An Open Entanglement

Author's note: Big thank you to fellow Lit authors and friends aimingtomisbehave33 and petitmort for their continued support and feedback. Thanks to Jill for co-creating the universe. And thanks to you, reader, for being here -- hope you enjoy the ride.

Previously in the series: Taylor confessed to her fiancé Jim that she'd slept with someone, aka their sex god neighbor Brad. Following an emotionally abusive day from all angles, she finally crashed on Brad's couch, having nowhere else to go, effectively ending her engagement.

***

Chapter V -- The Closure

Brad yawned and stretched in bed, before looking over to the person lying next to him. It wasn't a sight he was used to waking up to and that was by no means a negative thing.

His new lover Taylor was sleeping face down, her shiny blonde hair sprawled out on the pillow, with her naked upper back above the covers. He vaguely remembered ending up in bed with her the night before, after he'd interrupted her shower and fucked her brains out right there.

In the morning light, her breaths were slow and even, indicating she was still asleep. Brad snuggled up to her without putting his weight on her. She stirred somewhat. He could swear her legs had just come apart a bit.

She'd been at his place for a few weeks now, yet he showed no signs of tiring of her. That feeling of having her come in his arms was completely irresistible and addictive, and it made him want her like he'd wanted no one before.

His hand sneaked under the covers to caress down her body. Her ass was naked, since they rarely bothered to put clothes on for bed, allowing him to cup a gentle feel before moving down her cheeks.

Taylor's legs definitely moved further apart at his initial contact with her slit.

Smiling, he let his hands graze back and forth across her pussy lips. With each round, she got a little wetter. He simply collected the wetness and went back to gently rubbing her pussy, until he was happy with how wet she was to push his finger inside her.

He heard her inhale sharply and then relax, as he started to penetrate her slowly.

Taylor was half awake at that point, enjoying being woken up by Brad's gentle yet sensual touch. The attention and affection he'd been showing her the past couple of weeks was unprecedented for her, most likely because of the type of men she always seemed to end up in relationships with.

What had started out as her crashing with Brad for a few days had somehow turned into them wordlessly reaching an agreement that she'd stay, and she and Brad were slowly falling into a rhythm, a much easier rhythm than she'd found with her ex-fiancé Jim, who still lived next door.

That break had been anything but smooth, but in hindsight, Taylor knew it had been inevitable. The traumatic events of a few weeks ago had merely accelerated the process of her finally coming to grips with her desires and making the right choices for herself.

Barely noticeably, she shook her head, intentionally and consciously pushing away all thoughts of her past to focus on the very present.

"Good morning, gorgeous," he whispered in her ear, which made her tingly inside and she couldn't hold back a smile.

She turned around to face him and kissed him, pressing her naked body to his. She could feel how hard he was and yet he patiently waited for her to make a move.

As she draped a leg over him and reached down between them to stroke his shaft, Taylor watched her lover groan and close his eyes from the pleasure. He soon opened them back up to look into her eyes, right before he nudged her onto her back and climbed on top of her.

With her legs wrapped around his taut ass, Brad slowly invaded her pussy, listening to her moan as he sank balls deep into her. He leaned down and worshipped her large breasts with his hands and tongue, while his cock enjoyed having her pussy wrapped so tightly around it.

It was a morning quickie, but still one that left both Brad and Taylor satisfied, as they got up to start their workday.

***

Jim awoke from a fitful night of sleep. He stumbled into the bathroom and stared at himself in the mirror. The past couple of weeks had taken a hard toll on him; it was kind of hard to fall asleep when the sounds of his ex-fiancé getting fucked hard by her new lover next door echoed through the walls of his bedroom each night.

He knew he had to move out, if not for his wallet, then for his sanity. However, with the lease terms being what they were, he was stuck in that mess for another 3 months, teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

Their own sex life had been perfectly fine. Their relationship had been based on mutual respect and trust. They were supposed to get married and live happily ever after! Yet, she had thrown it all away. Jim still didn't understand why, but he didn't have the guts to go next door and confront her.

Turning away from the sad image in the mirror, he took a quick shower, not even bothering to shave.

