Cat Snips - a Short Story Collection by Cat Johnson (7 page)

His eyebrows shot all the way up
to meet the straight hair messily covering his forehead. He looked at
her strangely for a second, as though he was surprised she’d
want a bit of romance from him. “Oh really? I can do romantic
if you suddenly want wooing, but you have to call before midnight. At
this hour, what you see is what you get. Now are you coming to bed or
not?”

With a soft humph, she followed
him and his trail of discarded clothing into the bedroom. Meg was
just in time to get the view of his very tight and, as she knew from
hands-on experience, very squeezable white ass as his sweats followed
the t-shirt he’d already thrown on the floor and he crawled
into her bed. Parts in her lower anatomy clenched in anticipation of
what was to come.

She had to give him credit, what
Jeff lacked in the fashion department he made up for in what lie
underneath. Hmm. Were his shoulders wider and his waist narrower than
before? “You been working out a lot lately?” she asked.

He grinned like a schoolboy.
“Yeah. Can you tell?”

Typical man. She nodded and
smiled at the way he was so pleased she’d noticed. “You
look good.”

Meg pulled down the covers and
crawled next to him.

No, this was not the perfect
arrangement she reminded herself while slipping off her bottoms, but
it sure had its benefits. She adjusted the pillows the way she liked
them for sex and spread her legs for Jeff as he nestled himself
between them, already erect and ready like she knew he’d be.
Good old Jeff.

“
Shit. Hold on.”
Looking slightly ashamed, he rolled to the edge of the bed, grabbed
for his sweatpants and pulled a foil packet out of the pocket.

Meg frowned. “What are you
doing?”

One of the good things about
being with Jeff was they didn’t need to use condoms. They had
both been tested right after they started this arrangement and she
was on the pill. Of course, they both agreed that if at any time
either one of them were with someone else they would…

Meg’s sucked in a breath
with a loud, painful wheeze. “You’ve been with someone
else.”

At least he had the decency to
look contrite, almost horrified actually, as he nodded.

She was beyond shocked. “When?”

“
Last Friday night.”
Obviously anticipating this wasn’t going to be a short
conversation, Jeff threw the unopened foil package on the nightstand
and leaned back against the headboard, hands clasped remorsefully in
his naked and rapidly deflating lap.

“
While I was visiting my
parents in Florida?”

“
Yes. I was out drinking
with some of the guys from work and this chick at the bar was giving
me the eye. I didn’t even notice at first. The other guys did
and invited her over. She’d obviously had too much to drink.”
He shrugged. “I didn’t intend for anything to happen, but
she was too drunk to drive and she lives on my way home. I ended up
driving her home.”

Jeff didn’t elaborate about
what happened when they arrived at her place. He didn’t have
to. Meg felt ill. She must have looked ill too, because Jeff jumped
to defend himself. “Hey, we agreed we’re not exclusive.
Remember? We’re fuck
buddies, Meg. Rule number one clearly states that it’s okay if
either of us hooks up elsewhere as long as we wear protection. And
you were gone for two whole weeks and didn’t even call me once
to say you’d gotten there alive and your plane didn’t
crash or something. How was I to know you weren’t with some
southern boy down there?”

“
Well, I wasn’t,”
Meg spat. In fact, she hadn’t even considered it.

“
Well, I didn’t know
that.”

She let out an unattractive
sound. “Yeah, like that would have stopped you.”

Jeff’s mumbled something
that sounded like, “It might have.”

“
What?”

“
Nothing. Look, I’m
here now, aren’t I? This doesn’t have to affect you and
me at all. We’re still friends who scratch each other’s
itch once in a while, just like we agreed months ago. Right?”

Did that sound sarcastic? Bitter,
maybe? And what right did he have to be either? He was the one having
sex with someone else. Meg folded her arms across her chest
defensively. Yeah, that itch thing had sounded good when they’d
come up with it. So had Rule Number One. Neither was sounding so good
anymore.

Meg remembered the night vividly,
the beginning of the “friends with benefits” agreement.
She’d rented a DVD. A chick flick that Jeff had grudgingly
agreed to watch with her since he’d had no other plans for the
night.

It turned out the movie had some
pretty hot and heavy love scenes in it, leaving Jeff with a hard-on
he tried to hide with the throw pillow and leaving Meg wet and
wanting.

It was that night the “two
friends scratching an itch” theory had been born. No strings.
Still friends. Still single and available, but they fucked each other
when the need arose. Yeah, it had seemed like a really good idea
then.

Not so hot right now though,
since she’d always thought she’d be the one to find
someone else first. Maybe even fall in love and then she would end
this side thing with Jeff, while still keeping his friendship, of
course. She’d probably even have him be part of her wedding
party when the time came. The best of both worlds, sex and
friendship. But to have him beat her to it...

Meg swallowed the lump suddenly
in her throat. “Are you going to see her again?”

He shrugged casually.
How
the hell could he be casual about this?
“I have her number. Maybe. I don’t know. Why? I thought
you wanted—”

“
I know what you thought,”
Meg bit out.

“
And?”

“
And I don’t know.”
Meg had a bad feeling she was pouting.

Jeff crossed his own arms. “They
are your rules, Meg. You made them. You have to live by them too,
just like I do.”

The bastard had her there. But
dammit, this was no time to be logical. She screwed her mouth up
unhappily. “I know.”

Jeff let out a loud breath. “So
does this mean I came all the way over here, after being woken up out
of a dead sleep, so I can get bitched at and
not
have sex?”

She considered the nauseous
feeling in her belly and the strange tightness in her chest. She was
totally not in the mood anymore. “Yup, that’s what it
means.”

