Endless Love

Alex finished his breakfast, and they headed downstairs, saying quick hellos to Lyla’s mother. They then trailed out to the back porch and sat down in the poolside chairs; Lyla felt dread in the pit of her stomach. She knew what this talk would be about, and she didn’t quite feel up to it.

“So, what do you want to know,” she asked, ready to just get the conversation out of the way.

“What were you thinking, why were you half naked in front of him, and what did you do when I wasn’t here,” he asked, the pain leaking out in each question.

Lyla lowered her head and began, “I-I know I can’t blame the wine, because I wasn’t all that wasted to begin with, but I know I wasn’t in complete control. As for why I was half naked, I had given something up that was precious to me, something I had been saving for you. Something I wish I had thought about before I gave it away so easily to a stranger. Alex, I will not lie to you, I had sex with Clark - it was the heat of the moment, but it meant nothing to me, or him for that matter,” her words rolled out. She put her hand on Alex’s and continued.

“And if you’re ready, I can talk about what we did,” she paused and waited for Alex to nod his head, “well, I went exploring his house, because he was on the phone with my sperm donor, and I found this room that had boudoir photography hanging up on the walls. When he found me I had asked him about it, and he told me he dabbled in a type of BDSM.

“I was curious about it, so he took me down to his ‘playroom’ and showed me what he did, and all I can say was, it was thrilling, but I shouldn’t have let him, I shouldn’t have done these things with him, because we went upstairs and had sex. The things we had done mesmerized me, and I forgot to stop and think for a moment about what this would do to you,” she stopped, having said most of her piece.

Alex looked up at her, the pain gone, and a solemn expression replaced, “so you didn’t intend to hurt me,” he asked. Lyla nodded, then wiped a single tear that had made its way down her cheek. “Lyla, I’m curious, what made you ignore every guy before this point, why didn’t you experiment with any of this before now,” his lawyer’s curiosity seeped out.

“Well, as you know, my father left us when I was very young, so I told myself all guys were like that. I’ve had this animosity towards men ever since; until my professor told me to get close to someone I had made no plans to get close to any guys, and then I met you. You’ve been the only person to make me vulnerable passionately, you didn’t rush things, you were happy with just the paltry amount of what I could give you,” tears now came pouring out.

“I didn’t have a pleasant experience with my father, and that’s no excuse, he left us for something much younger than my mother, and chased his ambitions for money instead of growing and maintaining his family. But you’re not like that, and I should have seen that when I found out Clark works with my father; he thinks just like him, too,” she snarled, realizations coming quicker now. She took a moment to breathe, and when she exhaled she saw a small smile on Alex’s face.

He put his hand on Lyla’s cheek to wipe away the rest of her tears, “Lyla, I think I sort of understand you even if it’s only a little, and I can somewhat understand why you did those things,” he leaned over and kissed her hand. “I’m no longer mad at the situation, and I’m certainly not mad at you, but please promise me this won’t happen again, because I don’t think I can handle it. And I know its not ideal, but I have to win your trust back; you really hurt me, and I don’t want to be hurt like that again,” he sincerely vowed.

Lyla nodded, finding his terms understandable and very reasonable for what she had done to him, she got up and sat down on Alex’s lap, then laid her head onto his shoulder. She could feel the tension in his body when she touched him, and she felt when it slowly loosened.

Lyla pulled Alex back inside and asked if he had liked to go swimming, and he obliged. They went upstairs and changed into their suits, and as Lyla changed Alex noticed bruises all over her body from all the places Clark was rough with her. He pulled onto the bed and caressed her body, burying his face into her hair, wishing he could take the marks off of her. He kissed her neck, then released her; she finished getting her suit on and noticed the bruises herself in her mirror, and gasped in horror.

“I didn’t know he had left anything on my body,” she gasped as she inspected every inch of herself. Alex pulled her into him once again and kissed the top of her head, and she wrapped her arms around him feeling safe once again in his arms like she had just last week. A small phrase with a lot of meaning replaying in her head over and over, “I love you, Alex.”

He picked her up, and she wrapped her legs around his torso. Alex crossed the room and sat on top of her bed, kissing Lyla and tangling his fingers into her hair and resting his other hand on her bottom to support her. Lyla began hesitating, not wanting to rush him into anything that he didn’t want to do, but when she said those words to him everything had evaporated in his mind. He no longer cared she had been with someone else, he saw how horrified she was by the sight of what they had done to her body, and felt the impact of the words she whispered to him. He knew she meant ‘I love you’, and he meant it as well when he said it back.

Once they peeled themselves off of each other they grabbed a towel each from the hallway and continued down the stairs, and out to the pool; Lyla’s mom nowhere in sight. Lyla shrugged, and they slowly made their way to the deep end of the pool where she threw her arms around Alex and hung onto him just like that as he waded through the water. Then they both heard the angry yelling from the house next door, and Lyla knew it was her mother.

“I cannot believe you! I told you to get to know her, not have sex with her, and YOU, you let this cretin have sex with you daughter?! I’m glad you left when you did because this is not how a responsible parent acts towards his daughter,” her mother's voice had been loud enough to reach through Clark’s door, “You’re lucky all Alex did was give you a black eye, because if you ever come near my daughter again, I’ll do so much more to you!”

Lyla and Alex looked at each other then started laughing, because of the embarrassment Lyla’s mother was bringing not only her dad, but Clark. They listened from the pool until Lyla’s mom came home and her anger had not subsided, so they got out of the pool to dry off and help Lyla’s mom with calming herself.