34. Kellen
Thirty-Four
Kellen
After I leave Jake and Beth at the ceremony on Saturday, my mind is reeling. I am still not sure if we’re okay after the things I said to her, but I also know she has to prepare for her hearing on Monday, so I don’t want to distract her with my own selfish needs to be comforted.
By the time my family shows up on Sunday for dinner, they panic when they find me sitting around in sweatpants watching television.
I barely respond to them being here, unable shake off the deep desire to help Elizabeth, paired with my equal desire to show that I believe she can help herself when she needs to.
I considered going over to her house a thousand times, wrote a rubric about my options, and eventually sank into the couch catching up on the radio documentaries that suddenly no longer seem interesting to me.
Mick takes a look at me, orders pizza, and insists the Brady family intervene somehow. They all want to storm the courtroom when I tell them about the hearing Monday, but surprisingly it’s Mick who speaks as the voice of reason about that suggestion.
“She can’t show up in there with a circus in tow,” he says, shaking his head. “We’ll just name delegates who can behave.”
“Oh, well Isaac is out then,” Nicole says, elbowing my nephew in the ribs. “And me. Don’t let me near that scum bag. I will not be couth.”
“Is couth a word?” Maddie is pacing the room, rubbing her bulging stomach. “I know about uncouth. Anyway, I could spew this baby out at any time so Liam and I are a no for tomorrow.”
“I’m not going back in a family courtroom ever again,” Mick says, starting to clean up all the paper plates and napkins. I stare at him, cleaning up my house, speaking with experience about custody proceedings. “We should bring the kid back to Beltane afterward, though. Isn’t he an egghead?”
“Is egghead an insult?” Nicole frowns at him. “It feels like it could be insulting.”
I roll my eyes at them all, but I love that they’re doing this.
They’re treating Elizabeth like she’s one of us already and it’s so meaningful to me I almost start to cry.
Nicole hands me a beer and says, “Here’s what we’re gonna do.
Isaac and Ray are going to plan a nerd-gasmic robot adventure for Jake and Orla and Cal will be Brady ambassadors along with Uncle Kellen. ”
They all nod and wedge themselves with me on the couch.
Sitting here, together with them all, I know things are going to work out.
Mick claps his hands and stands up. “Well, I’ve got a date,” he says.
“Good night, you beautiful babies. Nobody show up in court wearing sneakers.” He glares at Callum and backs out my front door.
After the hearing, Orla and Cal bustle Jake away.
Elizabeth, holding his tie and blazer, still looks shell shocked.
She stares after them, tears rolling down her cheeks in the hall where the staff ushered us after the hearing.
They really pack those courtroom schedules, and the next deadbeat ex-husband is due to get his comeuppance a few minutes after Elizabeth’s.
“Let me drive you home,” I whisper into her ear. “My car is at the Beltane lot and I walked.” I shrug and reach for her purse, and she hands it to me. I pull out the keys and place my hand on the small of her back.
We walk to the garage and she sinks into the passenger seat of her car and looks over at me. “Did all that really happen?”
“Sure did,” I say, pulling her garage ticket from the visor above my head and inserting my credit card in the machine at the exit. “And from the sound of things, Jake is having the time of his life at my office.”
“But you’re here with me?” She rests her elbow on the window and her head in her hand, turning toward me. Her expression shifts from one of stunned surprise to a heated gaze emitting a very different energy.
“I’m here with you,” I tell her. I pull onto Bigelow Boulevard and reach for her, needing to connect with her skin. We touch the rest of the way to her house, her breath coming faster and my patience waning as the lights seem to stay red forever.
I pull into her driveway and follow her into the house, where she heads down the hall and looks at me over her shoulder.
I step closer to her, into her space. I can see her chest rise and fall and I place a finger on her chin, tipping her face up to look at me.
“I was so proud to be there with you today,” I tell her. She smiles.
“Thank you so much for showing up today,” she says, her voice shaky. “I can’t begin to tell you what it meant to see you and your family there.”
“Well,” I put my hands on her hips. “How about if you show me then?” She stretches up on her tiptoes and captures my mouth in a kiss.
I’m happy to receive it, opening my mouth to receive her tongue as she explores.
We kiss in her kitchen, my hands roaming her body, fingers lingering on her backside, and when I squeeze a proper handful, she pulls back.
“We should probably be quiet,” she says, and starts walking down the hall, tugging me by the hand. “The neighbors are out raking leaves…”
“I won’t make a sound,” I whisper, following her as I toe off my shoes and start to work on the buttons of my shirt. When we get in her room, she shuts and locks the door and pounces on me, shoving me back so I fall on her bed.
She climbs on top of me and flattens me in a kiss, shoving my hands out of the way as she pulls open my buttons. She groans when she encounters my undershirt, as if she’s as anxious as I am to feel our skin pressed together.
I clutch her waist and roll us so that I’m on top of her, nestled between her legs. I reach over my neck to pull off my undershirt with one hand while I kneel on the bed. Elizabeth reaches up and works on the waistband of my slacks.
“I want all of you, Kellen,” she says. “I don’t want to stop halfway.”
“Same, Beth,” I tell her, gently lifting her shirt and easing it up as she lifts up to let me pull it off her head. “You let me know what feels good, though.” I don’t want to let my barely-contained lust to hurt her in any way.
“All of it feels good,” she says, wriggling out of her pants. We strip each other until we are bare, and I’m kneeling on the bed with my cock in my hand, stroking it as I look down on her magnificent body.
She reaches a hand for her breast, and I’m worried she’s going to try to cover herself from me again, but she stares at my crotch and fingers her nipple, like she can’t help herself. She’s pleasuring herself, and it turns me on. A lot. “Oh, Beth,” I growl. “Do you like what you see?”
