Chapter Five
“Your granny sure is a funny old bird,” Lionel murmured in Mae’s ear as he watched the old woman go over the paperwork.
“She’s stubborn.” Mae pulled her coat on, collecting her things into her basket. Although she had it back now, things had still felt so different on her way to her grandmother’s this afternoon when she’d stopped by Griff’s apple cart. Seeing him always brightened her day, but after the other night, it was like standing directly next to the sun.
They did the things they usually did, eating lunch sitting in folding wooden chairs, talking and joking, but the whole thing felt like cardboard compared to how they had been together in her apartment. She knew she should regret it, should be ashamed and horrified by her own behavior, and maybe part of her was, but a larger part shamelessly longed for more.
“I just don’t understand,” her grandmother said, shaking her head. “They’re offering me more than I’m asking?”
“That’s right, Mrs. Verges,” Lionel agreed. “The penthouse of the Century is a very desirable property, you know.”
“Of course it is.” She sniffed. “But why would they offer me more?”
“Because they want to make sure you accept their offer,” he soothed. “It’s just a show of good faith. They want you to know they’re serious and want the property very much.”
“Well I guess I can’t argue with that.” The old woman glanced up at her granddaughter, frowning. “Mae, are you going so soon?”
“I’m not feeling well,” she lied. The truth was she’d planned on eating dinner with her grandmother, but finding Lionel there when she’d arrived had spoiled her appetite. “Maybe we can do it tomorrow?”
“All right, dear.” She signed the final paper, folding the stack and handing it over the Lionel. “Would you make sure she gets home for me?”
He nodded, sliding the papers into his suit coat pocket. “Of course.”
“That’s really not necessary,” Mae protested. “I can walk home by myself.”
“I have my car,” Lionel offered.
“Perfect!” Her grandmother beamed and Mae relented with a sigh.
She kissed her grandmother’s cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Lionel’s auto wasn’t as nice as she thought it would be, but he helped her into the passenger’s side and she rode quietly beside him through the city streets.
“Why don’t you like me?” His question jolted her.
“I do like you, Lionel,” she countered. “You remind me of home.”
“I liked you then too.” He gave her a little smile, glancing sideways at her as he drove. “I know you miss your parents and you feel all alone in the world.”
Not anymore, she thought, but she didn’t say anything. She did miss them, it was true, but for the first time since their accident, she felt alive, really alive. Even her grandmother had noticed, although she seemed to think it had something to do with Lionel.
He went on. “But you can’t spend all your time looking backward. At some point, you have to start living your own life.”
“I know,” she agreed softly, thinking of Griff. She frowned as Lionel turned right down a street she didn’t know. The buildings stopped and the street opened up into a clearing, and she understood that this was the other side of Central Park. “Where are we?”
“Hooverville.” Lionel smiled grimly. “Pretty, isn’t it?”
“Why are we stopping?” She stared at the garden of tin and garbage piled in front of her. Lean-tos had been constructed out of sheet metal and scrap wood every ten feet or so, the structures crowded together, as if for warmth.
Lionel surveyed the scene. “I don’t want to ever live here.”
“I don’t blame you,” she murmured, seeing a man in a ragged blue coat shuffling toward one of the shacks.
“I want more in life than this.” He turned to her, reaching for her hand, and she let him take it without thinking. “Mae, I want you.”
“What?” she asked faintly, too surprised to withdraw.
He smiled, lifting her hand to his lips, kissing the back softly. “I’ve loved you since the first time I saw you sitting in your father’s chair in your overalls.”
“Lionel…” Her protest got stuck in her throat.
“We’re the same, you and I,” he insisted, sliding closer across the seat. “And I know I can make you happy.”
She shrank toward the door, feeling the heat of him. “This is all really fast…”
“I asked you once before...” he reminded her, leaning in even closer. She could smell some sort of aftershave, thick and cloying, remembering the last time he had made this bid. It was just a moment, really, a fumbling in the dark after he’d been invited by her father to dinner at their home. She recalled her embarrassed refusal, his sudden flare-up of anger. It had been just a few weeks before the accident and her memory of that time was hazy.
“Lionel, I can’t…” She tried to refuse him but his mouth captured hers, his tongue shoving its way in past lips and teeth, his hands already moving over her body, impatient with her thick, red wool coat. She tried to twist away but he palmed her breast through the fabric and pressed deeper, his tongue making her gag.
