MADversary

by Jamison, Jade C.

  She opened her eyes again to see him sliding on a condom. Then he kissed one of her breasts again, consuming a nipple, making Megan realize that maybe she had a little more life in her. He brought his lips to hers and tasted her deep, then slid inside her.

  He fit perfectly, Megan thought. She felt like Cinderella in some perverse sense, like her vagina was the slipper that fit Tyler’s cock to perfection. If she hadn’t been so aroused, she would have giggled, but instead Tyler was causing her mind to get serious again. Her breathing deepened again and she heard the rhythm of Tyler inhaling and exhaling, close to matching hers. He was taking his time, but the sensation was exquisite. Finally, Megan said, “Deeper, Tyler,” and she opened her eyes long enough to see how dark his irises had grown, just like when they’d been kids. Only now, he was a god…his jaw was tight, his eyes glinting, his arms taut and bulging. He obeyed, drilling into her with such intensity that she cried out again, unable to hold back. And her orgasm continued to rock her until he finished, resting his hot forehead against hers as sleep overtook her in its merciless grasp.

  Chapter Twelve

  MEGAN STRETCHED. HER neck and back felt like smooth velvet. She couldn’t help the smile that crossed her face. She knew she’d just had a satisfying, happy dream, but she couldn’t entice it to the surface of her consciousness. It was just a fading bundle of emotions and blurry images.

  But that wasn’t the only reason she was smiling. Sure, she’d slept all night long, but she had come close to wakefulness more times throughout the night than she could remember. And her thoughts were always on Tyler. It didn’t hurt that he’d held her close a good chunk of the evening. At one point, she lay on her side and Tyler was snuggled up right next to her, holding her against his body. She was wrapped in the cocoon of his arms and she felt safe and warm.

  Megan opened her eyes. God, it had happened. No, not the sex. She was okay with that. Hell, she’d known it was inevitable from the moment she’d stepped on the elevator. Aside from being neurotic and antsy, she’d reconciled and even embraced the idea of fucking Tyler again. It would be the one thing that would make the reunion worthwhile. She wasn’t okay with the fact that—goddammit—she’d let her emotions get too deep when it came to Tyler. Shit. It was going to be hard to watch him walk away tomorrow.

  She turned her head, risking a look at him. He was rolled over on his side now, his back to her. He had a big, black, swirly tattoo on the top half of his back, nothing she could recognize. She concluded that it must have been an artistic design, that there was no picture or image to get out of it.

  But she was allowing herself to get distracted. How the hell was she going to handle the rest of this weekend? She was going to have to give Lisa a ration of shit for first persuading her to come to the reunion and then for abandoning her.

  But Megan couldn’t be too angry at her friend. In fact, she missed her and wondered what Lisa was doing. No way was she going to call her right now, though.

  She wondered what time it was.

  She wondered how sound asleep Tyler was.

  And she wondered if she should just bolt or if she should wake him and say goodbye or…she had no idea what the hell she should do. She only knew she was a grade-A wuss. She had no strength. She’d caved to Tyler, and it really hadn’t taken much, had it?

  She sat up in the bed, stretching her arms and neck again and taking in a deep breath. The bed had been the right combination of soft yet firm, and in spite of the fact that she’d drifted in and out of light sleep several times throughout the night, she had slept well. She looked around the large room, marveling at the fact that she was in a hotel. It didn’t look like a hotel. On one side of the room was a large polished mahogany dresser and on the other side was a matching desk. There was also a closet next to the desk, or at least that’s what Megan assumed it was. The doors were closed, so it was an educated guess. There were two other doors in the room—one that led back into the rest of the suite and another that she presumed led to the bathroom. And that’s when it hit her that her bladder was quite full. Anymore musing could wait until she took care of business.

  Once in the bathroom, she pondered taking a shower too but then thought better of it. She was delaying the inevitable, and that would only make her hurt worse. Better to just go now and start the healing process.

