A Wild Ride (Jessica Brodie Diaries #3) (28 page)

William hugged me tighter, needing my strength and warmth as much as I needed his.

Gladis then looked at Lump and Adam. “I wish I could have known you longer, Betsy. I enjoyed the time we had. I enjoyed watching you face your fears and grow up into a beautiful woman before my eyes. You look happy now. Fulfilled. I am glad I could have seen that.

“And Adam, such a troubled young man. Always with the doubts and depth that no woman could reach. You found one, though. You finally found a woman that can quiet you on the inside. Guard her well, she is not as strong as she lets on. Marry her, Adam. You won’t find any better, and neither will she.”

Gladis closed her eyes and sighed, struggling for breath.

“I am tired,” she said. “Seeing so many people is tiring. One last thing.” She looked at William. “Your name will be next to hers. I have already made the correction. You must help her and guide her. She will be a fish out of water and will surely flounder. Help her, Willie. My trust is in you, now.”

Gladis closed her eyes again, struggling for breath. “I must take a short rest. Lady, have them sign the book, please.”

Lady pushed us toward a book similar to one you might sign at a wedding, or funeral. We put our names, each leaning to another for support. When we were all finished, the nurse said, “She has passed.”

I remember yelling something, not quite sure what, and then being wrapped up in William’s large body. I remember struggling and crying, wanting to get to Gladis, not believing the nurse. I was taken outside the room then scooped up in William’s arms and taken from the hospital.

Days passed in misery. Gladis had become dear to me. She had helped me fit into adulthood. She helped me secure William, who was now my life line. She had helped me deal with trials and succeed in life, finally. She was a mentor as well as a dear friend. I didn’t know her for long in the grand scheme of life, but she had known me better than my own mother. She wasn’t a stand-in, but a figure all her own that fit in a special niche in my life. That niche was now empty and I felt empty at its loss.

The Davies planned the funeral, asking me things that Gladis would have liked or wanted to see. It turned out that I knew her best in her Golden Years, and I never had to guess the answers to any of the questions. We planned a big service and a grand party at her house after. The kids were welcomed to a pool party with a staff of sitters so the adults could arrive in style and luxury.

During all the planning William was always close. Sometimes he was lending support, sometimes he needed it. It was a milestone from his childhood, and a big piece of him was hollow as well. We made love often, always slow and gentle, needing to feel each other in order to close out the harshness of reality.

The day of the funeral arrived. I put on my most fabulous black dress. It was conservative enough for church, but stylish enough for a party in Gladis’s honor. Gladis would have liked to go out with a bang, and I saw to it that everyone remembered that about her.

We arrived to the church in a limo with the Davies, Adam and Lump. The place, a larger church by normal standards, was already packed. All of the top society was there to morn a pillar of their community. If they didn’t know Gladis personally, they knew of her through donations, or fund raisers, or a million other ways Gladis helped those around her and those in need. It warmed my heart that such a spectacular lady was so well loved. It was fitting.

The Davies had a reserved pew in the front of the church, but not in the family seating area, which was the first pew. On my way up to sit with them, an aged, portly man with gray hair and glasses hurried up to me. William stiffened at my side. His face relaxed at my curious look, but I could tell something was bothering him.

Before I could ask, the man saw me and stopped.

“Good,” he said, out of breath, “You are Jessica Brodie, are you not?”

“Yes.”

“Hi, I am Dean Whitaker. I am the executor of Gladis’s estate. I am to usher you and William Davies to the family seating area. Please follow me.”

“But, I'm not family,” I said in confusion.

“Yes, dear. But you are to take the place in her daughter’s absence. Gladis wanted a representative of her choice for family instead of… well, if you will please follow me.”

Gripping William’s hand, I followed the man to the front. I was sat in the front seat on the aisle. It was the prime seat for family, where her natural daughter should have been. I didn’t know how she had died, or when, but I was sad for Gladis that it had happened. By the murderous expressions on the step-kids’ faces, I was not welcomed.

