The Fling (29 page)

Oksana’s body caught up with the rhythmic wave of Annie’s motions. Her own arousal consumed her every thought until Annie fell to pieces. Oksana shivered as she felt Annie’s pussy contracting around her fingers, soaking them further with her sweet cum. Annie came again almost immediately, riding out the second orgasm with a low grunt that echoed in Oksana’s ears.

She watched a sudden peace come to Annie’s face even though her dimpled cheeks were still high with color. She eased her down, still petting and stroking her cunt and kissing her face.

“Holy shit, I can’t breathe,” Annie panted as she finally rolled down her window. Oksana settled back and examined the sandwich Annie had brought her while Annie adjusted her pants.

“What about you?”

Oksana held up the gift bag with a grin.

“I’ll wait for later.”

*

Sergio was such a dick, and thanks to his thick skull, Annie was an hour late picking up Oksana. Her jerk boss wouldn’t listen to Annie’s professional opinion, the one he’d hired her for, when she told him there was no way to draw extra money for an episode of
Single Dads
. The audience favorite and father of twin girls, Ian, wanted their office to pay for an unscheduled trip to visit his brother in Florida. Annie was all for family reunions, but Ian and his brother got along great. There was no drama between them to catch on tape. The network would love to see a poor young guy struggling to manage twin toddlers through LAX, but there had to be an explosive altercation on the other end of the flight for them to foot the bill. Ian was going on a calm family vacation, nothing that would boost the show’s ratings.

Sergio had dragged her into his office just as she as trying to make her escape. Baba offered to be on Kat duty for the night. Annie wanted to get Oksana back to her place, fed and naked as soon as possible. She wanted to try out Big Purple. As soon as Sergio shut the hell up and remembered it was Friday, there were no weekend shoots, and there was absolutely no reason for Annie to be sitting on the other side of his desk.

“I don’t see why we can’t borrow the money from Meta and her bullshit show.”

Annie frowned at Sergio. He knew the procedure. He would have to call the network to approve a budget extension. Borrowing from one show to feed another was basically stealing.

“I’d like to keep my job. And even if we could ‘borrow’ the money, there isn’t any left from
Just Dance
. I barely scraped the Paris trip together, and we still have fewer hands than I would like.” Tension between Meta and Lauren was still high. Annie wanted to send Esther along to keep them from each other’s throat, but between airfare, hotel, and meals, another crew member wasn’t in the budget. Sergio knew this.

“You want
that
footage,” Annie reminded him. “Can you imagine drunk Meta loose on Paris? You want that. You don’t want to waste tape on Ian’s brother playing with his nieces. If Ian wants to see his brother on tape, then book
his brother
a cheap flight on Southwest out here.”

“Why didn’t you say that before?”

“I did. Twice!”

“All right. All right. Get out of here. I’ll have Esther arrange it. Where’s Esther?”

Annie grabbed her laptop bag off the floor and heaved it over her shoulder.

“She had some birthday party to go to. I sent her home. Why are you still here?”

“Meeting the wife on this side for dinner.”

“Well, I really need to go.”

“Your man’s back, isn’t he?”

“Yeah.” Annie looked down at her phone to avoid Sergio’s gaze. Just a few more days and this whole crazy situation would be over with.

“Don’t pull a muscle.”

“You’re gross. Have a good weekend.” She booked it for the elevator before he decided he had some other pointless thing to discuss. She texted Oksana three times as she went. Once to say she was on her way and twice to apologize for running late.

*

Annie almost dropped her keys and the food in her hand. Oksana’s tongue tickled the edge of her earlobe and her free hand cupped her breast. Her other hand carried a certain gift bag. Annie was starving, but sex would have to come first, if she could convince Oksana that dinner could wait.

“Hurry. I’m hungry,” Oksana whispered, grinding her hips against Annie’s ass, pushing her closer to the back door.

“You don’t mind your food cold?”

