Chapter 21

*****

TWO WEEKS LATER

*****

They stepped out of the store to meet a considerably aged sun beating a slow retreat. The evening was getting older and night was certainly not far away, but Lance still had no thought of excusing himself.

He'd tried twice so far, but Selene still wouldn't allow him help her carry at least one of the grocery bags. He had escorted her here from school after their classes had ended and they'd come in her car since he'd lent his to a close friend who needed to run an urgent errand. But all this time that he had tagged along with her, they'd scarcely said more than just a few words to each other. Even though he'd known the woman for a few months, Lance still didn't find it easy to engage her in conversation.

She had a way of switching between formal and informal so markedly that he was always putting extra restraint on the use of his tongue whenever he was around her. He only talked when she talked, smiled when she smiled, but he would never get used to the manner and speed with which she usually extinguished those smiles of hers.

He looked at her sideways, just a quick glance, as he escorted her to the parking lot, wondering whether to renew his offer to help her carry the bags. Eventually, he decided against it and just focused ahead to judge how far away was her vehicle. But suddenly, his eyes lighted on a car that had just come to a stop in the lot. It was painfully familiar, but he couldn't place where he had seen it.. until the driver's door flew open. Lance froze immediately!

Selene stopped too, wondering what had made him freeze so suddenly. But she didn't have to ask the question. The driver of the vehicle was marching towards them with an expressionless but far from happy face and Lance stood motionless, staring like an electrocuted soldier. The driver was no one but Cara!

One glance at them was enough to tell Selene that her presence might be very unnecessary.

"See you next week then," she murmured and headed off to her car.

Lance didn't reply. All of a sudden, he had the mind to run after her and ride with her for his own safety, but it was too late - Cara was already close to him! What happened next shocked him.

Instead of stopping to eye him fiercely, Cara whizzed past him without paying the least attention to his presence. Lance was doubly frozen! But he recovered quickly and darted after her. He caught up with her just as she was about to step into the store.

"What is it?!", she snapped, flinging her arm from his reach as he tried to hold her.

"Come on, Cara, don't be like that."

"Like what? You suddenly remember me now that you've seen me. Out of sight, out of mind, right?" Her eyes were shooting fiery daggers and he knew without doubt that she was very angry. He decided to lead with an explanation.

"Look, I've been very busy t..."

"Yeah, that's clear enough," Cara shot back, glancing at Selene's car as it pulled out of the area.

"God no! Not that. She's just a friend. I meant that I've been busy trying to throw Mom off our scent," Lance hurriedly explained.

She folded her arms across her chest and eyed him doubtfully. Even though he was in trouble, Lance couldn't help but feel drawn to the enormous cleavage she was unintentionally creating by hugging her chest like that.

"So that's what you've been doing for the past two weeks, huh? Throwing your mom off our scent and managing to ignore my calls and messages at the same time."

"Well, that's the idea-"

He had to pause as they made way for a customer who was exiting the store. Then he grabbed her hand and led her to a quiet spot away from the entrance. She jerked her hand away as they came to a stop at the far corner of the fence, folding both arms across her chest again and waited for him to continue. But Lance was silent. His attention was somewhere else entirely and it didn't take her more than a second to find out where.

"Dog," she scolded and dropped her arms from under her breasts, fixing him with a withering glare.

Lance scratched his head guiltily and tried to gather his thoughts.

"I'm waiting," she reminded him impatiently, even though she could still feel the heat in her lower abdomen that his greedy stare had aroused.

"Well, ahem," Lance cleared his throat, "somehow, Mom found out that we were still seeing each other and from what she said, I knew she was gonna do something... something to keep us apart forever."

"Like what?", Cara demanded.

"Well, I don't know. And that's the worst part - not knowing what to expect."

"So you kept it to yourself and forgot about me like I'm some toy that Mommy asked you to throw away a..."

"No no no, you got it all wrong," Lance stopped her, holding her by her bare arms. Cara didn't know whether to push him away or draw him closer. His hands felt so warm and she wanted that warmth.. all over her body.

"The thing is," Lance continued, oblivious to what she was thinking, "I was only gonna stay away for a while, just to get her to believe that we've finally broken up. I couldn't risk taking your calls or replying your messages, you know. I'm yet to figure out how Mom found out about us and how we're gonna keep her from finding out in the future."

He stopped to search her eyes to see if she understood, but instead he felt it in his hands. Her body relaxed ever so lightly as she emitted a silent sigh. Lance didn't wait for any more signs! He quickly dove in and captured her lips with his. At first, she resisted, but he probed and nibbled until she allowed his tongue into her mouth.

"Hmmm," she moaned as he pulled up her gown and grabbed her panty-clad backside. He didn't know if she was moaning in protest or arousal; he assumed it was the latter. He placed quick bites along her jawline up to her earlobe and then down to her neck.

"Lance," she said shakily in a breathless whisper, "someone will see us."

"I'll be quick."

And quick he was. Before Cara could catch her breath, he pushed her to the wall, grabbed her butt and lifted her off the ground.

She didn't know when he managed to unbuckle his trousers, but suddenly she felt his naked cock poking at her sex. So he was really going to do it! She held on tight to him, with a wildly beating heart, expecting any minute to be caught.

