Twice Loved (19 page)

Chapter Twenty-One

Tonight is bittersweet for our family. Tate and I sit in the stands for the homecoming game. The last month dating him has been surreal. It’s not only how he treats me but my children as well. Olivia made homecoming court as she has every year, but this is the first year Steve would not be here to escort her out on the field. Olivia surprised me when she asked Tate to escort her on the field. It was easy to see it meant a lot to Tate. Tate has come to every home football game with me this year. He cheers Noah on the field and supports Olivia’s cheering. He’s not trying to replace Steve, but he is trying to be a role model for them. It only makes me love him a little more.

True to his word Tate has upheld his promise to be committed so far. He always leaves his phone unlocked around me and I never sense he’s hiding anything from me. He is always at my house or having me over to his house. He even had my kids over one weekend when Brandy was staying with him for the first time in months. Brandy found it exciting that her dad, and I were dating and somehow understood instinctively it was not something to be bragged about at school. It didn’t have to be hidden just not shouted from the roof top.

The start of the homecoming court presentation is coming and Tate and I make our way to the field. Haley and Jake are in the stands holding our spots. Like any important game the crowd is always bigger. Tate grabs my hand and squeezes it gently as we walk together. We meet up with Olivia who smiles at us. Suddenly tears well up in my eyes and Olivia sees and begins tearing up herself.

“We aren’t supposed to be crying.”

“Everyone would understand.” Tate is kind and gentle as he wraps an arm around us.

“Her dad is missing this.” I snivel.

“I get that. This is hard for all of you.”

Noah joins us on the field he’s in uniform but it was tradition for the whole family to escort the girls on to the field. “Oh geeze these two are crying already?”

“Let them alone.” Tate warns Noah. My son immediately shuts his mouth a small grin playing on his lips. I’m thrilled Noah and Tate get along the way they do. It probably helps they have a bond from working together. My kids amaze me every day.

We get in the lineup order for call outs. I stand on one side Tate on her other and Noah walks beside me. We look like the perfect family. We may not be the traditional family but we all shared a bond.

“Olivia Madison!” As her name is called over the loud speaker we begin moving forward… “Escorted by her mother, brother and family friend. She is the daughter of Lori Madison and the late Steve Madison.”

That’s all it takes for my tears to start again. I can’t stop them this time. Thankfully someone nearby has tissues and hands me one. As we reach our spot to stand I dab my eyes with the tissue. We stand there as the rest of the court is presented. Then it’s time for the big announcement of homecoming queen.

“And this year’s homecoming queen is Olivia Madison!”

We all begin hugging Olivia and my waterworks start again just as I think I have it under control Tate whispers to my daughter. “Your dad would be so proud of you.”

Damn him for being sweet. I’m a blubbering idiot.

Once the ceremony is over Noah heads back to the field house, Tate and I join our friends in the stands again. Olivia opted not to cheer in tonight’s game she instead will sit in a place of honor for the rest of the game along with the homecoming King.

“I know you’re proud of our girl.” Haley says as I take my seat beside her.

“I am. It’s exciting for her.”

“She’s gorgeous tonight, more so than normal.”

“Yea she’s very pretty tonight.”

I smile at Jake thankful my kids have him in their lives as well. Haley, Jake and Tate have become a huge support for us since Steve’s passing. We have formed a family unit. I honestly don’t know what I would do without them.

The game is exciting. It’s a close game up until the end when our boys pull it out with a Hail Mary pass in the last five seconds of the game. It’s a night for celebrating. I text the kids to meet us at Fiesta House in an hour so we can have dinner together. Tate drives us back to my house for a drink before dinner.

“So what are we doing tomorrow?” I laugh silently at Tate’s question.

“Um you’ll be working and I’ll be grading papers.” Like he didn’t know what we do every Saturday.

“After that?” He smiles at me and he goes quiet. This scares me a bit.

“Oh well ummm… I don’t know.”

He’s up to something. It’s not long before he’s pulling my car into the driveway. We make our way inside and park ourselves on bar stools. Tate grabs four beers out of the fridge and hands each of us one after popping the caps off.

