Chapter Seven 641

Chapter Seven

“What time did Aaron say he would be by?” I ask, stepping out of the shower, and Cal wraps me in a towel before throwing me over his shoulder and tossing me onto our bed.

“He didn’t.” He straddles my hips, slowly opening my towel and kissing down my stomach, before settling between my legs.

“So you’re saying he could walk in any minute, and then what?” I push up on my elbows, looking down at him.

“Nope.” A palm settles on each of my inner thighs, nuzzling my legs open, and he blows a warm breath across the tender flesh. “We have a door.”

“Fuck,” I draw out the word when he sucks my clit into his mouth, his soft, warm tongue teasing and flicking, knowing just how to shut me up and quiet my brain. “Cal –”

“Don’t worry.” He stops, looking up at me with a grin. “He’s grabbing our first two-week checks from the office, picking up all five of the cardigans you forgot there, and grabbing some food before he comes over. We have plenty of time.”

“Not plenty of time, but I think we can fit a few orgasms in before he gets here,” I purr, pushing him onto his back, straddling his hips, and sliding his cock inside of me. I start slowly, loving the feel of him stretching and filling me. A lazy climb to the top where he’ll send me crashing back down, only to catch me at the bottom and start all over again.

“Sounds like he’s really missing out,” Cal rasps, gripping my hips tightly. His fingers pinch into the soft curves of my sides, guiding me up and down his shaft faster and harder, meeting my bounce with punishing thrusts.

“You think so?” I tease.

“I know so.” He flips me onto my belly, yanking my ass into the air, and slamming into me.

“Oh fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” He pounds into me, pressing my face into the mattress.

“You remember your safeword, beautiful?” He grinds into me, rolling his hips and stealing my words. I toss him a thumbs-up. “I need to hear it.”

“Peppermint sparkles.” I moan, and he chuckles.

“Good girl.” He picks up his pace.

“Cal…” I beg, every muscle in my body tensing, and that all-too-familiar warmth starts to build in my toes and moves up my body. “I’m going to… I need to…”

“What do you need, beautiful?” he murmurs in my ear, drowning out the sound of him pounding into me .

“I want to come.” I pant.

“Well, I’m not stopping you.” He chuckles, sliding a hand under me onto my clit. He gives it a slight pinch before rolling it between his fingers, playing my body like he was born to do this. “Come for me. I want you to soak my cock and then lick it clean.”

His filthy mouth sends me tumbling over the edge, and I scream my release into the pillow.

“You’re so fucking hot.” He slams into me a few more times before springing off the bed. His hand twists in my hair and yanks back my head. “Open.”

He pushes into my mouth, and I suck. Hard. I can taste myself on him. The sweet taste of me blending with him makes me want more. I cradle his balls, rolling them gently in my palm, and tug just a bit as I relax my tongue, swallowing his cock deep into my throat.

“God damn,” he bellows louder than normal, swelling and spilling down my throat, and I gag. “Don’t you dare lose a single drop.” He steps back, slapping a hand over my mouth. “Swallow.”

I do as he says, his words reigniting my need, and I slam my mouth onto his, kissing him deeply .

“Can you taste us?” I whisper against his lips.

“I can,” he growls.

“And?” I bat my lashes, licking my lips.

“I think you shouldn’t tease a starving man.” He pushes me roughly onto my back and stands over me, shoulders heaving. “You may get more than you bargained for.”

“Bring it.” I let my thighs fall open, inviting whatever he has planned. There’s nothing about Calden that scares me. I can take anything he throws out. He’s mine, and I’m his. How can two people so perfectly matched be wrong? Because, in my soul, I know he’s mine, and I wouldn’t survive without him.

***

I wake to the sound of raised voices, the evening sun peeking through a small slit in our blinds. Has that been open all day? I stretch then stand, picking up some pants and a t-shirt from the floor. My floordrobe is looking pretty scarce. I appreciate Aaron’s help, but I’m super tired of having to look for my clothes on hangers.

“Alara?” The door creaks open. We need to talk to you. Aaron is the first one in the room .

“Not like this, man.” Calden paces in the hall, pulling at his hair, and I feel like I’m going to puke.

“Cal?” My voice breaks, and I’m suddenly freezing.

“It’s okay.” He barrels past Aaron, wrapping me in his arms and kissing me in front of Aaron. Fuck.

“You still haven’t closed the damn blinds!” Aaron’s voice raises, yanking them closed.

“What’s the point now?” Cal sneers.

