by Gina Manis
“I hope not,” I say, not thinking, and she looks at me strangely. I didn’t want people to know of my aversion to men here. They will wonder why, and I didn’t care for people to look at me differently. “I’m not interested in getting involved right now.”
“Just because you don’t, doesn’t mean they will not show up at your door,” she says as we go out the back to the privy. “I never had to deal with that living here all my life. Simon and Charles did a good job of keeping others away from me. I was mad at them a few times growing up. I always loved them, though. I wouldn’t get involved with them, unable to choose. Until they came together and asked me to be with them both.”
“That sounds… nice actually,” I say, liking her story, knowing she has two husbands is a little strange, but they had history and it sounds like a nice one.
We go to the privy and head back. In the hall, a man is walking towards us. The hall is wide, and so I think nothing of it until he calls out to Katy, and she waves at him.
“Hi, Daniel.”
“Nice to see you in town for a change,” he says with a big smile as he stops in front of us. He has to be about the same age as me. “How’s the baby.”
“He is fine and at home with Simon,” It is apparent that they are friends. Katy turns to me, “This is my new friend, Jenna. She has just moved to the village. Jenna, this is Daniel, one of my husband’s brothers.”
“Nice to meet you, Jenna,” Daniel holds out his hand. Instead of taking it, I tip my head and say hello.
“Listen, I got to get to work,” Daniel tells us. “It is going to get busy here soon, and I need to change before I start.”
“Okay, I’ll be around for a while. Come speak with Charles,” she tells him.
“You know I will,” He says with a smile as he goes around us. He looks at me and says, “Watch this one, or she will get you into trouble tonight.”
“Go on, Daniel, before I hit you in the head!” Katy says, putting her hands on hips. She looks at me, “He is a sweetie. You can’t go wrong, giving him a shot.”
“I’m not interested,” I tell her again, getting a little agitated at her.
“You say that now, but one day you will think differently,” she says as we continue. “If you and Arrow don’t work out, that is.”
“I am not with your brother!” I say, turning on her. “I’m not with anyone, and I don’t plan to be, so please let it go.”
“Jenna, I am sorry. I don’t mean to upset you.” She is, of course, hurt by my response.
“No, I am sorry,” I say, knowing it isn’t her fault. I don’t want to be different, but I don’t see how I can blend in. Daniel seems okay, but I don’t want to know him. “I came here because I wanted to be alone for a while. The Star Kingdom never suited me, and with Arrow leaving, I saw my chance.”
She gives me a half-smile, “I don’t mean to pry, but I give you fair warning. It is what I do.”
I smile back, “I like to be friends, but there are things I don’t want to talk about.”
She nods, saying, “Well then, I guess we'll just have to talk about me.”
We both laugh as we continue on. We are almost at the table when I spot a woman leaning down and whispering something in Arrow’s ear. I stumble before righting myself.
She is older than me, maybe a few cycles older than Arrow. She is a voluptuous woman with curly blonde hair, and her boobs were about to pop out of her dress.
“Oh, crap. I should have known Darla would have found Arrow.” Katy says to me.
“Who is she?” I ask her, unable to help the lump in my throat at seeing Arrow so close to a woman. She is all over him.
“She is the one who broke Arrow’s heart,” she says. “The one he left because of.”
Chapter Nineteen
Jenna
Of course, he had a past. What man didn’t have one? I only wished Arrow would have warned me about her.
I walk with Katy back to the table, my eyes glued to the woman who is sitting so close to Arrow. Their arms brush against each other's, and it makes my heartache to see him touching her. “Come and dance with me, Arrow. It has been a long time since I was in your arms.”
I don’t like her already. I don’t know why I feel this powerful urge to pull her up by her hair and take the seat next to him.
Katy sits down beside her husband, but I just stand there and look at Arrow. He sees Katy, looks up at me, and instantly stands. “Jenna.”
He says my name like he has already forgotten about me. We just stare at each other for a moment before the woman stands up and asks, “And who is this young woman?”
“This is Jenna, Arrow’s friend who has come home with him,” Katy says, but I can’t look away from Arrow. He just stands there looking uncertainly at me. Why didn’t he tell me before? I feel almost betrayed by him now. I thought tonight was for us, that he was courting me. It hurts to think he might be attracted to this woman. Maybe even more so than me.
“I am Darla,” she says, holding her hand out to me, and I turn to look at her.
I take her hand and shake it, forcing myself to say, “It is nice to meet you.”
“A friend of Arrow’s is a friend of mine. It is nice to meet you also, my dear,” she says, looking down her nose at me and my dislike of her grows stronger.
“Jenna, I think we should turn in for the night,” Arrow says, moving away from her and by my side. “We have a busy day tomorrow.”
“Oh, so soon?” Darla says, like she is disappointed. “I was hoping to get to know Jenna here a little more.”
“Some other time,” he tells her and looks at me, “Come on, Jenna.”
“No,” I say to him, not liking that he is trying to rush us away. He has never told me about her, and I find myself curious. She is a part of his past and, from what Katy has said so far, someone Arrow had a past with. “Darla is right. I am new here and would like to make friends.”