  Would Tyler be easier to get over now than when she was a teen, or would he be even harder than before? Megan wondered if having that history would make it more difficult or if her heart would remember and know how to heal more easily. Only one way to find out.

  She walked back in the bedroom and saw a digital clock on the end table next to Tyler’s side of the bed. It was eight o’clock. No wonder she still felt sleepy. That was good, though, because he might be too tired to make a big deal out of her leaving. She thought some of chickening out and just going without saying anything, but that would be childish, even if it made it easy in the short term. But there was nothing in her rule book that said she couldn’t get completely ready and then say goodbye, followed by a quick dash for the door.

  She had to get dressed first. She saw her slacks on the floor at the foot of the bed, one leg under Tyler’s jeans. She picked them up and saw her black panties were still inside. She put both on and then looked around, spotting her blouse right next to the clock on the end table. She tiptoed over and grabbed it, then walked back around the bed to the door leading to the living room.

  Once there, she spied her bra on the arm of the couch and her sandals on the floor next to it, right where she’d left them the night before. She sat on the couch, putting on both her bra and her blouse, and then she put her sandals on. She smiled, because the fake fire was still generating heat. She walked to the kitchen and found a glass in one of the cupboards and poured herself some water. God, what she wouldn’t do for some coffee, but that could wait. She’d treat herself once she left. A giant cappuccino would be her reward for her bravery.

  She saw her purse on the floor next to the main door in the entryway beside the kitchen. That was as good a place as any until she left. She gulped the water down and took a deep breath. Time to go. The ultimate question was if she should say goodbye or not.

  Much as the cowardly way appealed to her, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She had to tell Tyler she was leaving. So she placed the glass inside the sink and walked toward the bedroom. Her sandals were quiet on the carpet and for that she was grateful. She didn’t want him to have a heads up. She wanted to just tell him and be able to go. Quick and clean and no drama.

  She walked to his side of the bed, not sure how she was going to handle it. As teens, they’d never had the opportunity to spend the night together, so she couldn’t even rely on past experience to give her an idea of how he was in the morning. She didn’t know if he was a light or heavy sleeper, if he woke up in a good mood or cranky. Didn’t matter. She had to get it over with.

  So she placed her hand on his upper arm, just where it started curving into his shoulder. Oh…she shouldn’t have done that. The firm feel of his muscle underneath her hand made her remember how his flesh had felt against hers last night. More than that, though, Tyler smiled and covered her small hand with his larger left hand. “What’s up?” he asked, his eyes still closed. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes. Oh…why did he do that? It would make it so much harder….

  But she had to. She’d resolved to get out of there before she became a clingy girl who couldn’t bear to accept their time together for what it had to be. She swallowed the saliva pooling in her mouth and said, “Just wanted to say goodbye.”

  He squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them again and sat up a little. “You don’t have to go so early, do you?” He glanced at the clock. “Don’t you want to have some breakfast, maybe a shower?”

  He was going to make this difficult. Damn it. “I’m not really hungry, and…I’m going to shower at home. I have clean clothes and a toothbrush there, and…” She felt awkward. It didn’t
help that she was dealing with passing off superficial reasons as the real deal. But, of course, she felt too vulnerable to tell him that she was struggling with feelings for him that were more intense than they should have been.

  He sat up the rest of the way. “You sure?”

  She forced half a smile. “Yeah.”

  Tyler reached out and placed a hand on her neck. “See you later, though, right?”

  She nodded her head. “Yep.” It was so smooth that even she believed the lie.

  Chapter Thirteen

  IT HAD BEEN like pushing a car up a hill, but Megan managed to make it outside the hotel. Tyler had walked her to the door and given her a sweet kiss on the cheek before she left. He’d held her close and asked if she needed him to call a cab. She told him one was on the way, but that wasn’t true either. Instead, she called for one once she was outside breathing fresh, early summer morning air. She wanted to get out of there soon, because the brunch was being held at the hotel at eleven o’clock, and she had no idea if anyone would arrive early or if other classmates were staying at the hotel as well. She wanted no more encounters. She needed to get home and she needed time alone.

