– Scotch –
Here Comes the Frying Pan
I was entertained by her fit of rage as she took it out on my doors and was getting ready to smash through a tub of Nutella, but she’s gone too far. I step forward with narrowed eyes. “That’s my baby sister you’re talking about.”
“Yup.” She fills her mouth with hazelnut spread. “She’s a bitch.”
“Samantha,” I hiss quietly. “Don’t do that. You can be shitty at me – though god knows I don’t deserve it – but you don’t talk about her like that.”
“Here’s an idea, asshole. How about you both go to hell? Because you’re both assholes. And you do deserve it. Maybe I do too, but I don’t deserve the shit I’ve caught since being here.”
I shake my head slowly as rage bubbles under my skin. “Don’t go there, Samantha. We’re getting along. Don’t take us back there.”
“But we’re not getting along!” She points her spoon at me. “You hardly spend more than two minutes with me before turning into a jerk. You walk away angry almost every single time. Your sister attacks me in the fucking street. You don’t ask if I’m okay, you just go and coddle her baby ass, then you come back here and ignore me.”
“So what if I don’t talk to you sometimes? I’m allowed to take a minute of downtime. It’s better than braining you with the damn frying pan! You fucked us over, Samantha, and that’s not so easy to just get over.”
“And that’s another thing! You call me Samantha.” She steps toward me angrily. “You know I hate that name. You know it! But you do it because you want to hurt me.”
“Yeah, I do wanna hurt you! You hurt me. You ruined my fucking life, and you come back here and expect everyone to be your friend? That’s not how the world works!”
“You promised!” Her voice cracks with devastation. “You promised you wouldn’t call me that name.”
“You made promises too! And you broke them. You married me.” I step toward her as my voice booms through the kitchen. I step so close that she backs up against the counter. “You promised to love me forever, Sammy. You promised to run away with me, not from me. You just take my baby away and you ditch town. What the fuck was that?”
“I thought I was doing the right thing!”
I shake my head and scoff angrily. The hair by her ear moves with my puff of breath. “You can tell yourself whatever the fuck makes you feel better, but we both know what you did was wrong! We talked about it and we made decisions together. You took that out of my hands, and you…” You aborted my baby.
“I was protecting you!”
Disgust washes through me. “Don’t, Samantha. Don’t even.”
“My daddy was threatening you. He was throwing the words ‘statutory rape’ around.” She steps forward, angrily shoving me back half a step. “I was pregnant and scared and sick and alone. He convinced me he’d have you charged and sent to prison for years.”
For the second time in my life, Sammy Ricardo makes me sick. “Don’t bullshit a bullshitter, Samantha. You think I don’t know the Romeo and Juliet laws? Did you forget I went to law school? Do you think I didn’t look this shit up myself? Your flimsy excuse doesn’t fix shit. I’m not a slave to you anymore.”
“No, I know about the law now! But I didn’t know when I was eighteen and scared. He was really fucking convincing, Sam. He told me he’d have your dad kicked off the force, because his son will be charged with sex offenses. He said he’d have Marc and Kari removed from your home, because their foster brother would be charged with sex offenses.”
“What?”
She nods her head victoriously, as though finally getting me to stop and listen is a war won. “I was eighteen and I took the weight of you all on my shoulders. I didn’t want your dad to lose his job. I didn’t want Kari and Marc uprooted again. I was trading myself for them. I thought I was doing the right thing! And then the next thing I know, the baby is gone and my daddy was still threatening you. What else was I supposed to do?”
“You were supposed to stick to the plan!” I roar. “We had a plan and you went and took it all out of my hands! That’s not fair, Ricci. You fucked me over and you broke my fucking heart!”
“I broke my heart too,” she cries. “We both lost each other. We both lost the baby. We both lost that future. But you know what? You still had your family. You still had the guys. Your sister is still ready to throw down in the street for you even after all this time. But what do I have?” She slams her fist down on my chest. “I was alone, Sam! I lost all the family I knew. And I don’t mean my parents. I mean the family you promised me. I’ve spent the last thirteen years alone and miserable because I gave my heart to a boy who promised to cherish it, but when I needed it again, he never gave it back. I sat alone for years wallowing in my own guilt and loneliness. Yeah, you had a shitty time too, but you had someone there to hold your hand. I had no one!”
