A Forbidden Storm (2 page)

Ch2

A week later the house was in order and Jessica and Joel were at the airport waiting for their honeymoon flight.
 
The couple had been married for nearly two months by this point but had pushed the honeymoon back to get their house in order and to settle into their new jobs.
 
It had been hectic, but Jessica was excited to relax in Antigua.
 
It would be her first time out of the country.

Joel reached over the molded armrest that separated the uncomfortable chairs in the noisy terminal.
 
He held his wife's hand and smiled at her lovingly.
 
Outwardly, they were a perfect couple departing for an idyllic vacation, but Jessica's serene smile masked a chaotic conscience.
 
The curvy blonde felt like a hypocrite holding hands and pretending to be a doting wife.
 
She had spent much of the last week thinking about Martin Timmons.
 
Jessica was the wife of a good man and knew she was wrong to fantasize about her attractive neighbor, but she couldn't stop imagining herself kissing Martin.
 
Jess, this is getting out of hand.
 
You need to get your head in the right place.
 
Between a nagging guilt and a budding schoolgirl crush, Jess was very much in need of the Caribbean getaway.

Just a few days earlier, Jessica had joined Martin's gym.
 
She told herself that she needed to lose 20 more pounds, but the choice of that gym was not by mere chance.
 
The entire visit was an absurd excuse for Jess to see more of her muscular neighbor.
 
Jess lay awake the night after their meeting and decided that joining the gym was the surest way to see Martin again soon.
 
On the surface it was harmless enough, but the act was not unlike cheating.
 
Wasn't she seeking out a married man -one who is not her husband?
 
There was a facility that was much closer to her commute, but Jessica wasn't looking for convenience (or the exercise, for that matter).

The blonde wife managed to wait three days before joining "Timmons Fitness".
 
She was a silly girl worried about calling a cute boy after a date.
 
How many days does one wait so as not to look too eager?
 
Maybe signing up was just a transparent attempt to meet her gorgeous neighbor again?
 
What if Martin suspected?
 
What if Joel did?

Jessica felt jittery and unattractive.
 
Everywhere she looked there were muscle-men and athletic women.
 
The athletes scowled as they pushed themselves to the breaking point and Jessica spied herself in one of the many mirrors.
 
She looked pudgy and out of place.
 
Why was she here?
 
You're being ridiculous, Jessica.
 
You don't belong with these people.

The gym was a huge facility -much larger than she had pictured.
 
A rudimentary tour had taken nearly an hour.
 
Jessica had wasted little time in mentioning Martin to the giggly teenage staff member who was her impromptu tour guide.
 
She couldn't help noticing the girl's athletic figure.
 
How did Jess think that Martin would notice her at all among all these perfect bodies?
 
"Mr. Timmons and his wife are gone for a couple of weeks.
 
They go on a fall vacation every year.
 
Now, let me show you the Stairmaster.
 
It's a lot better than last year's model."

Jessica tuned-out the rest of the rambling speech.
 
The skinny teen was going on about firming up her
glutes
or some equally inane topic.
 
Jess’s mood had soured, however, and she had little patience for the sales-pitch.
 
Her registration fees were already paid but Jess didn't think she was ready to start her fitness regimen just yet.
 
Jessica wanted to indulge in a quart of chocolate ice cream at the moment.
 
Working out would wait.

Sitting in the airport, Jessica tried to tell herself that joining a gym, of all things, was nothing to feel guilty about.
 
Oh, yeah?
 
Then why haven't you told Joel yet, Jessica?

The rest of the week had been busy.
 
She had just started her new job and there was a never ending litany of small tasks before the house was finished. There was still time to daydream about Martin, however.
 
Jess had spent a grand total of three hours with the man and had barely spoken to him, but something about the way he had looked at her gave Jessica goose bumps.
 
Martin was gorgeous, there was little doubt about that, but Jessica had been around plenty of attractive men.
 
This feeling was unique.
 
A special chemistry had passed between them but was invisible to everyone else. Jessica was fairly certain that Martin had felt it too.
 
Or was it simply the man's charisma and magnetism?
 
Maybe women often became smitten with Martin Timmons and she was just one of many.
 
The thought made her blush like a schoolgirl with a crush on the popular teacher.
 
The whole thing was ridiculous.
 
She wondered if she should get her money back for the stupid gym.
 
After all, she hadn't even lifted her first weight, yet.

Sitting in the noisy terminal, Jessica reflected on her marriage with Joel.
 
The pair had dated for 18 months before becoming engaged and getting married a year later.
 
Over three years they built a relationship that she felt was unassailable.
 
Jess rarely fought with Joel and she was sure there was no one who understood her better than her husband.
 
Jessica remembered late night talks that slipped into early mornings.
 
She found the hours spent together comfortable and pleasant.
 
Within a month Joel knew about Jess’s heartbreaks and her dreams, her fears and what she found inspiring.
 
He was a great listener, and Jessica was a legendary rambler.
 
The pair just fit, like comfortable shoes.
 
Jessica dug in her purse for her plane ticket as the first boarding call boomed over a loudspeaker.
 
There's nothing sexy about comfortable shoes, she thought.

