Breakfast was wonderful. She had the waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, along with a side of sausage links. Elias talked easily with John about the route while Mary and she talked about a forest Chelsea had never been to.
"Can I ask, without being too prying, how you are holding up?" Mary queried. "From what I've gathered, you had a rough ride for a long while."
Chelsea took a bite of her sausage and then looked at the older woman. "I'm better than I was a week ago, and much better than I was the week before that. Hell, I feel almost human again."
Mary nodded. "Well, if you ever need someone to talk to, don't hesitate to pick up the phone. Elias has my number."
"Thank you. I might do that sometime soon. I'm still having some bad dreams, and maybe it would be good to talk about it," she replied, though she had no intention of following through on that. If she was going to talk to someone, it would be Elias, and that conversation needed to happen soon. Not today, but soon.
After breakfast Chelsea looked over at Larry and asked quietly, "Are you really dating a nineteen-year-old?"
This time the slight blush was unmistakable on the bruiser's cheeks. He grinned at her and then nodded his head. "She's twenty now, just had a birthday."
"I would love to meet her," Chelsea told him. "You should give her my number. We can exchange notes on the joys of being with older men," she told him, laying an affectionate hand on Elias' thigh.
"Joys." Duffy smirked. "Yeah, right."
Chelsea looked at him a little sadly and said, "Ah Duffy, haven't you ever been with an older man?"
Duffy's eyes blinked rapidly, and his mouth made fish breath motions, but his brain didn't seem able to catch into gear.
Doc laughed hard, John choked on his coffee, and Elias bellowed a roar of mirth that had several tables of people looking over to see what the fun was. The look on Duffy's face was priceless as he sputtered and tried to extinguish the flaming joke at his expense, but nothing would come out of his mouth.
They took the 45 out of Northside and rode it up all the way to the 150, then headed east through the Sam's. It was a beautiful ride, made better by riding beside her lover and his V-rod. At Coldcreek they stopped, pulling into a tavern that John favored, for food and beers. There were thirty-four bikes in their group, but over fifty people when adding in passengers and the three trucks that were convoying with them. After the late lunch they continued east on the 150 to the 59 to come back down through Cleveland and Humble, and finally back into Northside.
Bikes pulled out of the group in singles and pairs as they came down the boulevard back toward the Log Cabin, waving goodnight to the rest and answered by horns and waves from the remaining pack. Elias signaled to her that they were leaving before hitting the club house as well. She nodded and followed him as he cut down a side street which would take them home.
It was the longest ride she had ever made, and though still exhilarated by the feel of the bike between her legs and the memory of the beauty she was able to see, she was tired and becoming a little sore. Home, and the hot tub, sounded very good to her.
As soon as they parked the bikes in the backyard, she shut down her engine and announced, "Naked time!" with far more energy that she actually felt.
Elias laughed and nodded his head. "I'll get the tub going."
"You do that, lover. I'm going to strip and get us some beers," she told him as she skipped through the back door, then started to strip her clothing as she went back into his room.
Larry had told her up at the tavern that he was actually only five years older than Elias. "You're only forty?" she had asked, since she had guessed Elias to be around thirty-five.
"Bless your heart," Larry had laughed. "No, I'll be forty-five in August."
"Elias is forty?" she stuttered.
"You didn't know you really were hanging with an older man?"
"I guess not," she had replied.
Ten years older seemed like quite a gap, but nearly fifteen years older—shit, a few more years and she would be dating someone her dad's age. But fuck, he was good to be with and he sure looked wonderful naked.
She grabbed four beers for them on her way out, then sashayed out onto the patio to find Elias already naked and in the bubbling water. "Ah," she sighed with disappointment. "I wanted to see you."
"You glow enough for the both of us," he replied with a smile. "Get your cute little ass in her. I want some lovin'."
"Hmm," she moaned, and climbed down to sit beside him, handing him a beer and setting the two extras on the deck behind them.
