by S. J. Bishop
His mouth left me so abruptly that I all but fell back onto the couch, staring up at him in confusion, but he was smiling at me, licking me off of his lips. I knew this game. He loved it: bring me close to orgasm and then withhold. Withhold until I begged him for it. Well, two could play at that game.
I pushed my hair out of my face and sat up on his couch, spreading my legs so he could see how swollen and wet I was. Then I reached forward and grabbed his belt buckle. I made slow work of the belt, slow work of the zipper, and tugged his boxer briefs and his slacks down to mid-thigh. His erection sprang free: long, thick, and heavy.
Without preamble, I fit my mouth around it, loosening my jaw muscles so that I could fit him in.
“Fuck!” he said, steadying himself by winding his hands into my hair and shuddering as my tongue shot out along the underside of him.
Slowly, so slowly, I fit him deeper, sucking hard, moving on and off his shaft until his hips were straining for more – I couldn’t give it. He was too big.
Cursing, he all but tugged me off of him and pulled me up, kissing me hard, his hands cupping my breasts and squeezing gently, rolling over their sensitive tips. My body was electric, and his touch was conductive. My body sang with sensation that I nearly lost myself to. Then he let go.
In one motion, he spun me around and bent me over, planting my hands on the couch so that my ass was in the air. I held onto the cushions as he bent down, and I cried out as he put his mouth on me again, this time from behind, and he slid a finger inside me. Then another. Oh god, I was going to come!
As if he could sense it, he pulled away, and I cried out as he kissed the backs of my thighs, trying to calm me down. “Shhh, relax, baby. There’s no rush,” he murmured, his teeth sinking into my ass cheek. I jumped and whined. His fingers returned, dipping in slowly, swirling, thrusting in and out, and widening me, preparing me to take him. Oh god! Not like this. He wasn’t going to fit like this.
As if he knew what I was thinking, he stood and spun me around in his arms. He’d kicked off his pants, and I got a look at his lean, muscled thighs before he took my lips in another searing kiss. I couldn’t take any more; my body was aching for release, aching to feel him thick and hot inside me.
“Law,” I begged against his mouth. That was all he needed. He backed me up until the wall was against my back, and he bent, grabbing my left leg and hooking it over his arm, opening me for his penetration. His mouth never left mine – his kiss hot, and his tongue thrusting in a carnal rhythm. I felt the thick tip of him against my entrance, rubbing, coating himself in wetness. How…I looked down and saw that his knees were bent, poised to drive into me.
I met his gaze; he was smiling that slow, sexy smile he used to give me when he was about to give it to me good. He began to push in, inch by slow inch, and the angle he’d created all but ensured he’d be deep inside me.
I gasped, and he withdrew, but I wasn’t expecting what he did next: one long, hard thrust, and he was in me to the hilt. I cried out, my orgasm crashing on me with a ferocious suddenness. He had to hold me up as I convulsed around him, sobbing with the intensity of the release.
“Oh, baby,” Law whispered in my ear. “We’re not done yet.” He began to withdraw, bending his knees and easing out of me. I whimpered at the loss of the feeling, at the intensity of sensation that swirled through me. He drove in again, hard. I cried out, clinging to him, trying to find some purchase, but I was powerless in this position. Out, then in again. I cried out with each thrust of his hips, each time he entered me. My body quickening with each stroke, building toward something big. “Oh god!” I cried out. “I can’t again! Law!”
He grabbed my other leg and hoisted me up so that I was trapped between the wall and his chest, my legs wrapped around his hips. Still buried deep inside me, he shoved off of the wall and walked us down the hall. I barely noticed. He was feasting on my neck, his teeth scoring the sensitive skin.
Laying me down on the bed, pulling out only to adjust himself, before I knew it, my legs were over his shoulders and he’d come into me again. The angle was so intense that I screamed, but he relented not one bit. “Come for me again, baby,” he gasped as he thrust, his rhythm constant and unrelenting. Oh! It was too intense! I couldn’t take it!
“Oh god! Oh god!” I chanted.
