“God, I miss you,” he grumbled. “Things haven’t been the same since that---”
“I called Julie,” she said, cutting off his continued apology. “I’m going back to work at Doggie Style.”
The news deflated his eager erection. He brought his head up, needing to gain eye contact with the woman he thought he knew.
“Why are you going back there? I thought you hated that place.”
She glanced at him and flashed the phoniest smile he’d ever seen. “No. I never hated the place. I just wasn’t thrilled with the work I was doing. But if we have to move, we need the money.”
“Then work somewhere where you’ll be happy. Don’t go back to a place where you didn’t feel fulfilled.”
“Says the man who actually does hate where he works.”
Silence. Zora hit it right on the head.
“You’re right,” Grant said. “I do actually hate the place where I work. But it pays well and we need the money. I’m not going to leave it until I can find something else that pays as much as or better than what I’m making now.”
“And I guess it helps to have a boss who’s completely hot for you, huh?”
Grant blinked. “I thought we squashed that issue. I didn’t hit on her. She came onto me.”
“I know. I believe you.” She turned over onto her back.
Anything. He would have done anything for her.
“Sometimes I wish I could go back to the way things were.”
He glided his fingertips over her soft face. “You really miss them that much?”
“I’m not talking about them. I mean us. I hadn’t expected that starting this lifestyle would change us so much. You hide things from me and I don’t like that. So maybe this is for the best.” She nodded as though she wanted to convince herself. “Maybe what should happen is that we just chalk it up to an experience and move on.”
Except he heard her cry at nights when she thought he was still asleep. He’d caught her trying to call one of them on their secret sex cell phone.
Leaning over, he planted a kiss on her lips. The returned kiss came out chaste, void of any emotion or feeling. Did she hate him that much or had she lost something in herself?
Breaking from the kiss, she turned over onto her side and turned off the light on her side of the bed, giving him the unspoken cue that sex would not be happening tonight either.
Grant rolled back to his side of the bed. Staring at her still form, he thought of ways to bring back his girlfriend.
“I love you,” he said.
She waited a beat before answering. “I love you too. I always will.”
He opened his mouth to make a proclamation, or rather a proposal, the proposal. He’d worried before that asking Zora while they were in the neighborhood would make the request sound like he’d only done it to fulfill a requirement. Now that they were out of the group, asking her now would be appropriate. Only there existed a wall between them that he had to tear down. If he asked her now, would she think he was asking her because all they had now was each other?
No. He had to find an appropriate time. He’d romanced her off of her feet once. He could do it again. A big sweeping night with flowers, dinner, candlelight, the works. A night full of romance where he concentrated on her would be just the ticket. He needed time. As he stared at her still form, he thought of a plan, a plan to have her happy again and get them back to where they were.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Zora swept up dog hair clippings from the white tiled floor but her mind had been elsewhere. She hadn’t seen her neighbors in weeks. They were sticking to their rule of ignoring her and Grant to the letter. So instead of consuming her thoughts with what could have been, she’d try to keep busy.
When walking around the neighborhood to stay healthy didn’t take her mind off of her situation, she joined a gym, a first in a long time. She’d told Grant that she wanted to start working out. It had been a long time since he’d smiled at her like that.
So happy about her news that he’d gotten down on his knees, pulled her shorts down in the middle of the kitchen and gave her the best oral sex she’d had in a long time. Thinking about it now transformed her clit into a pulsing nub needing some attention. She crossed her legs as she continued sweeping to make some friction between her thighs.
Not until she’d started working out again and taken control of her diet had Zora felt somewhat whole again. She slept better. Cooking healthy foods for her and Grant became fun instead of a chore. A giggle escaped her lips when she thought of how she’d jumped on her unsuspecting boyfriend in the shower that morning.
She’d stroked his thick perfect penis until he came with large squirts of milky jism. Hearing him moan ignited the need inside of her again. And this time when she thought of her neighbors, she wanted them to be spectators in her life, to see her and Grant pleasuring each other like they used to and being extremely satisfied.
“Hey, Zo,” Inez said in a reserved voice, as though she were about to impart some bad news.
“Hey. Something going on?” She scooped up the excess hair and deposited it into a trash bin.
“No, not really. I just kinda felt bad for you, you know.”
Zora froze in her spot. Her stomach tightened before she turned around. “What are you talking about?”
Inez blinked, then tried to smile. “You left here with big dreams of doing something else. Then you came crawling back to be busted down from shampoo girl to sweep-up girl for animals. I don’t know how you take it.”
Strong. Zora had to be strong or snap. A few months ago to hear something like that would have made her snap. Now she found Inez’s assessment laughable. Stealing some strength from Garland, Zora set down her broom and dustpan and put her fists to her hips. Inez took a step back.
“It was my decision to come back here, so don’t feel sorry for me,” she began. “I learned a long time ago that unless you’re ashamed of what you’re doing or what someone is doing to you then you can’t be made a fool of.” She’d learned that lesson from watching Lynia with Brax. No matter what he’d done to her, strapped her to their porch, have sex with her in front of their house, have her parade around naked in front of strangers, Lynia never let on that any of it bothered her. The woman had even endured torturous oral sex because she loved her husband.
