Take Care

by Ash Johnson

  “Ada, I’m so sorry. For the record, your mother sounds like a bitch and I think you did everything you could to save your sister. You were only a kid for fuck’s sake. What did your mom expect you to do?” I spit out, pissed off that Ada’s own flesh and blood could be so heartless to her.

  “I think she expected me to give Ivy one of my lungs,” Ada croaks past the emotion in her throat, but manages a small smile. “Can we talk about something else, please?” she whispers.

  “Sure, I’m sorry to make you talk about something that traumatic.”

  “No, trauma is something I talk about every day. I’m used to trauma, but I’m not used to talking about how much my family loves me,” she says in a sarcastic tone. I smile at her and run my hand through her soft blonde hair.

  “Okay, let’s talk about something else. So your real name is Adelaide?” I smirk at her, thinking that she doesn’t look like an Adelaide to me. Adelaide sounds like an old lady’s name, not a beautiful young woman’s name. Ada growls and then looks up at me with her different colored eyes shining mischievously and smiles at me.

  “Yes, my real name is Adelaide, but Ivy started calling me Ada when I was born because she couldn’t say Adelaide right. Ivy and Jack always called me Ada and so did everyone else. My mom was the only person who called me Adelaide until I met Rob and he refused to call me Ada. I really don’t like the name Adelaide,” she scoffs, shaking her head slowly. It makes me smile.

  “Well, I will never call you Adelaide then. You will always be Ada to me, or maybe I’ll just call you something completely different like honey bunches or something else equally sappy.”

  Well where the hell did that come from? I’ve never wanted to give a woman a pet name before. I’ve never even had the urge. But with Ada I feel like I need to do everything I can to keep her with me for a long time. Something about her is just comforting and relaxing to me. It’s like she fills a part of me that I didn’t know was empty until now.

  Ada wraps her arms up around my shoulders since she can’t link them behind my head and lets out an adorable giggle that lights her whole face. It makes me instantly bend to kiss her.

  “Thank you Jay. Are you ready to go to bed? I have to get up early to go to yoga,” Ada explains, pulling on my shoulders to plant one more kiss on me before turning around and walking to her dresser to change into an old Arizona State t-shirt and some tiny workout shorts.

  “Yoga? You do yoga?” I ask, trying to tame the semi in my pants at the thought of Ada in all those sexy poses.

  “Yes, it keeps me in shape and also makes me very flexible,” she waggles her eyebrows at me as she climbs into bed.

  “Oh, really? I might have to see how well this yoga has done for your flexibility,” I grin and turn off the bedroom light, stripping my clothes off quickly and grabbing a condom out of my duffel before climbing into her bed, naked. No point in hiding my semi now, especially since it’s turned into a full hard-on.

  I snuggle up behind her, her back to my front, and wrap my hand around her waist to spoon her and then run my hand under the hem of her shirt. I kiss her neck lightly and slide my hand upward to grab onto her nipple, lightly pinching and rolling it between my thumb and index finger.

  When she moans I let go of her nipple and grab the hem of her shirt, lifting it up and over her head. Then I trail my hands down her taut stomach and under the band of her shorts. I delicately run my fingers through her wet folds and we both moan at how ready she is for me.

  Ada starts squirming when I plunge one finger inside her. I feel like I should get her off at least once before I’m in her, but I want to be inside her too badly.

  I take my finger out of her and hook them onto the band of her shorts and Ada immediately lifts her hip to help me take them down. After I put the condom on, I grab the inside of her thigh and lift her right leg over my own so that she’s opened up to me, and then I run my cock along her slit a few times before pushing inside of her.

  Ada instantly moans my name and then reaches her hand behind her to grab onto my hip. This is going to be a quick one because I’m dying to get us off, so I thrust into her relentlessly.

  Ada’s fingers tighten on my hip and she mewls before whispering to me, “I’m so close Jay, don’t you dare stop.”

  “Oh Jesus, I don’t ever want to stop with you. I want you forever,” I say, not registering what I just said until it’s out of my mouth.

