GirlNextDoor (6 page)

Her arms tightened frantically around his neck and she
screamed through clenched teeth. All her muscles tightened in a hard spasm
around John’s crystal-hard erection. He drew back and thrust one last time
against her orgasm, and then he was over the edge, coming and coming while she
milked him dry.

His knees went then and he fell against her, pinned her to
the wall with his body, still impaled. Her head fell against his shoulder, and
her arms relaxed their grip.

Reality reasserted itself, but slowly. The blood took its
own sweet time getting back to John’s brain, and so it was a full minute before
he became aware of their surroundings—fully dressed, in an alley, and still
buried to his balls in his best friend’s best friend.

It had been her idea, but Nolan would never understand.

In the morning he would have to go to work, sit across the
little yellow table from his friend, have normal conversation over normal coffee,
spend the whole day in the squad with him and never let a hint of this slip…

And then there was the whole matter of the fantasies.

John shuddered and Lucy lifted her head. “Thank you, John,”
she said, rather formally. “That was exactly what I wanted.”

“Geep,” John answered. He was still working on breathing.
His whole body felt wrung out like a wet towel.

She smiled sweetly and kissed his lips very gently. Then she
reached up for the fire escape, pulled herself off him and lowered her feet to
the ground. She kissed him again. “Are you all right?”

John tried again, “Geep?”

Lucy took him by the shoulders and turned him so his back
was against the wall. He sagged there, trying to gather the wit for
conversation. She bent to retrieve her panties. They were red, John noted,
matching the dress. He liked a girl who knew how to accessorize. He almost had
his power of speech back when she reached for his cock again. She slipped the
condom off, then wiped him clean with the silky fabric of her underwear. John
slumped farther, sighing. If she wanted him again, he was helpless to resist
her, but he was pretty sure he was going to die from it. He wondered if Bennett
was on shift tonight, if he’d stand over Krulak’s body and shake his head, with
a triple cheeseburger in one hand and mustard in his mustache. And the guys
around the firehouse would be sad, but not at all surprised.

Lucy released him, tossed the condom into the Dumpster and
hung her panties rather daintily on the handle.

“Uhhh.”

“For the DJ,” she explained.

“Huh?”

“For turning the alarm off.” She reached for him again,
tucked his cock away as if it were hers, zipped his pants, buckled his belt and
adjusted his shirt. John knew without looking that it was all perfect.

Lucy put her hand flat on his chest. “Walk me to my car,
John?”

“I, um, sure,” he answered, bewildered. He put an arm around
her and they walked slowly back to the parking lot. “Can I take you home with
me?”

Lucy smiled, a little shyly. “I’m not the kind of girl who
falls into bed with a guy on the first date.”

John had to laugh. “Pretty demure for a woman in a short
dress with no underwear.” He let his hand slide down to cup her buttock,
wanting to reach up under the dress, but now there were people around.

She led him to a navy van. John vaguely remembered something
Nolan had said about renting a van, moving some furniture into storage or out
of storage, storage locker, something. She unlocked the door. John opened it
and leaned past her to be sure it was empty. It was. Except for the passenger and
driver seats, there was only carpeted floor space. He backed out and let her
climb in, but stood in the door.

“Lucy,” he said, reluctant to let her leave, “please come
home with me.”

She touched his jaw, kissed him very gently, kissed his
cheeks, his forehead, his eyes, like tiny butterflies landing on his skin. “Not
tonight, John.”

“Can I see you again?”

“Sure.” He stepped back and closed her door. She rolled down
the window and kissed him one last time. “I’m coming to the station to have
lunch with Nolan tomorrow.”

John stepped back, dazed, appalled, and watched her drive
away. His body still tingled, his mind reeled, and she was gone. How was he
supposed to look at Nolan tomorrow? If she was there it would be impossible.

Maybe he could call in sick.

He felt a little sick, come to think of it. He could not
believe what had happened. Already it seemed like a dream. Had they really…?
But if he walked back into that alley, he knew, he’d find the proof.

John closed his eyes. He should find his car, go home, take
a shower.

Now if he could just remember where he lived.

