by Liza Brown
“I’m going up to Elsu’s to sleep. You can stay here or come with me, but I’m sleeping on the couch up there. I’ll be fine if you want to stay here.”
“Are you sure, Mae? I can come with you.” I could tell how tired she was.
“I’m positive, go back to sleep.” I slipped out of my apartment and arrived at Elsu’s in seconds flat. Uncle Richard let me in and I set up camp on the new couch. It was comfier than my bed.
“You can sleep in Elsu’s room,” said Uncle Richard.
“No, thank you. I’m good here. Goodnight,” I said as I settled into the couch and fell fast asleep. I slept like a rock. At some point in my sleep I had a dream of floating. It was nice and peaceful. There were no dreams of monsters or Bart. Funny how those used to be the same thing.
I woke up and stretched. I could tell by the dark room that it was still early. I rolled to my other side and realized I wasn’t on the couch anymore.
At first I was unsure where I was until I noticed I was beneath the cloud of a white plush comforter. My outstretched hand knocked into one of the posts of a four-poster bed. Elsu laid beside me.
I shot up in shock. Elsu’s eyes opened slowly. “Lay down,” he said.
“Why am I here?” I asked.
“Because you didn’t look very comfortable on the couch and I wanted you beside me,” he said.
“Why are you here?” I asked.
“Because I turned in a favor from a friend with a private plane. Now please, lay back down.”
“But this is your bedroom. I’m not allowed in here. Your mom’s rule!” I said as I pulled the blankets back and started to get up.
“Screw my mom’s rule,” he wrapped his long arm around my waist and pulled me toward him. My back to his front. His lips found my neck and he began kissing me.
“But,” I said as I tried to get up again.
“Mae, stay.” He pulled me closer to him even though there was no space left for me to move.
I felt him snuggle his face into the back of my neck and his breathing calmed. He had fallen back to sleep so quickly.
I looked at the clock, it was only 6:30. I wanted to ask him a few more questions, but his warmth overtook me and I fell back to sleep in his arms.
I came to while laying on my back. Warmth was spreading up my arm and across the neckline of my shirt. It ran down my other arm, and then back to my neck. The most amazing softness pressed gently on my lips. Something warm and wet entered my mouth and I met Elsu’s tongue with mine. I felt my t-shirt being lifted slightly and the lips left mine to kiss my navel. This guy had weird fetishes. I kept my eyes closed.
The comforter left my body and I felt fingers glide beneath the waistband of my sweats. They started to move down and I quickly grabbed his hands to stop him. His mouth returned to mine and I got another kiss. “Just close your eyes and relax, Mae.”
He returned to my pants and slowly lowered and removed them. I, for the first time in my life was willingly exposed to a man who wasn’t wearing a white lab coat. I looked down just in time to see his head descend between my legs.
I could lie and say I knew exactly what he was doing. I could also lie and say he knew what he was doing as well. There was a lot of trial but very little error involved. He went slow, stopping to gauge my body’s reaction to every touch, lick, suck, and nibble. When he hit that one spot with his tongue in just the right way, I was pretty sure I was about to squeeze his head off with my thighs. That other thing he did with his fingers inside me nearly made a bald man out of him. I’d never been touched there. But I knew I didn’t want him to stop. Then, he used both mouth and fingers at the same time and I felt my body nearly leave the bed. I let out a scream I didn’t even know I was capable of making and collapsed like a rag doll in a sweaty, happy mess.
He crawled up over me and looked at me. His nose, lips, and chin were glistening…with me. “I’m going to kiss you.”
I cringed at the thought of tasting myself on him, but it was surprisingly pleasant.
He looked at me again. “I wanted you to taste what I just tasted, Mae. Heaven.” He kissed me again. “Not only does being with you feel like heaven, I now know what it tastes like, too.” He lifted his hand to his mouth and licked his long fingers clean like he had just had a helping of the most delectable food.
I kissed him again, still reeling from my final of countless orgasms. “Why did you do that?” I asked, trying to catch my breath.
