6. Chapter Six
Chapter Six
Rory
Itossed and turned all night, unable to forget his face. What was he doing there? And who was he?
Had Ernesto sent him to spy on us?
All these questions, but I had no clue who he was and where to find him to get some answers. The next time I saw him, I wouldn’t hesitate to approach him. After all, what did I have to lose?
Carlotta had asked who he was and why he’d tried to run me over. I told her it was a misunderstanding and that nothing had happened. He was a friend from work who needed a word with me.
She didn’t believe me, but then I wouldn’t have either.
The effect he’d had on me was indescribable. I knew him, yet I’d never seen his face before tonight, and as he’d driven away, it was as if he took a part of me with him.
How could I explain that? A small shard of my soul had splintered, torn from my insides, and I felt empty. Not like I did when Mia had died.
That was a loss so intense it had taken over a year to even feel like I was healing. No, this was totally different. Like he owned a part of me and was stealing it away.
I rubbed my chest with my fist, trying to ease the lump sitting there.
Don’t be so fucking stupid, Rory. It’s probably just indigestion. You ate your sushi too fast and then ate a whole cone of ice cream. You know how you are with dairy.
Of course, that would be it. How could a man I’d never seen before in my life have such an effect on me?
It was laughable. I got out of bed and went into the en suite. Where had I put them?
I opened cabinet doors, looking for the sachets of antacid I kept in here for such an occasion. At my age, heartburn was nothing new.
Finding one, I tore it open and swallowed down the contents. When Mia was pregnant, she had suffered terribly from heartburn and sworn that the antacid had the same consistency as sperm.
I couldn’t disagree. Not that I’d swallowed much sperm. Well, I couldn’t say I hadn’t, but it had been a long time ago.
Attending a private school where all the students were boys, things were bound to happen. I’d sucked off a few guys, shared a few hand jobs, but my preference had always been women, especially when I met Mia.
I knew then she’d be the only one I’d want from now until the end of my days.
Except the man on the motorcycle had thrown that theory out of the window.
The thought of what his fingers could do to me played on a loop in my head. I shivered at the thought, and once again, my cock hardened, pushing its way through the opening of my pyjama bottoms.
With Carlotta fast asleep on the other side of the corridor, why shouldn’t I satisfy myself? It had been such a long time.
I turned off the light and slipped my bottoms off. I crawled into bed and took my dick in my hand, gripping it tightly.
It throbbed as blood rushed to the head. I clenched my buttocks and lifted my hips, pushing it through the circle of my hand.
I pulled the foreskin back, stretching the skin. I closed my eyes, willing an image of Mia to appear, but the man from the motorcycle materialised.
Shock hit me. Why was I seeing him? I’d never fantasised about a man, so why now?
But instead of going limp, as I thought I would, my dick hardened more, demanding attention.
Tentatively, I gripped it again, stroking up and down. A tingle travelled from the tip right down into my balls.
I grabbed the lube from the drawer and squirted some into my hand. I didn’t need it, but it made things glide.
I coated my cock with the slick liquid and rubbed my slit with my thumb. The pleasure from this small action had my stomach tightening. Anticipation was everything as I slowly stroked my length. How long had it been?
Too long. I quickened the pace, my hand almost a blur. At this rate, I’d be coming within seconds, and still the face of the man spurred me on.
Was sex on a motorbike difficult? Thoughts of me spread open before him as he edged towards me, his cock in his hand.
He rubbed against me, smearing me with the copious amounts of pre-cum that leaked from the end.
Slowly he neared my hole and pushed inside me, stretching me wide.
Never had I envisaged this, and as he pounded into me, this thick cock took me to a place I’d never been to before.
I lifted my hips and shuddered as he orgasmed, filling me with his release.
A muffled cry left my mouth as my dick erupted, spunk gathering on my hand and stomach.
My heart hammered, and I struggled to catch my breath. I’d tried to be as silent as I could, knowing Carlotta wasn’t far away, but the force of my orgasm had taken me by surprise. I struggled to come down, every muscle in my body quivering from the effort.
It had been a long time since I’d touched myself that way. I wasn’t surprised it had taken mere minutes for me to come.
The muscles in my legs and feet slowly relaxed, allowing me to stand and make my way to the bathroom. My face was flushed, cheeks ruddy from the effort.
I tore off my T-shirt and stood naked before the mirror. Where had the old Rory gone? The one standing before me was gaunt and too thin. Definitely not the person I’d been when Mia was alive.
Mourning her was all I’d done for the past two years. That and look after Carlotta, but it was the person who stared back at me that reminded me I needed to look after myself too.
I wouldn’t leave my daughter on her own or, worse still, allow her to return to her grandfather.
