by Weeks, Abby
“Jake, he told his friends that they could pay me a visit whenever they wanted.”
“Oh, Zola!”
“He said that if they ever wanted to fuck me, all they had to do was come to our house and I would have to let them.”
“Oh my God,” Ariel said. “Zola, that’s terrible. He can’t do that.”
“He has done that.”
“So one of his friends just dropped by?”
“Yes,” Zola said, her eyes filling with fresh tears at the thought of it.
“Oh, God,” Ariel suddenly gasped. “I saw a car pull up your driveway just as I was leaving.”
“That was him,” Zola said, “that was Peter, Jake’s friend.”
“I can’t believe it,” Ariel said. “I should have done something.”
“What could you have done?” Zola said. “You didn’t know what he was going to do.”
Ariel was shaking her head. “What did he do to you?”
Zola took a deep breath.
“You don’t have to tell me,” Ariel said. “I shouldn’t have asked.”
“He made me finger his asshole while he came on my face,” Zola said.
Ariel went pale as the meaning of the words sunk in. Zola burst into tears again and this time Ariel joined her. She couldn’t believe that something like that could have happened to Zola since she’d been on her front porch that morning. It was beyond comprehension. What sort of a world did they live in? What sort of world did Jake Medeiros think he lived in? Something had to be done.
Thinking about it made Ariel so angry. She couldn’t accept that Jake was able to get away with treating Zola like that. It was as if everything he did was purposely designed to make her life more miserable. What was it about him? He almost seemed to enjoy her humiliation as much as he liked having sex.
“We have to get even with him,” Ariel said.
Zola looked up at her. She seemed afraid. “What do you mean?” she said.
“We have to do something, Zola. We have to do something to him, to show him that he can’t get away with this sort of thing anymore.”
“Ariel, please don’t get me in trouble. My life is hard enough already. I don’t want to do anything that will make it more difficult.”
“I know you’re afraid,” Ariel said. She completely understood Zola’s fears. She knew what it was like to be stuck in a marriage that was going wrong. She knew what it was like to feel helpless and alone and afraid all the time.
“Afraid doesn’t even begin to describe it,” Zola said. “I’m terrified, Ariel. I’m absolutely terrified. I rely on Jake for everything. If I were to stand up to him, he’d destroy me. I know he would. I’d be left with nothing. I’d be out on the street, I’d have less even than I had before I married him.”
“Zola, I understand your fears. Believe me I do. I promise not to get you into a situation that makes your life worse than it is now.”
“Maybe we should stop talking about getting even with Jake. Maybe I should just get through things as best I can, put up with them.”
Ariel looked at Zola. She really did understand her fears. Zola’s situation was pretty unbearable, Jake’s friends were going to start screwing her whenever they felt like it, it would be hell. But even still, she understood Zola’s need to keep going, to satisfy Jake and keep him happy. Fear didn’t always make sense but it was real and it was pointless to ignore it. If she wanted Zola to get even with Jake, she was going to have to come up with a plan that Zola would be able to live with. She was going to have to come up with a way for Zola to get even with Jake and still come out ahead.
“What if I came up with a plan?” Ariel said.
“Please,” Zola said. “I know you’re just trying to help me, Ariel. And I truly appreciate your support in all of this. But maybe the best thing for me to do right now is get used to the reality of my life and come up with coping mechanisms, things that will help me survive in this new reality.”
“Just hear me out,” Ariel said. “What if I was to come up with some way that would teach Jake a lesson, but that wouldn’t make your life any worse?”
“Like what?” Zola said.
Ariel shook her head. She had no idea what the plan was going to be. She had no idea where to even start. But she knew one thing. She was determined. She would come up with something.
IV
VERONICA SURVEYED THE BUILDING. She was standing in the middle of the space, the signed lease in her hand, and was imagining all of the possibilities for her new project. She’d signed a three-year lease with an option to renew for another three. Hank had generously agreed to pay the rent for the first few months till the business was up and running.
