Fair Play (18 page)

The perfect seventy-degree Hawaiian breeze acts as a hair dryer as I trudge along in the sand to the edge of the water. My heart feels like a cement brick in my chest as I look back to make sure no one saw me leave.

How did I get here? I’m thousands of miles away from home, heartbroken on a beach in Hawaii, with no job and no plans for the future.

Life’s funny like that sometimes I guess. One day you’re cruising down the road in the right lane going under the speed limit obeying the rules toward a mediocre goal that will bring you a mediocre life when BAM! Love rear-ends you, shoving you off the road. You swerve and try to get control, only to plummet over the edge of a cliff, falling, tumbling, crunching against the rocks until a big branch reaches out to stop you, to save you, to rescue you.

Just when you think it’s safe to get out and make your way down to the ground, another car comes out of nowhere, smashing into yours, releasing it from the branch until you explode on the jagged rocks below.

Fuck love, fuck life, fuck trips in cars on winding mountain roads.

Nick rear-ended me off the cliff. I fell head over heels in love. He saved me from being killed and made me feel safe right before he dropped a bomb on me that destroyed my heart.

I’m walking and crying and having the greatest pity party of all time when I hear a voice call my name.

“Hey, Téa, where do you think you’re going?” Serena yells from one of several lawn chairs around a pile of ashes that was once a bonfire.

What is she doing out here? Why am I having such a shitty-ass day? Couldn’t I just slink off, literally, into the horizon and leave paradise with my dignity intact?

No, of course not.

Serena makes her way to the water’s edge where I am standing, looking like a wet rat with puffy red eyes and a fifty-pound bag weighing me down.

“I uh, I have a family emergency. I’m so sorry I have to leave like this. I wanted to say goodbye, but I didn’t know where you were.”

“You’re sorry you have to sneak out the back door and down the beach with wet hair?” She grabs a lock of hair that’s floating in the breeze and tosses it away like she’s disgusted.

“I’m calling total bullshit on your family emergency, so don’t even bother explaining. What happened between you and Nico?”

I must look surprised, because she shakes her head and chuckles. “Sweet girl, I know a Dear John moment when I see one. Come sit down and tell me about it.”

I point up the beach toward the diner, “But, I have a ride …”

She grabs my hand, “Yeah, yeah, you got a ride to the airport waiting at the diner. Come on, you’re gonna have to call another one because I’m not letting you out of my sight until I know what’s going on.”

For a frail, dying woman, she sure has a grip on my hand. Fifteen steps inland, she pushes my bag off my shoulder and points at a lounger next to the one she was sitting in.

I sit because, well, because I don’t feel I have a choice. Serena leans over and picks up a smoldering joint that was burning on a stump next to her chair.

“Helps with nausea. I can’t wait to be done with that damn chemo. I only kept taking it so I’d last long enough to say goodbye to my family. I’d have been long gone six months ago otherwise.”

“I uh, I don’t know what to …”

“You don’t know what to say, yeah I know. My life is irrelevant now. Tell me what my nephew’s done so at least I can fix his.”

I feel so stupid sitting here on the beach, whining and crying about a man, when she’s struggling through chemotherapy for a few happy days with her family before she dies.

“I don’t want to trouble you. You’ve got enough on your plate.”

And I don’t particularly want to tell her that her nephew is a sadomasochist who wants me to be his subordinate.

She inhales a long drag off the joint and blows it in my direction.

“Talk.”

“No, there’s nothing you can do.”

“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that.”

“I can’t, it’s … disturbing and personal.”

“Disturbing? That’s a new one. Never had a runner say he was disturbing. Self-centered distant maybe, but disturbing? You’re the first.”

“The first? Runner? You make it sound like he was a player. He told me he was always with Mariah.”

“Mmm, Mariah, now that was a good girl. I can’t wait to see her again soon. I bet she’s the first one who reaches out in the tunnel of light to welcome me to heaven.”

