Authors: Maddy Roman
T
he arena parking
lot was full of police and reporters and paparazzi and fans and lookie-loos, it was full, just plain full, period. He circled the arena and headed for the back entrance but that was blocked. I tapped him on the shoulder and indicated he should pull over and let me off.
Sliding off the back of the bike I started to hand him the helmet, but he indicated I should keep it, and then he was off.
Shouldering my bag, and helmet I started the hike toward my car. The crowd was clearly hungry for information and I was afraid the helmet would make me look like I had some. Fortunately, the police were focused on the paps and the paps were focused right back on the police so I was able to make my way to my car.
As I started it, my cell rang.
I glanced at the display, "Ally!"
"Savannah, where are you?"
"At the arena getting my car."
"Ohhhhhhh, good night huh? Spill it!"
"Not now," I laughed, "I'll call you later."
"Right, ok, you know that there was trouble again, right?"
"I do, and I know he had nothing to do with it."
"They're saying it was his bike."
"Well, I know it wasn't because I was on his bike, until it was parked in his garage, and he was with me the whole night"
"Ok, so we know it wasn't him, and we knew that anyway but …"
"Right, I know, we need to prove it wasn't him. This parking lot is a zoo, I've gotta get out of here. I'll call you soon," and I clicked off the line. The parking lot was a mad house and I had to drive at about 2 miles an hour to make sure I didn't run anyone down. The crowds that ignored me before took a new interest since I was in my car now. People hammered at my windows, cameras flashed, as I inched forward. Finally, a cop noticed me and cleared a path so I could leave.
And this was without anyone knowing I was Raiin's wife, I couldn't imagine how hard it would have been to get out if they knew.
Back at my parent's house I had just finished drying my hair when I heard a knock at the door.
I looked through the side panel and there on my doorstep was Mabel, a vision of 1970's southern elegance. Her hair was curled and she had on a small yellow hat that matched her yellow dress. Her purse was in a coordinated shade of yellow as well. Her make-up was old fashioned, blue shadow, red lips, mascara-d eyes, but it worked on her, maybe because she had been dressing just that way for the last 30 years.
"Come in Mabel, come in, thank you for meeting me."
"No problem honey," she said as she air kissed me. Her attention was not on me at all but on the house, and I could see her appraising the situation as she went from room to room.
"Needs to be staged, I'll take care of it. I can have the furniture moved to a storage unit for you, just let me know which one. I'll have pictures and a description up by the end of the week."
"Is all that necessary? I mean, you said you thought you knew …" I trailed off.
"I do, I know a young couple who will definitely be interested. But, they need to feel like they're competing for a great deal. We'll just …," she kept talking and moved from room to room. I tuned her out as I trailed behind. I hated to sell the place but it seemed like the right thing to do, let a new family bloom here.
"Okay?" she was asking me. Mutely I nodded. One more nail in my hometown coffin. I signed some forms and waved good-bye as she got back into her caddy and backed down the driveway. She would have movers here in no time, and the staging company would be right on their heels. I shook my head, just because something needed to be done, didn't mean I had to want to do it.
My cell chirped and while I hunted for the phone, the house phone rang. Forgetting my cell phone for a minute I ran to get the house phone.
"Hello?"
"Savannah?"
"Yes, sheriff, how are you?"
"I'm fine, but we have a problem. There was another ahhhh, event last night, did you hear?"
"Yes, I did."
"And we have Raiin's bike on camera again, we're bringing him in for questioning. You're his attorney?"
I sighed, "I guess, for the moment."
"Well get on down here then," he said, and hung up.
I stood for a moment staring at the phone. What the hell?
As I drove to the station I tried to imagine how on earth they thought a celebrity hockey player would bother to take part in such a destructive display. And who would want him arrested for this, because he was obviously being set up.
When I got to the station I asked to see my client and was escorted to the back, to a small windowless room. Raiin was inside looking none too happy.
"Hey," he said.
"Hey, back. You didn't talk to them, right?"
"No, I didn't but I want to. I was with you. And we can prove it, we have tapes at my house, I keep the cameras on in the driveway and both inside and outside of the garage all the time."
I sighed, "An alibi defense is a terrible way to go. I'm not a credible witness because we're in a relationship. They'll poke any holes in that that they can. And your camera was on the bike in the garage, so who says you don't have two bikes, or we didn't alter the tapes, or … the list goes on. First we have to get you out of here. They're not going to file charges; they have nothing to go on. I'll be back."
But I was wrong, and they did.
