by Naomi Niles
“Yes, so am I.”
She smiled at me; then I closed the door as she made her way into the kitchen. I followed a few paces behind her as she placed the items on the shelf. “Is he still sleeping now?”
“Yeah. I just checked on him. He is back in his room, curled up like a potato bug.”
“Okay. Well, I’ll take care of it from here. Has he eaten anything this morning?”
“Just apple sauce. The regular.”
She popped open one of the cans of soup, then poured it into a small pot on the stove. The eye slowly heated the soup to a boil as she prepared toast on the side. I was glad she was there with me. It seemed as though she knew exactly what to do, and she could guide me through the process of taking care of a sick child. The more she helped me out, the more I realized that she would be a perfect addition to us. “So, I guess we can order some movies and just relax today. Maybe order a pizza?”
“Pizza. That sounds good to me. I mean,” she slid her hands down her sides, “I am trying to watch my figure, but I guess a few slices won’t hurt.”
“Well, from here, there doesn’t seem to be one thing wrong with your figure.”
She blushed. The steam rose from the pot on the stove as she grabbed a spoon and stirred it, then shut the eye off. I handed her a bowl so she could transfer the contents and prepare it for Vinny. I watched her in admiration, wondering how she made it this far in life without having any children of her own. It seemed as though she should’ve had at least one by now, especially with the way that the children at her school were drawn to her. “So, sweetheart, I am completely surprised that you don’t have any kids by now. I mean, it just seems like you are ready for some of your own.”
She sighed as she grabbed the toast from the toaster. “Yeah, I thought that I would by now as well. But, we have a way that we believe things should go, and then there is a way that things go on their own. I am waiting, though. I want some, for sure, but I am not going to rush it. I figure that it will happen whenever it is supposed to happen, and in the meantime, I’ll just treat every child like they are my own. It has been working for me thus far.”
I stood up and my put my arms around her waist. “Be careful,” she warned, “I don’t want the soup to burn you.”
“That’s nothing. I will withstand a little pain if it means that I can get closer to you.” I leaned in and kissed her on the neck. “So, why don’t you go in there and take that to Vinny? Then you can come back out here and join me on the couch. I’ll have a few movies for you to choose from.”
She grabbed the bowl, “Okay, that sounds good. Just make sure that you don’t pick all action movies. You know how I am about that.”
I laughed, “Yeah, yeah. I don’t want you falling asleep on me, so I’ll be sure to pick something that we both would sort of enjoy.”
“Good.”
She kissed me on the lips, then carried the food into Vinny’s room as I watched her with eyes full of admiration. As soon as she was out of sight, I walked to the couch and grabbed the remote to search for something to watch on television until she was ready to watch the movies. As I flipped through the channels, my phone buzzed. Karen’s name popped up on the screen. Immediately, I was taken back. With curiosity in my voice, I answered. “Hello?”
“Hey, Gavin. How are you?”
I looked down the hallway to make sure Bethany wasn’t on her way back in. “Um. I am good. Yeah, I’m good. What’s up? You want to talk to Vinny?”
“Um, no. That’s not why I called.”
I got up and walked outside to my patio in the back, then closed the door behind me. The birds chirped in trees above as a slight breeze rustled the leaves. “Okay, what’s up?”
She took a deep breath. “I have been thinking about a few things lately. A few things involving you and me. And Vinny.” I looked inside my home to make sure Bethany hadn’t showed up. I was eager to hear what Karen had to say. “When I came to visit him, we were talking, and I realized something.” I hope that he kept his word and didn’t tell her about Bethany. A part of me still held on to the chance that we could be something when it was all said and done. “I wanted to know what you thought about giving ‘us’ another chance. Now, I know that this is sudden, and I don’t expect you to answer right now because I don’t even have an answer myself. But, I was just thinking about it, and I wanted to see where you stood on the matter. I think that we are both older, and we may be able to handle things better than we did before.”
