Fractured: Volume One

by Alexis Noelle

  “I want you so bad right now, babe, I don’t know how long I’ll last.” He slams into me and I moan at the feeling. At this angle he is so deep inside me that it’s almost hard to hold myself up. “God, you feel like heaven.” Cam starts to move faster and I can barely handle the sensation. When he reaches around to play with my clit I let out a groan. “Tell me how good it feels, baby.”

  I am horrible at the dirty talk. I respond with my moans of pleasure as his pace picks up even more.

  “I want to hear you when you come, babe. I want to hear you scream.” His fingers pinch my clit and I come apart, screaming so loud that I’m grateful it’s cold out and our windows are closed, if not our neighbors would definitely have gotten a show. When Cam finishes he leans forward bracing himself on the couch in the same way that I am. Before getting up he trails kisses down my back and runs his hands down my sides.

  “We need to fight more often.” He says before heading upstairs.

  Amen to that.

  Chapter Six

  Cam has been going in early and coming home late. It’s always like this before he deploys. There are always extra meetings, training, and everything else. I have been spending my days writing and with the past two days of sudden inspiration, I’m almost done with the book. I need to write a few more scenes today then it’s off to the editor. I have been drowning under this deadline and I literally have less than a week to edit and publish the stupid thing. That’s the life of a writer though. You spend months saying you’ll write when all that really means is that you’ll spend a few hours on Facebook and only write one chapter. Don’t even get me started on Pinterest. That is where days go to die. Once you go onto that site you get sucked into their blackhole and don’t resurface for hours.

  The deployment is looming over me though. The guys leave Friday afternoon, and today is Tuesday. I am going to barely see Cam this week, if yesterday is any indication of the rest of the schedule for the week. I can’t imagine how the other girls do it with the kids. I think that’s half of the reason that I avoid the pregnancy topic like the plague. I can barely hold myself together when Cam is away, I don’t think I could take care of kids too. We were just married anyway and as much as people are forcing the topic in our faces we are young and I’m not trying to rush anything. I love Cam and eventually I would love to have kids but it’s definitely not something I see happening in the near future.

  I hear the door open and look down at the clock, 8:00pm. Cam walks into the living room and looks like he’s been hit by a truck. “Hey, babe, you okay?”

  He nods as he plops down onto the couch. “I’m just exhausted. It’s been non-stop meetings and strategic training since we found out we were deploying. I swear I barely had time to choke down my lunch today. The good thing is that I’m thinking it will be a short trip.”

  I breathe out a sigh of relief before joining him on the couch. “Can I do anything for you?”

  He looks over at me and smirks.

  I shove him and laugh. “Is that all you ever think about?”

  “Yea.”

  That’s all he says. Well, at least he’s honest. I have to say that it’s definitely an ego boost that he can’t keep his hands off of me. I love knowing that he always wants me, that he is always ready. “How about we start with something like food to build up your energy?”

  I head into the kitchen searching through the cabinets for something quick to make. With Cam’s unpredictable schedule, I didn’t make anything ahead of time. I preheat the oven and pull out some stuffed chicken breasts. I picked these up just for nights like this because they are quick and easy. I grab a few beers from the fridge and then leave the kitchen to allow time for dinner to cook.

  I walk back into the living room and sit next to Cam who is watching ESPN, I know shocker. “Babe, just so you know, I volunteered to host the farewell dinner on Thursday night.”

  He says this so nonchalantly and without looking away from the TV that I think for a minute I heard him wrong. “I’m sorry, what?”

  “The usual dinner, I volunteered to have it here.”

  “Seriously!” He looks over at me completely confused by my reaction. “You just volunteered to have a big dinner here without even letting me know?”

  “It’s really not a big deal, babe.” He takes a swig of his beer.

  I swear to God he is so damn clueless. Having to cook for nine people is bad enough with little notice, but having to cook for those women is my nightmare. They always host the dinners and everything is perfect down to the damn color scheme. I am in no way, shape, or form prepared to have them all here, we aren’t even all the way unpacked yet. Not to mention I have my deadline coming up and I’m supposed to publish on Monday. I grab a pillow next to me and chuck it at his head before walking out of the room. The amount of self-control it is taking me not to kill him right now is huge.

