She doesn’t live here?”
“No, she’s from a small town in Maine called Camden,” I said. “I know that and her first name. That’s it. Besides, what is the point of searching her down? If she wanted me to find her, she would have left a note, let me know how, but she didn’t. She left nothing behind. All she did was dip out just like my ex-wife. All women are the same. I’ve been telling you this the whole time. She seemed like an amazing girl, someone I clicked with, but apparently, I repel the things I want, not attract them.”
“You can’t blame yourself for this,” Trevor said. “It’s obvious she had her issues. Maybe she has a husband and twelve kids at home or something.”
“I doubt it.” I chuckled. “Either way, I’ll never find out, so that’s the end of that.”
“Sorry, man,” Trevor said. “Hey, why don’t you come out for happy hour? I’ll buy you a drink, we can hate on women all night, and then you can feel better. Nothing cures a disappointment like whiskey and dumb bitches to talk about.”
“True.” I laughed. “But I am going to have to pass on this one. I want to spend some time with Sicily, actually put her to bed tonight. I don’t really feel like being around all of those people anyway. They just piss me off.”
“All right, man,” he said. “I’ve got to get to a conference call, but you know where I’ll be if you change your mind.”
“Appreciate it, brother.” I gripped his hand briefly before he left.
I went back to work, trying to get it off my mind, and finished up the paperwork that had been piling up since the week before. When I was done, I went down to the lab for a little while, knowing tinkering with my inventions always made me feel better. After a half an hour of not feeling better, though, I gave up and headed out of the office. My mom was at the apartment cooking dinner, and I didn’t want to be late. As the car drove me back, I caught myself checking every face on the street, wondering if I would see Emma. I didn’t know when she was leaving, and part of me wanted to confront her to find out what happened.
When we pulled up in front of the complex, I sighed, realizing it was stupid of me to think it would help having her tell me to my face that I wasn’t good enough. When I got upstairs, Sicily greeted me with a big hug and my mom smiled, setting the food down on the table. I washed up for dinner and joined them, listening to Sicily talk about the experiments they were doing in her science lab and how she got to see the Ebola virus under a microscope because the guest speaker from the EPA came by and did a presentation. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the Ebola virus, but I was glad she was enjoying school.
“All right,” I said, looking at Sicily. “Grandma and I will clean up dinner. You go jump in the shower and get ready for bed.”
“Okay,” she groaned, getting down from her chair and kissing me and my mom on the cheek.
I smiled as she ran away, grabbing her pajamas and heading to the hallway bathroom for a shower. I couldn’t believe how grown she was getting, and I could tell my mom was thinking the same thing. She sat back in her chair and looked at me with a knowing stare.
“What’s up?” she said. “You’re looking more dismal than normal.”
“Nothing,” I lied. “I’m just beat from the weekend and work today. There was a lot of catching up to do.”
“Did you meet anyone at the party you went to? Maybe a woman?”
“No,” I scoffed, still thinking about Emma.
“I know you don’t want to talk about this, but I do,” my mom said. “You need to open up a little, find a woman who can love you and Sicily. She’s getting older, and it’s the time where she’ll need a woman in her life.”
“That’s why I moved you here,” I said, smiling.
“She doesn’t need an old lady,” she scoffed. “She needs a mother figure or at the least a strong woman role model who can be her friend and confidante.”
“That sounds fantastic, Mom. Do you know where they grow women like that?”
She ignored my sarcasm. “I loved your father with everything in my soul. When he died, my entire world came to a screeching stop. You were already old enough that you didn’t need another figure in your life, and I knew there would never be another man for me. That was a hell of love story. I couldn’t even imagine living with anyone other than your father, and I still can’t. Josie, your ex, was not that kind of love for you. You still have the chance to be happy in life.”
“I know.”
“No, I don’t think you do,” she said. “There is love and then there is life-changing love. The kind of love that stops you in your tracks, fills your mind, and almost drives you crazy thinking about it. That was the kind of love your father and I had, and I still feel it every day of my life. I want you to find that kind of love, the kind that stops you in your tracks and forces you to rethink everything.”
“That would be great,” I said, shaking my head. “I just don’t know if I’ll ever find that.”
“Well, you better start looking, old man,” she said with a chuckle. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have got to get this old body into bed. I love you.”
