Always and Forever

by Harper Bentley

  “I know. It’ll be okay. I feel it. Just be strong,” she offers. We sit quietly for a moment then she says, “Oh. I talked to Mike.”

  Uh oh. She doesn’t sound happy. “And?”

  I hear her snort. “He wants me to clean the mats in the gym for him, as in mop the entire floor. With some bleach concoction, no less. Can you believe that? And you know that place is huge like a warehouse. He’d better have a good ventilation system or I’ll freak out on him.”

  “I was so hoping he was gonna ask you out. Jerk move,” I declare.

  “It gets better.”

  “Great. What else?”

  “He came by the salon last night to tell me. Guess who he was with?”

  “Who?”

  “Stacia Mackie.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “Nope. Came in right at closing time and they were holding hands. She was all dressed up in her typical outfit, short dress, boobs and ass hanging out, hair out to there, looking really hot, the hag. So, yeah, they were on a date. She got all bitchy and shit demanding that I fix the nail I ‘screwed up’ from the manicure I gave her a week ago, just stomped right up to me and stuck her hand in my face to show me it was cracked. Of course, I didn’t screw shit up, so I asked what happened. You know she works at the Shop and Bag, so she says it broke on the register when she was ringing up a customer and that’s my fault how? That’s just regular wear and tear, but you know I always fix that stuff for free for any of my customers, but she was so rude and accusatory as if I’d done something wrong that I just wanted to tell her to fuck off. But because I’m a business owner and have to play nice, I redid it while Mike sat and waited on her. Oh, my God, Pipe, I had to listen to them flirt the entire time and I wanted to puke.”

  “Wow. I’m sorry,” I remark.

  “Thanks, Pipe. So I finished her nail and she inspects it for, like, five minutes making sure I did it correctly. Then they’re ready to go and as they’re going out the door, that’s when Mike tells me about the floors and to come by this afternoon if I’m free. You know what? Fuck him. I’ll just pay him the thirty bucks he spent and tell him where he can shove his mop and mats and bleach.”

  “Can’t say that I blame you.”

  “Okay, I’ve gotta go pick up Joss and Carly from Mom and Dad’s. Let me know how your talk goes, all right? Remember, it’s all gonna work out the way it’s supposed to so stop worrying about it. All that does is give you wrinkles.”

  “Surprised I don’t look like a prune by now. Give the girls a hug from Auntie Piper. I’ll call you tonight.”

  We hang up and I remember I’ve got laundry downstairs, so I throw my cover-up back on and run down to put the load into the dryer then head back to my room where I shower and get ready for lunch.

  Chapter 10

  I jump when Brody knocks at my door. I’d been staring out at the snow still coming down and remembering some of the times we’ve had together like our second date when he’d taken me to the park for midnight movies and it’d started raining. He’d picked me up and carried me to his 1972 Bronco, running so I wouldn’t get too wet then we’d driven to his house and got stuck on one of the country roads. Neither of our cell phones would get reception, so we’d ended up having to walk a half mile to his house. The rain wasn’t coming down too hard by then but because of our numerous stops to make out, we were both soaking wet by the time we got there. His dad had given us a funny look when we walked in and asked if we’d fallen in the pond that was on their land.

  Or our first year in college when I’d gone to Old Dominion which was close to home and he’d gone to the University of Virginia which was two and a half hours away in Charlottesville and we’d decided that since we’d be apart that maybe we should break up. It’d been horrible. I was miserable the first two weeks until the second Friday when I left to go to class and saw him waiting for me outside my dorm. I ran and jumped on him, wrapping my legs around his waist, the tears pouring down my face as we kissed each other silly promising never to break up again. After that first year, we’d both transferred to VCU in Richmond so we could be together. We never lived with each other and we both did our own thing over the next three years, but it was just better knowing he was there.

