Walking into Fire

He shook his head to clear it. "I knew that they were using me. It's just that I didn't want to believe it at the time, and, when I figured it all out, it was too late to do anything about Jess. If it's any conciliation, I was going to try and make it all right with her before I had to leave. I was going to see if we could still be friends."

Tessa punched his arm, showing more restraint than Jessie since her punch barely stung. "It's a good thing your mom received her orders to move before you did that lame-brain move. She was IN LOVE with you. When you broke off your relationship for all-boob-no-brain Barb, you ripped out her heart. Wanting to be 'just friends' would have been like mincing the poor organ into a liquefied mess." Her hands rubbed at her eyes, trying to scrub away everything she had witnessed. "She changed after you left."

Defeated, Danny sat down on the couch again. "I think I was more blind than I thought. I didn't know that she loved me. Why don't you tell me everything starting with me dumping her? I need to know."

She sat down next to him, close as if ten years hadn't passed. They were just two friends having a conversation. "Jessie hasn't been one to tell me everything. Despite our friendship, she keeps a lot to herself. So my take on her feelings are mostly speculation. The only thing I can tell you for sure is that she did love you. Let it slip over a crying spell on my shoulder once."

He nodded his understanding. Regret was a living thing within him, and remorse was looking to move in.

Pain entered Tessa's eyes as she dredged up old memories she would prefer to keep locked away. "That year was bad on both of us, but, even after all I went through, I think Jessie took everything worse than I did. She seemed to shut down for a few days after you told her that you wanted to break up. On the third day, she began to change. She got into more fistfights, mostly with cheerleaders and football players. I think it's because she blamed them for taking you away from her. Then she started to have fling after fling with different men. She was a little reckless with her transgressions until another girl of her acquaintance at her college tested positive for HIV. Then she calmed down enough to be careful with who she slept with."

She paused to rub her knee. "The day before my accident, the day after you left, I went to her house to see how she was taking it and noticed the trash at the curb ready for pick up. Something was sticking out that grabbed my attention, so I lifted the lid of one of the trash cans and found all the stuff you gave her and reminded her of you. She must have cleared out her whole room. It took a few trips to get it all in my car...you know...one day she might want it back. She was despondent the day of my accident, standing in the bleachers staring off into space."

A heavy sigh penetrated the air. An agitated movement had Tessa reaching for her soda to take a sip. "My mind should have been completely on the game, or I should have told coach a lame lie on why I shouldn't have played that day. As I was running bases, I noticed that she wasn't in the stands anymore. That brief laps in attention put me in a hot box." A rueful grin appeared on her face. "I got out of it, but I slid wrong into home plate. My knee bent at an odd angle. Jessie was with me on the way to the hospital. She waited throughout the surgery, practically lived at the hospital the whole time I was there."

Danny was horrified. He wondered why she limped, figuring it was just a sprain. Tessa's physique was still that of a softball player, that's why he never thought she might not be playing anymore. "God, Tess, I'm sorry. I know how much you wanted to go all the way in softball. US Olympics, right?"

"Yeah, I was going into the Olympics and then I was going to convince a major league baseball team to recruit me. I was going to change major league baseball as we know it, but it wasn't meant to be." She gave him a faked sunny smile. "Don't think the world's ready for co-ed major league baseball."

He had to laugh at that. "I honestly think that if anyone could have done it, it would have been you. You were THAT talented." A gust of air rushed out of his lungs, more guilt assailed him. "So what happened after you got out?"

"Not much to tell after that. She finished her metamorphosis and became the flashy drama queen you saw today. Although, she was more subdued than I'd seen her in a long time when she spotted you today. So that's not a good example. I'm sure you'll see as time goes."

He took the soda from her and finished it off. "You still have the stuff she threw out?"

"Yeah, it's in a few boxes in my mom's storage shed."

Danny rose from the couch to leave. "Guess I gotta face the music." He lightly touched his bruised eye. "Where's she living?"

