by Alex Wolf
“Let’s sit in here.”
His mom takes a seat on a chair, and Cole and I sit on a couch to the side, so we have to turn to face her.
An awkward silence stretches between us, and I really shouldn’t be here, but I don’t want Cole to face her alone if he doesn’t want to.
Finally, he says, “So what’s going on?” He holds out a palm. “Shit, I mean, how are you? Of course, I should’ve asked that first.”
She glances around at the place, the art on the walls, the expensive entertainment center. “I’m, umm, I’m okay.” Her voice is coarse, like she’s talking through gravel.
I’m not one to beat around the bush and I can’t help but feel protective over Cole. He has to be feeling so many emotions right now. I don’t give a shit how tough someone is, humans are humans at their core. I want to shake her and demand an explanation from her, but I would never do that. It’s not my place, but my hackles start to rise.
This lady is seriously barely saying anything, when she owes him an explanation for everything. I can’t imagine ever abandoning my kid, then showing up one day and just not saying shit. Fuck that.
My nails dig into the palms of my hands and my chest heats up.
Her eyes dart over to mine, and I do my best to give her a pleasant look, because I don’t want to be rude as fuck and upset him, but pleasant is not really in my repertoire of looks.
“It looks like you’re doing great, son. I’m, uhh, I’m really proud of you. I know that’s kind of a ridiculous thing to say.”
Damn right it is.
“No, it’s okay, Mom. I’m doing fine. How about you? What’s been going on with—” He sort of trails away.
I can tell he really cares. He’s not making this up; his questions are genuine.
All I can think, though, is why is she here? Why is she putting him in this position unless there’s a reason? He doesn’t deserve this shit.
“I’m okay.” She offers him a weak smile.
“You, umm…” He swallows. “You live around here?” He grins like he’s thankful he just thought up that question and it was a decent one.
She nods. “Yeah, I’m living right up the road actually. Well, I’m at a shelter.”
So is that why she’s here? For money? Why hasn’t she showed up before?
Before Cole can respond, she says, “It’s great, seriously. Place to sleep. Food. All I need, really.”
“Well, if you’re happy, that’s great.”
She nods a little, but it looks like she’s holding back. She finally sighs. “Yeah, it’s great.”
I keep my damn mouth shut because it’s not my place to speak, but I know the question I want asked and I practically will him to say it. He turns back to me and must see it in my stare, and he looks like he knows he needs to ask it, but he doesn’t want to. The answer has the possibility to disappoint him, crush him even, but finally he just nods at me and turns back to his mother.
“So, umm, Mom, why are you here?”
She glances over at me, then back at Cole. “No reason really. I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” Cole’s eyes pop open a little wider. “I don’t mean to be rude. I just don’t understand the timing, I think. Why now? It’s been what, twenty-five years or more?”
Her hands tremble a little when he says the amount of time and she raises her hand to her mouth. “I don’t know.” It looks like she’s trying to hold back tears. “I’m sorry. That’s what I wanted to say, and I just, I’m right up the road and I’ve walked by here so many times. I honestly don’t know why today, I just, I wanted to say that. I’ve wanted to say it for a long time.”
Cole gets up and walks over and kneels in front of her. “Look, Mom, I know you had a rough life and you, umm, you didn’t know what to do with me or you weren’t ready or whatever. But it’s okay.”
Like hell it is. I do my best to bite my tongue because it’s not my place. Cole is a million times nicer than I would be in his position. I think maybe it’s because he still longs for that connection. I know he has Bill and Pedro and my cousins, but everyone wants their damn mother. I know what that feeling is like. I never really knew my mother either, but at least I had my actual father. Cole didn’t have any of that, nothing. No biological relatives.
“If you came here for forgiveness, you have it, okay? I turned out great. Yeah, it was hard, and I wanted a mom. But you couldn’t be that for me and I understand. I didn’t when I was younger, but I’ve accepted it. So, if you’re here out of guilt or whatever, don’t worry. I don’t hate you.”
She nods just slightly and says, “Okay. Thank you. I don’t deserve that, but thank you.”
She stands up and Cole gives her a hug. “And you can come by again sometime, if you want. Here…” He walks over and scribbles down something on a piece of paper. “It’s my number, just call first, okay?”
She tucks the paper in her pocket, looks at him one more time, then starts for the door. Cole walks her over there and she finally leaves, and the silence in the room is deafening.
I want to say so many things to him, but how can I? It’s just not my place. Never mind the obvious elephant in the room; he’s rich and she’s basically homeless. I want him to have a connection to his mother if that’s what he wants, but he needs to make her earn that. He needs to make her earn his damn trust after what she did to him, prove she’s not here to take advantage of him.
But I do what I should do, instead of telling him every thought running through my brain. I plaster on a smile and just be in the moment for him and not tell him the million things I’m worried about. Because what happens if he gets close to her and she leaves again? What will that do to him? He has a giant company and thousands of employees counting on him. I don’t even want to think about his mother abandoning him twice.
“Well, that was…interesting.” Cole walks back over, pretending like everything just went back to normal. “Sorry, for asking you to stay like that, it wasn’t really fair for you to be put in that situation.”
