Chapter 4
4
D erek was wrung out worse than a sponge. Twenty minutes after he’d gotten off in front of his phone, the doorbell rang. He sprinted downstairs and found Mara at the entrance, perfect and pretty in a summer dress, carrying a bottle of Dom Perignon.
“Happy anniver—” was all she managed to get out before he threw her up against a wall and went to war on her pussy. He took her with a fury that shocked him, not once, but over and over again. His dick didn’t want to go down. They ended up going at it for hours, on their living room floor, on their kitchen counter, in the shower. He hadn’t fucked that way since he and Mara were back in high school. It was after midnight when he was done, and they ordered pizza and got in the hot tub with the champagne.
Mara had explained a little of the scene’s technicalities between bouts, but in the bubbling water, he got the whole story. Beth was indeed the Kiwi stranger. Mara knew she could have used voice-to-text the whole time, but she’d wanted him to get the shock of thinking someone really had taken her.
“You’re evil,” he told his wife.
“But it was exciting, right?”
Derek grinned. “Yeah. We should get Beth a bottle of something to say thanks. Wait, she doesn’t drink. Flowers?”
“I’ve already taken care of it. She and Byron are staying at Crown Towers. I got them a spa package, too.”
“Nice. Wait, Byron knows about all this?”
“Oh, yeah. Beth tried to tell him that she wouldn’t see anything or be involved in a real way, but he said he’d rather rip off his own face than get details.”
“Fair. So, she couldn’t see me… she couldn’t see my dick?”
“No. She did take the photos of me tied up, though...”
Derek smirked. “Nice. Byron didn’t mind, right?”
“She had his full approval. I think he was kind of into it. Me and her together, I mean.”
“I can only imagine.”
Mara took a small sip of her champagne. “It was amazing to see you like that, you know.”
“Coming on myself?”
She frowned. “Doing what I asked. You were really… raw, or something. I saw this new side of you, and after all these years, that’s incredible.”
“I get it. I feel like that when you do what I tell you to do.” He took a slug of champagne and forced himself to say it. “I like what we did. It felt good to be like that with you.”
“Vulnerability,” she agreed. “It goes two ways, you know?”
“I should.” He tilted his head at her. “So, you think I’m a has-been, huh?”
“Of course not, but sometimes getting called names…”
“Gets you going? It worked. I just never thought…” He looked away, scrubbing a hand across his scalp.
“Derek.” Mara placed a light hand on his shoulder. “I read something once that said domination and submission are two sides of the same coin. If you like one, you’ll probably like the other, even if it’s not your preferred.”
“You might be right,” Derek admitted. “But I dunno how often I wanna go there. Not understanding what’s gonna happen next is fuckin’ brutal.”
“It is, and I’ll always be way more of a sub. And you’ll always be way more of a Dom… I just wanted to know I can be in charge sometimes.”
“Of course you can, baby.”
Mara brightened. “Really?”
“Yeah. Make no mistake, that was fucking nuts. I got so worked up that I thought I was gonna black out at one point. That scene was fucking all time, M.”
“I agree.” She pointed her glass at him. “But to my point, even in my own fantasy, I was getting dominated too.”
Derek remembered her riding the leather horse with a plug in her ass, and his flagging cock twitched. “Enough, woman, you tryna suck me dry?”
She giggled. “Just a bit…”
“Well, you’re welcome to try again soon. Just don’t kidnap yourself. That was full-on. Fuckin’ amazing, though. I haven’t been that worked up since my last final.”
Mara’s smile faded. “I know. I’m sorry, but seeing as you brought up football, there’s something else we need to talk about. Is that okay?”
Derek reached for the champagne and refilled both their glasses. “Sure, baby, as long as you know I’m kinda gone in the head.”
“This won’t take long.” Mara fixed him with her gaze. “You need to coach the under-sixteens.”
Derek gaped at his wife, half-convinced the sex had melted his brain. “How do you…?”
“Beth.”
“That little?—”
“Derek,” she said sharply. “You didn’t tell me about the clinic.”
Fuck… Derek could have kicked himself. He’d been a twat, and now his pigeons had come home to roost.
“I’m sorry, baby. That was shitty of me.”
“It was,” she said. “But I know why you did it.”
“What d’you mean?”
“You knew I’d be excited that you’d be doing something football-related again and working with kids who grew up like us, and you didn’t want the pressure of letting me know.”
He blinked. Hearing her say it made it all kind of obvious. “You might have a point, but I promise I won’t do it again. It was a once?—”
“It will not be a once-off,” she interrupted. “You need a challenge; you need to take risks. That’s why you’re pushing the roleplay between us so hard, and it’s why you’re getting grumpier by the day.”
