by Lisa Bilbrey
Twenty-four
“What time is it?” Derek asked for the tenth time in the last two hours, and once again, Elle smiled and looked down at her watch.
“Eight minutes after two,” she replied.
He nodded and looked back at the stack of papers in front of him, though he didn’t pick up his pen.
“You know,” she said, drawing his attention back to her, “I heard that filling out the applications for the building permits is easier when you actually put the pen to the paper.”
“Huh? Imagine that,” he scoffed. “That sounds like witchcraft if you ask me.”
Elle laughed. “You’re so cute when you’re nervous.”
“I’m not nervous,” he rebuked, but he refused to look her in the eye.
“I am,” she murmured.
“Yeah?” he asked, and she nodded. “Why?”
She snorted. “Are you serious?”
“Sometimes,” he snickered, winking at her.
Elle smiled and shook her head. “You’re such a dork.”
“Good thing you love me,” he boasted.
“I do. I really, really do.” She sighed and leaned back in her chair. “What if they don’t like me? Or me and Sadie? Or me, Sadie, and Callum being with you?”
“Why wouldn’t they like you?” he asked, though she could hear the doubt in his words. He was just as nervous and scared about how his parents and sister would react to their new relationship as she was.
Elle shrugged her shoulders. “We’ve haven’t had luck so far. Two out of three. What great odds!”
Derek pressed his lips together, and she felt terrible for once again bringing up hers and Sadie’s parents. Four months had passed since Ivy and Nick’s wedding, four months without a word from Helina or James, with the exception of the two boxes they’d sent her. Fifteen weeks since they sat on the floor of their apartment and grieved as Claudia and Bruce Williams told them they wouldn’t accept that Sadie had found her soul mates, that she was happy and in love. And it never got easier. Not even a little bit.
Sadie hid her disappointment better than Elle. She put a smile on her face and declared that she was better off without them, that if they couldn’t love her the way God made her, then she didn’t need them. And while a part of Elle knew Sadie felt this way, and agreed with her, she knew it hurt Sadie more than she was willing to let on. She’d always been close to her parents, and unlike Helina’s disregard to Elle’s feelings, Claudia always told Sadie that she was beautiful and special.
“What time is it now?” Derek asked, and once more, Elle smiled and looked at her watch.
“Two-thirty.” She bit her lip as she looked over at him. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?”
“Um, no. I mean, I do, but I think it’s better if I pick them up from the airport by myself,” he replied.
Elle nodded.
“Guess I should go pretty soon, huh?”
“Probably. It’ll take you almost half an hour to get to the airport,” she said, pushing her chair back and standing up. “And I might as well pack up and head back to the house. Dinner isn’t going to cook itself, after all.”
“You don’t have to cook for them,” Derek told her, following her lead and standing up. He started packing the permit applications into his briefcase, and then grabbed his cell phone and shoved it into his back pocket.
“I know I don’t have to,” she responded. “And when are you finally going to go replace your phone? The screen has been dead for a week.”
He pursed his lips together. “I will.”
“Mmhmm,” she hummed. “That’s what you said yesterday, yet all day you’ve been asking me what time it is.”
“It’s the least you can do, seeing as it’s your fault my phone doesn’t work properly,” he teased, opening the door to their office for her.
Derek had a point. The previous weekend, he’d been sitting at the kitchen table texting his sister and drinking a cup of coffee when Elle dropped to her knees and gave him, what could only be referred to as the best blow job he’d ever gotten. She had him whimpering for more, begging for her to not to stop, and just as he was about to come in her mouth, she pushed two fingers up his ass. As she swallowed every drop of his amazing climax, he accidently dropped his phone into the cup of coffee on the table. It wasn’t until he’d come down from his orgasm-induced high that they’d realized the screen was fried.
When Elle walked past him, Derek swatted her on the ass. “Oy, what was that for?” she groused.
“Being sexy. You’ve made it incredibly difficult to focus on my work today.”
