Troy and I had been seeing each other for about three months, with our relationship being purely physical. We did end up having an official date after that enjoyable Sunday morning, but I reaffirmed my earlier conclusion, that aside from the bedroom, we had nothing in common. Almost all the time we spent together involved either drinking with the group, or being naked in bed.

We had opposite tastes in movies, music and TV shows. We were basically fuck buddies, who drank together. At least that’s how I felt. The other day though, Troy dropped the ‘L’ word on me, and I was still trying to figure out what to say to him.

I didn’t feel the same way, and my gaze would still drift back to Jace when we were all hanging out together. Lauren was still giving me the death glare when she saw me, even though I always showed up with Troy, and spent the entire time sitting by his side. I even tried to act like a typical girlfriend, going out of my way to act against my nature, like sitting on his lap, and calling him by ‘pet’ names. But even though I was showing her that I was clearly with Troy, she would keep Jace practically glued to her side, whenever I was anywhere near.

I was pleasantly surprised, when one weekend Jace texted me, out of the blue.

[Hey, whatcha doin?]

[Nothing much. What’s up?]– I replied.

[Wanna come check out my new pad?]

[Sure. Send add. I’ll be there soon.]

I grabbed my keys and ID case, and headed out the door. I pulled up Google Maps, entered Jace’s address, and let it direct me to my destination.

I pulled up in front of an old Victorian style house, that had been spliced into multiple apartments. There were little gardens surrounding the house, with hanging baskets in full bloom decorating the porch. The area was decent, and there was a small park across the busy road.

[I’m here]- I texted.

[Be right down.]

Jace came from around the back of the house, and gestured for me to follow him up the back stairway.

“Nice house,” I said, climbing the old stairway, behind him.

“The outside is nice. The inside….” He let the sentence trail off.

“What? Is it like really nasty or something?”

“You’ll see when you come in.”

He opened the door, and I was rather apprehensive to enter after that evasive answer. I followed him in anyway, and was met by one of the tiniest kitchens in existence. You could barely fit three people in it, if that. I estimated I could stretch my arms out and be able to touch both walls without much effort. I trailed behind Jace down a very narrow hallway. To my right was a doorway that opened into another small room that was used as a living area. It had a love seat, a recliner, a wall mounted TV and a small, narrow bookcase. Across from there was a true water closet. One could wash their hands, feet and use the toilet simultaneously, it was so cramped.

“Still think it’s a nice place?” Jace asked, a sarcastic smile on his lips.

“Wow.” Was all I could manage to say.

“Well for a little while, it’s home sweet home.”

“It’s not so bad,” I said trying to put a positive spin on it. “I mean it definitely needs some updating, but for one person, it’s not so bad.”

“Oh, I don’t live alone. I have a roommate, Isaack.”

Jace pointed to an open door at the end of the hall, and we walked through. Here was the bedroom. It was also on the small side, but had enough space for a twin bed, a dresser and a computer table. It was still a tight fit though.

“So, where does Isaack sleep?”

“This is his room. I’ll show you mine.”

Jace continued through the room to another closed door. He opened in and inside was another very tiny bedroom. It had a double mattress and box spring on the floor. Nestled next to that was a plastic three-drawer dresser. It was about the size of a closet. Actually, looking at it, it was a closet.

“This is your room?” I asked, looking back at Jace, shocked.

“Yep, all six by eight feet of it.”

“Jace, why are you living here? This place is awful.”

“The rent is affordable, and I needed a place ASAP.”

“But this is practically a jail cell. No, it’s worse. Those at least have a commode. How desperate were you for a place to stay?”

He rubbed the back of his neck wearily, and sighed.

“Lauren and I are having a lot of problems and I couldn’t live with her for one more minute. I needed to get out, fast. Isaack had this space available, and offered to let me have it on a month by month basis for seventy-five bucks a month. Everything is included, except my food. I know it’s not the greatest situation, but it beats bumming around on friends’ couches until I get enough money for a deposit on a new place.”

I gave him a hug, hoping to help alleviate some of my friends’ stress.

