Being back to work is nice. I have a ring to buy after all. Ryder is taking Dina with him to the upcoming car show. I wonder if he’s planning to propose. He’s been in love with that girl from the night they first met and would do anything for Dina’s safety and happiness. If they get engaged first, that’s a heart break I’m not sure how Maggie will take.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for Dina and for Ryder. Dina deserves something safe and secure in her life. Ryder has turned in his player card to become a better man because of what we all witnessed with Dina’s ex. They both have danced around each other long enough; it’s nice to finally see them together. I just don’t need any more pressure about this proposal.
I’ll never be a man like Ryder; I’ll never be half of what he is and stands for. I don’t have it in me to be good. I love Maggie, but honestly, I don’t deserve her love or companionship. After all, it should’ve been me all those years ago. The ghosts of my past will haunt me until my very last breath; possibly all eternity.
Chapter Two
Welcome Home
Maggie
Walking inside our house after work is always the best feeling for me. Brayden and I spent months looking at house after house before falling in love with this one. It’s a cozy one story, ranch style, three bedroom, and two bathroom house. Brayden has a detached garage for all his man toy needs. We aren’t far from Dina’s house or Brayden’s work.
I decide to cook spaghetti for Brayden tonight, his all-time favorite meal. I love to tease him so I get dinner started and head to my room.
I quickly strip off all my clothes and put on my black “kiss the cook” apron and red heels that match the lettering. What straight man wouldn’t love to come home to this?
When Brayden walks in and sees me he whistles. I smile seductively.
“Hey there.”
He smiles a wicked smile so full of promises. “Are you my appetizer or my dessert?”
Crossing over to him, I answer with a sexy wink. “Both baby, now take me hard, here and now.”
Without hesitation, he turns me around and bends me over the table. He holds my hands in place over my head as he drops his pants. He begins to pound into me hard and fast. The feeling as he is stretching and filling me is incredible. He’s rough with his hips slamming hard into me, pushing me into the table. With his free hand, he begins slowly, gently massaging my ass just before the swift smack comes across my backside. The sudden sharp pain brings my focus to the moment and sensations of his continual pace. I’m so close to my orgasm as he’s heightened my sensitivity when the blood rushes to the area of the spanking.
I feel my body tighten with my building climax, when Brayden leans over and whispers in my ear, “No, no baby that release won’t come until later.”
He slows his pace keeping me on edge as he nips at the back of my shoulder blades. Suddenly, he pulls out of me and walks off to our bathroom.
I’m so wound up, but we’ve played this game before. The anticipation and final reward of release will have me seeing stars later.
We sit at the table for dinner, me still clothed only by an apron and Brayden in his boxers and a pair of basketball shorts, no shirt. We eat, both teasing one another, with each passing moment. If you are more than half naked while twirling noodles around a fork, it becomes a battle of sensual wills as to who will ravish the other first.
After what feels like hours, but is really mere minutes, my body is aching in need. Taking a piece of ice from my glass, I hold it in my mouth. Walking over to his chair I squat in front of him making sure I expose myself. I pull his erection free, gently stroking him. I slowly lean in licking up and down his member rubbing the piece of ice in my mouth along it. I lick the head swirling around it while massaging his balls and then firmly tugging knowing the pressure is building up in him.
“Enough” he commands, “ride me now.”
And ride him I do. As I begin the tightening climb to my ecstasy, Brayden smacks my ass distracting me while simultaneously biting my nipple; the pressure sends me over the edge, exploding around him. He massages my backside from the spanking while gently kissing my neck and breast as I travel through the waves of aftershocks. My core is milking him as my body is trembling when Brayden finds his own release.
We get up from the table, Brayden leading me to our bedroom. As much as he does wild and kinky, he also loves to slow down and cherish my body.
He gently kisses me. “Oh, baby, you are my fire and my ice. You are my wild and my calm.”
He holds me close trailing his nose along my jaw line and neck. “I’m going to run a bubble bath for us. Mmmmmm I love you, Maggie.”