"What the hell is this, sheriff? You're going to charge him for inciting a riot? For destruction of property, for … this is crazy. You know he has no reason to act like this, to ruin his career."
"People do strange things in the heat of passion you know," he said.
"That's patently ridiculous. We're posting bail."
"The judge has to set bail first, we'll see if we can get him back from his fishing trip," he drawled.
Eventually the whole ridiculous saga ended with Daire out on bail. And if he wasn't mad enough to flip over buses before, he sure was now.
T
he next morning
the phone rang bright and early, so I knew it was terrible news.
"What's going on out there?"
My boss. Perfect. I sat up in bed and scrubbed my hair back from my eyes. The little twin bed that had been so comfortable in my childhood was slowly killing my back. The house was unfamiliar now, and creakier than I remembered it. Sometimes I think no sleep would be better than terrible sleep.
"Nothing sir, just a little misunderstanding."
"I thought you two were divorced," I could hear the disapproval in his voice. Was he mad because he had designs on me, or because he felt it would look bad to the public? Neither option was a nice one, this was getting to be too much like politics for my taste. I felt the acid begin bubbling in my stomach, and I hadn't even had coffee yet.
"Almost, sir," I winced at the white, well beige, well maybe gray, lie.
"I can't have my newest judge tied up in anything like this. This is not how I want to see you on the front page of the paper. Or reddit."
"Yes sir, I understand. I'll be back soon." More lies.
"I look forward to it. We should have dinner again. I like to mentor my junior judges, keep up with them. In fact, I think we should have a standing date, once a week to keep track of what's happening with your cases. I have high hopes for you. I don't want to see you muck it up with some also-ran, has-been rocky jock."
I swallowed back the biting comment I wanted to make and gritted my teeth, "Yes sir, I have a realtor working on the house, and you know not to believe everything you read in the papers. I'll be back there soon."
"I'm gonna hold you to that. Real tight," he chuckled at his own wit.
I felt like I needed a shower. Did they make soap that would wash off the feeling of your boss leering at you long distance?
In the kitchen I set the coffee on and tried to figure out who to call first. I was spared the decision by the phone ringing.
"Yes?"
"I have the morning free, are you home? I'm on my way over."
"Good morning to you too Miss Ally, I'm fine thanks, and you?"
"Are you kidding? We don't have time for small talk, I'll be right there."
"Okay, I'm here."
It seemed like moments later she was in the driveway.
"What did you do, take a helicopter?"
"Hey, I can still break out the high school lead-foot when I need to."
"Wow! I guess. Want some coffee?"
"What I want is to know what's happening."
I looked at her through lowered lids, "What exactly do you want to know?"
She held up two fingers and ticked off her topics as she talked, "What's up with you and Raiin, and what's up with Raiin and the riots. Um, maybe not in that order though."
"You're getting coffee anyway," I said as I put the mug in front of her. "Sorry, I'm low on doughnuts."
"Stop changing the subject."
"I wasn't. I was talking to you about a snack. I haven't eaten yet. I definitely need coffee."
"So?"
"Well about me and Raiin. I don't know. I mean, no, there can't be anything going on. I just can't have that right now. We've had some moments, yeah …"
"I knew it!" she interrupted me. "Was it good?"
"Ally!"
"Well?"
"Yes, it was good. Crazy good. But we can't live together."
"How do you know? He never stuck around long enough before for you to figure that out."
"Well, that's true, but it's also kind of the point."
"I don't know how you can know that for sure since you never tried it."
"It's just … I know," I waved my hands around for emphasis.
"Okay, I'm not buying it, but let's move on to craziness number 2, shall we?"
"Right, what is going on around here?"
"I don't know; I was going to ask you. I mean we seem to have someone trying to, what? Frame him? Make it look like he was at the events by copying his motorcycle."
"Yeah, I mean we were together the other night, but the whole alibi thing is terrible. Y'know, usually in the evening you're with your family and they'd probably lie for you anyway. Or at least that's how the court would see it. The other side would poke holes in the testimony," I shook my head. "It's not going to court anyway. This is ludicrous, we can figure this out."
"Of course we can. Next game, we'll stake out the parking lot …"
"Whoa there Mata Hari, you've got a kid and a family. You're not a private eye, and we can't put you in danger."
"No, no one else can put me in danger, but I can if I want to. We won't be on the game bus or anything, we can be in something, be someplace protected but with a good view …" she looked up at the ceiling as she pondered.
