Ethan
The days passed by quickly, and for that I was grateful.
Lyla has been on a diet of pancakes, cereal, butter noodles, cheese sandwiches, and McDonald’s for two weeks. I couldn’t get her to eat anything else. I was afraid that she would get sick, but she never did.
I knew all that junk food wasn’t good for a little girl, but I didn’t want her to starve to death, so I let her eat what she wanted. I discovered the hard way of giving her something that she didn’t want. She ended up picking a sandwich apart and flinging meat and tomatoes and lettuce all over the place.
Lyla was always so hyper; I could barely keep up with her. She stayed up late into the night and watched Sponge Bob, Tom and Jerry, or something else equally annoying. She never listened to me, and she always threw hissy fits. I thought it was kind of funny, but at other times I was so tired I couldn’t wait to crawl into bed at night.
Usually as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was knocked out until Lyla woke me up again.
Day in and day out, I was always on the go. I never got a break. It was really hard sometimes, but I had to remember I was doing it for a good cause. If this situation was reversed, I knew Lyla would take care of me.
Every time I went somewhere, someone commented on how cute my daughter was, and how she had such lovely, big blue eyes. I never corrected them. I just let people think whatever they wanted to. I looked like a young dad, but I didn’t care. It was a lot easier to let them think that then the real truth.
I never knew how exhausting children were. My mom was really happy to have a kid around, and for that I had to feel good. My mom was doing better than I’ve seen her in a while. She was smiling more, and she wasn’t acting all doped up from her pills.
Maybe she was getting better. That’s something I was looking forward too. I would do anything in the world to make my mom’s cancer go away. I couldn’t stomach the thought of losing her. She was my rock, and I loved her more than anything.
I wouldn’t know what to do without her in my life. Her cancer was terminal, and there wasn’t much hope for her. The doctor said she had roughly four or five years left, and that was three years ago. My mom could be down to twelve months of life, and I didn’t know what to do with the thought. It consumed me, making me miserable. I had to ask that voodoo queen to get my mom’s soul back too. I couldn’t stand the thought of her going to Hell.
It was the day Lyla was turning back to her regular age. We were both heading down to New Orleans this morning. It was very early, barely 1am. Rylan sent me the address for the voodoo queen, and I was rather nervous. I hoped she could help Lyla get her soul back. Her birthday was tomorrow, so I had plenty of time to get us there.
Lyla’s spell was supposed to wear off sometime today. Hopefully. I hoped that demon didn’t mess it up. I didn’t think I could handle taking care of a three-year-old for the rest of my life. I don’t even know if she would age. I didn’t know what kind of spell it was, and didn’t know the side-effects if it was permanent or not.
I packed us both an overnight bag, and went out to the truck to start it up while I piled everything into the backseat. I went back inside and grabbed little Lyla from my mom. My mom gave her a kiss on the cheek, and did the same with me.
“I love you, son, be careful.” she said, squeezing my shoulder.
“I love you, Mom, and I will.” I turned around so she wouldn’t see my eyes shining with fresh tears. I didn’t want to worry her more than she already was.
After I filled my truck’s gas tank up, I got on I-75 and started to head down South.
I drove for almost eighteen hours, only stopping sparingly for bathroom breaks and to get food. I was always worried about leaving Lyla outside of the bathroom, so I took her in there with me, and covered myself up as best as I possibly could.
Little Lyla asked, “are we there yet?” about one-hundred times. I don’t know how many times I rolled my eyes or was about to tell her to shut up and be quiet. I didn’t want to make her cry, so I kept my mouth shut. My jaw was sore from clenching my teeth together so much.
I was probably going to miss having a toddler running around. I sort of got used to it these past few weeks. After Rylan got us both excused from school, I had plenty of time to play with Lyla. Even at a young age she was smart and kind. She loved playing Candy Crush on my phone, so I purposely left it on the coffee table in my room so she could wake up and play it, giving me another blessed hour of sleep.
Sometimes during the night she would wake up and scream, saying she was getting hit by a man, or someone was touching her. I knew what man she was having dreams about, and I’m awfully sure I reminded her of him. It was my dad. We had the same eyes and face. Our hair was a slightly different color, but you could tell I was his son. I was just a younger, smarter version.
No man is smart if he beats on a woman. It makes my dad a fucking coward, and he’ll pay for it one day. If I have anything to say about it, he won’t get away with it.
I had this conversation with my mom a couple of weeks ago while big Lyla was sleeping. After I discovered my dad was alive, I waited to talk to my mom in private.
She wasn’t too happy, but she was more pissed off than anything to learn he used to beat Lyla to a stupor all the time.