“Stop!” she cried, turning her head to the side and breaking their kiss with a breathless gasp, trying in vain to push him off her.
“Think about it,” he panted, his hungry gaze moving over her as he complied with her request, sliding slowly across to sit behind the wheel again. “At least tell me you’ll think about it.”
“Okay, I will,” she lied, afraid of that look in his eyes. “But you need to take me home now.”
Lionel turned and squeezed the wheel for a moment, his knuckles turning white with the force of his grip. Then he did as she asked and drove her home. They made the trip in silence and Mae tried to keep the tremble from her hands as she picked her basket up off the floor.
“Can I come up?” he asked hopefully as she opened the passenger side door, almost before he’d even come to a complete stop.
“Thank you for the ride,” she said politely, shutting the door and practically running up the stairs.
Somehow she wasn’t surprised to find Griff waiting by her apartment door. He smiled when he saw her, standing to greet her, but as she drew closer, his mouth turned down in a frown.
“Are you all right?” he asked as she fumbled with her key in the lock.
She didn’t want to tell him about Lionel. An explanation would just make her cry and that would spoil everything. Instead, she dropped her basket to the floor and threw her arms around his neck, her mouth slanting across his.
“Easy,” he laughed, nudging her basket into the apartment with his foot and shutting the door behind them. “Keep doing that, and you’re going to get us arrested.”
“They can’t arrest us in here.” Mae sank to her knees in front of him, giggling at the shocked look on his face as she unzipped his trousers and slid her hand in. She marveled at how different he was when he was soft, but with just a little manipulation, he started to grow hard in her fist.
“Jesus, Mae,” he whispered, knocking her stylish little hat to the floor and sliding a hand through her hair as she stroked him.
“Can I kiss it?” She did anyway, her lips caressing the head, her tongue sneaking out to lick around the spongy tip. Griff moaned softly, thrusting his hips forward when she covered the whole of him with her mouth, making him wet with her tongue as she went. She could only swallow half of him before gagging and pulling back, her eyes watering.
“Such a good, eager girl.” Griff smiled. “You’re getting your knees dirty.”
She stood, backing away from him while unbuttoning the front of her dress. Griff watched, wrapping his hand around his cock, as she slipped it off her shoulders and stepped out of it. Then she turned and headed for the bedroom, undressing as she went, so she was down to nothing by the time she made it to the bed.
“Don’t want to give a show to your neighbors,” he remarked, pulling down the shade before turning on the light. He looked over at her reclining naked on the bed and groaned at the sight. “Although I don’t mind if you give me one.”
“What would you like to see?” She spread her thighs a little further, seeing his gaze dip between them, his hand moving up and down his shaft. He’d lost his own clothes somewhere along the way, she noticed.
“Touch yourself,” he urged, kneeling next to the bed as if he was at an altar.
Mae closed her eyes and ran her hands over her body like she had when she was alone in her bed the night before, remembering Griff and how he touched her, how he felt buried inside of her. She had found that little spot at the top of her crevice, a tiny nub of sensation which, when rubbed, drove her to the brink of insanity and back.
“Oh yes,” Griff breathed as Mae spread her lips, revealing the deep pink inside, so she could nudge her own tender flesh to life. She dared to open her eyes a little to watch him, his breath hot against her thighs as she rubbed her little clit. “Oh my god, you’re so beautiful.”
She whimpered, pulling her knees back and lifting her hips. He smiled, taking her not-so-subtle hint, and covered her pussy with his mouth. Mae moaned and let her knees fall open wide for him, her own hands cupping her breasts, thumbing her nipples.
“That’s it,” he encouraged. “Tug on them. Twist them. Doesn’t it feel good?”
“Oh yes,” she agreed breathlessly, doing just as he instructed, bucking her hips in rhythm with the hot press of his tongue. “Oh god it’s so good I can’t stand it!”
Griff crawled up onto the bed, wrapping his arms around her hips and burying his face deep, making her quiver with her own lust. She couldn’t control her body or the way it responded to him so she just gave in to it, letting herself go completely in his arms. His tongue lapped and licked and lashed at her flesh, the wet sound of his mouth against her pussy both exciting and embarrassing at the same time.
