by Lily Hayden
Not that she regretted it. Oh, God, it had been A-mazing-with-a-capital-A. He was amazing. And the best part had been that it wasn’t just a one-off. He’d taken her for breakfast before dropping her back to the motel Saturday morning. He’d asked to see her again Saturday night, picking her up, taking her to a gorgeous little restaurant before they’d spent the night having mind-blowing sex back at his. She’d been out with him Monday night and again last night. He’d dropped her into work this morning as she’d been too tired from her earth-shattering multiple orgasms to go home after. He was charming, funny and the epitome of sexiness. If only that was her biggest problem. After a few weeks of partying in Europe, Caleb had finally got back in touch to say he was home this weekend. Turns out he’d lost his phone and ended up staying a little longer than planned but she’d woke up this morning to a stack of messages and missed calls from him, declaring how much he’d missed her and couldn’t wait to see her Saturday. And she felt awful!
How could she be so cruel and heartless? She had been overwhelmed by guilt since she’d opened up the messages in work this morning. Caleb was a great guy. The poor man had lost his phone and instead off being worried about his lack of contact, instead of fearing something had happened to him, she’d just forgotten about him and fallen into bed with some other guy. Ella was used to breaking hearts, but she was no cheat! She had no idea what she was going to do about this mess.
Jessica cleared her throat, and Ella turned back hurriedly.
“Yeah, great.” She tried to force herself to look and sound enthusiastic, but with no good excuse she had no choice but to get to her feet and follow the others out of the office.
Jessica slipped an arm through Ella’s and she felt herself tense up involuntarily.
“It’s been such a shame we haven’t had a chance to go out together for the last few weeks.” Jessica sighed. “We should defo hang out this weekend. I feel like I’ve neglected you all.”
The others all murmured their assent and Ella found herself nodding along awkwardly, even though she knew for a fact the only person they hadn’t been hanging out with was her, the designated social persona non grata.
They were soon huddled around a table, menus in hand, and Ella felt her stress headache growing worse with every minute that passed. They were all chatting away, but she couldn’t help but feel there was a hidden agenda to today’s outing.
“Oh my God!” Sawyer suddenly shrieked, clutching her phone to her chest. “Never guess who’s slid into my DMs?”
Jessica rolled her eyes at Ella in a conspiratorial manner before turning to Sawyer, a false smile on her face.
“Who, honey?”
“Jason Stephens.”
Ella’s stomach dropped, and she struggled to regain composure. Surely they were fucking with her? Had they seen him drop her off and were trying to rile her? She glanced around, her face stony, but all eyes were on Sawyer. Nobody seemed hungry for Ella’s reaction.
Jessica made a disapproving noise.
“He must have run out of local hoes.” She tossed the curls again before reaching for Sawyer’s phone.
Ella felt herself flush red with anger. This was definitely a dig at her. She tried to discreetly glance at the screen, but Jessica held it to her chest, casting her cool blue eyes over the message.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sawyer looked seriously pissed off at Jessica’s comment.
“Not you!” Jessica said hurriedly passing the phone back to Sawyer with an apologetic shake of her head. “God knows, I dated the asshole and I’m definitely not a hoe!”
“Oh, God, Jess!” Sawyer’s face fell. “I forgot you and Jason had a thing. I’m so sorry! I’ll block him now.”
Jessica smiled coolly. “Honestly, Sawyer, don’t worry. If you want to date him, go for it. That was forever ago before he had all his dodgy businesses and started banging strippers every weekend. All I meant was you are way too good for him.”
“Thanks, Jess.” Sawyer looked appeased.
Ella watched the exchange in silence. Her head was spinning. It felt like a set-up, but they all looked so genuine. Clumsily, she got to her feet.
“I just need to use the restroom.” She muttered through clenched teeth, and Jessica slipped from the booth to let her pass.
