Love on the Edge of Time

by Julie A. Richman

  Kylie was just exiting a stall, much to the surprise of Claudine and two of her lingerie- model friends, one with long, lustrous black hair and the other with a short, trendy platinum pixie. They were clearly talking about Kylie, unaware that she was there.

  “I had no idea they made lace, second-skin dresses in that size. You’ve got to give her balls for wearing it,” the raven-haired model quipped.

  “Big balls, just like the rest of her,” remarked the platinum friend.

  Gazing into the mirror as she put on fresh lipstick, Claudine’s laughter came to an abrupt halt as Kylie exited a stall with Hayley simultaneously entering the bathroom with the clockwork precision of a synchronized swim team.

  “Oh, would you just look,” Hayley drawled. “It’s a headquarters meeting of the Bitchy Models Society being chaired by none other than their fearless leader, Long, Tall and Toxic.”

  “Who the hell are you, Miss Nobody?” The dark-haired model was the first to respond.

  When the short-haired model’s mouth began to move, a stare-down from Hayley’s emerald eyes, stopped her from uttering a word.

  “That’s right, be a good girl and stay quiet. Save your energy. You’re going to need it for later tonight when I’m eating your pussy,” Hayley paused to let that sink in. She had the trio so off balance. “And then you’ll be begging me for my phone number.” And somehow, they all knew it wasn’t a lie.

  Hayley’s crazy energy had helped bolster Kylie to a place where she could take on Claudine like a pro.

  Approaching the sink next to Claudine and washing her hands, Kylie was in full command as she confronted the famous woman. “If you have something to say about me, I would hope you are enough of a woman to say it to me directly and not as part of a catty bathroom chat.” She paused, looking the other woman directly in the eyes in the mirror. “Nick seems fabulous, so why all this venom?”

  Taken aback by Kylie’s frankness, it took the supermodel a few moments to collect and verbalize her thoughts. “Because you are getting the Jesse I never got.”

  “Did you ever think you might be a lot happier if you were happy for him? Happy to see him healthy. Happy to see him work through the things that were destroying his life and we all know were going to kill him. You really can’t be happy for that?”

  Claudine’s silence shocked Kylie. How could this woman have loved him and not be elated at his progress? His health? Even Sip was shocked into silence.

  Shaking her head, she had no words for the super model as she continued to hold her gaze in the mirror. Grabbing a hand towel, Kylie finally looked away, as she dried her hands. Tossing the towel into a wicker basket, she took one more long look at Claudine, not afraid to face her or to express her disdain.

  Heading out of the bathroom with her friend, Kylie felt both beautiful and empowered. There was not a single thing to ever feel insecure about when it came to Jesse and Claudine’s ex-relationship. There was nothing there. It was a sham. A shell, just like Claudine. And as far as feeling less than, because of her size, that exchange clearly showed her the beauty in loving and caring for others. The positive and healing energy she was putting out into the universe, that was not only changing her life but was also integral in Jesse’s healing, was already coming back to her, threefold. And that energy was the essence of beauty, because it was rooted in love.

  Claudine and her friends could make fun of her dress size or correlate her beauty to a number on the scale. But what became crystal clear as she stared down the woman in the bathroom mirror was that she was more beautiful, inside and out, than Claudine or any of her friends, and that was what Jesse and every man who had turned his head to appreciatively stare at her all night had seen. Her true beauty.

  Jesse was only a few steps away when she and Hayley exited the bathroom.

  “Toots,” he was upon her with an urgency, wrapping her in a bear hug. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered in her ear.

  Looking up at him, she smiled as he put a hand on either side of her head and pulled her in for a kiss.

  “I never should have let that happen. I’m so sorry. I guess I thought it would be a closure conversation.”

  “And?” Kylie searched his grey-blue eyes needing to know the conversation accomplished just that.

  Putting his forehead to hers, “And I got the gift of a lifetime when Sip broke in and shooed her off. Please, don’t ever worry about Claudine, Kylie. She will never come between us. She and I co-existed, we were a brand, a photo-op. We never shared the depth you and I do. And I realize that I had closure long before she moved her stuff out.”

