Happenstance (10 page)

He stays quiet for a split second before walking in and holding
my face in between his hands. I gasp.

“Baby, you’re shaking, what’s wrong?” The concern in his eyes is
enough for me to finally open up the floodgates.

Chapter Ten

Septermber
2011

Jared

I’ve never seen her this way; she’s in pajamas and its
four o’clock in the afternoon. She has her arms wrapped around herself, wearing
socks instead of heels and has not a trace of makeup. Her face is sad and puffy
and now I hold her as she sobs into my chest. I close the door with my foot and
walk her cautiously to the sofa. When she sits down she looks at her pants and
then abruptly stands back up, still sobbing.

“I should change. I’ll be back,” she tells me.

What the fuck is going on? Can it be possibly be me and Lisa?

I gently grab her hand. “No, you look cute like that. I like it.
Sexy.”
A flash of something goes by in her eyes and before I
can make anything out of it, she covers her face with her hands and continues
to sob.
What the fuck did I say?

I make her sit down on my lap and I softly stroke her back until
her tears decrease, until her body stops shaking. I’d hold her until forever.

 
“Hey, what’s going on V?
Tell me.”

She shakes her head against my chest. “I’m sorry, really, it’s
nothing. I’ve just had a long week.”

Yeah,
long week my ass.

“Look at me.” I lift up her chin and stroke her back. “You can
tell me anything, you know that right?” I ask. Victoria nods but her eyes are
blank. I have to nip this in the bud right now or we’ll never get past this
hurdle.

I exhale and release her chin. After a few minutes, I begin
talking.

“Lisa is my ex.” She tenses up in my arms and looks straight
ahead.

“Jared—” she begins but I cut her off.

“No, listen . . . I want this out there so we don’t have to talk
about it anymore. She is my
ex,
we broke up several
months ago. I actually hadn’t talked to her or seen her in over four months.
Apparently she got a new dog and brought her in when she started having stomach
issues.”

I pause for a second as I think about my last conversation with
Lisa and decide that if I’m going to tell Victoria everything then it has to be
everything. “I told her I was seeing someone.”

“Jared. No. Why would you say that?” Victoria angles her face so
she can look at me. Her big, brown, beautiful eyes are dry of tears but cold
and sad. I’m not sure what she wants, she seemed upset at the clinic when she
thought I was seeing other people but now she’s not ready to move forward with
me?

“Because it’s true.
Now she knows and
she can get whatever closure she needs. I don’t want you worrying about her.”
I’m running my fingers through her hair and try to refrain from doing more. I
want to kiss her senselessly until we both can’t breathe and have her
understand what I’m feeling for her. She looks down and begins to twirl her necklace
with her fingers.

“Who broke up with whom?” She asks.

“She broke up with me.” I answer and I can feel her tense up
again. I lean forward to hug her and then tilt her chin up so she can look at
me. “That’s not of any concern, she didn’t want to settle down and I did.”
Leaning close to her ear I whisper, “She did me a favor.”

Victoria is tense all day. She looks startled with any type of
noise and I ask her again if she wants to talk to me about something, anything,
but she shakes her head no and proceeds to watch T.V.

I convince her to let me massage her neck and head, but then
tenses up again when the phone rings or the pizza delivery guy shows up. I get
the strong feeling her behavior is more than just me and Lisa but she won’t
talk to me. She practically pleads with me to walk the dog although if she
would have just asked normally I would have done it. But there’s urgency in her
voice that bothers me. Nothing in her house seems to be destroyed so I can’t
imagine her house was broken into it. And besides why wouldn’t she tell me
that
?

 
I’m relieved when she asks
me to stay over. I didn’t think she would and looking into her eyes I can tell
that she is skeptical. It took her a lot to ask me to stay. I’m selfishly relieved
that she’s willing to hang out with me and is giving us a shot. Knowing her ex
husband must have really hurt her and now seeing her reaction to Lisa at the
clinic I can tell those walls she built around her heart are made of steel so
damn if I’m going to fuck it up.

She curls up against the crook of my arm and is surprisingly out
like a light. I stroke her back for a long time.

