Chapter Five

Aurora

I slowly open my eyes and feel his heart beating under my cheek. I can’t believe I’m in his arms in his bed. I slowly get out of bed to go to the washroom, and see it’s almost seven.

I walk upstairs to Cassie’s bedroom and knock on her door, waking her up. She groans and tells me she’s up. I go downstairs to start the coffee and make her toast. The fridge is fully stocked, and I make a mental note of things we need to replace when we go to the grocery store. Cassie comes in dragging her bag, grabs a slice of toast, and sets it down, then pulls the cereal out of the cupboard. I hear footsteps behind me, and I smell his woodsy scent right away. His hands go around my waist, and he buries his face in my neck. “Morning,” he says as he kisses and hugs me.

“Morning.” I lean into him. “Did we wake you?”

“No,” he whispers. “I reached out, and you weren’t there.”

I laugh at him. “You need to get some sleep. I’m going to drive Cassie to school. Is my car here, by any chance?”

“No,” he says, letting go of me and turning to Cassie. “Morning, Cassie.”

“Morning,” she says, smiling when she looks up.

“So,” he starts when he sits down, “I’m going to tell you guys something, but you can’t freak out.” I stop cold as soon as he says the words. “Baby, come here.” He pushes the chair away from the table.

“What happened?” I don’t move from my spot, and Cassie stops the spoon halfway to her mouth.

“Baby.”

“No,” I snap at him, “tell me.”

“Someone broke into your place two nights ago.”

“Oh my god,” I say at the same time Cassie throws the spoon down in her bowl.

“Motherfucker,” she says angrily. “It was Jerimiah, wasn’t it?”

Brandon looks at her and answers, “Yes.”

“I swear to god, I fucking hate him.”

“Cassie, watch your mouth,” I tell her then turn to Brandon. “Should she not go to school?” I ask him, and Cassie pipes in.

“Oh, I’m going to school.” She gets up. “He’s single-handedly ruined my life and yours.” She points at me. “We lost everything because I was so stupid and being a brat.” She wipes a tear away. “I promise you I will repay everything that we lost.”

I walk to her, taking her in my arms. “I would do anything for you.”

“I’m done with him pushing us around, and I’m done feeling guilty about something I didn’t even do.” She steps away from me, grabbing her bowl and putting it in the sink. “I don’t want to be late,” she tells me, picking up her bag.

“You need to be smart about this.” Brandon stands. “You see him, you walk the other way. Pissed or not, you do not engage.” I stand taller. “You got me?” He crosses his arms over his chest. “You need to tell me you got me.”

“I got you,” Cassie says, then leans over and whispers loudly, “He’s really hot.” I just shrug my shoulders.

“Go get your stuff; I’m going to get ready,” I tell her and then look at her walk out of the room then turn and look at Brandon. “I’m going to drive her to school, and then we need to discuss why you didn’t tell me this last night.”

He raises an eyebrow and looks at me. “I didn’t want to worry you.”

“Well, I’m now more worried than if you’d told me last night.” I try to walk past him, but he stops me.

“I swear to you that nothing will ever fucking touch either of you.” He leans in and kisses me. “We’ll talk later.” I nod at him, rush into the room, and put on jeans. He comes to the door, handing me the keys.

“Have a good day at school, yeah?” He looks at Cassie, then at me. “I put my name in your phone. Cassie, you take my number. If at any time you feel uneasy, you call me, yeah?” She nods her head and walks out. I follow Cassie, but he grabs my hand. “Kiss me.”

“I’ll be back,” I tell him.

“You leave, you kiss me.” He comes to me, grabbing my face. “Doesn’t matter if it’s for one minute or seven hours,” he says. My stomach gets all tingly, and my heart starts to race. I get on my tippy toes, kissing his lips. “I’ll make breakfast,” he says.

“Don’t do that. Go back to bed,” I tell him and hear Cassie yell from outside.

“I’m going to be late.”

“Go,” Brandon says, and I walk out, getting into his truck.

“Are you okay?” Cassie asks when I get in the truck.

“Yeah,” I say, starting the truck and pulling out of the garage. “Just shocked, I guess. I can’t believe someone was in our apartment.” I make my way to her school. “What if we’d been there?”

“I have no idea,” Cassie says, and for the rest of the ride, she stays quiet in her own thoughts. “Do you want me to take the bus back?”

“No,” I say, my heart pounding. “I’ll pick you up. I’ll just work my hours out with Brandon.” I’m pulling up at the front door of the school. “Text me if you want to come home.”

“I will,” she answers, getting out and slamming the door. I make my way back to Brandon’s house. The front door is open, and I smell bacon all the way to the front door.

I find him in the kitchen, standing by the stove. He has only his shorts on. “I’m back.”

He turns his head, looking over his shoulder. “Sit. The bacon is just about finished,” he says, and I walk over to the table and sit when he grabs two plates. He comes over with the two plates, putting one down in front of me. I look down and see scrabbled eggs, bacon, and toast. My stomach lets out a big rumble.

