Forever and a Day (58 page)

She followed his every suggestion and soon her under the blanket.

He went silent as she felt his hands come away and he simply rested both of his index fingers on each side of her spine between her shoulder blades. Then came a gentle pressure and she heard him breathe in deeply, when he inhaled the pressure released and he moved down slightly.

She found herself breathing along with him and her whole body began to feel like jello. She closed her eyes and relaxed into the feeling and that is when she felt a feeling beyond a mere tingle. She let out a little gasp and forced herself relax again. When he reached a point midway down her back, without moving his fingers, he slowly straddled her bum. She was amazed at how light he felt.

A wave of what she could only describe as pleasurable tingles, whispered up her back and left a warming sensation in her head. It felt so damned good and she was so relaxed now she was beyond jello, it was as if she was a puddle of goo. When he reached the small of her back, she perceived a change. She suddenly became aware of his heat emanating from his groin as he was hovering over her bum. She felt him move back a bit and his thumbs replaced his forefingers on her lower back.

He began pressing deep on each side of her lower vertebrae and the tingles were joined by a warmth in her belly that was beginning to slowly move down south. His thumbs began moving in slow, delicious circles. Her insides felt so good, as the warmth and the waves of tingles were building. She felt his hands move down a bit and the tingles wafted to her naughty bits. Her belly fluttered with butterflies as she felt herself getting hot and oh so wet. His thumbs moved down more and she felt her breathing come in quicker.

She let out a moan and began unconsciously, gently rocking her hips back and forth. She felt the fire coming off his manhood and she began fantasizing about him making love to her. Her sex was merely just hot a few moments ago, but now her heat erupted like hot lava. She gasped again as the circular motions shifted down to above her waistband and slowed their pace. This was no regular massage! He was seducing her body with his fingers. Suddenly an intense wave of rolling tingles shot from her sex up her back and through her head. She moaned and began grinding her hips down on the blanket and soft warm sand. She was breathing fast as the waves of pleasure began rolling in waves up her body.

She heard him whisper, “Want me to stop?”

From somewhere deep down in her throat, she moaned out, “Oh hell no…”

She continued the gentle rocking of her hips and she began fantasizing about making love with him again as his fingers continued their circular motions of pleasure. She discreetly slid her hand under herself and found she was soaking wet and on fire. Using her fingers, she was only able to press hard but her body responded.

Oh fuck, she thought… I’m going to orgasm right her and now! Did she dare make him stop? Her body screamed at her to let go. Oh fuck! She kicked her thoughts to the curb and began rocking back and forth harder as the heat from him teased her. She could not move her fingers but kept up the pressure as his massage began beckoning her orgasm to come forth.

Her sex began tingling like mad; her inner thighs were twitching in joyous pleasure as the waves of hot rapture began building faster and faster. Wave after wave it built then suddenly they crested and a hot rush shot up her body. She couldn’t control her voice and she let out a huge pleasurable gasp as an another bigger wave of pleasure rolled up from her naughty bits up her belly then up her back. She felt another beginning to build, she bit her lip in trying to not to scream out, but the thought of him inside her made her lose control. She screamed out in ecstasy as it felt like a dam burst and rolling waves of pleasure inundated her quivering body. She felt her body began to tremble uncontrollably then his thumbs came away and gently began tracing softly across her bare back, like butterfly kisses.

She felt like she was floating up in the starry sky. Tingles wafting through her, weightless. She imagined she could reach out and touch the stars. Her sex was still firing as if they were short-circuited. She felt him begin to slowly and deliciously caress her back softly with the palms of his hands.

He swung himself off her with ease and lay down at her side as kept up the soft caressing with his free hand. It was so warm and felt amazingly good on her skin, it was an added pleasure to the tingles. Over time, her tingles slowly began to fade, but left a warm feeling throughout her body.

Holy heaven in a handbag! She thought to herself, sex with this man must be out of this world. All she could do was lay there like a rag doll as he continued to caress her back, neck and arms. She realized she was moaning and did not care, her body just wanted to stay there and drift away with him touching her.

A realization drifted into her thoughts. She never had an orgasm like that in her life, not with another man or her bathtub ducky. This was something else, something entirely different, her belly got warmer thinking about it then she heard him whisper to her.

“Halo, are you ok?”

She opened her eyes and saw him looking at her with a soft, relaxed smile. She simply nodded, how could she answer that? She had no words to describe it. She managed to say in a hoarse whisper, “Oh my God… What was that?”

