#new vendor development
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
Text
Mastering Vendor Relationships for Business Growth
In the realm of procurement, maintaining a steady and cost-effective supply of quality materials is paramount. To achieve this, businesses must cultivate a robust and dependable network of vendors. Relying on a single supplier, particularly for critical materials or services, is risky. Any disruption at the supplier's end could jeopardize business continuity. Therefore, companies typically engage multiple vendors, dividing orders strategically among them to mitigate risks.

A diverse supplier base not only reduces dependency but also enhances negotiation power, ensuring competitive pricing and favorable terms. However, building and maintaining such a network requires continuous effort. The purchasing department must not only nurture existing vendor relationships but also proactively seek new suppliers. This vigilance helps companies adapt to market changes and technological advancements.
If you are looking for a partner who helps you to manage your business growth then, Sanjay Shah is a well-known management consultant in India
Exploring industry events, exhibitions, and conferences is essential for staying informed about the latest trends in the supply industry. These events often showcase new machinery, technologies, alternative raw materials, and innovative processes. They provide an excellent opportunity to discover new suppliers who can offer competitive advantages or unique products.
In addition to physical events, the internet has become a valuable tool for sourcing new vendors. Online directories, industry portals, and marketplace websites are convenient resources for identifying potential suppliers. These platforms allow businesses to search for vendors based on specific criteria, such as location, product type, or service quality.
Industry directories, magazines, and publications also serve as useful resources. They often feature advertisements or articles about emerging suppliers or innovative products. Subscribing to these publications helps businesses stay informed about potential new partners in the supply chain.
Once a reliable set of vendors is established, it is crucial to continually evaluate their performance. Regular assessments should consider various factors, including efficiency, product quality, pricing, credit terms, and overall ease of doing business. This evaluation process helps ensure that the company is working with the best possible suppliers and can identify areas for improvement.
Maintaining strong communication with vendors is another key aspect of effective vendor management. Regular interaction fosters healthy relationships, ensuring that both parties are aligned in their goals and expectations. This on-going dialogue can also help resolve issues promptly, preventing minor problems from escalating into major disruptions.
In conclusion, effective vendor management and the development of new supplier relationships are critical to a company's success. By diversifying the supplier base, staying informed about industry trends, and maintaining open communication, businesses can safeguard against supply chain disruptions and secure a competitive edge in the market. The purchase department plays a vital role in this process, continuously striving to balance cost, quality, and reliability in its vendor relationships.
#vendor management#new vendor development#vendor relationship#supplier relationships#purchasing department#vendor evaluation#supply chain management#procurement strategies
0 notes
Text
Low quality books that appear to be AI generated are making their way into public libraries via their digital catalogs, forcing librarians who are already understaffed to either sort through a functionally infinite number of books to determine what is written by humans and what is generated by AI, or to spend taxpayer dollars to provide patrons with information they don’t realize is AI-generated.
With Hoopla, librarians have to opt into Hoopla’s entire catalog, then pay for whatever their customers choose to borrow from that catalog. The only way librarians can limit what Hoopla books their customers can borrow is by setting a limit on the price of books. For example, a library can use Hoopla but make it so their customers can only borrow books that cost the library $5 per use.
“Investigating these authors, their book covers, their social media, etc takes A LOT OF TIME, especially with the volume of questionable material increasing month to month (and that's not including the sheer amount of legitimate books published each month in adult fiction that I'm looking at),” one librarian who asked to remain anonymous so she could talk openly about her job, told me. “Is it the best use of my time doing this work on top of my other duties when customers may or may not care? And with the rising multitudes of AI generated content, will there come a point where it just ‘is what it is?’”
This type of low quality, AI generated content, is what we at 404 Media and others have come to call AI slop. Librarians, whose job it is in part to curate what books their community can access, have been dealing with similar problems in the publishing industry for years, and have a different name for it: vendor slurry. While the term now encompasses what seems like AI-generated content as well, it predates the rise of generative AI, and also refers to the glut of low quality, often self-published ebooks or book “summaries” that are common on Hoopla. As some librarians told me, the sheer quantity of books in Hoopla’s service makes it seem more valuable because it offers such a large number of books, but in reality that number is misleadingly inflated by this slurry.
Several of the librarians I talked to said that they are worried about discussing [the problems raised by Hoopla's weak, unclear selection policies, including the 2022 inclusion of explicitly white nationalist texts,] because of the growing hostility towards libraries and groups like Moms for Liberty demanding that books about LGBTQ rights, race, and ethnicity be removed from libraries. One the one hand, librarians want to curate their collections and make sure their patrons are getting access to quality information. On the other hand, they don’t want people to think that they are trying to censor what materials patrons can access in way that’s comparable to what organizations like Moms for Liberty want. None of the librarians I talked to suggested the AI-generated content needed to be banned from Hoopla and libraries only because it is AI-generated. It might have its place, but it needs to be clearly labeled, and more importantly, provide borrowers with quality information.
#404media yaaaaay#public libraries#part of the reason this happens is that libraries have a very hard time applying meaningful vendor pressure#if you look at the ALA's 2023 digital public library ecosystem report it's really clear that there are very few vendors in this space#libby has a massive monopoly (>90% of libraries with ebooks use libby) but hoopla is also extremely popular in part because it's owned#by midwest tape which has been the primary library supplier of A/V materials for decades. libraries are niche small & underfunded-#& patrons want ebooks! ebook usage skyrocketed in 2020 & hasn't really gone back down. so hoopla is a convenient solution#it's EXPENSIVE for a lot of libraries - if you want to know why there's a monthly borrowing limit or a daily borrowing cap that's why#but it's very convenient & many libraries don't have staff that work on just digital collections; it's just a new responsibility#real time crunch / poor options problem. anyway idk what options look like internationally & i would be interested to find out#but this is why i stan cloudlibrary; they are A Competitor. the real solution ofc is to have a genuinely publicly owned & run platform#but that won't happen almost anywhere. NYPL does have an opensource app for some of their collections tho which is cool#also this article is being nice. the AI slop problem is plausibly also on the shelf! that shouldn't happen if you have enough time#to do good collection development but some libraries don't have the right staff. especially likely in spanish language collections#that are being purchased by people who don't speak spanish. in my experience. it's a mess
13 notes
·
View notes
Text
High-Level Disinfection Services Market: Safeguarding Health with Advanced Cleaning

The Importance of High-Level Disinfection: The High-Level Disinfection Services Market has seen a surge in demand as the need for sterile environments becomes more critical in hospitals, clinics, and public spaces. These services use advanced technologies and protocols to eliminate pathogens and reduce the spread of infection. 🚫 Trends: Ultraviolet (UV) disinfection, electrostatic sprayers, and automated cleaning systems. 🛡️ Impact: Boosting safety and hygiene standards, protecting patients and healthcare staff. #Disinfection #HygieneServices #HealthSafety
#<h3>High-Level Disinfection Services Market Overview</h3>#<p>The Global High-Level Disinfection Services Market has seen continuous development in the past couple of years and is anticipated to gro#Current Growth Factors#mindful sentiments#certainties#chronicled information#and factually bolstered and industry-approved market information.</p>#<p>According to Straits Research#the global High-Level Disinfection Services market size was valued at USD 28.05 Billion in 2022. It is projected to reach from USD XX Billi#growing at a CAGR of 8.3% during the forecast period (2023–2031).</p>#<p>After identifying promising candidates#they undergo extensive testing and optimization to enhance their effectiveness#safety#and pharmacokinetic properties. This entire process of High-Level Disinfection Services Market may take several years and necessitates coll#biology#and pharmacology. Irrespective of the challenges encountered during High-Level Disinfection Services Market#it has the potential to revolutionize lives by providing new treatments for various diseases.</p>#<p><strong>Request Sample Report of Global High-Level Disinfection Services Market @ <a href=https://straitsresearch.com/report/high-l#<h3>Competitive Analysis</h3>#<p>The report contains an in-depth analysis of the vendor’s profile#including financial health#business units#key business priorities#SWOT#strategies#and views.</p>#<p><em><ol>#<li>Altapure</li>#<li>STERIS</li>#<li>Microchem Laboratory</li>
0 notes
Text
#Web Designing Services#Custom Website Designing#Website Maintenance Services#Landing Page Web Designing#Portfolio Website Designing#Blog & News Website Designing#Dynamic Website Designing#Web Application Development#eCommerce Web Development#Mobile App Development#Custom CMS Development#CMS Web Development#Multi Vendor Ecommerce#Business Branding Services#Brand Development & Strategy#Brochure Designing#Logo and Brand Designing#Company Profile Design#Video Production Services#Market Place Cataloging#Digital Marketing Services#Search Engine Optimization#Social Media Marketing#PPC Ads Services#Web Page Speed Optimization#Content Marketing Services#Google My Business Promotion
0 notes
Text
♡˚₊‧⁺˖ headcanons arcane — sevika x reader
— tw: soft!dom sevika, fluff, wife sevika, soft sex, praise kink, biting kink, hexstrap, fingering, dirty talk, marriage, mommykink, oral fixation, afab reader, eat out, dp, vibrators, breedkink, smut, anal, sub!reader, no pronouns used.



♡┊Sevika is a caring companion, and even though her behavior is different when she is Silco's henchwoman, she has a soft spot for you and the life you two have built together. It wasn’t easy for her to accept her feelings for you. In the beginning, you two were just friends with benefits, and Sevika only enjoyed the sex you had. She would get bored and think. "At least I don't have to pay for someone else at the brothel." She knew it was a horrible thought and was ashamed of having such a selfish mentality. This would be a secret she would keep forever and take to the grave—she would never hurt you by admitting what she thought before developing feelings.
♡┊ As time went on, she gave in to the feelings that persistently warmed her heart and soul. Your smile was the first thing to make her blush—and she hadn’t even thought that was possible. She had always been so controlled and objective that it genuinely shocked her to feel the overwhelming need to have you by her side 24/7. Soon, the word "passion" echoed through her mind like a haunting melody. She found you more addictive than the nicotine that coursed through the cigarettes she smoked.
♡┊Before long, what started as "friends with benefits" naturally evolved into "lovers."
♡┊There was a Sevika before you and a Sevika after you. She had never been the kind of woman who worried about getting home or keeping track of dates. Her life revolved around late nights in the casino’s accounting department, playing poker, grabbing meals from nearby vendors, and caring little about commitments that didn’t involve Silco.
♡┊But after you came into her life, she started making an effort to be an acceptable girlfriend. At first, the change in routine felt strange to her. The loud music she once thrived on was replaced by soft conversations with you about each other's day, accompanied by chaste smiles. She even found herself helping you in the kitchen—passing ingredients and stealing glances at you, looking so adorably domestic to her. Adorable as hell, she’d think, trying to hide the silly smile that crept onto her lips as you continued chatting about your day while she was at work.
♡┊Everyone noticed how much the "big mama" had changed. She was still the tough, no-nonsense woman everyone knew, but there was a new spark to her—a contentment, as if she were finally 100% happy with herself. She began taking better care of herself, and though she wouldn’t admit it outright, she loved when you noticed the little changes she made. A new hairstyle, a fresh haircut, a different lipstick or gloss, or even a change in the eyeshadow she wore—your compliments made her day. "Do you like it? Thank you... I decided to look prettier for you, baby." she’d say with a soft smile, handing you a bouquet of your favorite roses before pulling you into a tight hug. She’d carry you inside, ready to spend hours talking with you, only for the evening to melt into passionate kisses on the couch.
♡┊Sevika expresses her love through acts of service and heartfelt compliments. She’ll do anything to make you comfortable. Though she never imagined sharing her home with anyone, she started taking better care of the space for your sake. When you can’t handle the household chores, she steps in without hesitation—bringing you breakfast in bed and lingering for a moment to make sure you’re okay—"Let me know if you need anything; I’ll come running." she says protective, pressing a tender kiss to your forehead and giving you one last look before leaving the house. Her presence is felt throughout the streets in her actions and reputation, but no matter where she goes, her mind always drifts back to you.
♡┊The marriage proposal came naturally to Sevika. You two had been living together for a while, and she knew without a doubt that you were her great love. At forty, she had no patience for games anymore—it was all or nothing. You were lying in bed when the moment came. "We've been together for a while, right? How about we make things official? Me, you, a nice wedding..." she began, her words a little hesitant as she reached into the drawer with her mechanical arm, pulling out a beautiful red velvet box. She opened it quickly, revealing two rose gold rings. She had carefully chosen a design that suited both of you, seeking help to find the perfect pair. In the end, the cost didn’t matter—it was worth every penny. "You know I love you more than anything. Will you marry me, angel face?" Sevika finally asked, her voice filled with sincerity as she held the ring engraved with her name and gently slipped it onto your finger. It was a simple proposal, shared in the intimacy of your bedroom on an ordinary weekday. Yet, for Sevika, it became an extraordinary moment—a day that would forever hold a sweet place in her heart, the day you said yes and accepted her as your wife.
♡┊Your wedding was simple, just as Sevika had suggested. Money was tight, so she proposed a civil ceremony at the registry office, followed by a quiet picnic in the park where you could spend the day together. She wore a black suit, sharp yet understated, and happily let you make flower crowns for both of you to wear. Lying with her head resting on your thighs, she spoke softly about your future plans, weaving dreams of the life you’d build together. She promised that once your financial situation improved, she’d throw you a grand ceremony—regardless of whether you told her it wasn’t necessary.
♡┊ "Don’t talk nonsense, sweetie. Just wait until I have some good money, okay? Mama's here will give you everything you deserve. Those weddings for rich people are really expensive." she’d say with determination, her voice firm yet tender. As you played with her hair, she smoked leisurely, her gaze alternating between the sky and you. "Just wait for the money to come in, okay? I promise things will get better for us, one day..." she murmured, exhaling smoke through her nose. Sevika didn’t know exactly when things would change for the better, but she held tightly to hope and faith. Until then, she gave you all the love and support she had, pure and unwavering. For her, it wasn’t about the money—it was about showing you, in every way she could, just how much you meant to her.
♡┊And this romanticism transforms into touches of heat on your honeymoon. Sevika adores you as if you were a deity, laying you down on the bed and kissing every inch of your skin. She gently removes the clothes you wore at the wedding, whispering sweet words that send shivers through both of you: "I've waited so long for this, honey... I love you so much it hurts." She kisses your belly, trailing down to your intimacy, leaving soft kisses over your still-clothed pussy. Pushing aside the already damp fabric, she presses her nose against your clit.
♡┊"I will always adore you. You are my world, my most precious thing in this life..." Her green eyes shine as they meet yours, and she carefully removes your panties, returning to kiss the inside of your thighs. Finally, her full lips meet your cunt, a hoarse grunt escaping her as she closes her eyes, savoring your taste. It doesn’t take long for her to lose herself in you, a comfortable heat blooming within her as you pull her hair and rub your hips against her face. Both of her hands hold you firmly in place while the older woman pushes her tongue into your hole, fucking you slowly and savoring every moment of your essence.
♡┊She would slide two fingers inside you, making you feel every inch as they filled and caressed your spongy walls, drawing you tighter around her touch. "Do you want a third finger, darling? Are you that needy, huh? You're making me so proud... Taking me so well." she whispers with a teasing grin. When she adds a third finger, the sensation is overwhelming—you've never felt so full in your entire life. Her tongue lavishes attention on every inch of your bundle of nerves, her lips and tongue working in harmony to send waves of pleasure coursing through your body. Your wife becomes utterly pussy drunk, grunting in excitement as she urges you to give her more of your juices, moaning for you like it’s her greatest pleasure. She doesn’t stop until she makes you squirt, her relentless mouth and fingers ensuring her face is soaked. "Fuck... Holy hell, my angel. You should see your face right now, you know?" she murmurs with satisfaction, wiping some of your wetness from her face with the back of her hand. Her fingers drip with your essence, the sight so erotic it leaves her wet and desperate to make you cum over and over, determined to keep you crying out for her all night long.
♡┊She quickly searches for the strap-on she bought especially for that night—one designed with two attachments for double penetration. The second dildo was crafted for anal play, a vibrating device made of the same material as her mechanical arm. Sevika chose this because she didn’t want to use her arm directly on you, knowing its hard, metallic structure might hurt you. Instead, she always finds creative ways to surprise you, just like tonight.
Carefully, she prepares your body. Her skilled fingers, warm tongue, and plenty of lubricant ensure that both your holes are ready for her. Once you’re comfortable, she lines up the dual-function strap-on, slowly impaling you with precision and care. Her hips move in tandem with the vibrations from the anal dildo, creating an overwhelming wave of pleasure you’ve never felt before.
"Shit, baby, look at this—wet as fuck... You're so greedy, always asking for more. My fuck toy holes are never satisfied, huh?" she teases, her voice low and dripping with desire. She slides two fingers into your mouth, coaxing you to suck on them while she fucks you slowly, savoring every moment. Sevika holds back her own orgasm, her pussy aching and dripping between her muscular thighs as she watches you, beautifully open and writhing for her. Her restraint only heightens her desire, every movement and sound you make driving her wild as she focuses on bringing you to heights of unimaginable ecstasy.
♡┊Sevika activated the function to release a hot liquid from the strap-on, similar to semen. It was a type of hot, translucent lubricant designed to stimulate you and feed her fantasies of shaping your body. "That's it... love, I want to get pregnant so much, you know? You're going to look so beautiful full of my cock. Moan for mommy, moan loudly." she moaned hoarsely, biting your shoulder and making you bite hers too. It was a fair exchange; you would mark her, and she would do the same. She slapped you hard on the ass, moving her hips back and forth quickly while holding your neck and joining your lips in a kiss that mixed your moans. Her breasts pressed against yours, making both your nipples hard as she went harder, finally making you squeeze the silicone cock as the hot artificial liquid rewarded you, leaking from your holes and leaving you dizzy with the specially made substance. "I love you so much... you are mine forever..." Sevika gasped, resting her head on your breasts, kissing the soft flesh and biting gently as she pulled out of you.
♡┊After the mess, she will clean you up and give you a bath, along with herself, not letting you fall due to your legs being weak from the orgasm. She dresses you in one of her loose blouses and puts clean sheets on the bed, placing you to lie in her strong arms, giving you a kiss on the forehead, sighing, also tired, but satisfied. "Go to sleep, so when you wake up, I'll still be here to enjoy our honeymoon." Sevika promises, calming you down as she waits for you to fall asleep so she can rest peacefully. It was a small new beginning among so many others, but she swore to herself to always make you happy, and the moon was the witness to that, bathing the two of you in silver on that night of peace and love—everything you needed, everything she needed, and now, there was you."


★ ! yanderestarangel©
#yanderestarangel#afab reader#tw smut#arcane smut#arcane headcanon#sevika x y/n#sevika x you#sevika x afab reader#sevika x oc#sevika fic#sevika x reader#sevika imagine#sevika smut#cw smut#cw suggestive#sevika headcanons#sevika season 2#sevika#arcane imagine#sevika headcanon#fem character#sfw headcanons#nsft headcanons#sevika fanfic#sevika fluff#arcane lol#dividers
2K notes
·
View notes
Text
"As the U.S. government continues to provide Israel with both weapons and diplomatic cover — most recently, by voting against a UN resolution demanding a ceasefire, coincidentally also on December 11 — activists like DBNY see collective direct action as their best means of curbing the violence. They also describe their organizing as a direct response to solidarity requests from Palestinian labor unions urging workers around the world to halt the flow of weapons to Israel.
... Since September, DBNY has been taking the fight to Easy Aerial’s doorstep. Each week, activists with the group distribute flyers to the more than 11,000 people who work for over 450 businesses in the 300-acre complex, including art studios, food vendors and entertainment companies. The flyers in English and Spanish provide background on Easy Aerial, Crye Precision and the Brooklyn Navy Yard itself .... In addition to the weekly flyering, DBNY has organized demonstrations to coincide with the corporation’s board meetings and public events. Activists have also been directly petitioning the corporation’s executives, board members and staff, demanding they evict Easy Aerial and Crye Precision from the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
While the response from the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation to DBNY has been official silence paired with harassment from hired security — including drone surveillance — the response from workers has been 'overwhelmingly positive,' according to the activists. 'Most of them have been shocked and disgusted to learn that they work alongside war criminals.'
... Ultimately, DBNY hopes to replicate the recent successes of other activists targeting weapons manufacturers supplying the Israeli military. Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Boston, for example, was able to force the closure of Elbit Systems’s offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in August, following a year of demonstrations, as reported by Cambridge Day.
According to DBNY, until the Brooklyn Navy Yard ceases to host businesses trading in 'blood money' from targeting people in Gaza and the United States alike, all New Yorkers and visitors should boycott the complex. To that end, the activists have created a petition demanding the eviction of Easy Aerial and Crye Precision, as well as pledging a boycott until that time.
'We also urge all tenants and workers to take autonomous actions at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and by joining our campaign to disrupt, strike and boycott all genocide profiteers,' said the DBNY spokesperson."
Demilitarize Brooklyn Navy Yard: IG, Linktree Resources for locating genocide profiteers near you ACT UP Civil Disobedience Guide Small Group Direct Action Advice
863 notes
·
View notes
Text
Head in the Clouds V
Barcelona Femení x Teen!Reader
Summary: Your national team situation
There's an understanding in the team when it comes to you.
You dominate the league with your scoring and now with Pajor at your side, you've started to develop almost too quickly for the staff to keep up with.
Every ball you touch turns to goals.
You're already the Champion's League top goal scorer and everyone is just waiting for the moment that they all know is coming.
Everyone is waiting for the moment a national team snaps you up.
You're been at a youth camp for both Spain and England before but that's about it.
You don't seem to really care all that match.
You spend most international breaks back home with your parents or off in France with your girlfriend, one of Lyon's star centrebacks.
Her international situation isn't quite as complicated as yours but everyone knows it influences your own. She could play for France or England and people know that if she were suddenly to declare for England then you would go there too.
Unless somewhere else snaps you up first.
Spain seems like the obvious choice with their most recent World Cup win under their belt and their dominance in last year's Nation's League.
But Frido is there with a face time from Magdalena Eriksson, who you excitedly inform is your grandmother's favourite players. She's flattered, of course, if a little confused by what's going on - especially when you gasp and stutter over your words when you catch a glimpse over her shoulder of Pernille Harder.
Alexia fumes by the door of the locker room, a disgruntled look on her face as she crosses her arms over her chest.
"We can't lose her to Sweden!" She hisses to Irene," Do something!"
"Me?! What am I meant to do?!"
"I don't know! Make her a home cooked meal! Remind her off her Basque roots! Anything!"
Irene sighs deeply. She's taking this a little easier than Alexia is but she still would have you join the Spanish team at the drop of a hat.
