Bound Together

by Marie Coulson

  He was giving me his knock your socks off Ollie smile and it was contagious. Grinning back at him, I leaned forward and grazed my tongue over his lip ring. “You know, I could fix that for you, if you’d like.” Taking his lip between my teeth, I nipped gently before releasing him.

  “As tempting as that is Layla, I’d rather the first time you make me moan it not be in Mel’s bedroom. Besides, the coffee will get cold.” Slightly disappointed, I sat back on my heels as Ollie handed me one of the coffees to go that I’d gotten from Lorraine’s. I’d gone down there to see Kate also. I missed her and our girl talk. We made plans to get together in the week and I agreed to meet her at the shop after she assured me Jared was out of town on business.

  I hadn’t spoken to, heard from or thought much about him since we said goodbye in his kitchen. It wasn’t that I was moving on so much as it was just too painful to think about. The very next day I’d gathered all my jewelry, dresses and the New York mug and placed them in large box beneath my bed. I didn’t have the strength or the heart to throw them out or return them just yet; but I knew that I would, eventually. Finishing our bagels and coffee, we talked about everything from classes to what movie we should watch that night. As per our deal, it was Ollie’s choice that night and I was going to have to suffer his selection as he had suffered two hours of ‘My Sister’s Keeper’. I had a feeling I was in for another horror flick, as if my life didn’t contain enough scenes of gruesome devastation. Pulling me across the floor to him, Ollie wrapped his arms around me and closed his mouth over mine. His kiss was deep and I could feel his erection pressing against my stomach as our chests compressed from the embrace he was holding me in.

  Smiling down at me, he brushed his nose the length of mine. “God you’re beautiful. Hey, why don’t we go out for dinner tonight before the movie? I want to show you off a little.” I chuckled.

  “Show me off?”

  “Yeah, like the gorgeous, sparkling diamond you are.” That Oliver Green charm was gradually loosening my panties again and I was more than happy to lose them to him. “Alright. Should I get dressed up?”

  “No need to on my account, I think you look hot in whatever you wear but it is kind of fancy.” I placed a chaste kiss on his lips. “Sounds awesome.”

  * * *

  “So where’s he taking you?” Amy and Mel were sitting back to back on the bed while on their laptops and the position they were in reminded me of bookends. Smiling to myself, I turned to the mirror and put in the earrings my parents had bought me. With mom now back in Pasadena, our trip to the spa was cancelled and she felt so awful she went right out and got me a dazzling pair of white gold and diamond earrings. “I don’t know, he wouldn’t tell me. But he did say it was fancy.”

  Amy’s eye lit up as she dropped her computer on her bed and hurried over to mine. “Wow. You look amazing. That dress is perfect.”

  In preparation for our dinner I’d taken the small amount of money I had saved from working at Lorraine’s and headed to the mall. I’d managed to make it all the way to the store and back to my car and only thought of Jared eight times. It was definitely an improvement on my previous record of constant.

  My knee length purple dress was an elegant yet cheap selection. Slim line and straight, it accentuated my hourglass figure perfectly. A knock on the door indicated Ollie was ready for me and as I hurried to get it, I had to take a deep breath to calm my nerves. Standing in the door way, he looked stunning. His hair was perfectly straight and dressed in slacks and a black shirt that he’d left slightly unbuttoned, he looked like a hot rock star ready to party. His eyes scanned my body and he whistled loudly.

  “Wow. You look incredible.” I smiled and gestured for him to come in. “I just need to grab my shoes and we can go.”

  “Ok. Hey Mel, Amy. How’s it hanging?” They eyed him curiously. Mel stifled a laugh. “Ollie you couldn’t look more uncomfortable if you tried. Fess up, you’ve never taken a date to a fancy dinner before have you?”

  “Mel!” She was stirring again. “Honestly? No I haven’t but I’m glad that the first time I do it’s with a girl as amazing as Layla. No other girl has ever deserved it in my opinion.” Pressing a kiss on his cheek I smiled before turning to Mel and sticking my tongue out at her. Shrugging, she and Amy resumed their toying with their computers, merely giving us a raise of their hands as we left.

