“Good night,” Jessica said turning to Scott on her right and giving him a kiss. She did the same for Josh. Riley was not in the mood to have to cajole her into kissing him goodnight, it would be more than he could stand on this night, but to his surprise he didn’t have to. “Good night,” she said, placing a kiss on his lips.
“Yeah,” was all he could reply.
Angus still stood by the bar, a new bottle of whiskey in hand. Without hesitation, Jessica walked across the living room, stood on her toes and planted a kiss on his lips. “Good night.”
“Night,” he replied. He wanted to say something positive about the work she’d done in the bathroom, but the words wouldn’t come out. Damn … she was already moving back to Jim. Oh well, it was probably better to drop the whole thing anyway. Wouldn’t want her to get the idea that it would be alright for her to use the saw again. Angus looked down at the bottle in his hand … thank God for booze.
Jim locked his bedroom door and turned to find Jessica bouncing up and down on his bed, a big smile plastered on her face.
“I get to cook!” she squealed, clapping her hands together.
“Are you insane!” Jim thundered climbing on the bed and grabbing Jessica by her arms.
“Are you mad at me?” Jessica asked in surprise.
“What was your first clue? The fact that I wanted to throttle you in the bathroom earlier?”
“You did?” Jessica asked. Christ, either she was the best actress alive, or she really didn’t have any idea what had nearly happened to her.
“Yes, I did. And so did all of the other men. Jessica, you crossed a really big line. This wasn’t like the gun incident … you were alone with Angus and as far as we could tell, you were about to saw the man in half! What the hell possessed you to do such a thing?”
Jim looked down at Jessica unable to even guess at what her answer would be.
“And,” he said, starting to get confused by the faint smile that grew on Jessica’s lips. Jim had once again come through for her. She was allowed to help now. She wanted nothing else but to kiss him right then. Her eyes searched his face, his eyes, and Jim began to feel lost. “Don’t you dare tell me you were trying to help … what the hell are you smiling at?”
“You … and I guess I didn’t really think much about it … I just did it.” Jessica’s smile was growing. Jim was bewildered.
“What is wrong with you?” he asked, “You can’t ‘just do’ things … stop smiling like that, you’re making me nervous!”
“Well, that’s too bad.” Jessica replied, “I guess that if I can’t ‘just do’ things, then I can’t just do this …” and she leaned in and kissed Jim. Her lips locked with his, and he felt a jolt of excitement when her tongue slipped into his mouth. They fell onto the bed. Jessica slid on top of him. Pleasure was growing between her legs and she wanted Jim so badly.
Jim’s mind went blank and his hands were all over her. They slid under her shirt, found her breasts. Jessica’s hand slid down and rubbed on the bulge in his pants.
“Christ!” Jim said, his brain registering what was happening. “Stop Jess … we have to stop.” He grabbed Jessica’s hand and pulled it away from his groin.
“No we don’t,” Jessica murmured and slid her other hand to his groin.
“Yes … yes we do!” Jim said grabbing her hand and pulling it away.
He rolled Jessica off of him and sat up.
“Jesus!” he swore as he tried to catch his breath, tried to get a grip on the urges he was feeling. When he finally felt controlled enough to look at Jessica she lay looking back at him. Her chest was heaving and from beneath her shirt he could see the outlines of her breasts … her breasts that had felt so good in his hands.
‘Get a grip!’ he thought as he shook his head.
“You don’t really want to stop,” Jessica said, taking his hand.
“Yes I do … “
“No,” she said shaking her head. “You still have that look on your face.”
“What look?” Jim asked.
“The same look the others get, just before we … you know.”
“Okay,” Jim nodded, “part of me doesn’t want to stop. But we have to, for now.”
Jessica sat up beside Jim.
“If you don’t really want to stop, why are we?” Jessica asked.
“Because, I’m mad and I don’t want to do this while I’m mad.”
“That seems to be the only time Angus likes to do it,” Jessica replied.
Jim exhaled. He was happier not knowing some of these details.
“What can I do to make you stop being mad at me?” she asked.
“I need to know why you did what you did. Is this all part of some plan to escape?”
Jessica looked down at her hands. She shrugged. “I don’t think so.” She replied.
“Oh, that’s wonderful!” Jim said, getting of the bed and pacing, “You don’t think so … just what I wanted to hear!”
“What do you want to hear?” Jessica asked. She was still turned on and really wished they could continue with what they’d started. She hadn’t realized before just how much she wanted Jim, in that way.
“The truth would be nice!” Jim yelled.
“I told you the truth.” Jessica said, “I was just doing what you told me to. Angus needed help, I helped him.”
