Marked Page 6

  With this new family vibe, a taste of what could be, I was entertaining the idea of what I wanted for the rest of my life, how I wanted things to go. Today, Theresa reminded me, many times, of the girl I'd fallen in love with. But her aloofness was something new, her lack of confidence also new, and it killed me that I'd not been there to prevent it, that a few losers had messed her up, but I would help her change all that.

  "Let's have a nightcap, amore. I need to talk to you."

  I took her hand and we headed down to the kitchen. "Wine?"

  She nodded, looking nervous. "Did I do something wrong?" And here was my quandary; my cock loved the little submissive in her. But my heart hurt when I remembered the fierce, Theresa who used to be. I wanted her submissive to me because she trusted me, trusted that I could take care of her, not because of fear. What did she fear, rejection? This is what I needed to find out. We took our glasses to the patio and sat by the pool. I played with the remote and turned on the pool lights and some music.

  Frank Sinatra crooned softly from the surround sound. I held my glass and sat back in my chair studying her. She gazed down at her lap. "Theresa, look at me, Tesoro." Her gaze traveled up to my face and finally landed on my eyes. "Tell me what happened to you, bella."

  She visibly stiffened. "I don't know what you mean." She was taking the denial route. I would have to get her confession another way. I reached out my hand and she took it. I pulled her over my lap and held her still. She protested but weakly, like she knew what was coming and accepted it.

  I shimmied her dress up over her hips and got a spectacular view of her ass. She had the best ass ever. I brought my hand down hard, no warm up. I wanted a confession. I didn't want games or history or anything between us. I rained down the blows quickly, not giving her time to catch her breath.

  After thirty, she gave in. "Okay, okay, stop please, I'll talk. You moved, and nothing was the same." She hung limply over my lap, talking to the ground, but I could hear her fine.

  I started up the spanking again, her cheeks now a deep rose red. She squealed and gasped and begged, but I wouldn't let her up. Finally, she stopped fighting and lay with her tears splashing on the concrete below.

  "Are you ready now?'

  "Yes," she sobbed.

  I pulled her up. I could feel the heat from her ass through my pants and hoped what I'd done was enough. If I spanked her more, she wouldn't be sitting comfortably for a few days. "Spill."

  "You moved, and nothing was the same. I guess you protected me way more than I realized." She wiped her nose and finally looked me in the eyes. So much pain reflected there, and for the first time, I really questioned the wisdom of my parents dragging me out of my hood two years before graduation and away from Theresa.

  "Suddenly, it was like every asshole in our school wanted a piece of me. Remember that guy, Dan, who you didn't like?"

  "Yeah," I said dismissively, "loser, what about him?"

  "After you moved, he started following me home. He would try to kiss me, and I would fight him off. One day, he and a few of his pals jumped me. They'd been hiding behind the bushes by the empty lot on the block before ours. They were disgusting, slobbering all over me like a bunch of dogs. I got out of there with my virginity intact, but barely."

  I felt myself gritting my teeth and willed myself to relax. I was here to listen, I told myself, and I needed to stay calm.

  "And every day was like that, Jimmy; every day, it was someone. Do you hear what I'm saying? Because the Falcones left, I was fair game for anyone who hated you or had a beef with you or the family. I got chased, pushed, beaten up, kissed, and often worse. They would taunt me and say, "Oh, poor little Theresa, where's big bad Jimmy?"

  My heart clenched. I had done this to her, and for twelve years, I'd left her on her own to deal with all the shit I'd left behind. My big ego did things all the time back then. I would have had many enemies. I never thought Theresa would be the target to get back at me. But what better way? Kids can be evil incarnate.

  "Then I got to college. I made it there with my virginity intact and a little fight left in me, and my life went from bad to much, much worse."

  "Are you referring to Steve?"

  She nodded. "But confronting him the other day went a long way in finally healing that wound, Jimmy, thank you. Anyway, Steve reminded me of you, at least at the beginning. He was cocky and oh so sure of himself. He was attractive and a player and always seemed to be the center of attention, like you were. He was popular, with long legs. He was a good runner, and most importantly, he noticed me. You know, like really noticed me. For the first time since you'd left, I felt special and thought I might possibly get another chance at happiness."

