Greshmere

by Scott Wittenburg

  So Jennifer Stowell was somebody he could always rely on for a good time whenever he felt the urge to have her over. But he had never dreamt that his relationship with her would evolve into what it had eventually become.

  One weekend a year or so ago, Jennifer had called and told him that she wanted to come over—that she had a surprise for him. Of course when he asked her what it was, she had refused to say, pointing out that then it wouldn’t be a surprise. He had been free for the night, so he told her to come on over.

  Her surprise had totally floored him.

  When he answered the door, Jennifer stood there with another woman: a tall, lithe blonde named Tamara. Jennifer had seen the look of confusion on his face and explained that she and Tamara were his for the night. Although he had been involved in ménage a trois a few times in the past, it had been nothing like what this had turned out to be.

  Once he got over his initial shock and delight, he invited the two girls in. Before long, they were all snorting coke and chattering away. Then Tamara suggested that they play strip poker and pulled a deck of cards from her purse. By the end of the game, he was the only one still wearing any clothes since he was not about to be beat by two dizzy ass girls at poker.

  As it turned out, they were both sore losers.

  Suddenly, Tamara winked at Jennifer and the two had pounced on him. Being the control freak that he was, he actually tried valiantly to break free from them at first; but they were a strong team and prevailed. Within a few minutes, he was stripped down to his birthday suit.

  This gave way to what had been the best sex he had ever experienced in his life. The three of them spent the night going at it, breaking only long enough for more coke and alcohol. The next day, he had felt like he’d been through boot camp.

  This scenario had replayed itself several times over for quite a while. Eventually though, Tamara had dropped out of the picture after she’d found herself a steady boyfriend. Now it was just Jennifer.

  Plus the three or four other gorgeous women he kept on a string, of course.

  Gary smiled. Could life get any better than this? Here he was, majorly wealthy and successful with all kinds of women at his beck and call. He was in the best city in the world and the only direction for him to go was up.

  But what made it all insanely satisfying was that he could actually put a goddess like Megan Kendall on the back burner long enough to party and get it on with some other babe. Like flipping a switch, Megan’s spell on him could be totally shut off so he could function normally as though she didn’t exist. And then when he was good and ready, he could flip the switch again and there she would be: the most gorgeous woman on earth, primed and ready to be exploited.

  How cool is that?

  The doorbell rang. Carrying his drink on the way to the door, he opened it. Before him stood Jennifer, carrying a paper bag that he assumed was her wine.

  “Sorry I’m late,” she said, kissing him on the cheek. “Traffic was awful.”

  “No problem,” Gary replied.

  He led Jennifer to the kitchen and got out a wine glass. He located the corkscrew in one of the drawers.

  “I’ve missed you,” she said. Hearing this come out of her mouth was akin to fingernails on a chalkboard. Gary’s teeth clenched.

  “How’s that?” he said, clearly miffed. “We were just together a few weeks ago.”

  “That may not seem like a long time to you, but it does to me.”

  Gary didn’t reply. He removed the cork from the wine bottle and poured Jennifer a glass. Then he fixed himself a drink and drained half the glass.

  “Where’s the coke?” he asked.

  “In my purse. Tell me something, Gary. Do you ever think about me? I mean, like whenever you’re doing this or that—do I ever enter your mind?”

  What the fuck is this all about? he thought. Why was she all of a sudden whining about their relationship again? He felt like pasting her just to make her shut up, but thought better of it.

  “Sure I think about you—all of the time. In fact, whenever I get horny, which as you know is quite often, I think about you. Now, does that make you happy?”

  “Jesus, Gary! Are you serious? Is that all you think of me: as just some piece of ass?”

  “Honestly?” he said, looking directly at her. “Yeah, that’s about the extent of it. It seems that you have all of a sudden forgotten what this relationship is based on. Why in the hell are you asking me all of this bullshit, Jennifer?”

  She took a sip of wine and looked past him. He could see the tears beginning to form in her eyes. He was going to have to get her under control, pronto.

  She said, “It started this morning, while I was going to work. I saw this couple that was around our age holding hands, waiting at a bus stop. It made me think of you. And how long we’ve been seeing each other. I know that you told me you weren’t interested in any sort of serious relationship and I respect that. It’s just that I wish there was more to this. Don’t get me wrong—I love the sex. But why can’t there be more? You know, why can’t we go see a movie once in a while, or go out to dinner? Would that be too much to ask, Gary?”

  Here we go, he thought. Lucky for her, I’m a tolerant man.

  “I don’t need more, Jennifer. That’s why,” he replied. “Nothing personal, it’s just that what we have works because it is so special. We are not weighed down by trivialities like dinner or a movie, or whatnot. By not letting any of that come between us, we are able to thoroughly enjoy one another’s company without any strings attached. Is this not what we agreed on a long time ago? So why in the hell would we want to risk jeopardizing something so special?”

  “But what about love, Gary? Don’t you ever want to be in love with somebody? To build a life together, make plans for the future, grow—maybe even have children?”

  Gary laughed—he couldn’t resist. This was just too much drama!