She closes her right eye when the wind changes direction and blows her smoke into it. A tear trickles down her cheek, “Damn smoke. I never smoked a day in my life, you know. It took me a month to learn how to inhale without coughing a lung up. Anyway, back to Nico. Yes, he was with Mariah for a long time, but in high school, girls fell in love with him everywhere he went. He said it was a curse. He just wanted to play football, fuck, and get straight As, in that order. He tried to tell them he didn’t want anything permanent, but they were blinded by his pretty face and good manners.”

I snort when I imagine Nick telling a lovesick puppy thanks but no thanks. I wonder if he was a Dom back then? Maybe that’s why he didn’t want to date. Maybe he had a sub that gave him what he wanted, when he wanted it, the way he wanted it?

“But Mariah was different?”

“Oh yes. Mariah wasn’t like the others. She was strong and independent. She was a take it or leave it kind of girl with her own dreams and goals. She made him chase her, and chase her he did. If having blue balls was a real thing, his would have been purple and big as baseballs on his wedding night.”

“She was a virgin?”

“I don’t know about that, but she wouldn’t give it up to him until he said I do in front of a Catholic priest and the good Lord God Almighty.”

“Sounds like a smart woman.”

“Yep. A lot like you she was. ‘Cept for all the decorations.” She lifts her chin toward the dragon tattoo wrapped around my arm and draws deeply on the joint.

“So, you gonna tell me what happened, or am I gonna have to call him up and have him come down here and tell me himself?” She slips her phone from the breast pocket of her flannel shirt that looks so out of place in Hawaii and waves it back and forth threateningly.

“No, please. Don’t call him. I’ll tell you. But you have to promise to let me go after I do.”

She raises her eyebrows and adjusts the purple bandana covering her bald head.

“Yeah all right, that’s fair. But if I can fix it, I’m gonna. With or without you here. That boy needs you. He lights up when you come in the room. I haven’t seen him happy like this since he met Mariah. You’re God’s apology, baby. He sent you to balance out the pain with joy.”

Heartbreak wells up inside of me until it overflows and my body is wracked with sobs. Serena stands and wraps her thin arms around my shoulders. She shushes me, stroking my tangled hair until I’m spent, and then she kneels down in front of me and asks again. “Now you gonna tell me?”

I nod my head, and she offers me the corner of her shirt for my tears. Any other time I wouldn’t, but something about Serena says she’s done this a time or two, and she doesn’t mind.

“He wants something I can’t give him.”

“A baby?”

“Oh, God no, I wish it were that simple. I’d have a dozen kids if he wanted me to.”

“Well, Nico loves kids, so that’s good. What else is there? He’s got money, he’s handsome as hell, he has a steady job and a beautiful baby girl.”

“Serena, have you ever heard of BDSM?”

“Yeah, the stuff from that smut book Fifty Shades of Gray, right?”

“Sort of, I think anyway. Nick … he, he lives that lifestyle.”

A deep groove puckers between her eyes, and her face contorts into an expression I don’t recognize. I’m not sure if she’s going to sneeze or cry until laughter explodes from her mouth. Serena laughs like a cackling hyena.

She holds her hand over her heart, gasping for breath until the corners of my mouth lift in a hesitant smile. It’s not funny, but her laughter is contagious and I can’t help myself.

After a long hard laugh, she wears herself out and looks me straight in the eye.

“Where in the world did you get that crazy idea in your head? My baby is no Dom. That boy couldn’t hurt a woman if she begged him to.”

“He sent me a text and told me to leave if I couldn’t commit to his lifestyle.”

“Oh, stop,” she says, waving her hand back and forth in the air. “Come on. We’re going back to the house. I know I said you could leave if you told me, but I’m not believing this nonsense until I hear it straight from his mouth, and neither should you. I changed that boy's diapers and took him to Sunday school every weekend. I watched him nurse a baby bird back to health after it fell out of its nest during a storm. He’s not like that. He’s just not.”

She stands and motions for me to do the same. Twenty minutes ago, I would have refused. But Serena is so sure that the idea of Nick being a Dom is absurd it ignites an ember of hope deep inside of me.

