Crash Page 4

  “You were at the complete opposite end of the house from everyone else.”

  “Yeah,” he said. “The old man liked it that way. He and I fought…a lot. Argued, not physically. He treated my mom and my sister like shit. He had no respect for them at all. He tried to do it out of my earshot as I got older. Especially after I started fighting. I think he was never sure when I was going to snap. I always tried to get my mom to leave…but she never would. They’ve been married over thirty years now and I’d be willing to bet he’s still dishing it out and she’s still taking it.”

  “I’m sorry. That had to really suck.”

  “It did. It kept me from being a normal teenager. I would take girls out once and never call them again. I was so afraid that I was like him. I didn’t want to get into a relationship with a girl and end up treating her like dirt the way he did. I guess it wasn’t just my teens that were messed up from it. I’ve still never had a real relationship. Just so you know I have a reason behind my weirdness.” He smiled, but it was a sad smile. He went on to say, “Marie went the opposite direction. She picked boys just like him. Her boyfriends were all verbally abusive and she and I didn’t have a good relationship as she got older because it bothered me so badly. I would go off on them if I heard them talking crap to her. I even got in a few physical fights with them. She always got mad at me and took their side…Then later she would tell me she was sorry and she loved and appreciated it. She was so much like my mom.”

  “But before that, when you were kids the relationship was good?”

  “Yeah, we were so close in age that when we were little we did everything together. It’s easier not to notice how dysfunctional things are when you’re young. My mom did her best to be a good mother. She had issues; she was depressed and anxious a lot. I didn’t know it until I got older, but I’m sure living with my asshole father was ninety-percent of it.”

  “I don’t think you would mistreat a woman.” I hated that he thought that. I was still in awe at the difference between the fighter in the cage and the lover in my bed.

  He smiled and brushed the hair off my face. It was a simple gesture, but an intimate one. It made me feel all warm and tingly. “Thanks,” he said. “It hurts me to look at your bruises and think about what Mitch did to you. I can’t imagine ever wanting to hurt something as beautiful as you.”

  I reached up and put my hand on the back of his neck. I pulled him down so that our lips could meet. It was the first really passionate kiss we had shared since I’d gotten out of the hospital and I felt it all the way to my toes. He took me gently by the waist and lowered us to the floor, breaking the kiss long enough to look into my eyes and say, “Are you sure about this?”

  “Absolutely,” I told him in a breathless voice.

  “You’ll stop me if it hurts.”

  “Promise,” I said, finding his lips with mine once again.

  As we kissed I could feel him unhooking my bra and unbuttoning my jeans. I lie back on the carpet and let him pull it all off. With my right arm still casted, it was nice to have the help. He was kneeling over me when he leaned down to kiss me again. I got hold of his t-shirt with my left hand and pulled on it. He took the hint and pulled it off. The sight of his hard chest and abs sent shock waves straight through me, culminating in my panties being soaking wet. It never failed to have that effect on me.

  He stood up and took off his pants and boxers and I shuddered all over again. When he came back down he took the elastic of my panties in each hand and pulled them off. Then he leaned forward and kissed my side where the black bruises still covered my ribs. His kiss was so soft I hardly felt it, but it was the sweetest thing he could have done and it stoked the fire burning inside of me. Things like that were what told me that he could never be abusive. Sometimes the cycle repeats itself, but sometimes it helps teach people the wrong way to do things.

  He sat there next to me, looking at me and very lightly brushing his fingers down my body. He would brush them across my breasts, making sure not to touch my engorged nipples, and then he brought them up to my still sore neck and shoulders and began using them and his palms to massage and knead the aching muscles there. It was comforting and sweet and erotic all at the same time.

