Second Chances

by Kitty Berry

  “You’re drunk but sexy as fucking hell, Pete Roman. And did I tell you what this goatee does to me? Makes me hot in all the right places, wet too” I tell him trying to escape the punishment I know is coming my way. But of course he knows that’s what I’m up to and calls me out on it. Pete threatens to punish me in front of our friends and the other patrons in the restaurant.

  At his threat, I soften and feel myself grow more aroused, slick between my legs. The ache begins and the yearning for him, for the excitement of being watched increases my arousal. But I don’t tell him this. Not yet. I need to examine these growing feelings first. I need Nix to help me sort them out before I can explore them with Pete. I don’t want to disappoint him if it’s something I can’t go through with.

  Before my mind finishes processing the meaning of my excitement over his threat, he stands and flings me over his shoulder. Within seconds we’re barreling through the door on the way to the car.

  I took my punishment and pleasure like a man would take water after being stranded on a deserted island. The intense gratification of his touch helped my mind to clear and transported me to an alternate world where nothing or no one else exists but Pete and me.

  When we return to our friends, I’m shocked to find Lisa, Pete’s short-lived college girlfriend as our waitress.

  December 2008

  Raina

  The holidays are approaching, my first in our new home. My mother is going all out this year with the decorations. She and Pete’s mom talk my dad and Pete into stringing lights on every available surface of our homes. When people come around the corner and spot our houses across from one another, they can easily mistake our street for a landing strip at an airport.

  My dad suggests that we get a real tree this year at the nearby tree farm; I only agree to go along when Pete tells me that he and his mom are coming with us. Pete and I have been spending more and more time together. Our close friends know we have something going on, but our fucked-up relationship remains hidden from everyone else. I still don’t get him. Pete is into me one minute then asking a different girl out the next. Every time I turn around, he’s coming out of the woods or a bathroom with a different girl who is wiping her lips or straightening her clothes. I want to tell him how I feel, that I want him all to myself, and that watching him with other girls is slowly killing me, but I can’t. I brought this on myself. I started this friends with benefits shit.

  The day we plan to head to the tree farm begins as most Saturdays do. I wake up in Pete’s bed after a night of partying with our friends. Each Friday and Saturday night when everyone heads home, I go to my room, clean up, brush my teeth, then sneak out of my window, cross the street, and climb into Pete’s bedroom window. Some nights, Amanda comes with me, so she can sleep with Todd in the bed he considers to be his in Pete’s room. Some nights, Pete surprises me before I can get across the street and taps on my window, spends the night with me. Others still, we might go for a drive and end up parking somewhere in his car, the threat of being discover arousing me further. We fear we’re tempting fate and going to get caught sooner or later, but neither of us suggests that we stop. It clearly excites us both.

  I wake up to find Pete already awake and starring at me with a smile on his face. “What?” I ask.

  “You have that Miss Tree thing later today, right?”

  “Shit. Yes, why?”

  “Can’t wait to see them crown you. Later tonight, can’t wait to fuck you with that crown on your head.”

  “Pete, we should…I mean, what about Lisa?”

  “I don’t know,” he shrugs. “What, you want to call it quits with me?”

  “No, I just…I don’t know. Forget it. I gotta go. I have to get ready for the Miss Tree thing” I say with a smirk over his name for my pageant. I kiss him quickly and rush across the room before I change my mind and slip back under the covers with him.

  Pete comes to the pageant with my parents and smiles like a proud boyfriend in the front row when they indeed crown me Miss Holiday Tree Princess. With that proud look on his face, I’m able to make myself believe that we’re a real couple. That he won’t be leaving me later tonight to head to Lisa’s party where she’ll get to slide her hand into the back pocket of his jeans letting everyone know that he’s her boyfriend. I only get him in private and even though I suspect that I’m the one getting the real Pete Roman, I long to have him in public. I yearn to have everyone know we’re together.

  When the pageant is over we head home to get on warm clothes and pick up Pete’s mom and my brother so we can head out to get our trees. We sip hot chocolate, me sitting on Pete’s knee huddled near a fire while my brother complains about missing some on-line game happening between his friends. We trek into the woods and my father cuts down two trees while Pete helps. They strap them onto a sled of sorts and my dad pulls them back to the front of the tree farm to pay before we leave. Pete gives me a piggy back ride through the forest, and when no one is looking, he gropes my ass.