Chapter Eleven

October 2011

Victoria

I wake up to the sound of screaming.

“What the fuck!” Jared says.

With wild eyes I look around and find Jared sitting up in bed with
his hand to his face. I’m drenched in sweat, my hands gripping the sheets in a
tight fist, and I realize the one screaming was me. I haven’t had a nightmare
in a few weeks and this is the first time he’s witnessed it.
Shit
.

“Sorry, just a dream,” I say gasping.

“A dream?
You fucking hit me.”

I gape at him. “I’m sorry . . . I thought it . . .”

“You thought what?” he tries to place his hand on mine but I pull
back.

“Victoria?” I know who I hit. It was Steven, in my dream, pressing
me down on my bed… but the red mark on Jared’s face tells me otherwise. He’s
frowning at me and waiting for my answer.

I shrug and get up to go the kitchen for a glass of water. My
shirt sticks to my skin and I tug at it.
Nasty.
I’ll
need a shower.
Again.
The cold water feels like heaven
down my throat and before I know it, I’m on my second glass.

“What was the nightmare about Victoria?” I hear Jared behind me
and I rinse my glass and leave it in the sink. “Baby, you’re drenched.”

“Thanks, I hadn’t noticed.” I snap and roll my eyes. I can feel
him walk back to the room and slam the door. I don’t want to talk to him about
it. The nightmares vary slightly each time but at the end it’s all the same.
Steven, darkness, Boston caps.
I pull the shirt over my head
and walk back to the room to place it in the laundry basket. As I grab fresh
clothes for the shower I see that Jared is already getting dressed.

“Where are you going?”

“Work,” he says curtly.

“It’s still really early . . .”

He doesn’t answer me. He’s annoyed. I can’t blame him. We hadn’t fallen
asleep together since the night after… the incident. And I only let that night
happen because I was scared Steven might have come back. Not only had Jared’s
early morning wakeup call included a slap on the face but he hadn’t been laid
in weeks. I sigh and walk up behind him and wrap my arms around his waist. He
stills slightly, but then pulls the drawstring of his scrubs.

“I’m sorry,” I say and kiss him softly on his back. I am sorry. I
wish I could talk to him about it but I wish the dreams would go away even
more.

He turns around and looks down at me. He has the most beautiful
hazel eyes.

“Alright.”
And with that he kisses me on
the top of my head.

“I’ll make it up to you tonight?” I ask hopefully as he walks
past me to the bathroom. He turns and exhales.

“Sure thing, V.”

And I will. I have plans for him tonight. Aside from the
nightmares, I’ve settled into a familiar routine. My job fills me with such joy
I get home each night tired but happy. I deleted my account on the dating
website and stopped hearing from Steven after he sent a few text messages I
ignored. I had told Jared I wanted to slow down and he’s respected my wishes
but last night after dinner I felt my walls coming down. When I asked him to
stay over I was nervous he’d go straight for sex but he didn’t even try. We
held each other and kissed for minutes, maybe hours. He was so tender and
patient I knew today I wouldn’t able to hold back. My heart had been beating
frantically and it wasn’t because he scared me. I was scared of falling in
love, of losing control again, of my nightmares. But not of Jared degrading me.

I go into my closet and pull out a clear package that I had
hidden behind my coats and pull the contents out. I had purchased this item a
few days ago as soon as I saw it.
His birthday lands on a
Sunday this year, October 28
^th
and he insisted on working the
Saturday before, only asking me for a quiet dinner just the two of us.
So I invited him to my place after work. We both had a busy and stressful week
and I knew that we just needed to relax. I run my errands during the day and
get all the ingredients to make my Grandmother’s lasagna. I light up a few
candles in the bedroom and living room to help set the mood. When I look at the
clock for the last time, I know Jared is about to leave work.

Looking in the mirror I begin to feel a little nervous. What if
he doesn’t like it? I feel like it’s our first time all over again and I have
no idea if he’ll even like something like this. My hair is getting a little
long and is now past my shoulders, I’ve even taken the time to iron it. I’m
wearing red lipstick and some red five inch sparkle platform fuck-me shoes. Ok,
I’m going to need a drink to loosen up. I look around for something strong and
quick—ah, tequila. That will do it. One shot is good but he’ll be here in 20
minutes, ok two shots and I’m done.