  I shift my focus back to pounding inside of her and a few thrusts later, Ada’s walls tighten around my dick which then sets me off and I empty myself inside of the condom. We sit in a spooning position for a few minutes while we both catch our breaths, but I realize that we need some sleep so I kiss her on top of her head and slowly get out of bed.

  After I’ve gone to the bathroom for clean up, I jump back in bed and wrap my arms around her tiny waist. We lay there for a few seconds, both quiet and content when she speaks again.

  “So you want me forever, huh?” she asks shyly. I squeeze her waist and nuzzle her neck just below her ear as I think of a way to answer her.

  “Maybe,” I answer noncommittally. Ada just giggles and then we lay in silence. I soon fall into the most peaceful sleep I’ve ever had in my life.

  Chapter 19

  Ada

  I wake up the next morning with a smile on my face. The first thing I see when I open my eyes is a large pair of brown eyes staring at me.

  “Good morning beautiful girl,” Jay says through his huge smile and leans forward to plant a small kiss on my lips.

  “Good morning to you, too,” I mumble against his mouth, running my hands down his pronounced pecks and across to his speed bump abs. I turn my head to look behind me and check the time on the clock; its seven thirty in the morning. I only have an hour before I have to leave for yoga.

  “I have to get up and get ready to go to yoga,” I say, throwing the covers back and attempting to sit up, but Jay wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me back toward him, making me squeal.

  “Do you have to go to yoga? I’m going to miss you too much,” he mumbles between the kisses he’s planting on the side of my neck. I drop my head a bit to give him better access before I get a brilliant idea.

  “Why don’t you come with me?” I say through a smile, lifting my head in time to see Jay’s eyebrows hit his hairline.

  “What?” he asks.

  “Yeah, you can’t fight for at least five weeks while you let your body heal, but yoga will help keep you limber so that your muscles don’t stiffen while you’re out of commission. Will you come with me, please?” I clasp my hands together in front of me and turn on the puppy eyes because I would love to see Jay doing yoga.

  He narrows his chocolate eyes at me and then runs his hand through his hair before he growls and agrees.

  “Ugh, alright, but I swear if you tell any of my friends, especially Blake, that I was doing yoga, I will torture you mercilessly,” he says, pointing his finger at me.

  I nod and smile at him before jumping out of bed to throw on a sports bra and some yoga pants. Jay stands up and puts on a pair of black basketball shorts and a white t-shirt with his black flip flops. He throws some clean clothes next to mine in my duffel before we head out the door to the yoga studio.

  As soon as we enter the studio I see a few people waiting around for the class to begin, one of those people being Cassie.

  She stops pulling her brown hair into a pony tail and turns away from the mirrors to fully face us. Jay doesn’t think anything of the brunette in the corner eyeing him because I never told him about Cassie, but with the look of death shining through her eyes in my direction, I wonder how he doesn’t question it.

  When Jay requests that we get a spot in the back so that people walking by the studio don’t see him actually participating in yoga I agree instantly, hoping we can avoid Cassie, who’s laying her mat at the front of the classroom, all together. We lay our mats down in the very back of the room and I hope Cassie doesn’t spend the
entire hour glaring at me like she does at work.

  Cassie doesn’t look in our direction the entire class. I also find out that Jay is much more flexible than I would have thought he would be and he sticks it out like a champ.

  My entire body relaxes when Cassie doesn’t bother with a shower and just heads out the door when the class is finished.

  “That was actually a good workout. I didn’t think that I would sweat that much,” Jay mutters through his shirt, which he’s using to wipe the sweat from his face.

  “Yeah I really like it. You feel so much better after a good workout, you know?” I look up to see him biting his lip and giving me his bedroom eyes. He wraps his arms around my waist and bends to whisper in my ear.

  “I have to say I think I sweat more watching you in those sexy little poses than I did from the actual workout,” he grins. I smile back and shake my head at him as I make my way to the locker rooms to change into my clean clothes.

