The Arrangement

Chapter 5

Ellie’s P.O.V

I couldn’t get out of that case quick enough. Standing next to that she devil just makes my blood boil. How can she act like she’s done nothing wrong to hurt me. As far as I’m concerned she was nothing but a home wrecking w***e. By time the case had ended I was about an hour away from my shift ending, but nothing could have prepared me for the events that happened next.

“Ellie, could I have a quick word with you in my office” Abigails voice cutting through me like a knife.

“Sure” I respond with uneasiness

“I wanna clear the air with you, and let you know that there are no I’ll feelings between the two of us” that’s what she thinks. “Steven and I just had a real connection you know and what happened between us just felt right. I hope you can one day understand that. I also hope that Ollie can one day accept me as his bonus mom you know. I just love seeing that little boy smile” she grins like she knows it’s getting under my skin.

“Don’t speak about my son as if you know him on some personal level. And don’t acts as if there are no I’ll feelings between us because from where I’m standing I have nothing but hatred towards you” I say while holding back my tears. “You broke my family, I’ll never understand why you two did what you did, an as far as I’m concerned you will never be considered a bonus mom to Ollie. He only has one mama in his life and that’s me so don’t you ever forget that.”I say with anger echoing in my tone. “Just remember you’ll never have a real family with my husband, you’ll always just be playing house painting a perfect picture of lies.” I walk away quickly as I feel the tears bursting at the seems in my eyes.

As soon as I reach the bathroom the flood gates opened and I just couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. A half an hour later Bri finds me sitting on the bathroom floor looking like someone just hit me with there car and kept driving.

“Oh Ellie, what has that witch done to you now.” I don’t respond to her sincerity. “Just be glad that it’s the end of the day an you can clock out, go home and not have to come back in her till Monday”.

I nod at Bri’s comment before smiling and walking to clock out for the day. Oh how i just wish things would be different. I drive the 30 min drive home to see Eric, Ollie and Sargent Matt Sullivan sitting on the porch. I get out of the car and can sense that Ollies drop off didn’t go as planned. As I try to get a response as to how the day went, I get bribed with wine and take out instead to take my mind off of it.

I walk to the guest house quickly feeding, and bathing Ollie before putting him to bed. I then take the opportunity to shower myself. The hot water runs over my body relaxing every tensed muscle I’ve had from the day. After getting out of the shower I throw on a pair of my favorite workout shorts and oversized sweatshirt before grabbing the baby monitor and heading back to the main house.

“I got your favorite!” Eric smiles

“You shouldn’t have!” I chuckle.

We all sit down at the dinner table and it the first time that I can actually relax. As I take a sip of my wine I can’t help but feel a set eyes watching me. As I glance up I see Sargent Sullivan’s penetrating gaze. His eyes are crystal blue and if you stare at them for too long I’m sure they would pull you in. Quickly breaking eye contact I try to make small talk.

“So Matt, if I may call you that... tell me about your self. How did you end up getting roped into staying with this butt head over here?” I chuckle as Eric throws his napkin at me.

“Well, he was the major to my regiment. An when the accident happened, I was told I had to go back state side. I then realized I had no where to go. That’s where Rogers comes in“ Matt mumbles.

“Taking in the strays as always I see” my eyes glaring at Eric in amusement.

“Hey I took you in too when you were too afraid to tell mama and ask her for help” Eric snickers.

“True but not everyone is the golden boy like you” I laugh. “If I would have went to mama, she would have been all over me about how she was right and I was wrong. So I had no choice but to come to you”.

After a little more banter I begin to clear the table and as I go to grab Matt’s plate, my hand brushes against his and I feel a sort of electricity in my finger tips.”I’m sorry Matt, I didn’t mean to brush your hand like that” I say apologetically.

“No worries” Matt smiles.

I load the dishwasher and see Eric yawn in the background. “Well I hate to be a Debbie downer on a Friday night, but I l’m whipped” Eric says with a yawn. “I’ll see you two on the morning”. As Eric walks off to his room it’s just Matt and I left to own vices.

We both awkwardly stare at one another before I decide to break the silence. “Would you like to join me for a bonfire on the beach?” I ask politely.

“Sure” Matt says while flashing a smile.

We walk to the beach and I set up the fire pit as I’ve done so many times before. Once the fire is lit, I connect my phone to my Beats pill and turn on my Pandora radio. While Strip It Down by Luke Bryan plays softly in the background, I cant help but stare at the fire then at Matt. His eyes so focused on the flames. After our interaction this morning I didn’t get much time to study his features, but as I am sitting across from him now I can help but notice. His brown hair which has appeared to have grown a bit caress his face perfect an how could anyone fail to notice that muscular physique. My focus on his features is quickly broken when I feel him staring back at me.

