39. Chapter 39
Betty and the blow job
My life is fucking fantastic. I have a new hockey team that treats me like family. Ma is happy with her new job. Gramps has more good days than bad.
But the best part of it? I have my girl back.
For the remainder of August, I spend every night at her cute little house. It doesn’t have the luxuries of my apartment, but I don’t give a damn. Being with Juliette is my luxury.
I tell her every single day that I love her, and when she says the words back, I feel like the luckiest bastard in the world.
I spend my days at practice, and we have dinner together when I’m not with Gramps or Ma. Sometimes she cooks and sometimes we order in from the only delivery place in town. Yeah, small-town life is taking some adjustment on my part, but I’m falling in love with Pine Tree Falls.
I bring Juliette snacks while she’s writing, and she rubs down my sore muscles after dinner each night, which usually leads to other, much more fun activities. Yeah, life is perfect except for one thing…
I’m keeping a huge secret from Baylor Ward. He’s quickly become one of my best friends and not telling him about my relationship with his sister weighs heavily on my shoulders. Every time he tells me a story I’ve already heard from Juliette, I have to bite my tongue not to blurt it out.
But she’s insistent that we keep things under wraps. She knows her brother better than I do, so I follow her lead.
Today is going to be hard though. I’m going to the Ward/McNamara Labor Day cookout at Isaac’s house, and I’ll have to pretend I don’t spend my nights in Juliette’s bed… and that I’m not madly in love with her.
“This looks nice,” Ma says, dipping her head to look at the white Craftsman home when I park on the street out front.
I hop out and round the vehicle to help my mother exit. She adjusts the foil covering the pie she baked and beams a sweet smile up at me.
Ma is loving small-town life. Her job is going well, though she has a short commute to the next town over each day.
And she joined the Garden Club and the Study Club—whatever the hell that is.
People are starting to greet her by name when I accompany her to the grocery store or the diner, and it makes me happy to see her thriving.
I turn to help Gramps out of the backseat, but he’s already standing there appraising the house with his hands on his hips. “Hope they got ribs,” he comments, and I laugh and drape an arm over his shoulders.
“Baylor told me they will have ribs, sausage, and brisket,” I inform him.
“And potato salad?”
“He didn’t say, but I’m sure they will,” I chuckle.
“Good deal. Let’s slap on the old feed bag.” Gramps straightens his shoulders like a soldier and marches up the concrete walkway with Ma and I in his wake.
Holly answers the door before we can knock and ushers us into a small foyer. “Great to see y’all,” she says. “Everyone’s out back.”
My grandfather stares at her with lowered eyebrows, finally saying, “Do I know you, young lady?”
She pats his arm. “You do. I met you at Shady Pines when I came to talk about the animals.”
Realization dawns on his weathered face, and he grins. “Right, you’re the, uhhh… is it park ranger?”
“I’m a game warden and wildlife biologist,” she corrects gently, holding out her hand. “Holly Ward. ”
“Arlo Swain,” he announces, shaking her hand heartily. “This is my daughter, Elizabeth, and my grandson, Reno.”
I smile at that. Even before dementia took root in his brain, he always called my mom his daughter, not his daughter-in-law.
Holly’s tone is kind. “I’ve met them already. Reno and Baylor play hockey together.”
Gramps’s eyebrows lift excitedly. “That’s right. You’re Baylor Ward’s wife. I remember now. I bet the boys are going to have a great season.”
Ma and I exchange a significant look. The doctors started Gramps on a new medication last month, and we’ve seen several small improvements as of late. Nothing will ever fully cure him, but the new meds are definitely promising.
“I’m sure they will,” Holly says, hooking her arm into Gramps’s elbow as we walk toward the back yard. “Hey, Arlo. Do you like ribs?”
I stand beneath the covered back porch and survey the scene. We’ve been here for an hour, and the party is in full swing. Juliette’s sister, Jordie, is chasing Aiden around the yard, pretending to nab the small Nerf football he has tucked under his arm like he’s a professional running back.
