Blake: A Bad Boy Romance (9 page)

Chapter Sixteen

Blake had always been a light sleeper and he woke when he felt the bed move as Ivy sat and then stood up. Her naked body was fuzzy in the darkened room. He could only see the outline of her shape, but he could tell by her actions that she was getting dressed.

“What are you doing?” he whispered. He glanced at the clock and saw it was one in the morning. He had fallen into a deep sleep almost immediately after his last bout with Ivy. He had fallen asleep with her in his arms and he wasn’t ready to let her go yet. He reached out and grazed the back of her thigh with his fingertips before wrapping his hand around her leg and pulling her back to bed.

With a quiet giggle she let herself be drawn back down to the bed and into Blake’s arms. But it seemed she could not be so easily distracted and, after a moment, she withdrew from his arms. She sat on the edge of the bed, grabbing her panties and pajama bottoms while Blake placed small kisses on the small of her back.

“I need to go back to bed,” she whispered.

“Now?”

“Our parents are old,” she replied. “They get up at like five in the morning. If I don’t go back now, we’re gonna get caught.” She stood up and Blake let her go. He looked over at her and she turned around and leaned over him. Ivy stroked his cheek with her palm and and kissed him. “Goodnight.”

“See you in the morning,” he whispered. He watched her close the door behind her and once he could no longer hear her footsteps he closed his heavy eyelids. He turned over to her pillow and took a deep breath. It still smelled like the soft floral perfume she used. She had always refused to tell him the name of it. She said it was a lady’s secret.

He stood up and pulled on his boxer shorts. He found the used condom and brought it to the bathroom, making sure it flushed. It was important to Ivy that they not get caught and he was ready to prove to her that he was different from the guy she had dated in high school. She was right when she said Blake only ever thought of himself back then. But not anymore, now the things that were important to Ivy were going to be important to him, too.

He walked back into the guest bedroom, taking a moment to listen to the house and make sure everyone was still asleep. He needn’t have worried; the house was dark and silent as Blake went back to bed. He was asleep seconds after his heavy head hit the pillows.

***

“What do you think?” Ivy asked as she stepped out of the dressing room. Her dress was a pale purple color. It had a lace collar and lace sleeves that reached down to her wrists. The soft, light fabric of the dress fell all the way down to her feet and floated around her.

“You look lovely, dear,” Ellen said as Ivy twirled in front of them. Her skirt filled out around her as she spun and she couldn’t keep the smile from her face.

“You have good taste,” Ivy said. “I’ve never been in a bridesmaid’s dress this pretty before.” She glanced over at Blake and he saw the look in her eyes, a mix of teasing and open flirtation. The dress was hugging her curves in all the right places.

Blake was dying to feel the soft fabric between his fingers as he imagined pushing it up her legs and over her hips.

“What do you think, Blake?” Ellen asked.

“It looks great,” Blake said, his voice louder than it needed to be. He banished his Ivy fantasy from his mind before it went any further.

“Now it’s your turn,” Ivy said with a smirk.

Blake nodded and walked into his dressing room where his new suit was waiting for him. He dressed quickly, taking a moment to adjust the collar and tie in the mirror, making sure everything was straight and nicely aligned. The suit was a dark, solid, black with a white undershirt and a purple tie that matched Ivy’s dress. It was a good look for him and he took a moment to appreciate his reflection as he fixed his hair before stepping out into the tailor’s shop.

These were their wedding clothes that had been custom tailored and they were all trying them on for the first time. Everyone except for Ellen; her wedding dress was still being finished and Blake and Jonas weren’t allowed to see her in it until the day of.

Blake stepped out of the dressing room and his mother clapped her hand over her mouth to keep from crying. “You look so handsome,” she said and Blake saw actual tears leaking from her eyes.

“Cut it out, Ma,” Blake said, fidgeting with the lapels on his suit. He was always uncomfortable when she was so open with her emotions. Blake preferred sarcasm and cutting comments to her honesty.

“I’m sorry,” Ellen said, trying to discretely hide her tears.

Ivy was standing next to her, her arms crossed as she smirked over at Blake. He had to restrain himself from kissing that smirk off of her face.  Blake walked over to her and they stood side by side in front of a long mirror. Her purple dress complimented her dark hair and pale skin; they looked like a good couple. Blake smiled at Ivy’s face in the mirror and his heart swelled when she smiled back.

“It’s going to be a lovely wedding,” Ivy said and Blake saw the slightest hint of sadness in her eyes. He knew she was still worried about what people would think about their relationship. He wished she didn’t care; he wished there was some way to explain to her that nothing they were doing was wrong.

Blake drove with his mom in her little red Ford. They were following Ivy and Jonas to a nice restaurant in town for dinner. Glancing at his mom Blake wished he could tell her that he and Ivy had come back together. It would make Ellen so happy, she had always loved Ivy and had in fact taken Ivy’s side after Blake had bailed on prom. It wasn’t normal for him to keep things from her. His entire life it had just been the two of them and his mom had always been there when Blake had needed her. She had managed to get him out of a lot of tight spaces during high school when the police visited the house more than once. But Ivy had asked him not to and he needed to respect that, no matter how hard it was.

They arrived at the restaurant and parked in the lot. A light mist of rain was falling from the grey sky as they walked towards the restaurant. Jonas took Ellen’s arm and guided her to the door and Blake watched them with jealousy and he kept a respectful distance from Ivy.

