Lila..I had expected things to be weird and arkward between us when I woke up, but it was like I had dreamed it all and Luca seemed to be back to his normal self. He has not mentioned what happened between us that night even once. He seemed to have moved on like nothing happened at all which was eating me up. It did not help that he was taking random trips from the house that lasted hours, I was sure he was meeting up with one of his many women or Vanessa since that woman seemed to be everywhere. He had also decided he wanted to partner in a new up coming swim line with Gucci, and I honestly believed he was using it as an excuse to pick up models. He also insisted I be present on all the meetings and presentations which was weird because I knew nothing about fashion or swimwear. I stared at Lucas who was transfixed by the tanned and gorgeous Brazilian model who had already taken three runway passes in front of him wearing nothing but a skimpy black bikini. “Evita, we are done wi
Luca I had contemplated not going to her, following her, but I had to. I felt like an asshole as i stood on the other side of Lila’s door. I had openly flirted with a few of the models today, hoping it would piss her off. Although, extremely childish, my actions had been harmless, my only goal being to prove to her what we had shared hadn’t been just nothing, and to also get a reaction out of her too. And certainly not something to chalk up to a wild, drunken Vegas night and just forget. But I did not expect it to get this bad, she was pissed no matter how good she was trying to hide it. I had expected to get a rise out of her, maybe incite her temper. What i never expected was to see the wounded look in her eyes before she sprinted out of there as fast as her legs could carry her. I had felt as if a knife was being twisted into my gut. In that moment I had made a final decision about what would happen next between us. Enough of the games. We were too old to be playing them anywa
Lila. I knew he was going to kiss me, and I had plenty of time to pull away before he did, but I didn’t. Instead, i parted my lips, allowing him access inside my mouth as I hungrily tasted him. This was a mistake, kissing him, being alone with him in my room, but I couldn’t find the will to push him away. His admission had taken me by surprise. I had never expected him to acknowledge his behavior, let alone apologize for it. I had also never expected him to accuse me of being jealous, but there was no point in denying it because we both knew the truth. I had been jealous. And the only reason why I was even jealous was because I did indeed want him. Had for a long time, and apparently i was just too tired to fight it any longer. I had expended so much of my energy pushing him away for so long that it was almost a relief to give in. In the back of my mind, I heard the protest that I didn’t want to be added to this playboy’s list of play things, but I ignored my conscience. This was V
LilaI reached up and tangled my fingers into his hair, holding his head as I kissed him back and met demand with demand. My hips rose up to thrust against him, and his taste and smell invaded me like a drug.My skin burned as all the pent up desire I had buried deep burst out of my body in a flood of heat. I was ravenous for my taste, for my hands to strip off my clothes and take me right there against the wall, and i reveled in his wild response that was so opposite to my rigid control.Control.An alarm bell rang in my head and cut through the mist of sexual fog.He had been drinking. If we were interrupted, he might calmly step away with a reasonable explanation to why sex would not be a good idea.The knowledge he had done it twice before skated along the edges of my mind, until I dragged my mouth from his and yanked the hair at the nape of his neck.His head shot up. He blinked as if coming to from a long sleep, and I caught the question held in his eyes. I made myself say the o
Lila."Luca” I whispered between whimpers and gasps of excitement. “Not now, Lila . I’m busy.” He said, his voice barely audible and definitely grumpy. He covered my mouth with his and plunged his tongue deep into my mouth. I arched like a bow as the lightning crack of energy ripped through me. My fingers clung to him as i held on and kissed him back, drowning in the taste of Scotch and male heat. He parted my legs and tortured me with promises of his hands and his penis, until I became crazed with need, until there was no more pride or logic, just this ache to have him inside me. His mouth moved on my breasts, sucked my nipples, and nipped with his teeth. His fingers stroked my belly and hips, and hooked under the lace to play, one long index finger moving underneath to test my heat, drenched with moisture as i cried out for more, always more.He slid off my panties and plunged a finger deep inside, then added another, rubbing delicately over the hard nub hidden between curls, jus
LilaI woke up to the faint morning light pushing its way through the cracks in the blinds. The sheets were tangled around my legs, still warm from sleep, and my fingers instinctively reached across the bed.Empty.No warmth. No weight. No Luca. He was already gone and my heart sunk a little at the realization. I blinked, groggy at first, then sat up slowly. My heart picked up speed half expecting to hear the creak of the bathroom door or his voice humming low in the kitchen.But there was nothing. Just the dull hum of the refrigerator and the whisper of the wind outside.I pulled the sheet tighter around my body and got out of bed, bare feet sinking into the soft rug. The events of last night swirled back to me in vivid flashes his laughter, the way he looked at me like he already knew my story, the tenderness between the heat. Everything about it felt raw and unfiltered, like we’d stripped down past skin and into something closer to truth.And now, not even a damn note?I padded to