  “I know.” Kylie surprised him.

  “How do you know?” The lopsided smile was back.

  “Because, Jesse, you are a beautiful person, inside and out, and she is not.”

  Cocking his head to the side, Kylie could see the emotion in his eyes as he stood there silent for a moment, before nodding his head.

  “Can we miss the dinner?” She had had enough for one evening.

  “Take-out?” His smile said everything.

  “Sip, do you want to blow this joint and join us for Chinese food?” Jesse asked.

  “Maybe another time. There’s a platinum bitch I need to get my hands on.” Her lascivious smile clearly detailed her intent for the short-haired model she’d met in the bathroom.

  “Jesse, can I get a picture of you with these gorgeous women?” A photographer was upon them.

  “Sure,” the rocker smiled, and with Miss New Jersey on his right and Miss Mississippi on his left, they stopped for a shot.

  “Do you think we’ll make it out the door?” Kylie asked.

  “Not without probably ten more photo stops.” This was his life.

  “That blonde can wait a few minutes,” Hayley decided, as she accompanied her friends toward the entrance and took full advantage of being photographed with the infamous rock ’n’ roll (former) bad boy.

  As they neared the door, Johnny Spinelli joined them for a photo. “You should come work for me.” He whispered into Kylie’s ear. “I’ll treat you the way you should be treated. Blaise has no idea what to do with you.”

  Kylie’s thoughts exactly after the last meeting with him.

  “Jackson Cohen is my agent.” She smiled at him sweetly and bid him goodnight.

  ••••••

  “I’m glad we went tonight,” was Kylie’s conclusion as she brought chopsticks filled with lo mein to Jessie’s lips.

  “Me too.” He slurped in the tasty noodles. “I’m glad that shit with Claudine is behind me now. And it was really great being able to show you off.”

  “You showed me off?” she laughed.

  “I did. No mistaking it now, the beautiful girl I was seen with in Starbucks is my girlfriend. We will be in every paper tomorrow morning, I can guarantee you that. And the tabloids are going to go insane with pictures of us and Claudine that we didn’t even know were being taken. You’re going to read all sorts of shit about us, Toots.” He brought a dumpling to her lips. “Ignore it as much as you can, okay.”

  “I’ll try.”

  “You just need to know one thing.”

  “And what is that?” Tell me, Jesse.

  “How I feel about you.” Reaching over, he took the white paper container from her hands and placed it on the nightstand.

  Kylie remained quiet. Reaching forward, Jesse took a lock of her hair and let it slide through his fingers. “Toots, I’ve known this for the longest time, but I didn’t want to scare you. I think you already know how I feel about you, whether I’ve said it or not. You see, you make me want to fight every day to be better than I was the day before. You make me scared that I will fail you, that I won’t be the man you deserve, because as we know, I have been fucked up in relationships. I’ve questioned if I even had the capacity to love. And then you showed up in my life and there’s no doubt that I have the capacity to love. It turns out that I have the capacity to love deeply. I just didn’t have you before. I l
ove you, Kylie. I know, without a doubt, that we will always be together. That someday, some little stinker is going to ask you, “Grandma, did Grandpa really play in a band?” He stopped and smiled, “And you are going to be the hottest grandmother on the planet and we’re going to still be fucking like wild animals.”

  Kylie laughed at his last sentence, but there were no words, because the tears were coming too quickly. Smiling as he wiped them from her cheeks, he knew how moved she was by his admission, her reaction was from her heart and it filled his heart with more love than he could have ever imagined.

  Finally, the tears subsided. “Jesse Fucking Winslow, am I dreaming? Did you just tell me you love me?”

  “Toots, this ain’t no dream. Just the here and the now.”

  “Makes me want to stay in this reality. Forever.”

  “Yeah, this is the best one yet,” he agreed.