  This was proving more difficult than I'd anticipated. I already knew where this tale was going, and I didn't want to hear it. But I had to, for both of us.

  "At first, when we went on dates, I had his full attention. Then, as he became late for dates or didn't show up at all, our time together became unstable. If we were out with a group of people, he'd refer to me as his slut. He'd get me to crawl and beg for attention when we were alone, then he'd laugh and walk out the door. He would manipulate me all the time and embarrass me in public every chance he got.

  Later, he would apologize and be all kissy face. The last straw was when I walked in on him with my roommate. I was prepared to just walk away and never talk about it with him or anyone else. But I think he got freaked out. His bad behaviour was coming to a head and influencing how he was viewed by his peers and the faculty.

  To save himself, he said he walked in on me with someone else, and good riddance because having sex with me was like being with a virgin and not in a good way. He said sex with me was like having sex with a nun."

  The tears had been building and dropping randomly from her beautiful eyes. But as she neared the end, they streamed down her face. I knew she found this embarrassing, but she had to get past it.

  "I snapped. I felt like I was at rock bottom, Jimmy. After a few weeks of the rumor mill taking its toll, I did the unthinkable. I went to our old treehouse and contemplated the best way to kill myself."

  I went deathly still. The thought of her not being here with me, not on planet Earth, because of some douche bag made me furious, but it also made me mad at myself.

  "I cried, and not just over that, but I felt so alone, so unremarkable, so nothing. I must have passed out in the treehouse, because when the dawn's light came through the windows, I woke and sat up, rubbing the sleep from my swollen eyes. A beam of sunshine pierced the treehouse and landed on the interior wall, on the exact spot where you'd carved your name, Jimmy. I gazed at your name until the sun shifted and then stood up, resolved that I would get through this. That someone out there cared and loved me, and that had to be enough, at least for now. I swallowed my pride, finished school, and went into business for myself, as you know, and have been living in a kind of limbo ever since."

  I was touched by her tale. There I was, out cavorting and doing whatever the hell I wanted, while she had suffered, and I didn't have a clue at the time.

  "I don't go out much. I don't have any friends beyond Robert and Josh. Coming to Maria's funeral, well, I almost didn't make it. I was so stressed out about seeing you. I didn't want you to see how broken I was, and I didn't want you to think you had to fix me, Jimmy, but more than anything, more than all my fears of what you'd see, I needed to be acknowledged by the one person I have loved my entire life."

  Now the tears were leaking out of my eyes. What a remarkable woman.

  She looked at me intently, the tears stopping. "Jimmy, I have to know you want me because that is what you want, not because I'm a mess, not because you feel guilty, not because you think you owe me anything, because you don't."

  Before I could say anything, she finished her tale, "When I left the treehouse that morning, I found my father dead on the living room rug."

  She gazed at me, this glorious, broken, but incredibly strong woman. A
nd I fell in love all over again. She was it, and she would be mine, forever.

  I was a mess of emotions. I wanted to punch someone. I wanted to beat this Steve guy to a pulp, but even more than that, I felt an over whelming urge to punch myself. I was such an asshole.

  "Don't," she said, grabbing my hands."

  "Don't what, T, engage in self-loathing?"

  "Please, Jimmy, don't make me regret telling you everything. I know it sounds bad. But today has been the best day in forever, please don't take it from me."

  Now that, I understood. Her words cut through my self-loathing like a sword. I would make this the best fucking night of her life.

  Chapter Six

  Theresa

  I could tell he was mad, murderous in fact, by what my words revealed. But my plea seemed to calm his raging beast, because he scooped me up into his arms and carried me through the house and up to his room like I weighed nothing. Jimmy had always been stronger and taller than everyone else. He'd towered over his classmates in school. The lanky, muscular teenager had turned into a hulk of a man. I felt safe tucked in his arms, and I realized now how truly bereft I'd been without him in my life.

