by Cher Etan
They left the island that week and once they got back Christine made no sudden moves, just got on with the business of returning gifts – even though her grandmother offered to do it – and writing thank you notes to anyone who had been of help to her or sent her a gift. Once she was through with that, she made preparations to go back to school. It was her last semester and most of the work was done. Her project was almost complete and she was on the fast track to graduating as an electrical engineer. Rudy would not be able to avoid her in school; she would make him see the error of his ways. Christine was still young at the time, only twenty three; she’d thought there was a chance for them. In spite of everything he’d done to her, she still thought she could turn things around.
That hadn’t been the worst thing to happen to her though…
She bought some new clothes and put in a long ‘Asian hair’ weave and revamped her look. She did her best to look the way Rudy’s mother and sister did; sophisticated, svelte and sexy. She took a dance class because she’d heard dancing made one move more gracefully. She wanted every weapon in her arsenal she could get.
When the semester began, she kept clear of Rudy, as far away from him as possible in fact. He didn’t try to talk to her or even explain himself even though she hadn’t seen him since the aborted wedding ceremony when Max and her grandmother had whisked her out of there so fast her head had spun. Maybe if they’d given him more time, he would have…
The semester wasn’t too hard, most of the work was done; Christine was mostly on autopilot but she was getting by. And then there was a test, and a book of Rudy’s that she still had – and he wanted it back. So he came to her room to get it; the room she’d insisted on getting despite ‘suggestions’ from both her grandmother and Max that she stay off campus. Max even went so far as to offer her transportation to school if she continued to stay at home. She’d pushed the offer back at him as rudely as she could, reminding him that he was not nor had ever been the boss of her, let alone her father. He’d backed off which was great, but he’d also looked hurt; which she did not understand at all.
Rudy ended up spending the night with her, she’d played hard to get for a bit but she couldn’t lie. She wanted him back so she was so glad to have him back in her bed, desperate for her, making noises that let her know he wanted her. She wanted him right back and she was so happy he’d come back to his senses. In the morning when she woke up, he was gone.
She’d cried into her coffee that morning, skipped class and went for a boat ride on the river, letting the breeze play on her face and just tried not to think too hard. She went back to class the next day and acted like everything was fine and when Rudy knocked on her door two nights later, three sheets to the wind and begging to come in…she let him in. This time he was still there in the morning but in hindsight Christine figured it was because he passed out. She had to leave him there eventually with a note telling him there was coffee in the coffee maker and muffins under the basket since she had class. He staggered into afternoon class looking miserable but didn’t make any particular effort to interact with her. A week later he banged on her door at 2am and this time Christine tried to talk to him, have a conversation. He apologized to her, at long last, about what happened at the wedding. He explained that his family was partial to Natasha because they’d been like peas in a pod since they were very young and it was understood by both families that they would eventually wed. It was unfortunate that she’d chosen to interrupt their wedding like that but there was really very little that Rudy could do about it at the time and Christine had seemed to be okay. She’d left with her grandmother and her grandmother’s boss as if she was fine with it anyway and Rudy had tried texting her but there was no reply.
Christine explained that Martha had confiscated her phone and that was why she hadn’t answered. He asked that they continue as they were, seeing each other in secret for now until Rudy could resolve things with his family. Christine readily agreed; she didn’t think her grandmother would want to know about her rekindled romance with Rudy and her friends certainly wouldn’t understand that he was the love of her life. When Christmas break rolled around, he had gone to his family in New York and she had stayed in Massachusetts with her mother and her grandmother. The day after Christmas, she was taking a break from the mayhem and chaos that was Christmas holidays at her grandmother’s to surf the net and catch up on entertainment news. She was addicted to tabloids. After she was all caught up on what Beyonce was doing, she decided to Google Rudy…just to see what would come up.
What came up was an application for a marriage license for Rudy Sinclair and Natasha McCann. Christine stared at it in shock and then shook her head, looking up the picture matching the social security number listed. It was Rudy alright…her Rudy. The one who had fucked the hell out of her the night before he left town and assured her that he would miss her and wished he didn’t have to leave. That Rudy…
There was nobody she could tell; nobody she could whine to or complain to. She was supposed to be over him; everyone assumed she was over him.
She had gone over to Max’s place with her grandmother the next day. He always had the good alcohol and had no objection to her sampling it as long as her grandmother didn’t mind. Martha had been fine with her drinking alcohol as soon as she turned 21 so that was no longer an issue. As soon as Martha let them into the apartment she headed straight for the library that had the most well stocked bar. The living room bar was okay but the good stuff was in Max’s private library stash. She picked up a bottle which said ‘Legacy by Angostura’ which looked like a likely candidate to get her drunk really fast. Plus it was rum, which she liked unlike most other types of alcohol. She sat down in Max’s chair and poured herself a glass.
Chapter 3
The rum was a lot more potent than she’d imagined. She’d only finished one glass before she started to feel woozy. When Max found her there, she’d had three glasses and was an angry drunk.
