Under His Skin (13 page)

“Two is very respectable,” I said, feeling hurt that she still didn’t acknowledge that night after all of these years.

“Well…” she paused.  “Well, there was one time in high school….” She paused again. 

“I’ve never told this to anyone but Trish and only because she was my best friend at the time.”

“Did something happen?” I asked, trying to sound concerned.

“Oh, it was nothing bad, at first.  It happened when I was with Chad.”

“You cheated on Chad,” I teased her and waiting anxiously to see what she was about to confess.

“Yes, well, no. I don’t know.  It was my senior year, and we were at this party when I found out that Chad had cheated on me… again.  I confronted him, we fought about it and he left me at the party.  He made it seem like I was wrong for being upset.”  She looked at me and I wasn’t sure if she wanted confirmation or if she wanted to make sure it was okay for her to continue.

“Sounds like you had every right to be upset to me.”  She smiled warily.

“When he left I was in one of the bedroom’s crying when this really sweet, but kind of nerdy boy named Nicky came in to check on me.  Nicky had had a crush on me since before I could remember.”

“He told you he liked you?  That’s pretty bold.”

“Oh no he never told me.”

“How did you know he liked you?”

“He used to sit on a bench every day and watch me before and after cheerleading practice.”

“I’m sure lots of boys watched you,” I laughed.

“Not like Nicky.  He did it every day for four years.”

“He sounds kinda creepy.”

“No, he wasn’t at all,” she said defensively. 

“He was a sweet kid and didn’t deserve what I did to him.”

“Wait, what did you do?  What happened to him?”

“Ok, so Chad and I fought, and Nicky came in to check on me and I knew he liked me and I was so upset that Chad had cheated again.  I seduced Nicky.  I’d been with Chad for four years.  He was the only person that I’d ever been with.  I mean I had lost my virginity to him and he was constantly cheating on me and he had never ever looked at me the way Nicky did.  I just wanted to feel beautiful and loved, so I slept with Nicky.  I’m pretty sure that it was his first time.”

“Why do you say that?” I said a little more defensively than I had intended. I hoped she didn’t notice.  She was so caught up in her memories that she didn’t.

“It was just his reaction when I first asked him to kiss me.  It was like he didn’t know what to do at first.  I can tell you that he was a fast learner though.”  I chuckled.

“You took advantage of the little nerd huh?”

“No, well maybe.  I guess so,” she closed her eyes against the memory.  “I didn’t mean him any harm.  Like I said Chad never looked at me like that and I just wanted to know what it felt like to be with someone that liked me that much. He made me feel so special, but then he told me he loved me and I realized what I was doing.  I pretended that I didn’t hear him when he said it.  When we were finished, I got up and left.”

“Ouch, poor kid had the woman of his dreams in his grasp and she walked out on him.  Tough break, but I’m sure he was happy for what he had.”

“I doubt it,” she said.

“Why is that?” I asked.  I was so caught up in her story about the boy from school, it was almost as if I wasn’t him and had lived it.  I had to hear her side.

“By the next morning Chad and I had reconciled as usual. But someone saw Nicky and me coming out of the same bedroom, it was pretty obvious what had happened and it got back to Chad.”

“Let me guess he went to school and beat the poor bastard up.”

“No, but he wanted to.  Chad wasn’t always a jerk, but he had temper problems and they just seemed to get worse as he got older.  He threatened to kill Nicky.  I didn’t believe him, but,” she paused and her eyes began to tear up.

“It’s okay baby, you don’t have to talk about.”

“I want to, it feels good to finally talk about it and you make it easy.  Thank you,” I responded by kissing her forehead.

“Chad had been mean to me before, but when Chad found out about Nicky it was the first time that he ever physically hurt me.”

“What!” I was pissed.  “What did he do?”

“He pushed me up against a wall and choked me. He told me if I really cheated on him that he would kill me.  He said he knew I wouldn’t be stupid enough to humiliate him by sleeping around on him.  So I lied and told him what he wanted to hear, I told him nothing happened.  I was afraid, not just for myself, but for Nicky.  I had never ever seen Chad that upset before.  I didn’t know what he was capable of.”  I was livid!

“So if you denied it and he believed you, then no harm, no foul right?”

“He didn’t believe me at first and he confronted Nicky at school.  I thought Nicky would tell him what happened and I wouldn’t have blamed him if he had but he didn’t.  He denied everything.  He lied for me.”

“Sounds like a stand up guy.”

“He was.  He was a sweet kid.”

“It sounds like he understood that you went back to Chad.  He was probably just happy that you made his dreams come true.”  She shrugged.

“I… I guess.  I don’t know… I…. we… he… I don’t know,” she said sound exasperated.

“Let me ask you this, did you ever try to apologize to this Nicky kid?”

“Yes, once.  On the last day of classes, I left a note in his locker that simply said, ‘I know this probably doesn’t mean anything to you but I’m sorry’.”

“Did he accept?”

“No, he never spoke to me again.  I tried to find him a few years later when I was in college and then again about ten years ago but no luck.”

“What would you have said to him if you found him?”

“Honestly, I don’t know.  I would try to apologize, but if I didn’t listen I don’t think I would blame him.”

