The Golden Chalice Read online

  Lee’s hand swept up and went south, under the trim of her sweater, coolly gliding across her skin. A jolt of undiluted pleasure went up her spine from contact. She gripped the sandwich so tight her nails went through the bread. But she didn’t object. She took another bite as ice spread through her gut. An acute sense of loss came down upon her. When did we create a baby? Was it when he’d lied to her about his love, or when she’d lied about her intention to stay? How had sex that had once been no more than lies turn into the creation of life?

  Soon his touch changed, as she’d guessed it would. And her response, of course, changed with it. A soft caress of her back ensued and eased up to her bra. His fingers lingered on the clasp. Two of them twisted and unhooked it so smoothly she barely noticed. That was until the bra loosened and her breasts dropped heavily. Michelle relaxed. She felt him ease behind her. His shadow fell over her. Both his hands, under her shirt, went to her breasts. He cupped the load of them in his palms and squeezed them gently.

  The sensitive peaks were pinched, plucked, twisted, and rubbed until they were painfully tight and swollen. She lowered the last of her sandwich, and placed her hands flat to the countertop. A hot tear of regret trickled down her cheek, unseen by him, as he pulled the stool from under her with his foot at its base, forcing her to rise.

  She shed the tear because of her duplicity, not just with him but with herself. Oh, how she wanted to be the woman who’d keep him at bay. She rigidly held the rest of her tears in check and forced her eyes to shut. His hand dropped from her breast to the top button of her jeans.

  “I’ve missed you.”

  Three words she needed to hear came in a deep whisper. She shivered under an unwelcome surge of excitement. Those words were a passionate challenge she knew she’d be unable to resist.

  Michelle bit her lip and sucked the tender spot. It tasted of mustard. He pushed the button through the slit and slid the tab of her zipper down slowly. Her jeans loosened around the waist and his hand slipped into her panty. With heart-rending tenderness, his fingers went over her mound and two stroked the outer folds of her sex.

  “Can we?” he asked huskily. He must know the answer. There was little about her body he didn’t know. “Can I?” he asked again.

  She leaned into him, granting him more access with a slight parting of her thighs. A soft sigh escaped him, releasing a warm moistness over her cheek. Those two, stroking fingers plied her folds apart, causing her clitoris to emerge. He rubbed his middle finger over and circled it, driving spasms of pleasure through her pelvis. It was her time to sigh as her entire being braced for more.

  “No more waiting, Michelle. I want you now,” he grunted, removing his hand and forcing her jeans and underwear down off her hips. The coolness of the room brushed her backside and blew a chill up her spine. Lee paused. She leaned forward, looking up at his reflection on the oven door across from them. She saw his inner conflict, his inability to control himself, despite some stupid vow he’d made to himself to be patient. Michelle closed her eyes and didn’t care. She just wanted to feel again, make all the hurt and disappointment go away.

  Lee forced her panty and jeans down to her thighs. He ran his open palm over her left butt cheek. “I’m sorry, babe. I….”

  Michelle dipped her back and pushed against him, brushing her sex over the bulge at the front of his pants. His gaze shot up to the reflective surface of the oven door and locked with hers. She held his stare. She rose upright, but he pressed forward to make sure she didn’t escape. He touched the point of her chin and turned her head just a bit, over her shoulder, to face him. His tongue went across her lips before easing into her mouth.

  The kiss struck a chord in her and again played at the strings he used to control her. His lips departed hers, leaving her mouth gaping and her tongue seeking his. He reached and swiped his arm over the granite countertop. The jars of mayonnaise, mustard, bread, meat, and all the other fixings crashed to the floor. She felt like the breathless girl with the unwavering crush again.

  Michelle gripped the edge of the island as he ripped her jeans down to her ankles. The Dobermans dropped their heads on their paws, watching.

  “I can’t wait,” he wheezed, and she understood his desperation.

  She parted her legs, just wanting the fire that raged in her gut, spiraling to her quaking pussy to extinguish. She burned internally for him.

