I opened my eyes looking at the ceiling. Yesterday, obviously, I didn't send any video or picture to Blake showing him if I was actually with his mother or where I was going to sleep because yes, I slept in Ian's room with him.
I looked up to see that I was holding one of his legs, as he was sitting on the bed, his back against the wall while stroking my head gently. He smirked at me.
"Good morning, my beautiful." He murmured, grabbing my arms to remove them from his leg so he could lie down next to me.
"What time is it?" I wondered if he had let me sleep longer.
"6 o'clock. You still have time. The important thing here is how you are feeling." He asked, leaving a kiss on my forehead.
Yesterday, when we said goodnight to Eleanor and went up to his room, with the intention of sleeping at first, I couldn't help taking out all the nerves that had accumulated in my chest in the form of tears.
I had to vent about everything that was happening and the conversation I just had with Blake. Then I wanted Ian to make me forget absolutely everything, so I understood his question.
"I don't want to pick him up at the airport." I confessed when I hugged his neck.
"Let me do it then." I felt his hands caressing my back covered with his shirt.
"I told him I'd go with Eleanor." I pulled away to see him, who was on his back, so I leaned on his chest. "If you're the one who shows up after what happened last night, baby, it'll be worse for both of us." A knock sounded on the door.
"Kay, are you awake?" Eleanor spoke in a low voice.
"You can come in." Ian spoke, giving her permission and she did so without looking inside. "You can look too, Ellie. It's okay." She looked over her shoulder slowly. I laughed at her reaction and exchanged glances with Ian.
"Oh, thank goodness." Eleanor put a hand to her chest in relief. "I made something for breakfast before we went to pick up Blake, as we agreed." I nodded.
"I'll be there in two minutes, as soon as I change." I sat on the bed.
"We have a lot to talk about, my darling." She smiled, making me do it too, and left the door half open.
"Am I the topic you both have to talk about, my beautiful?" Ian caught my eye and I looked back to see him raise an eyebrow.
"I don't know..." I shrugged in fake innocence.
When I tried to get up, he pulled my arm back until I was fully laying on top of him. He started to kiss me and put his hands on my lower back, only covered by underwear, to caress down my thighs. He spread them until he passed them over one of each sides of his body.
"I gotta go..." I murmured against his lips.
"No." He giggled, putting his hands up inside my shirt.
"Yeah... And you... You... Have to go... To work..." I tried to say between kisses and his caresses at my sides. His hands went up to the side of my breasts and back down to my hips.
"Wait a bit, beautiful, please..." He spoke with that cuddly tone.
"Don't talk to me like that, my baby. You know, that is my biggest weakness." We laughed knowingly when he nuzzled his nose with mine.
"I just need you 5 more minutes..." He kissed my neck and I closed my eyes when a soft moan left my lips.
When I slightly turned my head to give Ian better access to continue kissing it, I glanced toward the door to see that Eleanor was there, serious expression on her face, and arms crossed because I hadn't gotten up yet, so I did it and straddled Ian with hands on his chest.
"Katie!" She exclaimed my full name reproachfully and I stood up from the bed completely.
"I'm sorry, mom!" I said quickly.
I realized what I had said and stared at her, not knowing how to react. She had uncrossed her arms, her expression relaxed until her eyebrows arched tenderly and she had brought both hands to her chest with a huge smile.
"I'm sorry... Eleanor..." I murmured, rectifying.
"It's okay, my darling..." With that smile and a sigh she started to leave. "Don't take too long to get to the airport on time." This time she closed the door when I nodded.
"You just made her immensely happy." Ian said, still from the bed.
"I spoke without thinking, I don't even know what I meant..." I excused myself, taking off my shirt with my back to him. I heard the bed and knew he was up.
"I think you, too, just made yourself happy without knowing it." He murmured in my ear to place a kiss on my temple.
"Why do you say that?" I grabbed the dress from yesterday and put it on.
"Because you're smiling like I've never seen you before." I looked at him. He was putting on one of his typical dress pants. "And I mean a different smile, not mischievous or love or romantic. It's another type." I put on my work jacket, which I also had on yesterday.
