Runaway Love

by Amber Nation

  Now that’s boredom.

  “We were bored, and Emmy isn’t feeling well. So we stopped by the liquor store and got everything needed to make some scrumptious drinks, and came by to see you. You’ve been so wrapped around Charlie lately that we haven’t seen much of you. And when Charlie said you were off tonight but he had to work, we knew this would be the perfect time to have some girl talk.” Tessa filled in while rummaging through my cabinets until finally locating my glass wear.

  Toby made Tessa and I each a Georgia Pie, which was quickly becoming one of my new favorites. I loved the fact that this fabulous drink was associated with this fabulous State. Since I was at home, I tended to let the alcohol flow a little more freely. Toby had also brought along hot wings, so our stomachs were pleasantly full.

  Toby and I gathered on my couch, while Tessa took my arm chair.

  Since the alcohol was coursing through my veins, I got a little bolder with my choice of wordage. “So Toby, how are things between you and Gio? Getting him to spill anything isn’t an easy task to achieve,” I asked, genuinely concerned as to how things were going with my friends.

  “We agreed to take things one step at a time. He isn’t used to being in a relationship, so things are progressing a little slower than I would like. I can say that I am so madly in lust with that man. If he wanted, he could have me wrapped around his finger in two point five seconds flat,” he expressed, with a snap of his fingers. Just seeing the twinkle in his eye, I knew he was much more than just in lust with Gio.

  “So how is baby Blake?” I asked looking at Tessa while taking another sip of my drink, then placing it on my coffee table. Toby quickly leaned forward and lifted my glass, slid a coaster underneath, and replaced the glass.

  “Sorry, I’m OCD like that, and with the ice in that glass, it’ll make a ring on your table,” he sheepishly remarked. Okay.

  “Mags, just go with it,” Tessa smirked. “Anyways, Blake is doing great, and he is absolutely spoiled. But enough about my adorable baby boy, we want to know what’s going on with you and Charlie…”

  Groaning, I retrieved my glass and took another hefty sip before placing it back down on the coaster. Did I want to be honest and open up to them? Perhaps, they could actually give me some advice as to what to do.

  “Things are great. Things are amazing.” I wearily replied.

  “I’m sensing a but…” Toby replied instantly.

  “But…I don’t know. He is absolutely wonderful. He treats me, like I have never ever been treated before and it makes me feel like the luckiest woman in the world. But I am ready to take things a step further and he just seems to keep holding himself back.”

  “A step further??” Tess interjected, and looked at Toby with a raised brow, “You two still haven’t…?”

  “No! I am twenty four years old and I have a boyfriend who I lo…care deeply about,” I almost spilled the ‘L’ word. I didn’t know if I was completely ready to go there yet. Like I’ve said before, I think what I’m feeling is a lot like love, I just didn’t know if it was at full blown capacity yet. I’ve been told that when you fall in love, you felt it all the way down to your bones. I felt it so deeply in my bones, but I didn’t know if I was ready to come out and admit it yet. There was still that tiny niggling feeling that told me that things could still fall apart, I was just trying my best to ignore it. “But I want to have sex with Charlie. I want that so bad. Perhaps, that makes me pathetic. Maybe he just doesn’t feel the same way about me as I do him. If that’s the case, then he is one hell of an actor.” I chuckled at the end. If I didn’t laugh, then I’d cry.

  “I know that I’m a virgin, but is there physically something wrong with me to where he doesn’t want to touch me? I mean he’s thirty years old, he can’t be turned off by sex already. Can he?” I looked to each of them, appraising their expressions, which didn’t give anything away.

  “Well, as a male, gayness aside, I think you are absolutely gorgeous. Your body is banging, doll. I don’t think that it has anything to do with you. I just think he is reluctant. He wants to make everything perfect.” Toby explained while talking animatedly with his hands. I think he needed his hands to help him talk, take away his hands or make him sit on them, you’d probably take away his ability to form sentences.