"Look Miss Harriet the Spy, we can't …"
"Hush, yes we can. The Sheriff isn't going to do squat. You know that." She snapped her fingers, "Our motorhome. It's an old beast, but it's small and no one will pay any attention to it. We'll park it in the lot, close enough to get a good view, but far enough to stay away from the crowd. We have all kinds of cameras with zoom lenses, cell phones, video camera we used for Grady. We can set it up from a couple of angles. Then we can have a chase car to follow the bike."
I rolled my eyes, "You're gonna get yourself killed and then your husband is going to come kill me."
"No, we'll be safe. In fact, I'm sure he'll want to come along. He always did love a good caper."
I sighed. "I shouldn't stay in town much longer, any longer really. The house is signed up with Mabel, and I need to get back to work."
"You can come back, you'll want to see Raiin anyway," she waggled her eyebrows at me. "There's another home game," she looked at the calendar on her phone, "in a week and a half. You can come back then, spend the night, it's a Friday, you have the next day off. It's a plan!" she finished, triumphantly.
"Oooookay," I said, not totally buying it. But really, what else were we going to do? Leave it to fate? Or worse, to the Sheriff who has hated Raiin since they were teenagers? Not likely. "Call your husband and see what he has to say first."
"Have you talked to Daire?" she ignored me.
"Yeah, last night after we posted bail, but he was beat, he went home and I came here. I haven't talked to him yet today."
"You gonna tell him?"
"Tell him what, about your crazy scheme?"
"About my genius plan!"
"Oh, right, genius, that's what I meant to say. Yeah, I'll tell him. He'll want to be part of it, I'm pretty sure. He's definitely not one to sit around and get rescued."
"Yeah, Mr. Alpha. I hear ya. You talk to him, I'm gonna go find my husband, and we'll talk again around lunchtime. See what we've got nailed down."
"Wow. You move fast."
"I always did, otherwise people chicken out," she said flapping her arms like wings and making clucking noises as she left the house.
"Sure thing," I said to the now empty room, "We'll just set up some reconnaissance, risk getting in the way of the police, find our how dangerous the fake Raiin is, and then, uh, live happily ever after."
I
slid
into the front seat of the car and sat in the driveway for a minute to gather my thoughts. I wasn't sure where I was going, maybe to see Raiin. No, for sure to see Raiin. On cue I heard the unmistakable growl of his custom Harley headed my way. As he wheeled into the driveway I stepped out of my car.
Pro-tip, it's not a good sign when the man you're trying to divorce pins you up against the side of the car. One arm on either side of me he pressed me against the window and lowered his mouth to mine.
"Good mornin'," he drawled, and I could feel his hot breath on my face before he touched his lips to mine. The anxiety and stress of the last few days bubbled to the surface and erupted as passion, and I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back. The sparks of need and desire twined as they raced up and down my nerve endings and one more time I dismissed my best interests as I pressed up against him.
"I missed you last night, let's go inside," he whispered.
"I …"
"Shhhhhh," he whispered and covered my mouth with his. His hands roamed my back and pulled me toward him; I could feel him hard against my hip.
"Good morning," I whispered between kisses.
"I said shhhh," he growled. "Come with me," he broke the kiss and I wanted to whine from the loss, but I kept my head and followed him to the front door, where we slipped inside.
He stopped in the hallway, and slowly turned around. "Wow, memories," was all he said as he pushed me forward into the dining room. My ass was perched on the edge of the table and he began to nibble at my ear.
"What are you doing?"
"What does it look like?" he asked as he ran his lips down the side of my neck.
"It looks like you're trying to desecrate my mom's dining room table."
"Good guess," he said as he pushed me backwards.
"Nope, can't do it," I said as I wiggled sideways trying to get away from him, "not on mom's mahogany pride and joy."
He looked at me, his face a cross between startled and amused, "Okay, babe, lead the way."
"You know the way to my bedroom, because you're a terrible influence and you took advantage of me there."
"And I'm about to do it again," he said as he towed me down the hall.
Once inside he pushed me against the door and kissed me again, sending bolts of pleasure right between my legs. God help me I was wet for him, and I couldn't bring myself to stop him. He tugged at my shirt and the buttons sprayed onto the floor, clicking as they went rolling in all directions.
My shirt slid away and his mouth was on my breasts, clawing my bra down and running his tongue across my nipples. They hardened in response, and he tugged gently on them with his teeth. My pussy clenched and I pressed my hips forward aching to feel his hardness pressed against me.
