by Tijan
As I closed my eyes, he smoothed his hand from my shoulder to my neck. He lingered on my breast and ran a thumb over the tip before he cupped it. Then he leaned down and I gasped as his mouth replaced his hand. He sucked on the nipple and ran his tongue around the edge. My hands slid through his hair to anchor him to me. He knew exactly what I liked. Teasing my nipple with his teeth, he murmured, "Open your eyes."
I did.
His fingers kept going in and out. I started to feel it building.
"Mason," I gasped. I couldn't close my mouth. He grinned at me while his tongue swirled around my breast again. His fingers picked up their pace. He pushed them deeper and deeper. Then his eyes changed color. They darkened as he watched me getting closer and closer. When I exploded on his hand, he withdrew, tugged me down even farther, and slid inside of me before I could catch my breath. I gasped as I fell back again.
He was hard and thick as he filled me. With the first thrust, he went all the way into me before he paused and slid back out, only to repeat the same motion. My hips moved in rhythm and a curse fell from his lips. He braced himself slightly over me while his other hand moved to my hip to hold me stationery. He continued to thrust into me, but his eyes never left mine. I closed my eyes once, but his hand left my hip to cup the back of my head.
"Hey," he murmured. His voice was low and hoarse.
My eyelids flew up. I gulped at the naked need in his depths. He didn't bank the emotion. Instead, it intensified as our eyes held and he continued thrusting into me.
I couldn't look away.
His hand fell back to my hip, and he thrust harder into me. My legs wound tighter around him, my ankles locking together as I urged him to keep going. When my climax started to build, I started to tremble. As it grew and grew, I could barely hold on. Then his thumb touched me again and I went over the edge. My body convulsed around him and he soon joined me as I felt him shoot inside o of me before collapsing on top.
Our heartbeats raced and then settled into the same beat together.
When we were able to catch our breath, I swept a hand down his sweat-soaked back. He groaned against my skin. His lips reached out and brushed a kiss to the side of my breast before he lifted his hand and cupped it again.
I closed my eyes as he started to kiss me all over.
We didn't talk for the rest of the day or that night except for when I left Coach Grath a message. He sent me a text later and reminded me that I needed to register for classes before Monday. After another night in the apartment, our sanctuary, Mason and I headed back the following morning. It was the Friday before classes started again. I had three days until I would be in a new school.
When we drove back, I couldn't shake thoughts about David. I wouldn't see him again. He didn't coach at the public school, and I wasn't sure if I was relieved or disappointed. He'd been paid to stay away from me. What father would do that? But that was the problem.
He wasn't my father.
Pain sliced through me at the reminder.
"You okay?" Mason squeezed my hand.
I looked down at our joined hands. We hadn't stopped touching since we arrived at the apartment. There was always some contact between us. Even when I used the bathroom, he stood next to me brushing his teeth with our feet touching.
"Yeah," I sighed. I would be, because of him.
He wheeled into a gas station and turned off the engine. "You want food? We can get some here or stop somewhere. We'll be back in time to get to the school."
"We can stop somewhere." My voice was hoarse.
He grinned at me, pressed a kiss to my forehead, and hopped out. I stared at my hand. It felt so natural to always hold onto his. It wasn't long before he got back inside and turned the car onto the highway. Without a word, he reached for my hand again.
I closed my eyes at the natural fit and rested my head against my seat. I felt at peace.
When we got to the school, Mason went in search for his basketball coach. He left me alone in the office with the beady-eyed secretary. Her hair was swept into a salt and pepper bun with a pink cardigan tied over her shoulders like she was an Ivy Leaguer. The lady must've been 86, but she was thorough. It took me an hour to fill out all the papers. I didn't even know there were that many papers needed to switch schools, but when I told her that Coach Grath was the one mentoring me, everything got a lot simpler. The papers disappeared after that, and when she found out that I'd be 18 in a week, she waved me off and told me that I was done. I was registered for all my classes.
