by Falon Gold
Apollo’s chest heaves against mine that’s rising and sinking in sync with his. We lay this way, with me praying that the bench holds up until we’re both breathing normally again and can get up. His head lifts and he gives me a soft kiss on the mouth. I part my lips. His tongue slips inside and takes slow sideswipes at mine until I shiver.
“Cold, love?”
I nod. He gives me a loud smack on the mouth, making me giggle, and then he stands up within the confines of my ski pants.
“Let’s go, my Lisa, before someone shows up and realizes that I’m dirty and you’re not, and then I become the butt of one of your uncle Tommy’s jokes. We’ve been gone…” He looks down at the Cartier watch on his wrist. “…for thirty minutes.”
I push up on my elbows. “Hell, I’m surprised we got ten.”
Apollo drops to his knees and wiggles his way out of my pants. “Maybe your mother feels like I’m good for you now. At least I hope she does anyway, because I’m not going anywhere.”
“She’s certainly the main one to worry about,” I grumble, while he stands up, slips his hand under my arms, and stands me up on my feet before fastening up his pants.
I start to do the same, but it’s a slow process. I’m exhausted, and all I want to do is sleep, and I intend to.
“What are we going to do next, sweetheart?” he asks, while reaching behind me for his coat, with layers of dust entrenched in the silky material.
He knocks off as much as he can, but the last layer of dust refuses to budge. He gives up and puts his coat on.
I bend over and swipe at the dirt sticking to the knees of his pants. “I’m going back to bed, Apollo, as soon as I get in the house. You wore me out.”
He snickers low in his throat. “Your family will know what we’ve been doing out here if you go straight to sleep.”
“That will be kind of a dead giveaway, huh?” I giggle.
“You think?” he joins my laughter. “I intended to wear you out, so you don’t gorge yourself on me while we’re here. Obviously, I can’t resist you when you want me.”
“Four years can’t be made up for in one night, Apollo,” I say softly.
“True, but I have the feeling you’d try to do it anyway.”
“Damn straight.”
“You are always a determined little minx. It’s what I love about you the most.”
“That comes with the independent streak.”
“The good with the bad, huh?” He pulls me into his arms and pecks me on the nose. “I can deal with it, love, if you can.”
“I plan to, Apollo.”
“And I love you for it, my Lisa.”
“God, I missed your version of my name.”
“You made me afraid to even call you by it on the phone yesterday.”
“I thought it was best if we went back to employee and employer.”
“Not as long as I love you, and I plan to love you until the next lifetime, where I’ll find you again.”
“I love you, too Apollo. Always have.”
“Then love me enough to get me out of this cold ass barn. When I’m not inside you, I’d like to be wherever the heat is.”
“So, my guy is cold-natured, huh?” No wonder he wears full suits even in the summertime.
“Very. Besides, I also need to check on some things, and your mother offered me her landline.”
I smile, then turn away, keeping one of his hands gripped tightly in mine, while leading him back to the house, where the heat is plentiful.
At the front door, he spins me around to face him. He’s suddenly serious. “If you need help with Blake, just yell, and I’ll come running. I promise.”
Suddenly, I’m not so tired anymore, but conflicted. “Blake won’t hurt me. I just hope I don’t hurt him. I think I’ll take a shower and wait to catch him alone. I don’t want this going on one more day.”
“You can’t make him turn his feelings off.”
“I don’t think his feelings are that deep for me. But I need to talk to him to know for sure, so we all can move on. I have the man I want, need, and I intend to keep him. I haven’t even started making up for the time we lost yet, and I never will if you keep fucking my brains out before I can get my hands and mouth on your body.”
“You’re time will come to handle me as you see fit, but you should probably just mark the time we circled each other as a lesson learned then move on.” He leans closer, lining his lips with mine. “Because I love fucking your brains out as much I love you.”
He lips gently trace mine before his tongue parts the seam of my lips. They open up automatically to let him inside. The front door opens behinds us. Apollo’s tongue slips from my mouth. He looks up then down at me. I know instantly who’s standing behind me.
He pats me on the ass then steps back. “Go shower, love. Come find me when you’re done spending time with the family.”
I nod and swallow deeply, then let my hands drift off his waist before I turn around to face Blake. He’s eating a slice of bacon and looking down at me with blank blue eyes. It’s not like Blake to hide his feelings from me. I begin to wonder how long he has been doing it.
No time like the present to find out.
“Blake, can you meet me outside in thirty minutes? I need to talk to you.”
His stare hardens then drifts upward to Apollo. The air gets crisp around us and heavy with tension.
“Sure, Malisa. Thirty minutes it is.” He swivels in the doorway then vanishes into the kitchen.
Apollo glances down at me. “I’ll be just up the stairs, sweetheart. If you need me, just holler.”
“Blake won’t hurt me, love.”
“I don’t care if he just pinches you, holler. Got it?”
I start to laugh, even with the gloom and doom that’s surrounding us. “Got it.”
Chapter Eighteen
A knock at my bedroom door comes just as I tug on the second wedge heel boot on top of my jeans that I’d exchanged for the ski suit. My shower had woken me up a little more, but the heavy atmosphere is still around, waiting to combust.
