by MJ Masucci
“I think we are leaving on Friday, the twenty-sixth. I spoke with your mother’s doctor, and he wants to set up an IV appointment for her on Monday. She will need a few days to recover from the travel so it would be perfect. I’m sure you can handle Lidia and Brett once they get settled.”
Xander wasn’t so sure. He wasn’t a nurse, and he was concerned that he wouldn’t be able to provide either of them the care that they needed. But he would try his best. He really could use another drink because he still had a pounding headache.
Ava could relate, as she woke up with her arm throbbing. The anesthesia had worn off and the place where she got stitches was hurting. She got out of bed, and her apartment was dark. It took a few minutes for her to acclimate. Her head was aching, too, but at least she had gotten antibiotics, and she didn’t have chills anymore. The one dose she took must have helped with her fever. A check of the clock told her that she had been asleep for almost five hours. She had almost expected Tim to be here still when she woke up. If it were Xander, he would have been with her until she did.
She went to the kitchen and found her purse on the counter. She hadn’t checked her phone since before she went in the shower this morning. She fished it out and noticed that Xander had called her and a voicemail was waiting. Ava listened and noticed how strained his voice was. She knew that he must be dealing with a lot. She decided not to tell him what had happened to her this morning. It would only make him more anxious to come home, and he couldn’t do that yet.
She called his cell and waited for him to answer. It took several rings, but he finally picked up.
“Sweetheart, how are you? I’m worried about you.”
“I’m doing okay. I went out to the doctor this morning. I have a strep infection, and he gave me antibiotics.”
Xander hesitated, “Are you okay? Do you have someone to take care of you while I am gone?”
Ava wanted to say that she was fully capable. He had been gone for four years, and she had managed. But she chose to take the high road.
“I can handle it. My fever is down, and I feel better already. How are Lidia and Brett doing?”
Xander told her about preparing to get hospital equipment into Lidia’s home so they would have it when they came home. He also told her that Peter and Gabby were leaving at the end of the week. She didn’t verbalize it, but she wished he were leaving at the end of the week to be with her. She didn’t want to sound selfish because she knew that Lidia and Brett needed help. Xander ended the call by hanging up the phone abruptly. Ava was going to call him back until she received a text from him.
I’m sorry. I was out on the patio, and my father came out. Since we aren’t telling anyone about us, I didn’t want him to hear me. I love you. Talk to you later.
I love you, too.
Ava called Tim to thank him for helping her to and from the hospital. He said he was happy to help and wanted to stop by to see how she was doing. She told him it wasn’t necessary and she would be going back to bed soon. His attitude seemed to change when she said it, but she told him they should get together for lunch during the week. In a few weeks, he would be busy getting ready for the new school year, and they wouldn’t be able to get together during the day.
After she had ended the call with Tim, she went to the kitchen to find something to eat. Since she had been back with Xander, her clean eating went down the tubes. She was back to some of the unhealthy choices she used to make. She stood in front of the open refrigerator deciding what to eat. The best choice was an apple and a couple of slices of turkey. She hoped that she would feel better soon so she could get back to working out.
She took her food into the living room and sat on the couch while she flipped through the channels. Nothing much to watch but there was a Braves/Mets game. She spent the rest of the evening watching the television, dozing and trying to figure out the New York Times crossword puzzle.
On Monday she still felt tired, but her throat hurt a lot less, which couldn’t be said for the wound on her arm which ached. It was hard for Ava to shower with a bag wrapped around it, she was careful to sit on the bench in the shower to wash. She couldn’t risk another fall. She chose to wear a long sleeve shirt to work to avoid questions about the bandage that adorned her arm.
Victoria was in a rare mood when she arrived at her office. She had been arguing with the caterer and Ava waited unseen, outside her door until she got off the phone. Her attitude towards Ava today was reminiscent of the way Victoria was when she first worked for her. She snapped at her and piled a bunch of folders in her arms. Ava hurried down the hall balancing the stack carefully so it wouldn’t fall to the floor.
She had to be careful not to put too much weight on her wound. Victoria had scribbled a bunch of notes in each and Ava had a horrible time trying to translate. But working for Victoria for four years helped her decipher the mess. She could tell certain words from previous notes and avoided having to see Victoria to clarify. She stayed away from her for the five hours that she worked in the office. The woman was a bitch on wheels lately due to her upcoming nuptials.
When she finished for the day, she went to Victoria’s office and briefed her on her activities during the day.
“Now that you are finished with school when are you coming back to work full-time?”
“I’m not planning to come back full-time until after I take the bar exam.”
“I don’t understand why you need all that time to study. You can certainly study on the weekend and evenings. I did it, and I’m sure plenty of attorneys do rather than work part-time.”
Ava wanted to tell her that if she needed her that badly all she had to do was ask her to work longer hours. But she had no intention of changing her plans. She needed a rest since she had attended school full-time and worked part-time for the last three years. Not to mention doing the same thing when she was studying for her undergraduate degree.
