Chapter Fifteen

Ada

Jimmy came out of nowhere and he had me by my hair and my arm before I could even run.

As he pulls me out the back of the bar all I can think is he’s going to kill me. I assume he’s decided to kill me instead of Charlie because I broke up with him and humiliated him by not coming back to him when he begged me to. Surely, someone saw him drag me out the back.

He’s got both my arms and he’s holding them tightly and pulling them down. He turns to me with eyes full of rage. There’s no feeling in them, just anger. Anything we’d shared in the past is gone, there’s nothing but hate for me in his stare and I know without a doubt in my mind he’s going to really hurt me.

I let out a throat-wrenching scream which earns me a punch in the face. I feel my skin split above my eye and see the blood on his hands.

“Now, Addybug, why did you make me do that?”

Addybug is what my dad calls me and my nickname on his lips makes my skin crawl. He’s never called me that before. Fear grips my heart and I try to breathe to calm myself down. If I lose my head I’m going to end up in the woods somewhere covered in leaves and trees.

“Jimmy, come on. It’s me. You don’t want to hurt me.”

“I saw you with him, Addy. I already told you it’s me or it’s no one.”

He’s become calm, which is actually even more terrifying, as he pulls me towards a car I don’t recognize parked behind the bar. Searching around us I realize there’s no one around.

Everyone is parked out front and there aren’t any open shops in the shopping center behind it. Dread surfaces. No one is going to help me. I start to lose hope and with a last-ditch effort, I try to fight him. I dig my heels into the ground so he has to drag me if he wants me to go any further.

“Stop making it hard for yourself Addy.” He twists his hands around my arms burning the skin. I continue to resist. It’s all I have left to do.

“Ada.” I hear Charlie yell my name as he comes out the back of the bar. “What the hell?”

I hear footsteps coming towards us and look to see what Jimmy’s reaction is. He isn’t pulling a weapon and he looks shocked someone is coming to my rescue. Charlie and Thomas are running at us but he doesn’t let go of my arms.

Charlie leaps and attacks Jimmy. He finally lets my arms go as Charlie tackles him to the ground. When Jimmy gets up he punches Charlie in the face. I hear the crunch as his fist hits his nose and then Charlie gets a punch in. Thomas joins in and pulls Jimmy up off the ground holding his arms behind his head and keeping him from moving.

“We’ve called the police baby,” Charlie says. “Someone saw him grab you. I’m so sorry I didn’t get here sooner.”

“You did what you could Charlie,” I say.

I can’t stop shaking as Charlie holds me. I hear Jimmy swearing as he tries to get away from Thomas. Looking at him, you wouldn’t know it, but Thomas is a strong man. He’s holding Jimmy down on his own while Charlie sways me slightly. I want to tell him to stop, but it is calming me.

“Miss Springfield,” I hear someone say. “I’m Detective Sharpe. Can you tell me what happened tonight?”

I explain what had happened with Jimmy from our relationship to him threatening Charlie. I hesitate to bring my dad into it even though he’s part of the problem. Once I tell him how I went to the bathroom and Jimmy attacked he takes pictures of the bruises on my arms and goes to talk to Charlie. A lady comes up to me and takes a look at my eye. I realize she’s a paramedic only when she asks if I want to go to the hospital.

She has me follow a light and tells me she doesn’t think I have a concussion, just a nasty cut. After a few butterfly stitches, she gives me a prescription for high milligram Tylenol and goes through some of the symptoms of shock with me. If I start feeling bad later I need to go to the hospital. I tell her, thank you, but everything is in a fog at the moment.

I watch as the police car drives away with Jimmy in the back. It almost feels like I’m in some kind of crazy nightmare. Nothing feels tangible to me like I’m a ghost standing near the scene of a crime while people walk through me trying to piece together what happened.

The people around me are bystanders mostly, they’re staring at me. Probably because Jimmy was the spectacle and he’s gone now. It makes me feel like a spectacle myself, one who can’t control her relationships.

“Ada, are you okay?” Charlie has his arm around me and Thomas is talking to the police.

“I’m so sorry Charlie, he’s my ex. He’s really insane.”

“Do you want me to take you home?”

“No, I just want to be around people. Can I come home with you please?”

