by Gabrielle G.
“You might have a lot of grandchildren already there, you never know.” I slap my hand against my mouth, realizing I commented on Barnabas out loud to his mother. Bella laughs.
“Well, the least they could do is come out of the woods and give me some babies to snuggle. That’s all I’m asking!”
“Listen, Bella,” I say when I understand I won’t get out of the Barnabas’ loop she’s throwing at me, “Alexis is calling me. I guess her movie is over. I have to go.”
“Alright, alright, I’ll stop talking about Barnabas. You don’t have to lie to me. Just think about our offer, and please don’t be stubborn.”
The bell rings, cutting my explanation short because this time I really have to go. Hanging up rapidly, I check myself in the mirror and walk toward the door. Behind it is a handsome man with a great smile. Maybe a little shorter than what I usually like, but still sexy as fuck. I won’t complain if that man is looking for shelter and needs me to house him. Whatever his reason is for being at my door, I want him to stay there forever.
He’s got a square jaw, thin lips, long dark eyelashes on brown eyes, and black hair. My knees wobble at the sight of him, reminding me I need to replace the batteries in my vibrator if I want to survive the summer. He’s as dark as Barnabas is light. He seems intense, broody, and serious, whereas the asshat is laid-back, fun, and easy. I blame Bella for me having Barnabas on the brain when half a god stands at my door. He’s wearing a grey suit over a lavender shirt, with a dark purple tie. I love a man who’s not afraid to wear feminine colors. I wrap my arms around my waist not to reach for his tie and yank him into my apartment.
“Avery Dubois?”
I almost come when he says my name. Hello fantasy. My eyes roam every sharp edge of his body.
Bobbing Adam’s apple. Check.
Knowledgeable fingers. Check.
Extensive shoulders. Check.
Arm porn, even through his jacket. Check.
Muscular legs. Check.
Visible bulge. Check.
The rest is the product of my imagination, but I’m sure he has a line of dark hair linking his navel to his pubis. I can see a six pack, a V, some tight boxer shorts, and a smooth long dick reaching for my G spot. I squeeze my legs together, hoping he’s thinking I need to pee more than I need to come under his tongue, but seeing the knowing smile he’s giving me, I’m not sure he would believe me if I told him so. He opens his mouth again, and I get transfixed by his moving lips, his tongue touching his teeth, his whole mouth.
“Avery Dubois?” he repeats.
I squeal, imagining him saying my name over and over while I’m under him. He hands me a manila envelope and gives me a bright, seductive smile. My panties are melting under his gaze.
But when I’m about to ask him to come in, he adds, “You’ve been served,” before turning his back to me and walking away. Fantasy broken. Panties dried. Motherfucker!
4
Barnabas
Boobs.
I’ve always had a fascination for them.
How could I not?
They are beautiful, soft, comfortable.
They make food and calm human babies’ cries, but they can almost make any adult male tear up.
I know I do every time I feel some.
I love trailing the pad of my finger around a tit.
I can’t live without having my tongue sucking on a nipple, and I want to die rubbing my dick in the valley of a woman’s chest.
I still remember the first time I saw the most beautiful bosom bouncing up and down.
I was five, and this beauty belonged to my now sister-in-law, and back then older brother Aaron’s girlfriend.
It was my first boner as a boy that came for something other than me touching my little penis.
The picture burnt into my brain, and since that day, I drool over breasts all around.
The bouncier, the more I crave them.
The rounder, the harder I get.
The fuller, the more I want to fuck them.
That’s where I am right now.
My dick between two melons and my tip meeting the mouth of a girl I’m supposed to guide through the Adirondacks. Fucking boobs and a mouth at the same time is my favorite activity after hiking. Seeing the girl tilting her head to take me inside her can make me lose control in seconds. The piercing on my shaft hurting her the way she needs while her fingers rub her clit. Fuck, her breasts are beautiful. She pushes them with her upper arms, and I squeeze a little more lube so my dick can have real fun on her waterslide. I already made her come twice, so it’s my turn to take it all in. My climax starting at the bottom of my aching back and spreading all over me, I only need to thrust a little more before my cum splatters all over her chest. I kiss each of her nipples and sit on my heels, looking at her tongue darting out and licking some of my juice. That’s a woman exactly how I like them. Non-apologetic, sex-driven, with big tits. I almost would marry her if I weren’t against it.
