at he said,” she replied. “I mean, I don’t even know what to believe anymore. He has been doing really well lately, but it’s about time for him to have another relapse. They always seem to be lurking around the corner with him. I’m just afraid he is going to get caught up with the wrong people at some point. I know he has a problem, but the last thing I want to see is him get hurt.”
We pulled up in front of the house and looked at the dark windows. I could see her worried face, and I wondered if her father was inside sleeping, or if he’d stayed out, wandering around town, looking to get his next gambling fix. She was at her wit's end with him and was seriously starting to consider bringing someone else in for another intervention. Personally, I didn’t know how much longer I could just stand by and let her be dragged through the mud. Her father could be ninety years old and still have this problem. She couldn’t spend the rest of her life taking care of him like he was a child. I sighed and looked over at Josie, who was staring at me kindly.
“I want you to know I’m always here,” I said, taking her hand. “Anything you need, you just pick up the phone and call. I know you can be stubborn, but I mean it. No matter what time it is, you can always look to me for support.”
I leaned over and kissed her sweetly, thanking her for an amazing night. I took in a deep breath and watched her get out of the car, walk up to the door, then turn around and wave at me. She was an amazing woman, and she knew that she could count on me for anything. The question in my mind was whether she would actually do that when the time came.
Chapter 14
Josie
I was having one of those days where I just wanted to crawl under the covers and go back to bed, hoping the day would either restart on a better note or pass by. My mind was all over the place. When one of my students puked all over another student, I really felt like I was going to have an emotional breakdown. To make matters worse, my father was not home when Blaine had dropped me off, and he never showed up back at the house. I tried to call him several times, but his phone was either off or dead. Even when the phone would ring, he didn’t pick it up, and my emotions ranged from terrified to pissed off in the blink of an eye.
I got the sick student cleaned up and sent them both down to the office to call their parents. One needed a change of clothes, and the other just needed to go home. The janitor cleaned up the mess and left the room smelling much better. When lunchtime rolled around, I was dreading my tutoring. I was hungry since I didn’t eat breakfast, and I needed some quiet time. The feeling didn’t last long, though, as I looked up at the door and smiled, seeing Blaine walking into my classroom. He set a bag down on the desk and looked around the room. He had surprised me with sushi for lunch, something I loved, but barely ever had time or money to get.
“You didn’t have to do this,” I said, pulling the trays out.
“Yes, I did,” he said, winking. “I wanted to make sure you were getting a healthy lunch when you gave up your free hour to tutor your kids. Someone needs to take care of you.”
I was completely taken back, blown away by the amount of caring and kindness he was showing me. From the sounds of his stories from the past, he was not this nice before me, and I wondered what had changed so deeply inside of him that he’d transformed from the rich playboy to the doting and generous boyfriend, or whatever label accurately described what was going on between us. I was just happy to see his face, food or not, and I offered for him to sit down and eat with me. I laughed as he pulled up one of the small chairs that surrounded the small tables across the room.
“What grade is this?”
“I teach fourth grade,” I replied. “And then I teach focused American History when they start moving from classroom to classroom. It really changes every year, but I like this grade because I get to teach a little bit of everything except art, music, and physical education. Art would be fun, but the other two, I would be absolutely useless.”
“You want to come veg out at my place tonight?” he asked, rubbing my head. “We’ll just cuddle under the blankets and watch movies.”
“I would love to, but I really want to stay at home and wait for my dad to get back,” I replied.
“He still hasn’t shown up?”
“No,” I said, sighing. “He’s not answering his phone, either.”
“Well, why don’t I come over there and wait with you?” he offered. “There’s a really great action movie I’ve heard rave reviews about. We can order some pizza and be lazy together.”
“Okay,” I said hesitantly.
I was having a hard time having him back over to my house. He lived in the lap of luxury, and part of me felt bad for forcing him to hang out in my tiny little house. Still, I couldn’t deny the fact that I really didn’t want to be alone, staring at the door and waiting for my father to walk in. At that point, I was about forty-eight hours away from filing a missing person report. Either way, I didn’t want to force him to come hang out at my shitty place, but I couldn’t muster enough care to tell him no.
Surprisingly, he seemed excited about the thought of coming over, his eyes widening and his face changing expression. He continued to talk about this movie with a bounce in his step, as if he really thought it would be something that got me going. Just hearing him blabber on about the movie made me feel better, and I realized that whenever he felt excited about something, I did too. It was like his emotions were rubbing off on me. I thought it was interesting and wondered how it worked in the opposite situation. Would his sadness or anger change how I felt?
