Back Where We Belong (A Second Chances New Adult Romance) (5 page)

Madison hasn't answered any of my
texts. I know there's something wrong. Something has changed since I left her
smiling at the front door of the beach house two days ago. Was it something I
said? I don't think that's it.

I have no free time to see her.
It's the weekend and we're so busy in the restaurant there's no time to get
across the bay, but every break I get, I'm thinking about her or trying to call
her.

There's no reply. She never picks
up her phone. She never texts me back.

Monday, I beg some free time
during the day from Mom, and indulgent as ever, she relents. “I suppose we can
manage again with Dominic. I'll rope in one of the girls if we have to, but
it's mad out there. I'll be pleased when summer is over, except you'll be gone
then.”

She gives me a hug.

I won't stay away any longer than
I have to, but I'm pleased the new waiter is working out because sorting out
whatever is going on with Madison can't wait. As I drive over there to her
house, I wonder if she's having second thoughts about me.

I didn't think she was one of
those rich girls who only care about money and status, but maybe I was wrong,
and she thinks I'm not good enough for her after all. I didn't get any of those
vibes from her, but I need to know for sure.

I ring the doorbell. Her mother
answers. She's an older, much harder version of Madison, probably pretty once,
though she has steely gray eyes nothing like Madison’s blue-green, and she’s in
full make-up, her hair like a helmet, like she lacquered it so much it would
never dare get out of place.

“Yes?” she says.

“I was looking for Madison.”

“Really?  You?”

She looks up and down at my
clothes and then over at my car. “Did you arrive in that deathtrap?”

“Yes, that 'deathtrap' is mine.”
I'm trying to stay cool but I'm not doing a good job of it. “Is Madison home?”
I ask before I lose my temper.

“Madison,” she shouts. “There's a
'friend' here for you.” I can hear the sarcasm in her voice at the word
“friend.” Somehow she gives the word a whole new meaning.

Madison comes out. She looks
guilty. For avoiding my calls? For something else? I need to know what's going
on.

Her mother looks at us, no doubt
curious.

And then she turns to Madison.
“It figures. You never fail to disappoint me. I might have guessed the kind of
friend you'd make here.”

Then Madison's face changes as if
she's made a decision and she says, “Mom, this is Luke. I'm just going out.
Will you be okay for a while?”

“Of course I'll be okay. Not that
you'd care. You're just like your father. I've had enough of you mooning
around.”

My mother is usually polite to
visitors but apparently she decided Luke was beneath her and not worth the effort.
She had a kind of sneer on her face and in her voice, a sneer not just at Luke,
as she obviously didn't think much of him, but at me, too. And she said that
thing about disappointing her. Whatever I do is never good enough.

I know I'll feel the force of her
disapproval and contempt when I get home. I can't do a thing right since Dad
went to the city. But then I never can at the best of times. Dad hasn't come
back. He hasn't called. I thought he might have phoned me to explain, but he
hasn't bothered.

And now I have Luke to deal with.
I don't know what to say to him but I couldn't let him just stand there with my
mother looking at him like that. I couldn't let him think I was anything like
her. And he hasn't given up on me, despite me not answering his calls, so maybe
I got him wrong. I don't know.

Then again, maybe he just wants
more of the same from me and he thinks he can get it. Well he can forget that.
He can look elsewhere. It surprises me how painful the idea of him going
elsewhere is.

He holds the car door open, and I
get in.

He drives for five minutes along
the coast. We don't say anything. I don't dare look at him. I feel tears
squeezing out of my eyelids and I want to wipe them away, but I'm afraid he'll
notice if I do, so I just let them run down my face and hope they dry up in the
heat in the car.

He stops the car at the edge of
the road and looks at me.

“You're crying,” he says, his
voice catching. “What's going on? Why didn't you answer my calls? I thought
Friday meant more than that to you.”

He looks like he might cry
himself.

I gulp. Maybe I have him all
wrong. “It did mean something. I'm sorry. I was just confused until I saw you
today. Dad left us. Mom told me what he thought about me. It made me doubt
myself and what we did.”

“What? Your dad left? You should
have told me. I didn't know what was going on. I thought you decided you were
too good for me.”

“It's not that. It's not that at
all.”

“Why didn't you want to talk to
me then?”

“Mom said Dad thinks
I'm...worthless. She said that's one of the reasons he left. She always goes on
at me about how useless I am, but Dad never said anything. I thought maybe you
thought that too, and you only wanted to see me because I...I...”

“Never think that,” he says.
“Look at me, Madison.”

I look at him.

“I'm with you because I want to
be. You're the best thing that ever happened to Sandy Cove and don't you forget
it.”

“Not much ever happens at Sandy
Cove.”

“Well the best thing that ever
happened in the US of fucking A then. The very best.” And he kisses me like we
haven't ever been apart since the day at Butterfly Ridge. And he holds me like
he never wants to let me go. I never thought I'd feel like that with him again.
He holds me so tight against him, I feel the warmth of his body through his
t-shirt, his heart beat. I'm so close to him at that moment, yet I feel like I
want, I need, to get closer.

