“Hello Nicola,” she said flirting with the prospect of coming back to the club after she left Grey to say a goodbye to him as well.
“You two know each other?” Grey asked without taking his eyes off of Kit.
“Yeah, we know each other,” Kit said unconcerned with the situation. She didn’t see what the big deal was, yet. Grey had always known that she indulged in multiple lovers. Why should this one be any different?
“Grey, how’s Ivy?” Nicola asked taking off his coat. “How’s the baby? You know, she and I have that doctor’s appointment in the morning.” He left little room for response but an endless gap for interpretation. Nicola blew smoke from his cigar and looked over at Brooks.
“Ivy is fine. Good of you to run my errand in the morning. As you can see, it will be a long night. I can’t be expected to be up at the crack of dawn,” Grey said sarcastically. He felt anger in him unlike any he had ever felt before.
“For all we know, it isn’t your errand to run in the first place,” Nicola said hearing Brooks laughing behind him.
“Well, now that we know that everyone is doing fine, we should be going now,” Kit said grabbing Grey by the arm. “Nicola, it was nice seeing you again.” She wasn’t sure if Grey was aware that Nicola was a police officer, but the look in their eyes reflected a harmful malice that would soon be unleashed if they did not go their separate ways.
“Have fun,” Nicola said condescendingly as he walked off.
“I plan to,” Grey said walking out of the door.
**
Scuffling through the winter darkness and the sleet and snow, Grey and Kit drove silently listening to 101.1FM soft jams on the radio. Allowing his mind to race, he tried to picture how Nicola and Ivy had gotten together. For the first time, he could see the two in a passionate embrace and her calling out his name. He could see her lips moist with his kiss…Nicola’s body pushing into Ivy’s in a violent synchronic motion. He could see her smile in ecstasy as Nicola emptied himself into her.
Pressing his foot down on the accelerator, Grey felt his stomach twist into knots. The bastard probably got Ivy pregnant on purpose, he thought as he pulled off the expressway onto his exit. There were only two men in the entire world that had tasted the sweet nectar of Ivy’s embrace, and he hated like hell that Nicola was the other.
Pulling into his driveway, Grey stepped out of his car and slammed the door as hard as he could. Kit opened her door softly, stepped out and leaned against the car.
“Was this a bad idea?” Kit asked softly. By now she had put together the pieces of Grey’s disturbed little puzzle and decided Ivy was face who had launched a thousand ships. A little Helen in the making. She was glad to be leaving before the gates of Troy fell.
“No,” he said quickly. “The last thing I want right now is to be alone.” He looked at her for a moment, and then walked to his side door to turn off the alarm. “Come on. I’ll fix you a nice drink, and we can keep each other company,” he said trying to remove the frustration from his voice. He reached out for her little hand and pulled her gently into the house. He dare not ruin his chances for sex tonight. It was the one thing that might relax him.
Kit took off her coat, set it on the counter and kicked off her stilettos falling back to the earth gravitational pull at a petite four feet ten inches tall. She yawned a little as she observed her surroundings for the hundredth time. The dimly lit kitchen was warm and cozy illuminated by nightlights and perfumed with the smell of cinnamon. A picture of Ivy on a picnic blanket sat under a magnet on the stainless steel refrigerator haunting the room and Kit’s presence. How she hated to be reminded constantly that she was the other woman, especially with Grey. He was so powerful and so dominating. It must be nice to be his real woman, she thought as she turned towards him.
“You do love…cinnamon,” she said only inches from his chest and looked up at him.
“Can I fix you that drink later?” he asked quietly pulling off her blouse and holding her so close she could feel the heat of his body through his clothes.
“You can fix it in the morning,” Kit said kissing his lips. She felt him unsnap her bra.
“How do you know Nicola?” Grey pulled away for a moment thinking again of Ivy’s deceit.
“How do you think?” Kit raised her brow. Her arms were still around his slumping wide body. “Since when did my love life become important to you as long as I use a condom?”
