Chapter 14

14

L IZ

This can't be good.

So he called me first and then went upstairs, where I told him to get lost.

And he did.

He returned to the table, picked up ‘his date,' and left.

"You want something to drink?" Terry asks.

"No. I'm fine," I say, not fine at all.

I earn an inquisitive look from my mother.

"I'm fine. Seriously, I'm okay."

"Are you having cramps or something?"

"No, I'm not," I say, laughing––tense, though.

"I'll get another drink, and then we leave."

"Yes. Sure," I mumble, struggling to hide my shitty mood.

She glances at me again but says nothing before she starts to chat with a woman at the other end of the table.

I slide my hand into my bag, retrieve my phone, and surreptitiously check it again.

I'm tempted to call him.

‘Call him?'

The voice inside my head is outraged.

‘Call him and tell him what?' she mutters. ‘You want to whine and look desperate?'

‘I am desperate,' I shoot back at her in my head.

She waves me off.

‘Just sit on your butt and do nothing,' she tosses at me.

‘That's easy for you to say. You don't even have a butt,' I reply to her, annoyed.

She turns her back to me as in… ‘You're on your own, buddy.'

That may be sound advice, but I can't sit on my butt and do nothing. I glance around the space, itching to do something. Anything.

Eventually, I leave my bag on the table, push my chair back, rise, and exit the tent.

The cold air dusts my shoulders with goosebumps as I inch closer to the house and check the decorations. The lights make the trees sparkle like a dream.

Everything seems effortlessly done when, in fact, so many hours of work have gone into putting them up.

Voices ring in the foyer, and I move closer to take a peek inside. I notice James, his brother, and Ed when the main door opens, and David enters the house.

Startled, I pull back. I don't want anyone to catch me spying on these people.

What happened?

Was he even gone?

Did he drop her off somewhere?

Is the woman still here?

All these questions remain unanswered while he goes straight to James.

They talk for a few moments, and I begin to get cold. I should head back. I'm sure my mother is looking for me.

From where I stand, I can't tell whether she's ready to leave or not, so I move closer to the tent but lose the visual of the foyer.

I dwell for a moment before turning my focus back to the house.

I'm too curious not to know what's going on inside. Maybe I should just walk in and glance around.

Pretend I'm looking for the kitchen because I crave another slice of cake. This way, I'll get a better idea of what is going on.

Shivering, I head that way.

Some people are leaving, and I should probably turn around and go to Terry, but I keep moving toward the hallway.

Casually I enter the foyer, and without paying attention to the group of men, I make a beeline for the kitchen.

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice that Tiago is no longer there, but David and James are.

James talks, and David listens, but his eyes focus on me the second I enter his line of sight.

It's so obvious what he does that James shifts his gaze to me as well.

I flick my eyes away at the last moment and look straight to the connecting door, sensing the men's eyes on me.

‘That fucking worked, not.' the voice in my head mutters.

‘Shut up,' I push back.

Now I'm in the kitchen, looking lost.

A staff member is eager to help me, but I'm in no mood for more ice cream.

Going back is problematic.

It would look weird, so I'm kind of stuck.

I ask the woman if there's a bathroom on the floor, one that I can use.

She directs me to one at the end of the corridor. And here I am, moving away from Terry, David, and, generally speaking, the entire party.

They will be gone by the time I finish navigating the maze of rooms inside Thea's house.

I don't even need to use the bathroom, but I enter it regardless.

I close the door, wash my hands, and run my fingers through my hair before pulling the top of my strapless dress up.

"Yeah, sure. We'll do that," someone says outside, and I straighten at once and look at the door.

The handle moves before I have the chance to speak, and the door opens. David fills the doorway, and I gather he knew I was here.

He slides in and locks the door behind him.

"What are you doing here?" he asks.

I prop a hand on the edge of the sink.

"What am I doing here? I'm still at the party. I thought you left," I say, pushing my chin up a little and staring at him in defiance. "Where is Pam?"

He inches closer and stops next to me.

My butt is propped against the edge of the sink when he turns the water on and washes his hands, looking in the mirror.