Jim looked at Jessica. “So there was no angle in this that would help you escape?” he asked.
“I can’t think of one,” Jessica replied.
“That’s not a resounding ‘no’ Jessica,” Jim replied feeling disappointed.
“How can I say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ ? When I helped Angus it was for no other reason than to, surprise, surprise, help him. I honestly hadn’t given it much thought either way. But, if it would make you feel better, I could come up with something right now!”
“Alright Jess, I get the point,” Jim said as Jessica’s voice grew louder. She was getting angry and God, the last thing he wanted was for her to start planning something she may not have previously thought about.
“Do you? You told me to not think, but to act. Well, that’s what I did!”
“Okay … okay,” Jim said getting back on the bed with Jessica. “Sorry,” he said in a soothing tone. He rubbed her arms.
Jessica was smoldering. She had successfully enacted her plan up until this point. Had managed to clear her mind, had even gone so far as to forget about her family, and here was Jim … the one with the bright idea to begin with, making her remember.
“You’re ticked,” Jim said surprised by the scowl on her face.
Thankfully it wasn’t the same look she’d had when she’d hated him and the others. She was angry alright, but in a different way.
“Yes.” She replied and pulled away from him. “Are we done now? I’d like to go to sleep.”
“It’s only eight o’clock, Jess. We haven’t even had supper …”
“I’m not hungry.”
Jim was about to argue when the feel of Jessica against him, her tongue in his mouth, came back to him full force.
“I’m an idiot!” Jim said. There was no doubt about it. Jessica had been kissing him. It had been her choice, he hadn’t forced anything on her. And then like a moron he’d stopped her. Because he’d been mad? Crazy more like it. And now she was mad at him. She sat, leaning against the headboard of the bed, arms folded. And she wouldn’t look at him.
“Jess. I’m sorry.”
Jessica responded with a “Hmmph” and continued being angry.
“You know. You and I have a certain relationship.” Jim paused. He wasn’t sure what to say or how to say it. He really hadn’t thought about the logistics of sex with Jessica. He’d had a relationship or two in the past but sex was never a big part of it. And given the circumstances with Jessica he had never really followed the train of thought to its full conclusion. Except for recent events with Scott and the magazines sex had been nothing more than an distant dream. He’d gotten her attention though, she sat looking at him expectantly.
“I’ve always thought of you as a friend Jessica. I never thought much about us having sex.”
“That’s funny,” Jessica said but didn’t really look like she planned on laughing. She didn’t say anything more though. She just kept looking at him.
“How’s that funny?” Jim asked when he finally realized she wouldn’t continue.
“We are friends Jimmy. You’re my best friend. I’d go so far as to say my only friend, but Josh and Scott have done some friend like stuff so I guess that wouldn’t be entirely fair.”
“That’s what’s funny?”
“No. What’s funny is that you’re the only one I wouldn’t have minded having sex with. Ha, ha …” she said when Jim didn’t react. “Can I ask you something?”
“Of course …”
“Who is Pam?”
“Pam?” Jim asked, stunned.
“You dream about her Jimmy. A lot. Did she die? Did you love her a lot?”
“Yes. To both questions.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Thanks.”
“Had you been together for a long time?”
“No … oh, no Jessica, she wasn’t my girlfriend. She was my sister.”
“Oh … sorry.” A flurry of emotions played across Jessica’s face. The final one looked particularly pained. Jim was afraid that she was thinking about her family.
“She was troubled Jessica,” Jim said, not sure whether continuing the conversation would help or hurt.
“Did it have something to do with my family? Is that why you killed them?” Jessica asked. She was looking straight at Jim, straight in the eye. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out how the topic of sex got them to a conversation about her family. He was unprepared. Other than the accusations that she hurled at him and the other men, Jessica had never spoken of her family to him. Suddenly he was scared. What did this mean?
“No. Something just came over her one day Jessica. Out of the blue, she just wasn’t happy anymore. I don’t know what to say about your family. There are a million reasons for what we did … and there are none. I’m sorry that I can’t say anything more comforting than that. And I’m sorry I can’t bring them back, undo everything. As much as I’d hate having never met you … I’d give it up to see you happy again.”
“Thanks,” Jessica said.
Jim didn’t know what to say or do now. Jessica wasn’t crying, and she seemed reflective more than sad. He had the sudden realization that things could go backwards from here.
“To be honest Jessica I’m not sure how we ended up in this conversation. I hope you’re okay … that everything’s okay.”
Jessica nodded.
“I guess I thought that maybe you still loved Pam … if she’d been your girlfriend. And that maybe you didn’t want to have sex because of that.”
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