by Chal, Bella
When they got inside her apartment, she asked, “Do you mind if I make another cup of tea?”
“I’d like one, too. It was nice.” He joined her in the kitchen as she filled the kettle and put it on to boil. While it heated with creaks and pops, Polly took his hands in hers and stared at them for a while. Hers were smooth cinnamon and his hands were tanned red, roughened by the sun and wind of his job.
“I’m just gonna say it so there’s no confusion about where I’m coming from. I just hope you understand,” she said, then took a deep breath. “I’ve only known you a month, but if we’re going to stay together, then we’re exclusive as of right now.” She looked up at Kurt with a worried expression. “The past is past, but I can’t take you being with someone else.”
“I’m ready for that,” he said with a frown as he realized how much being with Camden must have hurt her. She smiled then and squeezed his hands.
“As much as I’ve loved you staying here with me for the holidays, I’m not ready for us to live together. My parents come over all the time when they’re in the country, and I know how your family feels about things like that.”
“I understand,” he said with a smile. His mom would lose her shit if he moved in with a girl and Meemee would never let him hear the end of it. “I was thinking about getting an apartment around here for me and Charlotte.”
“Sorry, but when my lease is up at the end of January and I’m moving into a two bedroom apartment. After Charlotte graduates in May she’s gonna be my roomie,” Polly said.
Kurt grinned at her uncomfortable expression. “I see,” he said. “Believe it or not, I wanna do this right.”
“I had hoped so,” she said and squeezed his hands again. “I really like you,” she whispered as her jaw quivered.
“I know,” he quoted in a slow drawl that made her laugh despite the serious moment.
“Han Solo, The Empire Strikes Back,” she said. “My favorite of the three.” When the kettle whistled, Polly took it off the fire and filled the teapot with water.
“Weren’t there six?” he asked with a grin.
“No, there were only three and the Special Editions don’t count either.” She had a mock serious expression on her face. “This is a deal breaker for me. I can’t be with anyone who believes Greedo shot first.”
“Oh, Polly, what would I do without you?” he asked as he drew her into his arms.
“Be glad you won’t find out,” she said as she rubbed her face against his chest. “I hear Kendall is pregnant.”
“What?” he asked as she stepped away to get two mugs for their tea.
“She’s about five weeks along, according to your mother. She had tried tried to claim it was yours, but when your mother heard that she insisted publicly that there would be a paternity test. Kendall changed her tune and now won’t say who the father really is.”
“Oh my god,” Kurt whispered in utter shock. Polly handed him his mug.
“Do you wanna know who Charlotte and I think it is?” she asked as she held her mug close to breath in the steam.
“Who?” he asked as he took a noisy sip.
“We think it was Trey, especially since he told her we were going to the bell tower that day,” she said. “Charlotte has been feeding the rumor mill for the last couple of days, so he may find himself staring down the barrel of her father’s shotgun next time he’s in town.”
“They deserve each other,” Kurt said with a chuckle. “I’d like to take a shower before bed if you don’t mind.”
“You smell like a working man,” she said with a grin. “I’ve discovered I like the way working men smell.”
“I’d rather be a clean working man.”
“I’ll scrub your back if you want.” Polly suggested and put down her cup of tea.
* * *
After a quick shower together, Kurt found himself being led to the one place he never expected to be welcomed again. Polly climbed onto her bed with a seductive grin. “Come here and kiss me,” she purred.
“I’ll do more than that if you want,” he said as he got a condom from the drawer before climbing into bed with her.
“Oh, I’ve decided to go on the pill again next month,” she said when he rolled over to kiss her. “I hope you don’t mind us both going in to get tested just to be safe?” she asked between kisses.
“It’s a good idea,” he said. Camden was probably as filthy as her room and he didn’t want that to ever come between them. “I was serious about wanting to do this right. Have them do a blood test for compatibility while they’re at it.”
That stopped her completely. “Wait, seriously?” The look on her face was a contrast between shock and wonder.
Kurt took a deep breath and pulled her close. “I’ll ask you for real someday, but if we’re both being honest about where we’re coming from, I’m done looking. You’re it for me.”
She sat up with her mouth open. “You can’t be sure. It’s only been a month.”
“I ain’t askin’ you to say it back,” he said as he sat up to crinkle the condom wrapper between his fingers. “I got to make some hard decisions in the next few days. It ain’t just a job for me. I got dyslexia and it was bad enough to flunk me out of high school. Uncle Charlie, he got it, too.”
“I never knew,” Polly said as she touched his leg.
“It set me back on my heels when I gave up on school, but Uncle Charlie, he took me under his wing and helped me get started. Then he worked with me to get my GED and Offshore Supply Vessel certifications. But now he wants to risk puttin’ me in charge of somethin’ that scares me worse than heights.”
She was looking closely at his face, her forehead wrinkled as she studied him. “Knowing that makes me appreciate what you’ve done so much more.”
Kurt shook his head. “That ain’t why I’m tellin’ you. I gotta make a decision that’s gonna change my life and if I fuck it up, it’s gonna hurt my family. I can’t try this job on like a pair of shoes to see if it fits. I gotta get it done, whatever it takes.”