“You had your parents.”
“I had no one!” Tears roll down her cheeks and over cherry red lips. “I had the vows a teenage boy made to a teenage girl, a promise ring on one hand and a wedding band on the other. Then I had nothing but the echoes of something I’ll never be able to replicate.”
“Sammy--”
“I hated this town.” She hits me in the chest again. “I told you that from the start, but I was still giving you my everything. I wanted it all with you, Sam. I know I left. I know it was all my fault. I know I ruined your life. Shit! I ruined mine too.” She looks up at me with devastatingly sad eyes. “But my actions were never malicious. I was doing the best I could in a shitty situation, and I don’t deserve the hate. I don’t deserve to have my head kicked in in the street by your sister, or for Marc to be ready to crush me under his shoe. Everything I did was for you assholes.” She slams her fist down on my chest again. “I don’t deserve the hate, Sam. I deserve a fucking hug, because in thirteen years, the only man to even do that much was Angelo, and that was just this week.”
“Oh, Ricci--”
Tears stream down over her quivering lips. “I didn’t leave because I didn’t love you, Sam. I left because I did. I loved you with my whole heart, and I was trying to protect you.”
She pulls her hand back to hit me again, but I stop her, pinning her hand against my heart, then before I chicken out, I bend my neck and kiss her. She cries out in shock, her eyes pop wide with fear, but the salty tears on her tongue infiltrate my mouth instantly. I push her back and slam her against the fridge, jiggling glass jars on the top as the fridge literally moves from our momentum.
She whimpers in pleasure and pain, but when my hands go to her ass and lift, she moves with me without hesitation. I’ve wanted this for as long as I can remember, and even if it’s just one time, it’s more than I had a day ago.
I unlatch my mouth from hers for the quickest moment, and I use my hips to press her against the fridge. I roughly drag the pretty sweater over her head, catching her earrings and hair in the material, dragging out a quick cry of pain, but then my lips close over her bra covered nipples and she cries out for an entirely different reason.
My dick thickens and throbs between us, pressing against her warm core where I can feel the heat she’s putting out even through her jeans and mine.
I lift her from the fridge and spin us around, and walk half a dozen steps while kissing her with frenzied lips and teeth, but when she begins fumbling with my shirt, I slam her up against the wall just inside my living room. Her nails scrape along my stomach and ribs, pulling my shirt up and over my head, then with frantic breaths, she just stops and watches me.
Her chest rises and falls frantically, then her fingertips slowly trace along my collarbone, over my shoulders, then down onto my pecs. My skin breaks out in goosebumps from her touch. I was so sure I’d never have this again.
Fresh tears well in her eyes as her fingers brush over the chain that hangs in the center of my chest. She slips her finger through the loop of my wedding band, then looks up at me with that wobbling lip. I can’t talk about it, I can’t go back there, so I slam my lips over hers, tasting her tears and suckling on her tongue, and I begin walking.
“Sam--”
I shake my head. “Please don’t talk right now, Ricci. I don’t wanna rehash the past. I just wanna love you. Give me an hour before you rip my heart out again.”
I step into my room and toss her down roughly. The chain between her breasts bounces and taunts me. The light peeking through my curtains glints off her shiny gold band, and my heart hammers inside my chest.
I crawl on top of her and drag my jeaned leg along her most sensitive areas, and she whimpers and presses down for more friction. I run my hand slowly along her sensitized skin, ready to weep when I find those freckles on her chest – freckles that I’ve seen every night as I lay in the dark and think of her, but I was so sure I’d never see again in real life.
I kiss the tiny smattering of marked skin, then trail my lips across her chest until I find the ink that’s almost killed me with curiosity this past week. “I didn’t think you’d ever get ink, Ricci. You didn’t seem the type.”
I lave my tongue along her skin until I finally reach her collarbone. What I thought was a tiny wispy tattoo design turns into the very tips of soft wings. I lift her shoulder to get a closer look, even as her breath hitches and escapes sporadically. I follow the lines around and over her shoulder until I find the bird in flight, it’s wings made of musical notes, its body made up of the words ‘forever and ever.’
“Ricci…”
“Please kiss me again. I don’t wanna talk about it.”
I nod jerkily, swallowing to lubricate my suddenly parched throat, then my hand comes back to her shiny chain, pulling on it gently to bring her to me, then my teeth move to her lips in a desperate plea to the universe. Why is it so unfair? Why did it have to hurt us?
