Take This Man

Chapter Twelve



Elyse wasn"t sure how long she lay on Jason"s bed, her eyes closed. Sadness pressed down upon her, its heavy weight rendering her inert. She couldn"t think, couldn"t move. She wanted to cry, but her eyes were as hard and dry as stones.

The bathroom door opened, and Jason"s feet whispered across the carpet. The bed sagged as he sat beside her.

“Hey,” he whispered.

“Hey.” Though it was an effort, she opened her eyes. Jason"s face was yellowish, his eyes hollow, his hair damp. A bath towel lay on his lap. “You look like hell.”

“Thanks,” he responded. “You"re not so hot yourself, honey.”

“Hmmm. Looks like I"m gonna need a place to crash tonight.”

“Well, that side of the bed"s all yours. Knock yourself out.”

“Thanks.” Though she stared at the ceiling, Elyse felt Jason looking at her. “I didn"t know that before,” she told him.

“Know what?”

“About why you were at Baby Jane"s that night.

I never knew it was because of Coop.”

“Well, now you do.” Jason rubbed his face with the bath towel, and flung it over a chair. He flopped back onto the bed, grimacing as he looked at the mini-bar bottles lined up on the nightstand. “I was drinking my face off, trying to forget about him.” Elyse thought about the night at Baby Jane"s.

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She rarely let herself do that, and when she did it was in bits and pieces. It made her too angry, too upset, to dwell on the memories. But now as her eyes drifted closed, those memories came back as she tried to make all the puzzle pieces fit.



****

The New Moon Motel was a few blocks away, close enough to walk. Once again, the two men walked with Elyse between them. Adam"s arm was around her waist. Jason had his arm through hers, the way a gentleman might escort a lady.

“You"re so nice,” she told him. “You"re such a sweet guy. Isn"t he sweet?” she asked Adam.


“Yep. Real sweet.”

She sensed a bit of jealousy in the shortness of the answer. “You"re sweet, too.”

“Okay.”

“No, you are. Really. When you let your guard down and show people the real you.”

“Okay, Elyse.”

Adam picked up the pace, and the pointy toe of her shoe caught against an uneven rise in the sidewalk, causing her to trip. “Oof,” she muttered, stumbling against Jason.

He caught her and glared at Adam. “Slow it down, man.”

Even on the darkened street, with only the street lights for illumination, the expression Adam wore scared Elyse. He glowered at Jason, as though he wanted to punch him right in the face.

Then he looked down at Elyse with regret in his eyes. “Sorry.”

“It"s all right,” she stammered. “These shoes aren"t made for walking…”

When they reached the motel, Elyse insisted Jason not try to drive home in his inebriated state. It only made sense for him to stay in the room with them until he sobered up. Jason agreed, and went to 126

the front office to get them all some coffee, but the brew had been sitting on the burner for hours, and was totally undrinkable.

The room was regulation dumpy, but Elyse had enough residual vodka in her system to still feel like Venus on the half-shell. She kicked off her shoes and flung herself onto the bed, crawling until she half reclined on the pillows, while Jason sat in a corner armchair. Adam took a wooden straight chair next to a scarred bureau.

She and Jason chatted, trading quips back and forth. She might not remember it later but at the time, in Elyse"s alcohol-induced haze, it all seemed like marvelously witty banter. Adam was mostly silent, sitting with arms folded across his chest, watching the two of them impassively.

Suddenly the playful atmosphere changed when Adam abruptly announced, “Elyse thinks you"re hot.” Blushing, Elyse shushed him. “Adam!”

“What? That"s what you said, isn"t it?” She rolled her eyes at Jason, but couldn"t stifle a giggle. “I don"t know what"s gotten into him—” Jason smiled. “You mean you don"t think I"m hot?”

She turned even redder. “Well, sure, but—you know, we were just—”

“We were playing a game,” Adam said. “Weren"t we, Elyse? And you said you"d do him in a minute.”

“Adammm…” Elyse heard herself give another silly giggle. “Stop it.”

“It"s all right,” Jason told her in a mild voice.

“I"m flattered.”

“Sure,” Adam added. “What red-blooded man wouldn"t be flattered by some hot chick wanting to do him?”

“What red-blooded man indeed?” Jason echoed, wearing a polite smile that never reached his eyes.

Elyse looked at Adam in confusion, her smile 127

wavering. “What are you doing?”

“Just talking, that"s all. Playing. You like to play, baby. We"ve played lots of games before.”

“Not like this.” She glanced uneasily at Jason, who sat in the armchair, unmoving.

“It"s a new game,” Adam told her. “Are you up for it?” There it was. He"d thrown down the gauntlet. He was testing her, as he"d done so many times before.

How far was she prepared to go for him?

But he wouldn"t let it go too far, Elyse knew. He loved her, even if he wasn"t yet ready to tell her so.

She licked her dry lips, nervous all the same.

“What are you suggesting?”

“You think Jase is hot. I"d like to see you kiss him.”

Elyse"s gaze bounced to Jason and rebounded to Adam. Her mouth was as dry as dust.

“Say, Jase,” Adam said. “Would you like to kiss Elyse?”

Jason nodded once. “I"d enjoy it very much.” Adam gave a little wave of his hand, giving Jason the go-ahead. Jason stood and took the few steps to the bed. Elyse looked at Jason, then at Adam in confusion. She gave a small nervous laugh. Jason sat on the edge of the bed, on top of the ugly orange bedspread.

