by R B Hilliard
I was shocked. This was the last thing I expected her to say. “But I thought you were in Charlotte for the summer?” I know I sounded desperate, but she just got here and now she was talking about leaving again!
“I know, El, but I really like this guy. He’s….different. Please don’t be mad. He’s way smarter than me and comes from a very wealthy family. His people descend from King Henry or someone like that. Anyway, I don’t want you to be mad at me.”
I was disappointed. We had made plans for the whole summer. I wanted her to go but also wanted her to stay. “I can’t say I’m not disappointed and won’t miss you terribly but I get it.”
“You do? You’re not mad?”
“Of course I’m not mad. Now, tell us about Tom.”
The rest of that day was filled with fun and laughter. We swam, tubed, sunned and kissed a lot…at least Max and I did. Harry buzzed spasmodically around us, purposefully trying to annoy Piper, while Joss and Kurt pretended not to be crazy about each other. Every time Max and I tried to sneak away we got called out. By the end of the day we were desperate for alone time.
Max convinced me to move into the boat house with him for the remainder of the weekend. The second we finished dinner, we were out the door. We had each other’s clothes halfway off before even making it across the back lawn. As soon as we entered the boathouse Max lifted me up, threw me on the bed and jumped on top of me.
“I had fun with you today,” he said, kissing my shoulder.
“Did you think you wouldn’t?” I teased.
“Hmmmm,” he hummed and ran his tongue up my neck. “Let’s just say that I don’t normally do this kind of thing and am really glad that I did.”
“What kind of thing don’t you do?” I asked, trying not to moan at his erotic assault on my senses.
“I don’t normally… hang out with the girls I sleep with.”
“Please tell me you are joking. I mean, how do you date someone without hanging out?”
“I don’t.”
I could feel my heart start to race.
“You don’t.” I repeated.
“Not until today,” he said, and ran his lips down my arm.
“Uh, what did you do before today, then?”
Do I really want to know the answer to this?
“Sex.”
“That’s it?” Pulling my arm away from his lusciously distracting lips, I reared back so I could see his face. “You’re telling me that you have never actually dated anyone before, just screwed them? But….I saw you with Jennifer all year and….outside at Matt’s party that night.”
“If you saw me with her at school, it’s because we were both there but we never hung out after…unless…. He didn’t need to finish the sentence. I got it. “and,” he continued, “I was at Matt’s party and Jennifer was at Matt’s party but we didn’t ride there together, nor did we go home together. In fact, after she gave me shit for helping you out, I was done and told her so before I took off.”
“So, you broke up.”
“No, no break up, just done. In order to break up we would have to be together in the first place. All we did was hook up whenever we were both available.”
Oh my God. I don’t know what to say to this.
“So, this here with me,” I waved my hand across the bed, “is just a hook up?” I had to know.
“Babe, have you heard anything I have said in the past twenty four hours? Did last night feel like just sex to you? Did you hear me when I told you that you are mine?” I could see that he was frustrated. Dragging his fingers through my hair, he tugged hard enough to get my attention and said, “You are a game changer, Ellison. This,” he mocked me by waving his hand across the bed, “is a game changer. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” I breathed, and I did because he also was a game changer for me. I can’t say that his past didn’t bother me or that I didn’t worry about my place in his future, but I understood that if I there was any hope of a future with Max, I was going to have to let it go and learn to play by his rules.
It took him all of five seconds and a soul scorching kiss to get me over our conversation and on to better things. “Are you too sore for me after last night?” he asked, running his finger over my bottom lip.
“No,” I replied and sucked his wandering finger deep into my mouth. I watched his eyes darken with lust.
For me.
He had one hand on my breast and the other between my legs when his cell phone rang.
“Don’t stop,” I panted.
“Hang on,” he growled and answered it. “Sarah, talk to me,” he said, followed by, “Okay, honey, just calm down and then tell me from the beginning.”
Sarah? Honey? Who the hell is Sarah?
“It’ll be okay,” he said as his voice softened. “I’ll be home in twenty minutes, I promise.” He hung up and stared out the window. His mind was obviously a million miles away.
My heart dropped. “Is everything okay?”
“No, not really,” he sighed.
Trying not to sound jealous, I asked, “Who is Sarah?”
He paused for a second before answering. “Sarah is my twelve year old sister.”
How did I not know he had a sister?
“Oh my God, is she okay? What time is it?” I searched the room for a clock.
“It’s almost two in the morning. Ells, I’m sorry but I need to get home.” He hopped off the bed, pulled on his jeans and tee shirt and began packing. “Get some sleep and I will try and come back tomorrow if I can.”
He was leaving? Just like that?
“So, you’re just going to leave and… maybe you’ll come back?” I winced. I tried not to sound too pathetic. “What if you can’t? Come back, I mean. Will I talk to you ever again?”
Please say yes, please tell me you meant everything that you told me earlier.
I couldn’t help but feel insecure. I had never done this before so I didn’t know the rules. I just knew that he didn’t do relationships or date or… whatever.