  Picking up a waxed paper bag, Kylie dug in and pulled out a fortune cookie, gently tossing it to Jesse, before going back in and pulling out one for herself.

  Jesse’s face broke into a smile, as he read from the slip of paper, “The love of your life will appear in front of you unexpectedly.” Leaning forward, he kissed Kylie softly. “Yes, she did.” Folding the fortune in thirds lengthwise, he inserted one end into the other, forming a ring and slipped it onto her finger with a lopsided grin and a raise of his eyebrows.

  Admiring her new accessory, Kylie looked up at him through her dark lashes before smiling and doing a one-handed crush on her cookie. Pulling out her fortune, she let out a single, loud laugh which she tried to snuff, turning it into a snort. She handed Jesse the fortune, “You read it.” She was trying hard not to crack up.

  Taking it from her hands, he began to read out loud, “Love is on the horizon. The stars predict he will be tall, dark and a centaur.” Laughing, Jesse lustfully gazed at Kylie. “That’s right, baby, hung like a horse. Now get in my lap,” he pulled her to him, “and come take a ride to Heaven.”

  Chapter 12

  “I know Jesse told you about our relationship.”

  “Yes, I’m aware of it.”

  Is Claire even colder than usual or am I imagining this? Kylie wondered.

  “Alrightee, then.” Kylie smiled at the shrink.

  “Are you trying to convey something to me, Kylie.”

  She shrugged, “I don’t think so. I just thought you’d have more to say about it.”

  Nodding her head, Claire explained, “Since I treat you both as separate patients, I can only address what you each broach with me individually.”

  “Okay, fair enough.”

  “It’s not about being fair, it’s the ethical thing to do and it is the law.” The doctor maintained her matter-of-fact demeanor.

  “Yeah, whatever.” Kylie was trying to not become annoyed with Claire, but it wasn’t working. “I think I’ve struggled in my past relationships a lot. Never really being able to express feelings, never truly being nurturing to my partner, but it’s so different with Jesse. I was concerned because of who he is, getting involved with someone of his stature is a huge risk.”

  “All relationships are risk.”

  “Yes. Yes, they are.” She finally agreed with her shrink on something. “And then add in who he is, his lifestyle, and a recent high-profile break-up and I think the uncertainty of it all increases exponentially. Don’t you?”

  “Don’t I what?”

  “Think there is increased risk.”

  “I think that is your perception, so that becomes the reality that we are dealing with here.”

  “Well, on paper it seems like a slippery slope, but, in reality, it is the easiest and healthiest relationship I’ve ever had with a man and it’s been like that with him since the day we met. It’s just easy and comfortable.”

  The psychiatrist didn’t speak.

  Smiling to herself, Kylie finally looked up, visually connecting to her doctor, “The other night he told me he loved me. How crazy is that? I mean, Jesse Winslow telling me he loves me.”

  “Why is that crazy?”

  “Seriously? One of the most well-known men in the world told me he loved me. That’s not people’s normal reality.”

  “You sound as if you question it.” She crossed her legs the other way.

  Kylie shook her head, “No. Not at all. I know what he feels.”

  “And you returned the sentiment?”

  Kylie thought back on the conversation. “No. I didn’t. I meant to, but we got swept up in something else.” Looking at Claire, she smiled. “I need to change that immediately.” And pulling her phone out of her oversized hobo bag, she texted Jesse.

  Did I not say something to you the other night?

  Well, not in so many words.

  Gasp, twelve lashings for me

  If you insist, Toots.

  Lasher’s choice. Talk to you soon. Finishing up with Claire.

  Looking up at the doctor, she smiled again. “Looks like he’s going to have a good night.”

  “And why do you think you didn’t return the sentiment when he first expressed it?”

  Shrugging, she wasn’t going to let Claire turn this into something that she could use against her with Jesse during his session. “I don’t think he gave me much of a chance to speak, we were kissing and then I physically told him exactly what I feel. There was no doubt. And when we were done, we just got totally swept up into something else. But tonight, I get the chance to tell him how much I love him. Oh my God, I’m so excited.”

