Messy Love

by Stephanie Witter

  “My best friend’s older sister has a boyfriend. They’ve been together fo-re-ver.’’

  “Don’t tell me you already talk about boys,’’ Wyatt asked, disgust in his voice that made me laugh wholeheartedly, earning me a glare from him.

  “Wyatt,’’ admonished Lydia gently and shook her head. He nodded and sighed, but not before one last cringe for his sister who giggled in return.

  Her attention went back to me.

  “Why do you only have tattoos of birds? My brother has many different things.’’ She grabbed one of Wyatt’s forearms, and she pointed at the different designs. He let her do her thing without saying a word. The soft smile on his face melted me.

  “The birds have a signification for me,’’ I said and bit my lip at what would come next. I rarely, if ever, talked about the reason behind my tattoos, but somehow Ava’s genuine interest in me warmed my heart and made me want to bond with her. Also, in a very odd way, I wanted Wyatt to know more about me, see beyond the woman he fucked and wanted to fuck. I wanted him to see me not only as a woman who threatened his life’s order but as a woman, a person who also went through a lot. “When I was fifteen my adoptive parents and I were in a horrible car accident.’’ Lydia’s gasp caught my attention, but I didn’t linger on her stricken face or Danny’s concern. Instead, I risked a glance at Wyatt and saw him eating my words, so intent on not missing a single thing he leaned forward, his eyes calling out to me, but I didn’t let him trap me in his presence. I stared back at Ava’s innocent eyes and let them capture my softened heart. “My parents got out with a broken arm and a few bruised ribs, but I was severely hurt.’’ I pointed at the small birds tattooed inside my wrist. “These birds are for the broken wrist I got. I have a small flock on my right side over my ribs for each broken rib, another bird inside my right knee for my injured knee and one on my right ankle for my broken ankle.’’

  Her mouth dropped open, and silence greeted my words, but it was soon broken by Wyatt who cleared his throat to get my attention.

  Once our eyes found each other, he had me riveted. “What about the three birds behind your ear?’’

  “I was in a coma for two months, and my skull was fractured. I was very lucky to wake up and be alive, but it took me months of rehab to learn back everything from walking to using my hands like I used to. The coma did a number on my body.’’

  “Oh my God,’’ Lydia whispered.

  I still stared at Wyatt, even when Danny muttered something or when Ava blabbered. The way he looked at me, deeply looked, did something to my very core. This time, he saw beyond the happy woman who had never had a trouble in her life as he had thought. He saw me, and that made me drop my eyes to focus on Ava again while Lydia and Danny excused themselves. Soon after, Wyatt followed them.

  “Where are they?’’ Ava asked, stopping in the middle of telling me about how she stopped a bully from harassing a girl at school the other day.

  “I think they’re in the kitchen. They probably want to give us time to get to know each other better.’’

  “Oh, yeah. I mean yes.’’ She pushed away from her face some of her hair that kept on falling in her eyes. “I’m glad you came here to meet me.’’

  “I’m glad too.’’ I smiled at her and the more I stared, the more I saw a bit of myself at her age in the shape of her face and her little nose, both things I got from Lydia too. “It must be weird for you.’’

  “A little. I mean, before I thought I only had one brother, but now I know I have him and an older sister. That’s cool. And Wyatt likes you, so it means that you’re great.’’

  I choked on the iced tea and put down the glass before I messed up and let drops fall on the rug. “Wyatt likes me?’’

  “Yeah.’’ She nodded excitedly. “It’s obvious. That’s great if you are friends.’’

  “Yeah,’’ I answered distractedly right when Wyatt walked in followed by Lydia and Danny. “That’s great.’’

  “What’s great?’’ Danny asked jovially.

  “That Wyatt and Marissa are friends,’’ Ava answered immediately. Wyatt’s head whipped to me, and I offered him a tight smile that made him smirk in a dark way that told me that friendship was nowhere in this realm, which reflected my thoughts perfectly.

  “Friends?’’ Lydia asked nobody, a frown on her face as Danny’s eyes went back and forth between his son and me.

  “Hm, well,’’ I stuttered and rubbed at the birds behind my ear.

