Like Dragonflies, page 9
We park at Ashton Hills’ fancy movie theater. I like this one much better than the little cinema in Duncan. For one, this one doesn’t smell like piss and mothballs. I take her hand in mine as we make our way to the ticket booth.
“Let me pay this time,” she offers.
I wave her off with a laugh. “No.”
“It’s 2019, Mars. Girls can pay.”
Tossing a twenty into the slot, I then give her a smirk. “Not my girl. My girl doesn’t have to pay for anything. I take care of my girl.”
The ticket clerk girl giggles. “Awwww.”
Sage lifts her chin, pride shining in her eyes. “You’re sweet.”
“All the good ones are taken,” the ticket clerk says with a sigh, as she hands us our tickets.
We head inside and Sage clings to my arm. I can’t help but stop to kiss the top of her head. Then, we set to ordering snacks that wipe out all my tip money for the day. She’s worth it though. I’d spend all my money on dates with Sage if it meant I could spend all my time with her too.
Once we have our hands full of ICEEs, popcorn, and candy, we make our way to the back of the theater. We find a pair of reclining seats and she lifts the armrest between them so we can sit close. The previews haven’t started yet, so we chat quietly and eat our snacks.
“Dad wants to meet you,” she says as she swings her Twizzler around in an absent way. “I want you to meet him too.” She bites on her bottom lip and frowns. “That is, if you want to.”
“You think he’ll like me?”
“He’ll love you,” she assures me quickly. “My dad and I love a lot of the same things.” Her cheeks burn bright red. “Uh, you know what I mean. Not love…love. Like really like.” Then she lets out a choked sound. “Oh, God.”
I chuckle and hug her to me. “I know what you meant, creepy stalker. Of course I’ll meet your dad.”
She giggles and nudges at me with her knee. I pull her leg across my lap and settle my palm on her thigh. Her head tilts up to regard me and the amusement is gone. Leaning forward, I kiss her plump lips that taste like cherry licorice. She parts her lips and kisses me eagerly. Like she missed me too. We kiss heatedly until the previews start playing and the theater darkens. Then, we settle back to watch the movie. Once the theater is dark, I can’t help but steal the moment to look at her.
Her eyes are completely focused on the screen. My mouth waters to taste her neck again, but I refrain. I can’t help but caress her thigh, inching higher and higher. With her leg stretched across my lap, she’s open to me. It makes me wonder if she aches for me between her thighs the same way I ache for her. I brush my thumb along the seam of her jeans, right over her pussy. Her sharp breath emboldens me to do it again. My eyes remain on her profile as she tries desperately to focus on the movie. Her eyes flutter closed, though, when I continue touching her. Leaning over, I bring my mouth to her ear.
“You’re so fucking beautiful, Sage. I want to touch you everywhere. It makes me crazy how badly I want to touch you.”
She turns and offers me her plump lips. I kiss her deeply. My hand slides away from her pussy and to her stomach, slipping beneath her hoodie. She tries to get closer to me. I look past us on either side, and thankfully, we’re the only ones on this row. So I take it upon me to bring her closer. Grabbing her hips, I pull her into my lap so she’s straddling my cock that’s trying to rip through my jeans. Both my hands slide up to her breasts under her hoodie. Her breathing is heavy as she kisses me hard. I nearly groan when she rocks her hips, seeking relief the friction against my cock will bring.
I nip at her lip as I drag down the cups of her bra. I wish we were in my bed where I could strip her down and kiss her everywhere. We’re not, so I have to settle for just touching her. Her nipples are firm and peaked beneath my thumbs. I give them each a little pinch that has a mewl crawling up her throat.
“You gotta stop moving those hips, baby,” I whisper against her mouth, “or I’ll come right here in my jeans.”
She smiles, but doesn’t stop her movement.
“Sage,” I warn, slightly twisting her nipples.
A small moan escapes her that I swallow down with a hard kiss. She slows her rocking and eventually stops. I reverently run my thumbs along her breasts before kissing her sweetly.
“I want so much more than what we can do here in the theater,” I murmur.
