The Marriage That Didn't Stay in Vegas (BWWM Romance) (8 page)

              “Ouch!” she laughed.

              “I’m sorry, Jamie,” he laughed back to her. 

              I turned and took off running.  I had to get out of there, and I had to leave right now.  I passed Clara at the entry of the haystacks.  She was holding my shoes and I didn’t even stop to get them.  I ran to the front of the house and one of the girls was pulling my purse out.  I slowed and yanked my purse and keys away from her. 

              I jumped in the car and heard Mini calling for me from the porch.  I started the car and took off for the gate.  I saw Xavier and Jamie running to the front of the house in my review mirror.  I sat at the gate until it whined open slowly.  Sonic and Boom were both barking and running after the car now. 

              I just kept going through the gate and I floored it down the long country road.  When I made it to the highway, I rested my head on the steering wheel and lost it.  I was so stupid to think he would actually wait on me.  He was a man and he had needs- needs that I wasn’t here to give him, but Jamie was here.  There was a tap at the window and I jumped in shock. 

              Ben was standing outside my passenger side window.  “Mrs. Luther?”

              I turned back toward the highway and floored it.  I didn’t know where I was going and I didn’t care.  All I knew was I had to get away from Xavier and that damn farm.  I eventually made to a small community. I looked at the sign.  It read Tex Tip and that made cry even harder.  I drove down the wide road and pulled up in front of Phoebe’s Corner. I sat there and cried and cried. 

             
Nothing ever works out for me; I will continue to be a screwed up,
I thought to myself. 

              Now that I didn’t have a job and I had no idea where I was going to live.  I guessed I was going to have to go back to my parent’s house.  I thought about it and that just made me feel worst. 

              I put my head back on the steering wheel and had a hysterical moment.  I don’t know how long I was like that, but when I rose up from my episode, there was a figure right standing right next to me.  I focused on the plaid shirt and then on the bulge in the seat of the wranglers.  I’d know that bulge anywhere. 

              He pulled the door handle and it was locked. He stared at me with pink-tinted eyes.  I pushed the unlock button and he yanked the door open.  He gently pulled my left leg out and he squatted down between my legs.  He laid his head on my thigh and he awkwardly wrapped his arms around my waist and seatbelt.   I cried a little more and he just held on to me. 

              I felt so pathetic that I wished I could find a hole and just crawl into it and die. 

              “It’s not what you think,” he whispered.

              I didn’t respond to him right away; I just sat there.  A few people walked by, but they didn’t even stare. They just glanced and kept on going.  That shocked me. In Los Angeles, there would have been a crowd with their cell phones out recording us.  They would have been waiting for a fight and would have posted it within seconds, but not here. Everyone seemed to mind their own business.

              “I want a divorce,” I told him. 

              He sat up and stared at me with glassy eyes.

              “Phoebe, don’t leave me. My life doesn't make sense without you.” He pulled me tighter, and I turned away from him.  He stretched up and kissed the side of my wet face. “Please, babe. Don’t leave me.”

              “You love her; I can see that.  I’ll be fine. You don’t have to feel sorry for me anymore,” I said with my head facing the passenger side window.

              “Will you come take a ride with me?” 

              I turned back towards him and he kissed me quickly.  He acted like his life depended on it and that he had to do it now or never.  I kissed him back and savored his taste.  He pulled away and stood.  He reached his hand out for me and I took it.  He helped me out the car and into his truck cab.  We drove about five minutes away from town and turned on a side road.  We pulled up to a brand new, two-story cabin.  The grass in the front yard was well manicured and there were two wooden rocking chairs on the porch.  Xavier left the lights on the truck, came over to my side and opened the door.  I slid out into his arms so that we could walk around to the front of the truck.

              “I built this for you.  If you're working late and don’t feel like coming all the way home or if you just need to get away from me, this is your home away from home if you want.”

              I tried to take it all in. 

              Xavier turned me around and looked at me square on.

              “Jamie is a lesbian and she has a girlfriend. They’ve been together for six years now.  She was teaching me how to braid long hair for the show horses I purchased.  There is absolutely nothing between her and me. I swear to you on everything that I love.”

              He was serious and I believed every word that left his lips. 

              “I did everything but beg you to come to me and you didn’t budge.”

              He stared at me for a long moment.  I shifted my eyes away from him and stared out into the distance. 

              “Look at me,” he whispered. 

              I looked back at him.

              “Tell me how you feel…”

              I stared at him and said nothing.  I noticed it was getting harder for me to breathe.  Xavier placed both of his hands on the sides of my face.  He made me stare into his eyes and then, I knew what I had to do.

              “I want you.”

              “Okay.”

              “Right now, Xavier.”

              He pulled me back to the truck cab. I yanked my jeans and panties off.  He killed the truck's engine and unzipped his pants.  I slid over on top of him and he stopped me when I sat down on him. 

              “Tell me, Phoebe,” he said with a sexy growl. 

              Xavier had to hear me say how I felt about him. “I love you, Xavier.”

              “Yes, yes Phoebe,” he started panting and frowning. 

              I realized quickly that Xavier needed me as much as I needed him.  

              “I don’t have any condoms on me.”

              “And I’m not on the pill.”

              We both looked at each other again.  Both of us were panting and in need of each other’s bodies.

              “Do you want babies?” he asked me.

              “Yes, a whole truckload of them,” I told him.

              “Now. You want to start now?” He asked me.

              “Why not? I’ve already seen the world.  How about you?”

              “And, I’ve seen it through your eyes.” He told me. 