He reached down; his finger brushed against my clit, and I exploded around him. My cries were drowned out by his as he came like a bull inside me, bellowing, letting go of my legs so that they fell from his shoulders and his weight fell against my chest. My orgasm went on and on, and I wrapped my legs around him, holding him tight to me.
7
Law
I was not expecting that. Shit. I was not expecting that.
I’d like to think I have an excellent memory, that I hadn’t forgotten a single thing about Gwen Mathers, but I had convinced myself over the years that the sex couldn’t actually be as good as I remembered. It was better. It was mind-blowingly amazing.
She kissed like a nymphomaniac, and the way she’d squeezed onto my cock… I’d thought I was going to explode on that first stroke. Holy hell.
And it had been so much more emotional than I’d meant for it to be. That was my fault – I’d wanted to remind her, wanted her to remember that we’d been damn good together and that she’d let go of something terrific. But I’d come out of my stupor to feel her hands in my hair, her breath hot and sweet on my cheek — and I’d lost myself in memories of her. Nobody fucked like Gwen Mathers. I hadn’t let go of her. Not for minutes.
We got up to clean ourselves off, and I took my time, admiring Gwen’s long legs, tight ass, and perfect breasts with her pale, pink nipples still tight from my attention. I got her a pair of boxers and a t-shirt to wear, and when she put them on, she looked so much like the girl I used to spoon in my single bed my junior year that my heart hurt. Fuck. I had to get ahold of myself.
I asked if she wanted to spend the night and was delighted as fuck when she said yes. She called her mother to check in on Nikki and looked relieved when her mother picked up the phone. Watching Gwen’s face as she spoke to her mom reminded me of how tense their relationship was. I had never understood until she’d finally let me meet Alice Mathers. I hadn’t liked her mother from the beginning, and the thought of Alice taking care of Nikki left me feeling slightly uneasy.
“Do you want me to go over and pick her up?” I asked when Gwen hung up the phone.
Gwen shook her head, saying that Nikki would be fine. I put on a movie for us — something I knew would bore her. Sure enough, half-way through, Gwen slid down the couch and sucked me until I was hard. I took her into the kitchen and reminded her what it felt like when I took my time.
Not long after, my Uncle Joe’s grandson, Tony, came over with a few Styrofoam containers of food, saying they were leftovers from Benevento’s and that Uncle Joe didn’t want me to go hungry. Gwen and I sat at my kitchen table and ate leftover bread, cheese, and charcuterie.
It was eight o’clock when we went to bed. I was raring to go again, but Gwen looked fit to pass out. So we fucked on our sides. Gwen spooned against me, her ass cradled in my hips as I drove in and out of her slowly, my hands reaching around to ensure she came. Twice.
Afterward, Gwen passed out, but I couldn’t quite fall asleep. Don’t get me wrong, I was exhausted too, but I had a feeling that this moment between us would be a fleeting one. That Gwen was going to wake up and decide – like she had six years ago – that I wasn’t worth her time. So I held her for a while, savoring the feeling of having her back in my arms.
8
Gwen
Have you ever woken up from a dream only to realize that it's not a dream at all? I don't think I can accurately count how many times after breaking up with Law that I dreamed we were back together. Waking up after having the most mind-blowing sex of my life, beneath thousand-thread-count sheets in a bed so plush that it threatened to swallow me… It sure beat the hell out of my TJ Maxx sheets on my
discount Sleepy’s mattress, in my one-bedroom apartment in Bridgeport Chicago.
I took a deep breath and rolled over, not surprised to see that Law wasn't in bed. From what I remembered, Law slept lightly and was usually up earlier than five.
I reached out and rested my hand on Law's abandoned pillow. For the first time in a very long time, I wondered if breaking up with Law really had been the right move.
Yes, I’d been upset over his connections with the Mafia. People like the Garcias and the Julianos made their money off of people like my parents: vice-driven and weak-willed. They murdered, bribed, stole, and used coercion... But Law wasn't involved in any of it, even if he did know them all personally, ate at their restaurants, and went over to their homes on Sundays...
