Only You

by Bishop, K. M.

  “It was amazing,” I said as I pulled my pants back up and put my package away.

  “So, will I see you at my place in a bit? Maybe we can order in?”

  “Of course. I’ll leave first so as not to arouse any suspicion.”

  “OK,” she agreed. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too babe,” I said.

  Then I walked out of her office glad to see that no one was around. I got in my car and drove to Maria’s place, parking in the garage. Then I let myself in and waited quietly for my love to get home. It felt so nice being there. It almost felt like we lived together and I loved it. Was this what it would have been like to be married to her? Seeing her every day, having a nice dinner together, traveling to fun, maybe exotic locales—it all would have been perfect.

  Despite it being risky, I could not discount how hot it had been to have sex in Maria’s office. I wondered what other high risk places the two of us could have sex that would be equally as stimulating. I had never known myself to be a sexual risk taker, but with the way things were going, I might have just found myself a new passion. And that was ok, right? It was good to keep things interesting. It was very beneficial to make sure things did not take any boring turns in a relationship. I was determined not to let that happen. That was when so many things could go sour. That wouldn’t happen with us.

  I couldn’t wait until I eventually popped the question.

  Chapter Twenty

  Maria

  We’d actually done it. That had happened. What were we thinking? I giggled at the thought. It was wonderful. Not knowing if we would be caught or not was so exciting that I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I wanted desperately to relive it, make it happen again. Maybe we would get caught and it would all finally come out in the open. We could stop all this sneaking around shit. It was just so tiring. I was sick of it. Why couldn’t we just live our lives like everyone else? I sighed as I started to pack my things together to leave toward home. It had been a long day. I waited about thirty minutes after Jacob did just in case someone saw him leaving the field house so they wouldn’t notice me leaving closely behind him. I was still fully committed to keeping up this ruse.

  Suddenly, my phone rang. It was Tammy. I sat back down at my desk and answered the call. It had been a few days since I’d talked to her. And right now, I could use a friendly ear to talk off.

  “Hey, girl,” I answered.

  “What are you up to?” She replied.

  “I was just leaving work.”

  “Ah, off to see your new man?”

  “You know it,” I said. Then I added, “We actually just saw each other.”

  “You mean you pretended not to see each other? I assume you are referring to work.”

  “Yeah, but we kind of just did it in my office…”

  I couldn’t believe I was telling her this, but for some reason I felt like I was going to explode with this huge secret. I had to tell someone this crazy thing I did.

  “You did what?” Tammy exclaimed. “That’s crazy. How was it?”

  “Oh, it was so good! It was thrilling and crazy. I have never done anything like that before. And I want to do it again. But I know we can’t.”

  “Who says?”

  I smirked and shook my head. “You know what would have happened if we’d been caught. It was a miracle we weren’t. And of course, that was what made it so damn hot.”

  “Right? I’ve done it in public a few times. It’s always so much better. That extra feeling of danger just adds something to it. That’s perfectly natural. I can’t believe you’ve never done it in public before. That’s sad at your age.”

  I laughed. “Well, excuse me if I’m not as sexually adventurous and crazy as you are.”

  “Well, few people are. But you have time to try to catch up.”

  “Ok, maybe we will. I miss you a lot.”

  “I miss you, too. I was thinking about coming to see you tomorrow or the next day. I’ve got a few days off work. I thought it could be fun, if the timing works for you that is.”

  “Ah, that would be awesome!” I said.

  “Great. I’ll probably arrive in the evening. We can go have dinner somewhere.”

  “That’s perfect. I’m excited. It feels like forever since I’ve seen any of my girls!”

  “Now, the question is whether or not you can handle being away from your man for a few nights…”

  I paused. I had actually momentarily forgotten about that. “Um, yeah. I will do that. You can actually meet him, if you want.”

  “Oh, that could be fun. Do you have a guest room? I can occupy myself if you guys want to… you know…” Tammy laughed that wicked giggle of hers.

  “That would be weird,” I said. “We can control ourselves for a few days. We aren’t animals.”

  “Well, judging by what you just told me, I’m not so sure now.”

  I laughed. “That’s not fair.”

  “So, besides that how is work going?”

  “Ah, it’s ok. Not quite what I expected. Honestly the favorite part of my day is doing research and writing articles, the freelance stuff I do on the side. It has reawakened a great passion in me for writing, which I always loved as a kid.”

  “Really? That’s great. Maybe you should shift your career focus more towards that. You should write more of your own stuff and maybe work on your own books. What do you think?”

  I nodded to myself. “Right. That is something I’m considering, but right now I don’t have as much time to work on it as I wished I did.”

  “Well, maybe you should think about quitting your sports medicine gig.”

  “What? That’s crazy. This is what I’ve wanted my whole life. I love what I do.”

  “But do you really? From what you’re telling me, it’s not as fulfilling as you thought it might be. Am I wrong? If I’m wrong then I’ll shut up, but I’m just telling you what I’ve observed as your best friend.”

  I sighed. She had a good point. Being a team doctor was everything that I thought I’d always wanted, but frankly I’d been slightly bored. Other than meeting Jacob, it had not been as fruitful as I’d hoped it would be. Maybe it took Tammy to see things, an outsider’s perspective, but I didn’t want to give up on it now.

