PullMyHair (14 page)

“ This is it, 1515 Kirby Road,” Liza’s voice was hushed as
she stared out the window at the little white dilapidated house. It was the
first house that she’d shown him, so far, on what he termed in his mind “the
tour”. After she’d given him the address and directions to the house as they
drove along, she pointed out buildings and houses that were familiar to her
with both laughter and sadness in her voice.

As they parked outside the boarded-up house, Greg looked
around the neighborhood and admitted to himself he wasn’t feeling as…secure…as
he’d like to, although there wasn’t anyone outside walking around on the late
afternoon day.

He’d, at first, felt conspicuous driving the Mercedes down
the streets. He’d never had a reason to drive into North Stanton and seeing the
obvious poverty, from the boarded-up, old houses scattered throughout the
neighborhood, he felt
more
than conspicuous.

He felt strangely embarrassed at his obvious wealth.

“My mom left my father when I was less than a few months old
and this was the first house that we lived in,” she said so quietly that he had
to strain to hear her words.

Greg put his own embarrassment to the side to concentrate on
what Liza was saying. “Where had your family been living before?” he asked.

“My mother says we lived in Kansas City. That she and dad
were married and that he got angry when she told him that she was pregnant and
he didn’t want her to continue the pregnancy.”

“So she left? Moved the two of you here to Stanton?” he
turned in the seat and faced her, although she was staring out of the window at
the old abandoned house.

“Yes. It wasn’t until I was fifteen years old that I
overheard the truth,” she turned to face him with a twisted smile on her pretty
face. “My Aunt Mary used to fly up for a visit every so often. She and Mom were
talking and my aunt asked in this really disgusted voice, when my mom was going
to stop lying to me about my father and tell me the truth. That it was wrong
the way mama used my father as emotional abuse against me,” she said.

“How did she do that, baby?”

“Whenever she felt like it,” she laughed humorlessly.
“Usually around the time that the rent was due and we were a few months behind
and facing eviction.”

“What
was
the truth?”

“That my parents were never married and that my father never
really cared about me one way or another,” she admitted and Greg’s heart
clenched from the pain in her voice and eyes.

“Damn, Li…baby, I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t too hard to find out. I confronted my mother
about it, when Aunt Mary left. She admitted it. She said she’d told him she might
be pregnant and he told her he’d take care of the child, but he didn’t want
her. They’d already broken up at the time, even though they would keep having
sex, the relationship was over. Mama conveniently became pregnant.”

“She got pregnant on purpose, do you think?”

“Who knows? Probably. Doesn’t really matter though…it didn’t
get her very far. He still didn’t want her. He didn’t want us.” She inhaled
deeply and let the breath out slowly.

“Have you ever met your father, Liza?”

“No. I never wanted to, not really. I thought about hiring a
detective agency once, but…”

“Maybe one day, when you’re ready, sweetheart.” He reached
across the seat and drew a finger down the soft skin of her cheek.

They stayed like that for a long time, with Liza staring out
the tinted window of her car, looking at the old house. “Sure, maybe one day.”
Liza turned back to face Greg with a smile. “Let’s go, the next address is 2701
Ellis Avenue.” After she gave him the address and directions, she leaned back
in the leathered seat and closed her eyes.

* * * *

Greg cast worried eyes in her direction, wanting so badly to
say to her that maybe it would be best if they just left. It was enough ghost
chasing for one damn day.

He’d been worried the entire morning as he sat in his
office, not really able to concentrate on his case, his thoughts solely on his
woman and what she’d be feeling as she was going back to a place she had no
desire to revisit. Not the physical building, but the memories associated with
it. When Cooper called him to ask if he needed to follow him down to the
center, relief had rushed over him. Greg wasn’t sure what her reaction would be
when he went to pick her up, and he’d been concerned. Instead of following
Cooper, he’d ridden with him, so that he and Liza could drive home together.