"Ummmmm.... I don't think that's such a good idea." The breath in Tessa's lungs stilled, lord knows what Danny would do if he discovered Mattie at Jessie's. Knowing how fast Jessie goes they're probably tearing up the sheets of her bed by now.

--~~--

Jessie couldn't believe it. Mattie was giving her a counter ultimatum. No sex until he gets a commitment out of her? That's just not going to happen, it doesn't matter that she was going through a dry spell. She wasn't so desperate that she was going to be...monogamous. The word nearly made her wretch.

"Sorry, Mattie, I don't negotiate. We either do it my way or no way at all." Jessie lounged on her couch as Mattie glared at her from his standing position.

"Are you just going to be a tramp for the rest of your life? Are you going to sleep with every man that comes around, breaking the hearts of most of them?" He was dubious at the thought. Not really understanding why a woman would want to do something like that.

Jessie looked like she was going to go into a rage. She got off the couch and stomped towards him. He brought up his arms, prepared to deflect any blow that might come his way. Instead, she latched onto one arm and started to drag him towards the front door.

"Tramp? I'm more careful picking out a lover than most 'studs.' Are you saying it's okay for men to bed hop, but women aren't allowed? I don't do double standards, I don't do labeling of any kind, and I certainly don't do commitments! Bachelor for life, baby." She shoved him out the door. "See you around the firehouse," she yelled as she slammed the door in his face.

Jessie plopped down on her couch, putting her right arm over her eyes. It took her two weeks to decide on Mattie after three months of "just not feeling like it." Now she was going to go a few weeks more without a man. Another two weeks of fingers and toys.

Then a desperate thought came to her. What if she hunted down Danny and gave him the same ultimatum that she gives all her men? She had to admit, the plan did have merit. Even when they lost their virginity together at the mutual age of eighteen in high school, he wasn't a half bad lover. What would it be like after having ten years of experience blow his belt?

Her underwear was soaked in record time. Just the process of replacing a teenaged Danny with a full grown, experienced Danny was making her womb contract in want. She needed her toys; her fingers weren't going to cut it. Her mind was going through which particular toy would best simulate the actual size of Danny when there was a nock on her door.

She cursed under her breath. Mattie better pray that she was in control of herself because she was sorely tempted to rape him. That was how badly she needed a man at that instant.

Flinging open the door, she was about to tell Mattie to run for his life until she spotted Danny on her doorstep, and her horny state heightened to unbearable levels. He looked just as delicious as he did earlier in the day even with the black eye. She had problems thinking, and the itching in the palm of her hand to touch the scar on his cheek was getting on her nerves.

"We need to talk." His voice had deepened since last she heard it. It only served to make things worse. With the state she was in, she doubted that she would be able to walk. Hell, as soon as she closed the door in his face, she was probably going to drop to the floor and make do with her fingers.

"We have absolutely nothing to say. Just stay out of my way, and I'll stay out of yours. If you need a convenient fuck buddy, I'm not interested, but Barb's two blocks down second house to your left." All said without taking a breath. She tried to close the door, but one of his big strong hands stopped her.

"I don't want Barb, I never really wanted her. I want you. Now let me in so we can talk or I'm just going to have to force my way in." His eyes were hard, unwavering.

She knew she was in trouble. He was determined to get in to have his say and she was desperate to satisfy her baser needs. She took a second to compose herself, to get enough control over her body to at least walk to the couch and sit down. Hopefully, what he had to say wouldn't take long, even though she had thought about having a fling with him earlier she new that it would be a terrible mistake. Danny was the only man she loved and one reckless roll in the bed would rekindle those feelings.

Opening the door wider, she motioned him in. As soon as he crossed the threshold, she closed the door and went over to the couch. After she was situated, she turned to find him locking her front door. That didn't bode well for her.

"Make it quick, I have plans for the evening." She put on a mask of false bravado, hoping he didn't see through it.

Danny sat on the edge of her recliner to the left, both elbows on his knees. "You don't have any plans for the evening. I saw the man walk away from your house looking very disgruntled. From what I've been hearing, men usually walk away from here with a smile on their face. I take it he didn't want to play by your rules."

