by Belle Aurora
Yes. Direct contact.
He was barely touching me, his fingertips rubbing soft circles over my lace-covered clit, and just when my pussy clenched tightly, Az asked, “Are you clean, baby?”
What? My eyes shot open.
I blinked at him, and the words were spoken quietly. “I don’t know.” Because I didn’t. It had been months since I was tested.
But Aslan’s tone held no judgment. “Okay.” He took a condom out from the waistband of his boxers and tore it open before taking them off and rolling it on. He made short work of my panties, and then he came to lie between my open legs.
I couldn’t help but query an incredulous, “Missionary?”
“Yeah.” He grinned down at me. “I want to kiss you, baby. Is that okay?”
Was that okay?
“Yeah.” I guess that was okay.
He pulled back a moment, taking his cock into his hand and guiding it to me. The moment I felt the tip of him caress my opening, my lips parted. I didn’t think there was a time in my life when I’d been more curiously turned on than now. Sure, the sex I had before got me off mainly on shock value. But this was the real thing. It wasn’t just sex. Aslan Sadik was showering me in love, and I felt it.
Az pushed, slowly, and my heart thumped in my chest as he worked himself into me, gently thrusting until I was entirely impaled. And then he moved, and I knew I’d never be the same. His eyes on me, he pulled back, driving back into me then starting a rhythm. Before long, I was hot all over, and when he kissed me, I moaned against his lips, kissing him back eagerly.
I felt it coming, but it was different this time. Normally, when I came, it came hard and fast and knocked the sense out of me. This was a slow burn. A climb.
My cunt tightened around him and his brows lowered, mouth parting. “Oh, yeah, baby. My beautiful girl. You gonna come for me, Ling?”
His softly spoken words did something to me. I felt the prickles line my spine, and when my core clamped painfully tight, my stomach clenched and my mouth rounded as my eyes shot open, completely unfocused.
Not a moment later, my entire body pulsed and I fell to pieces, milking his cock as I found my release.
“Fuck, Ling,” Az groaned, kissing my lax lips. “Oh, shit.” He panted, closing his eyes. “Baby, yes.”
While I was still coming down off my high, Az drove into me, his hips thrusting erratically until he buried himself as deeply as he could and held himself there, inside me, as his cock began to throb. He groaned long and low before he fell onto me, holding my tit as he tried to steady his breathing. I could feel his rapid heartbeat through the jugular at his neck, and for whatever reason, it made me smile.
But that smile was short-lived.
Suddenly, the thought of losing this, of losing this man, was crushing. I was overwhelmed with the abrupt anxiety I felt.
Humiliatingly so, my body shook as I began to cry. And when Aslan lifted his head to look at me, I covered my eyes with my hands.
“Baby.” He sounded sweetly concerned. “What’s wrong?”
I needed to tell him.
Removing my hands from my face, I swiped at my cheeks, blinking away tears. My lip quivered when I disclosed a dismal sounding, “I’m in love with you and I don’t want to be.”
Surprisingly, Aslan wasn’t offended by my admission. Instead, he looked overjoyed by it. “About fucking time you conceded.”
“Don’t make fun of me. This is serious.” I glared.
Az looked down at me tenderly. “It is serious.” He pecked my lips affectionately. “I love you too, Ling.”
The words were quiet, and even as I spoke them, I knew they were a useless plea. “Then be with me.”
Choose me.
Pick me.
Come home to me.
But he shook his head. “Baby, you knew what this was and I’m never leaving my wife. She’s a good woman.” At my eye roll, he gently reprimanded me. “Don’t do that. You don’t know her. The shit she’s had my back on, the shit she’s stuck with me through, I owe her that much.” He searched my face. “She has my name, but it’s you, Ling. Everything else goes to you. I promise, baby.” He watched me carefully, as he asked, “Can you deal with that?”
A short while passed before I responded.
“Yeah,” I lied.
Because if Aslan made love to his wife the way he made love to me, it was no wonder why she adored him.
And I hated her.
