by Naomi Niles
We finished eating in thoughtful silence. I paid for our meal, and we stepped out of the restaurant into the cold rain. I told Jaimie to wait under the awning while I ran to get my car, but she insisted on running alongside me and reached it before I did.
She was quiet for most of the way back to her house, staring through the rain-lashed windows at the dark streets. I sat pondering the story she had told over dinner and wishing there was some way I could make up to her for all the pain of the past. Where others had been deceitful, I wanted to be honest and forthright; where others had used her, I wanted to be selfless and giving.
We pulled up in front of the house. A single lamp glowed over the driveway in a blur of mist. A tawny cat stood at the window meowing softly, waiting for her to come inside.
“That’s Gina,” said Jaimie with an affectionate look. “She thinks she’s people.”
She climbed out of the car and ran to the front door, pulling her keys out of her purse. I followed close behind, removing my boots as I reached the porch and setting them down near the front door where they could dry.
By the time I stepped inside, Jaimie had just finished feeding the cat and was headed toward the entertainment center in the living room.
“I don’t know if you’ve ever seen Boyhood,” she said, “or Dazed and Confused…”
“I’ve seen that one,” I said. “I loved it.”
“It’s the same director. He’s brilliant at creating these spontaneous, seemingly unscripted moments.”
While she was putting the movie in the DVD player, I hovered over her shyly. “Hey.”
Jaimie glanced up at me, perplexed. “Hey, what’s up?”
I suddenly felt stupid and over-large in my white socks. “Listen, if you don’t want to do anything physical tonight, that’s totally fine. I mean it. I want to go at a pace that you’re comfortable with, and I don’t want you to think I’m here just to enjoy your body. Not that you don’t have an amazing body—”
Jaimie left the DVD tray sitting open and rose to her feet.
“You really mean that?”
I nodded, hoping my sincerity shone in my eyes.
“Maybe the movie can wait for a bit,” she said, and pulled me into a hug.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jaimie
Outside, the wind continued to rattle the loose window-frame. Gina, startled by a sudden peal of thunder, darted under the couch.
“Don’t mind her,” I told Braxton. “Although come to think of it, I should probably bring my plants in. Do you mind?”
He shook his head, although I could sense hesitation in his eyes. Breaking away, I ran outside onto the porch and came back in a moment later bearing a couple of pink-potted aloe vera plants, which I placed near the foot of the stairs.
Braxton, meanwhile, continued to stand shyly by the couch.
“I was just thinking,” he said. “Would you like go back to my house tonight?”
I held his gaze for slightly too long. “Yeah, why?”
“You’ve just never been over there, and I thought you might like to see the place.” When I continued to stare at him, he added, “And we haven’t gotten to spend a lot of time together, and I want to make up for the time we’ve lost. If we stayed up all night talking, I wouldn’t be upset.”
“Well, I do have work in the morning, so it would be a little inconvenient.” Nevertheless, I was warmed by his directness. Striding up to him and taking his calloused hands in mine, I asked, “What do you want to do until then?”
“I don’t know…” he said, smiling. “When you ran outside just now to save the plants, I thought maybe you were trying to escape being intimate.”
I flinched as though having been struck by an electric rod. “You know, sometimes it’s annoying how well you see through me.”
“Were you?”
“I mean, I guess I hadn’t thought about it before you pointed it out. It wasn’t conscious, I promise.”
“It makes sense,” said Braxton. “I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said, and I think maybe you’re still afraid of pleasuring me because you would feel I was using you.”
“I can’t help how I feel,” I said defensively, my eyes on the ground. I knew he didn’t intend it that way, but it still felt like a personal attack.
We stood by the couch for a moment, only inches apart. He looked as lost as I felt.
“So,” I said finally, feeling like the date had gone badly off-course. “What’s the solution?”
“I had an idea,” said Braxton slowly. “But I don’t know what you’re going to think of it.”
“Tell me.”
“I was thinking maybe tonight I could concentrate on pleasuring you. And you wouldn’t have to worry about giving anything back. Tonight would just be about you and making love to you and showing you how much I like you.”
When I didn’t respond, he added, “Would you like that?”
I nodded slowly. I wished my heart wouldn’t beat so fast and loud, but I couldn’t stop it. “Yeah,” I said quietly. “I’d like that.”
For the first time since I had returned from outside, Braxton smiled.
“Is it selfish of me to want that?” I asked. “It feels very selfish.”
He shook his head, a light of assurance ablaze in his eyes. “You deserve someone who will love you like that.”
Maybe it was the tone of his voice as he said it, a tone of utter conviction. Whatever it was, I felt utterly given over to him at that moment. Stomach churning, heart racing, knees weak, it was all I could do to stay standing as he came toward me and wrapped his hands around my waist.
He shut his eyes, breathing in the vanilla scent of my hair. “I missed this. After last weekend, I didn’t think we would get to do this again.”
“I missed it, too,” I said weakly. “I was so mad at you after I left Vegas, and yet I couldn’t get you out of my head. I think Ren got sick of hearing about you.”
“She probably did.”
“She’s had to hear about all my boys,” I said. “I should probably pay her for all the time she’s put in.”