* * * * *

Nolan was on the futon couch, watching baseball on his new
TV, when she got home. She went and kissed him on the cheek.

“Well?”

“Well,” Lucy assured him. “He is all that and a side of fries.”

“Told you so. I didn’t expect you this early.”

“Thought you wanted to watch the game.”

“Oh. Sure.”

“I’ll be right back.”

She went into the bedroom, then the bathroom. The shower
started. Nolan nodded to himself. Of course she’d had sex with John. He’d known
she would.

He wondered if he should feel jealous. He’d expected to. But
now that she was back, it seemed silly. She’d had sex with John, but she’d come
home to watch baseball with him.

So was she cheating on John, at least emotionally?

But John wouldn’t expect her to be faithful to him,
especially not emotionally. It was just a one-time thing for him—and for Lucy.
They might like each other well enough, but it wasn’t any big romance. Just
sex. A perfect end to a presumably nice evening. And then home to a quick
shower and a baseball game.

Nolan shook his head. He couldn’t imagine having sex that
casually. Even in college, he’d never been comfortable with sex as a game. He
had to have some emotional content, something beyond
yeah, you’re okay, let’s do it
. It wasn’t
him.

Nolan had held out for love, and his heart had been broken.
His friends barely thought about love, and they were perfectly happy that way.

Maybe he’d been wrong all along.

Lucy came back, wearing his t-shirt and her panties, and
slipped onto the futon next to him. “I’ll be glad when the new couch gets
here.”

“Yeah. This is a little lumpy.”

“A little?”

“A little.” He glanced at the TV. “At least we don’t need a
magnifying glass to see the game anymore.”

Lucy frowned. “We’re down six in the second inning? I think
I want the little set back.”

They were quiet for a time, while their team struck out.
“You okay?” Lucy asked.

“Me? Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because I just tagged your best friend.”

“I knew you would when I set you up.”

“Ah, nice.”

“Lucy. I know you. I know John. I figured you’d hit it off.”

“And you’re okay with that?”

“I said I was beforehand, didn’t I?”

“He asked, you know.”

“What?”

“John asked. If it would be okay with you.”

“You know,” Nolan said slowly, “the idea that the two of you
are having sex is a little weird. But the idea that you’re both thinking about
me the whole time is downright freaky.”

“Kinky,” Lucy corrected. “It’s downright kinky.”

“Kinky then.”

She smiled sweetly. “I like kinky, you know.”

“I know, Lucy.” Nolan considered. “I bet you’d like a beer
about now.”

“I would, yeah.”

“Good. Get me one while you’re up.”

She growled, but she got up and went to the kitchen.

Chapter Five

John had been sure he wouldn’t be able to sleep, but he
dozed off almost as soon as he stretched out on his bed. He dreamed about
amazing sex, and about Lucy, and about Nolan—in a variety of delicious
combinations.

He woke up with a knot in his stomach.

He thought again about calling in sick. He couldn’t imagine
sitting in the squad with Nolan all day and not saying something stupid. But it
was too cowardly. He decided that unless he actually vomited, he had to go in.

In his nervousness, he got dressed too fast and was at the
medic shed much too early.

The coffee in the pot was probably only a few hours old. He
dumped it out and made fresh anyhow. He washed up the few dishes in the sink.
He swept the floor.

He should tell Nolan the truth, straight up. It was the only
fair thing to do.
Just say it. I slept with your old girlfriend. Yeah. Just
like that. I didn’t mean to, I didn’t plan it, it was all her idea.

It was, but that didn’t change anything. He could have said
no.

What if Lucy had already told him? That was possible. That
was very possible. She was that kind of upfront girl.

He felt sick again.

He couldn’t shake the guilty feeling that he had betrayed
Nolan. It wasn’t just that Lucy had been Nolan’s lover. That had been years
ago, and Nolan had long since renounced any sexual interest in women. But he
had trusted John with his old girlfriend, and John had taken advantage of it.
And more, he had the uneasy feeling that he had somehow
cheated
on
Nolan.

John heard a car outside in the lot. He slumped with relief
when he heard the fix-me-now grind of Jack Waldron’s brakes. Having the captain
here when Nolan arrived would make things easier. At least it wouldn’t be just
the two of them. Until they were out in the squad.