"Oh," she gasped as he pulled aside her panties and penetrated her in one swift thrust. Then he stopped. Why?! Had he seen someone watching them?! But she didn't get a chance to wonder for long. He balanced himself properly, gripped her buttocks tighter and started pounding into her. Cara's mouth fell open and she held on strong as he shook her entire frame with his powerful deep thrusts. Her eyes were open but lacked focus. Even if someone was coming, she wouldn't see. Even if she saw, her mind wouldn't register. Christ! She'd really missed getting fucked like this.

"Oh God!", she moaned as she had her first orgasm. Another one followed swiftly and she bit down on his shirt and dug her nails into the back of his neck while he pounded on.

Suddenly, Lance grunted and released into her in an endless stream. He'd really missed her too.

She remained limp in his arms, her eyes closed and small shudders wracking her body at short intervals.

"You okay?", he whispered in her ear.

"Hmm," was her only response.

He waited for a few seconds and then slowly put her on her feet.

As they disengaged, a flood escaped her sex and hit the ground with a splash. Lance quickly pulled out his handkerchief and handed it to her. She wiped herself dry and put her almost ruined panties back in place - at least, it was better than staying panty-less in public.

"Let's go," she said and handed back the handkerchief. But she didn't move. She was staring at his face as if she'd never seen it before.

"What?", Lance asked in surprise.

"Oh nothing," she said dismissively and breezed past him, doing her best to suppress a smile.

Lance didn't think much of it; he simply shrugged and followed her.

**

For the next few minutes, Lance stayed beside Cara as she moved around the store from aisle to aisle on a quick shopping. They got brief stares from other customers, but he tried to look more like a bodyguard than anything else, especially when it was time to pay for the items. Then they went off to the car, put the groceries in the backseat and occupied the front seats.

Lance didn't offer to drive and neither did Cara ask him. He simply sat quietly in the front passenger seat and stared straight ahead. He did not feel the need to talk. It felt strangely queer to engage in a conversation with her now and he guessed she felt the same way too. It was in this state of mutual silence that they arrived at their destination.

Cara slowly rolled the vehicle to a stop a few blocks away from his house and Lance was silently grateful for her presence of mind. He had also noticed that they were approaching his house, but it didn't occur to him that dropping him off at home would be a disaster. If she had been carried away like he was... God help them.

"Thanks for the ride," he said, looking at her for the first time since they started the journey.

"Welcome," she half-whispered and continued staring straight ahead.

"Was planning to pay a surprise visit on Thursday," Lance said quietly.

When she didn't respond, he added, "Would still come."

No response still. So he opened the door, but before stepping out, he turned and leaned closer to give her a kiss. To his surprise, she stopped him with a firm hand on his chest. He was confused. Was she angry?

"Go home," she said softly, "and be a man. Then you can come see me. I'll only love the man, not the Mommy's boy."

With that, she gave him a gentle push and he climbed down from the car. But his feet had hardly touched the ground when she suddenly zoomed off, leaving him standing there on the side of the road. He quickly recovered himself and looked around to see if a neighbor or a friend of his mother's had been watching, but instead everyone was going their own way without paying the least attention to him. So with a sigh and a shrug, he began the short trek home.

**

When Lance stepped into the house, the first thing he noticed was Anna jumping down the stairs. But on sighting him, she slowed to a walk and screwed up her face.

"Is that lipstick?", she asked, pointing towards his head.

"Huh? What rubbish are you saying?", Lance was half convinced that she was drunk or something.

"On your face and shirt," she explained as she jumped on the sofa, still not taking her eyes off him.

Lance still felt she was talking nonsense, but nevertheless, he extracted his phone from his pocket and viewed himself in the mirror. His eyes widened immediately. On his left cheek was a pink smudge and just above his left breast pocket was a near perfect imprint of pink lips. No wonder everyone in the store had been looking at him funny! And Cara had been wicked enough to not let him know what she had done! But to make matters worse, he could hear his mother's voice as she made her way from the kitchen.

"Lance, is that you? Didn't hear you drive in."

It didn't cross his mind to respond. He quickly gave his cheek a vigorous rub, but the smudge didn't go away. What sort of sticky lipstick is this?! He quickly rushed to the stairs, pulling off his shirt as he went. Anna fell into a giggling frenzy, but he didn't mind the mockery. Escape was the priority! But unluckily for him, his mother walked in just before he could dart out of sight.

"Lancelot, didn't you hear me call you?", she scolded, hands on her waist in a typical angry mom stance.

"Sorry Mom. Was in a hurry," he apologized in a voice that he could not believe was his.

"Anyway, where's... hey, what's that on your neck? How did you get those marks?"

Shit! Just when he thought he could finally escape. Those infernal talons of Cara's!

By now, his mother had rushed up to inspect the marks closely. He made sure to keep his left cheek away from her while trying hard not to shake like a leaf as she touched the back of his neck tenderly.

"It was just a cat," he said with a faked careless shrug and a wildly beating heart.

"How on God's Earth did you get injured by a cat? Only a satanic cat could leave such huge marks."

"Must be a tigress," Anna offered, giggling merrily. But the glare that Lance shot her was armed with daggers and spears.

"Go to your room. I'll come clean it up in a sec."

"Okay," Lance said and rushed off as if his life depended on his speed.

Weird, Carol thought as she went to retrieve the first aid box. The Lance she knew would have complained about being treated like a child, but this one was the total opposite. What she didn't know was that he had rushed off just so he could quickly hide the shirt and wash the lipstick off his cheek!