“No, I don’t. I want you inside me.”

Annie almost broke her keys off in the lock. They stumbled into the kitchen. Annie dumped the food on the counter and spun in Oksana’s arms. She wanted to take this little interlude to the couch, get Oksana naked, upright, and exposed so Annie could devour her. She slid her hands up the front of Oksana’s T-shirt. The cotton easily gave way to her wandering fingers, and in no time her bra was pushed up and out of the way.

Annie licked at Oksana’s neck and gently teased her piercings.

“I want these nipples.”

“They’re yours,” Oksana replied.

In the darkness, Annie guided her through the archway and back toward the couch, realizing a moment too late that they weren’t alone. Annie froze.

“What’s wrong?” Oksana asked.

“There’s someone here—”

The lights flicked on. Annie screamed then bit down on her lip as she smacked heads with Oksana. They both stumbled a step apart.

Taum Collins stood in her living room. A beige Pomeranian Annie had never seen before panted happily in a pink shoulder carrier under her arm. Taum had been hitting the tanning beds hard, and it was pretty clear she’d been blasted with a fresh injection of Botox. Her lips were too tight and her eyes were strained, but her emotions were clear.

The bile in Annie’s throat shot to the roof of her mouth as she looked at her mother. Out of the corner of her eye, Annie saw Oksana adjusting her shirt and her bra, but Annie didn’t take her eyes off Taum or the dog.

“Mom.”

“Hi, honey,” Taum said, her tone oddly light.

“What are you doing here?”

“I talked to Jeff this morning; I just called him to see when he and the boys would be ready for their next fitting. You know Europe either makes you fat or skinny, but you’re never the same.” Her mother had never been to Europe. “He told me you were seeing someone else. Actually, he said you were sleeping with your trainer. The slut he named was pretty high on your list of priorities so I wanted to come see for myself how much of his story was true.
You
are something.” She glared at Oksana.

Annie knew exactly what her mother was thinking. Throughout her childhood, she’d stood by as Taum and her friends made racist and derogatory comments about all sorts of people. At the time, Annie knew her mother’s thinking was beyond flawed. She went out of her way to be a different type of person and now she was terrified of just what her mother would say to Oksana.

She looked back to Annie.

“You picked
this
over Jeff?”

Annie could feel her neck tensing. “It wasn’t a matter of picking. Jeff and I aren’t meant to be.”

“That’s not what he thinks. He’s very upset, but if I can talk some sense into you, he’s willing to take you back.” Annie would kill him. The second her mother left, she was going downtown and she was going to murder Jeff.

“We have a reputation to uphold. Your father and I work very hard, Annie, and you can’t think we can push Jeff aside and parade a tattooed, pierced, bald, black—oh, I’m sorry. Jeff pointed out the distinction for me. You’re mixed. And a former porn star at that. Nice touch.”

“Oh my God, Mom! Stop!” Annie cried. Her whole body was shaking. Beside her, she could feel the tension rising off Oksana. She leaned back on her heels and Annie prayed she didn’t snap and try to slap Taum or run away.

“Why should I? Does she have any idea where you come from? Who your family is?”

“Who are we, Mom?” Her mother was a nobody and her father was just another faceless suit who traded numbers all day.

“We’re better than this. I know that much.”

“I’m going to go wait in the kitchen.” Oksana said.

“No, you should hear this. I talked to your boss this afternoon,” she told Oksana. “He’s going to talk to you.”

That was enough. Annie stepped forward and put herself between Oksana and Taum, turning her back on her mother.

“I’ll talk to him, okay? He knows the truth. I’ll talk to him.” Annie could see it in her eyes; Oksana didn’t believe her.

“Doesn’t matter. He’s letting her go, and she’s paying for every single one of your workouts. Sweetheart, you and Jeff can make this work. He still loves you.”

Annie faced her mother. “That’s too bad. He might have failed to mention this to you, but I made it very clear that I love Oksana. I don’t love him. I don’t care how it makes you and Dad look. I’m not marrying him!”

