by Piper Knox
Her pussy was glistening and inviting. The erection strained against my slacks, making them feel even tighter. I brushed her nub and watched her as she leaned back in ecstasy. I continued to rub her clit as I pulled her towards me and tasted her. She moaned. I think I heard a small, “Caiden,” as I licked her. She was just as sweet as I remembered. I licked and lapped. Her hands went down to my head and slid off when she exploded in ecstasy.
19
I came down in a sea of pleasure. I had never felt like this, ever. Caiden was the king of cunnilingus. I felt like a thousand fireworks had lit up inside me and popping at the same time. When I opened my eyes, Caiden was looking at me with a self-satisfied grin. It made me feel like I had stumbled onto shaky ground.
“I guess that puts the argument to bed.”
“What argument?” I asked in a daze. My voice was barely audible.
“That I have no effect on you. I obviously do.”
“Do you need help with that?” I asked, my hand going to his erection.
“No. Goodnight Hailey.” And with that, he left me. He left me there with my dress askew, my legs wide open and my pussy dripping on the counter. The fucking asshole. I got down on shaky legs and I went to bed angry.
I woke up feeling worse than when I had slept. The night before came flooding into my head and I wanted to hide in my room for the rest of the day. I could still feel the embers of the fire he ignited in me last night. The man had left me feeling boneless, and I hated how much I had enjoyed it and how it went to prove to him that he had power over me.
I got up, showered and went downstairs. He was already in the kitchen drinking coffee and scrolling on his iPad. From my vantage point, it looked like he was reading a newspaper.
He was wearing chinos and a polo shirt. His hair was well brushed and perfect. He looked perfect and unaffected. Whereas I was a bundle of emotions inside. It wasn’t fair. My stomach grumbled. The last meal I ate was yesterday’s lunch. I opened the fridge, praying that they would be some leftovers Caiden forgot in there. I had noticed that he liked to cook for himself and I would hear him cook sometimes, but only a meal for one and he rarely left food.
There was nothing. I might have to buy frozen pizza or tv dinners for myself, if I was going to survive in this household, and I could not continue this diet of cornflakes and muffins in the long run.
I took out the milk and went to the cereal bar. The cornflakes were no longer as tasty as they were before, now felt like munching cardboard soaked in milk.
“You like that stuff.”
I looked up and saw Caiden watching me. “Not really. There isn’t much in terms of food here.”
He frowned, “there’s bacon and eggs?”
I smiled, “thanks, but I can’t cook that.”
He gawked at me and I thought that was the end of it and went back to my food. Then I heard, “bacon and eggs? You can’t cook bacon and eggs?”
I suddenly felt a deep wash of embarrassment. I ignored him and continued with my food. A few moments later he got up from his stool and he went to the fridge. He took out a bunch of stuff and went to the stove. I went back to my phone and scrolled on the ‘gram as I heard and smelled the sizzling bacon and eggs. It was making me hungry, even though I was consuming food. If his point was making me feel sad for eating pathetic food, then he was succeeding.
Next thing I know, I see a plate in front of me of bacon, eggs and pancakes. “Eat,” he commanded. I looked up at him, my mouth open. I stared at the delicious-looking food. “Thank you,” I said, and abandoned my cornflakes in favor of proper food. I wolfed it down. It tasted so good. I had never had food that was this good before. It was simple,, but it felt like a Michelin star restaurant meal. Maybe it was the food, or maybe it was the person who had made it.
“You should have told me,” he looked concerned. I noticed that I had eaten half the plate in less than a minute. I slowed down as I squirmed in my seat under his gaze. Don’t be embarrassed, I said to myself. Lots of people didn’t know how to cook. “What would you have done? You’d have laughed, I’m sure as you’re now. Called me a spoiled princess.”
“I’m not laughing,” his serious tone changed to a more jovial one as he said, “But yes, you’re a spoiled princess.”
When I was done eating, I thanked him again.
He said, “What I would like to know is why you never bought takeout. You can certainly afford it.”
I was about to tell him I was broke when I remembered he didn’t know that I had sent all of my allowance to the foundation. I didn’t want to spend his money. And until now, I was, or he was, the biggest donor at the foundation. I scurried for an answer. “My allowance usually ends up going to clothes,” I shrugged and tried to put on my best spoiled rich girl vibe, “Jimmy Choos can be expensive.”
His face contorted in disgust, and I wanted to shrink in shame for lying to him. “I’ll increase it next month.”
“No!” I jumped in. He looked surprised by my quick rejection, “I just need to watch how I spend things, that’s all.” He nodded.
My phone chimed. It was a text from Bryce. I took the phone and looked at it below the table.
Bryce: Dad’s on my ass. Any information?
I looked at Caiden. He was staring at me before he leaned back and went to his iPad.