I know he must have a million things running through his mind, and he’s clearly developed a way internally to shut things out, compartmentalize in his mind, but that’s dangerous as hell. I’m no psychiatrist, but fuck.
He sits down.
I reach over for his forearm. “It wasn’t okay for you to be put in that situation either, Cole.”
He smiles, though, looks happy. He has this new glow about him.
“You want to talk about it?” Never in my life did I see this day ending up with Cole and I talking about his feelings about his mother.
“I think I’m good.” He stares off out the window. “Can’t believe she’s been living right up the road. It’s just, surreal, like I’m not even really here right now. Does that make sense?”
I nod. “Perfect sense. I think, you know, maybe just take a little time to process everything.”
He nods, then turns back to me and his eyes are hungry again. “I know exactly how to process things.”
And just like that, my heartrate spikes to infinity. How does he do that with one smoldering stare?
He stalks toward me and I stand up. This is dangerous. I shouldn’t sleep with him right now, not after that. I know his mind is far away from us, but I still want him. Can I make him feel better? Help him forget? Is that why I’m going to do this or am I being selfish because it’s what I want in the moment?
He goes in for a kiss, and I wheel him around and toss him down on the couch. Before he can recover, I’m on top of him, straddling his lap. His hands go to my ass and his fingers dig in, and I might die if I don’t get a release soon.
The anxiety that was hanging there completely disappears when Cole stares at me the way he is right now. Like he’ll die if he doesn’t have me.
He stands up from the couch, lifts me like I weigh nothing, and I hold on for dear life as he picks me up. I don’t even want to think about the kind of core strength it took for him to just do that.
> My fingers rake through his hair, my legs wrapped around his waist, as he sucks down my neck and marches me back toward what I can only assume is his bedroom.
He sucks on my neck and his mouth is instantly against my ear. “You’re not running this show, Collins. I made you a promise in the elevator.”
“I’m gonna make you come so hard you pass out.”
The words play through my mind and it wasn’t even the words, it was how he said them, like it was one hundred percent happening whether I liked it or not.
I grind up against him even harder, kissing his lips and the stubble along his jaw. “Shut the fuck up and do it then.”
He walks through the door, and slams me down on his bed, and fuck, if I wasn’t so turned on, I think I could pass out instantly and take a nap for days. His mattress is like heaven.
Before I can turn over, make him work for it, or crawl away, he has my dress up to my waist and his arms wrapped around my legs. He yanks me to the edge of the bed so hard I feel like I might fly over his head and shoot straight through the wall.
Jesus, he’s strong.
“Holy shit, Cole.”
Before I can say another word, he rips my damn panties in half like they were an annoyance, keeping him from what he wants.
I look down and see his eyes, hovering there, staring right at me. Then I feel his tongue, and holy shit shit shit. He flattens it on my pussy, then licks all the way up to my clit.
I had forgotten just how skilled Cole Miller was the first time we had sex. I thought maybe I just enjoyed it so much because we were hammered, but oh no, it’s a million times more intense while sober.
Instinctively, I try to squeeze my legs around his head, but he shoves them back apart, and holy fuck, it burns so damn good. Just when I think it can’t get any more intense, he shoves two fingers inside me and his lips hum on my clit.
“Holy fuck.” My head flies back to the mattress, and I turn to the side and bite into the pillow because I don’t know how much more I can take. “So close.” I exhale the words on a gasp.
Immediately, Cole stands up between my legs but keeps two fingers working. He curls them up and hits that deep spot inside me just right, and I buck my hips, trying to take them even deeper, because I want him. I just want him to never stop touching me like this.
He leans down, his mouth inches from mine. “Not yet.”
I glare back at him, but it’s hard because I’m on the cusp of the most intense orgasm of my life.
“I-I can’t…” Words won’t even form. Every time I try to speak, he rubs my clit with his thumb and I gasp.
It’s like this is all some kind of game to him, see how long he can keep me redlined before I cave. It’s like he wins if I give in, and I’m so competitive I can’t let him.
He kisses along my neck, over to my ear, his fingers still expertly pushing my buttons every which way he wants.
“Look how bad you want me, Harlow. You just can’t help yourself, can you? So fucking dirty and wet.”
I try to glare at the side of his head from the corner of my eye. “Fuck you.”
Cole Miller’s eyes land on mine and they’re one hundred percent, all business—dead serious. “Oh, I will.” He leans down and bites one of my nipples through my dress.
My back immediately arches up into him.
He grins at my reaction, and his eyebrows quirk up. “And the only thing you’ll do is beg for more. Won’t you?”
I can’t think of anything to say because all my attention is on holding off this orgasm. Finally, I groan, “You wish, bitch.”
“You’re the one fucking my fingers right now.” He leans up and glances down. “Look at you.”
Just then I realize he’s right. He’s holding his hand completely still and I’m grinding my hips on it. He kneels back down between my legs. “You won’t be able to resist now, though.” Before I can respond with some smartass remark, he says, “You’re about to come all over my fucking mouth.”