The service commenced with the usual drivel from the priest. Then guest speakers were called up to read some of Glaidis’s favorite poems. That was followed by a slide show of Gladis’s life, most of which I was seeing for the first time. After that the priest closed up the sermon and allowed Denise to go up and announce where the after party would be in Gladis’s honor. She intentionally called it a party, which got quiet laughs from those that knew Gladis best.

When the line to greet the family dwindled, I was once again escorted by Dean Whitaker to a black limo in the front of the procession, and told to bring my ‘crew’, by which I assumed he meant the Davies, Lump and Adam. We were seated and given champagne while we were taken to Gladis’s house. Once inside Denise and I checked in with the caterers, party planners, baby sitters, and anyone else that had a job to do. Everything seemed to be taken care of and we joined the rest of our party to wait for guests.

When I got to the group I noticed William standing by the window with his hands in his pockets, facing away from everyone else, looking out over the grounds. He looked forlorn and alone. When I reached him I put my hands on his broad back and kneaded his muscles down to the base.

He turned to me and pulled me closely. “Let’s take a stroll,” he said in my ear.

His voice was melancholy and his mood dark. I nodded and let him lead me outside and around the house.

We walked in the grass and meandered around trees. He seemed content to stay silent, so I held his hand and followed his lead. In a while we ended up outside the pool house. He led me toward it, finding it open. It was still occasionally used by Lump, but now that Lump practically lived with Adam, she didn’t stay here all that much.

He stopped when we were in the living room. This was the place he picked me up for our first date. It was the first time I seduced him. I was almost killed in this place.

Speaking of which, where was Fred?

“Things will be changing soon. I worry about how it will affect us.” William was more emotional than I was used to. He wasn’t tearful, but his mood was black, which was definitely worse.

“Are you having doubts about marriage?” I asked quietly, my heart skipping a beat at the thought.

He hugged me tightly. “Of course not. It’s just… I don’t know what changes will come with Gladis gone, and am… worried. I don’t want what we have to change.”

I separated from William enough to look him in the eyes. His worry was plain. He looked at me like he might look at a life raft that was drifting away in a storm.

“What we have will only get stronger, no matter what happens. You’re it. I have already decided. You are mine forever, mister. No matter what comes, we’ll deal with it together. I’m not saying things won’t suck sometimes. Occasionally I might want to hit you on the head with a beer bottle, but we’ll still be us. Okay?”

He leaned down quickly to kiss me, opening my mouth with his and filling it with his taste. He leaned against me. I could feel the rigid hardness of him. He was urgent in his need, his movements and tongue thrusts showing it.

He scooped me up into his arms and headed toward my old bed. I kissed him back with fervor, feeling the world dim to just the contact of him. Thoughts of adult life with him, of family, of fighting, of making up, and of growing old.

I let him strip off my clothes as I pulled off his. When I pulled his pants down his large erection bobbed, desperate to be used. I stroked it with my hand even as William was pushing me down onto the bed. I steered it to my opening as his body fit in between my legs.

His swollen head crested my folds. He pushed into me in one firm thrust, holding himself tight within my sleek warmth as he told me how much he loved me. He kept himself there, kissing me intently and resisting my body’s attempts at friction.

I worked my inner muscles to grab and release him as he backed off, sliding nearly all the way out in a painfully slow movement.

“Tell me you will stay you,” William said as he looked at me intently.

I arched my back, tightening my legs to bring him back inside me, but he stayed where he was, demanding my obedience.

“Yes, William, I will always be me.”

He slowly pushed himself back into me, setting off all the electrodes in my nethers until I wanted to scream in delight. Once fully sheathed, he leaned back to my ear and said, “Tell me you will always love me.”

I was panting at this point, needing release so bad my body was shaking.

“Yes, William, please,” I begged, my body on fire with desire, love and lust all mixed together in one potent serum.

He pulled out, possibly slower than the last time, ripping a moan from me as the head of his phallus put pressure on my swollen insides in its passing. I tightened my legs for him to come back in but he held back again, his self-control held rigid.

“Tell me the money won’t change you,” he said, more quietly but with the same intensity.

