By Chance, No Choice (Stetson Series Book 1)

by Xyla Turner

  They said their goodbyes and I taught her a couple of line dances. When we finished, she said, “I need to get me some cowboy boots.”

  I burst out laughing. She’s probably will get them in bright pink too.

  We arrived back home and everything in me wanted to address the conversation at dinner, but I didn’t want to argue and I really wanted to enjoy her being here, so I let it go. It would be a conversation for another day.

  “What’s on your mind?”

  “You,” I answered truthfully. “Just glad you’re here.”

  “Me too. I had fun today and for the record. I don’t need big ole’ JD to fight my battles. I can handle them.” She smiled as she unbuttoned my checkered shirt.

  I unbuckled her jeans, then said, “I know.”

  “Do you?” She unhooked my belt and continued.

  “I do.” I didn’t push any further.

  “Good.” She pushed me down on the bed and straddled me. “What position do you want me in? On my knees, over your lap, over the counter? You promised the ribbon and the whip.”

  She rubbed her hot center on my aching cock.

  “You think you ready for the whip?” I asked against her lips.

  “Oh yeah.” She kissed me lightly on the lips. “I’m ready.”

  I flipped Tess over, so she was on her back and stood to get my tools. When I returned, she was leaning on her elbows with her mouth slightly parted.

  “Sure you ready?” I asked one last time.

  Her head nodded, so I open the case that contained the Benyi Jou bullwhip. The long handle was different than the ones I was used to using but it would do the trick.

  “On your stomach,” I commanded.

  She smiled and turned over immediately while I put a knee on the bed. I pulled her hands above her head and tied them with a ribbon.

  “Too tight?” I asked.

  “No. They’re fine.”

  “How do you feel?”

  “Turned on,” Tess snickered.

  “Good,” I murmured against her back as I trailed kissed down to her panty-covered ass. “You’re so beautiful, Tess.”

  I kissed each cheek, then whirled the whip around in the air, listening to it wisp against the wind. Lying on my side, I let the tentacles hit her skin causing her to flinch a bit.

  “Okay?” I probed.

  “Hmm, hmm.”

  It whisked her again, but this time, over her panties as I continued to twirl it around on its ball. A moan escaped her lips, so I repeated my last contact point but on her other cheek. I made sure the whip contacted her thighs, calves, back and shoulders. When I stopped, I pulled down her panties to see she was clearly turned on.

  “How do you feel?” I asked.

  “Fucking hot,” She moaned.

  Perfect.

  My remained clothes were removed before I turned her over and laid on the bed.

  “Slowly crawl up between my legs and ride me, Mama.”

  Her eyes lit with excitement as she obeyed me and placed her wet pussy over my aching cock. Tess’s hands remained tied, but she used the leverage from her legs to move her bottom half and put her tied hands on the headboard.

  Once she slid on, she began to rock slowly, as she adjusted to me. I let her set the tempo until she twirled her hips and slammed down on me. My hand connected with her ass, spurring her on, then I grabbed both of her ample ass cheeks and fucked her until she came all over my cock. I was right behind her, spilling my seed inside of the deep channel that felt like it belongs only to me.

  “JD,” Tess called after I had thought she was sleep.

  “Yeah, mama.” My words were slurred because I was almost in another zone.

  “Thank you?”

  “For what?” That was weird.

  “No reason, just being you.” Her voice drifted away.

  “I’m not the one to thank.”

  Chapter 12

  Tess

  JD changed my flight schedule so that I could leave Iowa on Sunday evening but I took off on Monday morning, just in case I was a little jet lag. The bowling competition was a lot of fun since Mr. Timms was as much of a trash talker as I was. Knox, Troy, and JD wanted nothing to do with it, so we both had our own lanes. Rebecca wasn’t there, but Ida and about half the town were to watch the showdown.

  JD had warned me that his father was an excellent bowler and while I was really good, he would not allow me to let me losing to his father impact our relationship. He said that at breakfast, so I ate his bacon.

  “Tessa, you wanna call it quits now or want the town to see you lose to an old me.”

  “Mr. Timms, I was about to ask you the same thing. I’m going home in a few hours, but you’re going to have to live in this town.” I laughed.

  “Slap me and call me silly, JD. I believe you got one with some sass.” He hit his son on the back. “She just might work. If she can handle this ass whoopin’.”

  The game started with him and me both getting three straight strikes. I gathered a spare, then he did as well. It was my turn, so I started talking more trash and scored a strike. When it was his turn to bowl, I had some random things to say and he scored a spare. The next three for both of us were strikes until it was my turn again and he decided to talk more trash about New York.

  We ended the game with a few points off, but Mr. Timms won. I had one more spare than he did, but after it was all said and done, I went to give him a handshake and he pulled me in for a hug and whispered, “Welcome to the family.”

  A tear came to my eye as the older man welcomed me into a place where I already felt like family. Where else do you talk trash, get into family arguments and eat food all at the same time? Family dinners.

  “Thanks, Mr. Timms.”

  “Call me Tony.” He smiled at me and placed his arm around my neck as he walked me over to JD. “The little lady has some kahunas.”

