Cat Snips - a Short Story Collection by Cat Johnson (10 page)

Meg stifled a groan. She hated he
knew her so well.

“
Jealous? Me? No. I’m
not jealous.”

“
Meg…”

Meg let out a huge sigh. “Yes.
Okay. I’m jealous as hell. When I called you last Saturday and
you said you had plans already…” She let the sentence
trail off, unable, no more unwilling, to tell him how devastated she
felt.
“And
if it was only jealousy, I could probably handle it, but I’m
afraid it’s more.”

Jeff was suddenly out of his seat
and standing beside her, pulling her up out of her chair so she could
look him eye to eye. “How much more?”

She forced herself to look into
his eyes. “I think I like you.”

His laugh sounded a tad bit
bitter. “I should hope so. We’ve been friends since
eighth grade.”

“
I mean I like-like you.”
She blushed.

Jeff let out a short laugh. “Now
I feel like we’re back in eighth grade.”

Meg smacked him in the arm for
that comment.

Capturing both of her hands in
his, Jeff asked, “Do you want to know something?”

“
What?” She pouted,
not sure she did want to know.

“
You have no need to be
jealous.”

“
No?”

“
No. My plans last week
were tickets to a game with the guys from work.”

She felt ridiculously relieved.

“
Wanna know something
else?”

Meg looked into his eyes
hopefully. “What?”

“
The nurse called me
earlier today. She saw my buddy at the bar after work last night and
he gave her my number.”

Suddenly Meg was on an emotional
roller coaster with no exit in sight. She felt acid fill the pit of
her stomach. This was why she didn’t date. She remembered now.
It sucked.

“
What did she want?”
Meg could barely hear past the rush of blood in her ears.

“
To see me tonight.”

She swallowed past the lump in
her throat. So Nurse Naughty called after he had already said yes to
dinner with her and he felt he couldn’t get out of it. Great.
He would probably rather be with the slutty nurse tonight.
This was horrible. She
could barely breathe.

Afraid she might cry, Meg managed
to choke out, “What did you tell her?”

“
That I was already
involved with someone and that sleeping with her that one time had
been a mistake.”

That one time.
He hadn’t slept with her again. Relief flooded her entire body.
She could barely whisper, “You did?”

“
Yeah, but that wasn’t
totally true.”

Of course it wasn’t true.
Jeff wasn’t involved with her. Meg herself had made up that
stupid rule that they wouldn’t get “involved”. They
would be just friends with benefits who would have sex with no
involvement. She dropped her gaze from his. “I guess you’re
right. It’s not true.”

“
It’s not true
because sleeping with her wasn’t totally a mistake.”
Meg’s head whipped up as he continued, “Because it wasn’t
until I was with her that you decided you
like-liked
me.” Jeff paused, smiled and ran his hands up Meg’s arms.
He cupped her face with one palm before he went on. “And it
wasn’t until I was with her that I realized I never wanted to
be with anyone else except you.”

“
Really?”

“
Really.” He smiled
wider.

As she felt her heart begin to
pound, Jeff leaned in, touching his lips to hers. He kissed her
deeply until her knees felt weak and she finally had to pull away to
catch her breath…and confess one more thing. She couldn’t
keep this to herself any longer. “Jeff?”

“
Yes, Meg.”

She hesitated. “I think I
might more than like-like you.”

He grinned. “That’s
okay, sweetie. I more than like-like you too. I think I have for
awhile now.”

So much for Vicki’s theory
about men.

Meg broke into a huge satisfied
smile. “I’m really glad that you do.”

“
Me too, Meg. Me too. Oh
and you better stock up on batteries for Bunny. And we’ll buy
some lube too. I think we’re gonna need both. Now that we’re
officially exclusively dating, I plan on being here a lot more
often.”

Meg felt her entire body warm.
She certainly hoped so.

The End

The Soldier and the Siren

The transport touched down with a
bump and a squeak of rubber against tarmac. This was it. He was home.
Stateside once more, but for perhaps the first time in his
decade-long career in the Army, David couldn't have cared less.

What did it matter whether he was
in Afghanistan getting shot at or home? She had pierced his heart
completely. As accurately as if she'd been wielding a sniper's
weapon, and all from thousands of miles away. He felt the outline of
the folded letter in the pocket of his cammies. A five-year
relationship, ended by one piece of paper and four heart wrenching
words. "I've met someone else."

Maybe the Army should hire Jan.
She could take out half the Taliban and probably Osama too by
breaking them so completely they'd wish they were dead.

The door swung wide and the
smells of the airfield rushed inside the cabin as the members of his
platoon sprang into movement around him. They gathered possessions
and lined up in the aisle, brushing past his elbow and jostling for
position, all anxious to push toward the exit. David remained seated.
What was the hurry?

"Sergeant?"

He looked up at the word and
realized that though he had no desire to get off this flight, the guy
sitting next to him trapped in the window seat did.

"Sorry." David stood.
He couldn't hide on the plane forever.

Before descending the metal
stairs, he glanced at the waiting family members, some holding
banners, others waving flags. Women. Children. His treacherous eyes
scanned the faces. Who the hell was he looking for? She wouldn't be
there. So why was his pulse pounding?

Stupid.

Gaze firmly lowered, he planted
his well-worn combat boots on the steps. Once on the ground, he made
a beeline to the pile of bags. He pawed through a few, all identical
except for the names, until he found his. He hefted the heavy weight
onto his shoulder and walked quickly past the happy, tearful
reunions.

Wives and girlfriends leapt into
loved ones’ arms. Children called out "Daddy".

