Alien_Friend: Lol, it was time for that to come out!
Yeah, he might just get more than he bargained for. And yep, she’s not gonna be happy.
So far Kyle and Tess haven’t been identified as helping them.
We’ve got a feeling those two wouldn’t have a clue what to do with Christmas.
begonia9508: Yep, it’s a very difficult situation.
It’s gonna take time to figure out how all the pieces fit and where it’s going.
Roswelllostcause: Oh, he’s walking a very dangerous road!
At this point we don’t know about Max and Liz‘ families... but we’ll learn about them in time.
Earth2Mama: Always nice to have more than one part to read.
Good luck with the scrubbing!
Bane probably goes back and forth on that urge, lol.
sarammlover: That would be so hard. He’s very good at forcing issues, lol. We haven’t seen the last of that behavior.
Eva: She sure was. We’ll find out today what happens when she finds out.
Part 31
Junior high hadn’t been a picnic for her either. There had been attempts to make friends, but her uncle’s controlling nature, his refusal to let her go places and do things girls that age did had eventually sent her friends packing and left her alone once again. He shook his head as he read through her entry describing her admission into high school.
She’d put herself out there again, deciding to take on tryouts for the cheerleading squad. He couldn’t see it. She just wasn’t the type. It was probably to get a rise out of good old Uncle Reggie, he decided. His brows pulled down in a frown as he read the entry following the afternoon tryouts.
August, 25th, 2008
I didn’t make the cheerleading squad.
After my history class, Sandra approached me before I could make it out of the building. I had such a good feeling about things. The choreography was easy and the other girls attending the tryouts with me were mostly pretty bad.
But as soon as I saw Sandra’s face I knew she had bad news.
She told me I’m not on the team. And when I asked her who made it she told me they decided to cut their new moves one person short because they hadn’t found a good match.
I asked her what I did wrong. I could practice harder and maybe then I’d be good enough. It’s disgusting. I wanted to be a part of them just to have some girls to hang out with.
She didn’t say anything at first, but I knew something was wrong and then the captain of the squad – Nancy Whitmore – approached us. She voted against me because of the scars on my side. ‘We can’t have a freak on the squad. Sorry.’
That’s what she said and Sandra looked sorry but she didn’t do anything to tell me she had a different opinion.
So that’s what I am in their eyes. A freak with scars. And they’d rather change their whole choreography than have me on the squad.
Now I hate myself for even thinking that they could be friends to hang out with. Why do I even try anymore?
“Fuck,” he muttered. Not that it surprised him that the snotty little bitches were that shallow, but to be so cruel on top of that. He glanced at a picture of the squad on the next page, smirking at the horns and tails that had been drawn on the girls. He assumed the one whose eyes had been colored red was the ringleader, Nancy.
They’d have to be stupid to not have a clue about the ‘accident’ that had left her with the scars. He was surprised the good senator hadn’t sent her away to have some plastic surgeon get rid of them. But then again, the man hadn’t even let her go out in public in a bathing suit. He shook his head. What a moron.
He wondered if she’d ever been in therapy to deal with those issues. Her self-image had been badly damaged and with a fool like her uncle keeping her under wraps all the time he’d done nothing to help the situation. He’d probably never even noticed it, and if he had he’d probably just assumed it’d take care of itself.
He kept reading and didn’t know why. Nothing he was learning was relevant to what he needed, but he couldn’t stop. High school hadn’t been any kinder to her than junior high had been. The kids were basically the same, just older. The next few months she kept her head down and focused on her studies. Being shut out of everything and feeling so isolated it was no wonder she had eventually turned to questioning her own past.
His eyebrows lifted at the next entry and he leaned forward, forearms resting on his knees as he started to read.
Prom, he thought with a derisive snort.
May 5th, 2009
HE ASKED ME!
I still freaking can’t believe it!!! OMG!
Ethan Graham has asked me to go to prom with him! I was just getting pizza from the cafeteria and he suddenly popped up behind me, leaned against the counter with his cool wide grin and rasped: “Maria. Go to prom with me.”
