Take a Chance

by Ash Johnson

  I let out a bitter laugh. From the time I was in sixth grade and my mom sent my oldest sister, Jen, to reform school so she could prep for the life of a rich housewife early on—which was also the first time I’d caught my dad with another woman—I couldn’t stand the idea of being in a relationship that was anything like theirs.

  My parents were married for about fifteen years and were faithful for about five of them. As soon as my two sisters and I had come along and our family was declared finished, they branched off in other directions—my father to other women and my mother to the bottle or high-end shopping. Once their divorce was final and the money was separated, my dad was free to fuck anything on two legs that was around my age, and my mother determined that she could never have enough social status and went on to find the newest replacement.

  “I’m happier with Harlow than I’ve been in a very long time. I won’t go back to school to become a lawyer because you think I’m lacking something in my life. I love what I do, and I won’t give that up to appease you. I will also never come with you to meet another woman, because I have the woman I want; so quit fucking asking.”

  My mother swivels her head to find Simon still ignoring us, and she slaps his hand lightly to get his attention. “Simon, will you talk some sense into Jonathon, please?”

  He clears his throat, as if preparing to stand before a judge and jury instead in a kitchen before a man only ten years his junior, and stares me dead in the eye. “How can you be happy with what you do now? You own a stinky gym that won’t always bring a positive profit, and physical therapy can’t pay as much as any position in law would. Think about your future, son. Your mother would like to see you do well enough for yourself that we don’t have to support you in a few years.”

  Wow. Who in the fuck does this guy think he is? Did he just call me “son”? “First off, I barely know your name, so you have no fucking right to call me ‘son.’ Second, have I ever asked you for money?” I say through gritted teeth. My mother becomes fascinated with kitchen table instead of answering my question, because she knows I’ve never asked for a dime from her or my father. I used the money from the inheritance my grandpa left me after he passed away to buy the gym and got a scholarship that I worked my ass off for to go to college. My father hasn’t had to provide for me in a long time.

  This house was an investment he had made when I was in high school and thought this neighborhood would be more well-to-do than it is. He paid for the plot and had the house built in the hope of selling it for more than it was worth. When he realized he couldn’t do that, I bought it from him and have paid the property taxes on it since the day I moved in.

  “I know that Jen and Jamie haven’t had the best luck with their lawyer husbands, and you’ve had to spot them a bit of money lately, but I don’t remember ever asking anything from you.”

  That shuts them both up. My sisters weren’t prepped for anything other than their MRS Degrees in college. Jennifer wanted to be a pediatrician, and Jamie told me once that she wanted to be a school teacher, but my wonderful mother wouldn’t hear of any of that nonsense. My sisters were meant to marry prominent men and focus on having kids, while their dick-face husbands had affairs and gave half of each paycheck to their mistresses; while I followed my father’s footsteps and became a well-off lawyer with a stuck up bitch that I couldn’t stand for a wife.

  After a few minutes of very uncomfortable silence, I clap my hands together loudly and start backing out of the kitchen. “Well, if that’s all you wanted to talk about, then I guess you can be on your way. I need to make dinner for my girl before she leaves for work.”

  My mom narrows her eyes at me, an expression that should turn me to ashes where I stand, but I’ve suffered this look for over thirty years now, and it doesn’t even faze me anymore. She gets up and glances behind her at Simon who is still sitting, obviously ignoring her. “Come on, Simon. I can tell when we aren’t wanted anymore.”

  Douchebag Simon moves, and they both walk out of the kitchen and to the front door, which I’m now holding open for them. Simon has the balls to glance down the stairs where Harlow and Alex had disappeared earlier before he follows my mom out the door.

  “I’ll see you guys at Thanksgiving,” I tell them both, knowing that they don’t believe I’ll be there anymore than I do, before slamming the door shut and heading downstairs to find my girl.