Things needed to change in my life. I should eat better, exercise more, and make sure I’d be around for a long time to take care of her needs until she could do it for herself.
She was still only twelve, and she needed me as much as I needed her.
By the time I’d washed myself down, put on clean pyjamas and crawled back into bed, it was almost three a.m.
I’d need to be up in the next four hours to get us both ready for work and school.
Would the motorcyclist be there tomorrow? The past week, his bike had been there almost every day. He was working for someone, that I knew.
The next morning, I woke to the sound of pounding feet. Carlotta ran into my bedroom, her hair dishevelled, clothes rumpled from sleep.
“Papa, quickly. We’ve overslept.” Groggily I grabbed my phone from the nightstand.
Fuck. It was almost seven thirty. We had about thirty minutes to get ready and leave the apartment. I stumbled out of bed, dressed, and prepared Carlotta’s lunch.
With seconds to spare, we were out of the house. Carlotta, with her friends, and I rushed to catch the tube.
It wasn’t until I reached work that I couldn’t remember seeing the motorbike there. Maybe I’d been mistaken, and it was coincidental I’d seen it around this past week, but something in my gut told me that wasn’t true.
“How was dinner?” Lisa handed me a steaming cup of coffee and sat on the chair in my office. Since meeting a few months ago, we’d become firm friends, and she’d been an enormous help in settling me into the role of finance director.
“Nice. Carlotta loves sushi. We had an interesting conversation last night. She mentioned something about the mums at school, thinking I was good looking.”
“I guess some might find you attractive,” Lisa laughed loudly, then placed her hand over her mouth. “Sorry. It’s probably not that funny.”
“Hey. I’m a total catch. Anyone would be lucky to have me.” She sniggered again. “But seriously, Lisa, she asked when we were going back to Italy. I’ll admit I’ve had a few unwelcome offers.”
“Dinner dates?”
I nodded. “I don’t think they’d stop at dinner, though. Some of those women are terrifying.” I recalled Paige’s mum from earlier and how she’d looked at me as if sizing me up.
“You’re at that age, and you’re a single dad. Prime fodder for middle-aged women.”
“I’m happy being a single dad. I’m not looking for anything else from anyone.” I sat in my chair and put my feet up on my desk, still tired from lack of sleep.
“Does Carlotta know that? Girls can be very jealous of their dads getting any kind of attention.”
“I told her last night. Then we had ice cream. That seemed to placate her. For a while at least. There’s an open evening coming up soon at the school. I’m dreading going, but Carlotta would never forgive me if I didn’t go.”
“Hire an escort.” Lisa laughed again. Great, she thought it was funny.
“Can you imagine?” Maybe Lisa could come with me?
“I know that look. I’m not coming with you. My kids are grown up now, and I refuse to go to another school function. Especially one at her school. Everyone is so stuck up and snobby.”
I peered at her, eyebrows raised.
“Present company excepted, of course, but you know as well as I do what they’re like.”
She was right. I’d purposely chosen an exclusive school for Carlotta to attend, and I hadn’t regretted my decision… until now.
“I could take my sister, I suppose.” But that wouldn’t be an option either. Maybe I should invite the biker? That’d definitely raise some eyebrows and temperatures too.
“You’ve got time, but today, we have several meetings. One with the head office in Switzerland and one later with New York. I’ve prepared all you need. What would you do without me?” She picked up my empty cup and left me to it.
Fail miserably was the answer.
The rest of the day passed without incident. I hadn’t been able to finish early today, but Mrs Rogers would be there for Carlotta when she returned from school, so I was surprised to receive a call from her midway through my last meeting of the day.
“Could you excuse me, gentlemen? I need to take this call.”
I left the conference room and went back to my office.
“Mrs Rogers. Is everything okay?”
“Carlotta said it’d be all right for her to go to her friends after school today. I told her I’d need to check with you first before I said yes. She didn’t seem thrilled about it, but I’m not about to let her go swanning off before asking if she can or not.”
“You did the right thing, Mrs Rogers, and Carlotta should know better. I have a mind to say no, but it’s Thursday, and you have your knitting circle. Which friend is it? I’ll go pick her up when I’ve finished here.”
“It’s Paige. Her mum’s waiting outside in the car to take her. I’ll go let her know she can.”
“I’ll text her later. You get off home, and thank you, Mrs R. You’re an angel.”
I ended the call and dashed back to my meeting, giving my full concentration to it. The sooner we got it over with, the sooner I could go home and speak to Carlotta. She knew better than to do things like this, but I thought back to our conversation of last night and how she’d been.
Did she think I was doing all this to punish her? Keeping her away from her grandfather?
Another father/daughter talk was in order and not before time.