Pumpkin Spice

by C. L. Ryder

  “I’m okay, Bethany, really. And you didn’t knock me out, you just stunned me.” She grinned. “Next time, it’s not gonna happen the same way. I’ll be ready.”

  “Okay, I’ll remember that. But seriously, Jane. Why don’t we go somewhere, just so I don’t feel so guilty? We could… go for coffee?”

  They turned down one of the rows of cars. “This is mine,” Jane said, stopping in front of a black Tesla Model S. “And I’d love to go somewhere, just… not coffee.”

  “You don’t like coffee?”

  “No, it’s not that, I just would prefer to not have any caffeine at this hour.”

  “I understand. Okay, well… I just realized I have no idea what’s good to get at this hour besides coffee. I don’t usually go out much.”

  Jane leaned against the side of her car. “How about a drink? I know a place. I know the owner.”

  “I don’t usually drink on weekdays, but… okay.”

  “Hop in. I’ll drive. It’s nearby.”

  As Bethany settled into the Tesla’s leather seats, she wondered just what kind of business Jane owned. She considered asking her about it again, but remembered the answer that Jane had given her back in the gym and decided against it. Sometimes people preferred not to talk about work, and she understood that, especially if they worked for a high-profile company or were majorly successful, and Bethany got the impression that Jane wasn’t just putting on airs.

  Drives a Tesla and she’s from the Bay Area, she thought. She must have some kind of tech business.

  “Ohh,” Jane groaned with a wince as she slowly reclined into the seat and drew the seat belt across her chest. “I’m going to be sore tomorrow. You punch hard.” She rubbed her jaw and backed the car out.

  Bethany gave her an apologetic look. “Your head okay?”

  “Yeah. Just a little sore.”

  The bar was nearby, and the route to get there took them straight past LeFlorette’s. Bethany glanced out at the shop as they passed, taking in the darkened windows that, at this hour just few months ago, would’ve still been glowing and silhouetted with night-time business. The sudden tightness that gripped Bethany’s chest only deepened when they passed by The Standard, still bustling with customers.

  Bethany breathed a sigh and looked away. Leave work at work.

  “Everything alright?” Jane asked.

  “Yeah,” said Bethany. “I just realized that maybe we should’ve changed. Sweaty gym clothes.”

  “It’s alright. It’ll just be a quick drink anyway. Work night, after all.”

  She swung a left and then pulled the car into a small parking lot. “We’re here.”

  The place was one that Bethany had heard of before. Jackson had mentioned it, and he’d served customers who frequented it. It was a fairly upscale place for the neighborhood, with a sleek modern interior that let you know immediately that you weren’t going to find three-dollar PBRs on draught. It was mostly empty, with a young couple seated at a corner booth snacking on a cheese plate and sipping red wine. Bethany felt even weirder about waltzing in wearing a pair of gym shorts and a hoodie, but Jane seemed completely nonplussed about it.

  “Hey, Eddie,” Jane called, and a bearded man in a knit beanie standing behind the bar turned around.

  “Jane! Hey, what’s up? Welcome.”

  “Can we take this table?” Jane asked, pointing to one of the tables against the wall.

  “Sure thing. What can I get you?”

  “Scotch and soda, please. Not too strong. What do you want, Bethany?”

  Scotch and soda. Bethany hadn’t met many women who liked that drink. “I’ll take the same.”

  They went over to the table, and again Jane winced as she lowered herself into the seat with a long and strained groan.

  “Oh, now you’re exaggerating,” Bethany laughed. “I didn’t hit you that hard.”

  “I thought you wanted to go somewhere because you were worried about me,” Jane said, giving her a wounded smile.

  “Yeah. Well I’d feel bad if I found out later I gave you concussion and nobody got you to a hospital.”

  “How do you know I’m not married?” Jane asked.

  “Well, obviously, you’re not wearing a ring.”

  “Okay. I could have a girlfriend at home.” Jane said. “Or a boyfriend,” she added quickly. “Someone.”

  The ordering of her response made Bethany blink. “Well, I don’t think you’d be staying out at a bar with someone you just met if you did. Unless you’re that kind of person, but I don’t think you are.”

  “Fair enough,” Jane said. “Well, you’re right. I don’t have anyone at home to make sure I don’t have brain damage. So, thank you.”

  “Your scotch and sodas,” said Eddie, coming up to the table. “Enjoy, guys.”

  They picked up their glasses and held them up in a salute. “Cheers to… not having brain damage,” Bethany said with a laugh.

  Jane smiled, leaning in. “Cheers to that. And to us meeting. I’m looking forward to getting back in the ring with you, Bethany.”

  They clinked glasses and drank.

  Jane clicked on the light in her condo and tossed the gym bag down onto the living room floor next to the towers of moving boxes, and pulled off her shirt as she made her way to the bathroom. Her chin throbbed lightly, and her chest and abs felt like tenderized meat. She smiled. It was all a good hurt. She hadn’t taken a beating like this in a while. And she certainly hadn’t met anyone in a long time who could dish it out like Bethany could.