  The restaurant was small yet exquisite. The lighting was dim yet bearable and candles sat in the center of every table. Seated near a window, I beamed at Ollie across the table. “Nice place right?” He slid his hands across the table and nodding I placed mine on top of his. “It’s lovely Ollie. Thank you for bringing me here.” He grinned and bit his bottom lip. Picking up a menu I began scouring it for a dish that seemed appropriate and also sounded somewhat appetizing. Selecting the braised beef I placed my menu on the rack and focused on the hot rock god sitting across the table.

  “I spoke to my mom today.”

  Ollie and his mother had been on speaking terms since he went to see her a month before but other than the usual pleasantries they hadn’t gotten very far toward reconciliation.

  “Oh? How…was it?”

  He clutched my hand. “She wants to get to know me better. She gave up the drugs over ten years ago and I know she’s changed. I can see it but there’s still that part of me that hates her so much Layla.”

  I brushed my thumb back and forth across his knuckles. “What do you want?”

  He sighed deeply. “I want a family. I want to belong to somebody.”

  I smiled at hearing his words. Any family would be lucky to have Ollie and his mother was finally trying to make up for lost time. “That’s good Ollie. Maybe you could go visit during spring break or she could come here.” Sitting opposite me, his smile faded as he gazed into my eyes. Reaching his hand to my face he brushed a strand of hair from my eyes. A long sigh left his lungs and he pressed his eyes closed tightly.

  My insides twisted as anxiety and worry flooded my body. “Ollie? What is it?” Opening his eyes, he stared down at our joined hands.

  “I’m going to Utah.” I stared at him not completely understanding his sudden sorrowful expression. “How long will you be gone?”

  He shook his head and I knew the answer without him saying a word. “You’re not coming back are you?”

  Looking into my eyes he shook his head again. A lump formed in my throat. I’d had him all this time and now he was slipping through my fingers just when we were finally moving forward together and I was powerless to stop it.

  “My mother wants us to give our relationship a chance. I’ve spent the past four days thinking it over and I have to try Layla. She’s got a little boy. He’s my half-brother. He’s real funny and he loves music. He wants me to teach him guitar. This is my chance at having a family, a real family. She’s changed. She’s been clean for over ten years now and we’ve talked. A lot.”

  He was gushing but I couldn’t focus; his words were hitting me like bullets. “But, what about us? What we have?”

  He tilted his head to the side and held his palm to my cheek. “You know how I feel about you. I love you. That’s why I had to tell you. I wanted to give you time.” Give me time? Time for what? I gave him a bewildered look completely confused at what exactly he was talking about. “Layla, I want you to come with me. Let’s get out of here. Start a new life in Utah. Leave all the hurt, pain and past behind us here and start our new life there.” Was he serious!?

  Snatching my hands from his I sat back in my chair and stared at him. I couldn’t get my head around everything he’d just said. “I can’t leave. My life is here. Amy, Mel, my parents. What about college?” Leaning across the table he rested his hands on my forearms. “We’d be ten hours’ drive away. Less if you go by plane. Your folks can come visit us, we can visit them and you could transfer to college there. My mom has an apartment above the garage and she said we can live there completely rent free. She’s actually a successful realtor no
w. I can’t believe how different she is. I want you to come with me Layla and I want you to want to come too. I’m going in summer break once the year is over. I’ll transfer to college there. Look, this is a big decision and I need you to think it through. Be completely sure. Don’t answer right now. Think about it.”

  I nodded. There was nothing I could say. I was in shock. Rounding the table he crouched in front of me and pulled me into his arms holding me tightly. I swallowed hard and found the strength to speak “What do we do now?”

  His lip ring pressed against my cheek and I closed my eyes tightly, savoring the sensation. “We carry on. Like right now, we have dinner and tomorrow we hang out with Amy and Mel. Friday nights we go to Benny’s and we continue to do everything we always have. Nothing has to change right now. Ok?”

  Lifting my face with his hand he kissed me. He was wrong. Everything was about to change.

