The Crash Zone (The Zone Series Book 2) Read online

  “She sprung it up on me when she stopped by, which by the way was a little awkward.” I clear my throat. “Nikki had stopped by, for some quick release.”

  “Nikki… is she the college student? One of the hook-ups?”

  “Yeah, a steady one.”

  “Whoa, how did that go? Tatum didn’t interrupt, or walk in… did she?” Leo was a bit dramatic.

  “Not at all. I couldn’t go through with it with Nikki. Tatum would have probably interrupted if I could have though.” I ran my hand through my hair. “Nikki and I, well we’re friends too. And well, we’ll stay that way, and only that way now.”

  “Are you and Tatum?” Leo asks.

  “No, no, and no! We’re getting to know one another, we’re just roommates.” I explain.

  “Okay, sure.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “We’ve known another for what, 3-4 months now? I’ve known you to be driven and moody in the little time we’ve been acquainted. Right now, right now you look eager to get home to your woman.”

  “Shut up.” I don’t think that’s true, is it?

  “I’m just calling it like I see it man. So when do I get to meet her?”

  “Whenever. Maybe you and your lady can come over next week for dinner? I can clear it with Tatum and then yeah.” I offer.

  “Yup, clear it with your woman and I’ll clear it with mine.” Leo smirks. I playfully punch him.

  ***

  I unlock the front door and hear the hum of the television from the living room. The house is mainly dark except a lamp is on next to the couch. Tatum is sitting on the couch surrounded by drawings and construction paper. School had started earlier this week, Tatum is sitting cross legged on and Damnit she’s wearing that tank top again. Rule number three is broken and now I’m thinking inappropriate thoughts.

  “Oh shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t know when you’d be home. I’ll clean this up. Just some school work.”

  “This looks better than when Davis would sit around with his school work for his class. It all looked much more boring, yours is colorful.”

  She laughs softly and starts stacking some of the drawings. I grab a few off the arm of the couch.

  “What’s this supposed to be?” I ask holding up a drawing.

  “The topic was summer plans. I think that’s a house. Let me see whose it is?” She stands and comes closer to me, I can clearly see through her tank top, thankfully she’s wearing a bra. My pants are tightening, which seems wrong while I’m holding a 5 year old’s homework assignment.

  “Yeah, that’s Macy’s. Her family bought a new home this summer, so I think that’s the house.” She says grabbing the drawing from me. I look at another drawing and it’s a set of swings, another is of a boat and then another is a stick figure surrounded by animals. I smile, she is going to make a great mother, if she can interpret this stuff.

  “What?” She asks, noticing my smile.

  “Just thinking that … you broke a rule.” I smile even bigger as my eyes are pinned to her chest.

  “What?” She looks down and notices the tank top she had on this morning.

  I shrug and head into the kitchen. I empty out my pockets and then into my bedroom to change. I change into some gym shorts and as I walk to my dresser for a shirt, I decide against it. I adjust myself so my hard on is not so obvious and I walk out of the bedroom and back into the kitchen and grab a water then plop down besides her on the couch.

  “My god, you’re just like a child.” She says as she catches air from my plop.

  “Meh. What are we watching?” I ask grabbing the remote.

  “I just have it on as background noise, change it to whatever you want, I still have a good 20 minutes left of cataloging and stuff.” She says, staring straight at my chest.

  “My eyes are up here Tatum.” I tease her. She flushes and quickly looks at the papers in front of us on the coffee table. I place my arm behind her on the couch as she works. She occasionally will look in my direction, I’ve purposely put a few of her papers on the other side of me, and she reached across me for the first one, where her breast rubbed against my stomach, then to put her and myself out of misery I moved them to the coffee table. I adjusted myself again to camouflage my boner and hoped that she didn’t notice what she caused when she reached across me.

  She finished her work, packed it up and put her box on the dining room table then took her seat again beside me.

  We settled on the couch, not speaking but both engrossed in an FX reality show that I have recorded.