  “Jesus, Jennifer! Are you for real? We already went through all of this crap a long time ago and I can’t believe that you’re bringing it up again! Do I have to spell it all out for you? I am not interested in marriage or a serious relationship. With anybody. Period. Get it? Not a fucking thing has changed since the last time we had this conversation. And why should it? You are still the same person you were back then and I’m the same person I was. I want nothing more than to have sex with you. And when it’s all over, I want to move on with my life. And then, after some time has passed, one of us will get horny and we’ll get together for sex again, and the cycle continues. Just like we’re doing now. So why are you really bringing all of this crap up now, Jennifer? Level with me. There’s something going on—otherwise, you wouldn’t be doing all of this.”

  She looked away from him for a moment. After taking a sip of wine, she faced him again.

  “I’ve been seeing somebody else,” she declared, her expression guarded.

  Gary laughed. Then when he saw her reaction, he laughed even harder.

  “That’s what this is all about? Are you kidding?”

  “No, I’m not kidding. But you sure seem to think it’s funny.”

  “That’s because it is funny! It’s fucking hysterical, in fact! Jennifer, old girl, I’m not sure exactly how to say this, but I’ll give it a shot. I couldn’t give a flying fuck if you’re seeing somebody else! That means nothing to me. In fact, I commend you for it. Here I was thinking that you were madly in love with me and wanted to have me all to yourself until death do us part and all of that. But it by God looks like I’ve been completely off, there. Turns out there’s another guy you’re screwing. Hey, that shows some balls, I do mean to tell you! Never thought you had it in you.

  “At any rate, no hard feelings, Jennifer. And you don’t have to worry about this having any effect on our own little special thing, either. I’m still in, if you’re worried about that. I’m not about to give up something this good just because you’ve got some other guy on a string. I’m totally cool with that. But please just promise me on
e thing. That you won’t pick up any diseases or anything like that while you’re screwing your new beau. Now that just might get me a little pissed.”

  “So it doesn’t bother you at all? Not even a little?” she said.

  Gary guffawed heartily. “No, my dear. Not at all. You act like it should.”

  “Well, I did think it would, if you want to know the truth. I guess I thought you actually had some feelings for me beyond all of the sex. But I see now that I was wrong.”

  “Something just occurred to me, Jennifer. How about when you brought another woman here so that she could join in all of the festivities? Your good buddy, Tamara. It didn’t seem to bother you for one second that I was getting it on with another woman, and in fact you’re the one that instigated all of that! With that in mind, how could you possibly expect me to care about you getting it on with another guy if you didn’t mind me humping the two of you? That just plain doesn’t make sense.”

  “That was different.”

  “Yeah? And how was it different?”

  “I did that for you. To make you happy. I sure as hell didn’t do it for myself. In fact, it was very hard sharing you with somebody else like that.”

  “You are so full of shit! You loved every minute of it! And you sure didn’t hesitate playing around with Tamara yourself. Hate to say it, but none of what you’re saying is making an ounce of sense.”

  “But you aren’t seeing the difference,” she insisted. “We’re talking about sex, not relationships or caring about somebody else. The guy I’m seeing cares about me. In fact, I think he wants to have a serious relationship with me.”

  “That’s great, then! Go for it, girl! And I’m beginning to get the picture now. You’re afraid that if you have a serious relationship with this other guy, you will no longer feel morally correct humping yours truly at the same time. Hey, that’s cool. I’m fine with it and will gracefully back out of our, uh, special arrangement. Now do you feel better?”

  Although he wasn’t really thrilled at seeing Jennifer out of the picture, he wasn’t about to beg her to keep something going if she was really this crazy about some other dude. He had his morals, too.

  Jennifer said, “But I’m going to miss you. I was sort of hoping you would try to talk me out of seeing this guy. Looks like I was wrong about that, too.”

  So pathetic, he thought.

  “Jennifer, I’ll say this one more time. I don’t want you in the same way that this guy evidently wants you. So why would I want to try to discourage you from following your heart? I don’t really want to quit having our relationship either, but at the same time, life goes on. I can handle it. Go off with your knight in shining armor and I’ll be just fine.”

  “If that’s how you want it,” she said quietly.

  “That’s how it has to be,” he said.

  They both fell silent. Gary poured himself another drink and refreshed Jennifer’s wine. He began debating whether or not they would be having sex tonight and realized that he didn’t really care one way or another at this point.

  “So who is this special guy?” he asked.

  “Actually, it’s Mark.”

  “Mark? Mark who?”

  “Mark Wheeler.”

  Jamison’s heart thumped and his blood pressure shot up like a rocket. For a moment, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He stared into Jennifer’s eyes, searching for an answer to his next question. He thought he found it there, but decided that surely he was mistaken.

  “You don’t mean Mark Wheeler, as in my good friend, Mark Wheeler, do you?

  She nodded.

  The bitch nodded.

  The bitch had been fucking his best friend!

  He punched her so hard that she ended up on the other side of the room.

