by J. S. Cooper
“So there’s one thing,” Sidney continued. “The address and number, well they’re in Paris. Paris, France.”
“Oh.” My heart dropped momentarily. There went my images of a happy family reunion and a trip to Disney.
“But we figured you could still call her.”
“Yes, yes. I’ll call her.” I grabbed a pen and paper and wrote the number and address down. “Sidney, thank you so much. You don’t know just how much this means to me.”
“I just hope it will help.” His voice sounded unsure. “I don’t like to be a busybody, or in anyone’s business. I know most old people get a bad name for that.”
“It’s okay, Sidney. It’s more than okay. Thank you.”
“Don’t go gushing, girl,” he sighed. “And don’t go getting your hopes up. It may lead to nothing.”
“But it may lead to something.” There was a wistful tone in my voice. If Zane was able to reconnect with his mother, if he was able to understand why she left, then he may be able to fully let go of that pain and rejection. He may be able to love me without being so worried all the time. It was something that could possibly make our relationship a whole lot better.
“Well, just let me know.” He paused and I heard Betty talking to him. “Oh yeah, Betty told me to tell you that we’re going to Chicago next week to visit family, so we won’t be available for the next few weeks. But feel free to call our cellular phone if you need to talk. It’s not connected to a wire so we can talk from anywhere.”
“Awesome.” I tried not to laugh.
“Technology, I tell ya,” he chortled. “Well, my dear, I better go before Betty takes offense that I’m not eating her cake.”
“Enjoy, Sidney, and have a good time in Chicago. I’ll see you when you get back.”
“We better see you, girl, Betty’s already planning the outfit she wants to wear to the Oscars.”
“Ha ha. You two are too funny.” I hung up with a smile and looked down at the paper in my hands, my stomach churning with nerves. I wasn’t sure what to do. I wanted to call the number, but I didn’t want Zane to be upset with me or to think I was meddling. Without knowing what I was doing, I felt myself pushing in all the numbers and waiting for the phone to ring with my heart in my mouth.
“Bonjour,” a man’s deep voice answered, and my breath caught.
“Ah, Bonjour. Is Mrs. Beaumont there?” I cursed inwardly at the fact that I didn’t know her first name.
“Allo?” the man continued.
“Is Mrs. Beaumont there?”
“No English.” I heard him put the phone down and I waited impatiently, hoping that this wasn’t going to be a lost cause.
“Bonjour,” a woman’s voice spoke and my heart skipped a beat at the slight hint of an American accent I heard.
“Mrs. Beaumont?” I asked softly, praying that I had the right number. The phone line went silent and I could hear music playing in the background.
“Sorry, who is this?” her voice sounded strained.
“I’m a friend of your son Zane,” I continued quickly. “Is this Mrs. Beaumont?”
“No, no. Sorry. I think you have the wrong number.”
“Wait, please,” I pleaded.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.” The voice paused and I heard a voice in the background whispering something.
“It would help Zane if he knew why you left,” I burst out. “I don’t know why you did, but he’s your son. You owe him an explanation. If you love him …”
“I can’t talk to you.” She sounded angry. “Do not call me again.”
“Mrs. Beaumont,” I cried out. “Please.”
“I don’t know how you got my number. I don’t go by that name anymore. Please do not call me.”
“Do you love your sons?” My voice cracked, not knowing or understanding why she wasn’t even asking me if her sons were okay.
“My sons were my life.” Her voice was low and I could tell she was walking. “Noah and Zane were my life. You will never understand what it took for me to walk away.”
“Explain it to them,” I pleaded. “I could go and get Zane right now and you could explain it to him.”
“No!” she called out. “I can’t. I won’t.”
“Mrs. Beaumont, he has never gotten over you leaving him.”
“It was my life. I had to leave that life. I was suffocating.” Her voice cracked. “I’m sorry I have to go.” And with that, the line went dead.