I played it cool, pretended to consider it first, but on the inside I was screaming, YES, YES, YES!
Of course, I told him I’d go with him and he’s going to pick me up on Friday at seven. Now I have to think about what I’m going to wear….
May 8th, 2009
It’s past nine and I’m sitting in my room with my green dress, hair styled and nails painted, but guess who hasn’t showed up?
Maybe he’s sick or something. Or at least I wondered at first, but yeah, who am I kidding? I looked at his Facebook account and he’s at prom. He just posted a pic of him and Nancy.
He’s such an asshole, I hate him. But I hate me more right now.
Why was I so stupid I didn’t see this coming? It was just a prank. And on Monday everyone will know about it.
And one more disappointment to add to the pile. Bane sighed quietly and shook his head. He had a feeling her uncle had made sure the kid backed off, but the least the kid could’ve done was have the balls to tell her in person that he wasn’t taking her to the stupid dance. Once again her loathing was directed at herself when it should’ve been directed at the little dick that had ditched her.
He chuckled to himself. That kid was a fool. He glanced over the next page, a print screen of the Faecbook page. More horns and tails. Halverson should’ve made sure she was in therapy but he had a bad feeling the senator would’ve seen it as a blight on his public persona. And she’d paid for his vanity.
Ethan Graham, why did that name sound familiar? He scratched his head and filed it away for later when nothing immediately came to mind and went back to reading. “Here we go,” he muttered when the next entry went off on a rant about Halverson. “What’d he do to piss you off like that?”
December 5th, 2010
I can’t fuckin’ believe it!
Scratch that last entry about Roman being the first guy who seems to be decent. He’s just another frog that needs to be thrown back into the pond!
Admittedly, the date was nice. He had a good sense of humor and he even flirted nicely. But then he brought me home and he behaved like a monk!!!
I asked him what’s wrong and he told me that he just wanted to be a gentleman. Gentleman my ass I told him. I don’t need another person who treats me like a freak or a fragile girl that might break at the slightest touch.
I’m freaking 17 and I haven’t been kissed!
I told him to do it but he said no. Reluctantly, but he did, and I asked why.
Ha, and here’s the deal: Uncle Reggie made him go out with me. It was a setup!
I AM SO MAD!!! What am I? A puppet in a theatre?
I told Roman that it was his problem now and if he wasn’t going to kiss me then I’d tell my uncle that he tried to put his hands on me in the car.
Nasty? Yeah, maybe, but I don’t give a fuck!
He kissed me and it was… awful! I don’t know if the guy can’t do it right, if I’m the problem or if it really is supposed to feel like that.
I really felt nothing but the wish for it to end.
“Ouch,” he mumbled around a smirk. “No way it was you, Blondie.” So Uncle Reggie pulled strings to find an appropriate date for his niece. Yeah, that’d be enough to piss her off. Seventeen years old and the poor girl got kissed by a toad. Somehow he had a feeling she’d never been kissed. At least not properly.
Reginald Halverson was something else. Nothing about the man had been good or decent. He’d taken his niece in but that had probably been for no other reason than good publicity. His voting public had probably thought it was such a self-sacrificing and kind thing for him to have done. If they only knew the truth.
He clicked to the next page and he chuckled, easily hearing her voice as he scanned over the excited tone of the entry. College and her introduction to her would-be friends slash protectors.
September 15th, 2012
I think I met the coolest couple ever!
While others would call them crazy and nerve-wracking, I think Max and Liz are hilarious. Okay, they tend to be a little kinky when they (think they) are alone, , but I guess they just really love each other. And that’s not crazy – it’s totally enviable!
From the first moment we got along great. It’s like we’re thinking on an identical wavelength!!!
Tonight, they talked me into going to a party. I just told Uncle Reggie and he’s not amused but I don’t care. He’ll send Rob with me but Liz already promised to help me ditch him. She’s fun and brave, she knows how to enjoy life and I’ll do anything to learn from her.
