by Maggie Way
“Gracie, the things that I want to do to you.” My throaty voice revealed.
She smirked and covered her mouth with her narrow fingers. With a glance over her shoulder she said, “We should probably get back.”
I shook my head. “No, we don’t have to go back.” My heart beat wildly. I wanted her so badly that it was obvious if you looked at the crotch of my pants. “Maybe you should just go.” I gave a sideways grin and glanced downward. “I need a minute or two.”
My mind flashed back to our younger years together, back then she would have reached out and stroked me, saying something nasty in my ear.
“You’re killing me.” She shook her head.
“Quite the opposite, my dear.” I laughed under my breath and begged, “You really need to go. I’ll meet you back out there.”
Here eyes toggled mind and she bit her bottom lip. “Why don’t you show me your room?”
When I heard what she’d said everything around my peripheral vision turned white, all I could see was Grace’s seductive stare. I grabbed her hand and led her to the stairwell. I couldn’t wait one more second to feel her warmth and took her mouth with mine. Like a nineties flashback, I felt her hand grab me firmly. Every bit of me wanted to slide my hand up her dress, to feel her skin, to pin her against the wall.
With each gentle kiss a little came a breathy gasp and she whispered, “I’m a little rusty.”
I took in her amorous stare and smiled. “It’s like riding a bike, Gracie. Let’s spend some time alone.” I turned taking the steps two at a time. Her heels clicked fast behind me. I pushed open the stairwell door at the top of the second floor and dug in my pocket for the key. Grace let go of my hand the instant she saw other people. They were coming toward us, people I recognized from the wedding party. I looked to Grace and she ran her finger over the outline of her lips hoping to wipe away the obvious, her slightly smeared red lipstick. We smiled as we passed one another and then Grace let out a little moan when the stairwell door shut behind them.
“I bet I look like a clown.” She gave an embarrassed smile.
She’d managed to tend to the evidence and I assured her by saying, “I promise you don’t.”
“I’m sure.” She said dryly and shook her head in disagreement.
I waved the plastic card in front of the round door pad and the green light illuminated. Running into those people had cooled things between us and while I was disappointed, I had no doubt she wanted to be here. With a stately bow of my head I gestured for her to pass inside.
Grace slid her gold-chained purse from her shoulder and dropped it on the bed as she walked out to the balcony. She looked down at the wedding reception. Following her, I stopped just short of the threshold. Worry ran through me for a quick second thinking our friends would notice us, but my room was located at the far north end of the building. It was far enough away not to draw attention. But I supposed it didn’t matter, they all knew what I wanted. I’d just poured my heart out for the world to see. I stood for a moment and watched as her hair stirred around like billowing black smoke in the wind.
She spoke before I reached her saying, “Never in a million years, in a million lifetimes did I ever think I’d be standing here with you.”
I wrapped my arms around her waist holding her tightly against me, burying my face in her hair. Her cool fingers brushed against my forearms. The scent of her invoked a comfort that had been forgotten.
“I dreamt about it,” I admitted. “More often than I’d like to admit. When I saw you that day walk through the studio door, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.”
She squeezed my arms. “I thought I was seeing things.”
The sun hung low in the sky and I held her there as we took in the majesty of the sparkling Pacific Ocean. I finally got the courage to tell her something that had been at the top of my mind for a long time.
“Gracie?”
“Hmm?”
“I’m sorry about Phillip. I just need you to know that. It’s been a tough decision for me to put myself out here like this. I know what he meant to you.”
“Thank you. It’s been a rough road. I’d been snowed in, until I met Jake.” She moved my arms away and faced me. “Today I came to the conclusion that Jake was the crux.”
I leaned down and kissed her, softly at first with tender slow pecks and when her tongue brushed my upper lip it sent me into overdrive. Our mouths poured over each other like melted chocolate covering strawberries. I picked her up and carried her inside. Dropping her feet gently to the floor, my mouth moved to suck tenderly on her neck. My hands roamed up her back searching for the zipper of her dress.
