Page 19 of Slow Burn (The Boston Beauties)

‘Ahh,’ she let out sound between pleasure and pain. There had been no foreplay, no tenderness. Just an urgency for a release on my part.

I was quick, with no stamina due to my long overdue, self-imposed dry spell. It didn’t take more then a few thrusts and I was already feeling my spine tingling and my balls contract before I let out a loud moan, spilling into the condom.

I knew she didn’t finish and could tell she was disappointed, but I wasn’t prepared to do anything about it. It was a dick move, I knew that, but I also knew she’d just gotten what she’d been eyeing since the summertime.

‘I’ll last longer next time,’ I promised her, kissing her neck as I slid off the condom, tossing it in the trash before I pulled my pants up.

I had a feeling that she had been expecting me to take her back to my place, but instead, I drove her back to her parents' place, where she still lived. I kissed her goodnight from the driver's seat and promised to see her tomorrow.

CHAPTER 7

DREW

Things had started casually with me and Lisa, but after the night we fucked in the bar, she took it as a sign that we were an item. I enjoyed her company and the fucking wasn’t horrible, so I went along with it.I wasn’t in love with her, and I knew I’d never be. I tried, I really did, but losing Jessa had turned my heart to stone and no matter how much love another had to give me, it was impenetrable.

She was there for me leading up to and during the trial—when I was a complete nightmare to be around. The few days that I was in court to give testimony had really fucked with my head. When I came back to the Cape, I just went straight to her place. It helped that her parents often spent large chunks of the winter in Florida. I wasn’t with her just for our sex life, but for the times when I needed her company, and I needed her after the trial. The Cahills were a constant reminder of what I had lost, and Lisa offered me an escape that no one else could at the moment. Still, the guilt sat heavy in my chest, knowing that I’d never be able to give her what she’d eventually want from me.

She was a real support during those dark days when I had to relive everything all over again. One night in bed she asked me straight out if I had been involved with Jessa.

I shook my head. ‘No, but we spent a lot of time together. I got to know her and cared for her, she was a special young lady. Her death really affected me. I was so upset I couldn’t help her out of a really bad situation.’

‘You really are one of the good ones, aren’t you, Drew?’ she asked me, looking into my eyes.

I pulled her into me and held her, not able to act on what she wanted from me in that moment after talking of Jessa. It still felt as if I were being unfaithful to her by being with Lisa, and that was the guilt that was eating me alive.

We spent a lot of time together, as a result. I really got to know her, not only intimately, but her personality too. I picked up on her jealousy and insecurities early on. She always wanted to know where I was, when I was planning on stopping by or if I was hanging out with my friends, so long as it was at the bar where she could be with me also, she didn’t have an issue. The problems arose when I went to Boston or dared go somewhere else.

Having been single for a while, I wasn’t used to it. My ex Heather and I had our own lives, our own group of friends, and rarely interacted with each other’s social circles, so it was an entirely foreign concept to me, one I had a hard time wrapping my head around or really grasping the reasons why, other than jealousy or insecurity. One night at the bar, a group of college girls came in. It was clearly some kind of school break, as they were all,“Oh my gawd, I’ve missed you, like, so much.”

Joe and I were shooting pool in one of the back corners; his brother-in-law was there with his wife. Lisa came over often, eyeing up the only woman who was clearly married and likely as old as my mum. I didn’t like it.

I took her by the hips. ‘She’s a married woman, here with her husband, and you need to stop this.’

I thought I had been pretty clear, it hadn't been the first time I had to warn her off this behavior. I wasn’t going to take her insecurity and jealousy much longer. The college girls came over and started chatting us up. It was the middle of the week, and they were half in the bag.

‘Do you live around here?’ one the girls asked me, leaning into my personal space. I took a sidestep, reaching for my beer.

‘Yeah.’ I didn’t ask her about her residential status, as I didn’t care and, frankly, I just wanted to get back to the pool game.

‘Maybe you could show me later?’ she whispered.

I laughed at her, ‘That’s not going to happen.’

‘But you are like the hottest guy I’ve seen in ages, and that accent is like super sexy.’

I shook my head, still with a smile on my face. I can’t say I wasn’t flattered. ‘Sorry.’

‘Oh, come on, it will be fun. Why not?’ she was whining.

I turned her around to find Lisa making her way over to us from across the bar. ‘See that woman charging at us?’

The girl nodded, ‘So?’

‘So, that’s my girlfriend,’ I told her as Lisa appeared next to me. ‘That’s why not.’

The college girl looked Lisa up and down. ‘But I’m way hotter than she is.’

It was true, but I shrugged my shoulders and turned my back to her, pulling Lisa with me to the other side of the table, while she glared at the girls. ‘They are cut off,’ she spit out.

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