Lyla took a deep breath. “Sure, that’d be fun.”
She hadn’t been in a high school gymnasium in over a decade. But as soon as they passed through the double doors, her senses were flooded with nostalgia: the echo of a rebounding ball, the glare of the ceiling lights, the pounding sneakers and the harsh buzzer of the scoreboard—it all came back to her. She didn’t look at the court as Anne led her up to the third row of the bleachers.
A ref’s whistle pierced the gym. Lyla permitted herself a glance at the floor as five lanky boys in blue and white jerseys ran down the court. Yes, there was Tanner’s brownish-blond head. Her face went hot.
A buzzer blared through the gym and the players stopped. Tanner glanced at the bleachers, turned away, then pivoted and looked back at her. A triumphant grin spread over his face.
“Hold on,” Anne said in a low voice. “How do you know Tanner Lichton?”
“I don’t. He sold me a magazine when the team was doing some fundraising.”
Anne looked at her flatly. Lyla blushed. “He’s a nice kid—”
“Cut the crap,” Anne said. “I saw the way he smiled at you.”
She opened her mouth to lie, but couldn’t. As Anne waited, she finally managed, “Look, he is eighteen.”
“Holy shit.” Anne whistled under her breath. She looked out at the court, where the players launched back into scrambling, shooting, running chaos. “Well, be careful. But I can’t say I blame you.”
Her son was off at a friend’s for the night. She paced the living room, her nerves thrumming like live wires. She’d left the basketball game without speaking to Tanner, despite the beseeching looks he’d sent her from the court. Of course I’m not going to sleep with him, she’d said to Anne and she half-meant it at the time, but now that she was cleaning the kitchen, she couldn’t deny that her body felt flushed and electric, anticipating—something.
It came in a knock on the back patio doors.
Her heart leapt with ridiculous happiness. She opened the door to find him towering over her in his blue varsity jacket. At least he’d known not to come to the front door where her neighbors would see. But then she panicked.
“My son’s not here but if for some reason he came home—” she began.
He leaned down to kiss her. “No one’s going to find out.”
Still nervous, she took him down in the basement where bags of wrapping paper and Jax’s discarded video games were piled on the carpet. He pushed her onto the sofa.
I’m not really about to sleep with a high-school kid, she thought, but Tanner was groping her breasts and kissing her with that same wolfish hunger as yesterday, as if she were a city he wanted to plunder. He stripped her naked in seconds and then he was unzipping his pants and rubbing his hard dick on her stomach. This wasn’t going to go like her few trysts had over the last few years, methodical sex that meant nothing but skin and sweat. This was going to count in some new and visceral way, and that loss of control scared her as he fell back on the sofa cushions, naked and hard from his thighs to his chest.
He pulled her down on top of him until she could feel him trembling. “Please don’t stop,” he said, and kissed her again.
Lyla pushed him back, wanting to regain control before he overwhelmed her completely. But with a grunt of frustration, he pulled her hips onto his face. She balanced herself on the sofa as his tongue washed over her cunt, rocking back and forth on what felt like a snake undulating inside her. Her nipples ached in the basement chill as she rode his face, humping his mouth without shame. Tanner drew the swollen seed of her clit into his mouth and sucked it, working his fingers inside her. His balls were so tight she knew he was going to come at any moment.
“Condom,” she said, panting.
Tanner’s face was the same burning scarlet as his cock. He half-lunged off the sofa, retrieving a condom from his discarded jeans, and quickly peeled it down over his swollen shaft. She sat back on him, slowly engulfing his dick. He was big enough to stretch her, and she sighed with faint soreness and pleasure as she at last settled on the base of his cock.
Tanner was biting his lip with the obvious effort to hold back. “Please,” he said through clenched teeth. She didn’t have time to ask Please what? before he took over, grabbing her hips and bouncing her hard and fast, driving his cock into her over and over. Lyla succumbed with a groan, letting him fuck her into a mindless, animal euphoria. She played with her clit until her face and body flooded with heat and then she came in a thudding, flooding gush. Tanner groaned and pulled her down on his chest, spasming inside her.