Elle gasped as they stopped in front of the elevator and turned toward him, placing her hand on his chest. Curling her hands around the front of his shirt, and pulling his lips down to hers. “I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m not.”
“Good,” he growled, kissing her again. “I love your naughty side.”
Elle’s cheeks warmed, but before she could reply, someone cleared their throat, and when she looked over she saw Samuel standing a few feet away, trying very hard not to stare at them.
“Sorry,” she murmured, feeling her embarrassment intensify.
“It’s okay,” he said, waving her off. “Not like anyone is here today, anyway.”
Thanks to Christmas being in two days, the office had been dead all afternoon with only a couple handful of employees coming in, Samuel, Derek, Elle, Callum, and Sadie being five of them. Of course, Callum and Sadie left at lunch to meet with a construction crew who had placed a bid within the price range budgeted.
Asciari Brothers Construction were highly thought of in the Bay Area. Their work was impeccable, but even more than that, they were considered one of the most family-oriented companies in the city. Tank, Duke, and Gunner Asciari had inherited the company from their father, who had taken over for his father. He had managed to keep the business open through the Great Depression without having to lay off any of his men. They were exactly the type of men Elle wanted working on her project, but with a project this size, they had to make sure the Asciari Brothers were up to the job.
The doors to the elevator opened, so the three of them stepped inside. Once the doors closed again, Samuel turned to Elle and Derek. “Dinner is still on for tonight, yes?”
“Yes, but if you’re not comfortable —”
Samuel put a hand up, silencing Derek. “Lydia and I have already told you that we’re here for you, Derek. We want to be there, to support you, Elle, Sadie, and Callum. But if you’re not comfortable with us coming over, then we won’t push ourselves on you. Just know that we care about you — all of you.”
Elle shifted her eyes up to Derek’s, surprised when she saw tears glistening. He nodded, and muttered a thick, “Thank you,” as he wrapped his arms around her, nestling her against his chest.
While Derek put on a brave face, Elle knew he was terrified of how his parents would react to their relationship. She’d heard him on the phone, sharing bits and pieces about each of them, but always being careful not to let too much out. A relationship like theirs wasn’t something one just blurted out over the phone. Their confrontation with Bruce and Claudia Williams had proven as much.
The elevator stopped at the lobby, and the doors crept open. Samuel put his hand up to keep them from closing. “So seven?”
“Make it six-thirty,” Elle said.
Samuel smiled and nodded before lowering his hand and walking out of the small car. Derek kept his arm wrapped around Elle as they followed their boss, and friend, through the deserted lobby, and out to the parking lot, veering off toward their cars. Sighing, Derek leaned against the side of his truck, tightening his hold around her.
“Maybe you should come with me,” he grumbled.
“I can,” she offered. “I’m sure Sadie can get home in time to put the chicken in the oven.”
He grimaced, and Elle knew he was thinking about the last time Sadie attempted to make them dinner. All four of them had ended up
with food poisoning, and spent two days in misery.
“Yeah, I didn’t think so.” Elle laughed and leaned up on her toes, pressing her lips against his. “Just keep telling yourself that we love you, and that we’re not letting you go.”
“I love you, too,” he murmured, his fingers grazing her cheek as he tucked her hair behind her ear. “And thank you.”
“For what?” she asked.
“For just being you.” Derek leaned his forehead against hers. “For knowing what I need.”
She smiled. “You’re welcome, I guess.”
Derek released her and reached over, opening the driver’s side door on her car. “Be careful going home, okay?”
“I will.” She slide into the car and shoved her key into the ignition. “Do me a favor?”
He smirked. “Depends. Last time I did you a favor, I ended up on my knees with a cock in my mouth and a dildo up my ass.”
Elle opened her mouth once, twice, and then a third time before she said, “Touché.”
“What do you want from me, beautiful?” he asked, squatting next to her.
“Relax. Enjoy the time you’ll have with your parents. If our relationship proves to be too difficult for them to accept, you may not have many more like this. I don’t … I don’t want you to regret being too nervous about what could happen and miss out on anything.”
