Payback

I watch his lips in anticipation. I want them on my body again. I remember what sex with Jett was like, perfect in every sense of the word. His strong, muscular body cradling mine, our flesh burning up the sheets.

He gets the key and leads me into the room. There's a dark navy bedspread, and he pulls the blinds closed, even though it's dark outside and no one could see us if they wanted to. As soon as he turns around, he reaches for me, tugging my shirt off above my head and throwing it to the side. I can barely breathe, it’s all so immediate and fast. He leans down, his lips brushing the top of my breasts, which are spilling out over my bra.

Pushing me back, he forces me onto the bed. He's tearing at my bra, pulling it down and exposing my nipples—they’re already hard. He flicks one with his tongue while he uses his hands to remove his camo. It feels so good, like the release I’ve needed ever since he left. As he throws his jacket to the side, all that he has underneath is a tight green tank top. I can see his rippling muscles in his arms as he reaches out and unbuttons my jeans, yanking them down onto the floor.

"I missed those tits," he says in a gravelly voice. "I've been dreaming about them ever since I left." He kisses the insides of my thighs and moves up to my underwear. He latches his teeth around the top and uses his hands underneath my ass to pull them down. I’m naked already. Exposed to him again. I can fell the bedspread on my skin—it’s scratchy as I move beneath him. He removes his tank top and my eyes roll back as his kisses turn into him licking my clit. It's pure ecstasy.

I toss my head back just as he slips in a finger. I'm moaning so loud I wonder if the people in the next room can hear me. I put my hand on his head, rubbing back and forth on the crewcut softness. Just as I'm about to come, the release I’ve been waiting for, he removes his fingers and stops pumping. He lifts his hand up and shoves them in my mouth, and I know that I'm sucking on my own juices. I don’t even try to resist. I don’t want to.

He removes his fingers and sticks them in his own mouth, sucking off my saliva before removing his boots and his pants. He has on

tight boxer briefs and I can see that his cock is already hard and ready for me. I move back to the edge of the bed and spread my legs as I remove its fabric cage. I slide his cock in my mouth and wrap my tongue around it while I pull his boxers all the way down. But as he steps out of them, he gives me instructions. I don't dare not follow them. "Turn around, I want to see that ass."

I move my body on the bed so that my knees are at the edge and spread my legs. He sticks his cock in and pulls my arm back behind me, pushing himself inch by inch until I'm totally filled. He’s so much stronger than he was before, more confident and determined. He wraps his thick hands around my waist and pulls me back into him, slamming his cock into me again and again. Occasionally, he reaches down and flicks one of my nipples, but he's focused on his own pleasure, and I'm focused on serving him. I’m breathing so heavily I wonder if I'm getting any oxygen. I'm so close to the edge. So. Close.

Suddenly, he pulls out and flops down next to me. "Get on." I swing my leg over his strong body. I keep my right leg at an angle as I lower myself down onto him. With each bounce, he hits my G-spot again and again. I look down into his beautiful hazel eyes and promise myself I'll never forget them. If he never comes back from the war, this will be my last memory of us. And I'll make it perfect. I moan louder and louder as my breasts bounce, and I reach down to touch myself. His hands are wrapped around my waist and he lifts me up and down. His grunts grow louder and I know we’re both close. I rub my clit harder and harder until I feel the waves of the orgasm start to crash over me. He fills me with his seed, the warm come filling me completely.

I collapse down on top of him and he rubs my back softly.

"This was everything I needed. Everything I could've asked for," he says, looking into my eyes. "I hope next time I'm in town we can do this again, Cami, otherwise I don't know what I have to look forward to."

I lay a kiss on his lips, but I don't respond. I'm not telling him I'm leaving, not like this. Maybe not ever. One final night with Jett—I'm not going to ruin it for either of us.

5

Cami

Months pass in Memphis, and things continue to progress between Ty and me. He’s loving at first, kind and sweet, and helps me navigate my way through Memphis. But his job isn’t as good as he thought it would be. He was supposed to be a foreman, running construction jobs, or at least that’s what he tells me. But as a recent high school grad? I don’t buy it. It doesn’t surprise me when he starts getting laid off regularly. I waitress at a local diner and I’m taking night classes but things are harder than I thought they would be.

But I don’t miss home. Never. I try not to even think about it.

Our friendship has quickly progressed into something more, just as Ty wanted. Sometimes I think it’s because here, we only have each other. It’s not deep, or whole. It’s just on the surface, and I know it. It’s nothing like it was with Jett. I still write him occasionally, but he doesn’t write back. I can’t blame him. I’ve mentioned Ty in the letters, and I know that he understands that I’ve moved on. Even if our relationship is superficial at best.

But once Ty’s job really starts to fall apart, so does he. He spends most of his evenings out drinking with guys that he’s met on the job, who are also disillusioned with their employer. He comes home ranting and raving about how he can find something better, how we can be better. I don’t know what to do. I feel like I’ve walked out of one messy life into another one. One that’s just as easily falling apart. But somewhere, there’s a glimmer of hope. I’ve made friends in Memphis. People who really care about me. And I’m not about to let those friendships fall apart while Ty is having his issues.

“So what’s your plan this weekend?” Maia says as she walks into the room with a hot cup of tea.

“I don’t really know,” I say, taking the mug from her. “I think Ty is working most of the weekend? I’m not really sure. We haven’t really spoken very much this week.”

“You live together, don’t you? He’s your boyfriend or whatever.”

“Kind of. We do live together, and we sleep together, which is probably not the best idea, but I don’t know that I would call him my boyfriend. Especially lately. I just feel like he’s so wrapped up in himself. What about you? Seeing anyone?”

Maia sits down next to me. “No. I’m tired of the scene around here. Besides, the last guy I slept with almost got me pregnant.”

I practically spit my tea out on her as I’m laughing. “Almost got you pregnant? How does that work?”

“We used a condom, but it broke because he was… well endowed, shall we say. And I can’t take a risk like that again. I’m a single girl living a single girl life. I don’t have any time for a kid right now.”

I take another sip of my hot tea. “Yeah, me neither.” I lick my lips for a moment as the conversation pauses. I’m not ready for children, and Ty and I are barely a couple. I feel like we could be more, but with his job and his lack of restraint with the booze, I’m wondering if he’s not the guys for me. Sometimes he makes me feel safe. And sometimes he scares the hell out of me. As I think about the past couple times that we slipped into each other’s beds, I realize that something about the math doesn’t add up. I’m late.

“Maia, how did you know you weren’t pregnant?”

She shrugs. “I took a test, why?”

I set my tea down on her coffee table. “Do you have any of those tests left?”

Her eyes bug out of her head. “Cami, you can’t be serious.”