Checking my watch, I estimate Taylah to be home in about any minute now. Since she had to cancel on dinner because of a work crisis, I figured I’d bring dinner to her. That, and she’s now become like a drug to me, close to fifty hours without seeing her and I'm desperate  with need.

Her car turns into her driveway, the headlights beaming directly at me. I shield my eyes and wait for the car to turn off.

Blinded by the light, my eyes take several long blinks to adjust, my ears hearing her before I can see her.

“Hey,” she says in surprise. “What are you doing, sitting out here in the dark?” She greets me with a kiss, before taking a seat beside me. She leans her head on my shoulder in exhaustion. I grab the plastic bag filled with food from next to my feet and pull it up to her line of sight. “I came to feed my girl.”

‘Your girl.” Her head perks up, and I can’t help but smirk at her reaction.

“Is that okay?”

“Yeah…” she stammers. “I guess I didn’t think of it.”

It’s been all I’ve been thinking about

“It’s almost been a solid two months now, calling this anything else lessens it.”

“Are you sure?” She asks skeptically, her reasons clear as day.

“I’m sure about how I feel about you.”

I pray that my words reassure her, because they’re the truth. Right now, there’s nowhere else in the world I would rather be than by her side. Touching her. Talking to her. Laughing with her. She’s fucking sunshine and I need her to warm up all the parts of myself I’ve left abandoned in the dark.

“Drix.” Her voice soft and needy.

“Yeah.”

“I’d be honoured to be your girl.”

The relief within me is palpable. Curling my arm around her shoulders, I bring her even closer, and kiss her forehead. “Let’s get you inside.”

I walk into the kitchen, and set up our dinner on plates. Dropping her keys and laptop bag on the table, she unpacks her day; notebooks , manilla folders and a shit load of pens.

“How was work?”

Walking toward me she takes the plate of fried rice, and spicy beef out of my hand. “Can we eat in bed and talk about it?”

“One of those days?”

She nods in defeat. leading me into her sanctuary.

Quickly changing into a t-shirt I've left behind, Taylah sits cross legged on her bed and begins to eat.

Her mood is troubled, and while I hate knowing she's upset, being in her presence soothes my worry.

Following suit, I sit and eat, waiting for her to come out of her shell.

With all the time we now spend with each other, I've been able to pick out things about her that I would've never anticipated. Her ability to be so immersed in her job, she can't see past it, is one of them. Sometimes her empathy for others cripples her in a way I know exhausts her.

I admire her passion and her dedication, but the need to take care of her own well being is something we always bicker about.

“Didn’t you eat lunch today?” I ask as she shovels the food into her mouth.

She shakes her head. “By the time I had a few spare minutes, I just wanted to get the fuck out of there.”

Looking down at her empty plate I offer her the remainder of mine.

“No, you're still eating that,” she protests.

“Eat, baby.” I push it toward her again, taking her empty plate as encouragement. “There’s more in the kitchen if I need it.”

She devours the rest of my plate, and my heart does an unexplainable dance, knowing she's eaten and full. “Let me get these to the kitchen, then we can talk about your day, huh?”

“Ughhh, do we have to?” She falls dramatically on to her bed.

“You're going to start talking about it in forty five minutes anyway.” She throws a pillow at me, and I laugh while blocking it with my shoulder. “I’ll be back.”

Returning to the room empty handed, I notice she’s swapped out the main bedroom light, for her lamps. The television is on more as background noise, and she’s managed to bury herself under a mountain of blankets.

I shuck off all my clothes, keeping only my boxer briefs on, and climb in next to her. Hooking my arm around her stomach, I bring her to me, her back pressing into my chest, our bodies curled up against one another.

“Today I managed to get the court to process an Apprehended Violence Order on a husband who beat the shit out of his wife and kid on the regular. He made bail, so the criminal charges will come later, but obviously the priority is to keep everyone safe.”

My nose skims the length of her neck, as my hand creeps up underneath her shirt; my skin desperate to feel hers. She talks and I listen, giving her whatever she needs to feel better.

“He and his wife were selling anything and everything to score. We arranged for the mum to go into rehab with the hope she can eventually be reunited with her daughter.”

“This young girl was just living her life. A victim to abuse, exposed to drugs, how do people do that around children? How do they expect them to grow up unfazed and unharmed.”