I removed my ear from the phone to make sure I was talking to Karen. I couldn’t believe the words that were coming from her mouth. A part of me felt like she was testing me because Vinny told her about Bethany. That was the first thing that came to my mind, but Vinny wasn’t a kid who would lie. He told me that he didn’t tell her anything, so I took his word. “Um, wow. I um–” just then, Bethany entered the front room and sat down on the couch. She smiled at me, then folded her legs beneath her and got comfortable on the couch. I thought about how close we had gotten since she came into my life, and suddenly I felt torn. I was torn between the woman that had a place in my heart and the woman who was making an attempt to remove her from it.
“Yeah, Karen. I um, I think I need some time to think about that. I mean, I haven’t given it much thought because I figured that we were both beyond it. But I would be lying if I said it never crossed my mind.”
“Okay. Well, no rush or anything. I just wanted to know where you stood with that. Is Vinny busy?”
“He is sick right now. Stomach bug. He has a stomach bug, so he is laying in the bed trying to recover.”
“Oh. Okay. Well, I won’t bother him then. Can you let him know to call me when he feels better?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I can do that.”
“Okay. It was good talking to you, Gavin. Hopefully, we can speak again later.”
“Yeah. We will.”
“Okay.”
I hung up the phone, then took a deep breath. Bethany sat on the couch in the front room with a smile on her face as I came back inside. “Is everything alright?”
“Yeah. Yeah, everything is good.” I sat next to her on the couch as she snuggled next to me. “How is Vinny?”
“He wanted me to stay in there with him for a little bit. He was happy to see me and said that you messed up his soup last night when you were trying to cook it.”
I laughed. “Yeah, I kind of left it in the pot too long. I lost track of it and the juice evaporated and the meat burned a little bit. Yeah. Leave it to me to burn a can of soup.”
She laughed and put her hand on my leg, “Well, don’t worry about that. I am here to save the day, as usual. I’ve got it under control.”
She kissed me on the cheek, then snuggled back into her spot beneath my arm. As she sat next to me, I couldn’t help but think about Karen for a brief moment. As of right now, I had no idea what I was going to do next. Bethany turned out to be everything I wanted her to be, but Karen had a special connection to me that I couldn’t shake right away. I didn’t know how it would end, but I hoped that nobody would get hurt in the process.
Chapter Twenty-Two
BETHANY
I ended up staying at Gavin’s house all day, helping him take care of Vinny. I didn’t mind it at all, though. As of right now, those two were my favorite two men in my life. Vinny asked me to read him a bedtime story before he drifted off to sleep, and as he was a sick young boy, I gave him whatever he wanted. By the ninth page of the story, he had fallen fast asleep. I walked into the front room as Gavin sat on the couch. Empty boxes of pizza were on the floor, and we had just completed our third movie. “So, he is sound asleep, and I think I have done my job for the day.”
“Yeah, you have. You should get paid for what you did today.”
“Yeah, I should.” I extended my hand. “That’ll be $200.”
He laughed and pulled me closer to him. “Come here, girl. How about this? I’ll pay you, but it won’t be with money.” He kissed me on
the neck.
“Oh? Well, what do you have in mind?”
“Are you sure he is asleep?”
“Like a baby.” He scooped me into his arms and carried me to his bedroom. “Gavin, what are you doing?”
He walked into the room and closed the door behind him, “I am giving you your payment.”
He laid me on the bed and climbed on top of me, but I put my hand into his chest. I wanted to control it. I loosened his belt and allowed his pants to fall down below his waist and hit the ground. I stroked my hand over his dick and bobbed my head up and down on it at the same time. I knew what he liked. I smacked his erected penis on the side of my face a couple of times, then slid it back into my mouth, wrapping my lips around it tightly on its way in and out. He reached forward and pulled my shirt over my head, exposing my bra. I slid one hand back and unstrapped it as my tits fell free from their trap. I licked his shaft and slobbered on it, then jacked him off as I watched his eyes roll to the back of his head. Without warning, I took his penis and slid it in the middle of my breasts. I squeezed them together as I moved my chest up and down. The top of his dick jabbed me in the bottom of my throat as he tit-fucked me.