  Bethany.

  Jane tugged her gym shorts off her thighs and turned on the hot water in the shower until the mirror started to steam up. She stepped underneath the water, gritting her teeth for a moment as the heat nipped her skin and bathed her soreness until it all felt wonderfully numb. She let the water tumble down over her head, drenching her entirely, and ran her fingers back through her hair. As she closed her eyes, her mind filled with a vision: her face. Her strikingly beautiful face, with those eyes—those blue eyes. They were the last thing that she’d seen before getting tagged in the jaw, and they were burned into her mind along with the burst of whirling white blooms that looked so much like flowers.

  She was good at reading people’s eyes. It’d always been something she had a skill in; it had armed her in business school and had been honed through all the meetings and negotiations she’d had to go through to get The Standard started. The feeling that she’d gotten from Bethany’s eyes was that she was a girl who’d lost something, or she was trying to find something. Jane wasn’t entirely sure, but it was there. She’d seen it in the flash before she was knocked flat on her ass.

  “Tell me something,” Jane had said when they were back at the bar with their scotch and sodas. “I noticed your intensity went up when our instructor gave his talk about stress.”

  “Mm,” Bethany said, her face in her glass.

  “What were you thinking about?”

  She watched as Bethany swirled the ice in the glass, and knew that the question might’ve been too intrusive given their new acquaintance, but she wanted to know.

  Bethany swigged down the rest of her drink and set the glass down. For a moment, Jane thought that she wasn’t going to give her any answer at all, but she finally spoke up. “Have you ever wondered about the direction your life has taken you?”

  “Sure. Doesn’t everyone?”

  “I guess so. I’d been so sure about my life that I never really stopped to think about where I was going, until recently. We get so used to things, you know? We think it’ll all be the same forever. Things are going good, they’ve always been, what could possibly change? And then, bam. Curve ball. Suddenly you’re left wondering about everything. About if everything you thought you were so sure about is even right for you anymore.” She chuckled. “I’m sure you’re thinking, ‘everyone goes through that at your age’, or something.”

  “Hey,” Jane said, patting the table. “I’m not an old woman. I’m only th
irty-three.”

  “Sorry,” Bethany laughed.

  “To be honest… I’m going through just about the same thing right now. Can you tell me any specifics? Maybe I can offer some elderly advice.” She smiled, and Bethany laughed again.

  “Well… I’d rather not go too much into it. It’s… complicated.”

  “Okay,” Jane said, leaning back in her chair. “Fair enough.”

  “Basically it has to do with my business. And the future of said business. And what the future of said business means for the future of me.”

  Jane nodded. “What is your business?”

  She watched as Bethany ran the tips of fingers along the perspiring surface of her glass, her eyes drawn down. A slow smile pulled her lips. “Sorry. I’d rather not say, exactly.”

  “I understand,” Jane said. There it was. That flame of curiosity, and it was burning brighter.

  In the shower, Jane lathered shampoo into her hair. She had her eyes shut, and her mind still lingered around the memory of their conversation in the bar. She was intrigued. She felt that ache to know what it was that Bethany was going through—something that she hadn’t felt in a long time. She wanted to know more about her. She was curious about her. No, it was more than just a normal curiosity. When was the last time she’d had this feeling…?

  She could hardly remember.

  She washed the shampoo from her hair, her thoughts turning to Bethany’s clear blue eyes. They were gorgeous, and her heart was beating faster just imagining them. Her heart throbbed… and so did her sex.

  Her thoughts were turning quickly to fantasy. She wanted to see those eyes again. She wanted to see what they looked like when they were brimming with desire, when they were looking back at her and only her.

  This is just a fantasy… nothing will come of this.

  Jane wrapped her fingers around her quickly stiffening cock, savoring the warmth of the water that cascaded down her body. She held her eyes shut as she slipped her fingers between her thighs and began to touch herself, and a shiver of pleasure through her body sent her other hand out to stable herself against the shower wall. Even with the wash of the shower, she could feel how wet she was, and each push of her fingertips was matched with a flash of her face, her eyes, her voice.

  In her mind, Jane saw Bethany down on her knees, pushing her mouth up between her legs, her ice-blue gaze begging give it to me.

  You’re a fighter, Bethany, Jane thought. What would it be like to spar with you in another arena? God, I’d love to know.

  She let out a low moan that was lost in the sound of the water pouring down over her. She rubbed harder, faster, her toes curling in as she clenched her muscles and tried to deny the climax that was quickly hurtling towards her. Despite her efforts, she couldn’t control it. Her fingers just kept moving, kept drawing out the climax that was building down between her legs. It wouldn’t stop…

  Her legs trembled as it hit her, and she slammed her palm once against the shower wall as her muscles tensed. I’m coming! Her eyes snapped open and a strained moan shivered out from her lips as white flowers burst like fireworks across her vision and the waves of her orgasm pulsing over her again and again.