“Knock, knock,” a voice said from over by the door. It was Matt Harkness.
“Oh, you made it,” Veronica said, surprised to see him. “I thought you had appointments all day.”
“I rearranged my schedule,” Matt said with a big smile. “I couldn’t let you get started here without me.”
Veronica smiled. She was touched that Matt had altered his schedule to spend time with her. She looked him over and almost shivered with excitement, he was so good-looking. She knew she had to be strong, she couldn’t let her attraction to Matt cloud the fact that she loved her husband. She was trying to be faithful. She wanted to be a good wife. So what if she was lonely? So what if she was sexually unfulfilled? There was more to life than satisfying sex, wasn’t there?
“So,” Matt said, looking around the empty space. “What are we looking at here?”
Veronica looked around. Now that she’d signed the lease she suddenly felt overwhelmed by the space. “My gosh,” she said. “I don’t know where to begin.”
“Well,” Matt said, helpfully, “we’ve got a great place to start from. You’ve chosen really well. The basics are all here. All we need to do is the cosmetic stuff. That’s floors, walls, and ceilings.”
“When you put it like that it doesn’t sound so overwhelming.”
“It’s really not,” Matt said. “I can get started today if you like. I’ll rip out this old equipment, the drywall along here and counters, these cabinets, the drop ceiling.”
“Today?”
“Sure, I’ve got the whole day free. I’m as eager as you are,” he said.
There was something mischievous in his voice. Eager was a very telling word choice. Was he flirting with her?
“Well,” she said. “I’m ready when you are.”
Veronica followed Matt outside to his truck. She was surprised when they got out on the street to see that he’d ordered a bin too. There was a tow truck on the street delivering the massive bin, parking it right outside her building.
“We’ve got two days to fill that thing,” Matt said. “We better not waste them.”
“Yes, sir,” Veronica said.
They went to Matt’s truck and he put on his tool belt. He also rolled up the sleeves on his plaid shirt and changed his boots.
“Have you got anything for me to wear?” she said playfully.
“As a matter of fact,” Matt said, a big grin on his face. He pulled out a brand new pair of women’s work boots, exactly her size.
Veronica smiled. He’d been so thoughtful. He also had a new pair of gloves for her to wear, some plastic safety glasses and knee pads. She put the new clothing on over her jeans and shirt and by the time she was dressed she felt ready to take on the world.
Matt led the way back inside carrying two heavy tool boxes. They started work immediately and barely stopped till lunch time. When they finally took a break, Veronica was amazed at how much progress they’d made. All the old fixtures had been ripped out and were now in the back of the bin outside. The drop ceiling had been torn down, exposing the beautiful original copper tiles that had been hidden above it. The place looked more spacious, airier, the ceilings were more than a foot higher.
“I can’t believe the difference,” Veronica said.
“It’s amazing what can happen whe
n you decide to make it happen.”
“It is,” she said. She only wished she could make as much change in her personal life as they’d made to the building. If there was one thing she would change about her life, it would be her husband. She felt guilty even thinking it, but deep down she knew that she’d married the wrong man. As good as Hank was to her, she knew that she would have been happier, more satisfied as a person, if she was married to Matt. And it wasn’t just a crush, she knew that. She was only too aware of the danger of imagining that she’d be happier with a man who wasn’t her husband. She’d seen so many women throw away perfectly good marriages for some meaningless fling that had ended in disaster. And she knew that wasn’t the kind of relationship she would have with Matt. They’d been secretly in love for years. It was the real thing. A life with Matt would have been a happy life for Veronica.
She shook her head. She couldn’t allow herself to think like that. Hank was the one who was paying the rent for this place. It was his generosity that was allowing her to spend these delightful hours with Matt. He was a good man and it wasn’t right for her to be thinking about anyone else.
“Want something to drink?” Matt said.