Me: it’s fucking Suturday.
Bryce: So?
Me: I’ll see if I can get you something tomorrow.
Bryce: there better be something in my inbox tomorrow.
Fuck. He was giving me a lot of pressure. Part of me was a little relieved that he hadn’t been asking me about the deed we stole yesterday. Part of me was afraid that they would soon find out. After all, it was only mere hours since Caiden and I took it. Caiden on the other hand, was sunshine and rainbows. Between breakfast and the head last night, he seemed to be in a giving mood.
A deep swore took me out of my thoughts. He was staring at his phone.
“What is it?”
“Get ready. We need to go to a thing I had completely forgotten about.”
“Now?” I didn’t want to do anything. I wanted to stay indoors, veg out on the couch and watch Netflix all day.
“Do I have to come? Why can’t you go alone?”
“Because it was part of the agreement?”
“Why do I get the impression you keep dragging me from place to place?”
“Trust me, I would have told you earlier if I hadn’t forgotten. Plus, you’ll be in familiar territory. It’s a Polo match in the Hamptons. Most of your friends will be there.”
Oh no. If that was the case, then I definitely wasn’t looking forward to it.
20
The polo match had already started when we arrived at the club. It was an event of the season and everyone who could be there was there. Including people I would rather not see.
As if she was a wolf intuitive to our scent, Dana was the first to see us when we came. She was sitting at one of the front middle tables with Ax and some other reed-thin girl who was leaning into him. Dana waved at us. I was hoping Caiden would wave back and that would be over, but nope, we made a beeline towards them.
“I thought you were no longer coming,” Ax said. He draped his hand over the chair of his current girlfriend. Every time I saw him had a different girl on his arm. They were all model-like or actual models and never lasted longer on his arm than the milk in his fridge.
“I’m here now, aren’t I?” Caiden sounded a little irritated as he spoke. I wondered why as we took our seats. It’s not as if he had been doing anything home. Home. I can’t believe I thought of his apartment in that way. The penthouse. Or the apartment. That’s what I was supposed to call it, not home. I should never think of that place in that way.
Ax introduced his girlfriend. Her name was Sookie, and she was a model. Surprise, surprise.
Ax’s attention turned away from us and onto the match. I never saw anyone more invested. Most people came here to indulge in the
social sport of seeing, being seen and getting great photos for the social media feed. Sookie seemed not to mind the lack of attention. She was more preoccupied with her phone than anything else.
Dana, however, kept darting her eye from the match to me and Caiden. When she darted back at me again, I glared back at her. She gave me a vacant smile. “Your dress is beautiful,” she said. It was a blue long floral halter neck dress I had paired with a wide-brimmed white hat.
“Thank you.” I knew I looked good, but I also knew that it wasn’t a compliment. I would be right a moment later.
“Hailey has always tried to upstage everyone around her if there’s meat around.” There it is. Caiden shifted in his seat, and so did Ax. I paid attention to the match as if I hadn’t heard what she had said. No one else said anything, and I thought it was over, but she continued, “I saw one of your old flames here. Or should I say two? Is that why you came, I wonder?”
I gave her my best smirk and hoped my hat was shielding my embarrassment, “Old is operative word. Why would I care about them?” She shrank back at my retort. Good. I thought. Caiden took my hand and placed it in his. The feel of his hand not only sent electricity down my spine, but it shocked me. It was as if he was comforting me somehow. I brushed that thought aside when I saw a photographer take a picture of us. Of course.
The match was boring, to say the least. Polo wasn’t my favorite. I was feeling hot and restless after a while I got up, “I’m going to get a drink,” I announced.
Caiden nodded, but he wasn’t paying full attention. He had been discussing some business thing with Ax and had disregarded me some time ago. I went to the bar, glad to leave the sun and enter the much cooler tent. There were more people here than were watching the game. Most were socialites taking Instagram-perfect pics. A lot of them recognized me, unfortunately. They didn’t acknowledge me. To them I was still a pariah whose mere association with me could affect their social score. Instead, they either stared at me and went back to whatever they were doing or ensured I was out of their shot when they were taking photos. I saw a few taking photos of me and their fingers furiously thumbing all over their phones. I made a mental note not to go on social media.
I reached the bar and ordered a mojito. I took a sip. It didn’t taste as good as it looked, but it was refreshing on this hot day. I was dragging my feet when I heard someone call me.
“Hailey?”
I turned to the direction of the voice and was greeted by a face I hadn’t seen in ages.
“Jerry?” We had been friends a long time ago.
“Fancy seeing you here?” he came towards me and gave me a hug.
“Me. What about you? This isn’t your scene at all.”
“Ugh. Tell me about it. But your boy’s gotta eat.” He glanced at a group of older women.
