Imperfectly Bad (12 page)

“We shouldn’t do this.”

She was right, things were muddied enough, but I didn’t care. “Why?”

“Because the past is the past, and we don’t need to go back there. Neither of us need to add any more scars to our collection.”

“Fuck that,” I managed to mutter before I crashed my mouth to hers our lips immediately finding their rhythm. I needed to convince her otherwise, and that was the best way I knew how. Running my tongue along the seam of her lips, I urged her to respond. It was one of my old tricks and it didn’t disappoint. When her bottom jaw dropped slightly I took my chance and my tongue danced with hers before I sucked on her bottom lip gently. Finally I felt her join the party and she grabbed the back of my neck, pulling me even closer to her.

Sharp nails dug into the back of my neck and I groaned. Jenny always could invoke the best in me when it came to sex, and although I’d spent years trying to find that connection with someone else, no matter how freaky shit got I always winded up feeling empty.

Reluctantly I broke the seal our mouths had formed and gasped for air. “Wanna come back to my place? It’ll be just us. I’m sure Tyler’s staying with Elizabeth.”

Jenny leaned back on the signpost and a devilish smile played on the corners of her mouth before she bit down on her bottom lip. Her hands dropped from my neck and ran down my back. She tickled the skin beneath the hem of my shirt, taking her index finger and running it along the edge of my jeans. The touch was gentle but its impact huge, and goose bumps broke out across my skin as my stomach muscles clenched in anticipation. “You think you can handle it, Rob? You haven’t been with me for a while.”

I scoffed at her and rolled my eyes. “I’m
pretty
sure I’ll manage.”

Without missing a beat she jammed her hands down the front of my pants, her hands immediately finding their way to my dick. “I dunno, I seem to remember the last time we were together you couldn’t quite seem to handle this…”

I grabbed her by the wrist, stilling her hand, but she squeezed even harder and smiled up at me.

“I’m not a fuckin’ child anymore, Jenny. You can’t control me or my dick.”

“Oh, Robert has his big boy pants on now.”

In one swift movement, I pulled her hand out of my pants. There was no way she was controlling the situation. Not if I had anything to do with it. For a second she looked stunned, as if shocked that I would deny her, but her expression soon changed and her eyelids dropped when I snapped open her pants, pushing her panties to the side and sliding two fingers inside her. She shivered in response while trying to remain unaffected by me, but she could deny it all she liked. My fingers being where they were, I had all the evidence I needed to know that I could still turn her on.

“I’ve learned a thing or two over the years. You’d do well to remember that I’m not the same helpless, doe-eyed boy you once took advantage of.”

When Jenny had fallen of the face of the earth, I’d filled the hole the best I knew how—with an endless string of women and booze-induced stupors. Her breath was warm and shallow against my neck as I slid my fingers in and out. Her hands gripped my sides.

“I think I like the new you,” she said, slightly breathless. “Hail a fuckin’ cab, already would you.”

I pulled my hand out and, making sure not to break eye contact, and sucked my fingers clean. She tasted just the same, like no time had passed between us. There was something primal about being with her like that again. Something that made me feel more alive than I had in a long time.

She grinned as she watched me clean her off my hands. “Yeah. I definitely like the new you.”

Jenny had been my first. My everything. She had corrupted me as much as you could a hopeless seventeen-year-old virgin. She’d taught me a thing or two in the six months we’d been together, but I was a man now, and I intended to show her just how much I had learned.

The cab ride to the apartment was a flurry sexual tension as we both fought to outdo the other. A flick of the tongue here, a pinch there, hands everywhere. We barely made it into the apartment before our clothes were off. Despite how drunk I had been earlier, I felt amazingly sober in the moment. My hands went behind her back and under her knees and I devoured her mouth as I carried her to my bed. She giggled as I tossed her on top of my sheets and she landed with a bounce. The smile on her face was pure sunshine and I couldn’t keep myself from smiling with her.

Her alabaster skin glowed in the moonlight, her orange hair fanned out above her head on my pillow. Taking my time to run first my lips and then my tongue over her body, I examined her tattoos.

There were more than I remembered. Her right shoulder to elbow was covered in beautiful cherry blossoms, and the tips of the angel wings that covered her back peeked out around her waist.

Pushing back onto my heels I took in her naked form. All the air left my lungs and I was breathless. I’d forgotten how beautiful she was. It was then, in that very moment, that I realized I still loved her. Without a doubt. There was no denying it. There was nothing I could do to forget that. To forget her.

Forget us.

“You should take a picture. It’ll last longer.”

“Jenny.” I hovered above her body, my hands holding me up. “Shut the fuck up.”

“Make me.”

So I did.

I woke the next morning in a hungover fog of epic proportions. My mouth tasted like stale cigarettes, bad tequila and even worse decisions. As if that wasn’t enough to have my stomach churning, as the fog began to clear the memories came flooding back.

Jenny and I, skin on skin, hands grabbing, bodies slapping, tangled up in sheets. The nausea increased tenfold and my stomach twisted in knots as I turned to find her side of the bed empty. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. Taking my time, I slowly sat up and dropped my head into my hands, berating myself for playing with fire, yet again.

Totally and utterly hopeless, I stood. Not prepared for the weight, my knees gave out underneath me and had to put my hands on the bedpost to steady myself. Counting the deep breaths in and out I glanced over to my nightstand. That was when I saw the papers that had been placed there.