She listened to his heartbeat as his fingers lazily moved in her hair. I just had sex with an eighteen-year-old, she thought.
“I could feel you come,” he said with a mix of pride and amazement.
She bit back her smile. He was rubbing her head so tenderly that she barely noticed a few minutes later when he tilted her head toward his newly stiffening cock: he was getting hard again already. She sucked him into her mouth, the salty taste of his precome lacing her tongue, but once again he took over, gripping her ass with a long groan and then dragging her behind the couch. Rough and wordless as a caveman, he bent her over the back of the couch until she was facedown with her legs dangling in the air.
This time he fucked her with more control than before, his cock driving in and out of her from behind until she was screaming into the cushions. Her legs kicked helplessly as his fingers worked her clit until she howled out her orgasm, her pussy clenching again and again.
This time she was the one who couldn’t stop shaking as he held her on the sofa. “It’s cold,” she said self-consciously.
“I’ll keep you warm,” he said. He seemed massive as he covered her, an endless stretch of warm skin and muscle and silky hair. His cock still wasn’t completely soft.
“You’re really eighteen, right?”
“I really am. Do you want to see my driver’s license?”
“Kind of.”
After they got dressed, he dug out his wallet and showed her his license in the weak basement light. She looked at it, then looked up at him. He kissed her. “I can come back tomorrow night,” he said.
Spring flooded in on a tide of late nights in the basement and the occasional rainy weekend afternoon in a hotel room. Basketball season had ended and Tanner had lacrosse after school now. Because she lived within walking distance of the woods behind the high school, sometimes she would meet him after practice in the equipment shed. She knew it was stupid to risk such exposure, knew the gossip would be lethal if she was caught sleeping with a high-school senior. But in the shadows of sunset, watching him peel off his sweat-damp uniform as she leaned back amongst the goal nets and lacrosse sticks, she only wanted to bury herself in his skin and hair and cock for as long as she could.
“The word on the street,” Anne said in early June, “is that Shannon Mariner saw a boy going into your backyard at one a.m.”
“What the hell was Shannon Mariner doing scoping out my backyard at one a.m.?”
“You knew it would happen sooner or later.”
“Well, he is eighteen. It’s not like this is illegal.”
Anne looked at her.
“I know,” she said. “Trust me, I’ve thought about it a million times.”
That night she walked through the woods and crossed the starlit lacrosse field to the equipment shed. As always, her nose filled with the smells of rank cleats and grass and faintly, the smell of come; they clearly weren’t the only ones who used the shed. Teammates in secret love met here or teachers maybe, students cutting out of study hall. The door swung open and Tanner pushed her against the wall, lifting her up by the hips and kissing her. His erection prodded against her and his massive hands groped her with that voracious desperation she loved, tugging down her jeans as if her pussy was his lifeline. He flipped her onto all fours a minute later; there was a rip of a condom foil and then his cock drove into her from behind, fucking her long and hard until she rocked
back and forth on the cement, her knees aching.
Afterward he cradled her in the crook of his arm, spreading his shirt under her back to buffer the chilly floor.
“My neighbor saw you,” she said. “Apparently everyone is talking about how I had a kid coming over in the dead of the night.”
“How is that their business?”
“It’s not. But it’s how life in a small town works.”
“That’s fucking ridiculous,” he said. “I’m eighteen. I’m an adult. Not to mention I’m graduating in two weeks.”
Don’t be in such a hurry, is what she wanted to say but she didn’t.
She never knew if Shannon Mariner had identified Tanner or the town gossip network eventually connected them—but his parents abruptly arranged for him to spend the summer working at his uncle’s office across the country. There was one last night in the equipment shed, the high school now closed for the summer and the fields rhythmic with crickets around them—and then he was gone. After ten nights of emails and Skype and a hollow yearning filling her bones every night, she told him it was time for both of them to move on.