Anyway, I need to go and pick a party outfit! My first college party! I’m so nervous!
He smirked and tried to picture her at 18, her excitement palpable through her words alone. She had probably talked a blue streak, something he’d noticed she did when she was nervous. She would’ve been annoyed about having to drag along her driver/bodyguard but her anticipation of attending her first college party would’ve had her giving in and ignoring her shadow in favor of looking forward to the evening.
He could only imagine that it was her debt to her uncle that had kept her in check for so many years. She was bursting at the seams to experience life and he had a feeling when she’d pictured any opportunity that allowed her to do so, she’d never come up with anything like her current circumstances.
For the next hour he scanned over the entries, seeing nothing of major significance. It was the condensed version of moments that stuck out in her life, good or bad. Fights with her uncle, escapes from ‘Rob the Mob’, professors that sucked and a couple that she’d been impressed with, classmates she’d liked but had been oblivious to her existence and some she’d gotten to know but that had fallen by the wayside courtesy of her uncle, but there was always something about Max and Liz or Alex.
The three of them had become constants in her life, her touchstones. No matter what else was going on, everything eventually came back to them. And especially Liz. There was a kinship there, the comfort of having another female to commiserate with, and he wondered just how far the couple would’ve gone to procure her trust.
“And here we go,” he muttered under his breath when he noticed his name in the next entry. The tone was one of confusion this time as she tried to make sense of coming into contact with a man who so strongly resembled someone from her past. A man who had insisted he had no idea who she was.
December 7th, 2015
Something awkward just happened.
I was done with classes and went to my car like I always do, but it refused to start for whatever reason. I couldn’t get a signal so I was about to get out of the car and then HE showed up!
A guy knocked on the window, claiming to know stuff about cars, so I let him have a look. He fixed it and that’s when I got my first real look at him.
No clue why it took me so long to see the resemblance, probably because of his ball cap… but he looked like Michael.
MICHAEL GUERIN – the boy who was at the wedding. The boy who should be dead.
I swear he looked like him! Older of course and more like a man, but he still had those eyes…
He said his name wasn’t Michael and he had no clue what I was talking about. I know it’s probably true. I mean, how could he still be alive? And why would he deny his identity?
Yet I can’t get rid of the thought!!! What if he’s a relative of Michael’s? Maybe he had a brother or something.
I need to find out more, but how?
“This probably wasn’t the way you ever thought you’d learn more, huh, Blondie?” She’d probably thought she’d learn something through research, something he knew for a fact she was very good at. Not that it would’ve done her much good where he was concerned.
The entries stopped at that point and he wondered why she hadn’t written her thoughts down after their meeting that day. He scrolled through a few more pages, ready to close the program when they were blank, but then he came across a list and as he scanned over it his eyebrows lifted in interest.
“A bucket list,” he mused aloud. There were multiple alterations to the list, some things crossed out, others added to replace them. He wondered why she hadn’t just started the list over and discarded the old one. Maybe she still intended to do some of those things or maybe she’d marked some of them off because she’d done them. Although he couldn’t imagine with her uncle she’d ever had much of an opportunity to do them.
Yeah, some of them were pretty basic for anyone of the female persuasion. The list ended with one most women probably had on a list somewhere:
Have a man tell me he loves me and mean it. Pretty standard, he decided.
He supposed she could check jumping out of a plane off of her list. She’d done that one now. Not in the manner she’d imagined, but it’d still been done. Spend a night in jail. Check. Also not as she’d imagined.
But it was that first one that he kept coming back to:
Get a panty-dropping kiss from a guy.
“Did you find what you were looking for?” Maria’s voice was icy and wavered from hurt.
From the hallway she had seen Michael sitting in front of the laptop, his attention focused on the screen. Immediately, a choking tightness had wrapped around her throat and when she had gotten closer, she had seen the proof of her apprehension.
“Not really much to find,” he said, controlling his expression as he turned to look at her.