She bites her lip and looks up at me. I dive down on top of her, spearing her mouth with my tongue, filling my palm with her breasts. I feel her nipples tighten beneath my touch and I groan as she snakes a hand around my erection.
Gasping, she pulls back. “I have lube in the night stand,” she breathes. “But I don’t have condoms.”
“I haven’t been with anyone in over a decade,” I say into her neck. I glance up and meet her eye.
“Me neither,” she says. And then she laughs. “And I can’t get pregnant.” She pulls her hand back from my chest where she’s been tracing a nail through my graying hairs. She opens her drawer and pulls out a tiny bottle of lube. “We should just go for it.”
“Oh god,” I moan. “Yes, Beth.” I take the bottle from her hand and set it beside her head on the bed while I continue my exploration of her beautiful body. I lick each nipple until the glistening tips are standing erect as Beth’s chest rises and falls with her panting breaths.
She moves her hands to my ass and massages. Her touch is warm, exploratory. “Kellen,” she moans. Beth thrusts her hips up and I feel her center against my hard-on, warm and welcoming. Bracing my weight on one arm, I pop open the cap to the bottle and pour a drop on my finger.
“You’ll tell me if something doesn’t feel good?”
“It all feels good, Kellen,” she says, her hips churning beneath me.
I reach down between her legs with my lubed up finger, parting her as she sighs.
“Oh,” she moans. “Yes.” My finger slides inside her body and she’s so tight, so slick and hot.
I add another finger and feel her bear down as I stroke in and out.
This experience is familiar, like a far-off dream, but also feels so new I want to savor every instant with her. I want to see what makes her feel good, to watch her face transform.
Beth moans my name as my thumb presses against her clit. I look down at her lovely face, her eyes closed as she moans and wriggles on the bed. Her hands fall off my body and clutch at the sheets as I increase my speed and pressure. “Kellen,” she cries.
“Ssshhh,” I remind her. “We have to be quiet, remember?” I press my mouth against hers to swallow her moans as she bucks beneath me and I draw an orgasm from her with my fingers. Her pleasure is a gift to me. She’s bare to me in every way, vulnerable and open. I’m incredibly turned on.
As she gasps for breath, Elizabeth grabs for my cock and rubs her thumb around the sensitive tip.
I feel a drop of pre-cum slick beneath her hand and I groan.
“Please, Kellen,” she begs. I don’t make her say it twice.
I reach for more of the lube just in case, and she watches as I drizzle it on my hard length.
“So sexy,” she says, extending a hand to help me as I spread the liquid around.
I adjust my weight and align myself with her center as she keeps her hand on me, sliding her fist up and down, slick and perfect. I press a kiss against her mouth as I slide carefully inside.
“Oh, god,” she and I say together. I feel her around me everywhere.
Every nerve in my body fires for this experience as I sink into Elizabeth’s welcoming heat.
I intend to lie still, to let her acclimate to my presence inside her, but Elizabeth starts to rock her hips.
She starts to take control, digging her fingers into my butt as she lifts up from beneath me.
“You like that, Beth?” I grin, propping myself on my forearms as she pulls me in deeper, faster, harder.
“So good,” she moans. And I want this for always, us together, open.
No limits. No barriers between us. I want to be here for her difficulties and I want to be here to make her feel good.
I join her motion, and the two of us rock together, our old bodies finding a new rhythm.
“Right there,” she breathes and then she starts to moan. “Harder.”
“Beth, are you sure you—“
“Shut up, Kellen,” she snaps, and she rocks into my pelvis, grinding against my pubic bone. “I’m going to come again. I’m going to come!”
I pick up the pace and she joins me every step of the way until we are both tumbling over the edge.
I come, the hot ropes of my release filling her as she shouts my name and claws at my shoulders.
And then I collapse on top of her, feeling so complete I might cry from the relief and the beauty of it all.
Some time later, maybe it’s an hour or maybe it’s ten, she wriggles out from beneath me and kisses my cheek. “I need to use the restroom,” she says, but I shake my head. “Let me help you,” I say.
I yank on my boxers and pad down the hallway. In the bathroom, I find a washcloth and soak it with warm water.
I bring it back to the bed and nudge Elizabeth’s thighs open to clean her, peppering her stomach with kisses as I do.
“I can’t believe I’m sleeping with a tattooed woman,” I say, tracing the leaves again on her thigh. “You’re such a rebel.”
“Hm,” she laughs, flicking at my nipples.
“Better watch out with that behavior or we’ll be going again,” I tease. I toss the washcloth into her hamper, making note to help her get a load of laundry started later on so nothing gets mildewed. I snuggle into the bed beside her, wondering if it’s inappropriate if I ask to stay over tonight.
I can’t handle the thought of sleeping away from her, not after what we just experienced together.
“That was so perfect, Kellen,” she murmurs, taking a long whiff of my armpit.
“Did you just sniff my pits?”
“I did. You smell so good. Even your sweat smells sexy to me.”
“I’m not sure how to feel about that, Beth.” I puff up the pillow so I can more comfortably slip an around around her shoulders and pull her close.
“This is what I want, Kellen,” she says, those fingers tracing my chest again. “I don’t want a white knight to save me.”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” I tell her.
“And I decided you don’t need saving.” She smiles and I kiss her nose.
“But I’m happy to be here with you to celebrate your victories.
” Another kiss. I clasp her hand in mine and bring her knuckles to my lips.
“I hope you’ll let me be here beside you for support if things are hard. ”
She nods, tears welling up in her eyes. “I’d like that, Kellen. I would. I’m working on it.”
“We can work on it together,” I tell her. And we drift off to sleep in each other’s arms.