Chapter 35
Wes
Just as I thought, my daughter refuses to go to New York. I did my best, trying to bribe her with all the fun activities in the city, but it did nothing to convince her. I considered not going at all, dreading being away from my girls for a whole week. I’ve never been away from Lilah that long.
I’ve always hated leaving Lilah, and have turned down many opportunities for guest spots, just because I didn’t want to be far from her. Now that Ivy is in the mix too, the dread has doubled.
All of that aside, I know that this is good for my business.
It will get me, Leo, and the shop more exposure to more clients, and open us up to different shop cultures and styles.
We’ll have the opportunity to learn from and collaborate with other artists.
The change of scenery keeps things fresh, and gets the creative juices flowing—helps prevent the burnout.
The studio in New York asked me to bring my best artist, and that’s Leo.
If it were just me, maybe I would turn them down.
However, knowing that I would be denying Leo the opportunity to expand and grow as an artist if I did, makes my decision for me.
I need to go to New York, and I am so incredibly lucky that I have Ivy, who is willing to stay with my daughter the entire time while I’m gone.
I won’t lie and say that I’m not a little worried about leaving them. With my parents leaving the day before me, that leaves Ivy’s resources for support slimmer than usual. Of course, Sophie has promised to stop by. Then there’s Maverick and Lincoln who have sworn they’d check in as well.
Do I know that Ivy can handle herself and Delilah just fine without all of that?
Absolutely.
Ivy is the strongest, most capable woman I’ve ever met. But that doesn’t stop me from wanting to make everything as easy on her as I can. I want them to be supported and cared for as much as possible while I’m gone.
The weeks between Ivy’s birthday and the day I leave for New York are flying by way too fast. I do everything in my power to make time stand still.
I want to soak in every night I get with Ivy and Lilah before I have to leave.
Lilah doesn’t seem to share the sentiment, and is over the moon she’ll have uninterrupted girl time with Ivy for a whole week.
Ivy and I stay in either her bed or mine. One of us always sneaks away in the early morning hours, but it’s worth it to be able to fall into each other every night.
Every night we fuck or make love. Sometimes the fucking turns into love-making, and love-making turns into rough fucking. We can’t seem to keep our hands to ourselves. We sneak kisses and touches anyway we can when Lilah isn’t looking.
Though my daughter knows Ivy and I are together, we’ve still agreed to ease her into it. She’s seen us hold hands, and hug, but we're taking the baby steps route.
Ivy has really locked in on writing since getting her new computer. After the day is done and I get out of the shower, I usually find Ivy zeroed in on her screen, glasses on, and hair tied into a wild knot on top of her head, exactly like she is now.
I scrub a towel through my hair and watch as Ivy taps away on her keyboard, feet crossed at the ankle, and nose scrunched in concentration. The sight has me dangerously close to confessing how gone I am for her.
Again.
Part of me thinks I should just tell her. I genuinely don’t know what’s stopping me, but I like what we’re doing right now. I don’t want to rock the boat. I feel like everything is a little too good to be true, and I sure as hell don’t want to mess that up.
Wimp.
If it didn’t look absolutely insane of me, I’d flip off the sky where I know Sarah is.
Ivy finally looks up at me, where I’m just standing on my side of the bed, staring at her.
“Hello, creep,” she quips, then shuts her laptop and sets it on the bedside table.
“Hello,” I reply, and slide into bed beside her. “Writing about vampire cocks?” I ask, jokingly.
“Wesley Ford Cooper, it’s not just about sex,” she scolds as she takes off her glasses, and lets her unruly hair down. “It’s about longing, and tension, and deep, profound confessions of love,” she huffs, flailing her hands around dramatically.
That's a little too on the nose for comfort.
“And vampire dick. But mostly love,” she relents.
“Ah. I see,” I concede, wrapping a hand around her calf and pulling her body down the mattress. I cover her body with mine, pinning her down by her wrists.
“I apologize for my ignorance,” I mutter, then dip down and slip my tongue into her mouth.
She kisses me back eagerly, opening her legs wider so I can settle against her fully. I thrust against her, and the little noise she makes in her throat nearly unravels me.
“You’re forgiven,” she chokes out after breaking away from our kiss.
I lift to kneel between her legs, and rip her underwear off in one fluid motion. Rolling onto my back, I take her with me. Her hair falls around us as I position her to straddle me and kick off my briefs.
“Ride me, baby.”
