Ripley
Hands clasped, Brock and I step up to the hostess and ask for a table for two. The girl grabs a couple menus and leads us toward a table by the windows, and when we reach our table, Brock pulls my chair out for me. I don’t even need to look at my menu, so I look at Brock instead; his menu is closed too. He reaches across the table and grabs my hands.
While we wait for our server to come, we just stare at each other. We’ve always enjoyed a companionable silence, never needing to fill it with meaningless words. As my eyes scan his face, I take in the male beauty that is him. Before I can open my mouth to speak, our server comes. We order our drinks and drunken noodles with beef.
“So tell me about having Alex. Was your pregnancy an easy one?”
One of these days, I’m going to have to tell him everything about Alex, but not today, and not any time soon. “It was easy. I was never sick and felt great the whole time.” Our server sets our drinks down and then disappears. “I was staying with my parents temporarily, and they were out to dinner. I didn’t feel good, just felt icky and tired, so I just rested on the couch and took a nap.
“I woke up and felt like I was having bad stomach cramps, and when my parents came home, I stood up and my water broke. Of course Dad freaked out and was running all over the house, doing what, I still have no clue. Once we got in the car, we called Jonah and he was still at school, so he said he’d get to the hospital as quick as he could. It took them about an hour to get me in my gown, hooked up to the monitors, and my IV started. Alex was born at six in the morning the next day. The moment they placed him in my arms, I felt like things were going to be okay.” I grab my water and take a big sip.
“He’s really a great kid Ripley.” He squeezes my hand before letting go. “Jonah seems different from what I remember—how’d that happen?”
Our server sets our food down in front of us and I take a bite before answering him. “He felt so much guilt for what happened. He blamed himself for provoking you and for me getting in between the two of you. At first I wouldn’t speak to him, but he was relentless. He checked on me every day, bringing me stuff, and he even had his parents pay my ER bill. Even though I forgave him, he’s never truly forgiven himself.
“Every time I went looking for you, passing out flyers and then going to your parents’, he was there. He lost a lot of friends after that night and I thought at first his persistence was because he was lonely, but over and over he’s proven to be my best friend. When I decided to have Alex and then to keep him, Jonah was there for every appointment and was in the room when he was born. We kissed once. It was the first Christmas after you were gone and I had just found out I was flunking my freshman year. He’d come over for dinner and presents, and I started crying. He hugged me and then we were kissing, but a few seconds in, we realized that anything we felt was friendship and nothing more.”
I take a bite of my food to stop myself from saying any more. Can we say information overload? When I’m nervous, I tend to babble, and that’s clearly what I just did. I don’t know what’s happening, but I thought he should know the truth—at least some of it. I’ll tell him the rest another time, or maybe I should just get it out now—that way he can run away as fast as he can. I’m damaged goods, and he deserves better.
“Hey.” Brock pulls on my hand to get my attention, and my eyes focus in on him. “Where’d you go?” His voice is soft and soothing.
“Sorry, I just spaced out for a minute.” I take another bite of my food and then a sip of my water. “Sorry about babbling.”
“You didn’t babble. I asked and you told me. What happened with you and Kat? You two were thick as thieves in high school.”
“She didn’t like it that I was spending so much time with Jonah, and she didn’t understand why I spent so much time looking for you. She thought I should just move on since you were the one to leave.” I take a deep breath. “Listen, this isn’t easy for me, but when you left, I was in a bad way for a while and she couldn’t handle it—granted, I’d already begun to count on Jonah for a lot of support. Even after she graduated from college and came back, she ignored me. I thought maybe Alex could smooth the way for us, but no.”
I poke at my food, figuring I’ve ruined the night. Why did I have to have verbal diarrhea tonight? Maybe I just need to get him talking for a bit. “What was it like being in the Marines?”
He wipes his mouth with his napkin. “At first it was hell on earth. I was in shape from playing football, but nothing prepared me for boot camp and combat training.”
“Is it as bad as they show in the movies?” I lean forward.
“Yes and no. I won’t bore you with it all, but I’ve gotten deployed twice.” I hate the thought of him being in a war zone. A part of me wants to hear about it, but another wants to hear none of it. “The second time I was deployed was when I was shot.”