“Stay with me tonight, Gracie.”
“I can’t.” She said and kissed me hard. “Next time.”
With the promise of having her again she undid my belt while I unzipped her heavy silk dress. She slid the belt from my pants, dropping it on the floor. Her lithe fingers fiddled with my pants and found their opening. Once undone her hands slid around my waist dropping down my backside caressing my lower half and then up and down my chest until she found the swell that was keeping my pants up.
I moaned with pleasure saying, “Don’t do that too much or I’m gonna blow right here.”
She giggled and tsk’d, “We can’t have that now can we.”
I moved her arms away from me and her dress fell to her feet. Her glorious breasts were bare and her nipples were hard with longing. I cupped them as I kissed her wet mouth and longed to feel the wetness between her legs. I kicked our clothes away from our feet and moved her toward the bed where I grabbed the covers and threw them back, revealing soft white sheets. Grace sat down on the edge of the bed and held my hands pulling me to her. She kissed my stomach and took hold of me. I wasn’t going to let her get me off first, because there was no way I was gonna last. I could come just thinking about being inside her.
I moved her back, laying her flat and sliding my hand into her panties. She was as wet as a leaky faucet and I wanted to taste her. I trailed kisses from her neck to her nipples, sucking on each one as I fondled her, working her up to come in my mouth. The whimpers and soft moans escaping her only made me harder. I slid her panties off and kissed her thighs.
“Kai,” she whispered my name and clutched my hair between her fingers as I took her into my mouth. She tasted like sweet cream. My tongue played with the softness of her as I slid my fingers inside. She gasped and panted louder. “Oh, baby…” and then she grabbed my face pulling for me to come up. “I want you inside me.”
I wasn’t going to fight her on that. I wanted her so badly I worried I’d come as soon I sank within her. “Baby, I don’t think I’m gonna last. I want you so badly I’m about to burst.”
Our passion was at a climax. With just a few thrusts Grace cried out as I felt her close around me, pulsating, her hips moved into me. Little gasps of pleasure were a song in my ear. Breathless, we lay entwined like vines in a garden. A saccharine scent radiated from her skin, dampened from the thrill. I kissed her shoulder as uncertainty swelled. Fearful words would end the moment, I laid there silently running my fingers through her long hair.
Grace pushed herself away from my chest and hitched her head in her hand. She stared at me with soft pondering eyes and her satiny voice whispered. “Ethan, he’s my number one priority, I…”
“I know.” I said rubbing her cheek. “I get that. I’m not gonna put any pressure on you. I just want a chance, Grace. I’m not taking this lightly.”
A sly look sprung to her face. “Well,” her head tilted and her finger made little swirls on my chest, “I want that chance too.”
I reached out taking her by the neck and pulled her lips to mine and promised her, “I’m gonna love you like the sun warms the earth.”
Chapter Nine
Grace
The Jetstream of life whipped by. Kai’s court dates with Stacia and supervised visits with Emily took their toll on his otherwise optimistic look on life. Dealing
with Stacia was grueling for him, but the fight for Emily was worth it when the custody agreement finalized several months after our wedding encounter.
The first day he was able to have Emily all to himself he had taken her to Universal Studios. For Ethan and I, it was an exciting time getting to know Emily on various lunch dates and movie dates. Ethan wouldn’t stop hugging her and for a while I worried Emily would tire of it, but she never did. If anything she welcomed it. I got the impression she didn’t have many friends. Not because she was socially awkward, but because of her mother and the moving around.
The ebb and flow of a different kind of family life began settling in. Then things got turbulent when the house next door was leased to a new young couple.
The putrid smell of rotten fish made me gag. I smelled it as soon as I opened my front door. I looked around the courtyard and didn’t see anything out of sorts. I walked toward the driveway. The closer I got to my car the worse it smelled. My stomach roiled. There was a sheen on my windshield and hood that ran down the side of my car. Someone had thrown a rancid concoction on my car – “What the fuck?” I said under my breath.