“Elyse?” he spoke politely, asking her permission.

She glanced again at Adam, her heart bumping painfully against her ribs. Did he really want this?

His face was as stiff as a mask. “Go ahead,” he murmured.

Still gazing at Adam, Elyse edged toward Jason.

When she turned her head, he was so close they almost bumped noses. He pressed his lips, soft and warm, to hers. It was a nice kiss, but almost chaste.

Jason"s lips were dry, and he made no attempt to breach her mouth.

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She looked back at Adam. She"d done what he wanted. Surely that was enough. He wouldn"t want her to go any farther.

Adam gave a tsk of annoyance. “You call that a kiss? Come on, Jase, you can do better than that.” Jason"s mouth curved in a small smile. He took no offense and simply answered “Maybe you should show me how it"s done.”

“Bet your ass.” Adam strode over to Elyse"s other side and pulled her close, crushing her against him and closing his mouth on hers. His tongue stabbed between her lips, and invaded her mouth so deeply she literally could not breathe. The taste of beer almost made her gag.

Elyse dug her fingers into his arms, and wrenched her face away from his. Dragging air into her lungs, she blinked at him in bewilderment, her mind screaming at her to run out the door. Her body trembled, as though preparing for that run.

But Adam must have misunderstood her trembling, mistaken it for arousal rather than fear.

“Now that"s how you kiss a woman, Devereaux.”

“I stand corrected.” Jason"s tone was mild. Polite, as he"d been all evening, but with an emptiness in his eyes. “Now try it again,” Adam said.

Jason turned her toward him and kissed her again, his lips gentle against hers, his tongue skimming the seam of her mouth.

As he did, she felt Adam"s hand sneak to her thigh and gently caress it, inching higher and higher.

Elyse gasped, and at her quickly indrawn breath, Jason slipped his tongue between her lips, stroking her own tongue softly. He tasted of whiskey.

His kiss was proficient, but Elyse could tell his heart wasn"t in it.

Adam"s breath wafted through her hair, and his voice was hoarse when he spoke next. “Touch her.

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Touch her here.” He lifted his hand to palm Elyse"s breast and tweak her nipple, and she felt a twang in her p-ssy. Her body had turned traitor, and didn"t care about her befuddled brain.

Before Jason touched her, she said “Wait.” Her head was spinning. She turned to look at Adam.

“What are you doing?”

“Just having fun. It"s a game, right?” A game that was going too far. Elyse was sobering up at a frightening rate of speed.

“What are you doing?” she asked again. This wasn"t supposed to be happening.

“You said he was hot, didn"t you? That you"d do him in a minute. Well, here he is. Go for it.” No. No, that wasn"t what she meant. Didn"t Adam understand she"d just been playing along with him? She hadn"t been serious.

But he was serious.

How could he do this? Hadn"t she told him just last night how much she loved him? Hadn"t she promised to wait until he was ready to tell her the same thing? She"d trusted Adam. She"d given him everything.

And now he wanted to throw it all away.

He wanted to share her with this man she"d just met. Like she was some damn chocolate bar. He wanted to break off a piece of her, and hand it to a friend. Not even a friend. Some guy he kind of knew in high school.


She was that cheap to him, that unimportant.

Elyse could almost hear her heart crack apart as it broke.



****

When Elyse looked at Jason again, he was picking up empty mini-bottles and dropping them in the trash.

“I can help,” she said, getting his attention.

“That"s okay. All done.” He deposited the last 130

empty bottle with a flourish. “I thought you were asleep.”

“No. Just…thinking.”

“Yeah, me too.” Jason took the armchair by the bed. He looked a little better now, less waxy. His demeanor had changed, as well. He was calm and determined. “I"m going back to Albany tomorrow night. I"m going to stop in for the duty visit to my parents tomorrow, and afterwards head right back to Albany. No point in hanging around. I have no reason to stay any longer.”

Neither have I. “That"s fine.” Elyse levered herself up on her elbows. “I"ll be ready.” She suddenly remembered that all her clothes were at Adam"s. Shit. For all she knew, he"d have burned them by now, or tossed them out the window all over his front lawn.

No. That wasn"t his style. Adam wasn"t spiteful.

She was the spiteful one.

“Are you sure, Leelee?”

She frowned at him. “What do you mean?” Jason leaned back in the chair, crossed his ankle against his knee. “Are you sure you and Vostek don"t have some unfinished business?”

“Jesus, didn"t you hear us ranting and raving out here? There"s nothing left for either of us to say.”

“I heard a lot of yelling, true. But that doesn"t mean you resolved anything.”

“It"ll never be resolved.” Elyse sat up against the pillows, her throat aching. The tears that didn"t come before now burned her eyes, and she blinked fiercely to hold them back. It was a losing battle.

“Aw, f*ck.” She covered her face with her hands as sobs tore through her.

“Poor baby.” Jason slid onto the bed and drew her against him. Elyse wept against his chest. “It"s all right. Just sleep on it. To quote Scarlett O"Hara, tomorrow is another day.”

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A snort exploded from her, and she thumped Jason"s chest with her fist. Here she was getting her cry on, and he had to go quoting Miz Scarlett.

Jason grabbed her fist and kissed it. “Take it easy, tiger. You"ll figure it all out in the morning.”

“Whatever. I love you, Jason.”

He patted her hand. “Sure you do, sweetie.

What"s not to love?”

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