In the bath, Brayden gently washes every part of me. He takes his time to massage my feet and legs. He tickles me with kisses as he massages my neck and shoulders. The scalp massage he gives me while washing my hair is enough to almost put me to sleep in the bath. He rinses my hair thoroughly, and then helps me out of the tub. After drying me off, we go to bed.
“Maggie, you know I like the fast and hard side of you, but I love when I can treasure your body slowly and deliberately. I love you Maggie, now and always.” With that he enters me, making slow love to me until exhaustion over takes us both.
Brayden
Coming home tonight to see Maggie in nothing but an apron has my body immediately at attention. Knowing that this beautiful woman wants me is an indescribable feeling. I purposely bring her to the very brink of satisfaction and stop knowing that the anticipation will carry a more intense orgasm later. My pleasure comes from making the stars dance in her mind in orgasm.
When she’s in the kitchen ready for me like this, I smile thinking back to our first time. It was four years ago, we had just started dating a few months before and she invited me over for dinner. At the time, she shared an apartment with Dina. She was in the kitchen attempting to cook. I came over and began to kiss her. She was wearing a sun dress. As my hand came around, roaming up her dress to cup her ass I found she wasn’t wearing any panties. I was so turned on by that we had sex right there on the kitchen counter. Dinner was burned so we had to order out and it turns out my dear Maggie, doesn’t ever wear panties. Oh what a lucky man am I!
Sex has always been a driving force and powerful connection for Maggie and me. She is not big on talking shop or anything cars for that matter, I’m not much for shoes, so other than sex and drinking we don’t have a lot in common. Her sense of humor keeps me laughing all the time. She’s a little klutzy at time, mainly from the damn shoes she wears but it’s cute. The last four years with her have been the absolute the happiest of my life. I can escape the thoughts in my head and just be lost in her body.
Her love for me is beyond any intensity that anyone has ever felt for me including my own family. She accepts me as I am and has never once pried into my history, my childhood, or even pressed me for information about my friends. We just fit together no questions necessary. I have never had such complete acceptance from anyone like she gives me. I know this euphoria is not a feeling I deserve but I just can’t walk away from her.
Chapter Three
Unexpected
Maggie
It’s Sunday, so I decide to spend the day at home watching movies. Brayden is at work. Dina is gone with Ryder to the car show. Apparently, Brayden took my car to the shop today. I guess his old Charger is messed up. I don’t know, he hasn’t said anything, but he hasn’t driven the car home in a few months.
My phone rings, looking at the caller ID, I smile. “Hi, Daddy.”
“Hey, Princess, how’s my girl?”
I love that he still calls me Princess. “Relaxing today, what are you and mom getting into?”
My parents hardly ever stay still, always traveling or going off to do community stuff with their motorcycle club. They call at least once a week when they get a free moment.
“For today, we’re going on a poker run with the club. We’re thinking about coming to visit you and Dina for a weekend.”
I smile thinking my parents are the very best. They love Dina like their own and watch out for her as much as they do me and my two brothers.
“We’d love to have you visit; in fact, we’ll be fighting over whose house you should stay at.” We chat for a few more minutes before ending the call.
My dad, Harold Lawson is a retired marine. He and my mom, Marguerite decided to move our family to Coastal North Carolina after he retired which happened to be my freshmen year of high school. Dina and I were fast friends and she is now my sister practically.
My parents and Dina’s parents were close. They rode together in the same motorcycle club my parents still ride with today. When her parents passed, my parents just stepped in any way they could to comfort and support Dina. Even my two older brothers have adopted Dina. Ryder has met them before but he has no idea what he’s in for when they visit next. Especially Harrison, he has always been the most overprotective.
I’m relaxing on the couch when a knock sounds at my door. Looking out of the peephole, there is a deputy sheriff on the porch.
“Can I help you?” I ask after opening the front door and stepping out to the deck.
He hands me a paper, asking me to sign an acknowledgement of receipt. “Excuse me, what is this?”
