by C. C. Piper
Mason
My day became one riddled with interruptions. Because these were well-intentioned interruptions, however, I couldn’t complain. I received birthday wishes from all my co-workers, one of which was a gag gift from Andy. He’d had two cakes delivered to the firm, one to the break room and one directly to my office.
The breakroom cake was a simple yellow one with blue frosting spelling out “Happy Birthday, Mason!” The cake sent to my office was in the shape of a woman, a stark-naked woman. Hershey kisses stood in for nipples and some sort of pink filling spilled out from the spot where her “crotch” would be.
I didn’t know whether to laugh or be disgusted.
Andy had always had a lewd sense of humor. I’d once seen a clip on YouTube from the movie Steel Magnolias where a character had made an animal cake with red velvet cake mix so it appeared to bleed when you hacked into it. But this was worse. Andy, for his part, thought it was hilarious. He kept making excuses to pop into my office to laugh before taking another piece of cake. He’d eaten three pieces by the end of the workday, the hog.
At least the interminably long countdown for the day had reached blast off. I hastily wrapped up my horrendously-shaped birthday cake and hurried toward the door.
“Dude, where you going?” Andy’s words ricocheted down the hall. His office was opposite mine.
“Oh, uh, gotta take this home, you know?” I said, internally rolling my eyes at myself. I sounded so lame.
Good thing I wasn’t someone who had to think on his feet for a living. Oh, wait… Yes, I was.
“Don’t think so,” Andy contradicted me, a strange look on his face.
“What do you mean?”
“Bro, it’s your birthday, duh. Time to go tear it up. Ladies,” he announced to the world at large. “Look out because here we come.”
Fuck.
“Uh, Andy, I don’t mean to upset you or anything, but I-” I cut myself off just in time. I’d nearly said I’d made other plans, which would’ve sounded suspicious as hell. “I’ve gotta go to Stanford. Remember?”
“No way. That can’t be tonight, bro.”
“It is, though.”
“But we always celebrate your birthday on the town. It’s tradition.”
I swallowed through a tightened throat. He was right. Every year since we’d been legal – and before – we’d celebrated our birthdays at whatever bars we’d decided would be the rowdiest. We played each other’s wingman, so whoever was getting a year older was nearly always guaranteed to get laid. Last year, that was exactly the way my twenty-eighth had played out. And last April, the same thing went down for Andy’s.
I’d been so excited to get away with his sister that I hadn’t even thought about it. God, I was being a shitty friend. But I couldn’t come clean. I had to stick with my story, even if it made me an asshole.
“I know, man, and I’m sorry.” I measured out my next words with great caution. “They’re the ones who requested I speak this weekend. One of my college friends is a law professor there.” Truth. Lie. Truth. I layered them together like the cake in my grip while acid churned in my gut. Balancing the cake in one hand, I used my other to brush at something nonexistent on my pant leg so I wouldn’t have to meet his eye. If I did, he’d see right through me.
The wide – and frankly obnoxious – smile he’d worn all day was replaced by a scowl, which compelled me to keep going. “Look, I know what you’re saying, but do you honestly think we’ll still be doing this in our forties? We’ll blow off our wives and kids to go get hammered?”
My buddy’s scowl cleared away as his eyes widened. “That’s the first time you’ve mentioned a wife and kids since Sophia.”
I blinked. God, was that true? For a while there, I’d thought she and I would go the distance. But then, of course, our relationship had imploded. And eight weeks after that, she’d had a head-on collision on a road leading into the mountains. That highway was known for its narrowness and blind curves.
There were no survivors.
I was still in San Francisco when Sophia and I first started out. I’d accepted a junior associate position there after finishing law school at Stanford, while Andy had gone back to Seattle to work at his dad’s firm. I’d been putting in about a million hours a week, and my girlfriend claimed I wasn’t prioritizing her enough. Then, the arguments began. I’d snap at her, and she’d snap back. We stopped having sex, and the gulf between us grew wider and wider.
