by Kaety Porter
He lifts his head, takes my leg down from his shoulder and kisses his way up my body, moving my shirt out of the way as he goes. His hand gently snakes underneath me, sitting me up and our lips meet. While exploring each other’s mouths, my hands travel down his body and find the top of his athletic shorts moving my hands into them. He shudders as I run my hand up his hard length for the first time. He rocks into my touch, while his kiss intensifies. When I run my finger around his tip, he growls. I pull my hands out of his shorts and push them down along with his boxer briefs.
Once his shorts meet the ground, in one swift movement I am being lifted and pressed again the partition wall, my legs around his waist. His lips are immediately on my neck, as I lean my head to the side giving him as much as I can, while my arms are wrapped around his neck. I feel him nudging at my center and then pushing into me, causing me to gasp and run my nails down his back. He starts to move inside me, going deeper each time. His movements are long and languid but not slow. He feels amazing and all thoughts leave me.
With the heat building within me once more, I begin to moan and whimper out his name while gripping onto his back like a vice. He begins to move faster while he groans out a “Fuck Lia, I’m gonna come. Please tell me you can’t get pregnant. I need to fill you.” I manage to whimper out, “We’re good, please don’t stop Tristan. Please don’t stop.” As my body succumbs to the pleasure, I feel myself squeeze him, taking from him everything I can when his heat fills me.
Once our movements have stilled, but still trying to catch our breath, he rests his forehead on my shoulder. The quiet is broken when he asks, “Lia, please tell me that you won’t regret this later? I’ve wanted you since the 1st day I saw you, and I will never regret what just happened.” As I caress the back of his head with my hand and reply, “No, I will never regret it, unless we allow it to change things between us. You’re still you and I’m still me. I still plan to kick your ass every day, and I don’t want you to do anything different then you were before today. Only if this changes us, will I regret it.”
He lifts his head from my shoulder and pulls away from me, leaving my body, causing me to almost whimper sadly at the loss of him. He looks into my eyes, his full of sincerity and says, “I don’t plan on letting this change us.” He lifts my hand and kisses the back of it and then kisses my lip once more.
Hours later, I’m back in my dorm. Our pledge to not let what happened change us made our departure from the shooting range easy, except for the knowing smile we shared and we bid each other good night, and my issuing a challenge at the obstacle course bright and early tomorrow morning.
As I get ready for bed, making sure all my crap is set out and ready for the morning and I run through the evening’s events in my head, still having a hard time believing it happened at all. I sit down on my bed, ready to tuck in for the night when my phone rings.
The number is restricted, which normally means my brother is calling from overseas. Royan, my twin brother is a Marine, stationed in the Middle East. So when a restricted number calls, I always answer, since I never know when I will hear from him next.
“Hello, Royan?”
“Is this Ophelia Jensen?”
“Yes. Who is this?”
“Ms. Jensen, this is Sargent Daniel Kennedy, your brother’s CO. I’m sorry to call so late, but you
need to know that there’s been an incident involving Royan. Details are still emerging, but I can tell you he’s been seriously injured”
“What? Wait, stop. I’m sorry, did you say that Royan’s been seriously injured?”
“Yes, ma’am. I don’t know the extent of his injuries, but I know that they are serious. He’s been stabilized enough to be transferred to Ramstein base hospital, however I’ve been told that you should make arrangements to go there, if at all possible.”
“Oh my god, no. But, he’s alive, right?”
“Yes ma’am”
“Ok, I’m leaving now. What do I need to know?”
Chapter 4
Tristan
Present Day
I’m brought back from my thoughts, when I hear her laugh, her beautiful laugh. I wait until everyone has left her. Just as she’s dismounting her bike, I’m still standing behind her and can’t stop my eyes from wandering down her body. Her ass still the picture of perfection; filling her skin tight jeans like no other and could still fit in my hands perfectly while I had her against a wall.
