“So beautiful, so tight, so fucking perfect.” He sucked my neck, moving even faster. “Are you close?”

Soon he wouldn’t have to ask me that. He would know by the hitch of my breath, by the gasp that escaped my lips, by the shivering of my body, and by the tightening of my hold of him, when I was close.

When I reached my peak, I cried out in pleasure, and he swallowed the sounds with his mouth over mine and followed with his own orgasm, gripping me so tightly around the thighs, I knew I’d bruise there by morning.

He didn’t move out of me straight away. He waited until our breathing returned to normal, and then he moved to my side and brought my back into his chest, spooning me with a tight hold on my waist. I was hazy and exhausted, but my senses were all too aware of everything around us: the sounds of crickets outside, the gentle feeling of wind pushing through the window screen, the sweaty slippery feel of our bodies entwined, and the smell of our session so palpable in the air it was inescapable.

“How was that for you?” he asked me sometime later.

“Perfect,” I sleepily answered.

“I love you, Sara. I want you. Have wanted you for a long time.”

I turned over so that I could see him. He was looking right at me, seriousness engrained in the features of his beautifully masculine face. “I love you, Jaxon. I think I always have.”

He kissed me on the forehead and nestled his chin on the roof of my head. “Yeah, I think I have too. This was inevitable.”

“But Jaxon,” I paused as uncertainty gripped me.

“Yeah?”

“How much do you want to make this work?”

“More than anything in this world.”

“Enough to stop you breaking the law?”

“Yes,” he replied hastily.

I pulled away and looked up at his all too serious gaze, and raised my eyebrows sceptically. “You answered that way too quickly, Jaxon. At least think it through.”

“Nothing to think through, Sara. I’ll do anything to have you. Besides, I knew that’s what you’d want, and I’m completely okay with it. I’ve made enough money to tide us over for a good while, find us a good place to live in Winthrop, close to your school; don’t worry about it, I’m going to take care of you and I don’t care if I have to scrub toilets in the process.” He kissed me and brought my head to his chest as he settled his back to the mattress. “I promise, Sara. Everything will be fine.”

How could I not believe it when I felt like my life was flawless nestled into him like this? He was amazing, and this beautiful man was willing to change for me. I knew there would be problems because what relationship doesn’t have them? I knew he would be difficult, but I didn’t take into consideration just how hard I might be on him. And I was completely oblivious of the darkness that loomed inside of me; a darkness that would follow me and wait for the perfect moment to strike and destroy everything I held dear.

Seven

Jaxon kept to his promise. He found us a small one bedroom apartment within walking distance to my university. He also found a job as an Apprentice Mechanic at a car garage, and although I knew it wasn’t something he had ever intended on doing, he was happy.

We enjoyed our last summer at Gosnells with smiles on our faces, kicking back and relaxing in each other’s arms, enjoying every second of what was developing between us. What we had was intense, and we quickly realized that after our first night together. We were inseparable, and wanted as much physical contact as possible. “Honeymoon period” they called it, only it never died down.

I didn’t have to tell Lucinda about us. I vaguely remembered the door opening that morning after Prom. She would have seen us embraced in each other’s arms, naked and covered in many questionable marks. I didn’t have the energy to open my eyes, and was still in a state of bliss, half asleep and cocooned in Jaxon’s arms. She must have stood there for ten long seconds before turning back and closing the door as quietly as she had come in.

I knew it wouldn’t bother her, that she took me as the only person that could ground Jaxon and put him on the straight and narrow. She loved me, and although she was ecstatic at our coming together, I felt her eyes on us on several occasions. Always deep in thought with dead eyes and a still mouth, it was like she could see into the future at an impending doom bound our way. We’d lock eyes every so often, and she’d give me a sad smile. I would have done anything to know what she was thinking.

We finished our summer quietly, in each other’s arms, eating good food and listening to Lucinda’s constant pleading to not forget her. We promised her we’d come down every holiday, and that we weren’t far away. It was a three hour drive, after all.