She looked over at him and gasped in surprise. He was just pulling off his dusty shirt, revealing to her a chest and arms that were so perfectly formed, so perfectly muscular, that she thought she might faint right then and there. God, he looked perfect. His tanned flesh glistened with sweat in the dusty sunlight of the room. He looked like some Roman statue, perfectly formed in every single way. He was nothing like Hank. He was tall, strong, and healthy looking. The curly hairs on his chest almost seemed to be teasing her, beckoning her toward him as if he were some dangerous trap and she was the intended victim.
She looked away.
Matt went out to his truck and came back with two ice cold cokes. He handed one to Veronica and she couldn’t help admiring his chest, the muscles in his arms, the perfect little nipples on his rocky pectoral muscles.
“Thank you,” she managed to say.
“My pleasure.”
A long silence followed.
“How’d you manage to keep them so cold,” she said, desperately searching for words to fill the silence.
“I have a cooler in the truck,” he said.
She nodded. “Smart,” she said.
He smiled at her.
Veronica was finding it hard to breathe. She felt as if all the blood in her body was flowing straight to her head. She thought she might faint.
“Are you alright?” Matt said. He reached out and held her by the arm, supporting her.
“I’m fine,” Veronica said. “I just need to sit down.”
Matt walked her over to his toolbox and she sat down on it to catch her breath.
“You look flushed,” he said.
“I think I overdid it with the manual labor,” she said smiling.
She opened the top three buttons on her shirt. She knew that she was revealing a lot of cleavage to Matt but she told herself it was because she was feeling so faint. She needed the air. She looked up at him. He was standing above her, looking down at her. She was sure she caught him eyeing her cleavage, trying to see as far as he could down her loose-fitting shirt.
She took in a deep breath and pushed her chest forward as far as she could, accentuating her breasts. What the hell was she doing? She looked at him again and she again caught him eyeing her voluptuous breasts.
She had him. She knew she had him. If she wanted him all she had to do was make a move. It would be so simple. Who knew where it would lead? Who knew what was possible for her life? All she had to do was make a move.
She looked up at Matt’s perfectly formed chest, his abdominal muscles were like two rows of rounded stones. She longed to reach up and touch them.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Matt spoke. “Veronica, I can’t do this anymore,” he said.
Veronica was shocked when she heard the words come from him. His voice sounded sad but determined. She looked up at him. He was looking down at her, the sweat on his firm body glistening as if he was made of ice. She kept her chest forward, creating as much of a view down the front of her shirt as possible. What was she doing?
“What?” she said. She heard her own voice break as she said it. What was he saying? She’d die if she lost his friendship.
“It’s just too hard,” Matt said.
“What is?”
“Being in love with you,” he said.
She heard the words as if they were bells ringing from a cathedral. They seemed to fill the entire room and echo around it.
“What?” she said.
“You know I’m in love with you, don’t you?” he said.
She was silent for a minute. She tried not to think, not to let her mind run in a million different directions. She tried to focus only on the here and now, only on herself and Matt, alone in that room.
“I’m in love with you too,” she said.
A flash of joy crossed Matt’s face but only for a second.
“I know you don’t want to be unfaithful to your husband,” he said. “I know you love him.”
“Not like I love you,” she said.
She couldn’t believe what she was saying. How was this happening? She and Matt had kept these feelings hidden, unspoken, for years. What was causing them to come to the surface now?
“Really?” he said.
“Yes.”
“Is there any future for us?” he said.
Veronica felt overcome with sadness when he said that. She had no answer. She knew she should have been overjoyed that a man like Matt Harkness was finally declaring his love to her, but all she could think about was Hank and the obstacles that stood in the way of a life with Matt.
“That’s the problem,” Matt said. “Isn’t it? There’s no future for us.”
“I don’t know,” Veronica said.
