American Love Story (Dreamers)

by Adriana Herrera

  “No, Mr. Archer, there was no father in the picture. He was busy taking care of his wife and kids, so my mother and I had to come here on our own.” I looked at Easton then, locking eyes with him and in this place packed with people I voiced something I rarely said out loud. I never took my eyes off him, making sure he knew that I was not ashamed of where I came from. “My mother was my father’s mistress, so when things got dicey, he decided we were not a priority.” I lifted a shoulder, trying hard for an unbothered air that did not match up with the pounding in my chest. “We did just fine without him.”

  Easton’s eyes were wide, like he had no idea what to do, but I wasn’t going to wait around to hear whatever scathing comment his parents would come up with next. “Excuse me.”

  I moved past, without looking at any of them, and went to find the nearest exit. I walked out into the frigid November night and tried to take a deep breath.

  I felt small. Not because of whatever had come out of Easton’s parents’ mouths. That shit I was used to. People looking at me and making assumptions. Going on whatever headline they’ve read about my country and using that to tell me who I was.

  People sometimes commented about how I always had this air of disinterest, aloofness. I wished I could just tell them how much it took to let people talk to me like this, the anger and humiliation I constantly had to snuff out.

  I kept replaying how Easton had acted. Like he wanted to put as much distance between us as possible. Like he didn’t want them to know we were together.

  That had hurt.

  I didn’t even know why I was surprised. I knew this was bound to happen. No matter how much Easton wanted to act all woke and shit, he was from one place and I was from another. The minute his family showed up, he iced me out and acted like he barely knew me.

  I wanted to leave. Go back to my place, lick my wounds, but I stood there on that cold sidewalk shivering. I almost considered walking home like this, until the biting cold reminded me that no matter how upset I was, my ass was going to freeze out here without a coat. But when I turned to do the walk of shame back to the crowded restaurant to get it, I almost crashed into Easton. He was standing there with my coat, scarf and hat in his hand.

  He stepped up to me and when I saw his face, he looked wrecked.

  “I’m sorry.”

  I wanted to be able to push him away, to act like I didn’t give a shit about whatever it was that had happened in there. But instead I did the one thing that I swore I’d never do ever again. I let Easton know how much he’d hurt me.

  “So, you know me now?” I asked, shoving my arms into my coat, and feeling so fucked up I could barely untangle what was going on with me.

  “Patrice, just let me explain—”

  I shook my head, and tried hard not to raise my voice. “I don’t need you to explain to me what I already saw. It’s all well and good until the disapproving parents are around, huh?” I said, snapping my head up and down. “Good to know.”

  I walked away leaving him there. I had turned the corner to head home, to the building Easton fucking owned, when I heard him yelling after me. “Patrice, wait. Fuck.”

  Instead of ignoring him like I wanted to, my fucking feet would not move, so I stood there, waiting for him. I opened my mouth to let him know again that I wasn’t doing this with him. But as soon as he got within a few feet from me he started talking.

  “Let me talk. Please.” He was begging me, and fuck if I could do anything other than stand there quietly, hoping that whatever he said gave me enough of an excuse not to give him up.

  He raised a hand toward the restaurant, an agonized expression on his face. “You saw how they are. That’s how my father talks to people. Like he’s entitled to say whatever he wants. And my mother’s—” His face twisted in a distasteful expression. “If I would’ve said you and I were together it would’ve been worse.” He exhaled in frustration, and when I looked closely I saw how embarrassed and hurt he looked. “This is how they are. My father lives to disapprove of everything I do, and my mother never calls him on any of it.” He ran his fingers over his eyes and answered before I could ask what that meant.

  “I don’t know why he’s like that, I’ve sure as fuck never asked. Maybe it’s the gay thing, or the fact that I have no interest in being part of the ‘Archer Dynasty,’” he said, using air quotes for the last two words.