“Love life? Do you love him?” Grey asked hoping that she did. She could then be pawn in his game.
“Don’t be silly. Of course not.” Kit smiled. “Is Nicola Ivy’s friend? Is that what all of this is about?” Her eyes narrowed. She couldn’t ever recall seeing Grey jealous of anyone the entire time that she had known him.
“Yes.” The thought infuriated Grey further.
“Every woman is allowed one mistake, you know.” She rubbed Grey’s back. “Maybe you should excuse her for this one, considering…”
“Come here.” Grey pulled her to him again and rubbed through her black mane. “Tonight, I’m going to take all of my frustrations out on you, since you feel so much pity for Ivy.” He pulled her by her hair angrily and bit at her neck.
“Good. Remind me to thank her later.” Kit kissed his chocolate mouth deeply trying to commit his every taste to memory.
Picking the little woman up, Grey carried Kit up to his bedroom with visions of Nicola carrying Ivy. Pissed off, Grey threw her on his bed and tore off the rest of her clothes.
“You want me to be your bad little girl?” she asked sucking on her bottom lip and completely turned on by his wrath.
“Yes.”
“Then…hit me,” Kit insisted as she scratched his back.
“What?” Grey was confused. Abruptly, he stopped. The pain of her razor sharp nails ran through him.
“I know that you want to do it; I can see it in your eyes. Besides, I like it. Hit me,” she said naked and breathing heavily as she played with herself.
With only his slacks on, Grey regained his composure and stood back. “Kit, I’m not into that,” he said denying the urge to follow her bizarre instruction. Besides the very grotesque reality of voluntarily assaulting a woman, he knew he was far too angry for that type of foreplay.
“A little pain goes a long way, but if you are afraid, let’s try something else,” she turned around on her knees. “Let’s do something really…unspeakable,” she said pulling a condom from his nightstand drawer.
“Like what?” Grey said still aroused by her body as he watched her tease him. “You sure as hell can’t hit me.” He grinned slyly.
“I’m sure Ivy doesn’t allow you to do everything you would like to do to her.” She knew that he would read between the lines.
“No,” Grey took the condom from her. “She doesn’t allow me to do half of things I would like to do to her.”
Kit’s smile was gone. She wanted him so badly, not be with him one night, but to be with him forever. It was the only reason that she never said no to his requests. She could not deny him only because she loved him so. “If she really loved you, she’d do anything to keep you happy. I know that I do. And don’t say that you don’t want to do this. You’ve joked about it far too often. It has to be your fantasy.”
“Gentlemen don’t necessarily ask such a thing of the woman he plans to marry. But…I am also an opportunist and when a good thing is offered….” His voice was low and eyes were full of mad lust.
“Well, Mr. Henderson. I am offering it to you. So what do you say?”
“Okay, Kit.” He put the condom on carefully. “I take it that this won’t be your first pony ride?”
“No, not at all, but I know it’s your first time. And I want to be the one that turns…you…out. Even Ivy can’t take that away from me.” Kit licked her lips.
“Does that excite you?” he asked turning her face away from him. He ran his finger down the small of her back and down into her buttocks. “Now, I get it. You want to be Ivy.�
�
“No. I want to be Mrs. Henderson.” Kit could say how she felt now that she was leaving, but she couldn’t bring herself to look at him so she fixed her eyes on his headboard.
Such a preposterous thing was absolutely hilarious to Grey, but he dare not laugh in Kit’s face now…so very close to enjoying something so vile and depraved. The truth of the matter was that he had as much feeling for Kit as he did for the condom he was going to use to penetrate her, but he would not tell her so until she was of no use to him.
Grey pondered for a moment how absolutely distasteful the entire act was before he finally dismissed his restraint. He would give Kit the pleasure of knowing that she was about pop his cherry. And she would give him pleasure…period. As he aimed for her buttocks, she held on to his hand and looked back at him.