  I’m prepared to grovel for the rest of the night for my mother’s attitude when I find both Harlow and Alex sitting on the side of the pool, their feet dangling in the water. When I open my mouth to release the first apology, Harlow gives me the most gorgeous smile I’ve ever seen in my life, and the words get stuck in my throat.

  “Everything okay?” she asks, more worried about me than her own feelings. The air I was holding onto rushes out of me. “It is now.”

  Chapter 25

  Harlow

  I’m standing at the sink rinsing the dishes after dinner when Blake steps up behind me and wraps his arms around my hips. “Don’t worry about the dishes, babe. I can do them in a bit. You should be laying down for another hour or so before you have to leave for the vet’s tonight. “

  A tiny shiver slides down my spine when Blake’s nose runs down the back of my neck, turning me on and tickling me at the same time. “It’s not a big deal. You made dinner, so I can wash them.”

  “Or an even better idea would be for both of us to go upstairs and lay down and Alex can do the dishes. She needs to earn her keep at this house,” Blake jokes loudly so that Alex can hear him from her position at the table. She scowls at Blake, and we both chuckle at her.

  “Yeah, that’s a good idea. From now on the dishes will be Alex’s job. If she’s not swamped with homework, then she will do the dishes at night,” I agree, thinking it’s a good idea to give her a bit of responsibility while she lives here.

  “And if I don’t do them?” Alex shoots back at me in a bitchy voice. Before I can think of something to use against her, Blake gives the best answer I’ve ever heard. “If you don’t follow up with the dishes, then you can bet your ass that you won’t be using the pool out back. I know you like having a clean pool to swim in because you’ve spent all your free time sitting out there.”

  “That’s horseshit. How are you going to stop me from using it? You have a day job too, and I can just use it while you’re gone.”

  “Well, that’s the great thing about having a giant bowl with water in it: I can just have the water drained. How are you going to use it then?” he smiles.

  Alex has no come back. She just growls and moves from the table to the sink as we move out of the kitchen toward the upstairs rooms.

  Once we’re both at the top of the stairs, I head to my room but Blake grabs my forearm and twists me to the right, toward his room.

  “Let’s go lay down in my bed,” he whispers in my ear and kisses my neck softly. Once inside I have only a moment to notice the dark blue and light gray color scheme before I’m tackled onto the bed.

  Somehow, I’ve gone from an upright position to flat on my back with Blake nestled in between my legs in less than a second.

  “If I begged you pretty please to move your things from the guest room to here, would you do it for me?” Blake mumbles with his face tucked into to nook between my neck and my shoulder.

  “Mmm, I don’t know. Why don’t you try and we’ll see what I say?” I joke, knowing that I’ll say yes the second he opens his mouth.

  “Harlow Wilholten, will you please, with cherries on top, move your things from the guest room into here so that I can spend every early morning and late afternoon with you wrapped up in my bed? I’ll make it worth your while, I promise.”

  I laugh softly, feeling a bit sad that I won’t be able to spend one full night wrapped up in his arms. I haven’t slept at night in over two years, and it doesn’t appear that I’ll be doing it again anytime soon.

  “I would love to share a room with you, Jonathon,” I say, poking a bit of fun
at his name. We didn’t bring up the topic of his mother and her creepy gawking husband after they left because I could tell it was very upsetting to him, but I wanted to make sure he was okay after their visit.

  He lets out a low groan and then lightly bites the side of my neck. “Please don’t call me that. I’m Blake. I won’t ever go by Jonathon again. My parents are the only ones that call me that, and my mother knows it pisses me off, but I have better manners than to threaten them with bodily harm if they keep calling me that.”

  “At least they taught you good manners,” I say, melting into him a bit as his hand skims my waist to the side of my breast.

  “They didn’t teach me shit. I was a spoiled, entitled asshole until I started college. I learned manners from my best friend Jay’s parents. His mom, Jane, was sick with cancer when I met her, but she still had the strength to slap me upside the head if I said anything offensive; and Jay’s dad, Dave, taught me how to be a good man even after he lost Jane. “

  “It sounds like you learned good lessons from good people then,” I tell him, glad that he had people who had his back, even if they weren’t the two people who should have been doing it from the beginning.

