Learning Lessons

by KT Morrison

  Tyler was long gone. Never did come back. Probably too ashamed. Didn’t even know the gift he’d left Jess with. When Pete told Mark what he’d done he laughed so hard the phone went dead. He called back said he’d hung up with his moustache. Pete talked to Mark again about a month ago. Called him up on a whim because he was thinking of him. He said Tyler was in Kentucky. He was working as a Sales rep doing trade shows for a supplement company. He had a girlfriend.

  Pete wouldn’t tell Jess that. He thought she might hold some hope he was going to come back to her. Walk through that back door and they would pick up where they left off.

  His bike was gone back to the dealership. When Pete looked into selling it, it turned up delinquent. Loan signed by a Tiffany MacKenzie. Tyler’s mom. His stuff had been packed out of the house. Pete didn’t do it, but he saw the boxes in the garage, piled up neatly on and around his weight bench.

  He sat down at the end of the couch, looked at her as she slept. She was so innocent. Her face placid, tired, but somehow still so beautiful and vibrant. She stirred.

  “Jess?”

  Her eyes fluttered, slowly opened, the sun lit them up, her icy blue eyes wet and dazzling.

  “Pete?” she said. She struggled to sit up and he held his hand out to her, pulled her up so she could sit. It exhausted her. She primped her hair, smoothed out where she had slept on it. “Hi, Pete,” she said quietly.

  “How are you doing?”

  “I’m pooped all the time.”

  “You look amazing.”

  “I do?” she said, her little eyebrows going up in the middle.

  He nodded and smiled.

  “Oh, hey, congratulations. Dad told me about your job.”

  “Thank, Jess.”

  “Moving up to the big leagues, huh? You deserve it, Pete.”

  He shrugged. He was being moved up, offered an executive job at the corporate office in Cleveland. A boost in pay. Actually not that tremendous, but it was a start. He’d calculated that after taxes, and no change in spending, the pay bump itself would replace the savings that Jess had given to Tyler in just over two years.

  The job they offered, he knew, would come with a lot of bullshit. He knew who had it before. Just about killed him. Corporate figured—the way Pete took that Black Friday punch—he could take a lot of shit. He could. He could take all sorts of hits. Stay stood up. He had a strong back for burden, carried a lot of weight. They had the right man.

  He didn’t know how he and Jess would work it yet, how he would see the boys while living in another city, but they would figure it out. Jess was on maternity leave now. Pete heard from Patty that Jess wouldn’t be returning to Jaden Van. Everyone there talking about what she did.

  There was a sparkle on her neck. On a thin chain swooping over her fine collarbones hung a heart studded with tiny diamonds. He reached out and lifted it from her, held it. Her hand came up and held his. Her warm, soft hand lightly gripping the side of his palm...

  “Jess, I’m seeing someone.”

  Her faint smile dropped and her eyes went down. She nodded. “I hope she’s good to you.”

  “She is.”

  “Maybe you could bring her around sometime. We could all have dinner,” she said, trying to look hopeful.

  “I don’t know...I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  Her eyes swelled, went wet. A tear gathered then rolled down one cheek. She shook her head like it didn’t happen. Her lips wriggled and trembled, her chin dimpled. Every part of him wanted to put his arms around her. He said, “I better get the boys in the car—we’ve got to get going. Take care, Jess.”

  She sniffed, cleared her throat, said, “Help me up, I’ll walk you out.” He helped her to stand and she walked with him to the bottom of the stairs. Conrad was coming down with the boys, carrying their colourful stay-away bags for them.

  “Hey, guys!” Pete yelled and he grabbed them and hugged them.

  “Hi, Dad,” they said together. He hoisted Andy up to carry him.

  “Oh, Andy, you really are getting so big.”

  Jess said, “Not too big to give his mommy a kiss...”

  Pete held him over to her, watched her plant a light, little kiss on his cheek with her pretty lips.

  “Aw, mom,” Petey said, hanging his head. Knowing he was next.

  “Come here,” she said, clawing him towards her with her index finger. She kissed him loudly on his forehead and stroked his face. She was really crying now. But she smiled for them.

