A Tale of Two Paramours

When Jessika's alarm went off in the morning, I was not quite sure where I was. However, when I saw the lovely - and naked - brunette get out of bed and stretch, it all came back to me.

After stretching, Jessika turned back toward the bed and caught me staring at her. She grinned then turned again and walked into her bathroom, her hips swaying smoothly as she went. Sighing, I rolled over and looked at the clock, then groaned. It was just after 6:00am. If I had been home, I would have probably slept for at least a couple of more hours. I did not teach any classes on Friday, and my office hours were in the afternoon, so my Friday mornings tended to be quite relaxed. On the other hand, considering how problematic sleep had been for me that week, had I been home alone I might not have slept at all.

When I heard Jessika start the shower, it gave me an idea. I made myself get out of bed and walk into her now steamy bathroom. I saw the basic shape of her incredible body even through the frosted glass, and I smiled before I pulled open the door and stepped in.

"I don't have time to mess around, Mark," Jessika said in a matter-of-fact tone, but she moved back to give me more room in the shower.

"I just want to take a shower with you, and maybe rub soap all over your sexy body," I told the brunette as I stepped closer and then kissed her.

"I guess that's okay," she agreed.

For the next several minutes, we washed each other's hair, then bodies. I spent a little more time than necessary, perhaps, soaping up Jessika's breasts, which caused her nipples to harden. The brunette, for her part, spent perhaps more time than she needed to on my penis and scrotum, and I was not at all flaccid by the time she was done.

"It's a shame to leave with you with that, Mark," she grinned. "But I warned you."

"Maybe I will have to find someone to take care of it, since you do not have the time," I teased her.

Jessika's grin disappeared and her eyes grew cold as she stared at me. Then, without warning, she turned off the water, opened the shower door, and walked out. I stood there for a heartbeat, then I followed her. She was standing not two feet away, vigorously toweling herself off while she deliberately avoided looking my way.

"I was kidding, Jessika," I told her.

The brunette closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and looked at me.

"Last night was really weird for me, Mark," she said. "I tried to tell you that before we fell asleep."

"I know," I admitted. "I should not have teased you."

"No, I shouldn't have gotten pissed," Jessika said, her eyes losing some of their glacial coldness. "It's just that I've never - and I mean never - been turned on by feeling jealous before, and I doubt it will happen again. Last night just had a really weird energy to it."

"So you did not mean what you said about wanting to be tied up, or, um, ravaged?" I asked.

The brunette's mouth opened, but no sound came out. Her face did, however, turn as red as I had ever seen it.

"Um, no, I meant all that," she said, not looking at me. "And I still do."

"So why are you so embarrassed about it?" I pushed.

"Because I'm standing here, in the light of day, in my bathroom, talking about wanting you to do, uh, that stuff to me," she explained, finally meeting my eyes.

"After all the things we have done..." I started.

"I can still get embarrassed about talking about them, yes," she finished with a weak smile.

"Okay," I said, unsure what else to do. "I'll just leave you alone and let you get ready."

About twenty minutes later, Jessika and I were eating toast in her kitchen when she said, "By the way, I'm still thinking about letting you take a video of us. I meant it that I'd not decided yet. But, you know my concern."

"I can ask someone on the IT staff how to encrypt a file so only people with the code can see it," I told her.

"Maybe that would be okay," she said, then smiled. "It'd make me feel better, I think."

"I will let you know what I find out," I said. "In the meantime, we could always start out with some light bondage, if you want. Maybe next weekend? We could go up to a cabin an old friend of mine has at a lake north of here. He rarely uses it, and I can check and see..."

"You mean for Valentine's Day?" Jessika asked, and her tone stopped me short.

"Well, for the weekend," I said, watching her eyes for her reaction. "And that would include Friday, which is Valentine's Day, but it would not be for that reason."

"I'm not doing anything with you on Valentine's Day, Mark," the brunette declared as she stared at me, her eyes defiant.

"It would not be for Valentine's Day," I tried to assure her. "It would be just time for us..."

"No Valentine's Day, Mark. Period."

"Okay, no Valentine's Day," I agreed. "We can go up there on Saturday and spend the night and explore..."

"No," Jessika told me emphatically. "Not next weekend."