He stopped packing his bag and paced over to the bed. When he got to me, he cupped my face in his hands and said, “My little sister had a nightmare. She woke up and, as usual, my deadbeat dad wasn’t there. She is scared and alone and I need to get home to her. If my dad shows back up, whether he is sober or not will determine if I can come back. I would not leave you for anything other than this, okay?”
“Let me come with you,” I blurted.
Where did that come from?
His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You want to come with me?”
I nodded.
“You want to come to my house to help me take care of my twelve year old little sister?”
I nodded again.
Both of his eyebrows shot up. “Seriously?”
“Seriously,” I said. “I know nothing about you really. I didn’t even know you had a sister.”
“My life is really messed up, Ellison. Nobody but Kurt and my boss, Benny, know anything about me and even they don’t know the half of it.”
“Whose life isn’t a mess, Max?”
I mean, really…Mine sure was.
After staring at me for a minute he said, “Okay, pack up quickly and let’s go.” I promptly leaped off the bed, got dressed, packed up my things, wrote a note to everyone and ran out the door to catch up with him.
I found out on the car ride to his house that Max liked really loud music… especially classic rock. Every time I tried to turn down the radio to ask a question, he just smiled and cranked it back up. I liked loud music too, but not when I was attempting to carry on a conversation with someone.
Why is he shutting me out?
Max lived in a small one story house on the South side of Charlotte. In fact, he only lived about a mile away from me. It seemed there was quite a lot about Max McLellan that I didn’t know. Shifting into park, he jumped out of the truck and rushed into the house. Grabbing both of our bags, I hesitantly followed behind.
It turned
out that Sarah was the spitting image of Max. She too had black hair and greenish blue eyes.
Wow, if she is this lovely now, she is going to blow minds later.
I looked around and couldn’t help but notice the sparsely worn furniture, the lack of any photographs and the clutter. The décor was very dark, very masculine and was seriously lacking a woman’s touch. This made me think back to my earlier conversations with him. He had mentioned his dad and sister, but never his mother.
Max was great with Sarah. He had her in his lap and was gently stroking her hair while whispering to her. I knew that I was getting a view of him that no one else had. Gone was the dominant controlling Max. In its place was the sweet loving brother. I liked this side of him and liked even more that he trusted me enough to let me see it.
“Ellison, this is my little sister Sarah. Sarah, meet Ellison.”
“I’m twelve, Max,” she said, looking over her shoulder at him.”
“Sorry,” he said. “Ellison, this is my very mature younger sister, Sarah,” he straight faced.
“Hi Sarah,” I smiled, “Nice to meet you.”
Her eyes bugged. “Max, is she your girlfriend?”
“Something like that,” Max mumbled.
“Really?” She asked, as if she didn’t believe that he could land a girlfriend.
“Yes, really,” he smiled. “We’re here now honey, so it’s time for you to go to bed.”
“My room is the first on the left, Ells. You can crash out if you want. I’m going to make sure Sarah is okay and I’ll be right in.”
I loved when he called me Ells. Feeling like I needed to say something, I lamely asked,
“Do you need any help? Ummm…and will your parents mind that I am here and… in your bed?” I whispered the last part and hoped that Sarah wouldn’t hear.
I could see his lips quirking. “Thanks gorgeous, I think I’ve got it handled and no, my dad won’t care. He probably won’t be back before we leave tomorrow.”
“Oh, okay.” I wanted to ask about his dad not coming home and where his mom was but didn’t think that this was the right time. “Night Sarah,” I said, smiling at her pretty face. She really did look just like Max.
“Night Ellison,” she replied.
“Oh, please call me Ellie. All my friends do and I can tell that you and I are going to be great friends.”
She cut her eyes up at Max. “Why don’t you call her Ellie?”
“Because I don’t want to,” he said.
I left them in the living room debating about my name, grabbed my bag and made my way to Max’s bedroom.
While I waited on him to appear, I brushed my teeth, washed my face and scoped out his bedroom. He had an iPod dock, an old television and a picture of Sarah and him with a woman who looked exactly like them. I assumed this was their mother. Finally, I tired of snooping, threw on a t-shirt and crawled into his bed. I fell asleep thinking about how the bed smelled deliciously like him.
Leather and spices.
I woke with something hard pressing against my back.
“Shhhhh,” I heard Max whisper behind me. “It’s just me.” I felt his hands pull off my shirt. He rolled his fingers on the band of my panties right before he slid them down my legs. Then, he put on a condom, cocked my leg over his hip and slowly pushed inside me from behind.
How will this work with him behind me?
I felt his hand circle around to my stomach and, oh so slowly, start moving downwards. Using his hands on my hips for leverage, he pulled himself in deeper. I had my answer. It felt so crazy good that I couldn’t help but moan loudly.
“Shhh,” he warned, “my sister is in the room across the hall.”
Nodding, I let him know that I understood. He cocked my leg higher and began gliding back and forth.
Wanting more, I tilted my hips and pumped back into him as he pushed forward.
Growling, he dug one hand into my hip while sliding the other between my legs.
“Max,” I gasped.