My stomach turns and my body locks up tight. His eyes widen almost comically, like he didn’t mean to say it. “You were shot!” I hiss. “Oh my God! Are you okay? Where, when, tell me—I want to know.”
“Rip, I’ll share with you, I promise, but not tonight. I don’t want to go there tonight. Is that okay?” His dark brown eyes plead with me, and I can give him that for tonight.
“Whatever you want, but you’re okay . . . right?”
His eyes soften. “Yeah I’m okay. I promise.”
Brock pays, we get to-go containers for our food, and then he holds out his hand to me. As we walk through the restaurant, I see Kat. I hadn’t noticed her before, but she’s watching us. I can’t read the look on her face, but it doesn’t matter, because our friendship is over and has been for a while.
We stop by the drugstore on the way back to my house so I can stock up on my Rolos. Brock insists on paying, which leads to us arguing in the checkout line. “Brock, I have money. Let me buy my candy.”
“Maybe I just want to do something nice for you. Don’t be stubborn.”
I suck in a breath. “You did not just call me stubborn.” He’s trying to fight a smile, I can tell. “Don’t you laugh at me, Brock Timothy James.”
His arm winds around my neck and he pulls me close, kissing my forehead. My eyes slam shut as I savor the feel of his lips on my skin. “I’m not laughing at you baby.” His voice is soft and makes my belly flutter.
In the end, I let him buy the damn Rolos. There is no sense fighting with him about it, but damn I’ve missed it. We had the best fights, and then the best makeup sex. Our fights were always over silly stuff, and I think sometimes we fought just to make up. With an arm around my waist, he leads me outside to his truck. I’m not sure what to expect when we get back to my place; Mom’s keeping Alex all night, so we’ll have the place to ourselves.
We pull up in front of my duplex and I wait for him to come around and get me. I hand over the keys, we step inside, and I turn on the lamp next to the couch. I take my candy out of the bag and set it on the coffee table. Brock comes up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his chin on my shoulder. “Do you want to watch a movie?”
I turn in his arms and put my hands on his chest. “A movie sounds good.”
We put our leftovers away and I grab us a couple of waters. Brock’s sitting in the middle of the couch, and I have no choice but to sit right next to him. I hand him the remote and reach over him to shut the light off. He wraps an arm around my shoulders and pulls me into his side. We decide on an action movie, which I’ve never minded. Brock grabs my candy and sets the bag in my lap.
Resting my head on his shoulder, I settle into his side. His musky, earthy scent wraps around me and makes my nipples hard. I want to bury my nose in his neck, but I don’t. I unwrap a caramel-covered chocolate and hold it out to Brock. Instead of grabbing it from my hand with his, he grabs it with his lips. He takes a few more from my fingers and then sucks the tips of each digit. Then Brock grabs that hand, lacing our fingers together and resting them on his hard stomach.
I stretch out my legs until they’re intertwined with his and feel my eyes get heavy.
I come awake slowly as I feel myself being lifted off of the couch. Brock’s familiar scent wraps around me like a comfortable blanket, and my arms find their way around his neck. He’s silent, and so am I. For a second, I just want to live in the fantasy world that he’s my husband, that he’s carrying me to our bedroom and our children are all tucked into their beds, sleeping soundly and having nothing but sweet dreams.
We’d undress each other slowly, even after babies, and he’d look at me like I was the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen. Back in reality, I feel my back hit my mattress. I can tell he’s going to leave when he pulls the blankets over me, and I feel his lips touch my forehead before he goes to stand up.
“Don’t go. Please.” I don’t mean to beg him, but I can’t let him leave. “Will you just hold me?” I hear the rustling of his clothes and feel the bed compress when he climbs on. Brock pulls me until I’m snug against his front, and it takes only seconds before I’m out.
Brock
The sound of crying wakes me. It takes a second to figure out where the hell I am, and that it’s Ripley’s forehead resting on my shoulder where I got shot. Her tears are almost silent, and she keeps kissing the puckered skin. “Shhh . . . baby it’s okay.”
“Someone sh-shot y-you.” Her words are almost unintelligible. I wrap my arms around her and with a bit of maneuvering, she’s underneath me and I’m between her legs, a strip of cotton the only thing keeping me from thrusting my cock into her. My eyes adjust to the dark, and I can see the tears leaking from hers.
