The Honeymoon Period (The Austin Series)

by Fallowfield, C. J.

  We joined the queue in the cafeteria and I ordered a cheese and ham toastie and coffee, while Milo had spaghetti bolognese and a coke and we joined Lexi who was sitting by the window playing on her phone.

  ‘Jesus Mia, eating at lunch time? What’s got into you?’

  ‘I’ve not eaten since five o’clock yesterday and I’m starving, Lex.’

  ‘It’s all that horizontal mambo you’re doing, enough to stimulate anyone’s appetite.’

  ‘Lexi, we’ve company.’ I gave her a glare.

  ‘Please, like Milo’s a virgin. You having sex isn’t going to be news to him.’

  ‘So not the point.’ I looked at Milo embarrassed and he smiled awkwardly.

  ‘Should I go and sit somewhere else?’ he volunteered.

  ‘No Milo, Lexi and I can continue this discussion in our own time, in private.’

  ‘Touchy. So Milo how are things?’

  ‘Good, thanks, Lex. Mia’s ditching me on Thursday, something about a weekend away being more exciting than hitting the gym with me. You up for filling her place?’

  ‘You’re joking right? Do I look the type to gym?’

  ‘Milo, Lexi doesn’t do any form of exercise at all.’

  ‘Not even the horizontal mambo?’ he grinned. I shook my head and ate as the two of them bounced off each other arguing the merits of sex over going to the gym. We headed to English early and Jenkins was already there. I took a deep breath and went to talk to him about the notes for Friday’s lecture that I’d miss.

  ‘You’re aware that all of my notes are also uploaded onto your online account?’

  ‘I’ve an online account?’ I asked surprised. He leaned back on his desk, took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes looking frustrated.

  ‘Mia, did you not attend freshers’ week? I appreciate you’ve had a difficult time with your absence and that of whom, I assume to be your boyfriend,’ he waved in the general direction of Gabe’s seat. ‘But you show real promise in your work and I feel that you aren’t fully committing. You’re averaging a 2:1 at present and you should be looking for a first, which I believe is entirely achievable if you were focussed. I’m hard on you because I recognise your ability, yet you seem intent on missing as many of my lectures as possible. You’re an adult now, I can’t make you attend, but choose wisely. You’ve great potential.’

  ‘I don’t know what to say,’ I mumbled.

  ‘Say nothing. I’ve said my peace. Look up your online account, which should be of some help to you if you decide you wish to make more of an effort. I need to prepare now please.’ He stood up and turned around and started going through his notes. I felt like I’d just been giving a pep talk by a parent.

  ‘Thank you, I’ll try harder Mr. Jenkins.’

  ‘Do, Miss Page.’

  I went back to my desk feeling suitably chastised.

  ‘You ok?’ asked Lexi.

  ‘Not sure, I was just given a parental style lecture on not trying hard enough.’

  ‘Seriously?’

  ‘Yes, he says I could get a first if I pulled my finger out and stopped missing lectures. Did you know we’ve an online account to access study notes and stuff?’

  ‘No, seriously?’ She looked at me in amazement and I nodded.

  ‘Apparently so.’

  ‘Well they should tell you this shit,’ she uttered indignantly.

  ‘They probably did during freshers’ week, which we didn’t attend Lex, or in the welcome pack we never bothered reading much of.’ I let out a sigh wondering if this was why Jenkins had been so hard on me. He was right, I’d been putting in the bare minimum to get by the last couple of months.

  It was nearly six when we got home and before I’d even had a chance to put my bag down and kick off my trainers Gabe strode out of the lounge, clasped my face and kissed me passionately making my stomach flip.

  ‘Get a room you two. I need some Xbox practice while Doug’s out so I’m commandeering the lounge.’ She pulled her tongue out at me and headed in.

  ‘Wow Gabe, I could get used to a greeting like that.’

  ‘I’d like to give you another greeting. Now,’ he murmured in my ear as he ground his pelvis hard against mine again and started undoing the ties on my top.

  ‘What about dinner?’ I asked breathlessly as he started kissing my neck.

  ‘Dinner can wait, I can’t. It’s the longest I’ve been without coming in weeks.’

