(Jessamine’s POV)
“Sorry, love. We’ll be a bit late,” Deborah said when I called her before I entered the club.
They would be late because her boyfriend, Xavier, had an emergency meeting, something I didn’t understand in most companies. It was when you were ready to clock out, excited to go home, when suddenly they would blurt out the need for an emergency meeting or finish an urgent task.
Their temporary absence didn’t stop me from enjoying my night. I drank alone, smiling and moving my head side to side to the music as I watched the crowd, dancing and having a good time.
When the DJ switched the music, the fast-paced and loud volume of the music playing vibrated through my body, inspiring me to go through the crowd and dance despite being alone. I swayed my body, dancing to Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off music like she was telling the story of my life as she sang that song.
After five rounds of tequila shots, I care less about the world and felt I could be anyone tonight. While dancing and jumping like crazy, shaking everything off my body, my eyes caught two pairs of attractive guys watching me. I bit my bottom lip seductively and danced toward them, swaying my body and not caring that these two handsome men were sandwiching me as they danced. I could feel their need to touch me, and the thought of being in bed with two guys made me blush.
To be honest, I had never tried being with two guys ever, but I was too pissed with my life that I was ready to be reckless.
Tonight, I would make my mother’s vision come true. I would be Jessamine, the wild and all-fun woman. Her daughter with no direction!
***
My entire body screamed as he thrust his hard and heavy manhood inside me, moving slowly at first and then rocking my body back and forth, bringing me to heaven. The intense sensation rippled over me as he thrust deeper, making me insane at the pleasure I had never felt before.
“Aiden!” I cried, moaning his name beautifully as another wave of pleasure hit me.
Aiden?
“Aiden! Oh, God...” I groaned, waking up from a beautiful dream that turned into a nightmare the moment I saw Aiden in my dream.
I opened my eyes but shut them again when I felt a sudden ache in my head. I gritted my teeth, hissing annoyingly at the non-stop ringing of my phone. Growling in pain, I groped for my phone on the side table, but even though I had extended my arms already, I could still feel the mattress like it was infinite.
“What the...” My mouth fell open when I opened my eyes and saw my reflection on the ceiling.
The overlarge mirror on the ceiling showed a woman lying naked on a bed, wrapped in sheets, and like me, she was shocked at the situation. I blinked, trying to recall what happened last night, but I could not remember a thing. My last recollection was drinking more with the two guys I met on the dance floor, but the threesome never happened.
My very naked body screamed at me that something had happened, and I was sure I had gone out of the club with one of them. With whom, I didn’t care. My phone rang again, startling me. Trying to calm myself, I pulled the sheets, wrapped my body, and got off the bed to find my phone.
My head was whirling as I took my phone, sat on the edge of the bed, and pressed the accept call button from an unknown caller.
“Yeah? Who’s this?” I asked, irked at the early call from someone I didn’t know.
“Umm...” Aiden chuckled. “Aiden? Your best friend? You’re supposed to pick me up at the airport, remember?”
My eyes widened, and my mouth gaped in shock as I eased back from my phone to look at the time. “Oh, my God!” I gasped. “Have you been waiting that long?” I asked.
“Nah! The plane just landed, and then...I decided to call you. You know, to check if you didn’t forget,” he joked.
I sighed, thinking of going to the airport, but what would he say if he saw me in a black, sexy mini-dress? That I wanted to pick him up in style? I will look like a hooker if I go to the airport in this.
“You know what? Why don’t you just give me your address? I’ll take a taxi from here,” he suggested.
“Are you sure?” I asked in a hushed tone.
“Yeah!” He laughed as he copied me, murmuring his answer. “What’s your address?”
Knowing Aiden, he was not the type of person to call me in advance. It meant his plane had landed an hour or two hours ago, and probably, my wet and wild dream happened because he was cursing me as he was already impatient in waiting for me.
“Address, Jessamine,” he reminded me.
