by Cee Smith
After I took a look around the house, making myself familiar with the layout and checking to see that the house was stocked, I settled Ellie into what would be her room. There was a crib already put together beneath a mobile hanging from the center of the space. I made my way to the master bedroom farther down the hall and began getting ready for bed.
The house was silent aside from the sound of the suitcase wheels rolling across the wood floors, marking my arrival with each step forward. Once inside the bedroom, I hauled out my pajamas and got changed, putting off unpacking for another time when I wasn’t so tired from flying. The canopy bed that took up a large portion of the room was one of the biggest beds I’d ever seen, with airy sheets of fabric that danced with the wind my movement kicked up. I pushed the curtain aside as I ambled up onto the bed, which was much like a short person trying to get into a truck without the trusty handle just inside the door. After I hopped up, I shot off a quick text to Jessa, making sure she was settled in OK before I called Dominic.
“Why are you just now calling me?” was the greeting he growled out after only one ring.
“If you were waiting to talk to me, why didn’t you just call? You knew I landed almost an hour ago.”
He took a long inhale of breath, exhaling with my name on his lips, “Hailey.” I could imagine the way he shook his head with a quirking of his lips at my snarky response.
“You do realize that our separation is only temporary, right?” he asked slowly, the sound of his voice deepening with every word, until I swear I could feel his breath licking across my skin with the promise of some delicious punishment he would be sure to mete out upon his return.
“Is that a threat or a promise?”
“It’s always a promise when it comes to you,” he whisper-groaned before he continued. “What are you doing now?”
“What would you like me to be doing?” I purred back, rubbing my bare legs together beneath the silk covers. Dominic’s breaths sounded deep and even as my legs kissed the sheets.
“I’d rather be balls deep inside that pretty pussy, feeling your walls pinching tightly on my cock, filling you so full of my come that it’s seeping down your legs as I fuck you relentlessly. You’d like that, wouldn’t you, matakia mou?”
“Mmmmm. It’s too bad you’re there and I’m here,” I replied cheekily.
“What are you wearing?”
“My red nightgown.”
“The short one or the long one?”
“The short one,” I replied softly and somewhat hesitantly while I waited for his next words.
“Mmmm,” he hummed, and it felt like the vibrations from his mouth slipped against my ear, rocketing straight to the thin strip of fabric nestled between my legs. “Are you ready to be a good girl, Hailey?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Say it. Tell me you’re going to be a good girl.”
“I’m going to be a good girl, Dominic. I promise.” My voice was equal parts innocent and sexy.
“Imagine I’m in the room with you. I’m sitting in utter darkness and you can’t see me, but you know I’m there. You can feel me, can’t you, baby? The way your body instinctively knows when I’m near?”
“Yes,” I hissed, knowing exactly the feeling he was conjuring up. My body always did have a way of alerting me to his presence. It was as if we both were tuned in to the same frequency.
“Take your gown off nice and slow. Tempt me as your hands subtly caress your body—up your thighs, around your waist, across your breasts. I’m following every touch of your hands and watching as you close your eyes and wait for me to touch you. Where’s the gown right now?”
“Mmm, I pulled the straps down until my gown was barely hanging onto my breasts. I’m pulling my nipples through the thin material so you can see how ready I am for you. My hands are a poor substitute for your touch, but I’m so wet with need for you.”
“Show me those pretty pink nipples. Slide the satin down lower. I want to see you.”
“I’m pushing it down my hips now—”
“Leave your panties on. For now.”
“Who says I’m wearing any?”
The brief pause told me my words caught him off guard.
“You sassy girl. I think you’re looking for a punishment. Maybe you’re getting a little comfortable? I have something in mind for the next time I see you.”
“Feel like sharing?”
“No. I think I’ll make you wait. Get on the bed, on your hands and knees. I want your ass up, let me see how soaked you are.”
I climbed back on the bed, trying to refrain from huffing into the phone with my movements. Putting the phone on speaker, I assumed the position Dominic instructed me to get in. His soft pants echoed through the phone as I used the cadence of his lungs to build up the picture he’d created for me. I imagined him just as he’d said—sitting in the corner of the room, waiting and watching, issuing commands in that baritone voice that I could feel down to my knees.
My knees sunk into the mattress as I arched my back and lifted my ass higher in the air.
“Can I touch myself, Dominic?”
“No, let me. You still can’t see me, but I’m out of my chair now. I’m making my way over to the bed and trailing my finger across your back from the bottom of your neck, down your spine. I’m stopping just before I hit your sweet spot, letting your heat bathe my fingers.”
“I want to feel you, Dominic. I want you to shove your fingers in me and make me come. Please.”
“You’ll come when I want you to. My fingers are parting your lips and swirling around that little knot, which is begging for my touch. I want you to guide my fingers, baby. Part those pretty, pink folds and slide me across your cunt. Are you wet?”
“Oh, yes, Dominic. I’m so wet,” I breathed roughly as I held up all my weight with one arm as the fingers of my other hand danced around my clit, pulling my juices up so my fingers could slip through without resistance.
