The Keys to Jericho

by Ren Alexander

  After we exit the drive-thru, he finds a parking space in the back of the lot, underneath a tall light post, and overlooking another parking lot. Not incredibly romantic, but we’re alone, at least.

  Jared turns off the car, but leaves the radio on, in which I immediately hit the scan button. He protests, “Hey! Who said you could do that?”

  I giggle at his overly dramatic fury. “I did.” The end of a familiar 80’s song fills the car and I end the search.

  “What the hell is this shit?” he asks, trying to be pissed off, but he’s secretly enjoying it.

  I shrug as we both unbuckle our seatbelts. “I don’t know the name of it.” I hand him his bag of food, and then opening mine, I pull out a small Mystery Machine toy. “Look here, Jericho!” I giggle as I study it.

  I know he’s rolling his eyes, so I tease, “I bet there’s a mystery we could solve.”

  “Yeah. What fell on your head?” I stick out my bottom lip and he shakes his head. “Huh-uh. That shit doesn’t work on me.”

  Giving up on that, but wanting to make him laugh, I pick up my bag and lightly shake it. “There’s a lot of greasy food here. I’ll try not to mess up your car.”

  Derisive, he retorts, “Thanks.”

  Putting the Mystery Machine back into the bag, I coolly ask, “What would you do if I did?”

  Before taking a bite into his sandwich he says, “Another demerit for you.”

  I’m quite enjoying my teasing. “What does it entail? Because I really liked my last demerit.”

  He tries not to smile as he chews, but it seems to be a chore. When he swallows, he says, “I’m still deciding on that.”

  Picking up his Coke, he takes a drink and I abruptly ask, “When did you lose your virginity?” Now, that really did come out of nowhere.

  Jared chokes on his drink. Between wheezing, he asks, “What?” He coughs some more. “I was not expecting that.” Neither was I. It was just on the tip of my tongue, threatening to roll off at any time… Shit.

  “Clearly.”

  Setting down his drink, he glances at me as he reaches for a napkin for the wet spots on his jeans. “Why do you want to know that?”

  “You know about mine.”

  He frowns at his jeans. “Just who and the general time period. I don’t know details. I don’t want to know.”

  I shift in my seat, angling toward him like he’s going to tell me a riveting story. “Tell me. I want to know.”

  He sighs, picking up his cheeseburger, but not appearing hungry anymore. He’s not eager to divulge this information; therefore, I prepare to be blown off, as usual.

  “I lost it to an older girl at school.”

  “Oh.” I shove my food and toy back into the bag, unexpectedly losing my appetite.

  “She, uh, was a friend of Hadley’s.”

  I instantly look up in horror. “What?”

  He drearily says, “Actually, one of her best friends. Blair.” He stares at his sandwich, while I stare at him in disbelief, because it’s not possible to have just heard that.

  I stutter over the words I do have. “Does Hadley know this?”

  “To an extent. I changed some details.”

  “What a shitty best friend she had. How’d it happen?”

  Still without looking at me, he continues, “She stayed over one night with Hadley. My dad used to drink beer, and I snuck some of it into my room. Blair knocked on my door to see what I was doing. Things…happened. Being drunk and that young, I had no idea what I was doing, but I went along with it.” My heart thuds.

  “Wait a minute. How old were you?”

  Not making eye contact with me, he quietly says, “I was 13.” My heart shatters for him.

  “What the fuck? Jared! Why? I mean, I know boys that age are hormonal, but that’s too young!”

  “Because… I needed to.” He looks at me, but then darts his gaze away. “Do I have to talk about this?”

  “Yeah. You do, and not because I’m being nosey, but because I’m guessing that you…need to.”

  “I don’t, but…” He sighs again and returns his sandwich to its box. “My mom left us when I was three. She never looked back. Never contacted us. Although, I’m told that Hadley and I look like her, I felt that I needed to do something to erase everything I could of her. So when the opportunity presented itself, I took it. By losing my virginity, I defiled my innocence—that hold—my mother had over me.”

  I recoil in my seat, wrapping my arms over my stomach, as if that will keep me from losing it. “Oh, my God, Jared. Was it just the one time with that girl?”