  “Oh, shit…” she murmured.

  The white shapes that were swirling across her vision slowly faded to spots. It was the hardest she’d ever made herself come before.

  I’m really seeing flowers, she thought, trying to blink herself back to normal. She felt like she’d stood up too fast. Maybe she hit me harder than I thought.

  After finishing with the shower, Jane weaved through the boxes stacked up in the bedroom and climbed into bed, naked. It’d be another week till she’d see her again.

  How did this even happen? This was completely unexpected.

  The last thing that crossed through Jane Pumpkin’s mind before she fell asleep was that she probably ought to unpack. Unpack, and get real furniture. Her gut told her that it wouldn’t be too long until she’d host a guest—and her intuition usually wasn’t wrong.

  Six

  The lunch boom that LeFlorette’s had experienced two days prior hadn’t decided to repeat itself again, so Bethany and Jackson stood at the counter listening to Frank, their only dine-in customer of the hour, as they sipped on hot cups of black coffee.

  “You should’ve seen her, Jackson,” Frank said. “I told her she needed to get her ass into the gym again. Bam bam! Those punches. Bethany, coffee and sandwiches are not the only things you do well.”

  “Once she feels competitive about something, there’s no stopping her,” Jackson said matter-of-factly.

  “The new chick was good too,” Frank said. “Surprised me. How’d you know her, Bethany?”

  Bethany looked up from her coffee. “I didn’t. I’d just met her.”

  “Oh, it seemed like you knew each other.”

  Jackson looked over at Bethany with an intrigued expression on his face. Bethany pretended not notice. Frank drank the rest of his coffee and inspected the empty cup.

  “Another coffee, Frank?” Bethany asked.

  “I would, but I got a class starting soon. Gotta get back. Well, pleasure chatting as always.” He pulled out a ten and placed it on the counter.

  “You too, Frank,” Jackson said with a cheery smile.

  “Keep the change. See you two later.”

  “See you, Frank,” said Bethany, picking up the bill from table and waving it in a little salute. Frank waved and headed out the door, leaving the shop empty except for two college girls reading books on the corner sofa.

  “So, who’s this girl you met at boxing?” Jackson asked, grinning. “You weren’t going to mention her to me earlier?”

  Bethany shrugged. “I didn’t think it was important.”

  She straightened up. “Not important? Bethany, you never meet anyone new who you get along with. Come on, was she cute? Was she your type? Maybe she was, since you didn’t hesitate to knock her out.” He laughed. “You’ve always been so weird with women.”

  Bethany tipped back the rest of her coffee and took their empty cups back into the kitchen to wash them. “She’s just a new friend. That’s it, that’s all.”

  Jackson’s grin settled into a little smirk that he hid behind the rim of his coffee cup as he finished the drink. “Yeah, okay,” he said, following her into the kitchen. He leaned against the edge of their stainless steel industrial sink next to Bethany, who refused to budge her gaze from what she was doing.

  “Cup?” she asked, sticking her open hand out to Jackson, eyes still down at the running faucet. He handed it over. Bethany could feel Jackson’s inquisitive smile burning at her. He was curious. She understood that. After all, he was right; it had been a really long time since she’d befriended anyone—outside an owner-customer relationship, at least. And it’d been an especially long time since she’d let any new girls into her life. She knew what he was thinking, and it made her flush with embarrassment.

  “But… do you like her?” he asked innocently.

  “No,” Bethany said firmly. “I mean, yes. As a friend. She’s an interesting person. Surprisingly, I got along with her. But that’s it.”

  “You’re going to see her again?”

  “Damnit, Jackson,” she laughed.

  “As a friend,” he offered. “Come on, throw me a bone, Bethany. I’ve known you for how many years, and I think I’ve only seen you with a girlfriend, what? Once? And I don’t think you’ve ever made any friends outside the shop.”

  “I’ve got you. I’ve got Marcos. I’ve got our customers—what’s left of them at least. I’ve got friends.”

  “Okay, but you know what I mean…”

  Bethany put the cups into the drying rack and wiped her hands on the seat of her pants. She had to give him something otherwise she knew he’d never stop bugging him about it. “She said she was a business owner. An entrepreneur. She just recently moved to San Diego from the Bay Area, so she’s probably in tech.”

  “Wow, impressi
ve. She didn’t say?”

  They walked back to the front counter, and Bethany poured them two glasses of water. “No. She didn’t seem comfortable sharing. She seemed successful, though. She was driving a Tesla.”

  “Tesla? Isn’t that that science dude?”

  “Yeah, but it’s also a type of new fancy electric car. Anyway, it’s not cheap.”

  “Oh,” he said, nodding.

  “But that’s fine, I wasn’t interested in telling her about the shop either. It was nice to talk with another business owner. I didn’t get specific about it, but I did tell her I was going through rough times.”