“As I told you,” she gritted through her teeth and held his gaze bravely, although she didn’t feel brave. “You had no right to read that!”
“You had no way of knowin’ what might be useful.”
She snorted. “Yeah, right. As if there’s something in there that could be helpful. I told you to stay away from it. Why is it you can’t respect my privacy?”
God, he had read it all. It suddenly hit her and a huge wave up shame crashed over her. He had gone through all the embarrassing, hurtful moments in her life without thinking twice about it. Swallowing her upcoming tears, she glared at him. “You’re an asshole. Maybe that’s why Bane fits you a lot better than Michael.”
He got to his feet and walked around the couch to face her directly. “You act like what you wrote is somethin’ to be ashamed of and it’s not.” Maybe a little more emotional than he cared for, but he left that out. “You know what I got outta readin’ all that?”
“What?” she snapped. “That I shouldn’t be such a pussy and appreciate that I at least had a home?” He would think like that, right?
“A home that was like a prison and an uncle that was like a warden? Fuck no. What I get from what you wrote is that no matter how hard life’s kicked you, you’ve never given up. You get back on your feet and it just makes you a little bit stronger. You’ve got spirit and even though sometimes you see yourself as weak you couldn’t be more wrong. Weak people give in and let life keep them down, they don’t get back up and keep fightin’.”
Was he... complimenting her? “If you’re trying to get back my good side... it won’t work,” she said stubbornly and walked into the kitchen to get a water – more for distraction than thirst.
He started to say the hell with it, but something propelled him forward and before he knew it he was standing in the kitchen, leaning back against the counter behind her. “I’m not the kinda guy who bothers tryin’ to get back on anyone’s good side.”
“Suppose that’s true,” she muttered. “You don’t give a fuck about anything.”
He grabbed her arm and spun her around, tipping her chin up when she refused to look at him. “Maybe I don’t but you do.”
Maria frowned. “An’ what’s that mean?”
“How many things on your list have you actually accomplished?”
“You read that list as well?” she groaned.
“Answer the question.”
“Isn’t that obvious? Everything that’s not crossed off is still open.”
“I’m gonna give you a hand with that list,” he growled and without warning he hauled her against him. His hands came up to frame her face, holding her still as he lowered his head and brushed her lips with his. His touches were light at first, gentle as he tested her response.
She wanted to protest. She wanted to push him away. She wanted to hate it.
But her body was betraying her. While her heart beat like a steam hammer, her legs weakened and her small hands fisted the fabric of his tee shirt. For a rough man like him, he had incredibly soft lips.
His left hand drifted down to cradle her neck, using the thumb of his other hand to angle her head slightly. He took his time, drawing it out and not rushing her. He wasn’t sure why and he locked that thought away. He didn’t want to examine it too closely.
She had assumed that a real kiss would feel better than the one Roman had given her years ago, but she had never expected that it could be so mind blowing. Her head was spinning and her panties... well they were still in place but she finally got the meaning.
His lips were mobile as he changed the degree of intensity. He shifted and let the tip of his tongue tease her lips, requesting entrance and waiting for an answer.
She could feel something wet and soft brushing along the gap of her lips and only realized it was his tongue when he did it a second time. Heat flooded her system and her hands clenched against his hard chest while she opened up to him slowly, testing.
He cautioned himself, keeping his own needs in check as he deepened the kiss. His tongue tangled with hers, hot and wet, and his right hand dropped down to rest at her waist. His thumb played with the hem of her shirt, the calloused pad rasping against the material and dragging against it.
She groaned, pushing away every last bit of doubt about her own kissing abilities. If it was that bad, he wouldn’t continue, right? Moving against him, she got braver on her own and started to let her feelings overtake her sanity.
He felt the thread snap. The reservations and self doubts slipping away as she answered the call of instincts so primal they couldn’t be denied. He let his hands wander, slipping from her waist to slide down over her ass. His touches weren’t tentative; they were sure but gentle to keep from spooking her.
