by Sy Walker
She texted him that she’d alerted the cops and to meet her back at his house. She needed to talk to him and then she would be out of his hair for good.
The cops showed up and arrested several of the people at The Blind Onion, most importantly of all the drug dealer who’d been threatening all of them. The officers questioned Lance, but did not take him in because he was unarmed and was working in the establishment.
Two hours later, he was able to lock up and head home. He didn’t know what Allie needed to speak to him about, but he had a feeling that she wasn’t planning to be his girlfriend now; not after what she’d just witnessed.
Lance arrived at his building and managed to nap a parking spot directly next to hers. Cutting off his motorcycle’s engine, he dismounted and stored his helmet inside the seat. He trudged up the stairs of his building, not sure what to expect and not looking forward to whatever it was.
It had been a pretty shitty day.
“Hey, Allie,” he said, giving her a sweet smile as he came inside and shut the door behind him. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
She’d been sitting on the couch bed, but she quickly stood up when he came through the door. She was not smiling. “What the fuck was that all about?” she asked, her voice a shouted whisper. “You told me you had kicked your drug habits!”
He put his hands up defensively. “I have,” he replied. “But some of the members of our club ain’t so lucky, okay?”
Her face suddenly softened from a frown to a pout. “I was really scared.”
“I know,” he said. Lance came to her and wrapped his arms around her in a hug.
She rested her head against his chest. It felt good to be held like that, even though she was going to be losing it in just a few more moments.
“I came here to tell you two things,” Allie said, looking up into his brown eyes. “First of all, and brace yourself… I’m pregnant.”
His arms loosened and he gaped at her.
Well, this was not a severance from him. It was quite the opposite, in fact!
“And secondly,” she said with a sigh. “I don’t think I should see you anymore. You’re too dangerous.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Coffee And Cigarettes
A long period of silence followed as Lance looked at Allie in disbelief. At first, he thought that he had misunderstood what she was saying, but there was no mistaking the fact that she’d said she didn’t want to be with him because he was dangerous. After working so hard to make his life better and more suitable for a girlfriend like her, the last thing he wanted to hear was that word. He had changed a lot since he was a user. And he was willing to change even more if it would make her happy. His mouth went from shocked and open to an agitated frown, but then he smiled and laughed a little. It was a hostile sort of laugh. A ‘you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me’ kind of laugh.
“You know I’m right,” Allie said. “Unless your brain temporarily shut off back there, you know what your life is like. It’s no place for a child. I’ve been trying so hard to change my life around. This is the reasoning I’ve needed.”
Lance continued to smile at her. She couldn’t tell if it was menacing or goofy. It was right on the line between those two types of smile.
“Right after the police came and questioned me, and took a bunch of my friends away… I quit the club.” He looked her in the eyes. “You’re right. It’s not a good place to be in, surrounded by former addicts who are still struggling. I can’t stay clean if I’m around them… I want to clean up my act. Not just for you, but partially for you.”
Allie didn’t know what to say. “You like me a lot, huh?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Is that bad?”
She looked down, blushing. Before the baby, she might have said yes. After all, she was trying to just have some fun and didn’t want to be in a relationship. But now… Well, fate hadn’t really given her a choice.
“No, it’s not bad,” she said. “I suppose we do have more in common than I expected.”
He went to her and gave her a hug. “It’s all going to be okay,” he said. “I promise. We’ll work together to make the best little happy existence we can, okay?”
She looked into his eyes, sizing him up a little. He was so handsome and kind. She didn’t want to blame him for shit he couldn’t help. The dealer had been there to threaten one of Lance’s biker club friends, not Lance. And Lance hadn’t been packing heat or anything quite so ludicrous.
“What are you going to do now that you’re out of your club?” she asked him. She did not want him to give up riding his motorcycle or being in a club with his friends, she just would prefer it if he be more selective with who he spent his time with. There had to be motorcycle clubs around there that weren’t so destructive. Maybe he could join a pizza-lovers motorcycle club?
He shrugged. “Start a new club, I guess. Fly solo for a while til I figure things out.”
Allie smiled at him. “Well, you don’t have to fly solo. You can fly duo. With me.” She smirked slightly. “That sounded better in my head.”
Lance laughed. “Aw, that’s cute. I thought for sure that you were never going to want to be on my bike again.”
Shaking her head, Allie released herself from his hold and went out to the kitchen to make herself some of that heavenly banana-flavored coffee. “As long as you promise me that you’re not going to drive it drunk ever again, I’ll ride with you.”
The coffee maker only made about two cups at a time. As she stood in the kitchen to guard the coffee as it was made, she gazed over the kitchenette and the living room that she could see from her vantage point. They both lived in small, cramped, studio apartments… That was going to need to change. A lot of things were going to be changing.
“Can we take it one day at a time?” she asked him.
Lance smiled and let out a soft chuckle. “That’s the only way to live.”
Since Allie had a better job and Lance’s experience as a pizza chef was more flexible in cities, they decided to search for a two bed-room apartment in Portland instead of staying in Vancouver. They both dealt with the wraths of their separate landlords and were eventually able to move in together in an apartment building that was a short walk away from Powell’s Books and Voo Doo Donut, in the heart of Portland.