  And she decided to skip getting coffee. She had no idea how much it would cost to have a cab wait for her while she got a cappuccino she didn’t really need, but she could just make a pot of coffee at home. Plus…she’d seen herself in the mirror. She didn’t look too bad, all things considered, but she needed a shower and makeup, and a comb through her hair wouldn’t hurt either. The only thing she was carrying in her small purse was a tube of lipstick, but it wouldn’t help the tired look of faded eyeliner. She’d make a pot of coffee when she got home and contemplate what to do with the rest of her weekend.

  She’d decided she was done with the reunion. And she had to be done with Tyler, no matter what her emotions were begging her to do.

  On the ride home, she pulled her cell phone out of her purse. She saw that she’d missed a call from Lisa. She played the message that was delivered to her phone a few minutes before midnight: “Hey, Meg. Please don’t be mad at me, but I see you over there at that table in the back, all chatty and intimate with Tyler. Randy and I are gonna bug out of here. If you need a ride…well, just give me an hour or so, okay? Just call me if you need me, but…I gotta do this.” There was a pause and Lisa giggled with the phone away from her lips. Then Megan heard her say, “Love ya!” before she hung up.

  Megan found it almost tragic that both she and her girlfriend had hooked up with men they’d gone to high school with. The only difference was that Megan’s was an ex-boyfriend. It sounded like Lisa had enjoyed a little wish fulfillment with an old crush. But it didn’t make the fact that they’d both done the same thing any less weird. She hoped, though, that Lisa wasn’t experiencing some strange kind of regret like Megan was.

  When she got to her apartment building, she paid the cab and ran upstairs to her apartment as quickly as she could. She made it inside without any encounters from her neighbors, and for that, she was grateful. She wasn’t ready to interact with any more people as yet. She needed down time.

  Once in the door, she pulled off her sandals and threw her purse on the couch after retrieving her phone. She went straight to the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. She knew a cup of joe and a shower were the best things for her state of mind. Once the coffee was going, she plugged her phone in to charge it. She was hoping to put it to good use later today by talking to her best friend.

  She sat down at the kitchen table, listening to the purr and hiss of the coffee pot, and rested her chin against her hand, her elbow propped up on the table. She contemplated her next move, knowing there wasn’t one. Her next move would be to do nothing. She wondered why she’d given in to her base desires, because she had known all along that getting together with Tyler would do one thing and one thing only. It had made her realize that she’d never really gotten over him, had never really let him go. He still meant so much to her. And it hadn’t helped that their breakup hadn’t been nasty. It had been a mutual “oh, well” kind of thing. They’d just agreed that it wouldn’t work and had gone on with their lives. He was still the same old Tyler—sweet, caring, and…well, there was one thing that was different. He’d been cute in a young man sort of way in their youth, but today, he was hot.

  And then she wondered what was in it for him. Did he too just want to see what if? Did he want to see if there was anything left? Megan couldn’t get a good read on his feelings, and she hadn’t had the guts to ask. She suspected she knew. Tyler was probably used to having as much sex as he wanted whenever he wanted and Megan was someone safe.

  Oh, but that probably wasn’t it either.

  Her head was messed up. She couldn’t think rationally about anything. She missed Lisa. She needed her best friend there to help her sort through her emotions and thoughts.

  But, shy of that, she at least had a pot of coffee finishing up. So she poured a cup and stood by the window over the sink, looking out over the parking lot of the apartment building and the doctor’s office next door. It was empty today, so some kids were skateboarding on the asphalt. Megan knew it would be too hot in a few hours for the kids, so they were playing while it was still tolerable out. They were a nice diversion.

