Inamorato

by Keira Michelle Telford

  In her other arm, she carries a three-year-old child.

  A little girl.

  Liana.

  Her eldest child, five-year-old Lidia, is by her side, clutching onto the hem of her dress.

  Ella swings open the door. “Come inside.”

  The relationship between Ella and Veva has always been strained. Veva is polite and cordial, but could never quite bring herself to love Ella the way Maydevine had always hoped she would. From the outset, Ella had been an unwelcome addition to their formal relationship, and her sudden, round-the-clock presence had ultimately caused its final, bitter deterioration.

  Not that she could be blamed for it. She was a child, and she needed precisely what Maydevine had given her: unconditional love and a safe place to call home. When he cast aside his own selfish desires to devote himself to her care, he was doing what any other doting father would do, and Veva just couldn’t handle it. She was used to being the most important thing in his life, and her relegation to second place didn’t sit too well.

  The final blow came when Ella was five, shortly after Maydevine had finalized the adoption and moved her into his home.

  Veva wanted children of her own.

  Maydevine couldn’t provide them.

  Around the time he adopted Ella, he’d made an application to the Health and Wellness Council to request their authorization for voluntary sterilization. It was granted, and the vasectomy—a procedure that would be illegal for any healthy male who had yet to sire any offspring—was performed immediately.

  He’d paid a lot of money to keep the procedure quiet and off the books.

  Very few people knew the truth.

  Those who somehow became aware of his secret out-patient visit to Western Point Hospital assumed that he’d paid the Health and Wellness Council to force through his application. Only the confidentiality-sworn Council members themselves knew that the application itself was all above board: they had no legal grounds to refuse it. All they were guilty of was taking a bribe to destroy the evidence of it.

  They knew the truth.

  So did Veva.

  Ella leads Veva and the children into the living room, where Alex is waiting. Veva’s expression turns noticeably sour at the sight of him.

  Lidia glares at him, then at Ella. “Who’s he, Miss B.?”

  “None of your business, squirt.”

  Alex crouches down to the squirt’s level. “My name’s Alex. What’s yours?”

  Before she can answer, Veva steers her away and shoots a look of disdain at him.

  “I’d prefer it if you didn’t.”

  Without explanation, she takes Lidia by the hand and drags her off to the kitchen to see Maydevine.

  Ella’s eyebrow hits the ceiling. “What was all that about?”

  Alex sucks in his cheeks, his lips pursed. “Old grudges.” He stands back up, his hip popping. “Why did she call you Miss B.?”

  “It’s one of my many nicknames.”

  “What does it mean?”

  “It’s short for misborn.” She looks up at him. “It means bastard.”

  *************************

  A short while later, Veva and the children are in the kitchen with Maydevine, while Ella and Alex are sitting on the couch in the living room, slowly working their way through a bottle of wine.

  Ella rests her legs over his lap. “So how long did you have a crush on me before we finally gave in to one another?”

  “Don’t ask me that.”

  “Why not? Is it indecent?”

  “I’m not a pervert.” Some of the earlier tension returns.

  “I didn’t say that. Why are you so touchy?”

  Alex tops up his glass, prepared to answer her first question, but not the second. “You caught my eye the first time I saw one of your private assessment videos.”

  “I bet I did.” She giggles.

  “It wasn’t like that,” he insists. “It was a career aptitude interview. You were smart and articulate and mature beyond your years. You were … perfect. I’d never seen a girl so passionately committed to something.” He takes a sip of his drink. “And you were beautiful, too—that didn’t hurt.”

  Her legs are still draped over him, and he begins to stroke her calf. He wishes that every day could be like this.

  “Does she know?” He tips his head to Veva in the kitchen. “About this.” He wags his index finger back and forth between them.

  “I’m sure Maydevine told her.”

  “He trusts her?”

  “He doesn’t trust many people, but I’m pretty sure she’s one of them. Why?” She sets her glass down on the coffee table and moves closer to him. “Is there something you want that I haven’t given you yet?”