He hung out on the couch, applying for jobs while she went to work. It wasn’t a solution, but it was a start.
One evening, Allie sat on the floor with a package she’d received in the mail from IKEA, trying to make sense of the instructions. “This is supposed to be a crib,” she told Lance.
Looking over the laptop at her, he grimaced. “It looks like a pile of sanded wood to me,” he joked.
“It would look better if you’d come down here and help me,” Allie retorted.
Lance closed the laptop and set it aside, sinking down to his knees from the couch and crawling over towards her. He kissed her neck and cheek, still not exactly helping.
She let a soft giggle escape her. “Lance, this crib isn’t going to build itself.”
“Mm,” he replied through a kiss. “But I have some good news and I want to celebrate with you.”
Allie pulled away from him to look him in the eyes. “Good news?” she asked. “Normally you tell people what the news is before you try and celebrate.”
“Sorry. I’m not used to having good news to share.”
She picked up one of the wooden slats that were meant to form the crib’s sides and hit him with it, with a light thwack.
He chuckled. “A baby of mine is going to be able to eat through that.”
“TELL me the news!” Allie shouted, but she was laughing. It felt good to live with someone again. They were taking things slowly, but she could not deny her continued attraction to him. Crib-building aside, he was showing her that he could be just as dependable as her goody-goody ex.
Lance cleared his throat and started helping her assemble the ridiculous, Swedish-crafted cradle. “I got a job,” he
said. “And the mythical Powell’s Books.”
Allie’s eyes widened. “Whaaat!? But have you even been there?”
He laughed. “No, I got the job purely based on my ability to imagine the place.” He pretended to tap her head with another of the wooden slats. “I went there for an interview while you were at work. I just didn’t say anything about it because I didn’t want to get our hopes up for nothing.”
Her jaw dropped. That was so impressive. “I have to admit, I’m jealous. I love that place. Oh, my god, Lance! Congratulations!”
Beaming proudly, he nodded a little. “Now can we celebrate?”
“How do you want to celebrate?”
He answered by dropping the wood he was holding and making out with her on top of it. The pile of wood was not much of a pillow, but there was something kinky about making out on top of their baby’s future bed.
After several minutes of that, Lance finally – and a bit awkwardly – got back up onto his feet and then lifted Allie up into his arms. He carried her to the empty bedroom that was going to be their baby’s nursery. But for the colorful animal wallpaper, there was no evidence of the room’s intention yet. That was for the best, considering Lance’s intention.
Placing Allie gently down on the blue-carpeted floor, he threw off his shirt and unfastened his pants. As he got on top of her to continue making out with her, Allie pulled his pants off of him and he grabbed at all of her clothing. They kissed amidst a frenzy of flying fabric but, before long, they were naked together.
Lance pressed himself inside of her and thrust his cock against her walls, but he was slower this time. They were sober this time, which was a nice change.
She looked up at him as he took his time with her, exploring around and not being so rough. Gasping, she smiled at him. “It’s nice to not have an exit strategy this time,” she murmured into his ear.
“You don’t need an exit strategy,” he whispered back, shaking his head and placing a finger into her mouth. “Just like I’m never going to exit you, if I can help it.”
Allie laughed softly, licking his finger and sucking at it.
They fucked each other nice and slowly for a few moments before he pulled out and lifted her up, bringing her over to the back wall of the nursery room. She put her hands up against the wall and moaned loudly as he inserted his throbbing penis into her from behind.
Lance had an insatiable desire for making love to her from behind. She felt like she could get used to it… particularly when he licked his fingers and brought them to her clitoris. He stroked and flicked at it until she was barely able to keep standing.
She came and held onto the wall to keep from falling. His hand was now surely covered with her female juices. “Aaaahhhh!” she shouted. Their shouts and moans echoed throughout the empty room and the still-spacious apartment. All of a sudden, he spun her around and held her up against him, putting his cock back inside her and holding her as he stood, ramming into her and watching as her face contorted in indescribable pleasure.
He tightened his grip on her hips, practically drawing blood with his fingernails as he held on and came inside her.
“Ahh, shit!” he yelled, closing his eyes. “Whooo.”
Slowly and carefully, he lowered Allie back down to the floor and pulled out of her. He squeezed her boobs for a moment, gently getting her nipples good and hard before he walked out of the nursery and back to the pile of abandoned wood.
Allie gathered up her clothes and carried them back out to their living room. She got dressed while Lance worked to put their crib together.
Once the crib was built and didn’t fall apart at the slightest touch, they beamed at each other and carried it into the nursery.
“One item down,” Allie said. “And so, so many more to go.”
Lance smiled and put his arm around her. “Well, at least he or she won’t have to sleep in a drawer.”
When Monday came around again, Allie was pleased to be joined by Lance in the kitchen at seven a.m. She poured a bowl of cereal for them to share and they sat together, eating chocolatey cereal and drinking the chocolate and banana infused coffee. She had become addicted to the stuff, but it wasn’t the bad, dangerous sort of addiction.