“Because I wanted to?” he asked, he was confused by my question.
“I’m not ready for sex, Elsu,” I said, still gasping for air.
“I didn’t do it for sex, Mae. I did it to hear you and find out what you taste like. I’ll admit, I’m harder than the hardest rock, but that has nothing to do with why I did it.”
I reached down to grab for him and he backed away. “Nope, Mae. This wasn’t for me.” I remembered when I had pleasured him and he seemed confused by my similar comment.
I reached to his face and pulled him to me. I licked his nose, chin and mouth. He still hadn’t shaved. “You’re going to be Santa Claus soon,” I giggled as I rubbed his stubble across my cheek.
He kissed me passionately. His hand in my hair, my hands running down his bare back. I felt him rubbing against my leg and I reached down again. Again I was pushed away. “Nope,” he said.
I was honestly disappointed, I wanted to see it. I could feel how hard it was on my leg. “Are you going to…?” I said shyly as he continued kissing me on my neck and cheek.
“In the shower, Mae.” He continued kissing.
I shook my head. “No, here. I want to see.”
He leaned back and looked at me. Those golden brown eyes were causing after-shocks through my body. “Seriously?” he asked.
“Yes, let me watch. I want to see your face.”
His eyebrow rose with curiosity. I had stumped him. He leaned back and instead of just pulling his pants down a little, he removed them completely. I was half naked with him fully nude. I looked at his entire body. Every inch turned me on more than the one I’d looked at previously. I touched his chest and ran a finger around a nipple. I licked it and sucked it into my mouth.
I heard a hiss as his head went back in pleasure. His hand had drifted to his shaft and began pumping. Muscles in his arm and chest were tensing and releasing with each stroke. I didn’t know where to look. The whole site was a vision of perfection. Michelangelo’s David looked like a wimp in comparison. I moved to be face to face with him. I kissed him on the lips. “Elsu,” I whispered into his mouth.
“Ffffff, Mae,” he said as he closed his eyes, trying to keep himself from going too soon. I kissed him again.
“Let me see what you look like when you come, Elsu.” I whispered into his mouth again. “I want to see you.”
His stroking got more fevered and his breathing more labored. He’d look at me and then he’d close his eyes almost as if in pain. Just as I could tell he was about to find his release, I leaned into his face. “I love you.” I whispered.
A primal grunting sound poured from him. Watching him was like nothing I had ever seen. He convulsed and groaned and swore like a sailor. But my name was in there too. He was lost in this most private of acts and I was there to witness it. I looked to his hand and saw he had shot onto his stomach. It was beautiful. I ran a finger through the sticky fluid and trailed it across his abs.
“Oh, Mae,” he sighed heavily as he pulled my finger-painting hand to his mouth to kiss it. “What the hell are you doing to me?”
“I could ask you the same thing,” I said as I kissed his shoulder.
He looked down at his stomach. “I’ve never shot that much in my entire life all put together!”
I grinned proudly. Had I really done that to him?
“You said it, Mae.”
“What?” I asked.
“You said you love me. Did you mean it? Or did you just say it to get me over the edge?”
“I meant every word, sy
llable, and letter, Elsu. When you told me last night I realized it. I’m in love with you. I know it’s soon, but there can’t be any other explanation for what I’m feeling. I don’t know what love feels like but if this isn’t it, I don’t want to know what is,” I said.
I laid with my head on his shoulder, his arm beneath me. “I’m in love,” I smiled. “I’m. In. Love.” I looked back at him. “I’m in love!”
“No,” said Elsu. “We’re in love.” He smiled that smile that makes me crazy and I kissed him. Hearing him say it made my whole body giddy with happiness.
We continued to snuggle for a few minutes before we decided we needed to get up.
“Mae, I’m going to get a shower,” said Elsu reluctantly.
“Hey, what do you think about your apartment?” I asked. “Magdalena and your uncle did it. I had nothing to do with it!”
“It looks awesome, Mae. You know what the best part of coming in this morning was?” he asked.
