Big Daddy Sinatra: Carly's Cry (21 page)

He pushed into Jenay with a thrust so
hard and sensual that she let out a guttural cry.
 
And then he was pumping into her again.
 
She lifted her hands over her head and
splayed them against the back of the wall as her body bounced with his every
stroke.
 
She was feeling it again too, in
a powerful way, as his hands cupped her ass and pumped her even harder.

Charles squeezed her ass as he pumped
her.
 
He loved this woman and he loved
making love to this woman.
 
And he wanted
to show her how much.
 
He was leaving it
all on the field.
 
He pushed into her,
and pushed into her, until his balls were slapping against her.
 
He leaned down and put her nipple in his
mouth, as he fondled, sucked, and bit her.

Jenay let out another cry of joy when
he bit her.
 
She was going to have the
scars to prove this fuck, and she loved when he went all out.
 
He was holding nothing back.
 
So she didn’t either.
 
She lifted his mouth from her breast, and
began kissing him.
 
She kissed him as
hard as he fucked her.
 
She forgot about
every trouble they had in this world, and enjoyed every inch of her man.

She came first, the way he liked it,
and stopped kissing him when her orgasm heightened.
 
She began trembling and arching and her face
lifted upward.
 
Charles encouraged
her.
 
When she said she couldn’t bear it,
he made her bear it.
 
When she said it
was too intense, he banged her harder and made it more intense.
 
Jenay could take it.
 
He knew she could.
 
And Jenay took it.
 
She took everything he threw at her.
 
He pumped his ass off, and she enjoyed the
ride.

She enjoyed it so much that it made
him cum too.
 
He clenched his teeth and
splayed his own hands against the stall as he pushed her back against the wall
to hold her up.
 
He pushed deep into her
and stayed there, to slow down the intensity of his own ejaculation, but like
Jenay, there was no way to stop this train.
 
He came hard.
 
He poured into her
and began fucking her again.

He fucked her so hard that Jenay
began to climax again too.
 
She wrapped
her hands around his neck and slid her back up and down along the wall as he
pounded her.
 
They leaned into each other
and kissed each other as the feelings gave them the release they loved.
 
Even the bone of her thighs felt the tremble.

And when they were done, and could
feel their strength begin to collapse around them, they leaned against each
other for support.
 
She held him up, and
he held her up.
 
And he looked her in the
eyes.
 
“We’ve been together a long time,
Jenay,” he said.
 
“How can it possibly
keep being this good?”

Jenay smiled.
 
“Maybe this time is as good as it gets,” she
said.

But Charles was shaking his
head.
 
“No, baby,” he said.
 
“We thought that the last time,
remember?
 
And the time before that.
 
And the time before that.”

Jenay laughed.
 
“I get your point,” she said.

Charles’s look turned serious.
 
“I never thought love was meant for a man
like me.
 
I never thought I believed in
this kind of love.
 
All I’ve ever known
of relationships was abject failure, beginning with my own.
 
To have a lady like you means everything to
me, Jenay.
 
Thank you for being a part of
my life.
 
Thank you for being a part of
my children’s life.
 
Sometimes I just
need to say thank you.”

Jenay’s heart swelled with
emotion.
 
“Thank you, Charles, for
restoring my faith in love too.
 
You were
cynical, but so was I.
 
Until you came
along.
 
Thank you.”

Charles pulled her into his
arms.
 
He was drained and weak as hell,
but he held onto Jenay.
 
He had matters
to attend to, not least of which was Carly, but he held onto the one person who
gave him the strength to stand.
 
Everybody had to wait when it came to Jenay.

When Charles finally put on his
bathrobe and made his way downstairs, Carly had been waiting far longer than
she had ever intended to.
 
She was a
grown woman.
 
This was her life.
 
What was there to talk about?

Plenty, in Charles mind.
 
He tied his robe as he made his way toward
the kitchen.

“Uh-oh,” Donald said, whispering to
Ashley.
 
“Dad’s here.”

“Hey, Dad,” Ashley said.

Charles walked over by her and gave
her a hug.
 
“Hey, baby,” he said.
 
Then he headed toward the coffeemaker to pour
himself a cup of coffee.

Carly looked at him.
 
She was seated at the center island on the
opposite side of Ashley and Donald.
 
She
turned back toward her father.
 
“You
wanted me to wait?” she asked.

Charles began pouring coffee into his
mug.
 
“Where are you going?”

“I’m sure Dutiful Donnie already told
you.”
 

“Where are you going?” Charles asked
again.

Carly realized who she was dealing
with and stopped with the sly remarks.
 
“Boston,” she said.
 
“For the
weekend.”