“We don’t have to stay for the whole game,” Anne said. “I know you’re not a big football fan but my niece was nominated for Homecoming Queen.”
Shades of the game where she saw Tanner. But Lyla smiled, because it was October now and she could think of Tanner without her gut clenching. “Sounds good.”
The bleachers and the track around the football field were crowded under the lights. She spotted Jax and his friends, now in sixth grade, traveling from under the bleachers to the concession stand in pursuit of a group of girls. Lyla contented herself with a wave, which he discreetly returned.
Then Tanner tapped her on the shoulder.
Somehow this time it didn’t matter who saw them talk. They walked down toward the red concession stand but didn’t get in line, lingering on the grass until he said, “Let’s go for a walk.”
He went toward the woods and cut back around toward the equipment shed, while she walked across the parking lot to the lacrosse field. Tanner pulled her inside so roughly her boots left the ground. That familiar scent of come and sweat and freshly mown grass filled her nostrils and then he was pinning her against the wall, kissing her with that same demanding fever. It had been four months since she’d touched him but nothing had changed. His hands slid under her sweater, his fingers digging into her breasts before tugging down her jeans. He bit her arms, her neck, fingered her roughly, and it occurred to some distant part of her that really she should have trained him to be a slower and more artful lover—but she never had because she loved the sensation of being craved and devoured.
He rolled onto the floor, naked, and pulled her on top of him. “I’ve missed you,” he grunted, as he worked his cock inside her. “I’ve missed you so fucking much.” She locked her knees around him and then he was all the way inside her, ramming her in relentless, masterful ownership. A lost ache broke open inside her, flooding her with nostalgia as his arms wrapped around her, holding her ribs and breasts and hips against him.
The equipment shed was hot and airless, the thick smell of sex breathing around them. Her long hair hung in his face as she rode him, his breath on her neck as they fucked in a brutal, seamless rhythm that seemed to sear her skin. Tanner rolled her over until she was facedown on the floor, the cement thrillingly cool against her inflamed body as his cock drove into her from behind. She bit her arm, her skin wet with sweat, to keep from screaming or crying as he thrust into her again and again.
He was pawing, pulling at her ass. Muttering unintelligible things under his breath and panting as he fucked her. She gripped her hair, feeling her whole body blaze alive with light just as she ejaculated helplessly and ecstatically all over the floor.
He groaned and crushed her against his chest as he came. Then he rolled off her and held her against him without speaking for a long while.
She was almost asleep when he began talking about Thanksgiving vacation, telling her that he was going skiing with his roommate in Telluride.
“It’s good that you like your roommate,” she said.
“Yeah, we’ll probably get a place off campus next year.” He paused. “You know, I drove home this weekend—my school is only five hours away.”
She got up and looked out at the moonlit lacrosse field. “You’re in college now,” she said. “It’s time for you to…”
He watched her with a brooding face. She didn’t finish. “So many girls are going to fall for you,” she said instead.
His lips twisted in a cocky smile. “Who can blame them?”
He got dressed and they kissed good-bye. “Christmas break,” he said, pausing at the door. “Just think about it.”
“I will.”
She waited for him to leave the shed first, even though the game was over and the parking lot had to be empty by now. She looked around at the lacrosse sticks and goal nets, knowing she would never see them again. Then she went out into the mellow October night and began the walk home, her heart as light as the dry leaves that scattered and blew away with the wind.
RED LIPSTICK
Erzabet Bishop
I leaned over my counter in the makeup department and sighed. It was past time. Melody Aires had been here every Thursday night for the last eight weeks and I was beginning to worry that tonight she wasn’t going to show. Glancing in one of the mirrors, I dabbed at my lipstick, making sure it was perfect. Wouldn’t do for it to be smudged.