  “No. It went on for a couple months. I turned 14, and she graduated and left town. I came to find out, she was also fucking Hadley’s boyfriend Max. So, yeah. Shitty best friend, boyfriend, and brother.”

  “You were a drunk kid!”

  “I wasn’t drunk every time.”

  “She was what, 17? What the hell did she see in a 13-year-old boy?”

  “Booze and a hard-on.”

  I shift away. “I’m going to puke.”

  “Kat.”

  I vigorously shake my head as my hand goes to my mouth, but I can’t hold back my tears.

  Jared asks, “Why are you so upset? I was almost 14. It was way before I met you.”

  I snap, “That’s not why I’m so upset! Jared, my heart aches for you!”

  He tightens his hand on the steering wheel and shouts at me, “Don’t pity me, Kat! I did it willingly and I felt emancipated from that cunt!”

  I cringe, hearing him say that word. Not because I find it offensive to hear, but because of how much of his past still affects his present. Like me.

  Jared says, “I did a horrible thing to my sister and she doesn’t even know it! I haven’t been able to really talk to Hadley in years, let alone look at her! She used to be my best friend!”

  I again shake my head, mumbling behind my fist, but Jared yells, “I betrayed her! Just like my goddamned mother did! Just like her fucking boyfriend, and so-called best friend did! Every fucking day I live with it! I’m the same, worthless piece of shit they are!”

  I look into his defeated eyes. “No! You were a kid and you’re sorry for what you did!” His gaze hardens, forcing me to sink mine, and I unsuccessfully curb a sob.

  “What? Are you going to say I’m such a good person? That I just made a stupid mistake over and over again? Blame it on my hormones, and being a kid, like you just said? Don’t tell me this doesn’t make you think…less of me now!” His voice subtly cracks, but he shows no sign of breaking down in front of me, at any rate.

  Dropping my hand from my mouth, I stare at him in shock. He shakes his head and looks to the console between us, wretchedly chuckling. “Don’t worry. I’m used to it. My own mother couldn’t stand me, and my father thinks I’m a fuck-up.”

  I argue, “Jared, he does not!”

  Looking up, he spits, “How would you know?”

  “He never stops talking about you! I wish you could hear him! He’s so proud of you!”

  Sitting back, Jared doesn’t say anything and we sit in weighted silence, hazily listening to the song on the radio, and cars in the lot.

  I sniff, reaching for one of my napkins. Seeing that he’s not going to eat, I set his bag on the floor next to mine.

  He finally mumbles, “You’re the only one I’ve told, so please don’t go saying anything to people.”

  Irritated that he thinks I would, I snap, “I won’t! God…” I would never.

  Turning to me, he barks, “So you do think I’m a fucking lowlife?” No. I love you even more.

  Without a second thought, I spring forward, securing my lips to his. My arms go around his neck, holding him to me, while he hesitantly responds with only his mouth. I kiss him until he gets it. Until he hopefully realizes that he’s not worthless.

  It must work, because he returns my kiss. He digs his hand into my hair as he becomes more invested, while my fingers rummage through the curled ends of his
hair along his neck. We kiss as if we want each other to read something more, and it’s the only way to convey it.

  Breaking away, he puts his forehead to mine, breathing hard over each other’s face. From nowhere he says, “This song sounds familiar.”

  Not noticing it before, I listen for a few seconds and say, “It’s ‘Somewhere Out There,’ the song from An American Tail.”

  “That mouse movie?” I nod against his forehead with a laugh, and he says, “We could’ve done this as a karaoke duet.”

  Listening more to the lyrics, my smile dissipates. “It’s about living far apart, but it doesn’t really fit for us.”

  “For me, I think it does.”

  “If you’re a mouse,” I quip, but it doesn’t feel right and I sadly smile, but he can’t see it from his angle.

  Spontaneously dipping my head, I kiss his neck, lick along his lightly stubbled jaw, and then kiss back down his throat, feeling a grumble before I hear it.

  Without expecting it, he moves his head, catching my lips with his, and we passionately kiss in a fast food parking lot to a song about a lost mouse, and beneath a bright parking lot light, not pale moonlight as sung.

