Sixty Days (9 page)

“I don’t know
, baby, but your next stop is down there,” he replies, nodding to the bed with a huge shit eating grin plastered across his face. And just like that, Mickey has us both in the bed, never letting go of his hold on me. The move makes me squeak and giggle. Suddenly remembering were we are, my eyes practically bulge out and I cover my mouth hoping no one heard me.

God! Laylah
, get a hold of yourself.

Mickey chuckles and removes my hand from my mouth, which makes me bite my lower lip. He lays there on top of me
, studying my face. Finally, he leans his face down to mine and takes hold of my body and soul with a heated kiss.  I moan in his mouth, which in turn makes him groan.

We kiss for what feels like hours, never moving further than second base.
His hardness against my belly and the dampness in my lace panties drives me crazy with need. I want more, oh god, do I want more. But, we couldn’t take the risk, not in a house full of people. Eventually, we fall asleep in each other’s arms, ignoring the desperation to take things further.

The next morning
, I awake only to find myself still in his arms. “Hmmm…. I love waking up with you in my arms,” he says, tightening his grip on me. I blissfully smile at his comment with my eyes still closed, not yet ready for the annoying morning light.  I must admit, there is nothing worse than that God forsaken first light that hits you in the face as soon as you open your eyes. 

Mickey pulls me out of my line of thoughts by
placing kisses all over my face. First my cheeks, then my eyes, before finally reaching my mouth, just as he did the night before. Or was it morning? What starts as a chaste kiss quickly escalates into a replay of last night. I feel giddy and needy, maybe we’ll hit a home run this time. All of my hopes are quickly crushed by a sudden buzzing in his pants

“Shit,
” he mumbles close to my lips, pressing his forehead to mine.

Giggling I tell him
, “Get it, it might be important.” Groaning, he starts to reach for his phone just as it stops buzzing.

“
Call me lucky, I get to keep kissing you. Now, where were we?” he says jokingly, his voice is husky with desire. “Come here, my heaven.” A loud consistent knock resonates on my door, interrupting us once again. I crash back down to Earth, the reality of our situation coming back to me with a smack.

“Fuck!
” I say on the borderline of a huge panic attack.

“Shhh,
baby, calm down. I know, I know, I should of have known better,” he says, caressing my hair off my face.

“LAYLAH! Who the hell are you talking to?” Kevin’s furious voice makes us both to jump out of bed as if he could actually see us.

Taking a deep breath, I calm myself enough to finally answer him. “What are you talking about, Kev? I was sleeping until you decided to pound on the door like the house is on fire.”

“Cut the act
, Torres. I’m not stupid, you were talking to someone. Who’s the damn prick? Open the fucking door, so I can kick his ass!” God! Could he get more overbearing “Open the damn door, Laylah!” Glaring at Mickey, I give him a look that says, ‘I’m killing him in so many different ways in my mind right now’. Instantly, he knows he needs to intervene in some way, otherwise I’m going to burst through the goddamn door and leave my brother with the prospect of never procreating. I swear, I’m going to kill his ass.

“Fine! But
, you should know, I sleep in the clothes I was born in!” I threaten, a corner to corner smile taking over my face. Kevin can’t see me but Mickey can. And, right now, he’s trying to control his laughter

I can hear my brother groan through the door and imagine the scowl forming on his face. “S
pare me the fucking images, Laylah. Put something on and open the fucking door!”

“Fine…just give me a
minute,” I say, giving in to his demands, knowing that he won’t give up til I do.

“Whatever…” Kev says back
, calming down a little. 

Mickey picks me up in his arms bridal style and takes us both to the bathroom. “What are you doing?” I whisper to him once we are inside the bathroom.

“What? We can’t let him hear more than two footsteps,” he says, putting me down.

Smiling back
, I say, “Good thinking, sir.” I turn to my side and put my hair up in a messy bun. Turning my back to him, I say, “Help me untie the knot, please?”