I shook my head. “What?”
“Finding you,” he kissed my forehead and sat up, being careful not to drip.
He found a box of tissues next to his bed and wiped himself off. When he stood I saw his butt for the first time.
“Oh my God!” I said as I scooted to the edge of the bed and reached out to touch the twin globes.
“What’s wrong?” he asked as he looked over his shoulder.
“Absolutely nothing, Elsu. You are perfect!” I laid back down and watched his naked body move as he looked at his dresser.
“I guess I’m going to have to get Beatrice to get me some clothes,” he said.
“Who’s Beatrice?” I asked.
“Oh…Beatrice. She’s my stylist. Everything that was in my closet at my house, she bought for me. Well, everything that wasn’t basketball related.”
“Beatrice,” I said as I sat up and gathered the green blanket around my body like a cocoon.
“What’s wrong?” he asked as he sat down next to me. I was saddened when he used the comforter to cover himself.
“I’m not sure,” I said. I honestly wasn’t. It was that feeling in the pit of my stomach I had a week ago when I had to shoo some girls away from him. That’s when I realized what it was. “I…I guess I’m learning something about myself. Something that isn’t very becoming.”
“Everything about you is becoming,” he brushed some hair to my back and kissed my bare shoulder. “Tell me, what is it?”
“Well, I guess I’m apparently a jealous woman.”
“Jealous? Of Beatrice?”
“Not just her. Those girls at the diner last week? I was jealous.”
“I told you, that’s pretty common. But you don’t have to worry about that kind of thing. You’re the only girl I’m into, Mae. Girls like them are a dime a dozen. No respectable player, or man, for that matter would give any one of them the time of day.”
“But they were beautiful.”
“They were?”
“Yeah. Gorgeous long hair, long legs, big boobs.”
“Hmmm, I hadn’t noticed. Not my type, apparently.”
“Max said I’m your type.”
“He might frustrate the snot out of you, but your brother’s right on that one. Mae, you need to stop this. You are beautiful. I love only you. These other women who will hang on me and the other players are nothing but fans.”
“Are you the jealous type?”
“I’m…not sure. I knew Saraya was seeing other guys. I never caught her red handed, but I just knew she was. Plus there were enough pictures in the tabloids that at some point you had to believe what they were reporting. I don’t know. I guess I was kind of jealous, but not really. Maybe it was padding to help soften the blow of the inevitable breakup.”
“I know Bart cheated on me. I caught him on three different occasions. He apologized, I forgave, he repeated, so did I.”
Elsu shook his head. “He was an ass.” I nodded. “I guess I’m jealous that he got to you first. I don’t know if it’s jealousy or anger. Probably a combination of the two.”
“I just don’t know what to say about these feelings. You told me you hired April and the first thing I worried about was you flirting with her. Now Beatrice. I know nothing about her and I’m jealous.”
“Mae,” he turned to face me. His bare knee near mine. I wanted to lift the blanket and look at him again. But I just drew a circle on his knee with my finger. “I don’t know if I can keep you from being jealous, but I’m going to do my best to make sure you have nothing to be jealous of. I hired Beatrice when I was living in Arizona. I still have her on retainer. In fact, when she heard about the house she called me the next day. I just haven’t had a chance to call her back.”
“Why did she call you?”
“Because she probably knew I’d need her help replacing what I lost. I just have been a bit preoccupied lately.”
“With your day-to-day drudgery?”
“Drudgery?”
“Yeah,” I said as I brought my hands together in my lap. “Millard and I had a conversation before the game last night. He said you had a lot of employees to help with your day-to-day drudgery.”
“You think you’re my day-to-day drudgery?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Good. Because you are my day-to-day reason for waking up every morning.”
I leaned my head on his shoulder and smiled. “Well, if you have Beatrice, I probably wasted your money.”
“What?”
“That dresser, open it!” I said.
He stood and I saw his naked butt again. I blushed for staring but damn! He slid out a drawer and stood stunned. “What is all this?” he asked as he pulled out a pair of plaid green boxers.
