part0025

It had been a couple days since my world was tilted on its axis. Today was New Year’s Eve and the plan was to go to Lou’s with our friends, just as we had done last year. I couldn’t say I was overjoyed at the thought of going, but considering I’d spent the last several days sulking inside, I knew I needed to get out.

The first twenty-four hours or so after learning the truth about where my father had been all these years was rough. I felt everything from relief to sadness to hope to anger. I felt frustrated and I felt anxious. With each new emotion I experienced, I tried extremely hard to work through it, but it was tough. It was even more difficult because I didn’t have all the answers. In fact, most of the questions had no answers yet.

Luke was incredibly supportive throughout all of it. Of course, the day I learned he’d enlisted the help of Cunningham Security, I had a hard time coping with the fact that he’d known about it for a month and said nothing. He was remorseful that he’d kept it from me, and I appreciated the fact that he immediately apologized for it. Nobody in my life had ever apologized for anything they did to me. So, Luke may have made a bad choice in not telling me about his plan to find my father, but when I had the chance to gain some perspective, I knew deep down he didn’t mean to cause me any more heartache.

It was that very next day, later in the evening that I finally took Luke up on his offer to help me work through what I was feeling.

“I think I need you,” I confessed as we finished our dinner.

There was no hesitation from Luke when he picked up our empty plates and responded, “You have me. What do you need?”

“I can’t figure out how I feel about this whole situation. I just know I’m feeling a lot of things and I can’t seem to manage those feelings.”

“So, talk to me,” he urged as he stood from putting the dishes in the dishwasher.

I took in a deep breath and started, “I’m scared, but I’m also relieved. I’m slightly comforted by the fact that he didn’t just walk away, but I’m worried that if Cruz finds him he won’t want to see me.”

“Why do you think he wouldn’t want to see you?”

I shrugged my shoulders and replied, “Why didn’t he contact me? I mean, there had to be some way for him to reach out to me. Of course, I don’t know the circumstances surrounding this whole imprisonment, so maybe he wasn’t able to contact me. That just makes me feel miserable. He loved me, Luke. Can you imagine wanting to talk to someone you love and not being able to?”

He let out a little laugh and remarked, “I might know a thing or two about that.”

With my hands resting on the island countertop, I dropped my eyes to my lap. “I’m sorry. That was incredibly insensitive. ”

Luke, who was standing on the opposite side of the island, took my hands in his and forgave me. “It’s okay. The difference is that I at least had the freedom to come and see you when I wanted.”

“I want to be optimistic, but I’m afraid of the disappointment. I want to know what happened. I start feeling angry, wondering if my mother knew. There’s a big part of me that believes she knew where he was all along and she never told me. I asked. As a little kid, I was so confused as it was that my parents were getting divorced, but to wonder every day why someone I felt so connected to would never want to see me again was devastating. I asked about him all the time and she always brushed it off. I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but deep down I think I already know that she knew.”

“Well,” Luke started. “Let’s assume she did. If so, maybe she didn’t want the picture you had of your father to change. I can’t imagine telling a nine-year-old that her father is in prison is an easy task, especially if you were that close with him.”

I hadn’t considered that. Maybe her indifference all these years wasn’t indifference. Perhaps it was guilt. It could be that she knew she was keeping something from her children and it weighed heavily on her.

But her indifference only seemed to be with me. Granted, Jessie and Megan never asked about our dad, so there was that. I guess my constant questioning brought up something that was painful to her since she lost him, too.

Suddenly, I felt guilty.

“That makes sense. A lot of sense. Do you think I should call my mother?” I wondered.

He thought on it a moment before answering, “Your last conversation with her didn’t go well. I’m not sure it’d be wise to call and jump right into this. I don’t know her, so I can’t say. Why don’t you call and see if she’s up for a visit from you? If you want, we can go there from Olympics. If you want to do it on your own, I’m good with that. But I’m going to ask that you wait until I can go with you, so that I’m there if you need me.”

“You’d go back there with me?”

“Baby girl, I’d go anywhere for you.”

