Fracture

by K L Hughes

  Oh, shit! Leigh thought. She’d completely forgotten that Beth was in her bed once J had come in, jumping right into a conversation with the brunette and distracting her from the reality of her situation. If the thought had even crossed her mind, she would have texted J and told him not to stop by till later. She didn’t want any drama, and she knew, especially after the morning that J had undoubtedly had, that he wouldn’t hesitate to start some. This was going to get really interesting, really quickly.

  Beth’s entire body suddenly felt like cement as the man’s eyes unexpectedly turned and settled on her. She didn’t know if she should say anything or move or get up and get dressed and leave. So, she just lay there, as frozen as he seemed to also be, standing on the other end of the room. Beth had never felt more awkward or uncomfortable in her entire life, which was seriously saying something, and part of her was actually afraid that he would explode any minute and go off on her like at the coffee shop. She braced herself for the fight, but inwardly hoped that the man’s obvious shock would continue to stun him into silence until the steadily burning fuse winding down between them was somehow snuffed.

  J’s breath hitched in his throat as he zeroed in on the blonde laying in his best friend’s bed. He couldn’t help the anger that rose in his chest, flushing his face crimson. How could Leigh give in so easily to someone who’d hurt her so badly, someone whose mere memory had haunted the woman for years? He wanted to lecture Leigh for allowing this to happen, but more than that, he wanted to yell at the blonde for even having the audacity to show up looking for Leigh in the first place, let alone shamelessly ending up in her bed. He wanted to contain his outrage, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to. Shit was about to hit the fan.

  Chapter 13

  “Have you completely lost your mind?” J hissed at Leigh as he turned toward her, his back blocking the blonde from seeing the exchange of expressions between he and his best friend, though he knew that the structure of the studio would more than likely carry the echo of their whispers well enough for her to hear everything they said.

  “Calm down,” Leigh hissed back. “It’s not a big deal. We just slept together. It’s not the first time I’ve had casual sex, J.”

  “Casual sex?!” J repeated Leigh’s remark, his voice mocking and hurtful. “You honestly believe this was just casual sex? You think she thinks this was just casual sex?”

  “It’s none of your business, J,” Leigh snapped defensively, unable to answer the question, because she knew in her heart that this hadn’t just been casual sex. She knew J was right. Even if Leigh would have been able to bypass her feelings for an evening, she knew that Beth certainly wouldn’t have. To the blonde, and secretly to Leigh as well, this had been much, much more than casual sex.

  “None of my business?” J asked incredulously. “None of my business?!”

  The look on J’s face was enough to instantly make Leigh want to take back her own words. His expression was a tormented combination of anger, shock, hurt, and despair. It was a look she never wanted to be the cause of, especially not for the only person who’d always been there for her. Leigh dropped her eyes from J’s face, too ashamed to meet his gaze, as she gently shook her head back and forth.

  “Are you serious right now, Leigh?” J continued, no longer making an attempt to lower his voice. Leigh had only ever heard him this angry once before, about three years ago, when he’d caught his boyfriend of four years in bed with another man. That had been a difficult time for J, and Leigh remembered his anger and his heartache over the betrayal and the break-up. She hated herself for breathing life back into such a horrible mix of emotions. “When this blows up in your face, who are you going to come running to, huh? When this bitch breaks your heart again over some man or her own denial, who will have to pick up the pieces and try to put you back together again? ME! Oh, but it’s none of my business, huh? Okay, fine. You let me know how that works out for you!”

  And then he was gone, stomping out of the studio with a ferocity that no amount of apologies or pleading in that moment could have assuaged. Leigh felt horrible, her stomach clenching with nausea as she thought about what she could possibly do to make up for her incredibly poor choice of words. She knew that her best friend would eventually forgive her and forget all about it, because that was the kind of relationship they had. No grudges. No guilt. But she also knew that it would take a while for the sting of it to wear off enough for him to come around, and she didn’t blame him for that. No, this was all entirely her fault.

