by Alexa Davis
“Oh, thank you Miss Katy! I am going to have a couple of bruises tomorrow, but I’m okay. I have to clean up my mess before I can play though, all right?” Katy nodded and hid behind her father’s leg, blushing. “I really am okay,” I assured her father, and smiled as best I could around the blossoming pain in my face. He hesitated to leave, and I looked to Mrs. Dunham. “Maggie, I’ll be by your office to talk after I get this cleaned up, if you’re available.”
I turned my back on her and pushed the stray berries into a pile and picked them up with paper towels, then mopped the floor and put down a caution sign. My throat was closed off and my stomach ached with the need to vomit, but I forced myself to go outside and talk to my kids, so they’d know I was okay. I paused and blinked to clear my vision as I stepped out into the light, and Olivia ran at me, throwing herself around my legs in a hug that almost knocked me off balance again.
“Mommy, your chin is purple!” She shouted at me as I knelt in front of her. The pain had dulled to an ache, and I’d forgotten to find a mirror, partially out of fear that if I was in a restroom alone, Margaret Dunham would find me there. Paul came my way and tilted my face so he could get a better look at it.
“You might have broken your jaw,” he said gently, but the tugging at the corners of his mouth belied his sympathy.
“Still deciding if it was worth it,” I replied. I touched my face softly, then pressed harder to see how much it really hurt, which was a whole hell of a lot. Tears burned my eyes and I blinked rapidly to clear them, then kept them closed for a moment to regain my bearings. Spots swam on the inside of my eyelids, then stopped moving, and then disappeared altogether. Paul put his hand on my arm and I opened my eyes again, and, of course, there stood my wicked witch of a boss.
“Your face is swollen,” she commented, and I sighed.
“It hurts like, well… like I got licked in the jaw like a donkey,” I replied glibly, as Shaunte joined us.
“Oh, honey, we need to get some ice on you. Oh, poor baby,” she cooed as she enfolded me in a hug. “Do I need to get you out of here?” She whispered in my ear. I nodded, and she released me.
“Well, I’m not sure what to think of you, letting her clean up and keep working, hurt like that. Look at her face!” I put my hand on her arm.
“I’m okay, really.” I said it softly, and nodded to Dunham, then turned to Shaunte. “Mrs. Dunham and I need to speak in her office, then I can meet you and the kidlets out front.” She nodded in agreement, but I saw her scowl at Dunham on her way past, and rolled my eyes heavenward. Paul seemed hesitant to leave us alone, and I wondered if little Katy’s dad had done some talking when they’d gotten back to the party.
“I let my temper get the best of me, Libby. I’m sure you understand,” I knew it was the closest thing to an apology I was going to get, and as it was, I would wind up paying for it later. Everything in me screamed to let it be, but I couldn’t claim to be the independent, strong person I claimed to be if I couldn’t stand up for myself with a bully whose opinion didn’t even matter to me.
“No, I really don’t. But it was my fault for trying to tease Paul, and karma caught up with me quick.” Her face twitched, and I watched as she fought the urge to laugh so hard, that her eyes began to water. She coughed and nodded curtly, spinning on one heel, and striding quickly away.
“Well, that went better than I expected,” Paul said from behind me.
“I’d have liked her more if she’d just laughed in front of me, instead of running away. God knows she’s going to get her mileage out of it telling it to whoever she hangs out with.” I stretched my shoulders and sighed. “I’m out. I love you. See you tomorrow.” I hugged him gingerly and he stroked my hair.
“No, you need to stay home. Tomorrow is Friday, and you are only going to look worse for the next couple of days. Come back Monday. Don’t scare the children.” I nodded and saluted him, then caught up with Shaunte and our kids out front.
“I’m so glad you drove this morning. I do not have the mental capacity to get anyone, anywhere, safely right now.” I watched Olivia strap herself into her car seat.
“You fired?” Shaunte asked, watching me painfully engaging my own seatbelt.
“Not yet, she ran off to laugh at me in her office. I feel so stupid.”