I grab a fork and take a bite. “This is really good. I have to go into work,” I tell him between bites while he eats.

“I brought home all the papers,” he tells me. “They are in the office, so just work from here.”

“But.” I look at him. “I’m suppose to work.”

“You are working, just from here,” he tells me, getting up and carrying his plate to the sink and rinsing it before putting it in the dishwasher. “Let’s try it like this, and if it really doesn’t work out, you can go into the office.”

“Fine,” I say. “You got yourself a deal.”

“I’m going back to bed,” he tells me, leaning down over me and kissing my lips. “I’m beat.”

“Okay,” I tell him, getting up. “I’ll make notes if I have any questions.”

“Good.” He walks out, and I get up and take my plate and place it into the dishwasher.

I go into the office, grabbing the bag of stuff and going to the desk. I open the emails and find only four emails. I open the deposits and put in the numbers, trying to balance it but still not able to. By the time I look up, Brandon is coming into the room, his eyes still squinting at the light.

“What time is it?” he asks me while I look up at the computer. “It’s just past two. I need to go get Cassie,” I tell him, leaning back in the chair. “I’m not a professional accountant, but something isn’t adding up.”

“I know,” he says. He pulls me up out of the chair and sits down with me on his lap. His hands go around my waist, and he leans in and kisses my neck, smelling me.

“Is there a reason you couldn’t sit in another chair?” I ask him with a smile, running my hands through his hair.

“You weren’t in another chair,” he says, looking up at me, and I lean in and kiss his lips, my stomach feeling butterflies. “You want me to go get Cassie?” he asks me as his nose runs up my neck.

“No, you need to relax. You have to work tonight,” I tell him. “I’ll go get her and then come home and cook. I’ll work on this a little tonight.”

“No,” he says, “you work eight to five.”

I look at him. “I didn’t work yesterday, so unless you aren’t going to pay me for that day, I’m making my hours up.”

“You can count yesterday as a sick day,” he says, placing soft kisses on my neck.

“No. Unless I’ve been here three months, it’s still probation.” I get up from his lap. “Now go relax, and I’ll be back soon.” As I turn to walk out, I’m pulled back by my arm.

“You forgetting something?” he asks me, smiling.

“Nope.” I shake my head, trying to hide my smile. He pulls my hand, and I bend down to kiss him. I’m expecting a little peck, a soft kiss, but what I get is so much more. His tongue comes out, his hands go in my hair, and his head turns to the right, deepening the kiss. I forget where I am. I forget that I have to go. His kisses make me forget everything.

“You need to go get your sister, baby,” he tells me quietly while he continues to give me soft kisses. That I long for.

“Okay,” I say, a little dizzy from his kisses. He gets up and walks me to the door, kissing me again.

“You’re addictive,” he tells me as he kisses my jaw and then trails down to my neck, but I pull myself away from him and go to the truck. I make it to school just as the bell rings, and Cassie is one of the first ones out of the building. She comes to the truck with a smile.

“How was your day?” I ask her as she closes the door and puts her seat belt on.

“Good,” she says and looks over. “I didn’t see any of those people today.”

“Good. No news is good news.”

“Do you think I could change schools?” she asks me, and I look over at her. “Start fresh.”

“Yes,” I tell her. “We can check it out this weekend.” She nods her head and puts her earbuds back in, telling me we aren’t talking anymore. When we walk back into Brandon’s house, I hear the back door shut.

“Hey,” he says, yelling from the kitchen, “I made burgers.”

“Oh my god,” Cassie says. “I haven’t had a burger in about a year.” I roll my eyes at her exaggeration. “I’m going to wash my hands and then come help,” she says, running up the stairs to her room.

“How did it go?” Brandon asks me.

“She wants to change schools.” I look at him as he smiles. “We are going to research it this weekend.”

“There’s a school five minutes from here,” he says, and I cross my arms.

“But I don’t live here,” I tell him. “This is temporary.” He just smiles but doesn’t have a chance to say anymore because Cassie comes downstairs.

“Did you make bacon for the burgers?”

“No,” he says. “There is bacon and cheese in the burger meat already.”

“Aurora.” She smiles at me. “Put a ring on that man.” She laughs, and I shake my head, sit down, and eat the best burger I’ve ever had in my whole life.

He leaves for work soon after we clean up, giving me a kiss, and I go and work a bit, circling a couple of things I don’t understand. When I finally shower and slide into bed, it’s almost eleven. I rest my eyes for only a minute, but I slowly slide into sleep.

My dreams are all of Brandon as he slides into bed with me. I move to him, rubbing my hands all over his chest. My mouth searches for his, and I throw my leg over his hip to straddle him. My pussy lands right on top of his hard cock. His hands go under my t-shirt, cupping my tits as he tugs my nipples, making me release his lips and moan softly. He bends his head while his hands pull up my shirt, and he takes a pebbled nipple into his mouth, sucking it deep as I grind my pussy into his cock. “Brandon,” I whisper, “please.”