Stoically keeping his attention
downward David didn't look up again until he'd reached the sidewalk
where he'd have to find a payphone to call a taxi. He'd turned his
cell phone account off for the deployment. He'd be happy to have it
back on again but that would have to wait until tomorrow. Right now,
he needed a cab, a shower and his bed. Food would probably have to be
in there somewhere as well, not that he had an appetite.

Grabbing the receiver, David
pushed the buttons for information. He didn't know the number or even
the name of the local taxi company. He'd always had someone waiting
for him. Boy, how things changed.

Absently, he glanced at an ad
plastered next to the phone for the local radio station. It featured
a picture of a smiling female. He was still waiting for the operator
to come on the line when a minivan pulled up.

"Sergeant! You need a ride?"
One of his guys, smiling wide and face covered in lipstick, yelled
out the open passenger window.

"Nah, I'm good. I can just
call a cab."

The door swung open and the
younger soldier jumped out. "No need. You're on our way. Really,
it's no problem at all."

Before he could protest his bag
was thrown in the trunk and David was stashed in the back between two
car seats filled with tiny clones of his team leader. David had
planned on having kids himself one day. When the hell would he get
around to that? Thank God he hadn't had them with Jan.

As the van pulled up to the
bachelor housing on base, he sent up another thanks that he'd never
moved in with her either. He sighed and directed his attention to
saying the proper thanks to the happy family of four who served as
the painful reminder of what he didn't have.

Just a couple of hours later, he
felt like a new man. Or at least a less broken one. A nice hot shower
could solve a number of ills. So could a good cold beer, or six. He
shoved the half eaten pizza, still in its box, onto the bare shelf of
the fridge. That was one benefit of having no food at his place.
There was plenty of room. While he was in the fridge, he grabbed the
last beer out of the cardboard six-pack holder on the shelf above.

Maybe after this he'd be able to
sleep. Though the quiet was starting to get to him. After being
surrounded by his guys twenty-four hours a day for six months, being
totally alone was disconcerting.

David switched on the radio next
to his bed and scrolled through the stations. He landed on a talk
show. The woman's voice was soothing. Sultry and warm. He left that
on. In nothing but his PT shorts, he lay down on top of the smooth
bedspread and closed his eyes, willing peace to come.

“
Another?” The
bartender, rag in hand, paused in his wiping of the bar top directly
in front of David.

“
Yeah, sure. Thanks.”
He pushed his empty bottle closer to the man and reached to grab
another peanut out of the bowl to his right.

“
Mind if I steal a few of
those?”

The voice stopped David’s
hand in mid motion, its tenor so familiar he would know it anywhere.
It was the voice from the radio. The one that had lulled him to sleep
last night as surely as a lullaby.

Almost fearful to look and find
the exterior package didn’t match the image he’d conjured
in his mind while listening to her, he turned his head in her
direction. “Help yourself.”

Relief flooded him. He needn’t
have worried. She was all he’d imagined and more.

Chestnut hair pulled into a messy
knot at the back of her head begged his hands to pull it down so he
could feel it against his skin. Her smile, as warm as her voice, was
punctuated with dimples on either side.

No, she wasn’t perfection.
The crinkles that appeared in the corners of her eyes when she smiled
would probably be airbrushed out of a picture if she were a model,
but he liked them. They made her more real.

“
Thanks.” She popped
a few nuts into her mouth while continuing to size him up. “I
haven’t seen you around here before.”

David felt his pulse speed. He
may have been out of the dating world for a few years, and out of the
country for a few months, but he knew the look of a woman who was
interested.

Swallowing hard, he tried to play
it cool. Meanwhile, between that sultry voice and the way she kept
looking at him, he was so aroused he could happily take her right
there on top of the bar.

“
I’ve been away.”
The bartender plunked his beer down. David said thanks and glanced in
her direction. “Drink?”

“
I’ll just have a sip
of yours.” The woman reached right out, brazen as anything, and
grabbed the longneck. She pressed it to her lips. After a long
swallow that had him imagining all sorts of things, she licked her
lips and handed the bottle back to him. “Mmm. Nice. Thanks.”

He drew in a deep breath and
angled his body toward the bar so she wouldn’t see the growing
bulge in his jeans. “No problem.”

Taking a sip himself, he debated
his next move. Not that he was in charge here. She was clearly in the
driver’s seat.

“
So, you live around here?”
Her words drew his gaze to her mouth. He seemed unable to tear his
attention away from her when she spoke.

“
Not far.” He also
seemed unable to form sentences of more than a few words. David
brought the bottle back to his lips and took another swig.

“
What do you say we finish
that baby up and head to your place? I’m dying to get out of
these heels.”

After that statement, swallowing
the beer in his mouth without choking took some doing. The expression
on her face clearly said the shoes weren’t the only things she
wanted to take off.

He nodded. “Sounds good.”

She plucked the beer from his
hand and downed a large swallow, nearly emptying the bottle. “Good.
Let’s go.”

He struggled to pull a few bills
out of his wallet, threw them on the bar and rushed after her as she
waited by the door.

She didn’t say another
word, and neither did he, until he’d closed the door of his
room behind them. Then her beer-scented lips were pressed against
his. He’d been six months in Afghanistan without beer or women.
Tonight he had both and he wasn’t going to let them go to
waste.

When she hopped up and wrapped
her legs around him, he carried her across the room. They tumbled
together on top of the unmade bed. Amid the already messy covers,
they pawed at each other’s clothes until nothing remained
between them. As he braced above her, she pulled his hips forward and
plunged him effortlessly into her warmth.