by Cher Etan
“So what? So you think you better than me just coz you got cold feet at the last minute? You was just scared they was goin to find you out and cut you off from the fambly. You ain’t no better than me so don’t be frontin here like you are,” he sneered.
“Fine. I’m not better than you. I still want you to go,” Cordelia said swiveling her head with attitude and pointing to the door. She could see Kevin wanting to argue further but she just gestured again for him to leave and that shut him up. He walked to the suitcase and picked it up and then looked at her again.
“Where am I supposed to go?” he asked sounding heart broken.
“Call Tyrone. How the fuck should I know. I look like your mama?” Cordelia asked holding the door open for him.
Kevin inclined his head. “You’ll be calling me when you lonely. Don’t expect me to pick up,” he said as he walked past her.
“Uh huh. Whatever you have to tell yourself boo boo,” Cordelia said and closed the door firmly behind him. She had fifty grand and her daughter had just married a billionaire. It was time she was done with the hood rats.
*****
Max would have gotten some sleep; in fact he had fully been intending to – but his phone was switched on and apparently everyone in Massachusetts had seen both his marriage announcement and the story about Christine meeting some mystery man for breakfast. As a result his phone was ringing all day with people either extending congratulations or trying to find out more details. Worse yet, a tabloid got hold of his number and called him for comment on the story. After that, he switched off the offending device wondering belatedly where Andrea had got to. But even after the phone was off he was too agitated to sleep. He was tired of being at the hospital. He wanted to be home in his bed…with his wife. The word felt strange on his tongue and yet at the same time it fit perfectly. Dr. Benson came around to check him that evening and the first question he asked as soon as he caught sight of him was when he could go home.
“You have four more days Max and then you can go home,” he said.
“I feel so much better now Carlyle, can’t I check out in the morning? I promise to be on bed rest, at home, for as long as you like.”
Carlyle laughed and shook his head. “You really are hopeless Max aren’t you?” he said fondly.
“Absolutely hopeless. So are we gonna do this or what?” Max said eagerly.
“Let’s give it one more day and then I’ll check you out. Deal?” Dr. Benson said.
Max leaned back against his pillow in resigned disappointment. “Okay then.”
*****
Christine was distracted at work. The phone call from Max was doing all sorts of things to her insides; she did not understand his tone, what was he trying to imply? He surely did not think she went straight from her wedding ceremony to cheating on him with that scum of the earth…I mean…how many years had they known each other? Did he really not know her at all? The more she thought about it, the more upset she got. By the time her shift was over at 9pm she knew she couldn’t get any sleep until she’d given Max a piece of her mind. Thankfully, her new status as wife gave her a lot more mojo with the hospital so they couldn’t just turn her away if she wanted to see him; visiting hours or no. At least she hoped so. If she had to get admitted to the hospital to talk to him, that was what she was gonna do. This shit needed to get sorted like yesterday.
She stormed into the hospital and past the nurse at reception who looked up, opened her mouth and then closed it again. The rage that Christine was radiating was palpable and nurse Felicia did not get paid enough to try to get between her and her target. She did call security to be on stand by in case they needed to throw someone out of the ward in a minute. Christine reached Max’s room unmolested and found him sitting up in bed, watching CNN.
“Well, and hello there,” she said hands on hips as she came into the room. Her face was so hot she had to take off her jacket just to cool off a little.
“Christine!” Max exclaimed in surprise. “I didn’t expect to see you today.”
“Didn’t you?” Christine bit out.
Max frowned. “What’s the matter?” he asked straightening up. He didn’t know what was happening but instinct told him it was bad. Christine’s hair was all over the place and she wasn’t wearing any earrings.
“I don’t know Max, you tell me. What is the matter with you?” she said in a pseudo calm tone.
“Well I have this chiefly undiagnosed prostate complaint other than that I’m not sure…”
“Oh you’re not sure?” Christine asked sarcasm dripping from every word. “You’re not sure what?”
“I’m not…sure what it was I did to piss you off,” he said studying her face closely.