“I can smell you and I want to taste you so bad, but I’m patient. Right now, I just want to see you come undone. I’m rubbing you faster until your whole body is rocking into my hands.”
My whole body rolled into my thrumming fingers, and I felt my thighs tense with the orgasm that was queuing up. “Mmm,” I whimpered. Dominic knew how close I was; he could sense it, but I didn’t want to go over without him. His breaths quickened, and when I held my breath, I could hear the sound of flesh slapping against flesh. I imagined him leaning over the side of the bed watching me as he fisted himself with vigor.
“Dominic, I—”
“Come for me, Hailey. Come now.”
“Ungg!” His groans mixed with my breathless moans created a perfect symphony, and I continued rubbing myself until my body instinctually backed away from my seeking hand. I collapsed on the bed in a fog of orgasmic happiness. The only thing actually missing from the encounter was the warmth of his release coating my skin.
“When are you going to be here?” I whispered into the phone. I missed Dominic. He’d only been gone a couple days, but I needed him there. There had been too much going on. He was my seeing-eye dog guiding me through the field of landmines that my life had become. Every step I took without him made me feel undoubtedly that the worst was yet to come.
“I don’t know the flight schedule yet, but sometime tomorrow. I’ll call you when I have a definitive time. You should get some sleep.”
“I love you.” My proclamation seemed to surprise even me as the words left my mouth. It wasn’t unnatural for me to tell him I loved him, but there was something lingering within those three words—they seemed to convey every feeling I harbored. All of my sadness, anger, insecurities, and doubts seemed to mingle into this mass that pervaded my mind like a tumor. Perhaps, that was what being in love was? I wouldn’t know because Dominic was my first, but so far, I felt more scared about our future than I did when I was his prisoner. Because now it wasn’t just my body that was at his mercy, but my heart and Ellie’s, too.
“H
ailey…I’ll be there soon. Kiss Ellie for me.”
“Goodnight.”
“Night.”
“This plaque here says this church was built in the twelfth century,” Jessa exclaimed in a voice that bordered on a loud whisper. We were off on a tour of a local town that had almost as many churches as homes. I knew why Jessa sought out the age of this monument. While the outside was made of simple red brick that had remained intact, if only weathered from the elements, the inside was completely renovated with rich wooden pews that spanned the length of the church. The walls were covered in marble tiles that ran across the floor and clear up to the ceilings. In fact, the only thing that really looked old were the rusted bars that lined the windows like a grid.
My hand slid down the column, feeling the smoothness of the marble pillar. There was somewhere around 15 pillars that lined the room. I watched Jessa walk beneath a row of windows, passing in the shadows as she made her way closer to where I stood.
“It’s beautiful,” I said more to myself than to her, but she nodded her agreement. I looked down the aisle of the perfectly parted pews down to where the doors were propped open, revealing the darkened outline of Jackson’s large frame. He wasn’t large like Scout or even Dominic, for that matter, but he was intimidating nonetheless.
I averted my gaze back to the interior of the building, my eyes following the ceiling as it arched and dipped perfectly.
“Dominic and Scout are supposed to be back tomorrow,” I said, my hand skimming across the chain that separated us from the pulpit. I looked back briefly to see my sister’s reaction to my revelation. She looked completely unaffected, which only belied her true feelings about what I’d said. There was no denying that she wanted to spend time with Scout. I wasn’t exactly sure why she was shy to talk about it. We had talked about other guys she was interested in before, but for some reason, she felt the need to keep her feelings secret. Well, she had another thing coming because there were enough secrets going on in my house, and I’d be damned if I let her continue withholding. I was just biding my time.
I continued talking as I walked farther away. “I’m gonna give Clema the day off so she can come see this area for herself. It’s really beautiful here. Even the weather’s been nice.”
When we left the house that morning, it had been pretty brisk, with a slight chill from the nearby ocean. I wore my thickly woven cashmere sweater, thinking that the day would continue to be a bit chilly, seeing as how it was in the fifties in New York, but to my surprise it was actually quite warm. The sunrays beamed down on the town, as if marking its heavenly presence. In all of my travels, I’d never been around anything that felt so divine.
It was almost like old times, being here with my sister. I left Ellie back at the resort with Clema, so it was just me and Jessa left to explore. The only thing missing was Adam. I couldn’t deny the pang in my heart at the thought of my brother.
Apparently vacationing clear across the world didn’t change our circumstances. I was still a sister betrayed by her brother. And for what? That was the thing that I never really understood. What did he hope to get out of revealing that bit of information to the news? More importantly, what kind of proof did he have to back up his claim? I wouldn’t feel OK until we had more information from Scout, which got me thinking about this little trip he and my husband were on.
There was a niggling doubt that maybe they weren’t in Chicago like they claimed. What if they flew back to San Luis Obispo to pay my brother a “friendly” visit? I knew Dominic said he wouldn’t, but there was definitely something going on with him. There was too much in what he wasn’t saying.
“Hey Jessa, when’s the last time you talked to Mom and Dad?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged her shoulders as she continued speaking, “A couple days after I got to New York. Why?”
