is. Next weekend then. We’ll work it out.
I sure hoped so. A game of tennis would be a sliver of relief in the disgrace of an existence I’d created these past few months. My thumbs-up was a positive sign off, and we were done.
I tried to file my Anna Blackwell thoughts into the for later box, but they wouldn’t go there. My mind was churning them up and over as I got myself showered and ready for the Maya crossover. I knew I shouldn’t dwell on any of it. There was no doubt she might come to her senses and bin off a random tennis game well before next weekend. Either that or her social group would manage to bark some common sense into her before she had chance to give me a single minute of her time in person.
They hated me.
I didn’t blame them.
Maya hated me too. Standard.
Even my own mother fucking hated me these days, even if she tried to smile through the scowls.
Luckily, Millicent Isabel Pierce didn’t hate me. Her arms flung wide as she raced down her mum’s garden path on my arrival, her Daddy scream at full volume.
She, out of everything – career and sport and general lifestyle bullshit all considered, even when relationships were a write-off – was by far my biggest success story. I did a pretty damn good job where my little princess was concerned.
Unfortunately, nobody else seemed to think so. Maya’s face was the usual condescending grimace as she stomped down the path to join us at the gate.
“Don’t let her trash her shoes again. Not like last time. These are new.”
I looked down at Millie’s feet. Glitter and bows. Typical.
“I’ll put her in wellies.”
“And keep her away from the dogs. Her dress was caked with muddy paw prints when she came home last.”
I’d heard this crap already, but nodded regardless.
“Yeah, yeah,” I met her eyes, and felt the ice there jab hard. “Anything else?”
Her folded arms formed a barrier between us on every level. I’d have formed one too quite happily. I absolutely despised the woman my wife had turned into these past few years.
“Just don’t cock up,” she hissed under her breath, then pasted on a goodbye smile for Millie. “See you later, sweetheart. Wrap up warm.”
My little girl was already sighing as she dropped herself into the passenger seat of my truck.
“I don’t want to keep away from the dogs, Daddy.”
I ruffled her hair and reached over for a kiss. “No chance of that, Mills. They love you too much.”
As usual Play Planet was a win of an afternoon and the wellies did well enough to guard Millie’s feet as she stomped through the mud puddles on the hillside. My mother gushed and story read, and I stared across with another churn of frustration, wondering again how the hell I was going to fix the bullshit shitstorm I was caught up in.
She was a zing of a presence right through it all though, Anna Blackwell. Rife in my thoughts as we ate our cottage pie at the dining table and I prepared to drop Millie back home for the night.
Memories of us. Of her laughter. Of her dirty grin as she coaxed the filth out of me. How she lapped it up and begged for more. Always more.
Of the way she would bite her lip as she came, and I’d bite it right back after her. Harder.
How I took every fucking thing her body had to give me, and she took it all right back from me.
Dirty. Little. Slut.
I’d almost forgotten what that felt like. Almost.
I’d almost forgotten the very depths of the beautiful filth we’d summoned from each other, but not quite.
I’d never quite forget that.
“I don’t want to go back to Mummy’s yet,” Millie said once my mother had done her hugs.
“Hopefully it won’t be for too much longer, sweetheart. Hopefully you’ll all be living back at Daddy’s soon,” Mother whispered, and I almost spat out a curse.
Her eyes spoke volumes as they met with mine. Disappointment. Disgust.
She could be disgusted all she liked without bringing Millie into it. Our stare off was heated as hell, just like everything else lately. She shrugged like she was stating the obvious, and I was grateful we didn’t have any alone time left for her to grill me on what the hell I was doing to fix things with Maya.
Maya the angel. Maya the perfect mother and perfect wife and perfect everything as far as the rest of the