by Lisa Bilbrey
“You did,” Janie whispered. “The day they sentenced that monster to life in prison was the day I reclaimed my life. I vowed to not let my parents die in vain. Mark, Paul, and I have strived to keep the generous, loving nature that our parents shared with us and our community, and that’s why we came to you, Elle. You don’t see this project as just another building. You look past the dollar signs and see your little ones taking a self-defense class, or climbing the rock wall.”
“Oh,” Elle whispered.
“We’ll be in touch later this week. Thank you for everything,” Mark said before leading Paul and Janie out of the room.
Elle sat, picked up the tablet, and closed the plans for the recreation center.
“Are you okay?” Samuel asked, drawing her attention to him. “You look at little shaky.”
“Yeah, I guess you just don’t know people, do you? I mean the struggles they’ve been though. She’s so confident, so put together.”
“Yeah,” Samuel murmured. “But they’re right, you know? About the way you look at projects you take on. It’s one of the reasons I knew you and Sadie were perfect for the Alvarez account.”
“One we almost lost,” Elle quipped and grabbed her cane as she stood up.
“Whatever,” Samuel scoffed.
He followed her down to their office, falling onto the sofa instead of going to his own desk, which now sat in their conjoined offices. The Asciari Brothers had been more than willing to take on the small project of knocking out a wall and adding a couple of sliding doors. The project had only taken them a week, but for the last four weeks, neither Elle nor Samuel had felt a need to close the doors.
“Don’t you have work to do?” Elle asked, sitting behind her desk.
“I don’t want to,” he murmured, shifting so that he was laying on the couch. “Something happened last night with Lydia.”
Elle waited for him to continue, but he just laid there with a goofy grin on his face. The changes in Samuel since they started running the company together were amazing. Not only did he smile more, but he laughed and shared random bits of information that didn’t pertain to anything important.
“Are you going to tell me what happened?” Elle prompted, causing him to grin bigger as his head lobbed to the side and his eyes met hers and she understood. “Oh.”
“Yeah,” he murmured, swinging his legs around and sitting up. “It wasn’t planned, but I was watching her change for bed, and just wanted her. We’d always had an amazing sex life before . . .”
“Were you scared?” Elle asked, thinking back to the first time Callum, Derek, and Sadie touched her almost two months ago.
Samuel nodded. “Terrified. It was like having sex for the first time, you know? What if I hurt her? What if she hurt me?” he whispered that last part, almost as if he was just admitting that to himself. “I wrapped my arms around her, feeling her body against mine. Elle, I had missed just holding her against me. Just the feel of her skin against mine.”
“Wow,” Elle whimpered, laughing. “Sounds very romantic.”
“It was . . .” Samuel paused as he considered his words. “Raw and emotional. She . . . Elle, she made me feel like a man again.”
Elle smiled through her tears as she grabbed her cane and walked over to the couch, sitting next to him. She slipped her hand over his. “So, you’re good?”
“I am,” he said, his fingers curving around hers. “Afterwards, we just talked, you know? About our life together, our dreams moving forward. Feels like for the first time since everything happened, Lydia and I have a future. She didn’t even try to force one of her shakes on me this morning,” he chuckled.
“Wow,” Elle snickered. “I’m happy for you, Samuel.”
“Thanks.” Samuel kissed the side of her head before standing and heading into his office.
Thirty-three
“We’re going to be late,” Sadie sang, a smile curving her lips upward as she leaned against the doorjamb of Elle’s office.
“I know, I know,” she muttered, shoving files into her briefcase. Once she was done, she shut down her computer, and gripped the top of her cane before shifting so that she was facing her wife. “Are you sure we don’t need to stop and pick up some cupcakes, cookies, something?”
“Yes, I’m sure,” she laughed, her head tilting backward a little. “Cal said he had everything taken care of and we should just stop worrying.”
“Yeah, because that’ll happen,” Elle scoffed before walking around her desk and stopping in the doorway that led to Samuel’s office. He was perched up behind his desk, his eyes locked on his computer, but instead of working, he was playing chess. “Dude, really?”