“I know you don’t,” Matt said gently. He wasn’t angry. He wasn’t blaming her for anything. He was just facing up to the truth of the situation. “But that’s why I can’t go on. I can’t continue to be so close to you, so close I could touch you, and deny myself. It’s just too difficult.”
“We’re friends,” Veronica said. She detected a hint of desperation in her voice and she tried to control it. “We’re good friends, Matt. I’d die if we lost that.”
“We are good friends,” Matt said. “But you don’t know how hard it is to be this close to you, to be standing right here, and not to be allowed to touch you.”
“What are you saying?”
“I don’t know,” Matt said. “Maybe this is a mistake. Maybe it’s a mistake for me to be here, spending this much time with you. I can’t handle it.”
Veronica knew what she had to do. She knew she had to let him go. Being with Matt was a pipe dream. It was something that would never happen. It was unfair of her to keep him around her, keep him so close, and yet continue to deny him the thing he wanted most, her love. She knew she should let him go right out the door, but she couldn’t. She just couldn’t do it. Whatever was going to happen, wherever her life was going to end up, she didn’t care. She didn’t care how much trouble she was headed for. She wasn’t able to let Matt walk out the door of that building.
“You are close to me,” she said.
“Yes, I am.”
“You’re so close.”
“Yes,” Matt said, his voice deep and coarse.
She looked up at him. “So do it,” she said. She almost didn’t recognize her own voice. She sounded so confident and self-assured. How could her voice sound so certain when everything inside her mind seemed to be spinning out of control.
Matt looked down at her. She had no idea what she was doing, no idea what her plan was or where this was all going to lead. All she knew was that she could not let Matt walk out that door like this. She felt she owed him more than that, she owed herself more than that. She couldn’t deny herself any longer. Life was too short.
Matt looked down at her. She pulled open her shirt, revealing her heaving, sweating bosom to him. She was wearing a white, lace bra and it cupped her breasts perfectly. They looked pert and attractive. He was staring down at them as if he’d never seen anything so beautiful in all his life. It was as if he couldn’t believe this was actually happening. He’d been waiting for this day for years and now that it was here he didn’t know how to react.
“Do it,” Veronica whispered. “Do it, Matt. Take me. Do it.”
“Veronica,” he said, but she didn’t want him to talk. She didn’t want him to think, to reason out what was happening. She didn’t want him to stop. She wanted him to take her and fuck her.
She pulled open her shirt and let it slide down from her shoulders onto the dusty floor. Then she waited. She looked up at him. What was he going to do? What was going to happen? What kind of a life was she going to have? If he rejected her, if he didn’t want her, she’d have to go back to Hank knowing that she hadn’t been truly faithful. She’d have to live out the rest of her years with a man who was kind to her, but who wasn’t able to satisfy her needs.
She looked up at Matt desperately. What was he thinking? Why was he hesitating?
He took a step back from her. This was it. This was the end. She was going to lose him.
From where he stood he was able to see her face better. He looked at her, at her satin covered breasts.
“Are you ready to follow this through?” he said.
“Don’t talk,” she said. She had no answers so there was no point asking her any questions. “Just take me. I’m yours. If you want me.”
He took another step back. Her heart began to sink. He didn’t want her. He looked toward the door. In an instant he could be out on the street if he wanted. He could get in his truck and drive a hundred miles away from her. She was married. Why would he want her?
Then he came to her and with his strong muscular arms he lifted her up from her seat and into the air. She wrapped her legs around him and he began kissing her in the most sensual, erotic way she’d ever been kissed in her life. Not even her years in Europe compared to the kiss that Matt gave her. His soft lips pressed against hers and it was almost as if he was trying to eat her. He drove his tongue deep into her mouth. He was hungry for her, starving for her. His tongue met hers and licked all over it. His mouth pressed against hers. She could feel his breath on her face, his tongue against hers, his lips on hers. She was so happy, so relieved, that she felt like crying. She gently bit his lower lip and he grunted playfully.