I know better than tying myself to a woman for eternity. Relationships can break as fast as they can start, and people claiming foolishly they’ll love each other forever and ever, believing their love will never fail, are egocentric assholes. I know, I’m surrounded by some. My family calls me immature, but they are the juvenile ones. Promising you’ll be someone’s one and only ‘until death do you part’ is the most fucked up thing I’ve ever heard. Who knows what the future holds? Do I really want to die being just one woman’s man? Hell no.
With my luck, I’ll finish tied up to a conservative, old-fashioned, unadventurous flat chested woman like Avery Dubois. She and I have nothing in common. She’s as conventional as I’m unorthodox, and if she didn’t have a kid, I’d think she was still a virgin. It literally hurts my balls to look at her. She could be so beautiful if she removed that scowl off her face and the stick from her ass. Mind you, I see her being pleasant with other people, kind of, but I really rub her the wrong way. I don’t know why, and I mainly don’t care. When I ran after her last time, I saw her at the bar. It was more to rile her up a little more than to really find out why she dislikes me so much. For as long as I remember, she always thought she was better than us. She kept saying how she was going to leave this ‘shit hole of a town’ one day and become a vet. Guess what. Plan failed. She’s still here. In fact, most of my graduating class is. Andrew, Jake, even Donna, we’re still close, and I can’t really imagine my life without them around.
“Barnabas, are you still with me?” I shake my head to see the brunette I just fucked looking hopefully at me. I zoned out, and now I’ve lost the window where I can make her leave without her having expectations. It’s easy, usually. I fuck, I give one last kiss, and then I disappear, or I push them out the door. I don’t stay. I don’t waste time. I don’t promise anything.
“Time for you to go, Sandy.” I jump out of bed and put my jeans on.
“It’s Cindy.”
“Close enough. Do you still want to go hiking?” I reach for the joint in my night table and bring it to my lips. It helps with the excoriating pain I always feel after fucking in that position. I’ll survive. I’m not against a little torture, especially for a good pair of tits.
“Asshole,” Sandy gets up and takes my T-shirt to wipe the rest of my cum off her before getting dressed rapidly.
“Now, that’s not nice. I made you come, didn’t I?” She runs down the stairs. I’m kind of a jerk, but I know it’s never good for business to leave clients unsatisfied. “Sandy, come on now, you knew that was just what it was. Don’t leave mad.” I run down the stairs behind her to come face to face with Avery and her kid.
“And you have a whole family? Fuck, I hate you!” she screams, taking the door and slamming it behind her. I try to follow her, but she’s long gone by the time I reach the front door. Avery starts slow clapping behind me, and Alexis giggles. I ignore the mother and zoom in on the four-year-old, tucking my joint behind my ear.
“Are you making fun of me, little rascal?
” I tease her, getting my fingers ready to tickle her side.
“No, Banarbas, not the tickle monster, please no.” She can’t say my name properly, and fuck if that isn’t cute.
“So why are you giggling?” I raise an eyebrow.
“Because you draw on your body.” She points at the numerous tattoos on my chest and arms. “Why did you write on there?”
“Those are tattoos, little rascal. My brother, Luke, drew them on me with a needle and some ink.”
Her amber eyes open wide. “And he didn’t get punished?”
“No, he’s too old to get punished.” I ruffle her golden hair and grab a T-shirt to cover the dozens of tattoos decorating my upper body so her questioning will stop.
“What are you doing here?” I turn to Avery to find her looking enviously at my hair. She always does. I smirk at her, and take the elastic that I keep around my wrists. I slowly bring every lock of hair into my hands, flexing my biceps as if I was in a shampoo advertisement and make a show of tying my mane in a bun the sexiest way I can. Her lips part slightly, and if I’m not mistaken, a sighing moan escapes from her mouth.