  “Well, maybe you’re right. But for right now, I want to see things through and just see how it goes. Every career has ups and downs. Every job has problems. Not everything is always going to be so smooth.”

  “True. But I’m just looking out for you. Sometimes it helps to have someone else’s thoughts on things. Would it be the worst thing ever if you did end up quitting or losing that job? What if you just concentrated on your writing and doing work that you find truly fulfilling.”

  “You are wise beyond your years, missy,” I teased.

  “Just trying to help.”

  “Ok, well I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. It’s going to be sweet!”

  We ended the call and I packed my things back up and headed out toward home. As I drove, I thought about what Tammy had said. She was right. I wasn’t really that fulfilled with what I was doing. But thinking about changing or doing anything else differently was scary at this point. After all, I’d just started doing this. I wasn’t sure I was necessarily a good fit for the team (mostly because of the obnoxious staff I had to deal with) but I was doing my best to deal with them and I thought it was going ok.

  However, I tried to imagine being there without Jacob and it made my heart turn cold. I realized that I wouldn’t have wanted to be there without him. And that could have ended up being a huge problem if I actually wanted to continue working there and furthering my career.

  By the time, I got home I was feeling strangely optimistic about things and wishing even more that the season was over. I could reevaluate some things in my life.

  I was excited to see Tammy the next day. It had been too long being without the company of my nearest and dearest friend. And I really wanted to see what she thought about Jac
ob.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Jacob

  I knew I should have let it go and followed Maria’s wishes. But I couldn’t. The whole thing was just eating at me. It had been pulling at me ever since I’d first heard what had happened with Josh. It was killing me, tearing me up in ways that I never thought possible. I felt like I was on the verge of total frenzy. My head felt sick. I was seeing nothing but rage and I didn’t know how to deal with it. I was supposed to walk around this guy and interact with him—hell, I was supposed to play ball with him as a member of this team—and just pretend that nothing was wrong. No. I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t.

  I could hardly sleep. I was tossing and turning about it all night long. My body just would not lie still as my mind continued to plague and torture me about what had happened. This bastard had to be put in his place. He had to face some wrath for this.

  And I’d gone over all the reasons in the world why this was the worst thing I could possibly do, but I just couldn’t help myself. So, the next day at practice when I first arrived in the locker room, I confronted Josh about what had happened. He was still limping slightly due to his sprain. He wasn’t going to practice today, still officially injured, but he was still there to watch and egg on his friends. And plus, he wanted everyone to see him injured and feel sorry for him. He was one of those guys who liked to milk injuries.

  The guy was a joke.

  “Hey, Josh,” I said stepping up to where he was standing by his locker. “I need to talk to you about something.”

  “Hey, Jacob. What’s up?”

  I tried to control my anger. “So, what happened with you and Dr. Charles?”

  He pretended to be confused. “What do you mean?”

  “You know damn well what I mean. I know you made a pass at her and when she declined you persisted and grabbed her. You assaulted her!”

  My voice was getting louder than I wanted it to, but I was livid mad now.

  He glared at me. “What’s it to you? How the hell do you even know anything about it? Why don’t you just mind your damn business? It was just a bit of a misunderstanding. That’s all.”

  “A misunderstanding? Bullshit!”

  Josh was still looking at me confused, but after a few moments his eyes lit up. “Oh, so you have a thing for her? I can’t blame you. She is tight. But she seems to be a cold fish, so good luck with that one. Probably a lousy, dead lay. You know the type that just lie there? Hell, it might even have teeth.”

  I lost it. My right hand clenched into a tight fist and I punched him hard in the mouth. Josh stumbled back against his locker. Blood was spewing from his lip now. I saw the confusion and then the anger as he pushed himself off the locker and propelled his massive body onto me. He was a big, heavy bastard. If he got me down under him, I might have been in trouble.

  I quickly dodged out of the way and he stumbled slightly, but he managed to connect with a strong left hook to my jaw. The pain was intense, but I let it go as I gave him a left hook of my own to his ribs, and then a hard punch to his nose.

  He dropped to the ground tripping over the bench. This was about the time that the other fellas heard the commotion of a fight going on and came over to break it up. Bobby and Jake were there in a flash, pushing me away from him and holding me back. I was enraged and nothing was going to stop me from beating him senseless right then and there. I didn’t care about any consequences at all. I’d lost all the good sense I’d ever had for the moment. All I cared about was totally destroying this pig.

  “What the hell is going on here?” Coach Smith screamed as he came over to help separate us. “I demand an answer.”

  “Nothing,” I said. “It’s just a disagreement.”

  “I don’t believe it’s as simple as that. What the hell are you two fighting over?”

  I didn’t answer. I looked over at Josh who was not saying anything either. I knew that he knew. Just looking into his eyes, I knew that he suspected that Maria and I had something going. But he wasn’t saying anything. This would have been the perfect time to rat me out. But if he did that, then he would risk it coming out what he had done and he wasn’t going to do that.

  No. He was going to play it off just the same way that I was.

