CHAPTER FIVE
Ryan
I WOKE EARLY the next morning to the feel of soft skin under my hands. I peeked an eye open to see that Cassandra’s ass was snuggled firmly against my cock, which was standing to attention. My arm was wrapped around her waist and my hand was cupping her breast. I could feel her pert nipple against my palm and it was doing nothing to ease the pain of my swelling erection.
She started to move and my cock slid snuggly between her ass cheeks. She must have been aroused because I could feel her pussy juices leaking down to meet my cock. My hips started thrusting further, seeking her heat. I needed to feel myself inside her. Deep down, I knew that if she was awake, she would flip out, but I just couldn’t control myself. I wanted her.
“Oh.” The breathy moan slipped through her lips and I started to pull back. This was not the way to initiate sex with my wife. That was the weirdest thought I’d had yet.
“What the hell?”
Cassandra jumped up from the bed and pulled her shirt down from where it had ridden up. It was then that I connected the dots and realized she hadn’t worn underwear to bed.
“Why were your hands on me? And your..” She waved her hand at my cock that was now showing from where she flung the covers off. I quickly covered myself and tried my best not to think about what it felt like to have her in my arms.
“Look, I’m sorry. I was sleeping and I woke up that way.”
“This is why we shouldn’t be sharing a room. I don’t..ugh!” She stormed off into the bathroom and closed the door with a bang. I fell back against the pillows and looked at my alarm clock. It was early still and I didn’t need to be up yet, so I let myself drift back off to sleep after getting my hard on under control.
“Ryan. Ryan.” In my mind, Cassandra was calling out my name as she rode me hard. Her breasts were jiggling up and down as she shook my body with each bounce. In reality, someone was pushing my shoulder and when I pried my eyes open, James staring at me.
“Huh?”
“I’m hungry. What can I eat for breakfast?”
I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and sat up. “I’ll make you some breakfast.” I flicked the covers off and stood up.
“Eww. Why do you have so much hair down there?” I looked down and remembered that I was naked. I pulled the covers across the bed and quickly covered myself.
“Um. I have hair because you get it as you get older.”
“Everyone?”
“Yeah, everyone. Some day you’ll have hair down there, too, little dude.”
“Why was it, you know, sticking up?”
I blinked several times and tried to think about how to answer that. “Um. It’s called morning wood.”
“What’s that? I didn’t see any wood.”
I scratched my head and tried to think like a ten year old. “Okay, so you know when two adults get older they have sex, right?”
He gave me an odd look and then asked the dreaded question. “What’s sex?” Seriously, the kid was ten and Cassandra had never talked to him about sex?
“Hold on. How about you go in the kitchen and I’ll get some pants on.”
He shrugged and left the room. I quickly got in some sweats and made my way to the kitchen, hoping he had forgotten all about our conversation. I pulled out the stuff to make eggs and started to make breakfast.
“Are you going to finish telling me what morning wood is?”
I set the breakfast stuff aside and leaned against the counter. “Alright. So, a guy has a penis, right?” He nodded. “Well, a girl has a vagina.”
“What’s a vagina?”
“It’s a..hole..down there.” I waved toward my groin.
“Oh, you mean a hoo-hoo.”
Shit. She hadn’t even told him the proper terminology. I nodded and continued my explanation.
“And that’s where a man sticks his penis. That’s what sex is.”
“So, you just stick your penis in a girl and leave it there? For how long?”
“No, you don’t just leave it there. You move it in and out and you do other..stuff.”
“Like what?”
“Um..well, you can use your fingers down there or your mouth.” Was that too much information?
“To do what?”
“To give her pleasure.”
He thought about it for a minute.
“Do you do that to my mom?”
“Uh..no.”
“Why not? How do you choose a girl to do that to?”
“Well, you have to like the girl you do that to.”
“Do you not like my mom?”
Geez, this kid was never going to stop the questions and I had a feeling that I wasn’t supposed to be divulging this much information to him, but the kid had to know at some point.
“I do, but we just haven’t done that yet.”
“So, why was yours so big? You said that was morning wood. What is that?”
“Mine is big because I’m older. When you’re older, yours will be bigger too. As for morning wood, when you get..happy to see a woman, your penis gets bigger and sticks up. Then you can put it in the girl’s vagina.”
“So, it doesn’t work if it’s not sticking up?”
“No.”
“Huh. So how do I get mine to stick up?”
I scratched my head. Why did all his questions have to be so tough? “You can’t make it. When your body is ready, it’ll just happen.”
“So, when mine sticks up, I find a girl I like and stick it in her?”