"It's been so long since I said that word like that... I'd even forgotten what it feels like." I confessed and sat next to him on the bed to put on my boots.
"And what does it feel like?" He asked, putting on his shoes.
"Affection." He nodded in understanding.
"By the way, changing the matter..." I looked at him. He was leaning forward and it looked like he was thinking. "I wouldn't want you to be alone with Blake. And it's not out of jealousy." He looked at me clarifying. "It's because now I don't know what he would be able to do to you if he gets angry in front of you the same way he does on the phone." I agreed, understanding his reasons.
"But you also understand that I can't give him any more reasons to be more suspicious, right?" He nodded slowly, as if he didn't want to understand it at all.
"You have to spend more time with him today until we tell him tomorrow, I know." He admitted with clenched teeth. "Has he called you at night?" I shook my head.
"We only speak by message and it's better this way. I don't want to talk to him on the phone, much less want a video call. He always asks me to... "I was silent and he frowned.
"What does he ask you to do?" He got up and that made me feel intimidated, since I was still sitting and I was level with his abdomen.
"Racy conversation I don't want to do." I confessed with a sigh. "I haven't. As I told you, we have only spoken by message since the last video call on Monday." He nodded and sat back more calmly.
"I have to calm down..." He murmured with a kind of growl, so I got up and reached over to grab his face with both hands.
"Everything's going to be fine, baby." I placed a kiss on his lips as he hugged me around the waist.
"For his sake, I hope so." He sighed deeply.
He was hugging me for a few seconds when he left his forehead resting on my abdomen, but we had to move away so as not to be late, so we finished dressing and gathering things up.
I helped him put on his tie, although he knew how to do it, but it was just another excuse to be so close, to take the chance and give us a few more kisses between cuddles and affections, since we were going to spend less time together today and we wanted to take advantage of what we could.
When we went downstairs, Eleanor was already there, so we ate breakfast while Ian helped me set up the new cell phone. I didn't lose anything and kept the same number, so there was nothing remarkable.
After breakfast, he said goodbye to us by going to his car. He told me that any problem with Blake, even the slightest, I'd call him, that he would be waiting by the phone.
He was very angry with him for the treatment Blake was giving me lately. Even if he said it wasn't jealousy, I wanted to think that it was because I had to be with Blake on this day as if nothing was happening between the three of us.
Before leaving, I took out of his car the bags with the gifts he gave me last night to wear tonight. I put two in the trunk of the motorbike and left two hanging from the handlebars, just so I wouldn't forget them later.
After that, Eleanor and I got into her car to go to the airport.
"So..." She started, but she fell silent. "Well... Uh..." She didn't know what to say. "I mean, you and Ian..." She didn't finish.
"You want to ask me something?" I told her directly and we chuckled.
"You know I do..." She gave me a quick look, but she still didn't say anything else.
"Ian is so much better than Blake in every single way possible, if that's what you want to know." I confirmed, laughing.
"Oh, darling, I know." She said as if it was obvious. "I could imagine it, anyway." She nodded at her own words full of certainty.
For some reason I wasn't jealous of knowing about the past they shared together. Maybe because I was glad that she was a wonderful person, maybe because I knew that these days they only had a very good friendship or maybe because Eleanor had a partner, from what Ian had told me.
"Have you ever...?" She hesitated with an awkward laugh because she didn't know what to ask or how.
It was very funny to me because I knew perfectly well that Eleanor was a question machine who never shut up, so seeing her like this was cute since it seemed that she didn't know how to deal with this situation in the natural way that she wanted.
It was not a very normal situation, actually.
I felt that I was living a lost middle part of my adolescence, I was living what it felt to have that conversation about sex, relationships and love that I never had with a female and maternal figure.
It was my father who was in charge of giving me all those conversations and, perhaps, that was the main reason why today there were no taboo subjects at home nor was I ashamed to talk about any of those things with my family, despite being all men.
"Have you ever...?" She said again without knowing how to continue.
"What do you mean?" She chuckled, embarrassed, at my curious question.
"If you've ever had..." She struggled to speak, but she stayed there, trying.