“Oh!” she cried, twisting her nipples as her orgasm hit like a wave of heat, shaking her limbs and undulating her torso with its force. She quivered and spread her thighs even wider, her head thrown back in pleasure, straining to capture every last bit of the climax rocking her hips.
“Mmm.” Griff didn’t stop, his tongue probing deeper still, sliding down to taste her. Mae squealed and squirmed in protest, but he wasn’t having any of it, rolling with her on the bed, keeping her just where he wanted her, his mouth fastened over her mound. She tried to scramble away, but he held her fast, arms wrapped around her hips, and soon she was rocking on top of him, grinding her pussy against his tongue.
“Oh please,” she begged.” Your mouth feels so good!”
He mumbled something she couldn’t hear, working her hips in fast little circles, using his tongue purely for her pleasure. Then he slid he fingers inside of her, sending her flying, her second orgasm chasing the first, her body trembling with the force of it.
“That’s a good girl,” he praised, sliding his hands up her belly to cup her breasts.
“I can’t get enough of that,” she admitted, rolling off of him and burying her face in the pillow at her admission.
“That works out well.” His hands moved over her behind, spreading her thighs with his palms. She flushed. “I could do that all day.”
“Nooo!” she protested anyway when he buried his face against her from behind and he chuckled, nudging her legs further apart.
“I thought you couldn’t get enough,” he teased. “Come here.”
He rolled to his back, encouraging her to climb on top of him. Mae couldn’t face him so she turned around instead, letting him put his mouth on her yet again, already being carried away by the intensity of the feeling, but found herself face to face with the throbbing pulse of his cock.
“Kiss it, Mae,” he urged, shifting his hips, pressing his cock closer to her mouth.
She bit her lip, taking it in her hand, eager to please him but remembering how she’d gagged on the length of it in the hallway. There was clear liquid gathering at the tip and she licked it off, encouraged by his soft, muffled moan. His tongue was magic between her legs, nudging the sensitive nub of her clit again and again.
“Like this?” she asked, sliding her mouth down slowly around the head. Griff’s gasp of pleasure thrilled her and she tried to take even more of him, gagging again.
“You don’t have to swallow it whole,” he teased and she flushed. “Just the tip. That feels…oh, god, yes, Mae… just like that…”
She caught an easy rhythm, her fist wrapped around the base, her mouth going down about halfway on him every time. What she lacked in expertise she made up for in enthusiasm. He moaned and thrust, but he didn’t neglect her, his tongue working back and forth, round and round, sending electric shocks through her with every pass.
“Griff!” she warned, pumping him fast against her open mouth. “Oh yes! Yes! Now!”
She sank her mouth back down over his cock, swallowing as much of him as she could, wanting to feel him filling her that way when her climax came. Griff growled and bucked up hard, suddenly flooding her mouth with white hot liquid. She gagged and swallowed the peppery heat, flooding him too with all her wetness, her pussy spasming in yet another blissful release.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized as she rolled off him onto the bed, cooling her cheeks against the sheet.
She smiled. “What for?”
“You didn’t…mind?”
“No,” she assured him, shivering as she remembered the first, sudden blast of the stuff over her tongue, associating it with her own delicious orgasm. “I liked it.”
She felt his hand caressing her hip, her behind, his fingers exploring again between her legs. She didn’t protest, although she barely had the energy to spread her thighs a little more for him. When she reached over, she found his cock soft and still wet from her mouth.
“I want more,” she insisted, squeezing him in her fist. “I want to feel you inside of me.”
“Whoa, girl.” Griff let out a low moan, shaking his head. “You fillies are a lot better equipped for saddling up for another ride faster than us studs.”
“What can I do?” she murmured, leaning up on her elbow to inspect his cock. It had responded a little to her touch in spite of his protest. Griff cried out when she leaned in and took him back into her mouth. It was so different when he wasn’t hard, the flesh soft and spongy in her mouth. He panted and groaned as she continued to work her tongue along the length, encouraged by the way he began to fill with a heated pulse.
“Damn, girl,” he murmured, watching as she sucked him back to life. “You’re something else.”
It wasn’t long before he rose fully to the occasion and Mae sighed happily as he rolled her to her belly, nestling her into the saddle of his hips. She felt the hard press of his cock and moaned in anticipation.
