by Koko Brown
The man had the patience of a saint. It was one of the reasons why I was so drawn to him. His ability to be the calm in the storm. I wrap my arm around his as the memories flood me. Walks in the snow, ice skating, hot chocolate dancing across my taste buds and mingling with the taste of him as he kissed me beneath my favorite tree with the fall leaves tumbling around us in a display of red and gold. He was magic personified for me. My warrior with a heart that beat for only me, and then he was gone.
My spirits plummet. I scramble to hold onto this perfect moment in time. Life will be here to kick me in the ass soon enough.
“How about a traditional pub dinner to round out the day?” Alfie asks. I nod my head unable to speak around the lump in my throat. I’m with the two men I love most. It’s a blessing despite the insane set of events that happened to bring me here. Love isn’t the issue. No matter how hard I tried to cast him aside, he remained embedded in my soul. Some love. The truest kind never leaves. It can transform or lie dormant. You can place it in the steel trap we all have in our minds and deny its existence, but it never really leaves you.
Alfie
There’s something in the air tonight. As we return home and we all prepare for bed, I feel a shift. I pause in Kier’s room and smile. The boy is dead to the world one leg outside the comforter as he snores quietly. He had more energy than one person should be allowed to possess.
“He’s sleeping hard, isn’t he?”
“Oh yeah. Think we wore him out.” I glance over at her. My dick hardens. She’s in an off the shoulder white t-shirt that contrasts with her caramel-colored skin and highlights the swell of her breasts. Their fuller now. Plump and round with pebbled nipples, they’re begging to be sucked.
“Eyes are up here,” she says dryly.
I clear my throat. “It’s not those beautiful browns that are standing at attention and begging me to look at them.”
“It’s a biological response.”
“Yeah to me.” I lean against the door frame, pinning her in. She licks her lips and tips her head back to look up through lowered lids. Unable to resist any longer I bend down and press my lips to hers. When she doesn’t slap the taste out of my mouth, I slip my tongue inside and reacquaint myself with the feel and taste of her. Linger hints of chocolate from the dessert blend with her natural sweetness. I moan as I tilt my head and deepen our kiss. She spears her fingers in my hair and presses her body against mine.
I grip her hips and groan. The woman I had was just developing curves. This is a woman in her prime. She nips my bottom lip, and I lift her. She wraps her legs around me and her heated center lines up with the bulge in my boxer briefs. She rolls her hips, and I grunt as my dick strains against the soft cotton that’s suddenly become a prison. I cup her neck and place my other arm under her ass to support her as I feed at her mouth and walk to my room. This is where she should’ve been all along. I sit on the edge of the bed, and she straddles my lap, grinding against me.
“You keep that up, and you’re going to get a good rogering.”
“Oh, I’m counting on it,” she purrs.
The seductive tone makes my dick twitch. This is a new side of her.
“You sure you can handle it, minx.” I slid my hands up her smooth thighs, hiking her shirt up around her waist. I cup her breast. I massage the mounds, and she moans. I lean in and bite my way up her neck. She tastes clean and addictive. I pinch her stiff nipples and tug. She gasps, arching her back like a cat. I bite her chin, and she purrs. I want to mark every inch of her flesh. I rock up, rubbing against the tiny, lacy white panties that remind me of the day I took her virginity. Thinking of her tight sheath has me harder than concrete.
Her body is all but vibrating with arousal, and her scent is calling to me like a songbird. I hook fingers in her panties and tug. They give with a snap, and I yank them free of her body. Her wet heat spreads to me through my boxers.
“You’re so wet, baby,” I whisper as I grip her ass, exploring the new planes and dips of her body as I suckle her left breast. I pause to bite down on her fat brown puckered nipple. She cries out, and grips the back of my head and pulls me closer. I continue my love bites and sucks as she squirms on my lap. My boxers are soaked, and my cock is quivering. I release her swollen breast with a loud pop and take her lips. The kiss is primal. It’s been too long to be gentle, and I want to invade her body in every way possible.