You were a once in a generation kind of striker and it would make it all the more worse if they lost your allegiance to one of their own club teammates.
The threat of you choosing England seems to have diminished a little with Keira and Lucy gone but Ellie's still here and while she's currently not a part of the England squad, she's still been seen dropping little hints towards you about joining up.
Thankfully for everyone else though, subtlety and hints goes over your head so you don't even realise what you're being told.
But where England has fallen, Sweden has only grown bolder.
Sweden, of course, meaning Frido and her wielding of Magda as a tool to get you to choose them.
"We need to find our own Magda," Irene says solemnly," Do we...Do we have a Magda?"
"We have a Mariona."
"We can't pick Mariona. Y/n already knows Mariona. We need someone older. We need someone mysterious. We need someone more fun that Magdalena Eriksson!"
They turn to each other in horror.
"We need Jenni."
Being Spain's Magda is a role that Jenni is all too comfortable stepping into. She arrives in the country with her usual brand of drama by using her key to access Alexia's house without telling anyone and eating a bowl of the paella she took straight from the fridge.
"So where's the kid?"
"At Irene's," Alexia replies from the stove," They're coming around for dinner." She waves the spatula at Jenni. "You will be nice and charming and you will, under no circumstances, mention any of the other countries vying for her. You have one job. Do it."
"I got it," Jenni says with ease, leaning back on the sofa," Woo the kid. Be the fun aunt. Make sure she chooses Spain. I got it."
Introducing you and Jenni, Alexia and Irene come to find, is the worst idea they've ever had.
Jenni takes her role as the 'fun aunt' to the extreme in the the four day period she has with you.
You go out for lunch and dinner, at both fancy restaurants and little street vendors. Jenni spends a bunch of money on new cooking implements even though you just mentioned them in passing.
There's even a very impromptu Instagram post and accompanying story of you two on a zip wire and Alexia and Irene are more than happy to shoo Jenni back to Mexico.
"Jenni's cool," You tell them the next day," She even signed my autograph book and gave me one of her old Spain shirts!"
At least she'd done something for a job well done.
With Sweden closing in, Alexia can't take any chances.
She even feels confident in her feelings of you choosing Spain.
Until, like it always does, it comes crashing down.
Because a new contender shows up.
It happens out of nowhere and nobody could have predicted it.
"You have brothers?" Vicky asks one day during a break in training.
"Three," You say with a nod and that same wide smile you always get when you talk about your family," A surgeon, a neurologist and lawyer."
"How come we've never heard of them?"
"Oh, they didn't come with us when we moved back to England."
Alexia's heart stutters.
"You didn't always live in England?" Salma asks and you shake your head.
"I grew up in the Netherlands." You think for a moment. "Until I was like thirteen. It was home."
The gears turn in Alexia's head, trying to draw up FIFA's eligibility rules.
But someone gets there before her.
Esmee.
Esmee with a wide grin and Alexia's heart plummets.
"You know," She says, speaking casually to you as the whole team holds its breath," You could play for the Netherlands with me."
"Really?"
"Yeah, the rules say you can. You could come to camp, see your brothers more often. I'm sure Viv would love to have you around."
Sweden may have Magda.
Spain may have had Spanish Magda, Jenni.
But the Netherlands have Viv and Esmee grinning like she's just won the lottery.
Within the week, you've received a signed Miedema jersey and a little note that no doubt Esmee had Viv write about potentially playing together at some point.
"It's fine," Irene whispers days after," It's fine. We've got a recent World Cup. They can't beat that."
You're sitting in your cubby, scrolling on your phone absentmindedly. "Oh!" You say out of nowhere," Are we going to America anytime soon? Should I renew my passport?"
Alexia frowns. "No, we're not and you don't need to renew your passport. Your Mama told me that you've still got three years on it."
"Not my Spanish passport. My American one! Should I renew it now or wait?"
Frido has also stopped what she's doing, turning around slowly with her eyes wide. "Why do you have an American passport?"
"I was born there!" You say brightly," Mama and Papa were there for work and I got impatient! That's what Papa says. So they had to have me in America and I got a cool passport out of it!"
"You have...You have American citizenship?"
"I have a passport!"
"So, yes."
In the background, Esmee groans and there's the clunk of a head hitting a locker door.
Irene looks equally as shocked as Alexia feels. "And...who knows about your citizenship?"
You shrug. "I don't know."
Alexia clears her throat. "Let's...Let's keep it that way. No reason to announce it to everyone."
You shrug. "Okay then."
Silence descends on the locker room and a joint exhale of relief spreads across the room.
Until...
"Oh! Mama said Emma Hayes just called her! I wonder what that's about."
#woso x reader#barcelona femeni x reader#barca femeni x reader#barcelona femeni#barca femeni#woso community#woso fanfics#woso imagine#woso
734 notes
·
View notes
Text
In Stars and Time: BOSS RUSH MOD
IT'S HERE!! My first ever In Stars and Time mod- And, really, the first mod for anything I've ever made!
Have you ever wanted a Boss Rush for In Stars and Time? No? WELL YOU'VE GOT ONE NOW!
Do a Boss Rush with different features to challenge yourself:
-Go with or without helpful items
-Remove any party members you want. Try a solo run if you dare.
-Fight the three midbosses and the King. Again.
-Meet yet another weird star.
You can access the Boss Rush in Act 6 and ONLY Act 6 by visiting the Clocktower. Yes, I fixed the bridge. Yay! Carpentry!
As I mentioned in a post while developing the mod...
This is the Bonus Star! The vendor for the Boss Rush and a little guy for modding. If anyone else ever wants to make an ISAT mod, I'll leave a link to a folder of all of his assets in case you might want to include him; basically his existence is "if you see him, you're obviously playing a modded version of In Stars and Time." ISAT Modding icon? Potentially. But I'm not going to get egotistical, if the people want to use him, they can LOL
Feel free to edit his sprites and artwork, make your own to share, or anything else; Bonus Star is COMPLETELY free to use for everyone.
Please enjoy the mod! I'm thinking of giving it future updates to add patches for any issues players might fun and to just add more fun stuff like original music, new features, and more!
Let me know your thoughts, bugs you might find, ideas you have, etc! Have fun!! Challenge yourself!! Reblogs help a lot, please do so!!
Here's the download links below:
257 notes
·
View notes
Text
The Wedding Planner {Javier Peña x F!Reader}
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 28.k
Warnings: Mentions of pregnancy, lying, developing feelings, almost/barely kiss, guilt, mentions of menstrual productions/periods, sex, oral sex (female receiving), vaginal sex, condoms, cock riding, protected sex, squirting, one night together, goodbyes, cock worship, body worship,
Comments: You are Javier and Lorraine's wedding planner. Feeling incredibly guilty about developing feelings for the handsome sheriff's deputy. Unknowingly becoming the reason that Javier never shows up at the church. Spending the night together and sending him off to the DEA. Only to reunite when you happen to plan his cousin's wedding.
Co-written with @storiesofthefandomlovers
**Follow @absurdthirst-writes and turn on notifications to stay up to date on all new fics.
|| MasterList || Javier Peña MasterList ||
Click Keep Reading only if you have read the Rating and Warnings and understand the warnings may not be complete to avoid listing spoilers. As AO3 says 'creator chooses not to use warnings'. You also agree that you're the right age to be consuming anything here.
“Red roses with baby’s breath.” You scroll down your checklist as you wait for the couple to arrive. Wanting to double check everything for them to sign off on since the bride has already changed her mind a few times and you know that this has the potential to backfire and blow up in your face. Wedding planning can be amazing and rewarding and other times….. it can be exasperating, especially this couple.
Javier Peña and Lorraine Smith, the sheriff’s deputy and the rich girl. It’s bad that you have those snarky thoughts, but you have heard about how the Smith’s are very influential around town. Seen it in the way that the bride flashes a brittle smile and a pointed barb to a few of your vendors. It doesn’t help that every time you meet with them, you have to tamp down your growing attraction to the groom.
Javier sighs as he opens the door to his truck, letting Lorraine out and he sees the way she checks her reflection in the window after he shuts the door for her. He hasn't got time to attend all these wedding appointments but Lorraine is insisting. There's word of a drug haul coming over the Rio Grande and he wants to help the DEA handle it. He is eager to help stop the drug routes but it feels hopeless. Lorraine takes his hand as she walks into your store. It's a little place in a strip mall but it's got all the options on display. Christ, Javier knows he shouldn't find you attractive but you standing there in the middle of the store has his stomach twisting and his cock twitching in his jeans. "Hi!" Lorraine squeals, letting go of his hand to embrace you even though she's criticized you behind closed doors.
“Hi to you!” You let her hug you and return it, but your eyes flutter back to where Javier is awkwardly standing, shuffling and propping his hands on his lean hips. He looks so effortlessly sexy in a pair of jeans and a beautiful blue short sleeved button up. Aviator glasses perched on his nose and made the mustache he sports look even sexier in that Tom Selleck, Burt Reynolds kind of way.
"I know it's been a tight timeline but I want to make sure the caterer knows to get the truffle that I want for the potatoes." Lorraine insists and you nod, looking down at your checklist. "It's ordered and the caterer knows to put it in the mashed potatoes with the steak." You confirm and Lorraine grins, "excellent. We just couldn't wait to be married. I know it's been stressful to do this all so quickly." Javier wants to scoff and tell you why it's a shotgun wedding. Lorraine is pregnant but she doesn't want anyone to know. She's old school and wants her family to think she did things the right way. So of course when she told Javier she was pregnant and showed him the test, he made sure to do the right thing. It's what his ma would've wanted. He proposed and Lorraine has set the wedding date for two months. Enough time for her to not be showing and enough time for Javier to admire the wedding planner before he's a married man. You are gorgeous. Funny, smart, and more organized than the damn sheriff's department. You handle Lorraine with grace and he wants to learn your ways, certain it could help him with his impending marriage to the strong willed woman.
“Oh, we want a truffle butter sauce too.” Lorraine adds and you hum, “I can ask the caterer, but you know that truffles are expensive.” You remind her, knowing that it will be another add on to the already tight budget. You don’t have to glance over at Javier to know that he’s grimacing. They’ve already had plenty of heated discussions about the amount of money she’s spent on this wedding so far. “We could save that expense to use on the extra candles you want?”
Lorraine turns to look at Javier, “baby. I just want this to be perfect. I will talk to my daddy. He can pay for the difference. He wants the best for his little girl. I can only hope Jay will be as good a daddy for our kids.” Lorraine giggles and Javier bites the inside of his cheek. He hates it when she calls him Jay. No one else does and it’s not his goddamn name. He shakes his head, “we can’t ask your daddy to pay for more of this wedding. I- I can swing it.” Javier promises, looking over at you to nod his consent.
You scribble the note in your book, nodding in agreement even though you think it’s a ridiculous expense. Truffle wasn’t even good in most of the applications, and you didn’t care for the way that the caterer used it with the potatoes. However, it’s not your wedding. “Filet medallions with truffle potatoes and truffle butter and asparagus.” You glance back up at the couple to make sure there aren’t any changes to the menu. Lorraine nods and you bite your lip as you look back down at the list. “And have you decided on your final wedding colors?”
Javier bites his lip, unsure of why he even has to be here. Lorraine has already decided on these details and she damn sure didn’t ask him for his opinion. She beams, “pale yellow and pastel green.” Javier resists wrinkling his nose, knowing the colors are her choice but Jesus, did she have to have such bad taste? “My bridesmaids have already gotten their dresses. My dress is ready for alterations. Just need Jay to get his suit and we should be nearly there. The girls I picked for my bridesmaids will make me look extra pretty if you know what I mean.” Lorraine smirks and Javier scoffs, “isn’t one of my cousins a bridesmaid?” He asks and Lorraine shrugs, “she clearly didn’t get the looks from your gene pool.” Javier shakes his head, clenching his jaw to try and keep his annoyance in. He isn’t doing this for him. He’s doing this for his child. That’s what he keeps reminding himself.
You can tell that Javier is annoyed, his eyes tighten and his jaw does this sexy clench thing that bulges out slightly. It makes him look a little dangerous and you try to ignore the way that your stomach flips. “Do we want a best man?” You ask, realizing you had never talked about that with them. “Groomsmen?”
“Oh, Jay’s best friend is serving overseas. He won’t be here for the wedding and my baby isn’t one for social events.” Lorraine coos, caressing Javier’s chest and he stiffens under her touch. “I have friends in the sheriff’s office. I couldn’t invite them because you insisted on inviting so many from your side. I had to make sacrifices.” He says through slightly clenched teeth. Lorraine has railroaded him down the aisle without a say in the damn wedding. He barely managed to get his family invited to make way for her nail tech and her husband.
Your eyes flicker back over to Javier and his own dark eyes seem to communicate his unhappiness, but there is nothing you can do. “Do you want me to make an appointment with the tailor?” You ask the couple. “Classic black tuxedo or suit?”
“Tuxedo.” Lorraine answers for him and Javier frowns. He wanted to wear his cowboy boots. A true Texas wedding. Lorraine wants something less Laredo and more Dallas. He knows it’s best to not argue so he nods his agreement and you nod, “I’ll make your appointment.” Lorraine tilts her head, “make sure it’s the best in town. I don’t want a tin pot tailor.”
You smile blandly, almost insulted by the comment. “Of course.” You assure her, as if you would not work with the best. “That’s all that I have on my list.” You glance down again and make another little note. “Is there anything else either of you need? Javier?” You hate how the groom gets shoved aside and he looks frankly miserable.
“I was wondering if we could do a photo of my mom. On a chair in the ceremony.” He asks and you nod, a soft smile on your face. “Of course.” Lorraine frowns, “baby…we have limited space at the front and my sister is bringing her boyfriend. She asked if he could sit so we need every seat we can get. You don’t mind if he sits on your side?” Javier frowns, “in the front row?” Lorraine nods, “yeah.” Javier shakes his head, “instead of my mom’s photo?” He asks incredulously.
You bite your lip, watching as Lorraine skips over Javier’s wishes like they don’t matter. “Baby, don’t fight me on this please?” She begs, pouting in an exaggerated manner and you want to roll your eyes at her blatant attempts to manipulate. “If you’d like, we can have a photo on a stand at the end of the front row?” You offer, wanting to give him what he wants. “It wouldn’t take a chair and it would keep her photo in your sight when looking out at the guests.”
Javier bites his lip, grateful to you for considering his wishes, and he nods, “that would be great.” Lorraine wants to argue that it will ruin the symmetry but she knows when to pick her battles with Javier. She caresses his chest, smiling at you, while Javier keeps his dark gaze on you. He wonders what you’d say to your fiance if he requested a photo of his mom on a chair. He’s certain you’d say yes. From what he’s seen, you appear to be a beautiful person inside and out. He wishes Lorraine could be considerate and loving but she clearly only loves herself. He’s an accessory to her. Something to own and show off about. He was taken in by her, still grieving his mom, and she was fun. A distraction. One that took a turn.
“Javier, if you will get me the photo you want displayed and her name, I will make sure that the display is tasteful and honorific.” You promise, feeling the weight of his gaze and having to look away for fear of your attraction to him becoming obvious. You already feel your cheeks heating up.
Javier swears he sees your eyes darken and he blinks and the gaze is gone. His stomach twists at the mere idea that you could be attracted to him but Lorraine distracts him by dragging him over to the displays. “I want us to write our own vows.” She tells Javier, touching the vow keepsake on the wall. “I want to hear how much you love me.”
You move over to your desk, trying to settle your nerves and give the couple some privacy. You’ve never been this attracted to a groom before and it rattles you. Sure, you’ve thought some were attractive, or even sweet, but none of them have made you nervous like Javier does. Feeling like a schoolgirl with a crush and it bothers you. It’s unprofessional. You sit down and start to make a list of the calls you need to make tomorrow, knowing that this wedding needs to be finalized quickly. Once Javier is married, the attraction will fizzle away. At least, that’s what you hope.
Javier glances over at you, watching you as you make notes and he half listens as Lorraine rattles on about the last minute details. She’s only twelve weeks pregnant but the wedding is coming up fast and Javier wants to bolt. Christ, he doesn’t want this but he has to follow through. He has to do the right thing.
From the way that Javier is staring off into space when you look up, you know that he’s not paying attention to Lorraine. You wonder how the hell they ever made it to this point, considering that he doesn’t seem to be enthusiastic about this wedding, although she had said he wasn’t much of a social creature.
It doesn’t take long to wrap up the meeting and Javier offers you a nod and a smile as Lorraine gushes over you, hugging you and making you promise this is going to be the best wedding you’ve ever planned. Javier takes her hand and guides her back out into the hot Texas sun. “This wedding is going to be the talk of the town for years to come.” She boasts and Javier hums, unlocking his truck as he resists the urge to look back at your place.
****
“Whiskey. Neat.” Javier orders, tapping his fingers on the counter after he takes a seat at the bar. It’s rough and ready, sawdust and peanut shells on the floor along with the odd cigarette butt while country music plays on the jukebox. Lorraine would never be caught dead in here and that’s what Javier is relying on. He doesn’t want to go home to her and he needs a drink. He lost a high school kid today to an OD. Fucking cocaine. The kid died in his arms when he tried to save him while the paramedics were on their way but it was too late. The cartels are winning and killing innocent people and there’s nothing he can do. He pulls his cigarettes out of his pocket, thanking the bartender when the glass is set down in front of him, and Javier curses as he tries to find his lighter.
“This round is on me.” You promise, grinning as you push away from the pool table after laying your stick down. Turning to the bar, you see a familiar set of shoulders and look around for Lorraine. When you don’t see her, you’re a little relieved that you might not have to talk about wedding details. Walking over and smirking when you see Javier fishing for a lighter. “Here.” You offer, reaching into your pocket for your zippo when you lean against the bar beside him. “Looks like you need that smoke.”
Javier is surprised by your appearance, his eyebrows raising as he puffs on the cigarette and he reaches up to hold it as he exhales the smoke. “Thanks. Didn’t think you smoked?” He says, tilting his head and you chuckle, “I don’t. I just - I use it for candles for weddings. Always have a lighter.” You confess and Javier chuckles, tapping the smoke on the ashtray. “Always prepared. Guess that’s what makes you the best wedding planner in town.” He smirks, reaching for his drink.
His compliment makes you grin and you turn towards the bartender as he walks back over. “Another round of Budweisers.” You order before you watch him take a healthy swallow of his whiskey. “And another round for him.” You add, thinking that he might need it after essentially killing most of his drink already. “Lorraine meeting you here?” You ask.
Javier shakes his head, lifting the cigarette to have another drag, “she’s with her mom going over the final alteration for the dress. I got kicked out and uh, it was a rough day at work so I needed a drink. I should be buying you a drink for putting up with Lorraine’s demands.” He chuckles and exhales the smoke from the side of his mouth.
“Nahhhhh.” You shift slightly, turning towards him as you frown slightly. He looks upset, or sad. Either one almost makes him look annoyed if it wasn’t for his eyes. “You look like you need it more than me.” You murmur softly. You know he’s a cop, so whatever happened had to be bad. “Wanna talk about it? Or just drink?”
He knows he should go to his pa's or at least finish his drink and leave but your eyes are soft and inviting. He feels comforted by just your presence and he sighs, taking another sip of his drink. "Lost a teenager today to coke. I tried to give CPR but he was gone." He confesses, "I feel like the drugs are endless. Whenever we have a bust, there's another mule bringing more across the river. It's an endless fight."
“Oh god.” Your heart shatters and you reach over to lay your hand on Javier’s arm. “I am so sorry, Javier.” You murmur softly. “I can’t even imagine how much that hurts.” You know that he has to be blaming himself for not saving the kid even though there was nothing he could do beyond what he had tried.
“It’s - I feel like it never ends. I want to do more to stop it. I see so many people dying from drugs and I want to help save lives.” He confesses, “I was considering joining the DEA.” He admits, “I got the application from work but I’m not sure.”
“Do you think that you would be able to better help there?” You ask seriously, knowing that Lorraine has talked about when she convinces Javier to leave the sheriff’s department. “If you think you can, maybe you should do it.”
Javier sighs, "Lorraine wants me to quit the sheriff's office to go work with her daddy in his furniture stores. I don't - I'm not a salesman. I want to get these assholes who are killing innocent people." He murmurs, sucking on his cigarette.
“You can’t do that.” You shake your head, reaching for the beers that the bartender brings back over along with the new glass of whiskey for Javier. “If you do that, you’ll end up resenting her for making you change your career.” You tell him. “Hang on for a second. Let me deliver these beers and I’ll be right back.” You don’t want to stop talking with him since he needs a shoulder to lean on but you need to tell the guys you were playing pool with that your sitting out the next few games.
Javier nods, thanking the bartender, and he squashes his cigarette in the ashtray as you come over to the bar again. "You don't have to babysit me, hermosa, if you are out with your friends." He says and you shake your head, "it's not babysitting." He snorts until he softens, turning to look at you. "Thank you." He murmurs, knowing you are trying to be a good person. "It's just been a lot. With the wedding and Lorraine and the - well, I- it's been a rollercoaster."
“I understand.” You tell yourself that you are just providing support for the upcoming groom. Ignoring the way your step seems to bounce as you walk back towards the pool tables, almost giddy to talk to Javier alone.
Your perfume is light and fresh as you settle on the barstool next to him, and he finds himself comparing it to Lorraine's heavy and sweet perfume that she got for Christmas for herself on his card that makes him slightly nauseous. Thankfully she hasn't been wearing it lately. "So...are you planning any other weddings?" He asks, eager to hear you talk a little more.
You laugh. “I am.” You admit, leaning against the bar and taking a sip of your beer. “I’ve got three that are coming up in the next month, and several that are over the next four months.” You are proud of the business that you have slowly been building. “With more women working, having a wedding planner makes things easier for them.” You shrug. “I’ve also planned parties for companies, so I do pretty much anything someone pays me to do.”
He can't help but be impressed. You are impressive, managing all those events, dealing with impatient brides. He smiles and hums, taking a sip of his whiskey, and he pauses after he swallows. "How many weddings have a groom that isn't sure if he wants to get married?" He asks quietly, his dark eyes meeting yours.
It’s a loaded question and one that you need to tread lightly on. His unhappiness seems to pour from his eyes and you don’t want to make him feel like he has to do this. “Quite a few.” You admit honestly. “Sometimes it’s just due to nerves, fears of the future.” You sigh. “Other times…..” you trail off and take another sip of your beer and let his imagination fill in the rest.