“I’m so tired of fighting,” she’d told me.
“Me, too.” I’d said, relieved. Maybe now we could get past this.
“I don’t know if I can do this anymore.”
“Do what?”
“Be the only person in this relationship.”
Insulted, I’d hissed at her. “I’m in this, too.”
“No, all your energy is devoted to becoming a top-level lawyer. I never see you, and I can’t imagine that changing anytime soon.”
“Maybe things’ll settle down once I’m established,” I said, but without much conviction. It often took years for young attorneys to prove themselves, and I would do it come hell or high water.
“Can you explain something to me?”
“What?”
“Why do you work harder than anyone else? Dewey always comes home to Angela hours before you do,” she said.
Dewey and Angela were mutual friends of ours, and Dewey and I were on the same rung of our firm’s corporate ladder.
“I don’t know.” My defenses were up, though I couldn’t have said why.
“I think you feel compelled to work like a dog. I think you’re still trying to impress your folks even though they’re gone. And if that’s the case, I don’t stand a chance. I mean, it’s not like I can compete with such perfection.” Her tone sounded resigned as she put up finger quotes. “You’re making me feel jealous of ghosts, for heaven’s sake.”
I’d told her all about my parents and how incredible they were. And her saying this about them felt cruel. It felt as if she’d slapped me across the face.
“This isn’t about them,” I barked at her, my voice reverberating throughout my vehicle. “All you do is bitch at me lately. I’m goddamn sick of it.”
Now, she was the one who looked like I’d slapped her. “If I’m so bitchy, maybe you should break up with me.”
I’d regret these next ire-filled words for the rest of my life.
“Maybe you’re right. Get out.” She gawked at me with her mouth open for the longest moment from my passenger seat, so I raised my voice to a yell. “Did I stutter? Get. Out.”
So, her features full of pain, she had. She’d slipped out of my car and into hers. That was the last time I saw her. Two months later, she was killed in that accident. I had no idea why she’d been driving on that lonely road at night, but I knew if we’d still been together, she wouldn’t have been there. Which made me responsible for her death.
Just like I was for my mom and dad’s.
Andy was waving his hand in front of my face, and I blinked myself back to the present.
“Maybe I’m growing up,” I told my best friend. I’d had to grow up a long time ago, but I still acted like some cocky frat boy with Andy because that was what he expected of me.
My best bud jutted his chin into the air and stared at me as if to size me up. “Maybe. Just don’t do it too fast, all right? Don’t think I could handle it if you went all fuddy duddy on me.”
It took some effort to quirk up the left side of my face, but I managed. “Not planning to get old before my time, man. How about this? I’ll make sure to keep my schedule open no matter what for yours in April. I’ll have Kyle cordon that motherfucker off. Deal?”
He grinned, then shoulder checked me on the way out so hard I nearly dropped my raunchy-ass cake. “Deal.”
The relief that rinsed over me the second I entered my townhouse was profound. I’d already packed a bag, so I whisked my pornographic cake into my fridge and headed out, texting
Alaina as I jogged down the stairs.
On my way, B.C..
She sent me back the smiley face emoji with the wide toothy smile.
I drove to the multi-level parking garage where Alaina would keep her Mini-Cooper. She’d been waiting for me for two hours, but it couldn’t be helped. If anyone in her family were to connect the dots, the shit would so hit the fan. A pang twisted behind my solar plexus at the thought.
Keeping the Williams in the dark about Alaina and me wasn’t ideal, but it also wasn’t their business. With every additional hour I spent with her, I was beginning to comprehend that I felt better and more alive with her than without her. Anytime we were separate, I thought about Alaina. Missed her. And it wasn’t because of the insanely pleasurable climaxes she provided for me, either. It was deeper.
This weekend would be all about exploring why.
As soon as I pulled up, Alaina raced toward me, her smile a carbon copy of the emoji she’d sent me. I hopped out and seized her bag, placing it in my backseat. Then, she put her hand out palm up.