As soon as she was alone in the bathroom stall, Ella fought to regain control of her racing emotions. She couldn’t make a scene. If they were fucking with her, she didn’t want to give them the reaction they so clearly desired. Her mind was working overtime, replaying the conversation. She needed to be calm. She needed to think how best to play this. Her phone buzzed in her hand as she exited the stall and she glanced down.
It was Caleb.
Fucking great. That’s all she needed.
Reluctantly, knowing she had to face up to it sooner or later, she answered the call.
“Hey!” His familiar voice was so clear that she could almost feel his sturdy presence in the room with her.
“Hi.” She tried her best to sound enthusiastic. “How are you?”
“I’ve missed you!” He exclaimed with no prelude. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t get in contact with you. It’s been so tough not hearing your voice and seeing your face every day. Babe, I can’t wait to see you.”
Ella swallowed the guilty lump in her throat.
“Me too.” She managed pitifully.
“Everything ok?” He asked, sensing the hesitation in her voice.
The door to the restroom burst open and Jessica waltzed in. She stopped in front of Ella as if she’d been looking for her, her face a picture of concern.
“Hey, Ella?” Jessica touched her arm. “Everything ok? Did we say something to upset you?”
Ella shook her head hurriedly.
“I completely forgot you were talking to Jason in that bar the other week and-“
“What? No. Of course not.”
Simultaneously, Caleb was in her ear.
“What? Oh, Ella, you’ve got every reason to be mad.”
“No, not you!” Ella answered him hurriedly. “I was talking to Jessica.”
“Oh.” Caleb sounded relieved. “Say hey to her for me.”
“Caleb says hi.” Ella repeated immediately.
Jessica looked instantly appeased.
“Oh, you’re talking to Caleb!”
“Of course, I am.” Ella frowned, confused. “Uh, Caleb, can I call you back?”
“My plane will be leaving soon.” He told her. “I’ll call you before my connection if I get chance. I can’t wait to see you.”
“Ok. Sorry.” She immediately felt one-hundred times more awful at the sweetness in his tone. “Me too.”
“In the time we’ve been apart,” He continued, oblivious to the awkwardness she felt. “I’ve really had time to reflect on us and, y’know, I really think you might be the one for me.”
Ella froze, unsure how to answer such an unexpected declaration. Jessica looked at her expectantly.
“Wow.” Ella managed to respond, feeling totally put-on-the-spot. “Me too. Can’t wait to see you.”
“Awww.” Jessica smiled warmly at her as Ella ended the call. “You guys are definitely still on then? I did wonder…”
Ella looked up at her and frowned. “Why wouldn’t we be?”
Jessica’s face fell. “No reason. I just got a vibe from that time we met him that you guys were casual. You said you hadn’t been seeing each other long.”
Ella turned away from Jessica to hide the expression on her face, paying extra attention to washing her hands.
Jessica waited until Ella was finished and smiled warmly at her, as if there was nothing unusual about Ella’s frosty silence.
“I guess when you know, you know, right?”
Ella seethed silently to herself, barely making more than a token effort to join in the group’s banal conversations. As the working day drew to a close, she was alerted to the second fuck-up of the day when Jason texted her to ask if he could pick
her up and take her out that night. Despite her confusion, she felt a shiver of excitement at the thought of seeing him again. There were a million questions running through her mind after Jessica and Sawyer’s conversation and she reasoned with herself that by seeing Jason, she could at least try to figure out for herself if there was any truth in what they were saying. Plus, her car was back at the motel. She knew, deep down, that it was the sheer magnetic pull of him that made her respond asking him to pick her up across the street from the office.
She hung back at the end of the day, waiting for the others to leave, before she darted out to Jason’s pick-up truck. She was determined to get to the bottom of this and decide whether he was worth chucking poor, sweet Caleb over.
“You look pretty.”
