42. tallulah #2
He was perfect. He made it perfect because he wanted to for me. Love coursed through me, twisting with the lust. I loved him so much, it made the sex so much better. The emotional connection burned everything brighter, made the sensations hotter, made me feel everything.
I was fucking alive.
“I—I’m going to cum,” rushed out of me. “I’m—I’m—”
The sudden wave of an orgasm left me floating, boneless before crashing into me. White noise filled my brain. An unimaginable pleasure seeped through, filling me up until it was all I was.
I clapped my hands over my mouth to stop from screaming his name. It was my final item from my bucket list, and it was fucking incredible.
Bliss, bliss, pure bliss.
Nick began to move me. We were in such an awkward position against the wall, and I was shaking too much to be any help. My heels touched the floor again, stumbled a little, and Nick steadied me, finally visible again. He was breathing as hard as I was, his chin wet.
“Oh my god,” I whispered.
“I didn’t think I could do it,” he said, his voice husky. “I—I thought I was just going to try for the rest of my life.”
I blinked. “Try to…?”
“Yeah.”
“Try to get me off?” With both hands, I pushed him down to the ground. He thumped back, dazed, and I straddled him. I had to rifle through the layers of the gown to unbutton his pants. “That is the sweetest fucking thing I’ve ever heard.”
Nick’s hands went over mine, yanking down his pants a few inches. Finally, fucking finally. He guided himself inside me. I could feel him, painfully rigid, so hard, I could detect every flex, every twitch of his cock.
I was so sensitive. Nick wrapped his arms around me, raising his hips to sink inside, bringing me down to him.
“I love you,” he mumbled into my skin. “I—I love you—”
It didn’t take long for him to cum. He couldn’t catch his breath. He swore under his breath, hands shaking.
“T—Tallulah—” he choked out. “I’m cumming, I—I’m cumming—”
“Keep going, baby,” I murmured, my words at his ear. “Keep going.”
“Oh, fuck—” He squeezed me so tight, I couldn’t breathe. “Fuck—fuck—”
When he was finished, his muscles relaxed and he nestled into me. We were panting together, hidden away from the rest of the world. Exactly where I wanted to be.
Nick’s voice was soft. “Tallulah?”
“Yes?”
“Tell Max you’re not single. Please. Please tell him.”
I pressed my cheek into his hair, nodding slowly. “I will.”
“You will?”
“Mm-hmm. I will. Are you ready to go?”
“Do you want to go home?”
I hesitated. “Can you go home?”
“I don’t care if I’m not supposed to,” he mumbled. “I just want to go home with you.”
It was another way of Nick saying ‘I love you.’ Smiling, I nodded. We hugged each other tightly and stood up. Nick helped dust me off. There was only so much he could do. I had to leave for the bathroom to inspect the damage.
The dress was a little grimy, but it was already so beautiful and colorful, that the added gray just subdued the colors a little.
I gazed into the mirror, studying myself.
I looked…different. What was it? It wasn’t my hair.
The braids were messier, but they were still mine.
My skin was flushed. That was usual. My lips were plumper from the kisses. Which was recently usual.
So…what was it?
I slipped the lipstick out of my purse and reapplied the blood red color. It wasn’t just the lipstick color. What was this big change that was noticeable even to me?
“Happy,” I realized. “I look happy.”
A smile curved my lips, a giggle bursting out of me, all alone in the ladies’ bathroom. I blew a kiss at the mirror. Nick wasn’t the only ridiculous one. Maybe that’s why we were so perfect together. Leaving, I laughed at myself, and that felt very, very good.
I walked out to the ballroom again and Max’s face fell when he took me in. “Uh…Tallulah…”
“Nick and I are in an official relationship.”
It was like I told him that the sky was black or the grass had died outside. Something so foolish, it had to be corrected. “No.”
“No?” I arched an eyebrow. My anxiety had been washed away by the orgasm. I was still riding the high, amused by Max’s reply. “No?”
“You’re making a mistake,” he managed.
“A mistake?”
“He’s a fucking whore.”
I was more surprised than anything. “Max—”
“Nick is a cocky piece of shit hockey player. And he fucking plays for college so he’s obviously not that fucking good! He’s the reason my career was derailed, he ruined my fucking life, and he’s going to fuck you over like he’s fucked over everybody else. Why can’t you see it?!”
Slowly, I took a deep breath and crossed my arms over my chest. “You know what, Max? There’s something I’ve wanted to say to you all summer, and I didn’t feel comfortable saying it until now.” I lifted a shoulder. “You shouldn’t be a cyclist.”
He blinked, his fury gone. “Excuse me?”
“You shouldn’t be a cyclist. Or a skier. That’s why you didn’t win the gold. It wasn’t Nick sleeping with a teammate. You were already going to lose.”
Max was speechless.
“You hate leg day. I talked to your trainers, your coaches, it’s obvious you just enjoy being a great athlete, and that’s wonderful! Do it! But you are miserable cycling. Why?” I asked, genuinely wondering. “If you want the acclaim, why not go into table tennis? Archery? You’d be so much happier!”
It was clear he didn’t want to listen to this. He wet his lips, his eyes searching the crowd. “You going out with Nick is the biggest mistake you’ve ever made—”
“It’s such an unattractive quality, talking about someone behind their back.”
He fell silent again.
“Nick doesn’t deserve it and I don’t want to hear it. It’s that simple. So I don’t want to hear you talking about him again or I never want to talk to you again.”
My anxiety would never leave me, it’d always be there, but on a night like tonight, when I’d been reaffirmed so completely from Nick, everything to be anxious about felt so unimportant. Maybe tomorrow I’d feel different, but for right now, Max’s seriousness felt kind of silly.
“Biggest mistake of my life…” My lips curved into a smile. “It could be worse. At least I’m not tied to an Olympic sport I don’t like in a team I don’t enjoy.”
There was muffled shouting from the other side of the ballroom. Nick had gone to give an excuse to Tomasini to leave for the night. Clearly, that didn’t work. I spotted Nick, hands balled into fists, while a couple of grown men were holding Tomasini back, trying to calm him down.
People stiffened around us. Most of them turned away, content not to see what was happening right in front of them.
I cut through the crowd, careful not to bump into others.
“You feel sick on my fucking dime?” Tomasini demanded. “On my fucking dime?!”
Nick’s team captain grabbed Nick’s shoulder. “Don’t—”
“I want to punch that motherfucker so bad,” Nick swore.
“Kurosawa, don’t—”
I slipped my arm through Nick’s and he jerked back. The anger creasing his face melted away.
“Let’s go home,” I whispered, bringing him with me.
Nick hesitated for only a moment, glancing over his shoulder to catch an eyeful of Tomasini.
The group of men were in an escalating argument.
It’d undoubtedly lead to property damages with those expensive vases in the corner.
Nick’s hesitation didn’t last. He wove his fingers through mine, letting me take him to the side exit that opened to the gardens.
It was quiet outside, only the sounds of the crickets chirping and the birds crooning at this late hour.
I squeezed Nick’s hand. “That’s going to cost you tomorrow, isn’t it?”
“Oh, Tallulah,” he chuckled, like he was amused I’d asked. “You’re worth it.”
A gate led to the road, our escape from Tomasini’s show of horrors. I tried to use my shoulder to push the heavy gate, and Nick took over, holding it open for me.
I sighed, pleased. “It’s so easy falling in love with you.”
“I’m not falling. I already fell,” Nick said so quietly, his words faded in with the night air. “I broke into pieces and they’re all yours.”