“Remember when I told you I was going to use your credit card?” I asked.
“You went shopping for me?” he asked as he opened other drawers. “When did you possibly have time for that?”
“You needed clothes since someone keeps stealing your Whoopsters stuff,” I smiled.
He gave me a kiss. “This is amazing! He pulled out a silky pair of boxers, looked at me and smirked as he quickly slid on the blue and green paisleys. “They’re a perfect fit!” Is it wrong that I kind of wished they weren’t?
“Open the closet.”
He went to the door and opened it to find it was loaded with what Colette and I had picked out. “Holy cow!” he said as he flipped through his new belongings. “You’re amazing, Mae!”
“Do you like it? I wasn’t sure what to get. But if Beatrice is the one who usually buys your stuff, you can return it. I have the receipt. It’s in my purse. I can go get it. I wasn’t sure what you’d like, and Millard said he thought what I was picking was ok. But maybe he was just saying that to make me feel better or to get the shopping trip over quicker.”
Elsu landed on his knees in front of me. His face still higher than mine. “This is one million times better than anything Beatrice could have sent. This was picked with love. She does what she does because she gets paid for it.”
I smiled hugely. He really seemed genuinely happy. “Well, you have to thank Colette and Millard, they helped me pick stuff out.”
“Mmmm! You make me so happy, Mae.” He gave me another kiss. “You are the best girlfriend ever!” He hugged me. I got lost in his embrace and let him hold me. He finally pulled away and looked at me with a grin. “I’m going to take a shower real quick. Then we can discuss the day.”
“Ok,” I kissed him again and he stood and walked to the bathroom.
CHAPTER 17
After Elsu’s shower, we returned to my apartment where I got dressed in my closet and then sat at the kitchen table with Elsu, Arnold, Colette, April, and Millard.
“So it just blew up?” asked Colette as she sipped her/my coffee.
“Yep,” I said as I held Elsu’s hand in my lap.
“Was there anything in there that was explosive?”
“Like 20 cars with full tanks. Yeah.”
“You had 20 cars in there?” asked Arnold.
I started counting on my fingers. “Something like that. Not to mention the half-cars that were in there and there were a few old motorcycles. Damn, my grandpa’s old Harleys were in there.”
“Those were beautiful bikes, too,” said Millard with a look of sadness.
I had explained everything from the night and morning before to Elsu. April filled in any gaps I had missed. “I need to go to the police station, but I want to go by the shop first,” I said as I put our coffee mugs into the dishwasher.
“Ok,” said Elsu. I realized he was wearing his Chop Shop shirt and I smiled. I knew that our mutual happiness was about to be tested by what the day was going to bring, but until then I let my cheeks get sore with the constant smiling.
On the way to leave, we waited for the newly-fixed elevator and I eyed it nervously. “I’m going to take the stairs,” I said.
“Mae, you can’t be afraid of elevators,” said Elsu.
“Yes, yes I can,” I said as they all followed me down the steps.
When we pulled up to the shop, the entrance was still blocked off and there were news vans from the big networks from a number of markets, ESPN, and local and big-city newspapers lining the street. It was so full it was nearly impossible to get through. Millard made someone move their truck so we could park close. Once out of the car, Elsu’s arm was around me like a warm security blanket. The cameras and reporters descended on us.
“Mae! What caused this?”
I looked at Elsu. “It’s up to you,” he said.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But we’re going to find out.”
“Are you going to close the shop?”
“No, we have some cleaning up to do, but we’ll be able to be open hopefully soon.”
“Does this have anything to do with Elsu’s breakup with Saraya?” hollered Jeremy.
“No,” I said secretly wishing it would be that easy.
“Does this have anything to do with Elsu at all?”
“No,” I lied.
“Mae,” said Elsu. He looked at the crowd. “She’s being too nice to this bastard. Whoever did this wants us to break up in order for this to stop. We’re not letting our love be blackmailed.”
