Reckless Intent

**Please Read: Reckless Intent is the sequel story to the Blurred Lines story. This is also a re-edit of the original story that I posted.

*****************************

Taya

The incessant buzz on the side of the bed filled Taya's ears and the sound reluctantly caused her body to stir. She was hoping to remain asleep for a little while longer but her alarm had other plans and it had gone off way too soon.

When she reluctantly opened up her eyes, they immediately squinted at the sun's harsh rays as she blindly fumbled for her cell phone.

"Can you hit the snooze button? I'm not ready to get up yet," Janae murmured in a sleepy voice against her back.

Taya blindly tried to tap the button on her phone to silence the alarm before rolling back over to snuggle up to her lover. "I hit that button yesterday morning and we both ended up getting to work within minutes of one another."

"Was that a problem?"

"Well I'm always late to work, but you're usually there before anyone else. So it could look a little suspicious that we're both suddenly coming into the bar around the same exact time."

Janae rolled her eyes dramatically. "I still don't understand why you're so worried about him finding out about us. Our divorce was finalized last year."

"But we still work with him" Taya replied and rolled over to her side. "I also don't need to give my sister another reason to ride my ass."

Janae shook her head and stroked Taya's cheek. "We've been sleeping together for the last three weeks and they haven't figured it out yet, so I'd say we're doing something right."

Taya bent down to give her a quick kiss before moving to get out of bed. "What do you want for breakfast? I'll place a carry out order while you jump in the shower."

"Thanks, but I'm not really hungry," Janae replied as she swung her legs around to the side of the bed. She remained seated on the edge of it, gazing at the floor while Taya grabbed a t-shirt nearby. "I've been thinking and I think we should tell Matt about us. If we tell him, we can finally stop sneaking around."

Taya reached for her hair-tie to tie up her hair and she turned to face her casual lover. "Where is this coming from?"

"I love that no one including my ex husband knows about us. But I think I'm ready for people to know about us."

"If we hypothetically tell people about us, what do we tell them this is?"

Janae bit her lip and rose to her feet, "We tell them that we're into each other so we're starting a relationship."

"I think I'm confused. Why would we blatantly lie to our friends and family like that?" she questioned. "You've said it yourself, all we do is fuck. I'm not complaining but I'm also realistic about what this is."

"I did say that," she conceded as she came over to embrace Taya's hands. "Those exact words did come out of my mouth. . .but my feelings have. . . evolved since then."

Taya knew her facial expression gave her away before she answered. "You-you have feelings for me? Are you sure?"

"Very sure. I just didn't know how to tell you until now."

"I-uh, didn't think you were ready to jump into another relationship right now. What changed your mind?"

"These last couple of weeks have been amazing and I feel like we could potentially have something really special. Do you agree or have I completely blindsided you?"

Taya felt her heart throb against her chest and her throat felt tight again. "Umm. . .J, I honestly really don't know what to say. . .can we eat breakfast and then have this conversation?"

Taya's response was obviously not the response that Janae had hoped to receive. She looked completely shattered by Taya's words and her disappointment was evident in her body language. She instantly let go of Taya's hands and started searching for her discarded clothing that was nearby. "I should get out of here before I embarrass myself more than I already have."

"J, it's not that. I just really feel like we should talk about this more after we eat breakfast. I'm still not fully awake so my brain is a little fuzzy."

Janae, however, refused to listen and she pulled her faded, Lakers hoodie over her head. "You don't have to lie to me in order to make me feel better. I completely and royally fucked this up."

"You caught me by surprise, that's all. I'm sorry, please don't leave like this."

"It's okay. I know I made a complete ass out of myself."

"No you didn't. I also don't want you to leave. Take a shower with me and then we'll talk about everything after we're both fully awake."

The other woman hesitated and nervously bit her lip. "Do you really mean that or are you just trying to make me feel better about embarrassing myself?"

"I'm completely serious," Taya replied as she pulled Janae towards her. "But in case you're doubting me, let me prove it to you." She then fell to her knees in front of her and pulled down her panties. Janae kept herself trimmed and the fine hairs on her mound tickled Taya's face as she kissed her thigh. "First, I'm going to eat you for breakfast and then we're going to eat our breakfast, understand?"