  We decide to go out to lunch where we talk and laugh for hours. I get to learn so many new things about Jay that I didn’t know before, like how he lost his mother to cancer five years ago, or that his grandpa used to be a boxer with the Navy and had introduced Jay to boxing when he was really young.

  When one of his friends in college was talking about sparring at a gym full of MMA fighters, Jay was instantly drawn because of the boxing background, but his father wanted him to go into the family business of construction.

  When we’re done with lunch Jay says he needs to go to his gym to talk to his coach about his injuries. He hadn’t been there all week because he says he was following his nurse’s orders to stay in bed and relax. I have a feeling he won’t follow those orders much longer. I think he’s itching to get back to training.

  We head over to the gym and I’m introduced to a short man with a slight pot belly and a ring of gray hair around the back of his head named Mark; Jay’s coach. I also meet a few more of the guys he trains with. They are all cool guys and invite me to come back and grapple with them to fill in for Jay while he’s broken. I ask them what grappling is and they tell me it’s all mat work, mostly rolling on the ground to try and get the upper hand. I laugh when Jay tells them that they’d better not lay a finger on me or they’ll all be visiting me in the hospital after he breaks them.

  I feel my cell phone buzz in my purse while Jay is talking to some of his buddies, so I pull it out and brace myself when I see it’s from the unknown number again.

  Unknown-You’re lucky he’s with you right now or you would be in deep shit

  I glance around and don’t notice anyone looking at me or with a cell phone in their hands. There’s a large window at the front of the gym, but large groups of people are walking past it; none of them looking suspicious.

  Jay sees my face and quickly steps over to me, pulling my cell phone out of my hands so that he can read the text. I look up to see his face turn red as he scans our surroundings like I just had.

  “Come on baby, let’s get you home.” Jay grabs my hand and shouts goodbye to everyone in the gym before walking us out and setting me in my Fiat.

  We make the fifteen minute drive to Elle’s house in silence. When we get there Blake is sitting in the kitchen with Elle, having a cup of coffee.

  “Hey Blake, what are you doing here?” Jay asks.

  “I was getting ready to go to the gym for a workout when I passed Elle in her front yard and she invited me in to hang for a minute,” Blake says, turning to Elle and smiling. I just nod my head because it’s obvious from the blush on Elle’s face that she likes Blake, or parts of him at least.

  She hasn’t said anything to me about him, but she hasn’t been going out at night as frequently as she was before she met him, either.

  “Well since we’re all here, how about I make us some dinner,” I offer, trying to take Jay’s mind off the text. He still hasn’t said anything to me since he saw it, but I have a feeling he’s upset.

  “How does manicotti with salad and garlic bread sound?” I look around at everyone to get their answers. I get a nod from all three of them and Jay offers to help me.

  We spend the next hour stuffing manicotti noodles and cutting vegetables for the salad. The text message is never brought up, mostly because I think Jay knows it’s a waiting game and we can’t do anything about it. I can tell that he’s on edge, though, because every once in a while I see him balling his hands into fists.

  Once everything is made, the four of us sit and eat in relative silence.

  “Wow Ada that was an amazing dinner. Thank you,” Blake says, pushing his empty plate away from him.

  “Hey, how about thanking me too, asshole. I helped make that dinner,” Jay scoffs. Blake smiles and turns his attention back to me.

  “Again, thank you for dinner Ada. I know better than to think that Jay can cook like that. I’m sure you chopped the vegetables for the salad you butt munch, but I know for a fact you didn’t make that manicotti,” Blake smiles at Jay who is shaking his head back and forth while his eyes narrow at Blake. Elle and I just laugh at the boys and we start cleaning up dinner. Soon, all four of us are sitting down in the living room to watch a movie.

  After almost an hour of trying to keep my eyes open, I decide I’m going to call it a night and stand up from the love seat I’m sharing with Jay. I’m not sure if Jay is staying with me again tonight, but I don’t want to just assume he is, so I bend down and give him a swift kiss.

  “I’m going to head to bed, I can barely keep my eyes open,” I say through a yawn.