My discovery of Law’s connection to the Mafia (the night I’d walked in on the meeting at Leonie’s) was the same night my mother had overdosed for the fourth time, the same night we’d had to sign her into rehab for the second time. I hadn't been able to deal with the knowledge that the man I loved most was close with the people responsible for all that was wrong with Miami. I told him that befriending the Julianos, spending time with them, was akin to condoning their activities. He’d argued that the world wasn’t black and white.
For me, it was.
And to a certain degree, it still was. Daily, I sat down to try to counsel children whose parents were abusive, or who'd been shot, or who had seen others shot; children whose parents had no love or empathy, who had neglected them. There were bad people in this world. Law wasn’t one of them. Just because Law consorted with bad people didn't make him a bad person. Did it?
I reached down and touched myself idly - I was sore and yet still burning for him. If my goal had been to take my mind off of my sister, mission accomplished. But thoughts of my sister drove me to check my phone. We had just over an hour before we were supposed to be at the lawyer's office. I dialed my mom.
"Hello?" she picked up on the third ring.
"Hey, mom," I said. "I'm checking in."
"Where are you?" my mother asked, though she didn't sound upset.
"I stayed at Law's apartment last night," I told her. "How is Nikki?"
"She was up at four in the morning," my mother sounded tired, but sober. "And she fell back asleep an hour ago. She's on the couch now."
"Are you both coming to the lawyer's office?"
"No. I...I can't. You take care of it."
“Okay."
"Call me after."
"I will." I hung up the phone. At least she was sober and could take care of Nikki. Oh god, Nikki. Poor Nikki. Poor Mia. My heart hurt.
I slid out of bed, on a mission to find Law. I wouldn't mind another distraction.
As I slid into the hall, I tried to orient myself. I realized that I could hear his voice. He was down the hall somewhere, talking to someone.
Not wanting to disturb him, I walked quietly down the carpeted hallway. Leopard print? Really? His voice got louder as I passed through his sumptuously decorated living room, and I stopped outside a door that was cracked ajar: his office.
"...No, don't do anything. Not until we meet face to face and talk about this." Law's voice usually held a soft neutrality, revealing nothing. Now, however, he sounded cautious, slightly urgent. "Fine. Then let me meet with Sonny personally. Tell him to hold off, yes. Of course you can be there, too..."
Sonny. Sonny the Brick. Sonny the Hitman.
And just that like that, the illusion shattered. I took a deep breath, backing silently away from the door. Nothing had changed, not for Law and not for me. Here we were, just hours away from seeing a lawyer, and Law was on the phone with the Mafia, setting up a meeting with a notorious hitman. Why? It didn’t matter.
I took a few, calming breaths and let the illusion of us together again drift slowly away. Law had his life, and I had mine, and even to think for a moment that they might intertwine again was ridiculous. I was just emotional. A lot had changed in my life, and I was looking for some familiarity. Well, I'd found it. And I remembered exactly why I’d let it go.
9
Law
Hanging up the phone, I took a deep breath. Well, that was an unexpected complication, and one I hoped would turn out to be nothing. I'd have to deal with Sonny and Uncle Joe tonight sometime, after practice.
I stood up, smiling, as I heard the shower go off in the background. Gwen: the silver lining in this black cloud of shit. My cock twitched at the thought of sinking into her again.
Checking my watch, I realized that I had to get a move on if we were going to get to the lawyer's on time. She’d slept late.
I strode down the hall, smirking as I walked into the bathroom. Gwen had her back to me, and the heat from the shower had steamed up the glass walls, blurring her lithe figure.
Gwen had been a good enough athlete to run hurdles for the University of Miami. Based on the muscles that had squeezed my hips last night, I was willing to bet she still ran regularly. Sliding off my boxers, I stepped into the shower with her.
Gwen didn't turn around as I entered, and I reached for her, my hand fitting around her hip and pulling at her gently. She didn't budge. Dread pooled in my gut.
“Good morning,” I said softly.