  He swept my hair to the side and leaned down and ran his full lips across my neck. Then he moved back to my lips and this time he wasn’t quite as gentle. I felt his pushed against mine and his tongue probing around inside of my mouth like it was searching for something. Sore or not, the force of the kiss caused me to arch my back and rub my hips against his hard thigh. I’d missed him so much, I physically ached for him. He lay down next to me as we kissed and with one of his legs draped across mine and his rock hard erection pushed up against me, he rubbed against my pussy with his thigh. I felt the hand that was still exploring my body slide up and cup one of my breasts and squeeze it. His fingers finally found the throbbing nipple and he pinched it softly as he rolled it between his fingers. I moaned and I saw his eyes flutter open to look at my face. I know he was worried about hurting me, so I smiled to let him know that what he was doing was anything but pain.

  I felt him touching himself against me and I knew he was sliding the condom on. This man was so thoughtful and so responsible and so gentle…there was no possible way that he could ever be like he told me his father was. Once he had that task out of the way, he let his lips travel down to my chest and he took the one breast that wasn’t in his hand between his lips. He used his tongue to torture my sensitive nipple as he sucked the whole breast in and out of his mouth. I was moaning loudly now. My pussy was drenched. I wanted him inside of me. When I felt his mouth traveling from my nipple down across my stomach though, I realized that I could wait.

  He gently pushed my legs apart with his hand and in one deft move his face was between my legs and I was in heaven. He slipped his big arms underneath my legs on each side and lifting them just slightly, he began at the back and ran his hot tongue up my slit causing my body to convulse when it came into contact with the tip of my clit that was swollen and sticking out begging for attention.

  He repeated that move at least a dozen times before stopping and looking up at me. I think he was trying to gauge how I was doing, so I smiled again. Then I let out a sharp gasp as his tongue made contact with my clit. I was suddenly drunk on my own sexuality, and his.

  “Oh God, Paul! Oh baby, that feels so good.” He was flicking my clit back and forth with his tongue and sending jolts of electricity surging throughout my body. I was glad I was so well-hydrated from my stint in the hospital because my pussy was producing copious amounts of fluid. He used his tongue to play me like a violin, expertly going from toying with my clit and swirling around it to sliding it along between my lips. I was out of my mind, it felt so fucking good.

  “Oh baby, stop. I don’t want to come yet. I want you inside of me!”

  He pulled his face up and grinned at me. My juices glinted off the sun that was streaming in through the window. He moved back up to my face and I reveled in the way I tasted on his lips and tongue as he kissed me deeply again.

  I felt his body shift so that his hips were poised over my pelvis. He lined himself up with my opening as we kissed and then he broke the kiss to lift his head and look into my eyes as he entered me. He slid his throbbing hard cock into my aching pussy, slowly while we stared into each other’s eyes. He took his time, letting it slide in until it was in as deep as he could bury it and then he slid it back out. I reached up and put my hands on his hard ass and I pushed. He got the hint and he started moving his hips as mine came up to meet them. I felt the orgasm starting on the first stroke and it was only seconds later when it ripped through me like a tidal wave causing every nerve ending in my body to stand on alert.

  “Oh Paul! Oh fuck baby! Nothing feels like this. Nothing has ever felt like this.” I don’t know if it was my words, the sound of my voice or that he was just as horny as I was, but once my body stopped shaking from the orgasm he began to pound
into me with a driving force. I was making unintelligible noises because my brain felt like it was no more than a pile of heated mush. When I felt his cock stretch and the walls of my pussy stretch around it I started shaking again with another orgasm. As I came again, his whole body tensed and he grunted and then I felt him gently lay off to the side of me, even in ecstasy thinking about not wanting to cause me pain. I kissed the side of his face and I could feel him trembling. His skin was hot and flushed and his breaths were rapid. He finally looked up at me and the most beautiful smile I had ever seen covered his face. I was in love with this man, God help me.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  I went back to work a couple of weeks after “the day with Mitch.” When I got there I thought it was strange because there was no one around. I knew Paul was here somewhere because he’d left my house that morning on his way. I instantly worried that something bad happened. The after effects of everything that happened was that I walked around in a heightened sense of anxiety. I stared to head for the locker rooms before I saw Victoria stick her head out of the back room and I heard loud whispers of “Shh!” and “She’s here!” I smiled to myself then. They were great friends, but the worst at surprises. I stepped into the back and when they all yelled “Surprise” I tried to pull off a shocked expression. They had a big “Welcome Back” banner and the room was filled with balloons. There was a table full of food, a pot-luck extraordinaire. There was also a big cake that said, “Welcome Back Jessie!”