********************

Raegan

"This is it?" Raegan questioned as she accepted the thin Manila envelope. "All the money I paid you, and this is all you have for me?"

"I have a lot more riding on this than you do. If she finds out that I'm helping you, I'm toast."

Raegan ignored him and opened up the envelope. Inside, she found several recent surveillance photos of her ex fiance and studied them. "A bar, are you fucking kidding me? She has a law degree."

"Don't shoot the messenger, alright? Public records showed that she and her older sister inherited the joint after their old man passed."

"I feel the need to reiterate this again: keep it quick and clean, I don't want anything to happen to her or anyone else."

Kanan nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. "Feel free to cut me off if I'm stepping out of line when I say this. But are you really sure that you want to reopen Pandora's box?"

Raegan scowled and shrugged her shoulders towards him. "Why do you keep second guessing me? If I had any doubt, I wouldn't be here."

"That's not what I'm talking about, Sloan. Your mother is a fucking force to be reckoned with."

Raegan pulled out a separate envelope and handed him the cash filled envelope and a slip of paper with longitudinal and latitudinal points. "She won't find out because this meeting never happened. Call me when it's done and I'll bring the rest of your cash."

They sealed the deal with a firm handshake and he quickly jogged back to his vehicle and got inside. Once he pulled away from the curb, Raegan turned to her driver Alias who stood next to the car. He didn't say anything but she had been around him long enough to know when he disapproved. "I know what you're going to say, so please keep it to yourself."

He casually shrugged his shoulders. "It looks like you have everything under control. I wasn't going to say anything."

"You don't have to bullshit me, ya know? I know when you're being condescending."

He opened the car door for her and held it open. "I just have a feeling that you're in way over your head."

"I know it's extreme and impulsive," Raegan admitted as she got into the vehicle.

"It's also extremely risky. She hasn't seen you in a while so you don't know how she's going to react."

Raegan rolled her eyes and removed her hat and sunglasses. "I know, I know. I just need to get her alone so that I can give her my side of the story."

He got into the driver's seat of the vehicle and clicked his seatbelt in place. "Have you even considered the fact that she might not be interested in listening to your side of the story?"

That thought had crossed Raegan's mind on more than one occasion, but she couldn't admit it to Alias. Her greatest fear had been realized when she thought she permanently lost Taya to Natalia fucking Torres.

She would never admit it to anyone but she briefly stalked Taya and her on again/off-again girlfriend. She hadn't intended to do it, and if anyone ever questioned her about it, she would flat out deny it. However, she did briefly become obsessed with violently attacking Natalia after she caught them making love on Taya's terrace. Afterwards, she not only fantasized about pushing Natalia off the terrace. She also contemplated repeatedly running her over with her car. She wasn't proud of it, but she hated that Taya had moved on with someone that wasn't her.

The image of Taya desperately clinging to her lover as her body orgasmed haunted her thoughts for months to follow. The private and erotic scene on Taya's terrace left her with the acidic and bitter taste of regret and jealousy in her mouth. Afterwards, she vowed that she would finish what she had set out to do and get the love of her life back.

"I'm not walking away until she listens to everything that I have to say. She deserves to hear the truth from me, one way or another."

********************

Taya

Taya Denise Morgan always hoped to fulfill a promise that she had made to herself and have her shit together by her 30th birthday.

She had hoped to be a homeowner by then. She had also hoped to be financially secure and running her own successful law firm but none of that materialized.

Marriage was completely out of the question, but that still didn't stop her from having an active sex life. Until last week, she had been having hot, casual sex with Janae. She had recently hired Janae to spin music during the weekdays and the two women had hit it off right away.

However, their unexpected, no strings attached relationship had unintentionally and temporarily come to an abrupt halt.

She hadn't meant for it to happen that way. But when Janae confessed her feelings for her, something inside Taya freaked the fuck out.