“You are seriously the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

He grinned at me and insisted, “It goes both ways, babe. Call your mom if you want, or don’t. Either way, I’ll book the flights tonight for us to go there after the Olympics. If you decide you don’t want to go, we can come back home.”

And just like that, Luke helped with the uneasiness I’d been feeling about the whole situation.

As the week went on, I talked with each of my girls individually. They all knew my father, nearly as well as I did. It was my conversation with Charley, though, that really struck a nerve with me.

I explained everything to her over the phone. Her first question was, “Why didn’t any of us know about this?”

“What do you mean? I didn’t know. How would you?” I retorted.

“That’s not what I’m saying, but think about it, Nik. If he had assault and battery charges filed against him and there was an issue of assault on a minor, there would have been news. Granted, the four of us didn’t spend our time watching or reading the news at that age, but our parents did. My parents would have told me about something like that. You know Emme’s and Monroe’s would have, too. This seems awfully strange.”

“You’re right. It never even dawned on me. I’ve been so emotional the past few days that the most obvious things aren’t even crossing my mind. I wonder if I’d be able to find any news articles online.”

“It can’t hurt to check it out. You never know. Just go into it being prepared for the worst because you don’t know the full story yet.”

“I will. Thanks, Charley.”

“Anytime, honey. You’re still going out with us on New Year’s Eve, right? Elle’s performing.”

“I’ll be there.”

Following my conversation with Charley, I spent the next few days scouring the internet for information on the arrest and imprisonment of my father, but found nothing. It was like it never happened. But I’d seen the mug shot; there was proof of it. Clearly, I didn’t possess the skills necessary to find out such elusive information.

I reported all of this, and my frustration, to Emme. Sometimes, I still couldn’t get over how she became such a positive woman over the course of the last year.

“Cruz will figure it out,” she reassured me. “I can understand how discouraged you feel, but I don’t doubt, for one second, Cruz’s ability to get to the bottom of it. If there isn’t any public information out there, it’s probably just going to take him a bit more time.”

“What about what Charley said?” I pressed. “Don’t you think it’s odd that her parents, your parents, and Monroe’s parents didn’t know about it?”

“Maybe they did. I mean, it’s possible that your mom knew how close all of us were and she talked to our parents. Perhaps she wanted to make sure that you weren’t ever hurt by the truth, so she decided to go with the divorce explanation. Maybe she told our parents to make sure that Charley, Monroe, and I never knew so that we’d never tell you.”

I sighed. “I guess that makes sense.”

Aside from my internet searches and my talks with my friends, I’d spent the rest of my time with Luke. I had this huge weight settled on my shoulders with the news of my dad, but Luke helped carry that burden with me. Given that he’d be back to training just after the New Year holiday, I wanted to make sure that I didn’t spend all of my time consumed with thoughts and questions regarding my father. I had to take Emme’s word for it and put my faith in another person. I had to trust Cruz.

So, I set it aside as best I could and enjoyed my time off with Luke. We relished the time together, shuffling ourselves between his place and mine, knowing there’d soon be just about a solid month of very little time together as the clock kept counting down to the Olympics.

This was precisely what I tried to keep in mind as I finished getting myself ready to go out to Lou’s tonight. I needed to put the negative thoughts out of my mind for the night so that I could enjoy myself and welcome the next year with a good man by my side.

We were currently at my place, since all of my outfits meant to be worn for a night out were there. Having just finished my hair and makeup, I walked out of my bathroom and into my closet. I decided on a dark blue mini dress. It had quite a bit of shimmer, long sleeves, an open back, and it fit my body perfectly.

After I got dressed, I slipped on my shoes and walked out into the family room to find Luke waiting on the couch for me. When I stepped into the room, his eyes roamed my body from head to toe and back again, the desire in them growing with each sweep over me.

“How do I look?” I asked.

Luke turned off the television, stood, and walked over to me. As I expected they would, Luke’s hands went right to my hair as he buried his face in my neck.

“Exquisite,” he answered as he kissed my neck. He moved up to my jaw and continued, “Flawless.” When his lips were barely touching mine, he went on, “Perfect.”