  ‘It’s not even twenty-four hours,’ I sighed leaning on the hall wall.

  ‘Still too long. Move it. Now.’ He grabbed my hand and pulled me into the bedroom where he pushed the door shut and I’d only just dropped my bag on the floor when he came at me.

  ‘Gabe,’ I gasped as he grabbed me in tight embrace, crushing my lips.

  ‘Strip,’ he ordered between forceful thrusts of his tongue into my mouth. I kicked off my trainers as he broke away for a second while he flung his t-shirt onto the floor and unravelled my top and started to pull it down. I wriggled it off, my lips not leaving his, my hands roaming his hot tight body as we kissed frantically. It felt like days since we’d last touched each other. I felt his hands pulling at my vest as he pushed and walked me back toward the bed and we only stopped kissing long enough to pull it over my head. Desire spiked through my body as we collapsed onto the bed and rolled back and forth, our mouths melding and his hands grasping at my bottom and breasts. I pulled away panting and rolled onto my back and started unbuttoning my jeans while he did his. He quickly stood and peeled them back and pulled himself out of his boxers before tugging at my jeans and knickers forcing them down to my ankles. I scrambled backwards across the bed and tried to kick them off, but he was on me like lightening, his lips working furiously on mine.

  ‘Damn it, I needed this,’ he groaned hoarsely as he impaled me deeply in one quick thrust making me cry out then he silenced me by sealing his mouth over mine again as he started to fuck me hard and fast. He seemed seriously frantic to get down to the business end of the deal and for a moment I even wondered if he cared that it was me he was buried inside. It felt like he just needed a release and I happened to be a convenient hole to fill, there again did it matter? I wanted him too and I knew he’d make me come regardless, just like he always did, but the way he was going about it just didn’t seem like him. I dug my nails into his taut bottom as he rode me forcefully. My legs were anchored by my jeans around my ankles and I could feel the buttons of his digging into my pelvis, which only added to the frenzy. He was crazily wild, we’d gone from making love in such a gentle way last night to this hot manic fucking.

  ‘Gabe … o God … o God,’ I moaned as I felt myself getting hotter. I let go of his bottom and reached up to claw at his damp shoulders and dug my nails in to hold on as he chewed on my neck groaning.

  ‘Say my name again,’ he ordered.

  ‘Gabe,’ I sighed.

  ‘Again.’

  ‘Gabe,’ I cried as he ploughed into me forcefully.

  ‘Louder,’ he barked.

  ‘Gabe?’ I was getting a seriously bad vibe about this. Amazing as it felt having him inside me, giving it all he had, he seemed totally detached from me, he hadn’t even said my name since I walked through the door. I groaned as I felt his thick shaft caressing my inner muscles as he rammed in and out, his pubic bone rubbing my clit with each thrust. My mind and body were suddenly fighting right now, my head told me to push him off, to make him stop because I was just a piece of meat to him right now and I hated that, but my body couldn’t help but react to just how good he was at fucking. I closed my eyes and turned my head to the side to catch some cool air as I panted, my hips and stomach pushing up to meet his downwards thrusts and my muscles squeezing around his girth. I was on the verge of coming when I heard him groan painfully and felt him flood me, then he took me completely by surprise by quickly rolling off me and laying on his back, an arm across his face as he panted. I lay there feeling completely empty, sexually frustrated and hurt. He’d never trea
ted me like that before, or left me hanging.

  ‘What the hell was that?’ I uttered as I got my breath back.

  ‘What?’

  ‘You know what. Did you even care that was me you were just fucking?’

  ‘Don’t be so bloody stupid, of course I care,’ he snapped and sat upright without looking at me as he rubbed his hands over his face.

  ‘Do you? You haven’t even said my name since I walked in the door tonight, you won’t look at me and you didn’t let me come. I may as well have been a bloody blow up doll for all the caring you just did.’

  ‘I just wanted sex alright, to blow off some steam. I’m a fucking guy Mia, that’s what we do, sometimes we just want to fuck with no emotions involved. Christ, I’ll get a bloody blow up doll next time I need a release, at least I won’t get a load of grief after,’ he snapped angrily and stood up and strode to the bathroom door.