Her voice trembles and all I can do is hold her tighter. “The part that gets me the most is how hard the young girl cried herself into an anxiety attack, because she wasn’t going to see her parents again. They don’t deserve her loyalty.”

The picture forms perfectly in my mind, seeing it all the time at work. It’s a battle that I wish we could win, but unfortunately for the most part, families sometimes have to crack before they can be put back together. Turning in my arms, Taylah’s wet eyes, bore into mine and I wipe her escaping tears. “The thing about parents is we’re programmed to love them no matter what. For a very long time they’re all we know. There are some parents, like yours who deserve super hero status. There are some who make the best with what they have. But for a lot of us, it’s just a reminder we’re all human and humans are not infallible. We make mistakes, and we’re not perfect.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Why don’t you ever talk about your mum?” She hooks her leg over my waist, brining herself closer to me. “What happened?”

“She was a good mum in the sense that she provided just enough for us. We had a roof over our head, shoes on our feet and food in our stomachs. But she was mean. If you ask me did she love us, I’d tell you I really don’t know.”

It’s not until this moment do I realise how little I talk or even think of my mother. Unlike the rest of my past, she has no importance on my future. She’s always been the one thing I’ve been happy to leave behind.

“After what happened with Jagger and Sasha…” Their names come out of my mouth as a pair before I can stop it, Taylah’s face acknowledging it just as quick as I do. “Her tongue was razor sharp and she was on his case all the time. Constantly telling him that he and his kid would amount to nothing. I was so fucked up. I let her go to town on him.” Placing her hand on the back of my neck, her fingertips draw circles on my scalp, The simple touch softening the memory. “He and I were just starting to get back on track before he went to jail, and when it happened I finally understood how far she pushed him into proving himself.”

Even though so much time has passed and I now get to see Jagger everyday, the guilt for letting him get sucked into a false belief of unworthiness often eats at me.

“I couldn’t forgive myself and I couldn’t forgive her. As soon as I could, I was out of there.”

“And now what?” she asks, every part of her engrossed in the story. “You don’t speak to her or see her?”

“Not if I don’t have to. I pay some of her bills, pay someone to maintain the house for her, and that eases my conscience.”

“Does Jagger know?”

“He asked me about her when he got out, and I told him what I’d done. He offered to share her bills with me, but I refused.”

“Why?”

I trace lines up and down her spine, her presence keeping me focused on the present and not the anger I’d spent so long holding against my mother for Jagger’s incarceration.

“She was glad to see the back of him when he went inside. She never tried to see him or even asked me how he was, and her effort with Dakota was fucking dismal. For every person he might’ve needed to make it up to when he got out, she’s not fucking one of them.”

“Wow. I don’t know what I expected, but that wasn’t it.”

“What do you mean?” Like she knows how much I love her body wrapped up in mine she clings tighter.  Her core kissing my cock, her mouth inhaling my exhale, my eyes getting lost in hers.

“While the shit you’ve been through sucks, I can’t get over how fucking selfless you are.”

“I’ve always done what I have to do.”

“You do that and then some.” She brushes her nose against mine. “I know you didn’t get it when you were growing up, and I doubt you let yourself hear it now, but you are an amazing person.”

Hungrily, I snatch the praise out of her mouth. I let it roll around with our tongues, and let it flood me.

She forces herself off me mid kiss, “I hope you’re not trying to shut me up.”

Shaking my head, I laugh, and kiss her again.

“I’m just saying thank you.”

The mood around us changing, she grinds herself against me, my dick relishing in the attention. I slide my hand in between us and in the front of her underwear.

“You’re always so fucking wet for me.”

“It’s only fair, you fuck me like nobody else.”

Like the flick of a switch, I’m a man turned starved animal. Tugging at our clothes, I push inside her as quickly as I can.

The relief of unburdening myself of some of my past, mixed with Taylah’s words washing over my skin, sends me into the ultimate high.

Rolling on top of her I pound her into the mattress. With every thrust, her body bounces. Her back arched and voice hoarse, I make sure she knows nobody will ever fuck her like this.

Quick, and raw, her pussy pulsates around me, and I fill her with everything inside of me. Good. Bad. Happy. Sad. I let her take it. I let her hold it. I let her heal it.