I clear my throat and say, “You know I beat your time on the obstacle course before graduation. I wish you had been there to see, it was awesome.” She freezes and lets out an “oh fuck” on a gasp. Her head drops.
I walk around and stop to stand in front of her. She doesn’t move. I lift my hand and pull her chin up, her eyes finally meeting mine. I peer into her eyes, getting lost for moment in my memories, in her.
“Hello Lia.”
***
Ophelia
That voice.
The voice that I’ve heard a thousand times in my dreams; the voice I always thought that I would never hear again.
Now the man who belongs to that voice is standing in front of me.
Staring at him, into the depths of his eyes and my mind is devoid of all thoughts. He looks amazing; even sexier than he was at the academy. His hair is even grayer, and pulling off the “silver fox” look disgustingly well.
He says, “Hello Lia” and it snaps me out of it. I take two steps back, glancing down at the ground and then to bike, where I set my helmet on the seat. Taking a deep breath in, I look back up at him and say, “Hello Gallagher”
He winces at the use of his last name and then shakes his head. Scoffing, he starts, “So after all these years with not so much as a goodbye, I’m Gallagher now? The last time we saw each other you were moaning, calling me by my first name.”
Crossing my arms, I straighten and reply, “It was a long time ago. We were young.”
Becoming visibly angry he scowls and says, “So not only did you leave without saying goodbye, but you’re going back on your word that you would never regret that night.”
I feel the tears welling, but try like hell to choke them back. Looking down again, I regain the two steps I took and look up at him, praying he will see that I have never stopped thinking about him; that he will see the sincerity in my eyes. Taking a deep breath I say, “No Tristan I am not going back on my word. I have never, nor will I ever regret that night. I have dreamt about that night more times than I can count and hoped that I would see you again someday.”
With his piercing gaze still fixed on mine he shakes his head and says, “That’s funny, I always hoped that I was dreaming when I found out you left.”
Taking two steps back yet again, I say, “I’m sorry.”
Shaking his head again he says, “Yeah, me too.” then turns and heads into the diner.
***
A few weeks later, and I’m at the bar with Royan. He finally convinced me to come out and by convinced I mean threatened me with the psychological torture of leaving his bedroom door and windows open the next time he’s not alone in his bed. The mental image alone is enough to get me to change into my favorite jeans and a tight long sleeve t-shirt and black suede knee-high boots.
For the first hour or two, I’m having fun, talking with Royan and his friends. I dance a few times with some of the girls and one of the guys that has been eyeing me since I walked in. While walking to back to our table, the door swings open and in walks Tristan.
I attempt to be casual while taking my seat, but it doesn’t work, he spots me almost immediately. He walks to the bar and orders a drink. The bartender pours him a pint glass and then he turns and starts walking back toward our table. He clears his throat and asks, “Is this seat taken?” I look up to him and then to Royan who is eyeing Tristan up and down like a hawk. I gesture to the chair and he pulls it out and takes a seat. Summoning as much courage as I can I ask, “What are doing here?” He takes a drink and says, “Having a drin
k, how about you?” I nod and say, “Same.” Royan clears his throat, getting my attention. I gesture to Royan and say, “Royan this is Tristan Gallagher. Gallagher and I were at the Academy together.” Royan nods and extends his hand. The two men shake but the tension between the two of them is palpable. I ask, “So what brings you to this neck of the woods?” Looking down at the table he replies, “I work out here now. I transferred about 8 months ago.” Nodding I ask, “Where were you before that?” He takes another drink but still doesn’t look at me and answers, “I was at the 12th precinct downtown; been there since I graduated from the academy. But, then I walked in on my partner banging my girlfriend in the precinct locker room and decided it was time for a change of scenery” and punctuates the end of his answer by tossing back what’s left in his glass.
