Home Page 11

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,” I say as my eyes meet hers.

  “That’s alright,” she says. She smiles, but the smile doesn’t reach her eyes. I can see the sadness in there, lurking in the back of the bright colors of her irises.

  “Mel?” I say, reaching out to cup her face in my hands, running my thumbs over the soft skin of her cheeks. She leans her head against my right hand.

  “Yes?” she answers breathily.

  “My leaving tomorrow doesn’t change anything. Do you understand?” I ask her and wait as she mulls this over in her mind.

  “I understand, but—”

  “No buts,” I cut her off. “It’s only a geographic distance. I will figure something out, I promise you.”

  “Nick, be serious,” she says. I put a finger to her lips.

  “I am being serious,” I say. “Dead serious, woman. I mean it. I don’t take promises lightly.” A darkness comes over me as I remember exactly why I don’t take promises lightly.

  “Dad?” I yell.

  “Mom and I are leaving. Can it wait?” my dad says.

  “I guess so,” I admit begrudgingly.

  Dad chuckles. “I promise that we’ll finish the model airplane tomorrow morning, alright?”

  “Promise, promise?” I ask as I lean over the railing and look down at him.

  “Yes, Son. I promise, promise,” he says and then he walks toward our garage. Had I known that would be our last time together, our very last words to one another…

  “Nick?” Mel is staring at me, and I realize I’ve zoned out completely.

  “Sorry,” I mutter.

  Mel looks seriously concerned. “Where did you go, just now?”

  I shake my head, not wanting to talk about it.

  “Please tell me,” she says softly. I glance at her phone which is playing Imagine Dragons. We don’t have time for this conversation right now.

  “Later, alright?” I say to her, giving her a chaste kiss before finishing and getting ready for dinner.

  Mel is quiet as we head downstairs to meet Zoe and Cody. I know she wants to understand my inner workings but now is not the time.

  We walk over to the bar along the water and eat while we wait for the whole gang to show up for drinks. They file in one by one near the end of our meal. Marco is hilarious, and he orders us all special port while Peter tries to get us to drink some local moonshine of sorts.

  After a few drinks, I feel better and start to enjoy myself. I can see Melissa has her guard down and laughs freely with Michelle and Zoe about some of the dolphin encounters from our day out today. I imagine what it would be like to have Mel at one of our local happy hours back home. Would she get along with everyone as well as she does with Zoe? Would Lily like her? Then I laugh at myself. I don’t really give a fuck if any of them like her, albeit it would be easier if they do, but she’s mine, and I just don’t care.

  We stay late at the bar. It seems no one wants the evening to come to an end, but eventually people start heading home. After many hugs goodbye and promises to visit soon, the four of us meander over to the hotel.

  “I’ll see you at eight then?” Cody says as he takes Zoe by the waist and leads her to their room.

  “Yep,” I call out after them. Mel and I walk slowly down the hall and into our room. The moonlight is bright, and it lights up the room even after Mel turns the lights off and walks out to the balcony.

  “Penny for your thoughts,” I say to her as I sneak behind her and wrap my arms around her waist. She places her arms over mine, and we stand like that for a long moment, staring out at the water and Pico.

  “Why don’t you break promises, Nick?”

  I swallow because I know I can’t hide the truth any longer. I never know how people will react to my past and that scares me a bit.

  “The night my dad died,” I start. “I wanted him to help me build a model airplane. I was always building stuff. Anyhow, he said he promised we would do it the next day. And then there was no next day.” I pause. “Something about that changed me. I never want to make a promise I can’t keep. I never want to know someone was as disappointed as I was.”

  “But, Nick, he was killed. It wasn’t your fault, and it wasn’t his fault,” Mel says.

  “I know that, beautiful, I know that, but that conversation haunts me. I can’t explain it. It just changed me.”

  Mel nods. “Alright, then I take your promise very seriously.”

  I pull her closer. “Good, I’m glad.”