This was the real thing, she was sure of it. Maria could feel every cell in her body responding to him and obviously he wasn’t unaffected either. Something hard was brushing against her lower belly and she didn’t need to be experienced to know what it was.
His hands dropped lower, wrapping around the backs of her thighs and lifting her up as he took a couple of steps forward to sit her on the counter. Her panties were ready to drop alright, but he wasn’t gonna take her virginity in the kitchen surrounded by a houseful of people. In all honesty he wasn’t completely certain he should take it at all. On the other hand of course, no one should go to their grave without knowing what it was all about.
A groan built in her throat when his move lined his covered but impressive hard length directly between her legs. She was a little afraid he could feel the wetness there, even through several layers of clothes that were still between them.
He pressed closer, feeling the heat in her body scorch him. Hell, if he ever got her naked they were gonna set everything in the immediate area on fire. He nipped her bottom lip before soothing it with his tongue. He wasn’t sure yet when he was going to stop, but he let himself go when his right hand slipped under her top to rest against her skin. When she shifted even closer he kept going, easing up until his fingertips brushed the side of her breast.
Only now did she realize her hands hadn’t moved an inch and while she enjoyed the movement of his muscles underneath, she wanted to feel skin.
He felt her hands begin to move, tentative at first and gaining confidence when he shifted to give her better access.
The skin of his sides was hot and soft, yet she could feel scars under her fingertips while she moved upwards. His body told a long story, but this wasn’t the time to ask. Maybe there never would be, but it didn’t keep her from exploring more.
Her hands moved inside to feel the muscles of his six-pack while her lips sucked at his more confidently. Somewhere in her books she had read about little bites exchanged between the hero and heroine and she found herself trying it out.
He groaned when her fingers found an old scar and they traced over it repeatedly as she began to experiment. She was eager to learn and he knew she’d be an ardent lover. His own hands were constantly in motion and without thinking about it the right one rested over her thigh as his thumb dropped lower to brush against her. He chuckled when she nearly jumped out of her skin.
Maria tore her lips away from his as she gasped in surprise. The wetness between her legs seemed to increase at his teasing touch, soaking her panties so there was no doubt he’d feel it if he did it again.
“Don’t be ashamed or embarrassed by your body’s reaction,” he rasped as he looked into her eyes. “You have no idea what a turn-on it is for a woman to get so hot and wet.” He took one of her hands and pressed it over his erection, holding it in place for a moment. “Different responses obviously, but trust me, they’re major indicators.” His thumb repeated the move, adding slight pressure this time. “It’s a good fuckin’ thing.” He took her mouth in a heated kiss, demanding and unapologetic. He’d never bothered to spend much time kissing any woman and he wondered if he’d been cheating himself all this time or if it was just her.
Amazing how words could take your doubts away so easily, she thought. A moment before she had felt embarrassed about her body’s reaction to him, now she wanted him to know how turned on she was.
And she felt how turned on he was, because her hand was still pressed against him firmly.
He was quickly losing the ability to focus with her hand where it was and his arguments with himself about taking her to bed tonight were disappearing just as fast. His fingertips teased the edge of her panties, slipping just past the barrier and backing off again. He repeated the move, each time daring to move just a bit closer to her heated center.
“Michael,” she gasped against his lips, not sure if it was just a form of release of if she was asking him for more. One thing was sure though, she didn’t want him to stop because she felt more alive right now than ever before.
He was on the verge of giving her what she wanted when an alarm began to sound. In the blink of an eye he switched modes and he pulled her off of the counter and pushed her behind him. He ducked down to look outside but the yard beyond the windows was suddenly illuminated, the bright light bouncing off of the snow and nearly blinding him. “Damn it,” he muttered. He turned to look at her. “Stay low and go to the basement. Don’t come back out until I come for you.” He hauled her around him and gave her a shove in the right direction.
Plus she would be so mad if she finds out. I can just imagine another one of those angry out burst leading to an explosion of fireworks between the two of them.