It seemed to me that she was not thinking about what she really wanted to say to me since, at the first dinner, when Ian asked if Blake and I had already had sex before we were together, he had said that yes, we had done it with other people before, making it clear that neither of us were virgins when we started the relationship.
"You know what? It's funny... " She listened attentively. "Ian is not my first man, but he has made me do so many things for the first time." I couldn't look at her while speaking.
"Really?" We exchanged glances and I nodded.
"I didn't know I was be able to..." I looked at her, not knowing how to say it without being rude.
"To ejaculat...?" She pointed at her crotch with her finger.
"Aha..." I nodded shyly.
"Lucky you. I've never been able to." She made a gesture of annoyance that was funny to me.
"It's tiring..." I murmured in the same amused tone.
"Of course it is, my darling. Ian would rather remain unsatisfied himself than leave his woman unsatisfied." I nodded again, more confident.
"I know. Trust me, I do..." We started laughing again as the scene on the counter after the pool replayed in my mind.
"Don't tell me it happened to him!" She exclaimed in surprise.
"It's just that Blake came back earlier and we were there in plain sight." I explained as if I was defending myself.
"At my house!?" Her tone of voice was outraged and she looked at me.
"I'm sorry, I guess..." We stared at each other when she stopped at a red light and we burst into laughter.
"It's okay, it's okay. At least it's a safe place." It sounded like advice, which made me nod slowly. "Because Ian, being older than you, takes care of you and makes sure it's all safe, right?" That sounded the opposite, a threat.
"Well, if you mean how safe a public restroom in a mall can be..." She looked at me with wide eyes and a smile that was going to burst out laughing at any moment. "His office when several people saw us, a beach, a park; at night both. In his car in a public parking lot... " I thought. "Actually anywhere 'cause in his car it has happened several times." She started laughing.
"It's quite big." I nodded without hesitation.
"I know, right! Huge!! It hurt me at first, but it's okay now. I got used to it." We looked at each other when we realized we weren't talking about the same thing.
"I was talking about his car." She murmured, pressing her lips together to hold back the laugh.
"Me too..." I said imitating her gesture, but it was impossible because we ended up laughing out loud.
We gradually stopped laughing as we got closer to the airport, since Blake could not suspect, much less know, that we had this great and intimate complicity, especially after she found out last night the truth of what was happening, with whom and what kind of person her son really was.
She parked the car, we got out and went to the airport, to the waiting area. The conversation didn't stop at all, any time. It was changeable all the time and we talked about thousands of things, not just about Ian.
She told me about her boyfriend, although she did not give me many details, and I was telling her things about my family, also about our jobs and our friends. We were both willing to listen to the other and she gave me advices when I needed them.
So now we were there, sitting on one of the benches at the airport waiting for Blake to leave through the arrival gate, but that was not the case because he came dragging the suitcase from the door that led to the bathrooms.
Blake looked more serious than usual and I understood it perfectly when I remembered the conversation we had on the phone last night, about him knowing that I had stayed at his house with his father there and that he strongly suspected that something was happening between the two of us.
Be that as it may, I wasn't going to give him real reasons because tomorrow he was going to find out the truth once and for all.
He greeted her mother quite neutrally, although he gave her a hug that lasted a few seconds and then stood in front of me. I didn't know how to greet him because Ian was the only one in my head the whole time, so Blake was the one who hugged me.
"Aren't you glad to see me, love?" He talked in my ear.
"Yeah, of course." I pulled away, he grabbed my face and tried to kiss my lips.
I didn't like it at all when his mouth touched mine, so I pushed him away a bit by putting my hands on his chest. He looked at me with a frown, but I smiled, hugging him again so as not to make it more uncomfortable and obvious.
We exchanged a few more words between the three of us and ended up leaving the airport. Blake did not let go of my left hand, as he was carrying the suitcase rolling in his right one.
Eleanor, on my other side, tapped me with her shoulder when she saw that my attention towards him was waning, but I was not too interested in what he was telling me because a hypothetical horrible scenario began to play in my head with the conversation we would have tomorrow.
I looked at Eleanor as I smiled at her, she returned it with a nod and we continued to pay attention to what Blake was saying, although he was silent the rest of the way to the car.
