I feel so bad for her. She’s such a sweet girl. Boys are something else. She forgiven Rylan yet? I’m guessing Rex is dead in the water with how he acted.
Girl, I have no idea. If it wasn’t for you coaxing that out of her, thanks for that by the way, we wouldn’t know a thing. She used to be so open with me. Not with this and definitely not with Dire. She is still mad at him for bellowing at the guys and making her look like a quote—freak—no one will like after rumors start.
Ailyn glanced up at the clock and at her students. All day testing made them antsy.
Give her time to come around. Don’t you remember being that age? I do.
Don’t remind me.
Too funny. Gotta dash. Restless testing teens on my hands. Hugs.
She turned her phone on and quietly listened to her voice mail. Eva needed new pointe shoes, and Seth wanted her to swing by the station to see him. She bit her lip remembering what happened in his office and let out a sigh. She texted him saying she’d be there as soon as she could and put her phone away.
The bell rang. “Don’t forget you’ll have a substitute tomorrow and next Monday we move back to the school. Give the same respect to your sub as you give to me. I’ll be requesting a report.” She stood and waited for her students to hand in their tests. A lot of eye rubbing and hypnotized like gazes regarded her as she was given the individual sheets before they shuffled out of her classroom.
Twenty minutes later, she left the makeshift trailer and headed to pick up Eva. Traffic took her twice as long to reach the gymnastics academy. By the time she pulled up to the front door, Eva strode out with an annoyed expression on her face.
“You’re late, Mama.”
“Blame it on the traffic. I can’t control the cars.” She leaned over and kissed her. “How was class?”
“Good. I worked on the uneven bars and my new floor routine. Tio Cord helped me pick out the music. Coach Sean was impressed. He said I’ve improved already. He wants to talk to you about coaching me privately for nationals. He thinks I can make the junior elite team.”
“That’s good, baby. How was school?”
“Boring. I’d rather dance though or tumble. You didn’t forget you’re chaperoning our field trip tomorrow, did you?”
“Nope. I’m all yours tomorrow, peanut.”
“I can’t wait. No sitting at my desk all day. I can’t wait until junior high when I get to change classes every hour and have different teachers. Hey, you never told me why Ash is in such big trouble.” Her daughter switched gears like a car changed lanes.
“You’re almost there, peanut. Well, she broke a big rule and has to suffer the consequences.”
“Oh, well I hope she’s not going to be in trouble forever.”
“You do know she’s six years older than you, right?”
“Well duh, she’s in high school and is the most popular girl in her school. Being on punishment must suck for her. Maybe we can make her a cake to feel better.”
“Punishment sucks for everyone. You’re too sweet, I bet she’d like that.”
“Mama, can I ask you a question?”
“You know you can ask me anything, peanut.”
“Can you start dating again? I really like Ash’s stepdad, and it got me to thinking since mine is lost out there somewhere, I could get a step one. What do you think?”
“I think you are too young to be worried about my dating life. Tio Cord is there for everything you need, right?”
“Yeah but he’s my tio. When I take him to daddy daughter days the kids snicker, well until he shows them his tattoos. Now they don’t but still, he’s a tio not a papi. They call him my Tio-papi and that is so weird, it grosses me out.”
Ailyn coughed to avoid cracking up at the tio-papi context. “I haven’t really thought about dating much, honey.”
“Well, Tio Cord said you were out on a date this weekend, and that he was going to treat me to anything I wanted since he was in town.”
“Your tio has a gigantic mouth. I would love to date and find the perfect guy to be that father for you, but honey, it’s not easy and anyone I bring in front of you has to pass muster.”
“Find one before you’re too old. I’d still like a sister or a brother—and no, a dog doesn’t count. Please.” Her daughter pleaded with her big green eyes.
“Let’s just get home and ready for tomorrow. Did you eat?”
“Yep, Tio Cord brought me some sushi. He’s at the gym now, said he had to start his new regime. Whatever that means.”