  We sat there, with her knee touching my thigh, and my arm still draped behind her across the top of the couch. Somewhere towards the end of the episode, she was closer and leaning towards me more. I looked over at her and her eyes were getting heavy.

  “Hey Tate, you okay over there?” I ask her, sitting up a little and looking at her. She slowly turns her head to me and nods with a slow smile.

  “Hey, let’s get you into bed? Yeah?” I say smoothly.

  “No, I’m awake, just one more episode, I want to know what happens next.” She says. I look at the clock, it’s only 9pm, I’m not going to sleep anytime soon.

  “Sure. Here’s a pillow, put your feet up on my lap and lay down.” I hold out one of the throw pillows that she brought with her in her direction. She takes it and changes her position. Her ankle brushes with the length of my dick and I hope to god that she didn’t notice. I steel a glance at her, and she’s oblivious, and better yet, her foot hasn’t moved as it touches my twitching dick.

  The next episode started and by the first commercial she was passed out. I finished watching the show, as I had my hand on her foot with my fingers drawing circular patterns. I slowly move from under her feet, and I bend to lift her up to carry her to her bedroom. I gently place her in her bed and pull the covers over her.

  “Max.” She whispers.

  I turn around, expecting her eyes to be open. But they’re closed.

  Is she dreaming of me?

  ***

  Tatum has lived in the house for a week. Every night this past week, I’ve carried her to her bedroom and placed her in bed. It’s been torture each and every night as I would rather have been bringing her to my bedroom. But we haven’t crossed that line, regardless of her breaking rule number three every night and especially the mornings we bump into another in the hallway before her shower. She gets up every morning at 6am, she leaves her bedroom and starts for the shower at 6:15am every morning, it just so happens to be the time that I run into her on my way to the kitchen to start the coffee. She hasn’t tried to cover up in the mornings when we bump into each other, I’m hoping she hasn’t caught on yet.

  It’s again Friday night, and I’m sitting at the dining room table with my laptop and a few folders on either side of me, when I hear the front door open and close. Tatum walks into the dining area holding a giant take out bag. She’s wearing a bright green knee length dress with a black belt at her waist. Her long almost black hair is in a braid off the shoulder, and as her eyes land on me she smiles.

  “Hey there! I brought dinner.” She smiles holding up the bag.

  “What’s in there?” I ask, pushing my laptop away from me.

  “Italian. I wanted lasagna and manicotti, but I didn’t want to cook it.”

  “I’ve been working from home most of today, I could have.” I offered.

  “You can cook something more than omelets?” She asks surprised.

  I stand up and approach her, I grab the bag from her hands and wrap my arm around her waist. I’ve taken her by surprise as I kiss her cheek.

  “Honey, I’m a man of many talents.” I say as I release her and take the bag into the kitchen leaving her to her own devices and hopefully to regain her composure. I felt her shudder as my lips touched her cheek.

  She meandered into the kitchen a moment later, plastered on a smile and reached into the cupboard behind me for glasses.

  “Would you like some spark
ling water with your dinner sir?” She asks mocking a baritone.

  “Please madam.” I plate off portions and as she goes into the dining area, I follow with dinner.

  Her eyes look like they will pop out of her head, she’s licking her lips and rubbing her hands together. I don’t know if it’s downright creepy or adorable. I smile as I hand her a fork and knife and sit in my seat. I’m unsure if she’s just excited about the food or if it’s me.

  “So, how was your day?” I ask.

  “Well, I threw up a few times after lunch, but other than that it was an easy day.” She smiles taking a bite, then immediately moaning.

  My dick twitched. I try to ignore it.

  “More morning sickness?” I ask continuing with the conversation.

  “It was gone for a few days, but then there was this gross smell in the teachers’ lounge this afternoon, and I couldn’t handle it anymore.” She explains, taking another bite and again moaning her appreciation.

  My dick twitched again. I’m still trying to ignore it.

  “Your brother and Kat want to come over for dinner tomorrow, is that okay? I sorta said it was. I’m sorry, I should have checked with you first” She said.