He looks taken aback and then almost hungry. I know what he’s thinking about and I am thinking it too. The night has been so full of insanity and high emotion. I want him and if he wants me then there’s no reason to wait.

In the cab, he says, “I know that guy. I thought when I saw him it was because he was mad at me, not because he’s your ex.”

“You know him?”

“Well, not personally. You know the night I told you those guys got after me in the bar?”

“Yes,” I lean back so I can look at him.

“He was the one who punched me. He also remembered me from high school, so he had double reason to be mad at me, and now I guess I’ve given him a third one.” He puts his arm around me.

“Oh no, were you at Rascal’s?”

“Yeah, how’d you know that?”

“That’s where they hang out. My dad was probably there and saw the whole thing.”

We walk from the cab to his apartment holding hands and get into the elevator. Neither of us say anything and I can’t help but smile a little at how awkward it still is between us. His hand skims my back slowly when we ease to a stop and the doors open up letting us exit. I’m entering his territory. His space and I’m ready for this. I want this and as he pushes me gently against the wall beside his door, he fumbles for his keys. A vibration bleats between us as we stand my right side to his pocket and my hip, not near enough my center to tease me, but I think the dark thoughts waiting, no, anticipating his next move like a chess player.

“Damn.” He reaches for his phone, fingers grazing me and I whimper waiting. Always waiting it seems.

“Who is it?” I breathlessly mumble as I toy with a curl of my loose and frizzier by the minute hair.

“Unknown number.” He frowns and I feel myself pursing my lips in a pout. Denied again it seems. It’s almost laughable because this time it isn’t me putting things off. Charlie opens the door and guides me inside. I don’t get to speak before he’s checking the phone and lost in his own thoughts.

“Make yourself at home, I need to take this phone call.” Charlie kisses me on the forehead and walks purposefully toward what I assume is his study. His apartment, if one could call it that is huge. Enormous. Ridiculously so. Much bigger than my place and all done in tastefully rich decor that screams designer hands. Hands that make me jealous though there isn’t a single feminine touch to the apartment. It’s full-on bachelor pad. It’s all dark masculine wood and chrome finishes on all the surfaces followed by leather sectionals and heavy linen curtains that open just enough to let the view and twinkling stars peek through.

“Sounds great,” I mumble dropping my purse on the side table at the door and inching my way into his domain. I slip my shoes off and walk under the threshold barefoot. My toes curl on the bare floor. Nerves fray my senses like electrical impulses and I’m drawn to follow Charlie. I can hear muffles of his voice beyond the hallway and watch him pace inside his study raking a hand through his somewhat spiky dark hair. His fingers pull as if he’s annoyed and I figure it must have something to do with work or his dad. I don’t know and for some reason it makes my stomach clench. My hand floats down to cover my belly to steady the butterflies swirling inside.

“Ada, why don’t you pick a movie or something?” Charlie peeks his head out from the study smiling and nodding toward a remote on the coffee table. I think about the rest of the evening and how to move things along naturally without coming off as obviously innocent or too slutty. Is there ever a natural halfway point? Maybe he’s trying to distract me from everything that happened tonight. It’s not that I don’t appreciate it. I just wonder what’s so important it pulled him away from me.

“Sure,” I say.

He winks and pulls the door shut blocking me out. I hear him say, “No George, and stop suggesting it.”

I casually saunter absorbing my surroundings. I wonder who George is, I can’t help myself. My fingers touch the cool surface of the bar top counter and then move toward the imposing leather sectional. I plop down and sink into butter-soft leather that caresses the back of my bare thighs under my dress.

I hoped Charlie would have admired it earlier seeing as how the color makes my eyes pop, but he seemed intent on dinner and drinks making me think sex was off the table. It should have been after my last episode. I was surprised wanted to be around me alone again after my freak out and hiding in the bathroom. Well done, Ada.

I pick up the remote and turn the television on figuring I can scan for the nightly news or the weather channel. What I don’t expect is to see a full-frontal porno taking up the entire flat screen television. Gasping I look around and Charlie is still behind closed doors. The scene is graphic but also fascinating. I find I can’t tear my eyes away.

I turn toward his office again waiting to get caught and nothing. Back on the screen, there’s a man fully erect and a woman with pebbled nipples and hair as dark as mine. It’s erotic and sweet the way he traces his lips down her neck leaving wet kisses and down her belly to lick her. I swallow back my own arousal and lean into the couch. I’ll give it a minute, maybe less before I shut it off and Charlie catches me. Now that would be embarrassing.