  “You coming to Lisa’s party with us tonight?” Pete asks as we drive home, all warm and cozy in the back of my dad’s SUV, his hand between my knees to keep warm. I shrug my shoulders, turn, and look out the window. When Pete doesn’t respond, I figure he’s going to let it go. Instead, he slides his hand up my thigh and squeezes my leg. He leans into my ear and whispers, “Either way, I’m going to have you tonight with that fucking crown on. I’ve been hard thinking about it since I saw you wearing it on that stage.” I slap his arm and he laughs as my dad pulls into his driveway.

  I didn’t plan on going to the sorority party at Lisa’s, seeing Pete one too many times, with some girl on his arm or on her knees, for my liking. But when Sofia calls me like a crazy person after having a huge fight and breaking up with Willie, I have no choice but to accompany her. They got into one of their usual fights over her imagination getting the best of her. She’s convinced that Willie has cheated on her in the past and continues to do so even though he swears to her that he hasn’t and never will. Tonight, they got into their usual fight earlier than expected. It normally happens while at the party, but tonight, they got into it over the phone and Willie told her to stay home, hung up on her, left for the party, and Sofia lost her mind. She called me and within five minutes was honking her horn in my driveway.

  When we walk into the sorority house all eyes turn to look at us. We have no idea what we’re walking in on, but we can both sense it’s not going to be good. The guys hoot and holler my name and ask me to give them my autograph. Pete must have told them about my recent beauty pageant win. I figure he’s most likely drunk and telling everyone that I won the pageant earlier today. That’s when my fears are confirmed and I hear her voice. “Oh, just fucking great. Good, little miss fucking perfection is here. Look, Pete. Raina, the most perfect girl on the face of the earth is here. I’m fucking over this shit” Lisa screams not to just Pete but the entire roomful of people before she storms off, banging into my shoulder on her way to the porch.

  “Hey Princess,” Pete slurs. “Don’t mind her; she’s on the rag and being a fucking bitch tonight. Nothing new.”

  I look at Sofia but she spots Willie at the keg and makes a beeline to his side. I stand in the middle of the room, all eyes on me, frozen in place. Pete moves so that he’s standing in front of me, his impressive body hovering over me. Imposing. I look up at him and he smirks, grabs my hand and says, “You got that crown with you, Princess?”

  I follow him, hand in hand, down the hall ignoring the catcalls of the room. I should feel mortified that these near strangers think he’s taking me somewhere to fuck me, but instead, I revel in the knowledge. I want them to know he’s about to ravage me.

  Pete stumbles and almost face plants, but instead, slams into me causing me to crash into the wall of the bathroom. “K, baby?” he slurs. “Sorry.”

  Pete’s hands roam the wall until he finds the light switch. He turns the lights on illuminating the room in a warm glow. “Sorry ‘bout
her” he slurs as he tries to sit down on the toilet seat but misses and lands on the floor, laughing in a heap of masculine perfection. He pulls me down with him and tickles me.

  “I’m gonna pee my pants! Stop!” I plead through laughter.

  That’s when our eyes lock and the air between us quickly changes, igniting like an inferno. Pete lunges for me and tangles his hands in my hair. He pulls my face toward him and I melt. Just like that. I melt into a puddle of mush because he’s about to kiss me. His mouth covers mine, his tongue warm and wet opens me for his exploration and I willingly submit to his every wish. That’s what it’s always like with Pete. I’m putty in his hands, words of refusal never crossing my mind no matter time or place.

  “Fuck. I’m so hard for you right now. Have been all day.”

  “Pete” I sigh. Then I kiss him back with the same intensity he showed me not seconds before.

