Chapter Seven

Ethan

The buzzing of conversation and the flirtatious looks women were throwing my way at the bar held no interest for me. I was even finding it difficult to focus on what my buddy Liam was saying across the table from me. There was a small, red glass lamp burning with a gold flame between us that I couldn’t stop staring at. While I did, I thought of Devon.

I had been in touch with her every few days over the past two weeks just to make sure everything was going all right. There hadn’t been any new developments, and the waiting was killing me. Part of me was hoping our attempt hadn’t been successful. That way, I might have the opportunity to fuck her again.

I had never fucked such a tight, perfect pussy before, and I bedded a lot of women. Now, I suspected that sex with other people might be ruined for me. Nothing would be as good as Devon. If she wasn’t pregnant, I was confident she would let me have another go at it. She had seemed to enjoy herself as much as I had. Those little cooing sounds she had made were imprinted on my eardrums. I would do anything, literally anything, to hear her again.

“Bro,” Liam said across the table from me, reaching out and swatting my elbow that was resting near the lamp. “Are you paying any attention to what I’m saying?”

“What? Sorry. I kind of zoned out for a minute there.”

“Yeah, I noticed.” Liam scowled before tilting his head back and pressing his beer to his lips. A little dribble rolled down his chin, and he wiped it away with the back of his hand. “You’ve been distracted all night, man. What’s the deal?”

“There’s no deal,” I said, shrugging my shoulders and trying to look interested in my drink.

“No deal?” Liam scoffed. “Dude, you haven’t even checked a chick out all night, and there are some damn fine girls in this place tonight. Something’s up.”

“Nothing’s up,” I said, a little irritated now. I wanted him to drop it.

I was more than aware of the fact that the women in this place did nothing for me at the moment. I was too wrapped up in thoughts about Devon to notice their short skirts or plunging necklines. In fact, I had been too caught up in those thoughts for two solid weeks. I hadn’t been laid in two weeks. The last girl I fucked was Devon.

“Is something going on with work?” Liam continued to pry.

“No, nothing like that. Trust me, everything is good. I think maybe I need a break from this scene. You know? A change of pace.”

Liam rocked back in his seat. “Did I just hear that correctly? Did Ethan Garrison just say he needed a break from the back-to-back clubbing nights and the wildly hot girls who let him fuck them in parking lots?”

“Yeah. You heard me.”

Liam’s eyebrows inched up toward his hairline. “All right then. Look, I’m not judging, I’m just a little surprised. I mean, last time we were here, you took a girl into the VIP section and fingered her ‘til she sucked you off.”

“You make it sound bad when you say it like that,” I said. “I booked the private VIP room.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. She still let you get all up in her business.”

“Your point?”

“We don’t get that lucky is my point,” Liam said sternly. “You’re living the dream, my friend. The absolute dream. And now you want a change of pace? What are you going to do, start dating?” He looked absolutely appalled at the suggestion.

“Dating?” I laughed. “No. We both know even that’s a leap for me.”

“Thank God,” Liam breathed. “What then? Take up kayaking? Go sit in saunas with old dudes with their dicks out? What kind of change of pace are we talking about here?”

Had I been tempted to tell Liam about the surrogacy plan with Devon before, I sure as hell wasn’t now. I was going to sit on that information for as long as I could.

“I haven’t decided yet,” I said, “but we can safely scratch saunas with old dudes off the list.”

“Well, that’s a relief,” Liam chuckled. “You know I’m just pulling your leg, right, man? Whatever you want to do, that’s cool. You do you. Just don’t leave me behind, all right?”

“Leave you behind?” I teased, arching an eyebrow. “I could never leave you behind.”

“I’ll toast to that,” Liam said, and we clinked our glasses together.

My phone started buzzing in my pocket. Liam watched me curiously as I fished it out. Devon’s name flashed across the screen, dazzling white, and I rushed to answer the call.

“Hey,” I said, raising my voice over the noise in the bar. “Everything all right?”

“Yes, everything is fine,” she said. “I just wanted to call to let you know I’m at my doctor’s office. I wanted to take a proper test so we could know for sure. I don’t trust those drug store buy-them-in-a-box ones.”

I felt myself smiling, and I tried to turn away from Liam, whose eyes were watching me like I was a bleeding-out gazelle and he was a lion. “Do you want me to come meet you? Where’s your, uh,” I caught myself before I let it slip in front of Liam, “where are you?”

“Don’t worry. I can handle being told positive or negative by myself,” she said. I could picture her rolling her eyes at me.

“Maybe I want to be there,” I confessed.

There was a long pause on the other end. “I’ll be home in less than twenty minutes. Meet me there?”

“Done,” I said, and the two of us hung up the phones.

Liam was eyeing me levelly from across the table. “Who was that?”

“A client,” I lied, nudging my drink towards him. “Finish that off for me, will you? And take one of these pretty girls home with you. Show them what they’re missing with Liam Thomas. I’ll see you later.”

“Maybe I wanted to show you what you were missing,” Liam hollered after me. He hated being left behind.

Devon still lived in the small apartment she had been in three years ago on NYU campus. I had driven her and Heather home from a club one night, and Devon had passed out in the back seat. I had carried her up to her apartment, and Heather and I had put her to bed.

I remembered holding Devon that night in my arms as I ascended the concrete stairway. The elevator wasn’t working. There was a handwritten sign on the doors that had read “Out of Service” on orange construction paper. Classy place.

On the fifth floor, I emerged from the stairwell and escaped the foul smell of body odor. The hallway smelled like Kraft Dinner, socks, and overused air fresheners. I found Devon’s unit number and rapped my knuckles on her door five times.

I listened to her shuffling around inside. Then the deadbolt unlocked, followed by the handle, and then the chain. The girl was smart. She lived in a not so great area, and she was taking the precautions to keep her place secure.

She pulled the door open. She was wearing a pair of skintight black pants that hugged every single inch of her legs and made her look ravishing. Her tank top was red and also tight. Her nipples were hard beneath the fabric.

“Hey,” I said, becoming aware of how hard my heart was hammering in my chest. I was nervous. “So?”

She gave me a brilliant, white smile and nodded once. “Congratulations, Daddy,” she said, barely getting through the last word before erupting in a fit of delighted giggles.

Before I knew what I was doing, I had thrown a fist in the air and let out a celebratory cry. This only made Devon laugh harder, which in turn made her blush more deeply as she tried to cover her face.

I slipped inside, closed her door behind me, and turned back to her to cup her cheeks in my hands and plant a kiss on her lips.

She froze in my hands for a short second, and then her lips parted, letting my tongue slip between her teeth. She kissed me back hungrily and stretched up onto the tips of her toes.

She tasted like raspberries and mint. It was like a mojito on a hot summer day. Her skin was fire against mine and silky smooth. I ran my fingers through her hair, sending the aroma of her lavender shampoo up in the air around us.

I wanted her so bad. As her tongue rolled over the inside of my bottom lip, all I could think about was her pussy. I wanted to be inside her again. I wanted to feel her walls squeezing my cock as she came.

She was breathless as I pulled the right shoulder strap of her bra and tank top down. I traced my fingers down the length of her arm and then took her hip in one hand, drawing her up against me. She moaned softly into my mouth.

That was it. The sound I had been craving so badly. The hair on the back of my neck stood up, and my cock pressed up tight against the inside of my jeans.

I was going to take her, right then and there, and I knew she wasn’t going to do a damn thing to try to stop me.