“Baby…”
“Don’t ‘baby’ me.” Mara’s mouth was a flat line. “I know you love me and the twins and writing. But I know you, Derek Hardiman, better than you do sometimes. You need to have skin in a game you care about to be happy, and you’re going to have that coaching the Beaconsfield under-sixteens.”
“I’ll find something else to do?—”
“You miss football. That’s what you’ve always loved; it’s who you are. We both know you’re going crazy without it.”
“But when the boys get older?—”
“The boys aren’t five yet. They’re years away from even being able to go to AusKick. If you don’t find a way to be involved in football soon, you’ll start taking them to the park and making them practice their kicking every morning, and then you’ll become one of those dads who ruins school sports for everyone.”
“What the f-fuck?” Derek sputtered. “Me? The aggro sports dad?”
Mara stared blankly at him the way she had since they were teenagers. She was the only person who could ever make him blink.
Derek turned his face to the sky and exhaled. He knew where she was coming from, but how was he supposed to explain that he’d die before he became some legacy asshole, henpecking his kids to carry on his reputation? “I won’t pressure the boys.”
“You won’t want to. But by the time they’re old enough to think about playing football, you’ll have been out of the game for years, with no mentoring experience. And the way you’re going, you’ll be very bitter by then.”
“It’s not gonna be that bad, M.”
“Will it be good?”
He couldn’t think of anything to say. He drank some more champagne.
“It won’t be good,” Mara whispered. “We both took more from our childhoods than we wanted. That’s just a fact. I still struggle with being honest, and you’ve still got a temper that won’t quit.”
“Then I’ll get a therapist.”
“Good. But while you do that, I want you to direct your drive where it’s appreciated.”
“Yelling at girls tryna play footy?”
Mara smiled. “You’re not going to yell at girls. You’ll yell at bad umpires, and drunk parents, and racist fans. The people who should get yelled at. And the rest of the time, you’ll be caught up in the game, having fun and learning how to re-channel your energy.”
Derek thought about it. The scraggly green-brown field, the girls who reminded him of his sisters, how it felt to be standing on the sidelines ordering plays like he’d done a billion times. When he was a kid, football was the only thing that he’d liked. The only reason he hadn’t ended up dead or behind bars like his old man. He thought of his little boys. If they liked football, great, but what if they didn’t? He hadn’t earned a shitload of money to force them to follow in his footsteps. But if Adam and Sean didn’t want to play footy, when would he get back into the game? Never? And if he never got back in the game…
“You miss it,” Mara said. “Everyone knows you do. So, stop being a martyr and coach the girls.”
She made it sound so easy, but as he downed the last of his champagne in one, Derek wondered why he couldn’t just trust her on this. He’d spent most of his life loving Mara, depending on Mara, believing in Mara. She wasn’t just the smartest person he knew; she was the kindest. He’d just jerked off on camera for the woman; why couldn’t he take her advice?
“Fine,” he growled. “I’ll do it. I’ll coach.”
Mara squealed. “Oh, Derek! You really mean it?”
“Sure,” he said grumpily, refilling his champagne. “But the team’s full of pricks. I’m gonna run them ragged before they even think?—”
Mara threw her arms around his neck and kissed his words away. Derek snarled into her mouth, but he soon gave in. Kissing her was like tasting home. Confirming the miracle that he’d found her in the first place, then found her again years later, married her fine ass and made her his own. When they pulled apart, Mara beamed at him. “You’re not going to regret this, Daddy. You’re going to be an amazing coach!”
“We’ll see.” Derek glared at his wife. “You’re probably right. You’re always right.”
“Not always, but about this? Yes.”
Her bikini top had shifted during their embrace, revealing a pink nipple. Derek tucked it back in, smirking at her look of horror.
“Why are you so upset, baby? Beth saw your tits.”
Mara raised her eyebrows. “Oh, she did more than that. She tied me up and took pictures.”
Derek’s cock throbbed, stirring to life for the millionth time that day. Speaking of miracles, he had no idea how a guy his age was pulling this off, but he’d take it. He gripped his cock, pumping slowly. “Tell me more.”
Mara’s eyes gleamed. “There’s not much to tell...”
“So, make something up.”
“Really?”
“Yup. Come sit on Daddy’s big dick and tell him all about it…”
Mara ducked her head, but then she did exactly what he asked. She wouldn’t always, but as his wife kissed the side of Derek’s neck, her tight little pussy sinking around his shaft, he decided he didn’t care. Who wanted to be in charge all the time? Where were the stakes in that?
The End