  She takes his glass out of his hand and slides it onto the table with hers.

  He welcomes her closer.

  She glances through the doorway into the kitchen, and finds Maydevine and Veva wholly preoccupied with their own flirtation. Veva is cutting vegetables while Maydevine stands over her shoulder, his hand wandering over her firm ass.

  The children are coloring at the table.

  Nobody’s paying even the slightest bit of attention to what’s going on in the living room, so Ella makes herself available to Alex and encourages a kiss from him.

  “What did you think when you met me that night in the Belt?” She runs a hand under his t-shirt, caressing his chest. “Did I live up to your expectations?”

  “Honestly? I was disappointed.”

  “Oh, no. Why?” She pouts. “What did I do?”

  “Nothing.” Alex laughs and kisses her again. “I thought you were gay, that’s all.”

  “Oops.” Ella blushes at the memory. “I forgot about her.”

  “Who was she?”

  “How the hell would I know? I didn’t even know her name.” She offers him a cheeky grin. “What about you? If you didn’t love Celia, why did you stay with her for so long?”

  Alex shrugs. “Habit?”

  “Were you going to marry her?”

  “I didn’t want to, but it was expected of me. You can’t take up a girl’s time for that long without the anticipation of it. Not in our society.”

  Maydevine wanders into the room to fetch a bottle opener.

  “Hands where I can see them.” He wags a finger at his daughter. “And dinner’s almost ready.”

  Mmm, dinner.

  Maydevine’s been slaving away all day in the kitchen, cooking a Chimera roast that’s big enough to feed them for a week. He’s made garlic mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, sprouts, yams, and green beans.

  At the table, conversation ebbs and flows from Ella’s progress at the Academy, to Alex’s recovery, to Liana’s first night spent in a big girl bed. On the topic of Lidia’s first semester at general school, the wine Veva’s been drinking since noon begins to get to her head.

  Her eyes yo-yo back and forth between Lidia and Alex, who’re having a mundane conversation about first year math.

  “She’s the same age as Ella was when the two of you first met,” she cuts Alex off mid-sentence. “I’d appreciate it if you could try not to shove your dick inside her when she comes of age.”

  Maydevine drops his cutlery down on his plate. “Jesus christ, Vee.”

  Ella almost chokes on a piece of her food and reaches for a glass of water.

  Alex is the only one not to be shocked or outraged by Veva’s vicious remark, and he responds calmly and without anger.

  “I know you don’t think very much of me, Ms. Valentine. You’ve never made any secret of that fact, or of the fact that you disagree with the preferential treatment shown to me by Maydevine over the years. But whatever I’ve done to make you feel this way, I—”

  “I knew your father.” Veva lays down her cutlery. “He was friends with my brother, and he exposed himself to me when I was thirteen years old.”

  “Vee,” Maydevine tries to stop her. “Let’s not do this now.”

  Ignoring him, Ve
va continues. “You have bad blood in you, Foster. I won’t ever forget that.” She turns to Ella. “And you should think very carefully before you bear him any children.”

  Maydevine thumps his fist down against the table. “That’s enough, Veronica!”

  They glare at each other across the table.

  Silence.

  Alex looks withdrawn, and Ella reaches for him with her feet beneath the table. She rubs one foot over the top of one of his, and slides the other one against his ankle.

  He looks up at her. She’s smiling reassuringly at him, but the best he can manage in return is brief upward tug at the corner of his lips.

  It quickly fades.

  After dinner, Veva puts the children to bed in the guest bedroom. The four adults then retire to the living room to open presents, and after another bottle of wine, Veva becomes more amiable and resumes flirting with Maydevine.

  For Ella, the sight is nauseating.

  Veva’s beautiful, and it’s obvious that Maydevine thinks so. He can’t wait to take her to bed, and when he leans close to whisper something filthy in her ear, her nipples stiffen with anticipation.