“What are you two talking about?” Cassandra screeched.
“Uh..”
“Ryan was telling me about sex and morning wood.”
That little fucker just threw me under the bus. “Cassandra, it’s not what it sounds like.”
“James, go finish getting ready for school while I make your breakfast.”
James looked at me and shrugged, then left the room.
“Why were you telling my son about sex and morning wood?”
“He saw me naked this morning and one thing led to another. I swear, I didn’t want to talk to him about this-”
“Then why did you? You aren’t his father. You have no right to talk to him about that stuff!”
I was pissed by her comments. I shook my head and walked toward her, stepping into her space. “I’m not his father? So, I’m good enough to use to keep your son, but not good enough to be labeled his father?”
“Up until this morning, you couldn’t even remember his name!”
“I understand that you may not want me talking to him about some stuff, but the kid asked and he should have already been told about this stuff. Why haven’t you told him about sex yet?”
“Because he’s too young to know.”
“He’s ten! He’s gonna be going through puberty any day now and he doesn’t understand why guys get hard. Do you want him to freak out when his body starts changing?”
“Look, you could have come to me and told me that he had questions. I would have talked to him.”
“He wouldn’t have had questions if he hadn’t seen me naked. He doesn’t have any kind of father figure. I know you want to think that you’re all he needs, but a boy needs a man to talk to. The sex talk would be uncomfortable coming from you. He can ask me things that I fully understand. You can explain the mechanics, but how are you going to explain puberty to him? He doesn’t have the same parts as you.”
“He’s my son. I get to decide when he’s ready to talk about this stuff. I get to decide who explains sex to him. I don’t need a man whore telling my son about sex.”
I took a step back, feeling my body tightening in response to her accusation. I clenched my jaw to keep from saying something that would only make this situation worse. Deciding I’d had enough, I walked off toward my bedroom and got dressed for work.
If there was one thing I didn’t need, it was being called names when I was doing everything I could to help her. I was probably the last of my friends that could ever be considered a man whore. I’d had several serious relationships over the years and though I’d had a few one night stands, I generally didn’t sleep with women I wasn’t dating. In fact, I had only been with one woman since I’d broken up with my girlfriend and the reason I hadn’t gone back for seconds or looked for someone new was because I was hung up on Cassandra.
I finished dressing and went to find Cassandra. She was still in the kitchen, making breakfast for James, who was sitting on a bar stool.
“Here’s your house key and the garage door opener. You can park in there when you get home today.”
“I don’t have my car. We left it at my apartment, remember?”
Shit. Now I was going to have to drive into town with her.
“Hurry up. I have a meeting this morning that I can’t be late for.”
Cassandra ran off to the bedroom and I sat down at the counter waiting for her.
“Are you and Mom fighting?”
“Yeah, bud. Don’t worry about it, though. We’ll work it out.”
“Are you going to drop me off at school today?”
“Do you want me to?”
He rubbed a spot on the counter and wouldn’t look at me. “It’s not like you’re my dad, but..”
“But what?”
“Some of my friends saw you drop me off yesterday. They thought your truck was pretty cool.”
“Oh yeah? So, I’m like the cool guy now?”
He shrugged. “I guess.”
“You’ll have to ask your mom. I’m not sure she’s too happy with me right now.”
“Cuz you were telling me about sex?”
“Yep.”
“But, you’ll still answer my questions, right?”
I ran a hand over my jaw trying to decide what to say. On the one hand, I wanted this kid to talk to me if he needed to. It was weird for him to talk to his mom, but on the other hand, she really didn’t want me anywhere near her kid right now.
“I need to talk to your mom first. I think maybe it’s best if you ask her questions from now on.”
“But she’s a girl. You even said that she has a vagina. How would she even know what to say?”
The kid had a point.
Cassandra came running out before I could answer his question and we headed for the truck. The ride was uncomfortable and even more so when James asked if I could drop him off at school today. Cassandra glared at me, but I just shrugged. When I dropped her off at her car, she came around to my side and made a motion for me to roll down the window.
“No sex talk. We need to discuss this more before you tell him anything else.”
“Right. I wouldn’t want to teach my man whore ways to your son.”
I rolled up the window and pulled away before she had a chance to say anything else. I dropped James off at school and saw that his friends were pointing to my truck and asking him questions. He smiled slightly before waving and going into the school. At least it seemed I had one person that liked me.
Work flew by and before I knew it, it was already seven o’clock at night. I was loaded down with work, but the reality was, I wasn’t looking forward to going home to my new situation. I was extremely attracted to Cassandra and her kid didn’t seem too bad, but all she did was criticize me so far. When I had proposed the idea to her, I had imagined that she would practically fall down on her knees and rip my pants open to get to my cock, or some other form of gratitude. Instead, she didn’t seem to want me or even seem happy that I had helped her.