Then we packed our things into Jaxon’s latest car: a more reliable white Toyota four wheel drive that he said would easily see us to and from Winthrop and Gosnells. It was an older model with huge wheels and a roof rack for strorage.

After our heart felt good bye with Lucinda, we excitedly climbed into the car and made our three hour trek eating chocolate bars and listening to music. We had giddy smiles on our faces. This was the start of a new chapter, a life of our own. This was independency and we were going to do it together, as a couple.

The city was huge and the population of two million were bustling outdoors in the heat. I couldn’t wrap my mind around all this activity. It was so unlike the quiet life in our redneck town. Jaxon knew his way around. He’d done the arrangements online, but his navigation skills were exceptional working off a map he’d only just bought.

Our apartment building was in a nice area, but the building itself was a lot older than the others on the busy street. Still, coming from the projects, this was fan-fucking-tastic. Our unit was small, and easy to work with. We had our living room that was a decent size, a tiny kitchen, and a pretty accommodating bedroom with a nicely renovated bathroom that had a separate shower stall and tub.

“Do you like it?” Jaxon asked me as I made my way out of the bathroom and into the bedroom.

“I love it,” I answered before eyeing a queen sized bed. “What’s with the bed?”

“I ordered it last week and asked the landlord if he could be around for the delivery. I paid them extra to put it together.” He dropped the duffel bag of his stuff on the ground and jumped onto the bare mattress, spreading his arms and legs out.

I giggled and slowly made my way over. “I thought we were going to be sleeping on the ground the first couple days.”

“My girl will never sleep on the ground. Your comfort is my number one priority, Tiny.”

I raised my eyebrows, unable to fight my goofy grin. “So it wasn’t to bang the shit out of me as soon as humanly possible?”

He suddenly grabbed me by the hand and hauled me down on top of him. He was smiling like a kid, placing a hand on each of my ass cheeks. I was wearing tiny shirts, and his fingers moved beneath the thin fabric so that he was also feeling said ass cheeks.

Looking up at me with innocent, big blue eyes, he asked, “Now why on earth would you automatically assume my intentions to be dishonourable?”

“Because you’ve got your hands on my ass,” I responded, rubbing my nose on his.

“And may I say that your ass is scrumptious and irresistible; it’s not my fault I can’t keep my hands off of you, especially when you’re wearing this ridiculously hot underwear.”

“They’re shorts, not underwear!”

“They’re so tiny, they may as well be. You know, you’re lucky I’m not one of those possessive assholes that don’t let their girls strut their stuff in these kinds of booty shorts.”

“And you’re lucky I don’t want a possessive asshole to care about me flaunting my cleavage. Chicks seem to dig that shit lately. You should catch up with the times –” He cut me off with a long, breathless kiss. Fuck, this guy can kiss.

His fingers continued roaming up my shorts, gripping me tightly against him. “I think we should christen our bed in our new apartment,” he murmured against my lips. “What do you think, Tiny?”

I made a sound of approval. Sex with Jaxon was my favourite and most coveted pastime.

Between school and Jaxon’s work, we had every night and weekends to ourselves. I couldn’t help but feel like it was a priority to get a job to help our situation a little better, but Jaxon was adamant we make the most of our time together until his money ran out. He was making fuck all as an apprentice, and the hours were from eight in the morning until five in the afternoon. He came home sweaty, dirty and tired, but always smiling when he saw me.

I made some friends at school, but one in particular just clicked. Alexis Tennant was a dark skinned, thin girl with the biggest booty you’d ever seen. She had dreadlocks, big lips, and intense green eyes that you couldn’t help but feel intimidated by. This chick had attitude, and it screamed off of her with just a look in your direction. It was an unlikely match, her and me, but it all started in law class where I was secretly munching on a bag of Skittles. She had been seated next to me and, upon hearing my chewing, made the most unpleasant and irritated sound.