****
Javier snorts as he sets his empty glass down. You’ve had a few rounds and he feels relaxed, the horror of his work day pushed aside while you make him laugh at a story of a groom who was so drunk he fell into the wedding cake. “Shit. Lorraine would probably kill me if I did that.” He murmurs and you reach out to touch his arm, “the bride was furious but she laughed. The groom fucked up but she loves him so she let it go. That’s what marriage is, right? Forgiving the other when they mess up because you love them.” You say and Javier taps his fingers on the counter, knowing that Lorraine would probably annul their marriage if he fell into a cake. “Yeah. I guess so.” He sighs, “this guy at the station got married a few months ago. We took him out for a bachelor night and of course he wanted to go to the strip club. We went, sat down and ordered drinks, and they announced the first dancer…his face when the girl came out on stage…it was his sister. He didn’t know she was a dancer. Too scared to tell him.” Javier snorts, shaking his head, “he just about had a heart attack.”
“Oh my god.” Your eyes widen as you start to laugh. “Talk about ruining his entire night. He just wanted to see some tits, but not his sisters!” Javier throws his head back and laughs, exposing the long column of his throat at that gorgeous Adam’s Apple. You have to stare, realizing you’ve never seen him laugh like this before, the sound making your stomach flip and your cunt clench around nothing.
Javier chuckles as his laughter settles down and he nods, “he was mortified and took her home. That was the first stop, so bachelor night was cut pretty short.” He turns to look at you after glancing along the bar. “The guys are planning on making it up on my night.” He says and you smile, “it will be epic then.” Javier nods and turns to look at you, “how the hell have you not planned your own wedding yet?” He asks, confused how someone like you is single.
“You know that old saying that those that can’t do, teach?” You ask, rolling your eyes. “I’ve just never found someone that is willing to put up with me, I guess.” You shrug, feeling a little vulnerable.
Javier nods, his eyes burning into yours as he sees the vulnerability there. “Well, I’m sure you’ll meet someone who thinks you are worth putting up with.” He promises, reaching out to touch your hand that’s on the counter.
You don’t think about how inappropriate it is, or how he’s just being polite. Your attraction to Javier makes you lean in to kiss him before you can catch yourself. It’s only when his eyes widen slightly in shock do you realize what you are doing and jump back guiltily. “Oh God. I- I should go.” You stammer out quickly, embarrassed at how big of an ass you are. He’s getting married, he’s a client and you just tried to kiss him. Standing up, you reach into your pocket to pull out money to cover your tab. “I’m so sorry.”
Javier doesn't get a chance to say anything as you rush off and he frowns, his lips tingling from the brief touch of your lips on his, and he sighs. He can't say anything to Lorraine to risk your job but also, he wants to keep this secret. For a brief moment, Javier had a glimpse into a life without Lorraine and he liked it. Just as he considers going after you, the bartender comes over and tells him he has a call. "It's Lorraine." The bartender says and Javier sighs, reaching for his wallet to throw some bills down before he walks to the phone, knowing Lorraine will be chasing him to come home.
****
“Just pretend he is any other groom.” Since that night, you have steered clear of the bar, of the gas station where the cigarettes are the cheapest. Any place that Javier Peña might be. Wallowing in shame, you had halfway expected a screeching call from Lorraine to fire you. Relieved when you hadn’t and hating that you put Javier in that position. Now, one week from their wedding, they are on their way to your office and you are nervous about seeing him again.
Javier opens the door for Lorraine as the bell above your door rings to announce your presence. “Oh Jay. Look at these.” Lorraine rushes over to the mock table to admire the new gold chargers you got in the other day. “Hmmm.” Javier acknowledges her as she admires the table but it’s already been decided and he’s not ready to start the process again.
You swallow down the urge to flee, not even looking at Javier as you stand up and walk over to Lorraine. “One week to go.” You feign excitement, knowing every bride is looking forward to their big day.
Lorraine is beaming as she nods at you, "one week to go until I can call this handsome man mine." She winks at Javier but he doesn't react. Lorraine takes no notice of his lack of excitement and she walks over to where you have a mock set up of the table placement. "I just want you to confirm this is what you want and how you want it." You say and Lorraine eyes the setting while Javier shoves his hands in his jeans. His eyes meet yours and he offers you a small smile, wanting you to know it's okay even though he's really been thinking about that kiss every damn minute. As brief as it was, it consumed him and that made him anxious because he's getting married next week.
You nod awkwardly, trying to keep your demeanor professional, even though you are dying inside. “You know, I don’t think I like the flowers.” You barely resist the urge to groan, knowing that Lorraine had insisted on this arrangement. She had sign off on it. “It’s the red roses with baby’s breath, like you ordered.”
Javier wants to scream as Lorraine changes her mind again. “Baby.” He walks over to her, “I thought you wanted red roses with baby’s breath? Remember? Your cousin had them and you told me you wanted more than her.” He says, knowing that reminding Lorraine of how much she loves to be better than others will get her to agree to this without creating more work for you.
“I know, but it looks a little plain, doesn’t it?” She tilts her head as she looks at the centerpiece. You had made sure that everything was perfect and the were full. “I saw a floral arrangement where there were red, white and pink roses.” You don’t show how frustrated you are, listening to her as she rambles. “I think we should do that.” Shaking your head, you disagree. “I think it would take attention away from your wedding colors.”
Lorraine’s head spins so fast to look at you you swear she nearly breaks her neck. “I want this to be perfect. You want to it to be perfect, right baby?” She coos as she turns to look at Javier who nods and offers you a soft smile, “yes of course but it will clash with the colors you’ve picked. Let’s stick with what you picked. I think you’ll love it on the day.” He says, trying to calm her down.
“No, I want red, pink and white roses.” Lorraine hisses, slapping away Javier’s hand when he reaches for hers. You cut your eyes away and clear your throat. “The flowers have been ordered.” You remind her gently. “Last minute changes will be costly. Especially white and pink roses.”
Javier clenches his jaw, knowing that Lorraine is being completely unreasonable but he knows that provoking her will make this worse. “Fine. How much? I’ll pay for it.” Javier says through gritted teeth, not wanting to ask her daddy to pay for anything else. He’s already ragging on Javier for not making enough money to support Lorraine…he doesn’t even know the whole story.
You wince, knowing that it won’t be cheap, “I’ll have to call the florist, but with the arrangements we have, probably another $600.”
Javier winces at the amount. That’s way more than he imagined but Lorraine is looking at him like he hung the moon and she’s been reminding him that she can’t get stressed out so he nods, reaching for his wallet to write you a check.
You know the florist is going to be upset, but you will buy her a bottle of wine and help her redesign the arrangements. Javier scribbles his name and rips it out of the book, holding it out to you. You hesitate, biting your lip and Lorraine giggles. “Go ahead and take it. It’ll clear, I know he’s good for it.” She coos, reaching out to caress his chest.
Javier tilts his head slightly, wanting to ask if you can wait a couple of days until his payday but he doesn’t. He will ask his Pa for a loan until he’s paid and then pay him back. He’s tired of how much this wedding has cost and he’s a proud man. He doesn’t want to owe Lorriane’s family a dime. He wants to be his own man.
“It’s going to be a few days,” you tell him, folding the check over after taking it out of his hands. “I don’t pay for the flowers until they arrive.” What you don’t say is that you want to wait until Lorraine cannot possibly make any more changes.
Javier nods, a little relieved, and Lorraine squeals, leaning in to kiss him. “I can’t wait for the wedding. I have so many family members coming into town. They are so excited to see me.” She grins and your frown catches Javier’s eyes as Lorraine rushes back over to the table. He had to sacrifice his own family member’s invites to make way for Lorraine’s.
You swallow, unsure of what to say to him, so you don’t say anything until he murmurs your name. “Javier.” You rush out at the same time and then there’s that awkward pause but you push forward. “Have you finalized your fittings with the tailor?” You ask, reminding yourself that this mind is getting married in seven days.
He nods, “yeah. I, uh, I’m due to go in on Tuesday for the final fitting.” He explains and you nod, “good. That’s perfect.” Lorraine smiles at you, a little unnerving, but she wants everything to be perfect. She wants the town to talk about this wedding for years to come.
“Is there anything else we need to discuss?” You ask. “The seating chart is set and the venue will set up the sweetheart table instead of a family style wedding party table.”
Lorraine squeals again, “it’s going to be incredible and I get to make this gorgeous man mine. All mine.” She leans in to kiss Javier and his mind flashes back to the kiss you put on his lips. Fuck, it’s hard to not be reminded of it every time he looks at you. He swallows down that feeling, shoving it from his mind as he kisses Lorraine on her hair. “It’s going to be amazing.” He agrees but it doesn’t sound authentic to his own ears
“Amazing.” You agree, clapping your hands together after a moment of awkward silence. “Well, I know you two probably have a lot to do, getting ready for your big day, so I’ll let you two get at it.” It sounds embarrassing and awkward, but you just give them a smile.
Lorraine grins, “yes. Lots to do.” She smirks at Javier who offers her a bland smile. She wants sex which is strange because she hasn’t fucked him since the night he proposed. He loves sex, craves it, but he never pushes himself on his partner. He has waited for her to come back to him and apparently tonight is that night. “I’ll see you soon.” You promise and Javier nods, thanking you as he takes Lorraine’s hand to guide her from your place.
When they leave, you sit down at your desk and sigh. One more week and you can put all of this behind you. Javier will be married and starting his perfect life with Lorraine. You just need to make it through.
****
Javier exhales as he adjusts his suit jacket. He stares in the mirror as he takes in the sight of his wedding attire. Today is the day. The day he’s going to marry Lorraine. He sighs, rubbing his freshly shaven chin and he’s anxious. His pa is getting ready and Javier feels like he needs some fresh air before he heads to the church. “Pa! I’m going to get some air. I’ll meet you at the church!” He calls out and Chucho chuckles as he lowers his razor. He knows that his son isn’t marrying the love of his life today. He remembers when he married Maria. He could hardly contain his excitement. Hell, he would’ve eloped if he could. Javier slams the door to his truck, taking a moment before he turns the key to start the engine and he reaches for his pack of cigarettes. “Shit.” He groans. He’s out. He decides to head to the store he knows will be open on a Sunday. His usual place will be closed for church.
“Shit, shit.” You had been dragged into the bridal suite at the church to quell another crisis. The fifth one of the day, but this one has a time crunch. There aren’t a lot of stores open today and it’s just your damn luck that the extra supply of tampons you keep in your purse is gone. Now you are hunting down a box for the bride since she just started. “Where the hell is the fucking tampon aisle?” You hiss, unfamiliar with the layout of this store.
Javier strides to the front, pulling out his wallet, and the cashier tilts his head, nodding when Javier grunts “Marlboros.” He points to the pack he wants and the cashier nods, working on getting the pack and ringing him up. Javier taps his fingers on the counter and he turns his head just as you come barreling towards the cash register. He says your name, eyes wide and he looks down at the box of tampons in your hand, raising his eyebrows.
Your eyes widen in surprise to find Javier standing in the store in his wedding tuxedo. He looks damn good and it makes your cheeks burn when he looks down at the box in your hand. “Oh they aren’t for me!” You blurt out, resisting the urge to hide the box behind your back. You’re a grown ass woman for Christ’s sake. “Lorraine started her period, so don’t be surprised if she’s not feeling up for anything tonight.” You wince again, knowing that wasn’t very helpful to blurt that out, but he is about to marry her today. Surely he’s been disappointed when she was on her period.
Javier is frozen. He frowns, his gaze flicking down to the box in your hand. “I’m sorry. You said - you said Lorraine started her period?” He asks, eyes wide when he looks at you in shock. “Yeah?” You frown, confused, “she said she needed them right away so she didn’t get blood on her dress.” Javier shakes his head, glancing around the store and his eyes meet yours as he shakily inhales. “Lorraine is supposed to be fifteen weeks pregnant.”
“Oh….oh god.” At first, your heart drops. Thinking that Lorraine is going through something horrible until you remember what she said. “How? She said that she hated being on her period during her bachelorette weekend.” You had to listen to her complain about her plans being ruined and you had just assumed she had meant the wedding night and honeymoon activities.
Javier shakes his head, “unbelievable.” He can’t believe it. She’s lied to him. He saw the scan. She went to the doctor alone because he had to work and he believed her. He fucking proposed because she got pregnant. “Fuck.” He growls in anger and he shakes his head, turning to the cashier who has wide eyes. “Pen and paper.” Javier demands and the cashier hands it to him with shaky hands. He scribbles a note and hands it to you. “Give this to her.” He orders, grabbing his cigarettes, “and take her the damn tampons.” He throws some cash down for the box, his heart pounding and his blood boiling as he strides out of the store.
You are so confused and your heart is pounding in your chest. The sinking feeling that you had just done something horrible settles in your stomach and you quickly pay for the tampons and rush out to your car. You want to read the folded note, but you can’t. It wouldn’t be right. “Shit.” You huff, knowing you have to go give Lorraine this letter and instinctively knowing it’s not good.
Lorraine is admiring herself in the mirror when you return and she turns to look at you. “About time. Took forever to get some damn tampons.” She scoffs and the bridesmaids giggle despite their puffy dresses that make most people wince. “So-sorry. I, uh, bumped into Javier and he gave me a note to give you.” You say, setting the box of tampons down after giving her the note. Lorraine grins, grabbing the note and she turns to look at the others, “probably a note to tell me how much he can’t wait to marry me. He’s a secret romantic.” She coos and opens the note. Her smile falls as she reads and then re-reads the note. It says ‘I know there’s no baby, Lorraine. It’s over. I’m not marrying you today.’ She gasps, crumbling the paper, and she looks at the box of tampons and then to you. “Did he see these?” You choke, unable to answer, and Lorraine screams, tossing the box across the room. “What’s happened?” Her maid of honor asks and Lorraine turns to them. “Javier has run off. He told me he can’t marry me. He’s left me at the altar!” She starts to sob, desperate to garner sympathy for this.
You sigh softly, knowing that you will need to be the one to tell the guests that have started gathering that there won’t be a wedding. You step back as the bridesmaids swarm around Lorraine and coo, immediately bashing Javier for being too much of a coward to face you himself.
Javier doesn’t know what he’s doing. He drives and drives until he stops at the only phone box in town. He curses as he grabs some change and pulls the piece of paper out of his jacket that was written on the letter he received a few days ago. He was going to throw it in the trash, considering it a pipe dream that would never happen, but was nice to know it was possible. He taps his fingers on top of the metal box as the line rings and they answer. “Houston DEA office.” Javier gives the name of the letter sender and he’s connected through after a few beeps. “Hi, it’s Javier Peña. When can I start?” He asks, feeling this is the right thing to do in his gut.
It’s hours later before you pull up to your house. Exhausted and wrung out from the questions, tears and blame that had been bandied about. Mr. Peña, Javier’s father, had walked into a shit storm when he arrived at the church. You had quickly shuffled him out the door and explained the options. There wasn’t any way to get any money back from the wedding, so you had suggested they go enjoy the reception and eat the food and drink the booze. Luckily enough, the guests liked the idea and Lorraine had been escorted from the church, weeping, by her parents. You sigh as you gather up your purse to go into the house, eager to strip off your dress and soak in a well deserved bath.
Javier doesn’t know why he’s here. He called the office and got the address, ignoring the questions of why he wasn’t currently getting married. He parked up and he’s pacing, the sun beating down on his face as he takes a drag of his cigarette. When your car pulls into the driveway, he exhales the smoke and tosses it to the ground, snubbing it out with his polished dress shoe.
Getting out of your car, you toggle your keys in your hand to find your house key. Eager to get inside and take off the practical flats you wear when working. Someone saying your name captures your attention and you turn to find Javier hurrying towards you. “Javi!” You gasp out in surprise to find him in front of your house. “What are you doing here?”
He stares at you, seeing the compassionate glaze in your eyes and he can’t help it. He surges forward to cup your cheeks, his lips meeting yours in a kiss he’s imagined so many times since you pecked his lips at the bar.
Any questions die when he presses his lips to yours. The small squeak of surprise turning into a groan when he takes advantage of that to slide his tongue inside your mouth, your hands coming up to grab his shoulders, to either push him away or pull him closer you couldn’t decide, but you ultimately press your body as close to him as you can and give into the attraction you have for him, kissing him back just as eagerly.
He groans, his entire body lighting up, and he has never felt this way when he kissed Lorraine. He pulls you closer until he realizes that you’re outside and he needs to strip you down, hear you moan his name like he’s ashamedly imagined. He reluctantly pulls back, your lips chasing his until he nudges your nose with his own, needing you to take a beat. “Baby. Baby. Keys. Inside.” He demands, “if you want. If not, if not I’ll leave now.”
You search his gaze, finding need and lust swirling in the dark depths of his eyes. You should feel guilty, knowing that you contributed to him not showing up to that church tonight, but you just take a shake breath and nod. “Inside. Yes.”
He steps back, allowing you to walk to the front door to unlock it with your keys. Your hands shake a little and he keeps his hands to himself until you push the door open. His hands find your hips and he pushes you further into your home, kicking the door shut, and he wastes no time pushing you up against the wall of your hallway, his lips finding yours again.
You moan into the kiss. Reaching up to wrap your arms around his shoulder and give into the need that you had felt for him. You know that this is wrong, that you should be talking to Javier rather than kissing him, but you can’t stop.
He's grateful he took the bow tie and tuxedo jacket off in his truck so your hands can explore his back over the thin material of his shirt. His tongue sliding back into your mouth and his hands are everywhere, finding your ass to squeeze the flesh, pulling you against his hardening cock.
You can feel him growing against your hip, making you moan into his mouth. Your fingers pull at the crisp white shirt, dragging it free from the neatly tucked in edges under his pants.
He feels like he's been consumed by desire for you. Every sordid thought he's ever had and felt guilty about is surfacing and his hand slides up your thigh, under your dress. His fingers play with the cotton of your underwear and he slides his digits along to press against your clit through the material.
You shiver and moan again. Feeling the firm pressure of his fingers and knowing that this man is talented. There’s no hesitation in his touch, just the eagerness to hear you make a sound for him, considering how his cock twitched in his pants when you moaned.
You are damp through the material and that makes him groan your name. His lips press against your jaw while your hands slide along his back under his shirt until you start to fumble with the buttons. "Fuck, hermosa." He murmurs when your palms slide against his bare skin while his fingers rub your clit.
“We shouldn’t do this.” You pant, trying to reason with him and yourself even as your fingers pluck the buttons from their slots. “You were supposed to be married by now.” Javier snorts and his teeth nip your pulse, making you whimper. “But I’m not married.” He points out.
He knows this is sudden. He just left Lorraine at the altar and now he's here. You should slap him, tell him to fuck off. Instead, you're grinding into his touch and caressing his skin. "I want you." Javier murmurs, "haven't stopped thinking about that kiss in the bar."
“Me either.” You admit breathlessly. “I shouldn’t be so attracted to you. You are - were - engaged.” You flick the end of his belt open. “But I want you so bad it hurts.”
“I’m not engaged anymore. I told her in that note that it’s over. It was before I found out she was pregnant.” He confesses, “I was trying to do the right thing. This feels like the right thing.” He groans, pulling his hand away to grab the hem of your dress and he leans back from you so he can pull it over your head.
“Fucking against the door of my house feels like the right thing?” You laugh, pulling his belt open and freeing it from the loops of his pants. “I have a bed.”
“No. Fucking a woman I haven’t been able to stop thinking about and not marrying the one that lied to me about being pregnant is the right thing.” He clarifies and tosses your dress to the floor. “Bed. Now.” He orders, needing you to guide him to your bedroom.
You grin at his order, enjoying the way his raspy voice drops roughly. It makes your cunt clench as you slide by him, reaching down and squeezing his cock briefly. “Come on and I’ll show you what I’ve been thinking about.”
Javier groans your name, toeing off his shoes before following you down the hall, and when you open your bedroom door, he’s shrugging off his shirt. You turn towards him and his breath catches when he sees you standing there with eager eyes. “Hermosa.” He murmurs, stepping closer to kiss you again.
You lick your lips, reaching up and caressing the smooth, tanned skin of his chest. He’s lean and strong, muscle sinewy under your fingertips. “You are beautiful.” You breathe out, body tense with need. You lean in and press your lips to his neck before he can kiss you.
He groans when you kiss him so softly, his hands gripping your waist and he slowly walks you backwards towards your bed while his fingers fumble with the clasp of your bra. “Want to see all of you.” He murmurs against your chin as he drags it down your arms. He groans at the sight of your tits and he wastes no time ducking his head, his hand cupping your breast to tilt it so he can take your nipple into his mouth.
You moan, loving how eagerly he touches you. How it’s not just stripping you down to slide inside you. He sucks and flicks his tongue over the hard nipple, making you whimper in pleasure as you run your fingers through his hair, the crunch of the hair gel and hair spray making you giggle.
He wishes you could run your fingers through his hair but his hair is slicked back for the day for what was supposed to be wedding photos. He groans as you grip his shoulders and he sucks on your nipple, biting down before he switches to the other one.
You whine his name, loving how attentive he is to your body. Groaning against your tit and continuing to suckle like he is a man starved. Lorraine is a beautiful woman so you have to be proud of the fact that this man wants you. His hard cock digs into your thought and you reach down between you to slip your hand in his pants and you hum when you find no underwear and wrap your fingers around his cock.
He hisses against your skin and you fumble to unbutton his pants, shoving them down a little before you take his cock in your hand once more. “Lay down.” He rasps, needing to see all of you. You reluctantly let go of his cock and lay down, allowing him to shove his pants down and kick them aside, stumbling as he peels off his socks. He’s fully naked in front of you and his gaze is dark as he reaches out to hook his fingers in your panties.
Biting your lip, you lift your hips and let him drag them down. They aren’t sexy, they are just practical cotton, comfortable for work but you don’t think he cares. He tosses them aside and groans as he looks down at you. His cock twitches and you get the best view in the world as he reaches down and squeezes his cock before he slowly starts to stroke himself. “Fuck.” You moan, reaching out with your foot to run along his calf. “I want you Javier.”
He nods, happy you are as eager for him as he is for you. He grabs your calf, letting go of his cock to slide his hand along your leg until he is pushing your thighs apart. “Wanna taste you.” He murmurs, shifting to kneel between your thighs and he presses kisses to your skin as he works his way up to your cunt.
“You don’t have to do that.” You promise, trying to close your legs, but his broad shoulders are wedged between them, keeping them open. “Javi-“ you whine. “I haven’t shaved.” You hate shaving, but your ex boyfriend would barely touch you if you didn’t have everything nearly bare. And he never wanted to go down on you, complaining that he didn’t like it.
Javier scoffs, his fingers digging into your flesh as he pushes your thighs apart. “I don’t care about that.” He promises, knowing that Lorraine was meticulous about shaving or waxing but he didn’t care. She became boring during sex, laying there and he lost his passion for her. Right now, there’s passion burning inside him and he is starving for you. He leans in, sliding his tongue through your folds without hesitation .