“Don’t forget—” she reminded him, glancing back, but he was already putting the condom on. She was so wet, he slid in without much resistance, and Mae buried her face and moaned into the pillow as he began to thrust. He was so hard, so deep inside of her!
“Oh god, so tight,” he whispered, gripping her hips, making her yelp in surprise as he shoved in as deep as he could go. He stopped, holding her tight. “Are you all right?”
“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “It’s just… big.”
“Don’t apologize for that.” He chuckled, slowly pulling out of her and rolling onto his back. “Come here.”
She let him guide her so she was straddling his hips, his cock pulsing between them. She could feel how hard he was against her pussy and she rocked against him without thinking.
“That’s good,” he murmured, lifting her hips, aiming himself. “Keep doing that.”
She moaned as she sank down onto him, feeling the head of his cock probing deep inside of her, her hips still moving forward and back, grinding into his. That hot tickle between her legs grew into an impossible itch as they rocked, Griff watching her through half-closed eyes.
“Oh fuck,” he groaned, his fingers gripping her ass. “Oh Mae!”
She whimpered, rolling her hips in faster circles, trying to chase that delicious feeling to its conclusion but continuing to fall short. Griff cupped her breasts, tweaking her nipples, hard and pursed, sending shockwaves down between her legs. She moaned and put her hands over his, rubbing them hard against her breasts.
“That’s it,” he insisted. “Feel good?”
She swallowed and nodded, panting and breathless with the sensation. Then he slid a hand down between her thighs, using his index finger to rub her swollen clit in circles. Mae’s eyes flew open and she looked down at him in wide-eyed surprise.
“Oh yes!” she cried, rocking faster. “Do that! More!”
He moved his finger faster as Mae twisted and tugged at her hard nipples, rolling on top of him like the tide coming in, again and again. The wet sound and tangy smell of their sex filled the little room and she found herself heady with it.
“Mae!” Griff warned as she shifted her hips forward and back, eyes closed, biting her lip with concentration. “Oh god, sweetheart…”
“Yes!” She opened her eyes to look at him, feeling the final wave break, washing heat all through her body. She cried out and collapsed into his arms as he thrust deep up into her pussy, grabbing her ass to give him more leverage as he bucked and shuddered beneath her. She felt every hot pulse of his cock, every sweet wave of his climax, matching her own.
They rested, quiet and breathless, their hearts thudding together, until finally Griff asked, “Now are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”
She didn’t open her eyes. “Nothing’s wrong.”
“You’re lying.” He kissed the top of her head.
“Someone proposed to me tonight.” She just blurted it out and regretted it almost immediately.
“What?”
“I told you about that business associate of my father’s? The one who has a buyer for my grandmother’s apartment?”
Griff’s voice was stiff with anger. “He proposed to you?”
“Practically.”
“And what did you say?”
She laughed. “What do you think I said?”
“So what are you going to do?”
Mae sighed. “I don’t know.”
She felt him stiffen, and not in a good way. “Are you going to move in with your grandmother? Or maybe you’ll marry the guy and live happily ever after, just like your grandmother wants?”
Mae winced. “She’s the only family I have left, Griff. What can I do?”
He sat up, grabbing for his clothes. “You’ve got enough money to do what you want. Why don’t you?”
“It’s not that simple.” She sat up, watching him getting dressed. “Where are you going?”
“I don’t know.” He tucked in his shirt, grabbing his coat off the floor. “It’s all an illusion, Mae. The whole thing is one giant magic trick.” He waved his hand toward the window. “It can collapse at any minute. It already has.”
He sighed, just standing there in the middle of her bedroom, quiet for a moment. She wanted to go to him, but she wasn’t quite sure how.
“Did you know I used to be a stockbroker?” He turned to look at her, smiling at her wide-eyed look. Of course she didn’t know—she realized she hadn’t even known his first name until a few days ago. She only knew what he was willing to tell her. “Now I do magic tricks and sell apples. And it’s really no different at all.”
“Griff!” she called after him as he started to go.
He hesitated in the doorway, not turning to look at her as he spoke. “I don’t have anything left to give you, Mae.”
“I didn’t ask you for anything,” she protested.
He shook his head. “I know,” he said, and then he was gone.