It warmed my heart knowing he had seen the fear I was feeling, but always made it a point to tell me he wouldn’t cause me any harm.
We drove up to a street that was usually busy with cars during the day, but now was full of sports bikers and street cars. We pulled up to a guy with light brown hair who was standing beside a black truck with a sports bike in back. He looked annoyed when we parked next to the truck. As we got out of the car, the guy walked over to Brandon, slapping his shoulder and smiling at me. “Glad you loosened the chain a little to let our boy here race.”
Not sure what to say to that, so I looked at Brandon as he came over to stand by me. “Jake, shut the hell up. She’s not the reason why I haven’t been racing, but she’s the reason why I’m here. Plus this is her punishment from earlier,” he explained, smiling down at me. “You’re going to learn not to eavesdrop in people’s conversations.”
“Yeah, some punishment.” I laughed, pushing him slightly away only to have him grab my side and pull me back to him.
“Oh, this is just the start of the punishment, buttercup. Wait till after the race.” He wiggled his eyebrow with a naughty grin on his face. I looked at him with a questioning look when Jake started laughing.
“You guys are great. I can see why you married her, man. She’s a looker in those tight ass jeans. I bet you like grabbing hold of that at night.” The guy kept laughing till Brandon turned to give him a deathly stare that immediately stopped his laughter. I looked down at my outfit and saw nothing wrong with it. Yes, the jeans did show off the curves of my backside, but the top was loose fitting, but you could see the top edge of my chest. Nothing was revealing compared to some of the clothes that were in the bag.
“If I ever hear you talk about my wife like that again, I’ll fucking kill you. Like I told you before, what me and my girl do in the privacy of our own home has nothing to do with you,” Brandon told him. “Now let’s get this bike down, so we can get this race over with.”
I stood there watching them lower the bike down, then I turned and saw Jasmine walking up to the truck in nothing but a mini skirt that would work better as a belt and a shirt that hid nothing to the imagination. As she spotted me, she gave me one of those little smirks of hers as if she knew something I didn’t. She got closer to the guys.
“Hi, Brandon,” she said, running her finger down his arm about the time he helped place the bike on the ground. “I’ve missed you. Maybe we can go and have some fun after the race.”
There had been times in the beginning of the marriage that she tried to get Brandon alone. Obviously she didn’t like being rejected, but I wasn’t about to stand by and watch her flirt with my husband. I stepped in front of her with my back to Brandon in my effort to put some distance between them.
“There’s no need since he’ll be coming home with me to celebrate his win,” I haughtily told her. “So go away and find someone else to give your STD to.”
The guys started laughing as she stood there giving me the evil eye. “Oh, so the virgin thinks she knows how to satisfy the bad boy, huh.” She crossed her arms across her chest. “Maybe we should see who the real woman here is and let some stranger have fun with the both of us just to have him tell you you’re nothing but scum. Don’t fuck with me, bitch. We don’t need a repeat of the bathroom event, do we?”
“What do you mean ‘repeat’?” Brandon spoke up, putting his hands on my shoulder to try to push me to the side. I had never told him it was Jasmine, who had caused all the trouble in the bathroom that day because I knew when he found out he wasn’t going to be happy that I didn’t tell him the truth.
“It’s nothing,“ she laughed, shooing her hand away. “So, Brandon, about us hanging out after the race. I’m sure I could help relieve some tension little Miss Virgin here can’t.”
I looked up to see Brandon smiling at me before he looked back at Jasmine. “This is what I thought of doing after the race.”
I was caught by surprise when he suddenly turned me to him and slammed his lips against mine. He pushed me up against the truck and lifted me off the ground, making me wrap my legs around his waist. He bit into my lower lip, making me open up to him and he slipped his tongue into mine. I felt his hand slid down to my bottom to pull me even closer to him. I was so lost into what he was making me feel that I totally forgot about the other people that were standing there watching us till someone cleared their throat.
