by Claire Adams
“Let's not talk about the girls in my life. How about we talk about the chunky girl you are still dating. Why haven't you unloaded her by now?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Your girlfriend, man. Why are you talking about Natalie? Look at your girlfriend. She put on, like, 20 pounds since you started dating. Why don't you drag her in here? She used to be hot, but she's not anymore.”
“Crystal isn't fat.”
I laughed. “If you say so.”
I could tell I was getting a rise out of him and it's exactly what I wanted―for the topic to get off of Natalie.
“You're a dick, man.”
“Ahhh, I'm just busting your balls. I love Crystal; you know that. But you should bring her to the gym sometime.”
“Let's just finish this workout, and get the hell out of here.”
I loved my brother, but he was easy to get to if I really wanted to. When he met Crystal, she was a sweet piece of work. All ass and tits, and everything was firm. They had been together for two years now, and she just gotten a little too comfortable in the relationship with her fighter boyfriend, and had eaten one too many bag of chips. She no longer went to the gym, and although it was true she wasn't fat, she could definitely stand to lose the 20 pounds she packed on. Craig was sensitive about the issue, because he didn't like the extra weight she had gained. They often fought about it because Crystal didn't like him bringing up her weight. Anyway, the two of them had issues, and if I ever needed to change the subject, bringing her up was a great way to do that.
We set ourselves up to do chin-ups, and we worked at doing 25, which was a sick amount. When I finished my set, every muscle in my upper body burned, especially my arms that felt like noodles. Next, Craig did a set of 15 chin-ups, and then we went to do shoulder presses.
We continued on through our workout, hitting chest, shoulders, and we finished up with abs. We continued chatting about nonsense, and the conversation never went back to Natalie, which I was relieved about.
“When was the last time you talked to Mom?” Craig asked me.
“I don't know, last week I guess. Why?”
“Oh just wondering. She invited Crystal to some benefit, and she wants me to go with her. Are you going?”
“I haven't heard anything about it, and if I had, I would have declined. I don't have time for that shit, man. Mom always has these benefits and charity things, and dressing up to go save the owls or whatever other crusade she gets on is fucking ridiculous.”
Craig howled with laughter. “You got her right on the nose, man. I think Mom has too much time on her hands. She should have gone to work after we all grew up. Too many brunches with the ladies have gotten to her head.”
“Yeah, no kidding. I feel for you, man. But you can always tell Crystal to go stag; it wouldn't be the end of the world. She would still get wined and dined. I think a plate at these events goes for like $500.”
“Yeah, I know. It's crazy.”
“Anyways, I'm fucking beat. Let's hit the showers.”
Craig nodded, and we trudged out of the weight area. By now, my coach had left for the day, and there weren't too many of my teammates left around. I was looking forward to hitting the shower and getting cleaned up since I was covered in sweat, and I smelled worse than a pig.
We got into the locker rooms, and I grabbed a towel from my locker. I stripped down, and put my sweaty clothes in the mesh pocket of my gym bag, so that I could take them home to wash later. I headed to the shower, and opened the door to turn on the tap. Warm water poured out, and I adjusted it until it came out hot. Steam started to rise out from the shower, and I stepped in. I quickly rinsed off before grabbing the bar of soap. I soaped down my entire body, scrubbing off the sweat and grime of the gym. I rinsed again, and grabbed some shampoo out of the bottle on the shower ledge. I scrubbed my hair and rinsed, not bothering with the conditioner. Now that I was squeaky clean, I leaned my head back into the showerhead, and let hot water course over my body, pulling some of the pain and soreness with it. There was nothing better than a hot shower after a hard workout. I believed it not only cleaned my body, but my soul as well. I just felt so much better prepared to take on the world afterwards. I turned off the faucet, and opened the shower door. I stepped out, closing the door behind me, and grabbed my towel. I quickly dried off, and went to find my clothes.
I got clothes out of my gym bag and dressed before I checked myself out in the mirror and did a quick body flex.
Man, I looked good.
I checked my phone for messages while I waited for Craig to get out and get dressed. I heard the shower shut off, and he got out to dry himself off and get changed.
“Hey, Jet, I'm going for lunch with Crystal and Dad. You should come.”
I groaned inwardly, but didn't say anything. The last thing I wanted to do was to go have lunch with my dad. My dad was not a fan of my MMA career aspirations. He thought it was a cool hobby to have, but it didn't make any sense to him as a career. If I went to lunch with them, we would get into yet another debate about how I should take over the billion-dollar tech business he created from the ground up. Sometimes I thought that was all the old man ever talked about. I was bloody sick of it, and I had no intention of going into the family business, so I fervently wished my father would get over it, already. I loved my brother, however, so I thought I would go on his behalf.
“Yeah, I guess that would be cool.”
“Don't sound too excited or anything,” he laughed.
“No, sorry it's not that. I just don't want to get into another argument with Dad. It's frustrating.”
“Yeah, I hear ya. It won't be like that though, I promise. I'll stop him if he starts in on you again.”
“I'll hold you to that, man.”
“Hey maybe you should get Natalie to come. You know, since you guys are fuck buddies now. Dad would just love that you are dating an art student. It may even distract him from focusing on you at lunch.”