When I went back to the hallway, I had no idea where to go.
The school was huge, like a cathedral, and it was a foreign land to me. The only times I had been at their school were for football games. Those occurred outside, not inside. Fallen Crest Academy didn't play Fallen Crest Public in any other sports. FCP was in a higher competitive league and only played the football teams because of some local agreement. I knew their football coach respected my da—David a lot. They were all good friends, but I wasn't sure about the basketball coaches or the rest of the sports. I think it had more to do with David than anything else. He tended to have friendships with a lot of schools. I knew he was friendly with the Roussou coach as well.
I waited for Mason in the athletic hallway. Glass cases were mounted on the wall with trophies and team pictures inside.
"Samantha?"
Everything stopped.
A surreal emotion came over me and I looked up. Then my eyes bugged out. I clamped onto my other arm with a death grip and I stopped breathing. I saw his reflection in the trophy glass first before I turned. It was a struggle. My knees locked, and I almost fell into the glass.
David caught my other arm and pulled me upright.
"Thanks." A weak squeak came from me.
He was dressed in a tracksuit with the letters FCA above the Academy's emblem. A whistle hung from his neck, and he held a bunch of papers in his hand.
"What are you doing here?" My voice sounded strangled.
"Oh. Uh." He gave me a tired look and rubbed a hand over his jaw. "Coaches meeting. It was held here today instead of the normal place."
"Normal place?"
"Yeah, we usually grab lunch somewhere. Lenny asked if he could cater in for us. He had something else going on and needed to be back right away." Then he frowned. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm…" Could I tell him? Then I remembered that he'd been paid off. Did he deserve to know? I hadn't processed anything from that night. I didn't know if I wanted to process anything, but I heard myself saying, "I'm going to school here next semester."
"Oh." He took a step back, blinking in surprise. "O—you are?"
I nodded.
He glanced up and down the hallway as he took a deep breath. His shoulders lifted up and descended. It wasn't meant to be dramatic, but it seemed like it. David was 45. He looked in his fifties at that moment. There was no graying in his hair. It was the same dark brown, combed to the side like always, but he looked old. He looked defeated.
Then he sighed, "I see."
"What do you see?"
There was disappointment in his depths as he gave me a sad look. "Does your mother know about your plans?"
I didn't hold back the bitterness. "I don't think my mother has any say in my life. She's made it clear to me that she only cares about herself, and maybe James. She needs to keep one guy in her life. He has to bankroll her whenever she needs it." I scanned him up and down. "But then again, she might not even have him anymore."
He narrowed his eyes. "What are you talking about, Samantha?"
My chest tightened and I jerked a shoulder up. "What do you care? You got paid to not care."
He took another step back, as if blown back by a sudden gust of wind. He blinked rapidly as he rubbed his jaw again. "I'm not following you. Wha—what are you talking about?"
"She. Paid. You. To. Stay. Away. From. Me."
"Honey—"
He reached for my arm, but I yanked it away. "Don't ca
ll me that," I seethed. My teeth were clenched together. "Don't ever call me that again."
"Samantha." His arm fell, as did his voice.
"Did she pay you to stay away?"
I needed to know this answer; I needed to know it so much. If she had, I didn't know how I would handle it.
"No."
I jerked back.
His eyes were steady on me. He was imploring me to hear him. "I was not paid to stay away from you. I stayed away from you because I feared for you. Your mother's not healthy. She's not been in a right frame of mind lately. She paid me to sign the divorce papers and not fight anything. I didn't fight any of it. I didn't even read them because I don't want anything from your mother. The only thing I ever cared about was you, but I worried what she would do." If she would harm you.
I stumbled as I heard those unspoken words. They flashed in my mind. I saw the same stricken look on him. He thought the same thing. A memory flared through me.
I was in the hospital room, in a nightgown. Analise had left, and I was crying. It hurt so much. Everything hurt. I couldn't breathe, but then David came in. He brushed my hair back and whispered as he kissed my forehead, "I will never leave you. I promise."