“With pleasure, my lady
.” He starts to slowly remove the knot from the halter top of the dress. The tension from last night and this morning is palpable, my nerve endings on fire. Once he’s mastered the knot, he keeps the same pace as he slides my dress down my body until I step out of it. “You are trying to kill me,” he huskily says, groaning slightly. I can’t help but smile at his reaction to my adhesive lace, black bra and matching panties.

“All for you, baby. All for you.” I wink
at him, shaking my ass a little.

“You’re such a tease. So…
what’s the plan?” he asks, letting out a breath.

“Ok,
you stay here hide in the shower or something. Don’t you dare make a sound. Blood is hard to clean.”

“Got it
, boss. Put some clothes on before I make you break your no noise rule.” Giving him a mischievous smile, I brush my teeth and wash my face. Feeling like I haven’t tortured him enough, I sashay out of the bathroom, giving him a show.

I quickly throw
on some clothes and finally open the door. “What do you want, you pain in the ass? You look awful, by the way,” I comment, extremely irritated.

Brushing by my side
, ignoring my comment, he says, “Two things. First, mom and Mama bought some decorations and want you to put them up. Since it’s almost one in the afternoon, they sent me here to wake up sleeping beauty,” he explains while looking around the room. I can’t help but roll my eyes at him and hope to God that he doesn’t go into the bathroom. Finally, he looks me dead in the eye and says, “Secondly, I’m looking for Vega. I’ve been calling him all morning and, according to mom, you were the last person to see him. Would you happen to know where he is?”

Shit, fuck, damn!

Chapter Five

“W

hat exactly
are you insinuating, Kev?" I manage to keep a cool. Don’t ask me how, I just do.

Keep calm
Laylah.
I keep reminding myself.
Deep, relaxing breaths. Breathe in, breathe out. Don’t you dare to make him suspicious. Just don’t!

“I’m not insinuating anything, Layl
ah.  I’m just stating the facts. Mom told me you were with him earlier this morning taking care of his battle wounds and then you left on your separate ways. I was just wondering if you saw or heard him leave. I’m worried about him.”

Thank you
, mom! Note to self, huge motherfucking Christmas gift for the birth giver. Ok, quick, say something else to distract him from the bathroom. Think!

“What is this freakish obsession you
’ve got with him? Are you in love with him or something?”

He just glares at me. “Are you
fucking serious?” he states.

Ok, now you
’ve just pissed him off. Genius, Laylah, fucking genius!

“He’s a big boy,
he can take care of himself,” I yell in frustration.

“You know damn well why I’m worried about him
, Laylah!” he yells back. Ok, he’s got me there. But that was a long time ago. I know Mickey better than anyone else. He’s not that guy anymore. He’s sweet, charming, caring, and hard working. He has truly improved since then. He’s never once shown himself to be the guy I’ve always been told about. Quite the opposite, actually.

“Kev—”
Bang!
A loud noise interrupts me just when I was about to tell him not to worry, that he has changed. Now, normally I would have just ignored it. But, considering that the noise came from the bathroom, I can actually feel myself start to hyperventilate.

“What the hell was that?”
Kevin asks, heading straight to where the noise came from.

“What was what?” I try my best to sound calm and clueless, but my stupid nerves won’t let me.

“Don’t bullshit me, Torres. Who’s in the bathroom?”

“No one, I swear.
” It’s too late, my idiot brother has already entered the room. Mickey’s dead. Kevin is about to make that happen.

Oh God, I’m gonna die!

I go after him, trying my best not to panic. He looks around the entire bathroom but doesn’t see anything. He finally reaches the shower curtain and I close my eyes, my world freezing and tilting to a one hundred and eighty degree angle. Reluctantly I open my eyes.

Shit, shit, shit! T
his can’t be happening!

“Here’s the problem,
” Kevin says, pointing to the open windows. Funny how, I don’t remember opening them.