  “That’s cool. I’m surprised he actually didn’t just show up without telling either of us. Speaking of which, my buddy Leo wants to come over next week with his fiancé, would that be cool with you?”

  “Yeah, I’d love to meet him” She smiles and again, moans.

  Alright, my dick might explode.

  ***

  We’re sitting on the couch after dinner, watching some show that she chose. I’ve stopped paying attention to anything other than managing my breathing and noticing where on the couch she is and exactly how close she is to me.

  Her leg and my leg are friends now, her thigh and my thigh are next to each other touching. I’m well aware of this. She’s now started to lean my way.

  “Is this okay?” She asks as she leans her head against my shoulder.

  I can’t vocalize how okay it is, so I just nod as she fully leans into me. Back in my high school days sitting like this next to a girl like we are right now was a big deal, I feel like I’m 16 again and I need to start paying attention to whatever the hell this is that we’re watching.

  It’s a movie on one of the paid channels, and thankfully it’s an action movie that I’ve seen before. The next scene is a steamy sex scene, it’s clear that Tatum has never seen the movie as she’s enthralled in it and doesn’t anticipate what I am. The lights are off and I’m back and forth between watching her and watching the movie. Her tiny intakes of breath when an explosion occurs are endearing, and then it’s almost like she holds her breath as the characters on the screen start going at it. She is avidly watching the television, and I’m watching her. I can almost see her accelerated heartbeat as I watch her.

  After a few moments she clears her throat and then sits up and distances herself from me, as the characters progress their making out top stripping each other. She looks nervously at me, and I catch her eyes.

  “You alright?” I ask.

  “Yeah, I, just.. need to go to the restroom.” She says scrambling off the couch.

  I pause the television which she immediately notices and shakes her head.

  “No need to pause it, I don’t mind. I won’t be long.” She runs into the bathroom and I laugh.

  I keep the television paused anyways.

  Chapter 25 – Tatum

  I practically locked myself in the bathroom for several minutes, trying to regulate my heart beat. The way we were sitting together on the couch and then what was on the television was indeed arousing me and I think this quick timeout in the bathroom is helping.

  I look at myself in the mirror, my cheeks are flushed. Who am I kidding?

  It took every ounce of willpower that I have to not roam my hands on Max’s chest as we sat there with my head on his shoulder. I doubt he’s as affected by me as I am by him, as I’m fairly sure that my reactions right now are pregnancy hormone induced.

  I splash some water on my face and take a deep breath, while taking one last look at myself.

  I walk out into the living room and Max is still sitting on the couch, playing with something on his cell phone, he still has the movie paused at the point that I left.

  Great! I sigh and then sit down next to him, distancing myself a little.

  “Ready?” He asks setting down his phone.

  “Can we, can we um fast forward this part?” I feel like a prude asking this.

  “What? Why?” He asks with a smile.

  “Um, can we just?” I give him my puppy dog eyes.

  “Yeah, sure Tate.” He stares at me, he’s looking at my lips and I’m trying to refrain from jumping the short distance to him and attacking him.

  I get off the couch and walk into the kitchen.

  “Do you want anything while I’m up?” I ask while I reach and grab a can of pineapple.

  “No, thank you.” He says.

  I turn around and come face to face with Max. He’s a few inches away from me as he places both his hands on my hips and presses me to step back. My breath has hitched and I’m unsure as to what his intentions are, yet I’m hoping that they are the same as mine.

  “Tatum?” He says quietly.

  “Max?” I question back breathy.

  “Excuse me.” He said reaching behind me at the bowls, and I practically have stopped breathing. He then reaches into one of the drawers beside my hip and pulls out an ice cream scoop. He has a knowing smile on his face and winks.

  Damnit!

  He offers me ice cream which I decline and soon joins me back on the couch. I’ve got to get my mind out of the gutter. Maybe I should just call it a night. I look at the clock on the wall, and it’s still too early, Damnit!

