A Wifey for the Bad Boy(222)

The offer was made in such a way that she expected me to agree, and of course I did. The thought of seeing her again after so much time was exciting and as we arranged the date my heart was beating more and more quickly.





Chapter 6

I felt a surprising pang of jealousy when she mentioned her ex and that she'd spoken about children. I don't know why I felt jealous when I had been in a relationship as well, but it was there all the same. We agreed to meet at a bar we used to frequent, and when I arrived she was already there, dressed up for a date even though she said she was looking for friends. Her face lit up as our eyes met for the first time in years and she still had that easy way of making the rest of the world fade into nothingness. She greeted me with open arms and a soft kiss on the cheek that she let linger. Our arms slipped around each other’s bodies and it was so easy to be transported back to that one dreamy, hedonistic summer. She'd already ordered the drinks.

“I hope you still have your usual,” she said. I did.

“So here we are, after all this time,” I said, feeling a little awkward. It was one thing to speak online but quite another to be face to face with her. Now that she was sitting before me I could compare her with the image I had of her in my mind. She still had the same refined beauty but her hair was a little darker and there were a couple of lines around her eyes that didn't used to be there. Her skin was darker too, and the warm climate of South America had obviously agreed with her.

“I know... it's really good to see you again. I'm glad you came across me, I was starting to wonder if there was actually any normal people on there.”

“I'm not sure I'd classify myself as normal,” I said with a smile.

“True, true, and you still haven't told me why you didn't message me?” she said, a challenging look in her eyes.

“I just felt weird, it had been so long and I didn't know if you'd want to hear from me...”

“Of course I do!” she said, and reached over the table, placing her hand on mine. Our eyes met and I could see something familiar swimming in hers. The gesture was natural, and all the years that lay between us evaporated as swiftly as the love between Lacey and me. My hand met hers and we squeezed our palms together, mending the bridge that had been broken between us.

“So I told you about mine, now it's your turn to tell me about the story with you and your ex,” she said sliding her hand away from mine and back to resting in front of her. I leaned back in my chair and looked at her, pressing my lips together. I hated how she could get me to talk about anything even when I didn't want to, and I knew that she wouldn't relent until I had told her everything, so there was only one thing to do – I told her all about Lacey and everything that happened.

Shannon listened without judgment or interruption, and as I spoke I tried to keep my voice even but things were still raw and the wounds had yet to heal properly. I could feel my voice cracking under the weight of emotion as everything came out, all the bitterness about the betrayal I had felt when I found the e-mails to Rebecca and then the emptiness where the love had been. After I had finished I felt drained, but I was glad she was there.

“You...need another drink,” she said, and ordered two more. It would have been easy for her to ask me more questions or give me some generic advice but that wasn't Shannon's style. She acknowledged what I said but kept the conversation moving so that I didn't have to dwell on the sadness. The drinks flowed as did the laughs and it was like the two of us were back on the bench, sitting together in the sunshine, laughing as we peeled away the layers of our psyche. The dim light of the bar cast us in a romantic ambiance and the more we drank the more we slipped into that easy familiarity of two people who had shared the same bed. We sat next to each other and our legs brushed together. Neither of us attempted to move. I looked at the way her hair fell down her face, covering one eye, and she smiled imperceptibly at me. Her glass was empty so she took mine, something she always used to do, and raised it to her lips, leaving a stain of lipstick against it. It was a way for her to mark her territory, a secret signal that we used to share. It felt like I had been transported through time and was back to that youthful time again. All my jadedness and cynicism had been stripped away, and the hurt that had ensconced my heart was rendered powerless, for nothing could withstand the force of Shannon.

“You know, I really missed you,” she said in a breathy whisper, bringing her mouth to my ear, so close that I could feel her breath. I closed my eyes and felt my chest heave as I inhaled sharply. Her fingers ran down my thigh and squeezed tightly. All of a sudden I felt my pussy twitch and I wanted her more than I wanted anything. I growled and locked eyes with her, and she wanted it too, I could see everything. We were naked with each other, completely vulnerable, hurt by our exes and the only way to tend to the wounds was to by re-discovering everything we had lost.