Girl Gets Her Man

When Jesse finally tried to tiptoe her way back into the apartment, she was a bit tipsy. She dropped her keys to the floor and let out a giggle as she slammed the door.

"Ssshh," came from the darkened kitchen.

Jesse paused for a moment to let her eyes adjust to the light. "Joanne. I thought you'd be asleep by now."

Jo yawned and opened the refrigerator. She hadn't been able to get to sleep. She'd pretended to sleep until Dan finally dropped off. Her mind kept going to Daniel, Gary and Jeremy. The Daniel parts were good, but she didn't understand how things had blown up like that. She had to figure something out to get to sleep. "Have fun?" She pulled out a jug of orange juice and poured it into the waiting glass.

"Well, no. Not really. My date left n the middle of dinner, and I ended up at the club. I finally caught up with him, but he wasn't interested."

"That's because Jerry was busy ruining lives," Jo sighed, then took a sip of juice.

"How did you know it was Jeremy?"

"Jeremy, huh? He's been Jerry for the past twenty years or so." The jug went back into the fridge with a bit of force. 'So, you're using his full name? It must be something.'

"Yeah, he and I got to talking. He really likes his full name better."

Jo eyed her. "Hmmm. Like you talked about that ambush you set up?"

"Joanne, don't be like that. How was I supposed to know you hated him?"

"I don't hate him. He hates me. So, you're with Jerry now? What happened to Terrence?"

Jesse glanced inside her purse. "He and I are still together..."

"How can you be together when you have sex with Jerry?" Jo landed a zinger before sitting down with her juice.

"I don't. Not since that first time, anyway. It's different really," Jesse sighed. "He actually..."

"I don't want to hear about it." Jo got up abruptly, put the glass in the sink, and headed out of the kitchen.

"So, where's Hot Chocolate?" Jesse called for her to come back, "Jerry told me you went home with him."

"He's sleeping," she said then added, "on the floor in my room."

Jesse cocked her head, "On the floor? Why isn't he on the couch?"

Jo frowned, "Because it's too small for him."

"Oh," Jesse realized something. "OH. And the floor's more comfortable than his bed at home. Don't tell me, he was really tired."

Jo felt the need to defend herself, "Yeah, he was really tired, and I slept on the bed. Nothing happened."

"I know that. You don't have it in you. But, what about Gary?"

"What about Gary? Gary's not here. He won't be here any time soon."

"You mean it's over for good? You're not going back to him after you're done with Hot Chocolate? The boy shouldn't even be here. You need to be faithful for that ring..."

'This coming from you?' "Ring? There won't be a ring. He and I are over. A lot of things will be over at the end of this semester. It's not like we're dating or anything."

"Listen to yourself. You just said it wasn't like you were dating. The boy was all hard for you for an entire semester. And now, you've got that boy," she pointed down the hall, "on the fuckin' floor. You tell me you didn't give them some idea..."

"It's none of your damn business! You'll be out at semesters end, so I don't need your permission for anything."

Jesse looked Jo up and down with her hands on her hips, "Damn, girl. What was that? I almost think you meant that."

"I do. I paid the down payment on this apartment. Pretty much everything, except for the bed you sleep on, is mine. I'm tired of you not listening when I tell you something. You're out."

"And, Hot Chocolate's in?"

"Daniel. His name is Daniel. If he wants to move in here, I won't stop him."

"Shit, Jo. He turned you out, didn't he? It didn't take too long, either. What, did you call Gary while he was all up in that, or is he a one minute man?"

'How did she know I talked to Gary on the phone, tonight?' Jo scoffed, "Yeah, he did me hard and deep. I was brain-washed by the sex. That's why I'm kicking your ass out. It has nothing to do with you fucking Jerry a door down from me, or you letting Gary in without my permission. Did you even think? Gary could have killed me, Jesse."

"He wouldn't do anything to you. You're supposed to be his girlfriend..."

"I'm not his girlfriend! I never was. I went on two dates with him. Two! He just won't go away, and you're not helping your case, right now. You have no idea what it felt like when he opened that door."

"He loves you. He'd never hurt you."

"The last time a man said those words to me, he did just that," Jo held her ground.

"Jo, don't be melodramatic. Nobody'd..."

"You wanna know who it was? It was Jerry, last night, while you were waiting for him to get back to you! If Dan hadn't been there, he'd have punched me out! You kept asking why I haven't told you anything? What was I supposed to say to you after you sent me to meet that man?"

For the first time that Joanne had known Jesse, the woman was speechless. She sat heavily in a kitchen chair and dropped her purse to the floor.

"What did you think was gonna happen? I was gonna be so happy to see him, I'd pay part of your rent? I hadn't seen Jerry in over four years. That was on purpose. Did you ever ask me about Jerry? No. You have no idea what I went through. And last night. Last night, Jerry walked his way into a dinner with my parents. My dad loves him, so I had to act like it didn't bother me that he was there. And Jerry didn't care. But, I cared. I cared about everything that man has ever done, until he showed me his true colors. I can't have him, or anything involved with him, poisoning my life again. That's why you're out."