“Jenna.” He says in a warning voice as I take a seat at the table with the others. I pick up my glass and ignore him as I take a huge drink and it burns going down. I don’t care now and had this urge to get drunk.
“Yes, Arrow. Let me and Jenna get acquainted before you both rush off.” Darla says then. “Come sit down and have another drink.”
He moves slowly but sits back down in his chair, sliding it away from hers. “For a little longer, but we should turn in soon.”
“So, Jenna. I take it you are from Star Kingdom since that is where Arrow has been. How long have you known Arrow here?”
“A few cycles. He has been a good friend to my family.” I tell her.
“A few cycles?” She says, acting surprised. “Why, you must have been just a child when you met Arrow then. How old are you anyway?”
“I just turned eighteen,” I say, not liking how she makes me feel the age difference I have with the others at the table.
“Quite an age gap for you and Arrow to be such grand friends. How old are you now, Arrow? Thirty?”
“I am twenty-eight,” he says, taking a drink. “You should know this since we are the same age.”
“Yes, I forgot.” She smiles at him and turns back to me. “Arrow and I have known each other since we were kids. We grew up playing games together.”
“That’s nice,” I smile back at her. “I’m sure you both have plenty of stories to share.”
“Oh, we do!” She says, giving a hearty laugh. “Why I could spend all night telling you of the trouble we used to get into but some other time. Why don’t you tell us more about you and Arrow? Are you… intimate friends?”
“Jenna, how about that dance now?” Arrow says, standing up suddenly and offering me his hand. I am taken aback that he is offering again. I am not sure if I want to with so many people around. The bar has gotten more crowded in the past hour. But when I look at Darla, I see she doesn’t seem too pleased. She had asked him just a short while ago. He hadn’t said no, but he
didn’t say yes, either. Now he asks and it gives me a sense of pleasure it is me he does than her. I take his hand and rise from the chair, intending to put this Darla a little in her place.
I am a little unsteady as I just finished two glasses of the drink, which, if I knew I was about to dance, I wouldn’t have. Arrow doesn’t seem to notice as he pulls me towards him and leads us on the dance floor.
I am already breathless as he turns to me and places his hand at my waist. There is an adequate space between us, and as he moves, I stumble, and his arms come around me tighter, pulling me a little closer. I gasp at suddenly being in his arms like this. I don’t want to move away knowing she is watching us.
“Are you okay, Jenna?” He whispers to me but doesn’t let me go. He just stands there and holds me.
I don’t want her to see my fear and not with Arrow. I tell myself that this is okay, that I have danced with Arrow before. He had held me close like this before when he took me up in the sky. There is no reason for me to fear him; he will not hurt me.
“Jenna?”
“I’m fine,” I say, gripping onto his shoulder tightly. I don’t look up into his face but at his chest. He begins to sway with me but pulls me back slightly, and it gives me some relief.
“If you don’t want to do this…”
“I can do this,” I tell him in a rush, cutting him off. “Please don’t baby me in front of her.”
“Don’t do this because of Darla,” he tells me. “She isn’t important to me. You are.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about her?” I ask him but still don’t look up. “Katy says she broke your heart, and that is why you left here.”
“Katy has a big mouth. It was a long time ago, and she didn’t break my heart.”
“Then why did you leave?”
“It is a long story, and I don’t feel like telling it here,” he tells me.
“But you do have a past with her, don’t you?” I can’t help myself.
He sighs, “We have a past but not a future. I can promise you that.”
His words bring me some comfort, and I try to relax in his arms, but it isn’t easy. I don’t like being this way with him, but cycles of holding myself aloof is hard to overcome even with him. Maybe it wouldn’t be so difficult if the room wasn’t full of people. They make me feel trapped. The music seems to be getting louder and the people's laughter fills my ears. I can smell the smoke from cigars in the air around the room, their cloying perfumes and colognes.
“What are you feeling right now?” he asks me. “In my arms.”
I try to focus on Arrow once more, knowing I am safe with him. That he is the one holding me, but it doesn’t help too much. My head starts to swim and the air is starting to become thinner around me.
“I need air,” I whisper, not able to take this room anymore. The alcohol and the people and smells and everything is becoming so loud. The music and laughter is echoing in my ears as I pull away from him. I turn away and see the people around, blocking me in and I stop. Everything starts to spin around me.
“Jenna?” I feel someone press into my back and an arm circles my waist pressing me into them. I whimper as everything goes dark as I hear my name. “Jenna!”
Chapter Twenty
Arrow
I wake and open my eyes, seeing Jenna in the bed across from me. She fainted last night in my arms, scaring me half to death. I shouldn’t have asked her to dance with me last night, but when Darla had run her hand up my leg and cupped me in my pants, I had to get away from her. It had been the only thing I could think of at the time after I had stood up, and I had pressured Jenna into doing something she wasn’t ready for.
That night back in the little cottage had been more private, and I hadn’t held her nearly as close. When I took her in my arms into the sky, the height and another fear had distracted her. In the bar last night, drinks were being passed around, and then Darla showed up, it became too much for Jenna.