“Did you look it up?” Eva shrugged, as if she needed to research everything. “You know it’s always good to find out what a word means if you’ve never heard it before.”
“Vocabulary is for kids who want to be in those dorky spelling bees.”
“Eva, watch your mouth. There’s nothing wrong with being in a spelling bee, and vocabulary is necessary to learn as you grow. Expand your knowledge, it won’t kill you.”
“Okay, Mom. I’ll look up the meaning of regime online when we get home. After this show I found on our streaming channel.”
Ailyn scoffed and tapped her fingers against the steering wheel. Eva popped earbuds in her ears and played on her tablet. “Hey.” She plucked one of them from her ear.
“Aw, Mom, I was at a good part.”
“How did your testing go at school?” Eva struggled with math, getting frustrated and picking any answer instead of problem solving.
“I guess it went okay. Ash’s tutoring helped.” She slipped her headphones back in and closed her eyes. Figures, the tutoring would stick from the one person Eva idolized, when she’d been giving her the same information for weeks and nothing stuck.
Ailyn drove the rest of the way home in silence. As she pulled down their street and into her driveway, Eva gathered her bag and backpack. She barely put the car in park, when her daughter rushed to get in the house.
“Take your bag to the laundry room and your backpack to your room.” There was nothing like tripping over everything dropped right inside the door. Every day, she yelled the same mantra, to hear an overcompensated sigh of exasperation as if putting her things away was too much of a hassle.
Her daughter ran up the stairs to her room. The sound of the door being wrenched open and then slammed shut met her ears. The cadence of her child skipping steps to get down to the living room echoed through the house. Then all was silent for mere moments. She walked into the living room to see Eva searching for the remote.
“What’s so important it can’t wait?”
“I am missing my shows. I need the remote to play them on demand.”
Ailyn tossed the pillows from the couches and plucked the remote from under the cushion. “See, all it takes is patience.” She handed the remote to her daughter and sat down next to her. “What are we watching?”
“Nine Lives of Khloe King.” Her daughter snuggled into her as the next episode started.
The sound of the front door opening and shutting woke Ailyn. She adjusted the sleeping child on her lap and yawned. They’d both dozed off while watching television. Cordero came into her line of vision still in workout clothes with his duffle. “Shh.”
“I needed to check on her after the other night. Here, let me get her to her bed.” Cordero set his bag on the floor and walked over to take Eva from her, lifting her as if she weighed nothing. Her daughter settled in his arms, stirring briefly before curling her body into his.
Eva followed them up the stairs. The clock in the hall read eight-thirty. She hadn’t fallen asleep before nine in the evening in forever. Her brother disappeared into her daughter’s decked out in all things pink bedroom. He set her down, and batted the princess canopy netting out of the way so he could slip her under her covers without getting himself tangled. She stood at the doorway watching him interact with his niece. One day he’d make a fabulous father, hopefully soon as their mother was clamoring for more grandbabies. He moved past her and she shut the door. “You are spoiling her. W
hat am I gonna do when you leave again?”
“Let me throw out a wild suggestion. Why not allow her father to tuck her in?”
Ailyn wrapped her arms around her midriff, facing off with him. “Give it a rest. I told you I’d tell him.”
“Then call him over and tell him. Three people on his team know. And then there’s Mia being forced to keep your secret, a secret. Soon it’ll be all about everyone who didn’t tell him. He trusts his team, his friends and you are selfishly putting them in a bad position.” His true words stung.
She’d never seen her younger brother so ticked off. “Cord, I am going to tell him. You need to realize this is a much bigger deal than you think. Have you even weighed why I haven’t told him?”
“No. As far as I’m concerned, from a male’s point of view, you should’ve told him after you two reconnected.”