————
My chest aches as I stare at my packed suitcase in the corner, its presence taunting me. I feel Ivy start to stir, so I look down, watching her eyes crack open. She stretches her legs, then her arms, raising them above her head, and groaning.
“Good morning,” I rasp.
She covers her mouth to stifle a yawn. “Morning. How long have you been awake?” she asks.
I shrug one shoulder. “Like an hour,” I reply, tracing her freckles with a fingertip. “Couldn’t sleep.”
“We just went to bed like four hours ago,” she groans, after she sees the time on my phone. “We shouldn’t have stayed up so late. You’re going to be so tired.”
I squeeze my arms around her. “Yes we should have,” I say, my voice still rough from sleep. “Worth it.”
“I know it’s only a week. But I’ll still miss you,” Ivy says with a dramatic sigh.
“I’ll miss you more,” I reply in the very somber tone I feel.
Ivy lifts her head up off of my chest, and her smile falls when she sees my serious expression.
She runs a finger down my jawline, then whispers, “Yeah.” before nodding and leaning in to kiss me.
I give her a light smack on the ass, making her giggle and roll off of me.
“It’s only a week,” I say, giving her a reassuring squeeze on her hip, then slipping out of bed to shower and get ready for the airport.
“It’ll be fine.” I hear her call out.
It’ll be fine.
————
It’s not fine.
I miss my girls so much it’s physically painful, and I’ve only been gone four days.
When Ivy and Lilah dropped me off at the airport, I shocked the hell out of myself when my nose started to sting, and the lump in my throat formed.
I hugged my daughter for what felt like minutes, until she finally got fed up and pushed away from me, promising me that it would be alright.
Then I broke our PDA rule for Lilah, and couldn’t stop myself from giving Ivy a deep kiss, then hugging her for nearly just as long as Lilah.
I had this feeling when Leo and I were boarding our flight that something wasn’t right.
Something felt a little…off. I chalked it up to me making excuses to stay behind, and brushed it off as best I could.
My parents have sent photos, and are living their best retired life, or their “Golden Era” as my mom likes to call it. They’ve sent countless photos to the family group chat. Mostly of sunsets with a finger in the corner, or pictures of the food they’ve been eating.
My favorite photo in particular was the one of my dad with the hula girls, where he looks wildly uncomfortable—stiff and awkward with his hands directly down by his sides. When you hold down on the screen for the live function of the photo, you can hear my mom coaxing him to “Perk up, Buck.”
Other than missing Ivy and Delilah terribly, the work has been great. I’m grateful that Ivy pushed me to come, and take full advantage of this opportunity. I’ve met several artists and clients, and booked quite a few future projects back in Canyon Creek. The same goes for Leo.
I’ve FaceTimed Ivy as much as I can, and have at least gotten to say goodnight to Lilah every night. Ivy sends me photos of them throughout the day, and I’ve saved every single one of them. From what I hear from Ivy, they’re doing well. They’ve been going to the park, and to visit Rose with Sophie.
When I caught a glimpse of Soph on FaceTime earlier, something seemed off with her, and I feel like an asshole for not really knowing what’s going on in her life right now. I should be checking in with her more now, especially with Beau being back in town.
As I shoot my sister a text to check in with her, I get an incoming text from Ivy.
I finish sending the text to Sophie, then view the new message.
It’s late, and I’ve already said goodnight to both her and Lilah, so I wonder what it’s about.
I lift my hand behind my head on my pillow, and click on our thread.
Ivy: *new image*
I immediately flip my phone face down on my chest, like I’ve just received incriminating evidence against me, and not like I'm a fully grown man in his own hotel room.
Holy fucking shit.
I lift my phone back up, and scan every inch of Ivy’s exposed skin.
It looks like she propped her phone up on my bedside table, and is kneeling on my bed, legs spread wide, with her hand gently grazing her lingerie-covered pussy.
Her tits are pushed up in a matching black, but see-through bra, putting her piercings on full display.
She’s resting back on her heels, making her thighs look juicy as fuck, and her long wavy hair is draped over her shoulders. I audibly groan, and scrub a hand over the scruff on my jaw.
I guess I’ve taken too long to respond, because I get a new incoming text.
Ivy: Please tell me you’re awake and as horny as I am. Being in your bed without you is killing me.
Wes: I’m awake. Jesus Christ, Ivy. Warn a man. You’re going to give me an aneurysm.
I startle when my phone begins ringing, and I see it’s a FaceTime from Ivy. Is she really trying to have phone sex right now?
I am so in.