by S. K. Lessly
Look, it wasn’t lost on me that he and I were coming to this crossroad. And it wasn’t lost on me that he was right about me denying what I was feeling. I said it before that I could feel the shift in our relationship. I just thought I could handle it. I didn’t think he had this much control over me. I didn’t realize just how much I…
I shook my head and buried that last thought. Don’t you dare think it much less say the evil four-letter word! You have to think about Shane and not your selfish need to keep what you can’t have. You can’t…
“Give me two weeks,” Shane said, interrupting my thoughts.
“What?!”
Shane dropped his hands from the sides of my face and rested them on my hips. He closed the distance between us until I felt his heart beating through his chest.
“Give me two weeks to convince you that you were made for me. That you will never belong to anyone else but me.”
I laughed. Hell, I had to. If I didn’t, I would have jumped in his arms, stuck my tongue down his throat, and confessed my undying love for him.
“Shane, you’re crazy do you know that?”
“Yeah, so I’ve been told. Stop trying to change the subject. Are you going to give me two weeks or what?”
I shook my head and moved from his grasp. He let me walk away but I knew I wasn’t going to get far before he was on me again. I turned my back to him and faced his bed and the patio door to his bedroom.
This dude is crazy! Isn’t he?
“What are you afraid of, Grace?”
I turned and faced him, folding my arms as I did so. “I’m not afraid of anything, Shane.”
Shane walked toward me. “Good, then why are you hesitating? What do you have to lose?”
Everything, I said to myself but kept my gaze on him.
We looked deeply into each other’s eyes, both trying to read the other. I wasn’t sure if Shane could tell what I was thinking. For me, I couldn’t read shit. His insufferable ass was, as usual, a brick wall.
“Shane,” I said finally. “I don’t see why—”
“Grace,” Shane interrupted, “It’s clear you’re hesitant to be with me for some unknown reason. I’m not sure what that reason is. Hell, I bet you don’t either, but whatever it is, it doesn’t matter. There’s nothing you could say that would change the way I feel about you. I know you and I are made for each other. If you need convincing of that fact, no problem. I love a challenge. But you have to let that fierce guard of yours down. Stop hiding from me and let me show you what it’s like to truly be with someone that is good for you. Someone that knows you better than you know yourself.”
“And what’s supposed to happen at the end of the two weeks?” I asked him.
Shane, as I knew he would, remained quiet. He just studied me intently without uttering a word.
I waited a beat to see if he would answer me, but he remained stoic and still. He just looked at me expectantly as if he has already laid his cards on the table and he was waiting for me to either place my bet or fold. I was never the type to fold. I didn’t care if the stakes were against me. I hated to lose.
I shifted my weight to the side and allowed a small smirk to appear on my face. “What’s in it for me, Cooper? You can’t be the only one to reap the benefits here. What happens at the end if after the two weeks are up and you haven’t convinced me?”
Shane shrugged then said, “Then you win and the same rules as before applies. I’ll leave you alone.”
My eyebrow rose in indignation. “Yeah right.”
Shane mirrored my stance and dropped his chin to his chest. He observed me through his dark lashes. “I’m serious. If you haven’t changed your mind about us, then you and I will walk away from this. No hard feelings, no love lost. But during these two weeks, you have to give me every part of you. You can’t be your stubborn self and try to sabotage this. If we’re not meant to be together, shit will fall on its own. Fate won’t need help destroying what we have. But if at the end of the two weeks, things are different…” Shane moved closer to me and I backed up until I felt his bed against the back of my legs. Shane kept coming to me and once he was close, he pushed me down onto his bed. I crabbed walked backwards until my back met his headboard, but Shane grabbed me by my ankles and yanked me down until I was flat on my back.
I squealed in surprise at the way he was manhandling me and grinned. I loved it when he got rough and commanding.
“If things are different between us,” he began as he crawled over my body. “You will stop making me chase you. You will give me all of you, understand?”
