by Lauren Wood
“Hello?” My voice was a strained whisper.
“Stacy? This is Keenan. I was wondering if you could come in today. I have a meeting that I have to fly to Houston for and you seem to do well facilitating with clients. Do you think you can make it? I can try to have you back by tonight if I have to.”
“Sure Keenan. What time?” I was hoping that I have time to get ready, have the conversation with Chris that I was supposed to have, but when Keenan told me that he was going to be over in ten minutes to pick me up, I knew that there wasn’t going to be any time for any of that. I was going to be lucky to get a shower and a fresh pair of clothes on in that short amount of time.
“Okay Keenan. I am going to jump in the shower and I will try to be ready when you get here.”
“Thanks Stacy. You’re a life saver.”
I told him that it was no problem. Maybe it was for the best because I didn’t want to have the ‘talk’ with Chris right now anyways. I wasn’t ready and if he didn’t want to talk at all, I knew I was going to be crushed. I didn’t see how I was going to get out of it the way I was going.
So I got in the shower and tried to pretend that everything was going to be okay. I wasn’t sure if that was true, but I was clinging to the hope that it would be true at some point.
I took my time, my body a little sore, even though I knew that my boss was coming. It was going to be a long day and it wasn’t even nine o’ clock in the morning yet.
Chapter 18
Chris
I woke up to a knock at the door. The bed was empty, though there was still a warm spot where Stacy had been. My mind played over the night before and my cock was instantly hard. I was never going to forget the way she called out to me and the dirty words that had poured out of her mouth as I had drove into her deeper than ever. Fuck, I wanted more and even though I knew she was going to be sore, I was already trying to figure out a way to talk her into it. It didn’t help that there was someone at the door, but I hoped that it was just Stacy at the door. Maybe she forgot her key or something.
When I unlocked it and opened the wooden door, the last thing I was thinking I would see was my old friend Keenan. He looked just about as surprised to see me as I was to see him.
“Um, hey Chris. What are you doing here?”
I was about to ask him the same question, but he beat me to the punch. How was I going to explain this away?
“Well, um I was here to see Stacy.”
He looked at me and I realized that I didn’t have any pants on. It was going to be hard to make him think that this was anything but sexual. I might as well have been caught red handed.
“You don’t have any clothes on Chris.”
I felt my face getting red. Why was I so nervous about being caught with Stacy?
“Yeah, I guess I don’t.”
“You two…?”
I just kind of shook my head and moved to let Keenan in. It was awkward for a few moments as neither one of us had nothing to say.
“I didn’t see that coming.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t think that she would give you the time of day.”
“Ouch, you have no faith in me old friend. You seem to forget that I am always in a woman’s pants.”
“Yeah, but not like her.”
I didn’t like what it was that he knew. How did he know that she was so special? Did he know that she was a virgin and that she had given herself to me? It felt like that was what he was referring to but I didn’t ask because frankly I didn’t want to know. All I wanted to know was that she was mine now.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know exactly, but Ashlyn is really protective of her. Says she is innocent and I better not corrupt her.”
I smiled, I couldn’t help myself. I felt like I had corrupted her enough last night, but I still wanted to do it some more.
“You didn’t corrupt her Keenan, I did.”
Keenan just shook his head and looked at me like I had lost my mind. “You are a mess. You better not hurt her Chris. She is a sweet girl.”
Why did every one think that I was bad news? I know that I had a reputation in the past, but people change. I had changed and I wasn’t in it to hurt her. I didn’t know what I was in it for yet, but it had nothing to do with me hurting her. I only wanted to give her pleasure and hear my name screamed out between her lips. That was all that I wanted, no matter how sad or silly it may have been.
“I am not going to hurt her Keenan. I don’t even know what this is, but I do know that I am not going to let her go. Stacy made me realize that there was more to life and relationships. I am not going back any time soon. She changed me Keenan.”
Keenan’s smile grew on his face and he started to tell me that it was just like what happened with him and his wife, but he didn’t have much time to reminisce because Stacy was coming out of the shower. She had a towel wrapped around her and I was thankful for that. Stacy was known to like to run around without one and even though I would have loved to have seen it, I didn’t want anyone else to ever see her like that, just me.
“Keenan, is it already time?”
“Yeah, I was closer than I thought when I called. I don’t mind waiting though, catching up with Chris.”
Stacy looked from me to her boss and I could tell that she was not happy about the situation. Maybe it was too real for her, I am really not sure. All I knew was that I didn’t want to make it any worse. She had that look on her face that told me that she wasn’t ready for this to be in the open.
“I think I am going jump in the shower. I have meetings to get to myself.”
I walked out of the room and the silence that I left behind. Stacy made her way into the bedroom and I heard the door shut quickly. She was embarrassed, that much as clear, but she didn’t need to be. She was perfect and I wished that Stacy knew that. This wasn’t near done with us and I knew that by the end of it she would understand.