I roll her onto her back, yank off my boxers and toss them to the ground. I spread her legs and kiss my way down her slightly rounded belly to her thicker thighs. I bite her flesh, and she jerks as I move to her inner thighs. I trace a circle on her heated flesh with my tongue.
“Fie,” She whines.
I kiss her skin. “Yes, Love?”
“Don’t tease.”
“Your wish is my command,” I spread her lips and dive into her slick heat. Lost in the taste and texture, I make love to her with swirls, flicks, and licks. She grips my hair, and tightens her legs around my head, surrounding me. For the first time in years, I feel truly whole. She lifts her hips, riding my face as her muffled cries and whimpers fill the room. I tip her hips up and thrust my tongue inside, circling her walls. She flexes her muscles, shaking as she floods me. I pull back and lick my lips as I take her in. She’s a vision with her hair sprawled across the pillows, her shirt pushed up over her breasts, and her lips swollen. I grip my base and stroke my sensitive prick. Pre-come leaks from the swollen purple-tinged tip.
I’m no stranger to sex. But none of the women I’ve been with since were Athena. I haven’t even slipped inside her, and I’m close to bursting.
“Are you ready for me, Thena?”
“Condom.”
“In the drawer beside you but I’m clean love.”
“Yes, you’re also very fertile. Birth control baby is proof of that.”
The thought of seeing her swollen with my child makes me moan. I want to see her swell with the life we’ve created. I missed that the last time. She turns and pulls out a silver packet. Opening it quickly she hands me the clear condom I slip on.
“Open those legs for me, Thena. I need to remind you whose pussy this is.” She pulls her legs back and grips my base easing my tip in. I groan as she contracts around me. “You feel so damn good.” I continue to stretch her slowly as I move deeper inch by inch. When I’m almost fully seated I twine our fingers and drive home. She digs her heels into my back. I capture her swollen lips, capturing her vocal displays of pleasure. I take them in, using them as fuel as our bodies catch a quick rhythm.
She’s like a glove, wrapped around me, pushing me to my limits as she pulses and flexes. I swear I can feel her heart beat through her pussy as my own muscle pumps overtime in my chest.
“Fie.” I feel my name against my lips as she begins to shake. Our movement becomes frenzied as I bottom out inside her and slam home over and over, unable to pace myself. She meets me stroke for stroke. My whole body tingles as my balls draw up. She tenses, gripping me like a vice. I flood the condom and rest my head between her breasts as I keep the majority of my weight off her. I never thought I’d be here, as close as I can get with the woman I love. Her heart beats in my ear, and her scent engulfs me. I want to prolong this for as long as possible because all too soon the day will come and bring with it madness.
I wake as she pulls from my arms.
“Where you going?”
“Back to my room, where I belong. We shouldn’t have done this.”
Her words wake me like cold water over my head. I push to a sitting position. “Why not?”
“Because it complicates things, and we have enough to deal with.”
“You think denying ourselves is going to make anything easier?”
She frowns. “Don’t mistake the physical response of my body as anything more.”
“You don’t do sex without a serious emotional investment,” I say.
“I didn’t. Don’t think you know me as you once did. That was me then.”
> “Cold and callous is never going to be you, Thena. There might’ve been men who warmed your bed, but they weren’t random or numerous. It’s not in you. I know how you’re built. That doesn’t change.”
She narrows her eyes. “We’re not going to sweep what happened under the rug and just pick up where we left off.”
“Who said I wanted to?” I ask.
“What are you trying to do then?”
The ringing of her phone kills the moment. She snatches the shirt off the floor, tugs it over her head and rushes out of the room like the hounds of hell are nipping at her heels. I toss the sheets aside and swing my legs over the side of the bed. A sense of urgency fills me as I scramble for my boxers. I shove my legs through the hole and step into the hall as the sobbing begins. Alarms blare inside me as I rush to her side.