Chapter Nineteen
Lexi
It was Saturday, and although Molly usually took A.J. out with her in the morning, giving me the time to go for my weekend jog, I told her she could have the day off. I needed to buy my little monster some new clothes. My son seemed to have shot up overnight and all of his pants were starting to look like clam diggers.
He sat at the breakfast table, eating cereal, and when I told him we were going shopping, he immediately asked, “Can Daddy come too?”
I hesitated only a moment, making sure to keep my smile wide, then answered, “I don’t think so, honey. He’s probably busy today.”
Truth was, I had no idea what Twitch was doing today. I just wanted a day with my son, uninterrupted and alone.
After I got A.J. ready for the day, making sure to take his little backpack filled with snacks and a bottle of water, we stepped outside.
“Hi, Daddy!” A.J waved enthusiastically, calling out to Twitch, who just happened to be walking back into his house.
I sighed, then whispered under my breath, “You’re always there when I don’t want you to be, you sly fucker.” It was like he knew every time our front door opened. I wouldn’t put it past him to have put sensors on the damn door.
My brow furrowed.
I would definitely be checking the door for sensors when we came home.
Twitch, dressed in fitted blue jeans that encased his long legs, a black tee that made his arms look downright nibble-worthy, and those scuffed Adidas originals, peered out from under the black cap he wore. “Hey, bud. What’s up?”
When A.J. took off running down the drive, my heart stopped beating. It did this because it didn’t look like he was going to stop when he reached the road. I screamed out to him, “A.J, stop!”
At the very same time, Twitch’s face turned panicked and he started running. “Stop!”
A.J. came to a stop just at the street line, and when Twitch reached him, he put a hand to his chest and let out a long exhale. “Jesus, bud.” He panted. “You gave me a fuckin’ heart attack.” Then his face darkened, but he spoke as gently as he could. “We’ve talked about this. You can’t just run across the street. Cars are always coming and going, and sometimes they don’t stop.”
A.J.’s face fell. “I’m sorry.”
My heart was thumping, and the second I could breathe again, I uttered in false calm, “Say goodbye to Daddy, then go sit in the car, honey.”
A.J., knowing not to push his luck, hugged his father, apologizing once again before opening the car door, then shutting it behind him. As soon as I knew he couldn’t hear what we were saying, I leaned into Twitch, and whisper-hissed, “I never had an issue with those kinds of things until you came along. In the time you’ve been back, my son has been so goddamn reckless, and it makes me ill.” When his jaw tightened, I sighed and asked the delicate question I’d been meaning to. “Have you thought about moving somewhere else?” Twitch’s brow knitted, and I explained, “I think it would be better if you weren’t so close. That way, he’d know he couldn’t see you whenever the impulse strikes.”
But his face turned stoic. “I’m not going anywhere. I like it here. I want to be close to him.” He made a valid point and I hated him for it. “Ask yourself what happens if I move and he decides to come looking for me? He walks farther away from here, crosses wider roads, and I’m not going to be there to step in when needed.” At my thin-lipped silence, he looked at my outfit. “Aren’t you supposed to be jogging?”
My eyes widened. “Are you still fo
llowing me?”
His words were quiet, annoyed. “I’d follow you anywhere.”
My heart stuttered for a different reason then.
“Whatever,” I muttered, shaking my head. “I need to go.”
But Twitch followed. “Where are you going?”
“To the mall,” I uttered, stepping into the car and closing the door behind me but lowering the window.
That was when my dear child called out, “Mummy said you’re too busy to come with us.”
Ah! Goddamn it. Mothertrucker.
And Twitch just looked at me knowingly. “Oh, she did, did she?” I lowered my eyes because I knew what was coming. “Well, as it turns out, I’m free as a bird today.”
Yep. That was coming.
“Yes!” A.J. yelled, and I uttered a completely deadpan, “Oh, yay, so exciting.”
