BEAST

  They lay like that for a long time until Christopher lifted his head. “Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you did I?”

  “No…” She said breathlessly. “It felt so good.”

  He grinned and rolled out of bed. She watched him walk naked into the bathroom. She perked up at the sight of his magnificent back and ass…and calves and thighs. She heard water running and he returned with a wash cloth and towel. He sat on the bed and gently washed her body with the warm damp cloth. She lay back in comfort feeling her body dragging her towards sleep. He covered the wet spot with the towel and then pulled up the blanket to cover them. He spooned her, pulling her back flush against his body.

  She turned her head and he kissed her lips, rubbing his hands along her belly which still pooched out but he liked it, he liked rubbing the soft skin there.

  She was curious and so decided to ask. “That wasn’t your first time?”

  He grinned good-naturedly. “Was I that bad?”

  “Hell no!” She said honestly. He was great which is why she had to ask. She had assumed, due to his shyness that he’d never been with a woman. But he knew exactly what he was doing…and he did it exceedingly well.

  “I’m not a virgin, but I haven’t done it very much.” He didn’t want to tell her that he’d been with whores a few times. Overseas, whores were much more readily available because you didn’t have to find them, they found you. The first time he’d just allowed someone to suck him. She was pretty and it had felt good. The next time he decided to go all the way. He had used a condom but still worried about crabs. Someone on the team always came back with a case of them.

  The blank look in the woman’s eyes had made it difficult, especially when he considered that if she wasn’t a druggie then she was probably some poor lady trying to make ends meet. He’d done it once more, years later, searching for someone whose eyes didn’t look half dead. But it still hadn’t given him what he needed and he hadn’t been with a woman since.

  He pulled her closer and buried his face into the back of her neck. “You’re the first person I’ve ever made love to, though.”

  He felt her hands gently cover his arm where it enclosed her against him.

  ~***~

  Ashleigh woke up several hours later to the feel of Christopher’s hard pipe nestling against the crack of her ass. She paused, listening for the regular sound of his breathing. He was asleep. She sighed and pushed back against him, innocently, hearing him grunt lightly and come awake. His arms instantly tightened around her and she felt his lips lightly kiss the back of her neck.

  Ashleigh beamed. He kissed her even when he thought she was asleep. That was her true definition of love.

  In the morning, Christopher slipped into her from behind, his lips locked onto her neck and shoulder while his fingers plucked and stroked her nipples. It was slow and sensual and when he came inside of her for the second time he thought about how wonderful it would be to wake up like this every single day.

  They showered, doing nothing more than washing, kissing and touching. Ashleigh indicated she had to go home as she was overdue for her insulin. He hated to see her leave at the same time that he wanted her to get home and take her injection.

  He explained that he was going to dinner at his parent’s house as he did nearly each Sunday, and would give her a call later in the evening. Later when he was cleaning the dishes in his kitchen, he mentally kicked himself for not inviting her. He realized that he was moving fast but it wasn’t too fast for him. He already knew that he intended to have Ashleigh in his life as a permanent fixture…as long as she wanted him. And he planned to do all that he could to make sure that she’d always want him in hers.

  He found his mind drifting back to Uncle Ray’s wise words. And then when he thought that she’d had enough time to get home he called her.

  “Ashleigh. Would you like to go with me to dinner at my parent’s house?”

  She didn’t hesitate. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

  “I…miss you already.” He sighed.

  “Me too.” Was it crazy? But having sex made everything so clear. Christopher was everything she needed in a man. He told her that he’d pick her up at about five and then told her that he loved her. He felt it and he said it and that was all there was to it. But when she said that she loved him he smiled in disbelief at his fortune.

  Ashleigh stood there with lights twinkling in her eyes and a smile on her face. I am loved for who I am and nothing more.

  She floated through her home before noticing that she had messages from both Kendra and Lance. She knew that they were going to have something to say about her not coming home last night. Well she was grown and single! Deciding to take care of them both with one phone call, Ashleigh made a 3-way call.

  “Guess who has a boyfriend again.”

  “That was fast work.” Kendra commented. “Are you sure you want to take that step, Ash?” Her voice held a touch of concern that surprised her. “He’s pretty big. If you break up with him you may have to enter the witness protection services.”

  Ashleigh found herself smiling. “Maybe…maybe I won’t ever break up with him.”

  “Ashleigh,” Lance said. “You’re not talking about…marriage, are you? I mean it’s only been one date.”

  “Lance, he told me that he wished his life was a John Hughes film.”

  Lance began screaming through the phone line. “Don’t toy with me, woman! You didn’t start the conversation with, ‘Hey do you like John Hughes films?’ Did you?!”

  “No, he brought up teen movies first. He told me he was the big quiet guy from that movie My Bodyguard.”

  Lance began screaming again and panting ‘Oh my god, Oh my god.’ “You must marry him. Marry him now!”