“Keys, please.”
“What?” I asked her, incredulous.
“I need to be the one driving since where we’re going is part of your birthday surprise.”
I peeked over at my Escalade and then back at her. “Can’t you just give me directions as we go?”
“Can’t you just trust a woman to drive your monstrous SUV? Not going all misogynist on me are you, counselor?” she pushed. She loved testing me. It must’ve been one of her goals in life. But I didn’t want to argue with her, even if I’d never allowed anyone else to drive it. And I considered myself a modern guy. My manhood wasn’t threatened by her request.
“Fine.” I dropped my key fob into her hand.
She looked right and left, then latched onto my lapels and kissed the bejesus out of me. We were both breathless before she was done. The nice thing about Alaina being tall was how exquisitely our bodies lined up against each other’s. I didn’t have to stoop to reach her, and she didn’t have to stand on tiptoe to grab onto me. I thought of other ways we’d soon be lining up and went hard so instantaneously that I felt lightheaded.
“Ready to go?” she asked.
Does being a split second from making us both horizontal right here in the garage count? “More than.”
“Then, jump in here, hot stuff.”
“Hot stuff?” I raised my brows at her.
“I’m trying it out,” she said, cheekily, before bending over and yanking up her skirt. For the briefest moment, I caught sight of a flash of color across her ass. The lighting in the parking garage was dim enough for me to see that it was something of the blue, green, or possibly purple variety, but I couldn’t tell which.
“You are a tease, B.C.” I chided her.
“Not for much longer,” she answered back, causing my mouth to dry up. I held the driver’s side door for her, then went around the passenger side. And we were off.
Despite the nearness of Tacoma, Washington, I’d only been there a handful of times. It’d always been to go whale watching at Puget Sound with my parents on a day trip. Alaina drove in that direction this time, too, but she didn’t go up to the shore. Instead, she rolled up to a place called the Copper Cloud Lodge. The hotel was built like a four-story cabin out on a pier, and it pointed out into the Sound, surrounded by water on three out of four of its sides.
It was nautical meets rural beauty. But it couldn’t compare to the mesmerizing beauty of the woman beside me.
Once we’d checked in to our suite on the top floor, we took in the amenities of the room. The suite had a gas fireplace in the bedroom with a faux leather rug in front, a tucked-away balcony out of sight of anyone on land, and a jacuzzi tub in the bathroom. There was also a kitchenette outfitted with a small granite island.
Every bit of the ceiling displayed exposed wooden beams of splintery cedar. The distinctive scent of the wood mixed with the salty sea air was strangely inviting. We had spectacular views, too. There were sailboats out in front of the hotel, and in the distance we could see the sweeping suspension cables of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. This structure had replaced the old Narrows Bridge, the one that had famously wobbled and collapsed back in 1940.
“So… How’d I do?” she asked me.
I wrapped my arms around her shoulders from behind and gave her a gentle squeeze. “You’re fishing.”
In response, she mimed casting a line out with a fishing pole and I chuckled at her. I loved that as affluent as her family was – and uppity, if we referenced her mom – she was so playful and affectionate any time we were alone. I loved it. I loved her.
I’d been nuzzling her hair with my face, running my beard across the soft blond tresses, when I went motionless. I examined the thought that had just flown through my head, checking its veracity. Was that accurate? Did I love her?
I did. I loved her. I loved her. I loved her.
Holy shit.
I was in love with Alaina Williams.
I waited for the panic to set in, but panic wasn’t what I felt. I felt more…chagrined. Not at her but at myself. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go. We’d made a no-strings-attached arrangement with one another. We were friends with benefits, yes, but the intention hadn’t been to go beyond that. We’d been experimenting, not building inroads into each other’s hearts. Yet, somehow, she’d crawled into mine anyway. And I didn’t know if I should tell her or not.
She twisted out of my arms, waking me from my reverie. I cleared my throat. “It’s the best gift ever,” I told her, which was true.