He needed to get to work, but had to drop off rent first, which made him drag his feet even more. He was a bit late paying this month, but everything in his life was a mess and it was hard to keep up with all the little things that Taylor used to take care of.

On top of everything else, he was about to get started on a new project and he was anxious to find out whom he would be working with over the next couple of months.

He knew the new client was an art institute, looking for a big launch campaign, some social events, and advertising for residency positions. Jim figured they were probably tight on money and patience, and wasn't surprised that Nicholas, his supervisor, had assigned both him and another junior colleague to wrap up the project on time.

What he wasn't expecting was legal to get involved.

When he and his colleague entered the meeting room, Jim's heart skipped a beat to find Taylor there, already engrossed in a discussion with the clients. She was wearing her power suit with a peach colored blouse peeking through.

Her body turned further away from the door upon Jim's entry. He could see her continue the discussion until after he and his colleague were seated.

Her nonchalance bothered Jim and he said the best thing he could think of to regain some semblance of control in the room.

"Should we wait for Helen to start?"

At that, Taylor turned to face him.

Helen was a senior consultant at the law firm and he knew Taylor would get the insult; she was smart enough. He couldn't help himself.

With her blue eyes narrowed, she replied in a neutral tone, "I'll be handling this case alone as it falls under my particular expertise, but thank you for your consideration, James."

His colleague leaned in to whisper, "Don't antagonize the lawyer chick, Jim, you know how much their fees are and those will come out of our pockets if they can help it."

Jim squirmed in his seat. He needed to brace himself and stop making a fool of himself in front of Taylor. It wasn't going to be easy.

***

"For the last time, Jim, you can't just use the current collection, images or reproductions thereof, anywhere in this ad campaign! Do you not understand what confidential means?"

Taylor had been stuck in the meeting room alone with Jim for over an hour, after the clients had left. With her patience wearing thin, maintaining a professional façade was getting more and more difficult by the minute.

On the other side of the table, Jim had dropped all pretense of not staring at her. His brain had quit long ago from lack of sleep and overall demoralization. The ideas he was throwing out there were not original and he kept running into copyright issues that he just didn't get. He should have been thankful for Taylor's presence -- at least, there was one person in the room competent at their job.

She finally gave up and leaned back against her chair. Jim's nostrils flared. He didn't recognize the perfume she was wearing, which he thought suited her. His eyes fell on her neck and then inadvertently down to her cleavage.

His pants actually felt tight from the sight before his eyes. Well, his mind filled in the gaps for what he couldn't actually see, the way her breasts fought against the bra and how deep the valley ran between her double D's...

"Is that a new perfume?" he blurted out. It was better than saying what he was really thinking, but he was pretty sure she read him well either way. His honest-to-god, transparent face was one of the things she adored about him. Used to adore, he corrected himself.

"Yes, yes it is. Why?"

"It's new; it suits you."

"Thanks, it was a gift."

In her mind, she completed the sentence with "from Brad". She wasn't sure if she wanted to throw that in Jim's face, after everything she had already done. Besides, the meeting room in his work building was hardly the place for all this.

However, as much as she could read him, he could read her, too.

"Oh, what else has he given you as a gift?" he lashed out, suddenly angry.

"Do we really need to have this conversation? Here of all places?"

"Why, would you rather have this conversation in a more public place, like on your balcony?"

He had stumbled on them on their balcony, late at night. She had been on her knees with her new lover towering over her. She had been giving him a blowjob. Jim had scurried away quickly and as quietly as he could manage.

After a brief moment of shock, Taylor cleared her throat and plastered back on her professional face. "Let's end this meeting here and reconvene when you have some more suitable ideas for the campaign. Unless you figure it out within the time crunch, I'll have to advise the client to search for a new ad agency."

Without another look at his face, she gathered her files and stood to walk out.

"W-wait! Taylor... Please don't go. I'm sorry, okay?"

Vaguely, Jim was aware of how absurd it was to offering an apology to her. If anything, it should have been the other way around, but he couldn't help himself; the thought of her walking out and leaving him all alone was inexplicably terrifying. Meanwhile, her scent seemed to intensify in the suddenly too-small room, adding to his confusion.