The foaming water felt divine and the heat was building up nicely.
"Are you really forty?" she asked.
"Are you really twenty-three?"
"Twenty-four," she corrected.
"Well, I'll really be forty in November, yes. Does that bother you?"
She leaned against him. "I wouldn't care if you were a client of Larry's," she told him, referring to his elder-law practice. He laughed and she continued, "Seriously lover. You do it for me in every way I've ever wanted, and in a few I didn't even know existed."
He put his arm around her and drew her close, "I'm happy to hear that, because you rock me baby. You really do."
They sat for some time just enjoying each other’s presence, and then he asked, "You really have ten grand to buy a bike with?"
"Well, yes, but it will be much better once the Shelby is sold. I should get at least twenty for it, don't you think? It's in great shape, runs like it is new, and it's a true Shelby, not a knock-off."
He nodded. "I'm not really up on the resale value of those, but after seeing it, I don't doubt you will at least recoup your money with some to spare."
She sipped her beer and asked, "Don't you think I should get a bike? I love riding with you."
"So you're planning on hanging with me for a while then?"
She looked at him. "I thought that was a given, lover. Hell yes I'm planning on sticking with you. You'll have to get some of your men to drag me out of here at this point if you want me gone. And they better be wearing their armor, because I'm not going quietly."
He smiled and kissed her forehead. "I'll shoot the first one that tries."
"I noticed you didn't bring your gun on the trip. Are you thinking it's safer now?"
"No. John had his, and mine is in the saddle bags."
"Oh," she sighed.
"Not going to be safe for a while, but let me worry about that part of the story."
She snuggled against him and laid her head to his pecs. "Alright. I'll bow to your ancient wisdom and vast worldly experience in such matters. I'll focus on making you a happy man with my sexual wiles and youthful energy."
"Sounds like a perfect arrangement to me," he said with a nod.
"Me too," she agreed. "You ever have sex in this thing?"
"Tried a couple of times, but the chlorine content doesn't help the lubrication factor."
"Oh," she said disappointedly. "It looks so romantic in the movies." She put her hand down on his thigh and then found his cock. Taking it in her hand she began stroking him with slow, sure affection. "God I love your cock, lover."
"Yeah?"
"Oh yeah. I could lay around all Sunday morning just sucking and stroking you, and feeling the sunshine on me through the window. Pure heaven," she purred softly.
"Lucky for me, then, because it is Saturday night." He grinned.
"Yep, you are one lucky man," she agreed. Then she asked, "If you knew then what you know now, would you still have taken me home?"
"Yes," he told her without hesitation.
She sat up a little to search his eyes. "Even knowing that I wouldn't be able to tell you everything for this long—things you probably should have been told from the start?"
"Yes," he said with the same assuredness.
She eased back down beside him. "Then I'm far luckier than you lover."
After thinking and mustering up the strength in her gut, she said, "I think its time though that I tell you the whole of it. You deserve that. Hell, you deserved it when you met me."
"We have time, baby," he told her, rubbing his hand down her arm and pulling her close.
"No Elias. It's not about time. It's about you, and what you deserve from me. I keep waiting for the right time, but it’s not something that exists. It's never going to happen. I'll never be ready to lose you."
"You aren't going to lose me Chelsea."
"You don't know—"
"Then, you are right, it's time. Because I want to get past this. I hate watching you torture yourself with this, and nothing I say seems to help."
"I'm sorry," she murmured.
"It's not a fault thing, baby. People only have the experience they have. Yours tells you one thing and mine tells me another. There is nothing wrong with that. You know, two people can have different views on something without one of them having to be wrong."
She thought about that. "I've never put that together before."
"Few people do. That's why they fight so much," he said, and then he took a long pull from his bottle, set it aside, and picked up his second beer.
"Let's take the beers into the shower, and then let's talk," she offered. "Before I lose my nerve again."
In the shower she got on her knees and sucked her lover to climax, grateful that the streams of water hid her tears from him.