by Xavier Neal
“Getting worse by the moment,” he says looking at his cell phone that’s vibrating across his coffee table. “Did you need something? Because now’s not a good time to hang out.”
“I did,” I sheepishly reply. “And I gotta meet Maxx down town in twenty minutes, so I won’t keep you long. I just needed to ask a favor.”
“Great,” he grumbles. “Because I can’t ever get enough of people asking me for those.”
You get the impression someone else has already beat me to the punch regarding favors for the day? Maybe Stuart?
“What do you need?”
“Any chance you could draw up divorce papers for me to look over?”
Suddenly his attention shifts to me completely. “What?” Without waiting for me to answer, he questions, “Are these for someone else?”
“Well—”
“Because last time I checked you and Lex were blissfully happy.”
“Blissfully?”
“You bailed the last three times we invited you to do shit because and I quote ‘climbing out of her isn’t an option today’.”
I laugh to myself.
What? I really like sleeping with her. Is that a crime? She is technically my wife. I should wanna fuck my wife. That’s all I’m saying.
“See. Even now you’re smirking. These are not signs of someone who wants a divorce, Tony.”
“I didn’t say I wanted a divorce.”
Vexed he huffs, “Quit bullshitting with me. What’s goin’ on?”
“It’s just a precaution,” I clear my throat sliding my hands in my pockets. “She’s gonna be hitting the road soon and I just....if things don’t...I feel...” the words struggle to leave me. “Can you just have papers drafted for me? Just so I can look at them and be prepared? So I have an idea of what I’m gonna need to do when the time comes?”
“Don’t you mean if the time comes?”
Shyly I nod.
After a long stare session that leaves me feeling beyond uncomfortable he sighs defeated, “Fine. It’s not my area of expertise but I’ll see what I can do. Shouldn’t be that hard with the way the world gets divorced nowadays. A word of advice?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t do this because you let someone worm their way into your brain, bro. That’s when trouble starts.”
“C.J.—”
“I’m just saying, from experience, trust me. Your relationship with Lex shouldn’t be about what anyone else says or thinks. Just about the two of you. Got it?” I nod. “Alright, I’ll see about those papers.”
“Thanks...” I back away slowly just as Stuart did.
I wanna believe he’s right, but right now I just don’t know if I wanna take the chance at him being wrong. As much as I wanna believe Lex is just as happy as I am and that her career won’t be the reason we’re torn apart, I can’t help but feel I should be preparing.
***
After listening to Lex rock the entire room from our corner booth in the hole in the wall bar, I watch her disappear around back, knowing she’ll make her way over to us as soon as she can.
“You have the dopiest look on your face,” Kellar shakes his head tossing back a swig of water from his bottle.
Do I? Why didn’t you tell me?
“You have it too, Kellar,” Stuart picks at his beer bottle.
“I do not.” Kellar argues quickly.
“Yes you do. So does C.J.”
C.J. grumbles, “No fucking way.”
“Yeah, you too. You all do. Something about being in love does that to you. It’s kind of funny.”
Kellar shrugs it off, “What about you Stuart? Who’ve you been seeing since that one dude?”
“No one,” his eyes briefly flicker to C.J. “Relationships are too complicated.”
“Been there,” C.J. adds.
“Said that.” Kellar nods.
“Living that,” I chuckle and they join in.
Stuart shakes his head as the waiter relocates to us. “Need anything?”
When his eyes shift to Stuart, Stuart wets his lips slowly. “I can think of something...”
The waiter smirks in return and lets his eyes admire Stuart. ”Just one thing?”
“Many things all involving you on your knees...” Stuart’s line has my mouth slightly agape never having heard him be so forward.
I’m not gay, so I might not be the best judge of what’s hot or not, but I don’t think Stuart’s a bad looking dude. He looks perfect for MTV. More importantly, he has a charming yet mischievous smile that I bet gets him in and out of a lot of trouble.
“I have a break coming up...”
“Take it now,” Stuart demands and has a sip of beer.
The waiter toys with his own lip ring before changing his attention to the rest of us, “Do y’all need anything?”
“We’re good,” Logan answers on our behalf.
“Then yeah, I’ll take it now,” the waiter says to Stuart with a wink before heading back to the bar.
“Bro,” C.J. starts to warn him, but Stuart holds a hand in the air.
“Not today.”
“But—”
“Just co-sign.”
He hesitates again but nods. “Fine. But that’s how you got in this shit to begin with. Remember that.”
Before walking off he rolls his eyes and mumbles in return, “With what’s coming, how could I ever forget?”
“How long until he comes to his senses about Luke?” Logan tosses into the conversation.
“Leave it alone, Kellar,” C.J. insists raising his beer.
“Speaking of Luke. Why doesn’t he ever come to boys’ night out with us?” I ask toying with the label on my beer, my eyes looking around for my wife.
What? She’s still mine for now. And she should’ve been over here by now.
“Because it’s boys’ night and Luke prefers to do things that are clean and less noisy,” Kellar describes. C.J. starts laughing and he points his water bottle at him, “I don’t know why you’re laughing. That’s gonna be your brother-in-law someday.”