Stunned by his candid reply, I start to reach for his hand but stop myself and say, “I’m sorry to hear that Gallagher.” Setting his glass down he looks right at me and says, “It’s fine. It stung a lot less then when you disappeared without a trace.” My sympathy for him immediately dissolves and is replaced by anger. I clear my throat and ask, “Hey Royan, can you give Gallagher and I a minute?” Royan gives me a questioning look and says, “Sure”. He backs his chair up and rolls away from the table and up to the bar.
Once Royan is out of earshot, I turn my gaze back to Tristan and stare daggers at him. He is looking over towards Royan and where he parked his wheel chair at the end of the bar, talking with the bartender. When he turns back to me, he takes in my expression and asks, “So does he know about me, about us?” I reply honestly and say, “No, he doesn’t.” He shakes his head and asks, “You gonna use him, make promises and disappear, like you did me?” Seething with anger, I reply a little louder then I needed to, “No, you arrogant asshole, I’m not.” The volume of my reply gets Royan’s attention and he’s back at the table within mere moments asking, “Everything okay Ollie?” I stand from the table, my eyes never leaving Tristan’s. He stands also, and I reply, “Yeah, Royan everything’s fine. Gallagher was just leaving.”
Tristan looks at Royan and then back to me and says, “Yeah, I’m heading out, but before I leave let me give you some advice man; I don’t see rings on either of your fingers, so here’s a pro-tip: get out while you can, before she walks away and never looks back.”
Before I can even comprehend my own actions, my hand is balled into a fist and is connecting with the side of Tristan’s face. He loses his balance but catches himself before he falls to the ground. Peripherally I hear Royan say, “Oh shit, now he’s really pissed her off.”
Once he’s standing upright again and holding his cheek, I take two steps forward, getting right up into his face and say, “You should keep your fucking mouth shut when you don’t have a clue about what it is you’re talking about, asshole. So how about we take this conversation and your sorry ass outside?” I turn, grab my coat and start for the door. Royan stops me by grabbing my hand. I pull away from him, hold up my hand and say, “I got this. Stay inside.”
I can feel Tristan behind me. Once we are behind the bar I spin on Tristan, ready to land a second punch, but he’s ready for it and stops the punch, just like he used to at the Academy. Seething, I pull away and start pacing in small circles.
Finally, I stop, look directly at him and say, “You need to listen very carefully right now, because I’m only gonna say this one time. Once I’m done, I won’t apologize again. First of all Royan is not my boyfriend, lover, or husband, he is my twin brother.”
Taking another deep breath I begin, “That night, the night I left, was both the best night of my life and the worst night of my life. It was the best night of my life because of you. I have thought of you and that night at least once a day since it happened. I’ve dreamt about it at least a thousand times, and I promise you not a single one of those thoughts or dreams ever included feeling regret.”
“That night was the worst night of my life, because when I returned to the dorm after leaving you, I got one of the two phone calls that a person doesn’t want to get when they have a family member serving in the military. That was the night that I got the call telling me that Royan had been seriously injured during a mission while deployed to the Middle East. Within three hours of leaving you, I was on my way to a military hospital in Germany, not knowing if by the time I got there whether or not Royan would be dead or alive.”
“So, asshole you’ll have to forgive me if I didn’t think to call the guy who I just banged, and prior to putting his dick in me, was my arch enemy and an arrogant prick, while I flew half way around the world because my twin brother nearly had the bottom half of his body blown to bits and could have died. All I can say is how sorry I am that I left the way that I did and that it was never my intention to leave you behind that way. I had every intention of meeting you at the obstacle course that next morning and beating the snot out of you like always.”
Taking in another deep breath, I wipe away the tears that I didn’t even realize had begun to fall and say, “And now if you’ll excuse me I need to check with Royan and make sure he doesn’t need a ride before I head home.”
And with that I turn and head back into the bar, not leaving any time for Tristan to say a single word.
Chapter 5
Ophelia
Mid-October
Taking a deep breath, I open the car door and head into the hotel ballroom. It’s been a few weeks since I punched Tristan at the bar.
