The Leaves 03 (Nico) (17 page)

something else up, take it home, and in its place leave our hard-earned money. But I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy every fucking second.

We walked through the mall on the way to the truck. Lark was buzzing about our new green plates and how she was planning to make a special meal just as an excuse to break them in, when we walked right into her ex, Shane, and his new wife, Marcie.

A minute ago, no, not even a minute, seconds ago, we had been laughing together.

I was teasing her about matching green food to eat off the green plates when she dropped a bag and threw her hands over her mouth.

I had never seen Shane. Hadn’t seen a photo of him or Marcie, but I knew from her description, this was the motherfucker who I had fantasized kicking the shit out of for months now. He was the one making us go slow. He was the one that didn’t have the 292/510

fucking balls to let her go before he fucked with her trust and her heart.

I made no move for the bag; I made a move for her, and slowly took one of her hands and laced my fingers through hers. It wasn’t a possessive-asshole move, it was to let her know I was there for her. Whatever she needed in that raw moment, confronted by the asshole that broke her, I was fucking there.

“Lark!” he said, surprised. “You’re looking well.” The non-dickhead thing would be to offer his hand, to shake mine, but he didn’t.

“And you are?” he asked.

“I’m Nico,” I answered.

He eyed the bags and glanced to his wife, who sucked in her lips and looked to the sky.

She was amused and disgusted by our choice of shopping destinations apparently.

“I see you found someone that appreciates your style.” That jibe should have earned him my hand wrapped around his throat, but 293/510

my girl proved once again she was a better person than I was. She gave me her left hand to hold and offered her right, steady as anything to the woman who had silently been a fuckin’ bitch to her face and taken her fiancé.

“You must be Marcie. I saw your announcement in the paper. The photo was lovely… you make a beautiful couple.” She let go of the stunned woman’s hand and picked up the two bags she had dropped as she continued. “I love Crate and Barrel. Shane hated it, but I can be clumsy sometimes. I would feel just awful if I was hand-washing a two-hundred dollar wine glass and broke it. I’d still feel bad if I broke the nice twelve dollar ones I just bought, but I could replace them.

I doubt I’d ever even take the expensive ones out of the box. I’d be too scared I’d break them. They’d just sit there, unused and un-loved.” She looked down at the bags, over at Shane and Marcie, then stared up at me and said, “These glasses will see plenty of love.” 294/510

She squeezed my hand, and we walked away, leaving the couple in stunned silence. I secured everything into the back of the truck, and when we got inside, I opened my arms, and Lark sobbed into my chest. I held her and just let her get it out. I thought she handled it really well, and I was just waiting to tell her that when she said, “Take us home.”

“Babe?”

“White flag,” she said through her tears.

She never let go of my hand, but I knew something was different. The “white flag” thing was meant to be about our pasts, not our present. The last thing I wanted was for Lark to hurt. I got it. I knew there were a lot of years between them. I tried not to jump to conclusions, but I couldn’t help but think she wasn’t over him.

It was dark by the time we got back. I thought she might need some space, so I went to take a shower and told her we could 295/510

go out to eat or order something… whatever she felt like.

Lark had left the window open in the bedroom for some fresh air. As I got dressed, I could hear her talking on the phone outside.

And hear every single word, perfectly.

“She was even more beautiful in person…

of course I’m upset, wouldn’t you be… I love Nico, you know that… this was in my face, Dee and… what?… He’s not like that… that was years ago, who told you that?… no, because I trust him… I didn’t think about it that way, but…”

I closed the window, got dressed, grabbed a beer, and sat in my chair. When she finally came in, she sat on the couch across from me.

“I’m sorry, Nico… I—”

“If this is the part where you tell me you’re just not ready yet or you were wrong or you’re not sure anymore or whatever the 296/510

fuck you’re about to say… don’t. I don’t want to hear it.”

“No, you asshole,” she said, beginning to cry. “That is totally not what I was going to say.”

Still in asshole-mode, I didn’t even bother to comfort her. “And?”

“And I was going to say thank you for being so incredibly cool today. You displayed some super-boyfriend behavior, but now you just undid it by being… What just happened here?” She wiped the tears from her face.