My coworker was busy with a mother and daughter who seemed to be trying on every shade of pink and red lip gloss and blush combinations in the entire department. That was fine. Joanie had the patience of Job. Mine however, was running out. I looked at my watch again: 8:10. Maybe she wasn’t coming after all. I began to tidy up the register area and tried to swallow my disappointment.
The faint clicking of heels on the parquet floor had my heart leaping in my chest. She was here. I closed my eyes to catch my breath. My black dress suddenly felt too tight and constrictive.
“Good evening, Francesca.” Melody smiled, her ivory skin a perfect contrast to her wavy black hair. Her lips were scarlet red and as usual, her makeup perfect.
“Good evening.” I let the smile I was bursting to show come into my voice. “I was beginning to worry that you wouldn’t be by for your usual visit.”
“Would you have missed me then?” Her smile turned up slightly at the edges and a wicked glint took over her eyes.
I felt my nipples tighten and my pussy begin to moisten in desire. Her full lips beckoned, and not for the first time I wondered how it would feel if I just leaned over the counter ever so slightly and touched them to mine. I wanted to taste her inner sweetness and run my hands over that wonderfully soft flesh. Her breasts were molded against her tight black sweater, and her short leather mini left little to the imagination. Her legs went on for miles and ended in gorgeous black fuck-me shoes. Was she wearing underwear? My pulse quickened at the thought of finding out.
“Oh, yes,” I purred and then remembered where I was. God, you are such a fucking perv. Get your head out of your ass and do your job before she complains.
“Hmmm.” Her eyes met mine and held them. “Now that is interesting.” Melody winked, then walked down to the lipstick samples, staring at them like she had never seen them before.
I fidgeted and tried to block out my inappropriate flirtatiousness. Smoothing my skirt, I took a deep breath, counted to ten and made my way over to her to offer my assistance.
“Did you find a new color?”
Melody smiled and held up two tubes for my inspection. All traces of our earlier awkwardness were gone. “What do you think?”
I took the lipstick and went to retrieve cotton swabs and a box of tissues. Opening them up, I slid the stick portion down the lipstick to gather enough for her to sample. My hands trembled at the thought of her covering her lips with an offering of mine. Watching her never failed to make me wet, a
nd since I was already pushing my own boundaries tonight, I would have to be extra careful.
The first sample was Tangled Roses. Handing her the stick, I watched as she wiped off her old color and gently applied the new one. Lips pursed, she spread the creamy reddish-pink blend and I sighed, letting my mouth fall open. Every minute movement of her fingers as they spread the color over her lips sent little shivers down my back and a jolt of awareness between my thighs.
“What do you think?” Melody pursed her lips into a moue and smiled.
“Beautiful.”
“I like it. Let’s see the other one, too.” Melody was already wiping off the Tangled Roses and getting ready for the new sample.
“Sure.” I uncapped the second tube and scraped off a line of color. Rhapsody was the name, and I couldn’t agree more. It was one of my favorites.
She took the swab from my trembling fingers and smoothed the dark, blood-red lipstick over her lips. We both looked in the mirror and I nodded. It was perfect.
“I’ll take them both. Give me two of the Rhapsody.”
I gathered the boxes of new lipstick from the drawers and ran them through the register. Melody handed me her credit card and the sale was completed. Placing her receipt in the bag, I turned to give it to her.
“Here,” she said, sliding a red envelope across the counter.
I looked at her, perplexed. “What’s this?”
She met my questioning gaze with a solid one of her own. “I’m taking a chance on you, Francesca. Be there and follow the instructions to the letter.” Melody opened the bag with her purchase and drew out one box of Rhapsody. “Wear it.”
I started to protest, but she spun on her heel. I watched her walk away. Skirt tight on her ass, she marched down the center of the store as if she owned it. The envelope sat on the counter where she had placed it, untouched.
“What’s that?” Joanie appeared out of nowhere, and I jumped.
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