“I’m sorry, Jace.” I said, rubbing his back.

“Thanks, Nadia,” he replied, giving me a squeeze.

“Who is this Isaack guy, anyway? How do you know him?” I asked, pulling back.

“He was Mindy’s cousin’s old roommate,” he said, letting me go with, what felt like, reluctance.

“He’s not some total weirdo, is he?” I asked, skeptically.

“Nah, he’s okay,” Jace replied. “A bit of a pervert, but he’s cool.”

“Do I even want to know?”

Jace laughed at the face I was making.

“He likes to have porn on like 24-7. He also has a collection of panties from one-night-stands. He likes to lick his nipples while watching BDSM fetish videos, too.”

“Are you serious?” I said, my eyes as round as saucers.

“About the twenty-four-hour porn yes, the other stuff I made up,” Jace said, laughing even harder. “It’s only a place to sleep, Nadia, while I save up my money. I’m hardly ever here.”

“If you’re okay with living here, then what else can I say about it?”

He nodded, allowing the conversation to drop. He then asked if I was hungry and we decided to go grab a bite as one of the fast food joints in the area. We sat in the park across the street enjoying the early fall weather, and just hanging out while we ate. I hadn’t had a chance to do this with him since he came back into my life. We used to be the best of friends before we dated, and after the split, we each went off to parts unknown. I missed this. I missed him.

After we ate and talked some more, Jace suggested we head over to a bar a couple of blocks up the road. I agreed, not wanting our bonding time to end. We left my car at his apartment, and walked the three blocks up to the little dive bar.

The night got later, and the drinks flowed faster, and before I knew it, they were announcing last-call. We paid our tab, and headed out into the night, walking arm in arm. We were laughing and tripping over each other, as we stumbled back to the old Victorian. I skipped a little ahead of Jace, and twirled in a circle, my head thrown back, eyes closed. I didn’t know how close to the road I was until I tripped against the curb, and started falling into oncoming traffic.

Quick as lightening, Jace was there, catching my wrist, and pulling me hard against his chest. Still feeling the alcohol, I laughed at the look on his face.

“What’s wrong, Jacey-poo?” I asked, cuddling against his chest.

“Holy shit, Nadia. You almost gave me a heart attack!” he yelled, pushing me back, to give me a good shake, before he pulled me back into his arms again.

“I’m fine, though.”

“I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”

“Oh, quit exaggerating. It wasn’t that bad.”

Jace looked me hard in the eye, before his head started to descend. I thought maybe he was going to kiss me, so I reared my head back, covering his mouth with my hand.

“Jace, we can't, I’m with Troy,” I slurred.

He only leaned down, and placed a chaste kiss on my forehead. He then ruffled my hair, smiling, before he slung his left arm around my shoulders, and we started walking again.

The cooler night air felt wonderful, but even with the walk, I was far from sober, or even safe to get behind a wheel, and thankfully I had enough sense to know it.

“Hey, Jace,” I said, “could I crash at your place for a little bit? I don’t think I can drive.”

“Sure. Mi casa, es su casa.”

We spent quite a bit of time navigating the rickety, wooden stairs to his apartment. Both of us laughing and egging the other on, as feet miss-judged distance, as our balance was iffy. Jace pushed me down the dark hall, past the living room, where I could hear the sounds of a woman moaning in ecstasy, accompanied by the grunts and groans of a male voice. Jace peaked his head in the door long enough to inform Isaack that we were home, before he pushed me, stumbling into his little closet room, and shut the door behind us.

I collapsed face down onto the bed, and started laughing. Jace nudged my leg with his, silently demanding I make him some room, as he also dropped on his back, onto the mattress. I scooted over, and turned my head, so we were facing each other.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, seeing the huge grin on my face.

“I thought you were exaggerating about the porn.” I laughed. “He really does watch it all the time.”

“He doesn’t just watch it, if you know what I mean?” Jace said, waggling his eyebrows.

“It’s a healthy thing to do.” I responded. “Everyone does it, even if they won’t admit it.”