"Why are you asking me about her?" he says, still staring in the mirror.

He finishes washing his hands and patting them dry with a paper towel.

"I thought you left because of me," I murmur.

A slow smile curves his lips.

"Really?'

"Yeah, really."

He balls up the piece of paper and tosses it in the garbage.

"Why would I do that?"

"I thought you were mad that I told you to go away."

His eyebrows tilt up.

"Mad? No. I wasn't mad."

A smile lines his lips.

"Why would I be mad that I couldn't touch you in your cousin's house?"

Looking at my dress, he removes his suit jacket.

"Can you take that off?" he asks directly.

"Off?"

"Mm-hmm."

The moment is strange.

Is he joking? Testing me? Is he fucking serious?

"Why would I take my dress off?"

"Semen stains are pretty obvious on black dresses."

My cheeks are about to melt off.

"Turn around," he says, not giving me much time to ponder––that's the whole point, I guess.

"It will be over quickly," he says as if talking about a root canal or something.

I'm kind of curious about what he has in mind, and despite all the risks of doing something naughty here, in Thea's house, I pivot to face the mirror and turn my back to him.

He runs his hand up my legs, parts my thighs, touches the band of fabric covering my center, and rubs it a few times.

My hands fall to the edge of the sink as I arch my body and push my rear back.

The sound of his zipper going down makes me aware that this is happening. How or how fast is still unknown.

Mechanically, I grip my hemline and lift it past my hips, watching him in the mirror.

He looks down while he slides his fingers inside my panties and spreads the moisture of my core around my clit. He pushes my panties to my thighs and reaches inside his pants.

I can't see his erection, but I feel it quickly. The hard, warm, chiseled head of his hard–on trails between my legs.

He tilts my hips, holds his hard length with one hand, and presses the tip against my opening.

Slowly, he enters me all the way.

Oh, my… What a sensation.

Once inside, he runs his hardness into me.

I jolt against the sink, my knees hitting the sink base cabinet below.

He reaches inside his pocket this time, takes his phone out, and makes a little recording of him entering me slowly.

Doing it slowly does its magic. My center throbs, and the pleasure spirals up, morphing into a tightly coiled spring.

And all the tension created last night that has been dormant the entire day is now fully awakened, barreling through my body.

He ends the recording and slides his phone back into his pocket. I'm hopeful I'll watch that recording soon.

Once he frees his hands, he brings them to my chest and slides them inside my top. My breasts fill his palms while he moves into me, making my core even more wet than it was.

His eyes don't come to me while he nudges me down, but his hands keep kneading my chest.

It feels good.

I'm not sure how well my dress will fare, though.

He starts to rock his hips harder and harder and enter me deeper and deeper. The deeper he goes, the closer he gets me to the point of no return.

We don't talk at all, which works fine for me. It's a filthy, unscripted hookup, and it works wonders for my sex drive. Now I know what he means by adding money to this story.

We already do everything except me getting a paycheck.

Thinking about earning money while doing this throws me into a whirlpool of pleasure.

I move a little, but he keeps me still.

I lift my gaze, yet he looks down.

He truly wants to fuck me. Not to make love to me or ignite warm feelings for him in me.

It's a different side of him I feed on now. And it's the side of him all the paid workers he had dealt with, Rain Sexton included––before she was a Sexton––got to know.

His hands curl around my hips as he picks up the pace.

My breasts jiggle and bounce, and I drape my arm over them while he fucks me hard.

When I get a sense that he is about to blast his load, my center throbs faster, and the tension only intensifies.

It takes a moment of apparent stalling before the pleasure spikes violently, and I get shudder after shudder of lustful bliss in my frame.

Completely forgetting where we are and what we're doing, I push crying moans to my lips.

He slides his hand over my mouth and crushes my lips harshly while pumping into me until a puddle of warm seed forms between my legs.

He doesn't stop until my moaning and shaking subside, and I collapse over the edge of the sink.

When we're done, his grip slackens as he slowly pulls out of me.

Warm release trickles down my legs.

I'm too much basking in the afterglow to make an effort and push up.

