Ice Burns

by Lucy Alice

  “That’s a lie. I think.” Lizzy and I both look at Amber, who continues. “There are photos of you on his computer, going back three years.”

  Lizzy balks, screaming at Amber, “Shut the fuck up. You’re ruining everything!” She keeps screaming at Amber trying to reach her, but I’m standing between the two of them, keeping my past away from my future, my present.

  I swing to Sally and bark at her to call security, and she does. Two minutes later the elevator doors open and two security guards step out, assessing the situation.

  “Run, Lizzy.” I hiss it quietly now, in her face. “The police will be round for you soon.”

  I ungingerly shove Lizzy at the waiting guards and she’s still yelling filth at us when I take Amber’s hand and we walk into the quiet hallway and disappear into her office. I’m glad for Amber’s sake that most of the firm seems to be on holiday right now, or at least not in yet.

  As we walk into the office and shut the door, Amber leans her head back against it and lets out a long sigh.

  “Elizabeth is Lizzy? I can’t get my head around my boss sleeping with your ex-wife?”

  “I don’t care, Amber. I came here to talk to you. Are you going to tell me what the fuck happened last week?”

  Her face falls and she sinks to the ground as I make myself more or less comfortable against her desk. I don’t want to give up my anger and confusion because I need them to keep me strong and stop me from falling on my knees begging her to come back to me. As I look at her crumpled against the door, her body limp and her eyes closed - and from this angle I have a long view down her pencil skirt to the white triangle of her underwear between her thighs - the blood is rapidly leaving my head and my heart and pooling further south.

  “Talk to me, Amber. Please”. It’s the last time I’ll ask. It’s now or never.

  *AMBER*

  I hear the finality in his voice. Aiden is a wealthy man. He is successful in business and he’s hot as the Sahara, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t need this shit from a woman, and yet he’s here. Waiting for me to give him answers. What is it with this office and Aiden needing answers?

  “Never is an even longer time when there is still love.” The old lady’s words echo through my mind.

  And so I talk to Aiden. I tell him about my dad dying, how I felt abandoned. I tell him about my mum never really being ‘there’ any more, until Geoff and how she then just up and left. I start crying, and I tell him about my cheating boyfriend and I tell him about the guys I didn’t like enough to date and how I just didn’t belong anywhere and I tell him about the boyfriend who chose to live off me and would have pimped me out to his friends given half a chance. I tell him about Mr Marks and I tell him how I have no idea who, or what I am. I tell him how I am so insecure, sometimes, that I can’t understand why he would like me or how he could ever love me. I tell him about Sarah yelling at me, insisting that no one could fall in love as quickly as I have with him, and how her certainty in the impossibility of a quick descent into love rocked my own uncertainty that it had in fact happened, leaving me lost and confused and overwhelmed. I tell him how my bad decisions in relationship and my inability to choose and forge a path for my life has left me utterly incapable of trusting my own decision.

  I tell him that I wanted to walk right back to him on Wednesday but that I was scared, ashamed, and that I went to his house on Sunday, hoping to see him. I tell him about the old lady, and how never is too long a time to not be with him. That I can’t imagine a future and a life without him. When I finally stop I wait for the longest time for him to respond, not a sound in the room except for the occasional shudders as I catch my breath from the crying.

  I eventually look up at him, and I swear he is sporting an erection, which seems entirely out of place, but makes heat gush through me and settle behind my pubic bone.

  “You’re in love with me?”

  That’s all he took from my speech? I’m so surprised that I actually laugh, but it’s a sob too and it turns into a splutter as I cough, but he doesn’t move from where he’s leaning against the desk. I get my breathing under control, then I nod.

  “I am. Very much.”

  He nods, and is quiet again. I wonder if I should be upset that he hasn’t said it back, but I say nothing.

  “You can’t trust yourself. I get that. Do you think you can trust me?”

  I swallow hard, because I can feel that this moment, right here, is going to determine my future.

  “Yes, I believe I can.”

  “And will you trust me? Will you trust me to love you? When you’re not sure about me, about us, will you let me be what you lean against, the power behind your strength? Will you let me be yours? Will you let me rescue you when you need saving? Worship you when you need praise? Will you allow me to be that man for you, Amber?

  If I give my whole self to you, all that I am, I expect the same in return. No more running away, no distrust. You need to know that I’m not looking for ways to hurt you or games to play. I need the same from you. I need to know that I can count on you, and that you count on me. That our first stop is always each other. Can you do that, Amber? Can you count on me? And can I count on you?”

  I’m nodding and I’m crying again, and tears are running down my face and I’m sure I’m an unholy mess, but I’m saying “yes, yes, I want all that” between my tears, and Aiden takes two long steps towards me, scooping me up in his arms, his lips finding mine, his mouth covering mine. As his tongue forces entrance to my mouth I moan into his and the reverberation echoes all the way down to my throbbing clit.

  “Home,” he says. “I want to take you home, right now.”

  “I can’t wait, I need you now, Aid. Right now.”