“Island Brook,” I said, panicking as I picked up my clothes scattered on the floor. I bit my bottom lip when I couldn’t find my underwear. “Underwear... underwear...” I murmured in panic as I groped the bed.
“Top or Bottom?” Aiden laughed. When I didn’t answer, he asked again. “Island Brook... G-string or thong?”
“Grrr! Island Brook, West Avenue,” I snarled, taking my underwear from the foot of the bed. “Maddison Apartment.”
“Got it! See you later.” He ended the call button.
I dressed up quickly and walked toward the phone to ask about the room, but the sticky note on the handset with a message that the room was taken care of, stopped me from making a call. Sighing, I took my purse and left the room, brushing off the thought of the man I was with last night.
Ignoring my hunger, I hailed a taxi, hoping to reach home before Aiden. Although we had not seen for almost a decade, we constantly wrote to each other, updating ourselves about our lives. He knew my escapades and openly told him everything, even the men I dated, the boyfriends I had, my unsuccessful attempt to grow in my career, and how I still tried to piss off my mother.
When the taxi driver stopped at the Maddison Apartment, I ran toward my apartment like I was being chased. I took my key and opened the door, startling Deborah and me.
“Where are you going?” I asked, blinking at her.
“Where did you go?” She asked instead of answering me. “I was about to open the door and start looking for you. What happened to you last night? What time are you going to the airport?”
I sighed, shaking my head, walking toward my bedroom but leaving the door open. Deborah never liked it when I closed the door when her questions were unanswered. I walked straight to the bathroom, leaving it open as well. I let her sit in the toilet while I stepped into the shower and closed the curtain.
“I don’t remember much about last night. I was too drunk,” I said, opening the shower valve. “When I woke up, I was already in Milton Hotel.” I moved the curtain, peering my head to look at Deborah. “Naked. Don’t ask who I was with because I don’t know. When I woke up, I was alone.”
“That’s a first,” she smirked.
I rolled my eyes, closing the curtain again. For a while, I enjoyed the cold sprinkle of water flowing in my body. Deborah didn’t leave, but she waited until I finished showering. I pulled the curtain to the side, exited the bathroom, and walked toward my closet to take an oversized white T-shirt and shorts.
“I’m glad I’m on pills because I could not remember if he used protection last night,” I sighed, putting on my underwear and then my clothes.
“Jessamine, you stopped using pills two months ago because it’s making your tummy upset,” Deborah chuckled.
As if blood escaped my face, I turned to her, looking pale as a ghost. “You’re kidding, right?”
I blinked, and my heartbeat accelerated, recalling the last time I took it. I swallowed hard, thinking that if the guy I was with last night did not use a condom, the probability of getting pregnant was high.
“Oh, God!” Deborah gasped. “You’re not joking.” My pale face made her realize I had put my brain in my pocket last night.
“Damn it!” I muttered, lifting my hand to my head, making sure I still had one.
“Okay... let’s not talk about your guy. Aiden? You said you’re going to pick him up from the airport,” she said, grabbing my hand and pulling me to the chair to sit down.
“I woke up late. He arrived early. I don’t know which of the two is correct, but he said he’s just taking the taxi.” I closed my eyes as I thought hard about the man I went with. I sighed deeply, pouting as I looked at my reflection in the mirror.
“Xavier went nuts last night when we didn’t find you,” Deborah scoffed as she dried my hair. “I’m glad someone saw you going out with Terrence and Brody.”
Terrence and Brody.
At least I had names now.
My lips parted, thinking it must be really threesome, but I brushed off the thought because I might not remember the full details, but I knew I was with just one man last night.
“I’m sorry for making you and Xavier worried,” I pursed my lips as I looked at our reflection.
My body jerked when I heard a doorbell. The thought of seeing Aiden after a long time made my heart flutter. It was like home was finally coming to me.
“Aiden!” I muttered excitedly, standing up, leaving Deborah in my room, and running toward the door like a thrilled child.