  He lays me on the floor with his hand gently at the nape of my neck. The feeling of his hand there always makes my mind go warm and fuzzy, tonight is no different. I forget everything but Pete. He sucks at the skin there, whispers in my ear, runs his tongue over my beating pulse. Pete tells me he’s drunk and begs for me not to let him hurt me. Too late. Pete Roman has the capability to destroy me and it’s on this night, on the bathroom floor of his girlfriend’s sorority house, that I realize just how much power he has over me. But it’s useless information. I do nothing about it, instead, I submit to his desires and a moan escapes me giving him the green light.

  Pete’s hands fumble with the button and zipper of my jeans then his own. Within seconds, I feel his warmth at my core. He starts to enter me and I feel the slight resistance of my body still present, my eyes fly open and dart to his, waiting for the twinge of pain with that first push.

  “So tight and wet for me all the time. Love it,” He says into my neck. “I can’t stop the urge to push deeper into you. You okay?” he asks. I nod, eyes wide and filled with lust for this boy.

  He pushes at me again, this time with more force and it makes us both cry out. Pete kisses me again, pulls up on his arms, and pushes into me with one more deep thrust. I cry out and tears well in my eyes. Pete mistakes them for tears of physical pain.

  “I hate that you wince like that every time we start. Relax for me; you know it’s going to feel good in a second. Breathe.” Pete licks and kisses away my tears but stops moving his hips for a minute. Then he starts to move slowly, rocking his hips against me and my body softens, opens for him.

  My hands go to his forearms and I can’t help but to dig my nails into him. “Pete” I moan.

  Pete sets a rhythm and I’m quickly heading toward a release. I constrict around him and I know from experience that he won’t be able to hold back much longer.

  “Yes, Princess! Good. There you go, relax. Fuck” he says as he holds my hips to stop them from grinding into him. He holds me and flips us over so I’m on top. When I open my eyes and look at Pete under me in pure ecstasy, a feeling ripples through my body and I know it’ll not take me long to find my pleasure again.

  “Get on your feet, squat over me,” Pete commands. “Yeah, that’s it. Fuck me, Rain. That’s so…ah, fucking amazing.”

  I start to move. I know Pete can tell I’m about to lose it, he knows all he has to do is say the word and I’ll tighten around him again, take him over the edge with me this time. He’s just as close, hard and full. Then, with his encouragement, that’s exactly what happens, I melt around him and he follows close behind.

  Before I have a chance to come down off the high from my Pete induced orgasm, I hear Lisa’s voice as the knob turns and I realize we never locked the bathroom door. A chill runs through me when I consider that anyone could have entered at any time and saw us, watched. It’s a chill of pleasure.

  “Oh, this is perfect! You’re fucking her in my house? At my party? I hate you, Pete. We’re over. You can have the whore” Lisa yells then storms off leaving Pete with a smirk on his face and me mortified that I’ll have to do the walk of shame through everyone we know. Even though there’s this very private part of me that gets aroused at the notion of people watching me have sex with Pete, there’s a bigger part of me that doesn’t want the entire campus to think I’m an easy lay.

  I squirm and try to rise to my feet, but Pete grabs my hips when I move to climb off him. “No. Stay still, you feel too good to let go. Raina, there’s something I have to tell…”

  Pete’s cut off by another commotion about to burst through the bathroom door. This time, I jump up and straighten my clothes as best as I can before Todd, Amanda, Sofia, Willie, Tracey, and Chris come bounding in.

  Pete covers himself as best as he can from Sofia’s prying eye. Her eyebrows rise at me when she gets enough of a glimpse at his next to naked form. I roll my eyes at her and mouth, “Shut up!”

  As I turn to leave the bathroom, just wanting this night to be over, Amanda stops me. “You don’t want to go out there right now” she warns me.

  “Why the fuck not?” Pete demands.

  Amanda looks at him and he turns and storms into the hallway with the guys following fast behind. The girls and I race up the stairs and make it just in time to see Pete’s fist come into contact with Mike Artillo’s face. Within seconds the entire kitchen is in a heap of limbs and flying fists. Pete, working off anger and adrenaline, has the upper hand until he hears me scream when Lisa slaps me across the face. Pete makes it to my side as I rub my sore and reddening face.

  “Lisa, I’m sorry, but leave Raina the fuck out of this. It’s not her fault, it’s mine. I’m a dick and we’re over. Now drop it,” Pete turns to me. “Come on, I’ll drive you home. Let’s get out of here.”