“Did you know I can still go to jail, even after all this time? My not telling him isn’t because I don’t want to. I have to protect my daughter and myself. He’ll want to sign her birth certificate. She has his name, that’s no issue. But if he pushes for DNA testing the state can arrest me, take my teaching license and throw me in jail. They have up to one year to prosecute after receiving the results. Whether he wants it or not. They don’t need his permission.”
“For someone so intelligent you are acting overly stupid. Can you honestly imagine anyone in our family or his allowing you to get carted off to jail? That excuse may have worked when you were twenty-one and scared, but sis, you’re a grown woman. Act like one.” He cast a disappointed stare in her direction.
“Whatever. I’m going to lock the house head out, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Her brother left her standing in the hallway alone, fuming and mentally exhausted. Something was up with him, he wasn’t normally so asshole-ish toward her. Maybe he had a shitty workout. She looked in on Eva one last time and kissed her head. Her phone vibrated in her back pocket. She retrieved it and stroked her thumb over the unlock screen, answering right before the caller was sent to voicemail. “Hey.”
“I thought you were gonna swing by tonight.”
Seth’s whiskey honeyed voice tempted her to give in and meet him. “I got caught up, tonight won’t work.” Aiyln cradled the phone to her ear with her shoulder as she slid off her slacks and unbuttoned her shirt.
“I was hoping to see you tonight.” Disappointment laced his tone. He let out an aggravated sigh and then nothing. Dead air hung between them.
“I’m sorry. My job is demanding, so is yours. Tomorrow I’m pretty busy but we can meet later on after margarita girl’s night.” She didn’t know why she was explaining her plans. “There are some things we need to talk about. Tomorrow’s the soonest I’m available.”
“You sure you can’t pop by? Have you had dinner?”
“It’s pretty late for dinner.” Ailyn laughed. “I’m tired, Seth. All I want to do is dive under my covers and pass out.”
“All right. You get a pass tonight, as long as you’re not avoiding me.”
“Ah. Not avoiding you, maybe your mouth-on, hands-on way of persuasion.” She rummaged in her drawer for a T-shirt, her hands falling on the one she wore of his a few nights before and lifted the cotton material to her nose. Inhaling his scent strangely comforted her.
“Distracting you is fun, always has been.”
She heard a rustle in the background and a loud sound. “You okay?”
“Yeah, settling in the bunk to get some rest. Just got back from a call, one of the guys got caught under a falling support beam.”
“Oh no. Who? Is he okay?”
“Chandler. Yeah, he’s lucky his partner wasn’t too far behind. We were able to get him loose. He’ll remain at the hospital for observation tonight.”
“Shouldn’t you be there with him?” She slipped on his shirt, climbed into bed and turned on her side. While he talked, she got comfortable, resting her head on her decadent pillow.
“I can’t be, have to be here. Some of the guys from the other shift are staying with him for now. He’ll be home by the time we get off shift later.”
“Oh. I’m sorry he got hurt.” Ailyn scrunched her feet under the covers and adjusted her phone.
“Hazard of our job.”
“You worried something else may show up overnight?” She could only imagine how horrible a close friend, a teammate getting hurt felt.
“Yeah, you never know if something internally is a bit shook up. I guess when you’re the one in control you just feel…”
“Like it’s your fault. But you know you can’t control what happens in every situation. Prepare but not take the blame for the unknown.” Her heart broke for him. She was ready to sleep but not ready to leave him yet, wanting to be supportive for him.
“Yeah.”
“There’s so much we don’t know about each other. Why did you become a fireman when you could’ve gone pro in sports?” Maybe taking his mind off his worries would help.
“That’s a long story, you sure you got time?”
“Yes.”
“My life changed after we split up. I got caught up being with the older crowd. Some of the guys bet I couldn’t get into some of the bigger clubs. There were a group of us who enjoyed breaking the rules a little too much.”
When she was silent for too long he said, “I chased you away. I know you still have feelings about our time together. I don’t have to continue.”
“I’m here. Just processing how you were then verses now. One side of a double headed coin, but different. Makes me wonder what you were up to when we weren’t together back then.”