  “You know what I think you should do?” Tessa said, sitting up to where her back was off the chair, and she appeared almost giddy with her current thoughts. I looked to her and raised a brow, silently asking “what?” “I think you should seduce him!!” she shrieked.

  My mouth hung open in midair, this was her wise advice? I thought she was trying to help me out, not throw me under the bus. Seduce him? Hell, I’m the least sexy person I know. I didn’t even know what to say to that…

  Toby crossed his legs and started pointing at Tessa, “You know, I think Tess might be on to something here. You are off the entire weekend right?” Nodding my head to answer his question, “Well, he works until seven on Sunday, and Emmy Lou’s has a DJ Sunday night.” I knew I had a bewildered look on my face, because I had absolutely no clue where this was headed. Was he going to have me come into the bar and persuade him into having sex with me? “Tess and I will make you look fabulous, put you in a short dress and tall heels. Oh, I can just picture it now…” He had a faraway look in his eye, his vivid imagination running rampant, “You strut into the bar and he spots you immediately, and he turns into one of those wolves from the old cartoons where his eyes pop out of his head and his tongue rolls to the floor. Mix that with you grinding up on him on the dance floor, honey that man will be putty in your hands.” Incredible, was he aware that this was me he was talking about?

  “What the French toast? No, no way.” I repeatedly shook my head back and forth, “There is no way I could do that, especially the ‘grinding up on him’ without being drunk. Call me weird, but I’d like to be fully lucid whenever Charlie and I have sex for the first time.” I swallowed down the rest of my drink with one gulp, then pushed myself off of my couch and went into the kitchen to make myself another one, this one doubly as strong.

  Could I actually do this? Perhaps, I could just talk to him and see what was going on.

  Charlie would make me so hot that my vibrator just wasn’t cutting it anymore. I wanted him with every fiber of my being. Did he not see me the same way?

  I quickly drained half of my refreshed Georgia Pie and looked at the glass. These went down way too easy.

  I could see Toby and Tessa were silently conversing amongst themselves in the living room, while I was having a mental freak out as I leaned up against my kitchen counter. When did my life become so complicated? I sometimes missed the ease of everything when it was just me and on occasion, Gio, but having an amazing man in my life and a few insanely kickass people to call my friends, definitely made things more exciting and not to mention, interesting. Complicated or not, I was now surrounded by people, this is the first time in my life where I’ve had more than one person to lean and rely on, and I was finally getting used to it. Hope bloomed in my chest; things were finally turning around for the better, things were going in my favor instead of against.

  I pushed myself from up against my counter and walked to my bedroom to retrieve my iPod. I was beginning to feel good about myself, which could have very well been the effect if the alcohol, but I was in the mood to dance. Throwing my robe down on my bed, because I didn’t need a robe in the way of my stellar dance moves, I grabbed my iPod from my bedside table and went back into the living room.

  “Do you guys want to hear some tunes?” I asked them, while I placed my iPod on my speaker docking station, and turned on my dance mix playlist. Sounds of “Love Shack” by the B-52s filtered throughout the surround sound speakers variously placed throughout my living room.

  I hadn’t heard Tess or Toby make a peep since asking about music, so I turned around to see shell shocked expressions across both of their faces.

  “What?” I asked, unsure of why they were
staring at me like that.

  “Uh Mags, have you ever wore that around Charlie?” Tessa asked, gesturing to my outfit.

  I was getting so warm that my current wardrobe completely slipped my mind. I guess it wasn’t appropriate to wear a cami and short boxers in front of friends? I’d done it in front of Gio thousands of times back at school. I think I would’ve been too embarrassed to wear this in front of Charlie just yet. He wards off all of my advances, so why would he want to see this much skin?

  “I’m sorry guys, I forgot I had this on. I just got so warm between my robe and the drinks, I just wasn’t thinking. I’ll go change.” I started making my way towards my room to go change into something more appropriate.