I mark her skin with my lips and teeth, scratching my stubble along her delicate flesh. My spare hand moves around her slim waist and comes up to tug at the clasp of her bra. My hips drop against her core, and we both groan at the contact.
We’ve been waiting more than a decade to find this again.
“Sam--”
I shake my head and repeat her words. “Just kiss me, Ricci. I don’t wanna talk about it.”
Shaking her head, she pushes me back and climbs on top. She works my jeans down my thighs, and I nearly combust on the spot. She takes my boxers at the same time, and I groan as soon as my dick springs free and touches the cool air of the room.
Sammy doesn’t bother removing my pants completely, she just unzips her knee-high boots and tosses them aside, then ripping her own jeans and underwear down, she climbs back on quickly, as though she’s scared she’ll lose her nerve.
“I’m on the pill, and I haven’t been with a man since you.”
Jesus. Fuck. Fucking hell. I nod nervously as my heart threatens to explode, and my dick twitches at the thought of being her only. She lifts up over me and palms my dick, and a whimper tears up my throat as her soft skin touches me again. Finally.
She lines me up beneath her, then without hesitation, lowers down onto my shaft, sliding over me smoothly and swallowing me up deliciously.
We both cry out with pleasure. I squeeze her hips tightly, and my chest rises as I breathe in deeply. I wanna blow inside her already. I wanted to blow before she’d even touched me. She continues to lower slowly until she’s sitting on me with all of her weight, then as she lifts again, I hold her hips and help her. I lift her easily, she’s still as delicate and light as she always was, then I slam her down on my cock until our skin slaps together and she cries out at my intrusion. I pick her up and slam her down again, and I watch her tits bounce. I’ve dreamed of this for a long fucking time.
I scissor my legs and spin us so she lands on her back with a sudden ‘oomph,’ then our noses touch and I stare into her beautiful eyes. “I’m clean, Ricci. I haven’t been with a woman since you.”
I couldn’t. I tried, time and time again, I tried. But I couldn’t do it. I don’t wait for her nod. I doubt she could give me one anyway. Her beautiful eyes watch me in shock, but they flutter closed in pleasure and her hands fist the sheets as I slam back inside her. I bury my face in her fragrant neck, sampling her delicate and warm skin, and nipping so roughly her pussy clenches down around me in reaction.
My rough hands mark her, and her pleasure filled pants soothe me. She rakes her nails along my back, scratching and marking me in return, and her scent burns in my lungs. She brands me from the inside out. I can’t shake her, because I breathe her. Sammy wants me, and we fit. We’ve always fit. We were made from the one mold.
I want to be gentler. I want to make love to her like I always dreamed I could again, but my fast hips punish us both and I slam into her in an attempt to brand her on the inside too.
She was always mine, and she had no right to take that away from me. From us both.
I work my tongue along her neck, nipping and biting, then up her jaw until I finally reach her lips. “You’ll never be able to replicate us, Ricci.”
She shakes her head, because she knows I’m right. We’ve both known it all along. Which is why neither of us could move on.
She wraps her legs around my waist, changing the angle we meet, and we both groan with pleasure. I let her hold a lot of my weight. She’s always been so strong, she can handle it. I cover her in every way I can. I love her and vow to be her everything, and I mindlessly slam into her so hard, her body moves up the bed with every slide of my dick.
She closes her eyes and bites her lip, and her pulse throbs in her neck as she moans in pleasure.
“Eyes open, Ricci. Keep ‘em on me.”
Her eyes snap open, focusing on my face barely inches from hers. I’m right here, and she can’t ignore me. Not right now. Not right here. Today, I take back a little of what was stolen from me.
I bring my lips back down to her swollen mouth, and I feast on everything sweet Sammy Ricardo. Her hands come up into my shaggy hair, tugging painfully and pushing me to slam harder against her as my climax builds.
Too soon.
Not ready to finish yet.
I pull away from her, sitting up on my haunches, and like my departure hits her right in the heart, her face drops with disappointment. She throws her arms out to bring me back to her, but shaking my head, I pull her to me, bringing her onto my lap and impaling her so gravity helps me dig deeper inside.
