“Oh my God, Winslow! Get us out of here! That thing…that thing killed them! Oh God!” I sobbed. Winslow squeezed my hand and casually stuck his head out of the window and said, “Hollis hurry up! We don’t have all day! The cops are right around the corner.”
With chattering teeth, I looked up and watched the monster that was in front of us shrink and its animalistic qualities slowly faded until I was staring at a naked man. But not just any naked man: It was Hollis.
“He’s such a show off,” Winslow said and it was the last thing I remembered before I fainted.
“Wake up, Ivy. Come on, wake up.” I heard a voice say and abruptly my eyes flew open. And instantly I began to scream.
“It’s okay. We got you. Calm down.” It was Winslow and he was stroking my hair. I had on nothing but a man’s dress shirt and I was in a house that I didn’t recognize.
“What—what —what’s going on? Where am I? I think I’m going to be sick,” I said grabbing my stomach. “Did you see it Winslow? That thing. That monster.”
“Yeah, he’s in the other room,” Winslow said nonchalantly.
I shook my head, not understanding and began to explain again as if Winslow was the crazy one. “You don’t understand. There was a monster. It attacked the robbers–”
“I think that sedative you gave her worked too well,” I heard a voice say as Hollis entered the room.
“What?” Winslow said tilting his head and giving Hollis a questioning look.
“Ivy’s talking about monsters.” He came and sat down next to me on the bed. Now Winslow was on my left and Hollis was on my right.
“You were there. You saw it right, Winslow?” I said.
He opened his mouth when Hollis butted in, “The cops showed up at the same time Winslow and I arrived. We didn’t see anything. Did we Winslow?”
Winslow seemed to hesitate and then he shrugged. I looked from him to Hollis feeling as if something was deliberately left unsaid.
“The mind plays some weird tricks on a person when they’re stressed,” Hollis said.
I just stared at him and nodded. Yes, I had hallucinated. Clearly that was what happened. The other option was too crazy to believe. “I guess…I must have imagined it all. It just feels so real. I don’t know.”
“They were planning to kill you and your brain doesn’t want to deal with that reality so it made up a different one.” Hollis said softly. He took my hand in his and began to rub it gently. “I’m sorry we didn’t get to you sooner.”
“Did the cops come?”
“Don’t worry about that,” Hollis said shortly and then he said to Winslow. “Why don’t you get Ivy something to drink?”
I was unsure why Hollis was ordering Winslow around, but Winslow seemed unperturbed as he did just that, disappearing through the door without another word.
Hollis leaned really close to me and I don’t know what happened, but I felt this almost uncontrollable need to get closer to him. I shook and wrapped my arms around myself. I figured I was in shock or getting over the rush of adrenaline I had felt earlier. Why else was I so turned on when I should be feeling nothing but remnants of fear?
“Are you okay?” He began to stroke my back and I sighed against his chest enjoying the feel of him and before I knew it we were kissing each other and I felt this strong desire to have him inside me. I don’t know what got into me, but I just felt as if I had to have him right then and there.
And he ripped the shirt off of me and climbed on top of me, not kissing me as he stared down into my eyes, pinning my wrists above my head. He easily parted my thighs with his own and didn’t bother to remove his pants. He just freed his member and maneuvered himself to the wet entrance of my sex. It was only then that I realized I didn’t have any panties on.
I didn’t get a chance to think of why that was as Hollis pushed into me roughly, groaning as he thrust so hard into me time after time, that the force of his blows rocked my body up and down the bed, until my hands collided with the headboard. He released my hands and I gripped my thighs around his waist and buried my nails into his backside. I wanted more of him.
“Harder,” I whispered.
And he obeyed, thrusting into me so hard that it began to hurt a little. I felt myself become wetter at the idea of the pleasure and pain he was able to cause and I closed my eyes and luxuriated in the feel of it. And it was then that I felt the presence of someone else in the room and looked up to see Winslow there. He was sitting in a chair across from us, just watching as Hollis pounded into me. And then I saw his hand moving steadily up and down the front of his pants and realized that he was getting off on watching us. And Hollis finally looked up and abruptly sat up bringing me up so that I was astride him.
