Part 4
Monday morning, Jamie was hard at work on her golf game, having noticed that Juliet hadn’t arrived at her usual, early time. The blonde worked until 9, and when she looked up, she saw Juliet sneaking away, beating a hasty retreat down the path to the parking lot.
Deciding that she was not going to let the incident pass without comment, and wanting to get it over with, Jamie left her clubs lying right where they were and took off after the woman. She caught up with her just as Juliet was hurling her clubs into her car. "Hey, wait up," Jamie called out.
"I’ve got a test this morning," the taller woman said. "I don’t have a minute to spare."
"Fine," Jamie said, "but you and I are going to talk about what happened on Saturday night. When is your last class over?"
"This isn’t a good time for me, Jamie," she said.
"I don’t care, Juliet. You can spend a half hour at some point in the day. Now, when will it be?"
"Uhm … I’m finished by four," she said weakly, staring at the ground.
"Good. Do you know where the softball stadium is?"
"Uhm … yeah, I think so."
"Meet me there. I’ll be there by 4, and I’ll stay until 6 – that will give you plenty of time – even if you get lost."
"Fine," she agreed, nodding.
Out of the corner of her eye, Jamie saw a large woman, huffing up the hill on her bicycle. "Uhm … you might want to get going, Juliet."
"Huh?"
As she said this, Ryan rode up to them, grabbing onto her brakes and skidding a few feet – sending up a flourish of gravel and dust. "Nice morning for a ride," Ryan said to Juliet, grinning like a tiger seconds before it pounces upon a wounded animal. "You guys about done? I thought we could have breakfast, maybe – chat – a little." Her eyes were flashing with unspoken malice, and even though a part of Jamie was irritated with her partner, there was something tremendously sexy about the menace that Ryan projected.
Moving to her side, Jamie snaked her arm around Ryan’s waist, hugging her firmly. She put her other hand behind Ryan’s black-helmeted head and pulled her down, kissing her cheek while she muttered, "Show off."
Despite her determination to show Juliet that she didn’t look kindly upon her taking liberties with Jamie, the dark woman couldn’t stop herself from giving her partner a guilty smile, adding a kiss to Jamie’s cheek.
"I’ve got to go," Juliet said, looking like she was about to wet her pants. "Big test. Big, big test." She was in her car, pulling out before either woman could speak.
Ryan shook her head, giving Jamie a puzzled look as she asked, "Does she always drive with her spikes on?"
"You are such a brat!" Jamie gave the Lycra-encased butt a firm swat, shaking her head when Ryan looked like she’d enjoyed it. "What am I gonna do with you, you possessive little thing?"
"Jamie, you can’t blame me," she said. "You’re so beautiful, so desirable, so bright, so clever, so kind, so …"
"Can it, tough girl. I told you I could take care of myself, and I can." She stood on her tiptoes and kissed Ryan on the lips, lingering longer than was prudent, given the venue. "I shouldn’t encourage you, but there’s something kinda sexy about having my big, tough girlfriend protecting me – even though I don’t need it."
"I know you don’t need it, Jamie," Ryan said, staring into her eyes. "But right now – for some reason, I need to do it." She wrapped her arms around her partner and said, "I don’t want to make you feel like I think you’re a frail, little flower, but I need to bare my teeth once in a while."
Jamie returned the hug, making it nice and hard like Ryan liked it. "You can bare you teeth – once in a while, Buffy. But just for show. I don’t want you biting anyone."
"Only love bites," Ryan said, smiling toothily. "Guess what I’m going to do when I get home?"
"No idea."
"I’m going to take off my bike clothes, throw them in the wash, and when they’re clean, I’m going to put them away until summer – at the earliest."
Jamie gave her a smile that brightened every inch of her face, then wrapped her arms around Ryan’s waist and gazed up at her. "I don’t think I could love you any more than I do at this moment."
Bending to kiss her, Ryan murmured, "Your expectations are far too meager. We’re gonna love each other much, much more. I’m sure of it."
Ryan had just spent three hours with her math professor, Robin Berkowitz, and Vijay, her graduate student advisor, going over her independent project with such attention to detail that she felt absolutely drained. Spying a rest room, she practically sprinted for it – having been so engrossed in the discussion that she’d paid no attention to her personal needs.