“But he does it six or seven times a day.”

“Ewww. I did not need to know that about your roommate. And that seems rather excessive, don’t you think?” I laughed.

Jace laughed too, reaching down in the darkness to hold my hand.

“You know, if he keeps that up, he's likely to go blind?” I chuckled.

“Or get callouses,” Jace responded, laughing even harder.

I snorted, and that sent both of us off in peals of laughter. He gave my hand a squeeze, before he moved it, to lace our fingers together.

“I’ve missed this,” he said, into the darkness, as our laughter subsided. “I’ve missed hanging out with you like this. Laughing together, making up dumb jokes.”

“Yeah, me too,” I said, quietly.

He sighed.

“Lauren isn’t cool like you are, Nadia,” he began.

“How do you mean?” I asked.

“She’s pretty crazy, if you want to know. And not the fun crazy, but like she needs mental help.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“Yeah, I guess I need someone to talk to.”

“I’m here for you, you know that, right?”

Jace brought our linked hands up, and kissed the back of my hand, before placing them across his chest.

“She’s so jealous and domineering. I didn’t notice it at first. But over the past few months, it’s gotten really bad. She’s constantly asking me where I am if I’m not at home, and whenever we’re out with other people she’s always hanging all over me.”

I squeezed his hand, urging him to continue.

“In the last three months, especially, she’s gone totally loco. If I’m even five minutes late getting home from work, suddenly I’m cheating on her. In her mind, I’m fucking anything with a pair of tits and a pussy. I swear she low-jacked my phone, so she would know where I was at all times.”

“I’m sorry,” I murmured.

“She always going on and on about you, too, you know?”

I lifted my head up, to look at him.

“What do you mean?”

“She thinks every time we all hang out, that you’re just waiting for the right time to corner me, and fuck me. That you’re always watching me, waiting to pounce.”

I had to laugh and shake my head. Granted that my eyes did have a habbit of following Jace's movements whenever we were together, but I thought I was doing a pretty good job of hiding it.

“Wow, she is pretty psycho, huh?” I asked in the darkness.

“She went through my phone, and asked me about every single girl’s number that was in it. She then ordered me, ORDERED me, to erase all of them, especially yours. That was the last straw. After that fight, I knew I couldn’t be with her anymore.”

“She was trying to control you. What a possessive bitch.”

“I’m sorry if I’ve seemed distant since we became friends again. It was all Lauren’s doing. I didn’t realize that she was trying to isolate me, until it was almost too late.”

“What made you finally see that enough was enough?”

“The whole number thing was really the last straw. You and I were friends long before she and I ever got together, and while we had drifted apart, I never forgot about you. I’ve thought about you often these last few years. That’s why I decided to find you again.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. We lay there in silence for a little while, before I decided to ask the question that had been burning on my mind since this confession.

“Why you wait so long to find me? If I meant so much to you, why did you wait?”

“I don’t know,” he said, quietly. “I was scared I guess. I didn’t know how you still felt about me. We had dated, but then we broke up. Are you even able to still stay friends ith someone after that?”

“Do you even remember why we broke up in the first place?”

“I think it was because I moved, and neither of us had a car at that time, so it was hard for us to see each other,” he said. “Plus, I’m pretty sure your parents hated me,” he added, with a wry grin in his voice.

I gave him a sad smile back, and squeezed his hand again. I scooted closer, and rested my head on his chest, cuddling up against his side. He transferred my hand to his right one, and wrapped his left arm around me, hugging me tighter to him. After a little bit, I decided to share some of my drama with Jace. He had opened up to me, I felt it was fair to do the same.

“So, I also have something to tell you.”

“What’s that?”

I took a deep breath, gathering myself, before I told him.

“The other night Troy told me he loved me.”

“What did you say back to him?”

“Nothing. I totally panicked. It was after we had had sex, and we were cuddling, drifting off to sleep, when he whispered it against my neck. Once I was sure he was asleep, I got dressed quietly, and snuck out. I texted him something about having an emergency and working the next day. I didn’t know what to do. I still don’t.”