  I pressed my face into his chest and felt a wave of desire to always be held in his strong arms. I wished I could climb inside his skin and never leave.

  "I've got you, cara mia, it's okay now. I'll make everything better, I promise." He stood me in the center of his bedroom and undressed me. I stood naked and vulnerable. Jimmy undressed and moved to the center of the bed and motioned for me to join him.

  I lay on my back and he moved between my legs, wrapping his arms around my thighs. "I'm sorry," I whispered.

  "T, what are you apologizing for?"

  I was struggling to formulate the cacophony of emotions into words he would understand. "I guess I'm sorry that I'm not better, that I was weak, that you're getting a broken version of me."

  "Theresa Romano, I will whip your ass if you ever say that again. You are not weak or broken. I marked you as mine without thinking of the consequences. It was me they wanted to break, not you, il mio amore. I took the hottest, most promising girl in school and made her mine. Those little fuckers were jealous. You are the strongest woman I have ever met. I'm proud of you. It's me who's the shit for doing what I did. Listen, T, if I'd stayed, you would have been pregnant and married by the end of grade twelve. I thought I was doing you a favour. I didn't want that life for you, Tesoro. You're smart, and I wanted you to be whatever you wanted to be, not saddled with me, having babies. I had no idea what you were going through. Why didn't you say anything back in the early days when you came for a visit?"

  He was propped up on his elbows, looking into my eyes.

  "I couldn't, Jimmy; you left, and you weren't that guy any more. I had to deal with it on my own. Now, I have a question for you. What happened to Maggie's mother? Were you in love?"

  He took his finger and ran it down my moist slit. My head dropped back as a moan escaped my lips. "Enough now, mia. No, I did not love her; she was a one-night stand. She died in a car accident while out on a date. Maggie was a baby when I received full custody." I was about to ask more when he said, "Shush, I'm going to take you to places you didn't know were possible."

  Jimmy leaned himself over my opening and ran his tongue along my swollen lips.

  "Oh, yes," I crooned.

  Jimmy's tongue dove into my pussy, driving me wild. He reached under me, grabbing a cheek in each hand and squeezing and kneading, pulling me closer to his mouth, delving deeper inside. Then he licked from my slit to my back entrance, while I bucked my hips. I wanted him inside of me badly. He held me tighter. My hands grabbed the quilt on either side of me. "Jimmy," I begged, "please fuck me."

  He balanced my ass in one hand and, with his other hand, finger fucked me. I screamed my release as he continued to hammer my pussy with his fingers. Without giving me a moment to recover, he took one of his fingers and slid it into my ass. Releasing his hold, he used the other to finger fuck me, his long fingers hitting my G-spot and the finger in my ass slamming into me from behind. I was engaged in multiple orgasms, barely registering when one finished and the next began.

  Jimmy stopped and climbed on top of me. He pushed in slowly, rubbing my sensitive walls. In three thrusts, I was orgasming again. Jimmy picked up speed now, and my body convulsed, a long keen filling the room. His super thrusts were coming hard and fast. My body couldn't take much more, yet I felt myself climbing to another release.

  "Theresa," Jimmy panted, "when I say now, we're going to orgasm together. Ready?"

  "Yes, Jimmy."

  Without losing pace, he pushed my knees up to my ears, giving a different angle and different sensation. "Oh my God, Jimmy, I can't, I can't wait, I—"

  "Now, Theresa."

  We both released with a cry of passion. I could feel his hot cum through the condom.

  He pulled out, and I was barely conscious when he said, "Sleep now, farfallina; tomorrow, we can discuss our plan."

  I was so exhausted, it barely registered when I felt him wiping me and moving me under the sheets.

  Jimmy

  Theresa was asleep in seconds; multiple orgasms and spankings can do that to a person. If I hadn't been one hundred percent resolved to make her mine before, I certainly was now. I stared up at the ceiling, thinking about Steve. Of course, I'd recognized the cocky SOB when he'd strutted out onto the field. Robert had said the guy had gone to Central with me, but as he was Theresa's age, I wasn't getting a visual on him until I saw him in person, Steve Gibson, the LaSalle track and field scholarship recipient.