"Good morning.” Gwen sounded polite, but not welcoming, and as she spun around, she offered me a small smile that didn’t meet her eyes. I took a breath and hoped I was reading her wrong. Reaching out, I smoothed my hand over her shoulder and took a step in. She backed away, sliding out from under the spray.
"I'm done," she said, wringing her hair out, her eyes looking anywhere but at me. Shit. Shit. "Go ahead. It's all yours."
She stepped from the shower, and I watched, dumbfounded, as she grabbed a towel and slid from the bathroom.
Well, fuck! I made quick work of my shower, got out, and toweled off. When I got back into the bedroom, Gwen was already dressed.
She avoided eye contact and slid back into the bathroom, opening a few of the cabinets and blinking at what she found. "Get a lot of company?" she asked, pulling out a hairdryer.
"Sometimes," I said, hating that I sounded defensive. I didn't have to defend myself. What the fuck was going on? "Listen, Gwen..."
But Gwen had plugged the hair dryer in and was using it. She'd found a round brush there as well, left over from the days that Ashley, an ex, used to spend weekends.
I waited, crossing my arms over my chest. Fuck if I was going to walk out of this bathroom without figuring out what the hell had happened.
Gwen looked over, saw me standing there, and switched off the hairdryer. Placing it on the bathroom sink, she turned to face me.
"Care to tell me what's going on?" I asked, keeping my voice neutral. I hated that I was feeling that same sick sense of panic I’d felt the night she'd left me. You'd have thought six years might have muted those feelings - they hadn't.
I watched Gwen take a deep breath. She closed her eyes a moment and then she looked up at me. "I'm sorry," she said, her voice soft. "I shouldn't be upset. I wanted last night as much as you did."
I inclined my head; I wasn't too proud to admit that I'd wanted her.
"I shouldn't be upset, I know. But I heard you on the phone with..." she shrugged. "With your family," she stressed the word, allowing me to understand that she meant familia. "And it just... it took me back to the old fights."
Shit. She’d heard me on the phone with Uncle Joe. I didn’t want to tell her about that phone call. Not yet. I didn’t want to worry her. I inhaled. "My family is my family,” I said. “That hasn’t changed. They’re important to me..."
"I know..."
"I don't think that should get in the way of what we experienced last night..."
“You’re right. It shouldn’t. It doesn’t. Last night was just sex," Gwen interrupted. "It was amazing sex, but it was just sex. It doesn't change anything."
"I disagree," I said. "I think it changes a lot of things..."
"Not for me, it doesn't,"
said Gwen, firmly. “And you were the one who said ‘No strings.’ The reasons I left you still exist. I needed the familiarity of last night. I needed some comfort, and you gave it. And... thank you. But that's all."
I tried to control the fury building inside of me. "Gwen, you can't just pick me up and drop me because you want a good fuck..."
"Hey!" Gwen interrupted, her voice rising to be heard over mine. "You instigated last night. I didn’t. I’m just the idiot that decided to go along with it!”
I snapped my mouth shut. It was idiotic to get involved with me, was it? Fuck. Her. There were literally thousands of girls who would get on their knees and beg for a chance to get involved with me. I had a bag full of letters at the stadium saying as much.
To stop myself from saying something nasty, I left the room. Part of me hoped that Gwen would pursue the fight - but the hairdryer turned back on.
Fifteen minutes later, Gwen joined me in the kitchen. I still wasn’t ready to speak civilly and said nothing as she raided my pantry for something to eat. But as the silence dragged on, I became more and more annoyed. “Let’s go,” I said finally. “We don’t want to be late.”
Gwen nodded and followed me out the door, into the elevator, and into the car without saying a word.
10
Gwen
I had nothing to say to him. I don't know what he'd expected of me, but whatever it was, I clearly couldn't give it to him.
Law pulled up in front of the lawyer’s office. I’m sure that Law’s lawyers worked in fancy buildings downtown, but Mia’s was in a building complex just outside of the downtown. I had to check my phone for the exact floor and suite number. We hiked three flights of stairs in total silence before arriving at an office labeled Gellar, Howe, and James.