  I turn her around and cup her face in my hands and kiss her. I pour my soul into kissing those beautiful lips, exploring her perfect mouth, expressing my feelings through my touch. She moans against my mouth, and I pick her up and carry her into the bedroom, laying her down on the bed. I take my time undressing her. I want to savor each second of this because I don’t know when our next time will be. I start to unbutton my shirt, and she reaches out for my hand.

  “Let me,” she whispers. I drop my hands and let her continue the process until we are both naked. She runs her hands up my torso, her finger outlining each muscle on my abdomen. “You’re perfect,” she murmurs. I want to tell her that I’m not perfect, that no matter what she thinks of my sculpted muscles, that I have many imperfections, but I don’t speak. I just let her feel my body. Her fingers are delicate and their touch light on my skin. It almost tickles but also feels so good.

  I reach down and pick her up. She wraps her legs around my waist and I hold her like that as she kisses me. I walk us toward a wall and let her lean back against it as I line up with her entrance and slowly let her sink down on to my cock.

  “You feel so good, beautiful,” I grunt as I pull out and thrust back in deeper this time, and I feel her clench around me.

  I begin frantically pumping inside of her then. Something in me can’t stop. I need to be deeper, go faster, feel more of her. We become frantic in our desire to be one. She squeezes me tightly to her as I grip her ass and thrust harder. I suck down her jaw to her throat. I can feel her tight nipples rubbing against my chest. Then I feel her go over the edge. She stiffens and opens her mouth in a silent cry as she comes hard on me, squeezing my cock to the point of pain. Once she eases up, I move faster and faster and then I’m falling. I literally slide down the wall with her impaled on me, and I give two more thrusts in her before she detonates once more on me. I feel my seed coat the entrance to her womb, the head of my cock rubbing it all over her on the inside. It’s messy, yet so erotic.

  We stay like that on the floor for about five minutes until we are breathing normally once more, and then I pick her up and carry her to the shower where I make love to her, slower this time.

  I don’t stop there; I’m like a man possessed. After our shower, I lay her flat on the bed and kiss and suck each inch of her body, ending with a taste of her salty sweetness before slamming into her once more. At some point, we both pass out, and I wake to her mouth on my cock. She watches me as she takes me deep, letting the head of my cock into her throat. She has serious blowjob skills. I should tell her this, I think to myself, but I’m too consumed by my desire to blow a load in her throat. I feel like a horny teenager who can’t get enough sex. We make love one final time near dawn. Afterward, I wrap her in a sheet, and we sit on the balcony and watch the sun rise over the day, the day that will end with us on two different continents.

  “You better get going,” she says as the sun peeks up over the horizon in a spectacular show of nature’s beauty. The reds, pinks, oranges, and blues make her hair look like it’s on fire.

  “I know. Just one more minute,” I tell her, holding her tighter. I lean into her hair and smell her, commit everything about her to memory. It’s only when I pull back that I see a single tear running down her cheek. I brush it aside with my thumb.

  “Hey now, this isn’t goodbye, Melissa. I made you a promise, and I won’t break that promise,” I say resolutely.

  She twists in my arms to face me. I can see unshed te
ars in her eyes. They look impossibly large and so sad. “I…I…just promise me you’ll be safe,” she cries as she puts her head against my chest and weeps.

  “Shhhh,” I coo as I stroke her hair. I wonder if this has to do with her sister. I imagine that had to be very hard for her. I sit holding her, stroking her soft hair until the sun is high enough in the sky that I know I need to get moving.

  She’s quiet, only a sporadic sniffle lets me know she is still sad. She lifts her head and her eyes are rimmed red and her face is tear-stained. I kiss each of her cheeks and her lips. They are salty from her tears and impossibly soft.

  “Let’s get you cleaned up. Do you have to go out today?” I ask her. She shakes her head.

  “Alright, then I’ll see you back to your apartment before I go,” I say to her as we stand, and I take her hand. We shower quickly, but not without kissing. I can’t stop kissing her. We pack in silence before I make my way downstairs and check out early. I have the front desk hold my bags, and I look around to see Cody and Zoe at breakfast. I take Mel’s hand and lead her into the dining area. We join them. Everyone seems a bit sullen this morning. Zoe mentions her work, and Mel asks some questions. Cody and I go over what the surveyor has sent us just minutes before we came to breakfast. Then it’s time to go.