  I grab my laptop and start googling dinner parties, and themes. For a normal dinner I could just make pasta or burgers, but not for this one. I remember keeping Chrissy’s invitation that she sent out a week before the last dinner. I flip through papers before finally finding it.

  You are invited to a farewell dinner at the Hudson’s

  Menu

  Sparkling Cranberry Cocktails

  Mini Manchego-Tomato Chutney Tartlets

  Chestnut Soup

  Wild Rice Soup

  Cornish Game Hens with Butternut Croutons

  Individual Pear Tartlets

  I am so royally screwed it isn’t even funny. Last time I cooked dinner I screwed up the Rice-a-Roni because I couldn’t follow directions. There is no way I can compete with the five-star standard that has been set by these women. I’m mac and cheese and they are surf and turf.

  Cam walks into my office and I turn away. “Get out!

  “But, babe, I—“

  “Get out!”

  “Do you need me to—“

  I turn in my chair the expression on my face enough to stop him mid-sentence. “If I am going to pull off this Susie homemaker shit by Thursday, you need to leave or baked Cam will be the main course!” He slowly backs away from me like I’m a rabid animal and I hear the TV turn on once more.

  I love him but he can be so dumb sometimes. Okay, back to planning the menu that I can barely pronounce.

  As I look at the screen, all of the tarts, filets, and stuffing begin to run together.

  I may end up cooking him in the damn oven after all.

  Chapter Seven

  I have such a strong urge to bang my head on my desk until I pass out. Not only is tomorrow the stupid dinner party for the military mafia, but I’m neck deep in notes from my editor. She knows that I don’t respect deadlines so she was prepared to spend all day yesterday with my hot mess of pages. While she loved the story, my prejudice with commas and run-on sentences has officially screwed me over. Why can’t I have a little person in my head who knows all the grammar rules and can just take over my body as I write?

  I know most people today look down on authors, “anyone can write a book” they say, “it’s so easy” they say. I would love to see half of those people actually write something that doesn’t suck ass. Just because you can tell a story doesn’t mean you can write a damn book. Pulling emotions out of people and making them care for fictional characters is far from easy. I am so emotionally exhausted from the last few days of writing that I can barely function. I love it though, besides Cam, it’s the only thing I have ever been passionate about.

  I wish Cam would be here for my release day. I always get so stressed and anxiety ridden, I barely eat and my finger hurts by the end of the day from pressing the refresh button to check my ranking. My dream is to hit the lists, USA Today and New York Times. I got into the top one hundred in my Amazon rank and it felt amazing. My sequel has been so anticipated that I am crossing my fingers it does well. Cam promised me that when he gets home we are going to go out to celebrate.

  My eyes drift to the scratch pad that I
have been trying to transform into a suitable menu. The gods of the universe are really having a good laugh at my expense. I have gone on a cooking strike with Cam and last night I made him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It would have been the perfect dig, if the bastard hadn’t loved it and said it was just what he wanted. I was tempted to smash it in his face at that point.

  I kind of wish the dinner wasn’t the night before deployment I want to spend that night with him, alone. I hear the front door open and save the changes I’ve made so far. I’m almost through the edits and should finish them by tomorrow. I walk into the living room and see Cam, he has a huge bouquet of calla lilies in his hand, they have always been my favorite. I smile so big that it hurts a little bit, before running into his arms.

  “I should do this every day if this is the reaction I get.” His arms wrap around me and I kiss him on the lips. “Go get dressed, beautiful.”

  I pull back to look at him. “Where are we going?”

  “It’s a surprise.” He places a kiss on my lips before letting me go and smacking my butt. “Now get going.”

  I head upstairs but halfway up I realize I have no idea what to wear. “Casual or dressy?” I yell down to him.

  “Whatever you want!”