  Beth felt incredibly awkward and uncomfortable having witnessed the tumultuous scene play out between the two brunettes. She’d wanted to chime in at one point, but refrained, afraid that she would only make the situation worse. As it was, she was the cause of the fight between the two best friends, and she didn’t want to give the guy any more fuel to use against her or any further reason to disapprove of her. At the same time, though, she understood his frustration. As much as she hated to admit it and wished it weren’t true, he had been right. She had hurt Leigh terribly, something she’d probably never forgive herself for. He was right to be protective of the younger woman, right to be wary of the older.

  She wished there had been something she could have said to reassure him, to make him see and understand that she’d waited twelve years, twelve very long years, to be with Leigh—dreaming about her, yearning for her. She’d given up her eighteen-year-long, traditional marriage and several members of her own family, not to mention the fact that she’d moved halfway across the country on a whim, just to be with the woman she had loved for so achingly long. She had no intention of regretting anything this time around. She planned to do everything she couldn’t do the first time. She wasn’t going to screw this up. Not now. Not ever again. If Leigh would have her, she would never take that for granted again.

  “I’m sorry about that,” Leigh said, trying to force back the tears swimming along her eyelids, glossing her beautiful, blue eyes and making them stormy. She had crossed the room quickly and crawled back into bed with the blonde, the two glasses of milk in the kitchen completely forgotten. She snuggled tightly into Beth’s side, wrapping her in a strong embrace while she buried her head into the warm hollow of the blonde’s neck.

  Beth hurt for Leigh and hated herself for causing the fight, but she didn’t regret being with the younger woman intimately. They’d touched and tangled limbs and hands and tongues and every other creamy inch for hours the night before and it had been the best night of Beth’s life, not to mention the most orgasms she’d ever had in one round. She could never regret the feel of Leigh’s flesh against her own, even if it did cause a riot with the brunette’s protective best friend. She hoped that she would be around long enough to prove to him that she had no intentions of hurting Leigh again. Ever.

  “Hey, don’t apologize,” Beth whispered into the sweet, strawberry smell of Leigh’s beautiful chocolate locks. “I should be the one apologizing. He was only angry because of me.”

  “The things he said—”

  “No, don’t,” Beth interjected before Leigh could begin to apologize again for the negative implications J had made against the blonde. She wasn’t going to make excuses for herself, and she wasn’t going to let Leigh make excuses for her either. “Don’t. It’s obvious that he loves you very much, and he’s just trying to protect you. Besides, what he said—I deserved. What you went through because of me, because of my own cowardice and fear, was extremely cruel and difficult, and you didn’t deserve that. I’ve never been able to forgive myself for it, but I’m hoping that you can forgive me at some point, though I know that that’s too much to ask.”

  Leigh took a deep breath as she listened to the blonde’s words. Her heart fluttered in her chest at the sound of the raw honesty in the woman’s voice. She respected the vulnerability as she knew how difficult that had always been for Beth, and she wanted to be equally honest with her. She wasn’t going to put up any fronts or make any promises she knew she might no
t keep, so she simply said the truth that was floating atop her tongue.

  “I’m trying to,” she whispered. “I just haven’t gotten there yet, and I don’t know when I will get there, or if I ever will.”

  Beth clamped her eyes closed to stop any tears from falling as the words voicing the possibility that her lover may never be able to forgive her fell across the brunette’s lips. It was hard to hear, so hard to hear, but she understood it, and she wasn’t about to push Leigh or try and persuade her. She wanted her to come to a decision, an acceptance, in her own time and on her own terms.

  “That’s fine, sweetie,” Beth finally choked out. “I understand.”

  Leigh hated the hurt in Beth’s voice, but she wasn’t going to lie to the woman. She never had before, and she always prided herself on being honest. She hated being led on, and she certainly wasn’t going to do it to someone else, especially not Beth. She’d never deliberately hurt the blonde, no matter how much pain she harbored over the woman’s past betrayal. Part of her would always love Beth too much to cause her any pain, whether she deserved it or not.

