Once Friends

by Z. L. Arkadie

  “Fuck,” he whispered, then swallowed the desire trapped in his throat. She was a goddess. Jay closed his eyes, considering his best approach. He wasn’t standing before just any woman.

  “Are you okay?” she asked in her sweet voice.

  No, he wasn’t okay. He didn’t want to fuck up the moment. He didn’t want to make a mistake that would ensure that after one time, he would never be able to have her again.

  He wanted to taste her tender clit and kiss her perfect ass, but his desire to be inside her was too strong. So he snatched the buttons on his jeans and pushed them down until they bunched around his feet. He felt as though it was all taking too long as he finishing stomping out of his pants and kicking them away. He snatched off his T-shirt and tossed it somewhere.

  Sonja inhaled sharply. He was fueled by the lust in her eyes.

  “Don’t forget the condom,” she whispered.

  All Jay could do was nod, then he ran out of the room, darted into his bathroom, and took a box of condoms out of his leather overnight kit. When he re-entered the space where Sonja was waiting for him, her eyes veered down at his thickness. He was so hard that his dick was pinched against his belly. He ripped the condom open, grabbed hold of his dick, and slid the rubber over it.

  “Shit,” he said. He needed to get ahold of himself.

  Then she spread her legs, and her glistening wetness hastened him. It was go time and he moved swiftly toward her. And now his body was against hers, then her warmth, wetness, and tightness gripped his firmness. As though his spirit had left his body, he experienced intense pleasure with each thrust. He’d never reached such a physical and emotional state, and he fought the urge to cry.

  Their gazes stayed locked as blood rushed through his penis. With each pump, he tried like hell to enjoy it while not blasting off. Then she closed her eyes and pushed the back of her head deeper into the pillow. Seeing her enjoying him turned him on more than he could know. So he lost control. As sensations raced through his dick, he shook, grunted, and groaned, then cried out for the divine.

  Sonja Hester

  It was the sixth time Sonja had climaxed in the last fifteen minutes or so. It was impossible to keep track. Jay was eating her out as though he had been starved for her pussy, and she had no idea her body could experience so many orgasms in so little time. However, after she released the sheets she had been clawing along with the tension in her body, he pelted kisses up her belly then devoured her nipples. It was strange. Jay acted as though he couldn’t get enough of her.

  “I want to taste you some more,” he announced then kissed and licked toward her pussy again.

  She was about to make a request when her stomach growled.

  Jay looked up with a naughty smirk. “But I guess we should eat dinner first.”

  They laughed together, then he helped her out of bed. Her legs shook as she put her shorts and T-shirt back on. It was clear to Sonja that they would be doing it again, and again, and again. She was all in when it came to sex with Jay. The point of no return had been passed.

  They did a lot of kissing as Jay took the steaks and baked potatoes out of the oven. Surprisingly, the meat was cooked perfectly, and though the potatoes had been in the oven longer than they should’ve, they weren’t overdone. They made out some more after Sonja helped Jay plate dinner. He grew another erection as he sat at the table, and she almost lost her head enough to spread her legs over his lap and insert him inside her.

  “Sorry, not without a condom,” she said, despite how desirous she felt.

  “You’re definitely Lorraine Hester’s granddaughter,” he said with a smile.

  She chuckled as she sat in the chair beside him. “Responsibility first and always. It’s impressive how much you remember about Gran.”

  “I always wished she was my grandmother. I knew if she were, I wouldn’t have had to continue with the acting nonsense.”

  “But you’re so good at it. How many times have you been nominated for an Academy Award?”

  His knife ripped through his steak. “Three.” He sniffed bitterly. “That’s why Jim won’t stop bothering me. He wants to win one.”

  Sonja snarled. “Then maybe he should become an actor.”

  Jay watched her with a silent smile again. “You know the day I ran into Elaine at the agency, I was on my way to tell Jim to kiss my ass because I was done with it all.”