“Christine!” he had exclaimed. “I didn’t know you were in here.”
Christine glared at him. “S’all your fault,” she mumbled.
“What?” he asked.
“S’your fault. You did this to me,” she complained, eyes drooping as she studied Max. He was a tall dude, really tall; maybe six two. And people considered him to be good looking…it wasn’t just the money even. There was his dark hair and his dark eyes and his inherent Frenchiness that just made him seem elegant all the time, even when his tie was askew and his shirt was untucked like now. Plus he carried himself like a stalking panther, all loping grace and power. Those wide shoulders of his looked like they could take the weight of the world on them.
“You’re drunk,” he said pointing out the obvious.
“No shit,” she replied managing to sound sarcastic even though she was slurring her words pretty bad.
“What’s wrong? You never get drunk,” he said.
“How would you know?” she jeered at him.
“I know you,” he countered which sounded like utter bullshit to her.
“If you know me so well then what am I thinking right at this moment?” she asked.
Max stared at her for a long while. “I don’t know that anything you’re thinking would be good for you in any way so I suggest that instead I help you to one of the guest rooms so you can get some sleep,” he said.
“What? You’re not going to call my gra? Let her know what a bad girl I’m being?” she asked.
“No, I’m not calling your grandmother because she doesn’t need this shit. She works really hard to provide for you and she doesn’t need to be worrying about where your head is right now. So you’re going to sleep it off, whatever it is and tomorrow you go home and you make better decisions.”
It was Christine’s turn to study him for a long while. “You know,” she declared.
“I know,” he said.
“How?” she asked.
Max smiled. “You recovered too fast. You were too in love with
him to be over him so completely the way you were pretending to be. And lately you’ve been happier again…glowing like you had a secret. Today that glow is gone, so I’m guessing you found the marriage license.”
“You are pretty scary you know that?” she said cheeks flaming in embarrassment at being caught so completely.
“I know. It’s a gift,” he said with a smile. He came forward and wrapped his hand around her arm, pulling her out of his chair like that. She went along only because she didn’t have enough coordination to resist him effectively. He took her to the guest room opposite his room, stripped her to her panties and tucked her into bed. She was just too drunk to be embarrassed.
The next morning he woke her with coffee, bacon, sausage and scrambled eggs in bed. He didn’t talk about the night before or about the fact that he’d seen her almost naked. Still, she couldn’t get it out of her head. As he gathered the tray to return to the kitchen, she stopped his moving away with a hand on his arm.
“Why didn’t you take me up on that offer last night?” she asked.
He sat back down on the bed. “I wasn’t about to take advantage of my housekeeper’s granddaughter when she was drunk.”
“So if I wasn’t your housekeeper’s granddaughter you would have taken advantage of me?” she teased.
Max shrugged. “I might have considered it…if we weren’t in my house and you didn’t know where I live,” he said with a smile.
“Wow, sleazy much?” she said unimpressed.
“Hey, don’t hate the player, hate the game,” Max said.
Christine laughed. “That is so two thousand and late.”
“Poetic,” Max replied with a smile.
“So, I’m sober this morning. You wanna?” she said.
“Wow Chris, you are just soo romantic,” he said.
“This isn’t romance. This is a revenge fuck against my bastard of an ex fiancé who played with my heart, stomped on it, and set it on fire,” she said.
“He won’t even know,” he protested.
“We could make a sex tape,” she offered.
It was Max’s turn to laugh, “No thanks.”
“No thanks to the sex tape or…?” she persisted.
“You really want to?” he asked.
“Yes I really do,” she replied.
“Really, why?” he asked.
“Because I need a reboot. Rudy was my first, my only. I need to know that there is life after Rudy Sinclair. And I know you have the experience to show me that.”
“I’m flattered.”
“Will you do it?”
“Your grandmother can never know,” he warned.
“Goes without saying.”
“Okay then. You’re not going to make me take you to dinner first?”
“Nope. None o’ that shit. This is strictly a hit it and quit it situation.”
“Every man’s dream.”
“Exactly.”
*****
To Christine’s surprise, Max did not jump her on the spot. He simply took her tray to the kitchen and then came back to her room, taking his place on the side of her bed again. They talked about work; they both had backgrounds in engineering so they were able to get technical about their shared interests. Christine found that she was getting more and more relaxed and before she realized it, Max had slung his arm around her shoulder and she was leaning into him.
“I’m so miserable,” she said after a brief lull in the conversation.
“I’ll make it better,” he said kissing her forehead. His hand was softly caressing her arm. His other arm reached out to cup her chin and pull it up so he could rest his lips on hers. He began to bite along her jaw gently as she sat still and let him have his way with her. His other hand continued to caress her arm and her lips fell open, waiting for him to get to them. Of their own volition, her eyes slipped closed and her heart sped up.
“Tell me what you want,” Max murmured against her skin.