Curious, I grabbed them. Reading them took only seconds because, being a lawyer, I didn’t have to look too hard to know what they were.

“Fuckin’ hell,” I managed to mutter before tossing them onto the mattress. I hurriedly threw on some clothes before grabbing them again and stalking out into the kitchen. Tyler was there with Elizabeth, drinking his coffee.

“Morning,” he called as I opened the fridge. He was much too bright for this time of the morning, and even if I wasn’t suffering with a hangover, and hadn’t been pissed as all hell, he still would have irritated me.

“Shut up,” I snapped back. It occurred to me that he didn’t exactly deserve my anger but I wasn’t in the mood for anything with anybody, and I planned on getting some fucking answers.

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” Elizabeth added.

“Go shove another stick up your ass, Elizabeth.”

I directed my attention back to Tyler as I grabbed my keys from the counter. “I’ll talk to you later, Ty.”

The roads were no less busy than at any other time of day but I was so mad that I saw nothing but red as I rode to Starbucks.

Once there, I waited in line like a good boy. Jenny spotted me the minute I walked in, but I couldn’t get a read on her because her face lacked any kind of expression. That didn’t change once I made it to the counter. She even had the nerve to ask, “What can I get you this morning?”

I tossed the papers onto the counter in front of her.

“What the fuck is this?”

“You forget we were still married?” she asked, her voice void of emotion.

“No, I didn’t. But why now, after all these years? You just now deciding to cut all your ties?”

Deep down I knew why, knew enough about law to know why she finally might be seeking to cut ties with me. But I wasn’t letting her get away with it easily. If she wanted this, she was going to have to spell it out.

The guy behind me taps on my shoulder. “Hey, buddy, hurry up and order.”

I quickly looked back at him. “Suck a dick.”

Directing my attention back towards my wife, I crossed my arms in front of me to indicate my annoyance. “Get me a venti black. I like my coffee like my heart—black as the night. Why now, Jenny?!”

“Because I have to, Rob.” She sighed. “I’m getting married.”

Bingo.

There it was. But it still didn’t make sense. “Seriously,
married?
Weren’t you just on a date?”

“Yeah.”

Suddenly all the pieces fell into place. Of course. She had been on a date…

With her fiancé.

Un-fucking-believable.

“You’re marrying
Bradley
?”

The horror in my voice was ill concealed but she didn’t react beyond scribbling my drink order on a cup and handed it off to another barista and saying, “I am.”

“He’s a douche.”

“What can I say, I have a thing for assholes.”

I was beyond confused. “Well, what the hell was last night?”

“That was me finally ending a shitty chapter of my life. We’re no good together, Rob, we’ve already established that. You’re a
lawyer
for Christ sake. I’ve got a rap sheet, tats, piercings, and orange hair.” She chuckled. “Although I’d love to see you take me to a business dinner.”

“Because wonder-fuck’s job is so different to mine?

“Please, Rob, he’s a doctor. He saves lives, he’s a humanitarian.” She paused to look me up and down. “You wear five hundred dollar suits like they’re nothing.”

They actually cost six hundred dollars, but I sensed it wasn’t the right time to correct her.

Furious did not even begin to describe my mood. No way would I give her what she wanted, especially not if it meant she was going to be with that douchetard.

I handed her the money for my coffee and pushed the papers toward her. “I’m not signing these.”

“Fine. I’ll take you to court, make your life a living hell.”

The other barista handed me my coffee while I glared at Jenny. “Go ahead. It’ll be no different than the last twelve years of my life.”

Surprisingly, I made it out of the coffee shop without punching anyone, or anything. I took a few deep breaths of the crisp smog filled air before finally looking down at my coffee cup. There, scrolled in her familiar looped handwriting, was a message that I already knew all too well.

My heart is blacker than yours.

W
hen we get to the station they process Jenny and I separately. I keep asking to see her, but everyone ignores my requests. More than a little dejected, I lie in a cell with my face towards the wall, for what seems like days, when suddenly I hear my cell door being unlocked and open. Standing slowly because I’m stiff, I turn over my shoulder to see a guard in the doorway. Behind him are my parents, looking very upset and very pissed.

“Oh, Robert,” is all my mother manages to say.

I walk towards them with my hands stuffed in my pockets, my head hung in shame.

“What the hell were you thinking, son?” my father asks as we make our way through the stark white corridors. The sounds of our footsteps echo in the hall around us, making my silence even louder.

My mother answers for me. “Obviously, he wasn’t.”

“You’re lucky you’re a minor, and this will eventually go away.” My dad’s voice is quiet, as if he doesn’t want to be overheard. As if I’ve embarrassed them. Which I have.

“We’ve got you the best lawyer money can buy,” Mom adds.

“What about Jenny?” It was really my only concern.

My dad glares at me, as if he can’t believe that I’m worried about her at a time like this. But I am. She’s all I thought of while I sat in that steel cage. “Jenny is on her own. She’s an adult, and she should’ve known better.”

“Seriously, Dad, you’re gonna leave her high and dry?” I question him even though I already know the answer.

“The state will provide her with a defense attorney.”

I scoff as we exit the building. I want to be surprised but I’m not. My parents haven’t liked Jenny from day one and although I want to hate them for it I can’t because they have every right to think what they think. Obviously. I mean, they’ve just bailed me out of jail because of her.