Thank you for your continued interest and support. I do not own Glee or the characters, neither do I own Stuck-Up Suit.
Get ready for it...
SAM
This parenting thing wasn't for sissies.
Even though Madison didn't know I was really her father, I treated her no differently than if she did.
I made sure she got to see me almost every day and made her a top priority.
Last night was particularly rough because I'd never dealt with a sick child before.
Jennifer thought it would be a good idea if I took the lead in caring for her and for once I agreed with my ex.
If my daughter was going to be spending time at my place eventually, I needed to know how to take care of her in sickness and in health.
But Madison mainly just wanted me to hold her and read to her. The poor thing had pus coming out of her ears and was burning up.
I felt helpless because there was nothing I could do to really make her feel better aside from just being there.
She was growing more attached to me every day, which proved, that despite the distance between us over the years, there was such a thing as an innate connection between a father and child.
Thank God Mercedes was being so understanding about all of it.
But I missed her like crazy, so much so, I was starting to have serious withdrawals.
As much as I loved spending time with my daughter, I needed to see my girlfriend tonight.
I needed to feel her wrapped around me...and I buried deep inside her.
I needed to fist a handful of her sexy dark hair.
I needed to hear that sound she made when she came with me inside of her.
Shit!
And I needed to tell her once and for all how much I loved her.
Luck was on my side because Madison was feeling a bit better. The antibiotics were starting to kick in.
So after having an early dinner with her, I headed straight to Mercedes'.
I was going to have the car pick her up and take her to my place, but she said she preferred I come to her.
I'd joked that I'd be happy to come anywhere she wanted tonight.
When she opened the door, I immediately buried my face in her neck, breathing in her vanilla perfume. That smell practically got me high.
"Fuck! I've missed you," I said against her skin. "How did you get even more gorgeous?"
It was a relief to see that the tips of her hair were still blue. And a tight, matching royal blue dress hugged her heaving chest.
As much as I wanted to rip that dress down and suck on her nipples hard, I'd equally just really missed her smile, her laugh and her snarky attitude.
Even though we hadn't been apart for very long, being immersed in fatherhood felt like I'd been a world away from the other important part of my life.
I loved my daughter, but my home was with Mercedes.
Lowering my hand down her back, I asked,
"You hungry?"
"No. You mentioned you had dinner with Madison, so I just grazed on stuff."
The way she said that, lead me to believe something was bothering her.
So I asked,
"Is there something on your mind?"
She hesitated.
"No."
I wasn't sure I believed her, but I decided not to push it...yet.
"What did you want to do tonight? We could go get a drink, see a movie, whatever you want."
"Can we just stay here?" she asked.
"You know I'll never complain about getting you all to myself."
"How's Madison doing tonight?"
"She's much better. The doctor put her on penicillin, and the ear pain has gone down significantly."
"I'm so glad to hear that."
My eyes wandered over to the sink. I noticed that there were two dirty wine glasses. And a rush of adrenaline hit me.
Two glasses?
Who the fuck was here?
"Did you have company?"
"Umm…actually, my father came by."
While relieved for the explanation, it bothered me that she hadn't told me.
"Really…"
"Yeah. He showed up here unannounced last night."
My heart sank, because I knew under normal circumstances, she would've come to me about this.
Seeing him couldn't have been easy for her.
Even though I knew the answer, I asked her anyway.
"Why didn't you say anything to me about this, baby?"
"You were with Madison. I didn't want to bother you. Anyway, it was fine. We just talked. It wasn't as bad as I imagined it might be to see him after the way I left his house that day."
"What did he say to you?"
"You know what? I don't want to waste this night rehashing all of that. My father and I…we're actually fine. It was an okay visit."
"You sure you don't want to talk about it?"
"I'm positive."
"Okay." I pulled her into me and planted my forehead on hers. "You know what I was thinking? Since you have Italian ancestry...maybe we should go there for our vacation. I want to kiss the ground of the land that helped brought you to me. I've never been there before. We could visit the Amalfi Coast. What do you think?"
"I'm sure Italy is beautiful..."
"You didn't answer my question." I pulled back to examine her face. "You don't seem as excited as I thought you'd be. We don't have to go there. We can go somewhere else."
She placed both of her hands on my face and said,
"You're amazing, Sam. I'd be lucky to go anywhere with you."
Yet, she wasn't smiling when she said it.
What the fuck?
Something definitely was up. And I needed to find out what the hell it was.
"Are you alright? You seem down. Are you sure your father didn't upset you?" I asked.
"I'm okay."
"I don't believe you."
She stayed silent, and it was starting to seriously alarm me.
I brushed the back of my hand along her cheek.
