“Lorraine…” He stopped and corrected himself with, “Miss Devonshire, the rumors of your…your relationship with Mr. Phoenix, they’ve become…unmanageable.”
“Rumors?”
“This campaign of yours,” Albert said, “it’s put you into the spotlight, you and this…this fellow, this friend of yours…your patron.”
“My sugar daddy, you mean.” Lorraine rolled her eyes.
Carmen said, “Lo’, take it easy.”
“No, Carmen, I’m sorry, but this isn’t anybody’s business.”
“You’ve made it the whole country’s business! I’ve got Playboy magazine wanting to put you on their cover! Maxim is calling, TMZ is prowling around the library. I can’t have that.”
“No?”
“No. I’m trying to save the public library system, you’ve turned us…and yourself…into a laughing stock. This is a library, not The Dating Game.”
“I see.” Lorraine let a silent moment pass. She could feel the shift in their relationship, and she could sense her own inner strength rising, inspired by Griffin and filling her with a new confidence, a new sense of purpose. “You feel at liberty to judge Griffin and I, because for some reason the idea of any relationship between us is…it’s untoward.”
“Exactly, yes,” Albert said.
“Unprofessional,” Lorraine added.
“Entirely,” Albert said while Carmen looked nervously around the little office.
“Unlike the secret relationship you two have been having.” Both Carmen and Albert looked at Lorraine with round eyes, open with shock and fear. “You’d take me to task for going out with Griffin. But you’re just afraid I was going to wind up revealing your own secret affair. Does Mrs. Jenkins know about all this, I wonder?”
Albert stammered, “Well, I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Good,” Lorraine said, “then I won’t have anything to talk about, will I?”
“No,” Carmen was too quick to say, “you won’t, Lorraine, you totally won’t!”
“And there’s no reason not to go ahead with the rally,” Lorraine said, her smile completely natural and comfortable, even enjoyable. “Isn’t that right, Albert? Carmen?”
Both nodded. “Yes, Miss Devonshire,” Albert said, “that’s right, quite right.”
“Good, Albert,” Lorraine said, turning to leave her stunned superiors behind her. But she could sense the tension she left behind, and she knew she’d be revisiting it eventually, and by then it would be worse.
A video of Lorraine, Griffin, and Ashe walking through Larimer Square dominated Ashe’s computer screen, the TMZ logo splashing across the computer screen. The video clip was replaced by the show’s host and crew of writers, sitting around a writer’s room, the black-haired man in charge jotting down notes on a white wipe board.
One of the writers said, “Problem is, apparently single men are wandering into libraries all over the country. But not all librarians look like this one, I’m tellin’ ya. I don’t know how much good that’s gonna do for the libraries.”
“Won’t hurt ’em any,” a woman writer said. “But I really don’t get why this is news.”
“Hot librarian, billionaire philanthropist,” the man at the white board said, “charity events with world-class rock stars? That’s news. We gotta have crews at those rallies. I want one in L.A., one in New York, and our guy out in Denver.”
Lorraine clicked the space bar, pausing the video. She turned to Ashe, sitting next to her at the couch in the suite’s living room. “Must be kind of weird, huh? All this stuff happening, being on TV.” Ashe nodded, but of course said nothing. “I’ll bet sometimes you wish you could just be a regular kid, huh? Going to school, maybe playing baseball or something afterward.” Ashe nodded, his posture slumping as he fell into Lorraine’s arms. He buried his face in her shoulder and she rocked him gently. “I know, I know,” she said very softly, “I wish I could make the hurt go away, Ashe, I really do. I’d do anything, you know that, right? Anything I could.”
Ashe looked up at Lorraine, their eyes locking, both tearful. Ashe nodded and Lorraine gently brushed a lock of his blond hair from in front of his face. Griffin stepped into the suite, the phone to his ear.
Lorraine asked Ashe, “Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?” Griffin looked on with a smile, but Ashe just shook his head and then fell back into her shoulder. “I’ll go tell Mrs. B. we’re leaving.”
