Freeform

by Xavier Neal

  Tucker cocks an eyebrow. “Did you just say you haven't had sex in two years?”

  Did I say that out loud in a panic? Damn it! Well! I don't know! I just...I didn't wanna seem like such a bitch for what I said! And you saw the look in his eyes. He was sad...I don't ever wanna be responsible for dimming such a bright being.

  Thankfully our food is delivered and the subject of my dry spell is momentarily dropped.

  As we eat Tucker tells me about the trip he took that lead him to Havana, followed by Haiti, and eventually the Dominican Republic for six weeks. Every story centers around the people he met, the experiences he shares nothing more than retellings of what he was told. The cultural adventures lack the very obvious element of himself.

  By the end of his stories and my sandwich, I playfully comment, “I bet your passport itself looks like a work of art.”

  “It does.” He laughs as he pushes his plate away. “But I love it. I love traveling. Seeing and experiencing new parts of the world. What about you June Bug? Where do you travel?”

  “Um...” I lean back in my chair. “I don't.”

  “You've never traveled before?”

  “No.”

  “Not even as a kid?”

  “Within the state, ya know. Class trip or rare family reunion. Nothing else.”

  “What about in college? Spring Break?”

  “Couldn't afford it,” I answer. “See, while my mom used to have this amazing job, all these health problems started to arise. She muscled through what she could, but eventually she was let go. Though her resume sparkled, her diminishing health issues kept her from steady work. Another reason it was important for me to keep track of all my sisters. Sometimes she would be in so much pain, she could barely get out of bed. So, being the oldest and capable of financially helping, I did when necessary. Whenever I started to save for something personal, something else would always come up. A pipe would burst. A storm would hit and they'd need extra cash for the deductible. Oh! Tabby's dream prom dress one year. I mean, I didn't get to go to my own prom because my mother was having surgery that Friday and it wasn't in town and....” Realizing what a bummer I sound like, I try to push a smile on my face. “Maybe someday I'll get to see more. Who knows? Maybe Brandi will wanna whisk me away for a work trip rather than leave me behind.”

  “You don't even travel with Aunt Brandi?”

  “We conference call and email and most of time she doesn't actually need me to be there. She prefers I keep an eye out on everything local for her.”

  That's me. Local, responsible, invisible June Bailey. Hey...there are worse things to be at twenty-six.

  Tucker shakes his head, stands, and demands. “Come on, June Bug. Let's dance.”

  I look at his hand before looking up at him with a sarcastic expression. “Have you lost your mind? I can barely walk in these shoes. Hell, I can barely walk in flats.”

  He tosses his head back in laughter before nodding. “Both of those things are true, but you gotta loosen up a bit June Bug. Don't worry so much about how you look falling. Appreciate the fun you were having before you did.”

  Unable to resist his logic or his grin, I take his hand and let him lead us to the dance floor where couples are spinning around one another.

  If I break an ankle, I'm suing him.

  He curls one arm around my waist and begins to twist his hips with mine. I do my best to follow his lead, observe and mimic what I see around me, yet for the most part end up tripping and almost hitting the ground face first. Like a highly trained professional from Dancing with the Stars, Tucker repeatedly swoops in to prevent the damage and to gracefully keep us moving.

  One thing! I just wanna see one thing he doesn't do well aside from getting along with his mother. Oh...right. Talking about himself. Guess that technically does make two.

  With one hand death gripping his shoulder, I playfully say, “Why do I feel like you picked salsa dancing so you'd have a reason to keep your arms around me?”

  He leans his lips against my ear. “Because I did.”

  Our grinding bodies continue to sway to the music.

  “And before you June Bug, I never had that problem. I never needed a reason to do something. I just did it.”

  Confusion and curiosity hit my face.

  “You're not like any other woman I've ever met, so it feels wrong to treat you that way. It'd be like trying to draw the Mona Lisa with a crayon.”

  I giggle at the comparison. “Is it bad that I'm different?”

  He leans in closer. “I think it's beautiful.”

  Breathlessly I question, “Yeah?”

  “I think everything about you is beautiful, June.”

  Tucker doesn't wait for a response. His mouth locks onto mine allowing our tongues to dance better than our feet ever could. My body continues an erotic mindless movement matching the tempo while I succumb to the intense way Tucker seems to be determined to devour me whole. He lifts my leg up and a long moan seeps out. Abruptly he pulls us apart, dips me backwards, which is where I hang as the final note of the song hits.

  The crowd cheers for the band, but Tucker lifts me back up and states, “I wanna make love to you right now, June. Let me.”

  My breath hitches.

  He pushes a loose strand behind my ear. “Tell me yes.”

  “Yes,” I answer without hesitation.