Christine inclined her head to the side, mouth pursed, breathing hard through her mouth. She was trying her best to calm down; she really was. But every time she thought about Max thinking that she was cheating on him the day after their wedding with Rudy Sinclair she could literally feel her arteries exploding.
“Why don’t you ask me then? Ask me now or forever hold your peace,” she said.
“Ask you what?” Max asked quietly.
“Ask me…if I’m fucking Rudy. Isn’t that what you wanted to know this morning?” Christine could barely get the words out.
Max stared at her but didn’t say anything.
“Well?” Christine was almost yelling.
“Well, if I thought you were fucking Rudy do you think I’d be lying here calmly watching CNN?”
“Well then why did you ask me that?” Christine asked and now she was definitely yelling.
“I saw a picture of you in the tabloids with an old flame I know you still have feelings for, don’t you think I had the right to ask what you were doing with him?” Now it was Max’s turn to almost yell. Christine turned away from him and closed the door before swiveling back to glare at him.
“I don’t have feelings for him,” she said coldly.
“Oh yeah? Since when?” Max asked not bothering to hide the skepticism in his tone.
“Since…today,” Christine said quietly. “I realized this morning what a piece of shit he really is.”
“Oh you realized that this morning?” Max asked sarcasm dripping from every syllable.
Christine flipped him the bird but came closer to the bed and sank down into her comfortable leather chair. “I don’t know how I could have been so blind,” she said thoughtfully, mostly to herself.
“Chris, why did you go to meet him?” Max asked. “Why today?”
“I told you, he called me. All I wanted to do was get some food in me before I got to work and he called and said he was in town and he wanted to meet and congratulated me on my nuptials…it was very confusing. He threw me.”
“Was that before or after you realized he was a piece of shit?” Max’ tone was striving for even but there was a thrum of anger beneath that was unmistakable. Christine turned her honey brown eyes on him, open, hiding nothing.
“It was before. I went to see him to maybe close the books on that awful chapter in my life. I was ready to hear him ask for forgiveness and maybe give it. Instead, I got sleazy propositions and more of the same. Somehow this time I could see right through the smarmy charm. Do you think I’ve grown up at last?” she asked with a rueful smile.
“Nah, I think it's my DNA swirling around inside you that saw through him. You’re still as dumb as ever,” Max said and it was mostly a joke. Christine thumped his arm.
“Ouch! Watch it honey, I’m still a very sick man,” he protested.
“And I’m a pregnant woman. So move over so I can get some sleep,” she said pushing him.
Max made room for her on his bed and she took off her jeans but left her t-shirt on and climbed in. They spooned quietly just holding on to each other until they both fell asleep.
Chapter 13
Christine woke up to the tickle of Max’s finger tracing patterns on her thigh. She lay still, letting him run his hand up and
down her naked leg, sometimes getting really close to her ass but never quite touching it and then back down. She could feel the hardness of his erection against her hip and wondered if he wanted to do her right here in the hospital with the possibility of a nurse barging in at any second very real.
“Are you awake?” he murmured into her shoulder. Christine took a deep breath, lifting her shoulder slightly in answer but didn’t say anything.
“You smell of honey and sunshine,” he said and she giggled.
“Pretty sure I don’t,” she replied into the pillow. Her whole body was languid with contentment. She felt no bite of morning sickness to mar the beautiful morning so she didn’t want to move lest she remind any part of her body that she was actually harboring an alien inside her and it was not happy about it.
“How would you know? You can’t smell yourself,” he said rubbing his nose against the naked skin of her exposed shoulder. His hand was moving the t-shirt she was wearing out of the way so he could cup her breasts and press his erection more firmly against her.
“How does sunshine smell anyway?” she asked amused against her will.
Max took a deep breath. “Mmmm,” he murmured. “Like you.”
Christine huffed a laugh. “You are a useless describer,” she said. Max’s hand came into view as he reached over to turn her so she was facing him.
“I haven’t brushed my teeth,” she protested weakly.
“Neither have I,” he said as his mouth closed over hers. Her lips softened and opened for him, letting his tongue explore at will before she got in on the action and began to kiss him back in earnest.
