by Gabrielle G.
“Never. I’m going to make a shrine to it and pray to the gods it grows back as beautiful as it was.” Her eyes are blue-joke with a shade of blue-serious.
“Your craziness makes me happy,” I tell her, my forehead against hers.
“And your dumbness makes me happy.” She bites my lip.
“Ewww, and your happiness makes us want to throw up, guys,” Arlo gags.
“Can we go now, or do you need fifteen minutes?” Angus jokes.
“I take offense, young man!” I scold my son. “I NEVER do this in only fifteen minutes, and if it only takes so little time with a woman, I clearly screwed up your education!” Our six other kids laugh at their brother while Avery brushes her lips against my jaw.
“By the way, Dad, I love your hair like that,” my beautiful Lex tells me, her amber-happy eyes still filled with adoration when she looks at me.
“Of course, Lex likes Daddy’s hair,” Ambree mocks her older sister. The triplets join in on the fun, but I send them all a stern look.
“If I hadn’t fallen in love with that girl when she was four, you wouldn’t be here, dumbasses!” I tell my kids while bringing Lex in for a hug.
“I’m so proud of you, baby girl.” I tighten my arms around her.
“You see that feeling, Daddy. Can you hold on to it?” she says in a saccharine voice. I tilt my head back to look into her eyes and become suspicious as soon as I see they are amber-fear. I raise an eyebrow and wait for her to spill her beans.
“I’m pregnant,” she says at the same moment her boyfriend joins us.
“Motherfucker!” My sons run to the kid who sprints for his life. Avery freezes beside me and looks at Lex in shock.
‘How?” I ask dumbfounded, my heart tightening in my chest. I fall on the floor, not feeling my legs anymore.
Avery crouches beside me. “You see that feeling, Barn. That’s what I felt when you came home without hair. Got you, love. She isn’t pregnant.” Tipping my head up, I look at my daughter, hurt by her betrayal. She runs into my arms and hugs me.
“I’m sorry, Daddy. Mom made me do it. I’m so sorry.”
“That’s it.” I shake my head. “You’re not my baby girl anymore. You sided with the devil to make fun of your old man. We’re done.” I jump up on my feet and walk away. Lex runs behind me and jumps on my back like she used to do when she was a kid.
“Let’s fly, Dad.” She laughs, extending her arms and trying to make me wobble left and right. “I have no hair to hold on to!” She laughs.
I turn right, then left, pick up some speed, stop. “Your mother neither,” I joke to gross her out.
“It’s going to be hard to be so far away from you in college…” Lex whispers in my ear.
“MIT isn’t far, baby girl. You can come home anytime.”
“I know, but it isn’t the same.” She pouts.
“I know.”
“I love you, Dad. More than I love mermaids.”
“And I’ll always be there for you, Lex, always,” I tell her, pretending to fly again. “You opened a world of possibilities to me, Lex, when you made me your best friend and asked me to be your dad. I owe you everything. Without you being so cute, your mom would have never fallen in love with me.”
“I know, and without you, I would have never had such great siblings. We were meant to be a family.” She slides down and runs toward her three brothers and three sisters. As I look at them giggling and shooting the shit together, Avery slides in next to me.
“I love you,” she says, looking at our children.
“I love you too, sugar. I always will.”
THE END.
Thank you so much for reading the story of Barnabas and Avery! To know more about the Gritts, read book 1, Heartbroken and 2, Forsaken or see how Dex and Luke met, get Often & Suddenly.
And for my next release, turn the page or preorder HERE
NEXT RELEASE
PROLOGUE OF HEREAFTER - Not Edited
Losing my virginity to a stranger was never my end goal.
I had been instilled since a young age to believe that sex was something special, something that should be shared with the right person at the right moment. My father had married the first woman he had sex with, and, as my mother was perpetually absent, he was the only adult I heard talking about 'defloration'.
Never mind that my parents ended up divorcing and my father remarried his first love who he claimed he never banged.