  We continue watching the movie, or rather Max continues to watch the movie and I watch him lick ice cream off of the spoon. He caught me looking a few times, in which he would just smile at me.

  I study his profile, the definition of his jaw, how his facial hair seemed perfectly placed and how it surrounds his lips, those lips that when he smiles I want to nibble on. He just finished his ice cream, which is a damn shame since now his lips are licking themselves and I’m wishing that I could be licking his lips instead.

  He catches me watching him again, and then scoots closer to me with a smile. He puts his arm behind me a top the couch and again our thighs are touching as my heart beats faster. Nonchalantly, I lean into him again, and this time I let my hand fall on his thigh. His thigh muscle tightens at my touch and I see him suck in a breath.

  “Tatum?” He whispers.

  I look up just as he leans down and his lips are on mine. He tastes like chocolate mint ice cream as I kiss him back. He makes a noise in his throat as he deepens the kiss, brushing his tongue against mine and lifts me so I’m straddled on his lap without breaking our contact. My fingers run through his hair, as his hands rub along my back with light pressure and I unintentionally rock against him, feeling his hardened length under me. I rock a few more times and then I come to my senses and with urgency remove myself from the couch breaking all contact.

  We are both breathing heavy and we stare at each other. I can tell that I’m flushed as my whole body feels like it’s on fire.

  “I’m sorry.” He says slowly standing.

  My eyes are trying to stay on his eyes, but they go to his below regions where he is clearly straining against his gym shorts. He adjusts his stance and takes a step behind the couch, hiding himself.

  “No, I’m sorry.” I breathe out.

  “I’m, umm… going to take a shower.” He says turning.

  I release the breath that I didn’t realize that I was holding and touch my hand to my cheek. Holy shit, that was intense. I reach for the remote and turn off the television, make sure the front door is locked and place Max’s ice cream bowl in the sink. I hear water turn on from somewhere in the house, and I go into my ro
om.

  I sit on my bed and look at my bedside table. My vibrator is in there, waiting to be used.

  Oh hell, why not?!

  ***

  Saturday morning arrives and the house is quiet. I look at the clock beside my bed and it’s still relatively early. Maybe Max will still be sleeping and I can make us breakfast for a change.

  I slowly creep into the hallway and Max’s bedroom door is wide open, I peer in and he’s not inside, nor is he in his bathroom. But the rest of the house, is still quiet as I walk into the kitchen and start to pull down some ingredients to make French toast.

  My goal is to not make what happened last night awkward today. I crack a few eggs, add some vanilla and half and half and I’m mixing everything together as I hear the front door open and close, followed by footsteps.

  Max rounds the corner and stops when he sees me. He’s sweaty and wearing only his running shoes and some shorts.

  “Did you forget your shirt?” I tease him to break the silence and to stop myself from openly gawking at him.

  He smiles, and takes that as incentive to crowd my space and rub his sweaty skin on my back as he bends.

  “Rule number three Tate. Broken again.” He whispers with his hand on my hips for a brief moment and then he retreats out of the kitchen and into his bedroom.

  Gross, he wiped his sweat on me. I stop what I’m doing and I follow into the hallway, his bedroom door is still open as I can see in the mirror in his room that he’s sitting on his bed removing his socks and shoes. My devious mind decides to fuck with him or just plainly tease him. As I walk slowly past his door, I remove my shirt. I know he saw my deliberate movement as he is now at his doorway with one sock still on as I discreetly close my door with him only viewing my bare back. I slowly push my door closed, but suddenly my door is pushed back just as slowly with Max on the other side.

  I don’t move to hide myself as I’m now standing in the closet, with another shirt I front of me.

  “Tatum?” He breathes.

  I look at him and he walks into my bedroom and stands in front of me, his hand reaches for the shirt I was barely holding on to. His arm wraps around my waist and he pulls me to him and captures my lips mercilessly. I reach and put my arms around his neck and push my body fully flush against his as my back hits the wall. I then walk him backwards until he hits my bed with his legs and I continue to push him down. I sit astride him and lean down to continue kissing him.