Author's note:
First of all, my apologies for having left the story in such a dark place for so long. It was not my intention. But life got in the way and I struggled with some severe writers block over the past several months. I have really struggled with this chapter, trying my best to imagine how everything might come together. I promise the story will work it's way into a happier place, but that there may be more dark times ahead before the story resolves. There's still quite a bit of story to tell.
It was just after 9:00 when the phone rang. Rebecca had been in the office for just over an hour. Jack always wanted her there earlier, before everyone started to arrive. It didn't mean she got to leave early, of course, Jack didn't work that way, but he recognized her as the exceptional administrative assistant that she was, and she didn't want that to change, so she made sure to keep him as happy as she could.
She was surprised when he came in that morning. He was usually pretty grumpy on Monday mornings, but he had been very pleasant when he arrived. He seemed to be in one of his rare good moods. He brought her coffee and brought donuts for the break room. He was bright and cheerful and smiling. He had a rather pleasant smile, but most people in the office didn't get to see it very often.
She picked up the phone on the third ring.
"Hey Rebecca, it's Tom," the voice on the other end of the line said. She thought he sounded like shit.
"Hey, Tom," she said, "what's up? You don't sound so good."
"I'm not," he said. She couldn't believe how morose his voice sounded. "I'm not going to make it into work today. Can you let Jack know? He didn't answer his phone when I called."
"Sure," she said, "I'll let him know for you. What's going on? You sound really down to me."
There was a long silence.
"I ... ummm ... it's not important."
"Sorry, but your not getting away with that with me. What's wrong? I can hear it in your voice."
"I ... I broke up with Jessie last night. I just walked out. I'm not sure I can ever go back."
"What?" Rebecca said, incredibly surprised. "You two seemed so good together."
They had, in fact, been incredibly good together the last time she had seen them. They had made her want to move in with them and spend the rest of her days in their bed. How could that have fall apart so quickly?
"Oh god!" She said suddenly. "This isn't because of me, is it?"
"God no," he said quickly and emphatically. "A
lot
has happened since that night though. I don't really want to talk about it over the phone."
"I get that," she said. "So where are you staying then?"
"I got a motel room last night. Not sure where I'm going to stay long term, though."
She thought for a moment and had an idea.
"Why don't you stay with me until you figure that out then? It would beat being alone in a cheap motel."
"I can't ask you to do that," he replied.
"You're not asking me to do it. I'm telling
you
to do it. I insist on it in fact. It's just a studio apartment, but I'm sure we can make it work until you figure something else out."
"I ... I don't think I should impose on ..."
"Nonsense," she said, interrupting him. "I won't take no for an answer. I'll text you the address. I can meet you there over lunch and let you in and give you a spare key."
"I ... I don't ..."
"Stop it Tom," she said. "Just say thank you and accept the offer, okay? You need a place to stay that isn't a motel."
"Okay," he said. "Thanks."
"I'll see you at 12:00 at the address I'll send you."
"Okay"
She hung up the phone and smiled. She knew it was wrong to smile when Tom was feeling so miserable, but she couldn't help thinking about him staying at her place. It was a studio apartment. It only had one bed. She already knew how she was hoping to "work things out" with the sleeping situation.β¨β¨ Her time with Tom and Jessie had been life altering for her - literally. She had, early in her life, decided that she was a lesbian mostly because being raped at a young age made her hate men for a
really
long time. Tom had changed that for her, and she wanted to explore all the things that she had missed out on over the years. She hoped that she might convince him to help her, even though he was heartbroken. Maybe she could help
him
forget about some of
his
pain?
Tom used his key to get into the apartment. He was going to need his belongings, at least enough to keep him going until he figured out new living arrangements. He had a set of luggage from his college days, he figured he'd get everything he needed for the next few weeks, and perhaps by then he could find a new place to live and come gather the rest of his belongings. β¨β¨It was a short walk from the motel he'd found to the apartment, so he'd gotten cleaned up quickly and headed there after getting off the phone with Rebecca. It was after 9:30, so he suspected Jessie would be at work already and he could slip in, gather up his stuff, and head out.
When he stepped in, he noticed the light was on in the kitchen. It wasn't really like Jessie to leave lights on when she left for work. He headed in to turn off the light.
And then stopped dead in his tracks.
There in the kitchen was a man, standing there, naked as the day he was born, drinking a beer.
His cock was hanging down, looking larger than average, but also looking at least partially erect. It was covered in what appeared to be the combined fluids of recent sexual activity.
Whoever this was had just got done fucking Jessie!
She must have called this person over right after Tom left the night before!
Fuck!
She really didn't give a shit about him, did she?
"Hey," the guy said to him with a smile, making no attempt to cover the fact that his recently used cock was just hanging out for Tom to see. "You must be Tom."