She never intended to hurt Janaes feelings, but being in a relationship with her, meant that there would be complications. Complications that included working directly with her ex-husband.

Taya also had her own doubts about whether or not she was even capable of providing Janae with a serious commitment.

Several years had passed since she had ended her relationship with Natalia. It felt like a different life ago, but that still didn't stop her from thinking of her ex paramour. She knew that she'd done the right thing by ending their tumultuous relationship when she did, but it still hurt.

Walking away from Natalia had been the second hardest thing that she'd ever had to do in her adult life. She briefly grieved for the loss of their relationship, but deep in her heart, she knew that Natalia and Vanessa were meant for each other.

While scrolling through Instagram last week, she noticed a new picture that Vanessa had posted to her personal account. In the picture, she and Natalia were posing outside of a restaurant with Natalia's Mother and elderly Grandmother.

Seeing all of them together in the photograph stung.

It really stung because she knew that her exes overprotective mother hadn't liked her from their first meeting. It also didn't help that she'd been unfaithful to her daughter on multiple occasions. The native Puerto Rican woman also didn't hide the fact that she thought her only daughter deserved better than Taya. Taya understood why she felt that way towards her but she had tried so hard to give Nattie her entire heart.

But her heart hadn't been the same since Raegan's death. When Rae died, she took a piece of Taya's heart with her and nothing could fill the massive void that was left by her untimely death.

After Rae's death, she hit rock bottom professionally and personally. Her only comfort came from cheap alcohol, casual sex or whatever party drug that she could get her hands on to numb her pain.

But drug and alcohol induced sex could only do so much, and eventually, she had to pull herself up off the floor.

When she did, the physical pain was unimaginable but it was the overwhelming sense of loneliness that scared her the most.

Fortunately, her AA sponsor ran a faith based, grief recovery support group which became her salvation.

The grief group is where she met Natalia who was also still coming to terms with the death of her older brother.

Their attraction was immediate and she tried so hard to make their relationship work. However, her heart still and always would belong to Raegan Sloan.

"What do you think?" Taya saw her sister's lips moving, but she didn't focus on what she was saying until Melanie snapped her fingers at her, "Taya? Did you hear what I said?"

Taya shook her head and turned towards her with a frown. "I'm sorry. What were you saying?"

"Did you come to a decision about your birthday?"

"We've been through this already, Mel. It's just another day to me."

"Babysis, you're turning 30. That's a milestone birthday that you have to celebrate!"

She ignored her sister's enthusiasm and finished wiping off the beer cooler. "I'm not really in a party mood. I just want to order a thin crust pizza and watch Grey's Anatomy reruns until I fall asleep."

Her older sister rolled her eyes. "Ugh, that sounds lame and boring as hell. You really need to get some pussy."

Taya flipped her sister the bird and threw a bar mop towel at her. "Ya know, you don't have to constantly remind me that I'm lame and boring."

"I just feel like you're doing yourself a disservice, babysis. However, if that's how you really want to spend your 30th birthday, that's what we'll do."

Bullshit.

Not only did Melanie throw her a surprise birthday party at the bar.

She also created and played a continuous slideshow of the most embarrassing pictures from their childhood that she could dig up.

It was obvious that she had been planning Taya's surprise birthday party for a while because the birthday cake and decor were both custom made specifically for the event.

As thoughtful as it was, none of it made Taya want to stay at her own birthday party. She had developed a hatred for birthday parties on her sixth birthday. But that little known fact was unbeknownst to everyone, including Melanie. However, she knew her older sister had put in a lot of time and effort into surprising her with the party, so she was determined to fake her way through the unexpected gathering.

She was on her third mocktail of the night when a woman near the pool table looked over at her.

"If I didn't know any better, I would think you were thinking about ditching your own party." Taya turned her head at the sound of the voice and she encountered a tall, dark skinned woman with long, thick box braids watching her closely.

She couldn't help but frown as she struggled to remember where she recognized the woman from. "Do we know each other?"

The woman shook her head. "I was driving by and I saw the cold beer sign so I came in for the beer but stayed for the Birthday Girl. Happy Birthday."