Taylor looked at him quizzically.

"Look Jim. I know this is awkward. It's awkward for me too; believe me. But I need to be professional right now, and you're making it hard for me to do that." Although her tone was not unkind, it conveyed she was in no mood for Jim's games.

"I know. I'm sorry, OK? I thought we were going to be together forever. The hardest part is you never really offered me an explanation. It's been weeks, if not months, and I still don't know where things went wrong. I think you owe me that at least. For closure." He looked up at her with his best imitation of puppy dog eyes.

Taylor knew she was walking into a minefield. All a confrontation would do at that point was hurt Jim further and open her up to more of his emotional and verbal abuse, which she wasn't ready for.

However, maybe Jim was right; maybe he did need some kind of closure. Plus, they were currently in his workplace, which lessened the chance of any further outbursts from him. If she was going to agree to this, it was the perfect opportunity.

"I can't guarantee you'll like my answers. But if you think it will help..."

With a resigned sigh, she sat back down on the couch and smoothed down her skirt. This of course, only served to draw attention to her shapely legs and the tops of her stockings.

Jim nervously licked his lips and thought of all the things he wanted to ask her. He knew deep down that he was better off not knowing the things she was about to tell him, but he couldn't help himself.

"Okay. Well, I guess my first question is, how long was it going on for? B-before you left me, I mean. And.. And how many t-times did it happen?"

Taylor felt a warm blush envelope her face as Jim stuttered through the question. It would be funny if it weren't so mortifying. While pondering her answer, she nibbled thoughtfully on her full lower lip, which caused additional anguish to Jim.

"It went on for about a month, before I moved out."

"So only a couple weeks. And you were ready to throw away what we had just for some sex?"

An angry blush rose in her cheeks.

"It wasn't just some sex! It was... I was finally free to be me. And it took for him to come along for me to wake up and smell the roses, Jim, because what you and I had was intellectually sound, and that's about the only thing we had going for us."

"Free? You mean free to sleep around? You are so much more than your libido, Taylor. You have a passion for life, for your career..."

"I'm not another career-driven robot that can function with minimal physical attention. This all predates your accident, by the way; so don't start with the "you know, my back" excuses. I swear I will throw up right here if I hear that story one more time!"

"Are you just telling yourself stories to make yourself hate me? I made you happy enough to make you want to marry me, for God's sake, Taylor! We were fucking engaged to be married. You threw it all away and your best explanation is I didn't give you enough orgasms. " He wanted to hold her by her shoulders and shake her.

"Anybody who's sexually more mature than a 15-year-old boy knows orgasms matter! I've frequently had to masturbate after you passed out. Happy now?"

Jim visibly deflated with each word coming out of her mouth.

Taylor's voice broke. "I couldn't be faithful. You need someone who's going to be loyal to you, someone who'll stay at home with you on Sundays and not constantly desire the validation of her sex appeal. You're so in control of your body that I'm ashamed I can't control my urges. How's that for closure?"

Jim recognized the signs of her lowering her guard; he thought this was his opportunity to win her over.

"You should've just told me I was shit in bed. If you want me to disregard the fact that you're one of the smartest and driven women I've known, and just worship your body like you're a ditz on the cover of Playboy, I will do that for you."

Her body language was softening and he pressed on. "You know how good we are together. Think about all the trips we've taken, places we've seen together... Remember the diner we hid in during the storm and how you could never eat roast beef ever again after that? How about the stand-up comic who picked on us during his set and you almost punched him? That's the passionate, smart woman I fell in love with and wanted to spend the rest of my life with."

She couldn't help but smile thinking back on those memories.

Her smile encouraged Jim even further. He got up from behind the table and knelt down in front of her, milking the puppy dog eyes for all their worth.

"You know how much I love you. We can still put this behind us. We'll probably have to move out to get away from that sex addict next door, but we'll manage, right sweetheart?"

Those two insulting words put together haunted her: sex addict. As soon as they spilled from his lips, her trance was broken, her sympathy for him and guilt vanished. Her blue eyes grew cold.

"You asshole! Asking for closure, when all you want is to manipulate your way back into my life. Why would I come back to you, when all you do sleep and work!"