Lyla told me about when he choked her and made her black out. He even threatened to kill her on more than one occasion. The only thing good about that conversation was telling my mom that he never raped her
I just still couldn’t get over the fact that he hurt her, though. He never touched me when I was a kid, so it was hard to fathom, but I knew she wasn’t lying.
I knew without a doubt that if she didn’t leave the Summer Solstice, she wouldn’t be alive right now. My mom was really upset to hear all of this, and I made her promise me not to tell Lyla I told her. I made a promise to Lyla I wouldn’t tell anyone, but it’s mom, and that’s her husband.
I had to tell her.
What choice did I have in the matter?
When tiredness started to kick in, Lyla started to make weird noises from the backseat. We were about four hours from New Orleans, and I was beat. I was so tired that I shouldn’t even have been driving still. I was forcing my eyes open. I pulled into a hotel parking lot, and got out slowly, feeling my stiff muscles from driving all day. I was so sore it was unbelievable.
It was just after six o’clock in the evening, and I really needed to rest or I was going to fall over at any moment. I opened the back door, and Lyla was lying on her side, shivering.
When she started to moan in pain and cry, I started to panic.
I called Rylan immediately. I had his number on speed dial. He answered in a drowsy voice, but that didn’t stop me from yelling.
“What’s happening to her?” I shouted into the phone. “She’s shivering horribly, and it sounds like she’s in pain!”
“Relax, Ethan… She’s turning back. Give it a few more minutes. Dress her into her regular clothes before she does, or she’s going to be naked. The little clothes will just rip right off of her. I’m going back to sleep. Night!” he said, hanging up.
I almost wanted to drive back and fucking kick him in the face. Who the hell slept at six in the afternoon?
I crawled into the backseat and did just that. I dressed her as best as I could in a pair of red short shorts, and a black tee. I didn’t put a bra on her. It was too weird trying to latch it. It kept falling off of her, so I said screw it.
I didn’t think she would care anyway, I knew she didn’t like wearing one anyhow. She said they made her boobs sore.
Suddenly, the shivering stopped, and she started to grow before my eyes.
In no time, my Lyla was back, and she was blinking at me with her big blue eyes.
“Lyla?” I whispered, pulling her close.
She nodded, and pulled me down for a kiss. “I love you.” she murmured into my mouth.
“How was being a little kid again?” I asked, rather curious. “And I love you.”
She shrugged. “It was like a dream, I guess. I remember throwing fits, oh, and I remember wetting the couch almost every night. I tried to hide it from you, but you always found out.”
“You did too. I was about to go to the store and buy you pull-ups, but my mom had a plastic slip cover to put on there.” I said with a smirk. “You’re lucky my couch is leather, so it was easy to clean.
She giggled. “And I always tried to watch you go to the bathroom. Talk about awkward, right?”
I chuckled. “Yeah, seriously, the first night you were a little kid you almost made me wet my pants because you wouldn’t leave me alone. You insisted on watching me, and kept asking all these weird questions and asking why every single time I answered you.”
She blushed. “I remember. I don’t know why I was so curious about watching you, though.”
“God only knows, Lyla. God only knows.” I murmured, going in for another kiss.
Suddenly, I got angry. I remembered the kiss between her and that demon. “So you kissed Rylan, huh?”
She lowered her lashes, and hid her eyes behind them “I’m sorry, it was an accident. He just kissed me, and I kissed him back. I didn’t know what I was doing.”
“Don’t do it again.” I said sternly. “I don’t put up with the cheating crap. I love you, and I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. But if it happens a second time, I don’t think we can be together. Ask Miranda what happened when I caught her and that guy. She was out of my life faster than she could blink.”
“I won’t do it again. I am so, so sorry, Ethan.” She hid her face into my chest, and I sighed, starting to rock her.
I pressed a kiss to her temple.
“Oh, my precious girl… I’ve missed you so much.”
I traced her lips, and I traced the lines of her breasts. My breathing picked up a notch. Maybe things wouldn’t change between us… I pulled her back down for a kiss, and climbed over top of her. I had needs that needed to be sated.
I’ve waited two weeks for this…
Her eyes were dilated, and I knew she had the same thing on her mind that I did. I pressed myself further into her and she dragged in an airy sounding breath. She was so beautiful, and I loved her with everything in me. Nothing was going to change that, and I mean nothing.
“Let’s go check in shall we?” I asked, slightly out of breath. I had to get her out of the truck before I started taking her clothes off. My luck a cop would see us or something.
“Let’s go.” she said, grabbing her bags.
We walked into the lobby, and I got a room with a king size bed. The man behind the desk gave me a wink and a thumbs up. I grinned at him. When we rounded the corner I rolled my eyes, and tried not to laugh about what I had just witnessed, I didn’t want any questions to arise from Lyla. My luck, if I told her, she would go back and yell at the guy, and I didn’t feel like getting kicked out because I don’t think I could drive for another hour trying to find another hotel that wasn’t full.
