I cried out as I came…loud. I was so glad my dad was at work and there weren’t any neighbors on the other side. I couldn’t help it though. This man was unbelievable.
“Oh my God, Ian.”
“Feel good, baby girl?”
“So good. So, so good.”
He kissed the side of my face again and said, “Good, I’m so glad. I love making you feel good.”
I wiggled against him again and said, “What are we going to do about you? I didn’t bring a condom, did you?”
He laughed, “No baby. I thought we were just watering plants. Here, sit here next to me,” he said. He sat me on the other side of him and then he took my hand and put it over his cock. He closed his hand around mine and he started moving it. I was stroking against his skin and he was guiding my hand. It was so sexy. He’s so sexy. “Make me cum baby,” he told me. I gripped his shaft tighter and he gripped my hand harder and we began stroking it harder and faster together. I let my lips find his neck and I ran my tongue around it and down across his Adam’s apple and then to his chest and across his nipples, the whole time stroking with him.
Ian had his eyes closed and his head thrown back. He’d spread his legs wide open and our hands were moving faster now, urgently. I had my lips on one of his nipples when I felt his body start to tense. I moved my head down and laid it against his hard abs and I watched as our hands moved up and down together underneath the water. I felt him grow and swell again and when he started grunting and I knew that he was cumming again, I lowered my head and took him back into my mouth. He cried out then, loudly, and called out my name. I rode him through the orgasm and then I pulled my head back up to look at him. He was shaking hard now and he started kissing my face. He kissed my forehead and my cheeks and my lips and my chin…then he cupped my face in his hands, looked me in the eyes and said, “Oh My God!”
Over the next couple of weeks, we spent time together every day, mostly at my Dad’s house. He would come by after he went to the gym and hang out, sometimes have breakfast with me, or bring lunch and we’d eat on the patio if it was a nice day. We watched a lot of movies together and ate a lot of pizza and we talked a lot. We didn’t have sex when we were at Dad’s, but that was okay because it gave me time to realize that there was more to us than that. We also didn’t talk much about Emma until one afternoon when he came over and I was cleaning out the garage. He saw my old bike hanging on a nail on the wall. It was my first two-wheeler, pink and white with whitewall tires and a white basket on the front with pink flowers.
“Emma had that same bike,” he said.
I looked up at it and smiled. “Yeah, I know. That’s why I had it. I got mine when I turned eight. Emma got hers seven months before that for her seventh birthday…I was so jealous.”
“I remember when she got it. I was ten at the time and she wanted me to take her out and teach her how to ride it.”
“Did you?”
He laughed and I could see in his eyes that he was far away, back twelve years ago, teaching his little sister how to ride a bike. “Yeah, I did. It was like torture.”
“Why?”
“Because she would say, “Let go of me, I can do it myself,” and I would let go and she would fall. Then she would cry and I would say, “That’s it, I’m done,” so then she would cry some more and say she was going to tell Mom that I was being mean.”
Laughing, I said, “You poor thing. At least you didn’t have to teach her to drive.”
“I was already out of the house by then…but I remember how excited she was when she got her permit.”
“She wanted to drive everywhere. I don’t know how much trouble we got into because she just wouldn’t leave your parent’s cars alone.”
“And she forced you to go along?” he said, teasingly.
“I was a good friend. I couldn’t let her go alone….” Suddenly I got that feeling in my chest again. I hadn’t had it in a couple of weeks. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. It was like someone had removed one of my lungs and I just couldn’t get enough air. I was a good friend, I said. I couldn’t let her go alone, I said. But the facts were that I did let her go alone and she died.
“Alexa? Baby, are you okay?” I nodded, but I didn’t look up at Ian. If I did, I would see her face and I would lose it. I felt him next to me and he didn’t say a word. He just understood all of a sudden and he wrapped me up in a big hug and held me there until I stopped shaking and I was able to breathe again. After a bit I stepped back and said, “I’m okay now. Thank you. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” he said, gently brushing my hair back out of my face and kissing my forehead. “It comes and goes in waves. I understand.”
