“The famous…or perhaps infamous Mr. Wild.” Candace gave Jason a chastising look, lips pursed and eyebrows raised.
“Just Jason is fine,” he replied, his lips curved in an amused smile. He looked casual and spectacular in a long-sleeved gray V-neck, his long, lean legs clad in black pants. “It’s great to meet you at last, Candace. Daphne has told me wonderful things about you.”
“Hmm,” she scoffed, but she was smiling. “He’s a charmer,” she said to me.
“I’m helplessly charmed.” I laughed. There were people all around her apartment, a vastly different scene from the last time I was there when I’d been crying my eyes out over Jason. I’d forgotten all that, but Candace wasn’t as eager to let it go.
“Daphne is a great girl,” she told Jason. “You take care of her, okay?”
He nodded and met my eyes. “Like my life depends on it.”
I swallowed, melting sweetly under his tender gaze. Reluctantly, I tore my eyes away from his. “Where’s Janice?” I asked.
“Somewhere around,” Candace said. “She’s reading tonight, so her nervous artist persona is out in full force.” She laughed fondly. “Let me get you two some drinks.”
“I’ll come.”
In the attached dining room, boxes filled with ice and wine coolers sat on the sturdy dining table. I grabbed two chilled bottles.
“He can’t take his eyes off you,” Candace said, sneaking a glance at Jason. “I think I’m leaning toward believing he deserves you.”
“Leaning? Really?” I smirked. “He’s a great guy, he loves me, and I’m crazy about him.”
“Well obviously you’re crazy about him—you’re floating on some planet above nine.”
I sighed. “You don’t have to keep worrying about me, Candace. What happened before…it was all a big misunderstanding.”
She nodded and started to say something but stopped when Janice appeared at the front of the living room, standing on a makeshift platform that had been placed in front of the TV to create a stage. She looked stunning, as usual.
“Hey, everyone. Okay. Today we’re starting with a song from my very dear friend, Gary Andrews.” She gestured at a burly guy in a white t-shirt and jeans, and he walked up to her, a guitar in his hand.
“I’d better get back to Jason,” I told Candace.
She waved me off, her eyes fixed on Janice.
“Hey, sexy.” I smiled coyly when I reached where he was standing. “Care for a drink…and some company?”
He chuckled. “I don’t mind the drink, but I’m waiting on my girlfriend and trying to listen to Gary Andrews here. I don’t want to be distracted.”
“Are you calling me distracting?” I whispered as Gary played a few chords on his guitar.
Jason grabbed my waist and pulled me to him, my back to his front. “Very distracting, and very sexy,” he whispered in my ear.
I chuckled and handed him the drink then we settled in to listen while Gary sang a sweet love song.
You’re everything I thought I’d never deserve.
You’re everything I hoped I would find.
You give me life.
You give me breath,
And there’s nothing I won’t do
To make you see
That this is forever
For real
The words stirred something deep inside me, and I leaned back into Jason, swaying softly as his free hand tightened around my waist.
“This is forever,” he whispered in my ear.
I closed my eyes and sighed. “I know.”
After Gary, there were a few poems. Janice read one about hope and keeping dreams alive in a dark world, and Candace applauded and whooped loudest at the end.
A few more people read, and then when the last person finished reading to muted applause, Janice retook the stage.
“We’ve got time for a few more before we all get drunk on wine coolers and forget we’re artists.”
There were a few laughs then Jason gently eased me away from his body. “I’ll be right back,” he told me.
“Where are you going?”
He winked at me and, leaving me watching him in puzzlement, went to the front. I watched him say a few words to Janice, who looked over to where I was standing and waved at me with a grin on her face.
She stepped aside and let Jason take the podium.
What the hell?
I stared at him, mouth open.
He pulled out a sheet of paper from his back pocket. “Hi everyone. My name is Jason, and I’m not a poet, but I wrote this for the girl I love, Daphne. That’s her over there.” He pointed at me. “I hope you all bear with me, and I hope she likes it.”
I covered my face with my hands, floating with happiness but acutely embarrassed to be singled out. Both Candace and Janice came over to stand beside me.
“Girl…” Janice whispered.
“I know!”
Jason cleared his throat, and a second later, his deep voice filled the room, just loud enough that I could hear every word yet somehow soft, gentle, and tender.
At first, there was me
And I thought I knew
How to live for me
How to cruise the sea of life alone
Taking, living, existing
Alone.
But there was always you
In the empty place I couldn’t seal.
There was always you
In the silence I couldn’t fill.
I belonged to you
Before I knew that there was you.
Without you, I shatter and break.
Without you, I stumble and fall.
Without you, the emptiness
is like a wound that never heals.