  “Okay, is it alright if I stay with you again tonight?” he asks, looking a bit apprehensive. I smile and nod my answer, and watch a small smile grace his perfectly shaped lips.

  He towers over me when he stands and we both stretch, noticing that Elle and Blake are both sound asleep on the couch; her head on his shoulder, his hand resting high on her thigh.

  I remember that it’s Sunday night and Elle will have to work tomorrow morning, so after I turn off the TV, I walk up to her and shake her leg. Elle groans and lifts her head slowly, a job much harder while Blake’s head is resting on top of hers. Elle barely opens her eyes and squints at me.

  “Hey sweetie, why don’t you head to bed where you have an alarm to wake you in the morning for work?” I ask. Elle nods and starts to shove Blake, waking him up.

  “Come on hot stuff, you can keep me warm tonight,” Elle says to Blake, standing from the couch and holding out her hand. Blake sleepily takes it and stands as well, following her into her room and shutting the door.

  Jay and I both look at each other and shrug.

  “Didn’t see that one coming,” Jay says and then wraps his arms high around my waist, pulling me to him with a squeeze. He leans down and places a few small nips along the side of my neck, which I have kinked to the side to give him better access, and then he nuzzles me before speaking.

  “Can we go to bed and not sleep for just a little bit?” he asks, gently biting on my ear which emits a small moan from my throat. This could be a good way for both of us to keep our minds off of the text messages.

  “I guess that could be arranged,” I smile and start walking toward my room with Jay hot on my heels. Even with my back pressing into his stomach and his head a good foot above mine I can hear the smile in his voice when he speaks.

  “I’m about to rock your world, bunches,” he says.

  “Bunches?” I question with a smile in my tone.

  “Yeah, short for honey bunches. That’s what I’m going to call you from now on,” Jay explains, rubbing small circles under my breasts where his hands are resting.

  “Okay, but then I’ll have to come up with some equally silly and sappy pet name for you, then,” I smirk, opening my bedroom door and breaking Jay’s hold on me so that I can quickly strip my clothing off. I turn around to see Jay closing the bedroom door with one hand and ripping his shirt over his head with his other hand.

  I crawl up the center of my queen sized bed in my te
al lace bra and matching thong and lay down on my back in the center of the bed, waiting for Jay who seems to be frozen in place by the door, his thumbs inside the band of his unbuttoned cargo shorts and his jaw slack.

  “Are you okay Jay? You look a bit flush,” I say, not really concerned, but not wanting to let on how hot he’s making me with the look he’s giving me.

  He clears his throat and gives his head a quick shake, as if he’s trying to clear it of dirty thoughts, and drops his shorts along with his boxer briefs to the ground. While he’s slowly sauntering over to me, I lean over and grab a condom out of my nightstand so that we’re prepared because I have yet to get back into my gynecologists office and get on birth control again.

  “You are so fucking beautiful, Ada,” Jay whispers, climbing onto the bed and hovering over my body. “How did I get so lucky to find you?” he asks with awe in his voice. I reach up and run my hand along Jay’s cheek, smiling softly when he closes his eyes and turns his face into my touch.

  “I’m the lucky one, Jay. How did I find a man as sweet and warm as you?” I’ve been asking myself this question since I met him, even thinking it was just going to be a one night stand.

  He is the exact opposite of what you would think an MMA fighter would be. He doesn’t seem to have a mean bone in his body. He has always been so attentive and caring to me, worrying about my well being with these threatening texts, and willing to protect me when we haven’t been seeing each other for very long.

  He leans down onto his elbows, his arms framing my face, and slowly lowers his head to kiss me. It starts off slow and full of passion like every kiss we have shared, but while I’m waiting for it to turn frenzied and frantic, it never happens. Jay keeps kissing me with a slow heat that sends chills all the way to my toes while he runs his fingers through my hair.

  After a few minutes of sweet, soul filled kisses Jay breaks our lips apart and touches his forehead with mine, his brow creasing as if he’s having some internal battle. A few seconds of staring into my eyes and stroking his hand up and down my cheek and then Jay clears his throat and speaks.