  Men think that they help you out and make things easier with answers like these, they don’t. I grab a nice pair of jeans, a scoop neck cashmere sweater and a pair of my favorite black high heeled boots. When I look in the mirror I’m thinking either way I’ll be safe since this is the perfect mix of casual and dressy. When I come down Cam is on the phone.

  “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow, brother. I’m sure it will all work out, you know we have this.” He hangs up and then looks at me. “See, you didn’t need any help from me.” He grabs my hand and kisses it before we walk out to the car.

  The entire ride I am trying to figure out where we are going, looking for signs or familiar land marks, anything to give me some clue to our destination. We pull into a parking lot and I see the name Il Verdi. My mouth drops open as I look over at Cam, I have always wanted to come here but it is so expensive. “Cam, this is amazing.”

  “I knew you always wanted to come here,” he says as he gets out of the car. He walks around, opens my door, and we walk toward the restaurant. Once we get inside he gives the hostess his name and she takes us right back to our table.

  Once we sit down I can’t contain my excitement. “I can’t wait to have dinner. What made you decide to come here tonight?”

  “I wanted to celebrate.” He smiles at me.

  “Celebrate what? You going away? I’m glad we came here and everything but that is so not something that I want to celebrate, or something that I’ll be happy about.” Is he serious? I dread thinking of him leaving on Friday I definitely don’t want to celebrate it.

  “No, we are celebrating you.” He laughs at my still confused expression. “I won’t be here when you release or probably when the lists come out, so I wanted to celebrate my amazingly talented wife becoming a best seller.”

  My eyes tear up just listening to how much he believes in me. “Cam, I doubt I’ll even make it.”

  “Well, I don’t. I know you have your doubts, babe, but you are so talented. People loved the first book you wrote and I know that this one is going to be a huge hit.”

  “How do you know people liked it?”

  “Because I check your reviews almost as much as you do. It makes me so damn proud to see how much people love your book, and that they realize how talented you are. It’s about time the rest of the world noticed.”

  A tear falls from my eye and rolls down his cheek. “I love you more than anything in the world, Cameron Wilson. It was as much of a surprise to me as it was to everyone else when you asked me out, but I thank God that you did every single day.” He leans over and gives me a kiss, pulling away as the waiter walks up to the table.

  Dinner is absolutely amazing, the food is delicious, and I love being able to spend time with Cam before he leaves. On the drive home I am trying to stop myself from falling into a food coma, but eventually I lose that fight and drift off. I feel myself moving and open my eyes to see Cam carrying me into the house, this is where I want to be forever. Tucked into his arms, feeling like no one or nothing could ever touch me. Cam heads upstairs and into the bedroom, gently laying me down.

  “I’ll be back in a minute, baby, get undressed.”

  He kisses my head before leaving the room. A few minutes pass and I feel the bed dip beside me. “Turn over onto your stomach.” I do as he asks and once I’m lying flat Cam situates himself on top of my legs. I feel a warm liquid seep onto my back. Cam’s hands run through it and he slowly begins to rub his hands up and down my back. I groan as he massages the muscles that have become so achy from sitting in my chair writing for the past three days. His hands slowly move down to my butt and he gently rubs it making muscles I didn’t know I had fill with pleasure.

  Cam starts to grind against me and now my groans aren’t just because of his hands. “I want you every minute, of every day, anywhere I can have you.” His legs push mine apart and when he sinks down into me, I grip the sheets trying to keep myself grounded. His hands continue to glide up and down my body as he slowly moves in and out of me. I start to push back against him causing each thrust to be harder, deeper, and making both of us moan even louder.

  Cam starts to move faster, slamming into me with such force that I brace my hands against the headboard to keep from going through it. Both of us are covered in sweat, and it is so damn hot. I lift up on my knees changing the angle and allowing Cam to drive even further into me. His hand snakes around my chest and slowly begins to massage my breast. When he pinches my nipple rolling it back and forth between his fingers, I scream, coming undone.

