Stuck with Him (6 page)

Then the teasing was over. He licked me up and down, faster, slower,
everything
. I relaxed into it. This felt good. It felt
right
. I grabbed on to Matt's hair and pulled at it. He looked up at me with a smile in his eyes and then started to lick even more wildly.

Matt slipped his fingers back in and started to thrust while his tongue moved over me. At first, when the feeling came over me, I tried to keep quiet. Wasn't that silly? We had a whole floor to ourselves. There was no one else around. But still, I didn't want to wake the neighbors. That didn't matter, though. Because soon I couldn't control it.

My whole body tightened and then, all at once, it came. I shook, screaming so loud that I would have woken the neighbors if we had any. Pleasure shot from the tips of my toes all the way through the rest of my body and kept coming.

It felt like an eternity before I could relax and breathe easily again. After a few minutes, Matt lifted himself above me again.

"You should tell a guy that it's dangerous to be down there," he said, smiling. "I didn't know you had such strong thighs."

I balled my fist to punch him, but Matt caught it before I could do anything. He kissed me on the lips and laughed.

As he hovered over me, his hardness pressed against my thigh. I pulled at his boxers until he decided to slide them off himself.

Matt brought his face close to mine.

"Just the other day, you couldn't get rid of me. Are you sure this is what you want?" he asked.

"I'm sure," I said. "Are you?"

Matt's voice grew low, rumbling above me." You have
no idea
."

I heard the sound of foil unwrapping. For a moment, he pulled away, but then he was back. Suddenly, Matt's lips clamped over my mouth. At first, I thought it was just another kiss, but he muffled my yell as he slid inside.

I felt like I was on fire. My whole body shook, but Matt held me. No matter how I twisted and turned, he was there. I dug my nails into his skin, drawing them down his back. Even as he thrusted, I wanted more. Deeper. Harder. Faster.

What was I thinking? It was like I was insatiable. I wanted everything Matt could give me. What did that mean? For the moment, it didn' t matter. What mattered was that, for this short moment, we were together.

Matt groaned above me. I felt his muscles tighten, pulling me closer. With one last thrust, he pushed us both over the edge. I threw my head back and yelled until my throat was raw. My thighs wrapped around him, as if I never wanted to let him go.

We laid there together as our bodies shook. It took a long time before either of us had any energy to move.

Eventually, Matt slipped out of me. He threw the condom away and then came back to bed, wrapped with his arms around me. It took no time for him to fall asleep. Before I knew it, I was asleep too.

Chapter 10

I woke up in bed alone.

The room was empty and dark. The curtains were drawn and I couldn't see any sign of Matt. The same old thoughts came to my mind.
See, what did I say? Now that he got what he wanted, he's gone.

It took everything I had not to listen to those thoughts. I forced myself to stand up and walk out of the door. Maybe he was just an early riser. There was no reason to be afraid. Right?

I opened the door and the first thing that hit me was the smell of bacon. I followed it to the kitchen, and there he was. Matt had two pans going on the stove: one full of eggs and one full of bacon. He didn't leave. He was just making breakfast.

"Good morning sleepyhead," Matt said.

"Morning," I said.

"I'm almost done in here, why don't you go get dressed?"

That's when I realized that Matt was already totally dressed. His hair was done, his clothes were crisp and ironed. Just how long had he been awake?

I turned to go, but stopped when I remembered I had nothing to change into.

"Don't worry," Matt said. "Everything's already waiting for you.

He was right. There was a big basket in the bathroom. It was full of toiletries, hair products, and even perfume. It looked like someone went to the store and bought the most expensive products they could find targeted at black people. As I looked at each thing, I chuckled to myself. Did he know that black people use regular soap too? Not
everything
had to have shea butter in it.

Still, I smiled. At least he was trying.

It took my time, enjoying the experience of using products I could never afford. Then there were only two more steps: Get dressed and do my hair. There was a dress in the basket, and I pulled it on. It wasn't exactly the sort of thing I would have ever chosen. The dress hugged all of my curves while somehow managing to be modest. It came down to my knees.