I was arching my body, the slightest touch sending me waves of pleasure, heightening my desire and the exquisite pain I was in. I rubbed his shoulders with my hands and scratched down his back, tightening my legs and arching further to try and touch his muscular body with my hard nipples.

“Is that what this is about, William?” I panted. “I don’t care about money. I could sit on yours and Adam’s fortunes together and not care.”

William pushed himself into me more slowly than I could calmly bear, my words chocking off in a strangled sound of pleasure as my body tightened around him. His chest finally touched my hard, pounding nipples, sending shocks of pleasure into my core. I moaned like a porn star as I rubbed his body with fervor, my folds dripping with readiness and need. Still he stayed deep within me, filling me up but making me pound with desire.

I begged him to go faster. I begged him to let me come. I begged him to thrust into me hard and fierce. I would have done anything for it.

“Tell me it won’t change you,” William said again in a whisper. Sweat was dripping off him as he struggled to stay in control. Sweat was pooling on me as I struggled to make him lose it.

“I don’t want it, William. I don’t need it. I don’t care about it. I just want you. I’ll sign a pre-nump. I’ll promise you a limb. Anything, please, all I want is you!”

“I love you.”

He sighed as he pulled himself out roughly, just his head buried within, then slammed into me in sweet ecstasy. I made the porn stars blush with my noise, clutching on to William as he withdrew again and came crashing in. My body was screaming with the pent up anticipation that suddenly released in a flood of pleasure so intense I think I blacked out. My body was being racked by aftershocks as good as many of my previous organisms.

William dropped down onto me, shuddering and spent. His weight felt good, natural.

He nuzzled my ear and said, “I will hold you to it. You’ve made a deal with me, and I will hold you to it, or next time it will be worse.”

“I almost want to re-nig to get to next time,” I said in a doze.

We lay there for a while, sweating on each other, but not wanting to separate our bodies. We both knew we would have to get back to the party, which meant we had to remember our loss.

Finally William climbed off of me and helped me up. He hugged me again, holding me against his body. He kissed me on the head affectionately, and headed to the bathroom to clean up. I followed. I needed a sponge bath and some deodorant, pronto.

“What was all that about? With the money?” I asked him. His worry about it was a little unsettling.

“Money is a strange thing. It changes people.”

“It changes greedy people that don’t have a stable life, maybe. But I was serious, William, if you are worried about it I will sign a contract or whatever. I don’t need any of your money. I make a ton now, and your brother is going to make me his advisor whether I want it or not, which means he will probably also make me go back to school for my MBA, and then I’ll demand a small country as payment, so I seriously don’t need you for a rags to riches story.”

“I know, baby. I know all that. Just… remember who you are. Keep your head, okay?”

“I’ve changed my mind. Ring now in hand, I no longer want to marry you. I would prefer to be your finance forever.”

“Shut up,” William said affectionately as he pushed me ahead of him, out of the bathroom.

“
You
shut up,” I said with a smirk.

A month later I was scheduled into a meeting that Dean Whitaker said I should attend regarding Gladis. William and Lump were supposed to go, as well. Lady had called to say she would meet me there, and that she wanted to sit by me. Apparently the step-kids were going to be there and no one wanted to sit next to them.

We met in Dead Whitaker’s giant, plush office. Apparently this dude was doing okay for himself. Why didn’t he just retire? He was certainly old enough.

Chairs were spread out around the desk and I took one next to Lady as promised. The step-kids and their kids were already there, taking up the other half of the office. Our party got murderous looks and again I kept a wary eye out for knives or ninja throwing stars.

Dean cleared his throat in the already quiet room. “Thank you all for coming. This is the reading of Gladis’s will. I will begin.”

I furrowed my brow and looked at William, who looked a little sick. Lump met my eyes across William with the look that must be duplicating mine.

Next thing I knew, Dean was sprouting a bunch of legal jargon that didn’t mean anything in standard English. Nothing at all. I let my mind wander, thinking of what Gladis might've possibly decided I needed. Maybe some art. She had some great works of art. Actually, she’d probably give me those weird figurines that were ugly but valuable. She’d know I couldn’t give them away, and force me to put them on display in her memory.