  “Do it. Just do it.” She dropped her head, breathing hard, moving her bottom in a temptingly naughty display. She caught the wild look of hunger in his gaze. It forced her to obey. Her feelings for him had nothing to do with reason.

  Lee had his zipper down and his cock in his hand, stroking it. The head of his cock rubbed her slit and she lifted on her toes, trying to open wider for him. His first thrust came swiftly. Michelle gasped and sucked down a deep breath. Her inner walls clenched in distress over the invasion. His hand went to her ponytail. He gave it a tug and forced her chin to tilt upward, her head to bend into his pull. She winced. He shot his hips forward. Another powerful thrust set her bottom lip to trembling; another tear escaped the fortress with all the others and trekked down her cheek. He was only a few inches in. It felt as if her lower half was coming apart. Thick, veined, jerking, his cock beat into her thrust after thrust until her pussy complied and adjusted.

  Lee pulled on her hair, causing the clasp to snap and free her tangles. He held on tight, moving in and out of her in continual waves that had her panting and moaning for more. She rolled her hips, and he swayed to hit every tender spot. She thought to scream her pleasure but feared she’d wake the house. Pleasure, freedom, and joy centered in her chest. All of her emotions intensified with the building climax quivering through her pelvis. His cock jerked inside her. Lee was apparently unprepared for her willingness. She gripped his length and released him with her own commanding moves as he pounded her with demanding thrusts. His low-hanging scrotum stroked a beat against the sensitive bud of her sex.

  He pinched her clit and worked his index finger until a firestorm of sensations spread from her hips to her knees. And he kept going: deeper, faster. Michelle groaned and her chest brushed over the countertop, thrust after thrust. She didn’t dare ask for mercy. And as much as she hated herself and him, she wouldn’t if she could.

  “It’s tight,” he grunted and in his heavy, lustful voice, she heard him salivating over the feel of her. “So sweet, and tender, that’s what you are.” He rocked in and out of her, stroking her silken walls as his length tunneled in and out.

  Michelle balled her hands into fists. At the base of her throat, a pulse beat and swelled as though her heart had risen from its usual place. He fell over on her and gripped her around the waist. His weight crushed her to the cold surface of the counter. His cheeks clenched while his dick shuddered through his release, expelling his hot seed deep into her barren womb.

  For the first time since he’d revealed the loss of their child, she processed it all: Pops’ words, his, and all that could never be. She cried out in agony and frustration and let her tears free.

  Lee shot upright and disengaged from her sticky wetness. He turned her around and brought her up into his arms, her own arms pinned between them. He kissed her tremulous lips and kissed away her tears. She could do nothing but cry it out until the numbness returned.

  “Welcome home.”

  He’d misread her pain, apparently believing it to be progress. He let her go just to pull up his pants and pass hers over, with her underwear. She looked at him, through him, and he scooped her into his arms, to carry her out. Leaving the shattered food for someone else to clean, Michelle allowed it and disappeared into the protective cover of his arms. She was unable to choose––for the moment––differently.

  Chapter Five

  “Michelle, are you awake?”

  Lee smoothly ran his hand over her skin from shoulder to elbow. She lay next to him in his massive king bed. Her backside pushed against his groin. With her hair wild, covering, he could see
little of her face. He enjoyed the light snore she released at times. It sounded so sweetly serene.

  “I’m glad you’re home. Hell, baby, everything is wrong between us, but I’m glad you’re here. I don’t know how to fix it. I’ve made so many mistakes with us, Michelle.” He moved her hair from her cheek, careful to not wake her.

  “I’ve been so lonely for you. Pops would want to kill me for touching you, for dragging you into the life. He sure as hell wouldn’t believe my reasons, just like you don’t. Told him I didn’t need a woman for the things I want with you, Michelle. Like our baby….” His voice trailed off. Lee felt his throat close and he swallowed hard to keep his cool. “Could we…I mean, I spoke to the doctors and they said you’re healthy. Maybe we could….” Lee pressed his lips together. She was a jewel thief, and so was he. They weren’t the typical couple. What the hell would they do with a kid? Teach him the family business?