Jessie scoffed. "Just another man trying to control me. He thought that I would be so horny I would agree to his own terms. I rule my sexuality, my sexuality doesn't rule me."

A sly smile spread across his face. "That's not the way I remember it. In fact, there was this one time when you were so horny that you pulled me into a broom closet at school and ravaged me till I could barely walk."

"After ten years, you don't think I could gain a little control?" Sure she was able to gain a little control, but that was all. At that second her control was about to burst. He had to leave.

"You were expecting to fuck that man tonight. I bet you're revved up and ready to go. Are you having some problems, Jess? Anything I can help you with?"

"If you're going to taunt me, then you can leave. I'll help myself." She was about to get up to go into her bedroom where she would be safe, but he stopped her.

"I bet helping yourself isn't as fun as playing with someone else. Why not let me help you?" His breath blew into her ear as he talked, and a violent tremor wracked her body.

Her hand started to itch again with the memory of the way his scars felt on her skin. His rough left side rubbing up against her soft, pliant body. Their lovemaking might have been novas at best, but it was still the most sensual experience she had ever had. She was in desperate need now, and he was offering to help her.

Jessie looked into his eyes. "You've got to agree to my terms if you want me." He would never do it. Danny will just laugh in her face and walk out the door, walk out of her life forever.

He was staring right through her into her soul. What did he see? "State your terms so I can consider them and make any counter offer I see fit."

She released herself from his grasp. Sensing that she had a way out of the mess she inadvertently found herself in. "No counter offer. Just my terms, take them or leave them." Without waiting for a reply, she went on. "One week of evenings, that means seven days. If you can't make an evening, then you forfeit it. At the end of the week, we part ways as lovers. During our time together you don't try and gain a commitment out of me; you don't try to latch onto me hoping that I'll capitulate. This week is for sexual gratification only. No emotions, no dating, no strings what so ever. Do you agree?"

It was obvious that he was amused at her little speech, his next words confirmed it. "You want this contract signed and notarized?"

Jessie wasn't fazed by his attempted humor. "Usually, a kiss to seal the deal will do."

"Fine." He swooped in and kissed her. It was a kiss to coax her memories, always eager, always needy. The kiss was the same yet different. She could sense the same qualities as in high school, but more refined, more finesse.

She broke the kiss. Her living room was not where she wanted it to happen. It was bad enough that her neighbors gossiped about her dealings with the opposite sex, she refused to give them a show.

Danny followed her into her bedroom, both stripping their clothes off as they went. He had to look around after closing her bedroom door. The bedroom was a picture in decadence. The walls were painted in a royal blue color, tastefully decorated in Asian paintings of bamboo, rolling green hills, and dragons. The furniture was done in rich cherry wood. A dresser stood next to the door to the living room, a vanity littered with bottles and sporting an ornate mirror took up the wall to the left right next to the door to the bathroom, and her beautifully carved queen sized bed was laid out in front of him. The bed was obviously the centerpiece of the room with dragons carved into the headboard, bed sheets of purple satin adorned it. He couldn't wait to lay her on it, to spread her hair across the pillows.

Jessie was in her lingerie, standing next to the bed with an air of impatience about her. "Are you going to stand there all night or are you going to touch me?"

His eyes devoured her undressed state, hands twitching to take off her bra and underwear, but there was something he wanted to do first. Something he had been aching for ten years to feel again and thought that he might never wallow in the bliss of it again.

"I'm not going to touch you." Taking advantage of her shock, he crossed to her, picked up her right hand, and placed it on the burn scars on his cheek. He sighed in contentment; he could still feel her touch on his scars. It was a feet that no other woman could match...only Jess. "Touch me, Jess. Anywhere you want; do anything you want with me, just as long as you touch my scars."

Her heart thumped dangerously in her chest. Feelings were intruding on an interlude that she was determined to keep strictly emotionless, but she lost her composure at his heartfelt plea. It was their mutual downfall, her touching his scars. She felt joy in the contact of the rough terrain of his burn scars, the hills and valleys of the intricate pattern etched into his body since he was a little kid.

