by Aimie Grey
“Please, tell me you restocked you wallet,” I pleaded.
He reached into his back pocket and produced said wallet. “Haven’t left home without one since the day I met you.”
“Thank God.” I pulled him down on top of me and started grinding my center against the thigh that had found its way between my shamelessly parted legs.
“Are you sure you want to do this in public? Someone might see us…”
“I don’t care. I just need you, and I need you now.”
We both cursed the tight black-denim shorts I’d decided to wear as I struggled to peel them away. Once I was free of the restrictive shorts, Carter shoved his jeans down to his knees and quickly rolled the condom over his impossibly hard cock. I exhaled in relief as he finally entered me. My body only felt complete when it was joined with his.
The moment was perfect. We were in our spot, making love beneath our tree. If a trip through hell is what brought me to this moment, I’d gladly make the journey all over again. There were times in the past when I wished I could see five or ten years into the future, hoping what I saw would make it all worth it. This moment was so much better than anything I’d ever imagined. This was everything I’d never let myself hope for.
He knew my secret, and he stayed. He knew my darkest sins and still wanted me. Maybe, just maybe, I wouldn’t have to give him back. Maybe there was hope after all.
Chapter Nine
At the end of my work week, which fell on a Tuesday, I could barely make it up the single flight of stairs to Carter’s apartment. After my fifth day in a row of waiting tables in stilettos, my feet were screaming at me. The rest of my body was tired and sore from balancing on the damned things. If the evil shoes, which now dangled from my fingers, hadn’t been so expensive, I’d have tossed them in the dumpster outside of the club. Or set them on fire. Or put them in a wood chipper and flushed the pieces down the toilet. Thank God I didn’t have to climb the rest of the way up to my apartment; the only place I wanted to climb was into Carter’s bed.
When I made it to the first floor, I let myself in using the key he’d had made for me and then pushed the door closed behind me. “Babe?” I called out while I got settled. The devil heels were tossed into the coat closet, followed by the ballet flats I’d changed into before I left work. After putting my keys back inside, I added my over-sized bag to the top of the pile before sliding the door closed.
When I took a few more steps into the apartment, I could hear the shower running. Since Carter had the night off, he’d asked me to call him when I left work so he could be ready for me. I had no idea what he had in mind, but if a shower was a prerequisite, I certainly couldn’t wait to find out. Although I’d showered at the club, I thought about getting in with him anyway. My feet made the decision for me when they passed by the bathroom door in favor of the bedroom.
As tired as I was, there was no way I’d voluntarily miss out on a naked, dripping wet boyfriend. Boyfriend. Damn, that word still sounded strange in my head. My panties were the only thing on my body by the time I snuggled under the covers to wait for him. Carter liked it when I left something on—said it was like unwrapping a present—but not too much because he didn’t like wasting time. The steady patter of the shower in the next room was like a soothing lullaby. No matter how hard I tried to fight it, my eyelids became too heavy to keep open.
*
I dreamt I was falling, and when I reached out to brace myself, my hand came in contact with a denim-covered thigh. It was one of those dreams that wake you up when your body tries to catch itself. When I started to regain my wits, the sensations didn’t go away. I could tell I was still on the bed but had rolled from my side onto my stomach. My fingertips moved tentatively, only to realize the distinctive feel of jeans was real. My eyes were instantly open, and any remaining fogginess evaporated from my mind.
I took a quick inventory of my surroundings. The shower was still running, so I couldn’t have been asleep more than a few minutes. The lights in the room were still off. A dark figure was looming on the bed next to me, which must have caused the mattress to dip and me to roll. It was much too large to be Carter. Hoping to get out at least one good scream, I filled my lungs with as much air as possible. Before I could release it, a large hand encased in a leather glove slammed down over my nose and mouth.
Sheer panic erased everything I’d ever learned about self-defense from my memory. My fingers clawed at the hand covering my nose and mouth, but it didn’t budge. Shoving and kicking didn’t do any good either. It couldn’t end like this; not after everything I’d been through. Not with Carter only a few feet away. The harder I tried to escape, the more it felt like I was suffocating.
One moment I was twisting and flailing; the next, I was suddenly free. The newly opened door let in enough light from the hallway to make out some of what was happening.
“If you so much as blink wrong, I’ll blow your brains out, motherfucker. Do you understand?” The man in front of me barely moved his head up and down. “Now slowly back away from her.”
The man held up his hands and did as he was told.
“Are you okay, babe?” Carter asked. My nod wasn’t enough since his eyes were glued to the back of the man’s head.
“Y-yes.”
“Do you need medical attention?”
“N-no”
“Can you reach my phone?”
I glanced over to his side of the bed and saw it laying on the nightstand, plugged into the charger. “Yes.”
“I need you to get it, dial nine-one-one but don’t push send. Then toss it to the end of the bed closest to me.” Carter grabbed the man’s arm and moved him farther away from me so I would have a wide breadth to get it. It took four attempts for my shaky fingers to dial the right three digits in the correct order. When I finally had it right, I managed to throw it close enough so Carter could reach it without having to look away.
