Don't Let Go

by Willow Winters

  I’ve never cum so hard in my life. I pulse on his dick as my body trembles uncontrollably. I feel him release at the same time. His dick throbs inside of me, heightening my own pleasure.

  Even with the fog of desire clouding every thought, I smile against the car, sagging my body and feeling the cold against my bare skin. This was everything I’ve needed.

  He’s what I need. A truer statement doesn’t exist.

  “Fuck.” He breathes into my neck. “I’ve missed you so fucking much.” He breathes heavily and his words come out with desperation. “I’m not letting you go again.”

  As the high from what we’ve done starts to fade into the dark night, my ragged breath comes back to me.

  And as it does, a pair of lights shines down the road signifying a car driving towards us.

  “Shit, shit, shit.”

  Alex

  “Fuck,” I mutter beneath my breath, still stumbling with my belt as I hear the car roll up. Dammit Jimmy. He was a cock block in high school and I suppose some things never change.

  I round my car and head towards the parked cop car as the passenger window rolls down.

  “Everything OK here, Alex?”

  I can hear Valerie’s heavy breathing as I walk out onto the asphalt.

  “Yeah Jimmy everything is fine.” I turned around looking over my shoulder to see Valerie. Her skin is still flush from what we’ve just done but she’s smoothing out her skirt as she steps to the side of the car and comes into view.

  “Actually I have somebody I’d like you to meet,” I tell him with a proud smile on my face as I wrap my arm around her shoulder. Valerie’s soft body molds to mine and her arm squeezes around my hip. “Jimmy, this is my wife, Valerie. I’ve been dying for you to meet her.”

  “Well I’ll be,” Jimmy says leaning across the dashboard and sticking his hand out the window for Valerie take it.

  When we met all those years ago, she scooped me up within weeks and took me back to her hometown. I’ve always wanted to be a police officer and it just made sense to leave with her.

  She met me as a kid playing pretend. It was just a Halloween party and just a costume of the man I wanted to be. A night of flirting turned into so much more when I followed her home. Halloween is for pretend and recklessness. And so I thought my sweet angel would only be with me for a night. But Valerie’s proved me wrong since the day I met her.

  “All Alex has been doing since he’s been here, is talk about you.” Jimmy‘s comment gets a chuckle from Valerie.

  Her sweet smile and soft voice is everything to me. I’ve missed her so damn much since I’ve come back here. “We can’t thank you enough for sending him down here during this hard time.”

  Valerie takes a step towards Jimmy’s car, both of her hands resting on the open window as she answers him with sincerity. “I’m so sorry to hear about the fire.”

  “It’s mostly all fixed up now,” Jimmy says confidently, although his gaze shifts behind us and into the dark forest. He’s an emotional man and the loss has been hardest on him. “But I can’t tell you how wonderful it’s been to have Alex back here.”

  “He’s always talked about coming back,” Valerie says, looking over her shoulder. Her hair falls down to her lower back.

  My grip on her tightens as I say the words, “it’s always been home to me.” Valerie’s eyes go and soften as she nods just slightly. Just for me.

  When I left years ago, I was young and in love. And I’d still do anything for her. She knows this place calls to me though.

  As I look at her and then back at Jimmy, he seems to understand exactly what we’ve been doing here. I can practically see the light bulb turn on in his head. He swallows thickly and all the warm welcome and good wishes seem to leave him.

  The leather of his seat groans as he leans back in his seat and gives us a wave. “I’ll be seeing you two tomorrow night at the barbecue?” he asks and we answer in unison, “we’ll be there.”

  “I’m really looking forward to meeting everybody,” Valerie says. There’s an eagerness in her voice but also hesitation. I know she never wanted to stay here and I’d never keep her here if she didn’t want to stay.

  I can’t help that this place will always be home to me though and will always be the place where we first met. Where I first fell in love.

  “Well, all right; till tomorrow night then,” Jimmy says and drives off before Valerie can get another word out. She’s left with her hand still in the air as the red of his rear lights become smaller in the distance.