  “That’s right,” Josh said. “It’s nothing coach. It just got out of hand.”

  The coach stared us both down trying to determine how full of it we both were. He knew we were lying but after a few minutes of realizing that we weren’t going to offer up anything, he finally gave up and let it go.

  “Fine. I’m watching you guys. If any more of this type of crap goes on, I’ll bench you both for two games. Do you understand me?”

  We nodded that we did, knowing full well he wasn’t going to bench a couple of his best players when he needed us to win too badly.

  The coach stormed out of the locker room and the crowd dispersed as everyone went about their business. I locked eyes with Josh glaring at him about what I knew he did and what had just happened. He glared back at me, but I saw the knowing in his eyes. He knew that he’d messed up and I knew what he’d done. And this might not be finished. I might not be done beating the hell out of him. If he wanted to mess with me, it would all come out what he’d done to Maria. And that was almost enough to make people forget about the transgressions that Maria and I might have committed.

  Josh left the locker room and went home. I doubted he wanted to be around the team anyway, and he had a split lip, and a black eye to look after that was already shining up pretty good. It was a pleasant sight.

  I had myself a good practice, feeling good about the exchange. I’d taken care of a problem and I felt good about it. Of course, Maria would probably not share my enthusiasm. I was going to have to get prepared for that tongue lashing, but I would just explain my position and stand my ground. What I did may have been reckless, but I was not sorry that I’d done it. And I would gladly do it again if it came to that. I wasn’t about to let a tool like Josh get away with something so horrific. Still thinking about it caused me to grit my teeth in rage. I still wanted to pound him to a bloody stump.

  But for now, this would have to do. I finished up my practice, showered, and went to Maria’s. I knew that her friend Tammy was arriving later on, and I wasn’t sure if we would speak about this in front of her or not. I didn’t think she wanted to introduce this drama to her friend right away.

  I knew that Maria was at the field house in her office. She had arrived sometime after the fight. I was sure she’d heard about it by now, but we’d avoided each other so I hadn’t had a chance to gauge her reaction to it.

  When she finally arrived home, I could tell that she was furious. My first instinct was to feel a bit ashamed, but I pulled that back. I wasn’t ashamed of what I’d done. I was proud of it. This was the right thing to do, regardless of what the consequences might have been.

  “What in the hell were you thinking?” Maria asked when she came through the door to see me sitting on her couch relaxing with a beer.

  “I did what I felt was right at the time.”

  “We talked about this. We agreed to let this go for now.”

  “You agreed,” I said. “And I agreed. But once I was there, things just changed. I got so sick of trying to bury those feelings. As a man, I couldn’t let it slide.”

  “I’m trying to understand that, but I don’t need you to fight my battles for me and I don’t see why you would risk everything over that jerk. It’s childish and immature. What if he tells someone? He is bound to suspect.”

  “He won’t,” I said. “Trust me. He is too afraid of anyone finding out what he did. It’s settled. It’s squashed. Nobody knows anything about us.”

  She sighed heavily as she grabbed a beer from the fridge and flopped down on the other lounge chair perpendicular from me. “It’s just so risky. I don’t know why you did this. I’m furious with you. Your ego could have demolished everything we have worked so hard to build in our lives.”

&
nbsp; “Some things are more important than a career,” I said. “You need to remember that.”

  “That isn’t for you to decide for me,” Maria said. “You have to realize this. Not all of my problems are your problems.”

  I knew she had a point, but so did I. What I did was brash and I probably should not have done any of it, but I couldn’t care about that right now. It was over. Dwelling on it when it was now in fact a non-issue was pointless.

  Maria was looking at me as if she was waiting on me to say something else.

  “What?” I asked.

  “You aren’t going to say anything? Really?”

  “I already told you how I felt about it. I’m not sorry, so I’m not apologizing.”

  Maria scowled and I could swear that she looked even hotter angry. I wasn’t sure how that was even possible. I could see her thinking about what to do here, how to continue an argument I was no longer taking part in. I tried not to smile at her frustration, but there was nothing she could do here. I wasn’t sorry about this. I wasn’t going to apologize. I absolutely would do it again.

  I sat there and drank my beer while mentally preparing myself to meet her friend who was arriving, and apparently now bringing their other friend Josie.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Maria

  It felt good to see my good friends again. I was blown away when Josie said she was coming, too. They arrived at my house about an hour after the argument that Jacob and I’d had about the stupid fight. I could not believe he’d been that stupid and done exactly what he had promised me he would not do. I wanted to strangle him I was so mad.

  But I did my best to put it all behind me and stay present while my friends were here. They both almost swooned when they met Jacob in the flesh. I could see their eyes looking like they were going to pop out of their heads soon. And I have to admit it felt good to be envied for it. I was a bit proud of having a trophy hunk on my arm. And even though he was only three years younger than me, I was still with a younger man, which suddenly mattered to my friends the moment they hit twenty-five. After the age of twenty-five they all decided they were on the other side of the hill and now they were no longer considered young women and had in fact started to venture into cougar territory. I thought they were crazy, but if they wanted to admire me for this, then who was I to tell them that they were wrong?