Keep Me

by Faith Andrews

  “I bought a house!” His eyes flickered with pride.

  “Marcus, that’s wonderful. Where?” I was so excited for him and then suddenly a little miffed that I’d been left in the dark. Backing up and ignoring the mariachi’s version of Bryan Adam’s Heaven I slapped him on his rather bulky bicep. “And why didn’t you tell me sooner? This process had to take months.”

  Marcus took my hand and led me to the table, pulling out my chair, waiting for me to sit and then joined me. “It was one of those things that just happened… an offer too good to refuse. The lease on my apartment was expiring so I knew I had to start looking, but…”

  I focused my attention on his hands. They fidgeted together at first and then, commanding domination, reached across the table and grasped mine. “I bought the place for us, Tessa. Me, you, Luca—our future. I want you to move in with me. I want to start our life together and this home, our home, is the perfect way to begin.”

  Our home? Was this really happening? I knew Marcus was mine for the taking, but forever? Was he really talking about our future and… forever?

  “Why do you look like a deer in headlights?” His hands went back to fidgeting and I just stared at him in wonderment.

  “Are you sure this is what you want, baby? I mean, I love you. I can’t imagine life without you, but are you ready to share your space with me and a growing toddler? This means no more bachelor pad, scheduled rather than impromptu poker nights, and, well… this is a huge step. Are you sure you really want to—”

  “Fucking positive,” he assured me. “There is nothing I want more than to wake up next to you, every morning—whether Luca is lodged in between us or not—for the rest of my life. I love you, Tessa. I’m gonna love you forever. There’s no reason to put off the inevitable and I absolutely hate, despise, loathe having to leave your bed to crawl across town into mine. It’s ridiculous! We’re together more than we’re apart and this just makes sense. Don’t you think?”

  “Yes, I do think,” I blurted out without hesitation. There was nothing to think about. I had no attachments to my current home and I was ready to make memories in a new one. I wanted this and if he was asking I was accepting. We’d iron out the details later.

  “Good! I wasn’t having it any other way.” He practically sang it while waving his finger in the air, motioning to the waiter. “Champagne, please. We’re celebrating tonight.”

  During the entire ride back home I replayed the events of our enchanted evening—the band, the dancing, the plans for our future. Tomorrow I’d call the realtor to list my house. Marcus wanted me to start packing as of… like yesterday since he already signed contracts and the new house would be ready to move into next week. The smile on my face was close to painful as I rested my head against his back, savoring the vibration his lungs created as he sang. I couldn’t make out the song, but whatever it was, he was belting it out.

  Just as I thought, we were headed straight to my soon-to-be for-sale home. Marcus flicked the blinker and turned right instead of continuing forward. My insides tightened and my sex pulsated, knowing Marcus’s intentions. Bike fucking—hells, yeah.

  I gripped my arms around him tighter, holding on for dear life. I never wanted to let go because in my hands held my forever, my happily ever after. It was the most incredible feeling on earth.

  The bike rode like a wet dream and with Tessa’s legs clenched around me, I felt that familiar pull—you know, the one that got my cock hard and my fingertips prickling to touch her. The fact that I was about to surprise her yet again just amplified everything by a million.

  Our night couldn’t have gone better. Tessa and I were moving in together, taking the next step. To me, this was more monumental than putting a diamond on her finger. A ring signified a promise, but the house—the one I’d bought for the three of us—that signified a solid, tangible commitment. And I couldn’t wait to see her face when she saw the playground in the backyard. It was perfect for Luca and all the other rugrats I planned on branding with my last name and Tessa’s gorgeous curls.

  The multi-colored falling leaves swirled around us and out of our path with a musical rustling. Even in the dark, it was impossible not to notice the robust fall colors of the tree-lined street that we would soon call home. It was picturesque—all it needed was a white picket fence.

  I quieted the engine—I didn’t want to piss off any of the neighbors before even getting to know them. Rolling quietly past the row of Tudor-style detached homes, I took it all in, imagining our future—coming home from work to greet my girl and the little guy who I hoped one day would be mine too. Ask me if any of this seemed like a reality a few months ago. Go ahead… ask me. Obviously you know my answer is a big fat NO! Something like this wasn’t even on my radar until I met Tessa. I was a new man, with new goals and new standards. But not to worry—I wasn’t letting go of the old Marcus charm.

