by Amaya Black
I needed to get out of here. I wanted to get away from all these emotions that I was feeling but I’m not sure it would be possible. I don’t think Darien would ever let me go. It wasn’t in his DNA. This family didn’t do letting go well. After the death of his father, who he never talked about, Jocasta had never remarried. She had said briefly in passing that she would never love someone the way she had loved Darien’s father.
“What will that solve?”
“Huh?”
“Getting away from me, what will it solve. The problems will still be there in the morning. We are both feeling emotions due to a kidnapping. Let’s process things.”
He came back to me and pulled me close. “Allanah, let me love you. The right way.”
I took a deep breath. “I don’t want to keep holding on to old shit.”
A peck of reassurance was placed on my head, and Darien’s arm enveloped me and I let him. If I kept going with this Cassie mess, she would win. I wouldn’t let her win. She was swimming at the bottom of the sea right now. It was where she deserved to be.
Me?
I deserved a small ounce of happiness and I was going to make sure that Alex wound up feeling that love as well. My mother had loved drugs more than she had ever loved me and Dana. Alex would never know what that was like. I would make sure that I was always present, and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Darien would be the same way.
Going back into the living room where Jocasta and Cindy were, I found Alex still crawling around. The maids had started to clean up the water we had dripped all over the floor and pizza had been delivered. I always forgot they had delivery in Greece.
Darien and I both joined Alex on the floor and rolled around with him. He laughed and laughed and then a magical moment happened.
“Daada!” He cried and me and Darien looked to each other.
A while back we had placed a bet on if Alex would say mama or dada first. I had lost the bet naturally and owed him twenty dollars.
“Ugh!” I said outloud.
“You gone have to pay up, Lana,” Darien chuckled. “But I don’t want your money.”
I could see Cindy and Jocasta stop what they were talking about. Heat creeped over my neck and I knew I was probably beet red.
“What in the world are you talking about Darien?” Jocasta asked giving her son a knowing look.
It was Darien’s turn to blush but he played it off.
“Nothing mother,” he instead got up and grabbed a paper plate and a slice of pizza.
“So, Cindy, how long are you gonna be here. I want to spend some time with you. Me and Alex would love to take his first baby sitter to lunch,” I tried to change the subject.
“Actually, Andrew had texted me and asked the same thing,” she smiled and reached for a glass of soda. She took the longest drink in the world.
“Andrew?” Everyone asked simultaneously.
“Yeah. He said he was coming home to check on everyone and asked would I be around. I’m leaving in a few days so we said we’d grab dinner. No big deal.”
Cindy shrugged her shoulders and her big casual braid gave a bounce. She had turned a little red in the face; I was already planning on what I would wear to her and Andrew’s wedding if they turned out to be indeed a very big deal.
“Andrew, home! He hadn’t told me anything,” Jocasta muttered. “I will have the maids prepare his room at once. And Cindy, you must stay here tonight. The storm is to dangerous. I will have the maids make up the room across from Allanah and Darien’s.”
Jocasta got up and left the room and we continued to sit and talk for a few minutes longer until the subject of where we were going to live came up. The feelings of what Cassie had done still linger around me, but I pushed them away. Happiness was important. She couldn’t keep occupying space in my mind.
“I actually have another house, it’s a little further inland. We’ll be moving there within the week.”
“I can’t believe the cottage in gone,” Alex was now yanking on my hair as I tried to untangle his fingers.
“Yeah, I had that house built when I finished I up at Wharton. I wanted to be closer to my mother but have my own space.”
“Will you rebuild?” Cindy asked.
“Someday,” Darien answered. “I’ll make him a bottle and then get him put to bed. You two should stay up and catch up on things.”
I got the baby up and me and Cindy got him into the nursery. The very same one that he had been kidnapped from. A shudder went through me at the thought and Cindy seemed to pick up on it.
“I know Jocasta had new security codes installed and people were here all day putting in new locks and systems,” Cindy said and touched my shoulder.
A soiled diaper landed with a thud in the Diaper Genie. Alex seemed to be in no distress but damn if I wasn’t ready to fall apart. How did people recover after a kidnapping? This had only been for one day before he had been found. Some families went years with no answers on why someone would do this. I had been one of the lucky few to get their child back.
Darien came in with a bottle and took Alex from me. He gave me a kiss on the lips and me and Cindy departed. The house had become quiet and we felt like two mice sneaking around in the dark. The storm still seemed to be raging on outside.
“I think the wine cellar is down this way,” I said as we went back into the kitchen.
The was a wine cellar door was located near an outside door. I flipped on a light and we journeyed down. There were row and rows of handcrafted wine racks.
“I don’t know how you’re not a mess, I would have lost my shit by now,” Cindy said as we inspected bottles.
“I don’t know how I’m not either.”
“So, this Cassie chick, what the fuck was her deal?”
I had stooped low and was inspecting a bottle whose label read 2010. I pulled it from the shelf and rubbed at the golden label.
“This will require hella wine.”
Cindy nodded and was clearly ready for this tale.