She scoops him up a second before he almost bowls into Isaac’s sister, who, upon meeting me, ordered me to call her Aunt Nedra. She’s a heavyset older woman who kisses everyone on the cheek and calls them sugar britches. I have to say, that’s a new one for me.
Gramps and Emmett are beneath a shady tent with the Brewers logo on it. They were sharing old war stories the last time I checked on them.
Ma is in the corner of the yard where a cornhole game has been set up while Isaac patiently shows her how to play. She makes a shot, and the two high-five. My mother giggles and fidgets with the collar of her red blouse, and my eyebrows shoot to the top of my forehead. Is she flirting?
“Those two seem kinda cozy.”
I look down to see Juliette standing beside me with a platter of cookies. She’s fucking beautiful in a bright blue off-the-shoulder dress that shows off her tanned shoulders.
My eyes dart back to Ma, who is swatting Isaac playfully on the arm. “I’m not sure how to feel about that,” I say. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen my mother flirt before.”
“Pops is a good man,” Juliette tells me. “The most gentle man I’ve ever known.”
I hadn’t realized I was scrunching my shoulders until they relaxed at her words. “I’ve always hoped she could find someone who would be good to her, but she’s never seemed interested.”
We watch as Ma and Isaac’s hands touch. Only for a brief second, but they both smile like goofy teenagers with a crush. “She seems a bit interested now,” Juliette remarks with a giggle. “I think it’s cute.”
Isaac and Ma return to their game, and I nod. “I think so too.”
“You want a cookie?” Juliette asks with a teasing lilt in her voice.
I take one, letting my finger brush across her thumb on the clear platter. “What do you call them?”
“These are three-O cookies.”
I’d actually been with her when she was baking them this morning. As soon as she put them in the oven, I bent her over the counter to see how many orgasms I could give her before the timer went off, hence the name.
“You ever make four-O cookies?” I ask, and she shrugs, blinking innocently up at me.
“Not yet.”
My lips twitch as I slyly swat her on the ass. “You will.”
Someone calls her name, and she takes two steps before looking over her shoulder at me. “Promises, promises,” she mouths. Then she sashays off with a little extra swing in her hips that I know is for my benefit.
Goddamn, I love that woman.
Two ladies approach the table beside me and begin arguing over whose potato salad is best. I’ve tried both, but I don’t tell them it’s the one in the chipped yellow bowl because I know better than to get in the middle of that particular war.
Hockey fights ain’t got nothing on two southern women battling over potato salad.
I take a bite of the chocolate chip cookie and look around the yard again. Ma and Juliette are now under one of the tents, sitting on the bench of a wooden picnic table. Ma is eating one of the cookies, and I chuckle at the thought of Juliette telling her the name we made up for them.
Xander is in a lawn chair, sitting in the shadow of a weeping willow tree as he reads what looks like a textbook. Juliette told me he’s been studying for his med school entrance exam. Jordie is wrestling in the grass with Aiden, who is giggling like a maniac.
I locate Gramps, who’s playing horseshoes with a group of men in the other corner of the yard, and he seems to be having the time of his life.
My eyes find Emmett and Isaac beside the grill, but they’re not currently watching the meat. No, they’re watching all the beautiful chaos around them, both with looks of pride on their faces. This is their family, as unorthodox as it is, and they love them.
I admire those two. There could have been so much bad blood and jealousy between them since they’d both married the same woman, but they didn’t let that stop them from doing what was best for the kids. It’s truly what family is all about.
And as the two paternal figures clink their beers together, I hope one day, I’m a part of it.
When I pull into Juliette’s garage later that night, she’s standing beside her VW bus.
The damn thing is the color of Barney the dinosaur.
Only my girl could pull off that particular shade of purple.
It’s a vintage number from the sixties, and she told me she and her dad had completely rebuilt it together when she was younger.
“Hey,” she says, wrapping her arms around my neck as soon as I get out of my SUV. “Did you have fun at the party?”
I encircle her waist with my arms. “I did. Gramps and Ma did too. The only way it could have been better was if I could have kissed my girlfriend in front of everyone.” I dip my lips to hers as a demonstration.
“Sneaking around is kinda fun though, right?”