I have never known her to faint. I picked her unconscious body up into my arms as Katy and the others ran over to us.
“Is she okay?” Katy asked, touching her face. “She is all clammy Arrow; is she ill?”
“No,” I tell her, trying to push past her to get us out of there. “She has just had too much to drink, is all.”
“Oh, the poor little thing can’t hold her liquor.” I see Darla smiling to the side of us, and it makes me angry. “Maybe you should go put the child to bed and come back and join the grownups when you’re done.”
“Shut up, Darla,” I say, pushing past them all, but they follow.
“Would you like Katy to help you with her?” Charles asks me.
“No, I will take care of her.”
“Let me help with her, Arrow,” Katy pleads with me. “I shouldn’t have fed her all those drinks.”
“I said I can handle it!” I shout, moving out the door and down the street with Jenna cradled in my arms.
“She is but a child, Arrow,” Darla says, coming up beside me. Of course, she is going to invade my space; she always does. “What are you doing with her, anyway?”
“That is none of your business,” I tell her. “You just stay away from her. The last person she needs for a friend is you.”
“Whatever do you mean?” she asks me.
“It means, fuck off, Darla,” I tell her straight up. “Go find one of your playmates and stay away from us both.”
“You don’t have to be so rude,” she shouts back at me. “I thought we could catch up on old times.”
“Old times?” I stop and round on her. “Which ones would you like to catch up on? The one where I caught you in my bed with two other men? Or the numerous others?”
“I asked you to join us.”
“What about the time you drugged me with those potions from the gypsies and had me in an orgy with half a dozen people.”
“It was all women and your birthday. You sure seemed to enjoy yourself riding them.”
“Jenna is nothing like you. You stay away from her.” I turn and walk away from her, but as always, Darla has to have the last word.
“When you get tired of chasing the little virgin and need a good fuck, you look me up, Arrow. I remember what you like, and it’s nothing as innocent as you’re pretending now.”
I knew Darla would seek me out at some point, but I didn’t think it would be my first night back in the village. We were each other’s first when we were just fifteen cycles of age, and experimented with pleasures of the flesh. We married at eighteen and had four happy years together before things started to get wild. She blamed me because we couldn’t have kids and started to invite others into our bed.
At first, I was shocked but felt if she got with child, maybe things would change for us. I gave in and watched my wife fuck one man after another. There were other women too, as she invited them also for my pleasure. I became more okay with it after some time enjoying the explorations of pleasure with other women and watching Darla with other men but I had enough when she started to want me to join them and do things with men. I told her no more, but she didn’t listen. Instead, she found alternative ways to get me involved or excluded me completely.
We were married for seven cycles when she drugged me for my twenty-fifth birthday. By that time, I was running people out of our bed, women and men alike. The drug from the gypsies had me so hard and infused in erotic sensations that I couldn’t come down. I was so out of it would have fucked anything that night but Darla didn’t go that far. Instead, she enveloped me in women, ten women, to be exact, one for every cycle we had been together. Her present to me, but all it did was piss me off afterward, and that had been the final straw.
After that night, I divorced her, something that wasn’t common, and my family disapproved utterly, but I would not live with her anymore. Not like that.
She claimed I divorced her because she couldn’t bear children, but that wasn’t it. It was the sex and th
e obsession it became to her. She had no intention of letting me go. It became another obsession of hers to get me back in her bed. I had to get away, and it was a big reason why I left in the first place.
I thought if enough cycles had passed she would have gotten over it. I’m not so sure, now. If Jenna finds out about my past, I don’t know what she will think of me. I haven’t been with a woman since I have known Jenna, and I don’t intend to be with another ever again. Jenna is who I love and need if she will ever have me.
Jenna lies in bed far from me, but I like watching her sleep. I brought her in last night and removed her shoes but left her dress on. It is wrinkled and messed up, but I didn’t want to remove it, feeling it would upset her to know I did so or that I had touched her without her permission.
Deciding to let her sleep it off for the rest of the morning, I rise and hurry to dress. I glance at Jenna one more time before I leave the room. I walk down to the lobby and sign for the room for another night. Pineview will take a good day's travel, and Jenna will not be up for it. We will have to stay another night.
I pour myself a cup of coffee that they have on the counter, sipping on it as I look at the board of local events coming up. I see that there is a dance coming up, but Jenna and I will be away before it. I doubt Jenna would even want to go. Not after last night.
Katy and Charles come down before I leave, checking out themselves. I am upset with Katy for telling Jenna I left because of Darla. She may have been a reason, but she wasn’t all of it. Jenna had liked Katy also and had followed her lead in the drinking last night. I don’t think Jenna would have passed out if she hadn’t drunk so much.
“How is she?” Katy asks as Charles takes care of their ticket.
“She is sleeping still.” I inform her, “She had too much to drink for her first time. I should have been watching her more closely. It didn’t help that you encouraged her so.”
“I just wanted her to loosen up some. She seems a little… I don’t know... guarded.”