Lorraine stepped into one of the three hotel bedrooms, where Mrs. B. was sorting Ashe’s laundry. She seemed to feel Lorraine step into the room, and offered only a casual side-glance. “The boy won’t sort his laundry,” she said with her chipper little smile. “But even the Phoenix men have to separate out their whites from their brights.”
Lorraine wasn’t sure how to take the aging woman’s remarks, so she decided to ignore them. “Right, well, we’re off for a bit, Griffin and I. Can we bring you back anything?”
Mrs. B. stopped folding and turned to Lorraine, looking directly at her for the first time. “Oh my dear child, Mr. Phoenix is the man of the household, and he takes perfect care of me as it is.”
Lorraine tried to smile her way through the increasing tension. “I’m not surprised to hear that.”
“And I suppose your Griffin is treating you well too…as his guest, I mean, and, in a way, as his host.” Lorraine could sense the antagonism in her little voice. So she chose to let her go on. She clearly had a point to make and Lorraine was keen to hear it, thought she didn’t have to guess. “But I hope that, as much as you enjoy your little holiday with us, that you’ll remember that there is a boy involved, a very sensitive little boy.”
“I’m well aware of it,” Lorraine said. “How can you think I wouldn’t be? I’m very fond of Ashe.”
“Then you should consider his feelings and Mr. Phoenix’s, and prepare yourself for the inevitable.”
“And what’s that?”
But Mrs. B. just smiled. “Oh, you poor deluded thing. Do you really think this tryst is going to go anywhere? In a week, you’ll have had your little fling and we’ll go back to New York.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Don’t I? I’ve worked for the Phoenix men for almost two years, Miss Devonshire, two very sad, complicated years. Do you really think it’s fair to make their lives even sadder and more complicated?”
Lorraine wasn’t sure what to say. She was offended, but she couldn’t deny that she wasn’t unreasonable to assume these things, and that she only had the boy’s well-being at heart, probably Griffin’s too.
Am I wrong? Am I being childish and selfish and risking another big heartbreak for that poor kid when they leave, not to mention for myself?
Strolling through Union Station was like stepping back in time, the turn-of-the-century architecture and huge terminal stately and elegant. Lorraine and Griffin strolled past the new little boutiques and craft carts, footsteps echoing off the high ceiling.
Lorraine was distracted by her confrontation with Mrs. B., but she wasn’t ready to discuss it. And there were other things on her mind anyway.
She asked inquisitively, “We don’t know very much about each other, do we?”
“What would you like to know?”
Lorraine gave it some thought, heels clacking beneath her. “How’d you make your fortune?”
“My father worked his whole life, as a cook at restaurants around Los Angeles, coffee shops mostly—Norms, Ships, like that. Then he went into catering, craft service for TV shows, movies. He left a meager amount to me, and I had a good run. Between the stock market and real estate, I made a series of fortunate choices.” Griffin looked her over. “But I’ve done better since.” She smiled and nodded, but Griffin went on, “My turn: did you always want to be a librarian?”
Lorraine broke out in a little chuckle, but it didn’t last. “No, I-I wanted to be a million things when I was young, I guess: princess, astronaut, tomb raider, the usual thing. But I actually could be a li
brarian, y’know?”
“No, Lorraine, I don’t know. I see you, I don’t see a librarian. I see a princess, an astronaut, a tomb raider. Actually, you’d look pretty amazing in a Lara Croft outfit.”
Lorraine laughed, slapping his chest and looking away, but only to hide her blushing.
“Okay, my turn. You, um, you don’t have any…or rather, you must have had some women since, well—”
“One or two,” Griffin said. “But they were empty experiences. Not flings, I’m not saying that; I don’t do that. But I just didn’t connect with them, not the way you and I do. And I need that, Lorraine. Believe me, I’ve got everything money can buy, and I could have anybody that money could by. That’s why that all means so little to me. I’ve already lost the most important thing in life. I know what truly matters, the only thing that matters.”
“Love,” Lorraine whispered.
“That’s right, Lorraine, love…true love.”
They kissed again, long but slow and tender, their lips barely touching. They turned and walked on, but Lorraine couldn’t ignore the lingering sense of doubt, Mrs. B.’s angry assault, and all the numerous things that always seemed to be hiding in the shadows, waiting and ready to pounce.