Haley and I get engrossed in a conversation about an incident at school this past week where a third grader was caught with pot in his backpack. Sadly the kid was clueless, and the principal had to call in child services to investigate. As we finish up our conversation I notice the guys are gone.

“Did the guys go outside?” Haley asks just as clueless.

“I guess. We’re real observant tonight.” We chuckle together before grabbing our beers and walking out back.

Stepping outside, it’s noticeable the guys stop talking. These two are acting weird. Dread fills me. Something is up now and my stomach rolls in fear. I am too invested right now for Tate to go back to his old playboy ways. Although I’d give him credit for lasting a month even if it still hurt like a bitch.

“What are you two up to?” Haley asks the burning question. I’m glad she did though. I didn’t trust my voice to speak right now.

Panic has crept in fast at the thought of Tate womanizing again. I’m thankful its dark outside and my eyes can’t be seen. I would not be able to hide the fear in my eyes right now.

“Nothing honey. We’re just shooting the shit.” Jake’s easy answer to Haley soothes me a bit. He’s not a smooth operator or liar like Tate has proven to be in the past.

I hate that I can’t get past these issues with Tate. I grasp it will take time. I had enough psychology knowledge. It’s hard to rebuild trust after losing it. Tate always had my trust when it came to my body but not my heart. There it is, the biggest problem with Tate, a lack of trust. Would I ever make it to that point? Who knows, but I wasn’t giving up until I was given a reason too.

“Princess come here.” I move to Tate without thinking. He grabs the cigarette out of my hand and sticks it between his lips and lights it for me before handing it back.

“Thank you.”

“Welcome.” He draws me close to him. His arm drapes around my waist pulling my slightly in front of him. His chin rest on my shoulder. “Relax. It’s nothing bad.”

“What… How?” I sag against him as the tension leaves my body.

“You forget I know you.” His words comfort me. Right now I trust him.

“Yea…”

“It’s all good babe. I get you have to learn to trust me. I never gave much reason for it the first time around.”

He’s right the first time around neither of us had reason to think about happily ever after with each other. There was no need for him to be faithful to me back then. It still didn’t mean I wouldn’t have appreciated honesty especially since I was letting him fuck me. That’s the part that bothered me the most. Would I have been thrilled, probably not but I wouldn’t have flipped my shit on him. I would have listened, processed it and moved on from it one way or another.

“I’m trying so hard to believe.”

“I know. And we’ll get there together because I’m going to keep proving it to you.”

I snuggle into his body a little more.

“Can I interrupt now?” Haley asks us. She is looking at us a small smile playing on her lips but her eyes are serious as she looks at Tate and me. She knows me well and can tell something has had me upset.

“Yes Haley what’s up?”

“It’s time to head off to the restaurant.”

Really? I can’t believe time has passed that quickly. I put my cigarette out and we all walk into the house together. Tate grabs my car keys off the counter and we load back up in my car. The kids are already waiting for us along with a few of their friends.

“Mom when we’re done eating can the gang come back to the house for a pool party?”

I peer at the other adults with me. They all smile. A cue they are okay with it.

“Sure Noah that’s fine.”

It’s not a huge deal. It’s still fairly warm on the coast but our pool is also heated year round. I love it too much to not be able to use it all year. We begin ordering drinks and our meals. This is a night for my kids. I love that they want to bring their friends to our house so much. One, they are comfortable with it and two, their friends think I’m cool. I like being the “cool” parent. I do not allow drinking or drugs it’s a family friendly environment for many reasons.

There is a lot of loud noise at our tables. I love the kids are enjoying themselves so much. The adults finish up their meals and head out together. We have some prep work to do before the kids show up at my house. Tate and Jake agreed to run to the store and pick up drinks and snacks for the teens. Haley and I go into the house and begin prepping things. I pull out serving bowls for the chips. Haley loads a cooler with ice. And we carry it out to the backyard. We sit it beside the picnic table so that’s its ready for the kids. I go back in and grab all the paper products and take them out to the table.