  Chapter 43

  Time

  Days turned into weeks and before I knew it, spring break was upon us. Carrying a bag of essentials in his hand, Ollie entwined our fingers in the other. We were heading for the beach and since the weather was so fine, I’d elected to walk there rather than drive. In my denim white hot pants and bathing suit, it finally felt like summer was coming to Long Beach. Ollie looked like an underwear model with his white cotton shorts and slim, muscular body. He was utterly scrumptious to look at. Holding his hand tightly, I couldn’t help but smile. We’d grown so close over the past few weeks and I was really beginning to let him in a little. We spent every day together in class, in his room hanging out and in the evenings we’d take his Ducati up to the hills for some privacy. He and his mom had been in constant contact and she was planning on coming down to visit him on Saturday. “I can’t wait for you to meet her Layla. She’s only staying one night so I figured we could go for dinner and then I’d hang with her a while at the hotel. That ok with you?”

  I nodded. “Sure, can’t wait.”

  Meeting Ollie’s mother was not an experience I was looking forward to. He may have forgiven her for walking out on him but I was not so easily persuaded. What kind of woman walks away from her child and leaves him with his abusive father?

  Deciding I would keep my mouth shut for Ollie’s sake, I listened as he gushed about the apartment she was readying and although I’d yet to give him my answer, he still insisted on saying we. “It’ll be amazing. There’s already a couch and a bed and we can get everything else we need once I sell the bike.” Halting my steps I gawked at him. “What do you mean sell the bike? You love that Ducati.”

  Pressing his lips to mine he smiled. “I know. But I love you more and I want to make a nice home for us.”

  My stomach churned. Oh god, he was giving up his pride and joy for me and I wasn’t even sure I was going with him.

  “Ollie, don’t make any big decisions yet. I still haven’t decided if I can do this with you. Just, hold fire ok?”

  Staring at the ground he nodded and I knew my words had hurt him.

  “I’m not saying no Ollie. I’m saying I’m not sure yet. You said I should think it through and that’s what I’m doing. Can we please not talk about it and just have a nice day at the beach? Wanna rub lotion on my back for me?” I gave him a suggestive smile and it worked.

  “I’d happily rub anything you want Layla. All day and night if you’d let me.” I grinned and placed a soft kiss on his lips. “Let’s just start with sun lotion for now. We can discuss the rest later.”

  The sun was gloriously hot and as I lay on the warm golden sands. My head in a book, I tried to catch up on my reading for our psych class but as he lay beside me, skin glistening in the sunlight, Ollie became a big distraction. Closing my book, I put it aside and leaned on my elbow. He was so still he could have been sleeping and with his dark shades over his eyes, he may well have been and I’d be none the wiser. His hands behind his head he let out a satisfied moan and it called to me like a siren to unfortunate sailors. Placing my hand on his chest, I traced my fingertips over his perfectly formed pecs. A trail of hair led from his chest to his happy zone and with a smile on my face I twirled and dragged my fingers down to the waist of his shorts. The corners of his mouth curled up and I knew he was watching me from beneath those specs. So we were going to play huh? Brushing my fingertips across his torso, I grazed it gently, swirling my fingers back and forth before sliding my hand beneath his shorts.

  Gripping my wrist he caught me and grinned, tut-tutting. Flipping me on to my back he laid on top of me. My toes pressed against his feet as he pinned me to the sand. My heart pounded and my insides clenched as his mouth closed over mine. His kiss was sweet, loving and yet passionate simultaneously. “That’s a risky game you’re playing. We’re in public for a start.”

  Pressing my palm against his chest, I could feel his own thundering heartbeat beneath it. He was clearly as turned on as I was as his erection pressed against my sex. If I could have willed the world to disappear and our clothes to disintegrate, I would have been in the throes of ecstasy right there on that beach.

  “Layla, stop. We can’t do this here.”

  I shifted under him and slid my hand between us to his crotch. Grasping him in my hand, I breathed heavily against his mouth. “When Ollie? I don’t think I can wait much longer.” I was giving him the green light and I expected him to dart right through like a bullet. Rolling off of me he laid on his front and shrugged. “Not yet. Soon.” We’d been holding off so long I was fit to burst and I feared soon wouldn’t be soon enough to save me.

