Comfort Me

Cidni Alexis Tatum lay restless in bed. The clock struck one as she attempted to dissect her scrambled thoughts in hopes of finding a cure for her insomnia. Surprisingly it had nothing to do with the dense heat that seeped through her sweating pores and threatened to suffocate her. Her worn and faded Care Bear shirt and her matching pajama pants clung to her moist, shapely body. She tossed the sheets away from her.

Her homecoming hadn't been at all what she'd expected it to be. When she'd left for school, Lisa and Josh were practically inseparable. In the six months that she'd been absent, something had changed drastically. The fact that Josh had been the only one at home to greet her when she arrived had been discomfiting, but when a whole day passed and Cidni had only managed to get a few quick glimpses of her aunt, she knew that something was terribly wrong. Evidently that knowledge was what was now keeping her awake. The one time she and her aunt did speak, Lisa had seen fit to inform Cidni that she wouldn't be back until tomorrow afternoon. Yes, something was definitely wrong.

Giving up, Cidni slid out of bed and walked out of her bedroom, enjoying the coolness of the newly refinished hardwood floors beneath her feet. She walked quietly down the steps and into the kitchen to retrieve a bottle of ice cold water from the refrigerator, taking a good, long sip and realizing just how thirsty she'd been. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness shortly after leaving the kitchen, and she absently glanced about the living room.

A hulking silhouette in the armchair by the couch froze her in her tracks. Josh. Relieved, she hastily flipped on the table lamp that was closest to her. He was sitting on the edge of the chair wearing boxers and a grey tee shirt, leaning on his elbows that were planted on his muscular thighs, an empty glass dangling from his hand.

"Shit, Josh! You scared the hell out of me sitting here in the middle of the night...in complete darkness...'like a creepy little vampire'," Cidni laughed nervously, mimicking a line in the comedy that they'd watched earlier that evening, hoping to get a smile from him. She wasn't used to seeing such a somber expression on his handsome face, though he was a pretty serious person. He didn't crack a smile.

She glanced at the empty cup in his hand and at the half empty bottle of Jack Daniels on the end table beside him. This was a night of firsts, Cidni thought. She'd never seen Josh in his underwear and she'd never seen him drink anything more than an occasional beer.

"I see you're not only acquiring an education up there, but also a brand new vocabulary. I should let you know that I don't approve." He sat there in the chair, staring at his glass as if he was trying to talk himself out of filling it up again. "That pretty little mouth of yours shouldn't be used in such a manner," he continued, his voice husky. Her stomach fluttered with pleasure before she could reason with herself. It did no good to be flattered by the drunken words of your aunt's husband in the middle of the night.

"Sorry," she said, "but Josh, what's the matter? Why are you sitting down here in the dark like this?" she asked, worry evident in her tone. He slowly looked up at her and the emptiness in his eyes chilled her more than stumbling upon him in the darkness had.

"She's cheating again," he replied simply. Cidni certainly didn't know what to say to that. She certainly hadn't expected him to be so candid, but - again? She didn't know Lisa had done it the first time. She found it difficult to be shocked, however, though she'd thought Lisa had wizened up and realized what a good thing she had with Joshua. After some silence, she said the only thing she could think of. "Are you sure?" He ignored the question and instead laughed, a cold, heartless laugh.

"At least she has the class to do it out of town," he sneered. His gaze swept over her figure and she found herself wondering what that glance meant, what he was thinking.

"D'you know we were going to have a baby?" Wow. Cidni most definitely had not known. She was stunned, unable to imagine Lisa having a child.

"I found out a few months ago. A little over a year into our marriage. Less than a year after she'd gotten pregnant," Josh expelled a breath, his face remained stoic, unyielding.

"She came home one night and told me, out of the blue, that she'd been pregnant but that she'd aborted it. Like she'd had a bad hair day but gone to the salon," he continued. Cidni sat down on the edge of the coffee table and took a deep breath. This was crazy. She knew Lisa could be ruthless and calculating, but for her to be callous enough to make such a decision without letting her husband know beforehand, and then fail to mention it until months afterwards...no wonder Joshua looked so lost. She listened as he spoke again with a bored tone.