  But the main thing I think about is all the fun we had when we were together. Brody has made me laugh more than anyone I’ve ever known and I’ve missed it a lot this past year. He did things like write me little poems, some of them sweet, most of them funny. My favorite was the haiku he’d taped to my bathroom mirror two months before we broke up:

  “Five syllables is

  Not enough to say how much

  I love you… oh, duh”

  Now his knocking brings me out of my thoughts and I get sad again thinking there’s really no way we can repair our relationship so this will probably be goodbye for us.

  “Hey,” I say when I open the door.

  “Hey.” He looks down at me as if I’m the best thing he’s seen in years. And that doesn’t suck. He reaches a hand out and runs a knuckle over my cheek and it’s too much.

  I pull away from him and ask, “Ready?”

  I see his jaw muscles bunching and then he nods. I move out into the hallway and pull my door closed then we walk silently to the stairs and down and across the lobby to the restaurant. There’s one other couple inside eating and I think we might be the only four people left here.

  “Good thing I made a reservation,” he mumbles which surprisingly makes me snort. I look up at him and get a wink back.

  God. God! I’ve missed him so much and I hate this. Hate that in a matter of minutes we’ll be over for good.

  The one server working walks up and tells us to sit wherever we want, so we head to a small booth next to the windows and she gives us menus.

  Brody looks out the window. “Can’t believe this snow. I wasn’t sure the SUV I rented would make it here.” He looks back at me, his eyes soft on mine. “But nothing was gonna stop me from getting to you.”

  Everything about this troubles me. “Why now, Brody? Why’re you talking to me after all this time?”

  He purses his lips and looks around the place for a moment then back at me. “I couldn’t do it any longer, Piper.”

  Our waiter, who looks like a college kid, comes up and tells us his name is John then asks if we’re ready to order. Brody orders a beer and I ask for a tea but we haven’t even had a chance to look over the menu so he leaves to get our drinks.

  “Do what?” I whisper when we’re alone again.

  “Stay away.”

  Our eyes lock and moments pass. I’m not sure what’s going through his head, but I’m a total mess inside.

  Our waiter returns and places our drinks on the table. “Here you go, folks. Ready to order yet?”

  “Not just yet,” Brody answers him but keeps his eyes on me.

  “Okay, I’ll give you a few more moments,” John replies and leaves us.

  “Brody…”

  He reaches a hand across the table and takes mine in his. “I love you, Piper. I fucked up. I’m so sorry.” I can see the pain in his eyes and it makes my own water.

  “’Fucked up’ can mean a lot of things,” I answer and he barks out a laugh.

  “You’re so right. But I wanna explain it all to you. Should’ve done it in the first place but I guess I was scared of losing you. Lost you anyway.” He looks at me remorsefully as he rubs his thumb over the back of my hand.

  God.

  I see our waiter coming over again as does Brody and he suddenly looks back at me. “Wanna get outta here?”

  I nod and we stand. He pulls his wallet out of his back pocket and throws a twenty on the table.

  “Oh, not eating?” John asks.

  “No. Changed our minds,” Brody informs him and nods toward the money. “That’s for your trouble.” He takes my hand and leads me out of the restaurant and I hear J
ohn say, “Thanks!”

  Brody leads me to the stairs and I hesitate, pulling on his hand but it doesn’t stop him. “Wh-what’re you doing?”

  “What I should’ve done a long time ago,” he replies, continuing to pull me up the steps. We get to the top and he looks at me. “Yours or mine?”

  “Uh, yours?” I answer, not knowing what this is about but I do want to see if his room is the same as mine.

  We go to his door and he pulls his keycard from his back pocket, swiping it then pulling me inside his room where he closes the door and turns toward me. My eyes get big at the intensity on his face and when he starts stalking toward me, I back up farther into his room. “Brody,” I say quietly as I keep backing away and he keeps advancing and it’s at that time I realize his room is arranged exactly like mine is just opposite. It also hits me that he wants me. Yeah, I know. I’m a little slow on the uptake. But this situation brings all kinds of emotions to the surface for me: apprehension, panic, guilt.