“Wait.” I interrupt. “He used to come to TKO all the time—”
“When I was fighting,” Kellar reminds me. “And only then. He always felt like if something happened to me while I was there no one would be able to take care of me like him. He’s got that whole mother bear syndrome thing, which I guess works since Erin doesn’t whatsoever.”
“Hey,” C.J. tries to stand up for his girl. “She’s got...well she’s...”
“Dude. Erin’s not the maternal type.” I agree.
“Drop it,” C.J. seems irritated now.
Is everyone fucking touchy tonight?
Wondering where my own girl is I start looking around the crowd when my eyes finally find her gorgeous red hair that’s braided to the side. A crooked smirk crosses my face until I see a guy run his hand down her side giving her leather skirt covered ass a good squeeze. Instead of pushing him away she giggles at him and moves closer.
“Are you even listening to me?” Kellar nudges me in my side. “Have you just taken a vow to never fucking listen to me?”
“What’s up?” C.J. asks over the music.
I toss my head to where the guy looks like he’s now suggesting they get out of here.
Fuck. That.
“And he thinks he wants a divorce,” C.J. mumbles from somewhere behind me as I storm through the crowd towards her.
Within a matter of seconds, I’ve reached them and shoved the dude off of her. “Don’t, fucking touch my wife.”
“Did you just push me, dick?” the guy in the beanie counters.
Lex tries to interject, “We were just talking—”
“To hell you were!” I yell.
The guy takes a step towards me, “You looking to get your ass kicked?”
I’m not a fighter at all, but for Lex. For Lex I’ll rip this prick apart.
“I wouldn’t,” Kellar’s voice chimes in from over my shoulder.
The
guy goes to say something, but the expression on his face changes.
Well Kellar isn’t just a walking, talking fitness model looking asshole. He could knock out most people with just his thumb.
“You’re Unbreakable,” the dipshit stutters.
“Yup.” Kellar shrugs. “And I suggest as someone who’s gone up against Tony, you don’t wanna fuck with him.”
He’s never actually gone up against me. Hell if he had there’s no doubt I’d lose, but I’d at least fucking try. I’m not that big of a pussy.
“S-S-Sorry dude,” he apologizes to me and slips back into the crowd.
Once he’s out of ear shot Kellar leans over. “It’s never gonna happen but if it did, you know you’d be knocked out right?”
One moment of kindness is all he has in him.
He gives me a strong pat on the back before him and C.J. head back the direction they came as I yank Lex towards the back past security who recognizes her, so he doesn’t stop us.
When we’re alone in the rear hallway, she rests her back against the wall looking detached. “What the fuck was that Lex?”
“We were just talking.”
“That looked like more than talking to me.”
“He was just looking to have a little fun,” she mumbles like it’s no big deal.
“With his hands on your ass?” Her response is a shrug and something inside me explodes. “Fuck that! You’re my goddamn wife! The only hands that belong on your ass are mine!”
“Then get over here and put them on it,” she counters in a sultry voice forcing my dick to forget what my brain was just prepared to keep fighting about.
Roughly I shove her into the wall and yank up her leather skirt my teeth biting the side of her neck hard. Tipsy with resentment forces my tongue to lash across her skin. On a gasp she spreads her legs wider to accommodate my hand that’s harshly rubbing her clit on the inside of her panties. When my other hand finally lets my cock free from my jeans I shove myself inside ripping her apart.
“Oh god,” her head hits the wall as I thrust my dick harder than before.
“No,” I lift her up so her legs are wrapped around me. “My name. Now.”
“Tony,” she whimpers as my assault on her pussy continues. It’s coating my cock with heavenly squeezes unsure if it wants to invite me further in or evict me. Relentlessly I pump in and out of her, my name screamed louder with every shove.
She needs to know this can never happen again. That the ache between her legs can only come from one person. Should only come from one fucking person. Me.
“Tony, I’m gonna come.”
“Look. At. Me,” I demand.
Lex’s eyes pop open the moment she comes, her jaw trembling as her screams get lost in the music from the bar. Unsure that she’s learned her lesson I don’t slow down my attack on her pussy, in a heavy need for another orgasm to come to me. To let me write my name all over it. Within a few more pushes she’s coming again, this time louder, violently so.
“Tony!” she shrieks.
Dropping my lips to her ear as I come I let out a savage moan before huffing, “Just. Mine.”
Her body falls loosely against me. “Just yours, Tony.”
Not a word you. I’m not looking for an ‘I told you so’ moment.
Chapter 15
Lex
“Come on,” I whine rolling over onto my side propping my face up in my hand. “You know the stories behind mine.”
“True. The night time design you have on your back you got in Washington after the first time you went camping. The little ducks between your shoulder blades for your siblings...”
“Exactly,” I cut him off from his intimate knowledge of my body. “Now. Tell me why you’re the boy with the Tardis tattoo.”
Tony laughs and rolls over to mimic my pose.
You like that? I thought it was clever.
“Fine. I was eighteen. My freshman year in college. It was almost Christmas and my brother had been giving me shit about never doing anything adventurous, so a buddy of mine and me went and got tattoos.”