  He didn’t even hear her cries as he sprung over to where she lay huddled on the floor and yanked her up by her auburn hair. He hammered her head against the wall with one hand under her chin and then backhanded her with his other hand. Blood trickled out from the corner of her mouth. A huge welt had already formed on her cheek where he had first struck her. One eye was swollen nearly shut.

  At that moment, Gary wanted to place his hands around her throat and squeeze all of the life out of her. Lucky for him, and for Jennifer, he was able to get a handle on himself.

  Instead of assaulting her, he kissed her hard on the lips and felt her flinch. He kept himself pressed hard against her and continued kissing her until he felt her go limp and cease to resist. The thought of raping her right now came to mind, but he dismissed it.

  He must get this under control.

  Gary softened his grip on Jennifer’s shoulders and drew away from her a few inches.

  “I’m sorry I hurt you. I just wasn’t expecting to hear that.”

  There was a look of mortal fear in the woman’s eyes. She looked away from him, clearly unable to believe a word of what he had just said.

  He had to make her a believer.

  “Listen, Jennifer. I know that at this moment you are scared to death of me, and I can see why. I just want you to know that there is nothing to be afraid of—that everything is under control now. What I just did was completely out of line and wrong. I hope you will accept my apology. Do you forgive me?”

  She continued looking away and made no sound. Just then, Jamison realized that she was trembling in his arms. He really had scared her shitless.

  “Will you please look at me, Jennifer? Can you at least do that?”

  He touched her chin and gently guided her head to face him. She did not resist.

  “Thank you, that’s better. I have no good excuse for what just happened. I can only offer you an explanation. When you told me that you’ve been involved with one of my dearest, closest friends, it took me off guard. Surely you can understand that, since I was clueless that you were even seeing him, much less dating him. This made me angry, which again shouldn’t come as a big surprise. After all, Mark is like a brother to me and I felt like I’d just been stabbed in the back by both you and him.

  “So I sort of lost it. I should not have struck you like that and it was unconscionable. I don’t go around beating up girls and I swear that’s the first time I’ve ever lost it like that. Again, I offer you my apology and can only hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me. To forget that any of this ever happened. Can you do that for me, Jennifer?”

  There was a moment of silence so thick, he could cut it with a knife. Finally, she spoke, hatred and fury in her eyes.

  “You hurt me, Gary! I can’t believe that you could do that! I don’t ever want to see you again.”

  “I don’t blame you. That’s of course your prerogative. It’s a shame, though. I’d hate to see all we’ve had destroyed just because of this little incident. I—”

  “Little incident? Are you shitting me, Gary? This is not a little incident! You nearly knocked me unconscious! My lip is bleeding and I think one of my teeth is loose. You are fucking crazy, man! And now you try to act like this was nothing—just a little scrap we had. You are a heartless bastard!”

  “Whoa, now. Wait a minute! I told you I’m sorry, didn’t I? I definitely don’t need some big guilt trip over this. We all make mistakes, right? So how about a little understanding here? You act like I nearly killed you or something, when all I did was tap you a couple of times.”

  “Screw you, Gary! I’m going home now, so please let go of me.”

  “Not until you say that you forgive me,” he chanted, trying to lighten things up.

  “Not gonna happen. I’ve put up with more than enough of your uncaring, selfish bullshit for much too long. You think you can push me around like I’m some kind of brainless slut, but that’s not going to happen anymore. Now, let me go!”

  Anger swelled inside and Jamison damn near hit her again. But he restrained himself. She was clearly out of control at the moment and needed to sleep on it, he thought. Once she had a chance to ponder everything, she’d come around. He needed
to respect her need to make him feel like a turd now. So be it.

  He let go of her.

  “Alright, Jennifer. Go ahead and leave. But don’t forget what I said. I’m really sorry I hit you and I will do anything to make things right again. Please promise me you’ll at least think about giving me a second chance, okay?”

  She glared at him and then walked over to get her purse. “I’m not promising you anything, Gary. And you should consider yourself very fortunate if I don’t report this and press charges against you.”

  He was awestruck. Would she really do that? Surely not!

  “I’m not really hearing this, am I? Jesus, Jennifer! This was just a little misunderstanding, not a freaking felony! I’m not some kind of monster, nor would I ever hit a lady on purpose. I just fucked up, that’s all. Give me some slack here!”

  She had snatched up her purse and was heading for the door. “Goodbye, Gary. Don’t bother calling me, ever again.”

  She left without another word.

  As he watched the door slam shut behind her, Gary felt lightheaded. He had never had an altercation this ugly with any of his girls. It was a first.

  And he had learned much as a result.

  He went to the kitchen for another drink. His hand was actually trembling as he downed a huge swig of liquor. The action made him smile.

  Fortunately, Jennifer would never go to the cops over this. He knew her enough to know that she was not the sort to involve the cops, let alone anybody else in her private affairs. She was a very private person. That would be out of character for her.

  On the other hand, he was disappointed in himself. He had flown off the handle plenty of times in his life, but rarely when he was with a woman. That sort of behavior showed a total lack of self-control, something he had always prided himself in. If something really pissed him off, like this had, he would typically keep it to himself and try not to let it show.