When she raised her arms up for a hug, I just fell into it without thinking. She felt soft and warm from the bed, and when she rested her head on my chest, her ear over my heart like she was listening to my heartbeat, I have to admit it shook me just a little.
“Why are you awake, baby?”
“I forgot to tell you something earlier.” I eased her head back so I could look down into her eyes. “What’s that?” I brushed her hair back because she’d forgotten to cover it again. I’ve missed her curls, so it was fine by me if she had a full head of those shits in the morning.
“I think we should wait until after the twins’ party before we do anything. That’s why I didn’t just let Greta leave, well, one of the reasons anyway. Another one being, I need more time to plan. I don’t know what to do, where to go from here. I believe her story, but without proof, what can the cops do?”
Plenty, especially with my help, but you don’t need to know that right now. “And the twins have been so nice to me. I don’t think it’s fair to take the spotlight away from them like that.” What a heart she has.
“Okay, baby, you focus on the party.” I doubt she realizes that I didn’t commit. I can multitask on my worst days. No way am I letting up now, not when I’ve started the ball rolling.
My mind was on that shit, but my body decided to go off on its own. First, it was the feel of her in my arms, then it was her scent, the combination was not to be taken lightly, but then she looked into my eyes with all that angst and heat and lust and uh, Sun Tzu ain’t got shit for that.
She was taking me down before I’d braced myself or come up with a good enough reason to pull away, and I found my one weakness, the only chink in my armor. I told myself I gotta do better than this even as our lips met. My hand moved beneath her top to settle on the heated flesh of her waist while the other wrapped around her protectively.
By the time my tongue slipped into her mouth, I’d all but forgotten my damn name. Tomorrow, tomorrow, I’ll research how the hell to combat this power of hers, but for now, I let myself drown in her softness, my heart betraying me once again as it only cared about what she wanted.
We were both a bit more relaxed this time around. Our fumbles as we helped each other get undressed were more playful than bungling missteps. Have you ever held something in your hands so precious that you’d die if you lost it? That’s how I felt as I ran my lips and tongue over her.
I experimented with tastes and sounds, listening to her body as I searched out and found new places of pleasure. There’s a spot high up on her inner thigh that makes her coo. When I run the tip of my finger over her clitoral lobe, her legs shake, so I did it again. When I teased that same place with my tongue, her back arched, but when I sucked it between my teeth with the lightest of pressure, she came off the bed with a scream.
I reminded myself that everyone else was in bed and that our rooms weren’t close enough to hear what was going on in each other’s. I opened her up with my fingers after I was done tormenting her sensitive clit, but things didn’t get much better when I dipped my tongue in her either. This time, she almost scalped me.
She came on my tongue, flooding my mouth with her essence, and I smiled because I was enjoying it as much as she was. Then she apologized, and I laughed because she’s just so damn cute. She had no idea what giving her this was doing to me. It’s more than a distraction, something to take her mind off of what’s going on; it was like a rebirth for both of us.
I tried pulling back when I realized where my thoughts were going, but once again, she came in under my guard, pulling my head up from between her thighs to push her tongue past my lips as she used her much tinier body to roll mine. “My turn!”
“Show me what you got.”
FELIX
This is now twice in less than a week that I’ve had the law at my door, and there’s a heavy sense of ominousness in the air. Things are moving at a rapid pace, and I can’t help but think that Becky has a point when she says that this is all the machinations of the Russo family. That being said, it doesn’t mean that they’re wrong.
“Felix, do something.” Becky looked scared, and I’m having a hard time sticking to my role of caring husband. “It’s going to be okay. I’ll call the lawyer.” I opened the door to let the officers in, not sure what I was supposed to tell them. Are they supposed to know that we were expecting them?
“Officers.”
“Are you Mr. Fontane?”
“I am; what can I do for you?”
“Mr. Fontane, is there a Rebecca Fontane living here?”
“Yes, there is, Becky.” She had a look of betrayal on her face, but I can’t say that I cared. Victoria had already disappeared, so she didn’t get to see her mother being cuffed or hear the racket that ensued as she was dragged kicking and screaming from the house.
I’m not familiar with law enforcement and how they do things, but I’m pretty sure someone of our financial standing is usually given the option to turn themselves in with a lawyer; they didn’t do any of that, just read her her rights and took her away. I felt somehow like this was the beginning of the end. The sequence of events the Russos had set in motion seemed to be on a runaway train with no brakes, and I get the feeling that if I don’t get my act together soon, that train’s going to run me over as well. The problem is, I think I deserve it.
I walked up the stairs to Gia’s room in no hurry to seek counsel for my wife. It’s been a while since I’ve been further than the doorway. I came up short when I realized how empty the room was. How had I never seen it before? The walls were bare; even the top of her bureau held nothing more than a bottle of lotion and a few hairpins.
The shelves lining the walls were bare. Then I remembered that her trophies from dance and gymnastics had been packed away a while ago. In short, there was nothing in the room to say that a teenage girl resided here. It looked more like a prison cell; all it was missing was a toilet in the corner.
If Adrienne was alive, it wouldn’t be like this, I’m sure. But once again, it was Becky that convinced me that this was what Gia wanted. How did I not realize that this is so vastly different from the little girl she’d been? How was it so easy for me to accept and believe that things had changed so much? That she’d gone from the being she once was, full of life and joy, to this?
My little girl liked canopy beds and princess everything. She used to play dress-up in her mom’s things and always liked something pretty in her hair. Her nursery had been one of wonder and fairytales; there was none of that here. No sign of the kid she once was.
I opened her closet to the ugly sweats and baggy jeans with the oversized unattractive tops she’d taken to wearing at age twelve. Something else Becky had claimed was growing pains. And yet, when she came here with the Russo kid, she’d looked like a damn model.
I felt the disconnect sharply, like a slap in the face, as I closed the door and went down the hallway to Victoria’s room. “What the hell happened in here?” The room looked like a whirlwind had gone through it. There were clothes strewn all over the floor and stuffing from stuffed animals that had their heads off and their insides discarded.