“Shh,” he hissed. “I’ve got this guy just where I want him.”
“Kicking your ass?” Elle teased, laughing harder when he lifted his hand and flipped her off. “Wow, okay, well, be like that. I’m heading out for the afternoon. Can I trust you to get some actual work done?”
“Probably not.” Samuel swiveled his chair toward her, his grin matching hers. It had been two weeks since he and Lydia made love and he’d been nothing short of annoyingly happy. “Have fun, Elle, and don’t worry about anything here. We’ve got this under control.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say.” Elle waved him off before taking a step backward. “Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Elle turned and walked to Sadie, kissing her cheek. “I’m ready.”
Sadie wrapped her arm around her waist as they walked to the elevator. Finally after two months of being back to work, Elle was no longer the focus of their attention, something she was grateful for. Elle and Sadie stopped by Shyla’s desk.
“I’ll be gone for the rest of the day,” Elle reminded her. “If it’s an emergency, you know how to get ahold of me.”
“And by that, she means don’t call unless the building is on fire,” Sadie snickered, pulling Elle toward the elevator.
“We’ve got everything under control here, ma’am. I mean, Elle,” Shyla stammered. Getting her to stop being so formal was a process they were still working on. “Sorry.”
“Don’t sweat it.” Elle waved her off as the elevator opened behind her. “You’re doing a great job, Shyla. We’re lucky to have you here.”
“Thank you,” she said, smiling softly.
Elle still felt uneasy in the elevator, but tried not to show it as they rode it down to the lobby. Sadie tightened her arm around Elle, drawing her attention to the woman who had been her heart and soul for more than half her life.
“Have I told you today that you look sexy as fuck?”
Elle laughed. “No.”
“Well, let me fix that ditty right the hell now. I want to bury myself in your pussy. I want to feast on you until you’re screaming my name. I want to eat you so hard, you won’t be able to sit because your pussy is still quivering from all the orgasms I’ve given you.”
Elle gasped, but before she could respond the doors opened with a groan and Sadie hurried out, laughing her sexy little ass off.
“She’s a goddamn tease,” Elle muttered to herself and followed her out to the car, where Sadie stood smirking. “I’ll get you back, lover. Just you wait.”
“I’m sure you will,” she giggled, “but not right now. We’ve got to boogie, or we’ll be late.”
Elle tensed, but nodded before climbing into the passenger seat of Sadie’s car. As Sadie reversed out of her parking space and pulled onto the interstate, Elle tried to calm her nerves. For the first time since she and Samuel were taken, Elle was going to a party at Flora and Willow’s school. A Valentine’s Day party, in fact. She had gone with Callum, Derek, and Sadie to drop the girls off several times, but the thought of going inside had been too much for her. All she could picture was Trixie Maxwell chasing the girls down the hallway, stealing them away.
But Jo had insisted that Elle owed it to Flora and Willow to push through her fears of the school the way she had with going back to work, that
if she wanted to strengthen her relationship with them they needed to see her making an effort. Jo was right, of course, but Elle was still terrified, as irrational as that seemed considering everything she had overcome over the last two months.
“They’re excited,” Sadie said, drawing Elle’s attention to her as she parked in the lot across from Grover Hills Elementary. “When I told them we’d be at their party, they were so excited.”
“They were?”
She nodded. “They won’t want to overwhelm you, I’m sure, but it means a lot to them that you’re here.”
“Me, too,” Elle whispered.
“Are you ready?”
She nodded, unsure if she were actually ready or just lying to herself. Either way, it didn’t matter, not when it came to the girls. Elle would put the fakest smile she had on her face if that meant making her girls happy.
Sadie threaded her fingers in with Elle’s as they walked into the school. The urge to pull away, to hide their relationship filled her, but Sadie tightened her grip, almost as if she could read her mind.