“That’s not happening,” Charles said
bluntly as he grabbed his cup and made his way beside her at the island.

“Why not, Daddy?” she asked.
 
“I’m only going for the weekend.
 
It’s no big deal.”

“Just because there’s been a passage
of time,” he said, “doesn’t mean it’s over.”

Carly knew he was talking about how
close she came to being arrested for Ethan’s murder.
 
She also knew it was about Trevor too.
 
“What do you have against him?” Carly
asked.
 
“What does Uncle Mick and all of
his minions have against him?
 
What have
they found?
 
Nothing, right?
 
That’s why Uncle Mick sent his bodyguards
away.
 
Because there’s nothing to
guard.
 
Trevor comes to town and sees me.
 
We enjoy good conversation.
 
And he leaves.
 
That’s the beginning and end of it.
 
But yet I’m supposed to treat him like a
pariah on some hunch you might have.”

But Charles saw it a different
way.
 
Anzino, Gooch DeCarlo, and Gilda
Lane were all dead, but somebody was behind the scenes pulling the
strings.
 
This shit wasn’t over by a
longshot, as far as Charles was concerned.
 
“It’s one thing for that man to come to Jericho and spend time with
you,” he said to Carly.
 
“That’s
fine.
 
You’re in your element.
 
You’re around your family.
 
But you aren’t going to Boston.
 
Not yet.”

“Then when can I go?
 
When is this going to end?
 
Never?
 
Are you going to always have your suspicions about him?”

“I might,” Charles said.

“But based on what?” Carly asked in a
flustered voice.
 
“You have no proof,
Daddy.”

Charles looked at Carly.
 
She had every logical explanation.
 
But this wasn’t about logic.
 
This was about his gut feeling that something
wasn’t right about that Trevor Reese.
 
“You aren’t going to Boston to spend not a day, not a weekend, not any
time with that man.
 
Do I make myself
clear?”

But Carly wouldn’t answer.
 
Donald and Ashley looked at her.
 
“You should listen to Dad,” Ashley said.
 
“He’s only looking out for you.”

“I can look out for myself,” Carly
said.

“Not when it comes to men, you
can’t,” Donald said.
 
“You think you can,
but you don’t know what they’re really up to.
 
Like Gilda.
 
I had no clue she was
using me to get to Dad.
 
But she
was.
 
What if this Trevor person is doing
the same thing?”

“The election is coming up,” Ashley
said.
 
“Maybe Trevor Reese works for
Cruikshank.”

“Yeah,” Donald echoed.

But Carly frowned and shook her
head.
 
“You don’t know what you’re
talking about!
 
Trevor wouldn’t be
working for some small town political hack like Cruikshank.”

“You don’t know who he might work
for,” Donald said.
 
“He could be a serial
killer for all you know.”

“Oh for crying out loud!” Carly
decried.

“Donnie’s right,” Ashley said.
 
“Or maybe he’s a big time drug dealer and
your stupid ass is walking right into his trap.
 
You need to listen to Dad, Carly.”

“You need to forget that loser,”
Donald said, “and get yourself a boozer.”

Carly looked at him as if he was
nuts.
 
“What?”

“At least a drunk is honest,” Donald
clarified.
 
“At least a drunk wants to
make love not war.”

“Speak for yourself,” Ashley
said.
 
“I know plenty drunks who want to
make both.”

“Will you two knock it off?” Carly
asked.
 
“This is my life, not yours, and
I’ll live it anyway I damn well please!
 
And if that includes me going to spend a weekend with a man I happen to
enjoy spending time with, then that’s what it shall include.
 
Nobody is going to tell me how to live my
life.
 
Just as I wouldn’t deign to tell
either of you how to live yours!
 
This is
my life,” Carly continued with emotion she didn’t expect to display, “and I’m
tired of being told how to live it.”

Jenay came downstairs, tying her
bathrobe.
 
The loud voices caused her to
come.
 
She headed for the kitchen.
 
Everybody were staring at Carly.

“Ever since I was a child I’ve been
forced to do what everybody else wanted me to do,” Carly continued.
 
“I made all A’s in high school because that’s
what everybody expected me to make.
 
I
went to Harvard because that’s where I was expected to go.
 
I graduated with high honors because I was
expected to graduate that high.
 
But I’m
tired of it now.”

Jenay stared at Carly as she walked
over by Charles.

“I’m tired of living up to somebody
else’s image,” Carly continued.
 
“I’m
tired of doing what somebody else expects me to do.
 
It’s my turn now.
 
It’s my time to live my life the way I want
to live it.
 
And if that doesn’t meet
with any of your expectations, then tough.
 
None of you have always met with mine either. I’m done.”