“I love you too,” I said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I watched as my mother walked out of the apartment, closing the door behind her. She only lived a few floors down, which I was glad of since that was part of the deal of moving her to New York City. I cleared the table and did the dishes, waiting for Sicily to get out of the shower. I tucked her into bed, kissed her goodnight, and then headed to my bedroom to relax. I lay for a long time staring up at the ceiling and thinking about what my mother said to me. She talked to me about the great love, the one I knew she had with my father, the one I thought I would have with Josie, but things didn’t turn out like I’d thought they would.
I was starting to think Emma might never get out of my mind, that I would spend an eternity with her laughter echoing through my head. It was a confusing feeling, not knowing what to think about a woman I barely knew who’d left without a word. I was conflicted because though I knew my thoughts were trying to push her out, my heart was keeping her there. I wanted her, but I didn’t, and it was driving me nuts. Emma might have been the love my mother was talking about, but I’d missed it. I’d let it slip right through my fingertips in a haze of whiskey and champagne. I turned on my side and stared at the clock, wondering what Emma was doing, curious to know if she was still think
ing about me too. Probably not. I was probably a tiny whisper in her past, a fun guy on vacation, and if I wasn’t, I had no idea if I’d ever see her again.
Chapter 10
Emma
“So, they want the product in the background and kind of a whitewash of their logo over the top,” I said to Greg. “When I did it, it didn’t come out like I’m assuming they’re picturing in their heads. So I did a second version, the one in your hands. I figured you could send them both proofs and see which one they like better. The second one is the same idea, just a little less washed out.”
“I like it,” Greg said. “Good work. I’ll let you know what they decide.”
“Thanks, Greg,” I replied, walking out of his office.
I headed back to my office and sat down behind the desk, looking at the project on the screen. It was a simple one, a car sale ad where they wanted a rabbit driving the vehicle. Apparently, they had tried to get an actual photo of that, and it didn’t quite work out, so I was doing some Photoshop magic on it and hoping it came out okay. Right as I started on the project, my office phone rang.
“This is Emma,” I said answering.
“What are you wearing?” a voice said on the other line.
“A parka, galoshes, and a red wig,” I said seductively.
“That’s weird,” Caroline replied, laughing.
“Hey, you’re the one calling me with raspy creepo voice.” I chuckled. “What’s up?”
“I wanted to see if you wanted to go out to the pub tonight? This guy I’ve gone a couple of dates with, his band is playing,” she said. “I figured it would be good for you to continue the streak of living your life and not stopping because you’re home from New York.”
“Um, honestly? I have a huge workload, and I’ve been coming in super early,” I said. “I love you, but I’m really not feeling like going out tonight. Maybe this weekend, we can do something, you know, when I don’t have to be up and using my brain.”
“This doesn’t happen to have anything to do with that guy from New York, does it? Because if so, you have to let it go,” she said.
“No.” I chuckled, brushing her off. “I’m over it. Don’t be crazy.”
“Right.” Caroline didn’t sound like she was buying it. “Well, I guess we could all do something before I go out of town again.”
“Just not any surprise weekends for a while.” I laughed. “It was awesome, but Greg is not going to be that giving again. He freaked out about the day I missed, worried I wouldn’t get my work done.”
“You tell Greg to go home to that pretty little wife and get la—”
“Whoa! I don’t need that vision in my head. I’ll call you later.”
I hung up the phone and tried to go back to work, but I couldn’t. I sat there staring at my screen, knowing I had lied to my best friend. Again. I knew in the back of my mind that Brandt was exactly the reason I didn’t feel like going out that night or any night in the future. He was the reason I was trying to get out of the situation I knew would end up in, with her trying to set me up with someone else. At first, I thought it was because I wasn’t ready for something like that, but then I was honest with myself. I liked the guy. It was that simple. I really liked being near him, around him, talking to him, laughing with him, and feeling his hands on me. I felt like I had been drawn to him from the first moment he walked up to the bar. That was why I’d said something to him in the first place, something I don’t normally do. It took me mustering courage for at least twenty minutes, waiting for him to come get a drink so I could joke around with him.
Then again, no matter how attracted I was to him, on whatever level, so was his wife. Those pictures were branded in my memory. Smiles of a small child being held by her mother and father. A happy family with a happy home that I had come into and intruded on in the worst way. Alex had done that to me, and as the woman, I knew how bad it felt. As the other woman, I almost felt worse about it, not that I thought Alex’s girlfriend had any remorse for what she had done. She knew about me from the beginning. I sighed and went back to my project, working the best I could with visions of everything flashing through my mind.
When it hit five, I decided not to work late, knowing I had been there late the last two nights. I just wanted to go home to the comfort of my house, the soft blanket, and my couch. I said good night to Greg and headed back. When I pulled up in the driveway, though, I cringed. Alex stood at my front door. I parked and slowly got out of the car, preparing myself for him. He didn’t look happy in the least, and without doubt, I was not happy to see him either.