Never mind that from this non-sexual relationship was born a boy who had become my brother two years ago, even if we were ten years apart.
Never mind that I had moved to the other side of the country for college and played varsity basketball, and was free to sleep with whomever I wanted.
I had followed my father's words and stayed a virgin until I met my stranger in the bar. Years of being on the honor roll and being a student-athlete didn't give me the time required to answer the screams of my teenage hormones. I had silenced my needs until Senior year when I had fallen hard for a guy who chose my best friend over me because she would give it up to him and I wouldn't.
I flew solo a lot under the shower, but it didn't stop the name-calling.
I was the prude.
The virgin athlete.
The moody bitch.
The daddy's girl.
And until a few days before the bar encounter, I truly believed I would lose my virginity to someone special.
I thought this someone special was my boyfriend Josh, virgin baseball player at Oregon U, or so I believed until I caught him discussing his past conquests and the real reason he was with me: to be the one getting the one-thousand-dollar loot for taking the prize home, AKA my virginity.
Josh thought of his penis as the ultimate weapon of pride, and all I wanted to do was to rip it off with my teeth. If I was ready to lose it, was it for him to win anything out of it? I didn't think so. So, I dumped him just before leaving for New York, where my team was playing NYU. The game had been in the afternoon, and I was out with teammates, celebrating our victory when I saw him. Being nineteen and without possession of a fake ID, I couldn't drink and was getting annoyed by my inebriated friends.
He was alone, outside the bar, Absinthe leaning against the wall, maybe taking a breath of fresh air from the suffocating craziness inside. I was waiting for Shanna and Tracy, who were bar-hopping like rabbits in heat.
He had blue eyes that shined in the dark and a grin that reminded me of the Cheshire cat.
Something about him called to trust him, and I never figured out why.
Falling into his eyes, I knew instantly what I wanted from him. If someone had to win the prize in the bet for my virginity, it was me. I had never lost anything in my life, and I wasn't ready to do so. Competition was in my blood, winning was in my veins, and losing was never an option. That's how I was the best at what I did. I had this gut feeling that told me what I needed to do.
Always.
It never left me.
And looking at that guy on the sidewalk of a New York street, I knew I needed to have the Cheshire cat. I knew he was the dick I needed not to remain the college student virgin that I was. I looked around, hoping my friends wouldn't decide to come out of the bar and continue their trek. They didn't.
"You seem lost."
It was a statement more than a question. His voice sounded deeper than the angelic trait his face portrayed. I remember there was something suspicious and quixotic in his allure that dragged me out of the hole I was slipping into.
"I think you're right," I shrugged, checking inside the bar for my friends once more.
"Come have a drink." His eyes were already undressing me, and I was pulled towards him as if I couldn't back away from the challenge he was proposing.
"I don't need a drink for what we want to do." I was direct, lustful, maybe a little mad, but I was finally in control of my sexuality, and it gave me the courage I needed to jump this man's bones and get rid of something I was bearing more like a cross than a pride. If
sleeping with a stranger wasn't the romantic gateway I wished for, it was the plan I was laying while getting lost in the looks of him.
"Do you have a place we can go?" If he wasn't the typical surfer boy from the West Coast, I knew by his accent he wasn't from here but assuredly from there.
"Sharing a hotel room with some friends, don't think an orgy is in the cards tonight." He smiled, and my panties got wet. That smile could have stolen my heart if I still had one. Thankfully for me, I knew that love was a losing game. Josh had confirmed it all.
The stranger rubbed his upper lip like he would do if he had whiskers, clearly wondering how to fuck me and where. I could see it in the glint of his eyes. It's not because I was a virgin that I couldn't read men and their desire for me. I was beautiful, I knew so, I had been told so by many men, and I knew how to react to their envy. In fact, if there was one thing my mother had taught me about men, it was how to be unattainable. But the Cheshire was lucky, I wanted him to attain me, very deeply in fact.
"That bar might have a bathroom. Let's go there."