“Make it hurt,” she said in a heavy accent. “You’ll like it more.” This time she did not smile when she looked at him, and for the first time he noticed the darkness in her eyes. After this, he would be thankful that she would be going away.
“Alright,” Grey said wishing for a brief moment that Ivy could be there to witness it. “Tonight, you will be my little wife. And in the morning, you will wish that you never asked for such a thing.”
As Grey felt himself push through her, he thought of how Ivy would die if she only knew. The thought brought him comfort as he heard Kit scream. Unaware and unconcerned if she was in pleasure or pain, he grabbed her black her long black mane again, slapped her buttocks leaving a red bruise mark and ripped violently into her.
**
Across town hours later, morning came soon for Nicola. The sun crept through his blinds and shined across his bedroom creating a luminous glow. Opening his eyes, he stared at the ceiling and instantly thought of Ivy. He would have called her last night and told her to stop by Grey’s house, but if something had happened to her in the dangerous winter weather, he would have felt totally responsible. So regretfully, he held his secret in hopes of revealing it and Grey at a later time. Even now, he smiled at the thought.
Removing his arm from the young woman snuggled comfortably under him, Nicola got out of bed and stretched his long body. It was only seven thirty in the morning, but he felt as though he was getting a late start. Stepping in the shower, he grabbed a small washcloth and allowed the steaming hot water to splash across his chest. Ten minutes later, he walked out of the bathroom with his towel around his waist and his black hair curled in wet locks at the nape of his long neck. He sat on the very edge of the bed by a sleeping woman, picked up his phone and dialed Ivy.
“Hello,” Ivy said answering on the second ring.
“Are you already awake?” Nicola pictured her as being a chronic late sleeper.
“The baby wakes me up at around four thirty or five every morning,” she said throwing her last load of clothes in the dryer.
“Damn.” He could see her kneeling sickly over the bathroom toilet. “Well, I was calling to see what time you were going to be ready.”
“Umm, the doctor’s appointment is at eleven-thirty. So, I’ll be ready whenever you get here.” She was nervous about them going to the doctor together, but she was also ready for it to be finished.
“I’ll head over there in a little while,” he said making eye contact with the young blue-eyed blonde as she rolled over in his bed nude.
“Alright. Hey, are you hungry? I fixed breakfast already, and I have enough for one more.” She didn’t want to just invite him to breakfast outright. What if he declined?
“Sure, fix me a plate, and I’ll head on now before it gets cold.” The small proposal excited him almost as much as the woman waking from her peaceful slumber.
**
At nine o’clock, Nicola pulled into the Ivy’s apartment complex. His face-off with Grey the night before was still fresh on his mind, and he struggled with the prospect of telling Ivy about it all. It wasn’t so much that he wanted her for himself; it was that he didn’t want her with Grey. Ivy was a nice girl, not like the many women that both of them bedded. Looking at his watch, he picked up his cell phone and dialed her house phone.
“Hello,” Ivy said putting the blueberry pancakes on his plate.
“Hey, I’m out front.” Nicola got out of his truck and closed the door.
“Okay.” Her heart skipped a beat. Why did it do that every time he was near her?
Quickly, she grabbed the air freshener and sprayed it widely in the air, ran past the mirror to check her lipstick, and brushed her hair. Opening the door, as he was about to knock, she greeted him with a smile trying not to pant visibly. He reached into the door and hugged her warmly. She felt his chiseled hands softly touch her body and realized that goose bumps were forming.
“Hey, lady. How are you?” he asked tugging at her denim overalls and green cashmere turtleneck. He couldn’t help but notice her long brown locks shimmering brightly in the sunlight and her caramel skin glowing with pure radiance. She was definitely a timeless beauty.
“I’m fine.” Ivy closed the door. “Just tired.” She admired his face for a moment before leading him to the kitchen table where their food sat neatly prepared on her finest dishware.
“Man, you went all out,” he said placing his leather coat on the back of the kitchen chair. “I haven’t had a home cooked breakfast in… years.”
“Talk about pressure. I really hope that you like it,” she said sitting down beside him.