Twitch walked around the car and opened the passenger door, sliding in beside me and doing his belt up before twisting back to his son. “We’re gonna have a great day.” Then he looked at me, daring me to say something. “A family day.” When I glared at him, his lip lifted in the corner and he took off his cap, running a hand through his hair, which was now long enough to curl behind his ears. It didn’t look bad. On the contrary, I didn’t think Twitch could look bad, even if he tried. It just wasn’t what I remembered. “What?” he asked at my obvious frustration. “Apparently, some people think I need a haircut, so I need to go to the mall anyways.”
I drove without saying a word because all the words I wanted to say were too rude to say in front of my five-year-old. Instead, I stayed silent, and when we got to the mall, we all filed out of the car. Twitch took A.J.’s hand like it was the most natural thing in the world, and he walked by my side. The moment we stepped through the doors, Twitch put his arm around me.
When I frowned at him, attempting to shrug him off, he tugged me deeper into his side, held me tightly, and spoke directly into my ear, his breath warming my skin. “Fight me. I dare you, baby.”
That sounded like a threat.
A delicious threat.
I tried to ignore the way it felt to have his arm around me. It had been so long that I thought I’d imagined the way it made me feel. Unfortunately, I hadn’t.
He smelled good.
Ugh.
Why did he have to smell so good?
Asshole.
Breathing in deeply, I held his scent in my lungs for as long as I could before speaking through my exhale. “Okay, first stop, the barber.” I peered around Twitch and spoke to A.J. “You want to get a haircut too, honey?”
A.J. looked from me to his father, and Twitch gazed down at him, smiling. “Up to you, little dude.”
“Yes, please.” I would never get over how sweet his little voice was.
We walked into the first barber we saw, and while I was helping seat A.J., I heard one of the barbers ask Twitch what he wanted. I almost laughed when he responded, “I don’t fuckin’ know, man. Something neat, I guess. What’s trending?”
Before I thought about what I was doing, I told the barber, “Give him a mid fade, clean up the sides, and leave the top a little longer.” I tilted my head in thought. “Don’t shave him clean. Just a trim and tidy. He’s going to need some products to take home too.”
When the barber looked down at Twitch in confirmation, his eyes crinkled in the corners and he held up his hands. “She’s the boss. Happy wife, happy life.”
My stomach clenched and my heart warmed.
Stop it, heart.
I did not like how it felt to have Twitch call me his wife.
My body was a freaking traitor.
Another barber came to introduce himself to A.J., shaking his hand. “So, you want what your dad’s having?”
Of course they knew Twitch was his father. Our son was an exact replica of the man seated beside him. Twitch looked pleased at being referred to as A.J.’s dad. He wore his pride openly.
A.J. nodded happily and my heart panged. Anything to be like his dad. The barber gently grabbed A.J.’s chin. “Oh, yeah, look at all that fuzz.” He eyed my son. “When’s the last time you shaved, boy?”
A.J. giggled hysterically. “Never.”
“Never,” repeated the barber, solemnly. “Well, there’s your problem. That’s why you’re such a mess.” The barber spun A.J.’s chair around a couple times, and I couldn’t help but laugh along with him as he held onto the sides for dear life. “Hey, Momma,” the barber uttered. “How about we give him a nice clean shave?”
My brow furrowed, but I continued to smile. “Huh?”
The barber leaned in and spoke quietly. “It’s just a little fun. We don’t actually put a blade in the razor.”
Oh. That was so cute. A.J. would love that.
I looked down at my son, my eyes full of mirth. “Yeah, why not? He is starting to look untidy.”
A.J.’s eyes widened in delight, and I had to cover my mouth to stop myself from laughing out loud. When I saw Twitch watching me closely, my brows rose in silent question.
His eyes continued to roam me, and when he finally settled back on my face, he blew me a kiss and I scoffed. He was laying it on so thick I couldn’t even stand to walk through the sludge.
I would never admit it, but I liked this playful side of him. It was a side I rarely saw an age ago, but then again, we were both different people back then. Lord knows I was not the same person I was five years ago. Hell, I wasn’t the same person I was yesterday.