He grabbed my breasts and trust his pelvis up and down. “Oh, yeah, baby,” I said, “fuck those tits.” He picked up his speed, but I quickly removed my tits from his dick and slid my mouth back onto it. I could feel his pre-cum squeezing out of him as he yelled out in ecstasy. “You like that, baby?” I asked, stroking his cock.
“Yeah,” he said as he reached forward and pushed my head back down onto his dick. It reached the back of my throat and forced me to gag as I removed it from my mouth. Long streams of pre-cum stretched from the tip of his penis to my lips as I moved it away. I stroked his dick with both hands as he pounded the cushions on the couch. As soon as I felt his dick jump, I quickly put my mouth back on him. He shot his cum inside of my mouth as I moaned. It dripped down the side of my face and onto to my breasts as my mouth filled up with it. When he was done, I stood up in front of him and dropped my pants to the ground.
His dick was still hard as I kicked my pants across the room and removed my panties. I slid on top of him, my pussy was already soaked, so he slid right in. I quickly hopped off of him, “Oh my God,” I said as I felt the pleasuring pain from his length. I ground on top of him while his dick brushed against my clit, sending a rush of moisture from the inside of me. I ran my hands over the ripples on his chest as I looked down at his waist. His dick was just beyond my belly, stretching upwards towards my breasts.
I wanted it back inside of me, and as I ground on top of him, he eased it back in. He lifted me off the mattress and laid me on my back and from there, he moved inside of me slowly. His waist moved back and forth like he was in rhythm with a beat inside of his head. His abs flexed right in front of me as he used his stomach muscles like he was slow dancing.
He sent his tongue onto the edge of my ear and licked it softly, making a trail from there to my collarbone as my legs tightened around him. He slid his hand onto my ass, gripping a handful of it while he moved on top of me. With his other hand, he stroked my hair and kissed me softly on the lips as if it was the last time he was going to see me. The last time he was going to hold me. My heartbeat felt as though it slowed down as we were intertwined with each other. As he pumped, I dug my nails into his back. It wasn’t as painful for me as it once had been. I felt the love he had for me and that alone blocked out everything else.
He placed his hands on the bed and pushed himself up while I locked my legs around him. His mouth slid onto my nipples, caressing them with his tongue. “Go faster,” I said as he mounted me. “Go faster. Go harder.”
He bit his lip and sped up. My tits bounced up and down on my chest as I closed my eyes and reached for pillows to cover my face. “Harder!” I yelled through the pillow. He heard my muffled voice and sped up again, pushing himself further inside of me. Now, I wanted him to fuck me. I wanted him to treat me like I wasn’t shit, like I was just some whore for the night. “Harder!” He grabbed my legs and pinned them to the side and he fucked the shit out of me. I bit my lip, trying to muffle my screams as I yelled out in a pain-and-pleasure cocktail as I reached down and stroked my clit when I was on the verge of coming. “Aaaaaaah! Yes! Yes! Fuck that shit out of me!”
He leaned forward and put his hands around my throat as I quickly moved my hand back and forth across my clit. “Yes!” I yelled out. “Fuck me like a dirty ass slut!”
He yanked me up and threw me against the bed. Before I could prepare myself, he shoved his long dick inside of me and smacked my ass. I gripped the edge of the bed. “Shit!” I yelled out as he grabbed a handful of my hair.
He had me pinned against the mattress, and second later, I came. We laid, lifeless, on top of his mattress as I faced the ceiling. “Damn, Gavin. That was amazing.”
I felt him pull me closer to him, and in that instant, I knew that I was in a perfect place with Gavin, but I couldn’t help but worrying that my past would creep up sooner or later and disrupt everything. I felt like my ex-boyfriend was creeping around in Roanoke somewhere, searching for me so he could finish whatever business he had with me. On top of that, I knew my past as a stripper was still out there as well, and eventually I would have to tell him the truth about it all. I felt like it would be better if I told him than it would be if he found out any other way.
It was almost 10pm when his phone rang. He groaned, “Jesus, who is this calling me right now?”
I chuckled. “I don’t know. Maybe you should answer and see.”
“No. I’ll leave it. I’m sure it is just Mike calling to talk about something crazy he did tonight. I don’t feel like listening to his stories right now.”