He looks serious, “Ma’am I tried to serve these Friday and you weren’t home. This is a ten day writ of execution. The bank that owns your house has completed the fore closure process. You have ten days to vacate. And you have now officially been served.” With that he walks away leaving me astonished at my situation.
I immediately run inside and call Brayden, this must be a mistake. He doesn’t answer. Damn it, I don’t have a car to go find him either. As the enormity of my situation engulfs me I can’t stop the hysterics.
I fall to the floor in the middle of my living room and call Dina. I need my best friend now and desperately. I know she’s away and I’m intruding on her vacation, but I don’t know what to do. I hate to bother her while she’s with Ryder at the car show, I don’t want to mess up any business he may be handling, but I need her and now. My world is falling apart and this is all so unexpected.
The screen of my phone is a blur through the tears as I watch it show ‘calling’, with only a few short rings, she answers. I can’t control my crying enough to say anything more to her than come home now. She assures me she’s on her way. I focus on her coming to help me sort this out to calm myself as panic is consuming me. Breathe in, breathe out, Dina will help me find out what’s happened. Surely, I’m not really losing my house, right?
Brayden
It’s Sunday and I feel trapped, stir crazy. I take off for a day out and about in Maggie’s car. She won’t question where I’m going; she’ll just assume I’m at the shop. I’ll make sure to stop by there later and work for a bit. I don’t want to totally lie to her.
I don’t know how to tell Maggie just how bad things are about to get. How do you tell the woman you love, the one person to totally accept you, by the way I not only blew all of my money, but yours too? Oh and that house you picked out, yeah sweetheart, it now belongs to the bank. My car that we made so many memories in, yup a dad who frequents the garage bought it for his punk son. Oh yes, Maggie you’ve found a real winner in me, I lost it all. We have nothing left except your car.
Congratulations Maggie, you are in love with a complete asshole. I may not beat on you, but I have totally and completely ruined your life just like Michael did Dina’s. Yes, I’m just as worthless as that piece of shit, sorry excuse for a man. My mom is right. It should have been me all those years ago. If only Maggie new, she would agree and wish I was long gone never to have met her.
When my phone rings, I’m too messed up to talk to Maggie, so I let it go to voicemail. The text chime alerts me to find the papers have been served. Maggie is a wreck I’m sure. I decide it’s best not to speak to her at all for a bit. She needs to cool down, I need to think. Damn, I’ve messed up bigger than shit this time. Where are we gonna go? Well, Maggie will go to Dina’s most likely. Me, I have nowhere.
Chapter Four
Gone
Maggie
Brayden won’t answer his phone; he’s gone in my car, leaving me stuck in a house that I suddenly have been told I must vacate. I don’t know why the house is in foreclosure, I give Brayden my paychecks, together we make more than enough to cover our costs.
His car is paid for. Hell, it’s the very first car he ever owned. My car was a college graduation gift from Dina and it’s paid for in full, I have the title. Neither of us have any student loans, so I don’t understand why the house wouldn’t get paid for. Right now, I feel helpless and my boyfriend of four years can’t even answer the damn phone to explain to me what’s happening.
Ryder and Dina arrive in the middle of the night, coming directly to my house from the show. They both look exhausted. I instantly feel guilty that I can’t handle this on my own. Unable to say the words, I just hand Dina the papers without speaking.
She begins to cry as she’s reading the documents in front of her. “Maggie, what does this mean? Like the house is gone? Where is Brayden? Surely this is a mistake…a misunderstanding…”
“Dina, he’s…well, I don’t know where he is. He won’t answer his phone. He has my car. He won’t answer…He won’t answer me… He won’t even answer the shop phone.” Panic setting in, I keep repeating that he won’t answer me. Emotions overcoming me, I begin to sob. “What am I going to do?”
Dina wraps her arms around me. “It’s okay Maggie. We’ll figure it out. This can’t be right, there’s an explanation of some sort.”