The last step was my hair. I looked in the mirror and sighed. After getting wet and then going to sleep without my satin scarf, it looked like a mess. What was I going to do?

I went back to the magical basket. Maybe there was something that could save me in there. I almost jumped for joy when I found it. The perfect flat iron! Now all I had to do was get to work.

It took a little time, but finally I was done. I was almost embarrassed to go back outside, but my stomach was growling. I needed to eat.

"Your food was going to get cold," Matt said. "I was just about to get –"

He stopped in the middle of a sentence when he saw me. My ears burned, but he didn't seem to notice my embarrassment.

"
What
?" I said. "Why'd you give me this dress? I feel like I'm going to poke somebody's eye out with my butt."

Matt came close, pulled me into a kiss, and grabbed my ass. Then he tugged at the zipper.

"Then why don't we get you out of it?"

He picked me up and brought me over to the couch. Matt laid me down, and was about to pull at my zipper again when his phone buzzed. He picked it up and his face dropped.

"No, not now…"

I jumped up. "What's wrong?"

The elevator dinged. We both froze, looking in the direction of the door. Slowly, the doors slid open.

"
Maman
?"

Chapter 11

There were two women in the elevator. If it wasn't for the difference in ages, they would have looked like twins. They shared the same long, curling brown hair. Neither of them wore much makeup, but they both had clear skin to go with their green eyes and pink lips. It almost seemed unfair how good-looking this family was.

"Maman," Matt said again. "What are you doing here?"

The older woman seemed to ignore him for a while as she walked inside and made herself comfortable on one of the couches. Behind them, Hastings came out of the elevator with a look of regret on his face. Had he tried to warn us?

"Mathieu, aren't you pleased to see your mother?" She asked.

"Yes but-"

"I wanted to see how you were feeling after the whole ordeal. You know, I was
very
worried about you," she said. "That's why I came with your sister."

I pursed my lips together. For some reason, I just couldn't believe this lady.

Then, she acted as if she had only just noticed me.

"Oh, and who is this?" She said. "Oh of course!
Enchanté.
I'm so excited to meet the beautiful young lady who was saved alongside my son."

She came up to me and kissed me on both cheeks.

"N-Nice to meet you, Mrs. DuFour," I said.

I had hoped that maybe sometime in the future I'd meet his parents, but not so soon! And certainly not when we were right about to… I pushed the thought away from my mind.

"But what are you doing here?" She asked. My heart jumped. "Have you become friends? Did we just happen to visit at the same time?"

I didn't know what to say. I opened my lips, but nothing came out. I looked at Matt.

Without a moment's hesitation, he strode over to me and wrapped me in his arms.

"Penny is my girlfriend," he said while staring her in the eyes.

The smile on her face dropped, but only for a second. Then it came back, stiffer than before.

"Oh, well isn't that…
lovely
," she said.

For the first time, Matt's sister spoke. "Then that will make us sisters," she said. She also kissed me on the cheeks. "I'm Philippine, but you can call me Pippi."

"Sure...Pippi."

I wasn't sure if I would call her a sister, but I was grateful for the break from talking with Matt's mom. Thank goodness I'd changed already! What if they walked in and I was still in my PJs?

"Hastings!" Matt's mom yelled. "Don't just stand there, bring us some tea!"

"
Oui, Madame,
" he said.

We all settled on the couches. Mrs. DuFour and Pippi sat on one side, while Matt and I sat on another. He held me close, almost as if trying to protect me. What did he need to protect me from?

"So Penny, why were you at the library? Do you also collect rare books? You know our Matthieu loves that sort of thing."

"No, I work there," I said. "I'm a librarian."

Hastings returned with several plates piled full of cookies. He placed them on the table in front of us.
 

Mrs. DuFour didn't even look up, but I whispered to him. "Thank you."

She took one of the cookies and started to nibble at it.

"Oh, a head librarian, that's wonderful!"

