by E. C. Towers
“Please just stop right now; stop insulting me. You’re lying. The next time you open your mouth, the truth better come out, or this discussion is OVER! She couldn’t hold back the tears of hurt as she said something every part of her body disagreed with.
“And whatever it is that we have, or whatever I thought it was turning into… it will be over,” she said it slowly and quietly, but with a sense of defeat. Hardie understood how serious she was. Jessica looked down on the ground so she wouldn’t have to look into his sorrowful eyes.
Silence filled the room.
“I like what we have, I want it to grow,” he whimpered. “Please Jessica, I’m so sorry. I promise. This will never happen again. Please. Jessica, please...” he walked to her and hugged her, burying his face into her soft hair She pushed him off, and Hardie backed away. There was nothing to say. He couldn’t tell her the truth, and she knew that he was hiding something.
“You were with Linda. Linda St. John, the one who lives on the giant yacht in the harbor. You were with her. “
“What!?” Hardie feigned disbelief, but it was obvious to the two of them that it was muted, fake, and he surely wasn’t going to get an Oscar nomination for it.
“I’m right, and you know it,” Jessica quietly informed him, as she walked past him to her room. Hardie watched her go because he didn’t know exactly what to do. She had wanted to let Jessica in on everything, but he was afraid. Because of course Jessica was going to make him stop, and then he would be faced with the decision on who to choose, and he didn’t think he could. Jessica was the kind of girl that had him thinking about the future, marriage, kids. She had the potential to be The One. Linda was in a whole other league; not wifey material, but life experience material. When was he ever going to get this kind of sexual freedom ever again? He was young, he was single, and he was inexperienced. He knew that if he somehow didn’t take full advantage of the extremely rare situation he was in, it would just become a blip in his memory. A story he would recall with regret and longing for the rest of his days and into his deathbed.
Moments later, he was knocking on Jessica’s bedroom door. She peeked out before opening to him, as if she wasn’t expecting him to follow her to her room even though she was. Hardie walked in and stood by her bed.
“How...?” Hardie stammered. “Were you spying on me?”
“Spying on you?!” she laughed. “Exactly how fucking desperate and sad do you think I am? What do you think, I’m so grateful to be a fuck buddy to THE studliest stud of all fucking time, Hardie Baker? That every girl is a threat because I don’t want them stealing your magical dick!?”
Jessica didn’t know she had the ability to reach that high a volume, let alone string together more cuss words in one statement than she had ever uttered in two years combined.
“I get that you’re mad but don’t say anything you’re going to regret later,” he warned.
“Oh, don’t worry, it doesn’t matter what I say now, I’m already full of regret!” It was as if she couldn’t stop yelling because she knew if she stopped yelling and being irrational it wouldn’t matter what he said, she was going to forgive him.
Despite whatever it was that he did, all she wanted to do right now was put her lips on his and slowly melt into him. He must have sensed it because he leaned in for a kiss. She was caught off guard but held on to the kiss a little bit too long, and by then, she couldn't back away. His kiss as light and soft and filled with the same longing she had been feeling as soon as he walked into her bedroom. Jessica placed their problems on hold as she let herself melt into his strong warm arms.
Oddly enough, the tension, the things they had left unsaid, their fear for their relationship all intensified their lovemaking, with Jessica being the most affected. She was rougher, angrier; she pushed Hardie onto her bed and practically growled as she undressed him and took his cock into her mouth. He was as equally intense by gripping her hair, though he had little choice but to let her take the lead. Hardie got pushed down on the bed as Jessica straddled him, slowly lowering herself and taking him inside her, inch by inch. Hardie leaned his head back and took a deep breath, holding back the urge to push himself further inside her. Instead, he took in the sounds of her as she used him to pleasure herself in whatever manner she wished. The tiny moan that would escape her lips every time she took his cock all the way inside; the light slapping of his thighs on her ass as she increased the speed. Hardie looked at Jessica, completely lost in her pleasure, with wisps of hair fallen over her face, and her small, perky breasts quivering with delight each time she slid down his rigid pole.