Chapter 11
Me and Cindy had gotten comfy on the couch with a bottle of wine. The weather outside still hadn’t let up. Flashes of lightning had been dotting the sky. At one point I had looked over at a window and thought that I had seen a figure watching us. I had gasped in horror until Cindy assured me that there was no one there.
“Girl, relax. Your mind is playing tricks on you. You’re stressed out.”
Cindy poured me a large glass of wine and then we sat back and started drinking. She had some music playing on her phone and we had closed the living room doors so we could vibe in peace.
“I’m so glad you came here,” I said after a gulp. “You found my fucking kid.”
“I just sped things along, the cops would have found her.”
Another sip. “I doubt it. That detective couldn’t even dress himself. This has just been some crazy shit since I met this man.”
“I know but look at the two of you guys now,” she smiled.
“We said we loved each other for the first time last night. I think I’m still processing that and everything else.”
Cindy gasped. “A whole year and that’s just now coming out? I saw it months ago when we were at that club.”
I shrugged and reached for the wine bottle. It splashed a little as it landed in the glass. I could already feel the effects of the wine but I didn’t care. I’d clean up the table later. Some Beyonce was bumping now and I started to miss the days before I had become domesticated. The nights of working the bar seemed so long ago. It’s not like I had ever really had any friends…
“I never really had any friends back in New York,” I said quietly.
Cindy stopped drinking. “Well you have one now. I’m gonna forever be in love with that little boy. Alex is special. I knew it from the moment I held him for the first time.”
“Thanks girl,” I swiped at my mouth feeling wine running everywhere.
“This is some really good wine. Maybe I’ll make Andrew get me a bot
tle to take home.”
I narrowed my eyes. Was I drunk? “Mmm, yeah. You and Andrew seem right close.”
She giggled and then looked around before whispering, “We slept together that night.”
“Huh?”
“I don’t want to go into a bunch of details. I know he’s with that royal girl…we’re gonna be friends. I never expected that to happen that night, it just did. But yeah…friends.”
She didn’t seem like she was going to budge on the subject. Andrew wasn’t just coming into town for his nephew but probably also to see Cindy. I might have been born at night but it wasn’t last night.
“So finish telling me about Cassie. Like what was really her deal.”
The lights flickered at the mention of her name and shiver ran down my back. I fought back a yawn and divulged all the details on the crazy bitch that had stolen my nephew. When I had finished telling Cindy most of the story, including how she had been in love with both brothers and her curiosity had been satisfied, we both realized how late it had gotten.
“I’m going to crash,” Cindy said.
“I’ll be right behind. Gonna clean up this mess.”
After she disappeared from view, I collected both wine glasses and the empty dark bottle. Making my way to the kitchen on my tiptoes, I realized how much the wine and the down time with Cindy had relaxed me. I had been completely on edge.
A thought appeared in my head and I hurried back to the couch where I had left my phone. That reporter from earlier had surely put something onto the internet about this whole mess. I had forgotten in my haste to tell Darien about the guy.
I searched up and down for Cassandra Petrakas. I googled the Kiriakis name and Alex’s name and found nothing. The only mention I found to the entire incident was that a woman might have drowned in the Saronic Gulf about ten miles out.
Perhaps someone had killed the reporters story once it reached the editors desk. The Kiriakis family was extremely well known within the country and Jocasta had a lot of reach and pull. A sound caught my ears and I looked up to find Darien watching me.
“Are you coming to bed?” He asked.
He looked clean shaven and shower fresh. He had on an old tshirt and night pants. I wondered how long he had been there watching me before I noticed.
“Yeah, I just finished up,” I stood and made my way over to him.
“Mmm,” he dipped down and kissed me on the lips. “I want you.”
He could be so demanding.
“Really, right now? I need…” his lips on mine cut me off again.
Suddenly, the couch was beneath me and he was pulling my clothes from my body. I looked around and realized anyone could come by and see us.
“In here?”
He had already parted my legs and his tongue was mere inches from bringing me the pleasure we both knew I wanted. As soon as his tongue reached out and flicked at the bean between my legs, all thoughts of getting caught went away. In fact, who cared if they saw me getting fucked five ways to Sunday. A sliver of a thrill went through me.
Darien continued to suck and lick just like I liked it. Soon a few fingers joined in on his teasing. I was in heaven at having his mouth on my pussy. That basic part of me told the primal part of my brain that didn’t talk everyday that what Darien was doing to my body with his mouth was magic.
He came up for breath smiling. I had thrown my head back in delight, annoyed he had stopped. It seemed like he waited for a long time but in truth it was just mere moments. He ran his hands over my body and I was aware I had gained a little weight. My stomach had a little bit of a pudge, nothing I couldn’t fix once I started working out.
“You are so beautiful, Lana,” his hands moved from the soles of my feet to my calves.
Bringing each of my legs up, he kissed both sides of my thickening thighs with ease. He lowered them and then eased himself out of the cotton night pants he wore. In the light of the living room lamp, I could see the veins popping in his cock. Darien wanted nothing more than to shove inside of me. I reached between my legs and touched my pussy, my dew began to coat my fingers. I wanted him now. Hard and fast while the wine has me relaxed.