“Fuck,” he whispered and let go of his control. His hips clashed with mine. Each stroke drove us higher and higher until we both blew apart.
“So fucking good,” he whispered. Pulling out, he rolled me over and kissed me, never once taking his eyes from my face.
Wrapping my arms around him, I buried my face in his neck and held on tight. I was afraid for him to see how deeply his words had affected me. At that moment nothing in the world could make me let him go…ever.
The next morning we heard Sarah get up. I wanted to laze around in bed all morning. There were so many questions and so many things to learn about each other. I wanted to know what all of this meant, but quickly Max got dressed and suggested that we take Sarah to breakfast to help distract her from the fact that their dad had stayed out all night, again.
How long has this been happening and where is their mother? Something tells me I’m not going to like the answer.
Watching Max and Sarah together was fascinating. The closest I had come to having siblings was Piper and her brothers. They loved each other, but it was a different kind of love than Max demonstrated with Sarah. Piper’s brothers were playful, fun and sometimes mean, whereas Max was more protective and fatherly.
During breakfast Sarah mentioned their mother’s pancakes.
“I take it your parents are divorced?” I asked.
Max and Sarah glanced at each other for a second and then he said, “Our mom died five years ago.”
“Oh my gosh, I am so sorry.” I felt horrible.
“That’s okay,” he said, squeezing my hand, “you didn’t know.”
That would have made Sarah seven and Max thirteen.
“How? I mean…”
“She had a brain aneurysm and died in her sleep.”
Shit.
“Max,” I whispered, squeezing his hand.
“My dad has had a hard time of it since her death so basically it has been just the two of us. Dad pays for our food and Sarah’s sitters and I take care of pretty much everything else. We get by.”
We get by?
I thought I had it tough. For the first time in my life, I was thankful I had never known my parents. This way I wouldn’t know the pain of losing them. I could see the loss etched across Max and Sarah’s faces and wished that I could take it away.
From that weekend on Max and I spent every possible second with each other. He took me over to the garage where he worked and introduced me to his boss and good friend, Leroy Benny, otherwise known as Benny, as well as to all of his coworkers. It was apparent that Benny loved Max like a son. As a result, I couldn’t help but love Benny.
I missed having Piper around but talked to her regularly on the phone. Joss and I grew closer. She was a wonderful person with a big heart and I needed that in my life. The fact that Max and Kurt were best friends was just icing on the cake.
I learned that Max’s favorite color was blue, he loved his sister to pieces, was crazy loyal to his friends, incredibly dominating and that he considered me his girlfriend.
He considered me his girlfriend.
I told Max pretty much everything there was to know about me other than the gory details about my childhood. I figured we had plenty of time for that.
We had been together for three weeks when we had our first big fight. I know that couples fight. Hell, Piper fought with every guy she ever dated. I, however, had never had the pleasure of this experience. So to say I handled it poorly is putting it mildly.
We were leaving Max’s house to take Sarah to the movies one evening when we ran across his dad. He was pulling in as we were walking out. Max had shared very little about his dad with me. I knew that he drank and was never there. When he was around, he slept a lot. I also knew that he could be kind of mean. Max’s aversion to talking about his dad bothered me. So, seeing him up close for the first time made me pause. I hoped that Max would stop and introduce us. For some reason, this just made him angry and caused him to practically frog mar
ch me the rest of the way to the car. He nodded his head to his dad as we drove away. I was confused and hurt by this.
Why didn’t he introduce me? Is he ashamed of me? Does his dad even know he has a girlfriend? Maybe he has more than one girlfriend and is afraid that his dad will call me by the wrong name…Oh God, he could call me Jennifer!
We were halfway down the street before I spoke up. “What was that, Max?” I asked, trying to get myself under control.
“That was my jerk of a dad.”
“Why didn’t you introduce me?”
“Because.”
“Because?”
“Yeah, Ellison, because,” he firmly stated.
“That’s all you’re going to say?”
“Yep.”
Now I was angry. I turned to the back seat and asked Sarah, “Do you know what that was about?” Smartly, she shrugged her shoulders and kept her mouth shut.
This infuriated Max. “Ellison,” he warned through clinched teeth, “Don’t pull Sarah into our shit.”
Is he for real?
“Into what…shit, Max? Me wanting to know why you won’t introduce me to your dad, me thinking that you won’t introduce me because I embarrass you, or me asking your sister to explain because you won’t?” I barely got the last one out.
Max said nothing….nope….not a word.
Normally, it took a lot to rile me up but his silent treatment infuriated me. My imagination was on hyper drive and I was seriously scaring myself. When he just sat there and ignored me, I was done. “Take me home,” I demanded.
“What?”
“I want to go home… now.”
“You have got to be shitting me!” he snapped.
I was about to completely lose control and didn’t want his sister to see my melt down. I didn’t understand what had just happened and wasn’t really sure that I wanted to. Whatever was going on made me sick inside and I wanted away from it. “Take me home, please?” I pleaded.
Max must have heard the tears in my voice because suddenly he slammed on the brakes, turned the car around and headed back in the direction of my house.
“Is this what you want?” he asked, stopping in front of my house.