His sweet, complimentary greeting, at odds with his self-assured masculinity, had Ella’s resolve melting immediately. That was one of the things she really liked about Jason; she’d heard all the compliments in the world from different types of guys. There was the “you’re hot/ gorgeous/ sexy” from the confident, popular guys who wanted her in their beds and weren’t afraid to make that clear and then from the seedy players who thought the only way to catch her was with their cliched “you’re beautiful/ amazing/ different to other girls”. Pffft, that always put her straight off. One, for thinking she was dumb enough to believe them and two, because she was just like other women. Other women rocked.
Jason should have fallen into the first bracket. He was like an older version of the guys that told her she was hot, she was sexy, but his compliments felt genuine, like his success and self-confidence made it easy for him to be honest and sweet without fear of rejection. He looked at her, like really looked at her before he would give her a compliment. It never felt cliched. Today, for example, she knew that she did look pretty. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a high ponytail and she was bare-faced with just a touch of mascara and a slick of lip gloss, as she’d sacrificed her morning hair and make-up routine for some excellent sex.
Just the thought of their antics brought the heat rushing to her face and she smiled warmly at him, almost able to ignore the shadow of doubt that Sawyer had caused with her words.
“Thank you. How’s your day been?”
They chatted easily as he drove towards her place and she wondered how to start the conversation without seeming crazy or jealous. Her mind was just starting to form a coherent sentence, ready for her lips to take over when he pulled into a side street, stopping outside an Auto-Repair shop.
“I just need to drop something off a second.” He said, hopping from the car and grabbing something from the back of the truck.
Ella felt both relief and disappointment as she watched him walk into the yard. She recognised the name hanging above the door as one of his businesses. He had told her that he’d started out as a mechanic fresh from High School, worked his way up and managing to buy the old owner out when they’d retired. He’d taken a backseat to fixing up cars, focussing his energy on building up a reputable business before expanding and diversifying. He had a few Auto-Repair shops throughout Texas, a couple of restaurants, a gym as well as an impressive property portfolio and he was only thirty-six. He clearly had drive and discipline, and to Ella, that was a million-times more attractive than just having money.
Something buzzed in the pocket of his door and Ella reached across automatically without thinking about what she was doing. She scooped out his phone and glanced at it, before she realised how intrusive that was. Her body, working a split-second behind her brain, had already tilted it towards her face to read the notification before she had fully digested that she needed to return the phone unread to the pocket and respect Jason’s privacy.
She obediently dropped the phone, but it was too late. She had already seen the first few lines lit up on screen.
It was a social media direct message from Sawyer Patterson.
Ella felt her pulse quicken. So much for that bitch backing off out of respect for Jessica. She could picture Sawyer’s smug face, twirling her hair around her finger in that fucking ridiculous manner of hers, jutting out her massive tits at anyone who would look.
Woah, Ella! The voice of reason within her tried to calm her from her rage. You’ve got no right to be mad at Sawyer. She’s done nothing wrong. And neither has Jason for that matter. You’ve been banging him for not even a week! But, if you’re going to be all mad and jealous, it will have to be at him, not Sawyer.
As much as it pained her to be reasonable, she knew that it was true. She wasn’t in a relationship with Jason and Sawyer didn’t know, as far as she was aware, that she had been seeing him. Plus, it was a little hypocritical of her when Caleb was under the impression that they were in an exclusive relationship. The jealous rage still bubbled in the pit of her stomach, but she managed to remain calm and impartial when Jason returned to the vehicle a few minutes later. Her mind had been made up for her.
“Hey.” She smiled breezily, summoning all her dormant theatrical skills from back in her High School days. “Thanks for picking me up. I hope you don’t mind but I’m a little tired to go out tonight. I know I should have straight up said no but I’ve always been a sucker for a booty call.”
Jason’s smile froze at her words and she felt almost bad for the confusion that flickered across his handsome face. The part of her that was still hurting felt a tiny stab of satisfaction before immediately fading into regret.
“You’re not a booty call, Ella.” He said, peering at her curiously. “Not unless you want to be?”
