34.
Isla
When we got back to New York, we took a few days to just lie low. I called Sophie to tell her that I was back in New York, but I left out the part about everything with Alfie. That was the sort of story you had to tell in person.
“You’re with Levi, aren’t
you?” she said. “That’s why you’re in New York.”
“I’ve got a whole lot to tell you when we come back to Bel Air,” I said.
“That’ll be in a few days.”
She exhaled loudly. “Oh boy,” she said. “I can just imagine.”
Levi and I stayed in the penthouse, ordered takeout food, slept late, watched movies and bad daytime TV, had sex. It felt like we were safe in this bubble where it was just the two of us, immune to everything else that was going on in the rest of the world. I kept my phone off and didn’t turn it back on until three days later, while Levi was getting ready to go into BCM.
I was sitting at the kitchen table, eating a bagel, using Levi’s laptop. I went online, first to Instagram, which I used occasionally, then Facebook, which I used even less. But an acquaintance had posted a link to a fundraising page for a family that had just lost the father in a car accident. There were three kids, the mother was pregnant with the fourth child, due in three months. I barely knew the acquaintance, definitely didn’t know the family, but I clicked on the link and then the donate button. I started browsing the site, clicking the links, looking at the pictures, reading the stories. There were people looking for money to go back to school, to pay off loans, to cover funeral expenses, to fund humanitarian trips to foreign countries, to help pay for alternative treatments because their health was failing. It was easy to fall into a sort of rhythm, make the donation anonymously, and then click to the next page.
I liked imagining the surprise, the happiness, probably the relief, in many of these cases. They’d wonder who on earth the money could possibly be from.
“What are you up to?” Levi asked, coming out of the bathroom. He’d just taken a shower and had a towel wrapped around his waist. I could still smell whatever soap he’d used.
“Just disbursing some of this wealth,” I said. He came and looked over my shoulder.
“Who is that?”
I shrugged and clicked the donate button. “I’m not sure, but they’ll be able to
pay for their daughter’s orthodontia treatment now.”
“You’re just giving money
to random people?”
“Yeah. Why not?” I pointed at the screen. “See, they have a goal amount here,
and I’m just contributing whatever’s needed in order for them to meet that
goal.”
He watched for a minute as I went through and made some more donations.
“That’s really nice of you,” he said.
“You’ve never done
something like that before? Never just gave some of your money to someone
because they needed it?”
He frowned, pressing his lips together. “Not really,” he said. “It never really
occurred to me to do so. Which sounds like such a fucking shitty thing to admit
out loud, I realize that.” He rested his hands on my shoulders and then started
gently massaging my neck. “You’re a good person,” he said. He leaned down and
nibbled at my earlobe. “And that’s quite a turn on.”
I turned away from the computer and stood up, tilting my head back as we started to kiss. His fingertips moved lightly up and down my sides. I pulled my shirt off and he pulled out the end of the towel he’d tucked in and it fell to the floor. Damn, he looked good. He reached around and unhooked my bra, then pulled the straps down and let it fall to the floor. He brought his hands up and put them on my breasts, massaging lightly, making my nipples erect. I ran my fingertips down his torso, over his drum-tight abdomen, to his erect cock. I stroked him slowly and kissed his neck, moving my tongue in circles.
We pulled back and he pushed the laptop over to the end of the table and lay back. I climbed on top of him, easing my hips back until I felt his cock sliding into me. I rested one of my hands on his chest as I sat all the way down. We stayed like that, motionless for a few seconds, and then I started to move my hips back and forth. He reached up and started playing with my breasts, making my nipples harder. His cock felt huge inside of me. He brought one of his hands down and began rubbing my clit with his thumb as we fucked, overwhelming my whole body with this most intense warm tingling sensation. I felt my breath catch in my throat as my heartbeat started racing. We were both covered in a light film of sweat, which made the smooth skin on his torso glisten. His abdominal muscles flexed, showing off their perfect definition as I swiveled and rocked my hips on top of him.
My whole body felt like it was electrically charged, and that my energy was intermingling with Levi’s and we were becoming something bigger than just the two of us. I knew he was feeling this sensation just as strongly as I was. He had closed his eyes and his brow was furrowed and his jaw clenched. He was gripping my hips now, almost as though he were squeezing my awareness into that epicenter in the middle of my pelvis, the place where all the good feelings seemed to be emanating from. How was it even possible that one person could make you feel so good?
I let out an anguished sounding cry as I came, a sound that would’ve made you think I was in horrendous pain or something terrible had just happened, but the truth was, I couldn’t remember ever feeling better.
Levi let out a similar sounding cry. “You’re incredible,” he said.
I gently eased myself off of him, holding onto the edge of the table as I lowered my feet back to the floor. I could feel my inner thighs still trembling. “I think you’re going to be late for work now,” I said.
He put his hands behind his head and lay there, a satisfied grin on his face. “And you know what?” he said. “I couldn’t care less. That was worth it. And then some.”