Then he kissed me. He took his time tasting me, his kiss begging for more. I gave him my tongue and moaned at the feel of it gliding against his. One of his hands fell from my hair and landed on the cheek of my ass. He pulled me closer to him and deepened the kiss. I wasn’t sure how that was even possible, but then again Luke always seemed to manage to rock my world when it came to things like this. We kissed like that a long time, neither one of us wanting to break the connection between us.

Eventually, we succeed in separating our mouths. When we did, I noted just how turned on we both were. I could feel the desire coursing through my body and Luke, breathing heavy, was hard between us.

“If you ask me, I’d have to say those words could be used to describe your kisses,” I complimented him on his talent.

His eyes were burning with desire and his voice was thick with lust when he spoke, “What are the chances that I’m going to have you before we leave?”

I could deny him, but then I’d also be denying myself the chance to relieve the ache. An ache he was responsible for. I was definitely going to let him have me before we left. Even still, I decided I should tease him just a bit more.

“On a scale of one to ten with ten meaning you’re going to have to unzip this dress, remove it from my body, and fuck me in the kitchen while I wear these four-inch heels?” I shot back.

The sound from the back of his throat was unmistakable. He hadn’t expected that.

“If that’s a ten, I’m inclined to believe that anything above a five might get me some kind of action.”

“Well, hot stuff…lucky for you, you’re easily a twenty-five.”

“A twenty-five?” he repeated. “What does that get me?”

“Extras,” I said as I began to play, sliding my hand down over his erection.

Luke made quick work of the zipper on my dress while I unfastened his belt. When my dress pooled at my feet, I stepped out of it and he lifted his shirt over his head.

“Take the bra and panties off, babe,” he instructed as he moved to remove the clothing from his lower body.

I did as he asked and walked out to the kitchen. Luke followed behind me.

“Do I get to choose what my extras are?” he asked.

“Hmm,” I hummed. “I’ll let you pick one.”

He smirked and hopped up to sit on the island before he reached over and lifted me up to straddle him while he laid back on the countertop.

“Good,” he started. “Scoot up and sit on my face.”

A tingle ran through my body. Since I was giving him extras, I took it a step further. “You won’t mind if I do that with a little twist of my own, will you?”

His hand moved from my hip and cupped me between my legs. “As long as my mouth is here, I don’t care what you do.”

Carefully, I turned my body so I was looking away from his face and down toward his feet or, more specifically, his beautiful cock.

I scooted my body backward until I was positioned right where Luke wanted me. He put his mouth on me and kissed me there. Then he began licking and sucking. I fell forward and reached a hand out to grab his hardened length. With my hand planted firmly at the root, I closed my mouth over the tip. I used my tongue to moisten the silky-smooth skin before I took more of him in my mouth.

Luke was relentlessly pleasuring me. His hands were gripping my hips while his fingertips dug into my skin.

His mouth did things I never knew were possible .

I tried keep my focus on pleasing him, sucking him further and further into my mouth, but I had to stop so frequently just to be sure I completely enjoyed what he was doing.

I moaned nearly the entire time, most of it with Luke inside my mouth. This only seemed to make him go at me harder. I continued moving my mouth up and down Luke’s length, slowing and pausing momentarily every so often with my mouth filled with him, hoping to make it better for him. Every time I did this, Luke groaned.

Soon enough, I was on the verge of an orgasm and Luke knew it. He pushed his tongue inside me, sucked harder, and gripped my hips tighter. I sucked him back in my mouth and moved up and down his shaft several times before I had to pull back and give in to my release.

I had just barely gotten through my orgasm when Luke lifted me, sat up, and moved us both off the counter. He was behind me and turned me toward the island.

“Lean over the counter and spread your legs,” he ordered.

With one hand gripping my shoulder, Luke entered my body. I felt his other hand in my hair a second later. He went slow for two thrusts and then was mercilessly driving his hips forward. The hand at my shoulder moved down over my shoulder blade and came around to my front, where Luke held my breast briefly before teasing my nipple. He did this a bit as I used the leverage I got from the countertop and pushed myself back to meet each of his strokes.