“I don't know what it is with
your Mom,” he says. “Maybe I shouldn't criticize but she didn't seem very
Mom-like today. She wasn't very Mom-like when she said those things to you.”

“That's just how she is, how
she's always been.”

“Fuck, Madison,” he says. “No
wonder you don't know how awesome you are. You’ve got to get out of there.”

“I'll be at college soon.”

“At least you have a way out, and
you know, we are going to have a fucking fantastic summer, you and I. Every
minute I can get free from the restaurant.”

He looks at me.

“If you really want that.”

“Yes,” I say. “I really want that.”

Madison doesn't know it but she
could have any guy she wants. And she chose me. I still get plenty of offers at
the restaurant but I turn them down. Every single one. I don't want anyone
else.

We have so little time. I have to
work, and sometimes Madison babysits for a friend's little kid, and we are both
leaving soon—just four more weeks. It's not enough time with her but what can
we do? Nothing. And anyway, no matter how long we have, it's never going to be
enough. So much for me not getting involved. That plan went quickly up in smoke
once I met Madison.

***

“Mom keeps talking about going
back to Greenwich early—before the end of the summer,” Madison says one night
when I meet her after work. “But then she changes her mind. She's going to meet
with her divorce lawyer there tomorrow. We'll see what he says. Dad sent me a
couple of texts saying how sorry he was, but I don't think he means it. I think
he's glad to get away from her.”

I can't say I blame him getting
out of there having met Madison's mother, but maybe they are as bad as each
other. What do I know?

“I hope she doesn't make you go
back.” I give Madison a hug.

“I know. Me too. Do you want to
come around tomorrow? Mom will be away most of the day.”

She smiles at me, and I know she
is thinking about spending time alone with me. Sometimes it's difficult getting
any time at all. We can't go far when it's so busy at the restaurant, and there
aren't many places we can go to be alone.

The thought of being discovered
around here on the beach or the back seat of the car didn't bother me with
other women, but now it does. I want to protect Madison and not get her into
trouble. But sometimes we can't help it. We can't get enough of each other.

“I'll ask,” I say. “See if I can
get some time off.”

***

Mom is forever going on about
meeting Madison, and I'll have to take her home soon. I love my family but I
know they can be overwhelming when you're not used to them.

“Bring her here,” Mom says when I
ask her about taking the afternoon off.

“I'll bring her soon, Mom, but
not tomorrow. We have other plans tomorrow.”

“Sunday then, and I'll get
Claudia or Sam to do an extra shift tomorrow so you can get off at three.”

“Alright then. It's a deal,” I
say.

She seems quite pleased with
herself. I wonder what I've let Madison in for.

***

Next afternoon, I go to Madison's
place. She kisses me on the lips as soon as she opens the front door and pulls
me inside.

“Alone at last,” she says,
grinning. “The place to ourselves.”

“Perfect. How long have we got?”

“Mom said she was meeting a
friend for dinner so I can't see her getting back before ten.”

“You're going to wear me out, if
you keep me here until ten.”

“Exactly what I plan to do. Keep
you here and wear you right out.”

“You're very demanding for a
young maiden.”

“No longer a maiden though.”

“No.” I'm grinning, remembering
that first time. “Maidens are a lot more obedient.”

“They are, are they? And what if
they disobey?”

“All kinds of bad things happen.”

“What kinds of bad things? Maybe
I'll disobey you on purpose.”

I look at her. Does she want to
play those kinds of games? I haven't tried anything with her. I haven't tried
much with anyone, but I like to be in control.

“They get punished. Over my knee.
They get spanked on their bare bottoms for disobedience.”

I hear her breath catch. I wonder
if she meant me to go there, but whatever she meant, it seems to be hitting a
chord.

“And how does Sir want me to
obey?”

I feel my cock jump at her words.
I think how she seems to like it when I tell her to come for me.

“Sir wants you naked on the bed.
Right now.”

She looks at me in that seductive
way of hers and kisses me smack on the lips, then she goes off to her bedroom.
I give her a few moments, and then I follow. She's taken off her jeans, sandals
and t-shirt but she's still wearing her bra and panties.

“Not quite fast enough,” I say.

“Sorry, Sir,” she says, but she's
smiling.

“We'll have to do something about
this, won't we?” I  yank up her still-fastened bra so it's tight around her
chest and her breasts fall out, her nipples standing out, and then I pull her
panties halfway down her thighs.

“That's better,” I say. “Sit in
that chair and play with your tits for me.”

She gasps, whether at the idea or
at my crude words, or both, I don't know. But she sits on the armchair in the
corner of the room, her face flushed, the rest of her pale skin golden in the
late afternoon sunlight.

I sit down on the bed. I can see
everything from there but I can't reach out and touch her. “Now,” I say. “Do it
now. I want to watch you play with your tits.”

She's tentative at first, just
gently stroking herself, unable to look at me. But I hear her breath quicken,
and she closes her eyes and I know she's enjoying the sensation. She's
sensitive there. Sometimes I think she might come just from me sucking her
nipples. I want to take them in my mouth now and make her cry out, but that
would be the end of this game, and I want to see how far she will let me go
with this.