  JD smiled at his father because apparently this was a good thing.

  “Yeah, dad.”

  “Well, hold on to her son. Those are the ones worth keeping.” He nodded as JD pulled me towards him to hug me.

  “Good job, Mama.” He kissed my forehead. “You do know this changes nothing.”

  I burst out laughing, remembering his comment about what would happen if I lost.

  “I know, JD. I know.”

  * * *

  My trip home seemed a little lonely, although I actually had fun with JD’s family, I felt like there was more going on there. It was as if there was another agenda that I wasn’t aware of. This partly bothered me about him buying my ticket. It was evident that JD was an alpha and it was his way or you were in the way. I made my peace with that awhile ago, but it seemed that the trip had many meanings and I wasn’t included on the plan.

  The whole thing at dinner, I tried to keep quiet because that chick Rebecca was right. I’m not a part of the family, but then after JD put her in check, I thought maybe there was a country way of thinking. If you break bread with them, then you’re family. I didn’t know.

  After texting JD, I went straight to bed and decided to sleep in the next morning. I felt there was so much to think about after my one weekend with JD and his family. Bringing it up to JD was not an option for me just yet because I felt it needed to be processed in my head or at least with Nina.

  “Wait, wait.” Nina held up her hand. “So, are you actually thinking about moving to Iowa?”

  “What?” I exclaimed. “No, where in my telling you that I spend the weekend with JD and his family and it was nice did you think I said anything about moving to Iowa?”

  We were in the lunchroom again, discussing in hushed tones about my love life, because Nina’s was non-existent for the past month or so. Which was weird.

  “Well, he had you coming down there to meet the parents and siblings. Attending family dinners and you enjoyed it. Seems like he was putting you and Iowa to the test is my thought.” Nina shrugged her shoulders and dipped her spoon in her lumpy yogurt.
<
br />   “But…” I stopped to think about what she said. “Wait, no. We’re in a long-distance relationship. It should have been customary that we come see each other.”

  “The family?” Nina raised her eyebrows.

  She had a point. If I invited JD to New York, I would not have thought of him meeting my mom or even my friends.

  “Okay, since you don't understand. Y’all are a really cute couple. You have the whole, freestyling afro, confident, smart, and you’re on your shit. He’s this alpha guy, who has his own company, he answers to no one, confident and on his shit. You have that in common. He has everything he wants and now he wants you. JD is going to make that happen. Now the question is what are you going to do?”

  “Well, I’m not trying to settle down right now. I didn’t get that from him, but now that I’m away, it seems you might be on to something.” I thought about it some more. “I had this feeling that there was something else at work when I was there but I couldn’t put my finger on it.”

  “His company is doing very well. Now he’s investing in the future; in his future.” Nina added.

  The more I thought about what she was saying, the more scared I became. I wasn’t ready or I didn’t want to be ready. It wasn’t about the commitment, but everything that came with that. It was evident, I was in love, but that would only lead to disappointment. It would lead to me being let down and then what. I’m left to pick up more pieces of what someone failed to make a priority. He was all in now, but what would happen when the chase was over. When we weren’t at a conference. When everyday life started. Would he be all in then?

  Fear gripped my chest as I could already feel the heartbreak happening.

  “Girl, are you alright?” Nina put down her water. Her forehead was scrunched together showing she was confused about me. “You don’t look too well.”

  “Yeah, I’m alright. Just a little jet lag. I guess.” That was a lie.

  I was not alright.

  * * *

  “My office now!” Michael barked through the phone and hung up.

  What in the world? He never spoke to me that way.

  I walked swiftly to his office and tried not to march because of his tone. There could have been a death in the family or something could have been severely wrong, so I wanted to have the right attitude just in case I had to remind him who he was speaking with.

  “Michael, what’s wrong?” I asked when I walked through the door.

  “You will not fucking believe this shit.” He was bright red and pacing around the front of his desk. “Craig and Dick were at a goddamn restaurant with John Spears. The international mogul. You and I were out of town and I instructed them, fucking specifically instructed them not to drink. Just don’t fucking drink. They can’t hold shit.” He growled. “They’ve ruined the most viable connection for our international launch. They are both fucking fired and Tess, I’m telling you now there is no talking me off the goddamn ledge with them. They have single-handedly fucked up my business.” He pulled at his full head of hair.

  I didn’t know what to say because that was the shit that I foresaw a long time ago.

  “You know what.” He took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down and stopped in front of his laptop. “It’s my own goddamn fault. I should have fired their asses the first time.”

  “What do we need to do?” I asked trying to move on.

  Placing blame would not help us, so now we had to go to clean up mode. Michael’s eyes landed on me and he said, “I swear, you need to be cloned.”

  He exhaled long and hard, then he sat down. “Tess, you’ve done so much for LIT, I don’t even know how I can ask you to do this? You’re my right hand but this is going to take a lot and I mean a lot of messaging, networking and some late nights.”

  Figures.

  “I know, Michael. We’ve been down this road seven years ago and it was all hands on deck. I’m your VP, so we have to do what we got to do. I’m in and I’m here.”