“Uncle Daniel feels it would be the best plan for me to continue to work part-time until I take the exam. Maybe I could swing it where I work an eight-hour day.”
“Don’t bother upsetting your schedule. I’ll make due. You can leave for the day,” she added sarcastically.
Ava was annoyed but chose not to engage Victoria in a battle that she wouldn’t win. She had become a lot less meek during the past four years. Losing Xander had helped her realize she needed to stand on her own two feet and stop depending on her family to protect her. They still did but to a much lesser degree. She was a twenty-eight-year old woman who was on the cusp of her new career. She didn’t need protecting; she needed to be loved by someone. Ava needed Xander back in her life full-time.
Chapter 14
The weeks went by quickly and even though Xander wasn’t physically with her, she spent a lot of time texting, talking and using Facetime. It was the best they could do to keep close to each other. Neither had revealed to anyone that they were dating again. The only close person in Ava’s life that was aware of their relationship was Rachel, and she would never tell.
She had been spending a lot of time with Tim; he was her one constant. He had turned out to be a good friend and seemed to always be there for her. He comforted her when she needed it and supported her when she felt depressed. She was the only person she was able to reveal her true feelings about Xander. Rachel was so busy with work and her pregnancy that she rarely spent time with Ava anymore.
On Saturday, August third (which happened to be Xander’s thirty-second birthday), Ava awoke with a beautiful idea. It was only 5:00 AM in Los Angeles, but she knew that he would be up early to go running. In the two and a half weeks since the accident, Brett had become more mobile and was healing quickly. He had started using a cane a few days before to get around the house allowing Xander to have an hour of two away from them.
Lidia was not so lucky. She was only able to eat with a straw, and Xander had to prepare protein drinks for her several times a day. She had lost several pounds in the past couple of weeks because of
lack of calories. He told Ava that while loved his sister and Brett, he was anxious to get back to New York to start his life with her.
Ava took a long leisurely shower making sure to shave her legs and other areas. She had gotten her stitches out the week before and enjoyed not having to wrap her arm each time she bathed. She dried herself and wrapped the towel around her. In her room, she hunted through her dresser drawers for the right articles of clothing, then she blew dried her hair and changed. Taking the picture with her phone was not so easy. She finally figured out the timer setting on her digital camera. When she had snapped several pictures, and wirelessly synced the camera with her laptop; then she emailed them. By the time she finished with everything, it was close to 7:00 AM in California.
Xander had started his run just before 6:00 AM. There was a slight chill from the breeze blowing off the water at that hour. He ran down to the beach and ran the length of it passing several other runners. Several women cast an eye at his shirtless body already glistening with perspiration. He had managed to keep his hard physique even with minimal workouts the past few weeks. But he knew that it wouldn’t continue to stay that way if he didn’t work out regularly.
He was fortunate that Brett had a seldom used weight set in the garage and was able to use it an hour a day. The past week he started going for early morning runs. As he neared Lidia’s driveway, he felt his phone buzz. He waited until he stopped to stretch and removed it from his pocket. Ava had sent him an email message with several picture attachments. The message subject line was: Happy thirty-second birthday, Xander — FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. And the note read:
Xander,
I cannot be with you today, but I’m thinking of you. I hope these pictures make you remember what is waiting for you when you arrive home. I love you.
Happy Birthday,
Ava
He clicked on each attachment. Ava had sent him five pictures in different positions with the lingerie she had worn on the first night they had made love in Lake George on Memorial Day weekend. Her large perfect breasts showed right through the sheer white fabric. She had one picture where she had arched her back, accentuating them. He was instantly hard, and his running shorts had become tented. He needed to get inside before he was arrested. He hoped that Brett and Lidia were still asleep.
He crept into the house. Luckily, both Lidia and Brett were still asleep in their hospital beds. He went upstairs to his bathroom; his cock still rock hard, and he called Ava. She immediately answered.
“Happy Birthday, Xander,” she purred seductively.
“You know how to get a guy going in the morning.”
“Did it have the desired effect?”
“Are you kidding? I’m so hard that if you were here, I would fuck you silly.”
“I wish you were. I miss your hard cock and the rest of you, too.”
“I need to relieve some of the pressure, or I’ll be hard all day. Do you want to help me?”
“You mean phone sex?”
“We can make each other come.”
Ava thought about it for a minute. It might be fun, and she had never done it before. She agreed, and they teased each other over the phone. Xander kept her pictures in his mind as he stroked himself.
“Touch yourself, Ava. Rub your clit for me, and I want to hear you moan.”
She rubbed herself and moaned for him. He slowly stroked himself because he didn’t want to come before she did.
“Let me know when you’re close,” but he didn’t have to ask again as he heard her breathing get heavier and her moaning became louder. He began to stroke himself faster until he was ready. He could hear her panting.
“Don’t hold back. Now come for me, sweetheart,” and she did with a prolonged moan. He followed her, moaning into the phone as he drained his cock into the toilet.
They were silent as they came down from their sexual high.