So putting up with a job like this for money didn’t really bother Zora. And it really wouldn’t bother her in a few seconds when she was about to drop a bomb on Inez.
“But since you feel so bad for me, Inez, here’s what I’ll do. I’m quitting again.”
Inez’s mouth dropped open and then she let out a shrill laugh that grated on Zora’s nerves.
“You’re joking, right?” Inez asked. “Julie just took your sorry ass back.”
The glare Zora gave her younger co-worker must have been lethal enough for the woman to take two steps back.
“Julie and I had a long talk. What I want out of life conflicts with what I do here. So I have found another job. Although Julie has given me her full support, I don’t need it or want it. I need to start making myself happy. So good luck to you here. Hope you get all that you can from your illustrious career.”
Zora snatched her purse from her locker. As soon as she made it outside, she took in a deep breath. Freedom. It felt so fucking good. What felt even better was that she’d done it all on her own. No help from the neighbors or even from Grant, although once she’d secured the job and told him about it, they had some incredible celebration sex that she was sure had to have been heard outside of their house.
She hopped into her truck to run some errands, stop off at Bardot’s, the new hair salon she would be working at as a stylist, then go home and wait for her man. She had a surprise for him that involved a ring and a big ceremony. She just hoped he would say yes.
***
“Your reports are looking better, Grant,” Stephanie said as she sat behind her desk.
Grant sat in front of it a
nd stared at her, mulling over possibilities.
“Thanks,” he said, without breaking his stare.
“And your clients all seem to be pleased with your work. I must admit that a few weeks ago you seemed to be a little out of it but it looks like you’re back on track now.” Stephanie kept her gaze on some reports she held and never looked at him.
Since the day Garland burst into her office and slapped him, Stephanie hadn’t glanced at Grant at all. Grant had a plan and it required her.
“I apologize for my performance a few weeks ago,” Grant began. “I had some personal issues that consumed my thoughts and time.”
“Sorry to hear.”
“Yes, well it was distressing.” He stared at her, gauging how to play this next hand. “My girlfriend and I lost our sexual partners.”
He watched Stephanie blink. The more he stared, the more she trembled. She sucked in her lower lip and chewed it. He had her.
“Do you understand what I mean?” he asked.
She remained quiet.
“Stephanie?” He put his hands on her desk. “I asked you a question.”
Not that he really wanted her, but she was the only woman he knew who was willing to do a multiple partner thing after she’d asked if she could have him and Garland. But he knew that this would be the topping on Zora’s incredible cake.
Everything about his beautiful girlfriend had changed, seemingly, overnight. He wasn’t sure what it was. She took care of her body, she’d found a new job and her sexual appetite returned. She had come back to the same Zora as before. He couldn’t deny the fact that she came alive when they swung with other people. That was the Zora he’d missed. And he wanted that woman back.
“Yes,” Stephanie finally answered.
He stood. She gasped.
“Yes, what?” he pressed, taking a cue from Garland and Lynia to treat her like a submissive. He’d watched Brax long enough to know what he could do to this woman.
She turned her gaze up to his, peering at him under a veil of thick, dark eyelashes. Not a natural blond, he suspected.
“Yes, sir?” she asked.
He hadn’t told her what to call him. Sir would do.
“Better.” He came around behind her desk. The whole trek his stomach ached. His heart pounded like a jackhammer. Christ, would he have a heart attack before he even touched her? What was wrong with him?
He leaned over her chair, one hand on the back of it and the other planted on her desk so that she became surrounded. She didn’t smell like flowers or even like sex like with Winta and Lynia. Stephanie gave off what Grant would call a corporate odor, like a dry cleaners mixed with dry erase marker, so bland that there was hardly a scent.
“You said you wanted to please me and another woman?”
She hesitated to answer but if her labored breathing meant anything he was driving her crazy.
“Answer me,” he snapped.
She jolted, then replied, “Yes, sir.”
The power felt intoxicating, until it made his head swoon. “Before I bring you home to my girlfriend, I need to know what you’re like.” He glanced up at her opened office door. “I’m going to sit in your chair. I want you to get on your knees and suck my cock until I come while your door is open.”
The idea sounded tantalizing. So why wasn’t he getting hard from any of this?
Obediently, Stephanie set her papers down and stood without much provocation. She took a step to the side to let Grant assume her spot. Now it was his turn to hesitate. He shuffled before taking a seat.
Stephanie didn’t even look out of her office door to see if anyone had been watching her before lowering herself to her knees in front of him. Her hands reached for his belt.
Grant watched her, caught the hunger and desperation in her eyes. She was looking for something that she thought she could get in him. Unfortunately Grant wasn’t feeling the same way. He couldn’t do this to Zora or Stephanie. He hadn’t talked to Zora about taking on another partner and if it was what she wanted then he would want to have her input in choosing her or them. And he wasn’t attracted to Stephanie. To have her so willing to become his sex slave turned his skin cold, until he had to grab her wrists before she undid his pants.