She swallowed, suddenly feeling very foolish that she had thought that he was any different from the guys that she usually never called back. Her pride had already been hurt by being ignored by Caleb and then the office girls. There was a reason she didn’t put herself out there and this was exactly why!
Every fibre in her body told her to take it back. She might have only met him a few weeks ago and, she had to admit, she barely knew him, but the connection she felt to him was magnetic. Everything about him drew her in and the thought of never being in his arms again was almost unbearable.
If you feel this crappy now, she warned herself. Imagine how you’ll feel when you find out you were nothing to him, when those bitches are laughing at you and you haven’t even got Caleb to keep you company until you can leave this shitty job.
Resolve set, she forced herself to turn to him, her mouth set cruelly.
“It’s been fun,” She said, struggling to keep her tone light. “But I’m not interested in anything serious.”
Jason held her gaze, his grey eyes narrowed suspiciously, and Ella looked away uncomfortably.
“Ok.” He said finally, starting up the engine. “I respect your honesty. If you change your mind, you’ve got my number.”
Ella swallowed, feeling sick with regret, but she said nothing until he pulled up outside her motel.
“Thanks for the ride.”
She hesitated, one hand on the door handle, and for a moment, she thought he was going to reach across and kiss her, but he kept both hands on the steering wheel, a faraway look in his eyes.
“You’re welcome.” He smiled sadly. “Take care of yourself, Ella.”
She shut the door and hurried up the steps, knowing she should feel proud that she’d cut him out before she got hurt or looked foolish, but all she felt as she glanced back at the truck disappearing out of sight was a wretched sense of loss.
High & Dry
“Isn’t this amazing?”
Taylor opened her eyes as Deon sank down next to her. She was sprawled on the bow of a yacht, somewhere in the middle of the ocean, music blasting in the background as an assortment of the rich and privileged toasted their fabulousness and success with bottles of champagne that cost more than ordinary people earned in a week.
Taylor sat up, crossing her long legs in front of her, to let Deon slip a muscular arm around her slim shoulders. The constant music was giving her a headache and she had been dying to head in
to the shade to get a drink of water for about half-hour, but she couldn’t face having to chat to Deon’s awful, pretentious friends and so had stayed put, feigning the urge to sunbathe.
“It’s lovely.” She said, resting her head against his chest and gazing out at the sparkling ocean ahead of them. “It’s been a nice day.”
“I’m so glad you came.” Deon pressed his lips against her forehead. “It would have sucked without you.”
Taylor tilted her head up to face him and he brought his mouth down to her lips, kissing her deliciously slowly. She felt his hands slide to the curve of her bare waist and then further down, tracing the barely-there fabric of her bikini bottoms. A little spark of desire at his wandering hands ignited between her legs and she flicked her tongue between his lips, making him groan with longing. Reluctantly, she pulled back, conscious of his friends partying only a few metres away, but Deon pulled her back to him. She felt his fingers slip under the material and, for a moment, she tensed, not wanting them to see.
“You ok, baby?” Deon grazed his teeth against her earlobe, slowly pushing his fingers further into the panties.
She felt herself move, desiring his touch there. She glanced over her shoulder. Nobody seemed interested and, reassured, she relaxed and let him play with her. He found her lips again and they kissed deeply. His expert technique soothed her agitation at the noisy crowd and she rocked gently against his rough hand as he explored her hot tender flesh. She closed her eyes, temporarily losing herself in the pleasure, when she felt a cool breeze on her breasts.
Shocked, she opened her eyes, realising Deon had untied her bikini. Without the tight knot below her shoulder blades, the red triangles hung uselessly, exposing her naked breasts. Before she could protest, Deon had brought his full lips down, covering one nipple while his hand cupped her other breast.
Taylor pushed him away, hurriedly pulling the string of the bikini back into place.
“Deon!” She scolded in a low voice. “Seriously?”