Ryan emerged from the rest room stall and balanced her books on the adjoining sink. Then she bent over and splashed cold water on her face, and patted her strained eyes with a damp paper towel.
As she gazed at herself in the mirror, another stall door opened, and the last person she ever wanted to see emerged. Cassie Martin stood stock-still for a moment, a tiny flicker of fear showing in her eyes, then let her usual nasty personality emerge as she strode across the floor to the sink. "I can’t believe you have the guts to show your face around this campus," she said, not even looking at Ryan.
The taller woman thought back to her promises – the ones she’d made to Jamie, and Amanda and Father Pender. She’d promised each of them that she was going to do her very best to take the high road in this little soap opera, and not stoop to Cassie’s level. So, she ignored the woman completely, acting like she hadn’t heard anyone speak – even though her guts were roiling.
"Huh," the blonde grunted, "I guess your ‘no comment’ thing holds for every area of your life. Buuuuut … that only makes sense when the details of your existence are so sordid."
With shaking hands, Ryan picked up her books and started for the door, wishing the damned bathroom wasn’t so long.
"You know, you’ve even more of a whore than I thought you were," Cassie said. "It’s bad enough what you did to Jamie, but the things I read about you and that little girl. Tsk, tsk, tsk, Ryan. Isn’t 14 a little young – even for you?"
Ryan felt her hands whiten on her books, but she continued to walk, not saying a word.
"Or did you have to bring her into the mix for Jamie?" Cassie asked, her voice dripping with venom. "The kid’s probably more to her liking anyway – they’re about the same age – sexually, at least." She found her comment quite funny, and she was laughing softly when Ryan dropped her books with a thud and quickly reached up to lock the door to the facility.
The laugh was cut off so quickly that it sounded as though her throat had been slit, but Ryan hadn’t touched her – yet. In a heartbeat, Ryan was right on top of Cassie, pinning her to the sink with her substantially greater bulk. "You can say whatever you want to say about me, but don’t you ever … ever mention Jamie’s name again. A slime-dweller like you isn’t worthy of licking the soles of her shoes."
Cassie’s eyes were remarkably wide, and Ryan could see her pulse throbbing on the side of her throat. "D … don’t be so touchy," she said, trying to sound braver than she was.
Leaning in a little harder, Ryan could feel the smaller woman’s flesh compress as she pressed against her. She knew the sink was digging into the backs of Cassie’s thighs, so she leaned in just a bit more. "Jamie and I’ve already talked about this," Ryan said, menace oozing from her, "and she doesn’t mind if we have to pay a substantial sum of damages to you. She wants me to feel better." Pushing forward until she could hear Cassie gasp in pain, she said, "I’ve tried to control myself, but it’s a losing battle. I think I’ll feel better if I hurt you – badly."
The blonde spoke so quickly that her words tumbled from her lips. "You’ll go to jail! You can’t just beat people up! You’ll be in prison – then where will Jamie be?"
Ryan leaned over her, bending Cassie into an inverted "C". "I told you to never speak her name again. I … meant … that."
"You don’t know much about the justice system. Not many people do time for hitting someone." Ryan leaned even harder against the woman, smiling when Cassie gasped in pain. "But, given your connections, I guess you could make things tough for me." She appeared to be thinking through the ramifications of her plan. "If there’s a chance of going to the slammer I’d better make sure I get my money’s worth."
"No! You’ll be thrown out of school! Think of yourself!"
Ryan seemed to do just that. "I guess I’ll have to make sure no one can prove it was me. It’ll be your word against mine, and of the two of us, I have a much better record for telling the truth. The only evidence they’d have is if I scraped my knuckles on your ugly face, or got your blood on me." She looked around the room and her eyes landed on a plunger. "I could beat the crap out of you with that stick …" she said thoughtfully. "Fill your mouth full of wet paper towels so no one could hear you scream … take off my shirt so the blood doesn’t splatter …" Her brow furrowed as she said, "Of course, I could drown you in the toilet. That would be all too fitting, wouldn’t it?"