I wrapped my legs around his waist and laced my fingers through his hair.
“You have no idea what you’re getting into.” I warned softly, hidden meaning behind every word.
Shane reached between our bodies and pushed two fingers inside me. I cried out in surprise, all breathy and horny. A moan softly fell from my lips and my body instinctively curled into his.
“I know exactly what I’m getting into,” Shane replied inches from my ear. “And I’m still here. Do we have a deal?”
He began to slowly move his fingers in and out of me while his eyes held me captive.
I bit my bottom lip to stop myself from chucking it all and telling him my deepest and darkest secrets. I wasn’t ready for that yet. But surprisingly, I wasn’t afraid of these next two weeks. I mean, I had already fallen for him. What more could happen between us?
“We have a deal,” I replied finally, pulled his face to mine by his hair and brought my eager, pizza and beer tasting lips to his. I kissed him deeply and felt the head of his cock at my entrance before he slowly eased into me.
That night we gave into each other, mind, body and soul, without uttering a single word. Well, not a single meaningful word. I was a little nervous about the stipulations of our new agreement. Not scared, just… apprehensive.
We were playing with fire. And I should have just told Shane the real reason why I was hesitant about us. I just knew that the second I did, he’d tell me he didn’t care and that he still wanted me anyway. And I had no doubt that things would be okay for a while until he truly realized what it meant to love Grace Michelle King. Once that bit of reality bit him in the ass, I would be the one left with a broken heart.
2
Josh
I said it before and I’ll say it again. My wife is hiding something from me.
If I wasn’t convinced of that shit last week, I was now.
I had suspected Kenya was holding something back from me for a while now. It was in her eyes, how she avoided looking directly into mine when I talked to her, when we made love. It was in her body language, how unyielding she was to my touch.
I had approached her about my suspicion multiple times. She denied keeping things from me but I knew my Sweets. Something was wrong, I could smell it. Whatever it was, she was trying to figure out a way to tell me without pissing me off.
I couldn’t fathom what that could be. Our marriage was fine, great even and so was our connection both in the bedroom and out of it. I hadn’t been on any dangerous missions outside of the U.S. since around the birth of our son. And work, besides that night with Simon, had been pretty quiet for our standards anyway.
The shit was bothering me though. She and I had that kind of relationship where we could talk about anything and everything. We didn’t hold back from each other. So, you could imagine how pissed I was that she was keeping shit from me.
And what the hell was it with these scarves? It was summer for fucks sake. She claimed she had some allergic reaction to jewelry or something. The woman didn’t wear jewelry except my ring. Yeah, I was tired of the BS. I was determined to get to the bottom of her behavior. Whatever she was hiding would come to the light, I was sure of that. I just hoped it wouldn’t destroy us.
“So, Kenya darling, how did your doctor’s visit go?” my mother asked, bringing me back to the table.
We were sitting at my brother’s large dining room ta
ble at his Maryland beachfront home for Saturday dinner. Tonight we had decided to get together instead of Sunday. It was Malcolm’s birthday. Amanda had wanted to celebrate today instead of tomorrow and wanted to host. Malcolm didn’t want to do it at her small apartment, so he decided to have it at his house.
Malcolm's house used to be mine. He decided to buy it from me when Sweets and I purchased our home in Virginia. He used to always crash at my house back in the day and fell in love with the serenity and peacefulness of the place.
The house was basic, nothing too fancy. Downstairs was a complete open floorplan with the kitchen wide open to the living and dining rooms. There were three bedrooms upstairs, and a huge deck off the master bedroom. The house sat right on the beach, which I guess was its appeal. It sucked during the hurricane season with the high winds and waves but Malcolm was prepared for such events.
When it came to flooding, the house was far enough back from the beach to give room for storm surges so unless a huge category four or more hits the coast, he should be good. He also upgraded the roof to withstand one hundred and fifty mile an hour winds, and he installed specialized shutters for every window and door to protect the house from at least the glass breaking or doors coming off its hinges. My brother thought of everything, well almost everything.