No, Lorraine, she told herself, you’re better than that; you deserve better than that. It’s all in your mind, all in your past!
Griffin asked her, “Are you okay? You seem…preoccupied.”
She wasn’t sure how far into it she was willing to get with Griffin. But there was truth nearby, and it was easy to recognize. “No, I’m…I’m really worried about Ashe. I mean, I know you’ve done everything possible, but…I don’t know if he’s just gonna grow out of this. God, I hope so.”
“I’ve tried everything. These days, I’ve decided he’s got to come out on his own; I can’t pressure him.”
“No, of course not, you’re right. I just feel so…so helpless, y’know? Like there should be something I could say or do, but…it’s just not there.”
“I do know, believe me. All this money? I’ve got a Beatle’s personal phone number. But there’s nothing I can do for my little boy, my poor little son.”
Lorraine slipped her arm into Griffin’s and leaned against him, a reassuring nuzzle to tell him that she understood, that she felt the same way, and that somehow they’d find a way to release Ashe from his prison of silent sorrow.
And they’d find that together; it would be the only way they could.
But suddenly Lorraine’s legs stopped in her tracks, freezing her in her place. Griffin took an extra step and turned, reading Lorraine’s horrified expression. “Lorraine, what is it? What’s wrong?” The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, her mouth going dry. “Lorraine?”
Tony Gardner had hardly changed in the three years since she’d met him. He wore the same cocky smile, walked with the same loping strut. He was walking directly toward them, completely oblivious to her.
Lorraine turned, instinctively hiding her face from him. “That’s the man who attacked me that night; Jeremy chased him off. Gardner, Tony Gardner.”
“Are you sure?”
Lorraine nodded.
“I mean, are you absolutely certain?”
Tony walked past them, paying Lorraine no mind at all. “I am, Griffin, I’m certain it’s him.”
“Okay, stand back.” Griffin handed Lorraine his smartphone and said, “Call the police.”
“Griffin?” she barely had time to process his request.
Griffin walked up to the man from behind and tapped him on the shoulder. Tony turned, but Griffin gave him no time to react. He grabbed Tony’s hand and gave it a good, sharp twist. In a single, swift motion the guy was on his knees, yelping in pain.
“Hey, man, what the hell’re you doin’?”
“You’re Tony Gardner?”
“Who wants to know?”
“I’m making a citizen’s arrest,” Griffin declared in a calm but serious tone.
“For what, man? I didn’t do nothin’ to you!”
“Not me,” Griffin said. “Her.”
Tony looked over at Lorraine. “Oh shit,” he muttered.
“Yeah,” Griffin said, “those are my thoughts exactly.”
Another hard wrench had Tony squirming on the floor. “You’re breakin’ my fucking arm, man!”
“No, I’m not,” Griffin said. “I’m snapping the tendons.” Another hard twist and Tony screamed out in pain, and yet another produced a loud crack. “Now I’ve broken your arm.”
Two uniformed police officers rushed up, backed by blue-suited transit security officers. “What’s going on here?”
Lorraine rushed up behind them. “This man on the floor attacked me three years ago in the parking lot of Sables dance club. His name’s Tony Gardner.”
“That ain’t true, man!”
One officer asked him, “That’s not your name?”
“No, I mean, it is, yeah, I’m Tony Gardner. But I never seen this chick before in my life!” They cuffed him and he shouted in agony. “Stop it, that hurts! Jesus Christ!”
They dragged him to his feet and pushed him toward the exit, one officer turning to Griffin and Lorraine. “We’re gonna need to get a statement.”
“Of course,” Griffin said, turning to Lorraine. “You are going to press charges, right? Guy like that can’t be left to run around the streets attacking women.”
“No, you’re right, of course.” The old fear had returned, a feeling of helplessness that sickened her stomach and made her fingers tremble on her hands. But things had changed; Lorraine had changed. Griffin had changed her. She felt strong in his presence—capable. She’d stood up to Albert and Carmen, and she was finally ready to stand up to the man who had done her so much damage, and could have done so much worse. She took a deep breath, cleared her throat, and said, “Let’s do this.”