“What do you want?” I asked, searching for my house keys.
“I want to know when you’re going to give me half of that savings account.”
“Uh, never.” I laughed at his audacity. “We’ve talked about this. I’m the one who contributed ninety-nine percent of it. My name is the only one on it. Therefore, you don’t have any right to it. You’re the one who screwed up our happy home.”
“We started that as a nest, and I deserve my fair share,” he said.
“Your fair share? Are you fucking kidding me? You’re lucky I gave you anything from this house,” I scoffed. “Go back to your girlfriend. I’m sure she’ll be happy to support you.”
“Fuck you, Emma,” he said as I slammed the door in his face.
I leaned up against the door and listened as he jumped in his car and sped out of the neighborhood. I sighed, shaking my head. That was the last thing I needed that day. I couldn’t believe I’d dated that asshole for that long. He had never been that much of a prick when we were together, but it was obvious he had it in him. I was glad I hadn’t married him to find out down the road that he was such a jerk when it was too late to get out of it.
I threw my stuff down on the floor and climbed the steps, slowly making my way to the bathroom. I turned on the hot water and added some bubbles, walking back out to get some clothes as the bathtub filled. When I got back in there, it was almost full, so I turned it off and got undressed. I lit a few candles and turned off the light, turning on some calming music from my phone and sinking down into the hot water. I sighed as my body relaxed, leaning my back against the side of the tub. I closed my eyes and let my mind wander, trying to get rid of all the thoughts keeping me awake at night.
As I lay relaxing with the music lightly playing in the background, I pictured Brandt in my mind, his amazing smile, his sexy eyes, and that rock-solid body. His arms pulsed, flexing and releasing as he stood there in my mind, staring at me with a look of lust in his eyes. I could feel the heat increase between my legs, and I took my loofah and began to wash my body, my eyes still shut, while my imagination combed over his entire naked self. As the sponge moved down between my legs, I gasped slightly, the warm water and dim light heightening my sense of touch.
I set the sponge to the side and lifted my foot up on the side of the tub. I closed my eyes and imagined Brandt there, crawling toward me in a bed full of pillows. His eyes were dark, and his hands were ready to shower me with pleasure, just like the first time we’d had sex. I moved my hand between my folds, thinking about the way he licked me, the way his fingers felt pressed inside of my pussy. I let myself go, picturing every moment of my ecstasy in his hands.
He pulled himself over me, lifting my legs up on his shoulders and grabbed my waist, pulling me toward him with power. He reached between my legs and fingered me for a moment, priming me for his intrusion. I moaned, as he pulled his fingers out and replaced them with his rock-hard shaft, thrusting his hips forward and pushing deep inside. He waited, holding his cock inside of me, staring down into my eyes. He reached up to grab my hips and pulled himself almost all of the way out of me, smiling a coy smile.
Almost immediately, he started to fuck me, his dick rolling in out of my pussy, the sound of our bodies echoing through my head like a dream. I groaned, leaning my head back and feeling the power of his body. He picked up his pace, swirling his hips around as he pushed down on my cli
t with his stomach. I moaned, grabbing onto the satin sheets around us. He leaned forward and gently kissed my lips, keeping his eyes latched onto mine. When he released, he sat up and put his hands on my thighs, moving his body forward and back, sliding in and out hard and fast. My tits bounced as he pushed my body forward and back, the sound of my screams echoing around me. He pressed my thighs forward, opening me further, diving deep inside over and over, groaning as my juices pulled him back into me. I breathed heavily, wanting release, but not quite ready for it yet.
He pulled his cock out of me and flipped me over on my stomach, pulling me up on all fours. I groaned as he scooted forward on the bed, pushing his cock inside of me again, this time with force. He bent down, wrapping his arm around my waist and rubbing his hand over my clit. I screamed out, whipping my head back as the feeling of him filling me up took over. I rocked back and forth, meeting his body as he slammed into me over and over. I could feel the lust in my chest as his fingers moved fast and hard against my nub.
I cried out in ecstasy, the passion between us palpable as I turned my head and looked into his eyes. He groaned, digging his fingers harder against my pussy, trying to pull me to orgasm. I let loose, tilting my hips and feeling him dive deep down inside of me. I gasped unable to make a sound as he pushed against me over and over again. The heat in my belly was bursting, and I could barely hold on any longer. I took in a deep breath and reached down, helping his fingers move faster against me.