Alaina twirled in front of me like a ballerina, her eyes sparkling and her smile wreathing her features in joy. “There’s more,” she told me in a singsong voice.
“I have you. I don’t need more.”
She shucked off her coat, then closed the window blinds against the newly fallen darkness. She next peeled off her sweater and the spaghetti-strap tank top underneath. I scrutinized her with hot eyes. Her boots and leggings went next. We could’ve received a warning that an asteroid was about to land right here in this specific spot, and I wouldn’t have been able to look away.
In the lamplight of the hotel room I could study what I’d only received a fleeting glimpse of before, a turquoise bra made of lace and a matching pair of panties. The bright color of these scraps of fabric contrasted flawlessly with her soft creamy skin. I couldn’t tell if the bra had been specifically made to lift her breasts up to show more cleavage or if that was simply how her chest looked regardless. But either way, my mouth watered for her.
This reaction was rivaled only by the lust coursing through my system like some kind of narcotic. If my erection grew any harder, it’d rip through my pants like a blade. I was willing to bet the pattern of the zipper was already indelibly pressed into the flesh of my dick as it was.
Good God.
“I also went and got on the pill,” she said, and I tugged my gaze up to her face.
When we first began fooling around, Alaina had been a bit shy around the topic of sex. We would neck and lick and suck one another until we tipped each other right over the edge, but she’d been uncomfortable about discussing what we’d done. Now, though, she gazed at me openly with liquid, luminous eyes, the blue in them outshining the other hues.
“I went and got tested after our first time in the office,” I told her, not wanting the lion’s share of responsibility to be left in her court. I’d actually felt bad that I hadn’t done it before we messed around, even if what we’d been enjoying together posed less of a risk than full-on intercourse did. “I’m clean.”
She shivered. Visibly.
I didn’t know why, but this outward display of her physical need made my own craving for her so much sharper. I couldn’t say which of us moved first, but in the next instant, we were squashed up against one another as if we’d been thrown there by outside forces.
Her fingers tore off my coat and suit jacket, then attacked the buttons of my shir
t as if they’d done something to personally offend her. To help out, I unknotted my tie and flung it away, then laced my fingers into her hair.
“I want you,” she said in a voice huskier than usual, and I had to swallow hard. The tension between us had ratcheted up to insane levels, and I felt my control slip a little. Losing the battle to keep my body from careening into the stratosphere without my permission might become a real possibility.
“I want you more.”
She grinned at me, impishly. She stood before me looking good enough to eat while the expression on her face spoke of pure mischief. This was why I’d fallen for her. The combination of hot intensity and lightheartedness was impossible to beat. It drew me like a magnet. She drew me like a magnet.
Sheesh.
All the while, she hadn’t stopped undressing me. I was shirtless now, so I toed out of the dressy loafers I wore to work. She’d managed to open my belt and the button of my woolen slacks, but with my hand, I kept her from going forward.
“Just a sec,” I whispered, as I unzipped them. I didn’t say so, but I might’ve been in serious danger of getting hurt if I didn’t uh…handle that part myself. I didn’t have to explain, though, because she seemed to understand. She pushed down my underwear, pants and socks and I slid her panties down her legs and popped the front clasp on her bra.
Once we were both bare, we went absolutely still, holding each other at arm’s length as we looked to our hearts’ content.
We’d gone about this arrangement in an almost backward manner, so what was typically the last area exposed to a lover was the part of Alaina I knew better than any other. While I’d enjoyed doing many naughty things to the space between her legs, what I saw in front of me now opened up vast new possibilities. I’d licked and sucked on her clit until her orgasm clamped down on my fingers, yet I’d never so much as felt her bare nipples against my chest.
Hell, I hadn’t so much as laid eyes on her breasts or most of the rest of her. The same was true of her seeing me. Despite all our previous sexual activity, we still had so much to try and taste and explore. And knowing we were about to do that now made the anticipation simmering between us astoundingly sweet.