“Me too.”
She pecks my lips and then slides back into the seat beside me. I thread my fingers with hers and kiss her knuckles. Everywhere she touches me is like a balm to all the hurt I’ve suffered in my life.
“One day soon,” I promise her.
“I can’t wait.”
Sage
The shower water is so warm I don’t want to get out. In here, I can let my thoughts about Mars run free. After our date yesterday, he promised we’d do more than just kissing and touching. The kissing and touching is so hot though. I can’t imagine what it would be like to feel him inside of me.
The thought sends my hand between my thighs. My eyes shut and I pretend Mars’s hand is there instead of mine. A hard knock on the bathroom door scares the hell out of me, and I’m ripped from my fantasy world.
I press my hand against my heaving chest. “Yes?” I call, poking my head out of the shower.
Mom’s voice answers back and my eyes roll all by themselves. “Sage, when you’re done with the shower I need to speak to you.”
“Okay,” I huff. Way to ruin a fantasy.
I don’t bother chasing after my orgasm. It’s long gone and probably scared to death of my mother’s shrill voice. I finish washing up and step out of the shower, grabbing a towel to wrap around my body.
I yelp when I see Mom sitting on my bed with her arms folded tight enough to cut off her circulation. Evidently, privacy is a thing of the past. My heart is beating wildly as I move past her and yank my robe from the back of the closet door.
“Mom, what are you doing in here?”
“I told you I wanted to talk to you after you got out of the shower.”
“Well, I thought you meant like…after I was dressed.” I tighten the robe’s tie around my waist to shield myself from her stare. The purple bruises on my neck are fading but she stares anyway, like she can see Mars’s fingerprints on my skin.
“I meant now.” She unfolds her arms and pushes out a sigh. I’ve already annoyed her and we haven’t been in the same room for ten minutes.
Great.
“I talked to your father and he’s asking me to take it easy on you as far as this…boy is concerned.”
“He’s my boyfriend,” I blurt out. I’m tired of calling Mars my friend, and I’m tired of dancing around what he is to me. My skin heats at the declaration and a small smile tugs on the corners of my mouth. I hide the tiny smile with my knuckle and try to avoid looking at Mom’s ice-blue eyes.
“I see.” She tilts her nose in the air and for a moment, I allow myself to imagine her falling backward from the weight of her overinflated ego. I swallow the laughter. “Well, can I at least know his name, where he’s from, and what he’s going to school for?” She looks at me and I pull on my robe tie again.
“Mom, please. I gotta go. I don’t want to talk about this right now.” I want to keep Mars close and private for as long as I can. He’s my little slice of peace. The moment I unleash my mother on him, we’ll have to defend every move we make. I know it.
“Since when have you kept things from me, Sage? I’m your mother.” Since you started ignoring who I really am.
“I’m not keeping anything from you. I just told you he’s my boyfriend. I don’t have time for an in-depth conversation about it right now.” I move over to my closet and pull down a Marilyn Manson sweatshirt and a pair of jeans.
“I want you to make time in your busy schedule to sit down and talk to me about this boy, who seems to have your head in the clouds.”
I grit my teeth against her words and hurry to get dressed behind the closet door. I can’t wait to get out of this house. I walk out of the closet and past Mom then I flop down at my vanity.
“You’re being so unladylike, Sage. That’s not how you should sit.” And she wonders why I don’t talk to her like we’re best friends. I try my hardest to tune her out, but it’s like she can bypass any guard I toss up.
I hate it.
“Sit up straight,” she says with a sigh before walking over to me. I see her hand move toward the brush and I groan inwardly.
“I don’t have time for you to brush my hair. I have to go or I’m going to be late.” I pull my hair into a messy bun and Mom shakes her head.
“The time it took you to put that…mess on top of your head could have been spent brushing your hair. You have to put effort into looking nice. You don’t just wake up that way.”
“I don’t care about how I look when I’m going to class.” I actually say what’s on my mind instead of choking it back. A quick thrill slices through me. I’m sure I won’t be able to do it again, so I grab my bag and move past Mom before she can speak.