Derek frowned. “I’m sorry you don’t have a moment like this.”
“Me, too,” she admitted. “But I don’t, and Sadie doesn’t, either. Not really. We’re lucky that Samuel and Lydia are accepting. Just … just relax. Please?” She bit her lip, smiling coyly. “I’ll suck your cock tonight, or fuck you with my dildo again.”
Derek laughed. “Oh, you tease me, beautiful.”
“You relax, and I’ll give you whatever you want, lover.”
Groaning, he nodded and leaned in for another kiss. “Deal.”
“Good, because I’m feeling frisky.” Smirking, she started her car and reached around him, gripping the door handle. Derek moved out of the way before the door hit him. As she reversed out of her parking space, he leaned against the side of his truck, his eyes locked on hers. Elle hoped that he knew that even if she wasn’t physically with him, he had her heart.
—FA—
Elle’s nerves were getting the best of her as she worked diligently in the kitchen to prepare dinner. Derek’s parents’ flight was scheduled to land at three forty-seven, but Derek had called and told her that the flight had been delayed, and was now scheduled to land at five-fifteen, and given the time it would take to pick up their luggage, make their way through the airport to the parking garage, and drive across town, they would arrive at the house just minutes before Samuel and Lydia, both of whom had insisted on being there for Derek.
Sighing, Elle shifted her attention to the clock: fifteen after six.
“How’s it going in here?” Sadie asked, walking into the room.
“Good, good. The chicken is almost ready. I have the bread in the oven, a salad in the fridge, the rice is in the cooker, and I’m almost done frosting the cake,” Elle rambled before looking over her shoulder. “Have you heard from him?”
“He called a couple minutes ago, said they were ten minutes away,” she said, wrapping her arms around Elle from behind and laying her head on her back. “Have I told you today that I love you?”
Elle smiled. “Several times.”
“Excellent! Then I’m doing my job.”
“You’re job?” she asked with a laugh, and Sadie nodded. “It’s your job to tell me you love me?”
“It’s my job to make you sure you never doubt that I love you,” she murmured, and Elle felt her lips on curvature of her neck.
A sigh slipped out of her mouth at the same moment Callum strolled into the kitchen. “They’re here.”
And just like that the easy, carefree aura around them dissipated, and tension filled the air. Nodding, Elle placed her butter knife in the sink. “Okay. We can do this.”
The three of them walked into the living room just as the front door opened and the sound of Derek, his father, mother, and sister trickled inside.
“Oh, what a lovely house!” his mother exclaimed. “You said Callum’s grandfather built it?”
“Yes,” Derek replied. “Seventy years ago, give or take.”
“How sweet,” she murmured, and a moment later, the three of them rounded the corner and walked into the living room. “Oh, hello.”
Felicia Flores was a beautiful Latina woman with long, silky black hair that had been braided and hung halfway down her back and large, black eyes that almost seemed to sparkle. At almost five-feet-four, she was a hefty woman, but she carried herself with dignity.
Standing to her left was her husband, Derek’s father, Carlos. Like his son, he was tall and thin. He had shortly cropped black hair and dark eyes hidden behind a pair of wire-framed glasses. He had a smile on his face, but there was a sense of apprehension rolling off of him, too, and Elle knew he was just as nervous about meeting them as they were. Well, almost, at least.
“Cal!” Pushing her way past Derek, a thin woman with black hair with bright pink, purple, blue, and green streaks woven in and out of it, threw herself at Callum, wrapping her arms around him. Her shirt rose in the back and Elle spotted a tattoo on her left hip. The red and blue guitar was wrapped in a bright orange flame. “Look at you!”
“What’s up, squirt?” Callum laughed as he returned the hug, and for a moment, Elle had to swallow back her jealousy.
“Eh, you know the usual. More boys than I can handle, not enough money, and a hell-of-a-lot of fun.”
“Lucia,” her mother scolded, frowning at her daughter. “Behave.”