  “I’ll be back in a few minutes,” I tell Cody and he nods.

  Mel and I walk quietly down the streets leading to her apartment. Her hand feels so small in mine, like a child’s. It makes me want to protect her even more, and I didn’t know that was possible. She’s breaking down my walls but there’s so many of them. If I never let anyone get too close, then no one can ever hurt me again, intentionally or not. That’s why I was always the class clown, the goofy, fun-loving one that didn’t take anything seriously. I was always surrounded by people, but seldom did I ever let them get close enough to really see me.

  We reach Mel’s doorstep, and I turn to face her. I drop her overnight bag on the ground, and I take her face in my hands, feeling her skin. It’s warm and the texture of it, oh the texture of it, is something I could get lost in and that freaks me out a bit if I’m being honest with myself.

  She reaches up a single hand and touches my cheek. I lean my head against it and smile at her. “I’ll call you when I land, alright?” I say to her.

  She nods, and I can see the tears forming in the bottom of her eyes. “Will you FaceTime me, so I can see you?” she whispers.

  “Of course, beautiful,” I say, willing myself to smile so I can hide the feeling that I’m going to die from not touching her for minutes, hours, days.

  She lets out a shaky breath. “Nick?” she says, looking up at me with so much adoration that my heart stops beating for a nanosecond as the air leaves my lungs.

  “Yes?”

  “I…I…” She trails off and swallows. “I love you,” she says so softly it is barely audible.

  My smile increases by about a million megawatts. I feel like the Grinch when his heart increases in size. “I love you too, my beautiful girl,” I say to her as I lean down and kiss her with such passion I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop, but somehow, I find the willpower and pull back.

  “I’ll talk to you later. Have a good day,” I say to her.

  “You too. Have a safe flight,” she says, as we pull apart until just our hands are touching. I turn to walk away from the woman I love. I look back when I reach the corner, and she’s still standing there. I can just barely make out the tears on her cheeks. She waves to me, and I wave back. Then she blows me a kiss, and I catch it and hold it to my heart.

  “Jesus, you look like someone killed your puppy,” Cody mutters as I get in the car to head off to the site.

  “Shut it,” I say.

  Cody chuckles. “Shit, man, you have it so bad. I feel for you. I mean seriously, I’ve been there.”

  Then I remember that Cody and Zoe did the long-distance thing when he was still in Colombia.

  “How did you make it work with Zoe? I mean the long-distance thing.”

  Cody pontificates on this for a few seconds. “Well, we spoke a lot, and I mean a lot. Sometimes several times a day. We video chatted almost every night and well, other stuff,” he says, smirking.

  I hold up a hand. “Yeah, I get it,” I say, shuddering at the mere thought of my cousin having phone or video sex with Cody. I don’t care if they are married, yuck.

  Cody laughs and claps me on the back. “If it’s meant to be, you’ll make it,” he says, his voice taking a more serious tone.

  “Thanks, Cody,” I murmur as I stare out at the volcanic landscape.

  The site visit goes well, and we wrap up just in time to get to the airport for a noon flight. I’m about to go up the stairs when I hear a voice yelling my name. I turn, and Melissa literally launches herself into my arms. I squeeze her tightly and am so happy to see her that I am speechless.

  “I just…” She trails off catching her breath. “I just wanted to say goodbye and have a safe flight.”

  “Well, that’s one hell of a goodbye,” I murmur against her hair.

  I pull back, and she’s beaming at me. I flick her cute little nose with my index finger and then kiss the hell out of her. Cody’s throat clearing pulls me back to reality.

  “I gotta go,” I say.

  “I know.” She frowns.

  “I’ll talk to you tonight,” I tell her and kiss her once more before letting her go and climbing the stairs into the plane. I turn around at the door, and she waves to me and blows me a kiss. I catch it and place it against my heart. It’s official, I’m completely whipped, and I love it.