  “I don’t know, but whenever he sees I’ve found something that makes me happy, that I care about, he wants to ruin it. That whole time they were talking I realized I was afraid that they’d say something that would taint things between us. That if spoke I’d make it worse. I don’t want to hurt you with my words or with my silence, Patrice, and I’m still working on that.” His eyes pleaded with me as I stood there trying to process what he’d said.

  I went from annoyed, to mad, to feeling like all the anger had seeped out of me in the span of a few seconds. When I locked eyes with Easton I felt that once again he was letting me see everything. That I was being given something that I should not squander. He looked alone and miserable, and I could either let his father’s disgusting behavior be an excuse for letting him down, or I could step up.

  “All I’ve ever wanted was for you to see me, just me. The thing is that I come with a history that I can’t, that I won’t shed.” I pointed to the restaurant. “Your parents are not the only people that see me and create some story in their heads of how I got here, like something from a movie. And honestly I don’t care if they do, but with you, I need you to see all of it, and fuck, sometimes wish it didn’t even matter, but it does.”

  “Of course it matters. I don’t want pieces of you, I want all of it and it should not be on you to have to spoon feed it all to me. I have to learn so that when I come to you, I have clarity of exactly how fucking lucky I am to be with a man like you.”

  I pulled him to me until I had him up against the icy side of the building.

  “You can’t just let me be mad for a minute can you? I’m sorry that your parents make you feel like that. It’s not fair that you need to run interference for their rudeness,” I said with my mouth so close to his ear my lips kept pushing into it. “And don’t think I don’t have reason to feel lucky too.”

  He scoffed at that and looked at me with a flinty expression. “I wasn’t going to let you think that I was embarrassed of you or didn’t want them to know we were together. That what my parents thought had any bearing on what I want with you.”

  The shit that came out of Easton’s mouth, like he wasn’t putting my entire life on a different course with every word.

  “What you want with me.” It was more of a question than a statement, but at times like this it almost felt easier just to let the tide of Easton’s faith in whatever it was we were doing pull me in. I’d gasp my way back to shore later...or not. “I’m not sure how Anne and Easton Archer Jr. would feel about having me at their Thanksgiving table.”

  “I don’t give a fuck about my parents’ opinion on this. I just need to stop trying to overcompensate for their piss-poor behavior with fake politeness.” He lifted an ungloved hand and gripped the back of my coat, bringing us closer. “As for what I want with you. You know perfectly well that nothing would make happier than all of fucking Ithaca knowing that you’re mine. But I know how you are.”

  He huffed the words out as he pulled me down for a kiss, and his tongue was like a fucking drug. Everything just dulled around me when he was kissing me like this, dirty and so fucking slow. Sucking on my lips, running his tongue down my neck until my dick was so hard I felt it would pop out of my trousers.

  My breath hitched, as he bit on my earlobe his hand rubbing my cock, hard. “Why don’t you tell me how I am Easton, because I swear I thought I did before I met you.”

  “Stubborn and in denial.” That was said with his hot mouth against my ear.

  We should’ve gone ins
ide and joined the party again. But by the time Easton ran a hand up my chest and sucked on my lip, I knew the only thing happening next was fucking.

  Easton really did test every single of one of my limits until they broke. Because I was out here on the damn street as close to public indecency as I’d ever been. And yet the only thing running through my head was how many more minutes it would be before I had him naked and panting on my bed.

  Out of nowhere, he started talking again. That hot tongue like a fucking fire iron on my skin. “You’re defensive, assume the worst and don’t give people the benefit of the doubt. Still I hate that I had to be a reason for you to go to a bad place, or to think for even a second, I’m not crazy about you.” I tried to pull back, but that dirty low-down playing fucker literally grabbed me by the balls.

  I gasped, as he lifted onto his tiptoes, so that we were eye to eye. “Yeah, I said it. What are you going to do about it?”

  I had my arms stretched over him, covering him completely, and feeling wild. “I don’t know, Easton. You’re the one with my dick in your hand.”