  ‘Don’t you dare walk off,’ I hissed, beyond angry as I reached down and grappled with my knickers and jeans and tried to yank them up. ‘You don’t do that with me Gabe, I don’t give a shit if you did that with all the other girls you had before me, you’ve never done that with me, I never thought you’d ever do that to me. You always make me come, this isn’t like you.’ I sat up and grabbed my vest and pulled it over my head as he turned to face me, but it wasn’t his gorgeous face looking back at mine and I didn’t like what I saw in his eyes.

  ‘So what, there’s an obligation for me to make you come every bloody time? Sorry I mustn’t have got the Mia Page handbook of sex regulations. I don’t get to come as many times as you, in fact I’m well behind you when it comes to orgasms, maybe you should drop on your knees right now and suck me off to start making up for it.’

  ‘What the fuck is your problem?’ I yelled as I stood up. I was on the verge of slapping him to try and get him out of this shitty mood because right now I was hating this version of him, he was making me feel like a cheap convenience.

  ‘Right now it’s you, having a girly fucking tantrum because your feelings got hurt, well welcome to the world Mia, it’s not all fucking sunshine and roses.’ He glowered at me as I tucked in my vest and gave back as good as I got, feeling the heat from my eyes stabbing him as I glared.

  ‘I don’t know what the hell is going on with you, but this isn’t you Gabe, and right now I don’t care for the person who’s standing right in front of me.’

  ‘Well it’s only been a couple of months Mia, maybe you don’t know me at all. Ask any of the women I fucked before you, this is the real me. If you don’t like it, you know where the fucking door is,’ he yelled and stepped into the bathroom and made to slam the door before I stuck my foot in it and my palm against it to stop him.

  ‘You’re so out of order,’ I spat. ‘But because I’m not a shit I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt Gabe, because you’ve gone through a serious load of crap recently, but guess what, so have I. I’ve been with you every single step of the bloody way and I don’t deserve to be treated like some cheap prostitute you just picked up to get your end away, to be told to fuck off now you got what you wanted. So whatever your deal is, man the fuck up and sort your shit out, or you’ll be doing it alone from now on.’ I stormed out of the room and slammed the bedroom door and headed straight to the kitchen and slammed that one too and stalked to the kitchen sink and clutched at the edges of it as my knuckles went white and I tried to take a few deep breaths to calm myself down. I don’t think I’d ever felt so insulted, furious and hurt at the same time. I heard the kitchen door open behind me and clenched my jaw and turned around ready to tell him to leave me in peace, instead I saw a concerned looking Lexi leaning back on it and I took a deep shaky breath and flexed my neck to try and get rid of the pent up frustration.

  ‘What the fuck is going on?’ she asked. ‘It’s like an episode of a soap opera in here with all the shouting and door slamming.’

  ‘I’ve no bloody idea, Lexi,’ I sighed with a shake of my head and pinched the top of my nose to stave off the brewing tension headache. ‘But I’ve pretty much reached my limit with it tonight, I don’t know how much more I can take.’

  ‘Mia, you’re shaking’ she said and I put my hands in front of me to see them trembling and bit my lip and nodded. ‘O God, come here.’ She walked toward me and opened her arms and I ran into them and took a pained gasp of air as she stroked my back and I hugged her tightly.

  ‘I don’t know what just happened, Lex. It was like he was someone else, he was so cold and mean.’

  ‘He hasn’t hurt you has he? Physically I mean?’

  ‘No,’ I shook my head.

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘I promise, he hasn’t, but he just had sex with me and I may as well not even have been there, Lex. It was like he was somewhere else and he didn’t even seem to realise. He didn’t even let me come before he finished, which he’s never done before, he’s always been so considerate in bed. I could have coped with that if it wasn’t for the way he just reacted when I questioned him about it after, he was horrible. I just don’t know what’s going on with him. I feel like we’re making progress, that he’s finally getting back to normal, then he just takes a massive step backwards and I don’t know why.’

  ‘God, he hasn’t told you has he?’ she sighed.

  ‘Told me what? Lexi what’s going on?’ I stepped back and looked up at her concerned.