“Yeah. I think I will have to meet him one day. He seems like fun.”
Gavin laughed. “Fun? Well, that depends on what you consider fun. He is a good guy, though, I will give him that. Oh, and that reminds me. Depending on how Vinny feels tomorrow, I was thinking we could go out. I asked Mike if he could swing by and watch him just in case. So, maybe you can meet him tomorrow.”
“Okay. Well, if Vinny is fine, I am okay with that. Completely.”
“Good.”
I leaned my head on his chest, and in moments, I had fallen asleep.
Chapter Twenty-Three
GAVIN
I woke up the next morning and reached out for Bethany, but grabbed a handful of mattress in her place. My eyes shot open as I lifted my head off the pillow. “Babe?” I called out, thinking she was in the bathroom, but silence flooded back into my ears like water over a broken levy. I exhaled, then reached for my phone that sat on my nightstand. I had fallen asleep last night without checking to see who called me. It was Karen. I wondered what made her call me again that late. I could tell that she was serious about giving us another shot, but I couldn’t help but wonder about her motive. I had to talk to Vinny just to make sure that he didn’t tell her anything about Bethany.
After I got out of the bed, I climbed into the shower to freshen up. When I got out, I walked to Vinny’s room to check on him. His bed was made up, and all of the trash that collected on top of his dresser was gone. I turned around and headed down the hallway. As I got closer to the kitchen, I heard the crackling sound of eggs frying in the skillet. On top of that, voices and laughter danced into my ears like pleasant lyrics of my favorite song. Vinny sat at the table when I walked into the kitchen. He smiled from ear-to-ear as his feet swung beneath the table. Bethany stood by the stove cooking breakfast.
“Well, it seems like somebody around here is feeling better.”
Vinny looked at me. “Oh, hey Dad.”
“Hey, Gavin. We didn’t wake you up, did we?”
“Oh, no.” I kissed Vinny on his forehead, “I am usually up well before then. I must’ve been tired. I did have a long night.”
I smiled and kissed Bethany on the cheek as she elbowed me in the chest. “Hush! You know he is smart,” she whispered
. “He will pick up on those subtle hints. Zip it!”
“Okay, okay,” I said, whispering into her ear. Afterward, I focused on Vinny. “So, the stomach bug all gone?” I asked, sitting down at the table.
“Yes, Dad, it’s gone. My stomach doesn’t hurt anymore, and now, I think my appetite is almost completely back. Or maybe I was just tired of eating toast and applesauce all day. Anyways, Bethany said that she was going to cook us a big breakfast, and I couldn’t wait.”
“Well, good. I am happy that you are feeling better. Mike is going to come by and watch you for a little while so Bethany and I can hang out. Is that alright with you?”
“Yeah, Dad, that is fine with me.”
“Good.”
“Oh, did Mom call?”
I raised my brow at him, then looked at Bethany like she knew what Karen and I discussed on our phone call. She was oblivious to it, though, going along with her business as she finished fixing breakfast. “Yeah, she called yesterday to check on you.”
“Okay.”
“Why do you ask?”
“Because she told me that she was going to start calling me more just to check on me. She also said that she was going to get me a cell phone on the next trip because she thought I was mature enough to have one.”
“Yeah,” I said, tapping my fingernails against the surface of the table. “You are. You definitely are.”
I wanted to outright ask him if he said anything to Karen about Bethany, but I knew it wasn’t the best time for that. I would have to get a better understanding of what he said later on. Just then, Bethany placed our food on the table. “We’ve got bacon, eggs, sausage, and pancakes for my fellas,” she said, sliding our plates in front of us. “And no toast for you, Vinny. You might faint at the sight of it.”
His snaggle-toothed smile shone through like the morning sun, “Yeah, I think I might have. Thank you.”
“No problem, sweetie.” She fixed her plate, then sat down beside us. My mind altered Bethany’s face with Karen’s as she sat at the kitchen table. I had to shut my eyes tight and reopen them to discard the image. “Are you alright, Gavin?” she asked quizzically.