A Flawed Heart (24 page)

“I’m sorry, I—”

“You’re sorry? I don’t know why I’m even here right now!”
she yells, with her finger pointed in my face.

Even in this intense state of anger, she’s sexy as hell. My
dick is rigid as I watch her scream.

“You’re here because you love me.” I step toward her and she
takes a step back.

“Don’t try to charm your way out of this.” She places her
hands on my chest and pushes me away. “I have a say in what goes on in this
relationship just as much as you do.”

“This isn’t about you or me anymore. This is about
us.
I
want you to stay here because I can’t
fucking
stand to be away from you. When you’re not
with me, all I do is wonder about what you’re doing. I want you all to myself.”

“We can’t be together twenty-four hours a day.” She places
her face in her hands and takes a deep breath. “Aren’t you afraid you’ll get
sick of me? I don’t want that.”

“I can’t imagine how that could possibly happen.”

She stares at the floor and I take another step toward her. “So,
we’re good?”

“Yes, you ass.
We are.” She shakes
her head. “You’re fucking crazy, you know that?”

“A little intense…definitely flawed…but not
crazy.
”

We stand an inch apart, and I feel the heat radiating off of
her body. She looks up at me and our eyes lock. I want to kiss her and touch
her everywhere,
but she takes
another step away from me.

“Oh no.
You’re not getting off that
easy. You’re in trouble, Jason Taylor.
Big trouble.”
Her voice has changed from angry shrieks to sultry threats in spite of her
effort to rip me a new one.

“Oh yeah?”
I place my hands on her
hips but she quickly grabs my wrists and pushes me up against my bedroom wall.

I lean in to kiss her and she jerks her head back.

“No way.”
She holds both of my
wrists in one of her tiny hands. She can barely wrap her fingers around them. I
could easily break away—but I have no desire to do that. I’m enjoying Angry
Claire far too much.

“All right.
What’s next?”

“First, let’s get this nasty shirt off of you.” She takes
the sweat soaked shirt off, and her tits rub against my chest. I feel her
breath on my skin as she does it. I lean in to kiss her but he pushes me back,
more forcefully this time, and I slam into the wall. She wags her finger as a
warning, then grins and turns away. I watch her ass sway from side to side in
her tight jeans. With her back to me, she slips her shirt over her head and
takes off her bra. I’m left gaping at the sight of her flawless, bare back. She
looks at me over her shoulder. Her big eyes are now filled with want rather
than anger. Her hands move to her waist. She opens her jeans and slides them
over her perfectly round ass and down her long lean legs.

I could easily go to her but I’m enjoying this too much. She’s
wearing some kind of see through, lacey underwear that leaves nothing to the
imagination. Before I can take a breath, they’re off and thrown at my feet. She
crawls onto the bed, finally turning to face me.

“Don’t move one muscle,” she warns.

She leans back on the pillow and spreads her legs, then
drags her hand down her body and begins to touch herself. I take a step toward
her and she stops.

“No, no. Be good and stand still.” She sounds like a teacher
scolding a student, and it’s hot as hell.

I move back against the wall again. My mouth is dry and my
cock is trapped in my rugby shorts. She starts to touch herself again, making
slow circles over her clit. She looks me in the eye and brings her free hand to
her mouth and licks her fingertips. Then she starts to
squeeze her nipple
.
I feel like I’m
gonna
pass out.

“God damn, baby.
What the fuck are
you trying to do to me?”

She stops rubbing and slips her finger inside. “Do you want
to touch me? Do you?”

That’s all I can take. I lunge at her, and she grips my
shoulder as I lower myself on to her, thrusting my tongue into her mouth. She
moans with pleasure and strains to pull my shorts off my body. Finally, my
throbbing cock is freed. Claire flips over and stretches to reach into the
nightstand. She opens a condom and slides it down my cock.

She sits up, kisses me hard, and pushes me down onto my back
as she straddles my hips. “I’m not done yet.”