Tonight is one of the Club’s fund raising events. I can’t help but be nervous; this event is my brain child. Finding new and creative ways to raise funds for the disabled veteran’s programs that the Club works with can be challenging. This one could be a great event and sets the stage for a second event on Valentine’s Day next year. We’ll see if it works the way I hope it will.
It’s the Blue and Gold Gala. It’s a basically a party with a “Love Connection” style bachelor auction. Basically a bachelor will stand behind a screen, lit from the back, making him appear in silhouette. The MC will give a short run down on the guy and then open up the bidding. The bachelor and his winning bidder have to go on a minimum of two dates by Valentine’s Day. Then at the Valentine’s Day Carnival, the couple will announce if they made a “Love Connection”. If they did, the bachelor’s sponsor will match the winning bid. If they didn’t, then the bachelor spends 15 minutes in the kissing booth at the carnival.
Sounds good, right? Only time will tell.
When I enter the ballroom, I’m in awe. It’s more beautiful than I could have imagined. While taking it all in, I am aware that someone has come to stand next to me. I glance to my side and find my best friend Charlie.
Charlie Bennet and I met at the Academy. Unlike Tristan and me, we stayed in touch after my early departure. Charlie made it through and graduated. She was a great cop, but then was involved in a traumatic incident while on the job. She was a mess for a while, but eventually worked her way through, but never returned to the department. Instead she went back to school, got her Master’s and is now with the County Department of Social Services.
Charlie and I set to work, making sure everything is all set and ready to go. The evening begins and everything is going great. Dinner was delicious and everyone is having a great time. As we get to the mid-way point it’s time for the Bachelor Auction to begin. All the bidders have little handheld paddles with a number on it and the ladies are ready and raring to go.
The 12 bachelors are a mix of members of the Club and guys from a few of the area precincts. The auction begins and the MC is doing an awesome job. The guys are being great sports, especially those that are being “won” by ladies old enough to be their mom.
Up until now Charlie and I have been keeping ourselves entertained with our own commentary. Just as Bachelor number 12 is called, one of the hotel staffer comes to me to ask questions about a few of the end of the night details. In the background I hear his introduction:
“Bachelor #12 is a six foot 2 o
fficer, who recently transferred to a smaller precinct from the 12th downtown. He spends his free time at the shooting range, riding his 2006 FXSTS Springer Softail and watching the game while hanging out with his cat, Ziggy. He is not a fan of Kawasaki’s or broccoli. Ladies, this is Bachelor #12.
The MC no sooner finishes and the hotel staffer walks away when my cellphone rings, it’s Royan. I rush out the side door and answer. “Royan what’s up, you ok?” He grumbles something about there isn’t always something wrong when he calls. I apologize and tell him that I’m at the Gala, so I thought it was an emergency if he was calling. It’s his turn to apologize, telling me he forgot that tonight was the gala and quickly asks that I pick up a few things on my way home. I tell him to text me the list and then we end the call.
I re-enter the ballroom just as the MC says, “Sold, to lucky lady number 79. Number 79 please make your way to the left side of the stage to meet your bachelor.” I freeze. Number 79? I’m number 79! How did I win an auction that I wasn’t in the room for? Looking down at my hand and finding that I no longer have the paddle in my hand, I look up to find Charlie looking at me with a big grin on her face, waving paddle #79 at me.
Running up to her I rip the paddle from her hands and screech, “What did you do?”
Still smiling like the cat that caught the canary, she says, “What? His silhouette alone was yummy and then when I heard his intro I thought that he would be perfect for you.”
Still in shock, I think back, trying to remember the MC’s intro of the bachelor. The only details I remember are that he is 6 foot 2, a recent transfer from the 12th precinct and had a 2006 FXSTS Springer Softail. Realization floods over me.
“Oh my god Charlie, please tell me you didn’t do this! How much did you bid?”