“It’s been a long time baby I’m sure he’s over it by now.  You should let it go as well,” I said as I kissed her forehead.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Come here,” I said as I kissed her forehead again, then pulled her on top of me.  She had her knees on each side of my chest and I pushed myself deep inside of her.  With my hands on her hips I slid her up and down on the length of my shaft slow at first, but my need for her took over and clouded any intention of taking her slowly.  Faster and faster I slammed her onto my hard erection until we both were spasming in ecstasy.  She collapsed on top of my chest and I wrapped her in my arms and kissed her forehead.

“Damn, I’m starving now,” I said.

“Me too, you stay here, I’ll grab the food. Where did you put it?  Do you think it’s still okay?”

“Sweetie, it’s just sushi, its fine.  It’s on the front hallway table.”

She got out of the bed and I got to enjoy the view of her luscious ass as she walked out of the room.  She walked back into the room with the bag and a receipt stapled to the outside of the bag.  She looked at the receipt to see what I had ordered and noticed the name that was on the charge receipt.

“Pascarelli?  That’s your last name?” 
Oh shit,
I thought.
Here it comes. 

“Hmm… small world.  That must be a popular name.”

“Why do you say that?” I asked, playing dumb.

“That was Nicky’s last name,” she said casually as she ripped open the bag and pulled out the trays of sushi.  “These look delicious Stephen and I’m starving.” 

“Me too, let’s eat!”  I breathed a sigh of relief.

Chapter 22

Stephen

It was a short week at work since it was the Fourth of July holiday.  Today was the big company barbecue. I was having food brought in from a local barbecue place.  Nothing too fancy pulled pork, smoked sausage and chicken along with the side like macaroni and cheese, baked beans and cole slaw.  We didn’t have a stressful office environment, but I felt that it was important to have a few social functions a year just to unwind.

My night with Addison, after her confession and dinner, ended with the most mind blowing sex until we both collapsed from exhaustion.  The next morning as she left to go home and get ready for work we made quick plans for the weekend.  She said Chandi was leaving to spend the weekend with her father on Saturday. 

“You know what?  You guys should come by and swim Friday evening.  The pool is heated. It’ll be fun.”

“I don’t really like to bring Chandi around strangers.”

“I’m not a stranger, we already met,” I teased.

“No pressure, I just thought it would be a good time.  I could grill some hot dogs and hamburgers and you guys could splash around.  It’ll be nice to have some company out here.”

“Chandi loves to swim and I do love a good grilled dog.”

“You know you want to.” She laughed.

“Okay, what time?”

“Swing by about six-thirty.”

“Okay.”

“Alright beautiful, I’ll see you guys on Friday,” I said as I kissed her goodbye.

That day was pretty uneventful at work, thank goodness, because I kept replaying the night in my mind.  Not just the sex even though I used that to help me get through my shower that morning.  What was really on my mind was what she told me about “Nicky” that stuck with me.  All these years I blamed Chad for what happened to me following that day after school and now it was confirmed.  Honestly, I would have preferred just getting my ass kicked one good time, as opposed to what actually happened, but it gave me a sense of relief to know that she wasn’t behind it. 
Chad-fucking-Reynolds
, I thought. 
He’s been a piece of shit for a long time.  One wrong move and your ass is done.

After work on Wednesday I ran to the store to grab some pool toys.  I had no idea what a six year old girl would want to play with so I asked for help, which was probably a bad move because I ended up walking out of the store with about a hundred dollars’ worth of pool toys and little girl toys in general. 
I hope this doesn’t make me look creepy,
I thought.

The afternoon barbecue was going well and everyone seemed to have a great time.   Pete and I had seen little of each other around the office so about half way through the barbecue, Pete approached me.

“How’s it going with Addison?”

“Really good man,” I winked and he laughed.

“Oh, I see. And?”

“Come on, Pete, a gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.”

“Exactly so spill.”

“Ha! Fuck you dude.  We’ve been talking every day and getting along well.”

“How well?” He winked.  “Come on let me live through you man.  Since Em’s been pregnant, I’ve been in a sex slump.”

“Aw, you guys only do it once a night now?”  I laughed.

“Yes dude and its killing me.” I busted a gut laughing at him.

“You are really too much Pete.”

“Yeah, I know it’s why we’ve been best friends our entire lives. I say what you won’t.”

“True man, that’s so true.  She told me something interesting though.”

“What’s up?”

“She told me about her night with ‘Nicky’ and what happened after,” Pete raised his eyebrow.

“Oh really?  How did that come up and what did she say?”  I cleared my throat and grinned.

“Um… it’s not really important how it came up,” I smirked.  “She told me that Chad threatened her.”

“Threatened her how?”

“He told her he’d kill the both of us if he found out that we had really slept together.”

“Damn dude, did she believe him?”

“She said that was the first time that he’d ever been physical. She didn’t know what he was capable of after that so she lied.  She thought she was doing the right thing at the time, but it backfired.”

“Do you believe her?”

“Yeah, I do Pete.”

“Well, it sounds like you finally got to hear what you needed to.  When are you going to tell her your ‘secret’?”

“I’ll tell her after the board votes.”

“You really think…”

“I’ll tell her after the board votes,” I said interrupting him.  He held up his hands in mock surrender.

“Okay, man, it’s your life.  I just think you should tell her before.  When it comes back and slaps you in the face I don’t want to have to say ‘I told you so.’  I mean I will, I just don’t want to,” he laughed.

“It’ll all work out just fine.”

“We’ll see.”