Apple scented shampoo was the first thing that came into her mind when she woke up next, it was such a nice smell. She buried her face glorious pillows and let out a soft moan.
Someone pulled the blinds open and the sunshine came streaming in. Her eyes flew open.
"Morning sunshine," a throaty voice said.
She knew they voice from somewhere but she remember where. She blinked kindly middle aged woman with dark hair pulled into a severe burn, looking back at her from the window.
"How are you feeling?" The woman asked coming to seat at the bottom of her bed and smoothing over the covers.
"Who are are? Where am I?" Fallon asked as she slowly sat up.
The woman laid a gentle hand on her arm and eased her back into bed, "My name is Macy and you are in Taylor's room. You bumped your head pretty hard in the basement last night."
Taylor room? If she was in Taylor's room then she was in Taylor's bed? She inhaled the apple scented shampoo smell, followed by lavender and spice,with a slight hint of cinnamon, mmmmh, definitely Taylor. She grabbed a pillow and hugged it tightly.
"Are you Taylor's mom?"
The woman smiled, "I have spent more time with him since he was four than his actual mom so I might as well be.
"Where is Taylor?"
"I send the two slugs for a run this morning. They have been slacking here all days, not exercising and eating like pigs. No wonder the only thing Gina remembers is to point her feet. Would you like something to eat? I have made breakfast, Taylor says this is your favourite."
The woman handed Fallon a tray. Slightly burnt toast, sausages,an orange cut into quarters and apple juice.
"Thanks."
Fallon lifted up the toast and then memories of Taylor with some girl in the basement came rushing to her and she quickly placed it back on the tray, feeling sick to her stomach.
"What's wrong dear?"
"Taylor, he was with someone in the gym this morning."
"Yes."
"Who was she?"
"Me of course. I haven't seen him in two weeks, he was as rusty as a nail," Macy said with a wink.
Fallon felt the breakfast tray clutter to the floor and pure undiluted rage flooded every part of her, "You?"
"Yes, dear, now let's not get too excited, lie back."
In an instant, Fallon flew straight at the woman, gripping her throat in a tight hold, letting all the hatred overwhelmed her.
"You fucking whore!" Fallon shouted as she squeezed the woman's throat.
Macy's small but strong hands gripped Fallon's and pried her away from her throat. Fallon lunged again, clawing at Macy's hair, trying to get a few strands out of the bun to rip of, but they were too gelled back, her hands slipped. Abandoning the hair, she tried the eyes, but Macy gripped her firmly by the forearms and pushed her back, gently but firmly. Fallon tried to struggle but it was no use, it was clear that the older woman had the superior strength even though she was a lot smaller.
She pushed Fallon back on the bed and pinned her arms at her side, straddling her but not sitting on her.
"You...you..." Fallon could not find the right insult.
"My, my, what a temper," Macy said looking down at Fallon with a smile, "Now miss, you can hurl all the insults you like at me, I don't care, but if you fly at me like that again, I will be forced to tie you down with Taylor's bedsheets and I don't think that would amuse him much."
Fallon tried to kick the woman off her but she still held on firmly.
"Mind the baby miss," Macy cautioned as Taylor shifted struggled.
At the mention of the baby all the air left her lungs and Fallon instantly deflated, ashamed. She could not believe she had tried to engage in a fight, with complete disregard of her pregnancy status. Macy who was clearly stronger than her would have hurt her if she had tried. What use was a man who did not even want her in comparison to her babies who needed her?
"There you go. Good girl, now, I am going to let you go, I don't know why you attacked me and I am guessing it is a hormonal thing, but please, don't do it again."
The door of the room suddenly opened as Macy was getting off her and Taylor and Gina walked in, both wearing identical body suits, their bodies glistening with sweat.
Macy landed gracefully on the floor and shamelessly pecked Taylor. To be fair, she pecked Gina too but she pecked Taylor first, Fallon felt the stab of range again but controlled it this time. To be honest, she wouldn't have been so angry if Macy was the gorgeous blonde she had imagined her to be but to be discarded for a woman who could be his mom!