I finally left about seven-thirty when I could no longer justify staying at the office. I drove home as slowly as possible and when I got to the garage, I sat outside for a good ten minutes trying to will myself to go in. When Cassandra poked her head out the door and waved me in, I heaved a sigh and dragged my ass inside.
Cassandra was in the kitchen cleaning up what looked like dinner dishes and Ryan was sitting at the picnic style dining room table doing his homework. I glanced around the kitchen and noticed there were no plates of leftovers and no little containers that held my dinner. Great.
I went over to the fridge and started pulling out stuff for a sandwich. It was too late at night to cook anything.
“I think we need to set some guidelines about the way things are gonna go around here,” she said in a low voice. She probably didn’t want James to hear. He was in the other room and didn’t seem to be paying attention.
“Yeah, like maybe dinner being ready when I get home,” I mumbled under my breath.
“What?”
“I said, sure. I just want to eat my dinner.” She narrowed her eyes at me and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Before you have any deep and meaningful conversations with my son, you need to talk to me first. He’s only ten and I need to be sure that what you say to him is appropriate.”
I took a bite of my sandwich and tried my very best to not say anything stupid right now. It pissed me off that she thought I was so incompetent that I couldn’t judge what was appropriate to say to a kid. I’ll admit, the sex conversation could have gone better, but there’s just no way to sugar coat sex.
“A parent called me today to say James was talking about sex with her son. Apparently, James told him all about how women have a hole down there and that’s where a boy sticks his penis when it gets hard.”
I continued to chew my sandwich. I just didn’t have anything to say to her. Obviously, she wouldn’t listen to me if I told her that I was trying to explain it in the least graphic way. She didn’t care. She only cared that her little boy now knew about something that was dirty.
“Are you even listening to me? Parents have the right to choose when their child learns about this stuff. I don’t want my son informing other kids about the birds and the bees.”
I went to the fridge and grabbed a beer. I took a long drink to wash down the sandwich and all the shit I wanted to spew at her right now.
“You’re giving me the silent treatment? How is that mature?”
“Hey, Ryan! Guess what? I finished the first Harry Potter book. Now you can read it and I’ll start on the second.”
“Sounds good, kid.”
“Do you want to go upstairs to the loft? We can start our books together.” He looked so excited and actually seemed like he wanted to spend time with me. If it was between staying down here and listening to Cassandra rag on me some more about how I talked to her son or reading a book about a wizard, I’d gladly get out my wizard hat.
“Yeah. Let me finish my sandwich and I’ll be right up.”
“Cool!” He ran upstairs and I finished my sandwich, all the while Cassandra was shooting daggers at me. I grabbed my beer and headed for the stairs.
“You are not seriously drinking around my son?”
I turned to her and chugged the last of my beer, then threw the bottle in the sink where it smashed into pieces. She looked at me with wide eyes before I turned on my heel and headed upstairs.
James was sitting on the couch in the lounge area outside his room and had two books with him. I sat down on the opposite side and he handed me the book. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Not exactly my idea of a good read, but what the hell. James and I sat in silence for the next half hour reading. I had to admit, the book wasn’t too bad.
“James, it’s time to get ready for bed,” Cassandra said from the top of the stairs. He closed his book and hopped up.
“Alright, Mom.” He turned to me with a hopeful expression. “Same time tomorrow?”
“Sure, kid.”
He ran off to his bedroom and I placed the book down on the coffee table. I brushed past Cassandra and headed downstairs. I had no idea what I was going to do with the rest of my night. It was only eight-fifteen and I didn’t want to go to bed yet, but I didn’t want to be around Cassandra either.
I walked down to the lower level and sat in one of my leather chairs, staring out the window. I hadn’t bothered with the lights because I wanted to see outside. I used to think this was my sanctuary. It got lonely at times and I wanted to someday have someone to share all this with. When I asked Cassandra to marry me, I’d thought it would turn into something great, but the way things were going, I wasn’t sure how long we’d make it before one of us killed the other.
I sat down there staring out at my backyard until well into the night. I fell asleep at some point and when I next woke, the sun was peeking up over the horizon. I sat up and immediately regretted not going to bed last night. My neck was stiff and I could only look straight ahead. This was going to make for a shitty day at work.