  Cam’s hands move down to my hips using them to drive into me a few more times before finding his own release and growling my name.

  It is going to be a long, lonely time without him.

  Chapter Eight

  “Ahhhhhhhhh!” I scream as the batter flies out of the damn mixer and all over my face. I’m so fucking done. Pulling out my phone, I dial the number for the fancy ass French restaurant downtown.

  “Ma Cherie, how can I help you?”

  “Hi, I need dinner for ten people tonight, appetizers, entrees, and desserts.” I’m hoping the desperation in my voice doesn’t seem too apparent.

  “Ok, ma’am, what dishes would you like?”

  “I have no clue. But I need it all delivered at 6:30pm on the dot, and I need a list of what you are bringing.”

  She takes my information and when I hang up the phone, I take a depressing look around my kitchen. There is food everywhere and it is going to take me the rest of day just to make it look like a volcano didn’t explode in here. I tried for about two hours to follow the dictionary length directions for the menu I had found but it was to no avail. I was in so far over my head and I needed help. I was not going to be the only wife in this little group that proved she couldn’t cook, desperate times call for desperate measures.

  My phone buzzes and I see that it’s a text from Cam.

  Hope the cooking is going good, don’t worry I’m sure it will be great.

  It will definitely be great, especially because I’m not cooking it. I always hear about these groups of Army wives that have barbecues and are laid back, why couldn’t I land in one of those groups? Pasta salad and burgers is something I could definitely handle. The problem is that these girls are filet mignon while I’m a Big Mac. I scrub every inch of the kitchen, finding batter in places that I didn’t even know was possible. I also place a call to the beer distributor for an urgent delivery order. Then I make my way through the rest of the house, decluttering, dusting, sweeping, and mopping every inch of it. If Cam ever signs me up for this dinner shit again I swear to God that I will castrate him.

  When I look over at the clock it’s almost five. I mutter numerous curse words as I head upstairs and shower. Tryin
g to decide what to wear tonight almost drove me crazy but as I’m tearing through my closet I realize I shouldn’t care. I grab a pair of gray pants, a black button up shirt and a sweater. Just as I’m slipping on my boots the doorbell rings and I rush downstairs. The guy from the restaurant starts to bring in the paper bags and I begin grabbing the serving dishes, I have to make it look convincing, after all. The total bill almost gives me a mini heart attack, but when he hands me the menu I requested it all seems like it will be worth it.

  I move everything out of the aluminum containers, hating to mess up the pretty presentation but knowing that I can’t serve them in there. After everything is out I set out plates, utensils, and napkins. I let out a huge sigh of relief that I actually got it done. The door opens and closes and Cam walks into the kitchen and I swear his eyes bug out of his head at the food in front of him. The rest of the group follows him into the kitchen and I’m met with numerous ooh’s and aah’s.

  “Hey, everyone! Please help yourselves. I have crudité vegetables with remoulade sauce; roasted turkey with black-truffle butter and cognac gravy; mushroom, leek, and brioche stuffing; and, for dessert salted chocolate caramel tart.” As I watch all of their faces drop, I’m internally jumping up and down with my fist in the air. So what if the food was ordered and the delivery guy had to tell me how to pronounce it, they don’t know any of that. The guys look much less impressed than the girls and it makes me wonder why they don’t just say they want something more simple and, at least for me, recognizable.

  I let everyone else get their food first and Cam leans down close to my ear. “Where did you get all of this from? Don’t even say you made it because we both know you don’t even know what half of this stuff is.”

  I knew that I would never fool him but it was nice seeing his reaction. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head about where it came from, just enjoy.”

  He laughs at me before going to join the guys. While the food is good, it is so not my style. If I could have ordered a bunch of pizzas, I would have been just as happy as I was with all of this “high-class” food. I’m getting tons of compliments from the military mafia, so at least that part of the evening worked out. Seeing everyone around the same table and joining together before the guys deploy is bittersweet. It’s nice to have everyone together, but knowing that tomorrow the boys are leaving has put a dark cloud over us all.