  Sonja’s eyes widened with surprise. “You mean you were done with acting?”

  “Yeah,” he whispered and looked deeply into her eyes. “But then Elaine mentioned your script and I knew I couldn’t quit, not yet.” He cupped the side of her face. “It was fucking fate.”

  Sonja felt her breathing speed up. She never believed in fate until now. “Yeah, it was.”

  They allowed the silence to linger between them as Sonja raked her knife through the tender meat. So many things were racing through her mind and body. Sitting there unable to get making love to Jay out of her head was pretty awkward.

  “How are you feeling about what we did?” As usual, he did a great job reading her mind.

  Sonja shrugged as she pushed a few pieces of meat across her plate with her fork. “I don’t know.” She sighed. “Well… I guess I do know.”

  “I don’t want what we did to mean nothing.”

  Sonja looked into his glassy eyes. “What we did meant a lot actually, more than I was ready for.”

  Jay slouched in his seat. “I get it, Son.” He sat up again and looked her square in the eyes. “But listen, you don’t know what kind of life I’ve had.” He sat back again. “I’ve been in rehab four times, and after the last time, I think it finally fucking took. I had some clarity.”

  “Clarity?” she asked.

  “Why I needed the bad shit that I needed. And how I have to rewire my brain to want something different. It’s hard work, especially when I’m doing something I fucking loathe.”

  “Acting?”

  He nodded. “I hate it.”

  She swallowed the lump in her throat. “What do you love then?”

  She sat on the edge of her seat as she waited for an answer, mainly because it seemed as though they had the same problem when it came to life. Sonja couldn’t figure out what she wanted to be or who she really was either.

  The corners of his mouth turned down as he looked off thoughtfully. “You know what I like to do?”

  “What?”

  “I like to cook.”

  “Then you want to be a chef?”

  “I don’t know.” His eyebrows furrowed. “I think so.”

  She nudged him affectionately on his rock-solid bicep. “Then what’s stopping you? After all, you’re Jay fucking West.”

  He tilted his head back to laugh. Goodness gracious, he was sexy.

  Jay flexed his forehead twice. “But do you know what I want now?”

  By the look in her eyes, all she needed was one guess. No words needed.

  They were kissing.

  He was carrying her.

  Soon they would make love again, and again, and as many times as they desired.

  Chapter 13

  Sonja slowly opened her eyes. The room was dusky and perfectly air conditioned. As her mind stirred, it asked her one question. She slid her hands down her sternum to touch her wetness. Sonja grinned and twisted her body as she yawned. Yes, last night did happen.

  Suddenly the smell of bacon and fried potatoes hijacked her senses. She turned toward where Jay had been lying when he held her. He was gone. Excited about seeing his face, she hopped to her feet and put on her shorts, T-shirt, and flip-flops, and then she scurried to the kitchen. Jay was at the oven, pushing hash browns around a skillet with a spatula. His face lit up when he saw her, and the appreciation his expression held made her heart flutter.

  “Good morning,” he said.

  She grinned from ear to ear. “Morning.” She sounded so girly, which was not like her at all.

  And then she did something else that was different a
nd walked over to kiss him for no reason other than he was Jay, a man who was once her best friend but last night became her lover. He liked it so much that he wrapped his arms around her, tugged her closer, and deepened their kiss.

  Sonja’s head spun in a way it hadn’t since the first time Jay kissed her, and last night when they did more kissing and making love than sleeping.

  “So what does this mean?” Jay whispered.

  “I don’t know,” she said before their lips met again.

  “I want you, Sonja.”

  Their mouths melted together.

  “You have me.”

  He leaned back to look in her eyes. “Do I?” His tone was so passionate, so eager to know the answer.

  Suddenly she was back in touch with the fearful parts of herself, which she had neglected from the moment she chose to make love to Jay. These parts protected her from giving her heart to a man only to end up like her mother. When her inner guardian spoke, its unrelenting tone reminded her that men leave unless she was willing to give up her independence, hopes, and a lot of dignity in order to convince him to stay.