Not sure what to do next, I looked at Carter and the intruder. They were both now at an angle in my line of sight, with Carter closest to the bed. From our new positions, I could see that Carter had a hand gun pressed against the back of the intruder’s head. Before I could react to the tableau in front of me, Carter spoke again. “Now you, motherfucker, get on your knees and put your hands on your head.”
Carter pulled the gun back just enough to keep it out of the guy’s reach but didn’t lose any of his focus. When the man was on his knees, my protector gave me another task. “Go to the kitchen. There should be some zip ties in the junk drawer. Grab a handful of them and bring them back.” Tears started flowing as I moved from the bed. “Get a t-shirt from my drawer and put it on. I don’t want this asshole to see you.” When I was on my wobbly legs with the sheet haphazardly wrapped around me, I took the few steps to his dresser and put on the first over-sized t-shirt I found.
Carter must have connected the call to nine-one-one as soon as I left the room. Although I couldn’t make out the words, his voice carried through the apartment as I ran to the kitchen. It took me a few tries to find the right drawer, but luckily when I did, the zip ties were lying on top.
When I returned to the room, I heard the end of Carter’s phone call. “Ten-twenty-six.” He paused briefly when I came back into the room. “Fifteen. Yes.”
“Are they on their way?” I asked when he tucked the phone into his pocket. I had no idea what he’d been telling them, but nothing at all made sense at the moment.
“Yes. They will be here in a couple of minutes. I need you to take two of the ties, and thread the ends through the slots to form one big loop, but don’t tighten it. Then throw it on the bed like you did with the phone.”
Surprisingly, I was able to do it after only about five tries. In a matter of seconds, the man’s hands were secured behind his back. As Carter pulled the guy to his feet, he looked at me and said, “I need you to go upstairs. Lock the door and don’t open it for anyone other than me. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Okay
.” Even though I was scared to be alone, being in the middle of this situation was much more terrifying.
I waited a few moments after Carter pushed the guy out of the bedroom before following. When I finally made my way into the living room, I found the man on his knees in the middle of the floor, with his back to me. Carter was facing him with the barrel of the gun pressed firmly against his forehead. “Go on, babe. Don’t forget to lock everything.”
Nodding, I clung to the perimeter of the room in order to stay as far away from them as possible. My keys were in my bag, so I grabbed it from the closet before dashing out into the hallway. Ignoring my earlier aches and pains, I ran up the two flights of stairs to my home, digging through my bag for the key as I went. When I arrived at my destination, I took a deep breath to steady myself long enough to slide the key in the lock and get inside my apartment.
I flipped the two bolts and slid the chain into place as soon as the door slammed shut. When everything was secure, I started to remember some things I’d learned in a safety seminar they’d had at work a few years back. I retrieved one of the two chairs from my small kitchen table and wedged it under the door handle. After that, I went to my bedroom closet and grabbed the aluminum bat that had been my security system at my old apartment in the city.
Hours passed while I sat in the middle of the living room floor with my overly alert eyes trained on the front door. The adrenaline trance had me so focused I jumped when the knock finally came.
“W-who is it?”
“It’s me, babe. It’s okay to open the door now.”
A look through the peephole verified my ears hadn’t been playing tricks on me. I dislodged the chair from under the handle, fumbled with the hardware, and then yanked the door open.
Carter’s arms were wrapped around me before the door was closed all the way.
“I was so scared,” I whispered into his shirt and dug my fingers into his back.
“Me, too. I’ve never been that scared before.”
“Who was he? What happened?”
“I don’t know who he is or why he was there. When the police showed up, I explained what happened and then handed him over. I had to retell the story several times, and it took me a while to convince them not to interview you. I knew you wouldn’t want to talk to them right now.”
“Oh, fuck. This was all my fault. I think I forgot to lock the door when I came home. I was just so happy to be home, and—”
“Shh, baby. It isn’t your fault. You didn’t invite him over”
“I won’t forget again, I promise.” His long fingers stroked my back as I sobbed into his chest.
“He would have found a way in even if the door had been locked. If anything, you probably saved me from having a broken door frame or window.”
“Can we stay here tonight?” I wasn’t sure I could sleep in Carter’s bed right after what had happened.
“Of course, baby. First thing tomorrow, I’m having a top-of-the-line security system installed in both of our apartments.”
Talk of security brought a forgotten question from earlier back to the front of my mind. “Why do you have a gun?”
“For protection.” I waited for him to elaborate, but nothing came. It seemed unusual someone would have a gun in this quiet neighborhood—at least it had been until tonight—unless something had happened to make them feel threatened. His last place had been huge, and I couldn’t imagine it not being in a secure building.
“Was it loaded?”
“Yes. Is that a problem for you?”