"At the time I'd already discovered her affair. I'm no quitter, Cat. I figured I'd rather stay in a loveless marriage than give up. I don't know why she even told me about the abortion after we'd already gone through hell over her infidelity. Maybe she knew I'd find out about it anyway once I saw the results of the tests I was making her get. I didn't want her anymore, but I would have loved a child, and she'd proven herself to be an adequate mother to you," Cidni resisted the urge to roll her eyes as he went on.

"I figured she'd have done even better with one of her own," he glanced at her, an apology flickering in his eyes, as if he wanted to take the last part back. Cidni could tell by his faintly slurred speech and the fact that he was rambling -- something that Joshua Brennick never did -- that the Jack Daniels was affecting him. "And even if she wasn't, I thought I could make up for it. But there she sat, telling me she'd killed those hopes as if it was unimportant, like it didn't involve me. I thought she could never hurt me again until she told me that, Cat," She nodded her head, feeling numb. "But I forgave her. I no longer loved her, there was no way I could ever love her again, but still, I forgave her. Our relationship was strained, of course. How could it not be?" Cidni watched as Josh moved to take a sip from his empty glass. His look of surprise might have been comical in different circumstances. As it was, it was just sad. Joshua relented, pouring himself another drink and taking a hefty swig.

"Come to find out, she killed our -- her - baby to cover up her whorish tracks. She aborted the baby because she'd cheated mere months into our marriage and didn't want me to find out," Cidni noticed he'd motioned to the end table and saw some crumbled up sheets of paper behind the bottle of Jack Daniels. Letters. So that's how he'd found out.

"What kind of woman does that? Didn't she know that even if I hated her for the rest of our lives together, I'd never do anything to harm an innocent child? What kind of person is she? What kind of person did I marry?" Josh sobbed and then hiccuped before sobbing again.

Cidni got up and carefully walked over to where he sat, took his glass from his hand, set it on the table and wrapped her arms around him. It broke her heart to see him like this. Lisa must have lost her mind to put him through such pain. Her eyes stung with tears when he wrapped his strong arms tightly around her waist and buried his face into her upper torso. They stayed in that position for what seemed like forever, him, squeezing her tighter as he continued to sob into her body, her, silently stroking his hair and back as if he were a child. Her shirt and torso were moist with tears when he took a deep breath and shuddered.

"You smell so good," he muttered into her rib cage. When she didn't respond he looked up at her, his face brushing the underside of her breasts, his eyes the only things visible on his face. He stared into her eyes, his red-rimmed, bloodshot and puffy, but still reminding her of liquid gold. He still held her tightly against him, his wrists resting on her protruding backside. His words and actions brought to mind the fact that she had been hot and sweaty only moments ago and though he'd complimented her, she couldn't fight the wave of self consciousness that went through her at the realization. Suddenly he no longer seemed like a child to her. He was every bit the man she knew him as, yet, staring into his eyes, she realized she didn't know nearly as much as she'd thought she had.

She was about to pull away from him when he closed his eyes and this time, deliberately pressed his face into the underside of her breasts, taking another deep breath as he did so. Before she could protest, she felt the shock of his moist, hot mouth through the thin layer of her nightshirt, his teeth seeming to break through the fabric barrier, making contact with the bare, sensitive skin beneath. Cidni threw her head back and moaned out loud at the simple yet catalytic contact. She swiftly glanced back down at him and their eyes connected yet again. He languidly, sensually moved his mouth and teeth over her tingling breasts without breaking eye contact.

As he alternated back and forth between both of her breasts, the moist prints he left behind chilled to an almost unbearable temperature in his mouth's absence. Pure, unadulterated pleasure shot through her body, her nipples tightened and a delicious sensation swirled in her abdomen and pooled at the bottom of her throbbing pussy. No man had ever caused such a powerful reaction within her without even removing one piece of clothing. She continued staring into his eyes and knew she was in trouble when she felt his powerful hands tighten around her hips, his long fingers digging into her ass. He extended his body so that he could cover her clothed nipple with his mouth.

"Joshua..." she began, uncertainty and fear in her otherwise lust-filled voice. She saw a struggle in his eyes.