“I need some water,” I told him. He followed me in and I got us both a bottle of water. We sat down at the table and I said, “Do you ever worry that we’ll forget her?”
He reached over and touched my hand. “No, we could never forget her.”
“Sometimes we go days without mentioning her at all. Is that bad? If she’s up there looking down on us, does she understand that even if we don’t say her name out loud, that we think about her every day?”
“I think so,” he said. “Life has to go on and that sucks, but that’s just the way it is. I think it’s what she would want. She loved life. She was full of energy and hope and all that good stuff. She wouldn’t want us sitting around talking about death all the time, or living in the past. You and I found a common bond with Emma…but now, we’re finding it with each other. That’s a good thing…I think.”
I don’t know if he was right or not, but I know that it felt right. I loved being with him and I’m not sure I could get through the bad days without him. I also loved that he said things like that and he made me believe that this “relationship” we had was about more than grieving for someone we both loved and it was more than sex…It was real and things that are real, last. I glanced up at the clock then and realized that it was getting late in the day. My dad would be home soon and although I loved him, today I wasn’t in a mood to share Ian. I wanted to be intimate with him. I wanted to spend the night with him and I was hoping that he would suggest it.
“So what do you want to do tonight?” I asked him.
His eyes followed mine and he looked at the clock. With his lips quirked in a half-smile, he said, “I don’t know, why? Do you have to be somewhere?”
“No, I was just trying to plan my evening.”
He smiled outright then and said, “If you don’t have somewhere to be, then why do you need a plan? Is your other boyfriend coming over tonight?”
I laughed, “Maybe, if you’ll tell me what your plans are so I can make plans with him.”
He reached for me and pulled me up and into his lap. “You tell that son of a bitch…” I stopped him with a kiss. I let my tongue roam through his mouth like I was searching for something and then I licked and sucked on his bottom lip. When I pulled my head up, his eyes were practically glazed over and he said, “What we’re we talking about?”
I giggled, “We were deciding what to do tonight, but I just decided that it didn’t matter what we do, as long as we’re together. I didn’t even like joking about spending time with someone else.”
He grinned, “That’s good. I feel the same way. Maybe we could go meet my friends for a drink. Brock called me earlier. I’ve turned him down a couple of times already.”
“You want me to meet your friends? Isn’t it a little soon?”
He looked worried for a second and said, “You think so?”
I laughed and said, “No, I’d love to meet your friends.” He kissed me again and if we hadn’t heard Dad come through the front door just then, it may well have led to something else. As it was, he stood up and stood me upright on my feet next to him. When Dad came in the kitchen, it was more than obvious that we hadn’t just been standing there. Dad was cool about it. He and Ian said hello to each other and then Ian said, “I should go home and shower if we’re going to go
out.”
“Okay, I’ll walk you out.” I walked him to the door and he kissed me again. Before he left he said, “Maybe we’ll just have one drink.”
“Why only one?”
“Because I already can’t wait to get you back home.”
I closed the door and stood there with my back pressed up against it for a second. I’d never felt this way before about anyone, and Ian seemed to feel the same way. I knew that he was right; Emma would want us to go on and be happy. I was so glad I had Ian to go on and be happy with.
Chapter Seven
Ian
I went back to my apartment when I left Alexa with a smile on my face. I had one of those a lot lately. Being with her made me happy no matter what we were doing. I felt like I could talk to her about anything…well…almost. There were some things in my past that I wasn’t proud of and I hadn’t been ready to tell her about just yet. But, everyone had those, right?
I took a quick shower and then dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved blue t-shirt. Then before I left, I straightened up the apartment and changed the sheets on my bed. I hadn’t spent much time in the apartment between checking on my parents and being at Alexa’s dad’s house, so I hadn’t had a lot of time to really clean up. I hated for her to think I was a pig though and I hadn’t changed the sheets for over a week.