He raised an eyebrow and smirked. "You know nothing about me…" He walked closer, his eyes holding mine.
"And I don't need to as long as you wear a condom." His eyes widened slightly, and he blinked rapidly to hide his surprise. I took a second to look at him. Skinny dark jeans, white ruffled shirt, biker boots, tattoos on one arm, icy-blue eyes, dark hair, dimples, he was sex on legs. His gaze was harsh and a little sad, as if life had given him too much hard shit to deal with, but he was still smiling. It was forced, but it wasn't my problem.
"You're determined," he said, planting his feet in front of me.
"Is it a problem to know what I want even if I don't know who you are?" I answered, trying to find a little glimpse of gentility in him. He wrapped a curl of my crazy hair around his fingers and let it slide until it bounced back.
"Are you lost because you're drunk, or are you lost because you don't know what step to take next?" His mouth was inches from mine, and all I wanted to do was to bite his beautiful lips.
"I'm not drunk," I whispered without a tremor in my voice, "and I know pretty well which step to take next."
Our lips touched, and he growled like thunder in the summer night sky. He tasted like beer and mint, and his tongue was as soft as velvet. His body melted against mine, pushing me against the window of the bar. While my hands found their way into his hair, he shoved his knee against my core, applying the perfect pressure on my swollen clit. I moaned, and he slightly backed away.
"Slow down, I'm not fucking you in the street. I don't want to end up in jail tonight," he said, his lips still against mine.
"Bathroom," I mumbled, my head spinning in desire. He nodded and started to drag me towards the door of the bar. My stranger was holding me tight, not willing to let me go, hurrying me but our way through the crowd seemed like forever.
It's only once in the confined space of the unisex bathroom that I felt nervous about losing something I could never have again. He saw the moment of hesitation and stepped back, his thumb and finger playing with his lips.
"If you're not sure, we can stop. I'll never push if that's not what you want." I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.
"No, it's just…" I was going to tell him I was a virgin, but no good guy would fuck me the way I wanted if I were disclaiming such a thing before doing it standing up in a dirty bathroom, and deep inside me, I needed my Cheshire cat to be a good guy.
"Fuck it," I sighed while bringing my hands to the hem of my silky top and lifting it up. He took it from my hand and hung it on the hook behind the door while his other hand was grazing one of my breasts.
"Beautiful. I can't wait to taste you. All of you." Nobody had ever tasted me, I never ever had touched a penis in my life, but I thought it couldn't be more difficult than the training I went through daily. It couldn't be more impressive than the stats of LeBron. It couldn't be more monstrous than what I needed to accomplish to finally feel loved by my mother. So I reached for his belt and unbuckled him. I could tell he wasn't used to having a woman so direct. He smiled, amused, and when my hand slipped into his underwear and I touched him, he latched his tongue to my breast, and we both moaned in unison. Holding him by his girth, my fingers wrapped tight, I moved my hand instinctually on the same beat as if I was dribbling. My movements were as fast as my heart.
"Fuck," he rasped against my breasts, his mouth trailing down. He removed my hand from him and unbuttoned my jeans, his hands caressing both of my legs and helping me out of my pants. "Those legs are miles long," he said in an admirative tone. I chuckled. If only he knew who I was and who I planned to be, he wouldn't be so surprised. His mouth was over my underwear in seconds, and after kissing my mound and biting my clit, he pulled them down with his teeth leaving me cold, vulnerable, and naked before him.
"Open your legs. Let me eat you like no one has before." He brought his tongue to my slit and with the tip traced me, slowly, before finding my clit and closing his mouth on it. I felt myself clench on emptiness, something I knew too well from the orgasms I gave myself before. His white as a vampire's face in between my rutile brown legs sent a wave of warmness inside me. He felt so familiar and so foreign at the same time, or maybe it was just the orgasm building in me. He was lapping at me eagerly, cleaning every drop of my juice.
"You taste as sweet as a virgin," he said, plunging two fingers inside me.
"Fucked a lot of virgins lately?" I asked in between moans. He laughed.