  “I love you, Piper. None of it’s true. Peyton set me up,” he says as he keeps moving forward and I know I’m going to hit the bed soon which, honestly, I don’t think I really mind. “She drugged me. It was when you were at Greer’s when Addie was born. She set me up.”

  The backs of my legs meet the bed, then without warning, he literally picks me up and throws me on it then climbing on and moving over the top of me. My heart’s racing like crazy as he gets right in my face.

  “Piper… I love you… I need you,” he says hoarsely before his lips come down hard on mine.

  At first I’m still in a daze at the speed of what’s going on here, my head still stuck on our rooms being mirrors of each other and all, on the mental state I’m in, but when I feel his tongue gliding along my lower lip seeking access, I tell myself I’ll deal with my emotions later and all negative thoughts disappear as I open up to him letting the kiss fully happen because if there’s anything I’ve always known about myself it’s that this man makes me stupid with lust and it won’t do any good to fight it.

  And I find I don’t want to fight it. It’s been so long since he’s kissed me or touched me this way and I need him, want him, so badly that I finally just push every doubt out of my mind, fully committing to this.

  My hands move down between us where I grab the bottom of his t-shirt to pull it up and I feel his abs suck in as my fingers skim over his torso. He breathes a groan into my mouth and when I taste the beer on his breath it’s inexplicably hot making me moan right back. And that’s when things get wild. He immediately goes up on a hand, reaching the other behind his neck to yank his shirt off then his lips slam down onto mine again, his tongue thrusting into my mouth, twisting furiously with mine as he moves a hand underneath me grabbing my ass and jerking me up roughly to him, plastering my hips to his as he grinds his hard cock against me. I dig my fingers into the flesh of his back feeling his muscles bunching under them as I try to pull him closer. I need him closer.

  He suddenly flips us to where I’m on top then knifes up off the bed so that I’m straddling him and although the tension is thick between us, he now changes the pace from frantic to almost languid, bunching my sweater in his hands at my waist, his eyes following the rise of it as his hands slowly slide up my sides to my armpits continuing up until my arms are raised above my head and he lifts my sweater off. I see a spark glitter in his eyes as they focus on my breasts then things switch abruptly back to frenzied when his hands on my waist pull me up and I’m on my knees in front of him then his mouth covers one of my breasts and he sucks hard on my nipple through the lace of my bra.

  “Brody!” I cry as my back automatically arches and my head goes back, my fingers clawing at his shoulders. Panting, I bring my head up and look down at him only to see he’s looking up at me as he draws fiercely on my other nipple and my God the look of hunger in his eyes almost makes my breath hitch and I almost come with just that.

  “So fucking beautiful,” he says huskily as his lips move to my neck, his hands moving the button of my jeans out of the loop and the zipper down. He turns us again and pulls my boots off then hooking his fingers into the waistband of my jeans and panties, jerks them down and off. He gazes down at me and I see a glint of surprise which quickly turns to desire when he notices I’ve had a Brazilian wax. “So goddamned beautiful,” he mutters then his mouth is there.

  It doesn’t take my body long to respond to what he’s doing because he does it so well, his tongue lapping, penetrating, flicking, his mouth kissing, sucking, all of it bringing me to the brink of ecstasy and just before I succumb, a mewl of objection slips from my mouth as I lose him. I watch as he shoves his jeans down around his hips and he puts on a condom which triggers something deep inside my brain but I’m so far on the edge of coming, it’s only a fleeting notion. His hand goes behind my knee and he draws my leg up then he’s sliding inside me, so hard and long and thick and that’s all it takes as my body instantly clamps down on him as my climax blasts through me.

  “Baby,” I rasp as my toes curl and my hands clutch the comforter as my body soars.

  “Fuck,” he breathes out, his beautiful face above mine, his eyes closing for a few seconds as he appears to be savoring the moment. “Been too long,” he grinds out, his voice all deep and gravelly. When he opens his eyes, they pierce mine once again taking my breath away at the heat in them, and when he begins moving inside, his thrusts are slow and measured as if he’s reveling in our joining, taking his time to get all he can out of it but also giving everything to me.