"Cat, I know it's wrong, but I want you so much. Please ... I need you..." he stated, vulnerability and lust lacing together in his sexy voice. If ever there was a time she could refuse him, she'd passed it up long before now. She nodded her assent and groaned with pleasure when he grabbed her thighs and buttocks, scooping her on top of his lap with his forearms as if she weighed next to nothing, so that she was straddling him snuggly. She could feel his thick, throbbing cock against her pussy through his boxers and her thin pajama pants. The heat of it, combined with her own heat, drove her insane. Instinctively, she grabbed his shoulders and started slowly grinding her hot cunt on his rigid dick, her knees brushing and digging into uncomfortable areas of the chair. He captured her face in his hands and licked her bottom lip before covering her lips with his own and slipping his tongue into her willing mouth. The taste of alcohol on his probing tongue was far from unpleasant; the distinct flavor of his mouth was intoxicating.

Their tongues brushed against one another's and he moved one hand from her face and slid it beneath her shirt as she continued to grind her now soaking pussy against him. She trembled in ecstasy when his hand reached the bare, hot flesh of her breast. The contrast of his large, rough, devastatingly masculine hand against her soft, plush, feminine breast made her moan deeply into his throat. She quickened her pace, ignoring the pain she was inflicting on her knees by doing so. All of a sudden, as if he realized her discomfort, he lifted her up, carried her to the over-sized couch and laid her on her back. He got on top of her, ground his thick erection against her cunt and kissed her roughly. He rose up and yanked her shirt up, exposing her soft tits and hardened nipples to the air, then fully lathered them with his tongue. He pressed deeply into the supple flesh of her breasts and mercilessly sucked, licked and nibbled on her peaked brown nipples. She couldn't take it any longer. Having just turned twenty, Cidni wasn't the most experienced girl on the block, but she knew enough to understand what they both wanted. She reached down and grabbed his thick cock through his boxers and started rubbing the head of it to her clit, impressed and turned on even more by its size. He went still.

"Ahh fuck! Cidni, baby!" He groaned.

"Now who has the naughty vocabulary?" she teased into his ear, her voice trembling with the overpowering sensations rushing through her. His only response was to swiftly slip a hand beneath the waistbands of her pajama pants and organic cotton boy shorts to fondle her leaking pussy like a man possessed. When he finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, slipped the length of his middle finger into her hot, welcoming pussy, Cidni arched her back, pressing the back of her head into the couch and moaned Joshua's name. He halted and withdrew his fingers as if she'd burned him. When she felt him shift away from her she glanced up in confusion.

"Ahh, Cidni, I'm so sorry. We can't do this. I should have never crossed that line. I need you to go to your room, shut your door and lock it. Hell, barricade it if you have to. I can't do this with you." If he'd thrown a gallon of ice water on her overheated body he couldn't have shocked her more. Her innate confidence and sensuality withered and left her lying there on the couch, vulnerable, and - to her utter frustration - still extremely horny.

"Joshua, don't talk me like that, I'm not a child, I --" she began feebly. 
 "Now, Cidni!" The authoritative tone he used pissed her off and kicked her into gear. She hopped off of the couch with an energy and speed she didn't know she possessed, since only seconds ago she'd been trembling and yearning beneath him. She flew up the steps without another word and entered her room, slamming her door but refusing to lock it.

Cidni was seventeen when Lisa brought him into their already turbulent lives. She was just stepping out of her shy, chubby shell and embracing the powerfully uplifting plateau of womanhood. Her dumpy, unappealing body had slimmed down to a sexier, sensual, pear-like shape. Her breasts were now full enough to fill two large hands, her hips were wide, her waist was small, her ass and thighs still ample, but toned from her years of volleyball and her nutritious dieting habits. Essentially, she was changing from a rollie-pollie caterpillar into a radiant butterfly, and to her vast pleasure and curiosity, guys were taking notice. Problem was, Lisa was noticing as well and was doing everything in her power to stamp out her niece's radiance, not because she worried, but because she didn't like the competition. It wasn't working, and because Cidni no longer felt the need to cower at Lisa's volatile temper, arguments were an ever-present occurrence in their daily lives. The first time Lisa brought Joshua home, Cidni was unimpressed. Yeah he was handsome in a rugged, 'I take out the trash, mow the lawn, kill critters and watch ESPN' kind of way, but he was very, very quiet and serious and his penetrating eyes made her nervous. She didn't see him lasting any longer than any of Lisa's other male counterparts (who frequently made passes at her as well as Lisa -- even when she'd been chubby). That was until she spied the ring on Lisa's finger and heard her announce him as her 'fiancé'. Was she serious? Cidni hadn't even known Lisa was exclusively dating anyone, let alone thinking about marrying him. She did the proper thing, held out her hand, gave him a slight smile and welcomed him to the family, nearly shivering when he took her hand and his amber gaze locked into hers. She glanced over at her aunt who was wearing a tight smile and clinging to her fiancé, her usually limp blond hair conditioned and lifted to temporary perfection.