I take a sip of wine and blurt out “So tell me more about yourself. Where your from... what’s your family like, why did you entered the army?” I can feel him intently staring at me.

“I grew up just outside keystone Colorado. I was a quiet kid, but wasn’t afraid to get into some fights.” He smiles as if he’s trying to remember the good old days. “I enlisted when I was 24 years old. I had just been laid off from my job as a welder and just decided that I wanted to be something bigger with my life, so I enlisted. I don’t have much family to talk about.” He pauses for a moment as if he should really get into this.

As he ponders his thoughts, the music switches over to Mess is Mine by Vance Joy. When he looks up and his eyes meet mine breaking his thoughts for a moment he continues on. “My dad left when I was 5, never really understood why, but he was never a huge influence in my life. My mom however, she was one of those people who would give you the shirt off her back if she could. She always looked for the good in people. My first year in the military my mom got sick. My sister tried everything she could to help her heal, but ultimately she passed while I was away on my first tour. My sister never fully forgave me for that.”

As I watch Matt’s eye show a a bit of sadness I can’t help the feel like I wanna walk over to him and kiss his lips. All of a sudden the word vomit starts again “what about relationships?” I place my hands over my mouth as the words shoot out like an Eager school girl. “I’m sorry, I just cant help but wonder how a handsome guy like you wouldn’t have a girl, or even a fiancé to return home to by now”.

Matt’s eyes quickly go from sadness to darkness as he stares back into the flames of the fire. “I was engaged. Her name was Olivia. We met at a bar the year I got back from my first tour.” He gets quiet for a moment as if he doesn’t wanna say much more. Just as I’m getting ready to change the subject he responds “four years ago, when I returned home from deployment. I walked into our apartment to find my best friend Will in bed with Olivia. I knew he was comforting her while I was away, but I didn’t think in that way. After that I vowed to never return home from a deployment. Trying everything I could to extend my tour, until I got injured that is.”

I can’t help but feel for Matt. He’s just as messed up as I am right now. The urge I am having for him to kiss me and take me is even stronger then before. We sit in silence for a few more moments listening to the music and waves work together like a symphony. As the fire slowly dies down, we finally decide to call it a night. As I go to stand up from my chair, turning around to grab my beats pill I begin to lose my balance only to be caught by Matt’s arms. The tingles I feel all over my body as he lifts me back to my feet send a shock to my core, awakening her. As his eyes meet mine, I can see a hint of lust in them. Just as we both lean in to kiss, the baby monitor starts to go off.

“s**t, Ollie must be awake” I say quickly pulling away. As we walk back to the house the urge is still there. “Would you like to come up for one more drink?” I question with hopes that he would say yes.

“That would be great, but it is getting pretty late. An I’m sure we both had a long day” Matt says looking at me I can almost feel his sense of regret from what almost happened on the beach.

“Yea-yeah... no worries I understand” I say as I begin to quickly turn on my heal and retreat to the guest house. “Good night, Sargent Sullivan. It was nice getting to know you tonight” I say with a cold expression as I enter my house. I shut the door quickly. What the hell is wrong with me. The guy is making it pretty clear that he doesn’t want to get into anything and your here throwing yourself at him. I smack my forehead as if I’m agree with my subconscious. “Get it together, Ellie!” I huff to myself before going to Ollies room to lay him back down.

I lay in bed unable to sleep and focusing on the ceiling. I can’t stop thinking about the sensation I felt when Matt caught me in his arms from falling. Its definitely awakened my core. As the thoughts of Matt’s muscles caressing my body dance through my head I can’t help but touch my now awaken core at the thought of him taking me.

I reach into my night stand pulling out my vibrator. It’s been my friend since Steven decided I was no longer good enough for him. As I begin imagining what Matt looks like underneath of those basketball shots, I slowly begin moving the vibrator down my body, allowing the vibration to caress every part of my body. As I reach my aching core with the vibrator I realize that I am extremely wet at the thought of him. As the vibrating sensation dances around my c******s, I feel an organism begin to build. As I adjust the speed of the vibrator I can no longer hold back the organism that was dying to escape me.

After I come down from my much needed orgasm. I find my self laying in bed, but staring out my window directly at Matt’s. I can’t seem to get him off my mind. I slowly close my eyes and drift off to sleep, but still wondering what this man is doing to my mind.

Matt’s P.O.V

As we gathered around the table for dinner, I can’t help but stare at Ellie’s natural beauty. She’s not dressed up, but she still is a sight to see. While we make small talk about our day I can’t help but wonder, how I got so lucky to be sitting where I am right now. This was the first time in a long time that I felt I actually belonged somewhere. As I’m in my own thoughts I am quickly interrupted by Ellie’s voice.