Pulling away, I turned to see Jake shaking his head with a smile on his face, with Jasmine walking away from us to a different group of guys.
“OK, I get it you two are still in your honeymoon stage, but we have a race to get ready for,” Jake said with a smirk. “You can dry hump one another once Brad here wins.” He laughed some more, walking back to the bike.
“We never had a honeymoon,” I whispered only for Brandon to hear.
“Then I guess once school’s over we’ll have to go on one.” He laughed, putting me back on my feet before going to the bike. As he grabbed the bike he leaned down and gave me one more kiss before walking off to the area where other racers were waiting for him.
“You’re changing him,” Jake said as he stood next to me watching Brandon get ready for the race.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, feeling confused. When we got married, I told Brandon he didn’t have to change who he was. But now someone I just met was telling me I was changing my husband when I didn’t know how I was doing it.
“I don’t know,” Jake said with a shrug of his shoulders. “He just seems different now that you’re around. A little happier.” Then he walked away to check something on the bike as Brandon got onto it. He put a helmet on right before blowing me a kiss, making me laugh.
As I watched my husband, I thought a little about what Jake had said that Brandon seemed happier. I’ve noticed he had been really nice to me and with his confession about liking me, he’d been… well, more loving. This just made me think harder if I was really ready to make this marriage work, like he was trying to. Could I let all those bad things go and be happy?
After a few minutes of standing there and thinking, Jake told me to get in the back of the truck because the race was about to start and Brandon wanted me at the finish line. So I jumped in the bed of the truck along with a few others. I turned to the starting line to see the racers putting on their helmets now. It didn’t take long to get to the other side, but with all the twists and turns, I couldn’t help worrying about Brandon’s safety.
“Here, watch and see what he’s really about.” I looked over to see Jake holding a tablet over to me. “There’s a camera on the front of the bike so you’re able to see what he does at every turn.”
I took it from him and I could see they were still at the starting line, with people standing along the side cheering them on.
After a few more seconds, they were off. I could tell he was taking some turn pretty sharply because the camera would show nothing but the road would then come back up. I held my breath as I could hear them coming from the last turn. I looked up to see Brandon was right behind someone. I started shouting for him to go faster, and everyone else joined me. It seemed that our cheering inspired him and he drove the bike fast enough to win the race against another biker by a millimeter.
I jumped down from the truck and ran to him. I got to him the moment he got off the bike and he threw his helmet to the ground to pick me up and swing me around. “Told you I always win,” he declared as he smirked at me.
“Shut up.” I laughed at him and then pulled him down to give him a victory kiss.
As we walked into the dark house, it was hard not to laugh as Brandon kept trying to tickle me. “Brandon, stop please or we’re going to wake up your parents,” I said, trying to get to the stairs to go back to bed. I was not a bit sleepy at all as we had driven home only with Brandon singing at the top of his lungs, “I am the champion.” It made me laugh because he changed the song to his own version.
But before I could even
step onto the stairs, he wrapped his arms around me and spun me around. “Nope, we’re not going up there,” he said as he put me down and led me down the hall to a room I’ve yet to be in.
There was a bar with all kinds of liquor along a wall. Brandon let go of my hand and walked behind the bar to the wall and picked up a bottle. He poured it into two glasses and then added something else to it. He walked back to me and gave me one of the glasses. “Here, drink this.”
I took the glass and looked into it to see a dark liquid floating about. “Brandon, I don’t drink and neither should you,” I said as I placed the glass on the bar.
“Come on, baby, it’s just one drink to celebrate my win.” He laughed and took a drink from his glass. When he brought it back down, he looked at me in an intense way.
“I thought that was what the kiss was for,” I replied.