Amanda hated the house. She wanted him to buy something in the city, close to their jobs, which was a reasonable request. But my brother decided against it. He wanted the peace and solidarity the ocean held, allowing him the opportunity to escape from his reality. I didn’t blame him. It was the reason why I bought the place all those years ago and why I was good with buying our place in Virginia. With the work we did, having solitude, even for just a little while, went a long way for peace after the storms of our life.
At dinner tonight was myself, my wife and son, Malcolm, Amanda, Casey, Shane’s girl who I hadn’t seen in a while, Shane, my parents, and Misty. My pregnant sister wasn’t feeling well tonight so her and her husband stayed home. Pleasantly enough, everyone was engaged in lively conversation except for my wife and surprisingly Misty.
Typically, Misty would have been the life of the party, talking shit on my brothers or me. She also wouldn’t have been alone. She’d mentioned many times how she hated coming to dinner without a plus one. It made her skin crawl seeing all the love in the air. Tonight however, she was solo; no poor degenerate by her side pining for her attention.
The seating arrangement went like this. Misty was sitting next to my wife with Jay-Jay between them, in his highchair, and I was sitting next to my wife. My parents were on the opposite ends of the table, which left the remaining four on the other side of us.
Kenya smiled warmly at my mom, answering her question. “The doctor visit went well. Our little girl is doing amazing the doctor says. He still claims there’s only one in here.” She rubbed her rather large belly lovingly, smiling. “But I don’t believe him. It can’t be just one.”
My wife swore she was having twins. She was larger now than she was with our son. The doctor had assured us there was only one baby, but Sweets had chosen not to believe him.
Ma laughed. “Oh, sweetheart, when you get to your second and third child, you grow just a little faster than the first baby. You may be a little bit hungrier too.”
Kenya’s eyes fell on me and she rolled her eyes. “Yeah, tell that to your son.”
“What the hell, bro?” Shane barged into the conversation, frowning at me. “You’re not taking care of your wife?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “That’s not what she said, ass. And I am taking care of my wife. I can't help that she wants shit that I can’t get her.”
“And why is that?” Malcolm asked me, adding his two cents.
“Because, brother, every time she wants something, the damn place she wants it from is closed.”
“Sounds like an excuse to me.” Shane scolded.
“Yeah, bro, looks like you need to stalk up,” Malcolm chimed in and I fought the urge not to throw my plate at both of their smug faces. These assholes had the nerve to tell me how to take care of my pregnant wife. They should be more concerned with their own women, not mine.
“Leave your brother alone,” my father chided. “I’m sure he’s thought of everything to make sure Kenya has what she needs. “Thanks, Dad… “Because if he didn’t…”
I groaned and concentrated on the seafood pasta in front of me.
Kenya finally spoke up, rubbing my back soothingly and addressing the table. “My husband does whatever he needs to do to make sure I have what I need.”
“That’s not what you told me the other day,” Misty added on a shrug.
I growled. Enough of this shit…
“Alright, you know what?” I stood and my so-called family exploded in laughter, including my traitorous wife.
“I’m sorry, baby,” Kenya began, reaching for me when I started to walk away from the table. She wrapped her warm hand around my wrist and pulled me back down to my seat and I reluctantly let her. “Everyone, leave my fantastic husband alone. He’s amazing and does whatever he has to do to make me happy. I was just trying to say that sometimes he doesn’t believe that I’m hungry even after I finished eating a large dinner. It’s weird, but I don’t know, I just don’t feel full.”
“You should be careful with that,” Casey warned coolly as she stabbed at the salad on her plate. “Studies show that the older you get and the more kids you have, the harder it is to lose the baby weight you put on. You can easily become obese, or have problems with weight gain and maybe even diabetes. I agree, you do look bigger than normal. It’s important that you stay in the proper weight gaining range for your age.”