  He nodded and we commenced to planning the next six months.

  * * *

  JD:

  This was the third night that Tess and I hadn’t face-timed each other for dinner. I called and texted until ten o’clock and she never answered. This never happened before, which almost made me worry. She texted me back around one in the morning that she had to work late, but would talk to me the next day.

  Our conversation included her staying late because she had to work, there was some major shit that went down and she seemed distant. I did not have a good feeling at all.

  “Tess, it’s me again. How about we schedule a time to talk since you’re not around for dinner.” I hung up the phone since that was my second message and the fifth time calling.

  So many thoughts assaulted my mind. Was she giving me the brush off? Did something happen when she was here the past weekend? What the fuck?

  I even called her assistant, Jeff, who was either being very vague because he really didn’t know what was going on or covering for her.

  When we finally did talk, Tess was tired, irritable and not good for conversation.

  “Listen, let’s talk when you’re awake to put together a coherent sentence,” I said.

  “No, no.” I heard something shift in the background. “I miss you. Let’s talk about, uh, fam…” Her voice trailed off.

  “Tess,” I snapped.

  “Yeah, yeah. Why are you yelling?” She clearly heard that.

  “You fell asleep and didn’t finish your sentence.” I was annoyed.

  Beyond annoyed. I knew I shouldn’t be but being so far away and not able to control or have a say in what was happening. Shit, I didn’t even know what was happening.

  “I’m sorry, JD. Really, I am. I’m pulling late, late nights and it’s affecting everything.” She pleaded.

  “What the fuck is going on? Can I help?”

  “It’s something at work and I’m not at liberty to discuss it, but it’s my job that I need to focus on right now and it’s really important.”

  “What are you saying?” My heart skipped a beat.

  “I’m just saying, I have to focus on my job which is pulling me away from other things right now. It’s temporary, but this is the priority.”

  “Tess, I won’t ask again.” I tried to keep my voice even. “What are you saying?”

  “Maybe, we should just take a break for now. The next six months is going to be really intense for me and I don’t want to have you paying the price for that.” She yawned. “I’m sorry. It’s just not fair and maybe we should just hit the pause button, you know?”

  What in the actual fuck?

  My head started nodding and then I realized she couldn’t see me. We had not face-timed in about two weeks and most of our conversations were at the wee hours of the morning. I didn’t think she was cheating but after the ‘take a break talk,' it sounded like she had moved on already.

  “Tess, let me be clear. Crystal fucking clear. I’m not sure what the fuck is going on but rest assured, sweetheart, I will find out. We are not taking a fucking break and if there is something you need to say to me, you will say it to my goddamn face. I deserve that courtesy. Now you go to sleep and we will talk soon! Very soon!” I ended the call.

  My hand was wrapped so tight around the phone, the whiteness of my knuckles was a little startling. The hairs on my arm were upright, my chest was beating rapidly and the heat was scorching my face.

  My phone rang and it showed ‘Tess calling’ but I didn’t answer it. Instead, I hurled it across the room and watched the glass shatter and the back break.

  Fuck.

  My entire life stood still at that moment as I replayed what she said. I was not a priority and she was everything to me. She wanted us to be paused and I wanted to hit the fast-forward button. Tess was actively pulling away and little did she know, but JD’s possessive side was just activated.

  Two days later, I landed at JFK and went from the airport straight to LIT Tech, Inc. Troy thought I
was crazy and tried to get me to stay. Knox joined me in case I found myself in handcuffs. So he said, although I had a suspicion this was about him and Nina.

  When we walked onto her floor, a woman was at the front desk on the phone. There was no time to waste with legalities and calling around because I wanted the element of surprise. The woman called after us, but we kept walking until we saw a man with a light blue button-up shirt and his hair combed to the side, resembling one of the nerdy characters from The Big Bang Theory.

  “Jeff?” I asked.

  “Yes,” he hesitated. “You are?”

  “JD. We’ve spoken over the phone. Where is Tess?”

  He pointed towards the back, so we started moving there. The furniture was new, modern and sleek. It was clear the company was doing well; which brought me to my first conclusion of what crisis was going on that kept her away and tired. Knox actually thought it was work, like my dad did. Troy didn’t say much and Mill thought it was cheating. My dad, the one who I knew would have my back, actually said I should trust her and me going to New York might push her further away.

  What he didn’t know was that I wasn’t taking no for an answer. Tess was a priority for me and I wasn’t letting her go. Not without a fight anyway.

  “Mr.,” two voices called back to us. “Mr.”

  Troy and I kept walking until we reached the door that read, Michael Owens, President, engraved on the door.

  There was no knocking or introductions. I simply opened the door, preparing my eyes to see only God knows what.

  Chapter 13

  JD

  The office was huge, navy plush carpeting from wall to wall, a wet bar near the far side of the room, the executive’s desk and chair on the right and the conference area on the left. Two huge eyes hit us when we walked through the threshold.

  “Excuse me.” He snapped.

  “And you are?” I asked, not answering his question.

  “No, the question is who are you?” He countered as he put his laptop aside and rose from the couch in the middle of the room.