After we got to our door, we unlocked it and entered. It looked like any old hotel room. There was a mini fridge, a big bed, a TV on the wall, and a table. A few minutes later we decided to take a shower. Lyla let me go first, and I stood under the hot spray for about five minutes.
I let the water soak into my skin to calm my tense muscles. My body was screaming at me from all the strain I’ve had on it today. I tilted my head forward, and rotated my shoulders. I even reached behind to rub them.
I lathered up my hair with shampoo, and rinsed it almost immediately. I felt the growing need swell within my body again, and I tried to ignore it. Lyla was in the other room, and I knew she would want to be physical with me… I reached down to grab myself, unable to control myself any longer.
Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I turned around to find a very naked Lyla standing in the shower with me. I was so caught up in the moment and the feelings that I didn’t even hear her come in.
Desire filled my body, and I reached out and put my hands on her hips. I pulled her to me, and without a spoken word, I kissed her with fire and desperation. My body melted into hers, and suddenly we were both breathing hard.
Water ran down our chests, and parted to the sides because we were pressed so closely together. I bit my lower lip, and looked her in the eyes. I saw so much love that I gasped slightly, and ran my hands over her skin again.
Oh, how I missed touching her like this. I missed it a great deal.
She stepped away from me and started wetting her hair. I helped her shampoo and condition it. I massaged my fingers along her scalp, and she closed her eyes in pleasure.
Next, I moved on to her shoulders, and began working the knots out. She moved slightly every time I hit a sensitive spot, which turned me on more than I already was. I was so turned on that I hurt in a certain area.
The constant throb was driving me crazy.
I turned her around, and kissed her along her collarbone and jaw. She tightened her hold on my arms and her breath caught in her throat.
I gently put my hand between her legs and her eyes popped open, and then shut again. She moaned and pushed herself into me, and I knew she wanted what I did.
I think she wanted it more.
“Not yet…” she said sexily, turning me around.
I didn’t know what she was doing, but as soon as I felt her hands glide over the planes of my back and start working out my sore muscles, I knew. I melted into the touches and gave a long, soft sigh.
She turned me around again after a few minutes, and all of a sudden Lyla turned so that her back was pressed into my chest. I slipped my hand back down between her thighs, and began to move my fingers. Her skin was so hot on mine, it was almost feverish. I kept moving my fingers and she relaxed fully, leaning into me. Her eyes were closed, and her head was resting on my left shoulder. I held her up with my arm wrapped tightly around her stomach. I quickened my rhythm, and she started to tense up. I whispered soothing words into her ear, and suddenly she let go. She arched her back, said my name, and shook.
I was sure If I wasn’t holding her up that she would have fell face first into the tub. I eased my hand away, and she turned to me, kissing me eagerly. When she moved closer, her stomach hit a certain part of me.
Her gaze landed down below my stomach, and she smiled an evil grin. Then she touched me. That’s all it took. I couldn’t handle it anymore. One touch from her was like a thousand bolts of lightning entering my body at once.
I shut the water off, and climbed out. I held my hand out for her, and she took it, stepping out of the tub. She glanced down to my hips again, and bit her lower lip. I gave her a silent apology by shrugging my shoulders.
I was a guy, what more can I say?
We both toweled off quickly, and flung the towels onto the floor, not even bothering to pick them up.
As she was walking out of the bathroom, suddenly, my body was throbbing from want and need so bad that I couldn’t control myself anymore. I went to her and grabbed her shoulders. I bent her over the side of the bed. “Lyla… I can’t wait…” I said in a throaty whisper. I really couldn’t wait, I felt like I was going to explode at any moment. My body moved at its own accord, wanting to settle the feelings that were consuming me from inside and out.
With the last of my restraint, I tried to get her up onto the bed. I was shaking, and my eyes were wide, trying to control myself.
“I wanna do it here,” she said, glancing over her shoulder with heavily hooded eyes.
“Here, huh?” I asked, kissing her shoulder blade, causing her to shiver in delight.
“Well, I looked up some different… positions… online a few weeks ago, and this was one of them, I want to try it out. Please? And is this the one where you called it something to do with a dog?”
“I don’t mind. And yeah, this is it.” I said, moving forward to fit us together…
I’m sure the people in the neighboring room were getting a good earful of everything that was going on. The freaking headboard of the bed was smacking into the wall, but I didn’t care.
When I reached my end, something crossed my mind so swiftly; I only had mere seconds to react. I removed myself from her quickly, and pressed myself onto her back as release came over me. My back bowed, and the orgasm hit me so hard that I groaned loudly—something I never do.