I haven’t drank more than a glass or two of wine since the
Incident-I-Don’t-Want-To- Talk-About so I figure two shots will get me nice and
comfortable. Sure enough, by the time Jared arrives—ten minutes late—I’m warm
with a buzz and ready to put my plan in action. I connect my iPod to the stereo
and put on my sexy music playlist. I take a deep breath when I hear him knock
on the door. I unlock it but step back and say, “Come in.” I don’t want to open
the door and have a neighbor just happen to be walking by at that moment.

I’m standing in the middle of the living room with a very short,
very tight, white nurse costume. It is short sleeved with a pocket on the right
breast that has the American Cross logo. A zipper runs all the way down the
front of the dress and I have it low enough to reveal a good amount of
cleavage. Thanks to my push up bra, they look much bigger than the norm. Jared,
locking the door behind him, doesn’t take his eyes off of me. His eyes travel
up and down my body, his eyes darkening as he begins walking towards me.

“You’re late for your appointment Mr. . . .” I look down at the
clipboard I’m holding which only holds a blank piece of paper, “. . . Owens.”

“That’s
Dr.
Owens,” he
says.

I shake my head, “Oh no, the Dr. is out today, but I’ll be sure
to take care of you.” I turn on my heels and make sure to swing my hips as I
pull a dining chair to the center of the room. Placing the clipboard on the
table, I turn to look at him.

“Please, have a seat so I can take a look,” I tell him and point
to the chair. He looks like an excited puppy who is about to get a treat as he
takes off his t-shirt and throws it on the floor before sitting down. This
gives me more confidence and I place my hand on his chest.

“My, my, your heart is racing so fast; we must take a look at
that. But first, lean back so I can do a full body examination.” He smiles up
at me and places his hands behind his head. I run my finger from his neck to
his waist, stopping right at his pants and untying the strings, slowly pulling
down his pants. By the time the boxers come off, Jared is hard and ready for
me.

“Mr. Owens, first we’ll have to check your heart rate.” I
straddle him making sure I’m pressing up against his length and I grab one of
his arms to press my fingers to his wrist. “Stay very, very still,” I whisper
and gently begin sucking on his neck, inhaling his amazing cologne, kissing the
top of his chest and going down to his nipple. I licked both of them and rubbed
myself on his cock. He moans in response, “God, V.”

“
Shh
, now let’s check your
temperature.” I pull back and grab his length, licking my lips. “Yes, you are
much too hot.”

“Victoria,” he whispers hoarsely and grabs my hair to pull me
closer to him so he can kiss me but I pull away and sit on my knees between his
legs. I lower my head to kiss his inner thighs, making him squirm.

“Tsk, tsk,” I say, shaking my head. “I believe I asked you to
stay still.”

Trailing my lips all around his inner thighs I stop and stare up
at him, eager to suck on him. So I do. I wrap my full lips around him and draw
him to the back of my throat. He makes a deep growl and jerks his hips, pushing
his entire length further into me. He cups the back of my head as we both find
a rhythm. Jared moans, “Baby, you’re killing me.” But I continue to tease him,
making sure every spot of his cock is wet.

When he starts to pull back letting me know he’ll come in my
mouth if I continue, I stop and stand up. I want him to come inside of me.
“Well, the situation here is that your cock is much too big Mr. Owens. That
needs to be taken care of. Allow me,” I say.

Raising the volume on my stereo I put on “Cater 2 U” by Destiny’s
Child and I slowly turn to face him, “I think a special dance ought to do the
trick.”

I lift my dress up just enough to reveal red lace panties and
shimmy my hips to the rhythm of the music. Slowly walking towards him, I take
in the sight of him. His head is leaned back on the chair with hooded eyes that
run all over my body. Thanks to my liquid courage I feel as graceful as a
panther, stalking my prey. Slowly pulling down the zipper of my dress, I place
both legs on either side of him, grab the back of the chair and wiggle my hips,
lowering myself every few seconds to grind against his hard cock.