“Do you feel the same way about him?”

“Not really. I mean he’s a fine boyfriend, and he’s funny. But we have nothing in common aside from drinking with you and the group, and the sex. I don’t want to be a bitch and hurt him, but I really don’t see us going anywhere beyond, what and where we are now.”

Jace was quiet, as he stroked my back.

“What do you think I should do, I don’t want to break his heart?” I asked, looking up at him.

“You have basically two options. Either tell him how you feel, or pretend you didn’t hear him, and go on as you have been. Either way he’s going to get hurt, since your feelings aren’t invested. You could either rip off the band-aid quick, or draw it out.”

I was quiet, thinking about what Jace had said.

“If it were you, what would you do?”

“If I was the one who wanted to end things or if I was the one who confessed to the other person, I think in both cases I’d want the truth. It might hurt, but we’d both be able to move on faster, once everything was out in the open.”

“Thanks, Jace. I needed to hear from someone who wasn’t involved.”

“Any time, honey, any time,” he said, giving me another little squeeze.

I let out a lusty yawn then, and it suddenly hit me how tired I was.

“Would it be okay if I spent the night? I still don’t think I can drive home.”

“Yeah,” Jace said, letting out a yawn of his own.

We both got off the bed, and got more comfortable, preparing to sleep. I took off my shoes, pants, and bra, and Jace stripped down to a t-shirt and his boxer-briefs. We then both crawled under the covers, him spooning against my back, his right arm draped across me.

“Good night, Jace,” I said, yawning again.