After a few minutes Ryder goes to our desk, pulling out every paper he can find. We all sit down at my kitchen table to look for clues. All I can manage is crying hysterically, as Ryder keeps finding more papers and just saying “shit” over and over again as he shows me that there is no money. Every last penny is gone. Dina is sitting beside me with an expressionless face of complete shock filled numbness.
How can I possibly pick up the pieces from this? What am I going to tell my family and friends? We were settled with a strong future ahead of us. Now…now, I don’t know what’s going on with anything obviously. I don’t know what Brayden is hiding but there is definitely something serious going on.
Brayden
Damn, can’t they all take a hint; I’m not going to answer my phone. I’ve lost my car, I’ve lost my house, and I’m pretty sure I’ve lost Maggie, too.
She wouldn’t understand even if I tried to explain so there is no point in talking to her. What kind of man leaves his woman blindsided to losing everything? This bastard right here does, that’s who.
I’m at work. I know I will have to face Ryder sooner or later. How do I explain this mess to him? Then again, it’s Ryder, maybe he’ll help, maybe he’ll bail me out and then Maggie will listen to anything I tell her because she always sees the good in me. Yes, I decide, Ryder, he might help. He’s my only hope anyway. Deciding it’s time to ask for help, I send him a quick text.
Need to talk. Don’t tell Maggie. Meet me at shop. Pls
Ryder and I met freshmen year of college. He was my dorm roommate. We had a common love for old muscle cars and formed a fast friendship. He was in school for business management. I was in school because my dad’s death paid for it and required I get a degree. I was studying communications and doing just enough to get by. Ryder is a hometown guy from Charlotte. He started working at a local garage when he was really young. Through him, I was able to get a job there as well.
When the old man who owns the place decided to retire he sold the business for cheap to Ryder saying he believed in him. Ryder has grown the business to double the revenue originally coming in. He’s not only smart in mechanics, but business, marketing, and the books. He has been the best and longest friend I’ve had outside of Valerie and Vanessa. Ryder doesn’t talk about his family, other than he was raised by his grandmother. I choose not to discuss family with
anyone. If I don’t ask, they don’t tell. If I don’t open that conversation, I can avoid the topic of my own situation.
Chapter Five
Decisions
Maggie
“What do you want to do, Maggie? Do you want me to call the bank? Pay to have this caught up or paid off? Do you want to move to my house? I know you don’t want to see Brayden or do you?” Dina asks full of concern. Her anxiety shows as she’s spitting out question after question almost franticly.
“I can’t have you pay this, Dina. It’s all been lies. How can I stay here with him? He can’t even answer a phone to explain. Just let the bank have the fuckin’ house.” I sob.
“Let’s get your immediate needs packed and moved to my house. We’ll get everything else put into storage. It’ll take some time Maggie, but we’ll sort this all out.” Dina reassures me as we begin packing.
“D, baby, can I talk to you outside?” Ryder asks my bestie.
I have a feeling this is about Brayden. I continue packing while they talk trying not to think about my boyfriend. About fifteen minutes later, my best friend returns with tears filling her eyes.
“Maggie, I don’t know what’s going on exactly. Brayden asked to see Ryder, but not to tell you. Ryder thinks he knows but he won’t elaborate. He agrees it would be best for you to move to my house until we can figure out what Brayden has gotten into and the full extent of this mess.”
Dina pauses letting me take it in. “Maggie, I need to be honest with you. I don’t have a clue as to what could be going on. Ryder has his thoughts on what is wrong with Brayden, but has not yet shared his suspicions with me. He feels it’s not his story to tell but that it’s serious.” She sighs, “Ryder and I have discussed living together. I thought about putting my house on the market. Maggie, you’re my family. We help each other. The house is paid for in full, I’ll sign it over to you if you want it. I’m not going to move in with Ryder until you are settled regardless of whether you want the house or not. I just want you to understand my house is yours to stay in for as long as you want.” Dina searches my eyes waiting for a response.
Love and Repair Series Box Set Page 13