  That’s the final straw for Ella.

  She takes Alex by the hand, pulls him up out of the armchair he’s relaxing in, and suggests that they go to the kitchen to do the dishes. As soon as they’re gone from the living room, the giggling starts. Maydevine must’ve kicked the flirtation up into the next gear.

  Alex tries to peer around the doorway to see what’s going on, but Ella pulls him back.

  “Don’t tempt fate. You might see something you’ll never be able to erase from your mind.”

  “Are they always like this?”

  “When they’re on, they’re on. When they’re off, they settle for a bit of an angry fuck every once in a while. Sometimes, I think they might actually love each other. But mostly, I think they just use each other.”

  She dumps leftover food down the garburator and flicks the switch.

  Nothing.

  She tries again.

  Still nothing.

  “That’s great.” She sighs. “That’s really gonna stink by Monday.”

  Alex gives it a cursory glance. “Do you know where Maydevine keeps his tools?”

  “Uh-huh. In the garage. Why? You think you can fix it?”

  Alex slips in behind her and slides his hands around her waist. “I’m very good with my hands.”

  She can’t argue with that.

  She leans back, resting her head against his shoulder. “Are you going to stay tonight?”

  “Do you think I should?”

  “Why not? Who knows when we’ll get this opportunity again?”

  “Won’t Maydevine mind?”

  “He knows we’re having sex, Alex. He’s not naïve.”

  “Okay, but that doesn’t mean he wants us to have it in his house.”

  Ella spins to face him. “Where else are we going to have it?”

  He doesn’t answer.

  She hooks her fingers over his belt and pulls him closer. “Don’t you want me?”

  “Of course I do.”

  “Don’t you want to spend the night in my bed?”

  “Stop it.”

  “Don’t you wanna get your big, hard cock inside my—”

  He puts his fingers over her lips to silence her. “I get it. I don’t need you to remind me what’s on offer.”

  “So take me to bed.”

  There are still noises coming from the living room.

  Alex seems uncomfortable. “Let’s talk about this later, okay? Maybe I can earn some brownie points first by fixing the sink.”

  Rather reluctantly, and with an epic pout, Ella shows him through a door at the other end of the kitchen and flicks on the light in the garage.

  It’s spotless.

  The walls are lined with shelves, upon which various household goods are stacked: cleaning products, some of Ella’s old toys, extension cables, her old bike, a tent, several cans of paint, a space heater, and so on. There’s a deep freeze at one end, and a worktable next to it. Upon the worktable: a toolbox.

  Maydevine’s car is parked in the middle of the garage, and it looks pristine.

  It catches Alex off-guard. “New paint job?”

  Ella nods. “I’m still paying it off.”

  “I almost wondered if I’d hallucinated the whole thing.”

  “Unfortunately not. It was all real. Even the part where you flicked urine in my eye.”

  “I did what?”

  She laughs. “Of course, that part you conveniently forget.”

  “I peed in your eye?”

  “You also saved me from a giant who was chasing me with a broomstick. Let’s focus on the positives.” She opens the toolbox. “What do you need?”

  “Wait. A giant with a broomstick?” He frowns at her. “Which one of us was drinking again?”

  “I can’t believe you don’t remember.”

  He starts rooting through the toolbox. “I remember bits and pieces. I remember you taking me home and undressing me. I remember getting aroused, which I thought was pretty spectacular given how much alcohol I’d consumed. I guess I’d started to sober up a bit by then.”

  “You were such a mess, and I was so worried about you.”

  “I’m sorry you had to see me like that.”

  “Don’t apologize.” Ella squeezes his arm. “That was an awful time for both of us.”

  “I never stopped loving you.”

  Taking advantage of the fact that they’re completely alone, he abandons the tools and kisses her. As they kiss, he begins to feel a southward rush of blood.

  In an attempt to suppress the onset of his arousal, he withdraws his lips from her. “You’re driving me crazy today.”