Xander brushed some stray strands of hair away and he leaned closer to her, “You have to promise me something.” He whispered.

“Of course, silly.” She replied softly.

“That was just for you. It’s as much… I can share with you. Please keep this is our secret. You know, radar and all that.”

She liked that, ‘their secret’, “Of course… I promise.” She watched his eyes and felt she had to ask, “Um, did… did you, you know?” She saw him close his eyes and raise his dark eyebrows.

“No, but I was kinda there with you…”

She let out a little gasp, “Xander! That’s not fair for you. Um, is there anything…”

Xander quickly interrupted her, “Oh. Uh, I’m good. Honestly, but… thank you.” His body right then and there could have murdered his mind if it could at his stupid declaration. He knew where her hand was, he had felt the intensity of her orgasm and it was insane. His body wanted more, it wanted her… it needed her and his heart add its own opinion by hurting him in spite.

“Can I ask?” She whispered.

He was so enthralled at the glow of her face and her eyes had the electric blue thing going on. She simply was Aphrodite reborn. He reached over and pulled the blanket over her. He looked at her and answered, “Sure...”

“How? I’ve never felt a massage like that!” She felt silly asking, but had no other was to describe it.

He chuckled and set his head down on his arm, not wanting to point out he knew where her hand was. “I uh just well…” He wanted to tell her he opened himself up to her fully but passed, “I learned some things when I was a teen at Aikido camp. I discovered something like this while I was pressing another student… uh I liked her and vice versa. I eventually put one and one together and it made three. Lucky I guess…”

“What? One and one makes two.” Halo corrected.

Xander smiled, “Here think of it like this: One man, one woman they have a child. One and one and child, makes three. It’s just a different way of looking at things.”

“I see… it makes sense like that. Oh Xander, my mom would love talking to you!” She paused for a moment, “Xander, do you do that a lot? I mean with…”

He knew where she was going with it and interrupted, “No. She hates it.”

She nearly came off the blanket, “Oh my! Why?” She saw him sigh and roll on his back and look up at the ceiling of the tent. “I’m sorry…” He turned and looked at her, his eyes looked unhappy then he answered her.

“She finds it intrusive, it scares her. She says she loves me and sometimes I feel it… but she has hardly ever opened her heart to me. I tried to explain it, she simply can’t open up. It’s just who she is. You can’t push it on people.” He did not know why he just said that about Evie so he quickly segued. “In my old school we were taught how to heal injuries with ‘pressing’. What I, uh we did was a little something else.” He sighed wishing he could just tell her, “Wanna hear a story about Athena getting hit in the face with baseball bat?”

“Oh my! Was she ok?”

He turned his head to her, “Like I said she got hit in the face with a bat. The neighbor kids brought her home and I immediately set to pressing her while my wife called the doctor. She was struck on the jaw all the way up to her temple and she was beginning to swell. I spent an hour pressing her face—jump to the next morning. Her face was tender to the touch with no swelling, but the only bruising was up in her hair where I didn’t press her. Funny thing, next week she was hit on the opposite side of the face with a swing while I was at work. Sure enough when I got home, I got cried at by her for not being there to press her, she kept pointing to her huge shiner. That was the day I began to teach her, uh the right way. Halo… what it boils down to is the energy of love…”

“Love?” Halo blurted out.

He looked away, cursing himself for the slip then replied casually, “Uh, yes. It can get metaphysical. For instance you don’t want to use your own energy normally. You want to use the energy from around us…”

“So you mean there is love around us?” Halo asked purposely.

“Uh… well, yes I like to think so…”

“That’s it?” She asked and she could hear her dejection in her reply. “So I take it you used your own energy…”

“Yeah… something like that. Knowing where to place your fingers or hands is another.” He could not help but smile, hoping she did not read too much into it.

“You really are a Mystery man, aren’t you?” Halo stated.

“Nope, just a guy, Halo. Just a regular guy.”

“Yeah, right.” Halo reached her hand over and caressed his arm, “So now what?”

He turned to her, “How’s your back?”

“Better, and back to my question. So now what?”

“I’m just trying to not stray too far past the line, Halo. I hope I haven’t…”

“Um, so you get to do this for me, and I can’t reciprocate?”

He turned to her and got lost in her beauty for a moment. He blinked a few times then answered, “Trust me on this, you being right here, right now? Is doing more for me than you can ever, ever imagine. Can you understand?”