  * * *

  “What do you think Layla? Layla?”

  I shook my head not hearing what Amy had said to me. “What?”

  Rolling her eyes, she sighed. “I said what do you think about throwing Ollie a going away party?”

  “Oh, yeah, sure. Whatever.”

  As the week had gone on, I’d found myself becoming more and more despondent. Talk of Ollie leaving was a subject I didn’t want to discuss. After he’d asked me to go with him to Utah, he hadn’t brought the subject up once and I knew he was avoiding it because he was afraid of my answer. But I didn’t have one yet. I’d tried desperately to figure it out and even spent three hours with Amy and Mel drawing up a list of pros and cons. But even that didn’t get me very far as for every pro there was a con. It ended in a tie breaker and me tearing it up and groaning into my pillow. How could I make such a huge decision just like that? I wasn’t just leaving college I was leaving my friends, family and everything I’d built over the past year.

  I didn’t want us to break up but could I seriously leave and follow him across the country? My heart was torn between my family, friends and the man I’d grown desperately close to. Sitting down next to me on the bed, Mel nudged me with her shoulder.

  “Still can’t figure out what you’re gonna do huh?”

  I shook my head. “I can’t just drop everything and go Mel. I care about Ollie I do and I don’t want to end what we have but...” The words were stuck in my throat like a thorn. Amy and Mel were only too aware of the reason I was holding back.

  “You don’t love him do you Layla?”

  Holding my hands over my face I shook my head. “I want to. I want to so much but I just can’t. He’s amazing, wonderful and everything I could ever want in a man but my stupid broken heart can’t seem to let go of Jared. It’s killing me!”

  Draping her arm around my shoulder Mel let out a long breath. “You know what you have to do Layla. Don’t you.”

  I nodded weakly. “When will you tell him?”

  Gazing at them both I sighed. “Not yet. I don’t want to ruin these last few weeks with him. I will tell him but I need to give him this. I owe him that much.”

  Sitting on the floor in front of me, I could see tears in Amy’s eyes. “Oh Layla. I can’t believe he’s leaving and that he’s got to go with a broken heart. Maybe you’ll change your mind. Maybe, if you really try and spend more time together you’ll see how amazing he is and you’ll
just forget about Jared. Ollie loves you Layla. He can make you so happy I know it. You’d have an incredible life. You’d be his queen. What’s not to love about him?”

  Poor Amy, she really was a hopeless romantic. Just because someone is the good choice it doesn’t make it the right choice. “Amy if I went with him it would be out of guilt or because I feel I should. He wouldn’t want that. He said he wants me to want to go with him.”

  “Don’t you?”

  I sighed.

  “Of course I do Amy, but for all the wrong reasons. I should go because I love him. Because I can’t bear to be away from him. Not because I don’t want to break his heart or because I’ll miss him when he’s gone. This is his chance at a new life. A start over. He deserves it. If I went with him we’d just be living one huge lie. I won’t put him through it. It wouldn’t be fair on either of us. Look, how about this. I won’t say anything to Ollie until I’m one hundred percent sure of what I want. I’ll just…take it slow. Never say never right?” She knew I was right and though I could see it pained her to accept it, she respected my choice. “Ok. But just give him a chance. Please?”

  That’s exactly what I had been doing since Christmas and I was no closer to knowing what I wanted now than I had been then.

  * * *

  Staring at myself in the mirror, I sighed. In less than an hour I would be face to face with the woman who abandoned Ollie. I could already feel the anger building inside me. I didn’t care what he said; there was no excuse close to acceptable for what she’d done. Deciding on the purple dress I’d worn for our dinner date, I twirled, patting down the garment for any dust or lint. “You look incredible.” A pair of warm arms snaked around my waist as his lip ring pressed against my cheek.

  “Thanks. Hope she approves.”

  “I don’t care what she thinks. I approve.”

  Turning to face him I pressed my palms against his chest. He was wearing his black pants and a deep blue shirt slightly unbuttoned.