After a while, Hardie grabbed Jessica and turned her over. He was experiencing an all-body pleasure he had never felt before. It radiated throughout his entire being as he hungrily mounted her. A light sheen of perspiration reflected off every curve of her body, making her look ethereal. Hardie put his hot mouth on her breast as he tried not to scream in pleasure, coming in her with uncontrollable spasms.
18
Being Watched
Tim couldn’t fucking believe it. Hardie was having sex with her! Did this guy have a golden dick or what? He crouched down a little lower so that Hardie wouldn’t see him outside of Jessica’s window. Tim knew Hardie had been screwing Jessica on the side because he overheard her at the grocery store telling a friend about how she thought she was in love with Hardie. Tim’s ears had perked up when he heard the name Hardie from a girl behind him gushing over how she had found “the one.” It was a conversation that he would normally tune out to avoid becoming ill, but when he heard that fool’s name he turned around and smiled.
“Hardie…I know that guy. He works with me.”
“Oh, my god,” she responded, embarrassed, “did you hear what I said? Please don’t tell Hardie!”
“Oh, I didn’t hear that much, I just heard you say his name,” Tim lied. By the time he left the grocery store, he had sufficiently reassured her that he wouldn’t tell Hardie anything. He subtly probed her, trying to determine if she was one of Linda’s club members. He gathered that she wasn’t, and bookmarked this nugget of information for possible use at a later date. And the opportunity to use that information presented itself when Tim saw Hardie stepping out of Linda’s car.
After he had walked past, Tim got on the phone and called Hardie's apartment, hoping Jessica would answer, and she did.
“Hello, may I speak to Hardie, please,” Tim smiled, delighted to take the fucker down.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Hardie’s not home right now. May I ask who’s calling?”
“This is John, Linda's personal chauffeur. Please let Mr. Baker know that he left his hat in the vehicle tonight. I can happily return it to him at his convenience, just please tell him to call Linda when he can.”
Tim smiled at the complete silence that met him after he spoke.
Jessica cleared her throat, “Oh. Um, okay, I’ll give him the message. Can I get Linda’s number?”
“Oh, no need to worry about that, Miss. Mr. Baker knows how to contact Ms. St. John.”
“Oh, okay. I’ll…uh, I’ll give him the message.”
“Thank you so very much,” Tim replied graciously before closing the line.
* * *
Jessica lay there next to Hardie, spent and physically satisfied, even in her stunned confusion. She didn’t know exactly what to say or do. Where could they go from here? Jessica suspected from the beginning that Hardie had been quietly attending the parties, but after they had gotten together, her suspicions seemed to go unfounded. She began to believe that maybe the rumors about him were just that: rumors.
It took her by complete surprise to hear that not only was he was a member of those perverted gatherings, but that he seemed to have a personal relationship with Linda. He had been in her car, and he didn't live far enough to just be innocently hitching a ride with her, of all people. Could she blame him, though? Linda was an extremely attractive woman who oozed sexual energy. Even Jessica gawked at her when s
he walked by.
Hardie turned to her, knowing exactly what Jessica was thinking about.
“We need to talk,” he said, quietly.
Jessica didn’t move, staring at the ceiling as Hardie explained his involvement with Linda. The parties he had gone to, the rules of their relationship, the fact that they hadn’t had sex, as he saw it. Most importantly, there was a camera in his room.
“What? There’s a camera… for her… in your room?”
“Yes,” he answered to the point, knowing what the girl was realizing, “she’s watched us through it, as well…” He explained that Linda had stopped inviting him to parties immediately after she watched what had happened between him and Jessica.
She rose from the bed, covering herself with a blanket and sat down by her desk. Jessica couldn’t be near him right now, even though this was the closest she had ever felt with him. Hardie had told her everything, and she knew it was because he truly cared for her. She believed that his declarations were genuine and true, however, in all his explanations and apologies, she didn’t hear him say anything about leaving Linda or cutting off ties with her.