  Our friends follow close behind. I can’t wait for the stares Monday on campus.

  December 2013

  Pete

  Chris and Tracey left this morning to head home. It was an emotional departure to say the least. How do you say goodbye to someone who you know you’ll never see again? Todd tried to play it cool, but the experience wiped him out and he’s been in bed since they left. By late afternoon, Amanda says he’s asking for me.

  I walk into the room expecting to find him incoherent with pain, but he seems lucid, almost calm. “Pete, sit down. There are some things I need to say to you, things you have to know about, take care of for me after…”

  I sit on the edge of the bed and a sad smile crosses Todd’s face. “This fucking sucks, man. I’m fucking scared out of my mind.”

  I have no words to comfort him, so I do the only thing I can think of, I hug him, let him cry, cry with him. I don’t know how long we stay like that, but by the time we settle ourselves in for a difficult conversation, the sky outside the window is dark and we can hear the other’s bustling around over food in the kitchen.

  “I need your help, man. You’re the only one I can trust with things this important.”

  “Anything, Todd, you know that.”

  “I know. Thanks,” Todd clears his throat before continuing. “Alright, first, Amanda. When this is over, when I’m gone, I need you to get her the information in this envelope,” Todd reaches into the drawer next to his side of the bed and hands it to me. “It contains information for an account at my bank.” An account with a sum of money so huge I lose my breath.

  “She’ll need this, you’ll understand. I need you to make sure she’s taken care of with this money. This is not her husband’s concern. I don’t want this to cause a bigger issue between them, but she needs this money. I need to know I’m taking care of her and my…I need to know she won’t have to worry about money, ever, okay?”

  “Yeah, fine. I’ll figure it out with her. I won’t let her refuse it. I’ll do whatever I have to do to make sure she’s financially cared for. But her and…who, Todd? What were you going to say?” I ask, already anticipating the answer.

  Todd looks at me and it’s then that I’m certain. But before I can say anything, he interrupts my thoughts and changes the subje
ct. “Phoenix called last night. I asked him to look after my London apartment until you get there. I want you to have it, Pete. I never told you this, because she asked me not to, but Raina spends a lot of time there. When Hollywood gets too much for her, she hides out there.”

  “Yeah, I know. She kind of mentioned it briefly. She’s never really talked to me much about her work though.”

  “Call Nix later, you have his number. He’ll give you all the details you need. He and Raina are friends. Don’t kick his ass too hard, but he tried to bag her at first. I mean, you can’t blame the guy, she’s amazingly hot.”

  “Yeah, I agree on the hotness, man, but he’s in for a beat down if he tries anything with her ever again.”

  Todd chuckles. “He’ll be able to explain about her time spent in London. Now for my parents,” he continues. “I need you to stay with them after. Make sure they’re really okay. I’ll need you to continue to check in with them periodically, make sure everything goes smooth with my insurance policy and any medical bills left behind. Even after you leave, promise me you’ll come back and check on them. I know what I’m asking, man, but please, for me.”

  “Todd, I’d do anything for you. After my dad’s accident, you were the one who saved me. My whole life you’ve been my brother, my rock. I promise you, you can count on me. I…” The tears come again and the words leave me. I pull Todd in for a hug that speaks my thoughts.

  That’s how we remain until Todd dozes off.

  When Todd falls asleep, I leave his room to call Phoenix Doyle, the motherfucker. Todd met Phoenix a few years ago when he moved to London for work. Nix, as his friends call him, is a movie producer who lives in the flat next to Todd’s. They became instant friends when Todd moved in. Todd used to tease me and refer to him as his London me. I’ve met Nix a few times over the years. It’s ironic, being that Nix is also a seasoned sexual Dominant, practicing the lifestyle in the sexually open London BDSM clubs. It’s that point that has me concerned over Raina’s time spent with him in London. Are they truly just friends, or is that what they’ve led Todd to believe because of his loyalty to me? I’ve met Nix, he doesn’t have female friends. Did Raina lie to me when she claimed to have not been with anyone sexually since me?