My heart skipped a beat when I opened the door and saw a breathtakingly gorgeous man before me. My lips parted, and my eyes refused to blink as he might disappear. When he smiled, showing me his perfect white teeth, I knew my panty had melted along with his sweet smile, but I remembered he had always been like this, devilishly handsome.
“Wow! When did you grow up?” Aiden chuckled, looking at me from head to foot as he opened his arms to me.
“Aiden!” I jumped toward him, screaming excitedly and wrapping my legs around his waist as he picked me up like a child.
My heart stopped beating when our eyes met. I swallowed hard, listening to my brain as it flashed “danger” many times. For the first time, my heart and body agreed, screaming the peril of our bodies glued to each other.
(Aiden’s POV)I lowered my head, hoping to escape from Deborah’s eyes. She had fixed her eyes on me as soon as Jessamine dashed to her bedroom to get her sacred box. Despite the technology, we refused to communicate through e-mail and social media. Instead, we continued to use snail mail, sending printed pictures and postcards, and calling through the telephone booth. We only exchanged cell phone numbers three years ago when the only telephone booth left in Carterville was torn down and changed into a charging area. There were only two seats in their living room, a love seat, and a single sofa. As if they owned seats, Jessamine asked me to sit on the single sofa while Deborah was on the loveseat. When she returned, she sat cross-legged on the floor and put the decorated box on the center table.“I can’t believe you two,” she muttered as she leaned forward to see the letters inside the box. “And where’s yours?” she asked, narrowing her eyes as she accused me of not doing the same thi
(Aiden’s POV)“Your friend, Deborah... She doesn’t seem to like me,” I said, following Jessamine into her bedroom and closing the door.“Don’t!” Her eyes were wide as she chuckled, stopping me from closing it. “You’ll only make her fret more about us. She’s not done with me yet.”“What do you mean she’s not done with you yet?” I lifted an eyebrow as I asked.I watched her smiling while looking around her bedroom, perhaps wondering where to put my luggage. Sighing, I took the handle from her and rolled it near the coffee table. Her bedroom was the main room in the apartment, making it bigger than Deborah’s. She didn’t have much furniture, so her bedroom looked more spacious with just the queen-size pulled-out bed, a full-length mirror wall between the bed and the way toward her bathroom, and a coffee table with two chairs on the far end of the room.The six-drawer dresser on the opposite end of her bed took my attention. I walked toward it and found a few business books and novels on t
(Jessamine’s POV)Swaying my head and humming Jason Chen’s Best Friend song, I walked toward the dining table. I was all smiling, dancing to the imaginary beat of the song as I stepped toward the refrigerator to get water.“I’ve never seen you this happy, Jessamine,” Deborah’s eyes were on the food box. “Do you even know the lyrics of the song?”I grinned, shaking my head. “It’s the song in the taxi this morning, and the melody just keeps popping into my mind.” I shrugged my shoulders.Deborah knew I loved listening to music, but I was never into shredding the words of the song, knowing its meaning. For me, as long as the melody was sweet and agreeable to my ears, I would keep listening to it.“And I don’t know how it ends, girl... But I fell in love with my Best Friend,” Deborah grinned as she sang the lyrics to me, emphasizing the last words to me. “Are you?” She chuckled.I blinked, slowly pulling out the chair. “Dangerous song, then.” I curled my lips, propping my elbows on the t
(Jessamine’s POV)“Stop it, Xavier!” I hissed at Deborah’s boyfriend.He looked funny, eyeing Aiden as if studying a witness on the stand, but my best friend didn’t flinch. He raised his head and caught him staring at him, then half-smiled. Shrugging, he continued to eat his lunch.“He looked familiar, that’s all,” he lied, squinting his eyes and shifting his focus from Aiden to me.“Everyone looked familiar to you,” I muttered and smiled as I took a picture of my Chow Mein. “If Aiden’s tummy gets upset later, it’ll all be your fault,” I joked. My eyes brightened as I posted the picture on my social media page with many hashtag words I could think of.“Honey,” Deborah hissed, nudging her elbow on Xavier’s arm. “I already explained to you why he’s here.”“And why he’ll stay here for a while.” Xavier pursed his lips and looked down to focus on his food. “Smooth move,” he murmured in his usual irksome tone.This time, Aiden raised his head and furrowed his forehead, not liking what Xavie