I watch the man who has pushed her back on the bed and spread her legs wide. The camera angle leaves nothing hidden and his mouth works her over as she writhes on the bed. I think about my last encounter with Charlie if only I hadn’t been a freak if only I tamped my nerves down enough to let him continue. We could have been past this awkwardness by now. My legs feel warm on the couch and I rub my thighs together. I’m wet and achy and if I touch myself now it’ll only get worse.

When the man has his hands cupping her breasts and squeezing them I feel a hand snake down my collarbone to cup my breasts. I don’t scream when I recognize its Charlie.

“Oh, Charlie.” I moan letting his hands slip under the top of my dress to pinch my nipples over my lace bra. My eyes flutter shut feeling instead of seeing. It’s exquisite and exactly what the man on screen is doing except his partner is naked. I want to be naked too. That is a surprising thought.

“Caught you, Addy.” He leans forward to suck on my neck as one hand slips farther cupping my mounds while the other moves down to slip a finger under my panties spreading the slick juices between my legs. Now I am embarrassed the porn turned me on and it’s obvious.

I clear my throat. “Watch a lot of porn, do you?”

His teeth graze my ear until tears prick my eyes from the sting. “Only when some certain brunette leaves me hanging.”

“I…” I don’t have an answer or a good reason for why I freaked out like a teenager. I’m a virgin, but I’m a woman all the same.

“Come on, I think we can do better than my couch sweetheart.” His hands leave me just as quickly as they found me and I find myself following him like an emotional drunkard on unsteady legs craving my next drink.

He gives me a hand and we stumble rush into his darkened bedroom. We don’t bother with turning the lights on and I’m fine with that. I’ll check out his room later.

“Charlie, I need to-” I don’t get to finish because he’s pulled me in close and then he’s pulling my dress off in one swift motion so smooth I almost don’t even miss it.

“You are fucking beautiful Addy.” He kisses me and tastes me all the same. Our mouths fuse together and I’m furiously working at the button tab of his pants giggling when it gets caught and he growls low in his throat.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he says and I realize he means my head where the bastard hit me. He touches the butterfly stitches and I wince a bit.

“You won’t hurt me, just don’t turn your head this way when you kiss me.” I don’t think I could feel pain right not with the euphoria of being with him again.

“Do you want this?” He asks.

“Of course, I do.” My voice is hoarse with need. “Why would you think?”

He bites my lips before I can finish that sentence too. I manage to work his pants down his muscular thighs and he pushes me back onto the bed forcing me to scoot up.

“Because you’re skittish, it’s like you’ve never done this before.” He covers me with his body and a snap sound tears my panties pulling them down as he raises my leg over his shoulder. His mouth moves over my neck and then down my breast. I gasp as he pulls a nipple into his mouth. He releases me with a wet pop and I moan loudly grabbing his head closer.

“Because I haven’t,” I whisper not caring and lost in the sensation of his heavy body over mine, his crisp hair rubbing against my smooth skin with friction.

“Never?” He implores.

“Never,” I repeat.

Charlie freezes for a spilt-second and I’m terrified I might have lost him somehow. His arm reaches over me and fiddles with the nightstand drawer. He knocks something off on top of it cursing and a giggle escapes me.

“Charlie?” I question.

He kisses my lips until they become pliant and sore.

“Shh, Addy.” He rips a plastic wrapper and I feel his hand and fingers between us moving around.

“Condom.” He says by way of explanation and I nod because safe sex is best and I wasn’t thinking clearly with his body between my legs and my head in the clouds.

Charlie grunts and pushes forward slowly.

“Whoa.” I squeak feeling the head of his cock put pressure at the center of my core and my arms push back against his unmovable chest.

“Shhh, I’ll be gentle. This is the uh hard part.” He kisses my neck and proceeds to keep a steady pace pushing inside of me. It hurts and yet it doesn’t hurt keeping me immobile half out of fear and half out of wonder at what’s happening with my body and his joining. I’m full to the point of bursting when he stops.

“That’s it, Addy. Breathe sweetheart.”

“I need you to move, Charlie. Please.”

