Excuse my language.”
“Thank God you’re okay. You’ve been under too much stress.”
“I’ve always worked well under pressure. Not sure why all of a sudden it’s catching up with me.”
“Well, you just answered your own question. Everyone has a breaking point. You’re allowed for once in your life to lose it a little, son. But please be careful, and try not to drive when you’re tired if you can help it. I hope you learned your lesson.”
“You want to know the kicker? As this car was supposedly careening toward me, all I could think about was Gia.”
“Oh, Heath, what does that tell you?”
I sighed into the phone. “I know what I feel. I just don’t know if that’s enough.”
“The right decision will come to you, Heath. But you need to take care of yourself before you can think with a clear mind. It’s okay to be worrying about everyone else, but at some point you have to take care of your health, too. Look at what you’ve been through in just a matter of months. You fell in love for the first time in your life, found out she was pregnant, then found out the unimaginable about who the father of the baby is. Not to mention, the only real father figure in your life passed away, and your actual father was near death.”
Damn, when she put it like that, it sounded crazy as fuck. “Thanks for the reminder, Ma. Now I need a cigarette and a drink.”
Once I arrived back at my place, the reality of what might have almost happened tonight hit me. I could have died. Then what? Who would look after Gia? That was a screwed-up thought to have when I hadn’t fully committed to her—to them. A part of me knew that even if I couldn’t go through with being a father to Elliott’s child, that I was going to protect them somehow, even if from afar. She felt like she needed to prepare for a life apart from me, but I would find a way to take care of them no matter what.
But what happens when she finds somebody else?
Because she will find somebody else. You gonna take care of her while she’s with someone? How does that make sense?
Fucking some other guy?
The mere thought of that scenario made me ill beyond comprehension.
I threw my keys down and opened my fridge. Nothing seemed appealing. Opening the freezer, I spotted an old carton of Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey that had been left over from the last time Gia was here. That seemed like ages ago.
Might as well finish it off.
When I opened up the carton, there was a sticky note attached to the underside of the top.
There’s not much left. I’m sorry. Got a late night craving. I’ll replace it. I love you.
She never had a chance to replace it, because she hadn’t been here since. Now my chest hurt. I didn’t want to touch the damn ice cream anymore. All I wanted to do now was go to sleep and shut off my thoughts for a while.
I headed upstairs to my bedroom and opened the French doors that led out to the balcony. Letting the cool evening breeze into my room, I lay back and listened to the sounds of the waves while I inhaled the salty air. This was the best part of living where I did. The ocean had a calming effect on me like nothing else did.
And I knew just what I was going to do to seal the deal on falling asleep. There was only one way I was going to be able to relax enough to do that.
I had three photos in a hidden album in my phone that always did the trick when I wanted to come fast. The images were of Gia during the last week we were together before the Elliott news surfaced. Totally naked and spread eagle, she was taunting me in the pic, inviting me to claim her.
It was the perfect shot, because you could see everything, including her gorgeous tits. That night, I had asked if I could snap some naked shots of her and she’d said yes. At the time, I had no idea that those photos would become a replacement for the real thing. Looking at them now was a form of self-torture, one I couldn’t seem to resist from time to time.
Just as I’d unzipped my pants and taken my rock hard dick out, the photo of Gia’s pussy began to vibrate in my hand.
Gia calling.
I laughed at the irony. Fitting.
Sorry, Gia. I can’t talk right now. Your pussy is calling to me instead.
Sexually frustrated, I picked up. “Hey.”
“Hi…I just wanted to check in on you and find out how Edward is doing.”
“No difference since they took him out of the coma. He’s stable. Thank you for checking.” I opted not to tell her about my near-death experience, mainly because I didn’t want to stress her out even more in her condition.
“What are you up to tonight?” she asked.
Uh.
I couldn’t help but laugh. My eyes were watering.
“What’s so funny?”
“Your pussy just vibrated.”
She gasped. “Wait…how did you know that?”
Huh?
Her bizarre question made me laugh again. I knew what I was referring to. But what the hell was she referring to?
“Hold up…your pussy is actually vibrating?” I asked.
“Yes. But how did you know?”
I started to crack up even harder. “What in God’s name are you talking about, Gia?”
“What are you talking about?” she asked, sounding confused. “I thought we were talking about the same thing. I just don’t know how you would even know about that.”
“You need to go first. Explain to me what you’re talking about.”
She sighed. “Well, I’ve been getting this strange sensation down there. It feels like vibrations—like the faint feeling of a cell phone going off inside my vagina. But very faint. I actually called my doctor about it. He thinks it’s hormonal or maybe some type of muscle fasciculation from stress.
Like the same kind of thing that happens when you’re nervous or have too much caffeine.”
“Muscle what?”
“Fasciculation. Like a muscle twitch.”
“Ah, yeah…I get those in my dick,” I snickered.
“Shut up.” She was laughing now, too. “But the question is…how on Earth did you know?”
This conversation was seriously up there with one of the strangest I’d ever had.
Wiping my eyes, I said, “I didn’t, Gia. I didn’t know about your vibrating pussy.” I snorted.
“But you brought it up!”
“I was referring to my own vibrating pussy—or rather your pussy vibrating in my hand.”
“What? I’m so confused.”
“Okay…you interrupted something when you called.”
“Something?”
“Yeah, I was just about to jack off.”
“Oh…gotcha.”
“To pictures of you, if you must know. I was using a photo of your naked pussy to get off.
Remember the pictures I took of you a while back?”
“Yeah, uh-huh.”
“When you called, the phone started vibrating. Thus…vibrating pussy.”
She laughed. “Wow. Okay. Now it all makes total sense…but that’s really coincidental. You know I can help you out, I’m just a phone call away, and maybe you could even help me with my own vibrating pussy.”
“Gia…”
It took everything in me not to jump in my car and take all of my frustrations out on her. But I wasn’t thinking straight tonight. It was safer for me to just stay here in my bed where I couldn’t crash into cars or violate a vibrating pussy.
17
Riley stood near the door of my bedroom. “I can’t believe you’re leaving this week, too.” She crossed her arms. “I was sure everything was going to work out with you guys. I still have faith, though.”
Riley was watching me get dressed for the end-of-the-season party at The Heights. Given that she knew nothing about Elliott being the father of my baby, it was no surprise that she was utterly confused about why I had to leave.