  “No, Mags don’t worry about it. Tessa was just saying that if you had ever worn that in front of him, there would be no flipping way he could’ve resisted your advances. A man only has so much restraint, and every single bit of his would’ve flown right out the damn window seeing you in that. I told you that you had a banging body, but damn girl.”

  I actually giggled and then I knew I turned about twelve different shades of red, I hated that I could blush and be embarrassed so easily. I picked up my glass from my counter and drank down the rest of the delicious drink. I was feeling pretty damn good.

  We each started getting into the songs. “Like A Prayer” by Madonna was currently up on the playlist and we were having the best time showing off our dance moves for each other in the middle of my living room. We each took turns doing stupid old dance moves like the sprinkler, the shopping cart, the running man, and my personal favorite the tootsee roll. Toby tried to teach us how to Dougie, but it was a lost cause with me. Just like twerking, I just didn’t get it.

  “Girls you have plum wore me out,” Toby said as he flopped back onto my couch, “I’m going to rest a bit.” He reached into the front pocket of his black jeans and pulled out his phone. I knew he was checking to see if Gio had texted him. I made a mental note to try to pry what’s going on between the two of them out of Gio.

  “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” by the wonderful Whitney Houston was ending, and I knew what song I wanted to hear next. I relayed my song choice to Toby and Tess which had Tessa shrieking and jumping up and down while clapping her hands, “That song is my jam! I freaking love that song.”

  “Tessa, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you say every song is your jam. Just dance woman!” he said playfully, as he was busy clicking away on his phone.

  I leaned in close to Tessa and faintly said, just barely loud enough for her to hear me, “I love this song too. I always imagined doing a sexy dance to it.” I bit my lip, and looked shyly at her. I couldn’t believe I just told her that, but there was just something about them that made me comfortable and my filter fly off.

  “We are your pals here Mags, go for it. Let’s give Toby a show.” She winked at me as I hit play on the song. The guitar riff rang out in my speakers as Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar on Me” started playing.

  Tess and I started at opposite sides of the room and we were going all out, we were going to give Toby a show. I tried not to look at either of them because I would totally lose my nerve, but I saw Toby from time to time peek up over his phone with a huge smile on his face.

  I strutted my stuff trying to be seductive, popping my hips out with the beat of the song. I sang the words to the song right along with Tess, and would bend over from time to time with my hands touching the floor, and ever so slowly I would stand up running them all over my body. I made little moves rotating my hips and wiggling my ass, and I would slap my thighs as I moved my hips around in a circle. I had never felt more wanton in my life. It was fun and it was exhilarating. Running my fingers through my hair, I raised my arms above my head, all while still singing along.

  At the end of the song, I was completely exhausted, I had put my all into dancing and now my energy was depleted and I was just plain ready for bed. I flopped down beside Toby, curling up and resting my head on his shoulder. Tonight was definitely needed, I loved just being able to chill out, let loose, and act silly. I could really get used to having friends.

  (Charlie)

  Work was the last thing on my mind tonight. Maggie was at home actually having an entire weekend off and I was stuck at the bar. Being employed at Emmy Lou’s was part of my cover and normally I enjoyed it, but lately it was just becoming more of a hassle and entirely too time consuming.

  I was finally able to locate Mason, when I learned that he was sitting in jail. He was pulled over in Atlanta, and picked up on minor drug charges as he had an ounce of marijuana on him during the stop. This wasn’t his first offence, hell it wasn’t even his fourth or fifth, so he would be sitting pretty behind bars for quite some time. The thing is, this was all completely unrelated to having anything to do with Declan Smith.

  I tried to talk to Mason on a couple of occasions, but he was extremely tight lipped as to where Declan could be hiding. Even with the information that Declan had confronted Maggie, and would’ve looked for Mason until he was dead, he still wasn’t budging. Go figure the one person that should be the easiest to break, wasn’t saying a fucking lick. When I mentioned Maggie’s name no spark of interest even flickered in his eyes, no signs of remorse. It was hard to believe that this was the same person who used to protect Maggie from her father. There were definitely no signs of that person any longer.