I lifted his shirt up, and he paused to help me lift it over his head. When it was off, he went right back to teasing my tits, licking and gently nipping at them. He palmed one, squeezing it, almost but not quite, too hard and engulfed as much as he could with his warm mouth.
I groaned from the pleasure and my head fell back against the wall.
"You're a dirty girl," he whispered, "a very dirty girl. You want this, don't you?"
"Yes," I whispered.
"Louder, I can't hear you," he said, and he squeezed my breast harder.
"Yes," I groaned.
"And you want this don't you," he added as he lifted my skirt and bunched it around my waist. He pulled my hips toward him and pressed himself against me.
"Yes."
"Yes, what?"
"Please," I mewled.
He spun around and tossed me onto my bed. My little single bed wasn't made for such drama, but it held up better than I thought it would.
He climbed on top of me and spread my legs. Rubbing his cock up and down my slit, teasing me still, I wanted him so much, my pussy was wet with desire. He reached down and spread my lips, and slipped one, then two fingers inside of me. Using his thumb, he rubbed my nub and I arched my back into him. With his tongue he ran a trail from my breast to the top of my pussy, and then spread my legs and licked me there.
Lying back on the bed I closed my eyes, and let the sensations carry me, feeling his tongue, his fingers, the pleasure sending an electric arc from my clit to my nipples and back again.
Reaching down I tugged on his hair and lifted his head, "Come here," I rasped, my breath ragged with desire.
He lifted himself and slid up me, until he was poised at my entrance, and he just held it there, teasing me, sliding up and down, but not entering me.
"Don't make me mount you!" I threatened.
"Ha! I'd like to see you try right now."
"Really, because I will try.…"
"But then," he said as he stopped with the head of his cock, directly at my entrance, "we would have to wait to do this," and he slid inside me.
He was the one, the one I couldn't forget, and this moment made that clearer than ever. He was a perfect fit for me, big, but not too big. Tight fit, but not too tight. God, I sounded like Goldilocks, but he felt like home
Slowly he began to pump in and out of me, sliding backwards and forward, holding an extra beat when he withdrew, obviously trying to make me crazy. Then plunging forward again. I raised my hips and moved them in a circular motion, and he groaned and rolled his eyes. His skin was warm on mine, his lips teased me wherever they drifted, his hands sent jolts of excitement through me. Mind blowing is what it was.
I felt the orgasm beginning to build, the excitement in the pit of my stomach, the clenching of my lips. I was so wet, so ready. He sensed where I was and sped up, his hands splayed on my hips pulling me closer, burying himself with each thrust.
His breathing became ragged, he was ready, and as I sailed over the cliff I felt him release too, pumping inside of me. As I clenched his shoulders with my fists my hips rose to meet his in a crescendo of desire. I lay back on the bed wrung out, dizzy with desire and emotion. He rolled off me and lay on his side, squished between the wall and me. Lazily he drew circles around my nipples and kissed my cheek.
"Good morning," I could hear the smile in his voice.
"Same to you, that's quite a wake up call you offer there."
"To be fair you were already awake."
"True, and to be honest it makes me a little sleepy, but all my senses got a workout."
"Glad to be of service ma'am," he drawled.
"So, what's happening? You got plans for today?" I asked.
"Yeah, actually. I was thinking you'd move in with me."
"What," I tried to sit up but the bed was too tiny, and we were too entwined to move much. I settled for turning my head toward him.
"I don't want you to go back. I don't want to sign the papers; I want to try again."
"You never tried the first time."
"Okay, right. You're right. But I want to do something about that. I want to make a real effort. It's what I've tried to tell you before, but you’ve always held me at a distance."
"Daire," I hesitated, I didn't even know what to say, "I can't. I have a life. A career."
"And that's more important than me?"
"It's not, but what it means to me is. It means I'm not dependent on anyone. Anyone who could leave me, anyone who could change their mind and leave me hanging."
"In other words me, you don't want to depend on me. You don't trust me."
"It didn't work out well before."
"That was then, I'm different now."
"Yeah, you seem like you are, but I have obligations, commitments, I can't figure this out now."
"If not now, when?"
I responded with silence, he was right, if not now, when? But I had a life to get back to, a life I worked hard for, a life I wanted. Or at least up until last week it was a life I wanted. Now I was confused.
"I guess that answers my question for me," he said as he slid to the end of the bed and stood. "I love you, you know. But I can't wait forever," he said as he pulled on his jeans and tee shirt. Turning to leave he removed his wedding band and set it on the dresser. Then he left. Again. And unlike last time I knew he was doing it, and I let him.