“You are. I’m not letting you throw away all of my hard work. There is no way I can change the date at the club or get the deposit back. And there is no way I’m telling
my
friends my daughter is a lesbian involved with
that
. Say good-bye to your little friend. Actually…” Taum paused. Oksana stilled in her retreat with one foot moving toward the kitchen. “Keep her. Every good marriage has its slut on the side. Just ask your father.”

“Mom!” Annie charged at her mother. She grabbed Taum’s arm and yanked her out of the room. She dragged her with all her strength down the hall, into the kitchen. The little dog yapped the entire way.

“What the hell do you think you are doing? Get off me.”

Annie heard the slap of Taum’s hand against her face a split second before she felt it. Recoiling, she fell against the stove. Her mother had never lifted a hand to her ever.

“Six weeks. If I have to drag you down the aisle by your hair, you are marrying Jeff. And I promise, if you don’t cooperate, you will regret it and so will she.” Taum straightened her top and patted the dog on the head, making cooing noises until it settled down. When the little demon pooch was happy and licking the palm of her hand, she peered up at Annie. Annie held her cheek, her eyes watering from the throbbing sting, and watched as her mother pulled a green plated key out of her pocket and put it on the kitchen table. The emergency spare key she’d given Feather.

“I won’t tell your father about this. I’m meeting with the caterer tomorrow morning. And I’m hiring you a new trainer. You look fat.” Taum glanced toward the living room. “Call me when she knows her place. Or when it’s over. Whatever. But you should apologize to your friends. You really hurt Feather’s feelings.”

Annie blinked, then flinched when her mother stepped closer to her side. Taum patted her hair the way she’d patted the dog’s fur.

“Be a lesbian. I don’t care. Just keep it under wraps. Don’t…I don’t know. Don’t become a dyke.”

After another assuming pat and an air kiss, Taum walked out the front door.

*

Oksana held the ice pack to Annie’s cheek. Her own eyes started to sting as the tears continued to leak from Annie’s eyes.

“How does it feel?” She pulled the pack away and checked the red spot before reapplying the pressure. She heard the slap Mrs. Collins laid on Annie from across the house. It took everything she had not to smack the lady down for hitting her. The last thing Oksana needed was to get arrested for assault on the weather-beaten shoe of a woman.

“It feels better. The ice is helping,” Annie said. “I don’t know who told her about your Ink Ladies pictures. I didn’t tell anyone.”

“Don’t worry about it. That’s the curse of the Internet. Once it’s out there, it’s out there.”

Annie was quiet then. Oksana didn’t want to speak. She couldn’t help the things that were running through her head, mostly what Mrs. Collins had said and a few things in particular that came from Annie’s lips.

“Sana.”

“What is it, babe?” Oksana gently stroked Annie’s jaw.

“I meant what I said to my mom. I love you. I didn’t mean to tell you like that. I wanted it to be special, but I wanted to wait until I dealt with the wedding stuff. I wanted a clean slate so you knew what I was saying was real,” Annie said. Her lip started trembling. “You can’t believe anything
she
said…I…I…”

“Shh. Stop.” Oksana leaned forward and kissed Annie on her lips. “Stop crying. Okay?”

Annie nodded, but the tears still flowed.

“I love you too. I was waiting for the same reasons. Jeff has always been between us and
I
wanted to wait until I had you all to myself. I love you.”

“I can’t believe she said that to you.” Annie shook her head.

“She didn’t. She said it to
you
because she was trying to hurt you. I don’t know her. I know you and I love you and she was trying to hurt you so you’d let me go.”

“Well, I’m not going to,” Annie replied.

“I didn’t think you would.”

Annie took the ice pack from Oksana and sunk into a chair at the kitchen table. “I have to call Megan. And Feather. I’m going to fucking kill her. This is hers.” Annie held up a loose key.