The clink of his buckle alerts me to the fact that he fixes his fly while I'm still panting over the sink.My chest out, my panties down.

The knock on the door comes to me with the speed of a comet.

"Is anyone in here?" a female voice asks, and I zip up, concealing my breasts and tugging up at my panties to slide them up.

He helps me bring them to my hips before tilting his chin, signaling me to answer.

"Eve?" I say in a quivering voice. "Just a moment. I'll be right out," I say, turning on the water.

"What am I supposed to do now?" I shoot under my breath while pulling at my dress to roll it over my thighs.

"Lead her away from here. I'll get out after you leave."

"What if she wants to use the bathroom?"

He smiles.

"I'm sure there are other bathrooms in the house."

He has his eyes locked with mine for a few long moments as if this is the time to stare into each other's souls.

"You were great," he says evenly as if saying I was great at math or something.

"So were you," I push back before ensuring my dress sits right and checking myself in the mirror.

I turn off the water and gesture at him to pull to the side. He doesn't need my suggestion as he picks up his jacket, slides it on, and moves to the door.

One last glance… I say to myself. The hair looks all right. My dress is in place.

Eve knocks on the door again, and I pull my eyes away from the mirror and head to the exit.

The door slides open before I walk outside. I close it behind me.

"You need the bathroom?" I ask, hoping she says no, ready to tell her it ran out of toilet paper.

"No, no. I was looking for you. Thea was looking for you."

She curls her arm through mine and nudges me down the corridor.

"Actually, Terry was looking for you since no one had seen you."

"Oh. Okay. Here I am. I think I ate too much ice cream."

Laughing, she tilts her eyes to me.

"No. Anything but the ice cream. It must be something else."

The farther away we get from the bathroom, the more relaxed I get.

She doesn't notice it––I don't think so––but I think I hear David's steps moving away from us behind us.

Her eyes slip, and seemingly, something catches her attention.

"I thought your dress had a back zipper," she comments.

"It does," I say confidently and look down.

Her eyes are glued to my side, and I instantaneously learn why.

My zipper creeps up my flank instead.

Shit.

"Oh. That. I see what you mean… The fabric has a bit of stretch so I can wear it either way," I say, embarrassed, but not enough to make a big deal out of it.

"I see," she murmurs, apparently buying my explanation.

We reach the tent where my mother waits for me, holding my purse.

"Finally. Where were you?" she asks, giving me a swift once over.

I tell her before grabbing my jacket and purse.

"Thank you for finding her," my mother says to Eve.

I put my jacket on and say goodbye to Eve.

"We need to talk to Thea before we leave," I say to my mother.

"No, we don't. I've talked to her already. We'll see each other at the wedding.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Eve catches our last exchange before she leaves.

"Where were you?" Terry chides me in a quiet voice, looking down and pretending to pick up invisible lint from my dress.

"I wanted some more ice cream and used the bathroom in the house."

"Why did you have to go there?"

I cock an eyebrow at her.

"What kind of question is that? I wanted some privacy."

"Okay. All right."

Her eyes suddenly focus on my skirt.

"And what is this?" she asks and swipes the hemline of my dress with her finger.

I look down, baffled, and notice a few white stains. I completely freeze.

My mother tries to figure out what it is.

"What is this on your skirt, Liz? Is it ice cream?"

"Um…"

She rubs the white stuff off and almost wants to smell it.

"Stop doing that. Yes. It's ice cream. I told you I had a slice of ice cream cake in the kitchen."

"And you couldn't not drop something on it."

"Mom."

Her eyes come to me.

"Stop nagging me," I say quietly. "It was an accident."

"Accident or not, I need to remove that stain."

"I'll take care of it. Don't worry."

"All right," she says. "Let's go. I can't wait to get home," she adds, forgetting about the stains, the same way I forget about wearing my dress almost backward.

Eventually, we run into Thea and say goodbye to her.

David, Lex, and Ed are in the hallway when we leave.

David's back is turned to us, so there's no exchange of any kind between us.

If it weren't for my flushed cheeks, crooked dress, and the stains on my skirt, I'd have a hard time believing he was pounding into me a few moments ago.