"Wow! This place hasn't changed since the last time we were here." Tom stated when they walked into Illyria's house.
"Tom you guys were just here a couple of months ago." Illyria laughed.
"Oh shut up."
"Where's Barkley?" Beulah asked and they heard pounding coming through the house. "Never mind." She sat down knowing that if she didn't she was going to be knocked down. Suddenly a 100lb. Rottweiler came bounding through the living room and jumped with both front paws on Beulah's lap as she started laughing. "There you are big boy!"
"Barkley!" Illyria called out and the minute he heard her voice he jumped off Beulah and onto Illyria, knocking her to the floor. "About time you notice Mama's here. You been a good boy?" She questioned, scratching the dog's head. "Come on now, let me up or the big, bad, blonde man over there is gonna get jealous." Illyria laughed.
"Of a dog? I don't fucking think so baby." Jim spoke up as he watched Barkley climb off of her and Illyria stood up.
"I will have you know, this is no ordinary dog. Barkley is a very intelligent animal...aren't you big boy?" The dog barked and she giggled. "See, I told you." It was then Barkley noticed Tom and after trotting over to him to get his head scratched Barkley went into the kitchen. "Watch this baby." A few minutes later the dog returned, leash in mouth and walked back over to Tom. "Tom always takes him outside when he gets here."
"Well, I'll be damned." Jim said, watching Tom take the leash from Barkley and attach it to his collar.
"She told you he was a smart dog." Tom laughed.
"Just put him on his chain outside since he hasn't been out there for a while." Illyria told Tom and he nodded. "All right baby, come on and I'll show you our bedroom." She stated, taking his hand and leading him upstairs. "Beulah you know which one is yours, right?"
"Of course. We'll be up in a few minutes."
Illyria opened the door to her bedroom and led him inside. "This is it." The walls were covered in a deep red paint with a four post, king size bed covered in black satin sheets.
"Not what I was expecting at all."
"Were you expecting pink frilly shit?" Illyria asked, laughing. She watched him as he spotted some picture frames sitting on her dresser and took a deep breath as he picked one up she was all too familiar with.
"You kept this?" He questioned, looking down at a photo that was taken of him and Illyria together at her twenty-first birthday when he was pouring her first beer in her mouth.
"Yeah." She responded, shyly. "It's one of my favorites." Jim sat the picture frame back down and turned to her with a smile on his face. "What?"
"Do you know how fucking bad I wanted to pour that damn beer all over that white shirt you were wearing that day?"
"The problem with that is...I wouldn't have done a damn thing to stop you." Illyria sat down on the edge of the bed and sighed.
"What is it baby?" Jim asked, sitting down beside her.
"Nothing, I was just thinking. I wanted you so fucking bad that when you asked me what I wanted for my birthday...I almost said for you to take me up to my room and fuck the living hell out of me."
"You're so evil." He chuckled. "Maybe if you're good, I'll do that later."
"Promises, promises. You sure you can get that 'big stick' up?" Illyria questioned, smiling evilly at him.
"Why you..." Jim trailed off, reaching for her.
Illyria squealed in surprise, jumped up off the bed and ran out of the room. "Help! Tom, Beulah!" She screamed, laughing the whole way as she heard Jim chasing after her.
"Get back here!"
"I don't think so." She ran downstairs and opened the front door, ready to run outside but the sight that greeted her made Illyria stop short and stare in surprise. "...Adam?" Standing at her front door, smiling at her was Illyria's ex-boyfriend Adam Birch.
"Hi Illyria."
"Wh...what are you doing here? How did you know I was even here?"
"I came to see you and I knew you were here because I called Manna and he told me." Adam explained. "You going to let me come in?"
That motherfucker! "No, I'm not Adam. I don't even know why the hell you're here! You talked to Jim on the phone so you know that I belong to him now."
"I came here to change your mind." Adam said simply and Illyria laughed. "What's so funny?"
"Adam do you even know why I was with you in the first place?"
"Because you liked me and wanted to be with me."
"Wrong. I was with you because I couldn't be with Jim, loneliness got to me and I needed someone around." Illyria stated and watched as his face became a mask of anger.
"You bitch!" He reached out for her and she screamed.
"JIM!" Illyria yelled.
"Baby what the...Birch." Jim growled, shoving Illyria gently out of the way. "What the fuck are you doing here?"
