Free Love, Lust, and Other Mistakes by Eliza Lentzski

should go check on her,” I explain. “Don’t want her to get ambushed or something.”
    Murphy gives me one of his puppy-dog grins. “I’ll watch your drink for you,” he offers.
    “Thanks,” I curtly thank him.  I’m not really worried about date rape drugs getting slipped into my Jack and diet, but he’s a nice guy to watch out for me.
    I hastily grab my leather jacket and feel for the standard issue firearm tucked into the inner lining as I make my way toward the back exit.  Although the northern California weather isn’t cold enough to warrant a coat, it would create unnecessary chaos if I storm through the club waving around a gun.
    I push out the rear metal doors and I’m greeted with a shock of cooler air.  Since we’d arrived at the neighborhood bar after work, the evening had begun to cool down.  I hesitate in the alley, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the twilight.  To my right is a large, green dumpster.  To my left, a pile of broken down boxes resting against the building.
    I ta ke a few careful steps deeper into the alley. “Madison?” I call out.
    Next to me, the dumpster suddenly moves.  Its wheels crunch against small stones on the pavement.  And before I could react, I find myself slammed against the exterior wall of the club. Strong hands push against my rib cage, forcing the air out of my lungs as my back smashes against the rough brick. I drop my jacket and mentally curse when I hear my gun dislodged from its hiding place and clatter noisily on the black pavement. I close my eyes and instinctively tensed my body, readying myself for the second impact.
    “What took you so long?” co mes a mirthful, feminine voice.
    I crack an eye open to see my partner standing before me.
    “Huh?  What’s going on?” I ask, confused. “Becca said you’d seen a drug deal going down.” I crane my neck, looking for signs of a struggle.
    A small, mischievous smile creeps onto her curved mouth. “No criminal activity out here,” she reveals.  She grabs onto the front fabric of my thin tank top and her nails scratch against my abdomen. “Although what we do to each other might still be illegal in some states.”
    I suck in a sharp breath. “Y-you lied to our friends,” I state incredulously.
    “I wanted to get you alone,” she says, nuzzling her nose into the crook of my neck, “and I knew you’d come out here if you thought you were missing out on a bust.”
    My blood races faster in my veins. “We can’t…we can’t keep doing this.”
    She lets go of my shirt and frowns. “Why not? Don’t you like it?”
    “Of course I like it,” I admit.  “In fact, the word ‘duh’ comes to mind.”
    She gives me her best pouty face, which is admittedly hard to resist. “Then what’s the problem?”
    “Doesn’t this,” I say, indicating our dark and dank surroundings, “make you feel a little cheap?”
    She presses herself against me once again. “No,” she breathes into my ear . “But it does make me hot.”  She grabs my hand and guides it down the front of my jeans. “Feel how hot it makes me.”
    Despite the distracting shudder she pulls from me, my body goes into autopilot. My fingers instinctively creep beneath her waistband, and I press my fingers into her cotton-covered sex.  I can feel the soft nub poking between two pouting lips.  But when I press harder against her, I feel Maddie’s hand wrap around my wrist.
    I look into hazel-green eyes. “Change your mind?” I ask, half afraid of the answer.
    I can’t remember when or how she and I started to become so intimate. It didn’t surprise me that I could enjoy having sex with a girl – to me sex is as natural as breathing.  What had surprised me, however, was Madison’s eagerness to participate and her seeming insatiableness once the initial shock had worn off.
    We don’t have too many opportunities like this – she and I alone.  At work, we’re part of a tight-knit team and even outside of work there