“Well, if she knows you were humiliated, she’ll probably just like you better.” I sighed.
“Why am I a magnet for sickos?”
She laughed and patted my hand on the center console.
“That, is the question of the day.” I laughed and then whimpered as I stretched my jaw to hard and pain shot through my face. She dropped us off at our house, instead of us walking, so I could lie down. I let her get Olivia out of the car and hand me her backpack and artwork so I could move as little as possible. I gave her a hug.
“Don’t ever let anyone say I’m not willing to take one for the team. Although, I really don’t think it was worth the price I’m paying.” She clucked her tongue and examined my face one last time.
“It didn’t swell much, which is a good sign. And you might not think it was worth it, but I bet she had another forty-five minutes of speechifying in her, so on the behalf of all those children and their parents, I appreciate your sacrifice.” She gently hugged me one last time, and promised to come get Olivia later so I could rest while they went to the pool.
I texted Tucker that I was home and he could come by anytime, but ignored his call, because my face hurt too much to want to talk. I took a picture of my face and sent it with my apology, and the caption “Libby 0, Gravity 1”. It made me smile, which in turn, made me want to cry again. I didn’t bother making dinner, because now that he knew I was hurt, I was almost certain Tucker would bring food with him, and if I was lucky, wine and a straw to drink it with.
Chapter Twenty-One
Tucker
Olivia had gone with her friend, D’Ante, to the pool, and if the kids had their way, Libby and I would be alone for the night, possibly the last night we had for a long time. But every time I looked at the bruising on her face, or watched her stiff, painful movements as she tried to eat the pho I brought her for dinner, my hope for a last taste of her dissipated. When the inevitable phone call came from Shaunte, Libby gratefully accepted the offer to keep Olivia, I also offered to leave her alone.
“It’s because I’m ugly now, isn’t it?” She asked, watching me out of the corner of her eye. I resisted the urge to tickle her feet, even though they were close enough to be tempting while her legs were draped across my lap. Instead, I gently rubbed her calves, until the only sounds coming from her mouth were little moans of pleasure. My hands moved farther up her legs, until I was massaging her thighs and she parted them just enough for me to dig into her upper thighs a little and work out the knots she got from her fall.
“So. I’ll stay, if you tell me exactly how you got these bruises,” I countered. She sighed and closed her eyes.
“Can’t talk, feels too good.” I stopped rubbing her leg, and she made a disapproving growl. “C’mon, spill.” By the end of her story, I was working not to laugh, and instead, put more effort into rubbing her sore muscles. “Okay, really. What was the first thing you thought when you looked up at Mrs. Dunham?” I asked, as I shifted my attention from her right leg to her left.
“I thought she was weighing the risk of her falling versus the pleasure it would give her to stomp my face.” I snorted and covered it with a cough.
“But you think it’s okay now?”
“I have no idea. But I’ve been thinking, and you’ll probably laugh, but hear me out,” she started, then paused and took a deep breath.
“I am all ears.”
“Did you enjoy my parties?” The question took me by surprise, and I didn’t answer right away. “Oh, God. That’s a no. Never mind then.”
I gripped her knee hard, and she yelped in surprise.
“Actually, you throw amazing parties. I was just taken aback. I mean, why didn’t
I think of it before now, with all the talk about you starting a business.”
She smiled. “I love my art. But I don’t feel like an artist. I did love those little faces glowing when they saw how I displayed their art, though. And their parents. Tucker, you should go to the next Parents Day. Olivia would love to have you there, and we invite other adult family members all the time.”
Her face had blossomed a bloom of blue and purple along her jaw, but her eyes held a soft glow that made my heart feel tight in my chest. I slid my hand further up her thigh, stopping just shy of the warmth that radiated between her legs. She was bruised and sore, but I selfishly wanted to feel her around me while she held that glow of happiness in her eyes.
“How about I help you upstairs, and run you a bath in that huge claw tub of yours,” I offered. She raised an eyebrow and looked at me through almost-closed eyes.
“What’s in it for you?” she asked, still looking at me from under her lashes.