"You did leave me," I whispered.
He winced as if he'd been slapped. He nodded. Then he choked on a breath. "I'm sorry, Samantha. I really am. Your mother left me, and she took you with. I had no legal leg to stand on. I consulted with a lawyer, but I never adopted you. She was your mother, you were her daughter. I couldn't fight her, and then Garrett came into the picture. I didn't know what to think of him, if he was going to fight for you too. But you're seventeen."
"So?" I hissed at him.
"So." His shoulders drooped. "Any legal fight for you would've lasted a long time, possibly years. I didn't have years to fight. I didn't want to anger your mother. I didn't know what she would've done. I had no way of knowing what she could've said to you. She might've brainwashed you against me. I had no idea. All I could do was wait and hope that she wouldn't take you away from here."
"And if she had?"
His head jerked up. A fierce determination came over him. "Then I would've searched for you, and I would've fought for you. I wouldn't have given a damn what she had done or said, or how far she would've gone. I would've fought. But you are still here. You're still in town. You were still going to my school—not anymore, but you're here in town. You're still here. I can still see you, and you'll be 18 in a week."
"I moved out."
Surprise flared in his eyes. "You did?"
I nodded. "She threatened to leave James if Mason didn't stop seeing me; then she threatened to report him to the police because I'm still a minor. It was too much, all of it. And…" I shrugged and looked away. "It doesn't matter now. I moved out. I'm not moving back in." But even as I said it, I thought about Mason and Logan. They should live with their father. I was even thinking about James. He shouldn't lose his last few months with Mason before he went to college. And Logan, what about him? Where would we live in the next year? Nate would be gone. I wouldn't be able to live in his home, and Helen wouldn't approve of Logan being my only roommate if we rented an apartment.
The more I considered it, the more I realized that she would demand that Logan move in with her. That meant that he'd go to Los Angeles, or she would move back. But again, where would I go? She wouldn't let me live with them.
I glanced at David, but I knew I couldn't live with him. Too much had happened. There was too much distance between us.
My heart sank with that thought.
I would never get back the father that I had before.
He let out a breath of relief. "Well, that's good then. That's really good, Samantha. Would you—I mean—would you consider—where are you—" He struggled for words, but settled on, "What are you doing for your birthday?"
I waited, but when he finished with that question, I was dumbfounded. "What?"
"Your birthday is next weekend. I can imagine that Mason and Logan have a big party planned, but would you consider having dinner with me? We could go out? Or stay in? You could come back to the house." He nodded, so eager now. "We could make a homemade pizza, or no. I could order in. Chinese. You used to like Chinese. We could go to that restaurant you always liked when you were little."
"I…" I closed my mouth. I never considered my birthday plans. I'd been too consumed with the thought of being free from her, but that was done. And I was free now. So maybe dinner with David sounded like a good thing. That's what I'd been wanting, wasn't it? "Sure…"
My phone buzzed at that moment. It was a text from Mason. In the car.
"I'm, um, I'm going to go."
He nodded, a bright smile on his face. "Okay. That sounds good. I'm excited for your birthday, Samantha. I really am. I'm glad that there are boundaries with your relationship with Analise too. I've worried about you so much. You have no idea."
"I…" Again, I closed my mouth. I didn't know what to say to him anymore. Too much had happened. He wasn't my father anymore. Pain seared inside me. And what about Garrett? He was gone too. Both of them had abandoned me, maybe for good reasons, maybe not, but they were gone. I had survived my mother without them.
As I left, I didn't hear what else he said. I didn't care anymore. When I got into the car and shut the door, the shock was reeling inside of me. I didn't care anymore. I didn't care about David or Garrett. I had always cared, but not anymore.
"What's wrong?"
"I saw my dad."
"Garrett?" His eyebrows shot up.
"No." I shook my head. I was in a daze. "David. I saw him and…I don't care anymore."
He frowned. "What do you mean?"
