by Riley Ashby
“Mom talked to the architect,” I said, changing topics. “She wants a sauna shower.” I’d been working on helping design the house Meyer was building. He was paying through the nose to get it done quickly, and the builders were ready to clear the trees and brush as soon as he decided where to put it. Dad hadn’t been interested in staying in the same time zone as Meyer, but I wasn’t going to leave him, and Mom wouldn’t leave the two of us, so he compromised and said he would stay as long as Meyer paid for his living expenses. I don’t think he expected him to do it, but instead, Meyer did him one better and offered to build a house for him and Mom to stay in on the property.
“I can’t see why that would be a problem.”
“Dad wants to test you. See where your generosity will cut off.”
“I might put my foot down at a litter of puppies, but honestly, I’ll build them a house as big as this one if they want.” He kissed my forehead and released me as we reached the staircase. “I need to take care of a few things for tonight, but I’ll be around. Just call me if you can’t find me.”
“Okay.” I grinned at the reminder. Meyer wouldn’t tell me what he had planned for this evening, only that it was going to be a chance for us to reconnect away from the stress we’d been under for so long. We hadn’t done anything remotely resembling normal relationship activities since we’d met, and it was wearing down both of us. “I can’t wait.”
He bent over and kissed me on the lips one more time before walking away.
I wandered to the kitchen, feeling less anxious now I knew he was back in the house. The stress melted from my shoulders and I let out a tiny sigh. Mom and Dad were around here somewhere too; the entire family was in one place. Even…
I stopped short as I crossed onto the linoleum of the kitchen, confronted with Joshua’s presence taking up the entire room. He sat on the island in the middle of the room, pounding a beer. He must have snuck back downstairs at some point. When he finally drained the can, he set it down with a sigh, but seized up as he saw me. We stared at each other for a few seconds, my hands in fists at my side, until he picked up one of the fresh beer cans beside him and held it out to me.
“Want one?”
“Suuuuure.” I stepped forward tentatively, grasping the cold metal with my fingertips. Condensation made it slippery, and I had to grab it with more of my hand, causing our skin to brush. “Thanks.”
He let go and wiped his hand against his pants. “Don’t mention it.”
I tapped the top of the can twice and popped it open before taking a large gulp. Then I spit half of it back into the can.
“What the fuck is this?”
“It’s a sour.”
I looked at the can more closely. Natural blueberries and blackberries with a tangy twist. With a better understanding of what exactly I was drinking, I took another, smaller sip.
“Hm. Actually not bad.”
“I should have warned you it wasn’t Bud Light.”
“I’m not really a beer drinker,” I confessed, leaning against the counter next to where he sat. “It’s just…wheat tea.”
He snorted. “Exactly. Once I discovered these existed, it was like a whole new world opened up for me. They’re expensive, but I guess I can afford them now.”
“Can you brew your own?”
He frowned as he thought. “Probably. Maybe I should look into that.”
We stood in silence and drank, watching through the window as flurries began to filter down from the sky. The clouds were a matte gray, an impenetrable wall blocking the sun. It would snow heavier soon.
“Meyer would let you stay here, you know. You can build elsewhere on the property.”
“I know.” His feet banged against the side of the island.
“Mom would be really happy to have you close.”
“I know.” He drained the second can and set it aside, then reached for a third. But just as he began to pull the tab, he paused, then set it back on the counter. “I don’t want to stay here. It’s nothing against you or her or even Meyer. I dedicated the last few years of my life to this revenge scheme, and everything went up in flames before I could execute it. I have to figure out what comes next.”
“What about getting to know your family?”
He picked at a loose thread on his pants. “Maybe.”
I took another drink to keep myself from saying any more. Even though I wasn’t sure if I wanted Joshua around for my sake, I didn’t think my mom wanted him to leave. She had started insisting we all eat together at least once a day, instead of us all making food on our own and sometimes ending up together.
“Well, thank you for the beer.” I drained the can and grabbed his two empties, then tossed them in the recycling.
“Want another?”
I paused on my way out the door.
“Sure.”
“Grab another four-pack out of the fridge.”
I brought them over to the island, then hopped up to sit next to him. We opened our cans in unison, and took a drink.
*
“Come with me.” Meyer smiled at me as he held out his hand, startling me from where I sat by the window. My cheeks hurt as I tried to suppress my smile and set aside my book to take his hand.
“Where are we going?”
“Not far.” He laced his fingers with mine as we walked through the house to the back porch. I rubbed my arm with my free hand as he reached for the door to the outside.
“Shouldn’t we get coats?”
“I don’t think you’ll need one.”
I braced myself for the cold as he opened the door, but was met instead with comfortable warmth. The stone patio was crowded with portable heaters, creating an umbrella of warmth around a table set with two chairs and glasses of red wine.
