by Odette Stone
I yawned.
“You look tired.”
I nodded. “Kinda.”
“Why don’t you head up to bed. I will be there in a bit.”
“Okay.”
***
In the morning, I woke up to the sound of Chloe whining. Jackson had come to bed last night but he hadn’t woken me. Now it was morning and my dog needed to pee.
“Coming Chloe,” I gave a raspy call, as I forced myself to sit up in bed.
“I got it,” Jackson said. “You sleep.”
I dropped back onto my pillow, unable to open my eyes. “Don’t forget to check for chicken.”
I heard him talking to Chloe, as they went downstairs.
Moments later, the backdoor slammed and Jackson called, “Emily, where do you keep the plastic bags?”
My eyes opened wide. “Why?”
“I found some more chicken.”
I grabbed my robe and hustled downstairs. Jackson was on the deck, wearing only a pair of sweats and he was holding Chloe by her collar.
He looked at me. “Can you take her?”
I hustled Chloe back into the house and then watched through the window as Jackson walked through the yard with bare feet. He bagged the offending chicken, threw it out and then made his way back to the house.
He stood there looking menacing, with his hands on his hips. He wasn’t impressed.
“How often do you find that shit?”
I shrugged. “There hasn’t been any chicken for awhile.”
“This pisses me off.”
“Yeah. I know.”
“Why don’t you go back to bed?”
I yawned. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going for a run.”
I had no idea where the man got all his energy from. “Okay.”
***
I woke up a second time. I thought I had heard Jackson come in, but he hadn’t come upstairs. On my way downstairs, I found him standing in Alien’s room. He stood in the middle of the room, his hands on his hips as he took in the mural.
The nighttime scene depicted little bear in bed, leaning up against father bear, who was sitting in bed with him and reading him a bedtime story. Mother bear was folding clothes, listening with a smile on her face. Grandma and grandpa bear were looking in the doorway and smiling. I had wanted the father bear and little bear relationship to be predominant in the mural.
He glanced at me in the doorway, but he didn’t speak. His face was blank, but the intensity in the way he studied the mural belied his disinterest. What was he thinking? Was he remember his mom while looking at these childhood characters? I had wanted to honour his relationship that he had with his mom, but the amount of emotion that I could feel him hiding was catching me off guard.
He turned his attention to me. “I see that Alien’s crib has arrived.”
“I haven’t had a chance to put it together,” I lied. As if I had any intention of building that thing myself.
His head whipped over to me. “You think I’m not going to man up and build our kid’s crib?”
“Oh…well….if you want to.”
“Damn straight I will.”
I had to turn my face away, my smile threatening to give away my game.
His lips twitched. “Did you just play me?”
“I would never.”
He grabbed me around the waist. “I totally walked into that.”
“Well, it worked.”
He slapped me on the ass. “So, there are a bunch of guys that want to go out tonight.”
“Okay.”
“Wives are included.”
“I can make that work.”
Chapter 36
Despite our joking, there was a distance between us that made my heart ache. Instead of finding that place where we were in sync, we felt like two polite strangers.
The day passed and then we took a taxi to the bar. I was wearing a cute little yellow sundress and a pair of flats, coupled with a jean jacket.
“MacDog!” Someone yelled across the bar. Hand in his, I followed him across the huge bar, looking around. In one corner were pool tables. There was a stage and a band was setting up. He led me to a couple tables that were pushed together, filled with faces that were starting to look familiar.
“Emily,” Lauren called, “Come over and sit here with us.”
I pulled my hand out of Jackson’s, and made my way over to Lauren. I glanced over my shoulder. He was standing there, watching me. I recognized a few of the women from the Scentsy party. They made room for me to sit with them.
“Thanks,” I smiled. Jackson made his way over to where the men were playing darts. He was laughing at something one of them said. He needed this. This was his community. His comrades, his fellow soldiers and he needed to meet with them socially. I understood that and I wanted that for him.
As the night wore on, everyone around me, including the wives, seemed to consume copious amounts of alcohol. If I wasn’t pregnant, I was pretty sure I would be flat on my face by now. As it was, I was pretty sure I was the only sober person in the entire bar.
The women were huddled down on one end of the table discussing school politics. The men were passionately competing at darts and drinking their faces off. I felt all the muscles in my body tense when I noticed Harper approach the men. She was wearing a short jean miniskirt that was half way up her long lean legs coupled with a white, button up shirt that was open far enough to show plenty of cleavage and tied around her midriff. Her long blond hair was sexy messy.
“I was telling the math teacher, there is no reason to punish Ben with extra homework. He needs help not more work.”
She walked right up to Jackson who was about to take his turn at the dart board. He looked down at her and said something that made her laugh. I felt my cheeks flush. Something ugly crawled in my stomach.
“Well, did you hear what the gym teacher did to the grade six class? They had to do boot camp in the rain. Those kids were freezing. I phoned the teacher and told her that this wasn’t BUDs training, this was physical education.”