There was always you
In the places I yearned to go.
There was always you
In the corners of my heart.
I knew I belonged to you
Before I knew that there was you.
He stopped, and there was silence. I had tears in my eyes, and I couldn’t bring myself to speak.
“Oh my,” Janice whispered.
“Yeah,” I said, my voice cracking.
There was enthusiastic applause as Jason folded the paper and put it back in his pocket.
“Marry him,” someone shouted in my direction.
Jason walked toward me, and both Candace and Janice slipped away.
“What did you think?” he asked.
“I…” I sighed. “It was beautiful.” It was more than that. It felt like we were two sides of the same coin, or at least a very similar coin. “I feel the exact same way. It’s almost as if you read my mind and put my feelings into words.”
He cupped my chin, his eyes devouring my face. “Maybe I read your mind.”
I drew him closer until our bodies were touching then traced my fingers along his arm. “Can you read my mind right now?”
He cocked his head and his lips quirked. “You’re thinking…you want another wine cooler.”
I chuckled. “Not really.”
He lowered his head and brushed his lips against mine, sending a tingle down my spine. “I know.”
“I’d tell you to get a room, but the party’s not over yet.” Janice’s voice interrupted our kiss. She held out her hand to Jason. “I’m Janice.”
“Jason.”
“I know.” She smiled. “That was a great performance. Very swoon-worthy.”
“Thank you.”
“I like him,” she told me. “Don’t make her cry again,” she added softly, her eyes on Jason. “You kids have fun.”
Gary played another song, and we stayed for a while longer before saying goodbye.
It was a beautiful night, and we decided to walk back to my apartment. We strolled silently with Jason’s arm wrapped around me. Sometimes, there was no need for words. I leaned into him, my eyes half closed as he guided me along the sidewalk.
“I’ll move in with you,” I told him just before we reached my place.
He stopped walking. “Are you sure?”
I nodded. “Not right now, but as soon as Amy and Colin have definite plans about their new living arrangement. He wants to get a bigger place…” I trailed off.
“There’s no rush,” Jason agreed. “Whenever you’re ready. I don’t want to rush you again.”
I smiled. The first time he’d tried to rush me, I’d thrown him out of my apartment and my life. It seemed like such a long time ago now. Then I’d been so sure that being alone was the best thing for me. Now, I couldn’t imagine a life without Jason.
Amy and Colin were watching a police procedural on TV when we got to the apartment, and there were two fresh boxes of pizza on the end table.
“Hey guys.” Amy held up a delicious-looking slice. “It’s pizza night.”
“It should always be pizza night!” I declared, abandoning Jason and going over to take a slice.
Colin looked amused. “Sup, Jason? Hi, Daph.” He gestured at the TV. “I’m still taking bets for whodunnit.”
Jason glanced at the TV. “I think I’ve seen this one.” He grinned. “Or maybe I haven’t. What are we betting?”
Colin laughed. “Bragging rights, but no betting for you.”
“How was the party?” Amy asked.
“Nice. Jason wrote me a poem.” I gave her a swoony smile. “And he read it to me.”
“What?” She squealed. “Like…in front of the audience?”
I nodded.
She turned to Jason, mouth wide. “I don’t believe it.”
He shrugged. “That’s because you think you know me, but you don’t.”
“I know you.” She paused. “I want to see your poem.”
“No.” Jason held up one hand and shook his head. “Never and never.”
They bickered until Colin un-paused the show on TV, and we ate pizza while Jason gave outlandish red herring hints about who the villain was.
“Mom and Dad want us to have dinner together sometime soon,” Amy informed Jason when the show ended. “No date yet, but we’re trying to find something that works with everyone’s schedule.”
“I’m flexible,” Jason said. He looked at me.
Something sweet unfurled inside me, not just because of Jason, but because of how I was automatically included in a family event, something I’d never experienced in my adult life. “Yeah, me too.”
Colin got up and kissed Amy. “Early day tomorrow, babe.” She pouted, and he kissed her again. “And I’m flexible too.”
She chuckled and bit her lip. “I know, babe.”
“Okay.” Jason made a face, and Amy laughed. “I gotta go now.” He looked at me. “Tomorrow?”
I nodded.
After they’d both gone, Amy and I got rid of the remains of our food and drinks.
“I’m still trying to get used to seeing a ring on your finger,” I told her. “It jumps right out at me when I least expect it, and it’s so beautiful.”
It was beautiful, an exquisite sapphire surrounded by a cluster of diamonds.
“I know!” she exclaimed. “I still get a little shock whenever I look at my finger and see it staring back at me, like—oh my god I’m engaged.”
I laughed. “I can imagine.”