  Lee drew away from her. He reclined against his pillows and stared at nothing. “I would like a son. Maybe our kid was a boy. I’d want a son.” He nodded as if it were decided.

  Closing his eyes, he summoned the image of a mocha child with curly hair and deep-set brown eyes like Michelle’s. He smiled and saw himself at soccer games, opening presents with the kid on Christmas. “Yeah. A boy.”

  An unwelcome truth echoed deep in the black stillness of his mind. You know dick about being a father. Look at your own. Lee combed his fingers through his hair and scratched his scalp. He sat there silent, defeated. She let him have her body. Michelle rarely denied him the pleasure. But did he have her? Truly? His mind burned with the memory of them before he’d corrupted her. And again he had to face what Pops had told him long ago. He wasn’t worthy.

  Lee heard a knock at the door. He looked up. Michelle pushed it open. He frowned. Even at seventeen, she wore a uniform from the parochial school Pops forced his girls to attend. She stepped in with a navy blazer and white button-down shirt, a plaid skirt, and white socks that were pulled up to her knee caps. He nearly laughed at how comical it was. Michelle had become one of the best on his payroll. The latest score she and Pops pulled off would make him rich beyond his dreams.

  “Lee? Your man outside said you wouldn’t mind. Are you busy?”

  “What are you doing here, kid? How did you get here from the South Side?” he asked, waving for her to enter.

  Michelle grinned. Damn, her smile was like sunshine on a Monday. He leaned forward, doing a full sweep of her. She wore her hair straight behind a matching blue headband, and a little makeup that gave her a fresh, untouched look. She truly was beautiful. Lee had known her mother, briefly. Though he never spoke of her to Pops, he remembered her beauty. Michelle looked so much like her.

  “I can drive, you know.” Her response snapped him out of his thoughts. “Pops bought me a car. It’s parked outside.” She dropped her backpack on his leather armchair and pranced over to his desk. This was the first time since the incident last spring, when he’d found her naked in his bed, that they were alone. Lee tried not to let it worry him. No matter how young and ripe she was, he would never touch her, or betray Pops.

  “Wow, you get a new ride for what…birthday?”

  “Guilt.” She shrugged and met his gaze dead-on. “Did you really have to tell him about me and you? What we did?”

  Lee shook his head. The two of them had never discussed it. She arrived with Pops and listened in on jobs, but they never once talked about what went down, or didn’t, between them. “We did nothing, Chocolat. You were in my bed, and I told you to go.”

  “Right, and you told my father I tried to seduce you. He hit me.”

  Lee grappled with her accusation. “He what?”

  “He smacked me. First time Pops ever laid a hand on me.” She crossed her arms. “It better be his last. Or—”

  “Fuck. Shit.” Lee shot up from his chair and approached her. “I’ll speak to him.”

  “No, you won’t. It’s a family matter, and you ain’t family.” Michelle glowered at him. Suddenly her tone and demeanor took on a guarded, distrustful state. The bright smile she gave him had faded. She challenged him with a hard, unforgiving stare.

  “Sorry. I mean, I’m sorry. He’s your father. You’re so young. You shouldn’t have gotten in my bed, taken off your clothes.”

  “Why? Because fucking a seventeen year old is morally wrong, but sending one out in the streets to rob for you, that’s okay? You’re a hypocrite.”

  “Chocolat—”

  “Don’t call me that! I’m over my crush, Lee. I’m over you. I climbed in your bed because I thought I was in love with you. Silly me. Loving a man like you. Damn right, I can do better.”

  Lee swiped both hands down his face and groaned. Why was he arguing with a teenager? She might be seventeen but she was acting like a toddler. He tired of the whole ordeal. “Fine. I’m a loser. Now go home.”

  She laughed. “I gave my virginity to a guy named Michael Carr just yesterday, Lee. So don’t worry. I can get sex when I want it.”

  Lee stopped. His head slowly turned, and he narrowed his eyes on Michelle’s challenging smirk. Did he hear her right? “You did what?” he asked.

  Michelle dropped her hands to her hips. Her eyes glistened with angry tears. “I hate you, Lee. I mean it. I hate you.”