“Avery?”
“I need a favor.” She rolls her eyes at me. She certainly has a strange way of asking me for a favor. “Before you get all high and mighty, and parade like a peacock, it’s for Alexis. I have a meeting. Your parents aren’t here, and my mother isn’t available. Everybody else is working. I don’t want to bring her because it involves you know who. Can you watch her?”
“Go get the TV set up, Lex, I’ll be there in a second,” I tell the little rascal before turning back to her mom.
“What did the dickwad do now?” Alexis’ father is maybe the only thing Avery and I agree on. He’s an ass who lives in the next town. A teacher at the local high school. A dumbass who is married. A liar who promised to leave his wife for Ave. It went on for years, even after she had Lex. Now that Ave said she was done, the wife is kicking her out of the apartment she rented. Mister douchebag couldn’t even make sure that his child had a roof over her head. He set up Avery and Alexis in a building he owned with his wife to show how he was supportive of his kid but let her kick them out once he was done with Ave. I don’t blame the wife per se. I blame the guy being an asshole and not supporting his kid. Lex never asked to come into this world. You don’t love the mother, you don’t want to have anything to do with her, you’re an ass, but that’s your way of dealing with another adult. You don’t fight for your kid to have a roof over her head and don’t take responsibility, you’re a piece of shit, especially when you see the bundle of cuteness that girl is.
“Nothing.” Avery grits between her teeth. She never wants to tell anybody what he does to her. Most people in town think she’s the slut who tried to break up a marriage. I don’t see it that way. He’s the liar, the cheater, the fraud who played two women for years. He’s the one who had it both ways.
“As you wish.” I turn my back to her, knowing it’s not worth insisting and plop my ass on the couch, watching whatever mermaid show my little rascal found on Netflix.
“And please feed her something other than Fruit Roll-Ups and popcorn.” Avery snarls. I turn my head to look at her above the couch.
“Seriously? I don’t ask anything, I say I’ll babysit, I don’t push for answers, and you still give me shit? Are you for real?”
“Can I draw on you, Banarbas?” my cutest friend asks.
“Of course. Go get a marker.” I point at the drawer in the furniture next to the sofa.
“Cooool, I’m gonna draw a mermaid. Mermaids are beautiful.”
“As you wish,” I smile.
“Please remind her she can only do this on your skin and not on furniture, walls, or on me.”
“Go, Avery. She’ll be fine, trust me.” I shoo her away with my hand.
“Ha!” She scoffs. “Believe me, if I had any other solutions, I would have asked someone else to babysit her. You aren’t my first choice.” She rolls her eyes, again.
“So, take her with you.” I send her a stern look.
“I can’t,” she mumbles.
“That’s what I thought. So, stop busting my balls and let me take care of the kid. I have enough nieces and nephews to know what I’m doing. Go, I promise I won’t kill her or smoke my blunt with her around.”
“That’s reassuring.” She sighs.
“That’s what you get for the free babysitting service.”
“Found it!” Lex runs back all happy, an indelible marker in her hand. “Can I draw a mermaid?”
I grimace. “Do you know how to draw a mermaid, kiddo?”
“Yesss.” Her eyes are full of stars, and her smile fills most of her face. I give her my arm and smile back at her. “Go on then, Lex. There is still room on the inside of my wrist.”
“You realize it’s only going to be a stick man or only some scribbles.”
“Why are you still there, Ave? Go! Lex, tell Mommy you’re going to be fine.”
“I’m gonna be fine, Mommy. Banarbas is the nicest.” I hear Avery scoff once again, but I don’t react, Lex and her beautiful scrawl have all my attention.
“Okay, Bee, give me a kiss, and I’ll go.” Avery leans forward, and Lex gives her the wettest kiss I’ve ever seen.
“Bye, Mommy,” Lex says, waving her little hand. Avery steps back, gives me a fake smile, and walks away, a concerned look on her face.
“Mommy, wait!” Lex shouts. “You have to give a goodbye kiss to Banarbas. It’s not polite not to say goodbye!” The amusement on my face is proportional to the disgust on Avery’s.