  And so she journeyed through his eyes and into his soul. This man wasn’t any Joe Blow off the streets—it was Jay. As she took a deep breath, Sonja became acutely aware of his arms around her body, his nearness, and the warmth emanating from his skin. She pictured herself standing with him like that every day of their lives. Sonja admitted to herself that because of the fear within her, she didn’t know how to be his partner. Hell, she didn’t know how to be anyone’s mate.

  Jay continued searching her eyes for an answer, so Sonja dropped her head and confessed, “You have me now. Let’s just start from here.”

  Jay pressed two fingers under her chin and gently raised her face. “Okay.” He pressed his lips against hers tenderly. “We have nothing but time.”

  He kissed the stream of happy tears that rolled down her cheek.

  Of course they made love again. Last night’s sex was bolstered by them being unable to keep their hands off each other, but that morning’s session was directed by a force Sonja had never known existed. Sonja and Jay had reached the elusive apex of lovemaking. She actually felt her soul merging into his—and at the moment of synthesis, with his erection shifting in and out of her wetness and their mouths kissing feverishly, she actually felt herself floating.

  They could’ve lain in bed all day and repeated reaching that addictive state which was the mere definition of making love, but instead they showered, dressed, and ate breakfast. They were on their way to a museum in town, figuring since museums were dedicated to the past, in a city which appeared to be looking toward the future, the institution would be a great place to start.

  With one hand he guided the steering wheel, and the other held her hand. Sonja looked out the window, narrowing her eyes at the huge Walmart and then another Starbucks. She was convinced now more than ever that they were searching for a needle in a haystack, and for that, she was losing interest in the reasons that had brought her to Texas in the first place.

  “Hey?” Jay asked.

  She turned quickly enough to meet his gaze before he was forced to watch the road again. The familiarity of his eyes made her smile. “What?”

  “What are you thinking?” he asked.

  She shrugged indifferently. “I don’t know. Maybe we should just either call my grandmother’s bluff or scrap the entire project.” She sighed. “I have been obsessed for too long. I think it’s time to start focusing on other things.”

  “Yeah, like what?” Jay asked.

  Sonja blinked at the stark daylight beyond the windshield, trying to come up with an answer. “I don’t know,” she finally admitted. “I have to give it some more thought.”

  Jay grunted thoughtfully as he nodded. “Son, may I share something with you?”

  She felt her eyebrows pull together. “Sure.”

  “I’m talking as someone who’s done the wrong fucking thing for too long.” He glanced at her as her frown intensified. “I’ve come to learn that it’s good to take your time when it comes to life. There’s not much worse than running for too long up the wrong road, and then realizing you’re unhappy as hell.” He swallowed hard. “Then you stop, turn back, and you can’t even see where you started from.”

  She squeezed his hand, and he did the same. “I’m sorry. I know you hate being an actor, but you can be sixty years old and it’ll never be too late to be something else.”

  The navigator announced that it was time to make the final turn to their destination. Jay did.

  “I know,” he said, looking ahead at the parking lot. “But first let’s see what we can find at the museum before we start changing our paths.” He winked at her.

  “I’m all for that,” she said, smiling at him appreciatively.

  Jay stopped the car in a parking space, and then put on a pair of shades and a red baseball cap with a white visor. “Are you ready?”

  She took notice of an exhibit on the lawn featuring a derrick and shifting pumps. People surrounded the gate, observing the hammers as they went up and down, seemingly mesmerized by the movement. She hadn’t expected so many people to be visiting the museum on an early Saturday afternoon.

  “Are you sure you’re going to be able to get away with this?” she asked.

  “Get away with what?”

  She shoved a hand in his direction. “Being Jay West.”

  He tugged the bill of his cap and smirked. “I’m going incognito. So come on, let’s get this show on the road.”