  Jared’s hand goes to my shoulder and slowly creeps down to the outer curve of my breast, making me softly moan, and just as the song ends, my mouth travels over his cheek. Kissing across his ear, I grip his shirt and whisper, “I want you, Jared Beckett. Fuck me in the backseat of your car.”

  In between his fast breaths, he says, “We can’t here.”

  “Find somewhere.” I kiss him again, but before we go too far at a Wendy’s, I force myself to sit back. With us both panting, Jared’s dark gaze returns as he starts the car, making me squeeze my legs together in anticipation.

  As he drives, I note the familiar street signs coming into view, and when he turns down a nearby street to an even more familiar building, I gasp, “What are you doing?”

  Jared again raises that eyebrow as he looks over at me, his eyes going to my chest. “Don’t tell me you forgot about this place, Kit Kat.”

  “The parking lot of our school?”

  “Not school, but close by. There are cameras all over the lot. Not good.” Jared turns into a small apartment complex and parks next to a row of shrubs in a darkened corner, but facing the school’s side lot behind the building.

  “Our driver’s ed. lot!” I say with a teary grin.

  He nods. “This is why I wanted you to wear your shirt, your glasses…and a skirt. I came up with this last week, but didn’t think of it again until you were driving today.”

  “Shit,” I whisper, barely able to contain my restrained excitement. “Are you serious? We can’t have sex here.”

  Jared glances out the back window, and then to the side windows. “It looks like there isn’t anyone home in those few apartments. It’s dark. We’ll be in the backseat. Those bushes block us some.”

  I skeptically look around, too. “I don’t know.”

  “Kat, after what I just told you, and you’re still talking to me…” He inhales, and the look in his eyes is tragic. I’ve never seen Jared Beckett so vulnerable before, and I’m astonished by what I see.

  Cautiously, his hand goes to my cheek and his thumb strokes my bottom lip. “We could go somewhere else, but we need to be here. Make up for what should’ve been. We should have lost our virginities to each other, but...” He sighs, and whispers, “Erase all that past shit for me. I wanted you so much then, but even more now.”

  With tears threatening again, I raspingly whisper, “Jared, I want you right now.”

  His grin is instant and he pulls me closer to kiss me, but I yank my lips away to leave the car. Still, we manage to climb into the backseat at the same time. After locking the doors, Jared grabs my waist, pulling me down next to him, and kissing me as his hand goes up my faded school shirt. He whispers, “I remember you wearing this shirt. I always wanted to grab your tits while you were wearing it. Any shirt, really.” Ripping at my bra, he fondles my breasts. “Fuck. Dreams do come true.”

  Looking into his eyes, I gasp, “Jared. I wanted you to do this to me in that car we had to drive.”

  “We wouldn’t have been driving if I had. I would’ve fucked you during class, getting us kicked out, not to mention being the talk of the school.”

  I groan as I hurriedly fumble with his jeans, but eventually get them undone. “I wouldn’t have cared. I wanted you to fuck me.”

  Breathing hard, he pleads, “Grab my dick, Kit Kat.”

  I reach into his underwear, clutching him, feeling him growing more rigid, which makes me moan with a smile. He lifts his hips and taking his hand off me, he yanks down his pants. “Feel it.” When I stroke his shaft, he takes my hand. “Like this, Kit Kat.” He moves my hand up and down him, and then down to his balls, where I roll them in my hand. Taking in a sharp breath, he says, “All over. Own me.”

  “Watching you do anything turns me on,” I whisper, running my fingers around, teasing him, and listening to his erratic breathing. “You’re so hot. I thought so back then, too.”

  Sighing, he reaches under my skirt and impatiently tugs at my underwear. “Am I?”

  “Fuck, yes.”

  Looking at me as we both take off my underwear, he bites, “Hotter than your fucking driving instructor?”

  “You’re the only driving instructor I want to fuck.”

  He growls, “I better be.” He plunges his fingers into me, easily sliding them in and out. “Goddamn.”

  “I want you inside me. Let’s cut the bullshit.” I push myself up to straddle him, but he stops me.

  Jared says, “Get up and turn around.”