When the apartment was clean I left so that I could stop by and see how my parents were doing on my way. When I got to their house, they were both in the kitchen, cooking dinner together. I think the fact that they are still legitimately crazy about each other will be one of the things that will ultimately save them from this tragedy.
“Hi guys, how are you?”
“Hello son,” My father said. He was chopping up vegetables for stir-fry.
“Hi sweetheart,” my mother said, kissing me on the cheek. “Have you eaten?”
“Not yet, but Alexa and I are going out tonight so we’ll probably just pick something up.” I noticed the exchange of looks between my parents and said, “What was that?”
“What was what?”
“That look.”
“We don’t have a look sweetie.”
“Yes you do…you did. Do you not like Alexa?”
“Oh honey we love Alexa,” my mom said.
“Okay, then what was the look?”
“Nothing, really. Nothing bad. Your father and I were just talking earlier about how much more content you seem lately. We were wondering if it had anything to do with how much time you’ve been spending with Alexa.”
“It does, actually,” I told them.
My mother looked happy enough to bust as she said, “I couldn’t have hand-picked a better one for you.”
“Me neither,” I told her, honestly.
I only had a short visit with my parents, but since I go over every day, I guess that was okay. I left there and headed over to pick Alexa up. I was a little nervous about introducing her to Brock and the rest of the guys. It wasn’t Alexa I was worried about. I knew they would love her. Any man would be a fool not to. I was a little worried about mine and Brock’s friend, Jeff. He could be a lot of fun or he could be the biggest asshole you ever met. He was someone I’d known for a long time, so I was used to him. I always wondered how other people took him though. Like Brock, he knew all my dirty little secrets. I was pretty confident that Brock knew better than to blurt them all out to my new girlfriend. I wasn’t so sure about Jeff.
When I knocked and Alexa opened the door, I wanted to forget the whole going out for a drink thing and just jump straight to the part where we mess up my new clean sheets. She was wearing a jean skirt that stopped mid-thigh with a pair of ankle high cowboy boots and a thin, see-through blouse with one of those camisole things women wore. She looked hot and I wanted to eat her up right there.
“Wow, you look…” Her dad walked by just then. “So pretty,” I said. Pretty didn’t cover it, but I wasn’t going to say “hot” or “edible” in front of her dad.
“Thank you,” she said, “So do you.”
“I look pretty?”
She laughed, “Beautiful,” she said.
“Oh well, that’s better. Are you ready?”
“Yeah.” she grabbed her purse and yelled good-bye to her dad. When we got to the car I stopped and looked around to make sure he wasn’t lurking and then I said, “You don’t look pretty.” She looked surprised that I would say that and a little hurt. “You look so incredibly hot that I can hardly stand to keep my hands off of you.”
She blushed. “Thank you,” she said.
“I just didn’t want to say that in front of your dad.”
With a giggle she said, “Yeah, maybe not such a good idea, but I liked hearing it.”
We were meeting the guys at a club that was eighteen and over. Alexa had to get a red wrist band and I got a green one on the way in. That way they knew who they could serve alcohol to. The place was crowded and I had to let my eyes adjust to the light before I finally spotted my friends at a booth over in the corner. There was a small dance floor and the music was kind of loud. As we made our way over I asked her, “Are you sure that you want to stay here? It’s kind of loud and crowded.”
“Are you trying to get out of introducing me to your friends now?” she asked, jokingly.
“Of course not,” I told her. “You make me look so good that I’d have to be crazy to not want people to know you’re with me.”
She grabbed my hand and when we walked up to the table all eyes were on her. “Hey! You made it!” Brock said, “I thought you were going to flake again.”
“I tried,” I said, “Alexa wouldn’t let me.”
Jeff, the asshole that he is reached his hand out to Alexa and said, “Well hello there, beautiful. Where have you been all my life?”