I hear her saying something behind me, but I’m out of the front door before she can catch up with me. Once I’m sure she’s not going to chase me down like a crazy woman, I slow in my stride and make my way to class.
I don’t look forward to my afternoon political science class, but it means I get to be away from Mom and her incessant questions for at least an hour. So I sit and listen to Professor Jamison go on and on about state and urban politics until I can hear my brain drying up.
The second class is over, I bolt and head to The Grind House. Mars is at work today and my stomach flutters at the thought of seeing him. My feet move faster over the concrete until I’m walking through the front door of the coffee shop. I glance up at the brass bell when it jingles out a soft hello.
“Welcome to The Grind House.” His voice is deep and rich. It makes everything in my body hum. The apples of my cheeks burn as I move closer to the counter.
He snares me in his gaze and my heart is now beating in my throat. He does things to me.
Bad things. But they feel so good.
I lean on the counter and rest my chin on my fist. “Are you in here by yourself?” I ask, looking behind the counter. There are stacks of paper coffee cups, lids, huge bags of coffee, and equally huge coffeemakers.
“I am. Wanna fool around?” He quirks up an eyebrow at me and I’m giggling all over myself.
Mars leans over and meets my lips with his. I can taste sweetened whipped cream on his tongue when he sweeps it across my lips. My stomach flops when his long fingers curl around the back of my neck, pulling me closer and deepening the kiss.
Flames lick at every inch of exposed skin on my body. The heat has its own gravitational pull.
Mars has his own gravitational pull.
I want to climb over the counter and let him claim me with his mouth, his hands, his cock…
A small moan escapes me at the thought and it unleashes a possessive rumble in Mars’s chest. How can one kiss cause such an inferno?
We only break apart when the bell on the front door jingles. I hurry to the bathroom so I don’t have to look the customer in the eye, and also so I can splash a little cool water on my splotchy red cheeks. Once I cool down my face, the haze clears from my brain.
I realize my phone is buzzing in my pocket. All the desire vacates my body once I see Mom’s number flash across the screen. I press the phone to my ear while pinching the bridge of my nose.
“Hey, Mom. What’s up?”
“Where are you? I know you get out of class at four-thirty. It’s five o’clock and you’re not home.”
Was she timing me?
What the fuck?
“Yeah, I um…stopped to get a latte. I’ll be home soon.” I leave the bathroom and find The Grind House is empty again. Mars catches my eye and I smile at him. He motions to my phone and I mouth the word Mom. He makes a finger gun, points it at his head, and pulls the trigger dramatically making me laugh.
“You stopped at The Grind House, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, do you want me to bring you anything back?” I try to sound chipper so maybe she’ll back off a little.
“I want you to come home so we can talk. I can always come to you if you’re too busy. Maybe I can meet this mysterious boyfriend of yours. Your father told me he works at The Grind House. I haven’t had the time to stop by and get a look at him, but I can make arrangements.”
“I’ll be home in a few minutes,” I blurt. I don’t want her anywhere near Mars. Not yet. I haven’t had time to properly brief him on his first meeting with Eleanor Emerson. Nobody should be thrown into that scenario blind.
I end the call with Mom and walk over to the counter. Mars has that sexy-as-hell smirk on his face, and all I can think about is how perfect his lips feel on mine. “Sounds like your mom is sending out the search crew if you don’t head home.”
“Yeah, she wants me to tell her all about my boyfriend.” I bounce my knuckle against my lip and Mars smiles. It’s a devastatingly handsome smile that makes my heart speed up.
“Boyfriend, huh? I like the sound of that.” His teeth find his bottom lip and my eyes focus on his mouth. I want to run my tongue along his lip. I force my eyes to his and find an escaped tendril of hair to toy with.
“I told her I was here getting a latte,” I mention.
“Are you telling me to do my job?”
“I’m totally cracking the whip,” I joke.
“All I’m hearing is that you like spankings.” The way he looks at me makes my knees weak. He moves around behind the counter with such ease while he makes my drink. I stand on my tiptoes and peer behind the counter to see what he’s doing when I see his hand moving back and forth.