  “Say bye, guys,” he said, and he took the bags from Conrad and thanked him.

  “Bye, Mom!”

  She waved and followed them to the door.

  Pete got Andy in his car seat behind Petey, who got in the passenger seat of the brand new Buick all by himself. Pete sat in the driver seat and looked at Jess there watching her three guys from the open front door. She wriggled her fingers to them, her other hand resting across her round pregnant belly. He saw her lips shape a good-bye. He knew he would never leave her.

  Who was he kidding? He wasn't seeing anybody. Like he would get over Jess in five months. His heart would never recover. He couldn’t be with anyone else.

  This was his fault. He had done that to her. In many ways, it was him who put that baby in her belly. He never should've put her on that path. They weren’t a couple who could handle that.

  When she’d gripped his hand sitting on the couch while he held the pendant he’d bought her his heart had almost exploded. He wanted that so bad, and when it happened, he was mad instead of happy. It felt too good to be true. He’d flashed forward to a vision of them all together with a new life in Cleveland, in a new home, a new baby. Jess could teach again. Cleveland needs a new teacher of the year. It had been too much to take, too much to hope for, he’d lied to her to get out of there. Her touch had scared him. But...

  He had to learn to deserve her. He did deserve her.

  All he could see when he looked at her was the face of that worried girl trying to find her dance class before she got fired. He’d helped her that day and knew that he would give anything to be the one who got to help her every day for the rest of her life. She needed him now more than ever and he could never turn his back on her. She wasn’t such a catch now, was she? She needed him as much as he needed her. He’d made her damaged goods. Now she was an adulterer. A bad girl who fucked some young guy. A guy who left her, took money from her, and now she was pregnant with his baby.

  Pete had pushed her out. Pushed her into that oncoming Tyler train, the Pennsylvania Legacy, with its long wide coal carts that scraped the sides of her soft, wet tunnel. Maybe part of him created that trap for her to fall into. A rotten subconscious part of him that resented her sweetness. He gave her an opportunity to be bad, to do things she’d regret. Then maybe they’d both be self-hating pieces of shit and he wouldn’t have her up on a pedestal where he was afraid he couldn’t even reach her. She’d fallen right off that pedestal. He’d rocked it and rocked it, kicked it like Tyler’s kickstand until she fell and shattered on the floor. He would pick up her pieces. He’d pick up each piece, clean it and lovingly put her back together.

  He undid his seatbelt, briskly opened the door of his new car and he marched across the drive and up the walk. She saw the look in his eyes and he saw her exigent, trembling face. He went to her and he took her chin in his hand and he kissed her lips. Her hands touched his sides, his other hand felt her belly. She kissed him back, and he bit her lip. Then he let her go, looked deep into her quivering eyes. If she would take him back one thing for sure was he would never let her hurt him again—and he would never ask her to. He would raise that little girl in her belly like she was his own. He would love her as much as his boys.

  He said, “We are coming home on Monday.”

  She nodded, her mouth open, her lips wet.

  He turned around and headed back to the Buick.

  When he got back in the car it was filled with high-pitched kid laughs. He looked a
t Petey who was smiling. “What’s so funny?”

  Andy was giggling so hard he almost couldn’t be understood. He blurted, “Dad kissed mom, you kissed mom,” being silly and rolling his head around, almost giddy, but trying to make fun of his old pop at the same time.

  Pete said, “All right, calm down, calm down. I kissed her.”

  “Petey—”

  “You kissed mom.”

  “—your seatbelt on?”

  Jess waved from the doorway to them. She was crying, face screwed up, shoulders shaking, but she was smiling. The sun played on her silky hair, she had one leg bent, her foot crossed over the other. He waved and smiled, then drove out of the cul-de-sac. He couldn’t wait for Monday.

  “What are we going to do today, Dad?” Petey said.

  “I’m going to take us away this weekend. I’m taking you to Calumet Bay. Show you boys where I grew up. Take you around all the places I used to go to when I was your age.”

  Andy said, “What’s Calumet Bay?”