I laughed along with him as we headed out of the locker rooms.
Chapter Three
Natalie
I woke again, and realized it was almost lunchtime. I still felt pretty tired from the late night and all the booze, but at least the headache and nausea had left. The extra sleep had done me good, but it also didn't leave me with a lot of time to get to class. I rolled out of bed and checked myself out in the dresser mirror to make sure that I was suitable for public consumption. I had slept in my clothing, but they weren't really wrinkled so I decided they would do. I had to brush out my hair, though, because it looked like I had been shagged, quite well actually.
I intended on sneaking out of the apartment and avoiding Jet's roommate, Kyle, at all costs. I had no intention of dealing with him, and I figured he got more than an eyeful of me that day anyway. I grabbed my purse, and headed to the door, swinging it open. Just at that moment, Jet burst into the room, almost knocking me over.
“What is wrong with you? Do you have to ram into me every time we meet? Thankfully, I didn't have books in my arm this time.”
“Sorry, I didn't expect you to be right at the door. I wasn't even sure if you would still be here.”
“Would you have preferred to come home and have me already gone?” I glared at him, waiting for a response.
“What? No. What are you talking about? That's not what I meant at all.”
I felt fairly stupid, standing there in his room after the drunken escapades of the night before. I had pushed myself on him last night, and the result was sex, and I wasn't even sure if he liked it. He didn't appear to be overjoyed at the moment. Surely, I was good. I had never had any complaints before. Though, with Jet's track record, maybe I still had a lot to learn.
“Oh, forget it,” I said.
“Is everything alright? Did you sleep okay last night?”
Sleep? He was asking me about sleep? Were we really not going to discuss the sex show I put on for him last night? Ugh, men!
/> “Yeah, Jet, I slept real well last night. Thanks for checking up on that.”
“Ah sarcasm; how original of you this morning.”
“Where did you fly off to so early in the morning? It was a little odd to wake up alone this morning.”
“I'm sorry, Natalie. I already had plans today to meet my brother at the gym. I hadn't expected ... you last night. I didn't want to ditch him today.”
“You could have left me a note.”
He stood there silent unable to say anything else, or maybe he just didn't care to.
“What are you up to today? What are you doing later?”|
“I really have to get to class, okay, Jet? I'm running late.”
He just nodded, confused as always.
As I walked passed him, I whispered in his ear, “By the way, Kyle saw me naked this morning.” With that, I kept walking down the hall, and made a mental note that he didn’t say a word. I headed out the front door, thankful that Kyle either left the apartment, or holed himself up in his room for the day. Either way, I avoided him, and that's all that mattered.
As I was walking down the street, I texted my friend, Brenda, from the art walk, and told her to meet me outside of campus before class. I called a cab, and had it pick me up as I continued to head down the street. I didn't want Jet to come out looking for me, as I was sure I alarmed him about the comment about Kyle seeing me naked. One-night stand or not, I knew Jet to be the territorial type, and he would not like the fact that Kyle had seen me naked.
I watched as the cab pulled up beside me, and I got inside. I gave the address of the college, and the cab pulled away from the curb. I lay back in the seat, determined to rest my eyes again before I got to school. I didn’t have any of my schoolbooks, so I would have to wing it for the time being. I really hadn't thought through my seduction routine last night. Had I done that, I would have brought along my books as well.
As the cab pulled up to the college, I saw Brenda outside the front doors, waiting for me. I paid the cab driver, including tip, and bounced out of the cab toward her.
“Hey girl, how ya doing?” I asked.
“You are a sight for sore eyes. Where is your stuff?”
“I left it at home, so you are gonna have to be my book buddy for class.”
“At home? Julie told me you didn't make it home again last night, and you haven't been home all week.”
I blushed, forgetting that Julie and Brenda were also friends.
“Yeah, I stayed at Jet's. No big deal, though.”
Brenda raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, right. I guess when that handsome stud bought your art work; he sure won you over, didn't he?”
“No, no, are you crazy? Absolutely not. He hasn't won anything. It was just a one-time slip on my part. I was actually out with Benny last night. I just needed to do something, anything to try to get over my ex, ya know?”
“Really, that's all it was?”
“To be honest I don't even remember much about it. Drank too much. But yes, I'm just trying to get that jerk out of my head, and Benny suggested spending the night with someone might do the trick.”
“Benny suggested you sleep with Jet? Are you serious?”
“No, he actually vehemently insisted I not sleep with Jet.” I laughed. “He just meant a guy in general, but thought Jet was a bad idea. For obvious reasons of course.”
“You are sure in a pickle, aren't you?”
“Yeah, it seems that way.”
“So, what kind of gun is he packing?” she said, chuckling.
“Oh God, are you actually asking me this?”
“Well yeah, he's a stud. And since I don't have a prayer of having him ask me out, I'm curious.”
“Well, although I don't remember a lot of the mechanics of the evening, I do recall being pleasantly surprised, so the boy is definitely packing a lot of heat,” I laughed then, winking at her.
“Wow, I'm so jealous. I can't remember the last time I had sex.”