I called her back right away, hoping it had been a bad connection, but the phone just kept ringing and ringing. My emotions were shot and I lay on the bed with heavy eyes. The call hadn’t gone as expected. In fact, I felt as if my heart had broken just a little bit more for Zane. How could a mother be like that? I clasped my belly and vowed that no matter what happened, if I had a baby, I would always put them first.
“You still in here, lazy butt?” Zane entered the room and stared at me on the bed.
“I’m tired. It’s late.”
“Too tired for some loving?”
“I’m never too tired.” I yawned again and we both laughed. He walked over and joined me on the bed, and I quickly put the piece of paper on the night table under my phone.
“What do you want to do tonight?” he asked as he laid down next to me and played with my hair.
“Let’s play a board game.” I sat up. “Something to get our minds off of everything.”
“What about truth and dare?” He winked at me and I pinched him.
“No.” I shook my head, trying to smile. “Do you have Monopoly?”
“I do.” He smiled down at me and paused as he took in my face properly. “Are you okay, Lucky?” He frowned as he studied the pink hue of my cheeks and the red in my eyes. “You’re sad?” He sat up and pulled me up next to him so he could look at me clearly. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” I bit my lip and turned away from him. There was no way I was going to tell him that I had just spoken to his mother and that she was a coldhearted bitch.
“Is it about Leo?” He took a deep breath. “I promise it’s not forever, just until I know Braydon is in jail. I don’t want to risk him going off the deep-end if he finds out about the case. I wouldn’t put it past him to do something to you.”
“I don’t think he would hurt me,” I said softly. “But no, I wasn’t thinking about him.”
“Is it the baby?” Zane clenched his fist. “Are you worried about what will happen if you’re pregnant?”
“I …” I tried to speak up but my voice cracked.
“Lucky, I will do everything in my power to make sure that this doesn’t interrupt anything in your life. If you want to move back to Miami and go back to school, we’ll go. If you want to move to Tanzania or Sydney, I will move with you. Wherever you want to go, whatever grad school you get into, I will support you. I promise.”
“Oh, Zane.” I reached over and hugged him. “It’s not about the baby. Or the possible baby. We’re being kind of ridiculous, you know.” I touched his face. “We only had unprotected sex once. It’s highly unlikely that I’m pregnant.”
“I know.” He looked down into my eyes with a smoldering look. “Trust me, I know. The chances are slim to none, but a part of me hopes that you are. I know that sounds wrong. But I think I’d quite like to have a baby with you.”
“Really, Mr. Big Tipper?”
“Don’t get me wrong. This is nothing that I would have planned for myself, but with you, well, it feels right.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” He nodded and looked at me thoughtfully. “I’m not always a good guy. I don’t think I’ll ever be a perfect boyfriend. But, I think I’ll be a good father. I think that I can make sure I’m a good father. The best father.”
“I know you will be one.” I kissed him lightly. “You’ll be the best.”
“I’m excited for the appointment.” His eyes shone. “And scared as well.”
“Same here.” My stomach curdled and
I listened to his heartbeat through his t-shirt. I wrapped my arms around him and held him close to me. “You’re so different from the man I first met, Zane Beaumont. I thought you were this stuck up, rich playboy. And I just knew you were an arrogant jerk. But you’re not. You’re a big old sweetie inside.”
“Don’t you dare tell anyone that!” I felt his hands creep up the back of my t-shirt and he rubbed my back. I sighed and closed my eyes at the warm feeling that was spreading through my body.
“Hmm, that feels good.” His fingers started massaging my shoulders, and he pushed me down on the bed, stomach first, and straddled me.
“Put your arms up,” he commanded, and pulled my t-shirt off. “I like it, no bra.” His words were smooth as silk as he kneaded into the knots in my back. He ran his fingers up and down my back, squeezing my tender points and helping to rid me of my stress. After a few minutes I heard him humming and I listened as he sang me a song.
“She was the girl from the diner, she was the girl I knew would be mine, she was the one who stole my heart.”