"Why are you doing this?" Cassie whimpered, her voice shaking. "What do you want?"
"Want? I don’t want anything," Ryan said, "other than to cause you pain." She leaned forward with her torso, forcing Cassie’s head against the mirror. Ryan was so close she could have bitten her, and Cassie stared at her with round eyes. "You know, I’ve always wondered which it was. No rational person would care that Jamie and I were together – unless that person was insanely jealous." Pushing forward again, Ryan purred, "Which of us is it? Jamie or me?"
Cassie had to put her hands behind herself to stop the faucets from gouging into her kidneys. Her flailing hands accidentally hit the cold water tap – and the ice cold spray started to pour into the waistband of her khaki’s. "Ahhhh!" she screamed, writhing against Ryan, their breasts compressing.
"Oh … it’s me, huh? That was always my guess, since you were nice to Jamie until I came along." Ryan’s body ate up the last inch of space, and she murmured, "You’ve dreamed about being this close to me, haven’t you."
"No! No! I’m not like that!"
"Well, we’ll never find out, because you make both of us sick." Ryan started to stand up, but she put a restraining hand on Cassie’s shoulder, holding her in place. "You know, as much as I want to hurt you physically, and believe me, I do, I think I’d get more satisfaction out of hurting your reputation – sleazy though it is. I’m not sure how I’ll do it, but you’ve woken me from slumber, sweetie-pie, and vengeance will be mine." She leaned over until their noses touched. "Dream of me," she whispered, then swiped her tongue in a long, wet trail all the way up the blonde’s flushed cheek. Striding away from the shaking woman, Ryan bent to pick her books up with a remarkable degree of grace. Flicking the door lock open with her hand, she glided from the room – feeling better than she had in weeks.
Jamie was sitting in the stands at the softball stadium that afternoon, giving half of her attention to practice, and half to her real estate text. It was so overcast and cloudy, that they’d turned the lights on – but there was still plenty of light to read by. Ashley and Jennie were sitting about 20 feet away, with Ashley drilling the younger girl for a test. Juliet showed up at 4:30, obviously hoping that Jamie wouldn’t have time to talk. When Jamie saw the woman reluctantly approach, she twitched her head and led her to the grassy area by the ticket window on the outside of the complex. "We can talk here without having anyone hear us," she said.
"Uhm … what do you want to talk about?" Juliet asked, trying to look innocent.
"You know darned well what I want to talk about. Now, let’s get this out of the way so we can move on, okay?"
"O … okay," the larger woman agreed.
"What’s the deal, Juliet?" Jamie asked, sitting down on the grass to get comfortable.
"You didn’t honestly think I was going to let you kiss me, did you?"
"Jamie, I swear I didn’t know what I was doing. I’ve never been drunk before – I lost my mind."
Giving her a long look, Jamie said, "I have some experience in this area, Juliet, and let me assure you – being drunk doesn’t cause you to do things that aren’t in your nature. Alcohol lets you do things that you want to do – but don’t have the nerve or the sense to do while you’re sober."
Juliet looked at the ground, not saying a word.
"Saturday night wasn’t the first time I felt that you were attracted to me," Jamie said quietly. "I got strange vibes from you that time you showed me how to hit your seven-wood, too. Is this something that’s going to come between us for the rest of the year?"
"No, no, it’s not, definitely not," Juliet said decisively. "I was out of line on Saturday, and I promise I’ll never let myself get drunk again. I obviously can’t handle it."
"What about the other time, Juliet? You weren’t drunk then."
"I … I don’t remember that day the way you do, Jamie. I … uhm … maybe you’re ultra-sensitive to things like that."
The blonde smiled and shook her head. "No, I’m really not, Juliet, but if you don’t want to talk about this with me, I can’t make you."
"There’s nothing to talk about," Juliet said, getting up from the ground. "I got drunk and acted like an idiot. I promise I’ll never touch you again, Jamie. Ever."
"I know you won’t," Jamie said, giving her a wry smile. "Your career means too much to you to have my partner lose control and break your hands." She looked at the woman for a moment and said, "I wish I were kidding, but she’s been under a lot of stress. She honestly might hurt you."