  “You know the train set? That’s Calumet Bay. It’s not entirely how I remember it, things are just always changing, but there're pieces of it still there, if we look careful enough we’ll find it.”

  Other Books by KT Morrison

  MAGGIE Series

  Tempting Maggie

  Sharing Maggie

  Secret Maggie

  Discovering Maggie

  Max is a fourth year Government and Policy student engaged to wed the love of his life.

  Maggie is a fourth year Art student and she can’t wait for the summer to come so she can finally tie the knot with the guy she fell in love with when they were Freshmen.

  They’ve been together four years at their prestigious private college nestled in the Green Mountains of Vermont. This is the year they’ll graduate and set out into the world together as a couple.

  But Maggie is surprised to find her desires set on fire by a gorgeous new figure model. She thinks she’d never cheat but she can’t stop thinking about him.

  When Max learns her secret he’s crushed. It tears down everything he knows about her. But in the rubble he finds something shining: excitement.

  Now, if he could just convince her it’s okay…

  Losing His Wife Series

  Losing His Wife: Book One

  Losing His Wife: Book Two

  Losing His Wife: Book Three

  Pete and Jess Mapplethorpe have been married for seven years now. They’ve got two wonderful little boys and an Irish Setter. Everyone that knows them would say they are the nicest couple you’d want to meet.

  Well, they might say that Pete can be a bit of a jerk sometimes—but Jess? Regional Grade Three teacher of the year, three years running. Pretty, polite, sensitive, kind and thoughtful…

  It must have been black magic that brought them together…

  Behind closed doors everyone would be shocked at what goes on. They’d never believe the dirty things that sweet Jess might do or say. Pete doesn’t think he has what it takes to please his beautiful wife and they fantasize about larger men taking her and making her happy.

  She’s just starting to discover herself at thirty-five… She wants to make up for lost time.

  They’ve found a handsome, well-built young man to play along. It’s better than they even imagined. Now that they’ve started will she be able to stop? What if she doesn’t want to?

  Her husband loves enduring distressing levels of humiliation and she’s finding a crazy pleasure now in delivering it…

  Losing His Wife 2 Series

  Losing His Wife 2: Box 1

  Losing His Wife 2: Box 2

  Losing His Wife 2: Box 3

  Geoff J. Kane is a successful children’s book illustrator. Ten years ago he married the girl of his dreams. She’d been his best friend and he’d helped her through tough relationships and gave her his shoulder to cry on many nights. Then after two years, she kissed him. Now they’re married and they’ve got a beautiful seven-year-old daughter.

  Nia Kane was a wild one. She liked to have fun and she liked to cause trouble. Everything she did, in the end, blew up in her face, hurt her. One night she realized the best man in her life was sitting with her, telling her it was all going to be okay. She kissed him and it was wonderful and he’s always good to her.

  Their daughter is growing up, she’s away at school now and it seems like it might be a good idea for Nia to return to the workforce. The city isn’t getting any cheaper. She gets a job offer from an old friend. The brother of her very hot ex-boyfriend. She cried on her husband’s shoulder a lot over this guy, back when Geoff was just her buddy.

  Having her ex back in her life stirs up old feelings in both of them. They both like it. There was something exciting about that time when they were twenty. It’s safe now. He’s got her. They can fantasize, right?

  Obsessed Series

  Obsessed: Book One

  Obsessed: Book Two

  Four couples lives intertwine as they explore their erotic boundaries. From simple wife-watching to cuckolding and domination and humiliation, these couples have one thing in common: they all share the same incredible bull. And he is far more than they even expected.

  Mike and Gretch: Not married, but dating for a good long while. Two comedy writers just at the edge of love, that strange and delicate space where the act of sharing can be so dangerous. But they’re two cool cats and they’re sure they’ve got it all locked down. They call her ex-boyfriend from college, Atticus Hawke, a guy who has in the years since their breakup, and before Mike, been a reliable booty call for her.