She sighed, “I think so…”

Halo watched him close his tired eyes and soon his breathing deepened. Sure, she knew what he meant, but she also knew that he wanted her and badly, no matter how much he tried to cover it up in front of her. She heard what he said about his wife, she caught the slip and the change of subject. His heart was up for grabs and she wanted his heart to love her. With that thought, she scooted close and cuddled up to him.

She listened to him breath and wondered if she could ever sleep again without him next to her. She could hear JJ’s voice in the back of her mind reminding her that he is taken and not hers to have. She started thinking about how good he had just made her feel… without actually having sex. It was something crazy for sure. She bet her mom would know. What if she did steal him from his wife, what would her mother say? Oh hell, she thought at that mental picture.

Athena looked out of the front door’s peephole. She sighed as she partially opened the door, “Hi Eric.”

Eric did his best to hide his sadness with a smile, “Hello Athena, how are you doing?” She shrugged at him.

“Fine.” She replied, “What brings you here… again?”

“Oh, I have some papers for your mother to sign.”

“What are they?” She asked looking at the thick manila envelope in his hand.

“Court papers from the attorney, I told your mom I’d drop them off.”

“Court papers? What are they for?” Athena probed.

“I, uh maybe you should talk to your mom about it? Would you give them to her as soon as she gets home?”

“Eric, what are they?” Athena asked as she opened the door a little more.

“Athena, I—I’m just trying my best to help you guys out. I owe it to your father…” Eric looked down and shook his head slowly, “I’m the one who got him the part… and now he’s dead.”

Athena’s eyes flared wide, “He’s not DEAD!”

Eric took a small step back at the intensity of her shout. He watched silently as she worked to control her anger, “I’m sorry. I forgot how you feel… it’s just that when they found the second raft all torn up last week…”

“Eric, my dad is not dead!” She urged, “I know it in my heart and I don’t care what you or my mom says… even what that asshole, Joel Miller said on TV! He’s a liar! My father would NEVER, EVER hurt Halo! You know that!” Athena clenched her fists tightly and caught herself before she blurted out the facts of her secret letter.

“I—I agree with you on that. I know your father would never hurt Halo or anyone else unless he had to.”

Athena heard wet tires of a vehicle coming down her street, she looked up and saw it was her mother’s van, “Here she is. Give her the papers yourself.” Athena began to shut the door and Eric stammered for her to wait.

“Athena! Please, if you need anything… I just want to help.”

Athena shot him a glare, “Then you can start by believing me, just because I’m a kid no one wants to hear what I feel!” She watched as Eric stared at her for a long moment, he ignored Evie’s car as it pulled into the garage.

“Ok… but your mom doesn’t and she won’t. I have to tell you that and that I will do everything I can to help your mom through this. I owe it to her, do you understand?”

It was Athena’s turn to stare at Eric. After a long moment, she gave him a single nod. She heard her mother come inside the house as she came up to the door she opened it wide for her mother.

“Eric!” Evie said with an upbeat tone.

Athena gave her mother a glare and without a word retreated upstairs to her room.

Once there she slammed her door and went immediately to her dream box her father had made for her sixth birthday. She stared at the folded envelope that contained the letter that came postmarked from New Zealand. There was no signature or return address but she guessed that Jenni Jones had sent it to her, as the media reported she was hospitalized there. The letter said not to believe the media and her father did it right. The letter also pleaded with her to keep it secret as it could endanger herself and others.

She heard her mother voice as she spoke with Eric. She sounded happy and that disturbed her, but not as much as recently, her mother has stopped calling him a ‘Malaka’. She listened and heard them talking quietly in the kitchen. Then a pot clanked on the stove and she shook her head, her mother was making something to eat for Eric.

Thoughts of the manila envelope made her tummy feel weird, as if it contained something bad. She remembered her father always telling her to pay attention to her intuition. She decided to wait until Eric left before she confronted her mother… it was past due anyway. She was not going to ‘toe the line’ like she made her father do so many times. She knew he did it to keep the peace. She felt her eyes mist up and she angrily wiped them and waited for Eric to leave.

It took Eric an hour to start making excuses for leaving. She finally heard the front door close and with a deep breath, she sprinted out of her room and downstairs.

She entered the kitchen and glared at her mother who was clearing Eric’s plate off the table… from the place where her father sat. Bile shot up in her throat and without a care, she angrily spat, “SO! What’s in the envelope that your Eric brought?”