“Come in,” I yell from my seat on the bed.
The door opens. Blake steps inside, empty-handed.
“Shut it back, Blake, while I put on my coat, or someone will see us in here and interrupt before we can get downstairs.”
“Oh, this has to be bad. Apollo managed to turn you against me that quick?” He shuts the door back then props against the wall and crosses his arms. “So talk, Malisa.”
“Apollo didn’t turn anybody, Blake. But there’s something bugging the hell out of us both.” I reach for my coat lying beside me.
“Finding me in bed with you will bug the man who loves you like he does.”
I turn around and shove my arms inside the ski jacket. “He thinks you’re at least attracted to me, and he understands because he’s crazy enough to think I’m beautiful… and irresistible, I guess. But I’m having a hard time agreeing with him.”
“What do you think?” he asks, immediately alerting me to the fact that he didn’t adamantly deny his attraction.
“I… don’t… well, I think you’re like a brother to me,” I stammer to admit.
“Well, Apollo is the one who got it right,” Blake says as his eyes burrow into me. “After all this time, it took him to pick up on my secret. I tried to hide it all these years, so no one, not even Mama O and Pop, would sniff out my attraction to you. I’ve even tried to fight it, but it just won’t go away, so I managed it through self-control.”
Shock paralyzes me.
“Shit,” I mumble under my breath, “It’s true.”
Blake nods, with regret sitting deep in his eyes. I start to fidget under his gaze, and then I shift on the bed, trying to find a comfortable place in a usually comfortable bed. But it’s just not possible with this conversation.
“It is true, Lisa Poo. You’re beautiful, even freaking more so now without the ponytails and glasses, which is probably driving Apollo to dri
nk, and why I preferred the less erotic version of you. But I haven’t been waiting for you to come back to Colorado so we could fall in love, if that’s what he’s thinking.”
“Well, yeah, I know you haven’t been waiting for me because we haven’t seen each other since you left Arrow. Now I’m wondering why we haven’t talked? And why I don’t know you like I used to or thought I did.”
“Nobody knows anyone like they think they do unless they’re married. I left Arrow because I needed some distance from my parents’ after the ‘becoming a true Powers argument’. I’m not into social gatherings and charity events, and I needed some distance for two reasons. To figure out my own path in life and to let my attraction to you die down. Talking to you and visiting you wouldn’t have done that. We can rectify the distance between us by you telling me what did Apollo do that had you running back home with a broken heart. I haven’t exactly given my heart away to anyone,” he admits.
“Why not?” I ask, beginning to worry as much about him as my mother does.
He deserves to be loved just like everyone else does, but he doesn’t seem to be reaching out for it beyond the Owens clan.
His head drifts downward and he begins to pick at imaginary lint on his sweater. “Because my family is pressing me to move back home and be a true Powers, or so that’s what they’re calling it. I’ve never felt like a Powers, and can’t date anyone with that shit hanging over my head. You would think my father’s stroke would’ve given my parents a clearer insight into what matters the most, but it hasn’t.”
Blake truly hasn’t found his place in this world because he has too many places to choose from.
“Is it because you feel like an Owens through and through that you’re stuck? If so, it’s your parents’ fault that you feel closer to us, Blake, not yours.” And he should stop beating himself up about it.
“I’m an Owens, Malisa, and I know that it’s my parents’ fault, but it’s also why I never let my school boy crush on you get any further than that. It would feel sort of like incest for one thing, and if things went bad between us, Mama O and Pop would have to choose. I’m not taking the chance of getting pushed out of this family. It’s the only good one I’ve known. I’m not losing it because I can recognize a beautiful woman when I see one either, and I’m still twisted inside with which family to be the most loyal to. Being a true Powers would take up all my time.”
“Lydia and Frank wouldn’t choose between us, Blake, or make you choose which family to be loyal to. They’d be disappointed in us if we couldn’t work things out like adults, even if a romantic relationship didn’t work out between us. The Owens will stand by whatever decision you make about becoming a true Powers… whatever that means. No need to be twisted inside. Just make a decision that will make you happy and then move on. And Blake… if it’s just a school boy crush and you still own your heart, then we’re fine.”
“You’re damn straight we’re fine, Lisa Poo. There’s no way in hell I’d let anything come in between me and the people that loved me when my own parents wouldn’t. And I’m sticking around to make sure Apollo does right by you, no matter what feelings about you war inside of me. You’re still my sister.”
Thank God!
The tension eases away finally.
I smile at him with my stupid eyes burning. “Always.”
“Good. Now go get me some blankets, so I can sleep beside your bed on the floor tonight. I’m sure finding me in it is what gave me away to Apollo this morning, and I may have silently challenged him. I don’t want to come in between your happiness, either, but I’m certainly taking the chance to make him sweat tonight.”
Nothing has changed with Blake, at all.
I start to laugh. “You don’t stop, do you?”