She nodded as she looked at their entwined fingers. “I see.”
“It’s the same with us. I don’t want to play around and lose you. What I’m saying is, I’ve given you that last rose on my rosebush, Polly. Bein’ with you is as easy as breathin’ and I’d be a fool to let you get away. So I won’t.”
She looked up with tears in her eyes and pressed her lips against his mouth. Her tears tasted like the sea as he kissed her back, hungry for comfort and healing in her arms.
They lay back on the bed and came together in a hot tangle. Lips, teeth, and tongues brought groans of impatience. Hands slipped down and between to tease until she finally grabbed the condom wrapper from his hand and tore it open herself. In seconds she had the condom rolled down his shaft, then sat on his stomach to slide back and take him deep inside her body.
“You’re mine,” she whispered as he slid home. “Give it to me. I want it all.”
He lifted his knees to give her resistance, then drove himself deeper as she rocked against his thrusts. Resting her hands on his chest, her swaying breasts teased him up to taste her erect nipples. She gasped and increased the tempo, their breath mixing as they panted towards her first release.
“Oh, fuck,” she said as she bent to kiss him when her moment arrived. The mad kisses froze their motion until the manic pulses around his shaft slowed to a stop. A chuckle came from deep in her chest. “Oh, that was amazing. Can you get behind me and do it again?”
After rolling off, she allowed Kurt to position her at the edge of the bed. He slipped back in slowly, then warmed her up with his hand, reaching underneath to hold her nub against his sliding shaft. Her reaction was to gasp and quiver as he kept a slow tempo and steady pressure.
“How’s this?” he asked as he massaged circles at the top of her slit.
“Don’t. Fucking. Stop.”
It was his turn to chuckle as she wrapped her feet behind his legs to trap him where he was. O
n a lark, he began to massage her ass, running his thumb between her cheeks as he moved.
“Yes,” she hissed, pushing back to open herself to his touch. “Right there.”
Her next orgasm made it feel like her ass was sucking on his finger. She reached back to put her hand against his stomach. “Stop for a minute, it’s too much.”
“Too much good or too much bad?”
“Good!” she cried. “I just need a minute to recover.”
After a few moments, she began to move. Leaning forward to slip him out, then pushing back against him to fill herself again. He shut his eyes and concentrated on the sensation of being slowly fucked while he stood still beside the bed. She was doing something with her muscles inside that made it almost feel like a blowjob. She squeezed tight as she pushed back, then held him deep as she squeezed a few times around his shaft each time she paused.
“That’s gonna finish me,” he muttered. “I don’t want it to end yet.”
“Fine,” she pouted, then slipped him out before turning around to sit on the edge of the bed. He tried to back up, but she put a hand behind him to stop him while she rolled his condom off.
“What are you doing?”
“I want to taste you,” she said with a determined look. After wiping off his head and taking a few experimental licks, she took his slick head in her mouth without breaking eye contact.
“I’m still too close,” he said.
“Good,” she mumbled, then slid him inside again, her hands working along his shaft to spread the mixture of saliva and pre-cum. The sight of his head in her mouth was enough to get him close, but her wicked tongue sliding down his shaft finally threw him over the edge.
Without meaning to, his hands went from her shoulders to grip the back of her head. At his first pulse, she hummed deep in her throat like he was her favorite flavor of ice cream. Rocking his hips slowly, he felt her gag slightly and immediately released her head. To his surprise, she stayed right where she was until the last pulse left him feeling weak and happy.
“Don’t let go next time,” she said as she stood. “I like it when you do that.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” he said, tasting his seed on her lips. The kiss went on until she broke it off with a sigh.
“Gotta pee,” she said. “Be right back.”
When she came back to bed he woke slightly, but just long enough to pull her tight into his arms as he snuggled against her back.
* * *
By New Years Eve, Kurt had made his decision. He’d spent time with both his uncles getting up to speed on their plan. They obviously knew more about the business side of things, but everything they described made sense to him.
He learned about the two ships his Uncle Charlie had been looking at. There was a company going out of business in Mobile, Alabama, and the owner was selling off their platform supply vessels. When Uncle Charlie found out the bank was calling in their line of credit on January first, he pointed out that selling the ships to him would help more than the bank repossessing them. Then they waited to find out if their offer had been accepted.
Seeing their plans first-hand set him on fire. He began to see the possibilities for the business and what his role would be in it. When they got into serious discussions, Uncle Charlie pointed out he was using ‘we’ and ‘us’ when describing the remaining tasks. When word came in the offer for the ships had been accepted, Kurt had no choice but to agree that he was in.
Uncle Charlie left on the morning of New Years Eve to head back to Morgan City in a rental car with Kurt’s signature on a pile of paperwork and bank forms. On the second day of the new year, Mouton Transport Company and Deep Drilling Supplies, Inc would each transfer a half million dollars to officially create the Deep Drilling Transport Company and Kurt would have a new title. Then the real work would begin.
With the decision made, the only thing left to do was decorate for the little New Years Eve party at Jack and Julie’s house. The girls were excited to try staying up until midnight, and Kurt was looking forward to his midnight kiss.