  I wrap my arm tight around her waist and pull her closer to me, even though her eyes are watching the cop car.

  “Come here,” I pull her in close and up against me, her small breasts press against my chest. Her warmth makes the hot summer night feel cold around us. I can’t get enough of her. The tip of my nose brushes her before I lean down for a long slow kiss. The kind that I’ve missed every day since I’ve been here.

  It’s been months since the fire broke out. It cost our town some of my childhood heroes. My best friend’s fathers and mothers. There’s nothing like a tragedy to bring family back together. I left as soon as I could, transferring out here, but my heart stay behind until she could come with me. And now that summers out and schools over. She only has a few months to be with me. Unless she’s thought about what I asked. A wish. I can only hope she knows how much it means to me.

  “I missed you so much,” she tells me, as she leans against me, her fingers gripping onto me like I’ll float away if she lets me go. Her cheek presses against my chest and I breathe her in.

  I’ve missed you too,” I tell her as my heart twists with the pain of being away from her for so long.

  “I don’t want to leave you again for so long,” she whispers, letting her words linger in the hot night air.

  “Stay with me then.” I tell her and my heart pings. It’s been easy for me, but she’ll be giving up her job and starting over. I know there are positions available here, but I don’t know if she’s ready to move.

  Her voice cracks and she has to swallow before looking me right in the eyes, “I can do that,” she tells me and I can feel how much she means it. “I’m here to stay.”

  “You mean it?” I ask her although I don’t know why. I can hear it in her voice.

  “Always, Alex. I love you.”

  I crush my lips to hers, pulling her closer and then letting my hands roam down her curves. I’ve missed her more than a man should miss his wife. It takes everything in me to break the kiss, knowing we have to drive in separate cars before we get to the Inn, my family’s place. But we’ll be there soon and then I’ll have her all to myself.

  “I love you too.” I whisper against her lips, slowly prying myself away from her. “Always.”

  Keeping Secrets

  Ella

  It’s all white. Everything in the bridal suite is white.

  I suppose that’s the way weddings should be. Not that I would know. It’s not my wedding.

  The sound of zippers being zipped up and hairspray being sprayed mixes with the chatter spilling from smiling, red lips.

  “The red is perfect,” Sara says, but the bride doesn’t hear. “It matches everything.” That catches the bride’s attention.

  “Nothing is done.” Her eyes are wide and nearly spilling tears. “There’s not a thing set up upstairs.”

  The bridal suite is on the first floor and the wedding will be on the second floor of this reclaimed farmhouse.

  I down the champagne still in my flute that I’ve been sipping to calm my nerves. Aiden’s going to be here, standing only a few feet from me. With pictures being taken every minute, videographers and photographers too, there’s no way I’ll be able to deny what I feel for him when the pictures are printed. Aiden’s always said he can read the truth in my eyes.

  What’s the saying? Wearing your emotions on your sleeve? I absolutely do that, and even if this dress doesn’t have sleeves, my emotions will be there, ready
to show every one of the guests at the wedding exactly how I feel for a long-lost ex. They know he was my everything and they think him going to war is what broke us apart.

  But they don’t know the truth.

  “I’m sure they’re getting everything set up. There are still five hours before the guests come, and they can set everything in half that amount of time,” I quickly say to Viv, the bride, and my best friend. Her pale blue eyes whip to mine, pleading with me to tell her that’s the absolute truth.

  “Seriously, it doesn’t take long and everything will be perfect.”

  “I don’t think the cake is here yet,” one of the other bridesmaids says as she walks into the suite. The phone in her hand has her attention as the door clicks shut and everyone stays silent, waiting for the bride to go off at one more setback, that’s not at all a setback.

  “I need to call her, right now.” Viv storms off and away from me, her silk white robe clutched at her chest. So, I settle back in the corner, nestle in my chair, and pretend not to think of Aiden, the counterpart to me, and a groomsman in the wedding.