"The wedding will be in January, just a small celebration, right honey?" She glanced at Joshua who was staring intently at Cidni as if he was gauging her reaction. "Right," he responded without looking away. "Well, congratulations!" Cidni said, feeling slightly uncomfortable and wondering what the rush was, it was the twenty-first of November, only two days after her birthday. "Well, I'll put some supper on," she offered: one, because Lisa couldn't boil water if her life depended on it and two, because she was eager to get out of the couple's way. She turned to leave the kitchen and heard:

"Oh Cidni, Josh will be moving in within two weeks, so we may need to make some adjustments." Shit. Lisa's sickly sweet tone rang falsely in her ears, and she heard every implication. There would be a man in the house from now on and certain rules would apply -- namely not mentioning any of Lisa's dirty little secrets until the marriage was firmly in place. She nodded without turning around, walking into the kitchen to fixate her mind on the pleasure of cooking a wholesome meal. Otherwise she just might have decided to throw a tantrum.

The three made small talk over their meal of whole-wheat spaghetti with homemade marinara sauce and Italian meatballs, tossed garden salad, buttered garlic rolls, spring water and sweet tea. Cidni had also decided to whip up a small, two-layer, yellow cake with caramel icing, on the pretense of celebrating Lisa and Joshua's engagement -- knowing that she would need a slice more than ever after the bombs Lisa had just dropped on her. Maybe two slices.

Cidni discovered that Joshua was thirty years old to Lisa's thirty-five, that he already owned a thriving construction company and was on site just as much if not more than his employees (which evidently equated to his success) and that he had no children. Lisa had apparently found a rare catch, and by the hungry looks she kept throwing in his direction, she knew it. Feeling like a third wheel, Cidni excused herself to ice the cake that had been cooling on the rack throughout the meal. As she spread the icing onto the cake (which to her happy satisfaction had turned out perfectly) she heard giggles and moans from the dining room. Her stomach tightened. Was this what she was going to have to deal with? If so "some adjustments" would definitely have to be made, starting with finding the head phones to her iPod. Lisa giggled again -- or biting the bullet and buying some new ones, Cidni thought.

Before reentering the dining room, she cleared her throat loudly to make her presence known. She gave them time to adjust themselves before walking in, cake in hand.

"I don't think I'll mind joining this family at all if this is the norm. Supper was delicious," Joshua said, visibly impressed. Cidni was always pleased when anyone complimented her meals, but hearing this man who'd seemed so quiet and aloof earlier, praise her cooking stirred something within her.

"Thank you," She said. She sliced the first piece of cake and handed it to him -- he was going to be the man of the house, after all. He nodded his appreciation to her.

"What's your full name?"

"Cidni Alexis Tatum," she responded, thrown off by the random question.

"Nice name, mind if I call you Cat?" This guy was definitely weird, Cidni surmised. She tilted her head as if she was considering his request.

"You know what Joshua, I'll think about it, though I was under the impression that two syllables was short enough -- guess things don't get easy enough for some people," she sighed, her eyes twinkling.

"Cidni, don't be rude!" Lisa turned to Joshua, "Sometimes I wonder who raised that girl," she whispered loudly, then giggled. Cidni's blood boiled. She still remembered her parents: her mother, with her comforting scent, her "tan" skin and curly hair, which, since the rest of her family was white and fair-haired (besides her), she'd always been curious about until she'd gotten older and understood; her father, blond and rough-mannered, but as sweet as a teddy bear, the man responsible for her grey eyes. Those were the people who'd raised her. It was a good thing they'd put so much love and preparation into those nine years too, because Lisa, the woman who'd merely moved in and provided for her most basic needs (by means of her parents' insurance money), had, in doing so, seemingly tried to erase everything that they'd instilled. So when Lisa made that reference, as if she'd been the one who'd loved, cherished, and supported her throughout her childhood, it didn't sit well with Cidni. She gritted her teeth, and brushed away a retort. She wasn't ungrateful, she appreciated the fact that Lisa had made sacrifices to keep her out of group homes and/or foster care after her mother and, soon after, her father, died. However, by the looks of her dwindling savings account, Lisa was getting her piece of the pie as well.