  Game. Set. Match. Claire.

  ••••••

  “What was that about twelve lashings?” Opening the door with his lopsided smile.

  “Yeah? What was that? Lashings come in all forms and sizes, you know,” she informed him, looking up through her lashes, while tossing her purse onto a nearby black leather bucket chair.

  “Oh?” His eyes were smoldering as he backed her up against a pale gray wall.

  “They can be as simple and delicate as tongue lashings.”

  She softly swiped the tip of her tongue along his bottom lip, eliciting the lopsided smile.

  Inserting his hand between her legs, he cupped her through her jeans, the heat immediately emanating onto his hand being his invitation to give her pussy a rough squeeze. “Delicate wasn’t on my agenda,” he informed her, rubbing her through the rough fabric and clenching her.

  “Mmm,” she responded, aching to feel more, with a lot less clothes on. With his other hand, he roughly caressed her breast until her hard nipple grazed his palm.

  “So, you’ve been making me wait.” His eyes were laughing, but the rest of his face maintained a fierce intensity. “Maybe I need to make you wait.”

  “You already told me you loved me,” she reminded him.

  “Mmm-hmm.” His massaging between her legs became rougher, causing Kylie to close her eyes, her concentration being blown to smithereens.

  Abruptly, the sublime fondling came to an end and Jesse grabbed Kylie by the hand leading her down the hall toward the bedroom. Walking her over to a chair along the wall, he gave her shoulder a slight nudge indicating for her to sit.

  Crossing to the bed, he sat on the edge facing her, a gulf of seven feet between them.

  Kylie was charged and coiled and ready to spring, needing Jesse to finish her off.

  Smiling at her, he locked eyes. “You’re dying, aren’t you?” His smile was almost a sneer.

  “You know I am,” she confessed, wondering why rock stars always had the most beautiful mouths. Without wanting to break his glance, she could see, at the base of her visual field, that he was unbuttoning his jeans, then unzipping them, with its unmistakable sound.

  “Look how hot you got me.” His right hand was wrapped around his erect cock. “I get so out of control just thinking about you. And now, sitting here, looking at you, look what you’ve done to me. I can feel your heat across this room.”

  His thumb started to stroke the shiny purplish crown, rimming
the edge and making its way up to the slit at the center. All Kylie could think about was what that felt like between her lips, how the tip of her tongue craved that slit and the slightly salty treat waiting for her there. As his thumb began to move a little quicker, her shallow breaths followed pace.

  An expert at holding eye contact for an audience of one or twenty-thousand, Jesse began to slowly stroke himself, his solo attendee mesmerized.

  “Feels damn good, but nowhere near as good as it feels inside your tight, warm pussy. I love being buried deep inside you and watching your pupils dilate as you get closer to coming. And the only thing I can think of when I see that is just how much I want to fill you with cum.” Using his pre-cum to lubricate his palm, both his breath and his hand accelerated. “Like right now, your eyes are so intense and I know you want my cum as much as I want to come in you. I can see it on your face, in your eyes.”

  Mesmerized, Kylie sat motionless, barely able to breathe as she watched him get closer to his release.

  “I see it in your eyes. You see me,” he continued. “And you may be the only person who has ever seen me, who isn’t afraid of the ugly, of the cocky asshole who thinks he’s got the world under control and blows up everything around him. You’re not scared. You’ll go toe to toe with me. And that is so sexy. You are so sexy and beautiful,” he choked out the last word as a spurt of semen arced, catching the light and glowing iridescent.

  Kylie watched, holding her breath as Jesse regained his. Pulling his tee-shirt over his head, he used it to wipe the trail he’d left behind.

  Without another word, he stood and made his way to the bathroom. Kylie heard the shower water running and considered, for a brief moment, joining him. But she couldn’t move and remained in the chair.

  His spiky hair was wet and askew when he returned, a fresh pair of ripped jeans on. Smiling, “Toots, you haven’t moved.”