Jackson finished tossing his darts and walked back to the high table. Harper followed him. He took a sip of his beer. I watched as she took the bottle from him and took a haul off his beer. She was talking, a huge smile on her face. She said something that made them both laugh. I watched as she leaned down on the table, pushing up her cleavage so it was spilling out of her shirt. She looked ridiculously sexy.
It was Jackson’s turn to shoot again, only this time he gave Harper his darts. He was looking over her shoulder as she took her aim and shot the dart. She obviously made a great shot because she turned around and gave him a quick hug.
I wanted to puke. Instead, I stood up. On unsteady legs, I walked to the washrooms. I washed my hands and stared back at my reflection. My belly beneath my loose dress looked less like a baby and instead I just looked short and chubby. My face was chalk white.
I couldn’t compete with that. Harper was everything I wasn’t. She was tall, curvy, sexy and blonde. I was a short, pregnant and shy redhead and I felt so low, I could barely deal.
It didn’t matter how much he told me there was nothing between them. Those were all lies. The moment those two came together, sparks were flying off them both. He was committed to me, but I knew in my heart that he loved her.
I dried my hands on a paper towel and straightened my shoulders. Jealousy burned in my gut. My husband was in love with another woman. I hated my life.
I weighed my options. Run away? Leave the bar? Pick a fight? Been there, done that. Nothing made a difference. Now it was time to just accept the truth of the matter. At some point, I knew in my heart, he would be leaving me for her. I wasn’t going to solve anything tonight. My goal was to make it through the evening in one piece. I would smile, laugh, and pretend to be happy. Right now that was the only strategy I could think of.
I was walking back towards the tables, when someone grabbed my arm.
�
�45 calories.”
My smile was huge. “Burger guy.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Watching everyone else drink, you?”
“Same.”
I smiled up at him. “You’re not drinking?”
He shook his head. “BUDs is too intense. We have tonight off and tomorrow when they put us through the most insane exercises, I would rather not be hung over.”
His discipline impressed me. “Good for you. Is it going okay?”
“It’s what I expected.”
He looked behind him. “My pool partner just took off after some hot chick. Wanna play a game?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I’m a terrible pool player.”
“Just play a round with me so I can hold the table.”
I glanced over to where Harper and Jackson were engrossed in their dart game. My teeth ground. “Sure. Why not.”
I made a point of keeping my back to Jackson and Harper. I didn’t want to see them. It made me feel too bad. Mark racked up the table and then let me take the first shot. As promised, I was terrible.
“Tell you what, I’ll give myself a handicap,” Mark said.
“What is that?”
“I have to sink all of my balls and two of yours.”
“That sounds like cheating to me.”
“Not at all. It will even the playing field a bit.”
We started to play. I could barely hit the white ball, much less hit the other balls with the white ball.
“Want a tip?”
“Sure.”
“Hold your cue like this,” he leaned over the table and demonstrated. “And you look down the cue like this. See how this creates a line?”
I leaned awkwardly over the table. He moved beside me and adjusted my elbow, my hand and then my fingers around the cue.
“Loosen up your grip here, you’ve got a death grip,” he teased.
I started to laugh. “I can’t help it.”
“I’m going to need to get some pliers to loosen you up,” he said.
I put my head down, laughing as he tried to pry my fingers off the cue. He looked over my shoulder. “Yup. See how the cue makes a perfect line towards the white ball?”
“Yes.”
“Now gentle, just slide it back and shoot.”
I did as instructed and managed to pocket one of my balls.
“I did it.”
“That was fantastic. Now you get to take another shot.”
I moved around the table. “Like this?”
He came over and looked over my shoulder, adjusting the cue. “There.”
I took the shot and watched as the ball rolled towards the pocket. Suddenly a large hand stopped the ball.
I lifted my eyes and there was Jackson.
“Hey,” I straightened up. “You just messed up my shot. That would have gone in.”
He walked around the table, zero expression on his face. He tugged the pool cue from my hand and then laid it on the table. “I want to talk.”
“Right now?” my eyes were wide.
He took my hand and without even looking at Mark, he was pulling me behind him, across the bar. He pulled me down a dark hallway, around the corner from the washrooms.
I looked up at my husband in the dark shadows and knew that he wasn’t happy. Well, that made two of us.
“What are you doing?”
He moved towards me, not speaking. I stepped back until my back was against the wall. He put one big hand against the wall beside my head, and loomed over me.
“Did you forget something?” his voice was conversational.
“No.”
He traced a long finger across my collarbone and then slowly down my sternum. Shivers coursed through my body. “Did you forget who your husband was?”
I looked up at his face. “No. Of course not.”
He wrapped one big hand behind my neck and then his mouth was feasting on mine. He bit, nibbled, nipped and coaxed me until I was fairly swooning beneath him. My body responded to his smouldering kiss. A spark was flared, igniting in me an intense craving for this man who so easily tortured me.
“Jackson,” I gasped, as he bent his head, working his lips down my neck, stimulating every nerve along the way.
“I think you need a little reminder,” he said, as his lips brushed over my collarbone.