“G’night, Nadia.”

~~~~

I awoke in the early morning, before dawn, to Jace kissing my neck, his hands under my shirt, massaging my breasts. I could feel the hot bulge of his erection pressing against my ass, and I wriggled back a little against it. He moaned softly in my ear, and thrust himself harder against me. I moaned myself as he began to play with my nipple rings, softly flicking them back and forth.

I opened my legs a little wider when I felt his right-hand slide down my stomach, and into the top of my panties. His long fingers stroked over my lips, delving downwards, before he parted them, and slipped his fingers between my dampening folds. He stroked me, playing around and over my clit, dipping his fingers into my moistening canal, and drawing the slick lubrication up along my cleft.

I rocked against his hand, loving the way he touched me. Even after all this time, he still remembered how and where I liked to be touched. I bit my lips, trying to keep my moaning quiet, as he increased the pressure and speed. I felt the orgasm building and my legs started to tense up, as I neared the crescendo.

Jace leaned up and over capturing my mouth as I came, muffling my cries of ecstasy. I shook in his arms, the pleasure cascading throughout my body. He continued kissing me as I came back down, and I rolled onto my back, to kiss him more fully.

Jace moved over me, and settled himself between my legs, reaching both hands up to cup my face. I brought my own hands up and wrapped them around his back, as I entwined my legs around his hips. We continued kissing, both of us grinding our hips against each other.

Jace then scooted lower, kissing down my neck, as he began to raise my shirt. He sat back on his knees to remove his own, and I raised my arms to help him tug mine off. He came back down and it was amazing to feel his bare skin touching mine. He continued his downward momentum and captured my breast in his mouth. His tongue lathed and flicked over and around my hard, erect nipple, making me gasp in pleasure. He ran his tongue across to the other one, giving it equal attention, as he teased and tugged on my rings.

By now I was letting out mewling little cries, my legs shifting restlessly against his. He moved further down my body, and hooked his fingers into the sides of my panties, drawing them up and off my legs. He then settled himself down between my parted legs, and after opening my moist folds, ran the flat of his tongue up my wet slit. I squirmed against him, arching my back. He slipped his hands under my ass, and brought me tighter against his mouth. Panting, I brought my hand down to twine my fingers through his hair, pushing his face deeper against me. He licked back and forth along my velvety folds, making gasps and moans erupt when he would hit a particularly sensitive place. He then latched his mouth over my clit, sucking hard, flicking his tongue against my erect little pearl.

I came again, hard, biting my lips and covering my mouth with my left hand, to stifle the scream of release. My back arched higher and my inner thighs quivered as the bliss ripped through me. Jace continued his climatic torture on my clit, until he wrung every ounce of pleasure from me. He then came back over me, kissing me deeply. I could taste and smell my juices on his tongue and mouth. It was so erotic and I kissed him harder, rubbing my still aching pussy against the front of his boxer-briefs.

“God, I want to fuck you so bad right now,” he growled, breaking off our kiss.

“Please Jace. I want you inside me. Fuck me,” I panted, straining against him.

“I don’t have any condoms.”

“I’m on the pill,” I breathed in his ear.

He yanked off his underwear, and bracing his hands on my thighs, plunged into me. I gasped, shuddering around his silken pole. It was divine heaven to feel his naked cock sheathed within me. I’d never gone bareback before, too concerned with pregnancy or catching something. This was sheer rapture. I wrapped my legs around his hips, holding him tight within me, reveling in the pleasure of him filling me. He then started thrust hard within me, bottoming out against my cervix. With every stroke, his head hit a certain spot far within, causing all kinds of pleasurable shocks to arc through my body.

I was soon rocking my hips in time with his, our skin getting slick with sweat, our panting breaths mingling in the small space. Jace began to pick up more speed, the sound of our flesh slapping, adding to atmosphere. I tightened my legs around him as my climax started building again.

“Oh, fuck Nadia, your pussy feels so good. I’m going to cum soon.” Jace panted in my ear.

“Don’t stop, I’m so close. I want you to cum inside me.” I breathed, back.

Jace thrust a few more times, hard inside me, and brought me over the edge. My orgasm triggered his, and as I asked, he shot his load inside me, pumping his hips to extend our pleasure. Our mouths clashed as we drank down each other’s release, stifling the cries and groans. I clung to his back, running my hands down the sweat slickened skin, marveling in feel of him. He caught himself on his forearms as he collapsed on top of me, his hands coming up to hold my face, as he kissed me. We lay there in the darkness of his little closet bedroom, catching our breaths in between kisses.

I was shocked when he began rocking his hips against me again. He had just cum, but was still hard, and it looked like round two was going to start right where round one ended.

I reached my left hand up to hold on to the back of his neck, as I moved my right down to press against his lower back, feeling him thrust into me.

After the frenzied fuck of earlier, this time Jace took things slow, leisurely withdrawing out of me, before methodically sinking back in. This wasn’t fucking, it wasn’t even sex. Jace was making love to me, and I felt it, on a deep emotional level. His kiss, while still passionate, was softer as he spent time exploring my mouth, teasing his tongue against mine.

His hands ran along my sides, rediscovering my body, as his hips kept up their constant momentum, of withdrawal and return. I ran my own hands up and over his back, reveling in the body that I had forgotten. It felt so right to have him here, between my thighs, buried inside of me.

Jace leaned up, and looked deep into my eyes, pushing my tangled hair from my sweat covered forehead.

“He’s not good enough for you. You belong with me,” he rumbled.

"Who?" My brain was too focused on what his body was doing to mine to follow his conversation.

"Troy. He's not good enough for you. I'm taking you back from him." His thrusts began to gain speed and force.

“Yes,” my breath shuddered out as new waves of pleasure rolled through me.

“You’re mine. You will always belong to me.”

“I’m yours.” I breathed, rocking my hips in time with his.

“I love you, Nadia.”

This time when I heard those words, a feeling of contentment and rightness settled over me. I had no reservations saying the words back.

“I love you, too, Jace.”

And all at once I was cumming again. I clutched Jace’s body to mine as I came apart, trembling and convulsing in his arms. Jace sank himself one more time inside me, before I felt him let go, his hot seed pumping into me. We clung to each other as we rode the waves of ecstasy as one, all the while exchanging words of love.

I felt Jace move off me, and I turned to my side, feeling him cuddle up to my back. He once again gathered me in his arms, and I fell asleep wrapped in the embrace of the one I loved, feeling his breath softly feather across my neck.