“And the Doctor’s little blue box on your calf would show the world how wrong he was?” I giggle with a shake of my head.
“It’s better than the twenty sided dice my friend got.”
“You’re such a nerd.”
“I’ll show you a nerd.” Tony begins to tickle me until I’m giggling to the point it’s hard to breathe. His fingers stop and push a strand of hair behind my ear. “You have the most beautiful laugh.”
Wrapping my arms around his neck I pull him down for a soft kiss. After it I sigh, “Tell me something no one else knows about you.”
Intrigued he lays back down beside me, propped up on his hand like he was before. “Okay. If you do the same.”
“Deal.”
“I mean something real, not like why you think mustard belongs on everything.”
“It’s a damn good condiment.”
“Not on Chinese food, baby.”
“Shut up.” I playfully punch him.
“So we’re clear?”
“Yes Doctor Dufus.”
“You go first then.”
“You don’t think I’ll come through?” I fake scoff at him. When he grins at me I sigh and roll back over to the way I was. “Fine. Every Christmas, I send a large donation to the church I grew up singing in.”
“Really?” Tony looks perplexed.
“Really.”
“Even after your father kicked you out like he did?”
I nod slowly. “While he’s an asshole that was the breeding ground for my love of music. Regardless of what he did to me, that’s a fact that will never change. I started singing in the choir at four. There’s always been something about singing in front of people that feeds a need inside of me. Something deep in there that nothing else ever can. So whether I’m singing in front of hundreds, thousands, millions or even just you...as long as my voice is being heard, that monster is being fed.”
“You can sing to me any time,” Tony smiles again, this time his finger running down my cheek. “You have the voice of an angel.” The compliment makes me smile with him. “And the body of vixen.”
We start laughing together.
You can laugh too. By this point you know it’s true. Besides you’re family right?
“Your turn,” I insist rolling over onto my stomach, my naked body snuggling a little more under our sheets. “And make it a good one.”
Something inside of him forces his body all the way up. Tony pulls his legs to his chest as his head hits the back of the headboard. Turning towards me he says, “My freshman year in college I was in an advanced computer class with Clarissa.”
“Your brother’s fiancé?”
“Yeah.”
Not sure I like where the story is going I slightly shift. “Okay.”
“I had a huge crush on her.”
“Really?”
“She was a little less bitchy.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“Just trust me on that.” I roll my eyes. “Anyway it just so happened that she was failing miserably. I offered to tutor her. What better way to get a girl to fall in love with you than to help her pass her classes right? I spent half the semester tutoring her after hours and when the final came I knew she wouldn’t be ready for the exam. So once I was pretty sure grades had been posted, I hacked into the program and changed it so she would pass. Just barely.”
My jaw drops. “You did that for her?”
He shrugs. “I really liked her. When no one was around she was different. She told me things about how her family treated her that...I don’t know...I just figured she hadn’t shared with anyone else.”
I knew she was hiding something.
“Everyone was packing to get ready for summer, so I figured I had just missed seeing her. Then she stopped answering my texts. And the next time I saw her and said hi, she acted as if she had no idea who I was.”
“Wh
at a bitch!”
Tony smirks.
Crap that was meant for you. But what a bitch right? Just when I thought I couldn’t like her any less.
“I left it alone. Lesson learned. I’m an idiot. Two years later when I’m graduating early from college who does my brother bring to my graduation dinner as his girlfriend?” My eyebrows shoot up. “Yup. And she continued acting like she had no idea who I was. However, later, when we were alone waiting for our cars to be brought around by valet, she demanded that I never speak a word about us to anyone. She said she really loved my brother and if he knew that we had once been close like we were, it could destroy everything they had. I don’t know why. It wasn’t like we had screwed or even kissed but...I agreed. I mean, I hate my brother, but I’d never hurt him on purpose. So I haven’t said a word. Until now.”
“Your secret’s safe with me,” I run my hand up his calf. “But for the record?”
“Yeah?”
“I hate that woman.”
With a warm smile he nods. “Me too.”
His phone starts vibrating on his bed side. Tony grabs it and checks the message. With a deflated sigh he mumbles, “Shit.”
“What?” I curiously try to peek at the message.
“Its game night,” he answers.
“You and the gang do game night?”
“No,” he quickly shakes his head. “And we’re not like the Scooby Doo cartoon. We’re not a gang.”
Hiding a snicker I surrender, “My mistake.”
“But no. Not with them. We’ve tried board games, but it never ends well. Nobody in the Hart family loses well. This is a side thing I do...um...by myself a couple times a month.”
Please tell me your curiosity is as piqued as mine is.
“Tony...”
In another groan he confesses, “Fine. Twice a month I head over to the comic book shop and play a late night game of Dungeons and Dragons.”
Laughter erupts from me without hesitation forcing me to bury my face in the sheets.
Oh my gosh! Please tell me you’re laughing with me!
After several attempts to try to catch my breath I lift my face up. “You’re joking.”
With a glare he says, “You’re lucky your accent is cute.”