“I know who I’m married to,” I said, my eyes shut, my head against the wall.
My eyes flew open when I felt a big hand slide up my thigh, pushing beneath my skirt.
I felt scandalized. “Jackson!”
His mouth covered mine again, making my head spin. I felt one of his feet kick my legs apart and then my eyes went wide in panic as I felt his fingers lightly trace over my panties.
I jerked my head back from his kiss. “What are you doing?”
His green eyes glittered in the shadows, as I felt him push a finger beneath my panties and then he was sliding along my most private parts.
In a panic, I tried to hold his thick wrist, “Not here!”
“Shhh,” he soothed, as his long finger slowly pushed inside of me. His touch provoked the most intense heat to wash over my body. Transfixed, I succumbed to his touch.
My head rolled back against the wall, as his fingers pushed deeper into me. Tormenting me. Teasing me to the point that I felt I was going to go mad. His stubble scraped my neck, his lips, sucked on a sensitive nerve, my head lolled back while his buried fingers swirled and caressed me. My hips were rolling, pushing towards his hands, wanting more. My back was arched. I was breathing hard. A sob escaped me when his fingers curled up, to skim something inside of me that made my knees weak.
“Jackson,” I begged.
“What do you want?” his voice was low.
“You,” I whimpered.
Chapter 37
He moved so fast, my head was spinning. One minute I was pinned against the wall, with his fingers deep inside of me, the next minute he was dragging me down the hallway, and pushing through the backdoor.
I stumbled into the dark back alley. There was a picnic table against the wall. Jackson spun me around so my hands were flat on the table. I groaned as I felt him flip up my skirt and then he was pulling my panties down my hips.
I looked around frantic, completely aware that anyone at any moment could walk outside, to see me naked from the waist down, legs spread and bent over the picnic table.
“Jackson,” I gasped, looking over my shoulder. “Someone could see us.”
“So, let them watch.”
I heard the rasp of a zipper and then his huge glorious girth was pushing up inside of me. I mewed, my head dropping forward as he filled me completely.
“You like that?”
“Oh God,” I groaned, as I felt his big hands on my hips. He began to thrust into me without apology. Goosebumps covered my skin as I felt him pull my hips back and push harder up into me. He was huge, plundering into me without apology. The cool air on my naked skin was a contrast to the searing heat that was threatening to combust me. His movements were relentless as he penetrated me with both force and speed. I felt his teeth nip my shoulder, but all I could focus on was how filthy and erotic it felt to be taken in such a primal way.
“You think that maybe Mark wanted to bend you over the pool table and take you like this?” his voice was almost a growl.
“No,” I gasped, my entire body was in overdrive. Rushes of pleasure washed over me with each powerful thrust.
I felt so exposed, this situation felt so dangerous, so forbidden, it was all I could do to hold myself up against that table while my husband invaded me with a fierceness that was uniquely Jackson.
A dangerous throb was pulsing inside of me as he pushed me towards the edge. I didn’t want this to end. I fought my climax.
He grabbed my hair and yanked my head back. “I think my wife needed a little reminder who she was married to.”
“I remember,” I whimpered. My legs were shaking so hard, they were
threatening to collapse beneath me. All I could focus on was his rigid length that invaded me with each delicious thrust. His big hand came around my neck, holding me in place and with that, I spasmed around him, flying apart with an earth shattering orgasm.
“That’s it,” he hissed. And then he was crushing me with long hard strokes before he swore with his release.
My entire body was shuddering around him. Jello legs shaking. Heart pounding. I stood there, clutching that table, while he pulled out. I heard his zipper come up and then strong hands were at my ankles, pulling up my panties. Then he flipped my skirt back down over my thighs.
I turned around. We stood there looking at each other. Both of us still breathing hard. He dropped a hard kiss on my lips. “Don’t forget again.”
After that performance. I just might.
I was half dazed as he took my hand and led me back into the bar. He dropped me back off to where the women were still sitting around talking. On shaking legs, I dropped to my seat.
“Hey, where did you go?” Lauren asked.
“Just went to get some air,” my voice was shaky. I looked over to where Jackson was standing and talking to some guys. He took a sip of his beer, his eyes never leaving my face. I looked around the bar. Harper was no where to be found.
I had just been completely ravished by my husband. In a public place. I wanted to laugh and cover my face and blush with embarrassment. Instead I just sat there with the women. Laughing and talking, pretending that everything was fine, but my body felt like it was in overdrive.
Countless times, I would look up, my eyes seeking out Jackson. It didn’t matter where he was. Talking to his buddies. Playing pool. Sitting at the table. Every time I looked up, he was already watching me with a dark, impossible to read, expression on his face. A look that made my knees weak.
I should be furious about how he manhandled me. I should be insulted that he thought I would cheat on him with the skinny, gentle kid who was teaching me to play pool. The truth of the matter was I loved every single second of his intense gaze, the ferocious way he took me and how it made me feel so desired and wanted. It filled me with hope.