“Well, hopefully things will begin to settle down now, and there won’t be as much drama.” He brushed his thumbs lightly over my belly. “If we’re going to be together…”
“Are we together?” I asked him in a tone of mild surprise.
“Do you want to be together?”
I didn’t have to think hard about it. “I do. I do!”
“Good. Then we’re agreed.” Deftly unzipping my fleece jacket, he began to kiss me fervently just under my jade necklace, slowly moving lower until he had reached my breasts. I let out an involuntary gasp. Wrapping one arm around his back, I brought the other arm up over his shoulders and gripped the top of his head.
“I feel like there should be a crime against enjoying someone this much.” He kissed me on one side of the neck and then the other, gently caressing me with his cheek. “Being with you is a greater high than anything I’ve experienced in the octagon.”
“I’m glad you think so,” I said, feeling both warmed and amused by his eloquence. It was a strange feeling, just standing there and letting him lavish me with his affections. I wasn’t yet sure if I liked it.
“It’s just a fact. You are the smartest—” he mussed my left cheek—“sexiest”—my right—“most thoughtful, most sensitive woman I’ve ever had the good fortune to meet.” He ran his lips along my lower jawbone, his kisses hungry and grateful. A sense of appreciation for my existence seemed to radiate through him, and he held on to me tightly as though afraid I might disappear if given half the chance.
“I have no idea where we’re headed or whether we’ll even last,” he said, his cheek pressed firm against mine, “but at least we have this. At least we have now.”
I was silent. I wanted to say that we would last, that he didn’t have to worry about us, but I couldn’t honestly say that. We had only just met, and the future was too uncertain.
“Whatever happens between us, Braxton,” I told him, taking his stubbly face in my hands, “I want you to know that I will always, always be grateful for what we’ve done tonight. I’ll never forget it.”
“Promise?”
I linked my right hand in his, fingers between fingers. “Promise.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Braxton
When I awoke the next morning, it took me a minute to orient myself. The storm had lifted in the night, but it was still overcast, and murky gray light crept in through the windows. Jaimie lay half-curled up on the other side of the bed, her arms clasped to her chest, Winston gently nuzzling her face.
I swatted him away. Within a few minutes, Jaimie stirred and opened her eyes. She looked confused at first, but a look of understanding spread slowly over her face when she saw me.
“Do you remember last night?” I asked her as I put on my running shoes. “You wanted to come over.”
“I do remember that,” said Jaimie. “I didn’t have a drop of liquor, and as soon as my brain un-fogs, I’ll remember everything.”
“Maybe some coffee will help you.” Picking her shirt up off the floor and tossing it in her direction, I went into the kitchen where a pot was already brewing. By the time she emerged from the back bedroom, I was making scrambled eggs on toast and chorizo.
Jaimie peered curiously into the skillet, then turned her attention to an unopened loaf of Wonder Bread lying on the counter between the toaster and the knife rack. “Seriously, don’t eat that,” I warned her. “It’s been there for like a year.”
“You sure?” said Jaimie, brows raised. “It looks like you just bought it.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Why don’t you just throw it away?”
“I want to see how long I can keep it before it spoils. I have a feeling it might out-last Winston.”
“Yikes.” Placing the bread back on the counter, she came over and wrapped her arms around me from behind.
“Oh, hey,” I said, as if I hadn’t known she was there.
“Hey, you. Did you sleep well last night?”
“Yeah, the storm woke me up a couple times, and the cat woke me up a couple times, but apart from that.”
“You wouldn’t have fared much better sleeping over at my house,” Jaimie said. “Whenever there’s thunder, Gina spends the whole night yowling. And then she’ll climb under the couch in the one spot where I can’t reach her, so she sits there and yowls all night.”
“We ought to introduce Gina to Winston,” I said, only half-kidding. “I bet they’d be friends.”
“Probably not, actually. Gina has never accepted the existence of other cats in the world besides herself.”
“Well, then it might be good for her.” Setting the spatula down on the counter next to the stove, I turned and took her in my arms, holding her for a long moment. At this hour of the morning, her hair was matted and tangled, and it smelled faintly of last night’s rain. “I feel like going to the beach today.”
“There aren’t any beaches around here,” Jaimie pointed out.
“I know. And I need to train, and you have work, but if we were both off—I’m not talking about one of those warm southern beaches with crowds of tourists and surfers dotting the water. One summer when I was little, Mom schlepped me and Zac off to stay at an aunt’s house in Connecticut. We had so much fun wandering up and down the rocky shoreline, prodding the umbrella forms of dead jellyfish.”
“Sounds like a real adventure,” said Jaimie, smiling.
“It was.” I added a pinch more cooking oil to the skillet. “I haven’t gotten to travel very much in my life, so that was my favorite summer. Sometimes when I close my eyes, I can still see the black rocks and the dark blue water.” Even just talking about it I could almost smell the salt tang of the air. “Have you ever traveled?”
“You mean besides to Disney World?” Jaimie said with a laugh. “I’ve only been out of the country once, my junior year of college when I studied abroad in Berlin.”
“Why Berlin?”