  I want to ask how, but I just do it. From behind, his fingers go inside me again, pushing and pulling, compelling me to ride them. Jared takes in a loud breath, and he leans forward. “We met in that school. That lot is where we first started driving together.” I nod fast in agreement, breathless. “I had infinite wet daydreams about you in there, along with countless number of hard-ons. I had to beat off every night just from seeing you in school. We were partners then, and now years later, we’re practically in that lot where it all began...” His fingers disappear and he pulls on my shoulders until I fall back, sliding onto his dick. “Screwing in a backseat.”

  “Jared! Oh, fuck!” I yell, and move fast on him. Amidst our shared panting, he says, “And what’s more? I’m fucking a teacher.”

  I moan and push against him at an angle, which makes his loud moans fill the car. “Fuck me hard, Miss Merrick.”

  My skirt bounces with every thrust, and holding onto the driver’s seat, I use it to anchor me as he holds onto my hips, grating me against him, and I feel the deep awakening. As we move in a harmonious rhythm, rocking the car with us, Jared heatedly states, “The next time you even think about fucking that driving teacher, remember how my cock feels inside of you. How I make you come. How it feels when I come with you. How you drip with my cum. And remember that you’re fucking mine.”

  As I pull up, I lift off of him, and he falls out of me. Twisting around, I climb onto his lap, straddling him, and he easily slips back into me. I say, “Tell me that last part again.”

  Looking up at me, he whispers, “You’re mine, Katriona Elyse Merrick. Mine. All mine.” He pulls my head down to his, and kisses me with a ferocity that matches the tempo of our passionate fucking.

  My glasses bang against his face, but when I try to take them off, he puts his hand over mine, stopping me.

  Jared gasps into my mouth, “Fuck me, Kat. You’re so damn good. Jesus. I can’t get enough of you.”

  Shoving my hand into his hair, I breathlessly say, “You’re so mine, Jared. I do fucking own you.”

  He leans his head back onto the headrest as he clutches my ass, pushing me onto him. “That’s it. Take it all away for me, baby.” His thrusts slow down, but I ride him out, feeling his jerking, which strengthens my orgasm.

  “Oh, Jared.” I growl through my teeth.
>
  “Kitty Kat, give me your cream.” His groans bounce off the interior of the car, so we don’t have to actually be in the school’s lot, since Jared possibly could be heard from there.

  Grabbing a handful of the silver football helmet on his shirt, I shriek, “Jared, I l—” But I bite my tongue, hating that I did, yet it’s out of habit anymore.

  Catching my breath when I stop moving, I give him a kiss and whisper, “Thank you for giving more of yourself to me.”

  Closing his eyes, he nods, but doesn’t reply, and I feel like he’s shutting down again.

  I redirect to something easier. “Do you know how sexy that was for you to plan?”

  With his eyes still closed, he smiles. “No, so you probably should remind me tomorrow of how much you liked it.”

  “You just liked fucking a teacher next to a school.”

  Laughing, he opens his eyes. “That, too. I hope I didn’t fail.”

  “Passed with flying colors.”

  “I’ll gladly do extra credit, too.”

  “I’ll see what I can do.” I kiss him on the cheek, but when I start to move off his lap, he grabs my wrist, pulling me in to kiss my lips once more.

  Trying not to sit without my underwear on his black seat, I grab them and put them on. “We could get arrested for this, especially near a school.”

  “Nobody’s around and we weren’t hurting anyone.”

  Not even pertaining to what he just said, and without thinking, I say, “I need to tell you something.”

  Pulling up his jeans, he warily asks, “What?”

  Taking off my glasses to wipe them on my shirt, I say, “I know it’s probably something you don’t want to hear, and it may even make you mad.”

  “Just tell me.”

  “I’ve kept it a secret for so long, but you should know.” I put my glasses on and close my eyes, preparing myself.

  He edgily says, “Kat…” I love you, Jared.

  “I think Pete burnt down Mom’s house.” I can’t do it. Not here. I can’t ruin how perfect this was with him.

  I watch as his jaw drops. “What the hell?”

  “It was an accident. She was at my aunt’s and he was having poker parties at her house without asking. I caught him and kicked him out, but the fire had already started. The fire investigation concluded that it started in the breaker box, but nothing out of the ordinary was plugged in at the time of the fire. I had noticed before Pete left that he was using fans because he allowed his buddies to smoke cigars.”