  “You did what?” He grabbed her by the arm and threw her on the sofa. She scooted away from him, her hands curled into fists, as if she’d lunge at him. He paced before her to calm down, but it didn’t work. Nothing worked. “Don’t you tell Pops this. Damn it, Michelle, quit this shit, okay? We’re family.”

  “No, we’re not!” she shouted at him. “I didn’t come here to talk over our sex lives. I came to tell you that I want you to pay Pops out. For the job we pulled. I want us to go straight. I…I’m thinking of going to college and making babies with Michael. Going straight. Already talked to Pops about us leaving and he’s okay with it. So give us our damn money, and I won’t ever have to see your face again!”

  Lee barely heard her. He just kept seeing some punk kid with his hands all over her. What did she say his name was? Michael Carr. He’d put his top gun on it. Find the little bastard and beat the shit out of him.

  “Lee? Did you hear me? That Assister job is all over the news. They said those jewels are worth fifty million. I counted Pops’ money. He barely made fifty thousand. Where is our damn money?”

  Lee’s anger consumed him and fed his jealousy. “There is no money. Can’t unload the jewels. Get the hell out.” He marched over to his desk. He wanted to smash something. Namely the pimple face of some punk kid named Michael Carr.

  Michelle rose, furious. “There has to be money. You’re lying. I don’t know what deal Pops made with you, but that job was ace. You owe us!”

  “You don’t negotiate with me!” Lee seethed. “You need to know your place, little girl. I deal with Pops and him only. And there is no getting out, Michelle. You and your father work with me on my terms or you don’t work at all!”

  She blinked at him with raw hurt in her eyes. He hadn’t wanted to hurt her. Or maybe he had. He just wanted the damn kid out of his face. She had him on edge. “Get out!”

  Michelle grabbed her backpack and walked out, slamming the door.

  Lee clenched his fist and accepted his misery, but Michelle never did. He opened his eyes and returned his gaze to her. She turned over and rolled in close to him. Her arm went around his waist; her face rested in his lap. Lee stroked her head. He knew she was semi-awake, enough to hear what he needed to say. “I want you to know that I plan to keep my promise. I only waited until you were better. But I plan to honor my promise. I’ll let Sasha out of the family. You can take her where you choose. I won’t go with you. Give you some of the freedom you need from me. And you’ll come back…. And we start over.”

  She lifted her head and peered up at him. “You’ll let her go.”

  Lee struggled to keep the emotion out of his voice. “I can’t let you go, Mich
elle. I know it’s not what you want to hear, but I won’t do it. Never.”

  She nodded.

  Lee slid down and rolled on top of her. She parted her legs and he slipped inside her, kissing her deeply. Michelle’s hands were gentle. Softly and sweetly, she moved beneath him as he plunged deeper. His tongue escaped and made a path down her neck. She arched under him and he sought her nipple, while his dick tunneled, stroking in and out of her. Her heartbeat throbbed beneath her breast, into his mouth. Lee rolled his tongue over her nipple and sucked her areola ’til she panted. Her breasts heaved and her pussy went from tight and warm to soft and pliant. His thrusts became erratic, hurried movements that sent the headboard to banging against the wall. She clung to him, arms and legs wrapped around his body, thrashing as he buried his face into her shoulder and shuddered out the biggest release of love he could give her. Lee allowed himself to weep, silently, into her shoulder. She’d think it sweat and not tears against her skin.

  He should let her go. Set her free. A better man would. But he would never let go of the happiness and hope she unknowingly gave him.

  “Lee? Lee, are you okay?”

  “Mmm.” He pressed his face to her chest before lifting his head. She frowned, looking up at him curiously. Lee forced a smile, or hoped he did before he dropped off her.

  Michelle drew the sheet away and rolled to escape him, possibly to wash away his seed.

  “Stay.”

  She looked at him.

  “I want another baby. Give me one.”

  She blinked at him, and his request thickened the tension between them before she spoke. “No, Lee. Never again.” She rose and left him alone. Lee closed his eyes allowing the answer to repeat, both in and out of his head.

  “Never again.”