(Jessamine’s POV)“Did something happen between you and Aiden?” Deborah asked.I understood her worries because I had been quiet since we left for the supermarket. Silence accompanied us even on our way back, and for a chatter like me, I looked like someone had abducted my mouth. I was already parking her sedan in the apartments’ parking space when she asked.“Why?” I pretended to focus on the key and gave it to her.Without answering my question, my housemate got off the car and took the paper bags from the trunk. I looked heavenward, glancing at the cloudy sky and sighing as I thought of Aiden. The clouds looked heavy and promised torrential rain later in the evening. It was a good sign because I could cry tonight, along with the weather, without Aiden noticing me… that is, if my best friend decided to stay for tonight.After our conversation in the bedroom, we rarely looked at each other. The joke about me proposing to anyone made it worse. The last conversation we had was about hi
(Aiden’s POV) The sky probably matched Jessamine’s emotions as it poured rain heavily on the ground. When I visited Mr. Douglas earlier to borrow some plumbing tools, like a weather forecaster, he told me it would rain hard and that I should close the window in Jessamine’s bedroom tonight before sleeping. No wonder she was smitten with him as the older man was funny, witty, sweet, and talked about Jessamine and Deborah with fatherly love in his tone. “God, I’m full!” Deborah chuckled as she finished her second pork burrito. “You’re really something, Aiden.” “I’m glad you like it,” I said, forcing a smile, but I couldn’t help glancing at Jessamine’s empty chair. “You can’t force her to eat,” Deborah smiled, catching my eyes on my best friend’s seat. “Don’t worry, Aiden. If she gets hungry, even at midnight, your best friend will get up and eat.” “Does this usually happen?” I asked worriedly. “I have known Jessamine since third grade, but ten years -” “Nine years, ten months, and s
(Aiden’s POV)It was past midnight when Deborah exited Jessamine’s room. She sighed, looking exhausted, as she walked toward the living room and sat in her usual place on the loveseat. She rose her feet to the sofa and hugged her knees.“What happened in there, Deb?” I darted my eyes at her, telling her I would not return to Jessamine’s bedroom without getting an answer.“It’s nothing. Your best friend was just having a nightmare, Aiden,” she sighed, obviously lying as she craned her neck to the seat’s backrest.“My best friend was screaming, squirming in bed as if she was in pain,” I gritted my teeth, holding my patience at her. “What happened to her?” My eyes were wide, horrified that she got hurt in my decade of absence.Deborah pursed her lips, looking at me while thinking, and then she shook her head and stood up. “You know what, Aiden? It’s not my story to tell. If you want to know what happened, better ask Jessamine.”My heart hammered in my chest, terrified for the first time
(Aiden’s POV)“You are really leaving me,” Jessamine murmured. Her shoulders slumped, and tears welled in her eyes as she found me sitting at the edge of her bed, ready to go.This was my desperate act of forcing her to tell me what had happened to her. I knew it was unfair to her, but I had to know. I wouldn’t take such measures, but it frightened me that Jessamine would never tell me.“I told you not to keep secrets from me, Jess.” I stood up, grabbing the handle of my luggage bag. “I’m your best friend, but -”“It happened two years ago,” she blurted out, her lips trembling, swallowing hard as she closed her eyes. She had not said anything except that, but her chest was rising and falling already.“Two years ago? What happened two years ago?” I almost smiled, thinking my tactic worked.“I… I met… I met this guy, Rick…” She was out of breath as she walked toward me, but she stopped a few steps away from me. “And… Umm…”She inhaled and puffed out the air slowly. She opened her mouth,