The hallways were filled with parents milling around their children’s classrooms. The sound of laughter and joy trickled by each room they passed. As they turned the corner toward the kindergarten classrooms, Elle felt a great sense of relief when she found Callum and Derek standing outside of the closed door. They had a meeting across town and weren’t sure they’d be able to make it, which also had Elle struggling with attending the party. She did better when all her lovers supported her.
“Hey, beautiful,” Derek greeted her as he leaned down and kissed her cheek. “You’re okay.”
Elle nodded as he moved and kissed Sadie.
“You ready?” Callum asked, sliding his hand along the small of her back.
“As I’ll ever be,” she quipped, not meaning to sound as snarky as she did.
Callum reached over and opened the door to the classroom, drawing the attention of Flora, Willow, Elliot, Mrs. Morrow, and the other ten mothers and fathers that filled the room. The tables were covered in pink and red table clothes. There were paper hearts hanging from the ceiling that Elle suspected the kids had cut themselves, seeing as most of them were lopsided and choppy. In front of each student were shoe boxes that had been covered in either red or pink paper and had stickers, glitter, and foam shapes on them.
“Mommy,” Willow cheered as she scrambled out of her seat and rushed toward them. Elle was certain that she’d throw herself into Sadie’s embrace, so when Willow’s arms wrapped around her, she gasped. “You came!”
“Yeah,” Elle whispered, kneeling in front of her younger daughter as Flora timidly joined them. Elle slipped her arms around both girls, pulling them before she placed a kiss on Flora’s cheek then Willow’s. “I wouldn’t have missed this for the world, my darling girls.”
Flora brought her hand to Elle’s face, wiping away the moisture she knew was falling before she whispered, “It’s okay, Mommy. We won’t let anyone hurt you here.”
“Yeah, we’ll protect you,” Willow echoed, speaking just loud enough for her to hear.
“Thank you, sweet girls.” Elle smiled. “Now, I spy a cookie on your desks that looks pretty darn good.”
Willow and Flora laughed as they pulled away from Elle and led her to their table. They picked up their cookies and took big bites, frosting smearing all over their faces. Elle smiled as she knelt behind them once again, leaning her cane against Flora’s side of the table and placing her hands on their backs. She was vaguely aware of the way the other parents were watching her, while trying not to watch her.
“Want a bite?” Flora asked, offering her the heart shaped cookie.
“No, thank you, sweet girl. You eat it.” Elle grimaced as she stood, the weight on her thigh was too much.
“Here,” Gail Hendricks, the mom of one of the boys said as she held out a platter of cookies. “We have plenty.”
“Oh, okay.” Elle bit the inside of her lip before she reached toward the platter, but stopped when the door to the classroom opened and Andrew Flynn walked in. “Hey.”
His eyes flittered around the room, landing on Elle first before shifting down to Flora and Willow, who had both abandoned the cookies they were eating.
“Hey,” Andrew murmured. “Sorry I’m late.”
“Please, come on in, Mr. Flynn,” Mrs. Morrow said, gesturing for him to walk further into the room, but he just stood there. “Children, isn’t is great that Mr. Flynn could come visit us?”
Quiet murmurs of “yes,” filled the air, but Andrew’s eyes were locked on Flora and Willow.
“We did what you told us,” Willow said, taking a couple of tentative steps toward him, but stopped like she wasn’t sure she should approach him. “We didn’t make a sound, I promise.”
“I know,” he said, softly. “You did real good, girls. Real good. I’m so proud of you.”
Andrew’s voice broke, which seemed to set the girls off as they rushed to him, wrapping their arms around the man who had almost sacrificed himself to keep them safe. Tears flooded Elle’s eyes as she stood back and watched, thankful for the opportunity to witness such a beautiful moment. She had no doubts the three of them would always be friends, and that if the need arose, Andrew Flynn would be there to protect her girls.
—FA—
Elle sat on the corner of the bed, her hand automatically dropping to her thigh as she sighed. Her head ached, her legs hurt, but mostly, she felt happy. The girls had a great time at their party, getting more candy from their class than they needed. After school, they took the girls for ice cream with Andrew, who spent nearly two hours listening to the two little girls detail almost every moment of the last two months to him. Never once did he seem annoyed with their constant babbling.