Lila. The nausea hit again as I stood in the bathroom, leaning against the cold sink with one hand bracing my weight. It had been happening on and off for a few days now nothing violent, just a queasy, persistent fog that settled in my stomach every morning like an uninvited guest. I told myself it was probably the takeout from that new Thai place or maybe just stress. Work had been a nightmare lately, and I hadn’t been sleeping well. But deep down, a quieter voice one I didn’t want to hear kept whispering other possibilities.Headaches, too. Not pounding migraines, just this dull pressure behind my eyes, like I’d been squinting too long in the sun. I blamed the screens, the emails, the lack of decent coffee in the office. Every excuse I could grasp onto, I used it.Until this morning.I stood there, barefoot on the cool tiles, staring at the small white box in my hand. It wasn’t even open yet, but my heart was already thudding like it knew the truth before my brain caught up. I hadn
Lila. I could not believe this was actually happening to me. I took another test and the results were the same. I was pregnant. I stared at the stick. Still. Two pink lines. Still.It had been five minutes. Ten maybe. Or an hour? I couldn’t tell anymore. My hands were cold and shaking . My heartbeat pounded in my ears like a bass drum in an empty hall. I tried to breathe. In. Out. Slow. Steady.Pregnant.The word looped in my brain like a song I hated but couldn’t stop humming. I sat on the edge of the bathtub, knees pressed to my chest, the test trembling in my fingers. A thousand thoughts crashed together in my head like a demolition site how? Well, obviously how. But... now what? What the hell was I supposed to do now?We hadn't even had a real conversation with Luca for over a week now, and I was supposed to just casually tell him that now I was pregnant. I bit down on my lip so hard I tasted metal. I’d rehearsed it a dozen ways in my head soft, careful, maybe over dinner, o
Richard. The air suddenly becomes cold and I can tell something is definitely wrong by how Jenny is acting and so quiet. I shut the door behind the detectives and follow them into the living room like I’m in a dream. Jenny’s already sitting on the edge of the couch, hands in her lap, eyes locked on the floor like a kid caught shoplifting.“What’s going on?” I ask as I sit across from Jenny and the two detectives. The taller one, introduces himself as, Detective Harlan before he glances at his partner, then back at me.“We are looking into a cold case,” he says. “A missing person from 1999. You knew a man named Marcus Wynn?”The name hits like a slap. He was the reason me and Jenny fought so much in our marriage. "Yeah. I knew Marcus." He was Jenny’s friend. Or so she said. A musician. Used to crash on our couch sometimes in the months before she left. The kind of guy who always had a half smile and a cigarette behind his ear. After she disappeared, so did he.“Why are you asking
Richard. I shut the door behind the detectives and follow them into the living room like I’m in a dream. Jenny’s already sitting on the edge of the couch, hands in her lap, eyes locked on the floor like a kid caught shoplifting.“What’s going on?” I ask.The taller one, Detective Harlan glances at his partner, then back at me.“We’re looking into a cold case,” he says. “A missing person from 1999. You knew a man named Marcus Wynn?”The name hits like a slap.Yeah. I knew Marcus.He was Jenny’s friend. Or so she said. A musician. Used to crash on our couch sometimes in the months before she left. The kind of guy who always had a half smile and a cigarette behind his ear. After she disappeared, so did he.“Why are you asking about him now?” I say carefully.“He never resurfaced,” Harlan says. “No employment, no ID activity, nothing. It’s like he vanished off the face of the earth.”“And what does that have to do with Jenny?” My voice is sharp now. Protective. Angry even Harlan looks
Richard. Every scenario that I come up with leads me to just doing the right thing no matter how bad I didn't want to. I know if I don't Luca about his mother and she dies without making things right with him, he will never forgive me if he found out she tried to reach out and I didn't tell him. It’s Sunday afternoon when I finally decide to do it. Two days since Jenny left again. Two days staring at the folded letter like it’s a bomb waiting to go off. Because it is. Luca texts me that he’s stopping by to help with the gutters, like I’m too old to hold a damn ladder. I tell him sure, come by. Bring that wrench you stole from my garage five years ago. He laughs in a text. Says he might.I make coffee. Black. Strong. The kind that punches you awake. I sit at the kitchen table and place the letter dead center between us.It’s cloudy outside. A fitting day for the news I was about to drop in his laps. I appreciated the fact that his wife Lila had not mentioned anything to him yet, h