  “You two are insane.” Kendra said not appreciating their obvious fixation on teen movies.

  ~***~

  Ashleigh wore a pretty dress that was both nice enough to meet parents and attend church, but was also complimentary to her newly curvaceous body.

  Christopher arrived a few minutes before five and she showed him around her condo. He was thoroughly impressed, complimenting her on her style. Ashleigh thought Christopher looked very sexy in khaki pants and a button down shirt. They spent a few minutes kissing until the bulge in his pants began to grow noticeably and it was either stop now or arrive late for dinner. They decided to stop…for now.

  Christopher’s parents lived in Covington Kentucky and he prepared her for a rather large gathering. He had four brothers and sisters but only two lived in Kentucky. One of his brothers had died several years before and there would be a few kids running around. He wanted to prepare her for his father. He’d had a stroke years before and it had caused some permanent damage. He warned that he might repeat the same thing over and over or act confused…or he might be perfectly okay.

  Ashleigh could tell that he didn’t tell her any of this with any sense of shame and she loved him even more for that.

  He directed her attention to points of interest as they drove; the High School, his first job, the house where a certain relative lived. She listened intently to every word. He could have been reading the yellow pages and she would have been enthralled. His voice just did it for her. She pictured slipping her hands down his pants as soon as they got back to her house.

  They finally pulled up to a small two story house on a street that overlooked a factory on one side and a Quickie Mart on the other. She figured that the people who lived on this street didn’t make a lot of money but all of the homes were well maintained and the yards were kept up nicely.

  He pulled in behind a mini-van and gave her a quick wink before rushing around to open her door for her. Several kids were playing stickball in the side yard and came running when they recognized Christopher.

  “Uncle Chris!” They yelled, jumping on him. For a minute she worried that some of the bigger ones might hurt him but he didn’t even seem to feel their leaping and bounding bodies. For a moment they ignored h
er while they tried to bring down their giant uncle.

  “Hey guys! Timeout!” He bellowed and his voice left no doubt to his seriousness. “I want to introduce y’all to someone. This is Ashleigh. She’s my girlfriend.”

  “You gotta girlfriend, Uncle Chris?” A little girl that appeared no older than four peeked up at him.

  He lifted her up like she was a teeny doll, which is what she appeared in his big hands. “Yes I do, Rachel. And you guys have to be on your best behavior around her. Do we have a deal?” Everyone said, ‘Yes, sir.’ “Tell her hi.”

  “Hi, Miss Ashleigh.” Ashleigh grinned and returned the greeting.

  “If you’re good I’ll come out and play touch football with you for a little while after dinner; me against all of y’all.”

  “Is Miss Ashleigh going to play?” One of the kids asked.

  Her eyes got wide. “I’ll just be a cheerleader.”

  Christopher took her hand and led her up the side stairs. He knocked once and entered. A group of women were sitting in the kitchen talking and they all looked at him happily, their curious stares finally resting on her. She gripped his hand and plastered on a nervous smile.

  “Hey everyone.” Christopher pulled her after him as he entered the kitchen where she could smell something good cooking. “This is Ashleigh; my girlfriend.”

  You could have heard a pin drop. To Ashleigh it felt like forever but in actuality the quiet lasted just a second or two. A woman was moving forward. She could have been in her early fifties, maybe late forties. She had a huge smile on her face and looked enough like Chris that it left no doubt that it was his mother even though she was a little thing. She gave him a kiss and a hug.

  “Hi Mom.”

  Mrs. Jameson turned to her next and gave her a hug too. “Now where did you come from?”

  Ashleigh wasn’t sure how to answer that question because she wasn’t exactly sure what it meant.

  “Mom, Ashleigh comes from my job. She works in my building.”

  “Well you sure are a pretty girl. Ashleigh, is it?”

  “Yes, Ma’am.”

  Christopher introduced her to the other ladies in the room. There was a sister-in-law, an aunt, his sister Alma, and two cousins. The ladies seemed friendly and they asked her several questions about where she lived and what she did. Alma asked her what she wanted to drink and she asked for a bottled water and got a glass of iced water instead.

  Christopher took her hand and led her out of that room and into a family room. Several men were sitting around watching ESPN. At least with them, they didn’t come to a complete silence although it was pretty plain that they were surprised to see a woman with Christopher. She hoped the surprise wasn’t due to her being black. She realized that he hadn’t mentioned her coming, or her color.

  Ashleigh’s eyes fell on a frail looking man that looked like he was old enough to be Christopher’s grandfather. He was white haired and slouched over with eyes that seemed rheumy and glazed. This had to be Mr. Jameson.

  “Hi Daddy.” Christopher leaned forward and gave his father a hug. The older man looked at him in surprise before smiling.

  “Walt? Where you been, son?”