I explain the whole scenario as we walk, and Serena clucks her tongue and shakes her head back and forth.

When we round a boulder that juts out, blocking the view down the beach, I look up and see Nick standing on the porch. He’s dressed in black board shorts and a white t-shirt that hugs every chiseled muscle on his torso. His feet are bare, and the ocean breeze tussles his hair.

As soon as he catches sight of us, he bounds down the steps two at a time. It takes him seconds to race down the beach and scoop me into his arms.

“Damn it Téa, you scared the shit out of me.”

He’s squeezing me so tight I can’t speak to explain myself and when he loosens his grip, he covers my face in a million tiny kisses.

“Why were you leaving? Serena texted me and said she found you walking down the beach to the diner.”

I turn to Serena to ask how she managed to text him without me noticing, and she’s looking at a seagull overhead like she’s never seen one before.

“Nick, you’re not one of those Dom kind of guys, are you?” she asks, still watching the noisy bird.

Nick screws up his face in confusion. “Where the hell did that come from? No offense, Aunt Serena, but how much pot have you smoked today?

“Téa here tells me you told her to pack her stuff and hit the road if she wasn’t interested in being your slave.” She slowly drags her eyes from the bird to his face as she speaks.

“What the fuck? I leave to go work out this morning and come back to you two accusing me of being a sadomasochist?”

“Did you get on Match Pro today as Emmett?” I ask.

“What? No, why the hell would I do that? I ran ten miles and lifted weights. I told you I was going to the gym.”

I close my eyes and drop my chin to my chest. How could I be so stupid? I knew it felt wrong all along. I suspected it was a hacker, but somehow I convinced myself he was Nick.

“Somebody hacked your account. He had me convinced it was you. He knew things, things I thought only you could know. They knew your mom tripped on the path yesterday and that we went to the volcano park. Oh, and he knew her whole name and that you left early this morning while I was asleep to go work out.” My voice is frantic, like I’m grasping at straws trying to explain myself.

“Hey, shush honey, it’s okay. That wasn’t me. He must have been one hell of a salesperson to make you believe that, though. Do you still have the conversation on your phone?”

“I think so, he deleted your account, but I didn’t. How did he know those things? Is someone following us?”

“It could have been anyone. I have insane fans. You have no idea the lengths they will go to get my attention. Come on. I want to get you inside.

Nick

“Mom took Scarlet to a petting zoo,” Nick says, tossing my bag on the bed.

“Is everyone still waiting for us to go to the falls?”

“We’re going later. There’s no hurry on the big island.” I haven’t told her, but we aren’t going anywhere today. It’s going to be me, her, and this bed until dinnertime.

I put Téa in the shower so she can rinse the sand off of her feet and legs and untangle her windblown hair while I hang her clothes back up in our closet. When I'm done, I lay down on my side with both of our phones, trying to figure out what exactly is happening.

“That’s your new phone, isn’t it?” she asks, exiting the bathroom.

I hold it up, “Exactly. I think that’s how he or she did this. I’m checking my phone history now to see if my old phone has been used since I lost it. Bingo, yep, someone started using it two days ago.”

“Didn’t you shut off the service to that phone?”

“Yes, but it can still be used for Internet and iMessage, and the dating app is on there too. Whoever it was must have read all of our texts and messages on Match Pro. They know everything about us.”

Téa’s skin pales and she rests her hand on her belly. I know exactly how she's feeling. Knowing that a stranger has every detail about your life at their disposal is nauseating and a little unnerving.

“I wonder who has the phone and why they have a problem with you and me being together.”

“I have a theory.” I hold out my hand to her, and she crosses the room to take it.

“Lie down with to me, let’s figure this out.”

She crawls onto the bed and rests on her side facing me.

“Okay, I lost my phone beating that piece of shit’s ass in Bridgette's bathroom, but no one found it, so I think Matt must have it. Everything from that night is a blur until we got to the hospital. I thought he was unconscious the whole time, but maybe not.”

“Or maybe he picked your pocket when you were fighting?”