“Listen, let’s just cut to the chase, Hardie. I want you all to myself, in a traditional, boring, boyfriend and girlfriend way. I have a connection with you that I’ve never found with anyone else. It seems like you feel the same, which is why I want to know if you intend to end things with Linda.”
He swallowed and looked down at his hands.
And for Jessica, that was his answer. “Well, enjoy yourself, Hardie. I hope Linda will be the greatest adventure and conquest of your life. I get it. I get exactly why you don’t want to give that up. You’re young. I’m young. We have the rest of our lives ahead of us. And Linda, well...I wouldn’t turn her down either.”
Hardie was having the hardest time reading her, as Jessica spoke clearly but avoided looking at him.
“But after tonight, after this… we’re going our separate ways. This has to be over, and it is over.”
Hardie didn’t know what to say or do as he sat paralyzed in her bed. She could see that he wasn’t budging, even if he would still try and win her back with sweet words and sorrowful puppy eyes again. Jessica hurriedly slipped on her sweats and t-shirt before walking out of her room and into the kitchen. As she walked out, her brother was passed-out in the living room. Great, now she had to deal with his drunk ass when all she wanted to do was get a glass of wine and take a bath.
She walked over to him and removed his shoes before covering him with a throw blanket. He seemed fine, and sleeping on the couch wasn’t going to kill him. Jessica decided to go ahead and take her bath.
As she popped the cork on the sparkling wine, her brother woke up with a start.
“Hey, Jessica,” he stretched out on the couch and kicked off his shoes. “I didn’t even know you were home, sis.’ Is Hardie here?”
Jessica suddenly broke down into sobs, much to her surprise, which sobered up her brother rather immediately.
“Wait...wait… whoa. What’s going on, sis’?”
At that moment, Hardie walked out into the kitchen, and Jessica hastily wiped off her tears.
“Oh, hey man, there you are.”
“Hey, man,” Hardie nodded at him, trying not to stare at Jessica’s tear-stained face. It took all that he had in him not to take her into his arms and comfort her.
“Please,” Hardie whispered, “let’s talk this out; we can work this out.”
“Fuck you, Hardie,” Jessica gnarled silently, stomping off into her room with the entire bottle of wine, fully intending to finish it before the night was over.
“What the fuck is going on, bro? What did you do to my sister!?”
Trent was now inches away from his face, and Hardie was getting a nice whiff of his drink of choice that night.
“I didn’t do anything man, come on.” He tried to walk nonchalantly past him to his bedroom, but her brother wasn’t having it. He grabbed Hardie by the shoulder and spun him around.
“Why did my sister yell at you?! You better answer me, man, before I have to bash your fucking face in.”
Hardie attempted to calm him down as Jessica stepped out of her room to get her brother away from him. He was drunk, and she was afraid he was going to throw a punch, and that Hardie would have to hurt him. Hardie was twice her brother’s size and nearly twice as wide. Her brother was barely bigger than she was.
“What did he do to you, Jessica?!”
“He didn't do anything. Calm down!” Jessica got in between her brother and Hardie. “I’m just mad at him because he fucked up my dinner.” She didn’t even know what she meant by that, but thankfully her brother was drunk enough not to ask any further questions and just kept babbling on about how he was going to kick Hardie’s ass. But she noticed he had already began to back off a little, possibly realizing that picking a fight with Hardie wasn’t a good idea.
After Jessica had put her brother to bed, she peeked into Hardie’s room and saw him in bed, staring at the ceiling. He caught her movement and turned to look at her, with tears in his eyes. She turned around and walked back to her room right before she burst into tears herself.
* * *
Tim practically got caught in the bushes as he started shaking and punching his hand in frustration. What kind of gold-covered dick was this guy working with? She just found out he had just fucked some other bitch, and yet he still managed to have angry sex with Jessica? She even saved his dumb ass from getting beat up by her brother?