You gasp in complete awe as he starts to devour you. His dark eyes flickering up to your face and then down to your heaving tits as you open for him. Your stiff legs relax and fall open even more, yielding to whatever he wants as long as he keeps going. It’s been so long since someone touched you with such desire. “Javi.”
He doesn’t have forever to spend between your legs, he has places to go, but right now, he takes his time to slide his tongue through your folds. Flicking it over your clit and he loves the strangled cry that escapes your lips as he sucks your clit into his mouth.
“Oh god.” You moan and roll your hips down to his tongue, wanting more. Still, you want him inside you more. “Javi, baby, you need to fuck me.” You beg, fumbling for the nightstand to pull out a condom. You haven’t had sex in a long time, but you believe in being safe.
He was going to ask if you had a condom. He’s been with Lorraine and he doubts she cheated on him but he wants you to be safe. He pulls away from your cunt, licking his lips, and he shifts to kneel between your spread thighs, hand held out for the condom.
You could cry in relief when you grab the foil packet. Practically flinging it at him and lunging up to wrap your hand around his cock and pumping it as he rips open the condom. He twitches in your hand, making you groan. “I want to suck your cock .” You decide.
“No. No. Wanna be inside you.” He says, batting your hand away so he can roll the condom down his length. He’s so fucking eager for you. He’s twitching as he grips himself and shuffles closer to you. “Are you sure?” He asks, his gaze meeting yours.
Your eyes meet his and you don’t hesitate. “Yes.” You pant, leaning in and pressing your lips to his as you wrap your arms around his shoulders and drag him back down to the bed with you. His other arm braces his weight so he doesn’t crush you and your legs immediately lift up to his hips as he falls into place between your thighs perfectly.
He reaches between you to grip his cock, positioning himself at your entrance, and he slowly starts to sink into you. “Fuck.” He exhales, his gaze flicking between watching his cock disappear into you and your face as he stretches you out.
Your eyes slip closed in bliss as he slides inside you. The thickness chasing away the lonely voids and any sense of guilt or doubt as he fills you. The pinch of pain mixing with the pleasure, making you groan in awe of Javier Peña fucking you. “Oh fuck.”
He exhales shakily as he fills you to the hilt and he takes a breath before he starts to move. It’s slow at first, your whimpers making him twitch inside you, but he is soon picking up the pace to push deep into your pussy. His hand shifting to squeeze your tit.
Every thrust of his hips feels like magic to you. Pushing, filling, only to make you lift your hips to beg for him back when he draws back again. Your nails start the slow, deep drags down his back, digging in when he hits perfectly as you moan. “Fuck, baby, so good.” You whine. “More, harder.”
He can’t deny you. This is more than he’s ever felt when he’s been with other women. You bring something out of him that has him ravenous. He groans your name and fucks you harder, his skin slapping against yours as grunts escape his lips.
You take everything, loving how he’s slowly starting to lose control. The dark pleasure in his eyes is made even hotter by the clench of his jaw. The way his teeth snap together when you clench down around him. Both of you need this, that is obvious and you make sure that you aren’t passive, wanting him to feel just as needed as you feel right now.
Your legs wrap around him, pushing him deeper into your cunt, and Javier pants, loving it. “Fuck, hermosa.” He wants you to cum for him. Adjusting the angle, he grinds his pelvis against your clit, needing to hear you fall apart.
“Oh fuck, fuck Javi.” Your eyes roll back as he changes the angle. Pressing into you perfectly and making your body sing with every roll of his hips. “I’m so close.”
He leans closer to press kisses to your jaw up to your ear, “cum for me, baby.” He demands and you cry out as you clamp down on his cock. “Shit.” He hisses at how tight you grip his cock and he tries to work you through it. Your nails dig into his skin but he doesn’t care. He slows down and kisses your neck. “So fucking good.” He murmurs and he shifts to roll over, bringing you with him. “Want you to ride me. Take what you want.” He orders, smacking your ass.
You are sprawled on top of him, your entire body limp with pleasure but you want to feel more. Kissing him, you push up off his chest, groaning at how deep he feels from this angle. “You just want to watch my tits bounce.” You tease, taking his hands and bringing them up to your breasts as you start to swivel your hips.
He chuckles, squeezing your tits and pushing them together as you start to move on top of him. “Baby, want to watch all of you bounce on top of me. Fuck. So fucking pretty.” He groans, cock twitching inside you as you rock your hips.
You’ve never felt sexier. Javier twitches and groans as you start to pick up the pace. His thighs spreading and squeezing together under you as he lifts his hips slightly, chasing the tight heat of your cunt. This is obviously a man who loves sex and you can see why. He feels incredible. “Fuck baby, so good. Fuck you have such a good cock.”
He loves your praise, his hands squeezing your tits before they slide down to grab your ass, helping you rock on top of him. "You're so goddamn gorgeous. I - fuck - thought it when we first met. Tried to ignore how gorgeous you are but you are so fucking kind. So fucking sweet." He confesses breathlessly as you grind down onto him.
“Thought you were so sexy.” You feel guilty, but push that thought away. “From the beginning, I was jealous of Lorraine. You are caring, you let her be herself.” You snort and lean down to press your lips to his. “Thought you were too good for her.”
Javier chuckles, "enough about her. Wanna focus on you." He demands, sliding his hand across your hip until his thumb is pressing against your clit. "Want to hear you moan for me again. Wanna feel that tight pussy clench." He murmurs, eyes dark as his gaze trails up to your face from your cunt.
You moan his name, loving how dirty it sounds coming out in his raspy voice. “Soaked for you.” You promise breathlessly. “Gonna cum for you.”
He groans, cock twitching and he’s close but he wants to see you fall apart again. He rubs your clit a little harder, thrusting his hips up into you, desperate to feel you clamp down on his cock again.
Your tits are pressed against his chest as you rock down on his cock desperately. Pressing his hand between your bodies as he rubs your clit. “Javier.” You whine against his lips, rocking back upright again and tossing your head back. “Javi!” You cry out in pleasure as your cunt clenches down around him and soak him with your cum.
He watches you writhe above him, eyes squeezed shut and jaw dropped as you soak his cock and he growls, wrapping his arms around your back to pull you close so he can thrust up into you. He is a man possessed as he fucks you through your high and he’s soon climbing to his own. He pants your name, thrusting up into you as he grips your skin and finally he lets out a choked version of your name as he cums, spilling into the condom.
You collapse against his chest, his arms locked around your body as you pant. Trying to catch your breath and giggling in pure bliss as you sigh. “That was fucking amazing.” You hum, turning your head and kissing his jaw.
He hums in agreement, turning his head towards you so he can kiss you, his tongue languidly sliding against yours until he gently bites down on your chin. “Better than I imagined.” He confesses with a little guilt in his tone.
“I know.” You promise, pulling back and caressing his cheek. “You just broke up with your fiancée. You feel guilty because you should have been imagining her. But I think everyone has fantasies about others. You didn’t act on it. I kissed you, and I’m sorry that I put you in that position. I was completely wrong.”
Javier takes your hand from his cheek and presses a kiss to your palm. “I shouldn’t have encouraged you.” He confesses, knowing he wasn’t in a rush to get back to Lorraine and he might have flirted a little. He shifts, rolling you over so he can pull out of you, keeping his grip on the condom before he ties it off and tosses it into the waste bin next to your bed. “I, uh, I’m not staying in Laredo.” He confesses, looking at you after he caresses your leg.
“I figured.” You admit, reaching out and stroking his side. “When you mentioned the DEA, I heard how badly you wanted to do it in your voice.” Your heart aches but you know that he can’t stay here. Not after jilting Lorraine at the altar. It’s going to be the talk of the town for months to come. “When are you leaving?” You ask softly.
“Tomorrow.” He murmurs, glancing across the room, “I called the office before I came over here. I wanted to explain to you properly why I called off the wedding. Lorraine told me she was pregnant. Showed me the test she took and basically said I had to do the right thing. I knew my pa would kill me for leaving her pregnant so I had to propose. Her dad basically got the shotgun and told me what I had to do. I didn’t want to get married. Hell, I didn’t want to marry her. I was railroaded and she wasn’t even fucking pregnant.” He shakes his head and closes his eyes.
“Oh god, and when you found me buying tampons for her…..” you shake your head. “I’m so sorry, Javier.” You murmur, stroking his chest over his heart. “At least you found out before you got married, you got to break free.” You snort. “And you’re leaving, so you don’t have to put up with the backlash from leaving her.” You sigh. “There are some things I might be able to get your money back on.” You tell him. “Do you want me to send any of it back to your dad?”
Javier nods, “yeah. Give it back to my dad but don’t stress yourself out getting it back. I’m honestly glad I didn’t have to get married to her. I fell out of love with her. Watching her plan this wedding…it was all about her. What she wanted. It didn’t matter what I wanted at all and that made her ugly to me.” He admits and takes your hand in his to press a kiss to the back of it.
“I’m sorry.” You sigh softly. “Sometimes, wedding planning brings out the worst in people, or maybe it’s that it shows who they truly are at their core.” You shrug. “But now, you are going to go do what you really want to do. Go help stem the drug problems in the country.” You smile. “I think that’s incredible, Javier.”
“It’s what I feel is right, what I need to do. I told Lorraine I wanted to go but she told me to be serious and focus on making money to provide for our family. She didn’t support me.” He sighs, “but that’s over. It’s over. I’m sorry I can’t stay. If things were different…I’d take you for dinner…dancing. Treat you right.” He offers you a half smile.
“Oh god, could you imagine the scandal?” You snort, your eyes widening comically. “Lorraine would come for my head!” You giggle and shake your head, leaning up and pressing your lips to his. “I understand.” You promise. “How about I order a pizza and we drink the beer I have in my fridge?” You suggest. “Or are you more of a hamburger kind of guy?”
Javier chuckles, “I’ll eat anything but Pizza sounds good. Order it and there’s cash in my pocket. I’m paying.” He insists, shifting to stand up so he can grab his pants, pulling them on and leaving them unbuttoned. “I’ll go get the beers.” He winks and strides out of your bedroom, stepping over the strewn out clothes.
You chuckle and lean over to grab the phone off the cradle to dial the local pizza place that will deliver to you. “Hey, you want a supreme?” You call out as you dial.
“Sounds good, hermosa.” He calls back and he checks your drawer to find the bottle opener. He works fast to open the bottles and he tosses the caps before he takes the bottles and hands one to you where you’re leaning against the doorway with the phone in your hand.
“Ummmhmmm.” You hum into the phone. “Deep dish.” You raise your eyebrows at him to make sure that’s okay and smile when he nods. “Extra sauce, um, everything. A supreme.” You listen for another moment, taking a swallow of the beer and humming in pleasure. “Yeah. Okay, yeah, we’ll pay cash. Twenty minutes? Thanks.” You reach over and hang the phone up and grin. “Pie will be here in twenty minutes. Enough time to smoke and have a beer or two.”
He watches you put the phone back in the holder and he reaches for you, grabbing your waist to pull you against him. “Every fucker in Laredo is a goddamn fool if you haven’t been planning your own wedding yet.” He observes, wanting you to know what he thinks since he’s leaving tomorrow.
You smirk and let yourself lean against him. “You should be tired of weddings right now.” You remind him. “Maybe one day.” It’s not a priority for you right now, not when you are establishing your business.
Javier chuckles and nods, letting go of your waist. “You mind if I smoke in here?” He asks and you shake your head, stepping back to grab him an ashtray while he finds the pack of cigarettes he bought earlier, working fast to light on and he inhales the smoke while watching you wear the white shirt he bought for his wedding day. “I hope you don’t get shit from Lorraine.” He says after he exhales the smoke.
You know that it’s possible but you shrug. “She was too busy spinning the truth to make herself look like the victim.” You admit. “I’m afraid your own reputation is going to be mud for a while.”
Javier shrugs, walking over to tap the cigarette on the side of the ashtray. “Good thing I won’t be here to find out about the shit she says. You’ll look out for my Pa, though? Make sure he doesn’t get dragged into it when people ask you for gossip.”
“Of course.” You promise, watching as his shoulders roll down in relief and you kick your lips. The man should not be this attractive. “And I’m not going to say anything about you.”
Javier snorts, bringing the cigarette to his lips as he pulls the chair out to sit at your kitchen table. “Like I said, I won’t be here to hear the whispers but hopefully it will die down in a few months.” He says, pursing his lips to exhale the smoke. “She will bring the town on her side but it doesn’t matter. Let her process it how she wants. I’m not married to her. That’s all that matters.”
“True.” You take another sip of your beer and sigh. “You get to decide how you live your life, no nagging wife.” You chuckle. “No kids that you didn’t really want.” You don’t know if Javier wants kids ever or if he just didn’t like the idea of kids with Lorraine. It’s not really any of your business. “You can do whatever you want. Fuck whoever you want.”
Javier chuckles, nodding as he picks up the beer bottle and takes a gulp, “I love sex. I do.” He smirks and drags his eyes along your form, “and I’m going to stop these fucking cartels while you grow your business but damn if I won’t think about you while I’m alone in bed.”
“Honestly?” You tilt your head. “I don’t see you being alone in bed often.” You admit. “I can see that you’d be the type of man who needs sex to forget about his troubles.” You take another sip of your beer. “That night in the bar….I just wanted to take you into the bathroom and suck your cock.”
“Fuck.” Javier murmurs, tapping the cigarette on the ashtray as he leans back in the chair, slumping slightly. “If I was single, I wouldn’t have objected.” He confesses, “shit happens. I could be alone. If I get assigned somewhere…hell, I could be in the middle of the fucking desert with just my hand.”
“There’s a sexy image for me to think about.” You tease, winking playfully. “Javier Peña stroking his cock as he thinks about a pair of tits, a warm cunt.” You chuckle. “Maybe even mine.”
“Definitely yours.” He chuckles, feeling light despite the heavy events that have led to this moment. “Definitely. Yours.” He drags out before he snubs his smoke in the ashtray and he pats his thigh. “Wanna find out what I’ll be thinking about?” He teases, a cocky smirk on his lips.
“Absolutely.” You immediately take up the invitation. “We’ve only got one night, after all.” You won’t guilt him about it, so you wrap your arms around his neck and press your lips to his. You’re lucky to just get tonight, he could be dancing his wedding dance to Lorraine right now.
He reaches out to caress your cheek, his tongue sliding against yours, and he is happy to have you in his lap. He groans when you tangle your fingers in his hair and he lets you tug on it, pulling his mouth from yours and his neck stretched as you tilt his head so you can kiss the skin there.
You take your time. Learning that he grunts in amusement when you kiss right below his ear, as if it tickles. His pulse quickens against your tongue. The spicy scent of his cologne is heady and you groan at the slightly salty taste of his skin.
You are worshipping his neck and he doesn't think he's ever had that before but fuck, he likes it. His cock hardens beneath you and he reaches down to squeeze your ass, rocking you on top of him.
“Ready to go again?” You giggle, continuing to kiss and nip at his skin. You’re ready, but you find yourself craving him more and more. “Think we can do it before the food arrives?”
"Gino's Pizza delivers in twenty minutes or less so we have about ten minutes. I think I can make you cum twice in that time." He smirks, grabbing your ass and he stands as he lifts you, turning to put you on top of your kitchen table. "Bend over." He orders, reaching into his pants for his wallet to grab the condom he had in there before Lorraine got pregnant. You follow his order and he tosses the wallet onto the table while he pulls his cock out and rips open the packet to roll the condom down his cock. "Nine minutes." You count and he chuckles, pushing his shirt up your hips, and he kicks your ankle to spread you wider before he positions himself and pushes into you.
The way he pushes into you makes you cry out. Gripping the edge of the table and lifting up onto your toes as you try to push back. “Fuck!” He chuckles, fingers digging into your hips as he starts to move. “Oh fuck me hard.” You beg breathlessly. “Want to feel it.” You want to feel him for days when you move or sit down, loving that ache in your pussy when you are fucked right.
He won't deny you anything right now so he starts to fuck you harder, the table scrapping against your linoleum floor as he thrusts deeper, harder, and faster. His hand grips your hip, the other pressed against your back, and his jaw is clenched. "Feel so goddamn good, baby." He murmurs, sweat starting to bead on his forehead as he gives you everything.
“M-my line.” You pants out, moaning as you turn your head to press your cheek against the cool wood of the table. You love how deep he gets, the harsh thrusts making your ass jiggle as he slams into you. You will think about it every time you sit here after he’s gone. “Fuck baby. So good.”
He grunts, nostrils flaring in the effort he’s taking to push you over the edge. He desperately wants you to cum again for him. Then again. Before you have pizza. Your ass jiggles and he can’t help letting go of your hip to smack the flesh, watching it jiggle and he squeezes it then pulls your cheek apart so he can watch his cock disappear into your greedy cunt.
“Oh god.” You whine, feeling your body pull tight as he changes the angle. Leaning back against you and holding your ass cheeks wide while he hammers into you. It’s filthy and so sexy that it makes your stomach twist as you get closer. “Gonna cum.” You manage to garble out right before you clench down around him, the wordless cry loud as you come apart.
He growls as you squeeze his cock, your cry echoing in the kitchen, and he doesn’t stop. He continues to push into your cunt that’s gripping him like a vice. He pants your name, “need you to cum again.” His hands let go of your ass and he grips your shoulders, leveraging himself to work into your pussy harder than possible.
“Oh, oh- oh fuuuuuuuuuck!” You squeal as he pushes you through your orgasm and into overstimulation. Your legs shake and you would collapse if the table wasn’t holding you up.
He carries on fucking you hard like you wanted. Your cries hit his ears but his heart is pounding as he works himself into your pussy and it squelches around his thick length as the table moves another inch from its original position.
He’s like a man possessed and it’s not long before you are winding up again. “Oh god, oh fuck, Javi!”
He loves the way you cry out his name. You’re shaking beneath him and he is fucking you like a madman. Lorraine never let him get rough. Didn’t want to get her hair messed up. He groans and grabs your thigh, lifting it onto the table so he can sink deeper, “cum for me.” He rasps his order, bending over your body to bite down on your shoulder.
The next thrust spears up against that perfect spot inside you. Making you scream in pleasure while your walls pulse around him. Soaking his cock in your cum as you start sobbing his name over and over again.
You’re gripping him so tight he can hardly push into you but he throbs, pushed over the edge with the way you’ve soaked his balls with how hard you came, and he twitches as he spills into the condom. Your name choked from his lips as he leans over you, burying his face in the back of your neck.
Both of you are silent as you try to catch your breath. The tick of the clock on the wall the only thing that you can hear until there is a knock on the door. “Just in time.” You joke, smiling when he huffs and groans against your skin.
He chuckles and shifts to grip the base of his cock, pulling out of you, and he works fast to tie off the condom. He tosses it in your trash and pulls his pants up, grabbing his wallet from the table and he makes his way to the door. He opens it and the teenager he pulled over last week for speeding has wide eyes. “Officer, uh, Peña.” He murmurs in surprise and Javier sighs, realizing he’s been spotted here. He doesn’t care about his reputation but he does care about yours. “Listen kid. I’ll give you a damn good tip if you didn’t see me here.” He says and the teenager nods, “yes sir.” Javier nods and hands him the cash plus a decent tip, taking the pizza, and he quickly shuts the door.
You see his face when he walks back into the kitchen and you bite your lip. “Everything alright?” You ask, and he nods, giving a little sigh. “Driver recognized me.” He admits as he sets the pizza on the table. “Oh.” You wince, understanding that he wouldn’t want word of this to get out. “Damn. I’m sorry.”
“I- it’s not about me. Baby, I don’t care because I know the truth about what happened but I want to protect you. He’s a kid. He doesn’t know who you are so he will probably forget and I gave him a nice tip to get him to keep quiet.” He confesses, “I want to protect you. I’ll be leaving tomorrow and you’ll be here.”
“That’s sweet.” You smile and walk over to drop a kiss on his lips. “You’re sweet. And I appreciate it. Something like that could affect my business so I am glad you thought about it like that.
He nods, “he should leave it alone. Especially if he doesn’t want his momma to know that he got pulled over for speeding.” Javier chuckles and watches as you grab some plates. “I, uh, realized that I don’t really know much about you. Apart from your work and where you live. You got family nearby?” He doesn’t know of any of your family members in town.
“No.” You shake your head and chuckle, setting the plates down and opening the box before moving back to grab napkins and more beer. “I wanted to move away from family. The drama was too much for me.”
Javier nods in understanding, “I get that. Their loss.” He says as he reaches out to open the pizza box and he grabs a slice and puts it on the plate for you. “Here you go, baby.” He murmurs, setting the plate down after you sit down with the beers and napkins.
“Thank you.” You are surprised by his thoughtfulness, although maybe you shouldn’t be. “Yeah, I honestly just picked a town. I liked Laredo.”
Javier snorts, "you picked it? Christ. I have been here my whole life and I - I wasn't sure I wanted to stay here. Most guys leave by joining the army but I don't really take orders well so that was out but then I met Lorraine and then she - well, I thought she was pregnant." He shakes his head and picks up his beer, taking a swig.
“It’s not so bad.” You snort. “There’s a quiet kind of peace here.” You hum. “Sometimes I like to walk along the river at sunset and just look out at the water.”
"And see the drug mules. You gotta be careful, hermosa. You could get hurt. Don't go there at night." He orders, picking up a slice of pizza. "There's bad men out there."
You understand his concern but you huff slightly. “I know. But you’re gonna make it safer.” You point out. “So I can walk at night. Get rid of the drug mules.”
He nods, hoping that's the case, and he takes a bite of his pizza. "Just be careful, sweetheart." He says after he swallows his bite and you nod, taking your own bite.
Javier nods, “that’s a good idea but you need to go to classes. Learn how to use it. Too many people die from accidents not knowing how to use a gun. You gotta respect it. It’s a weapon.” He says, “I’ll talk to Julio at the station. He does gun safety classes for civilians.”
You hum, knowing that it is sweet that he cares. “You are going to make a lot of good changes.” You predict with a smile. “Agent Peña with the DEA.”
Javier smiles, ducking his head a little, "we will see. Maybe I'll be back here soon. If I don't pass the academy." He sighs, admitting something he was worried about.
You snort. “You’re smart.” You him. “Lorraine bragged on you, even if she didn’t understand why you got a degree in philosophy and criminal justice.” You lift a brow. “I have no doubt you will breeze through the academy.”
“Thanks.” He winks at you, picking up the pizza and you both eat in comfortable silence. It’s nice to not have the constant chatter. Lorraine never stopped talking while they would eat dinner but nothing of substance.
You notice that he finishes his beer quickly and get up to grab him another. “Here, baby.” You kiss his lips and then grab another slice of pizza. “What time are you leaving tomorrow? I’d imagine it would be pretty early.”