“Who was?” I giggled and looked up at him, happy that he was serenading me.
“Shh.” He continued with his song. “She was the girl with the curls, the big frizzy curls, the curls that melted my heart. She was the one in my arms who made me sing, she was the one in my bed who made me come.”
“Zane!” I squealed and turned over. “That’s gross.”
“It’s not gross to orgasm, Lucky.” He licked his lips and I felt his hands creep up to my breasts. “Have you ever come from someone playing with your breasts?”
“No.” I shook my head and looked up at him with teasing eyes. “I don’t think that’s possible.”
“Really? Is that a challenge?” His fingertips pinched my nipples and I squirmed underneath him.
“No.” My breath caught as he leaned down and suckled on my left breast as he continued playing with my right one. “Oh, Zane.”
“Oh, Lucky.” He winked at me and his bites became harder and harder as he tugged away. I closed my eyes and let myself just experience the feelings. I felt myself growing wet and I eagerly ran my hands down his back and up his shirt. Zane’s hand worked its way into my shorts and inside my panties, and he found my pleasure spot. He began rubbing it eagerly as he continued sucking. I moaned as his fingers explored me further and pushed their way inside of me.
“Oh,” I cried out in ecstasy as he brought me to the brink of an orgasm. He increased the speed of his fingers and bit down on my breast as I came underneath him. I screamed at the intense feeling of pleasure and pain and he removed his fingers from my shorts and grinned up at me.
“I told you I could make you come from playing with your breasts.”
“But that’s not all you did,” I protested, laughing at the pleased look on his face. “You’re a goof.”
“You see the secret side of me,” he said, only half-joking.
“I’m glad.” I reached my hand down into his pants and realized that he was hard and ready to go. “I suppose you want to see the secret side of me as well?”
“Well, I won’t say no.” He closed his eyes as my hands grasped his erection and slid up and down the length of him. “Don’t stop,” he whispered with a deep voice.
“Hold on.” I quickly removed my hand from him and he groaned as I pulled his shorts down. “I want to do something.”
“Oh?” He looked up at me and his eyes glinted. “Backdoor already?”
“Zane, shut up, no.” I pushed him back down. “This is kind of embarrassing,” I began and my voice drifted off.
“Oh.” He sat up again and his eyes looked really interested. “Now, this I have to hear.”
“I want to give you a lap dance,” I mumbled slowly.
“A lap dance?” He looked up at me in confusion. “Like a stripper?”
“Yes.” I blushed and looked down and he jumped up and grabbed my hands.
“Well, what are we waiting for then? Let’s go downstairs.”
“Downstairs?” I was puzzled by his words, but all I could do was stare at his manhood. It was sticking out right at me and he was long and hard. I swallowed hard as I took him in. He was such a gorgeous, magnificent man, and he was all mine.
“I have a chair that would suit a lap dance perfectly.”
“Oh?” I wondered if he knew that from prior experience, but dismissed my jealous thoughts. Don’t go there, Lucky. Not now. I commanded myself. I knew that if anything, Zane would be honest and there was a likely chance that I wouldn’t be happy with the answer.
“Yes.” He pulled me with him and stopped quickly, letting go of my hand and walking to the nightstand. “Condom.” He showed me what he had gone back to retrieve, and I laughed.
“Well, aren’t you the thoughtful one?”
“Now, let’s go. I’m excited for my first dirty lap dance.”
“Who said it’s going to be dirty?” I raised an eyebrow at him.
“There is no way you’re going to rub up and down on my cock and not have it be dirty.” He laughed and we ran down the stairs.
He walked over to his iPhone dock and put on some music and I heard Usher crooning to me through the surround-sound speakers.
“You’re gross.”
“You don’t want to be a tease, do you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I do.”
“Come here, you.” Zane pulled me down onto the chair with him and I found myself sitting atop of his lap with my breasts crushed against his chest. I leaned forward and crushed his lips against mine and started moving my hips in time to the music, loving the feel of him in between my legs.