"I came to get Illyria back."
"Lyria belongs to me, not you or anyone else and she's not going anywhere." Jim said, his temper on the verge of breaking.
"You're not her damn keeper Fullington! If she wants to go somewhere she can." Adam growled.
"Ask her then. Ask her if she wants to go, ask her who she belongs to."
"Illyria do you want to go with me?" Adam questioned her.
"No." She responded and he sighed.
"Now ask her who she belongs to Birch." Jim stated, smirking.
"Who do you belong to?"
"I belong to Jim." Illyria replied, happily. "I'm happy Adam, I love Jim and he's the one I want to be with...no one else."
"You're going to regret this someday." Adam said before turning and walking away.
"Lyria is everything okay?" Beulah asked, her and Tom walking down the stairs.
"It is now. Fucking Adam Birch was just here...said he was here to get me back."
"How did he even know you were here?" Tom questioned and Illyria took a deep breath.
"Manna told him."
"That motherfucker!" Jim yelled and she winced. "He's becoming a problem that needs to be resolved...and quick."
"Baby there's nothing that we can do right now so let's just relax and enjoy these next couple of days. We'll take care of Manna soon, don't worry."
"Do you have something planned Lyria?" Beulah asked.
"Not yet but I'm working on it. Why don't you guys go out in the kitchen and have a beer or something? Beulah have something we need to talk about anyway." Illyria said, winking at Jim and he laughed.
"Come on Tommy, let's let the women have their story time."
Illyria watched the two men walk into the kitchen then she turned to Beulah with an evil smile on her face. "And boy do I have a story to tell you."
"I'd think so...what exactly happened with you, Scott and Jim?"
"Well, after we got to Scotty's house and he got done showing me around so I would know where everything was Jim said he had to talk to him. They went in the kitchen to talk while I sat in the living room and watched The Devil's Rejects. Jim and Scotty walked back in a little while later and sat on either side of me, I asked Jim what was going on but he just smiled and pointed to Scotty. I turned around to look at Scotty, trying to figure out what the hell was going on when he suddenly kissed me. I pulled away immediately and went to slap him but Jim grabbed my wrist and told me not to, told me just to enjoy it. At first I thought I was just dreaming again until I finally realized it was real this time. We had just got into the swing of things, Scotty was doing things to me...Jim was kissing on my neck when my damn cell phone rang and it was Rob." She laughed.
"Talk about a mood killer." Beulah giggled.
"Far from it actually, Scotty stood up and took his shirt off so I told Rob I had to go because they were demanding my attention."
"Little did he know..."
"And I'd like to keep it that way." Illyria smiled. "Anyway, after I hung up the phone I turned it off and threw it across the room then asked Scotty if we could continue it somewhere else. We ended up in Scotty's bed and...well, you can guess what happened after that." She stated.
"Jim didn't care?"
"Fuck, he encouraged it! That had been my fantasy for a long time and if Jim wasn't objecting or going to leave me for doing it...why not take the chance, you know?"
"Oh yeah, I can understand that." Beulah agreed.
"I found out from Terry Gerrin that the only reason Jim did it was to make me happy and to keep from losing me which really pissed me off. I told him about it too and that's kind of what started our whole fight."
"Things are okay now though?"
"Things are fine now which makes me relieved, he understands that he doesn't need to bring anyone else into our relationship to make me happy because he's all the man I need or want." Illyria explained.
"Hey baby?" Jim called out, stepping into the room.
"Yeah?" She asked.
"Does pizza sound good to you guys? Tommy and I were going to order out and get some."
"Sounds fine with me, Beulah?"
"Sounds good." Beulah agreed. "You want to go swimming for a while Lyria?"
"Why the hell not? Baby we're going up and change so we can go swimming out back in the pool."
"I'll go swimming with you guys after we order and I'll ask Tommy if he wants to too."
"All right but you better be prepared to either tell the truth or make some shit up...I only have a bikini so these marks are going to show really well." Illyria giggled.
"I'll tell him." Illyria and Beulah went upstairs and changed into their bikinis then went back downstairs to join the guys. They spent a couple of hours swimming and eating pizza before finally deciding to sit down and watch a movie. After the movie the four of them went to bed where Illyria and Jim were asleep almost as soon as their heads hit the pillows.