“Oh, I plan to, just give me a minute.” He chuckles and I plop my head back on the bed because really, where else am I going with Charlie’s cock impaled inside of me right now.

I take a deep breath and let it out slowly testing the movement of my hips. It feels strangely exhilarating. I lick my lips and rest my hands on his shoulders griping them tight. I raise my hips to meet his and he grinds mine back down into the bed.

“Oh, Addy.” Charlie keeps up the movement and I meet him thrust for thrust tentatively at first until we move in rhythm.

A rumbling vibration of nerves and sensations fill me from the center. I clench my thighs around Charlie’s hips now that he’s let my leg go. He’s groaning with my movements also and pumps faster.

I kiss his shoulder and bite the skin gently. “Keep going, Charlie.” I encourage him because it doesn’t feel so raw now with our bodies slick and sweated.

“Yeah?” He asks moving faster and faster.

“Yes. Oh god, yes.” I grunt shallow pants scratching his shoulders in response. Everything tightens and curls at once. Starbursts seem to shoot from the back of my eyes and I feel like jelly when the world comes back replete.

Charlies pumps several more times, his cock swelling before I feel the jettison of his cum from inside the condom filling me. He grinds against me as if to press it deeper in some male animalistic need and the dirty girl in me likes it more than I should. We breathe heavy into the dark and Charlie rolls to his side taking me with him and pulls the bedspread over us like a burrito. It’s warm but not suffocating and it feels good to lay against his chest.

“I didn’t think it was possible Addy.” He murmurs into my hair kissing me.

I look up at him in the dark unable to see his face fully but enough to make out the handsome angles I love so much.

“What?” I inquire. He doesn’t say anything for a moment and I think maybe he’s drifted off to sleep until he speaks low again.

“Nothing sweetheart.” He hugs me close and I swear I hear him say thank you. My heart thumps and swells. Is this love or maybe strange feelings since it’s Charlie I gave my virginity to? I wouldn’t know having never done it before, but it feels sweet, sugary like candy, melty chocolate. I feel like I’m getting super mushy and should be way more mature about the whole thing.

We’ve only been lying together for a few minutes when Charlie jumps up and looks down at me smiling.

“So, I know that just happened and it was wonderful, but I really want you to sing with me,” Charlie says. He doesn’t care that he’s naked as he goes over to the corner and grabs his guitar. I hadn’t even noticed he’d brought it with him, I’d been so shaken.

“Right now?” I giggle as I pull the sheets around me and sit up.

After they are gone I sit and look over some of the notes Charlie has written. He’s at the front locking the door.

“I want to run it through with you. See how it feels.” I say as I pick up a sheet.

“Okay, great,” his eyebrows go up as what I said sinks in. He rushes over and grabs the sheets from me. “Those aren’t ready for you yet. Here., I worked on something that I think will suit you a little better.”

I read the lyrics and wonder why he thinks I would be suited by it.

Ran from the life and the needle

Keep getting pulled back in

A friend says he’s in trouble

So, I start running again

The men chasing him are angry

There’s a lot of grit in his eyes

My bleeding heart pulled me down

And I might not make it alive

“Charlie, why would you think I would like this?” I ask genuinely confused.

“Because you told me to dig deep. Write about something meaningful and true. Maybe not in so many words,” he says.

“This is something that happened to you?”

“Yes,” he says looking down.

I wonder how much I don’t know about him.

“I would sing the verses.” He says moving forward to point. “You would sing the chorus. That’s the part I thought you’d like.”

I read on.

Loving a man with the wrong idea

Of what it means to be free is a shame

I can’t help the way I feel

His chains are going to drown me and I say

Bring on the water

“That’s actually really pretty Charlie.” I’m impressed after reading his bump and grind lyrics from earlier.

“Thanks, you want to try it. I don’t have the music laid down but I have it up here.” He touches his temple. “I’ll sing it and then you can follow.”

“Okay,” I’m actually excited to see how the music goes. It’s even prettier than I thought it would be and I find myself getting sucked into the moment.

“So, what do you say, Ada, you want to give it a go?”

“Yes, I want to sing with you Charlie,” I tell him.

“Great, I’ll get Thomas to book the studio all next week.”

After we sing awhile we find ourselves back in bed for round two. I fall asleep a little later completely satisfied and smiling.