  He came back a different man, but the man I love was still there. I’ve been desperate for the love we once had, but we can’t show love for one another with our kinds of secrets.

  “Hey.” I hear Lauren before I see her, and then hear the champagne as she pours it into my empty flute. “You okay?”

  Her makeup is flawless, a perfectly plucked brow raised as she waits for me to answer her, pulling a chair closer to me.

  I have to clear my throat and take a sip of the sweet bubbly before I can look her in the eye.

  “Just nerves,” I answer her with a faint shrug and forced smile. “I swear I’m more nervous than Viv is,” I joke.

  Lauren’s gaze wanders across my face, judging me for honesty, and I’m sure I fail her test. Her words are softly spoken, “You haven’t been the same since the party last week.”

  A thump and a flutter compete in my heart and my throat closes as she asks, “Is it because of Aiden? I know you guys have been together on and off, right?”

  She’s pushing for answers; answers I won’t give. I’m not ready to, not today of all days.

  I won’t do or say anything at all to make a scene at Viv’s wedding. I would feel fucking awful if I did. She and Jason have been together since high school and this day is far overdue.

  Lauren’s right, though. I haven’t been the same since the party. The joint bachelor and bachelorette party.

  That night changed everything. I knew it would never be the same when I walked into the crowded room, but I only felt the presence of one man. Aiden’s eyes were on me before I’d even slipped my pea coat off. As the thin wool slipped down my bare shoulders, I watched his gaze turn into that of a predator, sizing me up as his prey.

  The music was loud, the laughter louder, but I swear I could hear how his breathing hitched. His crisp dress shirt pulled tighter across his broad shoulders and with his shirt sleeves rolled up, I could see how the muscles in his forearms tightened as he gripped the armrest when I walked past him to go to Lauren and Viv, in the far corner of the room.

  They were focused on their martinis. I was focused on how Aiden’s gray eyes pierced through me and how his tight grip turned his knuckles white.

  I have to remind myself where I am and who I’m with before I let my thoughts get away from me. Slipping my hand to the dip in my throat and then lower, I let my fingers trace what’s hanging on the end of my necklace, tucked just beneath the thin silk of the robe.

  “I’m fine,” I tell her shaking out my hands and plastering a wide smile onto my face. “Her being tense and anxious is just working me up.”

  “Okay, keep your secrets. I have a bet with Amy that you’re fucking him, just so you know.”

  “She thinks you two fucked that night,” Lauren’s gaze stays glued to my face, waiting for a confirmation.

  Although my heart races, I play along with Lauren’s goading.

  No one knows what happened the night of the party. And I don’t know if I can keep this secret, one of many, for that long. Not when I know I’m going to see him.

  “You two make the stupidest bets,” I tell her with an evil grin and then lean in to confess to her in a hushed whisper, “And don’t you know I’m a virgin?”

  She outright laughs at my joke, even though it makes my heart pound harder.

  “Nothing, absolutely nothing, is ready,” Viv shrieks with a cracked voice before dropping her phone to the ground and falling onto the sofa across the bridal suite.

  I take that as my cue, grateful for the distraction. Standing up abruptly, I’m quick to talk over everyone else, trying to comfort her.

  “I’ll go find the event coordinator right now.” I can feel Lauren’s eyes on me, but I ignore her and wrap the tie of my robe tighter so I can leave the room and feel somewhat decently covered. We all have matching scarlet robes, other than the bride’s white one of course.

  “What’s her name again?” I ask.

  “Sheryl,” Viv’s voice is weak but hopeful. She’s not a bridezilla per say, but she’s certainly emotional today.

  “I’m sure everything is fine,” I tell her and give her a small smile as I head to the door, “But I'll get a timeline and a checklist.” With a firm nod, I exit and nearly collapse against the door. With my own emotions running wild, I lean against the hardwood and breathe for a moment, the faint chatter of voices muffled behind me, and the clanging of folding tables being set up echoing through the wooden ceiling above me.