  “Am I?”

  “I can’t seem to get within three feet of you without getting … tense.”

  “Are you complaining?”

  “A little. Do you have any idea how awkward it is to get uncontrollably stiff just watching your girlfriend bend over to retrieve a dropped spoon, while you’re sat at the dinner table with her father? I feel like I’m sixteen all over again.”

  “It’s because you know you get to take me tonight, that’s all.” She rubs his shoulders tenderly. “I bet the first time will be really quick.”

  “The first time? You’re really dead set on this all-night thing, aren’t you?”

  “Just for tonight, Alex. I want to pretend as though we’re a normal couple. How could you deny me that?”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Flirt & Tease

  Alex is lying on his back on the floor, half underneath the sink. He’s shirtless, and Ella’s watching him from the kitchen table, sipping a glass of wine.

  Maydevine comes in to tidy away the wine glasses from the living room, and he almost trips over Alex’s legs.

  “What is he doing?”

  Ella doesn’t take her eyes off him. “He’s fixing the garburator.”

  “Why is he half naked?”

  “To give me something to look at while he’s fixing the garburator.”

  Maydevine moves the glass of wine away from her. “I think you’re done with this.”

  She doesn’t protest.

  Her gaze doesn’t even waver.

  “Vee and I are going to bed.” Maydevine squeezes her shoulder. “Is the boy staying?”

  “Can he?” She looks up at him.

  “It’s Christmas.” He kisses the top of her head.

  “Thank you, Papa.”

  He leaves, and a few minutes later, Alex emerges from beneath the sink. When he flicks the switch to test the garburator, it works.

  “Ta-da!”

  Ella claps for him. In the silence that follows, he realizes it’s just the two of them, and that the house is quiet.

  “Where’d they go? I heard Maydevine’s voice a second ago.”

  “They went to bed.” She looks up at him invitingly. “We’re alone.”

&
nbsp; He washes and dries his hands and walks over to her. Still sitting at the table, her face is just about in line with his waist. She kisses his bare skin just above his waistband, and as she looks at him, she watches an expectant bulge form in his jeans.

  She kisses the bulge. “Does this mean you’re staying the night?”

  “I’ll stay for a while at least.”

  That’s not good enough.

  Ella gets up and walks away from him.

  He calls her back. “Hey, where are you going?”

  She stops in the doorway. “I’m gonna go to my room and take off my clothes. I’m going to lie there on my bed, waiting for you. If you’re not there in five minutes, I’m gonna start taking care of business myself. Is that fair?”

  “El …”

  “I want you to spend the night with me, Alex. The whole night—like real couples do. If it makes you uncomfortable to be with me here, with Maydevine so close, I’ll understand. I’ll be disappointed, but I’ll understand, and you can leave right now. I won’t ask you again. I’m not going to beg. I’m not going to remind you what’s on offer. I’m just going to go to my bed and strip. Okay?”

  She leaves.

  He hesitates.

  In under a minute, he comes to the conclusion that he’d have to be a complete and utter moron to go home and waste this occasion to be intimate with her; to spend a proper night with her; to wake up with her in his arms.

  He sneaks down the hallway and pushes open her bedroom door.

  She did exactly what she said she’d do.

  She’s lying on her bed with her hair down, wearing a tank top and undies, waiting for him. He closes the door, locks it, and throws his t-shirt down at the foot of the bed.

  Without saying a word, he lowers himself down onto the bed above her and they begin to kiss. As he moves himself closer, he parts her legs and starts to rock his pelvis against her.

  Her eyes light up. “Can you … ?”

  “I’m gonna try.”

  More kisses.

  She can feel his erection rubbing against her with every gentle thrust, and she craves penetration.

  He denies her, though.

  He pulls up her tank top and starts to kiss her naked breasts. He wants to take it slow and tease her, and turn her on and work her up, but she’s having none of it.