“I want you to fuck me,” Christine said succinctly. This caused Max to huff a laugh against her skin setting off tiny shivers to shimmer all over her skin.
“Do that again,” she whispered. Max leaned closer and thrust his tongue in her ear. This time she couldn’t hold back a scream in addition to her shivers. It could have been due to the cold wetness of his tongue or the sensations it was eliciting in her ear. She hooked her naked leg over his and his hand came down to run slowly down her thigh and then back up. His tongue traced the lines of her face before inserting itself into her mouth and proceeding to taste her. Christine leaned her whole body toward him, asking mutely for his touch.
It was the signal he was waiting for apparently because in the blink of an eye, Christine was lying flat on the bed and Max was pressing down on top of her, sucking frantically at her neck. She lifted her arms tentatively and wrapped them around his neck, with her legs going around his waist almost in a mirrored gesture. Her pink panties were wet and Max’s finger, rubbing gently along her gluteal cleft all the way around to her vaginal opening was not helping. The rub of the pink cotton against her skin seemed to add an extra dimension to the sensations shooting through her and she wriggled her behind, trying to get him to do something. He moaned softly into her neck and thrust forward; the hard bulge in his pajama pants rubbing against her already sensitized skin and driving her up the wall.
“Now now now now Max,” she groaned in frustration.
“You are so impatient,” he said laughing in her ear. Her only response was to arch upwards so that her covered vagina could rub against his hardness.
“Alright alright, jeez,” he said reaching into his pajamas and palming his penis before pulling it out and pressing it against her cotton undies, driving her around the bend. He pressed forward into her, not bothering to get her panties out of the way and it was the most erotic thing that had ever happened to Christine. She felt him begin to penetrate her, her underwear getting pushed to the side by the simple expedient of having this large round object shoved into her. And Max was very large; she had known about it but hadn’t believed that this size was actually real. She felt so filled that she was afraid for a second.
“Shh, I won’t hurt you,” Max whispered in her ear as if he could divine her thoughts. Curiously enough, his reassurances calmed her down, and she relaxed; letting him as deep inside her as he could go.
“Oh my God,” she groaned.
“Close but no cigar. It's just me, Max,” Max whispered in her ear.
“Har har de har har,” she replied even though she could practically feel her kidneys shifting location to make room for him.
Suddenly, he withdrew from her completely and thrust into her again, sheathing him to the hilt. She let out a gasp of equal parts surprise and arousal but he didn’t give her time to recover before doing it again. Her legs spread wider of their own accord and she arched her back, letting him in as deep as he wanted to go. He wanted to go deep. Christine was afraid she might never walk again if things went on much longer.
“Please,” she whispered not really knowing what she was pleading for. His tongue was in her ear again and she shivered.
“Tell me what you want,” he said again. Christine’s head was spinning. Rudy never asked her what she wanted…he just gave her what she needed; she guessed. She wrapped herself tighter around Max and rubbed her breasts against him, wanting to feel him everywhere. Her fingers were tingling with little shocks like she’d been electrocuted. Her toes were curled. If she could see it, she was sure her hair was standing on end. The electric shocks were striping through her at seemingly greater speed and velocity, the epicenter being the heat at the junction of her legs. She felt like she might die from it; she needed it to stop. She needed it to never stop. Her mouth opened and unintelligible words fell out; this followed by low key screaming. She needed to release this energy somehow because it seemed to be circling her body, causing chaos and confusion everywhere it touched down.
“Max,” his name was punched from her
throat in her agony of feeling. She needed this expanding feeling to contract or explode and she knew he was the key but didn’t have the words to explain. He seemed to understand though because his rhythm sharpened and quickened, breath escaping from his body like a runaway steam engine, his hips jerking faster and faster into her, building up the heat, setting it up for a conflagration that would likely consume them both. Christine let him, lying back pliant, and heavy limbed awaiting the inevitable explosion. When it came it still took her by surprise with how it lifted her off the bed and contorted her body and then let her go so she felt it as her whole being liquefied and for a moment she understood what it means to be one with the universe.
They never did it again. They don’t even talk about it. It’s like it never happened.
*****
And now Max wants her to have his baby. What the hell is she supposed to do with that?
There is a tentative knock on the curved wall that separates the sunroom from the long hallway.
“What?” she asked not looking but knowing that it's Max.
“I wanted to see if maybe you have questions,” he said.
Christine laughed bitterly, “Where to start?”
Max walked into the room and sat down tentatively opposite her, settling himself in the chair as if he was as uncomfortable as she was.
“Well let me ask a question then,” he said. “Do you want to have a baby of your own?”
“You know I do,” her answer was cold.
“It's been five years since you and Rudy broke up; you haven’t had another steady relationship since,” he began.
“Don’t you-“ Christine began to snarl but Max put up his hand in a ‘hear me out’ gesture.
“All I’m saying is you seem to not want to put yourself in a situation to get hurt again; but you want kids. I’m offering you the opportunity to bring that dream to reality in a risk free way.”