Tasting the sweet strawberries and Delta syrup on his pancakes, he thought back to early mornings at his home back in Miami when he was growing up. The only other woman he had ever had breakfast with was his mother many, many years ago. Looking up at Ivy, who now enjoyed her meal quietly, he felt a warm and comforting sentiment in his heart.
“Why did you stop eating?” she asked curiously looking up at him with an innocent smile. “Do you need something?”
“No,” he said softly, his voice barely carrying enough sound to whisper. He cleared his voice and continued. “Your place is nice.” Looking out of the window, he saw a bird perch on the tree. “You live in a little fairy tale over here, don’t you? Your birds even chirp in the morning.”
“All birds chirp in the morning,” she said filling his glass with orange juice.
“My birds don’t chirp. They usually have a hangover the in the morning.” He stretched again fighting a nagging hangover.
“Probably from partying with the likes of you.” They made eye contact.
At that very moment, Nicola wished that she could have looked beyond his macho exterior to see the type of man that he really was.
“You think that I’m out of control, don’t you?” He asked regrettably.
“No…I know that you are.” Ivy said convinced.
Sipping on his juice, Nicola sat quietly for a moment. Now would be a great time to tell her about Grey and Kit, he thought devilishly. But as he looked back up into her eyes, he knew that in order to hurt Grey, he would have to hurt her.
“I’m a pretty serious guy once you get to know me,” he said countering her cold observation.
“Oh, I know you quite well Mr. Nicola Michael Agosto.” She knew that referring to his full name would make him think of their night together. And although she knew that it was improper to do so, she loved the rush it gave her to flirt with him.
“There is always an opportunity to know me better.” Without a smile, he stared right back at her giving her a taste of her own medicine..
The thought of another night with Nicola made Ivy choke. She covered her mouth and tried to catch her breath that was leaving her with each cough. “Excuse me,” she said clearing her throat.
“You okay?” he got up out of his seat and rubbed her back gently.
“Yeah, just that damned pulp.” She had to change the subject quickly. “I’m suppose to have my first ultrasound today,” she said dappling her shiny lips with a napkin.
“Wait. You mean you’ll find out if it’s mine or Grey’s?” He thought that h
appened after the baby was born.
“No, I just get a first glimpse,” she said giggling. “They don’t tell you what sex the baby is until the sixth month.”
“Oh. Didn’t Grey want to be with you for this?”
“I didn’t tell him. I figured whomever’s turn it was to take me would see the baby with me.” The thought depressed her. “I wanted to be fair.”
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry that I have a hand in this.”
“It’s okay. I’ve come to grips with it now. Besides, if I recall, I asked you for it and not the other way around.”
“You make me feel good, Ivy.” Nicola felt his stomach in his throat. “Like it would be okay for the baby to be mine.”
Ivy smiled but did not respond to his statement. What was there to say? “At first, I was worried about names and all sorts of cosmetic stuff, but now I just want the baby to come here healthy.”
“Yeah, me too.” Picking his fork back up, he smiled and looked down at his food. Now, he wondered if she thought it would be okay to have his child considering that she said nothing in reply.
**
Nicola tried to follow the doctor as she explained what Ivy could expect during her second trimester, which she had already entered a month ago. Feeling as though he was on a commercial, sitting beside Ivy liked the overjoyed husband; he looked at his watch and yawned. He had seen more than what he had bargained for during their office visit, and he was now ready to go home and take a long nap. The poking and probing and giddy nurses and pink walls and teddy bears and thermometers were making him feel as though he was the one that was pregnant.
“Well, do you want to know the results from the ultrasound?” Dr. Karkera asked smiling at Nicola, who was, of course, clueless at that point.
“I asked her to tell you herself, so that you wouldn’t think I was lying,” Ivy said clasping her hands together to suppress her excitement. Nicola had to walk down to the car to get his wallet earlier to pay for the office visit and missed the ultrasound.
Ivy's Twisted Vine Redux Page 20