I looked to Ethan, his hand pressed over his nose. “Eew, mommy what’s that?”
“Go back in the house. We’re not going now.”
“Why? I wanna play with Emily.” He frowned, stomping his foot.
“Because something gross is all over my car and it’s going to take me too much time to clean it up. Now go inside, we’ll just have to go visit Emily another time.”
I was glad the sun wasn’t out. It was early morning and the mid-fall layer of clouds hung thick in the sky. Holding my breath, I looked closely at the goo on my car. It looked like chunky fish guts. I went for the hose but then thought better of it. Whoever did this, it was obviously deliberate. So, I took pictures and video of it. On my way inside to grab a bucket and soap, I called Kai to cancel our breakfast and Santa Monica Pier plans.
“Hey, I can’t come, I’m sorry. Someone threw some nasty, fucking fish guts all over the front of my car.”
“What?” his voice questioned. “That’s unbelievable.”
“Well believe it, because it smells like someone died and now I have to wash my car.”
“We’ll come to you.”
I paused, thinking about what I had to do. “I’m gonna probably take my car to the car wash.”
“We’ll drop your car off and go for breakfast somewhere.”
His offer made me feel better. “Ethan will like that. He was bummed when I told him we weren’t coming.”
“Done. We’re on our way.”
I heaved an exasperated sigh wondering who would do such a thing. My first thought went to the new neighbors who moved in next door. They had a penchant of having their guests partially block my driveway. Parking was a premium at the beach and it wasn’t uncommon for residents to have their guest’s park in front of their driveways, and unfortunately they’d block mine too. In the last thirty days I’ve had to complain and call the cops more than once. One of the cars was towed away just the other day, so my housekeeper could park in my driveway. Recalling the shouting match and threats from my neighbor’s friend, the unfortunate guy who’d suffered from his disregard. I immediately thought it was him.
I looked at the time. It was 8:23 AM. “Ethan!” I shouted. “Emily is coming here.”
“Yay!” His voice echoed into the foyer.
Emily had become Ethan’s favorite friend. In the two months since they’d met, she’d become the sister he didn’t have. Emily was in the midst of getting to know her father after a six-year absence. It was an instant bond to the displeasure of his ex-wife, Stacia. Kai had already put the legal wheels in motion to get a custody agreement for Emily months before his public confession of love for me. He had hired a private investigator and was informed, to his surprise, that Stacia had moved back to Venice Beach from Chicago. He was shocked to learn they’d moved back two years prior. When Kai and I decided to give our relationship, another go he’d given me an emotional speech about how disconnected and lost he’d been, until our chance meeting. The shame of not fighting for his daughter compelled him to action.
I went out into the garage and opened it wide. Locating a yellow bucket I took it outside placing it next to the hose. As I drizzled liquid soap into it, I leered at the house next to me and imagined kicking the guys while they slept and then dragging them out to lick up what they’d left. The thought of that made me gag. Peering at every window, I tried to see if anyone might be watching me. Two unfamiliar cars drove by rousing my suspicions, but the occupants didn’t notice me. I knew everyone on my block. They’d lived there for years, some of them for generations. The new neighbors were the only people I didn’t know. They were rude and verbally abusive. Partially blocking my driveway wasn’t considered an offense in their book, chastising me for not knocking on their door before having the car towed. And even more absurdly for not giving them time to come back up from the beach, as if I owed them that. I did knock on their door looking for them and no one was home. They probably thought I should have gone down to the sand to look for them too.
My phone rang. It was Kai. “Hello?”
“Call the cops.”
“Why?”
“Because, you need to report this. It’s outright vandalism.”
“Yeah, I thought of that too.”
“Don’t wash it off.” His words rushed out. “You didn’t wash it off yet did you?”
“I was just about to.”
“We’re on our way. Just wait. I’ll handle it when I get there.”
When Kai and Emily arrived a half hour later, he was livid and ready to fight someone. He dialed the police department. Hermosa Beach didn’t get too much action that required the police so a car arrived in less than five minutes.