“Mmmmm,” she said, loving the taste of him. “You smell of apples and oranges,” she murmured into his mouth with a small laugh. He laughed as well but didn’t let that distract him from licking into her mouth and almost lodging in her throat. His body began to undulate as he pressed his erection deeper into her skin. He turned with her again so she was beneath him and pressed her down into the mattress.
She broke away from his lips to whisper, “The nurse could come in at any time.”
He lifted his eyebrows at her. “Are we not married? This is crucial for the consummation of our marriage. We’re merely obeying the law,” he said before nipping at the line of her jawbone and down to her chin.
“And you’re sure you’re strong enough for this?” she asked even as she inclined her head to give him greater access. He stopped what he was doing to stare into her eyes.
“Why? What are you planning to do to me?” he asked, all eager anticipation. She snorted her amusement and hit him on the shoulder and then pulled his head back so he could continue to eat her shoulder blade. She spread her legs slightly so he was lying in between them and then crossed them around his waist arching upward to let him know she wanted him to…
“You’re not one for foreplay are you?” he asked.
“I just want you inside of me now. We can foreplay all you want later,” she said impatiently.
“God, you know how many men would kill for a girl like you?” he asked smugly even as he drove home. Christine made an inarticulate sound in response. Max withdrew from her completely and drove into her again, harder. The sound Christine made this time could possibly only be heard by members of the canine family.
“Max,” she breathed arching upward to give him greater access and enable him to go deeper. “Want,” she said.
“You want…?” he asked as he pounded into her, almost driving her through the mattress.
“More,” she finished taking her legs in her hands and pulling them up almost to her face so his access was unimpeded. He got up on his hands and swiveled his hips as he thrust into her. She was making mewling sounds of encouragement, eyes rolling back in her head and hips making uncoordinated arching thrusts of their own, attempting to meet Max as he drove into her. The room was quiet apart from the hard slapping sound of flesh on flesh and the grunts and moans they couldn’t quite suppress.
“Oh God, so good,” she moaned throwing her head back and letting her legs go because her hands were too weak to keep ahold of them any longer. Her whole body felt languid and weak yet coiled and tense like a cobra about to strike. She needed release and she needed it now but she didn’t want this to ever stop.
“Don’t ever stop,” she said dropping her legs on either side of the bed and pulling Max’s face to hers. He took her mouth in his; it wasn’t a kiss though, just another way to get inside her. Perhaps he wanted to lick his own penis through her throat. It certainly felt like he was trying. She felt filled at both ends yet there was this part of her that was empty and waiting, striving to reach out to him but unable to quite do it. His hand reached between them and brushed softly against her swollen clitoris, once, twice and then suddenly that space was full, so full it was bursting out and spreading detritus everywhere. Her whole body convulsed upwards, shaking and shuddering and spilling liquid everywhere. There were stars and rainbows where before the hospital ceiling had been and for a moment, only blackness. And then Max began to shudder and shake and moan as if he was in pain. His seed spilled inside her and that caused her to clench upwards, sucking and milking for all she was worth as aftershocks streaked all over her body causing her to tense again as her insides liquefied, again. They came down together, unable to move or speak for a long while.
“Well…I’d say we’re officially married,” Max said into her collar bone.
“Yeah I would have to agree with that assessment,” Christine replied, a satisfied smile curling her lips. “Now get off me before I suffocate.”
Max slowly rolled off her, almost toppling off the single bed but Christine reached out to clutch him closer.
“My hero,” he said eyes closed, a lazy smile playing on his lips.
*****
The nurse woke them up as she came to check on Max’s temperature. She let out a small squeal of surprise as she came through the door which woke Max up. He smiled smugly at her and then followed her horrified eyes to a sleeping Christine in his arms.
“Oh don’t mind her. She’s just my wife,” he whispered. “Was there something you wanted?”