  Aiden is somewhere close. Somewhere smoking cigars and laughing with Jason, joking about how he’s ending his bachelor days. I can do this I remind myself. I have to. After tonight, things will be different. No more hiding, no more secrets.

  I don’t know how they can’t read it on my face.

  I’ve kept secrets before, but not like this. But we all do foolish things for the ones we love.

  Aiden

  I’d recognize her voice in a crowd anywhere, at any time. Even the soft hum that spills from her lips when she’s listening to a good story.

  “And the centerpieces will be placed like this. She wants the larger candle on the inside,” I hear Ella say calmly as I stand at the bottom of the stairwell. The florist gives me a simple smile as she continues to pin ivory tulle up along the railing. It looks like she’s just gotten started.

  I know the bridal suite is in the back, but I take the stairs one at a time, following the sweet voice as her words drift down the stairwell.

  “I’ve got it all and it’s all under control. Please tell her not to worry.” A tall woman in a silver tweed suit with her hair up in a tight bun stands beside Ella as I peek around the corner, “It’s all under control,” she repeats.

  My eyes drift to the short silk robe, and then lower to the tanned legs on full display.

  “I told her that already, but now that I’ve talked to you, I’m sure she’ll feel better,” Ella smiles, her long brunette hair already pinned up and braided. Just seeing that gorgeous smile and the flush of her cheeks tugs at the corner of my lips. My gaze drifts down her chest to her slender fingers, and my cock hardens instantly.

  I lose control around Ella, I always have. She has a way of bringing out a side of me that’s possessive and unpredictable.

  I’d do anything to have her and keep her. But what she does to me… I groan low and deep in my chest as I watch the staff leave her all alone in the expansive room upstairs. There’s not a soul in sight but her.

  My jaw clenches, remembering how I lost control at the party, in the back laundry room.

  Everything in the last two years disappeared into nothing and all I knew was that I needed her to be mine again.

  I wanted everyone to know it. I wanted them to hear her scream my name. Instead, she clawed down my back and sank her teeth into my neck, leaving a bruised mark as I fucked her ruthlessly.

  Precum leaks from me while remembering how good it felt to have he
r against the wall, pounding into her tight cunt while everyone we knew was just beyond a thin wall.

  Before I can turn the corner, two men carrying a large white box enter, their simple black shirts have a cake on the front of them. And on cue, Ella claps her hands in delight, elated that the wedding cake has arrived.

  “I’ll go tell the bride,” she tells them with a pep in her step that I haven’t seen in so long. A darkness has clouded my judgment for years. I didn’t know enlisting in the Army would change everything. Not just how I felt about Ella, but how I feel about myself and everything I’ve done.

  I never questioned whether or not I would love her still. I always knew I would. There’s nothing that could have taken me from her, or so I thought.

  Ella disappears down a small hall, heading down the back stairwell, and so I turn around, going back the way I came.

  Running a hand down the stubble of my jaw, I take the path that leads me to her. Taking my time so she’ll be there before I am. Although, I didn’t come for her, I have to remind myself.

  My knuckles rapped against the door to the suite, knock knock knock.

  “Who is it?” a few voices call out at once and someone tells me, “If it’s the groom tell him to fuck off. He can’t see her yet!”

  A genuine smile is stamped on my face when the door opens two inches. “I’m serious,” Lauren says, and I respond, “It’s just me. Should I fuck off too?”

  She cocks a brow and takes a peek behind her. I know she’s looking to find Ella and the smile slips. Soon they’ll look at us differently. They’ll never understand, but they won’t deny what she is to me.

  Soon everything will go back to the way it was supposed to be.

  “Her husband-to-be isn’t anywhere near.” I pick up the small black, velvet box from my pocket and hold it in front of me, “I just have a gift.”

  Vivian pushes Lauren out of the way, pulling the door open wider and staring up at me with wide eyes, “From Jason?” she asks breathlessly.