“Tell’em what happened with the neighbor, Gracie.”
I explained to Officer Harvey my theory and he wrote up a report. He explained through his thick mustache that there wasn’t anything he could do unless we caught the perpetrator in the act or if we had witnesses. He asked about cameras and I told him I only had one at the front door. He shrugged and continued scribbling on his pad. Then he reached into the front pocket of his uniform and took out a tiny pad of paper. Staring at it he wrote down something else on his report and tore off the piece of paper and handed it to me.
“That’s the report number. You need to reference that if you file an insurance claim. We’ll walk around and interview the neighbors to see if they witnessed anything.” He nodded to us, “Have a good day.”
As he walked back to his cop car another one pulled up. I watched as a young deputy joined Officer Harvey, who pointed at the house next door and then across the street. The young cop walked in the direction of the next-door neighbor’s and my heart jumped into my throat. I looked at Kai who was staring at me.
“Go inside, Grace, I’ll take over here.” He pushed the short sleeves of his t-shirt up to his shoulders, tucking them under before picking up the bucket filled with soapy water. Watching him and hearing that he wanted to be my protector made my stomach bubble with adoration. “Those fucks are gonna know there’s a man around.”
He tossed the bucket of suds onto my car. I gave him a grateful smile and went inside. The front of my house only looked out on my courtyard so I ran up the stairs to catch a glimpse of what was going on, worried about what might happen. I watched Kai as he tried to clean the muck off my car. The cops were still there. Officer Harvey was across the street talking to Mrs. Brown, who’d lived there for fifty or more years. Then I saw the younger cop walking back to his car. He waited for Officer Harvey and when they met up, they called Kai over. I bit my lip wishing I could hear what they said. Kai looked at the house next door and frowned, crossing his arms. After a few minutes of discussion, Kai came back toward the house and disappeared from view.
“Gracie!” Kai shouted as he burst through the front door. He didn’t see me coming down th
e stairs.
“What’d they say?” I demanded to know.
A deep furrow sank between his brows when he said, “They cursed you.”
“What do you mean?”
“The kid cop, Officer Carty, said your neighbor called you an expletive and claimed they had nothing to do with it.”
I seethed. “An expletive? He said an expletive?
Kai nodded. “That’s the word he used.”
“Fuck them! I know it was one of those guys. I’ve been fighting with them for a month now!”
“Ok, calm down.” His hands pleaded.
“Daddy,” Emily ran to the banister and stared down at us. I hoped she hadn’t heard my outburst. “I’m starving. Are we going to eat?”
“Yeah,” he looked to me. “Let’s go. We’ll drop your car off at the carwash.”
Gripping my door handle, I took a whiff. The smell was still prevalent. Ire ran through me at the thought of having to get my Pavers pressure washed to get the fish parts out of the cracks. The cops were still there when I backed out of my driveway. Zack, the guy who lived next door had come outside. No doubt curious to see how his antic was unfolding. He leered angrily at me and I watched him in the rearview mirror as I drove away. Kai loaded the kids in his truck. Just as I slowed to a stop at the corner, I saw him say something to Zack. My heart raced, wondering what was said. An abundance of gratefulness gushed inside me. I was happy Kai had words with Zack.
As I drove a few blocks the smell grew, coming through the vents. I rolled down my windows and prayed that the cleaning would somehow make the smell disappear. The hotter the engine got, the worse the smell became. It reeked like rotten, frying fish.
Red Carpet Car Wash was just a couple miles away. It’s large red sign indicated the date, time and current deals. Sadly there were no deals for the cleaning detail my car required – three hundred and fifty dollars, that price included an engine cleaning. I’d pay almost anything to get the smell out.
After Kai collected me, we drove back down the hill through Manhattan Beach. We sat at the light, staring out at the pier. The sun’s blinding rays stabbed through the clouds and I squinted, looking at the grey, damp sand. Fond memories flooded my mind.