He walked over to me and placed his glass next to mine. “Yes, it was part of it and I won’t mind having another one,” he murmured as he pulled me roughly to him but kissed me softly. As our lips moved in sync, I wound my hands into his dark hair, tugging him to me. He licked my bottom lip and asked for entry, which I gladly gave as he picked me up and placed me up on the bar, dragging his hands down to my hips, pulling me closer to him. I was so lost into the kiss that I didn’t care about all the bad things that were going on in my life.
He pulled away to breathe, but it didn’t stop him from pushing my blond hair to the side and kissing me along my neck. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the small pleasures he was giving me. A part of me wasn’t ready for anything sexual to happen with him, but another part wanted it to happen. When I felt him push into me, I knew it was time to pull away before we got too carried away. “Brandon, I think we need to stop.”
He lifted his head up and looked me in the eye. “Yeah, you’re right,” he said, picking up the glasses and handing me my glass. I didn’t think twice about downing the drink, trying to kill the nerves. I watched as Brandon turned his back to me and mumbled, “Man, this is going to be harder than I thought.”
I jumped down from the bar and walked over to him. I placed a hand on his shoulder and I could see him tense up a little. “I’m sorry. I just don’t think I’m ready for that kind of commitment yet.”
He turned and looked down at me. “I understand. It’s just hard. Before, I would just call someone and have those kinds of need met, but now things have changed.” I looked at him questioningly. He held up his hand in surrender. “I’m not going to pressure you into anything, Kami. I just wanted to be open with you. The day you tell me you want to consummate the marriage will be the day we also forget about that first agreement and make this marriage truly work.” He finished his glass. “Do you want another?”
I know I shouldn’t be drinking, but it was killing all these crazy nerves I was feeling. “Yeah, that would be nice,” I replied and walked back to the bar and took a seat on one of the stools. He gave me another glass and as I was about to take a drink, I said something not so smart. “Maybe you should have gone home with Jasmine.”
Brandon looked at me in disbelief and raised his voice a little. “Jasmine is a slut. She opens her legs to anyone who asks her to. If I wanted her, I could have her any time, but I don’t. Damn! What is it going to take for you to see I want you, not some tramp?” With that, he downed his drink and made another one and drank that just as fast.
He picked up a different bottle and poured it into the glass. I could tell it was much stronger than what we had been drinking. “Brandon, I think you need to slow down or you’re going to get drunk.”
“You’re not my mother, Kami, so please don’t tell me what to do. You’re my wife, someone who’s supposed to understand how I really feel about you.” He downed the drink. I could tell the alcohol was working with how he was swaying back and forth.
It infuriated me. “Brandon, I do understand. I just don’t want you to get too drunk that you black out and do something you’re not going to remember. Hell, we have enough problems not remembering who attacked us on the beach.”
He started laughing. “You don’t remember, Kami, but I know who it was and when I find them, I’ll make sure no one finds their bodies.”
I looked at him, feeling a wave of emotions wash over me. He knew and yet he didn’t tell me.
“Brandon, I think you’re talking nonsense. If you remember who it was, then why didn’t you tell the cops at the hospital?” I said, remembering how he had acted and how I sensed he was lying.
“Kami, don’t you see? You asked me not to tell the cops anything that has happened to you, so I didn’t tell them about who attacked us.”
He was right. I told him the day I was almost raped that we couldn’t tell the cops. I looked up at him as it became clearer to me.
“Yes, Kami, it was him and Greg.” I remember him telling from the past talk when I had asked him what his real father’s name was, but after telling me, he had dropped the conversation. He sighed as he put his glass down. “I tried to protect you, but my father caught me off guard and knocked me out. The last thing I heard was you screaming.” He walked back to me, still swaying back and forth. He pulled me to him. “Kami, I was scared shitless when I woke up in the hospital and did not see you around. All I kept telling those damn people was that I wanted to see my wife. I had to make sure you were safe, but they wouldn’t tell me a damn thing.”
“So you acted like you didn’t remember because of me?” I asked, wrapping my arms around him. We stayed that way as we swayed. If someone walked in, they’d think we were dancing without the music. “I still don’t understand why, though.”