  So…if she skipped out on the rest of the reunion, what should she do to keep her mind occupied? She could go to a movie, but that wasn’t her thing. She only liked going to the movies with someone. No…instead, she’d head over to the library and check out some of the books she’d been meaning to. If she could get into a book, cry over another woman’s woes, even if they were fictional, she’d find it easier to ignore her own. And, once Monday rolled around, it would be okay. Once she couldn’t really do anything about it, she’d be able to handle it better.

  She finished her first cup of coffee and then decided to get in the shower. She knew the shower would help too, because it was a symbol of washing Tyler off of her. She knew that mentally it was a smart move.

  But as she got out and toweled off, she realized that even though she was able to wash his smell off of her, she couldn’t wash off the physical memories. She could still remember as though it were now how his lips and tongue felt over different places of her body. And her mouth could still taste him, even after she brushed her teeth. Her body’s memory was too strong and she couldn’t evade it.

  She had to get to the library fast. Otherwise, she was going to give in and go back to the reunion activities.

  No way.

  She resolved to get ready as quickly as she could. She poured herself another cup of coffee and then stood at the bathroom sink where she applied her makeup. Then she combed out her damp hair. Then she poured herself another cup of coffee, ready to stand in front of her closet to decide what to wear. But then she realized there was no dilemma. She didn’t have to impress anyone else anymore. She could just grab a t-shirt and jeans and throw them on.

  As she was leaving the kitchen, her cell phone rang. It was still on the counter plugged in where she’d left it, so she walked back. She wasn’t in the mood to talk with anyone, but then she saw it was Lisa. Lisa was the exception. She unplugged the phone and answered. “Hi.”

  “Meg…pleeeeease tell me you’re not mad at me.”

  Megan couldn’t suppress a giggle. “No, no. Of course not.”

  “Oh, thank God. I’m so glad.”

  “Why would I be mad at you?”

  Megan could hear a puff of air escape her friend’s lips. “Because…I dragged you to the reunion, and you didn’t even want to go, and then I abandoned you, left you with the one person you told me you didn’t want to see….”

  Megan sighed. “Yeah, I know. But I forgive you.” She didn’t want to talk about Tyler. “So…how’d things go with you and Randy?”

  Lisa’s voice dropped a notch. “Oh, my God. You’ll never believe what happened.”

  No, she probably would. “What?”

  “We went to the river walk and just walked
and held hands and talked and caught up.”

  Megan felt herself nodding, even while knowing Lisa couldn’t see it. So she’d been wrong. Her friend had spent the evening doing something innocent yet intimate. Maybe something serious was brewing there. “That sounds pretty cool.” She found herself hoping things worked out for Lisa and Randy. She’d wanted to talk things over with Lisa earlier, but now she wasn’t so sure. Her friend was basking in her own positive emotions. Megan didn’t want to bring her down and she also didn’t want Lisa trying to pump her up. So she decided to say nothing else.

  “And…um…we did something crazy.”

  “What?”

  “Oh, my God, Megan. I couldn’t help myself. We fucked right there on the river walk.”

  Megan had been right the first time. “Are you kidding?”

  “No. I’ve never had sex outside before, and I gotta tell ya…it was pretty wild.”

  Megan never had either and had no plans to. She couldn’t imagine herself ever being so horny that she couldn’t wait until she got to a bed or a place of privacy. “Do tell.”

  “Well, what was cool about it was…it was warm out, so being half naked outside wasn’t a problem. And then hearing the river rush nearby made me feel like no one could hear what we were doing. It was just so…liberating. It was…like a near-death experience.”

  “What?!”

  “Well, not really. I don’t know how to describe it, but it really…intensified how I feel about Randy. It’s weird, Meg. It’s like hardly any time has passed and yet now he knows me and appreciates me. He had no idea the crush I had on him, and to experience one of my fantasies last night…. My God. I don’t think I’ll ever be the same again.”

  Megan giggled. She was happy for her friend. “When are you sending out the wedding invitations?”

  She heard Lisa snort. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” She stopped laughing. “So, do you want me to pick you up for the brunch?”