"Do you have other plans?" I asked, which prompted a blazing glare.

"Fuck, no!" she snapped. "And I don't intend to, other than to go out with friends who I'm not fucking and who're in no danger of, well, getting the wrong idea."

"Oh," I said, as her concern suddenly became clear to me. "Don't worry, sexy. I will not get the wrong idea. It would just be us getting together for some kinky fun."

"I have to go now, Mark," the brunette informed me coolly. "Time for you to go, too."

"I did not mean to upset you," I told her as she stood at her front door.

Jessika looked down, shook her head, and sighed.

"I know, Mark," she said when she looked up at me again. "It's just that I need to keep our relationship where it is, because it's good for me like this, and going somewhere on Valentine's Day wouldn't be keeping it where it needs to be."

"Okay," I agreed, although, not for the first time, I wondered if Jessika might actually feel more for me than she really wanted to allow herself to feel. "I understand."

I also wondered exactly what it was that I felt for her. I knew it was not what I had felt for my ex-wife, and I knew it was not the same as what I felt for Jessi, but I also knew my relationship with the thirty-one year old brunette was very important to me, for the friendship as well as for the sex, and if she needed to keep it as it was, that was probably best for me as well.

"Thanks, Mark," she said as we walked out her door. "And you'll understand, then, that I may need to have some time away from the, um, benefits side of things, maybe for a couple of weeks. At least until after next weekend."

I almost objected and pointed out that there were days between now and Valentine's Day that we could be together, as well as days the week after. However, before I had a chance to say anything, I realized that she was making sure she kept some distance between us, just as she had done after our trip to Monterey. I might not agree with her reasoning or her time frame, but I decided in that moment it would be best to honor her wishes.

"No problem, Jessika." I told her. "I'll text you later."

"Okay, Mark," the brunette said as she got into her car. "Sorry that I am being a bitch about everything."

"You are not being a bitch," I assured her as she started her car.

The brunette smiled and shrugged, then shut her door. With a wave, she drove off, leaving me standing in the parking lot of her apartment complex.

***

One of the benefits of my strange evening and morning with Jessika, and the doubts and concerns that certain parts of our time together had brought about, was that I did not think only about Jessi the next day. Sure, thoughts of her took up a fair amount of my time, but they had to compete with my thoughts about her older, curvier counterpart.

Surprisingly, I found that splitting my time thinking about both my lovers was less stressful than obsessing on one of them, and I was in a fairly positive mood when I was finally home on Friday evening. That mood was not to last long, however.

At just after 8:00pm, my phone rang. I did not recognize the number, but I answered anyway.

After my 'hello', a female voice blurted out, "That vindictive little cunt fucked my boyfriend last night while I was at work."

For a moment, I had no idea who it was or what she meant, then I realized the voice was Amara's and the meaning of what she said settled on to me.

"Jessi did?" I asked, even though I already knew that was who the eighteen-year-old had meant.

"Yes. She sent me an email telling me all about it," Amara informed me. "So, I confronted my asshole boyfriend about it, and he admitted it."

"Shit," was all I could say.

"Yep," the young woman agreed. "And double shit for me, since I live with the dickhole who just fucked another girl in our bed because they both thought it was unfair that you'd fucked me but he didn't get to fuck her."

"I am sorry, Amara," I told her. "What are you going to do?"

"Leave his sorry ass," she said. "I have a friend I can stay with. Or I could even go back to my parents, I

guess."

I almost told Amara that she could stay with me, and as I thought about that, my mind filled with visions of the possibilities that such a thing would bring. But then reason prevailed. It occurred to me that I would lose both Jessi and Jessika if I were to start something up with Amara. And that was not even taking into account the issue that she was simply too young for me.

"Thank you for telling me," I said, having successfully fought the urge to make my life even more complicated than it had already become. "I do not know what I will do, though. I guess I need to have a talk with her."

"Better you than me," Amara snarled. "I'd probably punch her right now."

"Just take care of yourself," I told the young woman, choosing not to acknowledge her threat of violence against Jessi.

"I will," Amara replied. "You too."

There was a pause, and for a moment I thought she had hung up, but then Amara said, "I think you guys are bad together and that maybe you should think about that."