“No, seriously. You, bath, wine, and when you’re done, I’ll rub the rest of the kinks out.” She smiled and nodded.
“It does sound good.” She headed upstairs to start her bath and I ran to the kitchen for the wine and glasses. By the time I caught up with her, she had begun shucking off her clothing, and I could see that the bruise on her face was the only mar on her perfect body. She glanced over her shoulder at me and motioned me over to her, as I stood like an idiot in the middle of the room, my brains scrambled by the view of her amazing curves bent over the bath. I mentally shook myself and made my feet continue toward her, and she slid into the bubbles that were already just under her firm breasts, the white complementing the pink flesh that gathered and jutted out from the cool air on her skin.
I poured wine in the two glasses and handed her one, then unbuttoned my shirt while she watched, the sensation of her eyes on me only making me even harder. Her eyes never left mine as I slid my arms out of the shirt and dropped it on the floor. She licked her lips and I moved my hand down the front of my pants, pressing it against the erection that made the pants pull tight across the front.
I undid the zipper slowly and pushed the slacks off my hips, letting them fall so I could breathe in relief as the pressure against me lessened. Her hungry gaze was so arousing, that I stood firm and tall against my stomach once I slid my boxers down my thighs and stepped out of the puddle of fabric pooled around my ankles.
“Come closer and let me touch you,” she whispered. I stepped up to get into the bath with her, and she slid her hands up my thighs, stopping me from bending my knees to sit. Her mouth was around me in an instant, and I felt her slick, wet hands on cupping my ass as she drove herself onto me, until her lips touched my pelvis. She pulled back and looked up the length of my body into my face, and I slid my fingers into her hair, moving it away from her face, so I could better see the lust in her eyes.
She tried to take me in her mouth again, but I held her hair just tight enough that she couldn’t move, and I slid down into the bath so I was facing her. I pulled her into my lap so she straddled me, and pressed me between us, so my shaft was trapped, the tip dipping into my navel. I massaged her lower back and she rocked her hips, rubbing my length between the folds of soft flesh I knew were pink and delicate to the touch, slipped over me and up, until she drove me inside her with a moan, shuddering against my chest.
I held her and forced her to take it slow, to wring every last drop of pleasure for herself as I kissed and sucked on her hard nipples, my hands still working the tight spots in her back. I felt her shudder around me and squeeze me tight, and her breathing went shallow and ragged as she clenched her strong muscles around me and let the first orgasm take her.
“Libby, I don’t want to leave,” I confessed into her hair as I reached past her to the faucet to add hot water to the bath.
“Then don’t. Maybe it’s time we tried to be, I don’t know, at least semi-official?” I flipped the drain to open and let the hot water replace the tepid.
“I have to stay away from you while the Ethics Committee checks into my—well, my firm’s claims. They have to look at me, too, and make sure I’m not just making trouble for an opponent by smearing his name.” I turned the water off and tilted my hips to better accommodate her and intensify her thrusts, reaching that smooth spot deep inside that would make her scream her next crash of pleasure instead of whispering it in my ear.
“How…How long will you be gone?” She gasped as I found my mark and pulled her down on me, faster, harder than before.
“I don’t know, a couple of weeks, maybe?” I dug my fingers into her slender hips and moved her so the hot water rushed up my chest with each thrust, and the cold air between made her nipples hard and cool when I drew them into the heat of my mouth. I released her breast and looked up into her face while she stared down, her lip tucked between her teeth in a way that was so sexy and innocent it amazed me.
She leaned down and covered my mouth with hers, coaxing me open to her and delving into me with the sweet strong muscle she had slid over other parts of me minutes before. Just thinking about her mouth on me while I was inside her was enough to make me lose control, and I pushed her down on me and roared my orgasm at the ceiling as I felt her clench around my throbbing dick and ride the wave of pleasure with me, until it crashed over us both and I sank deeper into the water with her.
