Life With: Kiana and Sawyer Ep. 12

*

"Hey Richard, "Kiana started. She was in her office, pacing around her desk with the phone to her ear. After thinking about Janelle's opinion on Alison, she had been consumed with guilt. She was being selfish by not trying harder to protect her friend. Alison couldn't realized how much she was putting herself and her family at risk by refusing to take action.

"Hey Key!" The background was noisy and she knew he was at work. She'd try to be quick. What's going on?" He yelled through the receiver.

"Nothing, I just wanted to take you out for lunch today." She checked her wristwatch; it was close to 12.

"Okay!" He sounded so excited. She had missed him. "I'd love to."

*

Richard had come back from the bathroom after going to wash his hands before he ate. Kiana had more than enough time to get the twins from daycare before she met with Richard. Seeing them had been a pleasant surprise and she didn't think she'd seen him smile so hard before.

Kiana held Sydney in the crook of her arm and Savannah was in her chair on the end of the table toward the aisle. She extended Sydney over the length of the table so that Richard could hold her. He grabbed her carefully and sat her on his lap, like how Kiana had been holding her but a lot more delicately.

He looked down onto her little face with a sweet smile. Kiana couldn't help but smile too. Sydney looked up into her grandfather's eyes inquisitively.

"Are you looking at grandpa, honey? Is that your grandpa?" Kiana cooed in her baby-talk voice. Sydney looked to the sound of her voice for just a second before looking back to Richard. Kiana grabbed her phone off the table and switched to her camera.

She took a quick photo of the two deep in a staring match; it was the cutest thing. She looked at Savannah who was struggling to grab at the corners of her menu from her seat. Kiana stood up and her heels clacked against the floor as she went to lift her second daughter from her seat.

She walked over toward Richard to place her in his second arm. He juggled the chubby kids in his arms for a few seconds until he found a comfortable way to hold them both. He chuckled to himself at the wholeness of their bodies.

Kiana hastily sashayed back to her seat to take more photos before the girls' patience grew too thin for cooperation. She couldn't stop smiling at the screen; Richard's dashing grin and her daughter's fascination with him made her heart swell.

"Look at Mama, Sydney." Kiana called for her and, after hearing the sound of her mother's voice, she snapped her face right in her direction. Kiana quickly took a few photos. The mid-day sunlight lit Richard's grin and radiated off the twins' golden hue. The pictures were perfectly adorable.

"Could you be smiling any damn harder, Richard?" Kiana teased. He chuckled a hefty laugh and she found it the perfect opportunity to snap one more photo of his aged smile lines and closed eyes.

"I can take one." She outstretched her arms.

"No, I'm okay." Kiana nodded curtly.

"Enjoy the workout." She said quietly as she flipped through pages of the menu. They both laughed.

"How're things? How's Sawyer?" Richard asked. The questions were poised in a way that made her think he was expecting something bad. She didn't want to prove him right just yet, she'd keep it positive for a while longer.

"Everything is great. He's fine—we're perfect. Just working and trying to take care of the girls." She picked up her lemon water and brought it to her lips. "The girls are having their first birthday in a few months too. I'll let you know a date when I figure it out."

"Okay, yeah—just let me know and I'll be there." He looked at them again. "I can't believe they're going to be one. I feel like I've missed so much." He whispered the last part more to himself.

Kiana's heart clenched. She felt bad that she had waited so long to get Richard involved. She wished she had done this earlier.

"I'm sorry," She had apologized before she even knew she felt sorry enough to do so. He abruptly looked into her profile with a curious expression. His eyebrows were furrowed together tightly.

"For what?" He asked roughly. Kiana sighed and threw a loose hand toward the girls.

"For not getting you involved sooner. I should've tried to check on you." Richard puffed out a breath and smiled out the window for a moment.

"What? There's no reason to apologize. I'm so thankful I get to be here now—doing this!" He lifted the girls in his arms. "With my amazing daughter-in-law; the woman who made my son the man I always wanted him to be and who will make my granddaughters badasses." They both laughed.

"But really Richard, I'm sorry. I know you would've wanted to be there from the beginning. The wedding and birth—everything. I should've tried to have you there."

"Kiana, stop. Don't even worry about it. I'm here." He told her sternly. She nodded in agreement.