  “Aw, thank you guys. This is so nice.” Paul was there and when I looked at him I could feel tears in my eyes. “Thank you all,” I said again. Everyone was there and for the first hour I was at work I caught up on what everyone was doing and ate way too much. When we finally all dragged ourselves away from the party and got to work Paul said, “I’m going to work out in the ring with Sam today after we do some warm-ups. Do you have time to watch and give me some pointers on my form?”

  “I can do that. But I don’t know how much help I’ll be since I find your form to be beyond reproach….”

  He laughed and said, “Good to know, but I was talking about my boxing form. My next fight is going to be mostly a battle of the fancy footwork from what I’ve seen of Trent.”

  “Oh! Those moves,” I said with a grin. “I can help with that, no problem.” He looked around and when he was sure we were alone he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me up tightly against him. My ribs were still sore, but I didn’t want him to stop so I willed myself not to flinch.

  He leaned down and with his face only millimeters away from mine he said, “If I get the moves down, maybe you’ll give me a little reward later.”

  “Hmm, is the one I gave you in the shower this morning not enough?”

  “Not even close. No retro-active rewards.”

  I laughed and said, “Okay then, you keep track of what I owe you and we’ll settle up tonight.”

  “Tonight? I have to wait all day? You know how much I like instant gratification.”

  I swatted him on the butt and said, “Go get started on your drills or you’ll never make it to the ring and there won’t be anything to reward.”

  He grinned at me and went out to where Sam was waiting for him. I was burning up all of a sudden; just thinking about touching him gave me hot flashes. When I finally cooled down, I went out front too. I helped Mark who was still maintaining his perfect gentleman status. He was benching and I acted as his spotter. I could see Paul doing ladder drills with Sam across the room. It made me happy just to look at him. He was so freaking hot. Mark and I moved on to the biceps machine and I watched as Paul and Sam moved over to do box jumps. I liked watching him jump too. All of the muscles in his thighs and calves stretched and flexed. It was really sexy. Everything he does is really sexy. He was turning me into a pervert.

  I was finished working with Mark by the time Paul and Sam were ready to get in the ring. They were wearing their mouth guards and head gear, but I heard Sam tell him “no connecting with the punches.” Today was just about footwork. I stood next to the ring and watched as they circled around each other. Every time Sam came at Paul, his job was to get out of the way. I kept my eyes on his feet for a while and I noticed that he did a lot of plodding forward and running away. That was going to kill his legs and by round three…if he made it that far, he was going to be too tired to go on.

  “Hey! The whole point is to use your legs to get in and out of punching range. You’re backing out too far and giving him the chance to rush at you.” He looked at Sam and the big man gave him a subtle nod. I found that a little insulting. “Excuse me. You asked for my input.”

  He spit his mouth guard into his glove and said, “And I appreciate it.”

  “Good answer,” I told him. “Then don’t run it by Sam. Take it to heart. I’m not a boxer but I did study this stuff. I know what I’m talking about.”

  “I know you do, babe,” he said with a grin. It was the first time he’d called me that in front of anyone. I felt my face go hot and I glanced quickly at Sam. He was being polite but I could see the traces of a smile at the corners of his mouth.

  I watched again for a few minutes before saying, “Okay, see right there. He was coming forward with his arm. You weren’t moving yet. You were on your toes and going nowhere. Always time your footwork so that when he’s punching, you’re moving.”