The moment he saw her face, he’d known that she’d figured
out what he and Karina had done. The fact that she didn’t want to knock him on
the head was something he was overwhelmingly glad about. She may be thin, but
the woman had a killer right hook. He’d found that out the first time that he’d
suggested a bit of spanking in their love play. Instead of asking her about it,
he’d just popped her hard on the ass a couple of times, in the heat of the
moment.

He learned after that to never, never, hit Liza and ask her
who her daddy was. Never. He lightly massaged his jaw in remembrance.

“Right here, sweetheart. Turn at this corner,” she directed
when he reached a four-way stop. As they drove along, people were milling about
the streets, here and there. Some sat in lawn chairs on their porch, others on
the steps, enjoying the last rays of sunshine.

They turned the corner and he drove down the street before
stopping in front of a large housing area with the small wooden sign depicting
it as the Rosewood Garden Complex. Children were playing and running in the
streets and as Greg slowly drove along the narrow streets he glanced at Liza.

“Where do you want me to stop?” he asked.

“Go a little farther up this road and take a left at the
yield sign. I think that will take us to the right apartment,” Liza directed
him distractedly as she stared intently out of the window.

He did as she instructed and within moments, they were
gliding to a stop before 2701 Ellis Avenue. He pulled to a smooth stop
alongside the curb and cut the engine and turned to face her and waited.

“I was seven years old when we had to move here,” she
started to say and had to clear her throat before she could continue. “Mom had
just lost her job and we didn’t have much money,” she admitted. “It was either
live here or be homeless. The projects beat the hell out of being in the cold.”

“Your mother was…is…a nurse, isn’t she?”

“Yes. But she has problems,” it was hard to admit, harder to
talk about, but it was necessary. “She was an alcoholic. Couldn’t keep a job
for long before she was fired or quit because she’d overslept and missed too
many shifts.”

“That had to be hard. For both of you,” he said.

“For a long time I hated her. I didn’t understand what was
wrong with her. I was so angry. Why couldn’t she just stop drinking? Why did
she
have
to drink? I was only a child, and all I knew was that my mother
wasn’t like the other mothers. She rarely came to any event at school for me,
she never read me stories, she never did the things I saw the other mothers do.
Nothing. And I hated her for that.”

“Is this where you met Karina and her family? They were like
a family for you, weren’t they?”

Liza smiled as she remembered meeting Karina. “I met Karina
my first day of school at Mary Magdalene. She was so funny! I was late in
registering for kindergarten…or rather my mother was late, and missed the first
few days when seats were assigned. There were a few desks left for me to choose
from and the teacher allowed me to choose. I looked around and most of the kids
turned their heads away, probably hoping I wouldn’t choose to sit next to them.
But not Karina,” she laughed in memory.

“Karina raised her hand and waved it around until the
teacher
had
to call on her! She asked in this really chirpy voice ‘Sr.
Rita-Mary, could Liza please please please, with sugar on top and maybe a few
sprinkles on it for good measure…and maybe a few chocolate chips…ummm…that
sounded really good…could she please sit next to me.’ I think she lost track of
what she was asking.”

“That’s funny. And sounds just like something Karina would
do, even as a child,” Greg laughed with her. Karina had always had a sweet
tooth and was notorious for getting lost in the moment when describing her
favorite desert. Over the years Little Debbie cakes had been her old standby
favorite.

“Yeah. Without Karina and her family, I don’t know what I
would have done.”

“They were a second family for you.”

“At times they were my only family,” she said as she stared
out the window at the housing development before she turned back to face Greg.

“Where next?” he asked.

Liza thought about which address to give next. She’d not had
any solid plan when she set out on this tour. Something in her burst free when
she went to the recreation center with Karina and sat in on the session with
the young girls.

“How about 12709 Winchester?” She asked turning away from
the window and toward her husband.

He started the ignition before the address dawned on him.
“Home? You’re ready to go home now?” he asked and the concern on his face
confirmed to her that it was time to go home.

She took a deep breath and answered. “Yes. I’m ready to go
home, Greg.”