I yield to her, and feel her intense heat as she lowers
herself onto me. She digs her fingernails into my chest and then pulls up and
hovers
her hips, keeping just the head of my cock inside of
her. She pins me down, so I can’t thrust myself into her.

“Don’t ever talk to me like that again. Do your hear me?”
She slides herself up and down on me with slow movements. Her perfect tits
bounce as she gently fucks me. I grip her hair in my hand and pull it.

“Don’t you ever fucking walk out on me again.” I pull her
down and kiss her deeply.

She sits up and flips her hair over her shoulder, her eyes
closed with pleasure. She rides me harder and I watch her gorgeous body. I feel
her contract around me as she comes and then collapses on my chest. She takes
deep, heaving breaths as her orgasm ripples through her. I sit up and move her
onto her back. Her head rests on my pillow and I kiss her up her stomach to her
breast, taking each nipple into my mouth in turn. She moans and runs her
fingers in my hair. I nibble her ear.

“Are you done?”

She giggles.

“I love that sound.” I push myself into her, filling her,
rocking into her slow and steady. I kiss her everywhere, getting tangled in her
hair, her arms, and her lips, wrapped in her scent and her warmth. “This is
where I want you, Claire.
With
me
.
This is
where you belong. We belong together.” My cock pulses as I come, and I let out
a loud moan.

We lie together in bed, covered in sweat and dirt from the
rugby field. The wind blows through the open window, and I feel myself about to
doze off. I pull Claire into me but she stands up and starts to get dressed.

“Where are you going, babe?” I ask in a fuzzy, post-sex
haze.

She doesn’t respond. I search her face for an answer, but
her expression is blank. I start to panic. “Wait, where are you going? Claire?”

She opens my door and pads down the hall. I jump up to look
out the window but I don’t see her walk out. She stomps back into my room and I
turn around to face her. She’s smiles and throws an object onto the bed, then
stands there with her hands on her hips. It’s a duffel bag—filled with Claire’s
things.

Chapter Thirteen

~Claire~

I leave work and emerge into the busy streets on a late
October afternoon. The fading sunshine feels good on my face as I walk to meet
Kat and Lydia at the café. We have a quick cup at the outdoor tables, and I
excuse myself shortly afterward to head back to our apartment to get ready for
Lydia’s art show tonight.

The past few weeks have brought with them a gradual
evolution of my relationship with Jason. I stay at his place more often than
not, and the physical proximity has brought with it an even deeper emotional
intimacy. I’ve learned more and more about him, and how truly damaged and
vulnerable he is. At first I felt overwhelmed by his offer to stay at his
place, but the reality is, I need him as much as he needs me.

I was afraid that my staying at his place most nights would
turn our passion into boredom, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Even when I
am at my least attractive—sprawled out on the living room floor, in yoga pants
and glasses, reading a book—Jason insists that he’s never seen me look sexier.
We settled into a nice routine—working, meeting at the gym and then heading
home to wash the sweat and chlorine off of our bodies in the shower…together.

I was afraid we’d suffocate each other and argue because of
it, but I’m amazed that we can be in the same room for hours—me reading and him
writing music—not speaking, just existing together in comfortable silence. The
connection between us is ever present, but not laden with any kind of pressure.
More often than not, when I come home tired from work, Jason senses my need for
a break from everything and brings me out onto
the fire escape
, to snuggle in the night air and drink beer and
share cigarettes. Later, we crawl into bed—always tangled together—and either
pass
out from exhaustion or…tire ourselves out.

Sex with Jason gets better every time, something I didn’t
think was possible. Last night we fell asleep earlier than usual, and I awoke
in the middle of the night to find his long fingers making trails against the
skin of my thighs. As I dragged my mind from its slumber, I felt his hardening
erection pressed into my back. His fingers slid up my legs until they found the
waistband of my panties. I whimpered softly to let him know I was barely awake.
He left a trail of soft kisses along my neck, causing chills to ripple across
my flesh. His hands slid my underwear off of my body, and pushed my long hair
from my neck in order to grant himself better access to my skin. We made love
half asleep…his hard cock pressed inside me and his hot breath against my neck.
Our love for each other poured out with each movement of our entwined
bodies…sometimes gentle and slow, sometimes rough and desperate.