He smiles wide. “I would, but I have nowhere else to sleep. I’m not going home while you’re here. We need to get to know one another, again. Uncle Tommy is staying for the night in my room. Apollo’s in the guestroom. Oh, and Derek told me to tell you goodbye but he’ll be back tomorrow. He still has to work and the temperature’s dropping as we speak, even though it’s only twelve in the afternoon. I think a freak storm is coming in. Derek’s Cessna is an older model. Its wings aren’t equipped to handle the ice that’ll form on them when he’s flying, which will bring him down like a rock in a swimming pool. I should tell you that he’s interested in Chrys and through working for Mama O because she fired him after you and Apollo left the dining room. I think Chrys is interested in him as well because she offered to take him to the airport.”
“Good for them.”
His forehead wrinkles. “You don’t mind?”
“Why would I? Derek and I never dated. We’d already decided to be friends before he even flew here, and Apollo cut him off at the knees Saturday night.”
Blake smirks then his chest begins to rumble with his rising mirth. “Apollo isn’t someone I would want to go against during a war. He’d find my weakest spot before I could.”
“It’s funny you said that, Blake, because I feel the same damn way about him. He sees a lot and is sneaky as hell.”
“I’ll bet. I’m sure he snuck his way into your heart, too.”
“From the damn moment I laid eyes on him. I couldn’t even speak, and the damn fool hired me anyway.”
“That’s because he’s smart as hell, knows a good thing when he sees it and how to keep it close. I could maybe learn a few things from him.”
I cock an eyebrow. “Maybe, Blake?”
“I said maybe. Now back to your love life.” He pushes off the wall and palms the doorknob before opening it. “Let’s go inside.”
I stand up and follow him out. “One session of my love life isn’t going to cover the four years we’ve been out of touch, Dr. Phil,” I quip.
He smirks, the usual boyish appeal returning to his face. “You’d be amazed at what Dr. Phil can do in one session.”
“You’re right about that, but you’re not him,” I admit while walking down the stairs.
“No, I’m Sheriff Powers and much better. So, can I tell you what I think happened between you and your boss?”
“Shoot, Sheriff Powers… or not.”
Oddly, it feels good to talk to someone that’s known me longer than a few days, and it doesn’t feel weird that it’s Blake, even if he is attracted to me in some way. I could always tell him anything; he’s family.
Blake reaches the front door then glances back, before opening it.
“Funny, Lisa Poo. Your first cop joke at my expense, and it failed epically, by the way. Over the weekend, Apollo screwed up. It had to be real bad for you to come home, because it’s not like you to run from anything. He got back to Utah before you did and was expecting your return, or at least a call since Sunday. When he didn’t get it, he called here that evening, and was panicking like a lover would, and it got worse with each call. I think it’s safe to assume that’s he’s been a lover of yours at least since Saturday, because employers don’t follow behind their employees unless there’s an emotional bond… or was. Am I right?”
“Yes,” I say simply, and close the front door behind me.
Blake takes the first step down off the porch. “That’s why I risked pissing you off to invite Apollo here. I needed him on my territory. Did you really think I wanted to just get to know your boss?”
“No, I guess not. Not when it comes to this family.” And that’s what Blake and I will always be, but Apollo seems to be getting all the blame for our break up in Blake’s eyes.
I accept that I need to reveal the details of our split before Apollo is condemned in everyone’s opinions. “To be honest, Blake, I unintentionally started the problem between me and Apollo by raising hell about him paying for everything during my trip without asking me. It happened while I was out shopping. I thought I’d get the chance to make up with him, but he sent a taxi driver to take me back to the hotel, which he’d already fled from like an escapee. The driver gave me a message to return to work
Tuesday morning, when he and I was supposed to go back together. But he left me in Vegas, after he wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place.”
Blake stops walking when he reaches the back of my Jeep. I take a seat on the frozen rear bumper, with him standing in front of me. He pushes the tips of his fingers into his jeans pockets, as if they’re cold, and they should be in this weather. Even with the sun blazing down on us, its heat isn’t reaching beyond the scattered clouds floating lazily in the sky.
Blake cocks his head to the side. “What do you mean he wasn’t supposed to be in Vegas?”
“We didn’t decide to become a couple until Saturday night. I left Friday on vacation, with every intention of leaving my crush on Apollo at work with him. He followed me to profess his love for me, then confessed on Sunday that he’d paid for everything; my room, plane ticket, makeover, and he wanted to pay for the wardrobe that I’d left him in bed to go shop for. When I told him no he couldn’t fund my shopping spree, that I was independent, he got pissed. But, it was a beautiful and quiet furious. And then I said I could carry my own bags. He told me he’d get out of my way and let me do everything for myself, since that’s what I wanted. Then he flew away. When I got the message from the taxi driver that I shouldn’t come back to work ‘til Tuesday morning, nothing can explain how depressed I felt.” Abandoned even.
“You thought he didn’t want you around until then, and the relationship was over before it ever saw the light of day.”
I nod. Blake starts to laugh his ass off loudly. I’m not surprised, because I knew he’d find my heartache funny, just not this damn funny.
“Malisa, you don’t know much about men, do you?”
I scoff, “I guess not. But you’re going to tell me what I don’t know, aren’t you?”
“Oh yeah, but inside. I’m cold.” He unearths one hand to reach for mine.