When we got there, his phone rang, he apologized and turned around to walk away a few steps, so I was the one who grabbed his suitcase to put it in Eleanor's car, who had already opened the trunk.
I was surprised when I made more effort than normal to lift it and almost lost my balance because it weighed absolutely nothing. That puzzled us both, and when I left the suitcase in her car, Eleanor opened it to see that it was empty except for two basic t-shirts.
We exchanged suspicious glances and she closed it again when we saw Blake approaching, but we didn't say anything.
We got into the car, he sat in the passenger seat while I got into the back seat, thinking about why he would bring a suitcase with nothing inside. Even though he was back only for two or three days, that was not normal.
I thought about texting Ian just as my phone vibrated in my jacket pocket and I grabbed it to see what he had texted me first, asking if everything was okay.
That made me think of the strong connection we had and I had to wipe the stupid smile off my face because Blake was looking at me in the rearview mirror.
I wanted to tell Ian what Eleanor and I had just seen in the suitcase, but I thought it would be better to do it face to face, so I just answered that yes, that everything was fine, that we were going to leave him home and then I was going back to mine to get ready for dinner tonight.
The ride was silent all the time to their house, which was in complete contrast to how it had been when Eleanor and I had been talking about literally anything we could think of and laughing out loud.
Eventually we got there, the three of us got out of the car and Blake stared at my bike parked to the side of the front yard. I looked at it and saw the two bags hanging from the handlebars.
"What's that?" He pointed them out.
"I told you yesterday I went shopping with your mom." I lied and he stared at me.
"You can't afford those shops." He frowned as he opened the trunk of the car.
"She doesn't have to, she has me." Eleanor came to my rescue.
"Why would you buy her such expensive things?" Blake was on the defensive and I inadvertently stroked the ring on my right hand; the one she had given me the first day.
"Because I can and because I want to." Eleanor answered by putting a hand on my shoulder.
"Women... All they do is spend..." Blake murmured, grabbing his suitcase and walking to the house.
Eleanor was going to keep arguing, but I grabbed her hand and shook my head, letting her know it wasn't worth it. She nodded unconvincingly, locked the car, and we followed Blake into the house.
"It's really cold today. Would you like some nice hot tea, Kay?" She asked me in a sweet voice and I nodded. "What about you, Blake?" She asked in a more neutral voice and he shrugged.
Eleanor went into the kitchen and Blake grabbed my wrist to make me sit on the couch next to him almost forcibly, although I pushed him away with a sudden movement because it hurt me a lot, since he had pressed more than normal.
"So?" He began.
"How was the flight?" I asked him surreptitiously.
"Where did you sleep?" He asked. Rather he demanded defensively and angrily.
"Here, Blake, you know that." I shrugged my shoulders. That was not a lie at all.
"In my room." He stated and I nodded very slowly. "I don't know what the hell is wrong with you lately, to be honest." He murmured, looking at me with a frown.
"And what about you? What the hell is wrong with you?" I was fed up that he was accusing me and treating me this way when he wasn't acting the best either.
"It's your fault." He said confidently. "You no longer want to kiss me or talk on video calls or even touch me. You don't talk to me like you used to and you don't pay attention to me even though you don't have to work so much anymore because my father..." He remained silent.
"What's the matter with him?" Eleanor appeared with a tray and three cups of steaming tea.
"That's what I'd like to know." Blake answered seriously.
"It's Friday so he's working at the office, as usual." Eleanor played along as I grabbed a cup and started to drink.
"Where did he sleep last night?" Blake looked at her seriously and her mother frowned.
"Well, here, where else would he sleep?" She said simply and I took a sip, looking away.
"And Kay? Where did she sleep last night that she stayed over?" Blake nodded at me.
"In a guest room." Eleanor answered and I looked at her holding my breath.
"And why did you tell me that you had slept in mine, my love..." He whispered to me with clenched teeth.
"You'd have been angry if I had told you that..." He interrupted me.
"Leave us alone, mum, please." He said. Eleanor was about to talk, but he spoke in an angrier voice. "Leave us alone!" She gave me a quick look, I nodded, and she went upstairs.
"Why did you do that?" I put the cup back on the tray.