She watched Richard from her seat. How could this man have been the horrible monster everyone tried to paint him as? He had always shown her nothing but kindness. Even when she was 19 and vulnerable. His personal growth must have been something drastic.

"Richard, I need to talk to you about something." He looked toward her slowly with a menacing gleam in his eyes. He was the spitting image of her husband and that was when she knew.

He had been the tree from which the apple fell. He was the genetic code that hid itself deep into the depths of her love. The bass that shook the room when she left his office a mess. The stare from across the table when she cursed at him one too many times. The grab on her wrist when she tried to close a door between them to end an unruly conversation. She knew just how Richard could be the monster everyone had painted him to be because she'd fell in love with one just like him. And Sawyer had grown just as he had.

"I don't like the way that sounds." She was glad he had the babies in his arms to keep him calm. She twisted her fingers in her palm under the table.

Why was she nervous?

"Allison..." She started and stopped. She could feel Richard's frustration and anxiousness radiating from across the table. If she had been anyone else, she knew she'd be getting an earful over the unnecessary suspense.

"Declan is abusing her." He flexed his jaw with his eye downcast. Kiana saw a vein in his forehead pulsating from the tension. She opened her mouth to speak but decided against it.

"Richard—" She whispered lightly.

"I fucking—" He started and Kiana raised a brow. "Excuse me." He apologized after seeing her expression. His face was flushed red. The smile lines that showed sign of a lifetime of happiness were now helping to form the most angered face she'd ever seen on him.

"Why do these idiots keep ruining their lives?" Richard asked through gritted teeth. "I know I wasn't the best father or the best example of a husband—but how stupid do you have to be? Good women who are willing to put up with you and you just—I don't even have the words."

They learned from the best. Declan, Xavier, Sawyer and Lauren's mothers had all been good women. And even they hadn't been enough to chain down the unruly man Richard was. But for some reason, Richard refused to see himself in his children and only acknowledged his mere contribution to who they were. Everything else? Completely their own doing.

Kiana snapped herself out of a psychoanalytical trance.

"I need you to help, Richard. He's going to hurt her or the—"

"Where are my other sorry excuses for sons? Why haven't they broken his face in yet?" He was a bit too loud for the setting but Kiana didn't care much. She understood his frustration and she was now relieved there was someone else to help her carry the burden. She wasn't the only person in the world who knew Allison's life was possibly in danger.

"They don't know. I don't want Sawyer to know... yet." She didn't want him to ever find out because it'd mean she hid something from him, meddled in it *and* met up with his arch nemesis behind his back to tell him about it first.

"So, I should do something on my own? I haven't spoken to him in years. He'd probably beat me up too." Kiana groaned. She swiped her palm over her forehead and took a breath.

"The next step is for me to call the police and possibly have him arrested. I need you to try first."

"No—you need to tell Sawyer and Xavier. I can't do anything on my own."

"You are his father, what do you mean you can't do anything? He learned this from you—from his childhood! You should be the very first one to try." Kiana knew she had crossed an imaginary line but it didn't matter. Alison and her kids were on the line and Richard was worried about the terms of he and his son's reunion.

How hypocritical of her? She had been scared to act too because of her own secondary concerns. Now she was judging Richard for doing the same.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said that." She said genuinely. "I'm just worried about her."

"I'll think about it." And that was all he said.

*

"Handle the girls and take your panties off." Kiana read the text preview from the counter as she stirred a pot of pasta on the stove. She suddenly grew a little anxious and butterflies filled her core, seeping deep into her loins.

Sawyer was on his way home and it sounded as if he had plans for her.

She turned the stovetop down and checked on the stuffed salmon in the oven before she pulled it out completely. She looked over the kitchen's half-wall opening into the living room where the girls were in their walkers. Children's music played in the background and they seemed relatively preoccupied. They would be okay by themselves for (hopefully) a few minutes.

She shuffled over to the large mirror in the foyer and tossed her curls up a little around her face. She scraped at the dried baby food on her dress and tried to rid herself of the stain. She reached under her dress hem and pulled her panties down to her ankles. She carefully sat them on the floor beside her feet.