My problem was he didn’t seem to trust me enough to open up to me about it. “I’ve just heard stories about how guns are usually turned against the owner during a break in. If I’d been there alone, and he’d found it…” I didn’t even want to think about what might have happened. “Did you have it with you in the bathroom?”
“No, I keep it hidden in the linen closet. When I heard a noise, I jumped out of the shower, grabbed it, and then found him with his hands on you. Trust me, baby, there was no way he could have turned it on me.”
“I-I do trust you.” Probably more than you trust me.
“Would you feel better if you learned how to shoot?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. I panicked when I woke up, and I forgot everything I was supposed to do. It’s probably for the best I didn’t have a deadly weapon within reach.”
“I swear I’ll protect you from now on.”
“You d-did protect me. You saved me. I froze, I let him have the upper hand, I couldn’t breathe, and you saved me.” I buried my face into his shirt to hide my ugly cry.
“It shouldn’t have happened to begin with. I should’ve been out of the shower before you got home. I promise you, there will not be a next time. I’ll never let anyone hurt you again.”
Chapter Ten
“What can I get for you, baby?” I asked one of the frat boys who sat in my section along with five other guys in matching T-shirts. All six of them stared at my tits for almost a full minute before ordering a pitcher of the cheapest ale on tap. They could stare all they wanted since it usually made for better tips. However, college kids were notoriously stingy, and with their order, I’d be lucky to get more than five bucks. But at least I wouldn’t have to fuck any of them.
When I turned to head to the bar, I nearly bounced off of a solid wall of man. “What are you doing here?” I tried in vain to cover my exposed nipples as I stepped around him.
“I came to talk to you about something.” He glanced around the space and then back to me as we continued to cross the room. “I see other servers wearing bras. Why are you putting on a peep show?”
“Well, I recently took a huge pay cut,” I explained as I pushed by him to continue on to the bar. “I have to boost my tips in any way I can. Plus, the more I make, the sooner I can get out of this hell hole.”
He grabbed me mid-stride and pulled me against his chest. “These are mine,” he said as his thumbs grazed the sides of my breasts. “You need to keep them covered up.”
“And if I don’t?”
“If you don’t, I’ll haul your naked ass back to my bed and not let you out of it until you remember exactly who you belong to.”
“You aren’t exactly encouraging me to be good, you know.” He was being an ass, but his possessiveness had a way of turning me on. Before Carter, no one had ever cared one way or the other.
“How much longer do you have?”
I looked over to the clock above the bar. “Another hour.”
“I’ll wait, and then we are going to talk.”
“You don’t need to babysit me. I know what I’m doing.” He turned his gaze to the floor. “You don’t trust me. You think I’m going to sleep with everyone in this room.”
“Can you blame me? The last time I was here that’s exactly what you were doing.” Regret washed across his face as soon as he’d said the last word. “I’m sorry. This place just brings out the worst in me. I do trust you; I just don’t trust these perverts, and with good cause.”
“Fuck you.” He gently grabbed my upper arm so I couldn’t storm off.
“That’ll come later. Until then, I’m keeping an eye on what’s mine to make sure no one else touches.”
For the next fifty-eight minutes, Carter sat at the bar and followed me around with his eyes like an overprotective guard dog, only getting up once to growl at a customer who looked at me a little too long for his liking. When my shift was finally over, I changed into my street clothes and found him waiting for me right outside of the dressing room.
“Go ahead and say whatever it is you want to say. I’m hungry, tired, and my feet are killing me.”
“Let’s go eat, it would be better to talk somewhere else, anyway.” His anger was still bubbling just below the surface.
“Fine,” I said on a sigh. He took my hand and led me to his car in the customer parking lot. There weren’t many places open in the middle of the night during the week, so we ended up at a pub a f
ew blocks over.
“This can’t happen again,” I told him after we were settled over a platter of fish and chips. After all this time, he still insisted on sharing food whenever we were out.
“Agreed. It’s time for you to find a job somewhere you can work fully clothed.”
“That’s not what I meant. You cost me a lot of money tonight. Why were you even there?”
“I found out who the intruder was. He was one of your customers that night; told the detectives he followed you home because you wanted him to. Said you’d been flirting with him all night.” He looked away and fiddled with the salt shaker.
“What?”
“You’re going to have to eventually talk to the police.” He sighed and then looked me in the eyes. “I get that you flirt with the guys to make more money, but when I walked in there and saw you walking around in nothing but a thong and matching fuck me shoes?”
“Are you implying I’m asking for bad things to happen to me? That nearly being attacked was my fault?”
“No, it’s just…” He released a harsh breath and tugged both of his hands through his short hair. “Why do you still feel the need to work naked?”
“I told you; to make more money.”
“How would you feel if I walked around a bunch of drunken women with my junk hanging out?”
“That’s different.”
“How? How is it different?”
“You’re special. Men may want to fuck me, but women want to marry you.”
“You still don’t get it, do you?”
“Get what? That you think you own me?”
“That I’m in love with you.”
It took my brain a long moment to process his words. “You—you love me?”