by Alisa Mullen
“Uh,” I stammered as I did a quick sidelong glance at Aoife who was sitting far away from me, looking out the window, and fidgeting with her fingers. I looked down at them and frowned. I missed those fingers already. Oh, fuck it.
“You met Aoife last night, right? She is the girl from Ireland over with the intern and work study program,” I announced with a new surge of excitement.
The other end of the phone remained silent until she cleared her throat. “Sean, did you? You didn’t…” she trailed off a bit and I went in to stop her train of thought. Why did it even matter to her?
“Did what?” I cut Lizzie off for the first time ever. “Aoife and I went out with the guys in Southie.”
Aoife’s head started to turn towards me, her eyes wide, not believing that I was telling Lizzie about her. Was she embarrassed about our night together? Jesus, women were so damn complicated. How did I play this out?
“So we had a really great time,” I continued and then raised my eyebrows at Aoife in question. I was so friggin’ relieved when she slowly grinned and nodded her head once.
“Yeah, she is pretty awesome actually. We spent the night at her apartment and now she is coming out to my place for the rest of the weekend.” I felt myself starting to reveal more about us and I had no idea why. It was unprecedented. I had never given so many details about a date out with a chick but this meant something to me. I wanted both girls to know that.
I finished detailing the events of the night before and my chest felt a million times lighter. I told Lizzie what I did with girls for once. She hadn’t ever really asked up until now and well, I wasn’t afraid that my confessions would bear anything on our friendship. I told the truth and I had nothing to hide to anyone. Lizzie didn’t need to own me anymore. That was done. I had made that decision at the party and before I had approached Aoife. I didn’t realize that the whole “shut a door and a window opens” saying was for real. Maybe I would tattoo that quote on my body next for good measure.
“Sean.” Lizzie’s voice sounded like when she was telling her son, Niall, that he needed to put the milk back in the fridge. Hard. Authoritative.
“What?” I quipped, surprised at her tone of voice. She wasn’t my boss. No one was. Not even Lizzie O’Malley.
“She is only here for a few weeks, Sean. She is kind of like Teagan – well, except she is a girl and she probably isn’t a fuck face. Nevertheless, they only stay for a few weeks and then they go back to their lives. Back to their country,” she argued.
“You get me? You can’t. You cannot get attached to Aoife. Yes, she seems sweet and I thought Freddie liked her by the way he was acting before you got there. Hmm… That doesn’t make any sense,” she added. I could literally hear her thinking. She always tapped something when she was trying to figure out a problem. Or she would cluck her tongue. She was doing both on the phone.
“Anyways, I am with her now and being totally rude, so I got to let you go,” I said as I started to pull the phone away from my ear to click the off button. I heard her call my name again before I hung up.
I threw the phone on the dashboard and gripped the wheel a little too hard. Don’t Quit stared back at me from my pinched knuckles.
“You didn’t have to tell her,” Aoife suggested.
It was like she had slapped me. I turned my head so quickly I almost took the truck off the back forest roads of Newbury.
“Why would you say that?” I demanded. “Yeah, at first, maybe. I just wanted to forget about life for a while. I needed to have some fun and I had the sense that you wanted out of that party, too. But something else, something so different than what I had planned, happened to me last night. It is confusing as fuck and I might need therapy when you move back to Ireland, but the hell if I am ever going to keep you a secret from Lizzie. I want to own your time, not hers.”
I blew out a breath and went back to turn the music up. Pink Floyd came on and Aoife immediately started to sing along with The Wall.
“So you know who Pink Floyd is?” I was grasping at anything normal after that fucked up conversation. I wanted to go back four minutes and hit ignore on my cell phone.
Aoife rolled her eyes. “First, they are British. Second, who doesn’t know who Pink Floyd is? I might be sheltered but I don’t live in a tent in the middle of nowhere.”