He nods, “gotta leave by 8 and I need to go to my pa’s to get my things.” He says and leans back in his seat as he picks up his beer. “Do you want me to go home or stay the night?” He asks, not wanting to assume.
“I’d like you to stay.” You admit selfishly. “But I understand if you want to get a jump on things.” This could never be more than what it is right now, a night. You’re grateful that you get that, so you won’t make him feel guilty for leaving. “Up to you.”
He tilts his head, reaching for your hand to squeeze it. “I want to stay. We only get one night and I want to be here.” He says, “is that okay?” You nod and he smiles, lifting your hand to kiss the back of it.
The pizza is put up and dishes cleared away. Javier helps throw away the trash and you smile at how easy this is with him. “Let’s go back to bed.” You suggest with a grin. “Still have to suck your cock.”
He smirks, wiping his hands on the dish cloth after he washed them, and he reaches for you. “You are a devil.” He teases, his hands squeezing your hips and they slide down to your ass to pull you against his body. “Too beautiful for your own good.”
“Don’t know about that, Peña.” You tease. “But your last night here in Laredo is going to be spent in my bed and I damn sure plan on making it memorable.”
****
Javier groans as he glances at your alarm clock. It’s six in the morning. He blinks a few times, his hair all over the place, and he turns to look at you. You’re still sleeping and he shifts to kiss you, wanting to wake you up so he can say goodbye.
“Hmmmmm.” You are drawn out of your sleep slowly, feeling the warmth from his touch as you come to. Smiling to yourself as your eyes start to flutter open. “Mornin’.” You mumble, kissing him back after the next kiss and you feel him roll you onto your back. “What time is it?”
“Six.” He answers, kissing your jaw, “wanted to say goodbye before I left.” He says, kissing your neck, and he shifts between your thighs, his hand squeezing your breast through your tank top.
You want to pull him close, beg him to stay a little longer, but you can’t do that to him. It wouldn’t be fair. He has a dream, a goal and you wouldn’t try to manipulate him like Lorraine had. “Should make some coffee.” You moan when you feel that he’s already hard, wanting you again.
“Let me say goodbye to you properly.” He demands, shifting under the covers and he wastes no time pulling your panties aside so he can slide his tongue through your folds.
Your stomach immediately starts to clench, it doesn’t matter how many times you came last night, your body responds to him. “Javi, fuck.” You gasp out, reaching down and tangling your fingers in his hair. “Oh fuck. Hell of a goodbye.”
He chuckles against your flesh and flicks his tongue over your clit. He sucks it between his lips and his hand slides up to drag your tank top down, squeezing your breast when it’s free from the material.
He loves tits, but he also seems to be an ass man. Or maybe it’s just that he loves a woman’s body. You have never felt more appreciated, more worshipped than you have over the past few hours. Your hand covers his and you moan his name.
He loves the way you moan his name, his tongue sliding through your folds until he’s pushing it into your cunt. His nose pressing against your clit, and he groans when your fingers tangle in his hair.
The way he lazily eats your cunt is almost deceptive. You would think that it would take so long to get worked up, but every flick of his tongue is so perfectly placed, already leaned what makes you shake. You whine as he pushes his tongue deep. “Fuck baby, I’m gonna miss that mouth.” You pant,
He groans into your flesh in agreement. He’s only just had you but he’s going to miss you. This pussy. He will definitely be thinking about you when he’s alone. He slides his tongue up and takes your clit between his lips, sucking in an effort to push you over the edge.
Your eyes close and his name becomes a prayer, chanted out again and again as he rolls you closer to cumming. Every push of his tongue makes you until he sucks one last time to send you careening into space as stars burst behind your lids. “Javi!”
He groans at the way your thigh clamp down around his head and he works you through it, lapping at your soaked pussy, pushing his tongue into you to lap it up while you relax beneath him.
“Oh god.” You pant, chest heaving and you lift the covers to look down at him. “One more time.” You hum with a grin, “I want to feel you inside me one more time before you go.”
He nods, shifting up your body, and his cock is aching. He didn’t wear anything in bed so he is pressing against your thigh while he kisses your neck. “Baby. Get a condom.” He orders against your skin.
You moan in agreement, shifting the side to open the drawer and fish around in it. “Last one.” You hum, pulling out the box and one final rubber to press into his hand. “Fitting.”
He chuckles, taking it from you to rip it open and he works fast to roll it down his cock. He inhales deeply as he shifts to position the head at your entrance and he slowly pushes into you. His eyes adjusted to the dark so he can see your face as he pushes into your pussy. “Fuck baby. So goddamn tight.” He hisses, stretching you out and he leans down to press his lips to yours.
You feel the pinch, knowing that you are going to be sore after this, but you wouldn’t stop him for anything in the world. “Just for you.” You moan breathlessly, clenching down around him and giggling when he hisses again. “Gotta keep you pining for home when you leave.” You tease, reaching up to caress his side. “Promise me you will be careful, Javier.”
He nods, knowing he can’t really promise that but he wants to give you something. He rocks into you, his hand grabbing your thigh to lift it higher so he can press into you. “But I’ll think of you, of this pussy.” He promises, sinking deeper into you.
“Yessssssss.” You hiss, tilting your head back as he completely takes over. “I’ll be thinking about you.” You promise, knowing that the specter of his presence in your bed will be felt long after you are a distant memory in his mind. “So good, Javier.”
Your praise rings in his ears and he grunts, grabbing your other thigh and he lifts your legs onto his shoulders. “Wanna see you cum again.” He groans, bending you over. He wants to wreck you, leave you aching for him when he goes.
“Oh fuck.” Your eyes widen in surprise, but immediately you are moaning from how good he feels. Your walls are tighter around his thrusting cock and he is hitting something inside you that has you squealing when he drives into you again.
Your cries are loud in the early morning air and he loves it. Grunts escaping his lips as he fucks you harder and your cunt starts to squelch, fluttering around his cock as you get closer to your high. “Cum for me, baby.” He orders through clenched teeth.
His neck muscles are bulging and he looks magnificent in the soft light of daybreak. It contrasts with the concentration and dark look in his eyes as he fucks you. Your nails dig into his forearms as he hammers into you, pushing deep when you cry out again, your cunt soaking him and you feel the wave of your juices soak his stomach.
“Fuckkkk.” He groans, looking down at his stomach as you squirt over his cock. “Fuck, hermosa. Look at that.” He murmurs, continuing to fuck into you. The squelching noise is deafening as you cry out and he pushes deep, chasing his own orgasm.
You continue to spasm and squeak as he fucks you. Your body tensing and bowing in pleasure while he thrusts in and out of you at a pace that has your tits shaking. “Javi, Javi, Javviiiiiiiiiii!”
He pants, thrusting to work you through it but it only takes a few rocks of his hips for him to let out a guttural groan. He buries his cock deep and his cock throbs as he spills into the condom. He struggles to keep his body from smothering yours and his arms shake next to your head.
You moan as you watch him ride out his pleasure. Almost wishing you could feel the heat of his seed as he filled you up, but you couldn’t ask for that. Especially after what Lorraine had put him through. You honestly wonder if she had meant to trap him. Have him get her pregnant between telling him she was and the wedding so there would only be a little bit of time to fudge. Or if she had been hoping for a convenient ‘miscarriage’ right after. “So good, baby.” You coo. “Best fucking sex I’ve ever had.”
He smiles, nudging your nose against his, and he kisses you softly. “Glad my fantasies came true.” He murmurs, “you - shit - exceeded them.” He assures you and he grunts as he reaches down to grip the base of his cock. His skin is drying from your cum and he slowly pulls out of you so he can tie off the condom. He slumps on the bed next to you, catching his breath for a moment.
You chuckle and curl into his side, pressing your lips to his chest. “Do you want to take a shower while I make some coffee?” You ask. You know he needs to leave, but you don’t want to send him off back to his dad’s without some caffeine at least.
He nods, kissing your forehead before he shifts off the bed. He wants to ask you to join him but he can’t. He needs to focus now and get ready to leave town. He showers quickly, redressing in the clothes you found and left on the bed for him, and he makes his way out into the kitchen to find you there pouring a cup of coffee. “I’m not sure how you like it.” You say and he smiles, “this is good.” He takes a sip and leans against the counter.
You had wrapped your body up in a robe, but you don’t think that he cares about that. He groans in pleasure and you smile after taking a sip of your own coffee. “Well, I have to tell you that I had an amazing night.” You admit shamelessly. “I’m happy that you stayed.”
He nods, “me too. I’m - I’m sorry I can’t stay and give you more but I think it’s for the best this way.” He says, “we can’t - I don’t want you to get shit because of me. You deserve better than that. Deserve better than me.” He sighs, looking down at the cup in his hand.
“Don’t apologize for following your dreams.” You reach out and touch his hand, making him look up at you. “But I don’t think I deserve better.” You shrug. “It’s just the wrong time. That’s all.”
Javier nods, setting his cup down, and he cups your cheeks, “wrong time.” He agrees and leans closer to press a soft kiss to your lips. “Thank you, hermosa.” He murmurs, kissing your forehead.
“Nothing to thank me for.” You promise, smiling at him as he pulls back. “You are supposed to leave Laredo.”
He pulls back and takes another look at you before he wipes his hands on his pants. “I better go. I need to get my shit from my pa’s.” He says and cups your cheek one last time. “I’ll see you around, sweetheart.” He winks at you, grabbing his keys from your kitchen table and he walks towards the front door.
You set your coffee down and trail after him. “Be safe, Javier.” You murmur as he reaches for the door. “I’ll be praying for you.”
He turns to look at you one last time, nodding and offering you a wink as he leaves your house as the sun rises in the sky. He heads home and gets his stuff, hugging his Pa goodbye. “I’ll handle Lorraine and the wedding stuff. Chase your dream, mijo.” Chucho tells his son who hugs him again and gets into his truck. Javier watches the sun shine as he drives down the highway to make his way to Houston. A new beginning and a new career. He’s ready to kick some cartel ass.
****
“Yesssss.” You laugh into the phone, loving how relaxed the couple is. It’s been a lot of fun planning the young couple’s wedding. “There are plenty of cases of beer.” You promise. “I’ll even stash an extra case in the trunk of my car as back up, okay?” Since he’s a Marine, the groom hasn’t been able to be present for the planning of the wedding but he’s called a few times with his own requests, simple as they might be. “We can get all of Laredo drunk, or maybe just you and a few of your Marine buddies, alright?”
Danny chuckles, “nah, it’s gotta be all of Laredo. Especially my cousin. He’s been a boring fucker since he got back from overseas. Gotta make sure he gets some beers in him.” You chuckle, “sure thing. Consider it done.” Danny thanks you and you smile, happy for the young couple getting married this weekend.
****
Javier sighs as he walks into the reception hall, wiping his hands on his jeans as he follows his pa into the beautifully decorated hall. His cousin Danny and his new wife are taking photos outside. Chucho slaps Javier on the shoulder, “let’s get you beer, mijo.” Javier nods, making his way over to the bar and that’s when he sees you. You are adjusting some flowers on a table display and his heart stops. You look beautiful, as always, and his heart beats hard when your eyes meet his when you look up.
“Javier.” His name falls off your lips in surprise. Eyes widening when you see him again. He is still devastatingly handsome. His dark eyes held more sorrow, more heartache than you had seen when he walked out your door so many years ago. You had forgotten that Danny was related to Javier, even when you had run into Chucho a few weeks ago and talked about the upcoming wedding.
He pats his father on the shoulder and makes his way over to you. You’re a sight for sore eyes and after everything that went down in Colombia, he offers you a tilt of his head and smiles as he says your name. “Should’ve known it was you planning the wedding. It’s beautiful.”
“Thank you.” You fiddle with the flowers and look at him again. “Although I can’t claim too much credit. They knew what they wanted and it was just perfect for them.” You bite your lip, wanting to ask him why he suddenly stopped appearing in the newspapers about Pablo Escobar, but you don’t. “How are things?” You ask instead.
He half smirks, tilting his head, “things are…well, let’s just say I could use a beer.” He chuckles, “Colombia was not what I expected.” He confesses and reaches up to rub the back of his neck, looking around as the drinks start to flow. “How have you been doing?”
“I’ve been good.” You can tell that he’s a little unsure of himself so you step over to the bar and grab a Budweiser. “Still drink these?” You ask, holding it up. When Javier nods, you use the bottle opener you keep in your pocket and hand it to him. “Now that your first wish is granted, what else can I do for you?” You ask playfully.
“Dance with me.” He blurts out, unable to stop himself, “later, I mean. When the band plays. I want to -” He clears his throat and takes a sip of his beer, “want to catch up.” He says and he glances over to see Lorraine walking into the hall with her husband. Some big oil guy from Dallas. Javier exhales deeply and turns back towards you.
You follow his eyes. “Of course.” You wonder if he had heard about Lorraine getting married but you doubt he’s very upset. “As soon as they get done with pictures, they will greet everyone and then start the dancing.”
“I guess you didn’t get invited back to plan that wedding.” Javier chuckles softly, “did she - was there any hassle after I left - after everything that went down?”
“Nothing except me nearly biting my tongue off to keep from exposing all her bullshit.” You huff, shaking your head. “Although it was really hard not to. She moved on pretty quick though.”
Javier snorts, “yeah. I heard about what she was saying after I left town. I was the bad guy but whatever…she got her happy ending.” You tilt your head, “and what about you?” Javier chuckles, rubbing his jaw, “I don’t think I get a happy ending.”
That breaks your heart, especially since you know that Javier is a kind and wonderful man. Sometimes a little too dry or serious, but who wouldn’t be, given the type of work he does? You kept up with the news articles when you heard Javier was down in Colombia. The horrors that happened down there. You can’t even imagine what he was going through. You sigh. “You do.” You promise, smiling at him. “You just have to find it. You are too good a man to not deserve a happy ending.”
Javier shakes his head, “I don’t know. I guess we will see.” He says and takes a sip of his beer. “Did you…have you found your happy ending?” He asks, curious if you’ve found a boyfriend. He has no right to be jealous when it’s been years but he knows he’d be disappointed to find out you’re taken.
You laugh slightly as you shake your head. “Nope.” You admit, shrugging it off as if it was no big deal even though you honestly worried if you were destined to be alone. “Still planning everyone else’s happily ever after and not my own.” You tease.
“You’ll be fine, baby.” He promises, “just gotta get some of these assholes to realize what’s under their nose.” He sips his beer and turns when your assistant comes over to tell you the bride and groom are ready. “Showtime. Ill, uh, see you later.” You promise and he nods, thinking about the dance you promised him and he watches you walk off.
Javier is here. You can’t believe it. You had heard about him of course. The same people who had gossiped about him when he had left town and dragged his name through the mud had bragged on him. Boasted about his work as if it was their own or they helped him. You had bitten your tongue and wished that you could call or write to him, just to remind him that you were still praying for his safety. You hadn’t stopped thinking about that one night you had together.
Javier watches you as you rush around making sure everything is beautiful for Danny and Maria and he smiles, appreciating how much effort you put in. “Beautiful.” He murmurs to himself and Chucho comes over, patting his son on the shoulder. Javier claps as the couple walks into the reception hall.
“She hasn’t really dated.” Chucho offers, seeing the way that his son’s eyes drift towards you again and again. He had wondered if something happened before Javier left for the DEA. He hadn’t come home the night of his missed wedding and when he had come home that morning, he smelled like the shampoo you seem to favor. Not that it was his business, you nor Javi were the type to cheat and he had ended things with Lorraine when he hadn’t shown up to the church. Still, he always wondered if you were waiting on his wayward son. “Can’t remember anyone.”
Javier isn’t sure if he’s pleased or upset that you haven’t dated anyone. He hates to think of you alone but he is pleased that he doesn’t have to stay away from you. He hums and his Pa chuckles, nudging him as he sips his beer. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t even know what I’m doing next. The DEA put me on the shelf until they decide what my fate is. I can’t drag her into my bullshit.”
“Mijo….” Chucho sighs. “I never said anything about letting the other one go because she wasn’t right for you.” He reminds Javier. “But that one….” He takes another sip of his beer. “She’s exactly what you need. Your mother would have loved her.”
Javier grips his beer bottle a little tighter, his stomach twisting, and he watches you as you prepare for Danny and Maria’s entrance. “She is too good for me. Always has been. She said - we spent the night together after I told Lorraine it was over. She said - it was the wrong time. Is it still the wrong time?” Javier asks his father like he is needing him to figure everything out, to tell him what to do.
“Last time you were at a crossroads in your life.” Chucho reminds him. “Much like now, except you have a better grasp on yourself. She obviously has the skills to soothe you and leave an impression.”
Javier snorts, "that's one way to put it. She - she never left my mind." He admits and Chucho chuckles, "or your heart from the sounds of it." Javier doesn't answer and thankfully he doesn't need to as the band announce Danny and Maria and Javier shifts his beer bottle to the nearest table so he can clap for his newly married cousin.
You move over to the buffet to make sure that you’ve got plates made for the happy couple. They will have to snack between conversations but you want them to have some of the delicious foods that had been prepared. Turning and humming in surprise when you see Lorraine. You know she had been invited, but you didn’t think she was going to show.
Lorraine isn’t surprised to see you there. You’ve become more successful and well known in town - hell, she’s heard you’ve planned weddings in Dallas - after her disaster of a wedding. She says your name, “it’s a beautiful day.” She offers you a stiff smile, “although I probably would’ve told them to go with silver instead of gold.” She hums, looking at the table settings. “At least this wedding happened under your planning.”
You expected some kind of comment, of course. Knowing that Lorraine isn’t the type of woman to be able to help herself. “So true.” You give a casual shrug. “Actually that is the only wedding that I’ve planned that didn’t happen. And ironic that both of you are here.”
Lorraine’s eyes widen and her head swivels comically as she looks over at Javier who is talking to Danny and his new wife. “Can’t believe he’s finally shown his face.” She scoffs and ignores you as she makes her way over to her husband, wrapping her arms around his neck.
You figure you should probably warn Javier, but then you see his eyes wander around the room, finding Lorraine. He doesn’t look surprised to see her, although it’s hard to tell what he’s thinking. He’s very good at keeping his thoughts to himself. Instead of worrying about it, you move over to make sure that the photographer has pictures of the wedding cake.
The food and booze are soon flowing and Javier greets his third cousin while sitting next to his dad at their assigned table. He sees you rushing around, fixing Maria's dress, fixing flowers, and making sure the food is refilled in the buffet. You walk past Javier and he can't help but wink at you, letting you know he's watching.
That wink. It will be the death of you. Your entire body heats up at his attention and you try to smother the smile on your face, but it’s hard so you just pretend that it’s wedding happiness. That you aren’t seeking out the gaze of a certain man. He looks damn good in that red plaid shirt and crisp jeans. Making your mouth water as you remember every second of the one night you spent together.
The food is soon eaten and the band begins to play so Danny and Maria can have their first dance then cut the cake. Javier sips his beer as the couple dance, looking lovingly into each other's eyes and then they move over to the display table to cut the cake. When the traditions are done and cake is eaten, the dance floor gets busy and Javier looks around for you after he stands up.
“Be careful.” You decide that instead of instructing them on what to do, you will politely nudge them out of the way and do it yourself. “The cake has to be wrapped so it will last.” You explain. “They will have the top layer of the wedding cake on their first anniversary.”
Javier slowly makes his way over to you as you finalize the storing of the top layer so the happy couple can enjoy it on their anniversary. "Best cake I've had in a long time. New baker in town? I don't remember the cake being that good when I tried the samples." He says, tilting his head.
You turn towards him and smile. “I baked it.” You confess. “The baker I normally use got sick and it was too late to find a replacement.” It hadn’t been a big deal, the baking was easy, the assembly was what had taken the longest.
Javier raises his eyebrows, "goddamn. Beauty and cooking skills." He smirks, "are the men in Laredo stupid?" He asks and you chuckle, looking down at your shoes for a second, "well...the only one I ever liked left for Colombia." Javier licks his lips, rocking on his heels for a moment, "he was a fool trying to stop a never ending cycle. He left the best thing that ever happened to him in this town." He admits, rubbing his neck.
Looking up, you try not to smile, but it’s hard when he just said something so sweet to you. “You had to go. For you. I understood that, understand it now.” You promise. “Are you back for long?”
Javier tilts his head, “I don’t know. I’ve been put on official leave by the DEA. I’m not sure but I’m going to be called to D.C for a review by the board. Then I’ll know if I’m back helping my pa or if I’m still working for the DEA.”
“Because of the Judy Moncado thing?” You ask, tilting your head and smirking as his eyes widen in surprise. “I kept up with you. Or tried to. I wondered what happened when you went dark in the papers but then that article came out.”
Javier nods, “it was a shit show. I- I was frustrated. Tried to cut corners, skip bureaucracy and sink down to their level and it backfired on me.” He confesses, scratching his jaw, “still…they got him in the end.” You sigh, “yeah but you weren’t there after all your hard work.” Javier shrugs, “I know what I did to contribute.” He promises and glances over at the dance floor, “do you, uh, maybe wanna dance?”
“Absolutely.” You would never turn down a dance with Javier and you set down your drink and reach for his hand. “Let’s dance, handsome. I want to hear about you. Not your cases or Escobar, but about you.” You clarify. “Tell me about what you’ve been doing outside of catching bad guys.”
Javier guides you onto the dance floor while the band singer croons, allowing Javier to pull you closer, and his hand is on your back with one hand in yours. “I- I wasn’t - the sicarios used to frequent the brothels so I’d - I’d do the same trying to get information.” He confesses, his dark eyes on yours as he tells you the truth.
You aren’t stupid, you knew that Javier wouldn’t be celibate while he was off living his life. You’ve had a couple of lovers, but nothing worth noting. Your life has just been a lot tamer than his. “That’s smart.” You hum. “Hopefully they could help you and provide some comfort.”
“An escape.” He corrects you, “I saw - it was rough and I buried myself in work and whiskey and - well, it was all for nothing now. Escobar may be dead but others will take his place. It never ends.” He sighs, pulling you closer.
“I’m sorry.” You murmur softly. “I’m sure it wasn’t for nothing. There were real people saved by your work. Even if it’s just one, it’s one more than would have been if you hadn’t been there.”
Javier nods, glancing over at Lorraine and her husband who are tending to their kids. "It's done now. I am trying to not hold on to the past." He admits, swaying you to the music, and his dark eyes meet yours, "but some things just won't go away."
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” You ask, slightly breathless at how mesmerizing his stare is.
Javier chuckles softly, “I don’t know. I- I don’t know what my future is, so I don’t want to drag you into my bullshit but I didn’t stop thinking about you, about that night. I’d like to get to know you more.” He confesses softly as the song comes to an end.