  “Where are we?” Tessa rested her chin on my shoulder, sliding her hands up and down my chest. “I don’t think the people in this ritzy neighborhood are going to like seeing what I’m about to do to you once you pull over.”

  All thoughts about the big reveal were suddenly kaput as my cock twitched, aching to be set free. “Well, I better pull over then. They might not like it but I know I sure will.”

  “Seriously, baby,” she said, straightening up. “Why here? I feel like we’re trespassing on someone else’s property. There’s a park not too far from here, or we can just go back home and…”

  “This is home,” I interrupted as I guided the bike over the dip in the curve and parked it in the narrow driveway that connected our house with our new neighbor’s.

  “What?” She stilled, her hands cupping her face in adorable, heart melting shock. “This? This is our place?”

  Her eyes danced underneath the subtle blanket of stars, examining the exterior of the house, landing on the playground in the back. The excitement on her face oozed through every single flawless feature—it was worth all the money in the world just for this one moment.

  I leaned down, taking her hand and pulling her toward me. “Come on, let me show you. I know you had bike sex on your mind so I’m sorry to disappoint, but there’s always afterwards.”

  With the helmet tucked under her arm like a pro, she snaked her free arm around my waist and nuzzled her face into my neck. “This is better than bike sex. This is home!”

  My head fell back with uncontrolled laughter, my stomach muscles tightening as I let it roll through me like a spreading brush fire. “Do you know how much I fucking love you right now?”

  “Yeah, I think I know. You just bought me a house, what more could I ask for?”

  I couldn’t answer that for her. Did she want more? From what I understood about women, they wanted the happily ever after and since this wasn’t a fairytale and I certainly was no prince, the only other thing I could offer was marriage. I honestly had no clue if that’s what she desired. For all I knew, she was jaded by her first failed marriage and content to stay the way we were.

  We clearly had things to discuss before I went on impulse. I’d made a fool of myself for most of my life—I didn’t need to do that with Tessa. “Are you happy, pretty girl?” I laced my fingers in hers, caressing her soft skin with my thumb.

  “Happy?” She spun us around, pinning me against the stone covered wall at the back of our house. “No, I’m not happy,” she whispered as she pushed against me, her tongue trailing the tensing muscles in my neck. “I’m ecstatic, Marcus. There is nothing better than this. Nothing. Knowing we’ll be living in this house together, raising Luca together, every day growing closer and closer together. I am the happiest I’ve ever been and I know it’s only about to get better.”

  The weight of her words struck me like a jolt of lightening. I grabbed fistfuls of her hair, frenzied, pulling her mouth to mine, our lips crashing together. I couldn’t control the hunger I felt for her. My ministrations were fast and hard, yet I was still dying for more. My hands traveled
down the curve of her spine and then gripped her ass, lifting her off the ground. Her body gave in to what I was asking of it, her legs coiling around my torso, her pussy grinding against me, urging me to take her. I wanted to take her, right here—the stars were no strangers to what the two of us could do—but I knew that wasn’t a good idea, and the brain won over the dick for once. “Tessa, baby.” I pulled away, my hands still cupping her thighs, our bodies fused together.

  “Don’t stop,” she begged. “Whatever you do, please don’t stop.” Her mouth found mine again, her teeth sinking into my lips, her tongue ravishing mine and her damn pussy—I felt how wet she was through her jeans.

  “As much as I want to take you right here, baby—the way I want to take you—let’s not introduce ourselves to the neighborhood that way. I have no intentions of holding back. I want to touch you, taste you and fuck you ‘til you scream my name over and over again and I can hear it echo off the walls of our new home.”

  Tessa whimpered against my mouth, reluctant to stop, but I tugged her hand and led her to the door. “Let’s go inside. We can pick up right where we left off.”