I hold her hips and help her ride me, slower and gentler than before, lifting her and nibbling on her bouncing breasts. “You’re still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met,” I pant truthfully. “It’s not fair.”
“Not fair,” she agrees. She hug her arms around my head and buries her nose in my hair. “You still smell the same. I’ve missed this.”
I throw her off my lap, then pushing her legs against her chest, I bury my face between her legs and feast. “So do you.”
She cries out so loud, she turns her face into my covers and bites her hand. “Oh my god!”
“You taste like you smell, Ricci. So sweet.”
I press my tongue deep inside her pussy, something I’ve never done to her before, and her back arches off the bed. I move to her clit, suckling on it and pulling it between my teeth, and my fingers move deep inside her, curling against the inside walls as I drag them back out.
“Sam…”
My eyes lift to hers, but my fingers don’t stop moving. “Yeah Ricci?”
“I’m going to come.”
I nod, speeding my hand and adding another finger until her back arches so deeply, she’s basically levitating, then just before she explodes, I scramble up her body and impale her just as she cries out and milks me almost to the point of pain.
***
We lay in the relative silence of my room, though it’s not really silent at all. The guys in the garage bang metal tools around on a constant loop. The iPod plays in Lily’s room, and her squeaking drowns it all out like a pleasant background white noise.
Her squeak might be the most haunting noise I’ll ever hear, but only because when Sammy leaves again, it’s absence will taunt me.
Sammy lays against my side, tracing her finger softly along the ink of my forearm, with her naked thigh lifted over mine, and her breasts pressed up against my chest. Her face rests over my heart, and her long hair tickles my flesh. I drop kisses on the top of her head, and my fingers twirl her long brunette hair. “I like this.”
She sighs in pleasure and melts into me. “My hair?”
“Mmm. It’s even nicer than I remember. Longer and softer.”
“Mmhm.” She kisses my chest. “My mom doesn’t abuse it anymore. And somewhere around my twenty-fifth birthday, I found shampoo that works for me. It’s easier to manage now.” Her soft fingers leave my arm and trace along my chest, over my chain, and though they stumble there, they don’t linger long. “I like this.”
“My chest?”
She giggles softly. “Mmhm. You’re not a boy anymore.”
“No.” I shake my head and continue to pepper kisses on her brow. “A man changes a lot in his twenties. Can’t say I’m unhappy with the way you grew up, Ricci. Your tits and ass filled out better than I ever dreamed.”
She smiles at my words, but then her expression turns to a frown. “Did you notice you’ve been calling me Ricci? I wasn’t sure I’d ever hear that name again. Especially not from you.”
“I guess I’m feeling a little nostalgic right now.” I’m pretending the rest of the world doesn’t exist.
“I like it.”
I nod my head gently. Just like in high school, we’re taking an hour together before the rest of the world intrudes. “Me too.”
“I’m sorry I called you an asshole.”
I chuckle. “It’s true, though. I am an asshole a lot of the time. And unlike when we were younger, you’re the sole recipient of it these days. It’s a defense mechanism.”
She shrugs gently, lifting her leg higher and sighing against my skin. “I get it. I’m sorry I called your sister a bitch, too.”
“Well… that’s tricky. Because I know she can be a little bitchy sometimes…”
“But it wasn’t nice of me to say so.”
“Right.” I sigh. “But it also wasn’t nice of her to try to knock your head off. She was just trying to protect me.”
Sammy nods gently, running her finger around my nipple absentmindedly. “She sure took me by surprise. She’s not a kid anymore, and she’s a lot more pissed than I expected.”
“I expected it. Which is why I didn’t tell them you were back yet.”
“I’m only here for a little while, then you can have your life back.”
And there it is. Reality. “What have you got in the city, Sammy? What are your reasons for going back?”
“Well, I have my work. I’m on leave right now while I get Lil sorted, but when she’s officially mine and no longer at risk, I’ll go back to work. I have my apartment. I have the last decade of my life there.”
I nod my head, but I don’t say a word. There’s nothing to say. She’s still leaving. She’s not mine. And we still have the reason for our separation floating between us like a giant pink elephant.
We just have right now. And we have about an hour until Lily is due to wake up.
I pull her chin up gently, then latching my lips over hers, I pull her on top and slide her down over my dick. I have a lifetime of this to make up for, because once she leaves, I’ll never be able to get it back again.