"No, I don't know why I said that," he smirked, his mouth back against my skin, playing with me fast, working for my release. I rocked my body against his face, spreading myself all over him until he curved his finger and hit a spot I didn't know existed. I exploded on him. My brain getting short circuit by desire, and my body melting by the heat spreading inside me. He kept me in place with his arms and drank me whole, until my last drop, while I held onto his shoulder not to fall.
When he stood up, his hard-on ready to enter me, his shirt opened on the body of someone I knew worked out but wasn't an athlete, I backed away a few steps, a little afraid of his next move, but a lot excited by the idea of feeling him inside me. He grabbed a condom from his pocket before reaching for me.
"What's your name?" In a panic, I rattled what came to my mind.
"Alice." I breathed out, trying not to lose all the bravado I felt in the street. He smiled again.
"I'm—" I stopped him by jumping on his lips, kissing him deeply, and slamming my breasts against his chest. The feeling of his body against mine, his sheathed length at the brink of my pussy, his hand roaming my back, and his mouth on mine made me lose the last control I had. Grabbing his dick between us, I guided him inside me, feeling him push in, inch by inch.
"So fucking taut!" I crossed my arm behind his neck and looked for his eyes. The passion in it was like nothing I had ever seen. I wasn't a prize he finally got. I wasn't the virgin he finally banged. I wasn't the high school star athlete he wanted the popularity of. I was a woman he desired and to whom he wanted to give pleasure to. I winced a little when he pulled back out and growled when he came back in.
"Too much?" he asked softly against my skin.
"Nothing I can't handle, Cheshire." He seemed amused by the nickname I had given him and thrust inside me a little more. It burned, it tingled, it stretched me.
And again.
And again.
And when I winced once more, the burning sensation taking over the pleasure I felt, he stopped.
"You are a virgin, aren't you?" I always heard guys were so into sex that they always thought of their pleasure first and not of their companion's. I always heard the first time would be awful, and the guy wouldn't care even if he wasn't madly in love with me. I always heard I shouldn't give it to the first one on the street. My stranger was redefining everything I knew and giving all that I have heard a new meaning.
"I'm sorry, I should have told you," I whispered, ashamed.
&
nbsp; "Not up to me to judge if you want to get rid of your virginity in a toilet bar with a stranger Alice, but at least, let me be gentler then." He caressed my cheek and kissed me intensely. "Turn around so I can touch your clit better and make it nicer for you." So I did, and as I was hunched over the sink, his beautiful fair ash body behind me, entering me smoothly while his hand played on my clit, our eyes connected in the bathroom mirror, and for one instant, I was sure I knew him. I was confident we had met before or we would in the future. I knew this night wasn't the end of us.
And slowly, he gave me pleasure, until he couldn't hold on. And if I didn't come, I knew I was lucky enough to have lost my virginity to half a decent guy.
I was now free; nobody could try to win something that didn't belong to them. I wasn't a virgin anymore, and I wasn't feeling like the slut I thought I would. It was liberating. It was transcending. It was exhilarating.
"I can make you come again if you want," he said, showering me with kisses on my neck once he had taken care of the condom. I shook my head.
"I should go," I told him, getting my clothes from the floor and rapidly getting dressed.
"I'm in town until tomorrow. Let's get a hotel room and continue our night."
I shook my head again. "Listen, Cheshire. I need to get up early to get home tomorrow before flying back to my university Sunday afternoon. I don't have time for all this. I'm sorry if I used you tonight. I'm just…"
"Lost," he finished my sentence, his finger lifting my chin. "One last kiss?" He smiled.
I brought my lips to his and tried to memorize his touch, his scent, his everything. The kiss ended too fast, and I made my way out, running to my hotel on the next block, leaving my stranger in a bar bathroom, alone, without even a goodbye.
Over the years, he dissolved from my mind.
I replaced him with a lot of boyfriends and a lot of one-night stands. He taught me it was okay to trust, and showed me it was okay to take what I wanted.