“Brenda, please, I barely remember it. Just pieces, it could have been a wild disaster for all I know.”
Brenda shrugged. “I don't know. Men like wild disasters.”
I chuckled. “Maybe.”
“So are you guys a thing now?”
“No way. He's already slept with me, I doubt I'll ever hear from him again.”
“I think he really likes you, Natalie.”
“No, he doesn't. I'm just then next thing for him to conquer. And then he will move on.”
We got to class, and settled down in our seats. I settled in as the professor made an announcement to the class.
“Class, I want you all to be prepared for next Thursday. Class will be a little bit different that day and I want you to take that into account. We will not be meeting in the classroom, but in the gymnasium this time. So don't be late, and don't skip that day, as we will be having a special project.”
I shot Brenda a disappointed face as I thought about the project. It had to be a sports-related themed project, and the thought of it bummed me out enormously. I had a strong dislike for sports of any kind, so the idea of a project based on it was disappointing, to say the least. I took it for what it was worth, however, and buckled down for another art class.
When class ended, Brenda and I grabbed our things, and headed out to the hallway.
“So what do you think the project will be about?” Brenda asked me.
“I have no idea, but I think it's going to be severely lame if it's in the gym. Like what is she going to have us draw? Basketballs and catcher’s mitts? Borrrrrring.”
Brenda laughed, but it was cut short when she stopped suddenly. I looked away from her, only to find Jet standing there, waiting for us outside of class.
Brenda broke out into a grin, and said, “Hey, Jet, nice seeing you again.”
He smiled and nodded at her before his eyes met mine again.
I turned to Brenda, who was still grinning like an idiot.
“So, Natalie, I will catch you later; I got to run.”
“Oh sure, have a good day.” I watched as Brenda hurried away, casting a look at me over her shoulder as she headed off. That left me alone with Jet, and I wasn't happy about it. I had been sure the stalking, and showing up at random times and places, would have ended once he had his way with me. Why was he back for more? The drunken sex couldn't have been that good.
“Hi, Natalie, how was class?”
“It was peachy, Jet, and how was whatever it is you have been doing all day long?”
“I had a good day with training, thanks.”
“Do you actually ever go to class?” I laughed.
He laughed along with me, and said, “Sometimes. Hey it's not my fault if the school values my sports career over everything else.”
“Uh-huh, and God forbid you decide to have a higher calling than fists of fury.”
He chuckled loudly. “How about we leave that topic of conversation for my father to obsess over.”
“Your dad doesn't like your career choice, does he?”
“No Natalie, my father is a very wealthy man. He started a company from scratch and turned it into a billion dollar operation.”
“Ooh-la-la.”
“Yes, I can see you are really impressed. Trust me; I feel the same way. My dad does not like my career aspirations, because he would prefer if I went into the family business.”
“So why don't you?”
He sighed and looked like he was about to open up, spill the beans, and act like a human being, right before my eyes. He looked away from me, however, and caught himself before he spilled too many feelings all at once. He almost shook his thoughts clean from his mind. He looked at me, and smiled a sad sort of wistful smile. I didn't smile back. I didn't understand why he was the way he was, and to be honest, I didn't really want to know why.
He sighed. “Look Natalie, the reason I came to meet you was because I wanted to apologize for my roommate walking in on you. It must have been embarrassing, and I
gave Kyle an earful. He shouldn't be going in my room if he has no idea who is in there.”
“Hey, don't worry about it. He didn't know, and I'm over it.”
“Can we grab a cup of coffee, and chat, ya know, figure some things out?”
“Jet, I'm busy. I didn't get much sleep last night. I need to study. I have projects coming out of everywhere, and right now you are an unwelcome distraction.”
He chuckled. “Don't hold anything back on account of my feelings.”
“Like you really care there, Jet.”
He looked down at his feet and paused momentarily. “What do you say we try out more of that self-defense? You did pretty well last time. I think it would be good for you.”
“No, really. I think I'm good now. I feel like I could probably handle a situation a lot better than I did before,” I smiled sheepishly. I didn't want to get more involved with Jet. If anything, I wanted to get the hell away from him. I felt foolish about our drunken escapade, and it made me feel uncomfortable in his presence.
“I don't think that's true, Natalie. People train in self-defense for years. You just had one lesson, so when it comes to a high-pressure situation, you could easily forget everything I taught you.”
I sighed. “Okay, look, fine. I'll come and do more if you promise to stop bothering me about it.”
“You really want me to stop bothering you?”
I laughed. “Yes, please. Anyway, that's the deal. Now I have to go study.”
“Alright, Natalie. Have fun with that.”
I waved him off as I walked away, and headed over to the library to get some more studying in.
Chapter Four
Jet
Class ran a little late, which annoyed me a little, because I needed to get back to my apartment on time. I had a whole day planned, and getting caught up in class wasn't part of that plan. I normally would have just skipped the class, but we had a test that day and I couldn't get to the point where I failed anything. My classes were always flexible in my mind, but if I wanted my father to continue to pay for my schooling, that meant not failing one class. If I flunked out of school, I would lose my chances to fight on the school MMA team. So it meant making sure my grades didn't get out of hand.