“Some of us are trying to fucking listen,” she hissed at me, eyeing me with those scary green eyes.

“And some of us are trying to fucking eat,” I hissed back, darting her with my own look of intimidation. Living with Jaxon and dealing with his mannerism toward people in general had given me a bit of an edge. I took no shit from anyone.

She eyed me for a moment, curiosity getting the better of her. “If your skinny white ass is gonna fucking eat and make that kind of fucking noise, then pass me some of that shit too. I’ve eaten nothing but a fucking banana in the morning because my boyfriend’s a douchebag who eats my shit.”

I fought a smile. Smiling would deflate the situation and give me less of that edge. I handed her a handful of Skittles and we munched back on them during the entire two hour class.

“Did you want to grab some lunch?” I asked her on our way out. “Considering we’re starving to death and all.”

“Chick, you had me at hello. Let’s go.”

Despite her hard-assedness, Alexis – or Lexi as she would have preferred anybody call her– was the most hilarious chick I’d ever met. That girl’s humour had me in stitches, and she was so damn honest and down to earth, and real, I was in love with her by the end of lunch.

She was studying law like me, and we became study buddies; she was often over at my place every other day before Jaxon came home. Sometimes she’d stay when he came around, but that guy loved his privacy and wanted to jump me the second he got out of the shower. He looked at Lexi as a hindrance to his pleasure time than actual good company, and was always ushering her out the door.

“I’m in the middle of a fucking conversation, Jaxon,” she’d argue as he grabbed her by the arm to steer her out.

“I know, and I should be in the middle of fucking my girl, but you don’t see me bitching about it,” Jaxon would respond.

“Man, you and my boyfriend would get along like a house on fire.”

They did. When she brought Trevon around, Jaxon and him hit it off sharing their passion for motorbikes and cars. They’d stay up until the wee hours of the morning watching motocross or playing cards. This was good because it meant Lexi and I had time to do our own thing, like study or go out to the shops.

I didn’t know how we were going with our money. Jaxon gave us a strict budget for food and things I’d need. I never went without, and he was more than happy to spoil me with my very own allowance that I could splash out on for dinners with Lexi or clothes. He never told me how much he had stuffed away, and I didn’t want to ask despite desperately wanting to know. That money was dirty, and I wanted to be ignorant of it at all costs in fear of getting shitty at Jaxon for his old ways.

But he’d made our apartment into a home, furnishing it with a couple couches, a big television, kitchen utensils, and wardrobes. He let me do the finishing touches, hanging up photos of us around our place, and other tiny additives that spoke of us.

Time flies when you’re having fun, and that first year did. It was filled with love and fun, and though there was the usual stress that comes with Uni and exams, it was overshadowed by the good things in life: Jaxon, Lexi, and a city I had fallen in love with.

When we returned to Gosnells briefly on our holidays, I never stopped by my old house. I closed the chapter of that life the night I was thrown down the stairs. I never knew if the monster stuck around with Mom, but I also realized it didn’t matter anyway. I was too absorbed in my new life to care about it anymore. I convinced myself that Mom had chosen that life, and would never change.

Lucinda was doing fine, and when we returned during the second Christmas holiday, she had a guy living with her. Mark was…nice, though quite reserved and quiet. Jaxon hated him right off the bat, but that was to be expected, and Mark seemed to be well aware of the animosity; as if he was forewarned, which I’m sure he was.

Regardless, Lucinda seemed happy with him, and that was all that mattered to me. The stay was short, and it was awkward with Jaxon giving him death glares every chance he got, but we ate good food, enjoyed our small presents, and took tons of photos as a family. It really struck me right then and there just how much these two people meant to me. Lucinda had taken me in with open arms as a child, and she had been my mother in every way my own mom wasn’t. I dreaded to think what life would have been like without her.

But the change had occurred toward the end of that Christmas break before our way back from Gosnells. After a laid back week catching up with Lucinda, she had drilled into me the need for independency. She’d said things that altered my perception, and I believed she did it out of love.