  He sucked on my lip, bringing my head down. His filthy chuckle rumbling between us.

  “I think we need to continue this in private. There’s too much hate-fuck energy happening here, and I don’t want to get arrested when I have a jury out deliberating.”

  I had to laugh, because this motherfucker really had my number. “So is this how you do it? Get people so addled that they do what you want.”

  That feline smile he gave me was new and completely devastating, and fuck if I could walk away.

  “You tell me. Are we good?”

  “Like I can stay mad with you sucking on my lip and working my dick like that.” He gave me that shameless laugh that kept me all tripped up on him. Without saying a word, I pushed off the wall and pulled him up the street to our building.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Patrice

  We walked into Easton’s house in silence, but the tension from the last hour had turned into something else. That conversation with his parents had made me feel exposed in ways that I had to take time to process. But when Easton wrapped one arm around my neck and slid the other one into my briefs, all thought flew out of my mind, and my life’s purpose became how fast I could get him out of all these fucking clothes.

  “Ungh, I want it.” He moaned into my ear, as he wrapped his hand around my dick.

  I had to take a couple of deep breaths, before I could even respond. “Baby, the sounds you make.”

  He gasped again, his eyelids flickering open. His pupils were blown out and he looked starved. “Why is it that I go a little crazy when you call me baby?” he asked, sounding legitimately surprised. “I usually hate endearments or cute nicknames. But whenever that comes out of your mouth, I’m caught hedging between melting into a puddle and begging you to fuck me.”

  I shook my head and laughed, as puzzled as he was. I brought his mouth to mine again and let the bruising kiss be my answer.

  He pulled back after a while, panting for breath, and walked me back to the couch, licking his lips as if he was trying to figure out where he was going to take the first bite from.

  “Where are we going?”

  He raised an eyebrow as he pushed me down. As soon as my ass hit the cushion he went down on his knees, every ounce of his focus on me.

  I was not a romantic, but when Easton Archer looked at me like that I felt like I could invent a whole new life. Just so I could get to have him without conflicts or guilt, without the world getting in the way of this joy.

  I’d always liked sex, and took pride in being a good sexual partner, but it had never been a place of joy for me. My chest tightened at the unbridled want I saw in his eyes, the urgency of his hands tightening around my thighs as he ran them over me, like he could barely hold himself back.

  I placed one hand on his cheek. I needed to touch him. Easton was vibrating, and without saying a word dove for my cock. He took the head in his mouth, sucking it hard, just like I liked it, making my eyes roll.

  When he pulled off he nosed at my crotch with his eyes closed, complete bliss on his face. “I’m shamelessly obsessed with your cock.” He said it so matter-of-fact as he pulled on the waistband of my pants and briefs.

  I laughed as I sank into the couch, throwing my head backward, already so close to losing it with Easton’s hand and tongue on me. “I’m pretty into that mouth of yours—”

  My words got cut short by the mind-melting sensation of Easton taking me to the hilt.

  “Fuck you can suck dick,” I said, thrusting into his mouth as he circled the base of my dick with his index and thumb and sucked me down, the pressure so good, so perfectly tight I had to grip the back of the couch to hold off the orgasm. He worked that mouth up and down, taking me deep, and pulling off so he could tongue the slit.

  I gritted my teeth as he did his best to make me lose it. When I got myself back under control, I opened my eyes to find him looking amused. I clicked my tongue, totally taking the bait. I knew how much he loved when I ran my mouth. “Such a whore for a compliment, even with your mouth full of cock.”

  That made him double down and soon I was gasping for air. He took me down so deep, I could barely hold back from fucking hard into his mouth, but even with the controlled thrusts I was almost coming. When he swallowed around me, I lost it. My entire body went cold and I lost myself to the fireworks going off behind my eyes as Easton took everything I had. I opened my eyes just as he was climbing onto my lap. He looked like a fucking wet dream, wiping the back of his hand over his mouth, lips cherry red and swollen.