After they left there, with the promise to make it a regular thing, they came home, where they spent the rest of the afternoon and evening doing homework, cooking dinner, and just enjoying being a family. It was the first night in a long time, well before she and Samuel were kidnapped, that Elle felt like a part of her daughter’s lives. Today she was the mother they deserved her to be.
“They fell asleep the second I started reading to them,” Derek laughed as he walked into the room. His eyes shifted to her thigh. “Scale of one to ten, how bad is it?”
“Seven,” she said. “Maybe an eight. Too much time on my feet, I think.”
Derek nodded and walked into the bathroom, coming out a few minutes later with a bottle of baby oil in his hands. “Strip.”
“What?” she asked, laughing.
“Strip,” he said again. “Take it all off, beautiful.”
“Um, why?” Elle questioned him, but stood and started unbuttoning her blouse.
“Because I can’t give you a massage if you’re still wearing your clothes,” he explained, placing the bottle on the dresser. He reached for the top of his dress shirt, pulling at the buttons.
“And you have to be naked to give me a massage, huh?” Elle snorted. “If you want to fuck, all you have to do is say so, lover.”
“I do,” he admitted, “but not until after I’ve massaged every inch of your beautiful body.”
Elle wasn’t about to complain about getting to feel his hands on her. She stripped off the rest of her clothes before crawling onto the bed, laying so that she was on her back.
Derek shed the last of his clothes before he picked up the bottle and climbed onto the bed, so that he was straddling the bottom part of her legs. His cock was already hard, and she resisted the urge to wrap her fingers around him.
“Let me know if it’s too hard,” he said, squirting some of the oil on his hands and tossing the bottle onto the bed next to her. He started in the middle of her calves, his fingers pressing against the sore muscles.
Elle moaned, biting the inside of her lip as his hands slid higher, almost coming to her knees.
“Does it feel good?” he asked.
“Yes,” she breathed softly. “So fucking good
.”
Derek shifted forward as his hands slid up to her thighs. The sore, achy muscle throbbed and Elle cried out, reaching down to cover his hand.
“Do you want me to stop?”
“No,” she whimpered. “Just be gentle.”
“I’ll never hurt you, Elle.”
“I know.”
Derek kept his eyes locked on hers as he slowly began to add pressure. Tears filled her eyes, though it had nothing to do with the pain in her leg. It was the tender way he loved her, touched her, always reminded her that she was beautiful.
Elle leaned up and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling him down on top of her. Her lips found his, and he moaned, his hands grabbing at her hips as he pressed himself against her.
“Please,” was the only word she could say.
Derek groaned as he shifted his hips forward, filling her immediately.
“Holy fuck,” Sadie said, drawing their attention to the doorway where she and Callum stood with their mouths open and their eyes wide. “Nobody told me about the orgy.”
“Me, either,” Callum whined, but used his foot to close the door. “But since we’re here.”
“Get your sexy asses over here and lose the clothes,” Derek demanded, gyrating his hips and making Elle whimper. “Hurry.”
In a furry of clothes flying, Callum and Sadie were naked and climbing onto the bed next to them. Sadie positioned herself over Elle’s mouth. She grabbed her hips and pulled her down, penetrating her with her tongue.
“Jesus, Elle,” Sadie groaned, shifting her hips back and forth. “Don’t stop, baby.”
Elle couldn’t stop if she wanted. She attacked Sadie’s pussy at the same pace that Derek was using on her. Derek moaned, and she felt Callum’s weight added to his.
“Babe, don’t tease. I’m already too close,” Derek whined, his hips pushed more against hers and Elle knew Callum was behind him. A quick thrust forward had both Derek and Elle moaning.
“How can your ass be so fucking tight after I’ve fucked you so many times,” Callum growled and Elle could imagine him filling him over and over. The visual alone was almost enough to send Elle over the edge, but she wanted to prolong their time together.