I swallowed over a ball in my throat and turned to him. Everything seemed clearer now. "I thought that all I cared about was why he left me, why he wasn't trying to see me, and now I know that he was waiting. He was scared of what my mom would do."
He snorted. "Bat shit crazy."
"He wants to have dinner with me next weekend for my birthday."
"He does?"
I nodded, tearing up. Why was I crying now? "I can see my dad again, but I don't want to anymore."
Mason sighed and reached for my hand. He enveloped it in his strong hold and squeezed. "Things have changed, Sam. You're not living under your mom's thumb anymore. You don't have to be so scared anymore. You might care tomorrow."
"If I don't?"
He shrugged. "Then you don't. It's your life. You live it how you want. No matter the reasons, your dad screwed up. He stayed away. He shouldn't have. He didn't protect you."
"He didn't, did he?"
"No." His voice had a rough edge.
"Thank you."
"For what?" He narrowed his eyes as he frowned.
"For protecting me."
Mason smirked. "I didn't protect you."
"You didn't?"
He shook his head and leaned close. Then he whispered, his breath caressing my skin, "You protected me."
"I did, didn't I? I'm always protecting you." A smile came over me. As I looked up into his eyes, my heart constricted with love.
His grin widened. "Yeah, you do. That's what family does." Then his lips were on mine and nothing mattered besides that.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
It was the last Friday before school started again. When Mason and I got to the mansion, Logan and Nate were there with a few of their friends. I relaxed when I saw it was the guys from their school. I had only ever really interacted with Ethan before, but I was starting to recognize a few of the others. Strauss was one of them. He wore tight cowboy jeans with a big belt buckle and cowboy boots. I wasn't sure if his name was a nickname or his real name. I never asked.
They all gave us friendly nods, but Logan was the first one to reach us. He wrapped his arms around me and lifted me off the ground. "I did you a favor. Ask me what the favor was. Ask me! Come on!"
When he set me back down, I grinned. "What favor did you d
o for me?"
"I got your shift covered at Manny's!" He was so pleased with himself.
"What?"
"Yeah." He gestured to Nate, who came over and clapped a hand on Mason's shoulder in greeting. "We went to Manny's and asked who could cover for you tonight."
"Why?" My heart skipped a few beats. What had Heather said?
"Because we're having a huge party tonight. And I want you to be a part of it." He threw an arm around my shoulder and pressed me to his side. He bent close; the booze on his breath was strong. "So that Rosa chick said she'd fill in. And I invited all your friends to the party. They're coming after their shifts."
"Heather's coming?" She was the only one I wanted, but I doubted she would. She was too close to the Roussou side—and I remembered my brush with the Broudou siblings. I still hadn't told Mason about it. That was a conversation I wasn't eager to start. I didn't know how he would react, him or Logan.
Logan's grin slipped a bit. "Not sure about Jax. You know she runs with Channing."
Oh yeah. He knew.
Mason touched my hand and gestured upstairs. "I'm going to go shower." His eyes held the rest of his question if I was coming.
I nodded and followed.
It was after we had showered and were getting dressed that he brought Heather back up. He was in the closet with only a pair of jeans on, and as he was choosing which shirt he wanted, he said over his shoulder, "You like that girl, huh?"
I paused in my own dressing. I was wearing skintight black jeans that looked more like leggings and had finished pulling a sleeveless black shirt on. I tugged it around my waist and drew a deep breath. Here it was, the moment. "Yeah. I do."
He turned with a shirt in hand, but he made no move to put it on. He stared at me, long and hard. "She's Roussou territory, Sam. She's with Channing. He's a big player over there."
"But he's not the only one."
He narrowed his eyes. "No, he's not, but Jax has always been friends with that group. She's not going to change."
I sighed, "I like her." I needed a friend when I went to their school. Mason and Logan could only help me so far.
"She likes you. I know that. I've seen it, but I'm just preparing you. She's not going to start coming to our parties. Jax is fine by herself, but not the group she runs with."