  I had planned on avenging Theresa, but social media beat me to it. I guess one of the students had recorded the interlude with us on the field. The video was called job theft and was trending. As expected, the world of blogging recognized Theresa Romano's name, as she was considered one of the few highly successful bloggers on sports medicine and training.

  Her popularity on social media was pushing for Steve to be fired from his job. He was being labeled as a sexist. I couldn't have done any better, so I was thrilled when Theresa told us at dinner that Steve was given his termination papers. She had been offered his job and was considering it. She had a week to make up her mind, and I was hoping to persuade her into accepting.

  I woke early and quickly wrote her a note, which I left on the nightstand, asking her to stay for a home cooked Italian dinner.

  Theresa

  I woke to an empty bed that reeked of sex. I pulled the bedding off and went in search of the laundry, which I found at the end of the hall. I went back to the room to shower and dress, throwing on my fun clothes from yesterday, which had been meticulously folded and set on the padded bench in his dressing room. I looked and found my dress hung up and my shoes placed neatly beneath it. That Jimmy, a crazy combination of brutish and fastidious.

  My next search took me to the kitchen for coffee. I found an espresso machine and ground some beans and, a minute later, sighed in pleasure as I took my first sip. I texted Jimmy.

  Me: What if I say no?

  Jimmy: Then I'd tell you only bad girls say no and get over my lap.

  Me: "Two smiley emojis and a crying, laughy emoji" yes

  Jimmy: Good girl. Picking up groceries on the way home, see you at 5.

  Me: I can shop for you if you give me a list.

  Jimmy: No, bella, then you'd know my secret ingredients; that won't do.

  Me: I wish I'd paid better attention when your mom was teaching us to cook. I kinda suck, sorry.

  Jimmy: That's 10.

  Me: Huh?

  Jimmy: 10 with my belt for saying you suck and apologizing for it! "Mad emoji"

  Me: Oh. Um. Okay. See you later.

  Jimmy: Sir

  Me: ?

  Jimmy: Come on, mia; say see you later, sir.

  Me: Sir "kissy emoji and angel emoji"

  Jimmy: "peach emoji and hand emoji"

  I laughed, setting my phone down as Maggie
walked in. "Good morning," I said.

  "Ugh, need coffee."

  I didn't question her request, just made her an espresso; she sat and sighed in contentment when I handed it to her. I giggled.

  "What?" she asked.

  "Oh, nothing, well, you remind me of me, actually."

  She grinned.

  "Your father is making us dinner. He said he'd be home at five; are you okay getting stuck with me for the day?"

  "Oh, yeah, I am, what are we doing after breakfast?"

  "I was thinking we'd go to my place and do some planning, and I'd love to get a change of clothes. Oh, I don't have a car."

  "Yes, you do."

  "I do?"

  "Yeah we have like seven in the garage; take your pick."

  "Seven, wow, okay. Um, are you sure your dad won't mind?"

  She shook her head.

  "Okay, so, your birthday, what's our budget for this party?"

  "Budget? Good question. I'll ask tonight."

  "How about numbers, any idea how many people you'd like to invite?"

  "Um, I don't know, Theresa. What did you do for your thirteenth birthday?"

  "Honestly, not much. Jimmy's mom baked a cake and made me a special dinner. My dad was working, and I didn't have friends I was close to, other than Jimmy. After dinner, he and I went to the arcade and played video games for hours. It was fun."

  She sighed dreamily. "What was my dad like at fifteen?"

  "Tall, confidant, like now, and super cute."

  She laughed. "Come on, Theresa, tell me what he was like."

  "How about we go for breakfast, and I'll tell you anything you want to know about young Jimmy. Did you know he got into trouble all the time?"

  "I knew it! He acts all holy, and I'm like, sure, Dad."