I walked upstairs to take a shower, but when I got to my bedroom, the bathroom door was locked and I could hear Cassandra getting ready. I walked over to the closet and grabbed my clothes for the day, then went back downstairs to use the other bathroom. Since all my bathroom stuff was locked with Cassandra in my ensuite bathroom, I had none of my usual bathroom supplies, so the five o’clock shadow that I would normally shave off was going to have to be there the rest of the day.
I didn’t bother getting upset about the fact that I couldn’t use my own damn bathroom or that I couldn’t shave. It just wasn’t worth it. The situation was what it was and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it now. I made my bed and now I had to lie in it.
James wanted me to drop him at school again and after a slight nod from Cassandra, I loaded him up in the truck and headed off for the day. I went through my day on autopilot and decided that I was going to head to The Pub when the work day was over. Logan had been watching me all day and kept giving me strange looks. When I stepped into The Pub, I wasn’t at all shocked to see that he had followed me or that he had called the guys.
I walked over to the table where they were all hanging out and saw they had already ordered beer for me. I took a long swig preparing for the Q & A session.
“So, you got yourself hitched.” Sean said. “You said I was crazy for getting married.”
“Guess I’m just as crazy. Only difference is, you actually like your wife.”
All the guys sent each other questioning glances.
“I thought you liked Cassandra. What’s going on?” Cole asked.
“Basically, I married her to help her out with an upcoming custody battle. Only problem is, now that we’re married, she doesn’t seem to approve of anything I do.” I shook my head in disgust. “Everything I do, she bitches at me and tells me I’m wrong. Can’t do a fucking thing right in her eyes.”
“When did you get married?” Drew asked.
“Saturday night. In Vegas.”
I drank down the rest of my beer and signaled to the waitress for more. She quickly brought another round and I sucked back another beer. When the guys didn’t immediately jump on their beers, I grabbed another from the table.
“It’s only Wednesday. Give it time,” Jack said. “Women are stubborn and you have to let them warm up to you.”
I gave him a quizzical look. “I married her to help her out financially so she could keep her kid. I moved her out of her crackerjack apartment to my house, that’s she taken over by the way, and she rags on me for every little thing I do. Oh, and I forgot, she doesn’t want to blur the lines of our relationship, so no sex. Yeah, and it’s only Wednesday.”
“Welcome to marriage, buddy,” Jack said slapping me on the back.
“What did you expect? That she would get down on her knees and suck your cock because you helped her out?”
I looked at Logan with a raised eyebrow. He barked out a laugh and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. “Damn, Ryan, you have a lot to learn about women.”
“Look, we’ve been dancing around this attraction for a year and half now. Why is it so wrong that when we got married I thought we would have a real marriage?”
“It’s not, but she’s got her kid to think about. She’s thinking that this is going to end and she doesn’t want to get hurt.”
I turned and looked at Drew questioningly. “Since when did you become Dr. Freud?”
“It’s the same shit Sarah went through. She needed to protect her and the twins first. She didn’t want to start something that she wasn’t ready to finish. Same thing with Cassandra. I bet you that fancy house of yours.”
“Alright, so she’s thinking of her kid. I get it, but it’s my goddamn house and I can’t even use my own bathroom.”
“You think that’s bad? I have two kids at home and..Sarah’s pregnant. Shit. I haven’t spent more than five minutes in my bathroom since we got married. Now with another on the way?” He shook his head.
“So, congratulations?” Cole said.
We all kind of looked at each other, not knowing what to say.
“I mean, yeah. I’m excited. The twins are mine, but this is my kid, ya know. It’s..” Drew took a deep breath and blew it out. “It’s good. Really. I’m happy. I’m just realizing that I will never have my own space anymore. The twins are turning two and soon we’ll have another.”
“What are the chances you’ll have another set of twins now that Sarah already had one set?” I asked.
Drew visibly paled and looked like he might pass out. Cole quickly pushed in the chair behind him. “Shit. I didn’t think about that. Can that happen?”
I shrugged. I didn’t have a fucking clue, but it seemed if it could happen once, it could happen again. “What about you, Cole? Are you and Alex having kids anytime soon?”
“We’ve been trying for a while now, but..” He shook his head. “I guess it’s just not meant to be.”
“That sucks, man. After all you guys have been through,” I sympathized.
“Is it.. I mean, do the doctors think it’s because of what she’s been through?” Sebastian asked. He still felt responsible for everything that had happened to her. Every time he saw her, you could see it in his eyes that he felt he’d let her down.
“They think it could have something to do with when she was missing, but they aren’t sure. They told us to just keep trying, but not to put too much pressure on ourselves.”
It seemed we all had our own problems to deal with. Maybe it was a good night to get wasted.