He spun to face the opposite wall
and yanked the covers over his shoulder. “Fine. But I’m
not going back out in the cold. If you can’t stand to be in the
same bed with me, you can sleep on the couch since you’re the
one that initiated this tonight and then started changing the rules.”

“
Yeah, well…fine.”
The sick feeling in the pit of her stomach intensified as she thought
how the rules sucked.

She’d be damned before she
gave up her own bed to him. He would just have to deal with her being
in it and mad, right next to him. She pulled her pants back on and
flicked off the light switch.

Slumping back against the pillow
she crossed her arms in the darkness with defiance and held on
tightly to her anger which only meant that even an hour later sleep
still wouldn’t come even though Jeff had been peacefully
snoring since his head hit the pillow. Men.

Her head spun with visions of him
being with someone else. It made her never want to sleep with him
again, but at the same time, had her fearing that exact thing.

Meg flopped over one more time,
as violently and noisily as she could while cushioned by flannel and
goose down. This time, the snoring stopped and she felt him roll
toward her.

“
What’s wrong?”
His voice sounded husky and sleepy.

“
I can’t sleep.”
Swallowing her pride, the fear of losing him completely made her add,
“and I’m sorry.”

He reached out one arm and pulled
her until her back nestled against his chest. “I’ll
forgive you.”

Staring into the darkness lit
only by the nightlight in the hall, Meg let out a huff. “But
honestly, Jeff. Are you telling me if we can’t fuck because I
am out of town, you’re going to go out and pick up the first,
possibly disease-ridden chick you find in a bar and take her home?”

She sat up and flipped on the
bedside light, flopping back hard and staring at him accusingly.

He sighed. “I doubt she’s
disease-ridden. She’s a nurse. And I thought you were sorry, so
why are you still bitching?”

What could Meg say to that?
Because I never thought
you would find someone else before I did.
That sounded about as bitchy as you could get and she hated to prove
him right. Instead, she bit her cheek and remained silent.

He pulled her back against him
again.

“
Mmm. Bitchy or not, I want
you.” Jeff pressed his erection against her hip and she felt
exactly how true his statement was. “Wanna play?”

She didn’t object as he
began to kiss her neck and then slid one hand into the pants of her
pajamas. He snaked his finger between her clenched thighs, found and
connected with her clit and she couldn’t lie to herself
anymore. Hurt, angry, jealous but still when he touched her there,
yes, she wanted to play. She just didn’t want to admit it.

He chuckled. “Ah, the
silent treatment. That’s okay. Your pussy has told me
everything I need to know.”

Meg’s mouth screwed up in
distaste. “I hate when you use that word.”

“
I know. That’s why I
use it. What word would you prefer? Cunt?” She heard the
laughter in his voice.

“
No.” Definitely not.

“
Vagina, then?”

Eeewww.
She shook her head. “Too clinical.” And something a nurse
might say.

“
Well, you think about it
and let me know, but for your information, your female part that
shall not be named is very, very wet.”

“
Yeah? Well that has
nothing to do with you. I was reading a trashy novel before you got
here.”

“
Ah ha. Finally, the real
reason for the midnight booty call is revealed.” He nuzzled her
neck, nipping gently with his teeth, driving her crazy as he slid two
fingers inside the body part in question.

Her head lolled to one side as
she managed to grumble through the pleasure, “Fine, next time I
won’t call you. I’ll take care of myself.”

“
Mmm. I like the thought of
you pleasuring yourself. Where are those toys of yours anyway?”

“
Why?” she asked
suspiciously. After six months of their being together sans
electronic devices, now he suddenly wondered where they were? “Did
your little sleazy barfly nurse have toys?”

“
Meg…” His
voice held a warning while his hand stopped its blissful
ministrations and began to pull away.

She grabbed his wrist to keep him
there. “Wait. I’m sorry.”

“
I’ll consider
letting it slide this time if you break out your vibrator.” He
waggled his eyebrows playfully. He sat up and with both hands pulled
off the pajama bottoms she’d put back on after their earlier
fight.

She couldn’t figure out why
he would be interested in her vibrator, but at the moment, in spite
of her mad, she was too horny to care. She rolled toward the bedside
table, slid open the drawer and pulled out the requested item. Her
favorite big girl toy of them all, the pink Rabbit vibrator, which
she had nicknamed Bunny.

“
As seen on
Sex
and the City,”
the package had read. She figured if it was good enough for those
girls, it was good enough for her and she hadn’t been
disappointed. In the pleasure department, to date it had proved to be
the best thing without a pulse a girl could get between her thighs.

Jeff smiled at the sight and
reached for the nightstand to grab the condom again. Her anger
returned at the visual reminder of what he’d done last Friday
night.

Turning back to her, he took one
look at her face and demanded, “Stop. I’m sorry I did it
and I will get tested again as soon as possible. But for now, we’re
stuck using a condom. Okay?”

Sometimes it was a curse he knew
her so well. Even if she wanted to hide what she was feeling, she
couldn’t.
He
could read it all over her face. She’d learned never to play
poker against him.

“
Did you at least use a
condom with the
nurse
?”
The last word came out sounding like a curse.

“
Yes.”

“
Do you carry them around
with you at all times in case you get lucky?” That came out
sounding pretty nasty also, but the thought he might be out looking
for sex with others made her sick.

He sighed deeply. “No, I
don’t. She had them at her place.”

“
Figures,” Meg
grumbled.

He let out a short laugh. “What
do you have against nurses anyway?”

She hated being laughed at when
she was mad. It made her even angrier. “Nothing.”