Charlotte was a nervous wreck all day. Christopher Dunlop, the guy she’d met on her job interview at Ben Taub, was coming to the party to meet the family. She kept coming out of Jen’s room wearing different outfits, complaining about how she hadn’t planned on a date when she’d packed for the trip. Polly finally took Charlotte back to dig through her closet and the two of them came back in complementary little black dresses.
Kurt realized he was out classed, so he was forced to duck out to the mall and pay too much for a nice outfit some sales girl talked him into getting. When he got back to the house, both Polly and Charlotte laughed at first, but quickly reassured him he looked great, just a little out of character. He didn’t know if he believed them until Polly claimed she couldn’t resist his ass in his new pants and dragged him into the bathroom to make out.
Christopher was a great guy, Kurt decided shortly after he’d arrived. That didn’t stop him from acting like a typical protective brother, but Christopher took it in stride. By the time the ball dropped, all three couples were kissing around the fire pit on the patio while the girls ran around with sparklers in the back yard.
With Polly in his lap and fireworks going off around them all over the neighborhood, Kurt decided this was going to be the best year of his life.
Chapter 16: Polly
“Aunt Polly, sit by me!” Jen shouted as Polly climbed into the last row of the fully packed minivan.
Falling into the seat next her her best friend’s step-daughter, Polly grinned to herself as she recalled the last time she’d made the trip to Morgan City with them. So much had happened between Thanksgiving and Mardi Gras that it felt like she’d managed to fit a lifetime into the scant three months.
“You sure you got everything?” Jack asked before he closed the rear door for the last time.
“As long as you got my bag in there, I’m good,” Polly said over her shoulder.
“Okay, let me chase Julie, Jackson, and Lisa out of the house and we’ll get on the road,” Jack said, with excitement in his voice.
“Aunt Polly?” Jen asked when they were alone. “Is Uncle Kurt going to meet us there?”
“Yes,” she sighed. “He’s been working on the parade float since the weekend.”
“I’m gonna catch a million doubloons and necklaces. It’s gonna be so much fun!”
Kurt had been working crazy hours since he’d taken the job. Polly still saw him a couple of time as week, but they made sure to speak everyday. The rash semi-proposal he’d made still felt premature, but he was as good as his word. She had no doubt how seriously he took both his job and his budding relationship with her.
Polly’s parents had them over for dinner twice and Kurt had managed to win her mother over already. Dad was a little more reserved, but they’d talked for hours about their careers in trade and transportation. In fact, her father found his planned-interrogation turned around as Kurt pumped him for opinions and ideas about the problems he was trying to solve at work. Polly’s mother had quietly predicted they would be friends by spring at this rate.
Jack came back with Lisa skipping at his side, then buckled her in her car seat. He gave Polly a worried look, but didn’t say anything.
“Do I need to go inside and help Julie?” Polly asked.
“No,” he said as he tightened the car seat straps. “Remember a couple of years ago around this time?” He raised his eyebrows at her significantly.
“Oh,” Polly said as it hit her. Two years ago Julie had gotten pregnant with Jackson and had morning sickness very early along. “Is she in the bathroom?”
“Yes,” he said and shook his head with a sad chuckle. “We think it may have happened after the girls night out.”
“What happened, Daddy?” Lisa asked.
“Nothing, sweetie,” Jack said and kissed her forehead. “Don’t say anything to anyone yet, but we really may need your help with the kids this trip. Let me go get
Jackson and check on her again.”
Polly grinned as he went back in the house. She knew that Julie wanted another baby, but didn’t think they were trying yet. Jackson was still in diapers and slept in a crib in their room. Of course, in eight months he’d be in pull-ups and sleeping in a toddler bed, so maybe the timing was fine after all.
Jack came back carrying the happy boy and strapped him in his car seat. By the time he was strapped in, Julie had come out of the house, locking the door behind her. She looked a little pale, but had a secretive smile.
“Ok, I think I’m good for a while,” she said as she climbed into the passenger seat. “Everyone buckled in?” she asked.
“Can we start the movie?” Jen asked. They had The Pirate Fairy and Frozen ready for the trip. Jack climbed in and started the engine, then flipped the little screen down from the ceiling and hit play.
“Yay!” Lisa said as she clapped her hands. “Zarina is my favorite!”
* * *
The trip was uneventful and gave Polly lots of time to think. She’d met Kurt’s parents briefly at Thanksgiving, but this would be her first time with them as Kurt’s official girlfriend. Charlotte had already been fertilizing the fields, so to speak, building her reputation up with them.
The plan to be roommates after Charlotte graduated was running ahead of schedule. After the first of the year, Polly had moved into the two bedroom apartment just across the hall from her previous one bedroom apartment. Ironically, Kurt had leased her old apartment which gave her time to move over in stages when he was home to help. Despite living across the hall from each other, he hadn’t been around very often.
Charlotte had been coming up most weekends to move a few things, but Polly knew Christopher was the real reason she was there. Watching the two of them getting to know each other was amusing and sweet. Charlotte seemed so practical and confident, but sometimes she would slip up and show her innocence. Kurt was conspicuously silent on the topic, making her wonder what the real story was.