I hung my head and sat with my elbows on my knees, leaving the bottle on the coffee table. “Fuck.”

She went into the kitchen and grabbed the Crate and Barrel bags on her way. The sink was filled with soapy water, dishtowels were laid on the counter as she quietly unwrapped all the new glasses and plates, cleaned them, and began to put everything away, just how she wanted it, just how I wanted her to do.

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We didn’t really argue or disagree. The more I thought about what I had overheard, she defended me to Dee and I behaved like an asshole. The truth? I was waiting for something to go wrong. In an effort to try to fix what I had just broken, I went into the bedroom, into the closet, and opened the box that my dress boots came in. I trusted Lark. I didn’t care if she went through my shit. But last week, I went to see the jeweler that made my necklace.

“So, you found someone worthy of the other tooth?” he asked.

“Yep.” I smiled.

“What’s her style?”

“Style?”

“What kind of jewelry does she wear now?”

I thought about it, and the best I could come up with was, “Classy Stevie Nicks?” Again, he threw his head back with laughter and walked away. When he 298/510

returned, he laid the tooth down and showed me his idea. I approved, and now it waited in the bottom of a box for a sign.

I walked up behind her and moved her hair to expose the back of her neck. “Babe?” I laid small kisses there, knowing how much it turned her on. She was still upset, I knew that, but she still reached one hand behind her and raked it through my hair. “I got you something,” I whispered in her ear.

She put the glass she was holding back in the water and touched her wet hand to the bottom of her throat, a strong, but delicate looking white gold necklace with a single white, round pearl encased in a matching gold setting held a solid link where the tooth dangled.

“I had four teeth pulled out of my leg that night. I was so lucky. Lucky to be alive, but I didn’t feel lucky. I felt lost. I was empty because there was no one else on God’s green 299/510

earth that made me feel any kind of peace…

until you.”

I moved my thumbs across her cheeks to wipe her tears that just wouldn’t stop now, but she was happy, and I knew it. “I’ve mentioned Dish to you, that girl from when I was a kid. She made me feel that way, but she’s just a memory.”

“What happened with her, Nico? I understand if you want to keep some things from me, some of the stories of your birds… you don’t have to tell me,” she said, wiping her eyes.

“The reason I don’t talk about it is because all these women, all the fucked up shit I listen to… it affects me, I feel it, yeah, but I wasn’t there. I’m just the guy that gives them the tattoo and listens to their stories. With Dish, I was there, Lark. I watched her pain happen.”

She cast her eyes down, not looking at me anymore.

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“Babe? You all right?” I asked.

“I just… I totally understand. I… I understand.”

“You sure? You look like you saw a ghost?” I said and tipped up her chin. “Lark, you can talk to me. I’m sorry I was a dick before. I just—”

“You can’t always be perfect, Nico. It’s okay,” she said softly. “Finish your story.” I took a breath and continued. “I almost stopped helping these women because it was too much, it left me empty, and I thought…

when I find her, the woman who will make it all okay, give me that feeling of calm, of balance, I’m gonna give her that tooth, because she’ll know… she’ll know she saved me.”

“Yeah?” Her eyes filled with new tears.

“Yeah, babe.” I leaned down and kissed her forehead, “Two things, though, I think we really need to talk about. I understand why you used your white flag, but the first 301/510

thing I thought was you were still in love with that dickhead.”

“Oh God, Nico, no—”

“Hang on. I heard you talking to Dee, which made that worse. I’m telling you now, nothing my mom or pop or anyone else says is ever going to affect the way I feel about you. Whatever shit goes down between us, it’s ours, not theirs. I love my folks, and I know they never would, but if they pulled whatever Dee was trying to tonight, that shit will not fly with me.”

Lark shook her head in agreement and explained. “She was the second friend I ever had. I tell her everything, and she’s just being overprotective. I let Shane do the thinking for me. He made me believe I wasn’t smart enough or pretty enough, and I let him, Nico. I let myself get cut down over the years until I second-guessed every thought, every decision, without his input first. And then, he left me. I had to find out who I was 302/510

all over again, and Dee helped me do that.