“Well, at that point I was thinking about going into the music industry. I wanted to work as a financial advisor for one of the major record labels, maybe EuroArts or Viacom International. But right out of college, I landed a cushy gig here in Boulder, and I’ve been working for MMA ever since.” She shrugged in defeat.
“Oof. Sad story.”
“Yes, I suppose it is a bit,” she replied. “But it’s not over yet. I have to believe it’s not over, otherwise I’ll go crazy. But at least one good thing has come out of it.”
“What’s that?”
She twined her arms around me. “I met you, silly. What did you think I was going to say?”
I smiled. “I don’t know; you seem to like your boss a lot.”
“He’s a precious gemstone of a man, but he’s not you. There’s only one of you.”
“For which I suppose we should be grateful,” I replied. “I do have four brothers, but we’re nothing alike.”
“I keep hearing about these brothers. I hope you’re not just teasing me. I hope I get a chance to meet them someday.”
“You will, probably.” When she stared at me dubiously, I added, “Stick around long enough, and one of them is bound to appear. Or maybe we’ll go to them. Texas is kind of magical.”
“Is it better than Berlin?” Jaimie asked.
“Never been to Berlin, but I think I can pretty confidently say yes.”
“I can’t wait to go, then.” Pinning her hair back, she watched in silence as I moved the toast onto a large plate. “Are all the breakfasts in Texas as good as this?”
“Even better,” I said, and I brushed her bangs out of the way so I could kiss her face.
***
Nick sensed there was something up from the moment I walked into the locker room that morning.
“Where’ve you been?” he asked. “Did you get pulled over for speeding?”
I tossed him a small white paper bag containing a dozen donut holes. “No, but I did run by Shipley’s.”
“And you—didn’t eat anything?” asked Nick, staring incredulously down into the bag.
“No, that’s all for you.”
“Are you just in a generous mood this morning?”
I smiled but said nothing as I turned the combination on my locker. Nick rolled up the bag and pointed an accusing finger. “You were with a girl last night. You were with her.”
“I’m sure I don’t know who you mean,” I replied in an innocent voice.
“I’ll take that as a confirmation. How was it?”
“It was—I mean, it was decent. I hope she’ll stick around. I found out she’s never been to Chuck E. Cheese’s. And her taste in movies is a bit high-brow, but I think we’ll manage.”
Nick could see I was being evasive about what we had really done last night. What’s more, I was clearly enjoying it. “Alright, you keep your secrets,” he replied in his best Frodo Baggins voice. “I just hope she hasn’t ruined you for today’s training.”
I froze with one hand on my duffel bag. “How would she?”
“Do you not know about this?” Just then Bruce came walking into the room. He glared at me, but before he could speak, Nick said, “Bruce, tell him about the Warrior!”
“The Warrior?” said Bruce, throwing his arms in the air. “I AM the Warrior!”
“No, the other one!” Turning to me, he explained, “There’s an old MMA legend that every great fighter has a warrior inside them. If you’re really killing it in the octagon, they say you’ve got ‘the Warrior.’ But having sex depletes that energy that you need to stay invincible. That’s why they tell you never to sleep around on the night before a big fight.”
“Oh yeah, never do that,” said Bruce with an ominous shake of his head. “If you need to get laid, try to at least wait until after the fight is over.”
“What if I trick my opponent into having sex?” I asked.
“I never really thoug
ht about it. I suppose that could work.”
“Sounds lazy to me,” said Nick.
I stared at the two of them, not sure whether or not they were pulling my leg. “Wait, so is this a real thing?”
“Yeah, have you never heard of the Warrior?” asked Bruce. “And you’ve been in the octagon for how long now?”
“Well, to me it sounds like a lot of superstitious nonsense.”
Nick raised a skeptical brow. “You sure? We’ll have a go now if you want me to prove it.”
He lunged at me half-heartedly, and I batted him away. “Don’t be ridiculous. You don’t want to fight me right now, trust me.”
“Well, if I’m correct about what you got up to last night, I think I do.” He leaped forward and grabbed me by the neck with one arm, playfully mussing my hair.
“Hey, cut that out!” I exclaimed, waving my fists ineffectually. Bruce came over and pretended to sock me in the gut, but slowed his fist to a halt just before it reached me.
“Well, anyway,” said Nick, releasing his grip, “good on you for getting laid last night. But I’d be careful in the future—we could have a Delilah situation here where your girl’s being used by your opponent to weaken you in preparation for the big match.”
“My girl works for this company,” I pointed out. “She wouldn’t be in someone else’s employ, and this whole conversation is ridiculous.”
“Hey, I’m just saying,” said Nick. “Don’t do it.”
“Seriously, DO NOT do it,” said Bruce. “Unless you want to lose, in which case go for it.”
“Well, I don’t believe in superstition.” I closed the locker with a loud clang. “Superstitious people are ten times more likely than the average person to have bad luck.”
I turned and headed off toward the showers, leaving them shaking their heads.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Jaimie
“You still on for the aquarium?”
“Don’t you have work today?” asked Ren. She had a habit of speaking directly into the phone, magnifying her voice to a painful level.