Jessica leaned up against the window.
 
Joel was squished in beside her.
 
Again Jess was reminded that her hips were too wide.
 
Cattle class?
 
Economy seating is for skinny girls, not us cows.

Jessica tried to make sense of her new and unwelcome obsession.
 
So what if her marriage was a little mundane and passionless?
 
She and Joel communicated well, and wasn't that what the television talk-shows insisted was important?
 
Joel was her best friend -her sounding board.
 
Jessica realized how difficult a problem like this could be though, when your confidant is the one person you can never confide in.
 
Why did she feel so guilty?
 
She had joined a gym.
 
Big deal.
 
You haven't done anything wrong, Jessica.
She wanted to do something, though.

Jessica convinced herself that Antigua would be the answer.
 
She and Joel could ignite a fiery romance in a luxury suite with an ocean view.
 
Jessica planned to order champagne and strawberries to seduce her husband and awaken the aggressive animal she desperately hoped was somewhere inside him.
 
Joel could be an animal, right?
 
Jessica hoped to be seductive and sexy in her bikini during the day (all those skinny-girls be damned) and to be irresistible in silk after dinner.
 
The honeymoon would be filled with long nights of lovemaking followed by frantic morning escapades.
   
Her boring sex life would be gone for good, and Joel would replace Martin as the object of her lust.

Somehow, despite being crammed into the narrow seat, Jess managed to fall asleep.
 
The sounds of the other passengers melted away and were replaced by the voices of her college schoolmates.
 
The young students crowded around the bathroom mirror as they prepared their makeup for the end of finals party.
 
This was the night Jess would meet her husband, although she had no way of knowing this yet.
 
In the dream, though, Jessica knew what she was preparing for and it was all she could do to contain her excitement.
 
Her soul-mate would be waiting for her, and she had to look her best.

The party was in full swing now.
 
Jess realized that she was older than most of the students here.
 
She had written her last exam as a senior and many of the drunken revelers were freshmen or perhaps even high
schoolers
who wouldn't start university until the fall.
 
They were loud and drunk and Jess was becoming tired of being tussled around by inebriated frat guys.
 
The party was a bust and would only get worse as the night progressed.
 
She started counting the red plastic cups on the counter.

A sweaty teen boy pushed by Jessica.
 
He was shirtless and his long sun-bleached hair obscured one side of his face.
 
The boy looked more at home on the beach than at a Midwest university.
 
Surfer-guy drew his fist back and punched a chubby frat guy behind the ear.
 
The victim dropped to his knees and his beer hit the floor at Jessica's feet.
 
Jess gasped in horror as the semi-conscious teen leaned forward on his left elbow.
 
He clutched at the quickly swelling lump behind his right temple and looked up at his assailant.
 
A kick caught him under the chin and he fell limp on the sticky floor.
 
Jessica stared at the splayed body at her feet and screamed.
 
A dozen teenage guys chose sides and began slamming each other into walls and tables.
 
Jess was showered with alcohol as a guy who outweighed her by 60 pounds rumbled past.
 
When the elbow slammed into Jess’s upper lip, she fell to her knees.

Someone had Jessica by the armpits and was dragging her away from the fight.
 
Her mind was clouded and her vision was blurred.
 
What is happening, Jessica wondered?
 
What am I doing here?
 
Moments later someone lowered her to the lawn in the front of the fraternity house.
 
The roar from inside indicated that the brawl had enveloped even more of the party.
 
Jessica's head pounded.
 
A man held her by the shoulders.
 
"Are you okay?
 
Hey, are you alright?"

Jessica could see the man through a fog-like haze and tear-filled eyes.
 
It was a young Martin Timmons who held her hand in his calloused fingers.
 
He consoled her as she attempted to gather her wits.
 
It was supposed to be Joel!
 
Somewhere in the recesses of Jessica's dreaming mind, she knew that Joel had been the guy who saved her from the chaos the night they met.
 
Later he had kissed her swollen lip and reassured her that she looked cute with a crooked smile.
 
It was the most romantic gesture that Jessica had ever experienced and she had concluded in that moment than she would marry Joel one day.

But her husband was missing from Jessica's dream.
 
She stood up and looked around at the drunken students stumbling on the lawn. Frantic teens scurried in and out of the house and there were sirens approaching from the distance.
 
She looked at Martin.
 
"Where is Joel?"

"There's nobody here, babe.
 
Nobody but us."
 
Martin's brown eyes were mesmerizing.

Jess looked around.
 
They were alone in the Timmons’s opulent bedroom.
 
Martin's wide shoulders cut an imposing silhouette as her eyes adjusted to the near darkness.
 
Martin guided her down on the bed and the pounding in her head receded.
 
She could feel the cool sheets on the back of her legs as the breeze from the ceiling fan sent shivers through her.
 
The silk was smooth and chilly and her body was covered in tiny bumps from the cold.
 
Jessica absentmindedly tongued her swollen lip as Martin unbuttoned his shirt.
 
The musculature of his naked torso was hard and well defined.
 
Why was her lip swollen now?
 
It had been years since that party.
 
Jess struggled to make sense of the quickly shifting dream-world.