“Barn and I are not that kind of friends, sweetie,” Avery tells her daughter, trying to justify why she won’t kiss me.
“I want you to give him a kiss goodbye. He’s my friend.”
Lex crosses her arms on her chest and starts to pout. Avery closes her eyes and mumbles something about picking her battles before walking toward me. She leans over the sofa and puckers her lips to my cheek. I’m an asshole and proud of it, so I turn my head like a thirteen-year-old boy would do and steal a peck on her lips. Not because I really want to kiss her, but because I know she doesn’t want to kiss me. But when our lips touch, a jolt of electricity goes through me, and by seeing the confused look in her eyes, I’m not the only one to have felt something. I back out like a cow would do against an electric fence and freeze. We look at each other, trying to understand what just happened, knowing it’s certainly something we don’t want to explore.
Alexis’ giggling next to us breaks our connection, and I release a breath I didn’t know I was holding.
“Silly, Banarbas. Only daddies kiss mommies on the lips.” She laughs, tracing a heart around the drawing she made on my arm. I wince a little, but it’s nothing compared to Avery shuddering and dramatically gagging at the idea of me being Lex’s dad. Reaching for the table close to the sofa with my free hand, I find the last Fruit Roll-Ups I have in the drawer and give it to Lex, just to prove to Avery that I don’t care about her stupid rules or about what she thinks of me, even if deep inside, I know I give her more importance than I should. I always did.
5
Avery
For years, I thought having Alexis was the key to my ex’s heart. How could he not adore this bundle of love? She’s shy but melts hearts everywhere she goes. She has every adult I know wrapped around her finger, even if she doesn’t talk to them. All but one. Her father. The first year, he pretended she wasn’t his until her eyes, as well as her hair, turned the same color as his mother’s. There was no denying the Horvitz’s genes then.
When he told me that the condition to leave his wife was proof of paternity with a test, I complied. I did so because I loved him and thought he was coming to live with us. He didn’t follow through with his promise and said he needed a little more time.
Then, when he demanded his name was added on her birth certificate—something he had refused to do when she was born—I was more than just a little hopeful. I knew he w
as finally coming to his senses and was going to start the family Alexis deserved. He was going to get involved in our lives as soon as his name was on the paper. I was naïve, but I believed him. He still wasn’t coming to visit Alexis, but it was fine because soon, he would be with us every single evening, every single night, every holiday. He dumped me six months later, saying he was staying with his wife and I shouldn’t contact him anymore. I woke up abruptly, and Prince Charming had turned into Prince Prick, or as Donna says, he always was Prince Prick, I just was blinded by his magic wand, which I don’t understand as it’s not the best I’ve seen, neither the biggest.
Anyhow, I wasn’t blind anymore, and the past year had toothpicks holding my eyes wide open. Every time he tried to come back, I kicked him to the curb. I could never take him back.
Now, sitting in a lawyer’s office, I’m pondering the stupidity of the human race to believe in such things as love. He played me. He used me and dumped me, hard. And after not willing us in his life, after barely acknowledging Alexis for years, after destroying me, he’s asking for shared custody of my daughter. Did he first reach out to me and talk to me as adults would have in our situation? No. He lawyered up and gave them a pile of lies for me to fight. I’m not against him being in Alexis’ life, but I don’t want him to take her away every two weeks, and I certainly don’t want to co-parent with such a narcissistic jerk.
“Look, I’m going to give it to you straight. He’s on the birth certificate, he had the paternity test, and he claims you were the one withholding paternal visits because he was still living with his wife who was aware and understanding of the situation, so much so that she was letting you rent a place she owns. Your living situation is precarious, you barely make ends meet, and his wife is ready to testify that you don’t have a spouse to support you. I’m afraid if you refuse the shared guardianship, he might fight and win full custody.” I shift uncomfortably in my chair and make a mental check of what belongs to me. My car, a couple thousand dollars in the bank, a few clothes. I’m not rich, but I’m not poor either. I’m just like most people, getting by.