After both of my men looked fresh and—
Whoa. What?
My heart jolted.
Where did that come from?
My chest ached at how easy it was to refer to Twitch as mine.
It hurt on so many levels because a man like Twitch was so wild he would never be caged. Not by me, not by anyone.
As we walked out of the barber shop, Twitch took A.J.’s hand and moved to reach for me, but I pulled away, needing the space. I felt his eyes on me as I wrapped my arms around myself and walked to the side on my own. Reading me well enough, he gave me the distance I craved.
We walked on in silence until the little voice called to me, “Mummy.” A.J. held his legs together tightly and made a face of discomfort. “I need to go.”
When I stepped toward him, Twitch stopped me with, “I’ll take him.”
Before I could say a word, Twitch walked our son to the mall’s restroom. It wasn’t long before they both walked out of the bathroom, and while Twitch looked somewhat red in the face, A.J. peered up at his father wearing an expression of pure distress. “But is it okay?”
My brow lowered.
What was going on?
Twitch put a gentle hand over A.J.’s mouth and spoke quietly. “It’s fine, kid. We’ll talk about it later, okay?”
Okay. What the hell was happening here?
“Mummy, can I go on the ride?” pleaded A.J., and I fished out a coin, watching him rush over to the kiddie ride in the center of the mall. The moment he was out of hearing range, I asked quietly, “What happened?”
Twitch looked mortified. “I think we might have a situation here.”
He looked so distressed that my panic grew, and when he started to explain, I listened intently. “So he uses the urinal, right, and I need to piss too.” He lowered his voice. “So I whip it out and start to go and...” He closed his eyes, and whispered, “He looks over and sees it, right?”
My son had a penis. He knew what a penis was. What was the issue here?
“Okay,” I drawled.
But Twitch looks at me meaningfully. “He sees it, Lex.” When I didn’t catch on, he spoke slowly. “The piercing, baby.”
Recognition dawned on my face. “You still have that?”
He ignored my question. “I mean, he looks at it, then looks at me, and he asks what happened.”
“What did you tell him?”
“The first thing that came to mind.” His brow lowered. “I told him it was an accident.”
I
narrowed my eyes at him. “You told him it was an accident?” My mouth parted slightly. “Why would you say that?”
“I panicked,” he hissed. “Give me a fuckin’ break.” He scowled. “What’s he doin’ looking at other men’s junk anyway? You gotta talk to him about keepin’ his eyes to himself.”
Excuse me?
“He’s your son too, and he’s never been into the men’s room before. He usually comes into the ladies’ with me. I’m guessing he was just curious. He doesn’t know men’s room etiquette, and you want to be a daddy, Twitch, so you talk to him about it.” I folded my arms across my chest and stared at him. “That’s what being a parent is, Tony. It’s answering questions. Uncomfortable questions.” At his sheer discomposure, a bubble of amusement shot up my throat and I laughed. “I can’t believe you told him it was an accident.” My laughter grew. “What were you thinking? He’s probably wondering how he’s going to spend his life avoiding such an accident.” I could barely hold myself up as I continued to chuckle. “Oh my God. He’s going to have some questions for you, Daddy. I hope you’re ready to answer them.”
He watched me laugh a long while before his lip twitched. The word was spoken low and there wasn’t a hint of malice in it. “Bitch.”
The hilarity started all over again, and when A.J. returned from his ride, I finally managed to calm myself down enough to take him into a clothing store. After the men’s room incident, things seemed lighter, and I even sent Twitch a few small smiles of silent support. He was going to need it for the talk that was to come.
After I picked out some new clothes for A.J., we roamed the store and I looked for a new blouse for myself. However, every one I picked up got an unimpressed sound made by the grown-ass man trailing behind me.
“What?” I asked, holding up the simple white blouse. “It’s nice.”
“Yeah,” Twitch uttered. “It’s nice. If you’re a spinster living alone with your forty cats.”
“I happen to like cats,” I muttered, putting the sensible blouse back.