Carly rose to leave.
 
She was that determined.
 
But there was just one problem with her
escape plan: her father.

Charles grabbed her by the wrist, and
pulled her back.
 
“I told you already,”
he said, “and I’m going to tell you again.
 
You are not going to Boston.”

“I have to go!” Carly angrily
yelled.
    

Charles frowned.
 
“Why do you have to go?” he yelled back.

“Because it’s what I want to do for a
change.
 
It’s what
I
want, not you!”

“What do you want, Carly?” Charles
asked her.
 
“Trevor Reese?
 
You actually think that man wants you?”

Jenay could tell there was a kink in
Carly’s armor.
 
She could tell Carly
wasn’t all that certain of Trevor’s true feelings for her.

“What he wants,” Carly responded to
her father, “isn’t the point.”

“Well it damn well better become the
point,” Charles said.
 
“Because you don’t
know what you’re getting yourself into.
 
At least you need to know that he’s worth it.
 
At least you need to know that he loves you
and is willing to go through the fire with you the way you’re willing to go
through it with him.”

“Mom came to Jericho to be with you
on faith,” Carly said.
 
“She wasn’t sure
if you really loved her.
 
She told me so
herself.
 
But she had to try.
 
All I’m doing is trying for my life’s
sake.
 
Love isn’t a guarantee.
 
It’s never been and never will be.”

“That’s true,” Jenay said, and
everybody looked at her.
 
“But Charles
wasn’t back then and has never been some mystery man I couldn’t learn shit
about.
 
He’s never been shady like
that.
 
You can’t compare your father to a
man like Trevor Reese.”

“I’m not trying to compare them,”
Carly said.
 
“I’m just trying to see if
it will work.”

“And what if it doesn’t work?”
Charles asked.
 
“Is it worth the price
you might pay?
 
What if he doesn’t even
want you like that?”

“I’m sure he wants me,” Carly said,
although it was with weak conviction.
 
“He wants me,” she said with more forcefulness.

“But he wants you for what, Carly?”
Charles asked.
 
“To be his woman, or to
be his whore?”

Carly couldn’t believe her father
spoke those words to her.
 
And she
slapped him.
 
She slapped Charles hard
across his face.

Donald and Ashley jumped to their
feet in shock, holding each other’s arms.
 
“Oh, snap!” Ashley yelled.
 
“Call
Rescue, Donnie, call Rescue!
 
Daddy about
to kill this crazy girl!”

But Charles didn’t have time to do
anything to Carly.
 
Jenay stepped in
between them and did it for him.
 
She
slapped Carly even harder across her face.

When Carly looked back up, holding
the side of her now stinging face, she saw a kind of fierceness in Jenay that
she had never seen before.

“Don’t you ever,” Jenay said between
clenched white teeth, “even think about raising your hand to your father ever
again!
 
He’s your father.
 
This man right here!
 
The one who brought you into his family and
loved and cared for you like you were his own flesh and blood.
 
The one who sacrifice for you time and time
again no matter what the problem may be.
 
I don’t care what words come out of his mouth, I don’t care how much you
hate those words, he is your father!
 
And
you will respect that.”

Carly looked at her mother, and then
looked at her father, and she knew she was wrong.
 
She regretted what she had just done, she
regretted it with bitter regret.
 
She
looked back at her father, and tears appeared in her eyes.
 
“Daddy, I’m sorry,” she said heartfelt.

To Donald and Ashley’s total shock,
tears appeared in Charles’s eyes too.
 
And when Carly fell against him, and hugged him, they were equally
shocked when he hugged her back.
 

Jenay wasn’t shocked.
 
She was grateful.
 
Because Charles knew like she knew that there
was more going on with Carly than meets the eye.
 
There was more pain and hurt inside of that
young woman than she would ever reveal.

Carly looked at Jenay as she held
Charles, with her tears still dropping freely, and she pulled Jenay into her
embrace too. And apologized to Jenay too.

But as Carly held her parents, she
knew it wasn’t enough.
 
She knew they
weren’t listening to her.
 
They weren’t
trying to feel the pain she’d been feeling practically all of her life, because
it would be unimaginable to good, God-fearing people like them.
 
She had no voice.
 
She had no say in her life.
 
She was screaming, but nobody was hearing
her.
 
She was crippled by other people’s
expectations, and they couldn’t see the crutches.
 
She was paralyzed by other people’s wants and
needs, and they couldn’t see the paralysis.
 
She had to walk away.
 
Didn’t they
understand that?
 
She was a paralyzed
woman trying to walk away.
 
She knew she
had no business walking at all, not a woman in her condition.
 
But she
had
to try.