“That was so nice. We need to do that more often Xander.”
He agreed only the next time he wanted to see her touching herself. Xander told her they could use Facetime to do this. He wanted to see her touching herself and her face when she did it. Ava wasn’t so sure because she felt embarrassed but she was willing to give it a try.
They talked for awhile longer and then he hung up the phone to take a shower. As he soaped himself, he thought about what he had just done with Ava and his cock started to harden again. He stroked himself to another orgasm before he got out.
Ava hung up the phone excited by what she had just done with Xander. She wanted more. She wanted to touch him, look into his hazel eyes and smell him. They had talked about him telling his family about their relationship. She was positively bursting with the secret. Rachel had been so busy lately. Rigo was keeping a close eye on her now that she was pregnant. He didn’t want her overexerting herself. So Ava was not able to spend time with her. She wanted to tell Sam about her rekindled relationship with Xander, but she knew that she would blab to Robert. Then the whole family would know.
She was still worried about how certain members of her family would react to their relationship. She knew that Brooke and Jacob were still very angry about how Xander had just left after the accident. They called him a coward and maybe what he did was cowardly. But she could understand his feelings at the time. Xander had been right. She had told him to leave her before they crashed. She didn’t expect that he would have taken it so literally.
She got up from her bed, needing to change because she was having brunch with Tim. She somehow got the feeling that he was harboring hurt emotions from their breakup. However, they had only gone on two dates before she ended it. How attached could you get to someone in a week?
Soon Tim wouldn’t be available to hang out so much. He had to prepare for the school year. He would be busy after school, too, since he was a co-instructor for the robotics club. So she wanted to spend as much time with him as she could before she lost another companion to other activities.
She dressed in a pair of shorts and a tank top. The wound on her arm had healed nicely, and all she had was a light pink scar. The doctor had said that it would fade as time passed. She had never told Xander that part of what had happened to her because he had enough on his mind. When he came back to New York, she would let him know all that had been going on. Would he like Tim when he met him or would he be jealous?
Ava met Tim at a small café not far from his apartment in The Village. He kissed her cheek and hugged her tightly when she met him, a little too tightly for her taste. He released her, and they sat down. After the waitress had taken their orders, they made small talk. She told him that today was Xander’s birthday and she had sent him a few pictures for a present.
Tim felt a pang of hatred for the man. Why should Xander get her after the time he spent pursuing her last summer? He had laid the groundwork and hoped this summer he would get a chance, but she had rebuffed him. Then they spent a glorious two weeks together though she wouldn’t have sex with him. He had figured he would work on her when she got back from her trip to Saratoga. Then it all went to shit.
Ava had no idea that the things she spoke to Tim about Xander were ammunition for when it came time. Tim had carefully worked out a schedule of causing an end to their long-distance relationship. She had told him that Xander would be in California for possibly four months. He had already been there for two weeks. That gave Tim at least three months to put his plan in motion. He knew it would hurt her, but it was for the best. She belonged with him not with Xander, who had already torn her heart apart. When he was done, she would hate him forever, and Tim would be free to claim her as his own.
Ava chattered on about things going on at work. Tim told her another couple of weeks, and they wouldn’t be able to spend as much time together. He would be starting school activities to get ready for the new school year. She said that they would find time to spend together. That made him smile. He wanted her in his life, and right now he would take her as just a friend with the hopes of more lat
er. She would turn to him for comfort soon enough.
Chapter 15
After Xander got Lidia and Brett settled into bed, he went upstairs to the bedroom and called Ava. They both got naked and watched as they made each other come. The first time it was a little awkward, but now they both anticipated the few minutes they could spend together each night. It was the best they could do because of their circumstances.
“Xander, I’m going to come soon,” Ava panted.
“Move the phone up to your face. I want to see it when you do.” She didn’t know how she had the presence of mind to do it, but she managed. Her eyes were closed tightly as she felt her body reaching the point of no return.
“No, Ava, please open your eyes. I want to see them, look at me.”
She opened her eyes. They were heavy lidded as her orgasm tore through her and she closed them again. She was moaning loudly as she continued to rub herself and move her hips as her climax came to an end. When she was finished, she relaxed back on her pillow and concentrated on watching him stroke himself. He was lying down in bed and had the phone positioned near his balls. She watched his hand slide up and down his length wishing it was her doing it, or better yet, her pussy.
She missed feeling him inside her. She had some demands of her own. His phone had slipped, and she couldn’t see his cock head. She wanted to see the moment when he exploded. He repositioned the camera just in the nick of time. His release was large, and he shot most of his creamy load on his belly and chest. He showed it to her after he was done. They had been doing this for the past four nights, ever since his birthday.
Xander carried the phone with him as he went into the bathroom and cleaned his cum off his body. She heard the flush of the toilet and then saw him settle into bed again. They continued to talk until she heard Xander snoring softly. He had fallen asleep. She hung up the phone and as she had done for the past four nights she pulled the sheet over her naked body and went to sleep.