“Are you just going to watch?”
“You seemed to be enjoying yourself,” Winslow said with a wry smile.
Hollis chuckled and picked me up, never pulling out of me until the moment he placed me on my hands and knees in front of Winslow. I didn’t understand what was going on.
“Here’s a better view,” Hollis said as I felt him position himself behind me.
“What? What’s going on?” I finally asked. Winslow slowly unbuttoned his pants and let them slide down his hips before kneeling down in front of me. He traced a hand across my face before lowering my head down to his member and I knew then what he wanted.
I traced my tongue around the tip of his already damp shaft and he sucked in a breath and it was then that I felt Hollis’ hands between my legs, parting my folds as he entered me roughly from behind. I gripped my hands around Winslow’s thighs as every one of Hollis’ thrusts sent Winslow’s member deeper into my mouth.
I felt my own body began to shake and my sex stretched to accommodate Hollis’ size as he slapped me roughly on the behind and buried himself deeper into me.
“Do you like that, Ivy?” Winslow said softly as my warm mouth encapsulated his shaft. “I told Hollis how good you felt the other night when I was inside of you. Good enough to make me want to share.”
The delicious wickedness of it all, knowing that Hollis and his boss had discussed how my sex felt didn’t offend me. In fact, it turned me on and as Winslow gently caressed my face and Hollis roughly gripped my hips and mercilessly rammed inside of me over and over again, I came. Hard. Unable to hold Winslow any longer in my mouth, screaming Hollis’ name. But he wasn’t done yet as he kept pounding into me until he came too with a hoarse shout, spilling his seed into me as he ground his hips against me one last time.
And with that he pulled out and collapsed next to me where I had fallen to the ground, my knees no longer able to hold me up. I felt Winslow picking me up gently and laying me across the bed. And then I felt a blanket cover me and Hollis’ hands caressing the curve of my hip before he kissed my ear and said, “Sleep tight, my dear Ivy.”
Then as I settled into a light sleep, I heard the words, “Maybe we should tell her the truth.” After a long pause, Hollis sighed and replied with a simple, “Someday.”
As the door closed behind them, my brain tried to process the words I’d heard, but my body had had enough and was already giving into sleep. And so I slept, feeling strangely more protected and safe in that moment than I had in my entire life.
The End
2 Hard To Bear
Part 2
Chapter One
I sat across from Hollis trying to avoid talking about what had happened only a few nights ago. In the light of day, I was frankly a little embarrassed. It’s not every day that a girl makes love to two different men…at the same time. I felt my behavior that night had been a little scandalous, even for New York. Needless to say, when Hollis arrived at the shelter during my shift the next morning I tried my best to avoid him.
It had worked for a little while. However, I could only spend so much time hiding out in cages with dogs. And that’s exactly where he had found me, covered in dog fur, playing catch with a super energetic mutt who was just as loveable as Cola
had been, if not more so. I nicknamed him Trooper.
“I’m starting to think you find my presence offensive.”
His voice startled me as I had my back turned and I hadn’t seen him coming. How had he found me? I had told my boss that I was going to run an errand. Had he sniffed me out or something? I thought sarcastically.
“Well, you are kind of offensive,” I teased, unable to help myself. I looked up at him shyly as he opened the cage door and settled on the floor of the cage next to me. He didn’t seem to care that his expensive wool blend pants were being covered in dog fur and God knows what else was on the floor of the kennel. I had cleaned it out earlier, personally, but it’s not as if it was pristine enough to eat off of.
“Were you hiding from me?” he asked, not bothering to beat around the bush and spare me any embarrassment. It was at that moment that I hated the fact that Hollis was such a straight shooter.
I still didn’t meet his eyes as I rubbed Trooper’s temples. He loved it and the steady thump of his tail as he lazily enjoyed the petting was an indication that he didn’t want me to stop.