“You have a new girlfriend?” I asked, trying to be as polite as possible.
He laughed. “You’re the only one who calls my clients ‘girlfriends’ but yes.”
“Which cougar is it?”
“The one in the white dress. And cougar is right. The woman has been giving me back aches,” he leaned in and whispered, “She’s insatiable.”
I belt out a laugh. “Well, at least you’re having fun.”
“We gotta do what we gotta do. We can’t all nab a rich motherfucker.” He said pointing at my ring.
“If you stop complaining about your back, you might get a rich motherfucker of your own.”
He slapped my shoulder, laughing.
“Who’s your friend?” Caiden had come out of nowhere and was now standing by my side. He slid his arm around my waist and pulled me into him. I looked up at him. His face was taut, his tone was barely polite.
“Caiden, this is Jerry. He’s a model.”
“Former model,” Jerry said, extending his hand. Caiden sized it up, and I thought he would not accept his handshake, but he finally did. Jerry took out a business card and gave it to Caiden, “I’m starting my own skin care line for men.” I looked at him with surprise. Here I thought that he was a simple gigolo since he retired from modeling. Caiden took the card and looked back at him. An awkward silence passed between us and Jerry finally said, “I’ll see you two around,” he leaned into my ear that wasn’t the side where Caiden was and whispered, “Your hubby doesn’t like it when you talk to other men.” He leaned back and gave me a wink and went back to his girlfriend, leaving me alone with Caiden. His hand was still around my waist and turned us around, “don’t you want to stomp the divots?”
“It’s halftime already?” I looked at the field. People were entering it and stomping the grass. The activity was the only thing I liked about Polo. I nodded. He let go of my waist and took my hand.
The stomping was more fun than it should be. I had wondered a few feet away from Caiden as I stomped merrily away when I bumped into Ax.
“Sorry.” I said to him.
“You must be enjoying yourself.” He sounded sarcastic. I ignored it.
“I am!” I replied with enthusiasm. I looked up at him. He was glaring at me like he wanted to zap me out of existence with only his eyes.
He frowned. “I don’t get it,” he said.
“What?”
“Why he would still want to be with you after all you’ve done. What did you do to him? Did you blackmail him?”
Ah. We weren’t talking about the stomping then. “Why do you care so much?” I said.
“He’s my friend.”
“If you think I’m doing something to him, you shouldn’t be worried. He has more potential to do harm to me than I to him.”
“Ha! Don’t pretend like you don’t know the power you have over him.”
It was my turn to laugh, “What power. I wouldn’t be in the situation I am in if I had any.”
We had stopped pretending to stomp and were now standing in the middle of the field. His face was contorted with surprise and anger, “Don’t act like you don’t know that he’s been obsessed with you for a long time.”
I laughed even harder. That Caiden was obsessed with me was ludicrous. He hated me. If the obsession was based on hate, then yes, he was obsessed. I had no response but to shake my head at him in disbelief. Caiden, as if he had a sixth sense, came to us then. Ax glowered at me and looked like he was about to say something, but refrained at the last minute. We all went back to our table and watched the rest of the match. I couldn’t see anything. My mind was still on what Ax had said. He was mistaken. He had to be. That was the only thing that made sense. The alternative was too enticing, but unthinkable. It was a slippery slope to fooling myself.
21
I hadn’t noticed that Hailey was no longer by my side until I saw a flash of her dress from the across the field. She was with Ax. Their postures looked serious, like they were talking about some grave news. From my vantage point, it looked like Ax was on the attack and she on the defense. She had a posture I had never seen before. She was withdrawn.
The need to rush over to her overcame me. Where was this protection instinct coming from? I had acted in a similar manner a moment ago. I noticed she was taking longer than I had expected to come back from the bar and thought nothing of it at first until I heard Dana saying, “Is that Gigolo Jerry she’s with?” It was odd that Dana, who had endured a litany of nicknames in high school, was now doling out her own. I looked up to see who she was referring to. Hailey was laughing with a tall blonde man who liked he had dropped from Norse mythology. They looked comfortable together, as if they knew each other intimately. I felt my heart constrict. An unsettling feeling settled in my stomach and an emotion grew out of it I didn’t want to acknowledge.
“What’s with the nickname?” I asked in a voice that was as casual as I could muster.
“That’s because women pay him to have sex with him?” Ax said, “I get it honestly. The man is the definition of hunk.”
Of course. It was a dumb question. The answer was in the nickname for chrissake. Hailey, however, looked lik
e she was hanging on his every word. Whatever he was saying to her, she liked it because she had a wide smile on her face I had never seen before. She looked genuinely happy, and that man was making her happy. I shouldn’t be bothered by it, but here I was having fantasies of breaking the Norse god’s skull.