"Mercedes, you know you can tell me anything, right? I know that the stuff with Jennifer and Madison hasn't been easy for you. But I need you to talk to me when things are bothering you, not keep them inside. There's nothing we can't work through as long as you don't keep things from me."
"There's nothing to talk about. My mood is just off tonight. Can we just go lie down?"
I examined her face before responding.
"Sure."
Despite Mercedes' explanation, an ominous cloud seemed to follow us as we headed into her bedroom.
I whipped my tie off. And as I was unbuttoning my shirt, she just sat on the bed, watching me.
I loved the fact that she was so enthralled with my undressing, but to be honest, it was a little odd and uncharacteristic for her to just be staring at me like that.
She was definitely not acting herself tonight.
Throwing my shirt on the chair, I said,
"If you don't want to talk, then I'm gonna have to find another way to make you feel better."
She stood up and walked over to me then slowly traced her index finger around the tattoo of her name over my heart.
"The fact that you did this means so much to me. I don't think I ever really expressed that enough."
"You mean so much to me. You brought me back to life, Mercedes. This was the least I could do to express how I feel. It represents how you're always with me, even when we can't physically be together because of work or Madison. Ultimately, knowing you're there for me and that you have my back is what's getting me through."
Mercedes was still staring at my ink when she asked,
"Will you make love to me?"
"Was there ever a question about whether that would be happening right now?"
"No, but I want to take it slow tonight. To savor it."
"I can do slow."
Sex couldn't solve everything, but I was sure as hell going to try to get her out of this funk she was in.
I was going to show her with my body exactly how much I loved her, and that there was nothing we couldn't get through as long as we stuck together both literally and figuratively.
She reached up and started to kiss me passionately in a way that almost felt desperate.
And as we collapsed onto the bed, her grip around my neck tightened while she pulled me to her, spreading her legs open wide.
"Please," she begged.
Seeing her bare and spread eagle like that, I immediately had to remind myself of her request to take it slow, because in that moment, I just wanted to ravage her.
As I entered her, she let out the most beautiful gasp into my ear.
Moving in and out with a slow and hard intensity, I realized that there was definitely a difference between pure, unbridled screwing and making mad, passionate love.
You had to be truly in love with someone to achieve the latter. And I was definitely in love with Mercedes, in a way that I had never been with anyone before.
And it was time to let her know.
As I sunk into her, trying not to crush her with the weight of my eager body, I whispered it into her ear,
"I love you so much, Mercedes." Withdrawing and thrusting all the way into her again, I repeated, "I love you."
She responded simply by grasping onto me tighter, bucking her hips and guiding my body.
And in that moment, I wanted so badly for her to return those three words to me. Instead, she remained silent until I felt wetness on my shoulders.
She was crying.
"Baby? What's wrong?"
My heart was beating faster. Had I been delusional in thinking that she was handling everything okay?
Was it all unraveling?
When I slowed my movements, she muttered,
"Don't stop, Sam. Please don't stop."
Frustrated, I picked up the pace, taking her harder than I meant to.
She screamed out in pleasure as her muscles pulsated around my shaft. But I couldn't stop myself from driving forcefully into her.
When I couldn't hold out any longer my body erupted. I came so hard, emptying myself inside of her.
Our chests rose and fell as we panted on top of one another.
She looked into my eyes for the longest time and seemed to be struggling with her words. But what she finally said nearly undid me.
"Your name may not be tattooed over my heart, but it will always be etched into my soul. I've spent over two decades thinking I was incapable of being loved. Thank you for proving me wrong. You've changed my life."
Even though it didn't contain the three words I hoped to hear, in many ways, it meant even more.
We made love three more times that night, each time more intense than the last.
When Mercedes finally fell asleep in my arms, a foreboding feeling kept me awake.
Over the next week, it started to become clear that I'd had good reason to be worried.
Mercedes gave me a different story every night as to why she couldn't see me...
Her sister needed help moving...
Her mother wanted to go shopping...
Or...she had plans with Noah and Quinn.
Dread multiplied each day as I thought back to our last encounter, which while sensual and passionate, had elements of bizarre behavior on her part.
And as much as her words about my changing her life touched me, I couldn't help obsessing over the fact that not once had she used the word love.
With each passing hour, that omission seemed to have growing significance.
Maybe she didn't love me.
Either way, something was wrong, and I needed to get to the bottom of it.
I tried hard to give Mercedes the space she apparently wanted by focusing on Madison.
It was the only way to take my mind off the fact that the woman I loved was distancing herself from me.
But by week's end, though, she'd left me with no choice but to wait in front of her apartment until she showed up.
Supposedly, she was with Noah and Quinn again.
But that sure as fuck was not who she came strolling down the street with hand in hand at nine o'clock at night.
Stay safe!