  And I love that. Love that he’s always been so attentive to my needs, has always been an amazing lover (although he’s been my one and only). But I’ve listened to friends enough to know that even with my having had only one partner, Brody’s good at it.

  He’s now driving in harder, going so deep and it feels so good, so right, and I feel my body heating up again.

  “That’s it, baby. I feel you,” he says with a grunt as he pounds inside me harder, faster. He lets my leg go and I twist it around the back of his thigh as his hand moves under me to the back of my neck bracing me against his thrusts. His other hand snakes down between us, his thumb pushing against my clit making me moan long and loud. Then he seals his mouth over mine, groaning into it as he’s about to reach his peak, and when he does his double thrust, slamming inside forcefully then pulling back to do the same but staying deep and grinding into me as he releases, I follow right after because like I’ve said, that gets me every damned time.

  We lay there for several minutes, a twisted jumble of sated limbs, both of us breathing heavily, our bodies slick with perspiration, his face buried at the side of my neck before he pulls back to look down at me.

  “Fucking love you, Piper. I missed you more than you’ll ever know, baby. God, I missed you.” He keeps his eyes on mine and my forehead wrinkles at the fact that he looks like he almost tears up. He next kisses me soft and sweet then pulls out of me with a grimace as if he hates leaving me. “I’ll be back,” he says quietly, his eyes warm on mine then turning to his back and hoisting up his jeans, he leaves the bed.

  I watch him walk to the bathroom and admire his muscular back that has a tattooed Celtic cross with “Fiona” written in the middle of it in tribute to his baby sister who’d died of SIDs when he was ten. Kade has the same tattoo which they got one drunken weekend in Richmond when Kade was home on leave from the Navy. I look at the tattoo that’s situated between his broad shoulders, which I also ogle, along with his tight ass, and his, oh, hell, his everything.

  And as I lie there in a state of bliss, closing my eyes and letting what’s left of my orgasmic euphoria cascade over me, it’s then that it hits me what he’s doing, why he’s in the bathroom, what my brain tried to compute earlier but couldn’t in my aroused state.

  Oh, my God.

  I get up and start dressing because I think I’m going to be sick.

  Chapter 11

  “Wh
at’re you doing?” Brody asks when he comes back into the room.

  I’ve got my jeans on and turn and face him as I pull my sweater down over my head. He’s standing there jeans unbuttoned, gorgeous chest on display, his Adonis belt (those damned sexy v-lines) disappearing into his jeans and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a finer specimen of a man. Even Charlie Hunnam doesn’t compete and that’s saying a lot.

  I take in a shaky breath and watch as he walks to me, a look of trepidation on his face.

  “What is it?” he asks, running the knuckles of one hand down my cheek.

  I bite my lip and taking another breath declare, “You wore a condom.”

  His eyes narrow on mine not comprehending what I’ve said.

  I look up at him knowing I’m going to have to spell it out for him. “You’ve never worn a condom with me. Ever.”

  I see realization register on his face and again, a remorseful look flashes over his countenance.

  What this means to me is he felt he needed protection because he actually slept with Hannah even though he’d just told me none of it was true, that Peyton set him up. Heck, it could also mean he’s slept with other women either when we were together or after we broke up. Who knows? At this point, I’m clueless and don’t know what to believe.

  I swallow at his silence which pretty much verifies my suspicions and sit on the bed to pull my boots back on.

  “Piper…” I look up at him and watch as he kneels in front of me putting his hands on my thighs. “I know I didn’t sleep with Hannah.” He shakes his head. “Peyton fucking drugged me. I don’t remember anything but I know I wouldn’t have done that to you, would never have cheated on you. Kade only knows about it because she called him, scared because I guess I was seizing or some shit, reacting to the GHB she put in my drink. He says when he got there, I was in bed fully dressed but Hannah was in bed with me and she was…” He blows out a breath. “She was naked.”