I lift my eyes from the phone. “You’re a genius. Yes, that’s got to be it. He must have slipped it out of my pocket when I had him in a headlock.”

“So that puts your phone in Matt's hands. Now what?”

“The guy at the cell phone company said he could pull a list of all the numbers the phone has texted since I informed them it was lost. He’s sending it to me as soon as it’s ready.

“Is Matt still in the hospital?”

“Yes, I spoke to a detective at the police department. He is being guarded until his head injury is stable, which will be soon according to him. The detective said they will probably move him to the jail tomorrow. He was going to have somebody check in his bed for my phone.”

I slide my hand across the mattress and lace my fingers with hers.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispers.

“There you go again, apologizing for something that’s not your fault.”

“No, I’m sorry I didn’t trust you. I’m sorry I let that jerk manipulate my feelings for you. I should have known.”

“You tried. I read the conversation, he was very convincing, and he had a lot of background about us. I just can’t figure out how he knows that my mother tripped yesterday, that’s the only thing he would have had to see with his own eyes. He must have someone working for him. My mother isn’t notoriously clumsy, but her name is public knowledge, and the rest of that stuff would be easy to guess. He also had to know that I left you early this morning. I suppose he could have guessed that I wouldn’t wake you, but somebody either saw me leave, or they have GPS on the Rover I rented.”

“All rental cars have a locator, don’t they?”

“Yes, maybe somebody from the car rental company is helping him? Or maybe he assumed that I would get up early and work out every day like I do at home. This is so damn twisted. Why is that guy is so fixated on you?”

“He’s crazy. All I did was tell him that his come-on line was weak, and I turned down his offer to dance. There wasn’t even music playing. It was weird. He sat around alone giving me the evil eye until Bridgette and I left the party.”

“He probably had a bad upbringing or maybe a mental illness, something.” My phone dings in my hand. I look down at the message.

Mr. Wood, your phone was used on the dates listed below to text a phone registered to Mollie Pitch. If I can be of further assistance, please contact me. Brad Milling

“I don’t know anybody named Mollie Pitch. I’m sending her name to the detective to see if he can figure out who she is.”

“So now we wait?”

“Yep, now we wait.”

I roll away from her and place both phones on the table next to the bed.

“So, rope play, huh?” I say and tuck my hands behind my head.

“Nothing crazy, I had a boyfriend once who liked to tie me up. He didn’t hang me from the ceiling or anything. Just wrists, ankles sometimes, you know, we played around.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I roll back onto my side.

“What time are we leaving for the falls?

“We aren’t. I postponed the excursion until tomorrow.”

“Oh, so where is everybody?”

“They went to the beach. Not our beach, but one closer to Serena’s house. They wanted to give us some time alone.”

“I feel like a total idiot. I ruined everyone’s plans for the day, including my own. I was really looking forward to getting some shots of the waterfalls.”

I reach out and tuck a strand of red hair behind her ear.

“The waterfalls will always be there, we can go another day or every day if it makes you happy.”

“You make me happy, but yeah waterfalls, every day, put that on your calendar.”

“Done. You know, I have the strong feeling that I’m late for something, but I can’t remember what it is,” I say, tapping my finger on my chin. “Do you have any ideas?”

“Why yes, I know exactly what you’re late for.”

I watch her straddle my hips and untie the drawstring on my shorts.

“You’re late for a very important date.”

She slips her hands inside my waistband, and I lift my hips to help her pull them off. We both strip off our shirts and toss them aside. I’m about to peel her out of her shorts when she holds out a finger to stop me.

“Just a second.”

I watch as she closes the curtains on the French doors leading onto our private section of the deck. They still swirl and shuffle in the wind, but no one from the beach can see us now.

“I never used to care if anyone saw me having sex. But now that I know someone is out there focused on us, I don’t like the idea of it.”

“Me either, good idea.”

I'm mesmerized by the bounce of her perfect round breasts when she crosses the room back to the bed. My cock is standing at full attention when I shove off my boxer briefs.