  Okay, so bike sex would have been sick, but what we just did… all over the newly finished floors, the freshly tiled kitchen, the ice-cold granite countertops—in-fucking-credible! I deflated, still panting, my head leaning against the antique white pantry cabinet. “Pretty girl, what’s the rush? You’re scampering around collecting a trail of clothes like you need to get out of here before someone catches us. Old owners are gone, locks have been changed, it’s all ours. Come sit, relax, cuddle.”

  She arched an eyebrow, tilting her head before sliding her sweater over her head and smoothing it down over her flat stomach. “It’s getting late. I don’t want to take advantage of Riley. Speaking of Riley, where’s my phone? I should text her that we’re on our way.”

  Ugh! Responsibility. I loved Luca, but one night away wouldn’t kill us. Suddenly an image of the two of us making love all night in the rest of the rooms sparked an idea. “Hey! Why don’t you text her to see if she minds staying the night. We can sleep here. Break in our new digs.” What a good idea. I wish I thought of it sooner—we’d have to take a ride to Target for some blankets and pillows, but it was doable.

  “Marcus, we’ll be back within these walls before you know it. I have to get home. She’s not ready for an overnighter yet—Luca still gets up sometimes looking for me. Where the hell is my phone?” She was finally fully dressed but still roaming every possible surface looking for her cell.

  I stood, zipping up and raking a hand through my hair, contemplating. “I’m thinking we need to hire a live-in or at least a full-time, drop-everything-whenever-we-need-her nanny. Nights like this—I wants lots of them. Soon enough he’ll be sleeping through the night and as long as he’s asleep he won’t even know we’re gone. Agreed?”

  “Agreed,” she said, not really paying attention. Did she even know what she was agreeing too? “Where the hell is my—ah! There it is!” She swiped her finger across the screen and her eyes popped wide. “Shit! Ten missed calls from Riley! Come on, we have to go.”

  “Calm down,” I urged. “I just have to get my shirt. Did she text you? I bet she couldn’t find his binkie thingie. But, let’s go… call her while I get dressed.” Night over. Thanks, Riley for cutting a kick ass night short.

  Tessa nodded, her fingers feverishly dialing the number. She gnawed on her lip, her hand tapping nervously on her leg as the phone just rang and rang. “No answer. Fuck! Now I’m all worried. Can we please go?”

  Lacing up my shoes as quick as was humanly possible, I hopped up, walked over to where she was at the doorway, and wrapped my arms around her, hoping it might soothe her and take her overprotective mother status down a notch. “Pretty girl, he’s fine. You’ll see.”

  I had yet to master the art of putting the whole parenting thing before my selfish needs. I got it—I totally understood that Tessa and Luca were a package deal and I had no issues with accepting that. But I wasn’t his father and while I did have an emotional attachment to him, I wasn’t connected to him the same way Tessa was. She’d created him, carried him in that gorgeous body of hers, given birth to him—that alone was a bond that I couldn’t even fathom coming close to. He was a part of her—an actual physical part. Her blood and genes, and forget about the scientific part of it—her heart, her soul and her mind attached to him innately. So when she was worried about him, even for the tiniest of things, I got that it had to be paralyzing to the point of insanity. One day I would feel that. Hell, I felt that protective and defensive of Tessa. That’s why I understood her need to get home as quickly as possible and to witness her ridiculous overreaction with her own two eyes.

  Safely home, I parked the bike and we didn’t even remove our helmets before climbing the stairs. As soon as we got to the door, we heard the crying. Long sobs, high pitched cries, and incessant wailing muffled by the usual safeness of his home. Tessa’s hands shook as she fumbled for her keys, panic written all over her face. “Why would she let him cry like that? Oh God, Marcus, where the fuck are my keys?”

  I jerked the doorknob to check if by some miracle it was unlocked, but when I had no luck there, I took Tessa’s bag and just dumped the contents on the ground. “There. They’re right there! You carry around too much shit, pretty girl.”

  She ignored the humor I was trying to use in order to lighten the mood and ease the stress of the situation. We’d be inside in three seconds, he’d be in his mother’s arms and everything would go back to normal.