He could have his cigarettes if she could have her coffee.
Once their breakfast was over, they went downstairs to the parking lot and got onto his bike. She hadn’t been on it since their accident, but as she hugged him and they took off down the road, she realized that she trusted him.
Lance drove the motorcycle responsibly and got her to her office building in no time. “My shift doesn’t start for, like, three more hours,” he confessed then, smiling a sideways smirk at her. “I just wanted to be with you.”
Allie smiled and blushed. “Careful, Lance Chase. Don’t forget your bad ass reputation.”
He chuckled. “It’s Lance Chase DuBois,” he said. “And I’m making a new reputation.”
“Oh really?”
“Yup,” he said. “I think I’m going to start a motorcycle club for Portland dads. That’s how bad it is.”
Allie laughed, but she knew he was serious. And she loved him for it. THE END
ALIEN ROMANCE
Alien Lord’s Slave
CHAPTER ONE
Cynthia had been staring at the same spreadsheet for what seemed like too long. She was supposed to submit her analysis of the rolling budget her manager had prepared from the costings she'd provided. All she had to do was to simply cross reference the figures to see if they matched, nothing that should have taken her three hours, but it was hard to concentrate when her husband’s face kept popping to the forefront of her mind.
And it wasn't only his face, either, but the face of the woman she had caught him with as well. After five years of marriage, she had thought her life with him, though not perfect, was good enough to last a few more years. She certainly didn’t think it would end in this way.
“Cynthia!” she heard her boss call. His office was only three cubicles away, and he had a terrible habit of calling to his employees from there.
“Coming, Mr. Sloan,” she replied, and stood hurriedly. She would just have to wing it. She smoothed her skirt and gripped the file in her hand; it contained the same information as the one in the Microsoft Excel document.
Sloan was drinking coffee when she arrived. He waved her inside as he sipped and then put the cup aside. He didn’t speak as he took the file she handed to him. “So?” he asked her.
“Well,” she began unsteadily, “the performance variables show that more revenue is being generated than costs are being expended. If you look at the curve--”
“Right,” he said, nodding. “But how does the budget appear this year with respect to other years before? And are we accurately accounting for the time value of the dollars here? Miss Scott, I don’t want to allocate less than we need, nor do I want to overspend in areas I don’t need to.”
There had been times before when she loved her job, but this wasn’t one of them. Mr. Sloan was speaking, but most of what he was saying was going right over her head. She felt like a zombie, and Jeffrey’s image came to mind once more, and her eyes grew glossy. She bowed her head so he wouldn’t see the telltale signs of her heartbreak.
“Miss Scott?” he asked after a while.
“Yes, sir,” she replied, and tried hard to perk up. She swept her hair behind her ear, and licked her lips moist. She felt like all the liquid in her body had been diverted to her eyes.
“Are you all right?” he asked. He looked at her as if concerned, rested the file on the desk, and leaned into his leather chair.
She sighed. “Honestly, I am just going through some personal issues,” she told him without looking at him.
He bit the tail of his pen and scrutinized her. Then he opened his file and looked through it again. “I guess that explains why you didn’t get much done here. I see the notes section has been left empty.”
“I’m sorry, sir,” she said a
s she reached for the file. “I will look it over and give it back to you by day’s end.”
He held it suspended still, and then rested it back on the desk before him. “Cynthia,” he said, and pinched the bridge of his nose, “you are one of my youngest and brightest analysts, and I won’t have you here like this. My suggestion? Take a few days off and get your head together. I'll have someone handle this and hopefully, when you get back, you will be raring to go.”
He was smiling, and seemed sincere in his offer. “Are you sure, sir? I mean, I could--”
“Nonsense!” he bellowed. “I’ll expect you back in a week.
She asked, not wanting to seem too eager, but the truth of the matter was she could really use some time off. “Thank you, Mr. Sloan,” she said, and backed out of the office. She could feel the weight lifting from her shoulders, but another kind of pressure was taking hold of her heart.
She kept her head held down as she made her way out of the office, trying not to grab the attention of her nosy coworkers, but they seemed too distracted by the loads of work that accompanied the month's end that she probably appeared to them as nothing more than a blur in the distance.
When she got to her car, she flopped down into the seat, and took a moment to catch her breath and steady her heart before she turned the key in the ignition and headed home.
Home was where most of her demons lay. As she pulled into the driveway of her suburban home, the manicured lawn only served to remind her of their picnics in the park; her stoop was where they'd sat many nights and stargazed; her kitchen was where they'd shared delectable dinners; and her bedroom…that was a place she could hardly stand now.
She gazed up the stairs, decided against it, went to the refrigerator, and grabbed a beer, a six-pack she had bought and befriended over the past week. Cynthia went back to the living room and fell on the couch. This time she couldn’t hold back the tears, despite the beer.
She was knee deep in her salty lake of tears when she heard the phone ringing. She glanced at it, and groaned before reaching for the device.