“The point? The damn point is that you don’t need to give them more ammo!” he shouts.

“Will you two talk to me?” I step out of Calden’s embrace, and they both get to work, yanking things off the floor and out of the closet, and stuffing them into black bags.

“Talk to me!” I scream, my entire body shaking, but neither of them says a word. They just continue shoveling our lives into garbage bags.

“I told you this would happen, Calden. Look what you’ve done to her.” My father stands in the doorway, dressed in slacks and a button-up, with his hair combed and face clean-shaven. For the first time in over ten years, my father looks like every other father in town, and I can’t get enough air into my fucking lungs to ask him why .

“Daddy?” My back hits the wall, and I slide down, pulling my knees to my chest as my father crosses the room to kneel in front of me.

“It’s going to be okay, angel.” He cradles my face in his hands, wiping a tear from my cheek. “Baby, loving someone society disapproves of isn’t for the weak-spirited. Is this really what you want? Are they what you want?”

A strange question, but I don’t need to think about it. All eyes are on me in a suddenly silent room, but all I can muster is a single nod. Because, yes. This is what I want. My mind and my heart have always been a step behind one or the other, but they both cross the finish line together, eventually. It may have taken my father’s question to catch up, but I know it’s the truth. Whatever is happening here, as slowly as we are realizing it, that’s the path we’re on. The years of bickering, fighting, and anger were aimed at the situation, not each other. We were just too na?ve to see it.

Aaron pulls in a sharp breath.

“Told you so, man.” Cal shakes his head with a small smile. “She’s not one to choose. That’s not how she loves. Good luck figuring it out. ”

“I’m pretty sure I have both of your numbers already.” Aaron bites his lip, he and Cal joining my father in front of me.

“I didn’t tell you two to stop packing.” He glares at them.

“We didn’t ask,” Aaron growls. “Something happened, shortie. You’re going to be okay, but we have to get out of here. Now.”

“Why?” I whisper.

“Because he fucked up!” My father bellows, pointing at the window.

“He –” I look at Calden, then Aaron, and back at my father. “I don’t understand.”

I think I do; I know I do, actually. Someone saw. Someone… I watch Aaron take my phone from my purse, power it down, and pull the sim.

“No.” My voice breaks, and both men wrap themselves around me. “Who – who saw?”

“My teammates from school.” Aaron tears up. “They were pissed that I started blowing them off after the fight. They were trying to catch us together. This is all my fault. If I hadn’t – ”

“Don’t.” Calden and I cut him off at the same time, but Cal continues, saying what we’re both thinking. “It’s time we stop shouldering the blame for the actions of others. This isn’t on you. It’s on them. So leave it here with them.”

“I hate the fucking internet. I’m glad you’re throwing it out.” My father pushes to his feet and storms from the room. “You three have five minutes. I’m not waiting on the lynch mob to get here.”

“We have to go, beautiful.” Calden is the first to pull back. “I’m going to finish bagging the things under the bed, and then we’re gone. Aaron, you’ve got her?”

“I do.” His arms tighten around me. “I love you, Alara. You know that, right?”

His words steal the breath from my chest.

“You’re safe, beautiful.” Cal stuffs the last of our things into the bag in his hand and ties it shut, heaving it over his shoulder and offering me his hand.

“I’m so sorry.” I hiccup, and they tighten their grip on me.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for.” Aaron sighs.

“Isn’t there, though? ”

“No. Life happens. We all make mistakes. We fall down, and then we get back up, right?” Aaron winks at Calden.

“It’s what we do,” he snorts.

He pulls me to my feet, Aaron wraps an arm around my waist, and the three of us walk out of my bedroom, out the door of the only home Calden and I have ever known, and into his Jeep. My father is waiting behind us, in the front seat of his pitch-black El Camino. I haven’t seen him behind the wheel in years.

“What now?” I ask as we pull off our street, out of town, and onto the freeway. “Where will we go?”

“Wherever we want.” Aaron lifts my hand to his lips and kisses it softly.

“And when we get there?” Calden asks, rubbing my thigh with his free hand.

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?”

As the town disappears in the rearview mirror, the weight on my chest lessens until it’s as insignificant as the people we just left behind. And for once, I allow myself to picture tomorrows, and an image of a future begins to form in my mind – a cozy fire in a home filled with laughter and love. A family we made from whispered promises and stolen moments with the men I love. And wherever tomorrow takes us, I know that I’ll never doubt our love again.

We’re safe. We’re in love. And I’ll never be sorry about either.

THE END…