  “She’s doing it!’’ Ava blurted and pointed at me. Her little face turned to Wyatt who cringed and blushed. I blinked. “She is touching her tattoo, just like you said she does when nervous or uncomfortable.’’ She dropped her hand and stared at me with questions in her eyes. She was a bottomless well of questions. “Which are you, uncomfortable or nervous?’’

  “That’s enough for one day, Ava.’’ Denny stepped in, and I thanked him with my eyes for his intervention. I grabbed my phone from my purse and checked the time as Ava started to complain.

  “I’m sorry, Ava, but it’s getting late. I start early tomorrow at work, and I still have a few things to do before tomorrow.’’

  “Can you come back soon?’’

  I looked around the room, and Ava’s parents didn’t look against the idea. I avoided Wyatt and nodded at Ava who cheered with way too much excitement. I chuckled and let her hug me, returning it with happiness I hadn’t expected to feel. It poured inside of me, filling me full to bursting.

  “Your Mom and brother have my number if you want to call me, okay?’’

  “I will.’’

  I stood up and quickly bid my goodbyes to the others, avoiding Wyatt’s eyes at all cost and started breathing normally again once I was back in my car and on the way out of the neighborhood of Brookhaven.

  ***

  WYATT

  “Ah, damn it,’’ Dad muttered soon after Marissa left when his phone buzzed and we all knew it was from work.

  “Don’t go, Daddy,’’ Ava said with a pout that had stopped being genuine years ago, but we never called her out on it, probably because it was cute as all hell.

  “Sweetie pie,’’ Dad said and knelt next to Ava’s chair at the kitchen island. “You know I have to go. The bad guys never stop.’’

  She nodded and hugged him before standing up. “They suck.’’

  “They do,’’ he approved and ruffled her hair like I did and laughed when she started to run her fingers through her messy strands to put some order back. Dad quickly kissed Mom and then patted my shoulder before he left. Ava announced that she wanted to go to her room to watch some shit dance movie and left.

  No sooner were we alone in the kitchen that my mom went where I didn’t want her to.

  “So, you and Marissa are friends now?’’

  “Better telling that to Ava than saying I acted up with her half-sister.’’

  She nodded and kept on drying the glasses, passing them to the last for me to put them away in the cupboard. “You two didn’t look like you were fighting.’’

  “We agreed on a truce.’’

  “Uh, huh.’’

  “What?’’ I asked through gritted teeth, feeling my walls getting back up at once.

  “Nothing.’’ She sighed then and dropped her damp dishcloth on the counter. “It wouldn’t be a bad thing to be friends with her if that’s what you wanted. You don't have to keep other people at arms’ length.’’

  “Let’s drop it, okay.’’ Because I can’t tell you that I know your daughter very intimately and that I want to know her even better. A. Lot. Better.

  Her eyes burned into the side of my face as I went to put away the clean dishes from the machine.

  WYATT

  I had never chased a woman, and yet I found myself at her door, knocking and then waiting for Marissa to open, the very day after she met Ava. And I didn’t feel any shame about it, just fucking anticipation.

  Was it normal to be even more eager to see her now that I knew how cl
ose she came to dying? My mom came so close to never knowing her biological daughter, and it made things seem different now. I wanted badly to convince her to let me in for one thing, even if we both knew I was bad news.

  The door opened, and Marissa stared at me without a word. Her violet-blue eyes, big and soft tugged at me. With one of her looks, she could bring me to my knees. It would be so damn easy, and she didn’t know it.

  I wasn’t the one with the power in all of this between us. She had all the power, and that made me more insecure than I liked to display.

  Then, I took her all in, starting with her bare feet and her toes painted in black, and I made my way up the old jeans with holes at her thighs, then up to an old t-shirt that looked too big on her. And I stopped at her neck where I observed her pulsing point. Her heart beat hard and fast under her fair skin, so smooth I was sure my memory from that night wasn’t doing her justice.

  “Let me in, Marissa,’’ I grunted, voice tight as my balls started to ache with the constant need I felt for her. Next stop would be a full hard on pushing against my jeans, and I’d be a goner. What the hell was I getting myself into? And her for that matter?