Evie spun towards her daughter with a glare, “None of your business!”

“Oh yes Manah, I think it is my business! It’s about dad and I know it came from the attorney.”

Evie set the plate down hard on the table and pushed a dark lock of hair from her forehead, “Fine! You want to know?” She shouted back. “I’m having your father declared dead as fast as the court will allow!”

Her mother’s words hit her like kick to her tummy, “Wha… what?” She stammered in shock.

“Your father left us for that Skeela and that movie! He shamed us in front of the world and is rightly dead and gone! There are bills to pay and Social Security benefits for you!”

Athena ground her teeth together hard and felt the anger rise like hot lava from her core. She worked hard to keep from exploding and recalled her father’s words to her about keeping calm. She took in several quick deep breaths. “Oh?” She spit back, “What else? I know we have money, you are so tight with money dad always joked you have Fort Knox buried in the back yard.”

“So you are all big and grown up now to speak to me like this? You think you know it all? You are still my daughter and live in my home! You will not speak to me like that!”

“Fine! I’ll go stay with Yiayia and tell her what you are doing!” Athena turned around quickly to leave and felt her mother come up fast behind her. Instinctually, as her father taught, she waited until she sensed it coming then quickly side stepped and watched as her mother’s hands grab hard at thin air where she just was. Surprised at the violent grab, she ran to the dining room and put the large table in-between them.

“YOU will not leave this house! I forbid it and you will keep your mouth shut to Yiayia!” Evie yelled at her daughter from across the table.

“Manah! What is wrong with you? You were going to hurt me!” Athena yelled back, “You never will sit and listen to what I have to say! DAD IS NOT DEAD!”

“He is dead! He’s gone and left us all alone!”

She shot back, “No, you just want him dead! Why?” She screamed.

Both mother and daughter stared at each other for a long moment. Evie finally broke the tension, “I need to move on. That’s why!”

Athena could not believe her ears and suddenly pieces from the past two years began to fall into place. In shock she raised her hand and pointed at her mother, “You think I don’t know what you did to dad? You forgot I speak Greek too?”

“I never did anything…” Evie pulled up short and her eyes shot open wide at her daughter.

“Yes Manah, I’ve heard you and dad arguing. I remember his birthday a couple of years ago when you took me to Yiayia’s… I know you hit him and he lied to me about running into the door!” She watched her mother’s mouth open and close wordlessly. “Dad never raised a hand to you and here you believe that he hurt Halo, killed her even! So why did you hit him mom?” She watched as her mother’s face paled to a deathly white.

Seeing her mother not responding and not really knowing the full truth, she cut to the chase with a ruse, “I know why… and what you did.” She accused pointing at her.

She saw tears begin to flow down her mother’s pretty face and a look of shame followed the tears. Athena felt her heart lodge in her throat as her mother covered her face with her hands and slumped against the wall in despair.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…” Athena heard her mother mutter from behind her hands.

She felt her face flush hot as she got more than she bargained for from her ruse. Now she realized why her Yiayia was so angry with her mother back then. The truth hurt like a knife in her heart, “M-mom… why?” She watched as her mother looked up at her with red puffy eyes and smeared mascara.

“People make mistakes Athena… I’ve made mine.” Evie swallowed hard and a quiet sob escaped her lips, “Your father deserves better than me… someone beautiful, someone who could love him like he deserves.”

“What?” She paused confused, “But, but mom… dad always said how pretty you are! I know he loves you… he tells you all the time.”

Evie’s lips tightened and her eyes squinted, “Pretty? You know what I see in the mirror? Do you?” Evie watched as her daughter gave her a slow cautious shake of her head. “I see a fat Greek peasant lady! You, my mother and your father say I’m pretty, you all just lie to me!” With her hand over her heart and her voice deep with emotion she continued, “I’m so relieved that you took after your father’s looks.”

Athena felt her mouth fall open and she gripped the back of the dining table’s chair in shock. She shook her head hard a few times, as she processed her mother’s words, “But mom… we never lied, you are very pretty.” She saw the slight shrug of her mother’s shoulders but she knew instinctively that her words were meaningless.

Thoughts of her father shot into her mind, then of Halo… and now how her mother was suddenly happy around Eric lately. She felt as if she was going to throw up and she looked up at her mother and the final nail struck home in her mind and she knew.

“You don’t think dad is dead either…”