The Aristocrat

Leo brought me in for one last long and painful kiss, and I tried my hardest to block out the magnitude of it.

Taking a deep breath, I took a couple of steps back. “I’m gonna walk away, okay? I’ll go out back to say goodbye to Ludicrous and then head home.”

Leo nodded and shut his eyes, as if he couldn’t bear to watch me leave. That was the final thing I saw before I put one foot in front of the other and made my way out the door, feeling as though my heart had shattered into a million pieces.

The following day, I felt awful. I’d tossed and turned all night, and the achiness in my body was the physical manifestation of my heartbreak. Knowing Leo was still just across the bay, and that he was just as hurt as I was, haunted me.

I did nothing but sulk in my room and look out my window toward Leo’s house. I tried to busy myself with packing for Pennsylvania, but I was thinking about him.

Mrs. Angelini wasn’t home. She rarely went out for the entire day, but today she’d gone to visit a friend an hour away in Massachusetts. She’d asked me if I preferred that she cancel so she could distract me from Leo’s leaving, but I assured her it wouldn’t make a difference and convinced her to keep her original plans.

I didn’t even know what time his flight was, just that it was tonight. He’d never called me about Ludicrous, so I could only assume the farm he’d found had agreed to take him this morning; at least I hoped so. I would’ve figured it out if he needed me to.

When 5 p.m. rolled around, I finally made my way downstairs. For all I knew, Leo had already left for the airport. He was already gone from Narragansett.

When the doorbell rang, my heart jumped. Mrs. Angelini wasn’t due back until around nine.

I peeked through the peephole to find Leo, a sight that knocked the wind out of me.

When I opened the door, he seemed out of breath. “I’m so sorry, Felicity,” he stammered. “I know I promised not to do this, to prolong our goodbye, but I forgot to give you something.” He handed me the blue planner he’d taken the first night I’d invited him over. “I wrote in this and wanted to give it to you as a keepsake. I’m sorry if my being here upsets you. I—”

I leaped into his arms. The regret that had been building inside of me all day was unbearable. The short goodbye I’d mandated had been pointless. My emotions were pummeling me—a punishment for ever attempting to stop them. The way things ended yesterday was never what I wanted; I’d just been afraid to experience what I was feeling right now.

He kissed me with such force that I nearly fell back. If yesterday I hadn’t wanted to feel anything, this was the total opposite. Breathing him in was the only thing that mattered in the world, even if for one last time. There were no words. Leo lifted me in the air, and I wrapped my legs around his torso. Our hearts beat against each other.

What I needed right now, I knew would be detrimental. But like a drug addict about to take a hit, I just didn’t care.

“I want you,” I breathed into his mouth, knowing he was waiting for permission to cross the barrier I’d previously set. “Please.”

He let out a deep groan that vibrated down my throat.

Within seconds, our pants were down, and he pushed himself inside of me with my back against the wall in Mrs. Angelini’s foyer. Pulling on his hair, I bucked my hips to meet his frantic movements. There was nothing gentle about the way he was banging me, nor the way I desperately received each thrust. We took our anger out on each other, a desperate final act. It was the most intense sex I’d ever had and probably the only ending fitting for the passion we’d felt this summer.

It didn’t take long. Within a couple of minutes, Leo’s body began to shake. I felt the warmth of his cum between my legs as my own muscles contracted around his cock. He continued to hold me as I leaned on him, feeling suddenly limp, too weak to endure yet another goodbye.

“God, this hurts,” he whispered.

He slowly put me down and adjusted his pants as I pulled my shorts up.

And then his phone buzzed.

I wiped a tear from my eye. “Is that Sig?”

“Yeah,” he whispered, looking distraught.

“What time is your flight?”

“Nine. We’re supposed to have left by now. He’s giving me hell for even being here.”

“Go,” I said, waving my hand.

He brushed a tear from my cheek. “I’ll be forever grateful that I broke the rules.”