“Good. I hope I do.” Her hand reached for my cock then, teasing over my length. We were all over each other, uncivilized, limitless. The Bonnie to my Clyde. The one who loved me.
The one I loved.
The one I was realizing I had memorized: the different textures of the skin at her hips from her stretch marks, her sighs and gasps, the rhythm of her kisses, the hair from her ponytail tickling my shoulder while we kissed.
Mara was the one. My one.
We wrestled, rolling each other to our backs, her hand on my throat while she rubbed herself against me, both hands joined with mine, her riding crop dishing out little bites of pain.
There came a point where it felt natural for me to bend for her. I flipped to my stomach and opened myself to her. Mara kissed up my back and around my ass, all while working my cock in the front. She stepped away for a moment, returning at a higher angle so she could stand behind me. Cool lube drizzled down the back of me, and Mara started me with a gentle finger. I writhed and moaned, but she didn’t take it too deep.
“So perfect, Jackie baby,” she cooed. “You ready?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I grunted. “Please fuck me.”
Mara’s hands rested on my ass as she slowly entered me. It was uncomfortable at first, but I wanted it. I wanted to be full of Mara. She went easy on me, giving me bit by bit until at last, she was fully seated in me.
“How is it, baby?” she hummed.
I was at a loss for words, my stomach tight from the thrill. I reached for her hand, and she laced her fingers with mine. “So good,” I coughed out.
Then the vibration kicked on and Mara started to move. I wasn’t even sure I was still alive, off somewhere in another world.
I was free.
I had everything. I had a beautiful family. I had a woman who understood me, who was willing to back me up even when I fucked up—and that was maybe the most freeing part of all.
I vaguely heard her praise, that I was taking her so well, that I was a good boy, that she wanted me to feel good. The feeling started to creep from my toes, coiling up my legs and to the base of my spine.
“Mara, I can’t hold it,” I begged. “I’m going to come too fast.”
“Don’t hold it. Let it all go for me.” Mara’s hand gripped my length and within some space between a few seconds and an eternity, I was coming into her hand. “That’s it, Jack. You are so perfect.”
And for the first time in my life, I believed someone’s praise and felt it to my core.
FIFTY-FIVE
JACK
MARCH
I flaggedSydney down in the café where we agreed to meet.
I already had her favorite coffee ordered for her and waiting.
I gave her a heads up that we had to move, and I wanted to bring the kids. But that would mean next to no custody for her. Just a few weeks in the summer. Some holidays here and there. I wanted to meet face to face to have us hash out anything we might need to work out.
“Hey.”
“Hi,” she said miserably.
“Thanks for being here,” I tried.
She nodded. “So you want to take them with you?”
I chewed my bottom lip. “If I can.”
Her eyes cast downward. She wasn’t wearing her usual full face of makeup. Her hair was just down and straight without her usual extensions, covered with a ballcap. “It’s probably better that way.”