I think back with a smile, and blush as I pull out the
rarely used key to my apartment. Jason has rugby practice today, and is meeting
me later at the Williamsburg Art Space for Lydia’s show. She has been locked in
her studio, and when I do see her, she’s covered in gray clay with deep bags
under her eyes. The few times we’ve hung out have been at practice for Jason’s
show at the fest. Ben’s playing drums on a few songs and, although he insists
he sucks, he’s really very good. Lydia and Jason’s talent is infinite and I
feel like the odd man out, in spite of Jason’s constant reassurance that my
voice adds a new dimension to each song we’ve rehearsed. Singing at the fest
has been a source of great anxiety for me—but honestly, I would do anything for
Jason.

I pull on a ruby colored dress and gray heels, and leave for
the Art Space around seven. Upon my arrival, I find the main hall decorated in
a mass of white lights hanging in tendrils from the rafters. They cast the room
in a soft glow. The hall is filled with finely dressed parents and young
artists. Waiters walk through the hall, carrying trays of champagne and hors d’oeuvres.
I feel out of place, and fidget until I see Lydia in the distance with her
father and Kat. She practically glows in her white, strapless dress. She waves
to me with exuberance, and I make my way toward her through the crowd.

“I’m so nervous,” she gibbers. “I’m
so
glad you’re here, you look beautiful. Can you keep my dad
company? I have to go make sure everything is set up right. See you inside!”

Lydia twirls away with Kat, and leaves me alone with Daniel.

“Claire, my dear, it’s so nice to see you again. How have
you been?” He kisses me on the cheek.

“I’m doing really well, thank you. How is work at the
hospital?”

“We’ve been having some success with a new cancer treatment.
It’s thrilling but it’s also exhausting. I hear that you’ve been taming the
beast that is my son.”

I feel a chill of embarrassment run through me, and I’m sure
the color of my skin must match the color of my dress. “Um…”

“No need to be shy, dear.” He flashes me an enormous and
heartfelt smile. “Lydia told me you’re his girlfriend. She said you’ve been a
breath of fresh air for him. My daughter has expressed to me how grateful she
is to you for coming into his life.” He stares at me, waiting for a response to
his statement.

“Yes. I really care about Jason.”

“You know, I was around your age when I met my wife.”

“Really?”

“Really.
I was twenty-three and she
was twenty-one. It was a bit of a different time then. Couples committed to
each other at a young age, but people still passed judgment about our being in
such a serious relationship so early in life. Claire, do you mind if we
continue this conversation outside? I’d like to get some air.”

Without waiting for my answer, Daniel places his hand at the
small of my back and guides me toward the back entrance of the hall, grabbing
two glasses of champagne from one of the waiters as we walk. He hands a glass
to me and holds the door open as we step out onto a small slate patio. I take a
sip wait for Jason’s father to speak.

He sips his champagne as well and I study his profile as he
looks out at the skyline. I see so much of Jason in him, and find myself
dreaming about how handsome Jason will be when we’re older.

“Some people spend their whole lives trying to get to know
another person, and never really figure it out. They get married and think that
the love will grow and continue, but toward the end of their lives they
question if they ever knew the other person—if they ever even truly loved them.
It’s sad when that happens. A lot of marriages and end in divorce…but there are
other people, and I’ll admit it’s rare, who are lucky enough to find the
perfect
person. You meet and get inside each other’s hearts right away—almost
instantly—it’s as if you were
meant
to be there and have finally come
home. That’s what it was like for Eileen and me. We knew we were meant for each
other right away.” He gets quiet for a moment and takes another sip of his
champagne, still aimlessly staring into the night. “Lydia tells me you’ve made
my son happy, Claire, and that makes me happy. He’s been lost since his mother
passed.”