              Xavier pulled his big, one-eyed snake free and I surrendered myself to him. 

              I rode him until the cows came home and I meant that literally.  There were over a dozen cows walking through the pasture on the side of the house.  It was pitch black dark now. I sat on top of Xavier, all ooey gooey and sticky.  I knew with all the semen he had shot in me that I’d be pregnant.  He held on to me and I held him.

              “I don’t want to leave here.”

              “We don’t have to. I mean, we will eventually need to eat and change clothes, but we have hot and cold running water in there.  There are a few of mother's quilts in the master bedroom closet.”

              “Really?” 

              We ended up staying at the house for four more days.  We didn’t need any clothes, but the food issue began to be a problem.  Mini called on our first day to check on us and Xavier told her where we were. Two hours after that phone call, we had a huge basket on the porch with a ton of food, the bare necessities, and lounge gear.  We had breakfast, lunch, and dinner waiting on us in a basket for the next four days.  When we finally emerged from the house and headed back towards town, Xavier turned his signal on to turn into the shopping area. 

              “No,” I protested.

              “Your car?”

              “Send someone back to get it,” I said all snuggled up against him. 

              We acted like two young teenagers in love riding in the truck cab all up under each other. When we pulled up to the house, no one was in site, and we went upstairs to put on some decent clothes.  Once again, he took me in the shower as he had for the last four days. 

              “Mr. Luther, you have the stamina of a teenager.”

              “Mrs. Luther, I have years of catching up to do.”

              “Well, by all means, Mr. Luther, have your way.”

              “Why thank you, Mrs. Luther. I will.”

              We left our bedroom at dinnertime and ended up snuggling up on one of the loveseats in the great room.  Mini and Clara walked in and paid us no mind.  Mini handed me a big red book, a blue book, and a white book. I looked over at Xavier, and he smiled while he enjoyed his newspaper.  I opened the red book and it was the staff’s schedules and their information. The blue book was the breakfast, lunch, and dinner schedule.  And, the last book, the red one, was the finance book. I slammed it shut quickly when I saw the balance that was in the bank.  I had never seen that many numbers on one line my life.     

              “Why did she give these to me?” I whispered.

              “You’re the woman of the house now,” he said, then kissed the top of my forehead.

              “You trust me with this stuff?”

              “I trust you with my heart and without my heart, I wouldn’t have a life. So, I trust you with my life.”

              “I want you.”

              “Shhhh, let’s eat dinner first, and then, we'll go to bed early,” he said in a whispered laugh. 

              Xavier and I went on like rabbits for the next two months. 

              Xavier started his horseracing and showing business with his pure breeds.  I opened my boutique, and soon after, I had to open two more locations.  Xavier and I lived part-time in the house closer to town.  He would go to work on the farm. I would go to work at the boutique. We would go home and spend our nights in bed for a while until we got the news.   

              I had passed out at the Boutique on a Wednesday afternoon in the spring. Xavier met me at the hospital in the ER.  Xavier had called our family doctor to meet us at the E.R.  Dr. Patterson patted Xavier on the back and told him he was supposed to keep the fertilizer in the field.  We found out that I was three months pregnant and I never knew the wiser.  I had been working all day and then making love to my new husband all night.  I hadn’t even realized I hadn’t had a period for months.  Two months later, Dr. Patterson told us we would be having a bouncing baby boy. We soon moved to the big house full time for some help.  Then like clockwork, one bouncing baby popped out, one after the other. 

              Six months after Xavier Jr. was born, we found out about the upcoming arrival of Xilla. After her, there was Xander. Last and definitely not least, we had the twins Xeraphina and Xadrian.  They were hell on wheels. Xadrian came out screaming, and he’s been doing it ever since.

              I decided to keep the whole X tradition when it came to the children’s name.  Xavier and I now had our very own truck full of kids.  As soon as I got one out, Xavier was filling me with another.  I had to admit that I loved being pregnant. Xavier loved taking care of me.

              I reconciled with Uncle James and he came down to visit us every chance he got.  Addison and Daphne were the best godmothers a child could ever want.  I now had six locations and I named the stores after each child.  We were so busy now with the farm and the boutiques that we rarely had a second alone.  There were always paws or little hands tugging at us at all times.  When the grandparents or godparents came to visit the kids, Xavier and I got to stay at our house in town.  We also went there on other occasions, birthdays, anniversaries and whenever we could get a sitter.  We liked to go there so we could have that hot balls deep kind of sex. 

              One evening after paying a small fortune for a sitter and giving a lame excuse to the kids, we went to the house in town. We just lay in each other’s arm in the silence for hours.

              “I was thinking. I would like to build the kids a Ferris wheel.”

              I looked over at my husband, who had the exact same stamina he had the day we got married.  His eyes were tight and his wrinkles on his forehead were visible, he was thinking hard and deep.

              “I don’t know about the kids, but I sure would love one,” I told him. 

              He gave me a wide smile. “I didn’t think I could love you anymore than I already did, but each and every day you make me.”

              I thought about our wedding night so long ago.  Xavier and I were dancing in the little white chapel.  We were waiting our turn to get hitched.  We danced to Whitney Houston’s
I Wanna Dance with Somebody
.  We were so drunk that we had a slow swing instead of an upbeat tempo.  We had stopped at three other chapels, but I told Xavier that I refused to let Elvis marry us.  We found this chapel and it was Elvis free.  When we finally made it to the aisle and up to the podium, Xavier kissed me a dozen times all over my face.