Blake was silent looking at me, he had a very angry expression that suddenly changed completely to one of... Sadness? His eyebrows arched, his lips curved down a bit, and he swallowed quite notoriously.
"I feel like I'm losing you." He murmured to me, softly.
"I leave work late and I don't..." I stopped talking without wanting to continue lying to him. He got angry again.
"Come on, Kay. My father has taken care of everything, you no longer have to work so hard." Every time he said 'my father' he said it emphatically.
"I know. I do it because I like it. Photography and drawing are my life, just like music is yours." He nodded slowly, looked away from me and looked back at me as he grabbed my hands.
"My life is you, my love." He didn't sound sincere to me and I couldn't believe him. "If you want me to stay, I'll stay." I quickly shook my head and took his hands off.
"I'm not gonna ask you that." He frowned and I thought I had to fix it. "I mean, I know that music is your dream and I'm not going to ask you to give it up just for me." His frown relaxed and he nodded.
"I do want you to stop working. At least for a while because you seem to be very stressed lately." He grinned and didn't give me confidence or good feelings. It seemed very cynical. "Take some holidays, love." That sounded really odd to me.
"It's just me and Abby. I don't wanna leave her alone in the studio. I already took the day off today to pick you up..." He interrupted me as if he had an idea.
"I know!" He exclaimed. "Tell my father to take you to our country cabin. Now that you both have so much confidence, I'm sure he won't be able to say no to you." That fake smile was still on his face while mine had paled.
"We don't have the confidence to do that." He raised an eyebrow at my lie. "Besides, your father has already done a lot for my family and me. It would be too much to ask for more." I pretended, so that he didn't realize anything while I thought he knew everything.
"Okay, I'll tell him." I nodded without actually listening to him.
"What have you said?" When I realized his words, he had already taken out the phone and dialed Ian's number. "What are you doing? Don't do it, Blake." I said seriously when he put on the speaker on purpose for me to hear them.
"Dad?" He spoke, getting up when Ian picked up the phone.
"Everything's fine? You've already got home?" He asked as Blake walked across the room.
"Yes. I wanted to ask you a favor..." Blake said, staring at me to see my reaction. "You know what? Actually, Kay wants to ask you a favor." I looked at him, stunned.
"No, no, don't be a liar! I didn't say anything!" I exclaimed feeling accused.
"What's going on, Blake?" I could picture Ian very serious and frowning on the other end of the phone.
"Kay is asking for some days off at work, some holidays, and I want you to take her to the country cabin." Ian paused on the other side, processing Blake's words.
"Well... I'll see what I can do." He murmured seriously. He hadn't liked that at all.
"You can take the laptop with you. We have an Internet connection, you can work from there. That is not a problem." I had a feeling that Blake was doing all this on purpose because he knew everything.
"It's not that easy, Blake. I have to schedule some important meetings too." Ian was against this, I knew it. I didn't like the idea either, even though we'd be completely alone for how long.
"But haven't you both been so close lately?" He looked at the phone and then at me.
"I don't know why you say that." I spoke trying to prove him wrong.
"Neither do I." Ian said on the other end of the line.
"Come on. I'm not asking you to have sex with my girlfriend, dad." He was silent for a few seconds. "I'm asking you to take her to rest at the country cabin for a few days, maybe a week, and that's it." Ian sighed at Blake's insistent tone of voice.
"Okay. Fine. I'll do it." He agreed reluctantly.
"I need someone to watch that she is really going to rest and not to work. That's why I'm asking you, dad, you know that you are the person I trust the most." We both knew exactly what Blake was doing; trying to make us feel guilty.
"Of course." Ian didn't feel intimidated at all. "If that's what you want, I'll take good care of her." He said confidently and I sighed hearing his goodbye as a distant murmur.
"Done." Blake said hanging up.
"Why did you do that, Blake?" I mumbled looking away from him. I couldn't look at him at all.
"The best girlfriend in the world also deserves a good holiday from time to time." He left a short kiss on my lips and went upstairs.
My back was shook by the worst chill I ever had in my life when I thought that Blake already knew it all and he was just seeing how far we could hold onto this and how far we could take this affair.