“Mom was a little freaked out when I called her. I spent a half hour reassuring her and Dad that Dominic and I were fine and that it would all blow over in time. I’ve just been trying to keep a low profile, especially since finding out that Adam was the source for the tabloids. It didn’t seem like Mom and Dad knew about his involvement, but who knows how long that will last.”
“Have you thought that maybe they’re just as scared as you are? That they’re probably scared for you? They have no idea what your new life is like in New York. You’ve all but cut them off.” The words flew from her mouth, gaining steam and a healthy dose of irritation as she pushed through the last bit of air in her lungs.
“Yeesh. I got it.” I threw my hands up in surrender. “I was just going to mention calling them. Take it easy, Jessa.”
“There’s a cute gelato place around the corner. We could stop in and give them a call.”
I took another look down the valley of the pews to see Jackson still standing stiff to the right side of the door.
“Did you want to go now, or do you want to check out a few more churches first?”
“Let’s go grab some gelato.” She walked up behind me and threw her arm across my shoulders as we made our way to the door, my head leaning into her embrace as we exited.
***
“What flavor do you want, kiddo?”
“Why, you buying?” I grinned at my sister who was sifting through her purse, looking for her wallet.
“Maybe I am. I can buy you gelato. I know you have heaps of money now, but you’re never too rich for someone to buy you ice cream.”
“Isn’t that weird? That technically I have money?” I whispered while looking around the small shop. It didn’t look like anyone else was in there when we first walked in, but I didn’t want our conversation to become public knowledge. The last thing I needed was for someone to recognize who I was and then for us to be run out of our vacation spot because the vultures started harassing us there, too.
“You’ve always had money. Besides the life insurance we inherited, Mom and Dad do pretty well. It’s not like you were poor when you met.” She sounded agitated when the word “met” left her lips, as if she said that specifically to make me feel better about our circumstances. Frankly, I was starting to get upset that I felt I needed to justify the way I felt for Dominic. I knew it was unconventional, that it would be hard for anyone to understand or even relate to what I’d been through, but I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life trying to make other people feel better about the relationship I was in.
My shoulders started to tense up and I could feel the veins in my neck thicken to an uncomfortable tightness when the man behind the counter spoke up.
“American, yes? You like gelato?” His hand did a flourish across the tops of the fridges showcasing a smorgasbord of colors and flavors, each more enticing then the next.
We had walked into the shop, but were so engrossed in our conversation, that aside from scoping to see if anyone was listening in to our conversation, we didn’t even get a chance to stop and see the rainbow of creamy decadence.
“Yes, yes. American.” I nodded enthusiastically as I stepped closer to the counter, while kneeling down to get a closer view.
“Would you like a taste?”
Jessa stepped closer to the opposite fridge showcasing their fruit-based gelato. “Can I try that one, and this one?” she asked, pointing to one that looked yellow like pineapple or lemon and another that was a deep purple, which could have been eggplant for all I knew. I didn’t spend too much time thinking about what flavors she tasted when I was too enthralled by the choices in front of me.
After deciding on flavors, we carried our small bowls of gelato to one of the few tables on the patio. The shop was located in a small courtyard of shops, all tucked inside buildings that looked to be at least a century old. As I took my seat, I watched a couple families flit across the cobblestoned pavers, their steps confident despite the uneven ground. After a single bite of my gelato, Jessa motioned for me to get on with it. Apparently this was important to her. For a brief moment, I wondered if she thought I was lying when I said I
spoke to them a couple weeks ago.
It was true I’d never been as close to them as she’d been, but a lot had changed since I returned. I had made more of an effort. The mere fact that I called them “Mom” and “Dad” now spoke volumes of our changing relationship. For the majority of my life, even after they adopted us, they were simply “Mr. and Mrs. Bartholomew.”
As I removed my phone from my back pocket and placed it in the center of the table between us, I stopped to think about how patient my adoptive parents had been with me. They had been through so much after their friends, my real parents, died. Then, after choosing to take in me and my sister, I ended up getting kidnapped. Even months after my return, they still hadn’t pushed too hard for answers. I didn’t know if it was because I was pregnant and they didn’t want to stress me out any more than I already was, or if it was because they didn’t really know how to help me. Aside from trying to glean tidbits of information, they just remained patient, all the while mentioning that I should seek out a therapist to properly deal with everything.
I heard the shrill ringing from the table, pulling me from my thoughts of how much they deserved to know everything. They could never know the truth. They’d probably have me committed for it. If my sister didn’t know me so well, if she couldn’t see the love that danced behind my eyes when I arrived with Dominic on my arm, we wouldn’t be here making this call to begin with. There was no one more protective of me than Jessa.
“Hello?” My mom’s voice was bright despite the question that lingered behind her greeting.
“Hi, Mom,” I said sincerely as Jessa echoed my greeting.
“Jessa and I thought we would check in with you to see how things are going.”
“That’s so sweet of you two. Things are good out here. How’s New York? I hope you’re keeping my granddaughter warm out there. I see it’s been in the forties.”
My eyes snapped up to meet Jessa’s across the table. Fuck! We totally forgot to call and let them know we were traveling. It wasn’t exactly our fault. It was last minute, but I know this is going to leave her feeling unsettled.