When I returned from the bathroom to find her gone, I was indignant; embarrassed even. I hadn’t had a woman walk away from me in, well… ever. I didn’t handle it well. Later in the weekend when I’d figured out the perfect way to get my revenge, I’d been so proud of myself. I gave the entire class that fucking assignment to write about a scenario similar to mine and Addison’s. I’d been a smug asshole, thinking I’d make her read her assignment aloud in class to embarrass her like she’d done to me, but then the unthinkable happened.
Would her rendition of our night get my dick hard and fuck with my head? I imagined it would be full of desire and conflict, but also confusion and… more. Would her version be filled with conflict? The same conflict I felt, but worse. I knew deep down I was a dick for taking advantage of my student. I should have realized she would be overwhelmed and unable resist.
When I sat down to work on my novel after reading what she’d written, I couldn’t concentrate and didn’t get even get a paragraph on the page. Gloria was on my ass daily about my next deadline, and I simply had to do something to get my mojo back. Pride dictated that I couldn’t call Addison, and my recent clarity made it impossible. I was wound as tight as a drum, ready to explode. Racquet ball with my older brother Jefferson was plan B to release the pent-up tension.
“Twenty to ten! You really suck today, bro.” He laughed enthusiastically. I usually kicked his ass. I was younger and in better shape, but today there was no question I was off my form. So much for my theory that physical exertion would shut off my brain. “What’s your problem, anyway?” he asked.
I was sweating my ass off and panting heavily. The saturated terry headband I wore did little to keep the sweat from rolling down and dripping into my eyes. I wiped at the sting with my thumb and forefinger and shot him a dirty look. “Just serve the fucking ball, dickhead. We only have this court for another thirty minutes.”
“More than long enough for me to mop the floor with you,” he said good-naturedly.
“Like hell,” I shot back. “Serve it up!”
Part of me hoped this would be the final point, but I couldn’t give him the satisfaction. The ball came toward me and my arm swung in a wide arc to slam it back at the wall for my brother’s return. “Uhhhhh!” I grunted as I followed through. “Take that you mother fucker,” I muttered, as I readied for another return.
We continued to exhaust ourselves for the next twenty minutes. Somehow, my determination resurfaced, and I’d managed to redeem myself. I got the following eleven points consecutively to win the game.
My legs and arms felt like rubber and I’d tripped and hit the wood after the final return. I groaned and rolled over, pulling my injured knee up inspecting the burn I’d received when it crashed into the floor and skidded across the polished boards. It burned and the skin was removed leaving an angry wound. It stung like a bitch, but I blew it off, wiping at my eyes by pulling on the neck of my T-shirt and using it to mop up the sweat on my face.
“You’ll be okay. I’ve seen your knees look worse than that after a session with Susie Miller in the basement of her parent’s house,” my brother goaded.
I huffed out a laugh and took the hand he offered to help me up. “You were green with envy. Admit it. You spent the prior two years trying to get into her pants, and boom, she wanted me at first sight.”
He laughed as we both walked to the wall, picked up our keys, phones and towels. “Well, I guess you got the dick and I got the brains,” he teased.
My brother was thirty-seven and still a bachelor, though, like me, he didn’t have issues getting laid, but he was committed to my father’s law firm and worked far too much to have any sort of relationship. But then, I wasn’t one to judge. We were both so busy that we rarely got together for workouts or beers these days, so I was thankful he was available when I called him impromptu after my last class. This was the first time I’d had my sex writing class and the first time I’d been in the same room with Addison since she’d left my office on Monday. I was miserable and something had to be done.
“Bull. I got it all, asshole,” I said, amused. “I got it all!” I grinned, slinging the towel around my neck and wiping my forehead after removing the soaked headband. I opened the door to the court and we both walked out into the hall. The courts were on the lower level, and we passed several busy basketball courts on our way to the showers.
His hand landed on my shoulder. “Wanna tell me what’s eating you?” he asked knowingly. We were different in a lot of ways, but he was my only sibling, and we were close.
“What do you mean?” I was fooling no one.
“I know something is on your mind. You aren’t your usual jovial self and you ran yourself into the ground.”
“Don’t flatter yourself.” I took a deep breath, then a long pull from my water bottle. “Do you have time for dinner or a few drinks? I don’t really want to talk about it on campus.”
“It’s Wednesday night, Jax. I still have a lot of work to do.”
“What do you have all of those associates for? Let them do the work.”
His brow shot up as he walked beside me into the men’s locker room. “I do, but I have a hostile takeover going on and I need to read some reports.”
I rolled my eyes. “Sounds ass numbingly boring.”
He opened the padlock on the locker he’d used, as I did the same on mine. “Oh, it is, but it’s a billion-dollar deal, and it has to get done. Dad will kill me if I drop the ball. Money is never boring.”
I stripped off my clothes and grabbed some soap and shampoo from my bag. Taking a towel from the folded stack situated on the counter at the shower room entrance, I left my brother to follow.
I took a quick shower and washed my hair. I didn’t like being buck naked in a place where I could run into students. I reasoned when we were all equally exposed it somehow robbed me of power or respect. But then, I was drenched with sweat and probably reeked, so my sophisticated professor mojo took a hit, but there was no way I could wait until I got back to my penthouse to clean up.
Jeff was still in the shower when I came out, dried off, quickly dressed in the slacks, shirt and jacket I’d worn that day for class. I’d combed my hair when my brother appeared with a towel wrapped around his waist.
I was tying my shoes on the bench in front of the lockers and glanced up at him as he opened the locker and started to dress. “So, what’d you say? A quick dinner?”
“Wanna go to The Gentleman’s Club, instead?” he asked hopefully, slipping on his slacks and buckling up his belt.
It was a topless men’s club in midtown. It was a classy one, for sure, but I wasn’t in the mood when I wanted to unload about my current situation.
“Really?” I asked unenthusiastically.
“Why don’t you want to go? You’re hornier than anyone I know… unless that romance shit you write has suddenly made your dick soft.”
I ran a hand down my face in exasperation. He never could understand my choices about writing. He thought along the same line as my father; that writing was a pussy job. I’d heard the insult enough times to ignore it. “Quite the contrary, but I’m not in the mood to eat a steak while half-naked women shake their tits in my face while refilling my water glass; but hey, if that’s the only way you can get any action…” I let my words drop off. “Weren’t you banging what’s her name? Gretchen something-or-other? That barracuda from Wilson and Wells?” The last I’d heard he was having a hot and heavy fling with an attorney he’d met on a case a few months back.