  “They were the best. I’m sure you’ll meet Dave sometime.” I just nod, happy that Blake wants to introduce me to people who mean a lot to him.

  “I won’t ever call you Jonathon again, and for the record, I like the person that you are now, Blake. You are such a good man.” I twist my head and place a small kiss against his temple.

  “Thanks, babe. Now how about we have ourselves a quickie, and then we’ll get a little sleep before you have to go.” He nips my earlobe, switching off our conversation about parents and inadvertently making me wet.

  I moan and nod. I grab the hem of his shirt, making him back away enough to remove it, and smile when he tugs off his shorts and attacks my clothing with the same speed.

  He tries to nestle his face between my legs in order to turn me on more, but I’m beyond wet for him and realize that I do need to get some sleep before work, so we need to make this an actual quickie. I roll Blake onto his back and straddle his waist, becoming wetter as his hardness presses against my center, and grind against him.

  “Oh, baby, you are so fucking sexy,” Blake says as he runs his hands from the tops of my thighs around my hips. His touch ignites me in a way that I haven’t experienced before; and suddenly, I can’t wait until he’s inside of me.

  “Condom,” I mumble, glad that he understands me enough to reach over to the side table and remove a foil packet. I snatch it from his hands and tear open the wrapper with my teeth, eager to feel Blake inside of me. The moan that escapes his mouth as I roll the latex down his length only heightens my arousal.

  Once I have the condom in place, I grab his length, enjoying the rush of air that he heaves out of him. I place him at my entrance and sit down a bit quicker than is probably recommended, because even though he’s been in me before, his length might split me in two.

  “Oh, sweet Jesus,” Blake groans, gripping my hips, once I’m fully seated. My hands are clutching his toned pecs, my fingernails leaving red streaks where I’ve scratched him. Once his hands loosen on my waist, I feel it’s safe to move, and move I do. I know I’d told myself I wanted this to be a quickie because I needed to get some sleep, but now I can’t go slow because I’m so turned on I have to have him.

  I ride him good and hard, our combined pants and moans filling the air and fueling the fire of my movements. “Come on, Harlow, fuck me so good,” he grits out and raises his hips to meet my own downward thrusts.

  The deep penetration has me quickly hanging on the edge of an orgasm. I’m sure the fact that I’m gasping for breath with every thrust lets Blake know where I’m at, so he helps by placing his thumb against my clit and rubbing, sending me off the cliff. My orgasm is so powerful that I faintly hear myself scream Blake’s name. When my body starts to float back to earth, I go boneless, to the point that I don’t notice Blake’s muscles tighten and his fingers dig into the cheeks of my ass as he comes.

  I’m too exhausted to be ashamed of the fact that I’m panting onto his shoulder. It takes me a second to realize that he’s doing the same into my hair.

  “Holy fuckin’ shit, babe, you sucked me dry,” he puffs into my temple. I giggle and squeeze around his still-hard dick, making him groan once more.

  After we’ve both caught our breaths I sit up and pull him out of me, moving to his en suite bathroom to clean myself up before going back to the bed and collapsing into the mattress face first. Blake chuckles at my graceless flop and then moves to the bathroom to dispose of the condom before joining me in bed and pulling my naked body toward him.

  “So glad that you’re here with me,” he whispers into my hair.

  I hum my agreement, feeling bone tired and ready to get some sleep before I have to work all night.

  “Will you stay with me forever?” I barely hear his words before I pass out from exhaustion.

  ***

  This has been one of the longest and most boring nights of my life. We didn’t have anyone come in tonight with a sick pet. I spent most of my time either pacing around the waiting area in order to stay awake or fending off Dr. Tim’s come-ons.