"Jamie," the taller woman said, her expression earnest, "I promise I’ll never be inappropriate with you again. It will not happen!"
"Okay. That’s all that I can ask. See you tomorrow."
Jamie started to walk back towards the stadium, and Juliet asked, "Why are you hanging out here?"
"Oh, Ryan’s on the softball team. Wanna stick around and say hi?"
"No … no …" she said, backing away quickly. "Gotta run." And run she did, jogging at a quicker clip than Jamie had ever seen the golfer move.
As soon as Jamie took her seat, she started to study again, barely noticing what was going on. Heather and Ryan both bounded into the stands at 6 o’clock, thoroughly startling their fans. "Yikes!" Jamie cried, looking up into Ryan’s sweaty face. "Is it 6 already?"
"Sure is. Hang on and I’ll be back in a few. I want to put on some dry clothes."
Jamie patted her butt and sent her on her way, then went over to chat with Ashley and Jennie for a moment. As expected, the jocks were back in a flash, but Ryan had on a clean T-Shirt and her warm-ups, so Jamie wasn’t going to press her luck by chiding her for not showering. "Ready to go, slugger?" Jamie asked.
Ryan shrugged, looking a bit uncomfortable. "Wanna see if the other girls want to join us for some dinner on Telegraph?"
"Sure. That’d be fine."
Ryan looked over and said, "Hey, we’re gonna get some dinner. You guys up for it?"
"I can’t," Jennie said, shaking her head. "I’ve gotta study every minute for this history test."
"We thought we’d drag Jen back to the dorm with us and drill her over dinner," Ashley said, making Jennie’s eyes light up.
"Really? I’ll have to call home and ask if I can, but I’m sure Sandy won’t mind."
Jamie handed over her cell phone, and Jennie dialed while Ryan smiled at her friends. "You two have really come through with Jen," she said. "We can’t tell you how much we appreciate it."
"It’s fun," Ashley said. "I want to be a teacher when I graduate, and working with Jennie makes me see that it can be fun to help someone who wants to learn."
Jennie handed the phone back, grinning from ear to ear. "I can go!"
"Let’s get moving," Heather said. "We’ve got over a hundred years to cover."
"See you," Ryan called out, and Jamie wa
ved at the departing trio.
Ryan sat next to her partner, cuddling up to her as the overhead lights switched off. "Let’s stay here and neck."
"It’s freezing, you goof! You’ve got to get home and jump in the shower."
"Uhm … do you have your car?"
"No, I walked. Why?"
"Let’s stop and get some coffee. I can warm up and then we can have dinner."
"Don’t you have to study tonight?"
"Uhm … yeah, I could do a little work. We could go to the library after dinner."
"Honey," Jamie said, always attuned to the unspoken messages her partner sent out. "Is there some reason you don’t want to go home?"
"Mmm … I’m a teeny tiny bit worried that the police might be at the house," she said, wrinkling her nose.
"The police, huh? Any particular reason they might be paying us a visit?"
"Well … I kinda ran into someone today, and she might have filed a police report against me."
"Did you run into this woman while you were on your motorcycle?" Jamie asked, thoroughly confused.
"No, I was on foot. She might have thought I was threatening her with bodily harm … Well, I was threatening her with bodily harm, but she might not have known it was just a threat. Well … I guess it wasn’t just a threat … I was hoping she’d hit me, so I could crack her skull open like a coconut."
Jamie grabbed the closest ear she could find and gave it a yank. "What in the hell are you talking about?"
"I ran into your ex-roommate in the bathroom today," Ryan said, waiting for the words to sink in.
"Oh, God," Jamie said, dropping her head to her knees. "What’d you do to her?"
"Nothing … well … almost nothing. I pressed her up against the sink and leaned on her a little bit. I doubt that she even has bruises."
"Ryan! Why did you do that? You said you were going to control yourself."
"No … I said I was going to try to control myself. I did try, Jamie, I tried very hard. She pushed me, baby; and if she’d said the same thing to you, you’d have punched her lights out. She did her best to provoke me, and she succeeded."
Monogamy Page 9