Sawyer's car pulled into the driveway and Kiana took one quick last glance at herself. Her makeup from earlier in the morning was barely holding onto straws but it was serving its purpose. Her brown eyes were wide with anticipation despite the bags of exhaustion perched right below. Her work dress hugged her curves delicately but clung to her belly. She pulled at the fabric around her mid-section jut as the front door swung open.

Sawyer put his bag by the door without ever letting his eyes break away from hers. Her breath had hitched in her throat and she awaited his next move.

His eyes were intense and ravenously fixed on her face and body. He had on loose dark jeans and a black long sleeve shirt. It was his normal casual work outfit.

He stalked over to her with precision and gathered her by her waist. He ran his nose over her lips, cheek and chin.

"The girls okay?" He asked considerately.

"Yes. For a few minutes." He chuckled mischievously; his breath hitting her eyebrow and his lips grazing her forehead.

"I'll try my best to be quick." He told her. He grabbed her hip with one hand and guided her toward the steps behind them. He led Kiana onto the 6th step and he knelt on a few below her. His palms kneaded her thick, warm thighs as he nuzzled into the fold of her stomach. Kiana gently massaged his scalp and watched him embrace the soft contours of her body.

She was stuck between wanting him to hurry so she could get back to the kids and never wanting this affection to end.

"I've been thinking about this pussy all day." He groaned into the fold that separated her stomach and her mound. "I've been waiting to taste you." Sawyer looked up into her eyes as if he were asking for permission to satisfy his own cravings. She gave him a sympathetic, half glazed expression from above.

She rubbed her fingertips over his rough jaw and soft pink lips. She groaned aloud when he turned to give her thumb a sweet kiss, symbolic of how he'd take care of her when she agreed to spread her legs for his tongue.

"Please." He traced his hands up the length of her ankles and calves. He knew she loved to see him beg. The man who could unleash a fire on anyone bold enough to tempt him with a spark was on his knees, begging for a taste of her womanhood. How ethereal must she be?

"5 minutes." He had taken off. Within an instant, her dress was up around her waist and he was swallowing her whole. Kiana sighed and leaned on another step behind her with her elbows. Sawyer was putting in major overtime; she'd be back to her babies in no time.

He reached a hand under her bottom and over her belly to lift her pouch of softness that often hid her clit from his mouth's attention. He suckled on the hidden jewel and held Kiana tighter when her body began to tremor from the sensitivity.

She could feel her head floating above her shoulders and into some other dimension. He alternated between strong, thick lashes against her bud and slow, sensual and deep sucking. She gyrated her pelvis against his lips in a way she knew drove him crazy.

He moaned against her body and pushed his mouth flush against the area of her flesh.

Kiana was rigid for a few seconds right before she released all her tension into the space between them. She let out a loud, breathy sigh of satisfaction as she climaxed.

Savannah replied to her mother's voice—in her defense, it was in the same tone she'd use to speak to them.

Sawyer leaned up and wiped his lip with a laugh. "I'm coming, sweetie pie." He called out to them. He helped Kiana off the step and tugged at her dress.

*

Kiana snapped awake at the sound of a phone's vibration.

Their bedroom was completely dark. Sawyer's body kept her pinned to the bed but she gently freed herself from the barrier. She looked to his nightstand—her blood boiling at the thought of someone calling his phone at 3 in the morning. His side of the bed was still dark and his phone charged quietly in the corner.

She looked at her own phone and that was where the sound was coming from. She picked it up and looked at who it was. She answered it quickly.

"Hold on," She whispered into the receiver. She sprung out of the bed and hastily turned around to put a pillow in her place. Sawyer sighed and she waited motionlessly for him to settle again.

When he did, she rushed into the hallway.

"What happened?" She asked furiously. Her heart was racing.

"Can I come stay with you tonight? Me and the kids?" Her voice put chills down her spine. She sounded petrified. Kiana looked around the hallway for her bedroom slippers.

"I'm coming to help you pack." She told Allison.

"No, it's okay. I can do it myself." Kiana could hardly hear her.

"What if he wakes up? I need to be there to make sure you get out safely. 10 minutes; unlock the door." Kiana didn't wait for a response. She walked back into the bedroom and grabbed her jacket and hat.

She turned up the twins' baby monitor; Sawyer would sleep through their crying if it wasn't at maximum volume. She only kept it on low for herself.

She felt like she couldn't get to Allison quick enough.