“You know Colin’s mother gave it to him when he told her he was going to propose? We’ve never met in person, only on Skype, and yet…she gave him her engagement ring, for me.”
“And it matches your eyes,” I added. “That’s like…fate.”
“Right?” She laughed and gestured at the TV. “Wanna catch another episode?”
“Why not?” I wasn’t feeling sleepy.
She sank down on the couch, and I joined her.
“Have you ever met Jason’s mother?” I asked.
She gave me a look. “Nope. Never have, and don’t want to. Why? What happened?”
“She came to see him. At his place.”
Her eyes widened, and she forgot about the show. “What the—”
I nodded and told her everything that’d happened, word for word. “He was so mad at her.”
“As he should be.” Amy frowned. “I can’t believe my dad’s been in contact with her. Jason won’t like that.”
That was another thing I’d kept from him. “I haven’t told him.”
Amy grimaced. “I didn’t know she was crazy. I guess there’s a lot that makes sense now. Maybe Jason should get a restraining order. She sounds dangerous.”
“It didn’t seem like she was,” I said softly, though I was still troubled by the encounter. “I don’t know. Maybe he should talk to her. He’s still hurting, and a conversation might help.”
“Except she has nothing to say but ramblings about murder and how you should leave him.” Amy snorted. “He went to see her when he was younger, and she sent him away. She was very cruel to him, and it took him a long time to get over it.”
I breathed. “He told me, but that’s the thing…he isn’t over it.”
Amy sighed. “I don’t know, Daphne. Growing up, I always hoped our family was enough for Jason. I knew he had another mother somewhere, and I was always scared she would come and take him away. I had this idea of her like a witch in my head.”
“Even your imagination is dramatic,” I said, with a small laugh.
She chuckled. “Well, I was a child.” She paused. “It’s hard to get past thinking of her that way, but if you think she needs help, or that Jason needs some closure with her, then it doesn’t hurt to try to help them find it.”
The problem was how.
After we watched our show, I went to bed, and I lay under the covers, wondering just how I could somehow help Jason bridge the gap with his mother.
Leave it alone.
I ignored the warning voice in my head. Somewhere inside, Jason was a boy who needed to forgive his mother, and somewhere inside the woman who’d left him, there was still a mother who cared for her child—I was sure of it. I just had to find a way to bring them together.
My phone trilled. It was Jason, no doubt calling to say good night.
“Hey, you,” I whispered.
“Hey.” His voice was soft. “I wanted to say good night and to let you know I’m thinking about you, just in case you forgot.”
“I could never.” I laughed. “I’m thinking about you too.”
He groaned. “When did you say you were moving in again?”
“Not soon.” I chuckled.
“Are you in bed?”
“Yes.”
I heard him exhale. “What are you wearing?”
“Panties.”
“And?”
I paused. “And nothing.”
There was a sharp intake of breath on his end. “I want to touch your breasts.”
He had the power to arouse me with just words, and my breath quickened as I imagined his fingers on my breasts, kneading, squeezing…his tongue licking a heated path around my nipple. “I want you to suck them and lick them, every inch.”
“I would,” he said. “With pleasure.”
“I know. You can’t get enough of my breasts. It turns me on.”
“You’re turning me on.”
I closed my eyes. It felt good to talk to him like this, and I had no intention of stopping. “I’m all wet, thinking about your fingers and how they feel inside me, especially when you touch my clit at the same time.”
Jason groaned. “I have my dick in my hand.”
At the image of his beautiful erection, there was a sweet flutter between my legs. My fingers slipped down, over my belly, into my panties.
“I want to suck it. I want to let you fuck my mouth.”
“Your sexy mouth,” he rasped. “So hot and wet.”
“And then you’d fuck my pussy, so hard…I’d ride you until you came.”
“With your breasts in my face.”
“Yes,” I whispered. My fingers found my throbbing clit and stroked. “With my breasts in your face and my nipples in your mouth.”
“Christ! If you keep talking, I’m going to come any minute.”
“I’m stroking my clit,” I whispered. “I’m about to make myself come, just thinking about you, about your cock, how sweet it feels when you’re inside me, fucking me.” I stroked myself, licking my lips as pleasure built from my core. “When you’re fucking me, I just want more of your sweet cock.”
“Fuck,” he groaned. “I’m coming.”
“Yeah,” I panted, lost to my own pleasure. My hips bucked as my body stiffened, sensations spreading through me and leaving me limp in their wake.
I let out a long sigh.
“I don’t think I’ve ever come so hard from rubbing one out,” Jason said, laughing softly.
“I make everything better,” I quipped. “I’m bad like that.”
“You are.” He chuckled. “You’ll get your punishment the next time I see you.”
I smiled. “Promise?”
“Promise.”