He disappears, dives back down, and motherfucker. His tongue goes crazy on my clit and he starts pumping his fingers in and out of me, and I let loose. I have no other choice.
My hips arch up to his mouth and my whole body tightens, every muscle constricting at once.
“Shit, Cole.” The words come out through my teeth as the orgasm crests through my body, rolling through my limbs like lightning in my veins. My hands fly out and I grip the back of his head and shove his mouth down on me as my hips buck up and down.
Fuzzy stars flash in front of my face and time seems to slow down. It’s like every bit of tension, every worry in my life, just fades through my body and my ears start ringing.
Did I just pass out? Like he said I would.
It’s a crazy feeling, like I’m trapped in a state of permanent euphoria for a good ten seconds. I can’t hear, I can barely see, it’s just pure fucking bliss.
Eventually, I slowly start to get my wits about me again, and my eyelashes flutter open.
Cole hovers over the top of me, then leans down in my ear. “Told you.”
“How the…” I pant a couple times. “Fucking fuck.”
“That’s next.” He flips me over and pulls me up to his chest, so I’m upright with my back to him.
Both of his hands grip my breasts, and I can already feel that familiar throb returning between my legs. This man is going to turn me into a puddle of Jell-O. He’s so rough, but sensual at the same time. It’s really a perfect combination.
I rub my ass up against him, just because I want to feel his hard cock press against me. He groans when I do it, then smacks me on my ass cheek, like I’m paying for some crime against him.
“Oh, is that supposed to be punishment?”
He grips the back of my neck and digs his fingers in. The other hand unzips my dress and he fights to get it off me. Once he has it off, he shoves me back down so I’m bent over in front of him. He goes to grab my wrist and then he hesitates.
What the hell?
Then, I realize what he’s doing. It’s where I just had my tattoo work done and he doesn’t want to hurt me or ruin it.
My heart wants to melt again. How the hell does he keep making me feel—feelings? Ugh. But I want more. So much more. And I want his mind as far away from his mom as possible right now.
He smacks me on the ass again instead.
“It’d be better if you spanked me while you fucked me.”
He lets go for a second, and I immediately miss his touch and want his hands back on me. My head drops a little in disappointment.
“Fuck, you don’t know what it does to me when you say shit like that.”
I glance back, and a smile tries to return to my face, because I see him yank his pants down and roll a condom on. That’s why he let go of me.
“You don’t know what it does to me when you take forever, Miller. I’m trying to get laid over here.”
He frog bends down, then leaps from the ground, up on to the bed. In one jump. How? How in the motherfuck did that just happen? I have not a clue, but he’s back behind me and grips me by the hair and my whole body comes alive again.
The head of his cock presses up against me, parting my lips, and I want to shove my hips back so damn bad, but he has me by the hair and his other hand is on my hip, holding me still.
“Teasing you is half the fun.” He rubs underneath me, stroking my clit with the head of his dick relentlessly until he has me rocking back, practically begging for him.
He leans around, so his mouth is next to my ear. “I’m going to fuck this pussy for hours. You’re going to have a hard time walking tomorrow.”
My heart speeds up at the thought. It sounds like a goddamn plan to me. I think I need to piss him off a little more though, make sure he properly fulfills his promise.
“Seems like you’re gonna talk for hours instead of doing anything.”
He snickers. “We’ll see.”
“Yeah, right. You’re gonna come in thirty seconds.”
He laughs at that one, then shoves into me from behind and holy fuck, I forgot how big he is.
His hips crash into my ass and he keeps my hair balled up in a fist. “God, there’s nothing better than your pussy.”
My entire body heats to an alarming degree. He has such a filthy mouth, and I fucking love it. For a brief second, I let myself imagine how much better it would feel without the condom, but holy shit.
Harlow Collins!
The thought of letting him fuck me bare scares me more than any other situation: his mom showing up, all the bullshit with my cousins. Why the hell would I even consider that? God, it would feel so damn good, though. To feel Cole Miller come inside me.
The sound of wet skin clapping against wet skin echoes through his room, and I look out the window at the Chicago skyline. I could think of a million worse ways to spend a random weekday evening. Today has been perfect, minus the mama drama.
Besides that, it might’ve been the best date of my life.
No, it was. No doubt about it.
Concentrate. Enjoy this. You’ll pay for it at some point in the future.
I remember I told Cole he was going to come in thirty seconds, so I feel it’s my duty to make it happen. After all, he said we have all night, and that smug prick got me off almost instantly. He needs to know I can do the same to him, or I’ll never hear the end of it.
I buck my hips back against him, matching him stroke for stroke.
He immediately groans and takes notice of my ass crashing back into him.
“Fuck, Harlow.”
I smile straight ahead, knowing I drive him insane. And now, it’s time…
I reach back beneath me and massage his balls as he fucks into me.
“Holy fucking…” He grunts and groans, then he shoves into me as deep as he can possibly go. I can feel him up against me as every muscle in his body tightens.
I squeeze his balls a little harder and shuffle them between my fingers, and he fills the condom. He jolts a few more times, coupled with some grunts, then pulls out of me.