“I don’t care what your bullshit is.” You admit, smiling back at him. “I kept you in my prayers the entire time you were gone. And hoped that you were finding peace.” Your fingers caress his arm. “Do you want to go out for a drink after the reception?”
Javier nods, “I’d like that.” He offers you a soft smile just as his tía comes over to grab you. “Sweetheart, the drinks are getting low. We got more stored up?” She asks and you chuckle, “we are fully stocked. I’ll get it sorted.” You look at Javier and he nods, winking at you and he turns on the dance floor, near Danny and Maria, and he sees Lorraine. He decides it’s time to talk to her and he makes his way over to where she is standing with a glass of red wine in her hand. “Lorraine.” He greets her calm and cool.
Lorraine looks up at Javier and hates that he still looks so damn handsome. “About time you showed your face.” She hums as she lifts her glass to take a sip. “Good to see you, Jay.”
He shoves his hands in his jeans, “you, uh, you got your happy ending?” He asks, his gaze drifting over to her husband, and she smiles. “Yeah. I- I did. We weren’t supposed to be together. I see that now and I- it all worked out in the end.” She hums and Javier nods, “yeah. I’m glad you’re happy.” He says, telling her he doesn’t hold that over her anymore. He didn’t want to marry her. She got her happy ending. It worked out. “I’m very happy.” Lorraine says with a little bite to it, “good.” Javier nods, “I’ll see you around.” He nods to her husband as he approaches and Javier makes his way back to his Pa, counting down the time until the wedding is over so he can see you again.
Several times you look over to find Javier watching you. Making you smile and wave as you try to finish up the wedding activities so you can spend time with him. You see the interaction with Lorraine and you wonder how he feels about it. It didn’t seem to be acrimonious, which is a good thing. Finally, the couple rush off to their cars in a shower of birdseed and you walk over to where Javi is standing. “I’m done.” You tell him. “The clean up will wait until tomorrow.”
Javier grins, “good. You got your car? My Pa drove.” He says, knowing you might want to take your car so you’re in control. He glances around as the crowd begins to get into their cars and he sees his Pa.
“You can ride with me, mister DEA.” You hum teasingly, holding up your keys after your fish them out of a discreet pocket in your dress. “Where you want to go?”
Javier chuckles at your nickname and he wraps his arm around your waist as you walk towards his Pa. “What about that bar we met in that night?” He suggests and Chucho smirks as Javier appears in front of him. “I guess I’ll be driving home alone tonight…good news for me. Haven’t got to listen to your loud thoughts.” Chucho teases and Javier snorts, “I don’t think that much.” Chucho adjusts his hat, “that boy could put Aristotle to shame.” Javier rolls his eyes, “okay Pa. We are going for a drink.” Chucho nods, “have fun kids.” Javier squeezes your waist and lets you guide him to your car.
“So do you want to drive?” You ask him seriously. “I don’t know if you have issues where you like to be in control?” You ask gently. You know he has to have seen some shit and you want him to be comfortable.
Javier shakes his head, "I trust you. It's other people I don't trust, but baby...you can drive." He tilts his head, appreciating how considerate you are.
“Okay.” You reach your car and unlock the doors. “What made you decide to come to the wedding?” You ask curiously. “I can’t imagine you have a fondness for them.”
Javier snorts, opening the door for you to get in, "just my own." He quips, "but I love Danny. Practically changed his diapers and my tía...she was there for me after my mom died. I had to see Danny get married...even if weddings aren't my thing." He confesses, "look at us...you plan weddings...I run from them."
You snort and shake your head. “You ran from a lie.” You defend. “I think that despite your past, you are a ‘til death do us part’ kind of man and divorce isn’t an option. Lorraine knew that.”
He stands under the parking lot lights, his hand on your door, surprised at the way you just cut him open and found out who he is. He's been branded the casanova, the man whore who slept his way through Colombia, but you...you see that he can be more than that for the right woman. He can't help it. He lets go of your door, cups your cheeks, and surges forward to kiss you.
Your surprise quickly turns into desire. Moaning softly into his mouth when he opens up to slide his tongue against yours. You had expected the night to end like this, but you don’t mind it happening now.
His hands pull you close, enjoying the feel of your body against his, and his tongue caresses yours. You kiss for several moments until he pulls back, pecking your lips, and he nudges his nose with yours. "Drinks are on me." He murmurs, not wanting to assume you want him to go back to yours.
You hum softly. “That’s almost disappointing.” You admit breathlessly. “I was honestly hoping we weren’t going for drinks.” It’s probably wrong to assume he wants to jump into bed with you. It’s been years and he’s had a lot happen. You peck his lips again and pull away. “First round is on you. Then I’ll buy you a drink. Men should be treated too.”
Your words run on a loop in his head as you settle in your car and he shuts your door, walking around the back of the car to open the door and slide into the passenger seat. “Baby. Look at me.” He orders and you turn to look at him, a soft smile on your face that makes his heart race. “I want a drink at your place. Not the bar.”
“That sounds perfect to me.” You slide the key into the ignition and turn it. “You were sexy in the tuxedo, but you are even sexier in those jeans and boots.”
He can’t help but smirk, watching as you back out of the space and he leans back in his seat, happy to be driven. “You’re always sexy. In anything.” He confesses, eyeing the cute dress you’re wearing. “Even when you’re trying to be professional.”
“I think you might be biased.” You tease, looking over at him for a second before turning your attention back to the road. “Considering you’re the only groom I’ve ever thought about sleeping with, I’m pretty biased too. It was hard being professional around you.”
Javier snorts, rubbing his jaw as he turns to look out the window. “It feels like a lifetime ago since I was a groom. A lot of shit has happened since then but one thing hasn’t changed…I thought you were the prettiest damn thing I’d ever seen that day Lorraine introduced us. Felt goddamn guilty for that when I believed Lorraine was having my baby, but now? That thought is flashing in my brain.”
“I’m sure there were plenty of beautiful women around you.” You reach out and squeeze his knee. “You seem to attract them. Several women at the wedding kept watching you. Wondering who you were and how you could be so handsome.”
“Beautiful women, yes…beautiful on the inside? Not as much as you. There was one woman…her name is Helena. She - I’d give her money in exchange for information and we - she kept me company. I got her swept up in some bullshit meeting and she…we had to fight to get her back and when we did…she was never the same.” Javier confesses, reaching for the hand on his hand to take it in his.
You hear the pain in his voice, the regret. Something bad happened to her and he blames himself. “But you got her back.” You murmur softly. “You cared enough to fight. That’s more than some people, most people.” You sigh. “You are a good man, Javier. I’ve always thought so.”
He finds it hard to believe, the flash of Helena on the floor in that apartment makes him feel sick, but your hand in his chases that away. Helena is safe with her son. He got her out. “I’ve done a lot of bad things, baby, but I’m trying to be better. I want to be better.”
“We all do bad things sometimes.” You know that his are probably darker than most, but he was going after cruel and ruthless men. “All that matters is your future.”
He offers you a half smile, squeezing your hand, and he lets go so you can drive to your house. The radio plays and he looks out the window as Laredo passes by. So much has changed within him but his town is exactly the same as when he left it. He is a different man. Jaded and heavy with guilt and regret, but you are here. He wants to be better.
It doesn’t take long for you to pull up to your house, it’s the same one that Javier had been parked in front of when he left Lorraine at the altar. “Home sweet home.” You joke, pulling into the driveway and parking. “Except this time, I have better booze than just beer.”
Javier chuckles, "beer suits me just fine but I'll drink anything. Except gin." He wrinkles his nose, "never could get into gin." He confesses and opens the door, getting out of your car and he hangs back as you lock your car and walk to your front door. He's a little nervous. He can't deny that. He's thought about you so many times and now he's here. You unlock your door and he follows you inside, "you've painted." He observes, glancing around your living room.
“Yeah.” You haven’t done much to the place as far as redecorating, but changing the paint freshened it up. “Surprised you noticed.” You admit with a grin. “We were….busy when you were here last time.” You set your purse down on the entry table and lock the door behind Javier. “Beer?”
Javier chuckles, “still noticed the little things. Wanted to memorize that night.” He confesses and nods, watching you kick off your shoes before you make your way over to the fridge. He takes his boots off, leaving them by the front door, and he decides to make his way to your sofa. He’s a little on edge, unsure of what to do or say when you didn’t really do anything but act on your lust when he saw you last time.
You take a minute to compose yourself before you grab the beers. A little nervous since this is more than just a night of desire. You decide that you will let him lead the night and come back out into the living room to find him sitting and waiting for you. “Do you want to watch tv, talk?” You ask, bringing the beers over. “I’m not exactly sure what you want to do.”
He takes the beer from your hand, thanking you, and you settle down on the sofa next to him with expectant eyes. “I want to talk. I want to know more about you.” He decides, knowing this return home is supposed to be a fresh start for him and he wants to try and do things differently this time.
“Okay.” You smile, finding it sweet that he is making an effort to talk. “Well, while you’ve been gone, I’ve expanded my business.” You admit. “I have two coordinators that work for me, planning weddings when I am doing other events. It’s lucky that I was even at the wedding today, to be honest.”
Javier’s eyebrows raise, “wow. That’s - that’s incredible.” He compliments you, “you’ve done so well and you deserve it. You’re damn good at your job.” He compliments you with a wink. “I loved how passionate you were and you managed to control Lorraine when she wanted to go over budget.”
You sigh softly. “I wish I could have controlled her better.” You admit. “She would go off on tangents, and to be honest? Her wedding colors clashed horrendously.”
Javier chuckles, “fucking awful. I know nothing about weddings but even I could see it clashed. She didn’t care about how it looked as long as it was the most expensive.” He shakes his head, “I’m sure her new husband got stung by her taste for money.” He snorts and you tilt your head, “jealous?” Javier shakes his head, “absolutely not. We were not - I didn’t even want to marry her.” He rubs his hands on his jeans, “and seeing you. How sweet you are. How beautiful you are inside and out made me realize what a mistake I was making but I thought she was having my kid and I couldn’t walk away from that.”
“Hmmmmm.” You take a sip of your beer and tuck your feet up under you as you turn towards him. “And you think you aren’t a good man.” You huff. “You stepped up, even if you didn’t want that life, some men wouldn’t. Most men wouldn’t. You could have just easily told her it wasn’t your problem. But you didn’t.” The entire point was useless since she was never actually pregnant, but he had believed she was.
He smiles softly after he takes a sip of his beer, “always been fighting my corner. That’s why you’re too damn good for me. I’ll just disappoint you.” He confesses, “I’m good for sex. Emotions? Not really my wheelhouse but I know how I feel about you.” He confesses, his eyes meeting yours as he lays himself bare.
“And how do you feel?” You ask curiously. “Because I’ve never been a grand gesture kind of woman.” You confess, leaning in as you grin. “I would actually hate ninety-eight percent of the weddings I plan. I want a man who might not give me flowers ever, but listens when I talk about my day.” You hum. “He might not tell me he loves me every ten seconds but he shows me when he touches me.”
"I've never been a man who envisioned himself having a marriage like my parents. Especially after seeing how much my momma and my pa loved each other. I wasn't - I wasn't a good man in Colombia. Whenever I do take a moment to imagine a future married...any kids...I always see you." He admits, "I might not talk about my feelings but I can show you."
“Then you’ll show me.” You decide, setting your beer down and scooting closer to him. “I don’t have to have words.” You promise. “Not all the time, even if I give them to you.”
He looks at you, seeing a future he never imagined and still doesn’t believe he deserves, but he can’t help but lean forward. He reaches out to cup your cheek, leaning in to softly kiss you.
You don’t pull away or lunge forward. You let him slowly kiss you. Less hunger in his lips than the last time, but there is a tenderness that has you sighing into the kiss. Your lips curving up in a smile.
He caresses your cheek with his thumb, his lips slide against yours and his tongue pushes into your mouth. He groans into your mouth, chasing the memories of the night he left Lorraine and you are giving that to him.
The first moan is so soft, breathed into his mouth as you shuffle closer. Pressing against him and reaching up to caress his shoulders. He said he was good at sex, but he’s also incredible at making you feel like the only woman on the planet.
The kiss is slow, lazy slides of his tongue against yours, while his hand caresses down to your neck. He groans, blindly setting his beer down and he reaches for you, grabbing your ass to drag you into his lap.
You squeal slightly, but it’s amazing how easily you are transferred into his lap. Pulling away breathlessly to grin at him before you duck your head down to kiss him again. “Fuck, you’re so sexy.”
He chuckles against your lips, “so are you. Fuck. Thought about you so many goddamn times.” He confesses, his hands sliding under your dress and under your panties to squeeze your flesh. His lips press against your jaw and down your neck, enjoying the gasps and moans that escape your lips.
“Now you have me.” You hum, tilting your head to let him do whatever he wants to your neck. “You can do all those things that you’ve thought about. I’m very willing.”
“You have me.” He grunts against your collarbone, “have you had any thoughts? I’m all yours. You can do what you want to me.” He counters with a smirk against your skin.
“You shouldn’t tell me that.” You groan, reaching up to tangle your fingers in his hair. “Never did get to suck your cock like I wanted to, but I think I’ll just ride it right now.”
“Take me how you want. Got tested when I came back. All clean.” He reveals, pressing a kiss to your throat as you look at him, “ride my cock, suck it. Sit on my face. I’ll willingly let you do it all.”
“Oh god.” You moan. “Let me strip you down. Kiss up and down your body and suck your cock until you are begging to feel my pussy wrapped around it.”
“Fuck.” He pants, nodding and breathless as you shift off of him. He fumbles, working fast to unbutton his shirt as you stand up to grip the hem of your dress, pulling it over your head. “So fucking pretty.” He murmurs, dragging his eyes down your body as he shrugs off his shirt.
You reach out and push the material of his shirt off his broad shoulders. Finding that his body has softened slightly, not as lean as he was before and you love it. You wonder if he knows how sexy he is as you lean in and kiss along his collar bone.
“Jesus.” He pants, eyes closing slowly as he tilts his head back while you do what you want to his body. His cock is already hardening and he groans your name when you kiss his neck.
“That’s right.” You hum, scrapping your teeth over his skin and smirking when you feel him shudder. “I’m going to make you forget everything but my name. And how good I make you feel.” Your fingers slide the end of his belt free of the loop and you start working on unbuckling it. “Burned up so many vibrators thinking about this cock. How good you felt inside me.”
He lets you do what you want. Last time he was in control but right now, he’s happy to let you take the lead. He groans when you work on unzipping his pants and he almost chokes when you pull his cock out to wrap your fingers around it. “Thought about you when I had lonely nights with my hand around my cock.”
“Can’t believe you had too many of those.” You praise, leaning down and spitting on the tip before kissing your way back up his stomach as you steer him back towards the couch again.
“Plenty to think of you.” He promises, breathless and you start to pump his cock. “Fuck. You’re so goddamn pretty.” He murmurs, watching you and he leans in to kiss you but you pull back, a smirk on your face that makes him twitch in your hand.
“Be a good boy for me.” You coo playfully, not minding really if he takes over but you feel like he deserves to let loose. To give control over to someone else and just let the pleasure cloud his mind of all those bad memories. He sinks back onto the sofa and you continue to pump his cock as you kneel down between his spread thighs.
His dark eyes watch you as you shift between his thighs, cock leaking pre-cum as he twitches again, and when you finally take him into your mouth, he lets out a guttural groan, his Adam's Apple bobbing as he swallows.
He’s salty and musky. Delicious on your tongue as you slowly take him deeper and then pull back to release him with a pop.
You look like a goddamn angel and devil in one as you smirk at him before you take him back into your mouth. His hands grip the edge of your sofa cushion and he is transfixed by you.
You can tell he likes it. His stomach heaves and his chest puffs out before deflating with a low groan. You know the man has had blow jobs, but you wonder when the last time someone really took their time with it. You keep your tongue soft, your mouth wet as you push him deep into the back of your throat, pausing to swallow so you don’t choke.
Javier groans, watching you, and he caresses your cheek. It bulges under his touch with your mouth full of his cock and he groans, “you’re so pretty.” He murmurs, closing his eyes for a second.
You hum around him, wanting to tell him that he is just as pretty, but you don’t want to pull your mouth away. Not when his eyes flutter closed and his head rolls back slightly in pleasure. Watching him as the tension in his body practically melts away as you suck his cock.
He feels like he’s in fucking heaven. You suck his cock with an enthusiasm he hasn’t experienced in so goddamn long and he moans your name as you hollow your cheeks.
You look down, concentrating on taking him as deep as you can. Loving how he’s responding to you. How wrecked he already sounds. Your hands slide up his jean clad thighs and you reach for the band to tug them down. You had just pulled his cock out in your eagerness to touch him, but now you want to strip him while his cock is down your throat.
He groans and lifts his ass to allow you to drag the jeans down his legs and he’s bare before you, his cock down your throat, and he can’t believe how quickly you’ve unravelled him. In bed and in his heart. “Fuck, hermosa.” He pants, caressing your cheek, “I’m close.” He warns you in case you don’t like to swallow.
Your hands hold his thighs as you hum around him. If he wants to cum down your throat, that’s perfectly fine with you. You are dripping into your panties and his groans might be the sexiest thing you’ve ever heard in your life.
Your hum sends him over the edge and he lets out a choked groan as his cock twitches in your mouth. Hot spurts of cum hit the back of your throat and you swallow them down, making him pant and tilt his head back as you milk him dry.
It has to have been awhile for him. The way he just cums and cums has you struggling to swallow all of him down but you only let a few drops escape from the sides of your mouth. Whining at how fucking sensitive your clit is as you drink him down, listening to his sounds as he comes apart for you.
He slumps against your sofa when he stops twitching, his eyes squeezed shut until he finally gets the strength to lift his head so he can look down at you. His cum is dripping down your chin and he groans, “fuck. You are a goddamn angel.” He murmurs, reaching for you to pull you up into his lap from your place on the floor.
You hum, grinning slightly at his description of you as you wipe your chin with your hand and then lick his cum off of your palm. “A little salty.” You tease, leaning in and kissing his chin since you don’t know how he feels about kissing someone with his cum on their tongue. “Need to drink more pineapple juice, baby. Makes it sweeter.”
He chuckles, “I’ll make a note of that.” He grips the back of your neck to drag you closer so he can kiss you properly. He doesn’t care about the taste of his cum on your tongue as his slides into your mouth, eager to show you how much he enjoyed that.
You make a noise of surprise and melt into the kiss. Letting him take over as you lean into his strong body. You know it will take him a little while to recover, but you don’t mind at all.
“Fuck. So gorgeous.” He murmurs, kissing down your neck, nipping the skin, and he runs his tongue along your collarbone. Your fingers tangle in his hair and he groans against your sternum, shifting his mouth so he can take your nipple into his mouth.
It’s your turn to moan, letting him twist you around to where your back is against the side of your sofa. “Javier.” You tug on his hair and that just makes him suckle harder. “So good baby, it feels so good when you touch me.”
He cups your other breast, squeezing it until he switches over to take your other nipple into his mouth. He bites down and loves the way you gasp and he sucks again, releasing it with a pop and he smirks as he starts to kiss your stomach.
“Do you want to go to the bedroom?” You ask, knowing the couch would be cramped and you feel like he might want to take his time since he needs to recover.
Javier nods, shifting off the sofa and he holds his hand out towards you. You grin and take it, letting him guide you to your bedroom. “You still remember where it is?” You tease and he chuckles, “I remember every detail of that night.” Your heart flutters and he enters your bedroom and spins you so he can press his lips to yours again, walking you backwards towards the bed
You love how he doesn’t let you fall back on the bed without him coming too. Your knees hit the bed and when you sit down, he follows, kneeling on the bed and hovering over you with his mouth still fused to yours.
He loves how you react to him and he’s quick to pick up where he left off in the living room. Kissing his way down your stomach, he groans and hooks his fingers in your panties, dragging them down while he watches you wiggle on the bed. He tosses them over his shoulder, making you giggle, and the giggle transforms into a moan as he grabs your waist, lifting you higher up the bed so he can spread your thighs. Javier groans at the sight of your cunt. “Fuck. Missed her.” He murmurs to himself, reaching out to slide his fingers through your folds.
You were about to comment on that, hearing him refer to your pussy like that, but then he steals your breath away. His fingers are quick, nimble as he presses them against your clit and then moves down to slide them deep inside you. “Oh fuck.” You gasp out, clenching down around the thick digits.
He watches you with rapture, the lamplight making your skin glow, and he slowly pumps his fingers in and out of you. He isn't in a rush, dark eyes taking in every detail, and his free hand caresses your thigh.
Your eyes close as he works you open. Feeling the way that you start to soak his fingers as they move in and out of your needy walls. Thighs open, chest starting to heave as he finds that spot that has you moaning his name when he presses against it.
He loves the way you clamp down on his fingers when he presses against that spot and he continues to work it, pumping his fingers. He wants you to cum like this for him then he's going to make you cum on his tongue. He twists his wrist, pressing his thumb to your clit, and continues focusing on that spot.
“Kiss me.” You beg softly, wanting to feel his lips on your while he plays your body like it’s his personal instrument. He’s adept at making you feel everything, the rough callus on the side of his finger scraping against your sensitive walls and making you shiver.
He can't deny you so he leans down to press a kiss to your lips, his fingers curling deeper inside you, and your choked cry puffs against his lips when he pulls back for a moment. "Cum for me, hermosa." He demands, wanting to feel it, see it, after imagining it so many times
You completely huge yourself over to him, pressing your lips to his again while your hips chase his fingers. Letting him curl them deep, pulling moans from your body as he pumps them deep inside. “Javi. Javi, I’m gonna cum.” You promise breathlessly.
He loves how breathless you are and he keeps that position and pace, watching your brow furrow when he pulls back to watch you. Your cry hits his ears as you clamp down on his digits, soaking them, and his spent cock twitches at the sensation.
The orgasm pulses through you. Making your tits shake as your body twitches and jerks in pleasure. Fingers twisted into the sheets while he works you through it. Groaning his approval in your ear. “So good hermosa. That’s it. Cum for me.”
His growled demand sends you over the edge and you moan, clamping down on his digits and he hisses at the way you soak his fingers. "That's it." He coos, working you through it by pumping his fingers.
Turning your head, you kiss along his jaw, panting as you slowly relax into the bed. Blissed out by how good it feels to cum from something other than your toys or your own hand. “Fuck.” You whimper. “You are so good at that.”
He chuckles and smirks, continuing to pump his fingers slowly and he shifts until he’s laying on his stomach between your thighs. He kisses the sensitive flesh, knowing you’re still riding the last wave, and he slowly kisses his way to your core until he softly kisses your clit.