  The vibration of my phone startled me out of my trance, the bar was unusually quiet for a Friday night, but it was just me manning the bar, so I had to stay until close.

  Things with Maggie couldn’t have been better. She was absolutely amazing and I constantly wanted to be around her. All sense of shyness had almost completely evaporated while she was with me. She had even gotten pretty bold within the last few weeks, trying to take things further while we were kissing. I wanted nothing more than to rip her clothes off and sink myself into her luscious body, but I kept holding myself back.

  I didn’t know if it was the fact that the guilt of not telling her my true identity, and my current assignment was holding me back, or the fact that she was a virgin. Perhaps it was a mixture of both. I wanted everything to be perfect for her, and I wasn’t selfish enough to think that was me.

  Pulling my cell phone out of my pocket, I unlocked it to see that I received a text from Toby and a video was attached.

  Toby: Hey Charlie! Tess and I are at your girl’s house. Things are getting pretty interesting… Well, I’ll just let the video speak for itself.

  Ok. What the hell were they doing? I clicked on the icon to download the video and within a few moments, images of Maggie dancing with scantily clad clothing on, processed on my screen.

  Fuck me, I thought as I had to brace myself against the bar. Who knew she looked like that underneath all of her clothes? Well, you would if you didn’t keep fending her off, asshole. I could tell that she was on the tipsy side, and I hated the fact that I was here instead of with her. The way her hips were rotating and she looked as if she was genuinely enjoying herself. She fucking took my breath away. I felt my chest tighten just watching her, and I became a bit jealous that she was dancing in front of Toby and Tessa like this. I had to forcibly push down on my jeans, which was becoming a common occurrence, that and long cold showers, because my erection was straining in my jeans.

  Consequences be damned, but I wanted Maggie. I wanted her forever. That thought really surprised me, but I knew in my heart of hearts that I loved this girl.

  “Uh oh. I know that look,” Grady appeared out of nowhere beside me, startling me in the process.

  Trying to ignore his comment, “What are you doing here? Didn’t you leave earlier because Emmy wasn’t feeling well?” Chuckling, I continued, “She kicked your ass out, didn’t she?”

  “Hey it isn’t my fault that I want to take care of her and make sure she has everything she needs. Her and Tucker are watching a movie in our bed and she told me to leave because I kept doting on her. She sa
id I was becoming annoying. It’s the fucking pregnancy hormones, or at least I’m hoping it is.

  “Anyways, quit trying to evade my statement. You have that look in your eyes. I know that look very well. You never had that look when you thought you wanted Emmalynne. Its Maggie isn’t it?” he asked as he leaned up beside me against the bar counter, crossing his arms over his chest and his feet at his ankles.

  Sighing, I didn’t see a possible way to get out of this conversation, so I took once last glance down at my phone, where it was paused at the point on the video where Maggie had her eyes closed and her hands in the air with the sexiest expression I had ever seen, it made me long to see what types of expressions she would make during the throes of passion, and I just went with it. “I think Maggie is the one. I am constantly thinking about her and when I’m not with her I miss her something fierce. It’s all happening so quickly, but I believe that she’s it for me, man.” I mustered up the nerve to look in Grady’s direction expecting him to give me shit about what I just shared, but instead what I received, was empathy. He understood exactly everything I was saying, because he’d lived it.

  “That’s exactly how I felt with Emmalynne. There was an instant attraction, but after just a short time I knew she was the one. It was like I was waking up for the first time. It was all very liberating, and now you are experiencing the same thing.” He slapped a hand on my back, “Congrats man, it’s an awesome feeling…I’m sensing a, but though…”

  “Two actually; the first one is the most major. I want to tell her about my undercover status, it just isn’t entirely possible. Her knowing could compromise everything. It’s bad enough three people in this town know. And because my undercover assignment involves her brother. I feel guilty as hell, she deserves happiness, and I just feel that in the end I’ll be bringing her down.” It had been so long since I had poured my heart out to anyone, so I was going to release it all, every single pent up transgression.