I flashed my panty dropping smile as I pulled the truck into my driveway. Todd’s car was there. Of course, I immediately wished I had called into work and stayed at Aoife’s in that small little bed. I did not want to bring her in the house with that dude. He was an okay roommate when I had women over, but I swear that after every girl I banged, he was waiting outside my bedroom. I think he actually gave them his number to call back for more. Aoife was off limits to him and I had to set him straight before Aoife got embarrassed and wanted to crawl into that corner she liked to hang out in within her mind.
As I went around the truck, I shot her a look.
“What?” She asked innocently.
“Next time, let me open the door for you,” I chided. Her face fell.
“Oh, would you like me to get back in so you can?” Her little body climbed back up into the truck and slammed the truck door shut. I stood there with my arms crossed over my chest. Her humor was dry. She was fun and my grin was obviously contagious because she started to laugh even though I couldn’t hear her. I began to laugh right with her. When I opened the door, she confidently jumped into my arms. I kissed her soundly. After the phone call with Lizzie, the car ride had been tense and awkward. The moment I had her in my arms, I remembered why I wanted her with me. Her scent, her laugh, her soul was addictive and I needed it around me as much as possible.
My phone began to ring again. Still holding her, I leaned into the truck to grab it off the dashboard. It was fucking Lizzie calling again. I felt Aoife tense in my arms when she looked down at the screen. I clicked ignore and shoved it in my pocket with one hand, still with her wrapped all around me. I was ready.
I needed to take off all of her clothes and maybe that time should be now. I carried her up to the door, unlocked it, and kissed her through the living room where Todd was watching television. The look on his face was priceless when I sent him a sidelong scowl not to fuck with this one. Aoife didn’t see him, thank God. I didn’t want to feel uncomfortable any longer. I wanted to be inside of her. I needed to break through the barrier. Our one night had been nice and all – but hell. I was beyond ready.
I placed her in the middle of my queen sized bed and towered over her with one arm keeping my head propped up. The other hand went to her jean shorts. I unbuttoned them and slid my hand underneath what did not feel like granny panties. She was soft and smooth and so warm. Her mouth went slack right before I caught it up in my own lips. As I slowly grazed my fingers over her clit, she jumped.
“Oh, God. What was that?” she asked her eyes bright and wondrous. I grinned into her surprise and gently moved over it again. Her hips bucked off. I stood up, adjusting myself and started for her shirt. I needed to taste her breasts.
I couldn’t even comprehend the quick flash of movement. She was lightning fast, prompting me to take off my own shirt. I went for hers again and her small fingers were no longer weak and soft. They were death grips. She had some major force behind them that made me look at her with panic.
“What did I do? Am I going too fast?” I asked, heavily breathing through my teeth.
She shook her head furiously. “Please don’t take my top off. I get very – um… I am very shy about that part of my body. Can we leave my top on? Would that be okay?”
“Of course but, Aoife, I want to feel you, your tits. I need to feel them.”
“You can put your hands on them, Sean. Please put your hands on them – just I don’t want you to see…” She trailed off as she pulled my neck down to her mouth again for a mind fuck of a kiss. She was pure passion. It was as if she had never had sex before in her entire life. She shivered at every gentle touch, moaned at e
very hot nip to her skin, and cried out like she had never felt pleasure quite like what I gave to her. That was just our foreplay.
By the time I had entered her, I was about to lose it from how her reactions made my body feel. I made her explode enough times that she was finally soaked enough to take me - to feel me without the pain, although I knew there was nothing painful about us ever being together. She made me feel like I painted the most amazing paintings, ran a football the fastest down the field, and sat at the throne of a small country with a big fat jeweled crown on my head
Aoife cries of pleasure were the most fucking incredible and intoxicating sounds I had ever heard. They were genuine. They were raw. They were human.
As she panted the two words, “Jesus” and “Sean”, I rocked with her in a rhythmic motion set by our own heartbeat song. It may have been the best feeling I had felt with a woman. I put my hands over her shirt, moving as close to her as I could, and grazed her stomach as I went to her breasts. Flicking both of her nipples simultaneously, she cried out when I rolled my pelvis on to her clit once more.