When Luke was getting close, indicated by the pace of his hips and the groans from his throat, his hand left my breast and traveled down to my clit. With his hand between my legs, his strong grip on my hair, and his powerful thrusts he had me ready to come apart in no time at all.

“Luke,” I called out.

He tugged gently on my hair and urged, “Lift up and kiss me when you come, baby girl.”

I lifted my torso from the counter to kiss him since I was that close to coming. Luke took my mouth, worked me harder, and brought us both to an earth-shattering orgasm.

We fought to return our breathing to normal, my back still to Luke’s front.

“That was exquisite,” he marveled.

“Interesting,” I began. “I found it to be rather flawless.”

“You’ve got no argument from me on that. It was pretty perfect.”

I let out a laugh. “I love you, Luke.”

“I love you too, Nikki.” He gave me a peck on the cheek before he continued, “Do you want to go get cleaned up before we go?”

I kissed him back and gave him a nod.

Luke pulled out of me and I grabbed my panties, bra, and dress on the way to the bathroom. Less than thirty minutes later, we pulled into the lot at Lou’s, ready to celebrate the end of the year…a year that put Luke in my life in a very good way.

It was roughly ten minutes before the countdown to midnight and I was standing in nearly the exact same place I stood at this time last year. When we arrived earlier in the evening, we watched Elle perform. She finished her performance not quite an hour ago after which all of the girls got up to dance. But now, I was on the dance floor at Lou’s, not dancing, with Nikki in my arms.

Over the course of the last year, my life had changed so much. I had fallen in love and had my heart broken. I also had my heart mended by the woman who broke it in the first place. It took her some time to get there, but it was worth every day I waited for her to come back to me.

As I stood there waiting, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. The second I felt it, I knew who it was. I pulled the phone out of my pocket and, sure enough, Cruz’s name was on the display. I showed it to Nikki and she walked with me toward the back of the saloon where it was a little quieter.

“Cruz,” I greeted as I lifted the phone to my ear.

“Get your girl prepared,” he responded.

“I’m in California,” he started. “I got here a few days ago, found her father, and we’re heading to Wyoming tomorrow morning.”

“Your place or hers?” he asked.

“The plan was to stay at Nikki’s place tonight,” I answered.

“By the time we land and get there, it ought to be just after eleven in the morning,” Cruz informed me.

“Okay. Do you have any news to report?”

Despite the noise in the background of the saloon, I heard Cruz take in a long breath before he replied, “There’s a lot, but I think she needs to get this from him. I’ll leave you with this, though. Based on my years of experience in this field and my conversations with her father, I can confidently say he’s every bit the man she believed him to be.”

Well that was reassuring.

“Thanks, Cruz. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

I disconnected the call and slid my phone back in my pocket. Nikki was pressed up against my side, her whole body was tense.

I needed to get rid of the fear in her eyes, so I disclosed, “ Cruz is in California. He found your father and they’ll be here tomorrow morning around eleven.”

Tears fell from her eyes as she rasped, “What happened?”

I shook my head and noted, “Cruz didn’t say. He said you needed to hear it from you father. The one thing he did tell me was that he had no doubt that your father is precisely the man you believed him to be.”

She held my eyes, but said nothing, so I went on. “That’s good news, Nikki. Everything Cruz said felt positive to me.”

“I’m really going to see him tomorrow?” she wondered.

“Yes, babe. You’ll see him tomorrow.”

Her body relaxed and she melted in to me. I held on tight to her as I heard the crowd counting down. We weren’t on the dance floor anymore, but I didn’t care. I had her in my arms and that’s all that mattered to me.

When the countdown finished and the clock struck midnight, I bent my head down and whispered in her ear, “Happy New Year, baby.”

She turned her face toward mine. “Happy New Year, Luke.”

Then she kissed me just like she did before we left her condo earlier and, just like that, I had a feeling Nikki was in for the best year of her life.