Turning the shower on, I waited for a time to let the room get hot and steamy before I got undressed. I only had boxers on, and I got in. I looked down and saw a slight tinge of red on my cock and it reminded me once again of what it had felt like to be inside of her. The memories from last night came flooding in and I cursed the guy that had ruined my morning. What did Keenan need Stacy to do that was so important that he was calling her in on her day off?
I wanted to just give Stacy a salary and then she wouldn’t have to work. Then we would have more time together and I wouldn’t have to wait for her to have some time off to see her. Money wasn’t an object, so why was it pulling her out of my bed, never to be seen again?
When I got out, everyone was gone and I was left with a small note on the table.
“I had a great night Chris, thanks. Please lock up before you go.”
There was a signature that I knew was Stacy’s, even though I couldn’t really read it. She had given me the boot, in a nice way of course, but no less the boot. I had never had a woman do that to me before. It made sense that it would be Stacy that would do it. What was I supposed to do now? I had all kinds of thoughts of what should happen, but that was not to be. I was going to have to give her time, even though the idea alone was killing me.
***
“Ashlyn, what are you doing here?”
I hadn’t seen her in a while and by the expression on her face, I wasn’t going to like the conversation most likely.
“I am wondering what you were doing in my niece’s apartment this morning.”
I was a bit surprised that Keenan told on me and I almost couldn’t believe it. “How do you know?”
“Because I am friends with her doorman. Who do you think got her into that place and subsidizes the rent for her?”
So she knew and I was left wondering what I was supposed to say or do about it. Why was she here? It wasn’t like Stacy was under age. She could make her own decisions and that meant that I could be one of them.
“What do you want Ashlyn?” I
wasn’t used to having people talk to me like this, but Ashlyn never had cared about etiquette or where someone was on the food chain. She was a shark in her own right and I wanted to tread softly. I didn’t want her as my enemy. She was in most of the city’s ear.
“I want to know what you were doing at Stacy’s apartment last night Chris and why you didn’t leave till she was long gone the next morning.”
That was a lot to answer and flashes went by that made me wish I didn’t have her aunt breathing down my neck right now.
“I don’t think it is anyone’s business Ashlyn, not even yours.”
“That’s where you are wrong. She is my responsibility. I told her mother that I would watch over her when she was in the city. I mean to and keeping her away from men like you is first on my agenda.”
I was shocked at how angry she was. I don’t know why, but it felt like she hated me in those moments. What had I done so wrong to warrant this? It was a beautiful night. It wasn’t ugly and it certainly was not a reason for her to fly off the hook.
“I think you are taking this too far Ashlyn. You don’t understand. I really care about your niece, a lot.”
She didn’t want to hear it though. I tried to think of what I had done to her to make her so upset with me, but I don’t think I was really going to get an answer. I knew that I had a reputation and the old me would have agreed with her, but this was different. Everything that was going on with me and Stacy was between me and her. It was different than anything I had experienced before. There had been this thought in the back of my head that if I was able to get inside of her once, I would get over this mind consuming need I ad for her. Now I realized that it was only worse. Now I wanted her even more than I had before. Nothing had changed at all.
“I don’t care what you think you feel Chris. You need to leave her alone and not see her anymore. I am not leaving until I get you to agree.”
It would have been easier to just tell her that I agreed and do whatever the hell I wanted to do anyways. It was that kind of thing that got me in trouble though. I didn’t want to lie to her, not when in the back of my mind, I knew that we may be family one day.
“I think that your niece is old enough to make decisions for herself Ashlyn. There is something good between us and I am not going to agree to anything like that.”
Ashlyn didn’t look happy. It was the first time that she had really been that upset with me before. I had never seen her angry and I had to notice the same flash in her eyes when she as mad, as I saw in Stacy’s eyes. It was hard to not see the resemblance between them in moments like this.
“I am warning you Chris. I don’t care how much money you have, if you hurt Stacy, I am going to make sure you wish that you had never met either one of us.”
I was starting to have that feeling about her right now. I knew that she wanted to throttle me at that very moment, but she didn’t. Instead she huffed out of my office and I was left to contemplate it all. What had just happened?
Pushing the conversation out of my mind, I tried to call Stacy. I wanted to make sure that I was still able to talk to her, that it was still real. It didn’t help my thoughts that she didn’t answer her phone. I left a message and waited a few minutes before I was looking at my phone again.
Why did I want to talk to her so badly now? Was it because she was even more forbidden than before?
Chapter 19
Stacy
I didn’t answer my phone when Chris called because I didn’t know what to say to him. After what me and Ashlyn had talked about, the last thing that I wanted to do was talk to Chris. I had known he had a reputation, but my aunt felt the need to make sure that I really knew what that entailed. Well now I did and I can’t say that I liked it all that much.