He pulled me away and looked me in the eyes. “Because, Kami, I care about you. I know this is crazy, but I’m falling for you fast and it scares me to death. What if I end up being just like him? What if I lost my temper just once and hit you? I don’t want that, but I can’t lose you. You’re the reason I want to be a good husband.” He was rambling. I was just standing there looking at him, not knowing if it was him or the alcohol talking.
“Brandon, I think we need to go to bed and talk more about this in the morning,” I said, trying to pull him to the door. But he pulled me to him and crashed his lips against mine. He held my face to keep me there as his lips moved against mine. Even though it was a soft drunken kiss, I could feel the passion he was feeling for me in it. I didn’t know if it was love, or maybe something along those lines.
He pulled away and dropped down to his knees. I was surprised when he pulled me to him by wrapping his arms around my waist and placing his head on my stomach. “Kami, please.”
I lay my hands on his head and made him look up at me. “What is it you need, Brandon? Please tell me.”
“You. I need you. I want this to be real and not some agreement we made. I don’t want to let you go,” he said as tears ran down his face. It broke my heart to see the boy who had such a tough shell was broken and in need of someone else to rely on.
“Brandon, I think we need to go to bed and talk more about this when you’re sober,” I softly told him as I unwrapped myself from him. “Come on, let’s go back to bed.” I held my hand out for him to take and helped him back to his feet.
He picked me up bridal style and walked to the stairs. Even though I knew he was drunk, I didn’t want to fight him on this because I didn’t want to wake his parents. Somehow we managed to make it to the room with him swaying without hitting anything. He lay me down on the bed and fell on top of me, but he used his arms to keep his weight off me. “I might be drunk, Kami, but I mean this.”
“I’m sure you do, Brandon. Now, can you get off me so I can put my night clothes back on?” I asked, placing my hands on his shoulders.
“Or we could just sleep naked.” He laughed and started kissing down my neck again. “Kami, you have no idea how hard it is for me to keep my hands off you right now.”
I could tell by the way he pushed up against me and I could feel him rubbing against my thigh.
&
nbsp; I felt bad that I was turning him down in his time of need. I was starting to feel like a bad wife, but I just couldn’t give myself to him just yet. “I’m sorry, Brandon. I’m just not ready.”
When it happened, I wanted to be a hundred percent sure he was the one for me. Yes, I was falling for Brandon just as hard as he was falling for me, but I still second guessed this whole marriage.
Before I could tell him that, though, he sat up and pulled me up with him. “Don’t worry. As I keep saying, I’m not going to pressure you into something you’re not ready for.”
He gave me a soft kiss before I got up to change. I turned to look behind me as I got to the door and saw him taking off his shirt, showing off his back muscles. But when he started undoing his pants, I shut the door behind me, changing into the clothes I had worn earlier.
Brandon was already in bed and slightly snoring when I stepped out of the bathroom. I laughed as I walked over to my side of the bed and crawled under the covers. I tried not to wake him up, but he reached out and brought me into his embrace. I smiled and snuggled up into him as he brought his arm up under my pillow.
“Good night, my beautiful wife. Tomorrow I’ll show you just how much you really mean to me.” He kissed the back of my head before falling into a peaceful sleep.
14
Brandon and I found ourselves at the airport the next morning, waiting to board the plane that would take us to some crazy island.
We had been woken up by Brandon’s mom who came barging through the door after what had felt like seconds after falling asleep. Brandon protested over his mom’s noisy entrance, but she just dismissed him and said, “You’re going on vacation since you don’t have school for the rest of the week, for senior week, and are still newlyweds. We’re sending you away for a few days.”
Without waiting for our reply, she walked into our closet and took two suitcases out of their storage and had us packing. Apparently she had overheard us leaving last night and snuck into our room while we had been gone to make sure we had everything we needed.