However, this was Darien we were talking about. Anything I wanted, this man would do the opposite of. He guided his hard dick to my wet slit and slowly rubbed the head of himself around. There was a slight wet sound like the gushing of Kraft’s mac and cheese being stirred up right after being microwaved.
“Mmmm,” I moaned and then bit down on my lip.
I remembered where I was and brought the volume down a notch. Darien only chuckled but continued just moving against me, ever so gently bumping against my clit. Finally when I could take no more he asked could he enter me.
Even if I had wanted to say no, my body had betrayed me. My juices seemed to be flowing, preparing my to take him into my cave. I was hot and ready like a damn Little Ceasar’s pizza. I covered my face with embarrassment of the thought.
Without warming he entered me.
“You are made for me, Allanah.”
“And I’m all yours.”
I moaned a little more as he pushed in and out of me. My legs had begun to inch back with my knees up by my ears. With each thrust and push, the couch seemed to squeak into oblivion, but Darien wouldn’t be deterred. Finally, he came, and spilled all over my stomach.
Breathing hard and heavy, Darien adjusted his pants and then went into the kitchen. I stayed put because I knew he was getting me a warm paper towel to clean up this mess. The smell of sex lingered in the air and I could see the beginning touches of the sun waking up and kissing the sky with color.
The heat of the paper towel on my stomach shook me from my thoughts. Darien stared down on me with a quietness in his eyes. He didn’t ask what I was thinking but instead seemed to know.
“Morning came quick.”
“It did. Maybe I can still get a few hours of rest.”
“Yes, of course. But at noon I’m taking you see the other house.”
I had almost forgotten his cottage didn’t exist anymore. Despite the circumstances to get me here, I had loved the cottage. It had been the first place that I had ever lived that felt like a real home. I was just glad nothing of importance had been in there that we couldn’t get back.
Hand in hand, Darien and I climbed the steps and found our way to the bedroom. Quietly, he made me undress again. How was he ready to take me again. I was already worn out from the last time. He seemed to sense what I was thinking.
“This is just for you,” he replied.
I fell back onto the bed and the comfort of a cool crisp sheet surrounded me. I rolled my bottom lip between my teeth and peered up at him. Darien was peeling the old t-shirt from his body once again. He came over and began to take my clothes from my body as well.
“Just me?”
“Yes…”
Chapter 11
The new house was two stories and made of brick. Everything about this house spoke volumes about the type of person that would live here. To me, it was the second biggest house I had ever seen. Darien had through the years had the house upgraded to be extremely technology friendly. It made me think of that Disney movie, Smart House. I had wanted a house like that as a kid. Had Darien known that when he plopped the house key into my hand and told me welcome home?
We got comfortable and got into a rhythm and life resumed. Darien had to go into the office in the city and work on some things which left just me and Alex together. I, of course, didn’t mind at all. Spending time with Alex and planning our day was the best part of being his mom.
Helena was still on leave and trying to recover from Cassie bopping her over the head. She wouldn’t return for a few more weeks. Somehow, we were surviving like we had before I even knew a nanny was an option. I still missed Helena though, especially when I tried to use the bathroom in peace and quiet. Having a nanny was definitely handy for those moments in life.
“Where is my munchkin?” I giggled as I found
Alex toddling around in the spacious living room. Toys were littering the room. Jocasta had certainly been shopping trying to replace some of the things that had been consumed by the fire.
“Ma-ma,” he smiled and reached for me.
“Kiddo, I have a feeling our conversations are going to get so much better. Now let’s have some lunch before we have a nap nap.”
Alex had started to recognize the word nap and he was not a fan. He instantly started to fret, and I tried to hush down his fears, by humming to him. Once he was strapped into the highchair in the kitchen, I turned on some cartoon and he clapped his hands. Darien had had a small t.v. installed for times like these.
I sliced some strawberries super thin, along with hotdogs. I prided myself on how thin I could get these hot dogs and fruits. I placed the food and Alex’s sippy cup on the tray right as the doorbell rang. I had no idea who could be at the damn door. Then I figured it might be Jocasta stopping by casually. She was that type of person, one who would be out shopping and spring by without a call.
I debated on taking Alex out of the highchair but decided against it. The door was in direct view of the kitchen and I’d see him fine. The door bell rang again and I almost tripped over a toy that I kicked in the opposite direction.
“Gotta clean up already,” I muttured reaching the door.
Upon opening it, I found a man with his back turned to me peering around. At the sound of the door quietly opening, he turned and I took in his features. He was the reporter from the police station. He was taller than I had realized as I starred up into his face.
“Ms. Haughton, how are you doing today?”
He was polite but his tone suggested something else. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but I didn’t care. I wanted him gone and off the property.
“I don’t know what you want, but I’m not giving an interview. What happened with Alex, I don’t want that in the press.”
He smiled and I noticed how unkempt he looked. His eyes even seemed tired but there was a danger that lurked behind them. As I tried to close the door, he immediately stopped it with his foot.