The way Ashlyn described it, I was better off to never see him again. It wasn’t that I had expected any different, but I had hoped that it would be different somehow. I knew that we weren’t meant to be together, but the fact of the matter was that I wanted us to be written in the stars. It was a pipe dream, I knew that, but it was still a dream that I couldn’t brush off. I wanted everything to be perfect, but Ashlyn brought it all back down to me. She made me realize that I was not even in the same world as Chris, let alone the same league. He wasn’t the man I was looking for and I knew that now.
It didn’t mean that I had to like the way it all turned out. Every time he called and he called often, the first thing that I would want to do was to call him. I wanted to hear his voice and I wanted him to tell me all of the things he had said before. Ashlyn must be wrong if he keeps calling me, right? Why would he call if he didn’t want to have anything to do with me?
I was getting weaker to his calls and then he came by my apartment a couple of times. Again, I didn’t answer because I didn’t want my mind to be where it was now. I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew that he was just toying with me. Chris was never going to give me what it was that I wanted.
I was out with Ashlyn a week later and again Chris was calling me. It was lunch time and I was sure that he wanted to go out. I quit my job with Keenan without much of an answer. The truth was that I just couldn’t run into Chris. I didn’t have the strength and if Keenan knew where I was, then that meant that Chris knew.
“Who is it that keeps calling you and making you look at your phone in that way Stacy?”
I shrugged and refused to tell her about Chris calling me. She had bashed him enough and I just didn’t want to hear it. I knew her opinion and everyone was entitled to their own opinion, but that didn’t mean that I wanted to hear it again. And it didn’t mean that I had to agree with her, because I didn’t.
“Don’t tell me that it is Chris.”
“What if it is? So what? It is not like I am going to answer it.”
“Good for you Stacy. It really is for the best.”
“It doesn’t feel like it.”
“Well it will get better. You just have to take your mind off of it and I have an idea for that.”
“Oh?” There was no telling what kind of an idea she had, but Ashlyn usually had good ones. I needed something to take my mind off of the man that I loved and wouldn’t ever love me back. It wasn’t healthy to feel this way about him. It really wasn’t. Especially when I knew down in my heart that whatever I felt for him, wasn’t reciprocated and that wasn’t going to change.
“Yeah I have a few friends out in California that do some marketing for all of the big names in Hollywood. I think it would be a great opportunity to go down there the last month and a half of summer. It will be good for your resume and I think it will be even better for to get out of here for a while. It seems like you need to clear your mind Stacy and this will help.”
She was right. I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to get Chris off of my mind when I was here. I knew that I didn’t want to have to run away, but the truth of the matter as that I did. It was going to be the only way that I was going to be able to feel normal again. I needed to jump into something head first and I had almost 2 months until my first class started.
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
She looked surprised, like I wasn’t going to agree to it. But she was right that I needed to get out of here and get away from Chris. She had warned me about it him a long time ago and for a while I had tried to tell myself that she as wrong. Ashlyn wasn’t though. Being around here and where Chris could keep contacting me was just going to make it impossible to forget and I really needed to forget.
“Yeah, okay. I think that this is going to be for the best.” I wasn’t too sure about that, but I was sure that I needed a change of scenery.
“Good Stacy. I was afraid that you were going to argue with me about it. But I am glad that you see this is for the best.”
I wasn’t going to go that far, but it was a good idea and I could see it like that. It wasn’t going to be easy, but with something to do I would be able to recuperate sooner.
Ashlyn never was one to ta
ke her time with anything and this time was no different. She had it all set to go the next day and all I had time for was to go home and pack. I didn’t have time to really think about it and I didn’t have time to change my mind. I think that that was the whole point. She didn’t want me to back out of it and she might have been right that I would have done it.
So the next day I met Ashlyn at the airport and I was determined to make this an adventure and to look forward to it. It was going to be great for when I graduated. It was real life experience and it wasn’t in stocks, but marketing like I wanted. This was going to be a good thing.
***
It felt like an eternity that I had been gone when I got back to my place. It was strange to be home after being in California again. I almost stayed there, but instead I came home. It was more out of duty than anything else. I had only one semester left to go and I was determined to finish it. It would mean more money for me when I graduated, even though I had been offered a job while I was there. The pay was good, but I knew that I would regret it if I didn’t get the degree that I had worked so hard for. I was in the final stretch and with new information coming to light, I felt like I had to get my degree before it was too late and life got in the way. I had seen it happen many times before and I wasn’t going to be one of those girls.
The irony of it all was that Ashlyn had given me the opportunity to go to California to get away from Chris and to get him out of my mind. The sad part was though, that there was no way I was going to be able to forget him, not when there was a reminder of him growing in my belly. That was something that couldn’t just be forgotten and the more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that there was no way that I was going to get over him. I was still not sure what I was going to do, but I knew that I had to figure something out soon. Soon I was going to be showing and there would be no ignoring it anymore. People were going to want to know.
It was something that I never thought I would be. I was going to be a single mother and I knew that if I didn’t have my degree before I gave birth there was a good chance that I would never get it.