Tim expected a lot of things to happen when he let the cat out of the bag to Jessica, but he definitely didn’t expect that fucker to get laid. He had to admit that their sex was so hot, he rubbed himself off while he watched. Tim started to walk back to his house, shrouded in disappointment when he took an immediate left and headed for the dock.
* * *
Linda lay in bed thinking about Hardie. Now more than ever, she wanted him, just as it was starting to get complicated. He didn’t say it outright, but he really liked Jessica. It showed when she saw him having sex with the girl, and it showed in the fact that he didn’t immediately renounce Jessica when he was trying to make it up to Linda. And now here she was, exactly where she thought she would end up the first time she saw Hardie. Linda had fallen for him, and now it was getting harder and harder for her to stick to her rule about not getting involved. She thought about flashing a green light to Hardie’s app.
Suddenly, Linda heard footsteps landing outside of her door. It sounded like it was getting closer and closer to her bedroom, but how could that be? There's no way anyone could have gotten onboard; the ramp was up and shut down for the night. Linda bolted out of bed and grabbed the gun she kept in a secret compartment in her dresser. The footsteps stopped at her door, and she didn’t wait for a knock before she threw the door open and pointed the gun.
Tim jumped back as the door was yanked open, just as he was about to knock. He found himself face to face with the barrel of a gun and Linda on the other end, pointing it at him.
“Who the fuck are you, and how did you get on my boat?!” she screamed, full of adrenaline and getting the shakes. Tim was afraid she would pull the trigger, accidentally.
“Whoa, whoa, lady!” Tim backed up slowly with his hands up in the air.
“How the hell did you get on my boat?!” she screamed again.
“First of all, if you’re so fuckin’ worried about your safety, hire some security you cheapskate!” Tim screamed back.
Driftwood Cove was a small and safe beach town, and Linda didn’t really need to think about keeping security unless she was entertaining. The gun she now held up had been first placed aboard by her late husband. He hadn’t shared Linda’s sense of ease at being moored in a $30 million yacht at the end of an open dock, nor on the high seas, without adequate precautions, and was always prepared for intruders. When David was alive, they had maintained at least one security guard with them at all times. When he passed, Linda had let m
ost of the staff go, feeling them to be purely unnecessary and stifling. The chef and cleaning staff were aboard only during the day. It had been a while since she had any privacy, and how was she supposed to finally restart her life with near-strangers constantly hovering around?
“Get off my boat before I make your head a smear on the floor!” Linda’s anxiety was peaking, but she kept the gun pointed at his head, spreading out her stance to find a better aim.
“Listen, listen… you’re making it too easy to get on this boat,” Tim started to explain.
She cocked her gun and Tim backed up even more.
“All anyone needs to do to is swim or row a small boat to the back of your yacht and reach for that ladder.”
Linda was dumbfounded. She had completely forgotten about the rear, which was jut far out from the dock, as the vessel was more than 130 feet long. She had mindlessly never thought how simply it could be boarded from the water.
“I’m here to tell you something about Hardie.”
Linda’s thoughts about revising her security procedures were immediately placed on hold when she heard the boy’s name. But she wanted to play it cool and pretend like she had no idea who Hardie was.
“Who the hell is Hardie?” she stared him straight in the eye, trying not to flinch with her lie.
“Don’t give me that shit; I know you know who Hardie is. Stop the crap, Linda. I know something you might want to know, so are you going to shut up and let me tell you, or are we going to keep pretending you don’t know Hardie? It doesn’t matter to me, either way.”
Linda slowly lowered the gun but kept her grip on it, ready to pop a cap into this hipster Ichabod Crane’s ass.
“So, tell me,” she prompted for him to continue with this revelation he had come to deliver.
“Your precious Hardie. You know the guy whose dick you probably just had your mouth around in your car tonight?” Tim’s anger was bubbling to the surface, and he took a breath to try to remain calm.