  “Did my mouth live up to its reputation?”

  The fact that he sounded hoarse from taking my dick was almost enough to make me want to try CPR on it so I could move right on to fucking him.

  I groaned as I grabbed the back of his neck to get on that tongue. “You are truly gifted.”

  He gave me that grin that usually meant he was about to say something outrageous. It was almost like he did it so I’d shove my cock or my tongue into him to shut him up. Before he got a word out I pushed off the couch, holding him up with one hand and hiking my pants up with the other.

  When I started up the spiral stairs to his room, he bit my ear and I could feel his grin when he grazed my skin. “If it wasn’t complete torture for me I’d almost wish we would’ve run into my parents sooner, because this level of hotness can only mean you’re about to fuck me like you mean it.”

  It was hard to laugh when I trying to carry him up a windy set of stairs. “I always mean it, and are you trying to get us killed? I’m trying to go up these stairs blind.”

  “Am I wrong though?”

  I smacked his ass hard as we reached the landing. “You’re a brat,” I answered as I watched him skin out of all his clothes in the time it took me to get out of my sweater.

  “I’d try to address it, but you seem to enjoy it,” he said, as he crawled to the center of the gigantic mattress. I took a moment to look at him, the lightness in his movements, the glint in his eyes. The way he could bounce back from anger or resentment...how being with him was making me that way too.

  By the time I was naked, he was sprawled on the bed, one hand stroking his cock and the other one pinching a nipple. I was still recovering from that blow job, but seeing Easton looking like he was more than ready for me to dick him out was making mine want to get back online, fast.

  “You better take it slow, I thought you wanted me to fuck you.”

  He shuddered out a breath as he spread his legs wider. “But you’re taking too long. Come on, touch me.” He kept stroking his dick and now had one hand playing with his balls. His teeth biting down hard on his bottom lip.

  “Patience, I have plans for you.” He shivered again, his eyes glomming me up as I moved around the room.

  I kept my eyes on him
as I went to the table by his bed where he kept his toys. I stuck my hand in the drawer but kept my eyes on Easton. I leaned down to run my hand up his chest, stopping right at the base of his neck, where I could feel his pulse. I kept it there as his breathing got faster, and started pulling out toys from the drawer one-handed. Every time one dropped on the mattress, the thud made his breath hitch. Still he didn’t turn his head to look at what I was doing, eyes locked with mine.

  When I opened my mouth to speak what came out was nothing more than a growl. “Are you going to let me use these on you, baby?”

  His answer was barely audible. “Please.”

  I took my eyes off him to pick up a bright blue silicone dildo I’d seen in the drawer. “You want it so bad.” He nodded, swallowing hard. “Lift your legs. I want to see that hole, get it ready for me. I’m going work this ass, stretch it out for me, and then I’m going to fuck you, long and slow.” I ran a hand over my cock, which was almost ready for a second round. “Make you take all this.”

  “Fuck, why do I love this toppy bullshit from you so much?”

  He actually sounded pissed. I laughed at his frustrated expression. “You sound so aggravated,” I said, leaning down again to kiss him. I pried his mouth open with my tongue, licking into it. I wanted to lose myself in Easton, forget every single one of the reasons why we couldn’t work out and let this certainty I felt right now tell me what I wanted. I tried to pull off, still sucking on his bottom lip, but his hands were gripping me tight, like he couldn’t bear to let me go.

  “Patrice.” He could barely talk, his voice high and needy.

  “I’ll take care of you, baby.”

  I pushed his legs back, exposing him to me, and ran a thumb over his entrance.

  He shuddered out a breath and thrashed his head, as he let out a tortured moan. “You need something, baby?” Easton’s expression was pure frustration as I pressed my thumb against his rim, not quite pushing in. “Stop teasing me, Patrice. Fuck me.”