She laughed, but I already wanted to kick his ass. “Alexa, this is Brock, Russ, Danielle, Mike and the creepy pervert here is Jeff.”
“Hi,” she said, as we slid into the booth. I put her on the side furthest away from the asshole.
Alexa and I ordered a drink and then Brock said, “When’s the next fight?”
“In a few days,” I told him. “I’ll leave you guys some tickets again up front if you text me and let me know how many.”
Danielle, Mike’s girlfriend and also someone I’d known most of my life said, “Ian, how are you’re your parents doing?” She’s a sweet girl, and it was a nice thing for her to ask, but I didn’t really want to talk about that right now.
“They’re doing alright,” I told her. It was mostly true, they were getting better. I had my doubts that they’d ever really be “okay” again. “Thanks for asking,” I said. She smiled and then looked at Alexa and said, “Where are you from?”
“I’m from here,” Alexa said. “I’ve lived here my whole life. I’ve been away at college for about a year.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I just thought since I’d not seen you around before…”
“It’s okay,” Alexa told her. “Emma was my best friend, so I’ve known her family a long time.” I could tell by Alexa’s face that she was like me; she didn’t want to talk about any more of that tonight. I looked at Mike and said, “How’s the job coming?” Mike had just gotten hired on as a security officer at the mall. It was funny, if you knew Mike and his history. I wasn’t going to bring that up, being reluctant to share my own.
“It’s good,” he said. “I deal with a lot of little shit heads, but it’s inside where it’s nice and cool and the pay is good. I can’t complain. Well, I can I guess, but no one listens. I chased some punk all the way from one end of the mall to the other because I saw him palm a bracelet. He ditched it somewhere before I caught him and his parents are saying now that I was “harassing” their baby. Sickening.”
“At least you didn’t have to work the mall back when we were in high school,” Brock said with a laugh.
“Hell, I’d have quit on my first day. They didn’t have mall security then, did they? If they did, I don’t re
member seeing them.”
“Why don’t you ask Ian,” Jeff said. Damn him. This was exactly the sort of thing I didn’t want them bringing up.
Alexa looked at me. I could see her looking at me in my peripheral vision but I was staring at Jeff. I was trying to convey to him with my eyes that I really didn’t want him to go there.
“Yeah Ian…that’s right man,” Russ said, getting in on the conversation. “You would know.” Russ and Jeff are best friends and have been since kindergarten. I would say their like one mind, but together, I think they’d only be able to come up with one. I could still see Alexa out of the corner of my eye. She looked curious now, but she wasn’t saying anything.
“Ancient history,” I said. “Who cares about any of that anymore? So Brock, did you sign up for that amateur tournament I told you about? Wasn’t the orientation last week?”
“It was and I did. I have to say that when I went in for the orientation, there were some big assed sons of bitches there. I hope they don’t all look like that, they’ll kill me.”
“Ah, it’s not always about who has the bigger muscles,” I said. “But…if you want to purse this you’ll need to get really serious about bulking up.”
“Well, that’s something Ian knows about too,” Jeff said. “I’ll bet he could hook you up with something that will bulk you up right quick.”
I was staring him down now and I could tell that Brock had picked up on my angst. He tried to steer him clear of it too. “I’ll do alright I think. I don’t need bulk, I got skills.”
I laughed at that and tried to keep my focus on Brock and keep Alexa’s off of Jeff. I had my hand on her leg and I was tapping my fingers in time to the music. If Jeff opened his mouth again, I was going to ask her to dance.
“So what do you do, Alexa?” Jeff asked her. That was good, steer the conversation her way. She could hold her own and I seriously doubted that she had any skeletons in the closet.
“I’m still in school,” she said.
“Oh, a smart girl,” he said. “Good for you. I should a went to school…or I should a become a fighter like Ian. Then I could say screw my scholarship and make a ton of money anyways.” I wanted to punch him in the face. Alexa looked at me and still smiling she said, “What is he talking about?”
Dirty Maverick (The Maxwell Family) Page 33