“Sorry, what now?” I say in an obviously confused tone
, my brows furrowed.

“You left the window
s open.” He points to the window once more, giving me a look that says, ‘duh!’. “A gust of wind must have knocked something over,” he says. But, as he talks, I can’t help but wonder where the hell Mickey is.

He’s dead, that’s where he
is. He is so dead. Scaring the crap out of me like that, how dare he?

“See, I told you I didn’t have anyone here. Now, leave so I can get ready
and start on the decorations boss lady wants me to put up.” I shoo him out of the room with my hand.

“Whatever
, I still have my eye on you,” he threatens.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah
,” I tell him. “Hey, Kev! Give the guy the benefit of the doubt. People change.” Before he can say anything else, I close the door right on his face.

“
What’s is it to you, Lai?” he asks behind the door.

“It’s called judge of character, Kev. You should learn to use it once in a while
. I just notice something different in him, that’s all. Nothing less and nothing more.”

“Sure it is…” he concludes, gone for good this time.

“You’re doing it wrong,”
Mary says as she flops in the sofa.

“
How the hell am I supposed to do it, then?” I scowl at her. “You know, instead of lying on the couch and giving orders, you should really consider helping me,” I tell her as I turn my attention back to the stupid Christmas light. There should just be a damn law that says, each Christmas new lights should be bought and the old ones should be burned. I mean, for the love of God, I have been trying to untangle them for almost half an hour and I’ve barely gotten anywhere.

That’s it
, next year we are getting a new tree that already has the stupid lights on it.

“Why in the world w
ould I do that? I didn’t volunteer for the job.”

Bitch! 
I can’t help but think as she lays on the damn sofa drinking her coffee.

I mean
, her not helping is one thing, but does she also have to sit there and give me orders? If you want it a certain way, you should fucking do it yourself.

Breathe, Laylah, breathe.
Don’t let her get to your head
.

I swear to God
, one of these days karma is going to hit her bad.

“I’m sorry, your highness
. I should of have known better than to disrupt your very busy schedule,” I sarcastically add to her idiotic statement.

“
Yes, you should have,” she dismissively says.

I am killing her in a thousand
very painful ways in my mind. I’m sure she didn’t miss this with the glare I’m giving her.  No matter how much I try, I still don’t get why is it that she acts this way. She’s had every single thing she has ever needed handed to her in a silver platter. My uncle has always made sure, that his daughters are happy. Even if it meant consenting them beyond the levels of normality. And, yet, this bitch…
ugh!
She’s so infuriating!

“Hey
,” Kevin says as he comes down the stairs and kisses the top of my head.

“Hey! Did you find your boyfriend?” I say with a sheepish smile.

Thank God! A distraction from the maddening woman.

“I did,” he says
coolly, joining the queen on the sofa.

“Interesting how you didn’t deny the fact that he’s your boyfriend
,” I say, teasing him.

“Shut up,
Laylah. I just worry about him. He’s like a brother to me and you know it.” He glares at me, fighting back a smile.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” I s
mile, waving my hand dismissively.

“So, where was he?” Mary asks.

“It seems our little Mickey is all grown up and has found himself a girlfriend,” Kev answers with a boyish grin.

If he only knew.

“Seriously?” Mary asks obviously getting a little jealous. I can’t help but internally smile at this fact. For whatever reason, Mary and I have a ridiculous amount in common. I have Mickey, which she doesn’t know, and she wants Mickey. Believe me, this isn’t the first time we’ve shared a ‘commonality’, if you could even call it that. I buy a new shirt, she buys the same shirt. I say I love eggnog, guess who also loves eggnog? It’s amazing, really it is.

W
hen I was fifteen and she was sixteen, I went to the salon and decided to cut my extremely long hair short. Afterward, I talked to her, telling her how sad I was to see it all go.  A week later, Mary shows up with the same style haircut and retells everything I said to her during our conversation, word for word, as if it were her experience.