  Christopher tried to mask the pain in his face but not before Ashleigh saw it.

  “I’m Christopher, Daddy.”

  “Christopher? You back home from The Marines?”

  “Yes sir. Dad, this is my girlfriend Ashleigh.”

  Mr. Jameson turned to her and smiled, offering his hand to shake. “Nice to meet you Ashleigh. Y’all sit a spell and have some dinner.”

  “Yes, sir.” Ashleigh responded politely and someone pulled up one of the dining room chairs for her to sit down in. The ladies came in from the kitchen while Christopher introduced her to his brother Butch, an uncle and the husband’s of the two cousin’s that she’d already met.

  She wanted to remember their names but knew that wasn’t going to happen. She had to at least remember Butch and Alma since they were Christopher’s siblings.

  They sat around and talked for a while and Ashleigh could see the way Christopher relaxed in a way that she’d never seen him relax before.

  “You two been together long?” Alma asked.” Butch tried to discreetly scowl at her. But Ashleigh didn’t mind the question that had been directed at her.

  “Not long, but I knew him for a while.”

  “Okay.” She looked at her younger brother. “Cause he ain’t never said nothing about a girlfriend.”

  Christopher turned to her from his conversation with the two cousins. “Consider this me telling you about my girlfriend.”

  His mother changed the subject and mentioned a family reunion that Uncle Ray wanted to have. Dinner was served a few minutes later and Ashleigh offered to help but the aunt told her to relax and that she was company.

  Dinner was a hodge podge but everything looked good. There was fried corn, meatloaf, coleslaw and potato salad, cottage cheese, canned pears and green peas. Alma had burned the dinner rolls as she was too busy slyly watching Ashleigh.

  The kids sat at a card table and it brought a smile to her face as she remembered being relegated to the kids table. Ashleigh saw that Mrs. Jameson had to feed Mr. Jameson. His hands didn’t seem to cooperate. Although he did make every attempt to feed himself it only resulted in green peas rolling around on the table and meatloaf being dropped into his lap.

  Christopher engaged his father in casual conversation about the game that had just been on. His father favored a team that hadn’t been playing.

  Mr. Jameson looked at Ashleigh curiously. “Now who is this?”

  “This is Ashleigh. She’s my girlfriend.”

  “Honey, that’s Christopher’s girlfriend, Ashleigh.” Mrs. Jameson explained distinctly while wiping his lips with a napkin.

  “Do I know you?” He asked in confusion.

  Ashleigh swallowed a bite of meat loaf. “We just met, Mr. Jameson.”

  His eyes cleared and he smiled again. “I remember. You’re one of them colored kids that lived down at the bottom of the hill.”

  Everyone at the table grew quiet, even the kids at the card cable looked on in surprise.

  “Well,” Ashleigh cleared her throat, “I don’t belong to that particular colored family. I belong to a different one. We didn’t live on the mountain but in Cincinnati.”

  “Ohhhh, okay.” he said. “But they were a good lot. The father died so it’s a good thing that their not your kin.” He tried to spoon an entire pear wedge into his mouth and it landed in his lap with a plop. Mrs. Jameson grabbed it and then peaked up at Ashleigh and mouthed, ‘thank you.’

  Ashleigh glanced at Christopher whose face had gone pale.

  After dinner there was brownie cake and ice cream. Ashleigh passed and Alma frowned. “You don’t like cake and ice cream?”

  Ashleigh didn’t immediately answer, surprised by the question although it wasn’t delivered in a bad way—it was just the question itself.

  Christopher looked at his sister. “Alma, she doesn’t want ice cream and cake.”

  “Fine.” She sulked like a child. “She can speak for herself,” she murmured. Christopher was just staring at his sister.

  “I have diabetes.”

  Alma scooped up a large bowl of ice cream and a big slice of brownie cake and cut her eyes side-ways at Ashleigh as she ate it.

  Christopher stared at his sister.

  After dinner the ladies wouldn’t allow Ashleigh to help with the dishes and made her go outside with Christopher to help the kids burn off their energy.

  “Oh my god, Ashleigh,” he said when they were alone on the porch. “I had no idea my Dad would say something like that. I’ve never even heard him use that word before—”

  “Relax, baby. You guys reacted more than I did. He had a stroke but I can still tell that he’s a good person.”

  “Come on Uncle Chris, its getting dark!” The kids began yelling for him. He gave her a quick kiss and bounded down the porch
stairs. She pulled up one of the porch chairs and watched the way he thoroughly enjoyed himself with the kids. Mr. Jameson and one of the male cousin’s came outside with her to watch them play and to hoot and cheer.

  Mr. Jameson told her a story about a furnace and some goats and she pretended to understand. Christopher looked up at her and gave her a questioning look and she raised her hand and waved letting him know that everything was okay. He got tackled by four kids and Ashleigh grimaced but he seemed to love it.