“What’s going on, Athena?”
“They have him.” Her words are garbled, and her body shakes as she lifts her phone to me. The image of Porter, bound to chair with rope. Blood is oozing from multiple wounds. His face is swollen to nearly twice its regular side along with his lip. I squint. Is he missing his ear? The irony of the role reversal isn’t lost on me.
“They’re trying to draw you out.”
“You expect me not to answer them?” She rasps.
“If you respond, what are you going to say Because I know exactly what they’ll tell you. Give yourself up, agree to meet them, and they’ll spare your Father. Sure they will until they get you all in one place and slaughter you all in one swoop.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do. Because it’s my job to.”
She shakes her head.
“You willing to bet Kier’s life on it.”
She grips her throat and shakes her head. “Oh, my God. Of course not.”
“You need to stop letting your emotion rule you. You know how this goes as well as I do.”
“Not all of us can separate our feelings so easily.”
“It’s what’s made me the best at what I do,” I say blankly. This is about keeping them safe. I can live with her hate as long as she’s breathing. “Give me the phone and let me listen to their messages.”
I take the phone and move into the living room as she begins to pace.
“If you want to see your father alive again. You’ll make immediate arrangements. Every hour you remain silent, he’ll lose another item.”
I grit my teeth. The type of guilt she’d feel over this would kill her soul.
“Do you know why they’re doing this?” I ask.
“No. I don’t care about his empire.”
“Maybe not, but Kier is currently the rightful heir to it.”
“Oh, My God.”
I nod. “They want to tie loose ends.”
“I can’t let that happen.”
I wrap my arm around her waist. “I won’t let anything happen to either of you. But I need you all in to make this problem go away.”
“I thought we were safe here.”
“You should be, but I don’t deal in uncertainties. So you go into your room, clean yourself up and calm down. I’ll play hardball.”
She hesitates. “You either trust e or you don’t love. Can’t be in-between on that.”
“I trust you.”
“Then go.” She doesn’t need to see this side of me, not when her father’s life is in the balance. He gave me a task. No, he returned the task that was rightfully mine, protecting my family, and that’s what I’m going to do at any cost. I walk out to the back of the house and redial.
“I didn’t think you’d have the guts to call back. I’m impressed.”
“Hate to disappoint you then.”
“Who is this?” the man snarls.
“Alfie Bowring. You know.”
“Yes.” His tone turns respectful. “We have no quarrel with you.”
“You’re contacting my woman and threatening my family, so yes, you do have a problem with me. One we both know you don’t want, and can’t afford. Doesn’t look well for a new leader to be engaged in a war. Makes people antsy. They start to doubt him, and the whole thing begins to crumble from the inside as loyalties are divided, especially when you’re working together with another family.”
“What do you want?”
“For you to drop this. Athena and Kier are mine. Their last names will be changing soon enough. You don’t have to worry about them coming back to claim a damn thing. Their legacy is here.”
Silence falls. “And what about, Porter?”
“What about him?”
“You aren’t trying to recover him?”
“Our history is no secret. Why should I care?” I ask, refusing to show my hand or any sign of weakness.
“Get your house in order, and your problems with us will disappear, the same way Porter Douglas is about to.”
The dial tone fills my ear. I’ve bought us time, but they will follow up.
She rushes out to me. “What happened?”
“We’re okay, for now. We need to get you situated here, though.”
“And Dad?”
I shake my head.
“What do you mean no?”
“There was nothing I could do to help him.”
“You expect me to believe that? After what he did to you?”
“They want his legacy ended. If I asked to keep him, or brought him here, we’d never go off their radar. A normal life would be impossible. This is a clean break.”
“Yes, with his life as a forfeit.”
“He knew that, Thena. He asked me to take care of the two of you, and that’s exactly what I’m doing.”
She shakes her head back and forth.