“That’s a good boy,” I said, ignoring Hollis, biding my time. How did he want me to react? I was a small-town girl, not a sophisticated worldly woman. I blushed thinking how my actions last night hadn’t exactly reflected that. I probably could have taught a porn star a few tricks.
“Are you going to answer me or pretend that I’m not sitting here?” He said interrupting my thoughts.
“I’m going to pretend that you’re not sitting there and I’m going to continue hiding in this cage with this cute dog. I refuse to talk about last night.”
He didn’t let me continue as he said, “You read my mind.”
I looked up at him sharply and he gave me a slow telling smile that immediately made me blush. “I don’t want to talk about it. I want to repeat it.”
I could feel my nipples hardening and instantly my sex grew wet. I pressed my thighs together. I couldn’t believe how just his words could have that effect on me. However, I knew it was more than his words. It was his tone. His tone held promise and I feared that I very much wanted to repeat the other night with or without Winslow. Apparently, I was a wanton twenty-something who was into threesomes. God, I hoped my grandmother never found out.
We stared at each other for a few seconds before I turned away, unable to keep the blush from spreading across my cheeks.
“Your innocence is so attractive,” he said folding one of his legs over the other.
“Really? I wasn’t so innocent last night. Do you still find me attractive?”
“Ivy, you could be wearing spiked heels, a catsuit and carrying a whip and you’ll still have that air of innocence about you. It’s part of your charm.”
I was about to respond with some very un-charming words when a little voice said, “Mommy, why are those people sitting in the cage with the doggies?”
It was then that I realized we had a budding audience. There stood a child of about five years of age with his rather young mother. Blushing, I said, “Don’t mind us. We were umm…just cleaning up a little.”
Hollis looked at me with amusement as I slid out of the pin. He readily joined me and said to the five-year-old who looked at us suspiciously, “Are you looking for a new dog, buddy?”
The youngster nodded his head. “Well, not a new dog. An old one. Mommy said a new dog would be way too much work. And if there’s one thing my mommy doesn’t like, it’s work!”
I let out a surprised chuckle, while the woman gasped and quickly said, “Thanks for that, Junior.”
Hollis winked at the woman who promptly seemed to blush at his attention. “Well, miss, I’m sure you’ll find this dog here to be very old and trust me, not a lot of work. He’s barely moved an inch since I’ve gotten here.”
As if on cue, Trooper raised his head, sneezed loudly and lay back down. I couldn’t help but laugh. He was a character.
“You see? That pretty much just proved it.”
The woman smiled at Hollis, a bit too friendly-like, in my opinion. I looked at Hollis and gestured for him to follow me. He gave the mother and son duo a parting smile and followed me out.
“Is it just me or were you flirting with that mom?”
“Is it just me or are you showing a little jealousy?”
I ignored that question and said instead, “Why are you here?”
“I wanted to see you,” he replied simply.
I turned to him and folded my arms across my chest, ready to tell him off. His expression was unguarded though and I felt my annoyance at his presence disappear. He studied me with a look that made me uncomfortable, not because it was sexual. No, the look on his face was soft, appealing to me on an emotional level.
“Why did you want to see me?” I asked glancing around the hall, ensuring we wouldn’t be overheard again.
He shrugged, “Because I was in the area and figured that I should stop by and harass you. Maybe take you to lunch? But mostly I’m here to make sure you’re okay. So are you?”
He folded his arms across his body and I was reminded of how large his arms were and how they had felt, but I knew from his sudden serious expression that he wasn’t thinking about our sexual escapades. He was thinking about what happened before then.
But I had pushed that incident out of my mind. When the cops had come around, I really didn’t have that much to tell them about what had happened. I could barely wrap my head around the robbery and the aftermath. I just remembered the men, being attacked, and then Winslow coming to my aid before I fainted.