  After basking in the warmth of Beth’s embrace, Leigh finally pushed herself up onto an elbow, cradling her head in her hand so she could look into the face of the woman she’d ravaged only a few, short hours ago. She closed her eyes momentarily as the memory of sliding her tongue through the blonde’s warm, wet lower lips overwhelmed her. She draped her free arm across the blonde’s midsection, allowing her fingers to lightly trace the still-naked flesh of Beth’s stomach and sides and hips. She watched as the blonde’s eyes darkened at the onslaught of the tender, teasing touches, her normally cerulean eyes turning a deep shade of purple. She felt her own body respond to the look in the blonde’s eyes, a fire bursting to life low in her belly, and a knot of tingles growing almost painfully at the base of her spine.

  Fueled by the look in Beth’s eyes and by the growing sensations assaulting her own body, Leigh jolted forward and planted her lips across the blonde’s in a searing kiss, earning her a delicious gasp of surprise followed by a soft, escaping moan. She pushed her tongue against Beth’s lips and was granted access immediately. The temperature in the room seemed to spike considerably as a heavy flush rapidly spread over both women’s flesh, and their breaths grew ragged and strained.

  Beth reached up, cupped a hand to the back of Leigh’s neck, and pulled her even closer until the brunette was practically on top of her. She wanted to feel her everywhere, wanted to be devoured by the younger woman’s heat and insatiable need. The friction of their bodies as they touched and tangled was nearly unbearable as it did nothing but further stoke the fire building between them. Their lips pushed and paused, tongues licked and lingered, one mouth exploring the other. Leigh drew the moment out, holding on to their kissing, not wanting to proceed any further just yet. She wanted to experience this fully. Until the previous night, she’d waited nearly fifteen years from the moment they’d met to kiss this woman, and she wanted to cherish every second of the soft connection. They were melting into each other, simultaneously discovering and rediscovering one another in this one passionate embrace, each allowing her soul to surface in the kiss.

  The weight and heat and sweat of Beth’s hands on Leigh’s neck and hip distracted her, pulling her concentration as the slender fingers gripped and relaxed, rubbed languid circles in her tender, tingling skin, then gripped again. The brunette’s thighs clenched of their own accord as her body responded to the touching, only making her more and more aware of the growing moisture between her legs. Finally, she couldn’t stand it any longer. She broke the kiss, allowing both she and Beth to take much-needed breaths, and dipped her head to the side, pressing her lips to the blonde’s ears.

  “Touch me,” Leigh whispered, while simultaneously reaching down and pulling the older woman’s hand from her hip to cup it around her hot and pulsing core. She moaned at the contact and thrust down into the blonde’s palm. Beth gasped not only once, but twice, at the words whispered seductively in her ear and again at the warm wetness suddenly pressed into her palm. She instantly positioned her two middle fingers at the younger woman’s aching opening, lightly rubbing circles around the rim, coating the tips in hot, wet need, which only made the brunette thrust at her hand harder, managing to push Beth’s fingers just slightly into her. The sound that escaped Leigh’s throat at that urged Beth onward and without preamble, she thrust upward, impaling the younger woman on two slender fingers, deliciously stretching her before curling up and back, then thrusting again. She repeated the motion, picking up a steady rhythm as the brunette moaned and gasped and quivered atop her, riding her hand.

  Beth’s movements were pure instinct, despite the fact that up until last night, she’d never been with a woman before, though she’d always hated the things she’d heard her “straight, married” girlfriends back home say about it. They’d all be tipsy, sitting around a backyard fire or around a kitchen bar, and someone would bring up rumors about some woman they all knew being a lesbian or about some lesbian sexual experience in a movie they’d seen. Beth had always been very good at keeping her mouth shut when those topics came up, though she listened intently to every word, and half the time, she had to physically silence herself by shoving a shot down her throat or taking an abnormally large bite of guacamole, just to keep from calling each and every one of them on their bullshit.