That and I’ve kept a diary since I could write.

So I started to read it… to read them, actually.” She laughed.

“We have something in common,” I joked.

“When did you start writing?”

“I’m sorry, Nico, but this is a real white flag moment for me. I can’t talk about this now,” she said, as her eyes spilled over.

I put my hand behind her neck and held her to my body. “You tell me when you’re ready. I don’t care when; I care that we’re together, babe. You get that?” She nodded into my chest. “I get that. And thank you.”

“For what? I was a total asshole,” I stated.

“Loving me for me,” she said, staring right into my soul.

“Mind if I kiss you now?” I thought it was the right thing to do since it was a pretty heavy moment.

“Yes,” she replied.

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“Yes, you mind?” I asked, confused.

She leaned up, and, with the tip of her tongue, she traced the side of my neck until she reached my earlobe and whispered, “I know you’ve been holding back.” She reached under my shirt and sunk her nails into my flesh. “Don’t.”

For a split second, I tried to decide how and where to fuck her first, until I asked, “Is this because of the necklace?”

“Partly,” she answered as she reached down and hurried to take off my belt.

“If this is your reaction to a necklace, what are you gonna do when I give you a ring?” Her eyes became wide and bright with that statement. Suddenly, her hands grabbed the waistband of my jeans and boxers together as she answered, “Smother you with my vagina?”

I had just thrown my head back to laugh when she dropped to her knees. My clothes were now at my ankles. Her fingernails dug 304/510

into the skin on my thighs as she took me deep into her mouth.

“Ah, fuck!” I hissed out and grabbed the counter behind me. “Babe…” But she didn’t stop. She moved up and down my dick, doing that stroking thing with her tongue that alone could make me come. I thrust my hands into her hair, and this time, I didn’t hold back. I grabbed fistfuls and used it to move her head so I was now in control. I moved her back slowly, almost to the tip, then pulled her back down and watched her take me, all of me.

“Babe?” I said as I pulled her head back and off of me completely. “Go put on the grey skirt with the slit in the back.” She sat on her heels and looked up at me.

“Any other requests?” She grinned.

“Surprise me.”

I turned off the kitchen lights and lit a few candles around the room. While she got dressed, I rearranged the furniture just how I 305/510

wanted it, just like in the fantasy I’d played out starring Lark and that skirt she’d worn to my folk’s place.

The blinds were all closed, the door locked, and the stereo on low. She stood there in shiny, black boots, but not the grey ones, she must have been saving these for a special occasion.

“New boots?” I asked.

“New boots,” she said in that low husky voice I loved. That was the voice that told me she wanted to be a little wild.

She had been in the bedroom for a while, not so long that I was worried, but long enough that I noticed, and now I knew why.

Aside from those sexy fuckin’ boots and skirt was a full black corset, the kind that laced up the back and had those little hooks in the front. It did all kinds of amazing things to her already beautiful body.

“Fuck me, babe. You look fantastic.” 306/510

“I know.” She smiled with a raised eyebrow.

“And full of herself, too.” I laughed. “So, I want you to walk over to my big chair, and lean over the back with your ass facing me.

Hold on to the top and stay bent over.” She did as I requested. Lark couldn’t stop smiling, and neither could I. We weren’t Zack and Teensy, and actually, though I could see the appeal, I wouldn’t want that all the time, tying her up, me being tied up, safe words and all the rest. But this was perfect, I hoped for both of us.

I walked behind her and brushed my palm over her perfect round ass. “I love this fuckin’ skirt. You know, there was a moment at my folks, you were joking with my pop and leaned up to get something from the table and put this ass in this skirt in my face. Bit of a cock-tease, weren’t you?”

“Maybe a little bit,” she said, her voice full of need.

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“Babe?”

“Yeah,” she replied.

“This ass is mine now.” I grinned, and I knew, even if I couldn’t see it, she was smiling, too.

“It sure is.” She laughed.

I rubbed over each cheek, then moved behind her, held my hands to the outside of her thighs, and moved up slowly along the open slit, my erect dick between her legs until it rested, right at the top. I pushed only a little into her wetness.