The cops hadn’t believed my story, but they chose not to pressure me when Hollis said that he was representing me and warned them to watch their tone as I endured their countless questions. They had clearly been intimidated and had immediately dropped the aggressive nature of their questioning. Eventually, they had just left me alone. And I hadn’t wanted to stick around any longer. I was thankful to Hollis but at the time, my gratitude had not been as strong as my sense of shame for what had happened sexually between us. I left Winslow’s apartment in the middle of the night, hailed a taxi and went home.
I made myself focus on the here and now. “I’m fine. Thanks for checking on me. It’s really kind of you.”
He narrowed his eyes, “The police haven’t been bothering you with any additional questions, have they?”
“No. Not at all.”
He lowered his voice, “And you don’t remember anything else after they tried to kidnap and hold you hostage?”
I shook my head, “No… it’s just all a blur. Just like I told the police. I remember Winslow showing up after they tried to kidnap me. I remember fighting them off and getting away somehow. I remember Winslow helping me get away, but everything else after that is a blur.” I sighed, “Who knows? I probably hit my head while I was fighting them. I think I even hallucinated seeing some sort of monster.”
“A monster?”
I looked away, feeling ridiculous. I didn’t want Hollis thinking that I was insane. Why had I shared that information with him? Even I thought I was crazy for hallucinating.
“You think you saw a monster?”
I tried to laugh it off and said with a shrug, “Trust me, I know how crazy I sound. But I really thought those guys were going to kill me and I probably did lose my mind at least temporarily.”
Hollis surprised me then by reaching out and stroking my cheek. Apparently, he didn’t care who knew of our relationship. Or, non-relationship rather.
“I’m just glad you’re okay. And for all my cockiness–”
“So you finally admit it?” I said with a smile, enjoying the feel of his hand against my cheek.
He laughed and slowly let his hand fall, caressing my cheek along the way. “As I was saying, I just wanted to be sure you were okay. You disappeared without saying anything and I wanted to go after you, but Winslow convinced me to give you some space. And you haven’t been answering my calls.”
�
��I’m sorry about that. Winslow was right. I just needed some space.”
“I hate that.”
“Hate what?” I said confused.
“When Winslow’s right. He already has a big head and now it’ll be even bigger.”
“Poor Winslow, he’s not even here to defend himself.”
“Actually, I am,” came a voice from behind me.
I turned around sharply and instantly felt my cheeks turn red. Winslow stood there looking exquisite in fitted jeans and a black long sleeve shirt. I turned to look back at Hollis who seemed remotely annoyed by Winslow’s presence.
“What are you doing here?” Hollis asked, not bothering to hide his annoyance.
“The same thing you’re doing apparently,” Winslow said in a bored voice, clearly unbothered by the tone of Hollis’ words.
“Well as you can see I have everything under control. You can go back to whatever it is you do all day while the rest of us work.”
“So is that what you’re doing here? Working?”
“For the most part…”
Winslow shook his head as he tried to hide a smile, “Now that we’ve determined I pay you to do nothing Hollis–Ivy do you have plans for lunch?”
I opened my mouth and then closed it. I didn’t know what to say. I felt outnumbered, which I was. And outmatched.
Hollis answered for me. “She’s already agreed to go to lunch with me.”
“No I didn’t,” I blurted out.
Winslow laughed, “I guess you’re not as charming as you thought, Hollis.”
I turned to Winslow and said, “I’m not going to lunch with either of you. I have lunch plans already. I’ll ummm…see you later, Winslow…and ummm…Hollis.” Winslow seemed amused and Hollis gave me an annoyed look as I walked away from the two of them.
I rolled my eyes as I walked and said, “Now that was awkward,” under my breath. I didn’t actually have lunch plans but I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to spend lunch with either Winslow or Hollis. I knew choosing one over the other would just make me feel guilty. I was already feeling torn because I knew I couldn’t continue seeing both of them if I wanted to keep my sanity. But honestly, I questioned my sanity already.
Jocked Up: Sports Romance (A Secret Baby Second Chance Romance) Page 36