  “You make this hard.’’

  “Nah, sweet thing,’’ I said and leaned against the doorframe, closer to her until my face was lined up to hers. Just a bit more and our lips would touch. Torture. It was pure torture of the best kind, the kind that made adrenaline surge through my system, made my limbs burn and tingle at once, the kind that made my screwed up heart soar like it weighed nothing in my chest. “You make me hard, that’s what it is. And I know I make you wet.’’

  She gasped, and her hand that held onto the door tightened. “I’m going to regret it.’’

  I cupped her face and grew more serious when sadness appeared in her incredible eyes. “I don’t want to hurt you.’’

  “This time, you mean,’’ she whispered back and then let me in her apartment, her eyes wary and yet full of lust. Her breathing was already getting faster. “I knew I wouldn’t resist if you came back again.’’

  Her words shredded what was left of my control and traded it for pure animalistic lust, desperate and so damn consuming it burned me up from the inside out.

  I kicked the door closed hard enough that it made a crashing sound that barely reached my ears through the buzzing sound in them from the blood beating my temples and heading south for my growing cock. I growled and didn’t give Marissa time to process anything. I grabbed her face in my hands and slanted my mouth on hers, kissing her with bruising force, kissing her with all the pent-up lust I felt, the lust that had been accumulating over the past few weeks.

  Her answering moan in my mouth had me shaking. Her small hands grasped at my t-shirt, tugging it, balling it as our tongues dueled and caressed, a perfect reflection of what our relationship had been from day one. And then, I bit down on her lower lip and slipped a hand in her hair, grabbing a fistful of silky strands and tugged softly, angling her face up and opening her neck to my greedy mouth.

  Her skin was smoother than I remembered. She tasted even better.

  I placed opened mouth kisses, nibbled on that perfect flesh and listened to her gasp, her quiet moans as she whispered ‘yes.’ That was music to my fucking ears and strokes to my hardening cock.

  Her hands slid down my back and settled on my ass, pushing me into her as she hiked one of her legs up to my hip. Instantly, I closed my hand around her thigh and squeezed as I pushed against her pussy. I groaned and kissed her mouth again, quick and dirty before I looked at her face.

  She was perfection made of lust and sex. Her face, flushed, was angled toward me. Her mouth, agape, with bruised lips that shone from our kisses had me picturing her sucking my cock so damn deep she’d choke on me. Her eyes tightly closed made me want to get her off to see that look multiplied ten times. Her forehead, damp with a bead of sweat had me crave making her sweat a lot more until our bodies slid against each other and desperation to come our only concern.

  “Tell me how much you fucking want this,’’ I growled and tugged on her hair until she opened her eyes. They were dilated as if she’s drunk, but I knew what had her intoxicated wasn’t alcohol. It was the same insane lust vibrating here, pushing us together, tearing me apart at the same time. “Tell me.’’

  “I want this enough to silence the alarm blaring inside me,’’ she whispered out of breath, her voice shaking just like her hands on my ass, keeping me against her. I thrust into her, and we both gasped at the sensation. A thrill ran down my spine and went straight to my ball. My cock throbbed harder. “I want this so damn much I’m really close to tearing off your clothes. ‘that enough?’’

  “Enough?’’ I laughed darkly and thrust again and again into her, the hand that wasn’t in her hair now on her ass to press her harder against me. “Fuck, that’s good.’’ I nipped at her lip and then pressed my forehead against hers. “I want you so fucking much I can’t think straight, Marissa. Nothing else matters right now but to come and get you to come. Nothing else matters but to be with you, sweet thing, even if you shouldn’t let me anywhere near you.’’

  “Shut up, Wyatt,’’ she said and leaned up to kiss me again, shutting me up to give her all of my attention on her body.

  I let her explore my mouth until my growl got out and my hands grabbed the hem of Marissa’s shirt on their own accord. It almost took me by surprise when she held her arms up to let me strip her off of that piece of clothing, but I soon got on board when her bare breasts came into view. Her nipples, all flushing pink and hard, drew me in and I didn’t waste another moment.