  Jay hurried out of the car and was over to open her door before she could criticize his not-so-clandestine disguise. He hooked his arm around her waist as they walked to the entrance of the museum. She became anxious every time a teenage girl or an older woman looked in their direction. She recalled how excited the workers at the car rental place were to meet him. He had probably been posted all over their social network feeds within a matter of minutes after they had left.

  Sonja was relieved once they made it inside. Jay paid for their tickets with cash, and off they went, hoping to find some information on Harlan Duke. Jay kept his arm around her waist, and they tried to avoid as many people as possible. After a while, Sonja felt as if they were moving from one exhibit to the next and learning nothing more than what they already knew.

  And then she heard, “Oh my God, it’s Jay West!”

  Jay and Sonja quickly turned toward whoever said that. It was a guy who appeared to be in his early twenties. Suddenly, young girls’ screams drowned out the gasps and people repeating his name. Jay and Sonja looked at each other with wide eyes. It was too late to run. His fans were caving in on them.

  “Don’t let go of my hand,” Jay kept telling her.

  He was signing as many autographs as he could with his right hand while Sonja clung to his left. They never stopped walking toward the exit, although they were moving at a snail’s pace. It felt as though pure mayhem had broken out. Heck, Sonja hadn’t known that many people were in the museum. When they cleared one group of manic fans, they walked right into another one.

  “Excuse me! Get back! Mr. West!” a loud man’s voice called.

  Suddenly the path ahead of them thinned out and two security guards were heading their way, waving Sonja and Jay toward them. Jay tightened his grip on Sonja’s hand and waved at the crowds as he rushed through the path that had been opened for them. They made it through a door and went down a short hall before entering an office.

  A woman wearing a black pantsuit with a white shirt watched them with a scowl until it seemed she forced herself to smile. “Mr. West, you should’ve called and informed us of your intention to visit our museum.”

  Jay flashed his winning smile as he shook the woman’s hand. “I’m sorry for being so careless.” He thumbed over his shoulder toward the door. “I hope no one got hurt back there.”

  After a moment of seemingly getting lost in Jay’s charm, the woman took notice of Sonja, then combed her finge
rs through her hair. “No one got hurt.” Her eyes fell back on Jay. “By the way, I’m Francis.”

  Jay’s smile grew broader. “Francis, we’re here for information on a man named Harlan Duke. He was an early pioneer of Midland and we want to know more about him.”

  “He was an oil baron here back in the fifties,” Sonja added.

  Francis’s scrutiny bounced between Sonja and Jay before her gaze fell on the security guard. “Nate, I can take it from here.” She crossed her arms.

  The way Nate looked at them made Sonja feel as if they were the strangers who had just walked into a saloon back in the days of the Wild West.

  “What do you want to know about Harlan Duke?” Francis asked as soon as they were alone.

  Jay and Sonja gave each other quick, relieved looks.

  “As much as we can,” he said.

  She folded her arms again. “But why?”

  “Um…” There were right and wrong answers to her question, only Sonja had no idea which side the truth would land on.

  “I’m researching for new projects,” Jay said, “and I heard this guy Harlan Duke was an early pioneer from the oil boom in this town, so we came here to learn more about him.”

  “Right,” Sonja said, relieved Jay was able to think faster on his feet than her. “But you don’t have any information about him. We thought that was strange.”

  Francis studied them with lowered eyebrows. “I see.” She folded her arms. “We have information on Harlan Duke, but he’s only included in our private collection.”

  “Okay…” Jay said.

  “You would need permission to—”

  Jay threw his hands up. “Ma'am, a guy like me doesn’t come all this way without permission. I know his late wife, and she’s onboard.”

  Sonja fought the urge to widen her eyes in distress about the fib Jay just told. She didn’t want to tip Francis off.

  The woman had just unfolded her arms and was still studying them scrupulously. “All right then. Follow me.”