“I need to take your temperature,” she whispered back obviously very flustered. The room smelled strongly of sex, and Max was completely unclothed. Luckily the sheet covered all the more interesting parts of their anatomy and Christine’s t-shirt was still on…if very askew. Max dug his hand from under Christine’s head and then sat up, making sure the sheet was still concealing all his privates.
“Go ahead,” he said and she came forward slowly and put the thermometer in his mouth.
“Mr. Lestrange, your wife can’t be here,” she said blushing deeply.
Max nodded his agreement but pointed at the thermometer to indicate that he couldn’t talk. She took it out of his mouth, sooner than she should he suspected and then shook it and looked at the temperature.
“Back to normal,” she said with another shy smile, and wrote that down on the chart.
“Great. So I can leave today?” he asked leaning slightly into Christine’s shoulder.
“That’s up to the doctor,” the nurse said and left in a hurry. Max looked down at a still sleeping Christine and smiled. He bet she would have been mortified if she’d been awake for the nurse’s visit. He knew he should wake her up; after all, the nurse would soon be followed by a doctor not to mention Martha bearing breakfast. He really should wake her…it was just that she looked so peaceful and content. Max’s eyes traveled down from her exposed shoulder to the dip of her still slim waist and then the swell of her hips. He found that he wanted to touch her again, to caress, to feel her. Learn the curves of her body like he knew his own, penetrate her deep and mark her so well that everyone would know she was his, and his alone.
Somewhere in the back of his mind he was startled by these Cro Magnon thoughts. When did he become such a cave man? It didn’t stop him from placing his hand gently on her hip. He could see the marks of his fingers where he
had pressed into her, holding her tight as he pounded her pussy. He was not surprised to find that he was hard again. That he wanted to do it again. His hand trailed her flesh of its own volition, looking for her warm center. He felt detached from it, like it had a mind of its own; it would go where it would without any input from his brain. His other hand closed on her round, plump ass; so shapely…it fit exactly in the palm of his hand. Like it was made for him. He squeezed gently, darting his eyes at her face to see if she woke but her breath continued to go in and out evenly. He ran his finger up and down her gluteal cleft, wondering if he could breach…
Christine’s breathing changed suddenly, she took a deep breath and suddenly her eyes were open, and on him. He frowned in puzzlement, wondering when she’d gotten such mesmerizing eyes; they sucked him in with their soft honeyed sweetness and he wanted to drown in them. He must be high.
“Did you roofie me?” he asked.
She laughed in delight, the sound brightening the room inexplicably.
“Hey, you’re the one with access to all the drugs,” she said. Her voice was deep and low; throaty with sleep. It was doing bad things to his self control.
“Maybe so…but that would mean you’re intoxicating me all on your own,” he said leaning forward. Her brow furrowed as if she didn’t understand what he meant…maybe she didn’t but she would pretty soon. His lips closed upon hers. He felt them, tasted them, savored their plump pliability; he sank into them and let them create the dizzying vortex that terrified and elated him in turn. He suspected that he might be bewitched.
*****
Christine watched Max’s lips coming toward her. In the back of her mind she knew that this was neither the time nor the place. Max was sick, they were in the hospital…this was a marriage of convenience for God’s sake! And convenience did not include having sex whenever it was convenient. It was supposed to mean the opposite of that. Cold, businesslike, unemotional. She was feeling anything but that. Her heartbeat was speeding up just from the hot looks he was giving her; she could feel his hardness against her thigh and all she wanted to do was open wide and let him in. Hell, she didn’t even care if the whole fucking hospital knew what they were up to in here. She wanted this in a way that she’d never experienced before. Not with Rudy or with any of the other substitutes she’d sought over the years. This was some new shit and somewhere where her common sense stood guard over her heart, she was terrified. The rest of her was busy yearning toward him; wanting him to fill her emptiness, like now. She thought about him saying that she wasn’t one for foreplay. She’d said that they could have that later. As his lips touched hers, she hoped it wasn’t later yet. Sure she loved the kissing and the touching, but right now she really needed him to fill her up again; take the emptiness away. Her center was crying out for him, wanting him to come in to the home he’d already carved out inside her and fill it with his presence.