  My fingers found the taut points, and I toyed with her heavy breasts, watching her face twisting in pleasure and her perfect tits until her head fell back and she moaned louder.

  In no time we were both a tangle of legs and arms and naked bodies on her couch, me on top of her, pushing her legs open while my eyes drank in all that bared flesh laid under me. My eyes latched onto her wet pussy, and I made a move to go down on her, but Marissa’s fingers dug into my shoulders to stop me.

  “No, not now. I want you inside me,’’ she begged in a strangled voice, eyelids heavy with need.

  “Yeah?’’ I skimmed a finger between her breast and down to her navel. I traced it around and around a few times and then let that finger draw lazy patterns to her hipbones and down to the small patch of hair leading to her clit. I stopped just when her hips left the couch in search of more contact where she needed it most. “You’ll get me inside you, but first I want my fingers and tongue to get their fill. I want you so damn desperate you scream at me to fuck you. I want you so damn ready to get fucked that you drench my face.’’

  I didn’t give her time to process my words thoroughly. I slipped a finger into her wet pussy then a second when I realized how wet she was. Breathing heavily, eyes on the prize, I leaned down and pressed my lips to her hard, throbbing clit. Her hips thrust upward, and as I pushed them down, I added my tongue to the game and began pushing my fingers in and out of her, and get her to moan louder at each thrust.

  My eyes found hers as I ate her and finger-fucked her delicious pussy, getting drunker on her smell and taste as her juices drenched my hand. It was impossible to stay still as I worked her up and her hands went to my face, pushing me harder against her, her fingers tugging on my hair as her voice went louder. Careful not to fall down the couch, I pressed my hard length against her leg and groaned against her. I wouldn’t be able to wait much longer.

  “Wyatt… Wyatt,’’ she moaned out, her voice so strangled I barely recognized her and that gave me another thrill. She was mindless.

  I pulled away but didn’t stop my fingers from getting her higher and higher. “What? What do you want?’’

  “I want to come with you. Now. Please. Please, Wyatt.’’

  Her breasts heaved, hypnotizing me. My mouth watered and my cock leaked more precum against her leg. I nodded and reached for my pants nearby without getting off the couch to g
rab a condom. Shakily, I put the rubber on and faced Marissa again. Her eyes were on my throbbing cock as if it was the most delicious meal she had ever seen.

  “One of these days I’m going to need that mouth of yours wrapped around my cock.’’

  Her answering sexy smile pushed one too many buttons, and I covered her body with mine. A hand around my thick length, I ran my tip against her drenched pussy until she took my balls in her hands and gently massaged them. My loud moan was so damn animalistic I wondered how come she didn’t cower. Instead, it seemed to get her going as she gently squeezed them.

  I snatched her wrist and forced both hands above her head. Then, sweet damn mercy, I thrust into her to the hilt. Her hands closed around the one holding them up, and we moaned in unison. I was fucking loud, but I couldn’t stop myself, nor could I stop the thrusting motion of my hips, the sounds of my balls hitting her as I fucked her harder under the urging of her moans and praising words.

  “So good,’’ she mumbled brokenly, eyes shutting and mouth open with a loud gasp as I hit her just right inside. Her pussy clamped so tight around my cock I almost came just then. Perfection. Sweet torture.

  “Come on, sweet thing,’’ I said through gritted teeth as beads of sweat fell from my forehead to crash on hers. “Tell me what you want.’’

  “Don’t stop. Just don't.’’ She struggled against my hand, but I didn’t let her go. Instead, I thrust into her harder, making her scream and clench around me. Her thighs tightened on my hips and bent higher. “I’m close. Feels so good.’’

  “Feels perfect,’’ I groaned back and sneaked my free hand to her clit. I pressed on it in counterpoint to my thrusts. “That’s right, clench around me. You’re going to make me come so fucking hard, Marissa.’’

  And then, after a few more thrusts she tensed, her whole body tightened and arched upward. Her nails bit into my hand, and her thighs pressed tighter at my sides, but it was nothing compared to the vice her pussy turned into.