“What is this?” My face was truly about to break in two. Meyer pulled out one of the chairs for me to sit in, and I grasped the edge of the table to try and hold myself steady.
“I haven’t had the chance to take you anywhere without someone breathing down our necks. I thought it might be nice to do something … normal.”
I reached across the table to take his hand.
“Creating a little oasis on your porch in the middle of the freezing cold isn’t ‘normal.’ You realize this is why people want to eat the rich, right?”
He bit his lip as he grinned wolfishly, running his fingers over mine. “Does that mean you’ll eat my dick later?”
I blushed all the way to the tips of my ears. “If you play your cards right.”
He laughed and released me as he finished his wine and stood. “Wait here. I’ll go get our food.”
We talked and laughed all through dinner, only suffering the occasional burst of cold wind that cut through the heaters. When we were done eating and had worked our way through two bottles of wine, we worked together to turn off the heaters and bring the table inside, but it got left just inside the doorway as Meyer grabbed me around the waist and kissed me.
“Mom will catch us,” I mumbled against his lips.
“I gave them a gift card for a steakhouse in the city. They’ll be out for hours.” He laughed. “Can you believe we’re trying to sneak around your parents?”
I giggled as he kissed me again, lifting me into his arms. The world spun a little but he held me steady as he carried me through the house, only to trip on the top stair and send us both falling to the ground.
“Oww,” I groaned, holding my chest, but Meyer couldn’t stop giggling.
“S-sorry.” He laughed again and rolled to the side, giving me room to breathe. “Maybe I’m drunker than I thought.”
“Well, then, no hanky panky. I wouldn’t want to take advantage of you.”
He laughed again, but somehow got to his feet and offered me a hand. “One, never call it hanky panky again. Two, you’d better believe we’re getting it on tonight. I didn’t rent all those heaters for nothing.”
He kissed me again as we stumbled to the bedroom, falling onto
the bed with our shoes still on. He made quick work of our clothes, however, only falling over once as he pulled off his pants.
“I’m stuck,” I complained, arms pinned over my head, tangled in my shirt. He laughed and helped me, then fell over me to kiss my chest.
“Stuck with me!”
“Please no more word play.” My laugher faded to a sigh as he kissed his way between my breasts and down my stomach until he bit my underwear. “Just … no, not even foreplay. Get to it.”
“Now now.” He bit my underwear and tried to pull them off with his teeth, then got tired halfway through and switched to using his hands. I laughed and rolled to my side, but he slid next to me and put my hand on his dick. “I remember you promising to go down on me earlier.”
I smiled and bit my lip, head against his chest in the dark, as I began to stroke him. The way he grew beneath my hand as I touched him was addicting, how responsive he was to my touches even after so much wine. “I made no such promise.”
“Well, I’m going to hold you to it anyway.”
I ran my thumb across the tip of his cock, and he sucked in a sharp breath.
“Fuck, your hand is amazing.”
“Maybe you don’t need my mouth after all.”
“Bitch, don’t tease me.” He grabbed a handful of my hair and raised my head to his, kissing me softly. “Well, maybe tease me a little.”
I shifted out of his grip and rose onto my knees, keeping his stiff cock in one hand as I placed the other on his chest.
“And what am I going to get for all this hard work?”
“Uhhh…” He licked his lips and shifted beneath my hands, eyelids fluttering. “You get me to come with your mouth and I’ll eat you out for the rest of the night.”
“Hmm.” I bent over and replaced my thumb with my tongue, licking away the precum gathered on his tip. “And what if I want this inside me?”
“Oh God. You can have that too.”
I moved my hand down and let my tongue swirl around him, dipping lower and letting my lips just touch. His hand landed in my hair again, and I had to fight back against the pressure forcing me down.
“Quit that,” I said around a mouthful of dick, and he groaned.
“No way. You sound so fucking sexy with my cock between your lips.”
I relented, allowing him to push me further onto him, and I began to suck the minute my wet lips closed around his length. He squeezed my hair harder as I began to move my hand in time with the bobbing of my head, making sure every inch of him received attention.
“That’s right.” His voice was a sigh. “God, that feels good.” He released my hair and moved his hand down my back and around my ass, reaching between my legs and running his fingers up my slit. My moan matched his as he began to rub my clit, and I found myself unable to focus on him.
“Oh, dear.” His voice snapped me out of my coma, and I forced myself to start sucking him again. “Are you unable to concentrate on two things at once?”
“Mmmm.” I leaned back into his fingers while I tried to remember to keep moving on Meyer.
“We need to fix that.” He began to rub faster, and I lost all my ability to focus on him. “That’s okay, baby. Keep your mouth on me while I touch you.”
I did just that, trying to squeeze my hand every few moments until he slid a finger inside me. Then I couldn’t focus at all.