“Yeah. Sorry,” he paused, “I don’t have an answer to that question. I went to school, studied hard and excelled in sports. To blow off steam I guess you could say I bent the law a few times. Until we all got caught.”
“Can’t imagine that was fun. What happened?” Ailyn slipped out of bed and headed downstairs to get a glass of wine.
“Fire. The club we chose had a band playing. Their pyrotechnics trick went disastrously wrong. Pandemonium broke out. Thick smoke filled the air. You hear about people being stepped on and trampled in the news. We had girls with us. Two weren’t near us. I started helping people find the exit to get them out of danger. When I didn’t see some of my friends I went back in.”
“You went into the fray?”
“Yeah. The sirens were close but too far and I couldn’t leave my friends, you know. Going back was natural to me, as natural as breathing. Anyway, the firemen came and watching them in action really clicked with me. Everyone got out fine, just a few cuts or bruises injury-wise, but then the news happened to show up. The girl I brought from my school lost it, thinking her parents would figure out where she was.”
“I’m sorry. That must’ve been traumatic for her.”
“Yeah, we all got busted due to her freak out. Two of my friends and I were arrested for underage drinking, a lot happened. That night changed the direction of my life.”
“I’m glad you were caught but not for the reasons you were. I’d hug you if you were here.”
“So, that’s what it takes?” He chuckled and the warm tenor of his voice sent her girly parts dancing in jubilation.
“Nah, I just realize the year we split up wasn’t as easy for you as I thought. I guess, I thought I was one of many older girls you fooled into loving you.” Ailyn wanted to slap herself. “That came out wrong. I’m sorry.”
“No worries. In hindsight, I can see how off my judgment was. I have a sealed juvenile record because of my underage delinquency. I chose to break the law repeatedly. I was charged with my friends. The judge ordered four hundred hours of community service. Our coach benched us all from state games as a warning to others.”
“Ouch. That must’ve hurt the team’s chances on a win, to have a large portion of the first string all sitting out the championship games, and missing out on being scouted.”
“Yeah, having the town pissed off at you doesn�
��t feel good. Our coach was big on responsibility for actions and code of conduct. We all signed the contract, so there was no excuse to fall back on. I completed my community service at the fire station close by our house and was hooked. The two colleges I wanted to attend still scouted me. In the end, I went with the one with one of the top sports teams. I also based my decision on their fire science and fire engineering programs.”
Ailyn swore she could see him smile through the phone as he recalled his court ordered discipline, leading him to this place in his life. Suddenly, she craved more than conversation and wondered if he did too. With only one way to find out, she took a deep breath. “I’m wearing your shirt. The cotton material feels good against my naked skin.” She inhaled the scent of his cologne trapped in the fabric covering her.
“You tryin’ to turn me on, darlin’?”
“Maybe,” she flirted. “What are you wearing?”
“Cargo pants and my EMT shirt. What I really want to know is the color of your panties.”
“I don’t have any on.”
“Fuck, darlin’ I forgot you never wear panties to bed. Mmm, glad that hasn’t changed about you. Now I’m hard as steel.”
“Having you hard is so good. Pull it out and stroke it for me.” She prayed he wouldn’t laugh at her and tell her goodnight. The clattering of the phone hitting the floor hurt her eardrum. Once the ringing cleared, he returned. The telltale sound of zipper teeth parting teased her.
“Part those pussy lips and spear your finger inside your slit for me, darlin’. I need to hear how wet you are for me.” Ailyn spread her legs and fingered herself. An audible moan slipped from her mouth.
“Sexy. I won’t last long with sounds like that coming from you. I can feel the heat of your hot cunt over the phone. Play with the juices, rub them over that perfect pink button for me.”
“Seth,” Ailyn moaned, following his directions. On the other end, she heard a bottle being popped open. Her fingers felt so good against her clit. She missed the fullness of his cock stuffing her pussy and ached with want. “I am so—empty.”
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