“I am, Ma,” she grumbled, and detangled herself from Callum. Elle saw her roll her eyes, causing the piercing in her eyebrow to move. She looked at Sadie and then to Elle, a smile spreading over her lips. “S’up.”
“Nothing?” Sadie said, making it sound more like a question than an answer.
Lucia laughed as Felicia stepped away from Derek and walked over to Callum, reaching out for his hand, which he took immediately. “How are you, Callum? We haven’t seen you in so long. You and my son seemed to have forgotten about us. You barely call, and it was what? Easter the last time we saw you?”
“Ma,” Derek grumbled, but Callum smiled, and said, “I’m great, Felicia. Work keeps us busy, and, well, these two,” he added, tilting his head in Elle and Sadie’s direction, “give us a reason to stay in the city.”
Felicia smiled as she turned and looked at them, first appraising Sadie and then Elle. She couldn’t get a read on the woman in front of her, however, and that had her nervous.
“It’s lovely to finally meet you both. My son has told me so much about you,” Felicia greeted them, offering each of them a hand, which they took. Her hand was cool to the touch, and tiny compared to her son’s. “But he simply said you were beautiful, which was an understatement.”
“Ma,” Derek mumbled, his cheeks darkening. He cleared his throat and came to stand on the other side of Sadie. “Ma, Pop, we’d like you to meet Elle Reid and Sadie Williams.”
Lucia huffed and smacked him on the arm. “Don’t forget me, douche!”
Felicia burst out laughing, and Elle saw a smile creep onto Carlos’s face, as well. But before they could say anything else, the sound of a car pulling up outside drew their attention away.
“Excuse me,” Callum murmured. “That would be my parents.”
He gave them a look before he turned and walked out of the house. Carlos and Felicia watched him until the door closed behind him, but then they turned back to Elle and Sadie.
“Well, something smells delicious,” Felicia declared.
“Oh, yes, I’d better go check on the chicken,” Elle murmured, grateful for an excuse to leave the room. She hurried into the kitchen and grabbed the potholders off the counter, opened the oven, and lifted the Pyrex casserole dish from inside and pl
aced it on top of the stove.
“It smells amazing.” Startled by the sound of Felicia’s voice, Elle threw her hand to her chest and turned around, finding the woman standing in the doorway. “I’m sorry. I thought you heard me.”
“It’s okay,” she breathed.
“Is that chicken teriyaki?”
Elle smiled and turned back to the dish. “Yes.”
“Mmhmm, one of my favorites,” she replied.
“I know.” She turned back to Felicia. “Derek told me.”
“Of course he did.” She laughed. “My son is very smart. Knows the best way to … shall I say, butter us up?”
“Oh?” Elle squeaked.
“Elle, sweetheart, do you have a corkscrew?” Lydia asked, bustling into the kitchen. However, she stopped when she was Felicia standing a few feet away from her. “Oh, Felicia, how nice to see you again.”
“You as well, Lydia.” Crossing the kitchen, the two women hugged awkwardly. “Haven’t seen you since the boys’ graduation. Hope you’re well?”
“Oh, I can’t complain,” Lydia said, clasping the woman’s hand. “Well, except for how those boys of ours never come to see me. I tell them time and time again that it won’t kill them to take five minutes here and there to stop by the house, but do they? No!” She laughed, her eyes traveling over to Elle. “Of course, these two beautiful women are taking good care of our boys.”
“So it seems.”
Lydia released her hands and looked around the kitchen. “Now, about that corkscrew?”
“Top draw, next to the dishwasher,” Elle murmured, noticing the way Felicia’s brow lifted at her familiarity of the kitchen. Of course, Derek hadn’t told them that she and Sadie had moved in. No, that, too, was better left for when they were face-to-face. At least, that’s what he insisted. Elle was starting to wonder if he had been right all along.
“Of course.” Once she’d retrieved the corkscrew, she turned and faced them. “Well, what do you say to a drink, Felicia? Give Elle a few minutes to finish dinner? I know Derek has been anxiously awaiting your visit.”