  Tucker briefly bites his bottom lip before tugging the two of us off the dance floor for the front door. Not sure if he's paid or sure that I care at this point, I do my best to keep up with him as we quickly cross the parking lot.

  While the drive over felt as if it took at least half an hour, we're pulling into the condo driveway in what has to be half that amount of time. The second I'm out of the vehicle, our hands are linked and our mouths instantly follow suit. In a whirlwind of heavy pants and frantic tongues, our clothes join the paint stained hard wood floor, and our bodies tumble onto the foot of his bed. His bare body bumps against mine as if still waiting for permission to continue.

  Tucker pulls back and drags his hand down my chest to lightly graze my nipple. The action vibrates my pussy in anticipation. With his eyes now drinking in the completely exposed flesh he whispers in awe, “Your body's like a canvas just waiting to be restored.”

  I smile at the odd compliment. “Don't tell me you know how to do that too?”

  “Art restoration? Yes.” He tugs the hardened nub before switching to the other side. “Pussy restoration?” His fingers fall to the apex between my thighs, where they gently glide themselves in. “I'll let you decide that...”

  Tucker dives deeper and my legs part themselves wider as I cry out. Unfortunately, his touch completely vanishes merely seconds after.

  What the hell...

  My eyes pop open to see him grabbing a condom from a box on the dresser across from us.

  You don't...you don't think he bought those for someone else and I'm just about to benefit from them do you? Is he sleeping with someone else? You'd tell me right? I mean it's okay if he is, 'cause this is just sex, at least I'm assuming it's just sex...he did say make love, but I'm not sure he really gets the difference.

  Tucker groans. “Stop thinking so hard. Learn to just feel, June Bug. It's an okay thing to do occasionally.”

  I lift myself onto my elbows and state, “I don't remember buying those for you last time I went to the grocery store.”

  He rolls the rubber on and informs, “Good thing there's a corner store not far from here.”

  “You assumed you'd be having sex with someone?”

  Tucker flops on the bed beside me, pulls my body into his lap, and sweetly says, “I hoped I'd eventually be having sex with you.”

  Without waiting to discuss my doubt further, he nudges his cock inside, the intrusion shredding any lingering concerns mercilessly. “Oh God....”

  There's a small chuckle as he buries his face in my chest. “Tucker will do.”

  I drop my jaw to argue yet moan loudly instead
.

  I think he's wrong. I think he may be some sort of deity incarnate.

  His hands roughly grip my ass as he helps guide my body up and down his cock that seems to swell each time I descend. The action is sensual yet ravenous. Every thrust reaches the hilt without remorse or fear of breaking me like I'm some sort of China doll. My hungry pussy clings on, desperate to devour more even though it isn't possible. Tucker continuously pumps, rolls his tongue around my nipples, nips, and sucks until I wrap my arm around his neck to brace myself for an orgasm. It rips through me with so much force, my head falls to his shoulder while my fingers tug at his hair.

  Tucker growls and leans into the pull. “That's right, June Bug. Let go...”

  Despite my pussy's pulsations, Tucker's dick doesn't falter. He voraciously pounds away, both hands now anchored to my hips. Whimpers and whines of his name as well as mine are fed to our salacious situation in which we've both completely surrendered to. I drag my tongue along his solid jaw bone line. He consumes any inch of me he can wrap his lips around. Our bodies twist and tangle so tightly we stop being two different people, connecting for a common goal as one erotic entity hell bent on exploding.

  A raw, primal groan escapes Tucker's lips before his entire body trembles, taking mine with it. Our breathing and quakes oscillate until the only thing we're capable of is collapsing backwards.

  Holy shit....I've never felt anything like that before.

  “Holy shit,” Tucker huffs, his heaving chest making a poor pillow. “I've never felt anything like that before.”

  Is he eavesdropping? He can't hear us, right? Otherwise this would make everything so awkward...

  “That was....” His fingertips drag themselves down my back causing me to shudder. “I don't even know how to describe it...” Without waiting for a response from me, Tucker rolls us over, so he's hovering above me. “We're gonna do that again, and again, and again, until the sun rises or until we die from dehydration...” Slowly he smirks and starts to lower his lips to mine. “And what a beautiful death that would be...”

  It's not the sex I think will kill me. It's when it has to stop in a few weeks that will...I guess it's best not to think about that right now. Live for the moment and all that shit. I mean that's what Tucker does. That's how he lives every day. He may be mine for just a moment, a very brief moment, but it's going to be the best moment of my entire life.

  Tucker

  I lift the coffee cup to my lips.

  Nothing like the Kona coffee I had in Hawaii. There's something else I miss about that place. One thing this city has that the island didn't? June.

  Eddie exclaims, “Topless man! They let you sculpt them topless in the town square!”