“So, Blake, I saw your fight the other night. We were worried for you for a second there,” Jonas said.

They were at the nicest restaurant their town had to offer, sitting at a table sipping wine as the sun set behind them. It was a nice Italian restaurant with a large dance floor in the middle surrounded by tables. There was a live band playing slow jazz music as couples dipped and twirled on the dance floor. Their trip to the tailor was done and there was little left for them to do to prepare for the wedding. Now they were relaxing for the rest of the night, enjoying each other’s company.

“Yeah,” Blake said. “I’m training hard this week. I have another fight coming up and I need to step up my game.”

“You still won,” Ellen said. “I don’t want you to push yourself too hard.”

“Pushing myself is part of the job, Ma,” Blake said taking a long sip from his drink. “I always have to keep working and getting better. There’s no sitting still in the MMA. I always need to be stronger and faster than my opponent and he thinks the same thing about his training. It’s a competition and the person who put in the most work wins and I always win.”

He glanced over at Ivy; she was looking in a different direction and taking a delicate sip of her wine. He wondered what it would take for her to finally be on his side about this. Fighting wasn’t just his job, it was his life. He needed to eat healthy and he trained every day. It wasn’t like some office job where he punched a clock to start work and punched it again to leave. Every moment of his life was spent preparing for his next fight. It wasn’t an easy life, but it was exactly the life he wanted.

“I think that’s a fine attitude,” Jonas said. “I believe hard work is its own reward. You should always be trying to improve. That’s how I run my business.”

“Thank you, Jonas,” Blake said, tipping his glass to his future father-in-law.

“Ellen, my dear,” Jonas said, taking Ellen’s hand in his own. “Would you care to join me for a dance?”

“Of course,” Ellen said a smile covering her face. With eyes only for each other they stood up and walked hand in hand to the dance floor.

Blake saw Ivy smile from the corner of his eye and he looked over to her and thought about everything he had missed about her since their messy break up.

“What are you looking at?” Ivy said, a blush creeping up her chest.

“The prettiest girl here,” Blake said.

Ivy shook her head, “You are so cheesy.”

“Hey,” he said and Ivy finally turned and looked at him. “When we get back to Seattle maybe you should stay with me until this whole Darryl thing is figured out.”

Ivy looked down with a sigh and then looked towards the dance floor. He could see her trying to figure out what to say. He wished he could figure out why she fought things like this so hard, why she denied herself happiness.

“I don’t know, Blake,” she said shaking her head. “I’m not sure if that’s a good idea.”

“Why?”

“You want us to move in together? We just started doing this again. We haven't even figured out what we are yet and you want me to move in.”

“Temporarily,” Blake said.

“There’s no end in sight with this Darryl thing. It might never end.”

“Then you’ll never move out,” Blake said with a shrug. “Is that such a bad thing?”

“What are doing?” Ivy said, turning to fully face him.

“We’re dating, Ivy,” Blake said with a roll of his eyes. “It’s not that complicated. We used to date and now we’re dating again. Did you really want to start from square one? We already know everything about each other; we know how much we care for each other. Why are we pretending that we’re anything but what we are?”

“What about your swinging bachelor life?” Ivy asked. “I don’t want to be in an open relationship or have a friends with benefits things. I don’t do that, I’ve tried it, it’s not for me. If I’m with someone then I’m all in. Are you willing to give up all your side pieces for me?”

“Yes, as long as the same thing goes for you. I want to be with you and only you and I want you to be with me and only me,” Blake said. “We want the same things. We should to be together. Why are you fighting it?”

Ivy didn’t say anything. She looked up at him and then bit her lower lip. Finally, she nodded. “Okay, I’ll stay with you. Thanks,” she said giving him a weak smile.

He reached over and took her hand in his. “You don’t look very happy,” he said and she finally smiled for real. “It’ll be fine and if it’s not we won’t do it anymore. We can still be friends. We can still be civil. But we deserve to give this thing between us a real fighting chance. We’re so good together. It’s not that complicated, Ivy.” Blake said.

She shook her head at him, but she was still smiling as she pulled her hands from his. Their food arrived and Ellen and Jonas were returning to the table. As he cut into his steak Blake glanced up at Ivy and could still see the lingering pink blush on her chest.

***

She didn’t come to his room that night. He debated going to hers, but, in the end, decided against it. She seemed so skittish about their relationship. She was like a deer in headlights, liable to run off in any direction. He needed to give her space. He had already lost her once and he didn’t want to risk losing her again. He rested on his back and stared up at the popcorn ceiling of her guest bedroom.

He was ready for Ivy. He was already getting bored with his parade of friends with benefits. Those women seemed so empty and cold compared to Ivy. Ivy was so sweet and caring and thoughtful and sexy. He had never had anything that compared to the sex he had with her.

Back in high school she had been just as eager as Blake and they would find any and every opportunity to rip off their clothes and explore each other. The backseat of cars, back rows of movie theaters, their bedrooms when their parents were out, a particularly secluded spot in the library, they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. They were older now, but the passions were still there. Blake didn’t want to be separated from Ivy for even a moment. He wanted to sleep next to her every night. He wanted to be able to reach out and touch her whenever he wanted. He wanted her in bed next to him right now. Down the hall wasn’t good enough anymore.