Her hand traveled from his face, down the left side of his body, following the path of long ago destruction. She had always felt that she was healing his hurts with her touch. Making him feel the cool and calming waves of acceptance instead of the burning, hatred of horror.

With her other hand, both traveled to his back as she stepped closer to him, bringing her whole body into the intimate caress. Her tongue touched the damaged skin around the nipple, playing around the areola, introducing a little suction. She sighed in contentment when his arms came around her, squeezing her as if he would never let her go.

Jessie knew she was a goner. No longer was she the sophisticated choosy lover of present; she was the inexperienced eighteen-year-old being introduced to her first expressions of love. She mourned the connection they had back then and was determined to relive it for the week that they had. One week of bliss. Would she be able to walk away afterwards?

Her mouth worked it's way up to his, giving a passionate kiss with such feeling that it rocked Donny. He hadn't made the agreement lightly, instantly finding the loopholes in her wording. With his intimate knowledge of her, he knew that he would win her with the aid of her body. She always wanted him, was always hungry for him. He took the chance that she still would be just like he was; still hungry for her touch on his burn scars. His heart rejoiced in his proven theory.

He felt her hands circle around to his hips, hooking his boxer shorts in her thumbs and drawing them down, trailing kissing in her dissent. She was learning the contours of his body, he knew. Mapping out a body that had changed with age using tongue and teeth and mouth.

She took his member all the way in, applying everything she had learned in ten years. Using her tongue, she played with the veins in his cock making sure none were left untouched. Her head bobbed on him, trying to gently coax the fluids out of him with the help of massaging his balls using her left hand.

With effort, Danny brought her back to her feet. "For our reunion, I would like to come in you, not in your mouth." He whispered the words in her ear making sure she not only heard every word, but felt them as well. Kissing her again, he undid the hooks of her lacy bra, dropping it unheeded to the floor. His hands kneaded the fullness of her breasts, noting their ripeness. Last time his hands had contact with them, they were practically nonexistent. His hands went down her rib cage, to her hips, dragging her thong panties along with them. He took note of the new curves, lush valleys, plump, welcoming thighs.

Danny could easily smell her desire and was instantly intoxicated. He was about to lose control of himself, throwing her on the bed, and taking her like a wild beast. The urge to taste her sweetness stopped him. Her body had changed since he had last partaken of her delights. Had her taste changed as well?

His tongue snaked out to lightly touch her hidden nub. Jess gasped her response, her hands going to his hair and clutching. He traced between her folds in one long lick, taking the time to memorize her new taste: tangy with a bit of salt like some exotic alcoholic drink. He urged her legs apart and dipped his tongue in as far as it would go, mimicking the sexual act. Her hips picked up the rhythm, enthusiastically meeting his thrusting tongue until she couldn't take it anymore.

"Please, Danny. Stop teasing me, I need you!" Her gasping words went straight toward his dick, making it thicken and lengthen more than he thought possible.

He rooted around for his pants with one hand, while still relishing her flavor. Once he found the condom he kept in his wallet, and had his penis sheathed in the latex, he picked her up to lay her on the bed.

She looked like the goddess he always thought her to be, with her hair spread out, a stark contrast against the sheets, like rays of the sun bursting through the lazy purple morning haze. Her slightly tanned skin looked almost golden in the weak light of the lamp on her nightstand.

In her desperation to have him, Jessie was practically pulling him down on top of her. He finally obliged them both, suspending himself above her, and plunging himself into her. She could swear that he touched her womb in that one great thrust. Was he ever this big in high school?

They shuddered with the welcome invasion, her body greeting his. He started out slow, savoring her luxuriant vagina squeezing him. Jessie, not to be a passive participant, lifted her hips in time with his thrusts.

"Faster, harder." She panted. He obliged her, speeding up and ramming her as much as he dared. As soon as he felt her contract, getting ready to explode, he stopped.

Jessie groaned her displeasure. Danny just laughed. "You didn't think it was going to be that easy?"

Her hand slipped below to grasp his balls. He stopped her before she did anything too provocative.