My right eyebrow hitches up. “Except when your brother almost caught me here last week when he came to take a look at your toilet.”
She winces. “I know. I almost freaked the hell out when he said he forgot a wrench and wanted to grab one from my garage.”
“Where my vehicle was parked,” I add dryly. “And while I was hiding naked in your closet. We should just tell him. I want to be with you out in the open.”
“I do too, but he’s your teammate, and I know how something like this could screw up your team vibe. After hockey season is over, we can tell everyone,” she promises.
It’s frustrating for me, but she’s probably right. “Why are you waiting in the garage? You need me to fix something else?” I glance up at the light I replaced for her as soon as I noticed it was out, but it’s working fine.
Juliette’s coquettish smile tells me I’m going to like the reason she was waiting out here for me. I know that look, and it always ends with sexy times.
“I’ve never had sex in Betty before.” She bumps her hip against her vehicle and arches an eyebrow.
Yep. I knew it.
“Say less,” I tell her with what I’m sure is the goofiest grin ever as I strip off my shirt.
Juliette laughs and walks around to the side of the van…
bus… whatever… and opens the large door, revealing quite a little setup in the back.
There’s a large fluffy animal-print blanket, along with pink pillows from her couch.
Actually, I’ve been informed more than once that said pillows are raspberry , not pink. Whatever.
“There’s something else I want to try,” she tells me. “It’s for a book and I need feedback on whether or not it’s as good as it’s described online.”
“Whatever it is, I’ll make it good for you, baby,” I swear, crawling into the back and leaning on my side in a Sexy Bunny pose that makes her laugh. I pat the spot on the blanket beside me. “Tell me what you need.”
Her pretty teeth scrape over her bottom lip. “Actually, sweetie, I’m going to make it good for you .”
Five minutes later, my entire world view changes. “Jesus fucking Christ, Juliette. Oh god….”
My vision has gone black around the edges, and I can no longer feel any of my extremities. And I might be bleeding from the ears from the effort of holding back this orgasm.
Juliette is between my legs with my cock in her mouth. And yes, that’s usually enough to blow my mind, but mother of all that’s good and holy… This is on another level.
She rests the Altoid mint on her tongue and slides it up and down the bottom side of my dick as she bobs her head.
“I’m coming,” I groan. “Again.”
Yes, I fucking came already, and now I’m about to bust another nut in her sweet mouth. Don’t fucking judge me until you’ve experienced it because the cool tingles the mint produces combined with the heat of her mouth? It will be eternally etched on my soul .
She’s not even taking me particularly deeply, but it doesn’t matter. I spill into her mouth for a second time, and my vision goes all the way black. I think she killed me, but what a way to go.
I open my eyes and find Juliette kneeling beside me, her hand stroking my hair. “How long was I out?” I rasp.
“Only about ten seconds. Are you okay?” I nod, and she asks, “How was it?”
“How was it?” I repeat, trying to raise my head to look at her incredulously, but it flops back down to the pillow. I stare at the ceiling and chuckle. “It was phenomenal, dream girl. Like, the best head ever.”
“Hmmm.” She grabs her sparkly pink notebook and seems to be speaking to herself as she takes notes.
“Lost consciousness for approximately ten seconds. Skin of the face is pale and clammy. Two consecutive orgasms.” Then she looks at me and taps the matching pen against her lips.
“What specifically did it feel like on your penis?”
“Baby, I can barely talk right now. I feel like I have a concussion. Can we do this little exit interview after some of my bodily fluids have been replenished?”
Her eyes round. “Oh shit. I’m so sorry. That was thoughtless of me. I brought a Gatorade.” She reaches into a small cooler and produces a bottle before cracking the lid open and holding it to my lips, supporting the back of my head with her other hand.
After a few long swallows, I determine that I’m probably not paralyzed for life and give her a smile. “Better, but do you have any more of those Altoids?”
Juliette eyes me suspiciously but produces the tin, rattling the tiny white mints inside. “You want to go again?”
I laugh. “Fuck no. Not tonight anyway. I want you to put one on my tongue and then sit on my fucking face. We’re about to see if this little trick has the same effect on you.”
Spoiler alert: It did.