Recovery (5 page)

* * * *

No, this heifer did not! Oceane thought. As they entered Dizzy’s, she saw Henri standing beside a man at the bar who screamed hetero. The stranger was well over six feet with a Roman nose strong jaw and full pink lips. Dressed impeccably in a pair of form fitting black trousers and tailored black button down with black loafers, he was downright delectable.

“Please tell me you did not tell him I was his date,” she said from between the lips she’d forced into a smile.

“No, do you want me to?”

“Aurelie!”

“What? He’s sex on a stick,” she whispered back before they reached them.

“Hello, Henri, I see you’ve brought a friend,” Aurelie said.

“I did. Girls, this is my cousin Emile. Emile, these are the Dubois girls I rattle on about so much, Aurelie and Oceane.”

“Bonjour Mademoiselles.” His voice was melted hot fudge drizzled over Dutch chocolate ice cream. Rich, addictive and sinful, his smooth baritone sent a shiver down her spine. It had been a long time since Ocean had seen a man this damn sexy. The dazed look on her sister’s face told her she agreed. A wicked thought crept into her mind; a devious smiled quirked her lips upward.

“Bonjour, Emile, it’s always lovely to meet more of Henri’s family.”

Shaking his hands, she issued a nudge to the stunned form of her sister.

“Y-yes, it’s lovely to meet you, Emile,” Aurelie said.

Aurelie’s tiny hand lingering in Emile’s didn’t escape Oceane or Henri as they exchanged a look filled with a wealth of knowledge. Looks like Aurelie’s plan was about to backfire in a major way.

Chapter Three

“Thanks for this, Aur, I had a great time,” Oceane said, leaning in to hug her sister over the console of the car.

“So did I.”

Oceane placed a kiss on both cheeks before exciting the car. She felt lighter as she made her way up to her apartment. Head bowed, she was reaching into her purse when a shadow fell over her. She took a hurried step back, tensed and ready to use the pepper spray attached to her key chain.

“Maxim! Holy shit, you scared me!” she said placing a hand over her heart, the blood roaring in her ears.

“Where were you?” he asked. His tone was glacial and all too familiar as he glared down at her from his perch beside her door.

“Out with Aurelie,” she said giving him her back as she placed the key in her lock. “What are you doing out here in the hall?”

“I wanted to see you,” he said as she unlocked the door and pushed it open.

“Well, here I am.” she said entering as he followed close behind.

“You’re different,” he said, his voice full of accusation.

“No, I’m just happy.  It’s a look I haven’t worn of late.”

“Oce—”

“What do you want from me, Max? You want money? A place to sleep off your high? What?”

“I’m not high! That’s what I wanted to tell you.”

“Maxi?” she asked, worried by his abrupt mood swing. He had black circles under his eyes and his face had taken on a sunken appearance.

“I finished our songs a couple days ago and I’m past the forty-eight hour mark. Usually once you hit seventy-two hours you’re in the clear, I know that from my past experience with detoxing. I-I called you to ask for help and when you didn’t answer or return my calls. I didn’t know what to do.” He began pacing the foyer and she swallowed, moistening a mouth that had gone bone dry. “Is there someone else? Have you finally decided to replace me?”

“No, I told you I was out with Aurelie and Henri,” she replied, careful to keep her voice even. “You need to calm down, because you’re scaring me right now,” O continued in an attempt to bring him down from his agitated state.

“How can I calm down?  I’m about to lose the person whose most important to me.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“You said you’d always be there for me, Oceane!” he said pausing to stand in front of her, his eyes wild as they darted around the room.

“I know what I said, Maxim. When have I not been there? How can you be so upset? You’ve ignored me for the past month.”

“I’ve been trying to get myself together! I was a fucking wreck, I’m still a mess, but at least now I’m a functioning one.”

Hands on her hips she stood toe to toe with Maxim, her chest heaving as she said everything she’d been holding back.

“Aur and I went to the mall today for the first time in months. Remember when we used to do that every couple of weeks. My life can’t continue to revolve around you and your addiction!”

“I never said it had to!”