  He walks me backwards into Mr Marks’ office where no one can see us from the hall. Aiden’s lips break away from me, looking around for a space for us, but I lead him towards the desk, where I turn around, both hands resting on it. I look back towards him and the lust in his eyes is undeniable. He is loosening his belt and unbuttoning his trousers, his eyes are on my ass. I wait, eager for him to do whatever he wants, as I feel him grip my wrists, and slide his hands down towards the hem of my pencil skirt. I can feel his cock slapping against me and I emit a low groan of anticipation. Aiden shimmies my skirt up my thighs and over my hips so it bunches in my middle, and he bends down, lightly biting my butt cheek. I squeal and he hooks his fingers into my thong, pulling it down to mid thigh, before letting it go. He pushes one foot between my two, spreading my legs, and then, suddenly, he steps back and my whole body roars in frustration.

  *AIDEN*

  I take a step back and look at her. Her skirt is bunched up above her perfect ass, her panties are a necklace to new looking boots and her pussy is practically calling hungrily to my cock, which is standing erect against my stomach. I fist myself a few times, licking my lips when she turns back to see what I’m doing. Recognition of the fact that I’m examining her crosses her features, and she begins to move her legs together, but I shake my head. “Trust me.” It’s almost a plea, and it works. She spreads her legs again.

  I take two steps forward and plunge into her. She yelps and I tell her to shush, but she says ‘I don’t care, Aiden. I just want you to fuck me.” The dirty words coming out of her beautiful mouth cause my cock to twitch, but I don’t move, and it’s frustrating the hell out of her. She starts moving her hips against me and I put my hand on her lower back, pushing her flat against the desk and making it impossible for her to move. She whimpers and starts to beg, but I just stand there, punishing her with my inaction.

  Her wetness envelops me and I groan deeply, relishing being sheathed in her heat again. It’s been six long, horrible days. Suddenly my resolve snaps and I pound into her so hard the desk shifts across the floor a little with each bang. She’s moaning loudly and I try to put my hand over her mouth, but she bites my fingers, so I smack her ass. She yells then, and I feel her clench around my cock.

  “You might
not care, but the rest of the office might?”

  “I’m quitting anyway, fuck me harder!” She says it loudly, without holding back and I spend the next ten minutes nailing her to the desk. She comes, quickly, once, and I lift her left leg, pushing the thong off her foot and letting it fall to the ground around the other. I put her knee onto the desk so that I have a different angle, and I fuck her hard like that again, it doesn’t take long before she’s panting and clenching around my shaft, dripping her juice down it. Her knees go weak and wobbly, so I guide her to the ground, putting her head at waist height. Amber opens her mouth like a greedy baby bird. I dip my cock into it and she licks, tasting herself, which makes her groan again, and the vibration sends me over the edge. I throw my head back with a roar and push into her mouth but before I can warn her, I’m spurting my release down her throat and I won’t lie, I love that she’s swallowing down what I give her.

  We sink to the floor together and I pull her up onto me, so that her body is on top of mine. We lie there, spent and panting.

  “I’m not going to look at the abyss any more. From here on it’s all about the light”, she says and my brows furrow.

  “What?”

  She’s about to answer, but there’s a knock on the door and someone’s clearing his throat.

  “You guys about done in there?” I can swear that’s Jamie’s voice, but what the hell he’d be doing here I don’t know. This office is like some fucked up Twilight Zone, I swear.

  Amber groans into her hands, but quickly pulls her skirt down and straightens her blouse. I’ve buckled up my belt and run my fingers through my hair, when I take her hand and give it a kiss.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you stay fed if you’re about to get fired,” I smirk at her and she makes a scoffing sound.

  I open the door that leads from what was Mr Marks’ office to Amber’s and see Jamie leaning against Amber’s desk in much the same place I was leaning a little while ago, examining his nails, and Sarah sitting in Amber’s chair, with her legs up on the desk typing on her phone.

  We all look at each other for a full 20 seconds, when Jamie breaks the silence.

  “So you two made up then,” he smirks, and Amber steps behind me. She groans and rests her forehead against my spine, but I spin her back round to face the world - or in this case our friends - with me. Jamie’s smile broadens and I glare at him, but he goes on, “it sounded like a lot of fun?”

  Sarah laughs and Amber looks at her friend, but there’s an uncertainty there. They’ve not spoken since Christmas. Sarah stands up, moves to Amber, and without breaking our hands apart, puts her own arms around her friend.

  “I’m so sorry Ambs. I was a jerk and you’ve had enough jerks in your life. I shouldn’t have put my own shit on you. I’m so, so, so sorry.”

  Amber lets go of my hand, then, and folds both her arms around Sarah. I move over to Jamie and reach over to shake his hand, but he looks between my hand and Amber and I laugh - I didn’t have my fingers inside Amber this time but he doesn’t have to know the details, so I retract my hand and put both in my pockets. Jerk smirks at me again and I feel a flush creep up my own cheeks.

  “What you doing here, man?”

  “I came to have a word with your woman, actually. But it seems you beat me to it.”