  “That's great, Eddie,” I interrupt the beginning of an excitement filled tangent. “But you know that's not what I'm looking for.”

  “But...” The defeated tone causes me to chuckle. “Tits....man....”

  I roll my eyes.

  Eddie is my equivalent to a drug dealer. He feeds the addiction. We met freshman year through....an old girlfriend and basically became best friends. Someway, somehow, he always knows what’s happening in the art world, underground and on the surface. Everything from events, to festivals, to back room shit you'd never hear of without him. He supplies me with various choices and Fate nudges me the way I should go. First time I bailed on this city, I went with him to see these stones someone had painted naked women on and then immersed back in the water. While his tastes are obviously singular in a way, it doesn't stop him from helping me with mine, which as you've picked up, are not.

  “What else you got?”

  “There's some shit festival off the coast of California-”

  “Pass.”

  “Some photographer bullshit in Canada.”

  “Not in the mood.”

  “Then you're gonna have to wait it out a bit longer. I've got my ear to the ground about some shit out by west towards Reno and there might be something worthwhile in Georgia.”

  The second part of the sentence gets a hum out of me.

  My dad used to love that song Midnight Train to Georgia. Nothing like seeing a man who was once an active Marine break down and sing Gladys Knight. Sight was priceless. Only thing more priceless? Seeing him and my mother do a drunken karaoke of it on New Years Eve.

  “There is an art rave in your corner of the world next Thursday.”

  The corners of my lips lift. “We talkin' mud and clay or glitter and graffiti.”

  “Details are still vague. You know what Willis is like. Surprise until he's surprised...”

  Seeing June's still glowing body and make up free face appear in the doorway of my bedroom wearing only my white dress shirt from last night rises my cock without hesitation.

  Usually takes more than the sight of a beautiful woman to do that to me.

  Her dazed eyes fall to me and she beams.

  God, I wanna be the reason she's always radiating so bright.

  “Yeah, I gotta go. Text me.” I hit the end button, toss the phone to the side, and say slowly, “Good morning...”

  She starts to head towards me, tripping over one of her shoes that was left in the wake of our determination to become naked last night.

  There isn't a moment of last night I won't have engraved in memory for life.

  Embarrassed as always from her two left feet, she blushes and echoes, “Good morning...”

  “Sleep well?”

  She gives me a sarcastic look. “All forty-five minutes? Yeah.”

  I meant what I said last night. We made love from the time we hit the bed until the sun kissed the sky. And yeah, I said made love, not because I'm a giant pussy, but because that's what it was. It wasn't just raw, passionate sex. It was something so much more. Deeper. The kind of intensity that inspires the most important pieces of history's greatest works. Not just paintings, but poetry, music, and plays. When June and I connect it's something much bigger than the two of us. I felt that the first time I kissed her and it hasn't changed or faltered since.

  “What about you? Sleep okay?”

  I have another sip of my coffee. “Haven't been to sleep yet.”

  “What have you been doing?”

  “I sketched. Made coffee. Got a phone call.”

  “Important?”

  Sadly not yet. Until Eddie gives me some reason to explore something new, I'll hang around here. After all...another week or two of worshiping June in my bed is definitely not a bad thing. I'll know when it's time to bail. I always take the sign.

  “Not really.” I offer her a sweet smile. “Coffee?”

  “Yes please,” she sighs happily and sits in the chair across from me.

  Reaching for a coffee cup from the cabinet, I casually ask, “Did you have a good time last night?”

  “Are we talking about the art, the food, the dancing or the sex?”

  On a chuckle, I reply, “Yes.”

  She snickers back and takes the warm beverage from me. “Yes.”

  Proud I could please her, I lean my arms down on the counter, and continue my search for answers. “Two years since you've been with anyone?”

  June grimaces behind her cup. “Was it that obvious?”

  “No.” I profusely shake my head. “I just don't know how any man could walk away from someone like you.”

  Her smile returns.

  “Something like that...”

  It grows.

  “No bullshit, June Bug.”

  “Well the last boyfriend I had, three years ago, wanted someone who could give him more attention than I could at the time. My sisters were still very dependent on me and my ability to help them with school or boys or job hunting...They were still much more of my responsibility then.”

  “And what about the guy from two years ago?”

  “He wasn't a boyfriend, so much as a guy I went out with for a couple weeks only to discover he was married.”

  “Ouch.”

  “Yeah.” Shame com
es to her face. “We ran into his wife at dinner one night. She was there with her boyfriend.”

  Shock drops my jaw. “What!”

  Yours too I see.

  “After that I actively avoided relationships and sex for a while. Not too long after I got hired by your aunt and typically, I don't have time for a normal social life even if I could find a way to create one.”