Tate and Jake arrive about the same time as the first round of kids. I send Jake to the table with the drinks they bought. Tate helps Haley and I begin pouring chips into bowls. Once we have the bowls ready we take them out to the table. Assured that everything is out there the kids might need I tell the adults we can set up at the patio table. That way we are out there but not on top of the kids.

Haley and I sit down with our smokes and drinks. Jake and Tate go back into the kitchen to put more beer in the fridge. I have a feeling Tate will be staying the night unplanned. I’m totally good with that. It’s not like it don’t happen every night. He even has clothes in a drawer in my room now.

It was weird giving him one of Steve’s old drawers but it also felt right. Steve would be happy that I am happy. At least I like to think he would. He told me before he passed he wanted me to be happy and even said specifically with Tate. Tate knew it was a big step for me to give him that drawer. Many nights I wondered why Tate even had his own house. Most nights he was in my bed. It was only on the weekend that we would stay at his house. Mostly because of my kids and I knew this. Was it fair to Tate? He didn’t seem to mind.

I wonder what my kids would think if Tate moved in. It was too soon in most people’s eyes but since this was our second time at a relationship was it really? We were together for a year apart for six months and now we are back together. It was something for me to think about. When the time was right I would talk to my kids first. I want them to be part of that decision. It’s important to me that they are part of that.

Some of the boys begin cannonballing into the pool. I smile. This is the life.

Chapter Twenty-Two

The next morning I’m awoken by Tate’s alarm.

“Morning.” I say to him sleepily as I stretch out on the bed.

“It’s going to be a great morning.” Tate’s way to cheerful. Then he presses into me. His hard cock is grinding into my ass cheeks.

I glance at my bedside clock. Seeing the time I stop myself from laughing. That cocky jerkface set his alarm an hour earlier than he needed.

“You think so?”

“Yea I do.” He presses his cock into me more.

“Are you trying to crawl up in me?”

“Can I?” I laugh at him.

His hand moves up to my breast his fingers pinching my nipple. I hiss as the pain hits me. He finally releases my nipple, and the pleasure rushes through me. A hand caresses down my stomach I’m left with the familiar ache in my nipple. An ache that I have come to love. I grind my ass into his cock now. Teasing him back.

“Fuck Princess!”

“Hmmm?”

“I need in you now.”

I tilt my head back and angle it so I can see Tate. I grind myself against him one more time. A grin coming to my lips as I watch his eyes close.

“What’s stopping you?”

I don’t need foreplay this morning he got me wet enough with waking me up the way he did. I can only remember one time that Tate needed to help me out in that department. And he just spit on his hand and rubbed his dick with it. Tate always makes me exceptionally hot and wet for him. He turns me on sexually like no one else ever has. I don’t know if it’s the type of sex we have, the anticipation, or our chemistry but prepping for sex has never been a problem for either of us.

Tate hooks an arm under my left leg. We are still laying on our sides. As he holds my leg up in the air a little he slips his cock in from behind me. His hand moves down to position and he slides into me from behind. Every slow inch he pushes in fills me more and more. I feel myself stretching to accommodate him.

It’s unusual for Tate be slow and gentle like this but I’m not complaining. His arm relaxes under my leg letting it rest back on top of my other one. The tight quarters allow his cock to rub my inner walls even more. The increased friction is a marvelous feeling. The angle is just right, and he’s hitting my g spot. His hand reaches in front of me and begins stroking my clit.

I moan long and loud. I’m beyond caring if anyone hears us this morning. This is too damn good. His hand continues rubbing circles on my clit. His cock sliding in and out hitting my sweet spot my ass grinds on him. His moans match mine. I continue moving against him. Our pace picks up a bit. We continue moving faster as both of us reach for that high that comes from an orgasm.

“Oh gawd Tate this feels soooo fucking good!”

“You’ve no clue Princess!”

Sweat slickened bodies smack against each other as the morning light begins streaming into the bedroom window. Thrusting, grinding, and caressing continues. Moans and panting breaths are the only sounds in the room. Like a crescendo building so does my orgasm. It’s not long before I explode. The orgasms with Tate are fucking mind blowing.