  “You were coming to talk to her for me?” I’m actually a bit touched. It’s a very high school ‘feelings’ kind of thing to do, and not very Jamie.

  “Nah, man. I figured since she dumped your ass, maybe she was ready for a real man, like me.” My hand’s out my pocket and hitting Jamie upside the head before he can move out of the way, but he just laughs and continues, “hmmm...pussy juice, my favourite conditioner. Thanks, brother!”

  I laugh at him, because he’s incorrigible, but even the thought of Amber with someone else makes my insides roil. “Fucker.”

  “Shall we get out of here, have ourselves a new year’s eve eve party.” Jamie. Always one for a party.

  “I can’t. I have to get back to work. I have a date tonight anyway.” Sarah doesn’t make eye contact with Amber, but quickly adds, “I’ll tell you about it later, okay?” before heading out of the office with a quick wave.

  Amber nods and grabs her things, shutting down her computer and turning off lights. She has a look around the Jackass’ office - I think that’s what I’ll call him from now on - and bites her lip as her eyes linger on the desk, and the sight and the memory make my cock twitch again. I grab her one armed around the middle, letting my thumb stroke the underside of her tit and she inhales sharply. I love knowing she’s already ready for me again.

  We walk side by side down the corridor and I suddenly remember what else happened today.

  “Hey, J?” he looks at me, “you won’t believe who was here earlier. And was having an affair with my ex attorney, and is pregnant and abandoned by him”.

  Jamie looks at me, looks at Amber shaking her head, looks back at me and he just knows. “No fucking way?”

  “Way.”

  “What goes around comes around, fucker.” Jamie actually laughs as he punches the button for the lift.

  “Hey, wait up.” It’s Amber now, stopping us just as the lift opens. Sarah’s gone back to her office and Sally isn’t at the reception desk, so it’s just Jamie and me. “Why don’t you head on down and get us a cab, Jamie? I want to do something. Can you wait with me, Aid?”

  “Sure,” we both say and Jamie takes the lift down. I move towards the office, but Amber grabs my arm and pulls me into a deep, passionate, probing kiss and my erection tents my pants in an instant. The lift dings as it opens again and we go in together, never breaking the kiss. I lift Amber up and she wraps her legs around my waist and we’re kissing deeply, my hands running up,up,up her thighs as I grind into her. It’s like that first time, in the hotel lift, and I’m light-headed from all the blood pumping to my cock.

  The lift dings again and opens and Amber drops back to the ground, straightening her skirt and walking out to a waiting Jamie, nonchalant, like nothing happened. I’m still standing in the lift with a hard on the size of Big Ben when the doors start to close. I quickly stick my arm out to stop them, and she shouts back over her shoulder,

  “You coming?”

  Jamie assesses the situation and as I grumble “Not bloody yet” not far enough under my breath, their laughter echoes around the lobby.

  I jog to catch up with them, and breathe into Amber’s ear, “I’ll get you back for that.”

  She looks up at me with hooded eyes and her words blossom through me:

  “I’m counting on it”.

  “Hey Amber?” She stops and turns towards me, waiting as I catch up, then entwines her fingers with mine before I continue, “I love you too”.

  Epilogue

  I step out onto the balcony wearing nothing but Aiden’s t-shirt. We have a deal on Sunday mornings - he gets up for Park Run and I stay in bed, so that when he gets back with breakfast I can eat while he showers, after which he normally feasts on me. Bacon and orgasms, what’s not to love?

  It’s early spring and while there’s still a bite in the air, it’s not so cold that I need to scamper inside immediately. I can spend a few minutes looking for my needle in a haystack. Except someone waves from the haystack so I’m guessing it’s Aiden and I wave back. I moved in officially a week after new years, though I never actually spent another night in my apartment after the day we made up in my old office.

  The day I moved in, Aiden had taken our three photos and had them framed in a large square with spaces for the six other pictures, with movable mirrors symmetrically placed between each picture. He hung it in the bedroom so that we could see our story before we go to bed at night and first thing when we wake up. I suspect though, that he just likes being able to see us having sex from different angles, but he laughed and threw me down on the bed when I suggested it. We did then have wild sex during which he made me watch us in the mirror, so my theory stands.


  We also flew to Spain together so that Aiden could meet my mum and Geoff, and surprise, surprise, they loved him. That man could charm the habit off a nun, I swear.

  We took our Polaroid with us, in case we wanted to capture anything special and it reminded my mum that she had some of dad’s cameras locked away in an old fashioned trunk somewhere. Apparently my dad was a hobby photographer, but I never knew that. She gave me all his old kit and Aiden and I spent days experimenting with the different cameras. Aiden thinks I should do a photography course and see where it takes me, because he thinks I have an amazing eye for architecture, shapes and specifically, light. I’d never considered it an option, before him, but the idea does actually really excite me. I’d like to see where it leads, anyway.

  The firm gave me a very generous 12 month severance package, which I suspect had a lot to do with Aiden, but I’m grateful for it. It’s given me time to really focus on my own future and dreams. I don’t want to be a kept woman, but if I can be a woman who is passionate about what I do, all the better.