The feeling of excitement and all of his plans for this movie were infectious, and he quickly buoyed my confidence until I was at the point where I was really looking forward to him coming over. In fact, I couldn’t wait for the school day to be finished so I could stuff myself with pizza and curl up with Blaine on the couch. It sounded like the perfect ending to a shitty day. At least I knew that no matter how I felt when I got home, I could count on him to bring my spirits up, even if I was destined for a pizza-induced coma and a bad action movie. I couldn’t complain. Blaine had been so sweet and patient when I forced several chick flicks onto him, and now, it was my turn to return the favor. It was Blaine’s turn to be treated like a king.
At the end of the day, I sat through an incredibly boring staff meeting and then headed back toward my house. The sushi for lunch had been perfect, and it gave me the boost of energy I needed to get through the last few hours of the workday. I was excited to meet up with Blaine in a couple of hours, but that mood was crushed when I came home to an empty house. The note I left for my dad was still sitting on the computer keyboard. He hadn’t come home at all, and his phone was still going straight to voicemail. I didn’t even know what to do, so I changed my clothes into something comfy and cleaned up the house, waiting for Blaine to get there.
A couple of hours later, there was a knock at the door, and I raced over, hoping it was my father, but it wasn’t. I smiled and hugged Blaine, inviting him inside. My father still hadn’t shown up from his hiatus, and I knew that we were now well into one of his rogue relapses. I was getting tired of pulling him out of them. I had no idea where he had gone, and I figured it must be the casinos since the track wasn’t open at night, and the casino usually comped hotel rooms for those spending money at the casino. But where had he gotten money from? I had checked all the electronics, and he hadn’t taken a thing.
I pulled Blaine over to the couch and flipped on the movie, burrowing myself against his body. He pulled one arm around me and held me close as he called and ordered the pizza from the place down the street. When the pizza got there, I was starving. We watched his movie and chowed down on some really good pizza. Everything seemed to be going perfectly, and I loved the feeling I got as we sat around, acting like we were a serious couple. At that point, I thought it was safe to say that we were in a committed relationship, regardless of the fact that I hadn’t taken the time to have that conversation with him. Those talks were always awkward, and there was always a
good chance that the two people talking would fail to come to the same conclusion, leaving the situation at a crossroads. Unfortunately, crossroads were not at all what I was looking for, so I dropped the idea and went back to watching the movie.
The movie that Blaine picked out was pretty good, and to my surprise, I was really enjoying the action parts in the scenes. I didn’t know if it was pent-up aggression or just my thoughts and feelings changing, but I could totally see myself blowing up my enemies. The biggest problem was, I really didn’t have an enemy, not one I could see anyway. I was not going to go pissing off my father in the state that he probably was in at that point.
We watched the rest of the movie in silence, happy to just be in each other’s arms. However, as night fell, I could hear my heart beating louder and louder, and I knew that I needed a distraction. Blaine was so handsome, sitting there on the couch, and I lifted myself up, putting my legs over his and straddling him. Instantly, we forgot all about the pizza or movies, and instead, ended our evening in a lovers’ embrace. His mouth tasted so amazing, and his eyes looked at me darkly as I rubbed my fingers down his arms. I stood up from him and led him back to my room, ready to get it on.
When we walked through the doors, I knew it was my turn to show him just how much I wanted him. I unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it off his shoulders. I looked into his eyes, leaned forward, and kissed his neck as my fingers fumbled with his belt. He chuckled and helped me pull it from the loops in his pants. I pushed his hands away, unzipping his pants and letting them fall to the floor. I looked up at his eyes and ran my hands down his hard body, into his boxer briefs. He gasped as I grabbed onto his already hard shaft and ran my palms over it. For several moments, I stroked his cock, watching him sigh deeply and close his eyes. His muscles tensed in his shoulders and arms, and I slowly pressed my lips against his warm skin.
I trailed down his belly as I kneeled in front of him, looking up as he watched me pull his boxers down to his ankles. His cock spilled out of his shorts, bouncing around in front of me until I grabbed hold of his erection and ran my lips over the tip of his cock. Slowly, I opened my mouth and slid it down over his bulging dick, feeling it move through my mouth and down into my throat. I grasped the base of his shaft and stroked as I pulled my head back and dove back down again. A loud groan escaped his throat, and I smiled, knowing I was doing a hell of a job.