“ So Matt, if I may call you that tell me about your self. How did you end up getting roped into staying with this butt head over here?” She chuckle as Rogers throws his napkin at her.

“Well, he was the major to my regiment. An when the accident happened and I was told I had to go back state side I realized I had no where to go. That’s where Rogers comes in“ I mumbles.

“Taking in the strays as always I see” Ellie glaring at Rogers as if he does this all the time.

“Hey I took you in too when you were too afraid to tell mama and ask her for help” Rogers snickers

As I sit back and listen to their banter. I can’t help but wonder if this is what it would have been like if my sister and I had remained close. I’m broken from my thoughts when I feel a tingle as Ellie’s hand brush over top of mine as she is clearing my plate.

“I’m sorry Matt, I didn’t mean to brush your hand like that” Ellie apologizes quickly.

“No worries” I say with smile.

As Rogers turns in for tonight I’m a little taken aback by Ellie’s invite to a bonfire on the beach. I thought she would have been exhausted from the look in her eyes when she got home tonight, but it would be nice to get to know her some.

When we arrive at the beach, Ellie sets you the fire and turns on some music. I can’t help but notice how eclectic her musical taste is. As I stare into the flames of the fire, I can’t help but think about the last 6 years of my life. How did I get so f****d up in the head.

I glance up from the fire and my thoughts for a moment and notice that Ellie is staring at me. I can’t help but wonder what her kiss would taste like as I stare into her deep brown eyes. They reflect a certain amount of sadness and I can only imagine why. Suddenly I’m interrupted with a sudden game of what feels to be 21 questions however, I’m relieved to know that she wants to get to know me.

After what feels like an hour of telling her my life story, we decide to call it a night. While Ellie gathers her stuff I can’t help but watch her every move. She is truly beautiful and a tad bit ungraceful. I say ungraceful because before I know it I catch her in my arms as she stumbles.

As I’m holding her in my arms I can’t help but feel a pull towards her. Staring into her deep brown eyes I just know there’s more to her that I wanna get to know. As I lean in for a kiss we are interrupted by the sound of the baby monitor. Breaking us from our trance, we walk back to the house. We are about to go our separate ways when I hear Ellie mumble something.

“Would you like to come up for one more drink?” Ellie questioned. Almost being able to sense a sort of hope in her voice.

I thought about it for a moment “That would be great, but it is getting pretty late. An l’m sure we both had a long day.”

I can see the disappointment on her face, but knowing what Rogers had told me I just can’t. She is in a very vulnerable state at this moment in time. However, I can’t stop thinking about what if we would have kissed.

“Yea-yeah... no worries I understand” she says before quickly turning and retreating to the guest house. “Good night, Sargent Sullivan. It was nice getting to know you tonight” Ellie then says with an expression that I guess she is intending to come off as cold, but still warm at the same time.

As I walk to my room I can’t stop thinking about her and the almost moment we had. I lay in my bed facing the direction of my window which over looks the guest house. As I try to drift off to sleep the though of her lips on mine makes me hard. As my mind fills with thoughts and fantasies of Ellie. I slowly release my member from my shorts. Grasping it in my right hand I begin to jerk and tug at it. As I envision what our s*x would be like I feel my self nearing close to release.

Once I found my release, I cleaned up my mess and settled back into bed. This time staring at the ceiling thinking that I need to take my time and really get to know this women. For she may be the downfall to my demise.

I awake Saturday morning to the smell of bacon. I can only imagine that it’s Ellie making us breakfast once again. I get out of bed and walk to the kitchen taking a seat at the breakfast bar. Ellie has her back to me and I can’t help but take in the view. Observing every curve of her body.

“Ahh, someone’s awake I see” Ellie says eyeing me as if she knows that I was just caressing her every curve with my eyes.

“Good morning to you too Ellie” I smile. “So where’s Ollie?” I ask with a sense of concern.

“Steven called me very late last night asking if he could have a over night weekend visit. An being the person I am, I just couldn’t deny him of that. After all he is Ollies dad.” She says as if she’s not bothered.

“What about Rogers?” I mumble as I take a sip of the hot coffee she’s poured for me.

“He went into town to meet up with Stephanie” she says with a smile.

“Whose Stephanie” I question.

“Eric and Stephanie dated when they were in high school and a little after that. Then when he enlisted and broke it off with her. He said that he couldn’t let her wait for him to come back either alive or in a box. She’s been heart broken ever since” Ellie says with a smile as if she was planning this all along.

“Well it looks like it’s just you and I for breakfast” I smirk.

“It appears so” she smiles. “I hope your hungry because I tend to cook like I’m feeding an army” she chuckles.

I can’t help but smile as she dances to Dreams by Fleetwood Mac while finishing cooking. I could get used to this.