Fallon swiped angrily at the tears and glared at Taylor.
Taylor had the nerve to look as innocent and as handsome as ever as his took in the state of the room, "What happened here?" He asked Macy.
Macy looked nervously at Fallon, "Er, Fallon had er...a moment."
Taylor took one long stride to her side, a look of pure panic on his face, he kneeled down and took her hand, his eyes roaming everywhere on her body, assessing damage, "You okay?"
Fallon internally scoffed at his attention. 'You okay?'? He had the nerve to ask her their special question as if nothing was wrong when he had ruined everything?
Before anyone could stop her, she grabbed the pitcher of apple juice that was still standing on the bedside table and poured it down his perfectly curly hair. She would have broke it on his head too, but Macy, sensing her intention, quickly forced it out of her grip and placed it out of reach.
Gina grinned and held out her hand to Macy, who placed a five dollar bill from her pocket.
"Told you, she had to have a temper in there somewhere. They don't make them that pretty and not give them a temper match," Gina said.
Taylor, turned to his sister angrily, wet hair dripping, "You bet on Fallon losing her to temper?"
Macy laughed, "Don't be angry dear, you know G and I bet on everything under the sun. And no, we only bet on whether she will do something to your hair or not; we already knew she would lose it sooner or later. Thank God it is sooner. Remind me to keep a good distance the next time it happens."
The older woman steered Gina out of the room, "Come on, I believe these two need to talk. Holla if you need help Taylor, but we can't guarantee you that we will come to your aid."
Taylor stood up and locked the door, placing the key in his pocket. He stepped into the adjoining bathroom and grabbed a towel, taking care to keep his distance from Fallon, he pulled a chair a little further and attempted to dry his hair.
"Talk to me," he said gently as he threw the towel on the floor and shook out his hair. It was not even close to dry but at least,it was not dripping apple juice.
"Talk to you? Talk to you?"Fallon angrily fisted the bedcover.
"Yes. Just tell me what is bothering you. Whatever it is that I have done to offend you, I shall try to make up for it."
"Where is Berin?"
He frowned, "Your sister? She went to gymnastics practice,she said you know she goes every Saturday very early."
"I want to get out of here. I want to go back to our apartment. This plan to stay here was stupid."
"Okay."
"Okay? That's it? You are not going to protest and force me to stay?"
"No. I only did it last time for your own safety. Steve is now behind bars and your apartment is safe. You shall go back there if that is what you want just..." He ran a hand nervously through his hair, "Just don't be angry at me please."
"Not be angry at you? You brought your whore of a Macy here and had sex with her when I thought we had something special! I really deluded myself that there was something between us, and you led me on. You let me think I was important to you. That I was the girl you would drop everything for when I need you. And then the second I start trusting you, you do an about turn and bring your sugar mommy here and you don't even have the decency to get me out of the house first."
Fallon was expecting any reaction but the one he gave. He started laughing. Somehow finding the situation funny. Fallon wondered how fast she could reach that pitcher at the door where Macy had placed it.
"When you finish laughing, you can share the joke."
He had tears in his eyes from laughter as he struggled to control it, "You think that Macy is my sugar mommy?"
"Don't deny it, I heard you two today in the gym and yesterday on the phone, when you were promising each other breakfast in bed."
"What? What are you talking about?" He tried to look confused but Fallon just wasn't buying it.
"You were talking to her yesterday in the study on the phone, I listened at the keyhole. Do you deny it?"
He gave her an exasperated look, "I guess I shouldn't have expected anything less from a reporter. No, I don't deny it."
"And you were telling her how much you miss her and how it will be the first time in a long time and assuring her how you have not let yourself go."
"Did you hear what she was telling me?"
"No. She wasn't on speaker."
He nodded, "Okay, go on."
"Then today I woke up and I was thirsty..."
"I left some water on your nightstand."
"I drank all of it and was still thirsty," Fallon said impatiently, "So I went downstairs and I heard voices in the gym and..."
"Let me guess, you listened at the keyhole again?"
"And it turns out I had a reason to, because I heard her tell you to take your clothes off and then you started panting and she was moaning although really sucks at it and then..."