“I can’t do this,” he said. “I’m sorry. I thought if I did this for Zora that I could make everything at home okay. But this feels wrong.”
He stood and had to step over Stephanie to leave.
She clamored for his legs, reaching to hold him. “Wait! You didn’t give me a chance. I could have pleased you.”
“I’m sorry. You’ll have my two weeks’ notice in the morning. I’m so sorry to do this to you. It was wrong and childish and demeaning.”
Grant grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair and ran for the stairs. He needed to go home. He hoped Zora was serious when she’d told him that morning that she would be at the house by lunchtime. He had one stop to make, then he would be waiting for her with something special and something even more important to ask her.
***
Zora parked her truck in the driveway after coming home from the jeweler. She nearly skipped as she held her purse housing a ring that was worth as much as a good down payment on a house. She didn’t care. Grant was more than worth it. Being separated from the group made her realize just how important this man was.
The more she thought about that night with her, Winta and Grant, the more she realized what a gentleman he was. He’d done everything he could to not have contact with Winta and to maintain a friendship to Art. He had kept his promise to Art. And although it had pissed her off that he didn’t tell her about Winta and what Art was doing, he had more than apologized for the mistake. She needed and wanted Grant in her life.
Before heading to the house, she strolled to the curb to check the mailbox. Since they’d gone to using a post office box like the rest of the neighborhood, it was rare that they got anything delivered there. But she looked just in case.
When she opened the flap she heard a car coming down the street. From the hum of the engine she suspected it was one of the neighbors and not Grant. Grant’s older model car could be heard from a couple of blocks away, a thought that made her giggle.
Since the neighbors had adopted the stance of ignoring her, she didn’t bother to look up…until it was too late.
Hearing the engine rev, she glanced up as soon as the car sped to her, crashing into her waist and sending her careening several feet into the air and landing on the patch of grass between her house and Winta’s.
Powerless to move after the hard fall, Zora caught a scream, then another before everything went black.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The last thing Grant thought he would see driving up to his house was police cars and ambulances tearing down the long street, going past him in the opposite direction. The first thought that hit him was that Brax had finally pushed Lynia’s limits and hurt her. But he pushed that thought aside. From what he knew of Brax and how he was with Lynia, he loved her. Their relationship worked for them.
Grant’s heart stopped when he found a police car in front of his house, Zora’s truck in the driveway with Zora nowhere to be seen and Stephanie’s car being hauled behind a tow truck. No way he could have mistaken that fiery red convertible Corvette with the personalized tags that read ‘HD HNCHO’.
When he saw Garland talking to one officer and then pointing to Grant as he drove up, Grant wasted no time in parking his car in the street and running to the duo.
“What’s going on? What happened?” he asked frantically.
“Sir, are you related to Zora Hall?” the officer asked.
“I’m her live-in boyfriend. What’s going on?” He didn’t need to answer a bunch of questions. He wanted to know why the cop was asking about his girlfriend.
“How are you related to Stephanie Stalhelm?” the cop asked.
“She’s my boss. Why? Will you just tell me what’s going on?”
“Grant,” Garla
nd began and held his hand. “Zora was involved in an accident.”
On instinct, he gripped his neighbor’s hand. “What?”
“Evan and Lynia saw everything. As soon as she got home, she was checking her mail and your boss drove down the street at a high rate of speed and ran into her.” Garland recounted the horrifying tale in a soothing voice but Grant buckled.
“She what? I don’t believe this. This can’t be happening.”
“It’s true, sir. Ms. Stalhelm claimed she loved you and wanted to meet you at your home to talk. She got your address from personnel. She drove to your house and when she saw Ms. Hall she became upset and tried to hurt her. Your neighbors called nine-one-one and this woman held the driver until we got here.”
Too wound up to thank Garland now, Grant said, “I need to get to the hospital. I need to see Zora and be with her. She can’t be alone.”
“One of the officers can take you to---”
“No!” Grant exclaimed. He peered at Garland. “I want my neighbor to take me.”
Garland let a smile peek out and she nodded. “I’m almost done with my
statement. Lynia, Evan, Winta and Brax are already at the hospital. Art is on his way.” Knowing that his neighbors were surrounding Zora relieved him a bit. He wouldn’t be completely happy until he could see his girlfriend, the love of his life.
***
Grant hated hospitals. Being in this one caused his stomach to roil. He and Garland walked hand-in-hand down the long corridor to Zora’s room. Careless of how the supportive gesture appeared, he wouldn’t let her hand go, not until he saw Zora and could hold her hand in support.
When he saw Lynia, Brax and Evan standing outside of a room, his heart galloped. He nearly pulled Garland down the hall racing up to the group.
“Why are you all out here?” he asked.
“Only two people at a time are allowed in the room,” Brax said. “Art’s in there now with Winta.”
Grant waited for no further explanation than that before charging into the room. He found Art talking to a nurse and Winta sitting next to the bed. His gaze immediately fell on the lifeless body tucked under the white industrial sheets and blankets.
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