Free Her Secret Pleasure by Jordan Bell

got.”
    He smirked, then pulled away. “There. It’s only a scratch. Should heal up fine , but put some hydrogen peroxide on it when you get home.” He drew his fingers gently along the underside of my jaw and turned away as if embarrassed. I slid off the counter and straightened my paint splattered dress.
    Memories hung heavy between us, and not only of that terrible soccer game. We walked back to the station, empty now as if nothing had happened. The train pulled up less than a minute later and without asking or being asked, he got on the train with me and we shared a seat despite the empty car. I set my hand on the bench between us and he did too so that our fingers almost touched.
    I couldn’t help but think of the subway couple I’d seen the night before.
    His phone rang twice. He glanced at the screen, then silenced it and returned it to his pocket each time. Taylor, I wondered. Or Zach.
    Moments before the familiar sway of the train pulled into my station, he broke the tension between us by closing the distance and covering my hand with his. Our fingers intertwined, squeezed, but the touch was brief. As soon as the doors opened he let go and got out first with me close on his heels.
    We filed up onto the street side-by-side, his hands shoved into his pockets, mine holding my jacket tight against me.
    “This is a nice neighborhood,” he said without looking at me.
    “Thanks.”
    He cleared his throat. “Do you…do you live alone?”
    My heart knotted. “Just me and Molly.” He glanced at me and I thought…I don’t know. I thought I saw relief in his eyes.
    “Molly?”
    “My cat. When you get your degree in library science, they hand one out with your diploma. You get a cat, a pair of glasses, and a pencil skirt.”
    “Wow. Hot.” A grin lit up his beautiful face. The warm emotion was fleeting. “I was there, you know. At your graduation.”
    “What?” His admission did something to me I wasn’t expecting and it hurt. I staggered to a stop and he halted a few steps further and turned to me. My hand went to my neck and I didn’t know why, like I couldn’t take a deep enough breath. “No. Don’t tell me that, Sean. I don’t want to know that.”
    “Kara…” He tried to grab my hand to stop me from bolting again but I put up both palms against his chest to stop him. We were so close I could smell him, his shampoo, his cologne, the simmering raspberries on his fingertips. It was too much. It was all too much. “I wanted to be there. It seemed important at the time.”
    A black car screeched in front of my building, still a half block away, and the back door opened before the driver could get out. Marcus threw himself up my building’s stairs two and a time. I could hear him mashing the call button from here.
    “You have to go home, Sean.” I pushed him back from view of my apartment into the shadowy corner of the building. Confusion filled Sean’s eyes, but he back peddled beyond the street light. “You need to go now.”
    “Who is that?” he asked, but he knew. We were both fully aware of the inappropriate jealousy that hardened his voice. “Kara. Who is that man?”
    I only made it a few feet away from him before I stopped and reluctantly faced him one last time.
    “Thank you, Sean. For coming after me. Don’t do it again.”
    Before he could ask the questions I didn’t want to answer, I turned and ran for my apartment. Marcus shouted my name and met me halfway. He wasted no time in sweeping me up into his arms and holding me with all his strength and I needed it. I needed all the strength he had to offer if I was going to keep breathing.
    “Jesus, Kara, are you alright? Why haven’t you been answering my messages?” Marcus pulled back and grabbed my face in his hands, turned it so he could see the scrape. I winced when he pressed unknowingly against the bruise forming over my cheek.
    “I’m ok, Marcus. I’m ok. I’m so sorry. Let’s go to your place. Let’s go right