"You fainted. Was our lovemaking really that intense?" His eyes twinkled merrily at her, laughing at her.
"Don't joke about this, please, not you. You know I hate it when I am made fun of."
He exhaled loudly, his face turning serious, he moved his chair closer and hesitantly reached for her hands, as if expecting rejection. Fallon limply let him have them even though her jaw remained firmly set.
He brought both hands to his lips and gently brushed a kiss across them, "Fallon, I am so sorry that my actions and words, although deeply misunderstood and wildly taken out of context have occasioned you pain. Macy is not my lover but my ballet teacher. She has known me a long time and we hide nothing from each other. When you heard me on the phone, she was simply talking about ballet. I haven't had a class with her since I came here and because we haven't managed to find you a house yet, Gina and I were planning to extend our visit until we do, which means our stay here will be indefinite. So we thought we will just send for her and have her stay here and teach us until we are ready to go back to LA because it is so important to us. She arrived today morning and I went to pick up her up from the airport. Since I have insomnia and she does too, we decided to just start on our first class right away."
Fallon felt shame overwhelm her. Was it possible that she had actually misunderstood the whole situation? It was true, she had only heard one side of the phone conversation and as a journalist, she knew how dangerous it was to come to conclusions based on one side of the story. But the conversation in the gym, was it possible she had misunderstood that too?
"She told you to take of you clothes."
"Because you can't dance ballet in regular clothes."
"And she helped you."
"I have always had a problem with unbuttoning my shirts and writing of the letter h."
"And she said you just started having fun and to give her a couple of good ones."
His mouth caved in a smile, "Stretches Fallon. A couple of good stretches."
"But why couldn't he just say give me a couple of stretches? Or stretch?" Fallon lamented, feeling as is she would die of the shame.
"That sounds like a question for her. But she has always been over the top with her speeches."
"But you were panting!"
"Because I was dancing. People pant when they dance too, you know, and what you thought were her moans were only the interjections of a teacher encouraging a student."
"But why do you still take ballet? I thought you told me you stopped to study pre-med."
"Ballet has always and will always be part of my life. Let's just say it is my way of keeping fit. I never stopped taking classes, I just stopped the intense training but I still make sure to take classes twice a week. It is something that keeps me sane, and my job is delivering babies, I need something to keep me sane."
Fallon did not even know if he could forgive her foolishness, "I am so sorry."
He finally let go of her hands which he had been holding on the entire time and brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear, "I am not," he said gently, "At least now I know how you feel about me."
Then he leaned closer and connected their lips.
Fallon's body accepted him immediately, unfurling for him in a way that it had never done for Tom. His tongue prodded just a little at her teeth, seeking entrance which was granted almost immediately. She fell back on the bed and he came down with her, his body so light on top of hers that it felt as if they were one. One of his hands ran up and down her thigh, soothing some needs and awakening others while the other held her firmly by the neck. She ran a hand through his curls and immediately regretted pouring apple juice on them because they were now very sticky. Their bodies moved in tandem, intoxicating them to such a high degree of pleasure that it was on the cusp of being painful. She let out a proper moan and he smiled against her lips and immediately withdrew his body from hers leaving her feeling cold even though the room was quite warm.
She groaned in frustration. He hovered over her body, panting, and traced a delicate line across her lips.
"You are so beautiful," he whispered, his gaze intense and intentionally rubbed a part of him against her thigh. Fallon's body clenched.
"Please..." She bagged as she pulled his head towards her and tried to reconnect their lips.
He brushed a hand across tender breasts and she arched upwards.
"Can I ask a favor of you?" He whispered in her ear.
"Anything,"Fallon was breathless.
"In future, don't go listening to my conversations through keyholes. If you have a problem with me, you face me, like an equal and we solve it."
Fallon caught his hand and brought it back to her thigh, grinding her body against his, she smiled seductively, "Okay."
"And now, I need to wash this apple juice off my hair,the stickiness is driving me crazy."
And just like that, he untangled their limbs and withdrew to the bathroom, leaving Fallon biting at her lip and wondering what had just happened.