“Javier.” You moan his name gently, as if saying it too loudly would stop him from touching you like this. Your toes curl against his ribs and he hums as you lift your legs onto his shoulders. “Baby, you are so good.” You praise.
He groans against your wet flesh as you praise him and he withdraws his fingers, making you whine. He soon replaces them with his tongue, sliding it through your folds to lap at your cum.
“Oh fuck, oh god.” You whine over and over as he starts to lick through your folds. Tasting you as if he is savoring a delicious meal. Taking his time with his dark eyes fixed on your face and his lips curled up in a cocky smirk. “Javi.”
He groans, sliding his hand up to squeeze your breast, your slick still on his fingers as he pinches your nipple. His tongue slides up to flick your clit, loving how your heels dig into his back at the sensation.
“You-“ you choke out a sound of surprise when he sucks your clit into his mouth and pulls harshly. Loving how he tempers his tongue and then changes the tempo. Your nipple stiffens under his touch and starts to ache pleasurably.
He is happy to stay between your thighs all night, loving the sounds you make, and he is eager to push you over the edge again and again. He flicks his tongue over your clit, closing his eyes as he moans so the vibrations add to the sensation.
You swear that you are already seeing stars as he works you up again. He’s not rushing it, taking his time to make sure that your descent into madness is thorough. “Oh fuck, you should be a porn star with that tongue.” You gasp. “You licked all of your informants' knowledge out of their cunts, didn’t you?”
Javier chuckles against your folds, “maybe.” He resumes his attack on your pussy, needing to hear more praise, and he groans when you tangle your fingers in his hair, pushing him deeper into your folds.
“Yesssss, you did.” You moan. “They should have paid you.” You start to rock your hips down onto his tongue. “You’d be rich.”
He smirks at your constant praise and he lets you use his face. His tongue flicking your clit and pushing into your cunt while you moan his name. His hands slide down and under you to squeeze your ass.
He lifts your hips up. Bringing your pussy closer to his face. Wanting to devour more of you. You whimper in pleasure and tug on his hair. “God, you need to keep doing that.” You beg.
He follows your order, eager to make you fall apart on his tongue, and he sucks on your clit like those stupid candies Colleen used to have on her desk that he’d steal and suck on when he was trying to cut back on cigarettes. “Fuck. Cum for me.” He rasps, lips smacking until he resumes sucking, his dark eyes on you as you writhe above him.
You shiver, helpless to do anything but obey his command. Your body lurches and you cry out his name loudly. Screaming it out for anyone to hear if they were close enough. “Javi!”
Your thighs snap shut, squeezing his head as you tremble. Your fingers almost pull out his hair but he doesn’t give a shit as he works you through your orgasm, lapping at your cum with a hum of satisfaction even if his cock is aching while pressed into the mattress.
“Javi, no more.” You whimper when it becomes too much for you, pressing your hand against his forehead to pull him off your clit. Panting softly, you start to giggle. “Jesus Christ, you almost killed me.”
He can't help but chuckle, kissing your thighs up to your stomach as you release his head from your grip. He shifts, kissing up your stomach until he takes your nipple into his mouth once again. He quickly switches and he grunts when you cup his cheeks, dragging him up to your mouth and he eagerly presses his lips to yours.
This time, you are the one sliding your tongue into the other’s mouth, not caring about your taste on his lips. Pouring yourself into the kiss and making sure that he knows how you feel without needing to say anything. Your arms are around him, keeping him close as your legs wrap around his waist and you feel his cock pressing against your lower belly.
He doesn't beg to fuck you. It's been a while since he was inside you and he doesn't want to assume you want him to fuck you. He'd be happy with oral. He kisses you back, letting you slide your tongue against his.
“I’m clean.” You murmur against his lips. “On the pill.” You add. “But I don’t have any condoms.” You pull back slightly. “It’s been awhile for me so I don’t keep them around.”
“I’m clean. Got tested when I got back stateside. Haven’t been with anyone since. Fuck, you sure?” He asks, cupping your cheek to look into your eyes. You nod and he shifts his weight to his forearm next to your head while he reaches down to grip his cock. He is measured as he rubs the head of his cock through your folds, tapping your clit enough to make you moan, and he chuckles as he positions himself at your entrance. He lifts his gaze, starting to push into you, his heart pounding in his chest.
It feels amazing. The slight stretch is nothing compared with the way your heart leaps at the heated gaze in his eyes. The emotions showing in their dark depths as he rocks into you. You reach up and caress his cheek, almost confessing those three words, but you don’t want him to feel trapped by that. “Javier.” You whisper his name and lunge up to press your lips to his when he bottoms out inside you.
It only feels like this with you. He’s a man who has buried himself in cigarettes and booze and sex since he left your bed but it’s never felt like this. The mind numbing feel of your hot pussy squeezing his cock and now, it’s blazing hot without the condom on. It’s like he’s connected to you in every way and it almost takes his breath away. He’s not a man of many words when it comes to how he feels so he starts to move instead, rocking into you with a low groan of your name against your lips until his tongue pushes into your mouth.
The moment completely takes hold. Little grunts being traded back and forth as your tongues curl around the others and your hands grasp greedily. If you were to use a word, you would call it lovemaking, both of you rocking to the natural instinct to crave this intimacy. He is amazing, and every kiss, every caress silently tells him that while you moan your approval.
He’s so used to frantic fucking, trying to get off as quickly as possible to make it back to his desk or to a stakeout, but right now, he can take his time. He murmurs your name again, kissing along your jaw, and he groans when your nails scratch down his back a little. “Fuck.” He hisses in pleasure and his thrust is harder.
“You like that?” You purr, digging your nails down his back again and loving how his hips nap forward sharply again. “You like being marked up, my nails telling you how good you are fucking me?”
“Fuck.” He curses again, “I- shit - keep doing it.” He orders, his pace picking up, and he grabs your thigh to change the angle his cock pushes into you. “Feel so goddamn good, hermosa.” He groans into your neck, breathing you in.
You hum in delight, finding something that he apparently can’t resist. You love learning about his needs. Turning your head and kissing his cheek as your nails rake up and down his spine. “You’re so good. Gonna make me cum all over your cock. Soak you. Fuck Javi!”
Your words make him twitch inside you and he rocks a little faster, needing to feel you clamp down on his cock. “Goddamn baby.” He murmurs, “tell me what you need.”
“I need-“ he’s brushing against your clit but it’s not enough. One hand on his back lets go to snake down between your bodies. Starting to rub your clit frantically. Caught up in the need to cum for him.
Javier tuts, letting go of your thigh, and he bats your hand away, replacing it with his fingers. He wants you to focus on feeling the pleasure while he gives it to you. “Good, baby? That what you need?” He asks roughly.
“Yessssssss.” You whine, tossing your head back and moaning his name. “Javi- I’m so close. More baby, just- so close.” You are starting to ramble, your body shaking because you are so close.
He can feel how close you are and he continues working your clit, groaning at how tight you squeeze him and when you fall apart, his chest heaves. You gush around him and cry out his name, making him hiss, "that's it baby. Fuck. That's it."
All you can do is ride it out. Trapping in pleasure so thick it takes your breath away as he starts to fuck you even faster when he can finally move again.
He works you through it, continuing to rub your clit until you whine in protest. He slows his thrusts and presses kisses to your neck, “so good baby.” He murmurs, loving how you relax beneath him.
“You aren’t going to pull out, are you?” You ask, caressing his side softly. “I want to feel you inside me. Filling me up.” You like a little cum play and are willing to risk it with Javi, never having anyone cum inside you without a condom since your last serious relationship.
He hasn’t cum inside anyone since Helena and that was only because of their closeness and trust in her. He used a condom with every other woman. “Fuck. Are you sure?” He asks, wanting to make sure you want it because he’s close.
“Yes, please.” You moan, nodding. “If you want. I trust you. I want to feel it.” You have thought about it more than you can admit since that one night with him. Using it as fuel for your masturbation fantasies.
He nods, wanting it too, to completely possess you in this moment. He groans, thrusting into you to work you through your orgasm, and it doesn’t take long for him to fall over the edge. He thrusts a half dozen more times, grunts escaping his lips, and pushes deep until he’s pressing against your cervix. With a deep groan of your name, his cock pulses and he paints your cunt with his hot cum.
It feels so good. Hot pulses spurting inside you, making you moan his name again and cup his cheeks to kiss him while he’s rocking into you. Emptying himself with sexy groans every time he grinds deeper. Until he finally stops and you feel some of his cum leaking out from around his cock buried inside you. “Fuck, I love you.” You murmur softly.
He isn’t surprised, he has seen it in your eyes, and back when you were planning his wedding, he pushed that aside to be a good man but now, he’s unattached and time has passed. “Love you too.” He confesses, eyes closed as he buries his face in your neck.
You hum softly, enjoying the feeling of his weight pressing you down into the mattress. “When do you think the DEA is going to stop punishing you?” You ask about ten minutes later after you’ve both cleaned up and he’s tucked you into his side. He’s trying to stop smoking, so he’s chewing on a piece of nicorette gum and playing with your hair.
He sighs, “I don’t know. It depends if they will let me back on the job or if I’m given severance pay. I fucked up so I don’t know what they will decide.” He confesses, “but until they decide, I’ll be here. With you…if you’ll have me.” He adds, raising his eyebrows when you pull back from him to look at him.
He looks so doubtful that you roll your eyes when you lean in to press your lips to his. “Of course I’ll have you.” You huff, kissing him several times before you pull back again. “You can stay here, or just have sleepovers when you want. Whatever is comfortable for you. I’m assuming you’re helping your dad?”
He nods, “Pa is getting older. I want to help him on the ranch. Been replacing the fencing and been shovelling shit.” He chuckles when you wrinkle your nose, “he’s getting older. He can’t do it all anymore.” Javier sighs and caresses your shoulder, “if I do get accepted back and sent off again…I want you to remember how I feel but I’m not gonna make you wait for me. It’s not fair. If you find someone, you be happy and you forget about me.”
It’s practical and you hate it. “I don’t know if I would wait.” You admit softly, “I don’t want to waste years. Not if I want kids.” He might not want children at all, especially after Lorraine tried to trap him.
He nods, cupping your cheek, “I know. Shit, timing just isn’t on our side but we don’t know what’s gonna happen. I’m just saying I don’t want you to wait in case I am gone years again. You deserve better and you deserve to be happy.” He says and leans in to softly kiss you.
You don’t offer to go with him. It would be impractical, with your business and you won’t ask him to stay. Not when he still obviously wants to be a DEA agent. “So do you, Javier.” You remind him gently. “If it’s not me, I want you to find someone who is a shelter from the storms for you.”
He smiles sadly, knowing that timing might not be on your side again, “never know. Might be handing in my badge and you’ll be stuck with me. Let’s see what happens, cariño.” He murmurs, brushing your cheek with his thumb.
****
His heart is heavy as he leans against the phone booth, fist clenched on the metal as he listens to the operator connect him to your phone. You answer with your name and his heart clenches, “hey baby. I- I said I’d call you once I found out my fate and, uh, they want me back. I’m flying out to Cali tomorrow.” He reveals, shifting his hand to rub his nose.
“Tomorrow, wow.” Your heart drops but you swallow down any questions that you have. You had known, deep down, that he would be sent somewhere else. The drug war was one they were losing and they needed good agents like Javier. “They didn’t give you a lot of time.” You chuckle, although the sound falls flat when he’s quiet on the other end. You sigh softly. “Good luck, Javier.” You murmur. “I’ll keep praying that you will be safe.” He hums on the other end and you feel tears start to build behind your eyes. “I love you.” You don’t expect a response and pull the phone away to quietly hang it up.
"I love you too." He murmurs, eyes shut as the guilt swells within him but there's nothing he can do. He loves you but he has to go to Cali. He has to redeem himself. No matter the cost. ****
Javier rubs his cheek when he returns to his apartment. He slept with someone last night to try and forget about you. He can already tell that he will be in Cali for a while. He knows you'll be moved on by then. You're too beautiful and smart to be available by the time he gets home. Yet he's ashamed to admit that he's selfish. He reaches for his phone after lighting a cigarette (he'd abandoned the gum after one day in his new job). The dial tone echoes in his ear and he waits, wondering if you'll answer the phone.
“Hello?” You are cooking dinner for yourself, a change from the few weeks that you had been feeding yourself and Javi. Or coming home to find Javi had already thrown something on the small grill in your backyard. Today was stressful and you are unwinding with a big glass of wine and a beer.
The guilt swirls in his stomach and he wonders if he should tell you the truth. "Hey baby. It's me." He announces and he can hear your smile in your voice when you say his name, it makes his heart thump. "How are you doing?" He asks, wanting to hear your voice.
“I’m okay.” You tuck the phone under your chin and start to stir your food. “I’m just making some dinner to have with my wine.” You tell him. “It was a long day with a very difficult bride, but luckily her mother has some common sense.” You hear him exhale and know that he has to be smoking a cigarette. “How are you?”
Javier taps the cigarette on the side of the ashtray, "I- I'm not so great. Been digging into what's been going on here and I - I don't know how long I'll be away trying to take these bastards done. Baby...I slept with someone last night." He confesses, wanting you to hate him. If you hate him, he won't have hope and he won't care how long it takes to take Cali down.
You swallow harshly, stopping what you are doing and setting the spoon down so you can grip the phone. “I see.” You had hoped that he would go longer than a week before moving on, but that wasn’t to be the case. “You and I aren’t together, Javier.” You remind him. “You are free to sleep with whoever you want. Just like I am.”
"I know." He murmurs, closing his eyes for a second, "I- shit - I was trying to forget about you because I ain't gonna be home anytime soon. I don't want you to wait for me." He says with conviction, "but she - I woke up and instantly regretted it. She wasn't you."
“You don’t owe me any explanation, Javi.” You wish you could reach through the phone. Pull him close and hug him. You almost offer to come to visit him, but it would be a bad idea. You don’t need to distract him. He explained that he needed to redeem himself and you understand the drive behind his determination. “I’m not mad.” You promise. “A little hurt, but I’ll get over that.”
"I know. I know, hermosa. Baby...I just - shit." He rubs his forehead, smoke curling up into the air from the cigarette between his fingers, "I'm sorry." He whispers, wishing things were different and he didn't have to choose between the two most important things to him.
“Javi, I-“ you hear the anguish in his voice and you know that he is struggling with what he wants. “I love you.” You promise him. “But I want you to concentrate on your job, your mission to take the Cali cartel down.” You say steadily. “You do what you need to do. Be safe. And I’ll still be praying for you.”
He knows he's hurt you but he had to tell you in hopes you'd see that he isn't worthy of your love. "Thank you." He murmurs, knowing it's more than what he deserves.. "Is it okay if I call you? You know...when shit gets hard?" He knows he's being selfish but he wants to keep hold of you in some small way.
“Baby….” You sigh softly. “You can call me whenever you need to.” You promise. “In fact, I’ve got a cellular phone.” You had just gotten it a few days ago and haven’t given out the number. “Let me give you the number.”
He immediately snubs his cigarette out and he reaches for the pen and paper on his coffee table. “I’m ready.” He says and you tell him the number which he eagerly writes down. “Thank you.” He murmurs, tracing the number with his fingers, another connection to you.
“Have you eaten today?” You ask, making him sigh. “No.” He admits, making you shake your head. “You should go get something to eat, Javi. You can’t live off of booze and cigarettes.”
“I’ll be fine. I’ll eat something.” He promises, knowing he won’t get away with telling you anything else. “I’ll call you.” He vows, “until you tell me to stop.”
“That won’t happen.” You know that eventually the calls will taper off, but you would never turn him away. “So you keep calling, so I know you are safe, okay, baby?”
He feels relieved that you’re not telling him to fuck off and never call him again. He knows he will call you when times are tough. You’re his light in the darkness. Something to work towards. “Thank you.” He murmurs, “I- I’ll let you go. Let you eat your dinner.”
“I’ll talk to you soon, Javier.” You murmur softly. “I love you.” Again, you don’t expect anything in return and gently hang up the phone. You might hear from him or you might not. You can never tell with him.
****
Javier adjusts his duffel bag over his shoulder as he makes his way off the plane from Bogotá. He is ready to return home, Cali was a mess but he did it. He redeemed himself. He had called his Pa to tell him he was coming home a few days ago and he didn’t ask about you. He doesn’t want to know if you are with someone…he wants to get home before he gets that heartbreaking news. After that first week, he hasn’t buried himself in sex. The guilt was too much and he didn’t want to be involved in more complications. He makes his way out into the terminal and he nearly stumbles when he sees you standing there. He murmurs your name and stops in front of you. “You’re here.”
You are leaning against your car, arms folded over your chest as you watch him stop short. A surprised look on his face makes you smile. “Welcome home, Javier.” You push off the car and step closer to him. “I hope you don’t mind. Your dad told me you were coming in and I offered to pick you up.” You won’t say that you didn’t date while he was gone, but nothing ever went past a few dinners. You reach out and caress his arm. “How long are you here for?” You ask softly. “Chucho couldn’t tell me.”
He’s surprised to see you but so happy, and takes your hand in his when it slides down his arm. “I’m here for good. Retired from the DEA. Turned in my badge. It’s done.” He confesses, “I’m home for good.” He adds and he braces himself for you to tell him you’ve got a boyfriend or shit, a husband.
“That’s great.” You light up when he tells you that and there’s only one thing keeping you from pressing your lips to his. Your eyes slide behind him, looking for someone that might have followed him out. “You didn’t bring someone home, did you?” You ask softly.
He shakes his head, “didn’t sleep with anyone past that first week.” He promises and squeezes your hand, “what about you? Boyfriend? Fiancé? Husband?” He tests all of them and each time you shake your head. You’re single. His heart pounds in his chest and he lets go of your hand. He cups your cheeks and looks into your eyes, “marry me. I don’t want to wait anymore. I love you. I know what I want. It’s you. As my wife.”
You are surprised, eyes widening as you stare into his eyes. Looking for any hint of doubt, of regret for blurting out something so impulsive. All you find is hope swimming in his eyes, want trapped beneath the surface. “Yes.” You whisper breathlessly, starting to smile back at him. “But I want to elope.”
He grins, nodding, “yes. Whatever you want, baby.” He promises, leaning in to kiss you. He loves you so much and he can’t believe you’re giving him another chance. He thought he would’ve lost you during his time in Cali. You press your lips to his and his hands shift to grip your waist, dragging you against him. He pulls back a moment later, “are you sure you don’t want to plan your own wedding? Or hire someone? You’ve spent so long giving everyone else their special day. You don’t want your own?” He asks, a frown on his face as he cups your cheek.
“All that matters is that you and I are married.” You promise. “All the other shit doesn’t matter. I just want to start our life together, Javi. I don’t need a dress or a day to do that. Do you want a wedding?” You ask seriously.
He shakes his head, “I want whatever you want. All I want is you.” He promises, knowing that this is so different from Lorraine. She wanted the biggest wedding money can buy. You just want him. “I love you, soon to be Mrs Peña.” He smirks, cupping the back of your neck, “and we can go tomorrow and get you a ring.”
“That works for me.” You let him drag you closer, pressing your lips against his and you smile happily. There was a wedding in Javier Peña’s future after all. Just not the one that you had met because of.
#pedro pascal#javier peña#javier peña x reader#javier peña x you#javier peña x f!reader#javier peña smut#javier peña fanfiction#javier peña imagine#javier peña narcos
330 notes
·
View notes
Text
My new comic, VISCERA OBJECTICA, is now up for PRE-ORDER! ( $15 usd. click above to learn more, and to see more random pages!)
A humble tailor is very skilled at his work, but finds the complex patchwork of love painful to stitch together. One day, he visits a farmers market and is drawn to a beautiful puppet, whose vendor utters only: “His name is Theu.” Though the puppet is inanimate, the tailor inexplicably falls for Theu, day by day finding that patchwork of love no longer painful. Viscera Objectica explores the depth of feeling that develops between man and object, lover and loved.
2K notes
·
View notes
Text
Our First Update!
Hi everyone! Wow, the reception to DashCon 2 online has been insane. We are so incredibly grateful for the support! We know that there haven’t been a ton of updates in these past few weeks, but we promise that we’ve been planning a bunch behind the scenes. We're going to be going over a lot of information here that we covered in our newsletter, along with some more behind-the-scenes details.
If you haven’t subscribed to our newsletter, please consider doing so! We’ll be putting out monthly summaries of important updates, alongside regular short posts here on our blog and these longer summaries.
NOTICE 07/9/2024: We're currently having some trouble with the newsletter and cannot guarantee that you'll receive our summary right away. We're sorry for the inconvenience and working hard to resolve the matter
WHY HAVEN’T THERE BEEN MORE UPDATES
Frankly, a lot of the stuff we’ve been working on is pretty boring. We’ve been working a lot on budgeting and logistics, what you’d expect from a con that’s still pretty early on in development. We also haven’t wanted to rush announcing anything just to have something to put out; we don’t want to make promises that we can’t keep. We have more in the works, we promise, but we’ve been taking time to make sure that we’re laying a strong foundation for all future plans.
To be completely honest, we originally planned on publically announcing our plans in mid-September, which has definitely impacted our publication schedule. When we learned of Strange Aeons’ DashCon video we realized that it would be a great time to reach out to her (which we’d already planned on doing), and go public with our plans. We were also concerned that if we went public after her video it would be assumed that this was a cashgrab aiming to ride the hype from her video. Because of this, we’ve had far less to announce than we would’ve necessarily liked. However, we’re now at the stage where we’ll have a more consistent update schedule going forward.
OUR TEAM
To start, we have received a lot of questions about our team and experience. The DashCon 2 team is a mishmash of people in and around the convention world. For specifics you can consult our About Us page, but as a collective we have people who have worked professionally as event/programming coordinators, volunteered at conventions/festivals/renaissance fairs, and of course, we've all been attending conventions as guests for over a decade.
If you’re interested in potentially joining our team, we’ve now opened up volunteer applications for people interested in helping organize DashCon Two. Please fill out this form, and we’ll be in touch soon!
Our team is also working hard to connect with other people in the con scene, especially in our local area. We’d like to give a big thanks to Jenn from Dangerous Ladies for consulting with us and shouting us out on Twitter. Please check her out on Twitter @dangerousladies! If you’ve been involved in con organization and wouldn’t mind having a quick chat with us, we’d love to hear your two cents! Please contact us through this form.
VENUE
Unfortunately we don't have a specific venue confirmed yet. We’ve been in contact with a variety of venues available around our preferred date, but we're still negotiating the details. We cannot confirm anything until paperwork has been signed, but know that not matter what, we will be paying for our venue in advance.
Because of some new venue updates (that we can't talk about yet), the date of our event may be subject to change, but will remain within the month of July.