"Thank you. Are you enjoying yourself?"

"I am," she replied. "You don't look thirty at all, by the way."

Taya slightly blushed and smiled. "How old do I look to you?"

The woman ran her fingers through her braids and tilted her head to one side. "Twenty five," she replied with a twinkle in her eye.

Taya threw her head back and chuckled. "You're lucky you're cute because you are a terrible, fucking liar."

The other woman also laughed and she stepped closer to Taya. "Has anyone given you a birthday kiss yet?"

Taya tried to push down the nervous cluster of butterflies in her tummy as she inhaled the strangers intoxicating fragrance. "What kind of birthday kiss are you referring to?"

"The type of kiss that makes your toe curl and muscles strain," she explained as she leaned in closer. "The kind that occurs between your thighs."

Taya's body instantly came to attention and she felt excitement pulse in her cervix. "I haven't received any offers yet," she replied in a quiet, husky voice. "Are you volunteering your services?"

She knew that she shouldn't have even entertained the idea of hooking up with another woman on account of Janae. But that still didn't stop her from quickly scanning the room for a potentially discrete location.

The tiny linen closet on the other side of the bar caught her eye so she pointed to it. "Meet me in the storage closet by the ladies restroom. The door code is 163."

"I'll go first. Wait a few minutes and then come join me," she warned before she leaned in to kiss the left side of Taya's jaw.

When she went to turn away,Taya reached for her arm. "Wait, I didn't catch your name."

The woman licked her lips and then leaned in towards her. "Fantasma," she murmured before quickly turning away to navigate her way through the crowd of people that were gathered around the bar. When she reached the other side of the room, she keyed in the door code on the keypad and she went inside the room.

Though they never formally agreed to be in a relationship, Taya still felt as though she were cheating on Janae. It bothered her more than she cared to admit, so she set a reminder on her phone to call her first thing tomorrow morning.

Janae deserved to know that she didn't feel the same way about her and she needed to be told sooner rather than later.

When she checked her watch again, two minutes had come and gone so she excitedly started walking toward the linen closet.

She assumed that the light would've been already turned on, but the room was still dark when she made her way inside. She barely had any time to react because a hand was quickly placed over her mouth and she was warned not to scream

When she instinctively tried to kick her attacker, a soft cloth was placed over the front of her face. She reluctantly and instinctively inhaled one time and then everything suddenly went dark.

********************

Raegan

Patience was supposed to be a virtue.

If that's true, Raegan certainly didn't have it. She hated waiting for things to happen and she hated waiting on people.

She wanted everyone and everything to move as quickly as they should and it annoyed her when they didn't.

She checked her phone and reread Kanan's encrypted message from earlier: Package secured. On the way

He'd sent the message over an hour ago but he still hadn't arrived and Raegan was beginning to get anxious.

Her growing anxiety was turning to anger and she resisted the urge to check her Apple Watch again for the umpteenth time.

The front door finally opened and Alias walked inside. "They're here," he confirmed. "I had him put her in the bedroom."

Those two little words made Raegan's heart beat a little faster and a little harder and she swallowed nervously. "Did she recognize you?"

"She's still asleep."

"Can you give him the rest of his money and catch a ride with him back to the city?"

"You don't want me to remain on standby in case you need me?"

She shook her head. "This is something that I have to do alone. Besides, I don't want anyone else to be involved in this if this gets out."

He nodded and handed over the keys to the SUV. "It's not too late for you to change your mind. She hasn't seen your face so for all she knows, this was an attempted kidnapping."

Raegan shook her head and prepared herself for the inevitable conversation that awaited her. "I'll call you if I need anything. Just lay low until you hear from me."

So much time had passed since she had held Taya in her arms.

Be that as it may, no amount of time or preparation prepared her for the actual reality of seeing Taya face to face once again.

Her former fiancé was steadily sleeping and snoring softly when Raegan opened the bedroom door. She looked so peaceful and so beautiful and Raegan treaded carefully around the bed so that she wouldn't accidentally wake her. Taya's naturally thick hair fell below her shoulders and it made her look even sexier than usual.