"Jo..."

Jo didn't want to look at Jesse as she explained. She turned and put her hands on the half wall that divided the kitchen from the living room. "Even after you forced Jerry on me, I let you stay here, because I'm a nice person, and I didn't want to put you out in the cold. I tried to keep you, even though you've NEVER listened to a word I've said. Then, you let Gary into my house. What made you think it was alright? He couldn't be bothered to call me back, so I didn't bother to call him, either. I told you that. When he started calling me again, I told you what I felt. I wanted to stay away from him, but you let him in my house, anyway. I've had enough of you. Go on off to bed, so I don't have to see you."

Jo slid her hands off of the wall and walked toward her room. She wanted to cry, but a reason not to peered out of the cracked door. Daniel came out into the hall and nearly put his arms around her. She saw him pause and look past her. She turned to see Jesse standing at the door to her room.

"Jessica," he grumbled at her former friend. The woman seemed to shrink.

"I, uh," Jesse floundered. "I just wanted to say ..."

"There's nothing to say, Jesse," Dan rumbled. "You'll be mad tonight, I'll fix you the best breakfast you've ever had, and you'll change your mind."

Jo tried to stop him from being nice. "Dan..." 'He mustn't have heard me kick her out.'

"I think we all need to get some sleep," his voice changed to this odd low thing to emphasize his point. "We'll all see things differently in the morning."

He put a hand to her back and gave her a gentle nudge into her room. She confronted him and raised her hand to his chest as he shut the door. The protest died at the sight of his concerned eyes.

"You're mad, right now. That might change after some sleep. I can see you're functioning on adrenaline. Did you really want to throw her out?"

"Yeah," she said, though the force was gone from her voice.

He pulled her fingers from his undershirt and pressed his lips to her palms. "Beautiful, don't worry about it. Not right now. Let me worry about it."

He sat down heavily on the bed and kept hold of her hands.

*

He hadn't really been asleep when she left the room. The stress level for him that night had been extremely high. The second the light went out, his eyes were wide open. He kept running different scenarios through his mind. What if they'd met that summer day? He was a different person back then. He was a lot like Jerry still is. Would he have done the same thing? No. He wasn't that kind of a guy. Dan couldn't lose the image of Jerry shaking her. She was fine, now. But, that little gasp of air she made when she felt the attack coming made his blood boil. Has she made that sound before? 'Of course, she has. If Jerry hadn't touched her in that way, I wouldn't still see it. I wouldn't see him forcing himself...' Dan couldn't stop the image of Jerry on top of Jo, grinding into her. Did it happen like that? Or was a it a quieter thing with her slowly struggling against his stronger body. But then, his thoughts moved to Joanne in his arms as they made lazy circles on the dance floor. She felt so right against him. He could still feel her body on his fingers. Just the thought of holding her got him a little excited. 'God, please. I don't want to think about it. I can't feel like this. Not right now. I don't want to hurt her.'

He heard the yelling, and figured she might be in trouble for the third time tonight. When he heard Jesse's voice in return, he held back. It wasn't his fight. He knew she was reacting defensively again. He managed to get her back into the room, before she went for Jesse, but that directed her attention to him.

*

She sat down next to him and watched his slow breaths. That tattooed arm bugged her. She thought he didn't have any tattoos. He'd even said that he thought they were a permanent stupid mistake. She reached out a hand and touched it. He let out a sigh and shifted slightly. She moved her fingers from the black line down to his pale white skin. The warm skin seemed raised in the black area. Jo traced his arm down to the inside of his elbow. He jumped and blinked at her.

"Honey," he breathed as he shivered, "you saw my mistake, huh?"

*

Her soft little fingers went straight for his tattoo, and a shockwave went through his cock. He tried to play it off by shifting his penis so it angled away from her, but she kept making patterns on his skin. When she got down to his elbow, the thing was pulsing in his pants. If he hadn't pulled away from her, he might have had some explaining to do.

"It's not really a mistake. It had to have taken a long time to make it so dark,"she said as her hand went to it again.

He sighed, "It's a cheap solution to a big mistake." He moved his arm and put his hand to Jo's thigh. "You remember when I told you I did some stupid things for Candy?"

"This was one of them?" She moved her hand for it again. It was so wide, it was visible between her fingers. She hadn't seen any difference in the ink pattern, before. Now, she was actively searching. She didn't get very far, since the lights were off and the curtains were drawn. It was something that went against what she thought Dan would like.

"You want to know what this said?" He pulled further away. "It said, 'Candy's bitch' in big black letters. The guy just filled in between the letters and connected the line. It was that or have it burned off with a laser. I didn't have three thousand dollars, so I just opted for the permanent arm band."