After those words, the young woman terminated the call, and I was left to ponder what she had said. It echoed many of my own thoughts, but I knew I could not just let it all go, no matter how obvious it was becoming that Jessi and I were quite possibly toxic for each other.

***

About an hour after my conversation with Amara, I was standing at Jessi's door, knocking. When the blonde finally opened her door, I barely recognized her. The over-sized, gray sweatshirt she was wearing looked familiar, as did the black yoga pants, but the person inside of them looked little like the sexy, intense young woman whom I knew. Her face, always thin, was drawn and devoid of any makeup. Puffy, dark half-circles hung beneath her listless eyes, and her hair, usually neat and soft, looked tangled and unwashed.

"Hi, Jessi," I said as I took in her distressed appearance.

"Hey Mark," she slurred, and I smelled the distinct scent of alcohol on her breath. "If you came over looking to fuck, I'm guessin' you aren't now, the way you're lookin' at me."

"My I come in?" I asked, choosing to ignore her comment as well as her condition that had caused it to be somewhat confused in its phrasing.

"Sure," she shrugged, before turning and walking - somewhat unsteadily - to her small kitchen, leaving me at her door and the door wide open.

I stepped into her studio apartment, shutting the door behind me. The smell struck me first - a mix of alcohol, dirty clothes, and body odor. Then I noticed clothes and at least three wine bottles strewn about in a way that was not characteristic for the Jessi I knew. Her apartment had always been tidy when I had been over before.

"I'd offer wine," she called from kitchenette, "but it's all gone, gone, gone. I've got some tequila, though."

I walked toward Jessi and saw that she was holding an empty bottle, which she was squinting at uncertainly.

"Shit," she groaned. "The fucking tequila's gone too."

"Maybe some water would be good," I said, taking the empty bottle from the blonde, who had been staring at it as if she was hoping more liquor would magically appear.

"Fuck water," she responded, "Water doesn't make me feel better. I need tequila."

"Is the tequila really making you feel better, Jessi?" I asked her, stepping closer to her while trying to ignore the sour smells that seemed to hang around her.

"It's makin' me feel less," she said.

"Jessi, I really think you need some water right now," I told her as I took one of her hands.

I was surprised how dry the young woman's skin felt, and I realized that she was likely in the early stages of dehydration. I also saw, as I looked at her hand more closely, that her nails were shorter than I had ever seen them and ragged. I seemed quite obvious that she had chewed them until they were too short to chew any more.

"NO!" she yelled, pulling her hand away from me. "I DON'T WANT FUCKING WATER!"

"You are too young to buy alcohol," I pointed out to her, "And I am not going to get any for you, so water is your only choice."

"I'll just blow the fat, nasty guy at the liquor store," Jessi advised me as she shrugged one shoulder. "How'd you think I got the wine and tequila before?"

I did not say anything. I just stared at the blonde, trying to decide if she was serious, and if she was, when it might have happened. Jessi seemed to follow my train of thought, because she let out a harsh laugh as she returned my stare, although I was not sure she could actually focus on my face for any significant length of time.

"I did that before we were together, Marky," she snickered. "Last time I needed alcohol. I can do it again. He loved it."

"Do you have water in the fridge?" I asked Jessi, trying to ignore what she was saying as I was sure it was intended to provoke a reaction from me.

"Yes," the blonde groaned as she rolled her eyes.

"Sit down and I'll bring some to you," I told her.

With an exasperated sigh, Jessi sat down on the end of her bed. Or rather, she intended to sit down on the end of her bed; however, she sat too close the edge and slid off, landing hard on her bottom.

"FUCK!" she yelled as she sat on the floor at the end of her bed. "That fucking hurt!"

"Here, drink this," I said as I handed her a bottle of water I had taken from her refrigerator.

"Fuck you, Warner," she snapped, flipping me off.

"Just drink it, Jessi," I barked, then I took the bottle, pushed it between her lips, and tilted it up.

The blonde pushed my hand away, glared up at me, then said, "If you're gonna force somethin' into my mouth, it should be your cock, not a fucking water bottle."

"That is not helping, Jessi," I said, moving the bottle of water back toward her lips.

"Just give it to me," she growled as she snatched the bottle from me.

Still glaring at me, the young woman drained the bottle of water before she threw the empty bottle at me.

"I don't feel any better," she complained.