My wife's face froze as she stared at Casey. Shit the whole table was even stunned. But leave it to Misty to make things right in the world.
“Huh…” Misty pointed her fork in Casey's direction. “That’s a good point, but Sweet’s weight gain is because she’s pregnant. What’s your excuse?” Misty smiled at her, the movement never reaching her icy stare. Casey narrowed her eyes on Misty but didn’t reply, thank fuck. I swear the temperature in the room dropped like fifty degrees below freezing.
It wasn’t lost on anyone at this table that Casey, Misty and Amanda didn’t like each other. For the life of me I didn’t know why. Sure, Amanda and Casey were a lot to take but they were nice enough to this family. Despite their friction, things had always been cordial between the women, but for some reason tonight was extra frosty.
“Don’t joke, Misty,” Amanda butted in, probably not realizing how cold it was getting in the room. “Casey has a really good point. I read that article too. It was very informative.” Amanda then turned her gaze to my wife. “Kenya, you should be careful what you eat too, especially with all the hormones that they use on animals now a days. You never know what you’re introducing to your body. It could be harmful to the baby, causing birth defects and everything. You got by with your first child, but I see how much you eat and what you eat. You should really think about what you put in your mouth.”
My wife dropped her fork to her plate, her eyes wide. She looked over at me rubbing her belly. “Really? Is that true?” she asked, on a breath. She started breathing heavy, her eyes darting from me to Amanda and back.
I touched her cheek, lacing my fingers in her hair so I could direct her gaze back to me. “Baby, don’t worry about it. You’re fine. Our daughter is fine. Don’t listen to her.”
“Actually, you should listen, Josh. The numbers are staggering,” Amanda added and I never wanted to strangle a woman as much as I did now.
I growled and sent a look to Malcolm that said get your woman. I would have said that shit, but Sweets was in full panic mode now.
“Baby, calm down,” I instructed, rubbing her arms, getting her to focus on breathing. “Amanda doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”
“Sweets, honey, relax,” Misty cut in bringing all the attention to her. “Princess Barbie is just tryin
g to be helpful.” Misty said sweetly, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Amanda’s face fell and I heard someone snicker at the Princess Barbie comment. In great Misty fashion she sent a saccharine smile toward Amanda before looking at Sweets. “No seriously. Take her advice, Sweets. You should be careful too, Malcolm. No seriously, I read something about this. The mouth can be a cesspool of all types if things. You could catch STD’s from someone’s mouth. And since Barbie seems to be the foreknown expert of mouths, there’s no telling what’s still living in her mouth. Hugo, Billy Bob, Tyrone...”
Ah hell…
I dropped my chin to my chest as the table suddenly erupted in a lot of high-pitched shocked and angry voices, the voices being Amanda and Casey. I stuffed my face with food and tried not to laugh. Amanda’s face was beet red as she stood and Malcolm was having a hell of a time calming her down. Casey was yelling at Shane, pointing at Misty and my mother and Sweets were both looking directly at me.
Misty, the culprit of the chaos ensuing at the dinner table, shrugged with a deep smirk along her pretty face.
“Why are you two so upset?” she called out. “I was agreeing with you both. In fact, you two have a lot in common. You both like to eat. One likes food and the other likes—”
“Misty King!” Ma admonished and my wife gasped.
I shook my head, looked down at my plate and chuckled. I couldn’t help it. Shit was about to get out of hand.
“I'm sorry, Mama Joe. I can't help it if Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Stupid can’t handle the truth. They either need to grow a set of balls and learn how to back their mean-girl shit up or shut the fuck up.”
Oh shit...
“What?” Amanda screeched, stretching over the table trying to get to Misty. Malcolm held her back. “Did you hear what she said to me?”
And so it went, back and forth from Amanda and Casey giving everyone a dramatic show, stretching over the table at Misty as if they were going to fight. Misty was no better, egging them on with insults after insults.