He caught her hand as it reached across his body to touch it one more time and pulled her until she fell heavily across his lap. She ended up sideways in a sprawl on his knees. He purred, "That's better. I don't like a lot of space between us."

"Dan," she warned as she tried to right herself, "nothing's happening..."

"I want to, but I won't," he said as he intentionally gripped her upturned ass to make her jump. It gave him just enough momentum to turn her on his lap with her chest close to his. "Honestly, I didn't think I'd be with you, tonight. I'm completely unprepared for a sleep over."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

'She's driving me nuts,' he thought as he crushed her into his chest and kissed her. "It means, I'll do anything you want, beautiful. But, I don't want to be irresponsible."

She raised up and her leg made contact with his firm penis. He let out a little moan as she moved the warm leg over him again. Jo's eyes grew wide and she looked down at the bulge in his pants. "Well, how... I know how, but... you're..."

"It happens," he simply stopped her from speaking with his lips. "This is another reason why we should probably wait. I'm pretty much ready to go whenever you breathe in my direction. I don't want to take any shortcuts with you. I don't want our first time to be on the floor, either. This bed's like a matchbox compared to mine." A flash of her under him made it hard not to grind a little against her leg.

She moved to balance herself on his knees and asked, "But, that's gonna hurt, right?"

"It'll feel pretty good, really," he chuckled as he ran his hand over her ass again. She'd moved so far out that it practically put itself into his hand. He smooched her, "I promise."

"No, if it doesn't go down, it'll hurt," she said around his kiss.

He dropped his arms. She wasn't gonna let this go. "Yeah, it'll hurt, if I stay hard for a long time. I'll go take care of it before that happens. That way it won't happen again for a while, and you won't have to think about it."

"But, Danny, before you go take care of it..." He couldn't see her in the gloom, but he knew she was blushing by the tone of her voice. Her hand went to his abdomen.

"You wan t to see it?"

"I don't know. Well, yeah," was her response. He wanted desperately to see her face so that he could judge which way to take this.

He kissed her forehead, "No, it's okay where it is."

She gave him a shove, "It's not okay. I... So, is it odd or something?"

There went that front again. He smiled to himself, because she was daring him to expose himself. "Nothing odd about it, baby. Not to brag, but I've been told it's pretty good looking as they go. I just figure now isn't so good a time..."

"Why not? You're here. It's here. Why not just flash me?"

'Flash you?' "How about we do this? You'll see it," he urged her to stand as he moved out from under her. "But, no more surprises, tonight. We're not going any farther than a look. No touching. Get me?" She stood there with her arms crossed and made a big nod for him to see. Daniel pulled his undershirt off and unbuckled his belt. He stood up and quickly shimmied out of his pants. He felt a little self-conscious, because he knew what he didn't look like. 'What if she doesn't like what she sees? She knows I'm not this body builder. She's seen what I eat. I'm trying not to suck in my gut. I want her to see the real me.'

He stood there with his briefs on. She didn't say anything. She just stood there with her arms crossed. For the second that she turned away, he thought he'd done the wrong thing. Then, he was blinded by the light she switched on. When his eyes adjusted he watched her walk around him. Her eyes scanned his briefs for a moment and she looked into his eyes.

"You're bigger than I thought," came from her lips.

*

Jo wasn't sure why she'd decided now would be a good time to see Dan naked. She needed to be distracted. She knew what relative size he was. She'd danced with him, and he'd carried her partway up to the apartment. In the back of her mind, she'd made him look smaller. He was easier to manage in a smaller package. He'd never really done anything to bring attention to his size. However, in this light, there was no denying it. 'And he's not that hairy on his back. Huh, with all of that stubble, I thought he would be covered in the stuff.' The most hair was in patches on his chest which coalesced into a line down his stomach to the waistline of his briefs. She watched him slouch uncomfortably and look at his toes. He ventured a quick glance up at her when she stopped moving.

'Why are you standing there like you're ugly? You can't possibly think that. I mean, you've got those eyes and those lips. And, you dated Candy, for crying out loud. And your not that skinny guy I thought you were. No, definitely not. And that bulge...'

"You're bigger than I thought," came out before she could stop herself. For a moment, he just looked back at her.

It must have been the right thing to say, because he slowly brightened. He scanned her face and said, "Is that good or bad?" He raised his tattooed arm and scratched his ear. There was something about him that made it okay.

'It's good,' she smiled as she went in for a hug.

"Hey, whoa," he caught her as she made contact with his chest. "I take that as a yes." He put his arms around her and squeezed as tight as he could. "I thought we agreed there'd be no touching."

"Hey! Whose arms are these? And, I'm not touching it. I'm hugging you. You're so warm," she cooed as she listened to his heartbeat. 'No way am I letting you go.'

"You're pretty damn hot, yourself," he purred.