Waldron came in yawning. He grunted a vague greeting and
ambled past to the coffee pot, sniffed it cautiously. “This fresh?”

“Just made it.”

“Good man.” He poured a cup, came back to the table and sat
down with another grunt.

“No coffee up at the big house?” John asked.

Waldron shook his head. “All the chiefs got a nasty-gram.
Seems we’re neglecting our paramedics. I don’t want you to feel neglected.”

“Oh.” It was true, of course. Except when they were on a run
together or there was a problem, Waldron didn’t spend much time with the
paramedics. On the other hand, they didn’t mind the neglect. They were
generally too busy for hand-holding anyhow.

The chief stared into his coffee cup. He had deep, dark
circles under his bloodshot eyes, and a tired gray cast to his skin. “Rough
night?” John asked carefully.

“Fight with the wife,” Waldron answered tersely.

“Another one?”

“Should have never married her in the first place.”

John nodded. “Why did you?”

The captain glared at him over the rim of his coffee cup.
“How was your date?”

“Huh?”

“Nolan’s friend.”

“Oh. Lucy. Yeah.” John took a long drink of coffee to gather
his wits. Of course everyone at the firehouse knew about it. They all gossiped
like a bunch of teenage girls. “It was fine.”

“She howl at the moon?”

“Uh, no. Not in the way you’d think.”

“Huh.”

The older man was clearly done talking, but John couldn’t
seem to shut up. “We went dancing. Up at Old School. The girl has got some
moves on her.”

“Uh-huh. And I bet you put some moves of your own on her.”

John felt his cheeks go hot. “Uh… I, uh…”

Waldron set his coffee mug down with a thud. “Holy crap,
Krulak, you banged your partner’s girlfriend?”

“She’s not his girlfriend. And I didn’t exactly…”
What?
John wondered.
You’re going to say it wasn’t technically sex because nobody
got horizontal or naked? Or that it was all her idea?
He shut his mouth.
Then he said, “It’ll be okay.”

The captain shook his head ruefully. “There better not be
any shit about this.”

“It’ll be fine,” John said with much more certainty than he
felt. “It’ll be okay.”

“It better be.” Waldron pushed himself to his feet and went
to refill his coffee. “Damn, son, I might have married stupid, but you just
take the cake.”

“Did Nolan get the computer fixed?”

“What computer?”

The big doors opened and the squad rolled in. In a moment,
Tim Griffin and Emma Hensley, the regular night shift crew, came into the shed.
They reeked of kerosene. By the time they shut the door, the little room was
smothered in it.

Nolan came in right behind them. “Anybody got a match?” he
asked innocently.

“Funny,” Hensley snapped. She was fifty years old, small but
solid as a drill sergeant. She had a no-bullshit manner Krulak had seen get
through to the most raging crackhead when kinder voices completely failed.

“This stuff is never going to come off,” Griffin complained.
He was half his partner’s age, dark-haired and blue-eyed, and he’d been a father
for five weeks. “I can’t believe people are so damn dumb.”

“What happened?” Waldron asked. He stepped around them,
opened the little window and the door, and turned on the box fan.

Hensley rolled his eyes. “There was a party. About four a.m.
they decided they needed to cook some burgers on the grill. But they didn’t
have any propane in the tank.”

“So some bright boy,” Griffin continued, “decided to get the
space heater out of the attic and cook on that.”

“Was there drinking involved?” John asked.

“You
think
?” Hensley barked. “I don’t know how they
managed not to set themselves on fire. But the moron chef saw the burgers start
to burn and picked them off with his bare hands. So he’s all burned to crap.”

“And of course when we get there,” Griffin reported, “he’s
so drunk he can’t walk, so he has to hang all over both of us all the way back
to the squad.”

Nolan asked carefully, “Did you, uh, leave the windows
down?”

“No, we put them all up so you could reek as bad as we do,”
Hensley answered sarcastically.

Waldron shook his head. “Why don’t you two go over to the
fire house and shower off? Hensley, you can use my office. Just, uh, put those
clothes in a trash bag or something.”