The drive home was silent, no doubt Greg was as lost in his
thoughts as she was. As they pulled into the driveway, Greg turned to face her
in the car.

“What you did took a lot of courage, baby. I’m so damn proud
of you.” He caressed her cheek with one finger before unbuckling his seat belt
and going around the front of her car and opening the door for her.

As they went inside the house, walking close to one another
as they went up the stairs and toward their bedroom, Liza thought about it.

Yes, it had taken courage for her to do what she’d done. She
felt no shame in admitting that. She’d done something that she’d had no
intention of ever doing. By going down to her old neighborhood, she’d
confronted her past in a way that allowed her to see it for what it was and not
allow it to dictate who she was.

She’d never do that again.

She stood in front of her mirror in the bathroom and just
stared at her refection after she’d taken off her slacks and pulled her sweater
over her head, wearing nothing but a pair of miniscule panties and barely there
bra. Greg walked up behind her, completely naked and drew the panties down her
long legs before he wrapped his arms around her, his fingers automatically
covering her lace-covered breasts to unclasp the front closure of her bra, as
he toyed with her extended nipples.

He spread her legs and with one long, sure stroke, entered
her from the back as they both groaned in delight at the feel of him so snugly
in her warm sheath.

He then grabbed a hold of her hips to brace them both,
pushed her legs closer together to add more pressure to the fire already
burning, as he surged in and out of her in rough, sure strokes.

Liza tilted her head to the side when his mouth went to her
neck giving him better access so that he could lave and bite the underside of
her ear. He knew just how to touch her.

As he continued to pump into her, his hips moving like a
piston, one hand played with the small nub of her clit as the other rolled and
pinched her nipples until she cried out in stark agony from his sensual
ministrations. It wasn’t long before the feel of his thick cock, buried so
deep, had her crying out in orgasm, long and hard.

He didn’t allow her breathing to return to normal when,
without a word, he withdrew from her sweet, wet pussy and carried her limp body
to the large tub as he lovingly glanced down at his wife. She was so tired, so
wrung out from the emotion of the day, that she simply laid her head on his
chest and closed her eyes.

Greg sat on the side of the Jacuzzi, with Liza cradled in
his lap as he turned on the faucet and allowed the Jacuzzi-style tub to fill.
He brushed a soft strand away from her forehead and kissed her.

“I love you so much, Liza. I never want you to doubt that.
It’s the only reason I want to know all about you. It’s the only reason that I
pushed you to share yourself with me. All of you.”

She opened her eyes and stared at him with that melancholy look,
the one that tugged at his heart when she mentioned being made fun of as a kid.

“I know that, Greg. It’s hard to talk about my childhood,
that’s all. It’s not that I don’t love or trust you. I trust you more than
anyone on this earth,” she lifted her body from his lap and took his face in
her hands and kissed him softly, before she eased out of his arms.

When she stood up, he stepped into the Jacuzzi and motioned
for her to take his hand and helped her climb inside.

Once inside, he leaned his body against the cool, black
porcelain tub and positioned her back against his chest, wrapping both arms
around her. Because of their height, he’d had the tub specially ordered so they
could stretch out full length.

“I know you trust me, baby.” He kissed the top of her head
before he reached inside the small basket she kept stocked with bathing
essentials and picked up the bar of herbal soap and the small towel. As Greg
sat behind her, he thought about what he wanted to say. What he could say to
bridge the gap that their lack of communication had created. He leaned down and
kissed the side of her neck in small biting caresses before he lathered the
towel and ran it slowly over her beautiful, brown body.

Liza loved to bathe with Greg. It was one of the things she
missed more than anything lately. It seemed he never had time to relax with her
in the Jacuzzi anymore. He came home from the office so late most times, that
she was either already in bed, or sound asleep. It felt good to lie against him
in the dark room with no lights, save the small vanity lights, and let him wash
her. She loved the way he’d lather the towel and smooth it over her bared skin,
over every nook and cranny, never missing a spot.