Together, we came silently, watching each other’s faces scrunch up in pleasure and the breaths that came out were of overwhelmed sexual release. It was insane. This Irish girl had me. She owned my time, my balls, my attention, and my maybe my heart, too. It was scary as fuck.
Fuck that noise in my head. It was the first time in all of my life that I couldn’t fear fear. I needed to extricate the scary parts of this relationship and use that energy to make a better life for myself – a far richer life than I ever dreamed of. I would make our worlds collide even if it broke me.
Chapter Twelve
Sean
I don’t know how long we lay there afterwards – sweaty bodies, cool sheets, David Gilmore crooning about a mother, and kissing one another every few seconds. When the knock came at my door, I rolled my eyes and Aoife started to giggle.
“What?” I yelled.
“Uh, dude. Your cell phone dropped on the floor when you were carrying in that chick,” Todd’s annoying voice came through the door.
“Her name is Aoife, not some chick. She is my girl. Get it straight,” I said loud enough for Todd to hear. I also said it reverently enough so Aoife comprehended that I was declaring my hopes. I made her see the truth behind my words with my eyes. “Ok, yeah – whatever. It looks like Lizzie is dying to get in touch with you. She’s called maybe five times. Oh and you missed a call from The Ink Shop.”
“Open the door and hand me the phone,” I said as I covered Aoife and walked to the back of my bedroom door. Todd opened it and I grabbed the phone. I slammed the door closed, locked it, and jumped back in bed with my giggling girl.
She spilled herself over my chest as I ran through the five calls from Lizzie and the one call from work. Why did Lizzie care so much? So what if I was hanging out with Aoife? It wasn’t any of her damn business. She had never been this way with me before.
Aoife must have seen my brain turning over and over in confusion because she placed her hand on my chest and told me to just “ring” her back. Her little words made me inwardly smile. Did she know how much the way she spoke made me fall a little harder for her? She couldn’t know. I didn’t even know until I just thought about it.
“I honestly don’t know what her deal is. She doesn’t own me. She has never been interested in knowing anything about any of the women I date,” I said and instantly felt uncomfortable with how this conversation must sound to Aoife.
“She probably just wants to protect you. Although I think it will be me left with a broken heart at the end of summer. I really like you Sean,” she admitted with a smile. “And I am very fond of what you just did to my body. Nothing like that has ever happened before. I think I want more, maybe every day, this summer.”
I kissed her forehead and put the phone next to me. “In all seriousness, I really like you, too, Aoife. I didn’t know what I felt for you when I first met you but honestly, I do want to see where this goes. If it is only until you get on that flight, then so be it. If we want more, I will do everything in my power to see you as often as possible.”
Aoife looked away and studied the chipped off ceiling paint. “I don’t think you’ll want to know much more past this summer. My life in Ireland is very small and very lonely. I want to live your life for a while. I want to escape into your world. Would ya mind me doing that?” Her eyes were full of hope and maybe a little of sadness, too.
I cupped her face in my hands and kissed her lips. “I think that sounds like the perfect idea, sweetheart.”
“So do we go to do the tattoos now?” She asked with more excitement in her voice.
I laughed at her and the way she was so damn cute when she said that. “We are going to head to The Ink Shop but first, I want to do that thing I just did to your body one or two or three more times.”
I felt the glorious smile stretch across my face and I grabbed her to get on top of me. The way her small brown curls fell into her eyes was pure beauty. No one would ever notice how fucking hot this girl was until you spent time with her. It was obvious that Aoife was selfless. If it was true that she financially and emotionally took care of her father than she deserved more than just a roll in the sack.
She was more than someone to be used. She was funny when she got the nerve to be bold and outspoken. She was sweet when she told me that she didn’t have to be first in my life. She was so many damn things and the more I got to know her, the more I saw myself becoming a better person for it.