  Only when we walked in the door, the house was pitch black, the sobbing from upstairs the only evidence that anyone was home. “Where is she? What the hell is going on?” Tessa flicked on a light, turning toward the stairs. But before she could rescue her son from his distress, what we saw next turned us into stone and baffled my fucking mind.

  On the floor of Luca’s playroom lay an unconscious Riley. “Riley!” I screamed running toward her, hoping she was only asleep, although that made zero sense. How could she doze off there, right on the floor, and sleep through the noise that Luca was making? I started toward her, looking over my shoulder to see if Tessa was on her way upstairs. But she stood motionless, her hand covering her mouth.

  “Who the fuck are you?” I heard a man’s voice from behind Tessa. A dark figure approached, creating a shadow that grew closer and larger, blanketing Tessa’s form.

  When she turned to face the mysterious voice, she let out a blood curdling scream. “NO! NO! This can’t be happening! What are you doing here? What did you do to—”

  “Shut the fuck up, you stupid whore. I see you’ve moved on while I was gone—fixing myself for you. You ungrateful slut.”

  My blood boiled to the point I thought it would start spurting out of my ears. But I knew these situations required composure. “Zack.” I finally spoke on a whisper. “Step away and leave her alone. We can settle this the right way. Just let her get Luca and let me tend to my sister.”

  “Oh. Your sister? How fucking convenient. That bitch was always a troublemaker. I should have known she’d have a hand in something like this. She never thought I was good enough for Tessa, always meddling. Got rid of her once for a while—now she’s gone for good.”

  Gone for good? Was she dead? I was going to kill this guy with my bare fucking hands. I had to check if she was still breathing, still had a pulse. But Zack was hovering so close to Tessa, and Luca was still screaming. I needed to be in three different places at once. My head was going to explode. I needed to figure something out. This psycho fuck had to be talked down, calmly, like in the movies. Then I would take him the fuck down.

  Standing helpless in between the two most important women in my life, I pleaded. “Come on, Zack. You’re a reasonable man. You love Tessa, right? Let’s not do something stupid that we can’t take back.” And that’s when I saw the gun.

  My throat momentarily closed up, my mouth totally dry. Think, Marcus, think! Everyon
e’s lives are in your hands! I stared at Tessa, the tears spilling down her cheeks, her hands clasped together—maybe she was silently praying or reliving old nightmares.

  Her eyes caught mine and I hoped—begged, pleaded—that my message to ‘stay calm’ spoke through my own panicked gaze. But it was hard enough convincing myself—how could I convince her I had this covered?

  “We’re all gonna take deep breaths, cool down and then talk like sane, rational adults. We can—”

  “Enough with the ‘we’ shit, asshole,” he barked, infuriating me even further. “You’re no one in this equation. Tessa’s mine. She’ll be mine forever.”

  I was ready to lunge at him, but he raised his arm, the reflection of shiny metal flashing in the lamplight. Tessa’s beautiful face was the last thing I saw. The gut-wrenching cry that escaped her was the last thing I heard. The skin-splitting, muscle-tearing pain the last thing I felt—before everything went black.

  “Noooo! Noooo! Marcus! Oh, my God, Marcus!” I watched his strong body go limp, falling to the floor with a thud. “Oh, my God, no!” I screamed, hot tears blinding me, the sound of Luca upstairs calling out for me faded, washed out—everything was going fuzzy. I fell to my knees, crawling toward Marcus. He was shot. Where, I had no idea, but I had to be near him. I needed to know he was alive. There was blood, lots of it. It crept out from under him, but I had no idea where the fuck it was coming from. Please God, don’t let him be dead! I reached out to him, but was pulled back by a painful tug of my hair.

  “Stop right there. Don’t even think of touching him. Let him bleed out like the wife stealing scumbag he is,” Zack growled his venomous words as he yanked me up, pulling me against his unusually thin, frail body.

  With his hand at my throat keeping me in place, I surveyed the grim scene. It was like a horror movie—lifeless bodies strewn across my floor, unrelenting shrills and shrieks coming from my baby boy upstairs. And here I was, helpless. In the arms of a certified maniac. I felt something hard at my back. I thought it was the gun, but when I felt the cold metal at my temple, I realized it was his arousal poking at me from behind.