“Yes. It’s why he set everything up, spent that last day with you at the beach house, and shipped you off. Why else would he apologize after all this time?”
“I just can’t believe there was nothing.”
“You know how cold this world is. Second chances and redemption have no place here.”
“And what magic words did you say to gain our freedom.”
“The truth. I told him you weren’t a threat to the Douglas family because you’re mine now.”
“How could do that? Those are choices for me to make.”
“You had ten years of making your choice and doing things your way. Now it’s my turn. You’ll both wear my name because it’s right and there’s power in it. He’s not going to risk starting a war right out the gate over this. It would make him look weak and incapable of toppling the current regime.”
“So you forfeit my freedom?” She croaks.
“To keep you safe? Yes, every time. You’re no prisoner here. There’s a world to explore –
She gives a harsh laugh. “Are you serious? I lost everything in my house, my career, any friends I had because I can’t even figure out what to say to them about my odd departure.”
“You can transfer your qualifications for pharmaceuticals, and any additional courses you need we’ll get you enrolled in. Yes, it’ll take work and time, but we can work together to create a happy home.”
“I never wanted to lose control over my life again.”
“Are you even listening to yourself?”
“When’s the shotgun wedding, Alfie?” she spits.
I clench my jaw and ball my fists. She’s treating me like I sought her out. She was literally delivered to me with little warning on a red eye from Boston.
“A lot happened tonight. We both need to take a breather.”
“Now you want to hit the pause button?” She stalks toward me.
“You’re taking this out on me. I didn’t plan it. I sure as fuck didn’t cause it, but I’m handling it. We’re stuck together for the foreseeable future. So why make it more difficult than it needs to be with sharp words and false accusations?”
“Easy to say when you’re the one with the power.”
“I nearly died for you,” I say quietly. “I was thrown in a shipping container like garbage w
ith no food or water. I almost didn’t make it. I’m lucky as hell that container held something edible, and even then it was dicey. You know what piss and shit smell like after a few days in a small dark space?”
Her eyes dilate, and her mouth drops open.
“He fucked me up royally. Mentally and physically. I required rehabilitation and a number of other things to get me back on my feet. Yet, I hold none of that against you, because it was all Porter. You need to make that distinction before your poisonous not just us but Kier and his experience here. I gave you a few days to get it together. I’m done with that. Tomorrow we tell him, and we’ll be married before the week is out, because otherwise, we’ll set a chain of events into motion neither of us will like.” I turn on my heel and walk away. I lock my emotions down with chains and clear my mind. I’m good at shutting down. It’s opening up, that’s difficult. I leave her in the hall. She knows where to find me if she needs me.
FIVE
ATHENA
I spent the rest of the early morning hours tossing and turning. I can’t sleep when his words and my father’s death are haunting my every thought. His graphic description made my stomach roll. My father did that, and yet he took us on without hesitation. It’s more than most men would do. He could easily have tossed me out and kept Kier. Women are often seen as disposable in this old boy’s society of criminals. I was unloading on him in the hallway, and he didn’t deserve that. My throat swells as tears spill from my eyes. There was a time when the only thing I wanted was to be his wife. Now I feel like nothing more than a responsibility he’s inherited.
I’m too shaken to process everything, but I know he’s right. Remaining in limbo won’t help Kier adjust faster or do us any favors. The Albano’s and Brizzi’s needs to be reassured we’re not going to come after them. Maybe it’s a plus that Alfie and my father were at odds. Tired of feigning sleep, I climb from the bed and trudge to the shower. It’s a waiting game now. Until I get the call. My soul is heavy, and my brain is at max capacity. I toss my gown into the waiting basket and place my hair up into a messy bun to keep it from getting wet. I step onto the marble floor surrounded by a white subway tile and tilt my head up to let the rain like droplets beat down on me. Thoughts of my father set off another bout of tears, and I let the water disguise my breakdown.