"You will," I assured her. "You are a little dehydrated, I think, and it will help you with that, in time."

"Wanna fuck while we wait?" the blonde asked in what she must have thought was a seductive voice.

"I did not come over for that, Jessi," I said. "I need to talk to you about what happened with Amara's boyfriend."

"Fuck! The stupid little cunt snitched on me, didn't she?" Jessi snarled. "But, she got what she deserved. I told her that fuckin' you was off-limits."

"Amara did tell me what happened," I admitted.

"And you came over to tell me what a slut I am for fucking her boyfriend, right?" the young woman sneered. "Well, I was, and you both got what you had coming. He wasn't very good, though, so I didn't get much from it."

"You were wrong to do it," I pushed on. "It has put Amara in a bad situation..."

"You fuckin' her?" Jessi asked, sitting up straight and locking on me with an intense stare, her eyes suddenly filled with blue fire.

"No, Jessi," I sighed. "I have not seen her since, um, our time together."

"What about Big Tits? You fuck her lately? Jessi asked.

"This is not about anyone with whom I am having sex, Jessi," I told her sternly. "This is about you deliberately having sex with Amara's boyfriend as a way to hurt her and me."

"Ok, I admit it," she said, still staring at me. "I was a bad girl. You gonna spank me, Mr. Warner? And then you gonna fuck me? You want my mouth or cunt?"

"I am not having sex with you when you are like this," I snapped, starting to lose my patience.

"Aw, come on, baby," the young woman said, standing up and starting toward me. "Use me and abuse me. We both know what I like."

"Jessi, that is not going to happen," I told her.

The blonde sneered then tried to pull her sweatshirt off. She had it far enough up that I saw that her modest but perfectly shaped breasts were braless before she stumbled and fell, the shirt still over her head.

At first, I thought Jessi was laughing as I helped her sit up and pulled her sweatshirt back down. But as her face came into view, I saw the tears streaming down her cheeks, and I realized what I thought was laughter was really sobbing.

"I fucked it all up, Mark," she moaned. "You must hate me."

"I do not hate you, Jessi," I reassured her. "I could never hate you."

"You should," the blonde sniffed. "Amara does. She left a thingy on my phone... what's it called... a voicemail. She said she hated me."

"You were hurt because of what happened - what I did," I said. "You lashed out. It was a mistake, but it is not worth poisoning yourself with alcohol."

"Numbs the pain," Jessi mumbled, and I realized she was fighting to keep her eyes open. "Gonna sleep now."

With that, the blonde slumped over on the floor of her apartment. I could not tell if she was asleep or had passed out, but either way I was not leaving her lying on the floor.

After some struggle, I managed to move the still unconscious young woman onto her bead. I would have liked to have put her in the shower, both to try to sober her up a bit and to help with the odor, but I thought she needed sleep more at that moment.

As Jessi slept, I cleaned up her apartment, putting all the trash in one bag and her dirty clothes in a different bag. I also checked to make sure there was no more alcohol anywhere in her apartment. When that was all done, I lay down beside her and rubbed her side. And even though she did not wake up while I rubbed her, she did seem to relax and sleep easier while I did it.

At some point I must have drifted off to sleep myself, because the next thing I knew morning light was coming in through the blinds. I pushed myself up on one elbow and looked down at the blonde sleeping on her back beside me. She must have removed both her sweatshirt and her yoga pants during the night, as she was only wearing panties. For several seconds, I fought to tear my eyes away from her breasts, particularly her small, dark pink nipples, which were clearly hard. Finally, I made myself look away as I ignored the slight stiffening of my penis. I knew it was not a good time to be aroused around the young woman.

As I sat there, Jessi began to stir. Suddenly, she started to sit upright, then grabbed her head and sank back down on the bed.

"Fuck, my head hurts," she whimpered.

"You will need some water," I said as I reached down and ran my fingers along her cheek. "You are dehydrated. When did you...?"

"Start drinking?" the blonde finished in a hoarse voice, her eyes still closed. "Last Friday night, after you left."

"So, the last week," I sighed. "Even when you were, um, with Amara's boyfriend."

"I barely remember all that," Jessi admitted. "I was pretty fucked up. I'm not even quite sure how I got there."

"It was very stupid, Jessi," I pointed out.