“You know what? Just go.”

“O—”

“No, I refuse to talk to you when you’re like this. Nothing I say is penetrating that thick skull of yours right now.” Her heels clicked on the wood as she stalked to the door, fumbling with the lock before she flung the door wide. All the frustration she’d felt cumulating in to this one moment.

“Now!” she insisted, ignoring the hurt look that marred his face as he stormed out of the apartment.

* * * *

Anger radiated from his body as he took his booted foot and pushed the table across the room.

“What are you doing?” Reed asked eyes wide as he looked up from the couch where he’d been playing
Call of Duty
.

“She fucking sent me away! I’m not even high, Reed.”

‘“Then why are you acting like a lunatic?”

“Because I haven’t used in over forty-eight hours and I’m ready to come out of my skin!”

He spoke through gritted teeth, gripping his hair by the roots as his body begged him to end the torture. Withdrawal from coke was more a battle of the mind than the body. He’d done it before, but it had never been this bad. He ran a hand over his face as his mind spun a million different scenarios for what Oceane was doing. More than likely she had called Aurelie who was listing all the reasons why she should leave him alone. Or perhaps she was on the phone speaking in low whispers to some new and fabulous guy she’d met when she was out.

“Max?”

“I can’t give her up, Reed.”

“No one’s asked you to.”

“You didn’t hear her tonight. I think I’ve lost her for good this time.” Despair crashed over him like a wave. The little voice inside his head urged him to go back for her. “I need to go back.”

“Max, that’s not a good idea.”

“I need to see her!” He rushed for the door only to be wrapped in what felt like a band of steel. “Reed! You need to let me go.”

“No, I’m not letting you go to her like this.”

* * * *

“Reed?” Oceane asked, a frown on her face she answered the phone call from the familiar number.

“Oceane, I need you to come over here. Max is about to bring this place down around our ears.”

A crash sounding in the background had her stomach twisting into tight knots.

“Oh, my God, Reed, is that him?”

“It’s bad, O, kicking this habit has him screwed up in the head. He thinks he’s lost you and he keeps trying to leave to come over to your apartment.”

Her lids lowered as her mind cleared and slowed. The solution was clear. All she had to do was stop fighting her instincts and let him come back home. This was where he would heal.

“Bring him home, Reed.”

“O, I really don’t thi—”

“Bring him home, Reed, I can handle it.”

* * * *

Shame washed over Maxim as he stood outside the door to what used to be his apartment. It took seventy-two hours to kick cocaine and fifty-five hours in, all the emotion he’d been putting on the back burner had begun to surface. Each glimpse of clarity was like a kick in the ass. If O had moved on, it would be no one’s fault but his own. Still, he couldn’t wrap his head around it. The thought of her with anyone else made his skin crawl and the logic retreated to the background once more as paranoia swallowed him whole. Images of other men with their arms wrapped around O’s tiny waist, their lips pressed against the mouth that declared her love to them many times over danced beneath his lids.

“Are you going to knock?” Reed asked.  

A sneer marred Max’s face as he turned his head to glare at Reed.

“What? You tore the apartment apart until we came here and now you want to choke?” he asked, bushy eyebrows risen into points as he shook his head.

The disbelief pasted on to Reed’s face triggered his anger and he latched on to the emotion like a lifesaver. Anger was easy.

“You have no idea what this feels like.”

“Do you think I feel sorry for you? I’m done making excuses for you! You needed to get your shit together!” He threw his arms up over his head as his face flushed red. “I need to get out of here before I forget you’re sick.” Reed pivoted on his heel and stalked off leaving Max alone in front of a door that swung open.

“What are you guys doing? It’s three o’clock in the morning!” Oceane whispered, pulling him inside the apartment. The feel of her tiny fingers wrapped around his wrist made him close his eyes. It had been to long since she’d touched him of her own accord. He was so tired. The separation, the need to finish their first album and the drug usage had worn down his soul.

“We tried to do this your way and now we’re going to do it mine.”

Her tone was sharp and he knew whatever she’d set her mind to right now was law.

“Are you listening to me?”