Chapter 10
The police questioning had been thorough, and reliving that night wasn’t easy for Lorraine. But with Griffin by her side, she felt ready to finally face that awful event. And talking through it had robbed the attack of a lot of its mystery and power over her. This was no longer a brush with death, and the dark side of humanity. It was an unfortunate thing that could have been much worse. Instead of feeling victimized, Lorraine felt lucky, even blessed. And knowing that the attacker was finally in custody and would likely stay there brought Lorraine even greater comfort. He’d lost his ability to attack her again—his hold on her imagination. It was like a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders, and Griffin had lifted it.
Once they arrived back to the spacious penthouse suite Griffin had all to himself, Lorraine was eager to show her gratitude. Something about the intoxicating experience of being with someone so powerful and masculine, the dim and flattering lighting, being in this beautiful and luxurious environment was really starting to turn her on. Lorraine took the lead and unzipped his pants slowly and seductively, pushing him on to the plush king-size bed. She bit her lip and slowly undressed, teasing him with a strip tease. Her creamy, ivory skin stood before him. Crawling over, she hovered over him on her knees and took as much of him in her mouth as she possibly could. She hungrily slathered his cock with her saliva, warm and slick and unending in a stream of licking and loving. Lorraine smashed it against her face and her face against it, that long, unbending rod pressed into her chin and cheeks and eyes, her eyelashes teasing its veiny surface, creating little twitches and flinches in that railing rod, making Griffin moan for more.
Lorraine bent her lips over her teeth and took in Griffin’s might and manhood with eager hunger, loving the salty taste, inhaling the unseen clouds of musk—refreshing and delightful in her head, her lungs, and her memory. Lorraine had come to love that cock, almost to worship it, and she didn’t think she could live without it.
He pulled his big pulsing member out of her mouth, and she immediately took each one of his delicious dumplings into her mouth, letting it rest on her tongue before cradling
the other. Griffin moaned his delight, hairy muscular thighs surrounding her smooth, supple face.
Lorraine’s hand strained to squeeze his cock, pumping and licking and smashing it against her face, groaning her pleasure as she attempted to destroy it, to tear it off his body and swallow it whole. Griffin’s hips fluxed and bucked, pushing his mighty cock into her, insatiable, uncontrollable.
“You’re so good,” Griffin moaned, “so good! You got it, baby, you own it! It’s yours, Lorraine, take it and have it, all for you! All for you, baby!”
Lorraine wanted to answer, but her mouth was full, and she was intent on keeping it that way. Lick and suck and kiss, cradling those balls and giving them a little squeeze, she was in control in that moment, all of Griffin’s masculine energy in the palm of her hands, and at the tip of her tongue.
He turned her around, pulling her back, his wet cock pressing against the small of her back. His hands returned to her wanting breasts, her nipples reaching out to greet his masterful fingers.
Griffin pushed his huge head into Lorraine’s pussy from behind, her legs spreading to accommodate him. From behind it was a whole other sensation, and this was the first time any man had presumed to take Lorraine this way. Griffin felt even bigger, and every little shift in position delivered powerful bolts of orgasmic energy into her. Lorraine knew what she was facing, even if she couldn’t see it.
She could feel every inch of it.
And as that thick rail pushed into Lorraine, Griffin reached around, his fingers finding Lorraine’s twitching labia. Responding to his touch, she answered their unspoken greeting, pulling and twitching. The dual sensation was too much for Lorraine to resist, her orgasm already brewing within her. His fingers massaged her clit with the perfect pressure—circular patterns delighting and stimulating her nerves, her body beginning to quiver.
Lorraine pressed her hands against the wall as Griffin pushed in farther into her hungry pussy, his gigantic cock slowly grinding against her tender pink clit. Lorraine pushed against the wall, Griffin pushed in behind her, and Lorraine relished the feeling of that gliding pole, slick and thick—every inch delighting and arousing her more and more. Lorraine clamped down, her lips pressing against the sides of Griffin’s grinding cock—pushing and tilting and circling in a brilliant blur of cocksmanship.
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