  “Another,” I say to the flight attendant as I finish a scotch that Cody had waiting for me on the plane.

  “Whoa, slow down there, bucko,” Zoe says, grabbing the drink as the flight attendant hands it to me. “Drowning your sorrows in scotch is definitely NOT going to help you.”

  “I think it will,” I mutter like a petulant child.

  Zoe laughs, she actually laughs, and I kind of want to punch her. She gets to sit here with the love of her life, and I just left mine on a small island in the middle of the Atlantic.

  “Fuck off, Zoe,” I say under my breath.

  Zoe wipes the smile off her face and puts a hand over mine. “You’ll figure it out, Nick. I promise you, you will figure it out because you’re in love with that woman. Hell, I’m in love with that woman. If I swung that way, I’d have snatched her from under you. And I mean ‘under you’ in the figurative sense…well, I guess if I swung that way I would mean it in the literal sense, huh?” Zoe contemplates her statement while holding my scotch. “Anyhow, you’ll figure it out.”

  “Whatever, I’m going to take a nap,” I say with a sigh, and I lean back in the overly indulgent leather seat that is nicer than anything I’ve ever seen in an actual house. I eventually fall asleep, but I think it’s really just an alcohol-induced coma.

  I wake to the captain telling us we’ll be landing shortly. The scotch has left my system, but I feel like shit. Hard liquor has never been my drink of choice even in my frat days.

  “We’ll drop you off to pack your bags, and then our car will pick you up in about an hour,” Cody says as we drive toward the row house apartment where I live with Colin. Oh shit, Colin. I contemplate what to tell him. “Just tell Colin your mom hurt her ankle, and Jack needs your assistance for a week or two, and I’m letting you telework,” Cody continues. I look at him in amazement. Clearly, the guy has this all figured out already.

  I salute him as I get out and walk inside. “Colin,” I call out as I shut the door.

  “In here,” he says from his room. I walk down the hallway and Colin is lounging on his bed watching some show on television or Netflix.

  “I hate to bail on you again, but Jack just called, and my mom fucked up her ankle, again. Cody said I could go down and help out for a few weeks, you know, telework and shit,” I say, trying to sound casual.

  “Cool, although that sucks ’
cause I got game tickets, but your loss,” he says. “How was the Azores? How’s work, man? I’ve barely seen you since you started.”

  “Good, really good. We had a slight issue with the project this week, but we got it sorted out, so all is good,” I say as I head to my room and start repacking. I grab a second suitcase and a duffle bag. I pack up my stuff and head out to the laundry closet in the hallway. I look in the dryer for a missing sock and find ladies’ underwear instead. They are sexy, lacy, black ones. I hang it over my finger and walk back into Colin’s room.

  “Anything you care to share with the class?” I ask him with a raised eyebrow.

  “Oh, fuck!” he exclaims as he rises off his bed and grabs the panties from my hand. “I…uh…I…shit, man, we have a lot to catch up on.”

  “Clearly,” I mutter. I start to turn to go out, but then it all comes together in my head. I turn back around with a shit-eating grin on my face. “So, how’s Cami?” I ask.

  His face gives it away. He shrugs. “She’s fine.”

  I sit on the edge of his bed. “What, that’s all I get? She’s fine. Come on, seriously?”

  “Fuck off, Stevenson, I’m not kissing and telling, what do you think this is some pajama party?”

  I roll my eyes and stand to leave. “When I get back, be prepared for a roommate night, no bailing.”

  “Fine,” he mutters.

  I grab my bags just as Cody texts me that the car is outside. “Hey, Colin,” I yell.

  “Yeah.”

  “Make sure to use our alarm system, OK? A friend of my co-worker lives on our street, and there have been some break-ins,” I say, making something up as I go along.

  “Shit, OK. Will do,” he says. “Tell Momma Laura to stop getting injured, and I hope she feels better.”

  “I will,” I say as I shut the door and send a text to Melissa that I am home safe and will call her in a bit.

  Chapter 10

  Nick’s Playlist: “Stranger Things” by Kygo