I sit up and unbutton her jean shorts, dipping my head to suck on her erect nipple for a moment while I unzip the tiniest zipper I’ve ever unzipped.

I release it and slide my tongue across to show her other one the same attention. She wiggles out of her shorts, and I hear them hit the floor with a soft whoosh. I sit back and pull her between my legs, but not before noticing Thor on her underwear holding his giant hammer over his head.

“First it was Captain America, and now Thor.”

“Yep, the two hottest superheroes.”

“I thought I was your hero.”

“Oh, you are. In fact, I was looking at a website where you can design your own underwear. Pretty soon you’ll be seeing your face when you take my shorts off.” She wiggles her eyebrows, and I can’t tell if she’s messing with me or not.

“That might be a little weird.”

“And a full-grown woman wearing superhero underwear isn’t?”

I tip my head to the side. “Yeah, you got me there. Now let’s get rid of Thor, I have a meeting with a rabbit.”

She laughs, and the sparkling rose of her belly ring twinkles with the movement. She slips off her panties and tosses Thor into the growing pile of clothes next to the bed.

There’s something oddly satisfying about seeing his proud face crumpled in that pile.

Téa presses her knee onto the bed and swings her other leg over, settling her warm pussy right over my cock. Without a word or a kiss or a touch of her hand, she begins to slide her hips up and down, rubbing her slick folds on my length.

I reach up to circle her tiny waist with my hands. One tip of my hips and I would be inside her, but my condoms are in my bag in the bathroom.

“Téa,” I whisper and look toward the bathroom door.

“I’m on the pill.”

I think those are my new favorite words. I lift her up and position her over my cock. Slowly, she impales herself inch by inch until my eyes roll back in my head. The perfection of being bare inside of her with nothing separating us is unreal.

I moan and cup her ass, pushing in deeper. She leans back, placing her hands on my thighs. She drops her head back and her long hair brushes against my legs, causing goose bumps to break out on my legs.

“Okay, I’m good if you are,” I say. In our short time together, we have learned that the first moment of connection during sex is so intense for both of us that we have to pause and regroup for a moment.

“Yeah, ready,” she says, her voice low and sultry. I fucking love her voice when she’s in this zone. It’s thick and heavy with desire. She always sounds like she’s on the verge of coming for me, and maybe she is. I’ve never asked her.

I watch this gorgeous woman work her hips up and down and around in circles, covering my shaft with her liquid arousal. The way her breasts bounce with every thrust makes me feel powerful somehow.

I slide my hand around her hip and circle her pretty jeweled clit with my thumb until she’s digging her fingernails into my thighs, panting to keep from coming. She likes to hold on as long as possible, even though I could make her come over and over all afternoon.

I grab her waist and flip her over so that I’m on top. I slide out, and she whimpers.

“Turn over.”

She does as I ask, and I slide my arm under her belly and lift her onto her knees. When she begins to rise up on her arms, I slide my hand down her damp spine to the middle of her upper back and push her back down gently.

“I want you like this,” I say, leaning back on my heels. With one hand on her ass, I use the other to spread her legs open. She’s an erotic sight with her face on the mattress and her ass up, spread open, wet and ready.

I resist the temptation to slam into her and ride her hard at first. Instead, I drag my finger along her crease starting with the pucker of her ass. She inhales sharply, and I know it’s a reaction of pleasure and not discomfort because she pushes into it instead of cringing away.

I work her from behind with my fingers, circling her clit and penetrating her with two fingers to keep her juices flowing. When I’m losing my mind listening to her little moans and cries, I rise and slide into her deep.

“God yes Nick, that’s so good please …”

I begin a slow, steady rhythm, fucking her long and slow while her hands clench the sheets on the bed tighter and tighter. I circle the pucker of her ass with my thumb while I pick up the pace. When I feel her coiling around me, I slam into her over and over, lifting her knees off the mattress at times, trying to unite us further until we both cry out in ultimate pleasure.

I lower myself down and mold my body with hers.

“I love you, beautiful girl.”

I can feel her smile against my cheek.

“I love you, too."