Richard. It’s been four days.Four long, dragging, claustrophobic days since Jenny stood in my living room and detonated twenty five years of silence with three words: I have cancer and I am dying. And now every time I pass the mirror in the hallway, I catch my own reflection and flinch, because I don’t recognize the man looking back. He’s waiting. Holding his breath. Listening for a knock that may never come.I wanted to tell Luca about his mother, that she was back and she was dying. Anothet part of me hates her and Saw this is her karma, she did not deserve to see the amazing man Luca had turned out to become. She didn't deserve to say goodbye to him. But why was I feeling so much guilt over it. Luca came by last night, as he does every Thursday. Same routine. He brings dinner some overpriced vegan thing Lila cooks and we sit in awkward silence, pretending we’re just two men, not a father and son still sutured together by old wounds.He doesn’t know she was here.I don’t tell h
Richard. I still remember the last time I saw her, I replayed it so many times in my head that at some point it just stuck. I used to make up scenarios in my head about what would happen if I ever saw her again, but over the years I gave up.I didn't think she would ever come back, I did not even know if she was still alive. I had hired some of the best private investigators, but none was ever successful in finding her. As soon as she left, her trail went cold. It was like looking for a ghost, it was like she never existed at all. So I let it go and over the years accepted that I might never see her again or find out what happened to her. Clearly I was wrong, because she was back in the flesh and she still looked the same, but age had catched up. "Richard." she said, My name. That voice. I hadn’t heard it in twenty five years, and still, it hit like a freight train. I didn’t move right away. Thought maybe it was a ghost, a trick of the old walls. "Jenny." I managed to say, T
Lila. I could not believe this was actually happening to me. I took another test and the results were the same. I was pregnant. I stared at the stick. Still. Two pink lines. Still.It had been five minutes. Ten maybe. Or an hour? I couldn’t tell anymore. My hands were cold and shaking . My heartbeat pounded in my ears like a bass drum in an empty hall. I tried to breathe. In. Out. Slow. Steady.Pregnant.The word looped in my brain like a song I hated but couldn’t stop humming. I sat on the edge of the bathtub, knees pressed to my chest, the test trembling in my fingers. A thousand thoughts crashed together in my head like a demolition site how? Well, obviously how. But... now what? What the hell was I supposed to do now?We hadn't even had a real conversation with Luca for over a week now, and I was supposed to just casually tell him that now I was pregnant. I bit down on my lip so hard I tasted metal. I’d rehearsed it a dozen ways in my head soft, careful, maybe over dinner, o
Lila. The nausea hit again as I stood in the bathroom, leaning against the cold sink with one hand bracing my weight. It had been happening on and off for a few days now nothing violent, just a queasy, persistent fog that settled in my stomach every morning like an uninvited guest. I told myself it was probably the takeout from that new Thai place or maybe just stress. Work had been a nightmare lately, and I hadn’t been sleeping well. But deep down, a quieter voice one I didn’t want to hear kept whispering other possibilities.Headaches, too. Not pounding migraines, just this dull pressure behind my eyes, like I’d been squinting too long in the sun. I blamed the screens, the emails, the lack of decent coffee in the office. Every excuse I could grasp onto, I used it.Until this morning.I stood there, barefoot on the cool tiles, staring at the small white box in my hand. It wasn’t even open yet, but my heart was already thudding like it knew the truth before my brain caught up. I hadn
LilaI woke up to the faint morning light pushing its way through the cracks in the blinds. The sheets were tangled around my legs, still warm from sleep, and my fingers instinctively reached across the bed.Empty.No warmth. No weight. No Luca. He was already gone and my heart sunk a little at the realization. I blinked, groggy at first, then sat up slowly. My heart picked up speed half expecting to hear the creak of the bathroom door or his voice humming low in the kitchen.But there was nothing. Just the dull hum of the refrigerator and the whisper of the wind outside.I pulled the sheet tighter around my body and got out of bed, bare feet sinking into the soft rug. The events of last night swirled back to me in vivid flashes his laughter, the way he looked at me like he already knew my story, the tenderness between the heat. Everything about it felt raw and unfiltered, like we’d stripped down past skin and into something closer to truth.And now, not even a damn note?I padded to
Lila."Luca” I whispered between whimpers and gasps of excitement. “Not now, Lila . I’m busy.” He said, his voice barely audible and definitely grumpy. He covered my mouth with his and plunged his tongue deep into my mouth. I arched like a bow as the lightning crack of energy ripped through me. My fingers clung to him as i held on and kissed him back, drowning in the taste of Scotch and male heat. He parted my legs and tortured me with promises of his hands and his penis, until I became crazed with need, until there was no more pride or logic, just this ache to have him inside me. His mouth moved on my breasts, sucked my nipples, and nipped with his teeth. His fingers stroked my belly and hips, and hooked under the lace to play, one long index finger moving underneath to test my heat, drenched with moisture as i cried out for more, always more.He slid off my panties and plunged a finger deep inside, then added another, rubbing delicately over the hard nub hidden between curls, jus