  ‘Well I don’t know about the rest of the times he’s had these moods, but I know why he’s having a reaction today. Doug rang earlier, he said the therapist gave Gabe some seriously tough love this morning and told him that he needs to look at swimming as a recreational hobby only, that his shoulder’s never going to get him back to competitive swimming levels and if he carries on trying, he could damage it even further and could face having to have more surgery.’

  ‘Shit, why didn’t he tell me? Why didn’t you tell me if you knew?’

  ‘I didn’t think it was my place Mia, I thought you’d want to hear it from him and I’m sure he would have talked to you, but he’s just been told one of the things he loves doing is over, he probably wanted to try and forget it for a while by doing his other favourite thing, fucking.’

  ‘Well I can understand that, wanting to blot everything out, but even when we’ve had sex before he’s never been so detached Lex, it was awful.’

  ‘Don’t take it personally Mia, from what Doug tells me that’s how Gabe was with everyone before he fell in love with you, he’s just reverted back to what he knows best to help him cope, his armours back up.’

  ‘Don’t take it personally?’ I gasped. ‘How the hell can I not?’

  ‘Because he may have just been a stupid arsehole, but he still loves you, Mia. He’s not like that with you normally because he loves you, but today wasn’t about you, it was about him and this was how he needed to deal with it.’

  ‘You’re defending his behaviour?’ I looked at her shocked.

  ‘No, I’m just trying to make you see that it’s nothing you’ve done wrong Mia, it’s him with the problem tonight, but I can sort of understand how much he might be hurting right now. He’s had years of being cold and detached from people and you made him access the warm fuzzy Gabe we all know and love. Today though he’s scared and just temporarily lost himself. He’s pushing you away, just like you’ve done with him loads of times when you didn’t want to face the things that hurt you, but Gabe doesn’t let you, he forces you to deal and you’ve become a stronger person because of it. Maybe that’s what you need to do, go in there do it for him right now, don’t let him shut you out. Your Gabe’s still in there.’

  ‘God damn it, Lexi,’ I yelled with frustration as I stepped back and leaned on the sink and I covered my eyes. ‘I don’t know how much more crap Gabe and I can deal with. When are things ever going to be easy for us? It’s one bloody crisis after another.’

  ‘I know Mia, but you once told me if the good times outweigh the bad then it was worth it and I told you
if I thought they’d gone too far in the wrong direction I’d tell you. Personally I don’t think they have, but you’re the only one who knows when they have for you. Go and see him, sort this out. I’m in the lounge if you need me, ok? If you think he’s going to get violent though you get straight out of there and join me and we’ll ring Doug and the swim boys to come and calm him down.’

  ‘Lex, thank you,’ I sighed. ‘You should be a counsellor, for someone who’s never really had any relationships you seem to know exactly what to say and how to deal.’

  ‘Hey, it’s easy when you’re on the outside looking in, just don’t ask me to be all objective when it comes to my own issues. Besides, I’ve had a seven year relationship with you, Mia Page. That’s got to have given me some relationship worthy ammo to fire back at you. So are you going to go and sort this out?’

  ‘Yes,’ I nodded and she smiled sympathetically at me and headed out. I to the fridge and opened two beers and took a deep breath to prepare myself. I had to view this as a reaction to his bad news, he’d never been like that with me before and I needed to trust that it was a one off and forget how bad he’d just made me feel. I knew how important his swimming was to him and he must be feeling devastated. The bedroom was empty so I opened the bathroom door and walked in. He was just standing in the shower with his hands on the wall, the water running down over his neck, shoulders and back. I stood looking at him wondering if he even knew I was in the room, then I inhaled sharply when I realised he was sobbing, proper heavy can’t catch your breath sobs, and my chest constricted for him. I put the beer down quickly and walked straight into the shower fully clothed, wrapped my arms around his waist and felt him tense up.

  ‘Mia … don’t,’ he whispered as he tried to catch him breath.

  ‘I’m so sorry. I heard what happened this morning.’

  ‘Please don’t apologise, I don’t deserve it. I’m a fucking shit for treating you like that.’

  ‘You were hurt and needed to hurt someone back, I get it.’