Two hours later, hand in hand, we walked through the doors to The Ink Shop. The bell jingled, drawing the attention of two artists that were already inking customers. They nodded at me and did a quick body scan of Aoife before they went back to their work.
I watched Aoife as she took in the shop. Her eyes darted everywhere. My shop was bad ass. There were old posters from Ramones and Metallica concerts. There were a few photos of the Patriot cheerleaders that had come in on some random night. We had that one blown up because well, we ended up closing the shop and more than ink was inserted into bodies that night. Her head flew to the sounds of the tattoo machines and she tried to see what everyone was doing. More than anything, I felt her breathing had accelerated. I’d have to ask her if she ever planned to get a piece done on herself.
I motioned Aoife in and started getting a place for her to sit and relax.
Walking past one station, I stopped and took a look at Bold’s work. “Looks solid, dude,” I motioned at the Celtic heart on the back of a blonde’s shoulder. Blondie shot me a look. I knew her. She was a regular and maybe I had worked on her before? When she winked at me, I coughed. Yeah, I knew who she was and if Aoife just caught that exchange, she was a good actress. She was none the wiser with her eyes focused on Bold’s work. I watched her small smile and nod at the piece. Apparently, we knew our Celtic work well.
“Thanks, Sean. Who do we have here?” Bold inquired without looking away from his work. I felt Aoife tense a little on my side. I put my arm around her to try to relax her.
“Aoife, this ass face is Bold and that shit for brains guy over there,” I said as I motioned to the guy sitting in the station behind him. “His name is Menthol. Guys, this is my Irish girl, Aoife. She is going to hang tonight while I work. No hanky panky or you’re fired.”
I heard both of them chuckle a little. I also heard the exasperated grunt of disapproval from Blondie as I continued to the back of The Ink Shop where my station was twice the size of theirs and the space where all of us convened during pow-wows and parties.
“Are their names really Bold and Menthol?” Aoife murmured to me. God, her breath on my earlobe made me want to take her back to my bed and forget I even had a business. I cupped the back of her neck and my lips grazed hers as I spoke.
“We name our tattoo artists after the flavor of cigarettes they smoke,” I whispered back onto her mouth before I dipped in further. My tongue found hers in a teasing play of want. My desire for
her was vocalized when I groaned into her mouth. I desired her then and there. For the first time, I hoped that all my appointments would cancel on me.
She pulled back, a little breathless and smiled wide at me. She shoved my shoulder. “Sean, you smoke. What is your name?” she reminded me and her voice was a little louder as if she knew I wouldn’t tell her myself.
“Reds,” both Bold and Menthol said in unison.
“I don’t go by a smoke’s name. I am just Sean. Or some people call me Seany Boy,” I sternly said to her and the two other fuckers that would get it later for even bringing that up. “Or boss to you fuckers.”
Every time I heard the word “red”, I thought of fiery strands of hair, bathed in sweat from giving birth to her red headed child. Fucking Lizzie O’Malley was a color. I wanted to bitch slap myself. So what if I smoked Marlboro Reds? It didn’t mean anything. Of course, after they started calling me Reds, I started smoking Parliaments for a while but it just wasn’t the same. It took a month long mental beating to the smokes that since it was my shop, I didn’t answer to anything but Sean or Boss.
“Reds,” Aoife echoed slowly. She scrunched up her nose and shook her head. “It doesn’t fit you.”
I looked at her, wondering if she had put it together why I personally didn’t like the name. She hadn’t. She just didn’t like it. Thank fuck for that. I could chastise the guys all I wanted but I don’t know that I would do anything to correct Aoife if she decided to call me Reds. I think I would let her call me just about anything at this point.
Aoife watched me work through one client and then when I started on the second, I could tell she was getting anxious. I looked over at her and she was literally trying to bounce right out of her chair. She wouldn’t make it through the last client. I stopped the session and pulled out a twenty from my pocket.
“Aoife, go find some food or something. This street has awesome stores to look at. You are bored, I can tell – so go explore the area. Have fun and I will be done as soon as I can, okay?”