  Paul spit out the guard again and said, “What about when I’m punching? Won’t he be moving?”

  “Yes, and so will you. Use your footwork going in for the punch and moving away from it as well. In other words, never stop moving. Just do it in a way that doesn’t use all your stamina in the first round.”

  He winked at me and said, “Baby you know I have stamina to go for days.” He slid his mouth guard back in and left me with a red face, I’m sure. I’ve never seen him so relaxed and playful. I guess having Mitch out of the picture really did do wonders for him. I liked this side of him, a lot.

  I shook off my embarrassment and started talking to him as he was moving in and out. “Okay good; create space as he throws the punch. Just back step enough so that you’re out of range. Don’t run, just step back! That’s it. Now, what do you do?”

  He didn’t take the mouth guard out that time but I heard him say, “Create space again.”

  “Exactly. It’s easy, just keep doing the same steps over and over…not working too hard but making him work harder.”

  “Hi Jessie!” I turned around and saw Victor and Marie coming towards us.

  “Hey kid! How are you?”

  “I’m good. Are you okay?” Victor asked me with a concerned look on his face.

  “I’m doing great. Teaching your uncle a few moves.” Marie walked up behind him and I saw a subtle wince when she looked at my face. It looked a hundred times better than it did, but evidence of the cuts and bruises were still there, faded but still evident when I wasn’t wearing make-up.

  “Hi Marie.”

  “Hey Jessie. It’s good to see you.”

  “You too, and you!” I told Victor.

  “Hey Jessie…I’m sorry for what my dad did to you.” Victor said it so sweetly that I felt worse for him than I did me. It was the first time since what I’ve dubbed “AM” “After Mitch” that I felt like I wanted to kill that SOB myself. This sweet little boy should never feel like he has to apologize for something that monster does.

  I sat on the edge of the ring with the ropes behind me so that we were eye to eye and said, “You have nothing to be sorry for. Grown-ups are supposed to know how to handle themselves without using violence. Unfortunately, some of them don’t learn that so well. You’re a great kid. We can all only be responsible for ourselves. I like you and consider you my friend. I don’t hold you responsible for anything that anyone else has done.”

  He smiled at me and his little freckled nose wrinkled as he did. I found myself hoping that someday Paul and I had one just like him. I was beginning to accept that even with all the drama I wanted to keep
him around. Kids are so resilient and I saw that in the next instant when Victor said, “Hey Uncle Paul, can I spar the winner?”

  Sam laughed and took out his guard and pulled off his headgear. “He already won,” he told the boy. “Come on up.”

  I got one of our smaller head gears and a new mouthpiece for him. Then Marie and I watched while the two of them went at it. Neither of them was really throwing punches, but at one point they hooked arms and Paul took him down to the mat.

  They wrestled until Victor was on top and he held up his arms and said, “I am the champion!”

  Paul reached up and tickled him underneath his arms, knocking him to the mat in peals of laughter. I looked over at Marie and saw the love for both of the in her eyes. She finally looked at peace. I was happy for her…for all of them. If anyone deserved some, it was this little family.

  Victor and Paul played for a couple of hours and Marie and I talked, getting to know each other more as I cleaned the machines and finished cleaning up the things from my party. She was like Victor, apologetic and feeling bad about what Mitch did to me.

  “I know that I of all people shouldn’t have a hard time believing he did that to you. He gave me a few beatings when we were together that I thought I wasn’t going to see the other side of. I’m just so damned sorry that you got caught up in our nightmare.”

  “And I’ll tell you the same thing I told Victor: There is only one person responsible for what happened to me and that is Mitch.” I looked over at Paul and said, “I wouldn’t go back and change any of my choices about letting any of you into my life.”

  “We’re lucky to have you in ours,” she said. “You’re good for my brother. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so happy or so at peace. He’s been wound up inside since he was fourteen years old.”