  They’d always say things like, “I don’t know how anyone would ever be interested in that sort of thing,” which was completely offensive, not to mention beyond judgmental (and they all called themselves good, Christian women). Personally, she didn’t understand how half of them, herself included, could bring themselves to sleep with the slobs and assholes they called their husbands. They’d have probably all been better off sleeping with each other. Her favorite, though, was always when one of them would jump in and say, “I wouldn’t even know what to do,” followed by a round of laughing agreements. Seriously?! She’d always wanted to scream at them. You wouldn’t know what to do?! Do you have a vagina? I’ve never been with a woman before either, but I’ve masturbated a time or two, and I’m pretty sure I could figure it out quickly enough. Let’s not play stupid, people. It’s not like women are given a manual when they hit puberty on how to give blow jobs. If you can figure it out with a man, you can figure it out with a woman! Instead, though, she’d simply lower her gaze and wait for a change in topic.

  “I’m gonna’ come,” Leigh said throatily, her eyes clamped tightly shut and her jaw set as she pushed herself harder against Beth’s thrilling and shockingly skilled strokes. Beth’s lips curled in a slight smile as the old, familiar twang of the younger woman’s natural southern accent slipped out in her moment of passionate release. The blonde’s entire body was buzzing as she watched her lover, so close to orgasm, rotate her hips and push back against her, confident in her sexuality, comfortable in her exposure and in her pleasure. This has got to be the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen, Beth thought, as she subtly shifted the position of her hand for better comfort, which bumped her palm up against the hardened bundle of nerves throbbing and straining through Leigh’s slick folds. That small touch was enough to throw the brunette, headlong, over the precipice and into orgasm.

  The younger woman instantly arched her back, unable to make a sound beyond her forceful gasp of pleasurable shock. Hovering over Beth, Leigh stilled her body entirely, clamping her muscles tightly around the blonde’s fingers, drawing out the supreme moment of climax, before finally releasing her internal hold and slowly riding out each remaining contraction of her orgasm. Correction, Beth thought as her body responded with a flood of lust between her legs. THAT is the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen! Once she’d milked every last ounce of pleasure, Leigh collapsed on top of Beth, who winced a bit as she slowly removed her fingers from inside her trembling, young lover. She flexed her fingers, noting the pain with each bend of her knuckles. Leigh noticed the movement and chuckled softly against Beth’s chest.

 
; “You get used to it after a while,” she laughed breathily. “The first few times, though…I actually thought I’d broken a finger once.” They both laughed heavily at that, Leigh’s head bobbing sweetly with the rise and fall of Beth’s chest.

  “It’s okay,” the blonde said, still laughing. “Best pain I’ve ever endured.”

  Leigh tilted her head up and smiled seductively at the older woman. Without breaking eye contact, she took hold of Beth’s aching hand and brought the still-wet fingers to her lips. She looked into the cerulean blues of her lover as she slipped those fingers into her mouth and sucked, running her tongue along the lines of Beth’s fingers and between, tasting herself thoroughly.

  Beth, who hadn’t even realized how close she’d been to orgasm, suddenly spiraled over the edge with a small, satisfying orgasm. Once she’d stopped shuddering, she looked into Leigh’s eyes again as a slow, sexy smile crawled across the brunette’s lips. Beth reached one hand up to cover the blush of her cheeks. She was embarrassed to have come so easily, without even being touched, but watching Leigh orgasm had pushed her right to the edge, and then to watch her taste herself and seem to thoroughly enjoy it, was just too much. It had been one thing to watch Leigh seductively suck Beth’s juices from her fingers, but to do it with her own wetness was sexier than the blonde could have ever imagined.

  “Did you just…” Leigh started to ask, but Beth groaned to drown out the younger woman’s voice, only nodding in response. Leigh laughed softly and reached up to pull Beth’s hands from her face, which was still a deep crimson color—a combination of embarrassment and sexual satisfaction.

  “Don’t be embarrassed,” the brunette said to her, once she finally pried Beth’s hands from her face. “It’s incredibly sexy.”