“You’re going to kill me, Lucky,” he groaned as I rocked back and forth. I bit his bottom lip before slowly licking down to his chest and lightly sucking his nipples.
“Oh,” Zane groaned.
I felt a sense of power fill me as I continued kissing down his stomach, until I had inched my way off of his lap and had his manhood in front of my face. Zane looked down at me with surprise in his eyes and I winked up at him.
“It’s a reward for being a good boy.” I chuckled at the delight on his face and then slowly took him into my mouth.
Chapter 7
Zane
“Do you think mom is looking for us?” Noah barged into my room without knocking and sat down on the bed next to me. “Maybe she’s looking for us and can’t find us.”
“Don’t be stupid. We still live in the same house.” I looked at him with derision and anger. “If she wanted to find us she knows where to look—the same place she left us.”
“Don’t you ever hate being right?” Noah’s eyes looked bleak and I felt sorry for being so mean. He was only 14 and still had hope that our mother would show up again. At 16, I knew that our mother was never showing up again. She was probably living it up on a Caribbean island, somewhere, with all our father’s money.
“No.” I looked away from him. “Can I finish my book, please?”
“What are you reading?”
“The Grapes of Wrath.”
“Sounds boring.” He yawned and stood up.
“Well, you’ll have to read it for class one day as well.” I laughed at him. “What are you going to do?”
“I thought I’d go play some drums.” He looked at me, eagerly. “Want to join?”
I looked at my book and then back at his face and laid the book on the bed and sighed. The report could wait. “Okay, but I get to choose the songs. No more Rolling Stones, please.”
“But I want to be like Charlie Watts.”
“Can you be more like Ringo Starr?”
“What’s your obsession with the Beatles?” Noah shook his head.
“I’m not obsessed with the Beatles,” I protested.
“I thought you would hate them.” Noah hesitated. “I’m just surprised.”
“Why would I hate them?” My breath caught.
“You know.” He paused.
“No, I don’t. Why?”
Did he remember? My body was burning up as I looked at him.
“Mom used to love them, she used to sing that lonely people song all the time.”
“Eleanor Rigby.” My voice was low and I looked away from him.
“Yeah.” Noah rubbed my arm. “I love you, Zane.”
“You’re too young to be such a sap, bro.”
“You know you love me, too.”
“Okay, let’s go play some Rolling Stones.”
“It worked.” He ran down to the basement and I followed him with a smile. I was glad he hadn’t pushed the issue. I didn’t like to think about my obsession with the Beatles. I didn’t like to think about it being one of the only connections I had to my mother. She left us; she didn’t deserve to be remembered.
“Let’s play ‘Satisfaction.’” Noah grinned up at me as I entered the garage and he started drumming.
I felt my eyes open quickly and I looked around the room looking for Noah and his drums. I heard the music in my head as clearly as I had that day. Disappointment flooded through me as the silent darkness reflected back at me. Noah was gone. I laid looking at the ceiling, listening to the sound of Lucky sleeping next to me. I tried to concentrate on her light snores and not the sounds of music still echoing in my ears. I needed to think about something else. I was going to drive myself crazy if I kept dreaming about Noah and our mom.
My heart pounded as I thought about dinner with Angelique. I had to make sure that she had no idea about my relationship with Lucky. All though Braydon may have told her something, he probably thought that it was just about sex with Lucky, and Angelique wouldn’t mind that. She knew what the deal was—what the deal used to be with me. My biggest worry now was Lucky. I felt my stomach dip in fear and worry. My biggest fear was her finding out about Angelique and the dinner. I wasn’t sure how she would react to finding out about the evening I had planned, and I couldn’t risk her not accepting it. She had made some jealous comments about Angelique already, and I knew that it was a sore spot. I took a deep breath and rubbed my brow. I jumped out of bed and walked down the stairs. I couldn’t stay in the bed and just lay there, knowing that I was living a lie.