“A couple of weeks is a long time,” she whispered into my chest as she trembled against me. I held her close and tried to slow time, hold off the ticking clock on the wall. It was just a few days, and she’d be fine without me. I just wished I didn’t feel like tonight was my last night with her, forever.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Libby
The first few days that Tucker was gone, it hadn’t mattered. He hadn’t been such a part of our lives that I missed him so terribly, right away. There was the dull ache of his absence, but I treated it like any other time we’d gone a while without speaking, and carried on with life. My bigger fear was going back to work and finding out that Maggie Dunham didn’t have a sense of humor, or a soul, as I had long suspected. By Wednesday, I felt safe from the after-effects of my joke gone awry, both in a physical sense and safe from being fired by Maggie for interrupting her grandstanding.
It wasn’t until Olivia and I were on our way home, and she wanted to stop for a mommy-daughter lunch at a fancy restaurant (which was any sit-down eatery with actual servers), that I realized my life was exactly as it had been before I went to Tucker about the will. No Tucker, no Cynthia or Kristy or court, or waiting for a hearing date. We’d gone through all the stress and sacrifice, and in the end, absolutely nothing about my life had changed, except that the longer Tucker was gone, the bigger the hole in my chest grew.
I watched my sweet little girl order from the children’s menu, speaking earnestly to the college kid who was waiting on us. He crouched by her seat so they were eye to eye, and made notes as she spoke, even though she wasn’t making much sense.
“Olivia, please. Just order something they actually have on the menu, baby,” I gently chided her. Her jade eyes sparkled with tears and her little mouth quivered as she tried to hold back her embarrassment, and I mentally shook myself for being an idiot and a rotten mother. I glanced up at the server, who winked at me and made a show of concentrating hard.
“Miss Olivia, I know we don’t have the chicken with pineapple on it here, but do you trust me to make you something really, really special?” Olivia frowned, but nodded slowly.
“Okay. I will be right back with drinks to start you with. If I guess what your favorite drink is, will you draw me a picture?” Her frown disappeared under the thrill of a challenge, and she grinned and nodded more enthusiastically. He turned to me and smiled. “If I were a guessing man, I’d say you need full caffeine, full sugar today.” I laughed and agreed, and he set off towards the back to turn in our orders.
“Sorry I snapped at you, O. I’m frustrated with life, and I had no excuse for taking it out
on you.”
“That’s okay, Mom. I’m fust-er-ated too. I miss Uncle Tuck. He was going to bring his puppy to our house again, and he said I could hold her leash.” I reached across the table and held her soft, sticky little hand in mine.
“He will be back soon,” I promised. “He didn’t want to go in the first place, and I just know he misses you too.”
“He’s not gone like Daddy’s gone… right, Mom?” Her little voice was tinged with worry, and I shook my head.
“No, baby. He’s not gone like Daddy had to go. He’s just doing super-important work stuff and can’t come over. He’s helping people who were hurt by a really bad dude; and just by doing what we’re doing, we’re helping him.”
“By letting him work?”
“Exactly.”
“Okay, but can I go play with D’Ante today? Keisha said she’d play fort with us.” I told her I’d check with their mom, and laughed to myself. If only it was that easy for me to change my focus. I was still doing research on the survivability of a party planning business, and the stark numbers were daunting, at best. I texted Shaunte and smiled up at the waiter, who had brought me a frosted pint beer mug and a pitcher of Dr. Pepper, and a fruit salad for Olivia, shaped like a dinosaur eating from a bush. I gaped at him and he shrugged.
“One of our prep cooks is an art major.” I chuckled and handed him two ten dollar bills, one for himself, and one for the prep cook.
“This is aside from the tip. Thank you for being good to my daughter.”
“It was my pleasure. I have four sisters and two nieces. I get how they think.” Olivia was ecstatic for the rest of our lunch date, demanding that I take pictures and post them on “Face TV book,” and chortling over the captions she asked me to type for her.
Shaunte had gotten back to me, via text, before we’d finished eating, and that left me with nothing to do with the rest of my day, but drop her off on our way into our neighborhood and work on finding myself a career that would provide for me and my daughter.