“That's enough of that,” I say.
“Hands down between your legs now. I want to see you play with yourself there.”

Her eyes open wide at my words
but she smiles again, though her cheeks are pink, and her fingers go to her
slit and she rubs herself until she's moaning. I can tell she's close.

My cock wants to break out of my
jeans. Time enough for that.

“Don't come,” I say. “You're not
allowed to come until I tell you.”

Her fingers pause.

“Carry on. I didn't tell you to
stop.”

“But...er...Sir.”

“Continue. But don't come. You'll
be punished if you come.”

Maybe she guesses how this is all
going to end no matter what she does, because her fingers speed up then and
with them, her breath. Her hips arch up off the chair and her thighs part as
far as they can restricted as they are by the panties around her legs. I watch
as she climaxes, her mouth open, her limbs shuddering.

I've seen her come before, but
somehow this is different—this display for me because I told her to play with
herself and she wanted to obey me. The way she couldn't help taking herself
over the edge. I want to fuck her right now, but I'm not going to.

“Over here,” I say.

She stands in front of me, still
constricted by her bra and panties. I can smell her arousal. It's intoxicating,
the sweet smell of her. I want to reach out and lick her, but I don't.

“Get over my lap,” I say.
“Present your bottom.”

“Yes, Sir,” she says sweetly and
wriggles onto my lap against my cock.

Fuck! I almost come right then.

“Was that maidenly, coming like
that when you weren't supposed to?”

“No, Sir.”

“Was it obedient?”

“No, Sir.”

“You know I'm going to have to
punish you, don't you?”

“Yes, Sir.”

I can feel her body through my
jeans, her chest rising and falling quickly as if the whole idea is taking her
breath away.

“I'm going to spank you,” I say,
smoothing my hands over the rounds of her ass. “And your naughty little bottom
is not going to like it.”

She squirms on my lap.

“Keep still. Do I have to hold
you down?”

“No, Sir.”

“Okay then.” I pull my hand back
and give her a smart slap right on the fleshiest part of her butt. She yelps
and I see the red mark my hand has made on her pale flesh. And then I follow it
with five more, covering both cheeks, and she squeals with each one. Her bottom
is lush and pink.

“Stop,” she says. “I'll be good.”

I smooth my hands over the cheeks
of her ass and let her breathing get back to normal. I'm such a fucking novice
at this. I know she probably doesn't want me to stop, but I can't go on now
she's said it. We should have had a safe word or something.

“Do you really want me to stop,
or do you think you deserve a little more punishment for your wanton display?”

She gulps. “More punishment,” she
says. “I deserve more.”

“That's right, you do. And I
think you should lie over the arm of the chair where you were so ready to
display yourself.”

Truth is, I have to get her off
my legs or any more wriggling and I'll come in my jeans. I pick her up from my
lap and lead her gently over to the chair, unfastening her bra and pulling off
her panties so she's naked for me lying there, her face buried in the seat
cushion. She's so wet between her legs I can't help reaching out and touching
the honey there. She groans as I touch her, and she parts her thighs for me as
if inviting me in.

“Soon,” I say. “Soon I'm going to
fuck you right here over the arm of this chair, but first your pretty little
bottom is going to feel my hand.”

She raises her ass to me. She
wants this. She really does.

“If it gets too much, don't say
stop, say...er Murgatroyd. That's your safe word if you want me to stop.”

“Safe word?”

“Doesn't matter. Just use it.”

“Okay, I'll say Murgatroyd if I
want you to stop.”

I spank her harder this time, now
I know she really wants it. I spank her buttocks until they are red all over
while she moans and squeals, but she doesn't say a thing. Not this time. She
knows I'll stop if she wants me to and she doesn't say anything.

I spank her until I can't bear it
any longer. I have to take her right then. As she recovers from the last slap,
I groan and undo my jeans, fumbling for one of the condoms I have somewhere in
the pocket. They all come out, and I grab one from the floor, tear the packet
and get it on. And then I'm in her hot depths, not caring for a moment that I'm
hammering my body against her red bottom, that it must be sore. And truthfully,
she doesn't seem to care herself, not from the noises she's making, not from
the way she's raising her body to meet mine.

“Yes,” she says. “Fuck me, Luke.
Fuck me.” And somehow it turns me on more than ever coming out of her pretty
mouth because she rarely uses words like that, and I pound her harder, ramming
her body against the upholstery with each thrust until we both come. We
collapse in a sweaty heap over the arm of the chair. I have never felt so good,
so invincible. I love Madison at that moment. I know I do. And it's not just
sex. But I don't say it.

Then suddenly the door crashes
open against the bedroom wall.

“You dirty little slut.” Her
mother is there, her face like blue thunder. “I heard you animals as soon as I
came in.”

Madison lets out a cry of horror
beneath me.

“Get off my daughter and get
out!” her mother yells at me. “And don't come back!”

But I'm not going anywhere. I can't
leave Madison to face this alone. I get up off her and zip myself up. I don't
even have a chance to get rid of the condom from my cock. I'll have to sort
myself out later.