“Yes.”

“Then why won’t you look at me?”

“Because I’m afraid of what I’ll see in your eyes.”

“Maxi,” she said. Her warm hands resting on his cheeks as his body trembled. Was this where she told him where she’d really been tonight? “Open your eyes, bebe,” she said sighing when he shook his head.

“Do you trust me?”

“With my life.”

“Then open your eyes.”

He gave a heavy sigh as he followed her gentle request and his jaw dropped wide open. The robe she wore was gone. Oceane stood before him in a sky blue tulle number he’d often claimed to be his favorite. The bikini panties and bra were adorned with navy blue embroidered flowers and delicate butterflies.  The toffee skin exposed begged to be worshipped and the round melons threatening to spill from the bra were perfection. The cavern of his mouth went dry as his mind spun like a tilt a whirl. What was she up to? Not three hours earlier she had kicked him out.

“O?”

“I know you love me as much as I love you, but I need you to show it.” She pressed a finger against his lips to silence him when he opened his mouth to speak. His heart swelled with hope as she continued. “This is the last chance I have left in me. I won’t go through this again…you understand?” She waited for his shaky nod before she continued.

“The music you write comes from here,” she said, her hands placed above his heart. “I know you don’t believe that. You think you need a muse. So I’m offering myself up to your art.”

His breath caught in his throat as she stepped away, running her hands down her body.  His cock twitched, growing hard as her nipples pebbled. The tiny peaks strained against the material, and his mouth longed to cover them.

“Do you agree to my terms?”

A smirk spread across her lips as she placed her hands on her hips and he nodded, unable to speak.

“I need to hear you say it out loud, Maxim.”

She approached him in a slow strut. Each tap of her high heels seemed to echo in the too silent room

“Yes,” he said, holding his breath afraid he’d wake up at any moment and find this was just another drug induced dream. She grew closer and the feel of her fingers in his hair grounded him as tears trickled out of the corner of his eyes to roll down his face.

“It’s okay, Maxi, I have you now.”

She wiped away the salty drops with her thumbs, lacing their fingers and leading him out of the living room and down the hall. In that moment he loved her more than he’d ever imagined possible. That she was accepting him like this stole the breath from his lungs and left him struggling with the lump that’d formed in his throat. He had so many things to answer for. Penance for the rest of his life didn’t seem like a harsh enough sentence. She came to a stop outside the bathroom, turning to peer up at him as she let go of his hands.

“This is about more than cleansing your body; tonight, we’re going to cleanse your soul.” From anyone else that line would be contrived, but on her lips it was salvation. Her fingers trailed a path up his chest to his top button and he closed his eyes, bowing his head as she began to strip him down. Shrugging off his shirt he felt as if he was shedding the layers of his old life.

“We need to fatten you back up,” she said. Her slender fingers traced the outline of his ribs before her hands moved on to unbutton his fly and ease down his zipper.

“Mmhm, commando.” Her purr made him shiver as she palmed his pulsing erection. She peered up at him from beneath her lashes, wrapping her hand around him to stroke from root to tip and he was powerless to do anything other than move in time with her.

“Open your eyes.”

Her voice was low and sultry. His lids felt like they weighed a ton as he forced them up. She was a wet dream come to life as she kneeled before him. “This time I want it all.”

Her breath fanned against his tip as she gripped him firmly, her pace increasing.

“Your love, your loyalty, your devotion. Every time you get the urge to use we’ll direct it by feeding a different hunger.”

His hip bucked when she used her thumb to wipe away the pre cum from his slit and popped him into her mouth. The blissful moan she produced induced a fresh outpour of more cream.  Her mouth suckled him and his head fell back. Her mouth was hot and moist as she hallowed her cheeks to take him deep. Her head bobbed up and down as he buried his fingers in her thick waves of coarse hair. Maxim’s hips snapped forward, and his breaths came in pants.

The back of her throat held him like a vice grip. Tingles ran up his spine as his balls drew tight. A growl rose in his throat as a thick stream of cum shot forth. The sounds of her slurps and swallows prolonged the bliss as she milked him dry.