There was a pain in my chest. How did this woman manage to make me feel so terrible?

"No," I said, "just a regular librarian."

The word "regular" left a bitter taste in my mouth.

"So this is your hobby? How nice!"

My eyes and cheeks felt hot. I looked away from her. Until she came here, everything was going great…

"No –"

"No, Penny is a
wonderful
librarian," Matt said. "It's not her hobby. She loves her job. Right, baby?"

He hugged me closer and then kissed my cheek. I felt just a little better. He was right, I
did
love my job.

"Yes, it's great!"

"Well, how perfect! What could be better than a book lover and a librarian?" Mrs. DuFour said.

She cupped her hands together and curled her lips into a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

Hastings came again and placed a large, ornate, silver teapot on the table. He also gave each of us a teacup and tiny saucer.

"Votre thé, Madame. Shall I pour?"

She waved him away with one hand. "I'm sure Penny here would love to serve us."

I bit my lip. I was very close to saying something that I shouldn't have. You should have respect for your elders, but she was pushing me, I could feel it. Still, I put on a smile.

"Of course," I said.

My hands shook as I picked up the teapot. As a little girl I had sets that imitated things like this, but I'd never seen a real one. Somehow, I managed to pour her cup of tea without spilling any.
 

But when I got to Matt's cup, he jumped up. His phone was ringing.

"Not now," he said. Someone spoke to him on the other side of the line, and his face changed. "Can't it wait at all?" There was more talking, and then Matt hung up.

He looked at me as if begging me to forgive him. "I've got to step aside for a little bit, okay?"

I nodded. Matt went into his office and closed the door behind him. As I watched them go, I spilled some of the tea on the table and myself. The hot water scalded my skin and stained the dress.

Immediately, Mrs. Dufour jumped up and patted me down with a kerchief. When I was dry, she sat next to me.

"Thank you so much," I said. "I wasn't paying attention –"

"I hope you don't plan on continuing this for very long," she said.

I thought my heart had stopped. "What?"

"This charade. I'm sure you thought you hit the jackpot when the two of you were trapped in that library of yours, but don't even think about it."

What was she saying? I looked over to Matt's sister, but she didn't seem to offer any help.

"She's right you know," Pippi said. "He's just playing around until he gets married."

I balled my hands into fists. "What do you know? I didn't go chasing after him. He chased after
me
!"

"Of course darling, whatever you want to believe," Mrs. Dufour said.

I moved away from her on the couch. Were these people crazy? I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"I know my son," she said. "And you are temporary."

"I don't believe you," I said.

"Well you should, since he's
engaged
."

It was as if the floor had just fallen out from beneath me. My stomach dropped and I felt nauseous.
Engaged
? It couldn't be true.

Pippi pulled out her phone and showed me the screen. There, in a picture, was Matt and a beautiful girl who was everything I wasn't. Tall. Blonde. White.

"Sofia can't wait to become the new Mrs. Dufour," she said.

All at once, everything went black. I felt numb, cold. How stupid was I to believe him? He was a liar, and a cheater.

I forced myself to keep it together just for a little while longer. I smiled.

"She
is
gorgeous," I said. "I just remembered that Matt asked me to get something for him. I'll be right back."

I walked over to the elevator and stepped inside as calmly as I could. I calmly waited to reach the first floor. I calmly walked out of the lobby. I calmly made it down the block.

And then I ran.

Chapter 12

He doesn't really want me.

The cold air burned my lungs. I didn't have a coat on, not even a sweater. My skin was freezing. It was hard to run in my heels, and I wobbled, almost falling.

People got out of the way as I came. They probably thought I was crazy, a madwoman running down the street. Maybe they were right.

Where can I go? I can't go home.

One of my heels got stuck in a crack. It snapped in two as I tried to yank it out. In frustration, I threw both of them on the ground and kept running. Now my feet were cold, probably getting frostbite from the snowy floor.

I had no idea where I was going, but I just wanted to get far. Far away from him. It didn't matter where.