I kiss each tear away until I reach her mouth, and our lips move together in a natural dance. She’s always been an amazing kisser; we used to spend hours just kissing, and I never got tired of it. Ripley’s legs wrap around my thighs as I start grinding my hard dick against her sex, and my lips make their way down her neck, nipping at the point where her shoulder and neck meet. She rolls her hips, moaning—she’s still as responsive as I remember.
My hands find the hem of her shirt and work it up and off of her body. Next is her bra, and my lips immediately seek out her nipple, sucking it into my mouth with heavy pulls. Her back arches, pushing more into my mouth. I switch to the other, giving it the same treatment. Back and forth, I move between her breasts a few times before I begin kissing and licking down her stomach to the apex of her thighs.
I take a big whiff and can smell her arousal. I grab the sides of her panties and pull until the sound of fabric ripping echoes in her bedroom. With a swipe of my tongue, her flavor explodes on my tongue. Her hips fly up so I grip them with my hands to pin them down. For every swipe, I suck her clit into my mouth, and I remove one hand from her so I can work one finger, then two inside her.
Ripley is so wet that my fingers have no problem moving in and out of her. She’s babbling incoherently and I smile against her pussy. She whimpers as I pull my digits from her, but the whimper dies down and she screams as I spread her wide and thrust my tongue deep inside her. It doesn’t take much before her back arches and a guttural moan rips from her throat.
After I let her legs go, I move up and over her body. I attack her lips, letting her taste our combined flavors. “Condom?” I whisper against her lips.
“Nightstand.” I don’t like the fact that she has them, but I push those thoughts away as she hands me the unopened box. “I bought them after the night on the couch.”
I rip it open like a maniac, pull the long sleeve out, and rip one off, then tear open the wrapper with my teeth. She takes it from me and slides it down my dick. As soon as I ease my cock inside of her, I want to come. She’s so fucking tight, wet, and hot, I can’t fucking stand it.
“God Rip, you feel fucking amazing.” She moans and starts moving her hips. I take the hint and begin to slowly work myself in and out of her. I want to make this good for her, not some quickie on the couch. In and out, I move with purpose. Adding a little swivel with each thrust, I watch her pert breasts jiggle. She pushes on my shoulders until our positions are reversed, and my hands go to her hips as she starts rocking back and forth, bouncing up and down. Her nails dig into my chest as she throws her head back.
She’s so fucking beautiful like this. I push myself up into a sitting position, my lips sucking a nipple into my mouth as she starts to tighten on me. I want this moment and any more we may have before I go home to be ingrained in my brain. Her arms wrap around my head, holding me to her breasts as she begins to come hard. Her arousal is practically gushing out of her.
Again I flip her, but this time I move her until she’s on all fours. I line myself up with her and thrust inside, deep and hard. Her head flies back and I swear she’s coming again as I begin to pound into her with a punishing pace. I feel the tingle right before I feel myself let go, planting myself deep and groaning against her sweat-coated skin. I pull out and miss her warmth already.
“I’ll be right back.” I kiss her back as she collapses into a little ball on the bed. After I finish cleaning myself up, I head back into the bedroom and find her fast asleep. I try not to wake her as I ease in beside her, smiling in the dark as she rolls to me and wraps her body around mine. I missed this, missed that no matter what, she’d wrap herself around me.
Before I let sleep claim me, I say a little prayer. I pray that whatever this is doesn’t break either one of us when I leave, because I will have to leave.
My eyes open; the sun is shining through the window and it’s almost blinding. I look down and smile because Ripley’s knocked out. After the first time we had sex last night, we fell asleep, and a while later I was woken up by Ripley sucking my cock. I pulled her off and somehow we ended up fuck-wrestling on the floor. She came again and again and when I finally did, I did so with a roar.
I brush the hair out of her face and stroke her cheek with my thumb. With age, she’s gotten even more beautiful, and I can hardly breathe when I look at her. I gently roll her and slide out of her bed, throwing my jeans on and heading into the bathroom. When I’m done, I see to making her coffee and breakfast in bed.