  Sean and Courtney: Sean’s a Type A stick of dynamite. A rocketing studio exec, competitive and driven, he shares an incredible bond with his gym-toned wife. Courtney is all in for the new game she and her handsome husband have devised. Their ten-year-old daughter is out of the house and away at boarding school. They’ve planned a one-year commitment to one another about honesty, openness, and exploration. They’re going for broke. Their new thing? Sean likes to watch and Court likes to be watched. They’ve found a guy online. He seems too good to be true. A guy called Finch, endowed, muscular, handsome like a fashion model. Courtney’s been working out and she’s going to put this stud through his paces.

  Steve and Becky: Becky’s a headstrong X-Ray technician who landed herself a multi-millionaire tech investor husband thirty years her senior. Steve loves to be dominated and he found the girl of his dreams in Becky. She’s got an iron will and she loves her husband. Loves him enough to lock him in chastity and keep him abstinent for months on end. It’s okay, don’t worry about Becky, she gets a regular visit from a drop-dead gorgeous man named Finch. He keeps her satisfied. Sometimes, if he’s been good, she’ll even let her husband watch.

  JJ and Amy: Two young country bumpkins just arrived in Los Angeles. JJ wants to live a lifestyle he’s only dreamed of and this city is part of it. He’s married to the sweetest little nineteen-year-old outta Jackson Pond, South Carolina and he’s sure she’s on a fast ticket to stardom. She just needs her first big break. While they’re waiting he’s got a fantasy he wants to see lived out. He would do anything to see his little Amy with a man who’s got a big one, one’ll make her scream like those girls he watches on the internet. He found a guy online, one Amy didn’t make her vomit-face at. He’s got everything JJ’s been looking for and, thank the stars, he’s agreed to do it.

  Atticus Hawke: Finch is his online name. His nighttime name. The one he uses on a site that puts him in touch with couples looking for a bull just like him. By day he is Atticus Hawke. You might have heard of him. You know the song from the eighties, ‘Going With That Girl’? No? You’d know it if you heard it. That was Atticus' dad, Ricky Hawke. Yes, that Ricky Hawke. Now you know. Made a bunch of singer-songwriter hits in a time when all the kids wanted pop coming out of synthesizers and their stars to be pretty boys and have colourful hair. Ricky had real talent. So does Atticus. One of L.A.’s hottest emerging Modern artists, his work com
mands a fortune. But it pales against his enormous trust fund. These days his real work is done at night. His masterpieces. That’s where his passion is. Watching and participating in intense psychological dramas in dark hotel rooms across the city. He gives women what they want. They’re a canvas, a medium. His audience: their husband.

  The Cayman Proxy Series:

  The Cayman Proxy (Box One)

  Mitchell Sutton's family is one of the wealthiest in London. But Mitch is an outsider, the handsome young son who took his own path. He’s in love with a girl from the wrong side of the tracks.

  Kate’s a troubled Council house girl thrown into a lifestyle she never imagined. But she’s more than his dressed up little princess.

  He’s got just about everything she needs. But she’s got a mind full of dark thoughts she can’t escape. And there’s something Mitch can’t give her.

  She needs something his money can’t buy.

  He would do anything for her.

  They hit the hot beaches of Grand Cayman, a reunion with an old friend and a handsome stranger. Passion boils in her blood. Can she make this work or will her desires destroy the man she loves?

  Going A Little Too Far

  You couldn’t picture a sweeter couple than Troy and Emma.

  Troy’s a former Division One college wrestler. A walking water park at two-sixty-five, with shoulders no woman could get her arms around and a set of abs you could scrub laundry on.

  Emma’s a sweet little Georgia Peach. Pretty as can be in her proper dresses; she’s a good girl from a good family that raised her right.

  You couldn’t tell by looking at them that they were two straight-up freaks that loved to push each other’s kinky buttons.

  Emma, with all her book club shyness, loves to be man-handled, loves to be lifted off her feet and dominated. Troy is a monster with a six-hundred-fifty pound deadlift and she's like a feather in his arms.

  Troy likes to be humiliated. He knows he doesn't have much 'down there' and he likes his virginal wife to tell him he's no good and she’d have to get what she wanted elsewhere.