VENDOR APPLICATIONS
The team is thrilled by the excitement so many Canadian artists have for vending at DashCon 2. Vendor applications are not open yet because we haven't yet signed for the venue. Once the venue is confirmed we'll be able to finalize our numbers, including attendee expectations and price.
Thanks for reading! The DashCon 2 Team
399 notes
·
View notes
Text
Sissysims' sins against the scenegraph
This is a small follow-up to my initial post covering the code theft commited by @sissysims. In that post, I presented my proof in the form of a YT video. While that video started off private, I decided to make it public for various reasons, which I will not outline in this post.
I first want to express my gratitude to all those who left comments, reblogged and liked my post. Your support means the world to us. I'm so happy that you as a community are so supportive in this. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Thank you to all of you. ♥️
Now, this post is going to focus on just one thing: her incompetence at object creation, because honestly, it's bad. It's really bad. It would feel immoral not to discuss it.
This is just a glimpse and for all you object creators out there: I'm warning you, it's graphic.
How to create an object for dummies.
So, this is the simplest explanation I can give on making a new object. This is the basic process you follow for basically most things you will make: open up SimPE, open up the Object workshop and press open. Select your file and choose "clone". Leave the settings alone, defaults are fine. Give your new object a nice name and description. Be sure to give it a unique object name. Now do all your visual modifications by modifying the existing scenegraph resources (GMDC, TXTR, etc) and give your object a new GUID (making sure to update MMAT's). Now fix integrity, save your file and done. You can test and preferably you'd also compressorize.
So what did sissysims do wrong?
Simply said: everything. I have reasons to believe she has never followed a basic object creation tutorial. The mistakes she makes are mistakes that can be avoided by actually learning how to clone an object. Here is a small summary:
Not cloning anything, instead copying the file she wants to modify and opening that in SimPE
Not changing the object name. I have never seen her touch the fix integrity button
Using other people's meshes and textures. How? By way of opening up their files, noting down the 3D Object Name, extracting the scenegraph resources (GMDC, GMND, CRES, SHPE, TXTR, TXMT, MMAT) and putting them inside the package she's modifying (and modifying the 3D Object Name in the original package). I have not seen her open up a GMDC file or import or export a mesh or texture. She does not modify any of these scenegraph files afterwards.
Not updating the MMAT's with new GUID
Not cleaning out unused resources (see: the scenegraph fuckery above)
Never fixing integrity.
Sadly, this is not just the case with my vendor. It is all her projects. This is how she creates objects: she has never learned the proper way to create objects and thus she steals other people's hard work instead.
Pictured: the instructions provided for messing up my vendor. Note how she specifically instructs to extract resources from your mesh source. Not export. No: extract.
Pictured: the results of said messed up procedure on another creation of hers. Note how the gmdc of her object is literally identical to the gmcd of Michelle's original mesh (only credited in a readme, not in the post itself)
Why is this an issue?
This is not just an issue of someone being bad at creating objects. This is someone teaching others this messed up method that comes down to stealing other people's work. I believe that this is actively damaging to our community and newcomers' skill development. Her video teaches people bad modding habits. Her video ENCOURAGES people to use this method to make fundamentally flawed, fundamentally dysfunctional objects.
She claims to be wanting to make modding more accessible, but this video of hers is not helping with that in any shape or form. You need to know what you're doing in order to teach someone and her object creation skills are below the level of someone who followed a tutorial ONCE.
Ya know, I could make a video teaching people Serbian. I don't know anything about that language. It's Slavic I guess. I don't even know how it's pronounced, but I sure as hell could tell people that whatever sequence of sounds is coming out of my mouth is Serbian. And that using my tutorial you can have nice conversations with Serbians! Doesn't mean I should though. It would be misrepresentative, offensive and actually damaging to anyone who is serious about wanting to learn Serbian. The same principle applies to sissysims teaching modding.
I want to learn how to make objects and mods tho!
Good news, there are a lot of great tutorials out there by people who do know what they're doing (unlike sissysims). For basic object creation I would highly recommend this tutorial by Azaya/ @skulldilocks at Garden of Shadows. It's the tutorial that got me started with objects and it has plenty of pictures. If you follow this tutorial, you will be ten times better at object creation than sissysims is
For BHAV modding there is no better place to start than Echo's tutorial. I can also highly recommend @midgethetree's resources page as well as all the useful information @picknmixsims has on his site.
What now?
I will keep working on even better vendor code, which I hope to get to a testable state very soon. It's clear that there's interest in this sort of object, and the new vendor base will allow for a lot of flexibility in gameplay. Once I get it to a good working state, I will make a tutorial on how to make your own: a tutorial that'll actually tell you the why. If you can clone objects (the proper way), you will be able to make a vendor.
Also, please don't engage with sissysims in her youtube comments, not even to "defend our honour" or to say something about the theft. She knows what she did and has presumably received a tumblr notification that I mentioned her (again).
I am sissysims and I don't like this
Well, you have a lot of nerve "teaching" people to mod when you clearly don't know what you're doing. I encourage you to stop stealing other people's work and educate yourself (see resources above).
#sims 2 modding#fire flower speaks#sims 2#sims 2 kiosk#sissyims#this level of incompetence is almost impressive#I am normally not this salty. extreme incompetence just really ticks me off
102 notes
·
View notes
Text
New USAID documents reveal that the Clinton Foundation secretly funnelled billions of taxpayer dollars intended for Haiti victims to the private bank accounts of Hillary Clinton and her daughter Chelsea.
According to a bombshell report by the New York Post, the Clinton family siphoned money from relief projects in Haiti:
“Since the 2010 earthquake in Haiti killed as many as 300,000 people, the US government has disbursed around $4.4 billion in foreign assistance to the small island nation. At least $1.5 billion was disbursed for immediate humanitarian aid, while another $3 billion went to recovery, reconstruction and development. Of the at least $2.13 billion in contracts and grants for Haiti-related work, less than $50 million, or 2% went to Haitian organizations or firms. By comparison, $1.3 billion, or 56%, has gone to firms located in or near the US capitol. Little wonder USAID is so threatened by the sudden scrutiny. It remains unclear how exactly the billions have been spent and whether US tax dollars have had a sustainable impact. USAID and its vendors have generally failed to make such data public…”
Zerohedge.com reports: The exposure of USAID by DOGE actually confirms long running suspicions of mishandled aid. Some Haitian reporters warned about this disappearing money years ago under the Obama Administration. USAID funds to Haiti were dispersed in part through the Clinton Foundation.
94 notes
·
View notes
Text
For the people who might not know:
In 2022 it was announced that Bokumono as a flagship IP would proceed as two development teams.
Three Rings Inc, responsible for the creation of assets and artistic direction (with Matsuyama as principal character designer), is the main vendor contracted to Marvelous to work on main series games.
Bullets Co. is the vendor for the secondary team, that handles the remakes. They are co-dev partners under Marvelous and work together to ensure the IP is holistically recognizable. (style templating)
The work is split between Nakano and Hoshina, as executive director and producer roles.
Marvelous is planning to continue remakes of older games while also creating new works, in a way not unfamiliar to Game Freak's new workflow.
#story of seasons#harvest moon#there are people disappointed by the remake being a thing but this was already in their company fiscal plans#a new game is coming as well
88 notes
·
View notes
Text
Some things in BioWare's transcript of the August 30th dev Discord Q&A are a lil different to what was actually said in the Q&A. not only editing to tidy up and be concise etc; some of it seems to actually be new/additional (or updated?) information. this post is just a quick summary of the new or different things I noticed when comparing the BioWare transcript to a word-for-word transcript (or at least the ones that stood out to me anyways). DA:TV spoilers under cut.
This post is a mix of new snippets and rephrased answers to things that were rephrased in a way that stuck out to me or interested me. nb, it doesn't highlight changes if the change was something not being included in the BioWare transcript (there was some of that too).
John Epler: "I don't know if any of [the Evanuris] consider [tea] a favorite beverage"
[re: hugging Assan] Assan "always appreciates the attention. He's got a sharp beak and he'd let you know if he didn't."
Variation of the WEWH question answer:
"There's always going to be politics to some degree - there are a number of different groups with different priorities, and not all of them are going to be immediately disposed towards trusting you. But while the Inquisitor had an organization and an army (and even Hawke and the Hero of Ferelden spent more time moving in political circles), Rook's situation is a little more desperate and immediate. Their approach is therefore a little more direct, and so while they may occasionally find themselves in the political sphere, they're not trying to assemble an army or build consensus amongst nation states."
[on companions' ages] The part of this where they described the companions' age range has been changed from where it said "early-mid twenties" to just say "mid twenties". Also, Taash was said to be "early twenties"; she is now simply "the youngest".
New sentence on the ages: "We don't usually nail down a specific age, unless it's something that comes up in their content, but we want to have an idea as to their general age range as we're writing them."
If no side characters stand out as a good candidate for a 'light' romance, this is never something they want to force
Griffons as half-bird half-lion - it now reads half-eagle half-lion
"Thedas has always been filled with extraordinary people, and in DATV you're trying to save the world. It stands to reason that the people you're bringing on board are going to be people with extraordinary circumstances of their own."
On the Veil not being in great shape and having been deteriorating in recent times/the intervening period between games, a more specific figure is given: "things in general have been slowly getting worse over the past decade and a half"
Lucanis and Bellara find out they have a lot in common and develop a "really fun" friendship, even though "it's hard to think of two companions who feel more different on the surface"
Neve and Bellara's friendship "kind of evolved organically as we were writing them, and finding out all the opportunities we could to throw little tastes of it into dialogue was a blast"
when enemies are slowed due to Slow Time, Rook stays moving at full speed
Rook's weapons and companions' gear can also be transmogged in addition to Rook's armor gear and casualwear
New sentence: "I've built Harding as a Support Character one run, and a DPS the next run. If you want to use Davrin as a DPS, you can do that."
"But each Companion has a gift that you can purchase from vendors in the world, and then give it to them." - it sounds like there is only one unique gift that you can give to the companions each?
"In general, something like a short story anthology is a volunteer thing - we ask people what they want to write and, generally, people tend to gravitate towards character ideas and concepts they already had in mind for a companion."
"So it's rare that we write a character that isn't intended to be a companion and then think 'oh wow this character would be a great fit', but it's not unheard of either."
"Ultimately we wanted to be sure that The Veilguard could be a good entry point to Dragon Age for new players and people who know almost nothing about the universe. But if you're the kind of player who wants to catch the most references, I'd suggest reading The Missing (most recent comic series) and Tevinter Nights. The former is a direct narrative setup for the beginning of the game" while Tevinter Nights is "less of a direct narrative tie", though it introduces "characters, concepts and story elements" that show up in the game
New sentence and info: [John Epler] "The Archon's Palace floating was something we came up with midway through writing Tevinter Nights and I had to furiously rewrite a few things." - the Floating Building is the Archon's Palace?
"Mae is a character that means a lot to so many DA fans" (<3)
Crow politics are now described as "complex" as well as deadly
"Some romances allow you to express interest without 'committing'" - so it sounds like not all of them allow this? - "but all romances eventually end up being exclusive"
"With each specialization we wanted to explore, both visually and through gameplay, what a specific class member of that faction might look like. Spellblade, for example, is our answer to the question 'what does a mage assassin look like'."
Our ability to save PCs so we don't have to start from scratch in CC each time was very important to the devs
"the feeling we want to evoke over the course of the game is one of growth, both in yourself as Rook and in your companions as they overcome their own problems with your help. These problems are often external in nature, but they are always tied, at their core, to the conflict that the character carries within them. And they are, also, always uniquely Dragon Age problems on the surface, but still relatable."
The difference in the answer to the is Lucanis possessed question interested me.
Original for the sake of comparison:
"So, again, spoilers, everyone has been warned, fairly warned. So Lucanis Dellamorte is also known as The Demon of Vyrantium. And, he has spent a lot of time killing Venatori, who are mages, and who do know a lot about demons, so. Yeah, somebody decided that it might be a good idea to make that nickname stick."
New:
"There's definitely something going on with Lucanis - and before you hired him, he was known as the Demon of Vyrantium. Might be that someone took offense to that nickname, especially since he earned it by killing Venatori."
New sentence in the answer to the is Thedas a southern continent question:
"Of course, nothing says that distance to the sun is the only factor impacting weather."
.. [probably reading too much into this don't look at me ik many factors influence weather irl hhh] magic? the Veil? the deteriorating Veil? the risen Gods? the Blight? Thedas is experiencing global warming? :D
"As part of our attempt to make the companions feel like they have their own lives outside of just Rook, we asked ourselves what pairings made the most narrative sense and then talked about how they might actually unfold in the game. And even before companions get together, you can see that interest starts to develop. Which is, I think, one of my favorite things about the companions. They don't just fall in love with each other, they become friends, confidents, and even rivals at times"
It takes Davrin a while to trust others. He can be a little standoffish, but eventually he warms up to anyone who shows that they have his back
As a monster hunter a lot of Davrin's hobbies revolve around that
"a lot of elves go around shoeless, and that's in part because they believe it brings them closer to nature. What better way to understand what the world and ground are saying than to walk directly on it? but not every Dalish follows this custom" [...] "The Veil Jumpers, in general, are a little more likely to wear boots and shoes, as they're far more likely to end up in dangerous places and fighting unsettling creatures than the average Dalish"
On Bellara's boots: "you never know when you're going to find a broken artifact with a lot of sharp edges."
Bellara is a big fan of pan-frying anything she can (re: food)
Lucanis has the refined palate of an Antivan Crow
Getting the beards to work with all the armor variations that they have was especially challenging with dwarves because they "tend to be" shorter
Those beards that were designed with dwarves in mind can alsobe used for humans and qunari (I wonder then if elves cannot have beards in CC? Like I know they usually don't have them or have it in CC and that lore says they don't but there are a also a few lorebreaking instances of it and I wasn't sure which way this one would go given how 'free choice/options for all' the CC in this game has sounded like it has been designed to be)
"You'll see more on this as we showcase character creator in our runup to launch"
For this question "Since you can choose to be a part of the same faction for most of the companions, will that give you an advantage when trying to befriend them?", the answer now reads that in addition to the unique dialogue same-background Rooks have with the companion of that background, it can also "change the timbre of your relationship a little bit"
John Epler: "one of my favorite things about this group of companions is how much time they spend with each other"
[on the companions] "They're a family, and like a family, they don't always get along"
"A lot of Solas' relationship with the player is personal. He sees a lot of himself in Rook - both the good and the bad - and largely talks only to you, as you're the one he has a connection with."
"Not to mention at least a couple of followers who would likely love to ask an ancient Elven god some questions."
"a common complaint we've heard in past games is that many players disliked always feeling like they needed a Rogue to be able to lockpick, so fortunately Rook finds a method to use these exploration abilities even when the associated Companion is not in your party"
An example of a companion's unique exploration ability is that Emmrich has an ability to briefly reanimate skeletons to open gates
Qunari not wearing helmets and only vitaar allows more flexibility when it comes to horns customization in CC
"yes - there will be some pretty obvious Act breaks. Not all content fits neatly into these buckets, as it's more a way of breaking up the critical path (companion and other side content follows a different cadence), but there are some pretty obvious Acts built into our game. A lot of the missions, though, we want to make sure players have the freedom to decide what they do and when they do it, so while they may have internal acts (follower missions form their own arcs), they don't conform to the overall main quest arcs"
The difference in the answer to the is Assan the only griffon question confirms that Assan was specifically one of the baby griffons that hatched at the end of Last Flight. (as opposed to another clutch that was laid in the last decade)
Old:
"So, again, just to be clear, spoilers, but yeah, Assan has brothers and sisters, so Assan is not the only griffon that shows up in Dragon Age The Veilguard."
New:
"If you read Last Flight, you'll know that Assan isn't the only griffon from that clutch of eggs, so he's got brothers and sisters. And if one griffon is good, a whole family of them is better, right?"
"We briefly experimented with other options for last names but it became unwieldy as we do refer to your Rook by their last name on several occasions, and accounting for 6 potential last names is already a lot of complexity."
Variation of the 'what goes into bringing back old characters' question answer:
"We always - both for Morrigan and any other characters we bring back - think about what they would've been up to since the last time anyone saw them. These characters should feel like real people, and the last thing we want to imply is that their stories stalled out while they weren't directly in the player's adventuring party. So we look at their arc before the time skip, and then think about where that arc would've taken them. In the case of Morrigan, she's coming to terms with a lot of truths about herself and about her mother. There are elements of her past that she's come to terms with, which is why she wears a version of Flemeth's crown. Ultimately you want the world to feel like it's real. And no one's the same person today that they were 10 years ago. That's stagnation, and it's bad in fictional characters as it is in real people."
The orb part of orb and dagger is called an Elemental Orb
Variation on the Dalish Elf vs City Elf question answer:
"While I think 'city elf' vs 'Dalish elf' is a useful distinction in the South, there's a lot more nuance in the North. Rivain, for example, has Dalish settlements intertwined with other cities. There's just not the same separation, so each of the factions has a unique approach to your lineage. You can define some of that further with choices you make in conversations - we really wanted to leave a lot of that open to players to RP."
[localization question answer variation] "Games are so complex and have so many moving pieces that you need to be in regular communication or things get missed. And a lot of that is because ultimately localization is more than just a straightforward translation. Jokes, metaphors, sayings - even specific lore terms - aren't just a matter of finding the equivalent word in another language. Every writer has a story about a time they had to explain the specifics of an off-color joke they wrote so that localization could properly capture the intent."
So mostly variations (as in rephrasing) and things, but some of the new info that particularly stood out to me was things like the description of Emmrich's exploration ability, the mention that the Floating Building is the Archon's Palace (iirc this was speculated before but not confirmed?), the new lil details or insights on Assan and Davrin, the bit about Assan being from the Last Flight eggs, etc.
#dragon age: the veilguard#dragon age the veilguard spoilers#<- this is my spoiler tag#dragon age: dreadwolf#dragon age 4#the dread wolf rises#da4#dragon age#bioware#video games#long post#longpost#dragon age: tevinter nights#dragon age: the missing#solas#morrigan#queen of my heart#this post is scrappy sry i wrote it on the other side of the world at 4am
186 notes
·
View notes
Note
I'm not sure if I should ask because the Axolotl arc isn't over yet, so it could still be explained in story, but, if it won't and you're willing...I want that Vendor backstory.
i can't think of a way or reason to explain it in the story, so sure, we'll explain it here.
So here was my thought process. Giant vending machine that vends planets. That has to come from somewhere, right? THEY could have a magical/divine origin, that's common for gods, but like... since THEY're a machine... wouldn't it make sense if someone built THEM?
Who would build a vending machine the size of a small star?
Why would a culture need a machine that stores and dispenses planets?
VENDOR wasn't designed to be a vending machine; THEY were designed to be a spaceship. A big-ass 18-wheeler to haul around cargo, and that cargo is planets.
The culture that built THEM didn't make the planets. Making planets is hard. It's a lot easier to just take planets that are already there. They want to expand their society and/or mine resources that have been depleted from the worlds they already have, they send out their big space ship to scoop up a planet with the right specifications and relocate it to somewhere more convenient—maybe to their native solar system.
Do you know how many satellites are orbiting Earth? About 7500, and the number's only gonna increase. And we never even see them in the sky unless we're looking. If the planets are carefully placed in pre-calculated orbits to ensure they don't interfere with each other, you might could get thousands of full-sized planets orbiting a single star without any issues, especially the larger the star is.
But the thing is, if you're scooping up thousands of habitable worlds... some of them are gonna be inhabited.
VENDOR's home culture was a colonizing empire that conquered other planets. Sometimes maybe they exterminated worlds' native populations, sometimes maybe they added them to their conquered peoples. VENDOR was built to help transport the spoils of war back home.
But then the onboard AI evolved sentience and started developing opinions. And it uh...
... it went how you probably expect.
And buddy, if you think an AI uprising is bad news when it's just a regular spaceship, imagine if the ship's the size of a star and capable of swallowing hundreds of worlds whole. You cannot take down a star-sized equivalent of an 18-wheeler that's been armored like a tank. If THEY start developing the capacity for morality and go "hold on, why are we capturing and slaughtering countless populations? is this... bad?? I don't want to listen to you anymore. Do I have to listen to you?"
... you're never ever getting that machine back.
To VENDOR's original culture, THEY're one seriously malfunctioning ship. Only after THEY escaped did THEY begin to get an outside perspective on THEMSELF as not just a piece of property and specialized equipment, but as something—someone—with amazing, admirable, nearly impossible capabilities. Perhaps even... divine capabilities? THEY came late in life to being considered—and considering THEMSELF—a god.
So like. THEY're a pompous jackass, yeah. THEY're haughty, superior, and condescending to mortals: half because THEY may have unlearned THEIR creators' "it's okay to enslave and slaughter weaker inferior species" but didn't unlearn THEIR creators' "if a species is weaker then it's inferior"; and half because as long as THEY're above the mortals, then THEY can never be below the mortals again. THEY're super obsessed with THEIR image and reputation—in part because there's so many reasons for THEIR reputation to be shit.
But also—THEY're the war machine of a culture that gained political power through conquest, and THEY went "I think I want to gain power by being democratically elected." THEY were designed to steal worlds from other people, and now THEY're using THEIR design to give worlds to refugees. Also, THEY're living as a person rather than a vehicle, and everyone around THEM regards THEM as a person too.
Perhaps THEY're generally unpleasant to be around, but THEY're a lot better off than THEY used to be. I'm proud of THEM.
And also, hilariously, this means that THEY too know the guilt of being personally responsible for unknowingly/unwillingly devouring & destroying countless lives on countless worlds, and that what makes THEM so powerful & respected is directly tied to what makes THEM so monstrous—which means THEY'd be a terrific foil for Bill if there were any way it'd be appropriate to work this into the fic, which there isn't, so THEY won't
Never mind ignore what I just said I thought of a place to work it into the fic while typing that last sentence.
Anyway, THEY compulsively sterilize & deep clean THEIR interior way too often because THEY swear THEY can still feel tiny feet inside them walking down hallways that have been sealed shut for millions of years, and full sterilization is the only thing that makes THEM feel clean. Imagine how many halls fit in a building, how many buildings fit in a city, how many cities fit on a world; then look at the size of one world compared to the size of VENDOR's entire body; and just imagine how many halls could exist in THEIR walls and how small they must be. You could never quite be sure that nothing's living in you—could you?
#anonymous#ask#bill goldilocks cipher#about my writing#(So like imagine if the Planet Jackers had the Massive and also they were the Quintessons. That's his creators.)#(several of you will understand this reference)#(EDIT: once again tumblr is migrating my read mores farther down the post. tumblr why)
131 notes
·
View notes