“Okay.” He gasped and pulled his hand away, making me moan in frustration. “I promise, baby, I’ll make this worth it. I want to see you on your knees.” He sat up and shifted to the end of the bed, helping me move to the floor at the same time. “Just get me the rest of the way.”
I smiled to myself as I lowered my mouth over him once more, bobbing my head a few more times before letting him slide as far down my throat as I could manage. And then I swallowed.
“Stop. Stop.”
I took a deep breath, placed my hand on his balls, and held his gaze as I stuck out my tongue to lick up the drop of cum leaking out of him.
“Fuck.”
He shot to his feet and began to pump his cock as I sat up, pressing my tits together with my hand as he began to come all over my chest. The sight of him was so entrancing. His pleasure was so evident, not only his orgasm but also the way he looked at me as his cum splashed over my skin. I licked my lips involuntarily as a drop landed on my face.
“I love you so goddamn much.” He fell to his knees as he finished, taking my face in his hands and kissing me deeply. “Everything we’ve been through has been worth it, right? That we’re here together now?”
“It led us here. To us. The pain is in the past.” I was drunk, no longer on wine but the love between us. He crushed me against his chest and I buried my face in his neck. “We’re survivors, Meyer.”
He pulled me up with him and placed me on the bed, grabbing his discarded shirt to wipe our chests clean before kneeling at my feet. “Now. About that promise I made.”
My head fell onto the pillow as he settled between my legs, and as he began to lick in all the ways I liked the best, I let the rest of my lingering worries fade away.
Meyer
We were clumsy, and almost fell off the bed once, but something about us being together on that night felt … real. More than anything else since my father died. And even though it should have been a happy moment, a reminder that things were different now and would be for the rest of our lives, for me it was the beginning of realizing I had to make the hardest decision of my life.
Thanksgiving came and went.
The holiday had been such a welcome reprieve from the chaos of the past several months. We sat around the table as a family, laughing and passing plates like we’d done it our entire lives. The next morning, Joshua came down the stairs and announced he’d bought a place near the Canadian border and would be leaving the following day.
“We just poured the foundation.” I frowned as I stared at him from where I stood in the kitchen with my coffee. Madeline sat at the table at the other end of the room, twirling the spoon into her mug as she stared at the whirlpool of coffee and cream. “The new house will be up in a few months. Then you can stay here and we’ll be out of your hair.”
I’d been committed to destroying the house the moment our new one was erected, but Eva had come to me a few weeks before and asked that we leave it up in hopes Joshua would stay around. The remaining $245 million of Conrad’s estate had been distributed between Joshua and me, and Joshua hadn’t made any efforts to find new employment as far as I could tell. Apparently, he’d been busy shopping for real estate far away from New York City.
“I don’t know how to say this anymore.” He poured himself his own cup of coffee, ignoring Eva standing to his side with a plate of cinnamon rolls. “I’m not sticking around. I don’t want to remember anything that happened here.”
We were quiet for the longest moment. Maddie held her breath and looked between him and her mother. Finally, Eva set down the plate and left the kitchen. There was nothing angry about it; her footsteps on the linoleum were muted, and she paused on her way out the door to close it softly behind her.
“Come on, Joshua.” Maddie finally snapped. “Can you show a little kindness?”
“I don’t—”
“I know, I know, you don’t owe us anything. But she’s your mother, for God’s sake.” She exhaled through her nose with her hands on her hips, coffee forgotten next to her on the counter. “You see how much she cares about you. You could at least be a decent person. Would that be so hard to do?”
“Please, Joshua.” Dad stepped forward, and placed his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t burn this bridge. We want you as part of the family. You don’t have to start coming to every holiday, but be civil. Her heart broke when she thought you were dead. Don’t break it again by being cold.”
Joshua walked out of the room without a word, but when he drove off the next day, Eva gave him a hug before he got in the car. When she turned back to the house, she was smiling.
I scoffed to myself, drawing curious looks from those seated near me. Normal. What was a normal life? Was it possible to live normally after what we had been through? I’d put her through hell, and by the time I realized how lucky I was to have her in my corner, I’d let her slip through my fingers like sand. The fact that both of us were still alive, let alone together, was a miracle I didn’t deserve.
No matter how much I tried to deny it, her father’s words weighed on me more each day. We never had a chance at anything normal. Every day I kept her close to me I was torpedoing her chance at true happiness with someone who never tried to hurt her. How could I claim to love her, when she had to fight for her life from the moment we met? She should be out in the world, saving lives, but I was keeping her in a prison just as Conrad had kept me captive for three decades. Sure, my cage was more gilded and the threat of death no longer hung over her head like a scythe, but she was chained nonetheless.
This couldn’t go on.
Tuning out the meeting altogether, I turned to my laptop and pulled up a chat box with Jessica.