He realized he was losing her all over again. Tears fell from his eyes, as he wrapped her arms around her legs.

"I'll do better, please. I'm nothing without you. I can't sleep, I can't work. They're going to fire me soon if I can't land this account. You have to come back to me."

"Oh, so what I'm hearing is, I should come back to you so you can keep your job. Thanks, but no thanks. I'm done being ignored or judged by you. We are done! Now, get off me!"

She half kicked him to put distance between them.

Jim sobbed. "Come back to me, because I love you, Taylor." He was trying to meet her eyes.

"I'm with someone that supports me in ways you can never imagine and for that, I love him. Do both of us a favor, and never ask me about him again." She met his tearful eyes. "You can e-mail me the proposal for the ad campaign. Until then, have a good evening, James."

***

"God, you would not believe the day I've had!" Taylor stormed into the apartment a couple of hours later and tossed her jacket on the table. Brad looked up from plank pose and grunted at her in between push-ups.

"Gimme... a minute... babe... I've nearly... finished... this set."

Normally the sight of Brad all sweaty and shirtless would have made her hot. But she was far too pissed off. With a long, drawn-out sigh, she flopped onto the couch and waited for him to finish. As the minutes rolled by, she began fussing irritably with a strand of hair.

"Done!" Brad slowly got up and took a moment to enjoy the burning sensation coursing through his veins. He then turned to check out his physique in the mirror.

Taylor gently cleared her throat to remind him that she'd like some attention, too. With a sheepish grin he joined her on the couch and gathered her up into a bear hug.

"Eek! You're getting sweat all over me!" Despite her protestations and the limitations of her skirt, she assisted him in maneuvering her body into a straddling position on his lap.

"It's your fault for looking so hot in that suit," he teased. He gently caressed her face and was able to steal a kiss before asking, "...Okay, what's wrong?"

"The new client. Of all the ad agencies in town, they went and picked Jim's, God knows why! And he's the account man! I was so excited to be lead counsel for the first time and run everything, but now I have to work with him. For weeks!"

Brad couldn't help but grin. He didn't like seeing Taylor upset, but the thought of her heartbroken ex being forced to work alongside her was hilarious. He would probably have a pathetic little boner the whole time.

"So what happened at the meeting today, baby?" He placed his hands on Taylor's narrow waist and slowly slid them and down her sides to calm her down.

"Right off the bat, he insulted me, insinuating I need supervision around the client. Then he stayed behind with supposedly work questions, which was practically a ruse. He acted like I owed him this big explanation and then tried to manipulate me into getting back together with him. I can't drop the client and I can't recommend another ad agency until Jim fails. How the fuck am I supposed to work with that!"

Brad nodded sympathetically while continuing to feel her up. His hands briefly massaged the sides of her breasts and then slid down to her skirt. The fabric was stretched so tight around her ass it might as well have been a second skin. Brad could feel himself getting hard.

"So you can't quit. And he probably won't. I guess, I could always just go next door and kick his ass for ruining your day?"

Taylor raised an eyebrow. "I don't think that would be wise..."

Her phone rang and seeing the caller, Taylor jumped to answer.

"Kate! How are you? Where are you? What..."

In her excitement, she continued nodding with a smile, all the while continuing to rub up against Brad.

"...That's amazing! Can't wait!"

And she hung up.

"You remember Kate, right?"

They shared a smirk. Brad's hookup with Taylor's best friend and colleague Kate was more memorable as a threesome, with Taylor joining them from her own bedroom.

"She's finally done with whatever family stuff had been going on. She'll be back in town as soon as next week!"

He smiled up at her, but made it obvious his mind was elsewhere.

"Is there something you'd like to do to celebrate your best friend's arrival.. or to get your mind off of having to work with your stupid ex?"

Seeing her sexy little smile, Brad eagerly unbuttoned her silk blouse and slid it off her shoulders. He was now staring at the same sight Jim must have been fantasized about earlier in the day. Her breasts were practically spilling out of the lacy cups of her black bra that was clearly a size too small. He gave an appreciative groan and then buried his face between them.