  He has always been flirtatious, but since Blake has been around, I’ve noticed that Dr. Tim is laying it on a little too thick. This morning, before I got into Blake’s BMW to leave for the night, Dr. Tim asked me if I would be willing to come home with him and keep him company until we had to come back tonight.

  Thanks, but a huge no thanks.

  I spend most of the drive back to Blake’s trying to rid myself of the gross feeling I have when Tim ogles my body, but put it out of my mind as soon as I pull into the driveway. I try to push the button by the visor to open the garage, but it doesn’t work. After a few more attempts with the same result, I shrug and park in the driveway and head to the front door, only to realize I don’t have a key to get in.

  I knock, feeling all sorts of awkward, and hope someone is awake.

  A few seconds later Blake opens the door, confusion written on his face.

  “What the hell, babe? Why didn’t you just come through the garage door?”

  I enter and place my purse on the entryway table before turning back to him. “The button in the car wouldn’t open the garage.”

  “Hmm, that’s weird, but I’ll look at it later. I’ll get a front door key made for you and Alex today too so that if the garage door doesn’t work and I’m not home you have a way in.” I nod and start toward the basement stairs so I can make sure Alex is up and ready for school, but Blake grabs me by the arm and steers me back toward him.

  “Where do you think you’re going, babe?”

  “I’m going to make sure Alex is ready for school so I can take her,” I tell him, leaning in to give him a peck.

  After I pull back, I try to move again, but Blake’s hold doesn’t ease up. “I knocked on her door about fifteen minutes ago. She’s up and I have breakfast sitting at the island for her when she’s ready. After she eats I’ll take her to school. Why don’t you head up to bed and get some sleep? You look exhausted.”

  I stare at him in disbelief. This wonderful man came out of nowhere and has treated me like gold from the second I met him. He has given my sister and me a place to live when we had nowhere else to go and is now telling me that I can go upstairs and get some sleep because he will make sure Alex gets to school instead of letting take her.

  Blake moves his hands to my cheeks and peers into my eyes with a bit of concern. “Harlow? Baby, why does it look like you’re going to cry?”

  I sniffle and blink a few times in an effort to hold my tears in, which thankfully works. I don’t want to freak Blake out and give him reason to get rid of me. “I’m just beyond grateful for you, Blake Maynard. How did I get so lucky?”

  He gives me a small smile and brings my face closer to his for another kiss. “I’m the lucky one, babe. I’ll do
everything I can to make you happy.”

  I lean in and give him the kiss he deserves, moaning when his tongue tangles with mine in perfect harmony. The kiss stays slow but becomes more sensual, my hands running into his hair and his hands traveling down my body, one resting on my lower back while the other grips my ass.

  A throat clears behind us, and it breaks the spell I was under for a moment.

  “Could you two please not do that in places where I can see it?” Alex snaps, her snotty teenage tone grating on my very last nerve.

  “Me kissing Blake is a lot tamer than half of the things I’ve witnessed you doing, Alexis Ann.” I don’t want to fight with her but unable to stop myself from saying it.

  “That’s because you’re a nosy bitch who won’t let me live my life. If you’d stop coming into my room like you own the place you wouldn’t have seen most of those things,” she snaps.

  Her words must hit a chord with Blake, because he snaps. “If I ever hear you call your sister a bitch again, there will be big consequences, little girl. Harlow has walked into your room like she owned it because she does. She is the one that pays all the bills, and until you can start contributing to the house payments or afford to move out on your own, you should expect that she can come into your room any time she likes.

  “Since you are living in my house, you can now expect the same thing from me, and you can bet your ass if I ever find out you are having sex with a boy under my roof, there will be big problems. You are too damn young to be causing most of the problems that you do. You need to take it back a notch or two and just enjoy being fourteen. Adulthood comes way too soon, and once you get to that point, you’ll wish you could get that time back.”

  Alex rolls her eyes, letting Blake’s words go in one ear and out the other, before moving around us and into the kitchen to eat her breakfast.