Two years before that I told her that I really wanted to learn how to play the piano and was thinking about taking lessons. Not even two months later she called me gushing over the fact that her dad had enrolled her in piano classes. She then asked if I was interested in going with her.

Even worse was when I told her I was flirting with the idea of becoming an artist. Of course I was already enrolled in school, but it was my back up plan just in case my major didn’t work out. Mary being who she is, enrolled in some art classes. Needless to say, it didn’t go well. For starters, they were online and through mail correspondence classes, meaning no actual school and no actual learning. Aside from that, her heart just wasn’t in it.

I
truly believe that in order to be successful, your heart has to be completely into whatever it is you’re doing. If you don’t truly love something, you can’t expect to succeed at it. I don’t know if it’s the many romance novels that I’ve read in the past three years, but I truly believe that love is the answer to everything.

“Yep, my man was getting it on,
” Kev explains with a big boyish grin, breaking me from my thoughts.

“Torres, what the hell? I told you
I just went for a walk. I needed to clear my head,” Mickey says coming out of nowhere, scowling at my brother.

“Sure you were. That’s why when I found you
you
were still wearing the same clothes as last night,” Kev says, grin still firmly in place. My cheeks hurt just by looking at him.

“For the billion
th time, man, after Laylah helped me out, I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to take a walk,” he insists.

“So you keep saying,
” Kev says with a chuckle. He obviously knows he’s getting on Mickey’s nerves.

“Whatever…” Mickey says
, exasperated. He then finally looks down at me as if he’s seeing me for the first time since he’s entered the room. “Here, let me help you with that,” he whispers at me as he bends down to help me with the goddamn Christmas lights.

“Thanks,” I whisper back,
lost in his beautiful eyes.

“Thanks again for last night,
” he says and I instantly know he’s as lost as I am.

“No problem,
” I say with a smile. He smiles back.

“What the hell was THAT?” Kev practically screams
. Our trance is immediately lost and we look at my brother like a kid who just got caught with his hand on the cookie jar.

“What’s up with you, Torres, you’ve gone mad or something?” Mickey asks Kevin with complete an
d utter coolness. Got to give him a thumbs up, my man sure knows how to recover.

“Don’t bullshit me, Vega. You and my sister were totally giving
each other googly eyes.”

“I can’t help it if
your sister is gorgeous,” Mickey says at the same time as I say, “No way!”

“Wait...what did you just say?” I ask Mickey. The
confusion and awe written all over my face is completely visible to everyone in the room.

He
chuckles at my reaction “I said, I think you’re gorgeous,” he softly says to me with a shrug. I can’t help but blush at his words.

“This is my
first and last warning, Miguel. Stay the hell away from my baby sister.” Kevin scowls at Mickey. If he keeps it up he’s going to get premature wrinkles.

“You should listen to him
, Mickey. Besides I’m pretty sure Laylah over here has her hands tied up with some guy already,” Mary butts in, giving her very unwanted opinion. Is she threatened by me or something? That’s the only explanation I have.

“What the hell?” I
say just as Mickey starts in, “And I guess you’re saying that I should focus my time on someone like you?”

“Well
, no. But, since you mentioned it, sure, why not?” Bitch Mary says sheepishly.

“Are you for fucking real
right now?” Mickey shakes his head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t deal with this shit right know.” He stands quickly and makes a b-line for the door.

“Mickey…” I say
just as he closes the door. A part of me wants to go after him, but I know I can’t. So, I sit here, stuck to my spot on the floor, hoping that I’m doing the right thing in all of this.

“What the hell was that?” Mary ask, her mouth gaping open like a fish.

“I was just asking myself the very same thing
,” Kev eyes me suspiciously.

“Beats me. H
e’s your best friend, you should know what’s wrong with him,” I say to him, shrugging as I get back to my task. On the inside, I’m dying. I’m terrified that these decisions I’ve made will cause me to lose my world. That’s what Miguel Vega is to me, my world.