He hands me the cup without a top and I smile down at the white dragonfly made of cream. “I know you’ll put the top on, but it’s still like I’m there with you.” He touches the back of my hand and I try to soak in some of his bravery before I deal with my mother.
“Text me after you talk to her,” Mars says. I tell him I will then we share another kiss before I put the top on my cup and leave.
Mom is waiting for me at the door when I walk in the house. Her presence is everywhere. It suffocates me until I scoot past her and into the kitchen. Knowing that beneath the lid on my coffee cup is a cute dragonfly puts my anxiety at ease a little.
“How was your day?” Mom moves around the kitchen busying herself with things that don’t matter, like switching the towels on the stove.
“Fine,” I mutter against my cup of coffee.
“Talking to you is like pulling teeth. Can you just tell me about your boyfriend, Sage? This is the first time I ever remember you having a real boyfriend. I’ve tried time and time again to set you up with a nice boy from Ashton Hills, but you never follow through.”
My eyes narrow as I watch her move around. “How do you know he’s not from Ashton Hills?” I ask. I take a sip of my drink and it’s perfect. The sweet chocolate coats my tongue and I smile.
“With a truck like that and a job at The Grind House, he’s definitely not from around here. He has to be from Duncan.” She shudders as the name rolls off her tongue like it’s infected.
“What’s so wrong with that? Aren’t you from Duncan?” I quiz, lifting an eyebrow. Mom never talks much about her childhood, but I remember enough to know that once upon a time she was just a simple girl living in a small, quiet town.
“The people in Duncan are bad news, Sage. Trust me. Been there, done that. I’ll let you find that out on your own.” Her nose is in the air again and it annoys the shit out of me. She’s judging my relationship with Mars before she even knows who he is.
“Well, Mars isn’t bad news. He’s not like whatever you think the people in Duncan are like. He’s amazing.” I’m not sure, but I think Mom has stopped breathing. My brows knit as I stare at her like she’s insane. I’m convinced she is though.
“W-what did you say his name was?” She blinks rapidly, like she’s trying to bring things into focus. It’s making the fine hairs on my arms stand.
“Mars.” I wait for the onslaught of judgment and Mom doesn’t disappoint. Once she’s done looking like she’s been hit with a ton of bricks, she begins shaking her head vehemently.
“Absolutely not, Sage.” Her words are stiff and tight leaving no wiggle room for me.
“What? Why not?” I balk.
“You will not be in a relationship with some boy named Mars from Duncan. He’s a barista. He has no future. You’re better than that.” Her words rip a hole in my chest.
“You don’t know him,” I say, shaking my head. I take another sip of my latte as if it could transport Mars here. I need him beside me. Without him, the stone wall seems so huge.
“I don’t need to know him. I know enough. He’s a nobody from Duncan, and he’s not good enough for my daughter.”
“Mom,” I squeak out the word, hoping she’ll remember what it used to mean. As annoying as she is, she’s never been like this. Hearing her talk that way sucks the air from my lungs. I’m at a loss for words.
“No, Sage. No. I forbid you to see that boy again. Do you understand me?” She walks over to me until we’re eye to eye. There’s no way in hell she can miss the emotions swimming in my eyes.
No, I don’t understand you. I’ll never fucking understand you.
Like always, the words get caught in my throat and never make into the air. My lips tremble with the need to tell her what a horrible person she’s being.
Mom opens her hand and looks at her palm as if something is supposed to magically appear there. “Your phone,” she said with ice in her voice.
“Why?”
“I don’t trust you. This boy has your head screwed up. I’ll have your phone until further notice. Oh, and don’t try to get your father to butter me up. He’ll be on my side too.” She pauses and looks at me. Anger storms through my veins as I slap my phone in her open hand. Mars will lose it if he doesn’t hear from me. I’ll find a way to reach out to him though.
I see something in Mom’s eyes I can’t place, but honestly, I don’t want to look at her long enough to try. I can’t stand the sight of her.