“Oh my God… Ethan!” Lyla shouted, thoroughly horrified. “I have to take another shower!”
I looked at her with half shut eyes. “Yeah?” Then I knew what she was talking about. I looked down at the mess on her back and bit my lip. “I’m sorry, but you haven’t been taking birth control. I thought about it at the last second.”
She glared at me.
I started laughing. “Sorry, I couldn’t help it, what was I supposed to do, get you pregnant? My mom would have a hay day. And besides, I am not ready for kids yet. Just taking care of you for the past few weeks wore me out, imagine me with a newborn. God…”
She shook her head, and then stomped off into the bathroom.
While she was taking a shower, I got dressed in some clean clothes. I checked the time. It was a little after seven. I called the pizza place that was down the road because I was suddenly very hungry. I didn’t know what Lyla liked on hers, so I just got cheese and pepperoni. I know I’ve seen her eat that at school before, and she never had a problem with it.
I lay on the bed and turned the TV on while I was waiting for Lyla to get done. I heard her mutter something under her breath when the bathroom door opened.
“Huh?” I asked her loudly, rolling over to look at her. Her hair was freshly brushed, and she was wrapped in a white hotel towel. She bent over her bag to unzip it, and then took out her sleep shorts and a tank top. She stood up hastily and clutched the towel to her body.
“I don’t smell like you anymore!” she accused, but couldn’t hide her giggle.
I blushed in mortification. My cheeks heated up until it felt like they were intensely sunburned. That was the first time I’d ever done something like that. At least I did, though; I really wasn’t ready for a baby right now.
“Don’t watch.” she said, so I turned around to give her privacy while she dressed. Even though I’d already seen her naked, she’s just weird that way.
When I was sure she was done, I called her over to me. I held out my hand while she climbed on the bed. She came up, and snuggled into my chest. “I ordered a pizza.” I told her after a few seconds.
She looked at me. “You did? Good, ‘cause I’m starving.”
I chuckled. “I was, so I knew you’d be. Are you ready to meet this lady tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I mean, I’m kinda nervous, but I’d really like to have my soul, and I’m sure you would too.”
I nodded, and kissed her cheek. “We’re really nothing without our souls.”
“I agree.”
“I’m going to ask her to get my mom’s back. If my mom dies…” I didn’t finish what I was saying, Lyla knew.
“That’s sweet of you to think of that, I know how much you love your mom.”
I didn’t deny it. “She’s my whole world. You and my mom mean so much to me that if I lost one of you, I would probably freak out. I wouldn’t be able to handle it, Lyla, I really wouldn’t.”
Lyla looked up at me. “But one day, you will, Ethan; it’s the way of life. Your mom is older than you, so it will happen, even if she didn’t have cancer. I’m not trying to be mean, I’m just telling the truth.”
“I know, and because of that, I am so afraid…” I admitted, hardening my hold on her.
She squeezed me back, and I slammed my eyes shut against the building tears.
“If I die before you, just remember I will see you again one day,” she murmured.
A tear slipped free, and I let it fall. I wasn’t afraid of death, I was just so scared of being alone, the pain would be too much to handle. I knew that.
We didn’t say anything for a while, but I let what she said sink in.
We laid there holding each other and watching TV until the pizza came. Lyla startled when the knock came to the door. She moved off of me and I went to answer it. I paid, and took both boxes, setting them on the small table.
The smell of oregano and tomato sauce wafted up to my nose, and it was suddenly the best thing I’d ever smelled. I think it’s the fact that I haven’t ate anything in over ten hours that it smelled that good.
Lyla opened the box, and took out a slice, taking a bite. I went for the breadsticks first. I’d rather make my own, but I didn’t have that convenience here. I bit the cheesy stick in half, and chewed. It was really good. I shoved the rest into my mouth, and heard Lyla laugh.
“What?” I said with a full mouth.
She wrinkled her nose, and bit her lip, trying not to laugh again. “You’re a pig!” she exclaimed, pointing her finger at me.
I shrugged and took another piece out of the box and shoved it in my mouth for an answer, which just made her start choking in laughter. God, I really missed this laugh when she was little. I liked the laugh that she had now. And, I like her knowing what we shared was more than friendship.
I liked her knowing that I loved and desired her. When we were done pulverizing the pizza, we went back to the bed and got in. I shut the light off and crawled over to Lyla.
I put my arm around her, and pulled her warm body to me. We lay like that for hours. We talked, and laughed, until my eyes couldn’t stay open a second longer. I took a glance at the alarm clock, and saw that it was just after midnight.
“Since it’s after midnight, it’s your birthday. I love you forever and a day.”
“Me too, Ethan, me too.” She sighed contentedly.