Chapter 14
14
Despite its incredibly corny name, Flare was the hottest club in town. Well, maybe that was overstating it. Flare had opened only a few months ago and currently held the title of Greenbelt’s only real club. Residing in an old warehouse, it was four stories high and had clear glass floors that made it feel like you were walking on air. The entire second floor had been decorated to look like some kind of jungle. Lush fake greenery hung in canopies all around; even the private booths and hideaway cabanas were tucked behind thick brush and swaths of gauzy fabric. And the music was loud and thumping, with bass that made Franny move her hips the second she heard it.
Briefly, she wondered who had funded it, but there seemed to be a good deal of money flowing around town these days, and she figured the answer didn’t matter as long as she had a good time.
It was a Saturday night, so the space was packed wall-to-wall with people, some she knew and others she didn’t. Not even two hours ago, Franny had found herself once again alone in her apartment, itching for something. This time, instead of just going to Minnie’s for a slice of cobbler, she’d put on a pair of leather pants, a slinky top, and what some eighteen-year-old on YouTube had referred to as “ Euphoria makeup.” She looked sexy, and she entered the club with every intention of going home with someone.
She was horny and lonely, and it had been far too long since she’d had the company of a beautiful woman between her thighs. For a while, she’d held out hope that Jade Dunn would be that woman. But every day that passed showed her more and more how that was next to impossible. It didn’t matter how much Franny wanted her; Jade was too caught up in her own shit to realize or admit that she was just as interested.
So here she was, trying to move on from a thing that had never even started.
Franny made her way to the bar and ordered a vodka cran, and after trying to mix in the heavy pour as much as possible, she leaned against the bar to survey her surroundings.
She hadn’t been to a straight club in a very long time. Usually, if she was going for a club experience, she wanted to lose herself and come away with someone else clinging to her. That was a lot harder to do when the subjects of your desire weren’t interested on a fundamental level.
Briefly, she considered getting in her car and going to the gay club in Beaufort. But Franny knew that the second she got behind that wheel, she would take her ass to McDonald’s and back home again. Her excitement could be bolstered only so much.
She’d work with what she had and be happy about it. A few minutes into her survey of the club, a woman slid into the space at the bar next to her. A white girl with dark eyes and dirty-blond hair, she had a full sleeve of tattoos, a little lace slip dress, and a pair of combat boots.
Franny considered her for a few moments, then smiled at her when they made eye contact. She was pretty. She had a dark little mole next to her mouth and very red lips. The way she smiled, openly, told Franny everything she needed to know.
“Hi,” Franny breathed out just loud enough to be heard over the music. “What are you drinking?”
“Rum and Coke,” the woman said, her voice high and cute.
“Can I buy it for you?”
The woman pondered the question for a moment. “Only if you dance with me after.”
Franny laughed, half-tickled, half-relieved. “I can do that.”
She slid some cash over to the bartender and, without even exchanging names, the two women made their way into the crowd. Sufficiently surrounded by people, half-hidden by smoke and strobe lights, they rocked and grinded to the music. The other woman had very little rhythm, but Franny found it more adorable than anything else. Their hips and chests bumped and rubbed together, and every time they got close, Franny could see that they were both breathing hard.
The song changed in a slow transition. It was something that Franny didn’t recognize, but her dance partner sure did because she threw her hands up in joy, sending a large wave of rum and soda all down the front of Franny’s clothes.
“Oh my God,” the girl said. “I’m so sorry. Oh my God.”
Franny grimaced, feeling soaked and sticky. “It’s all right. I just need to clean up.”
“Come on, I know where the bathroom is. I’ll clean you up.” The woman grabbed her hand and began leading her through the crowd.
Franny was glad that the club was still relatively new. This meant that the bathrooms weren’t horrifically gross yet. The woman pushed her back up against the sink and grabbed some paper towels. After wetting them, she started to dab at Franny’s skin, only she wasn’t really hitting the areas that had been affected by the spill, like her chest and breasts. Instead, she focused on Franny’s arms, which were almost completely dry.
In the bright lights of the bathroom, Franny could see that the woman looked much more intoxicated than she had out in the club. Not stumbling and blackout, but far drunker than Franny was comfortable with.
Suddenly, she felt tired. Maybe this had been a bad idea. Maybe she should have just gone to Minnie’s after all.
“Umm.” She cleared her throat. “Are you here with anybody?”
“Mm-hmm.” The girl nodded, still dabbing at a dry spot near Franny’s left elbow. “I’m here with my sisters; my youngest is getting married next week.”
“Right.” Franny racked her brain, trying to figure out how to get out of this so she could leave without a fuss.
“They must be missing you by now. Maybe you sh—” Franny broke off with a jolt.
The bathroom had been silent and empty, so the sound of the door opening startled them both. A woman in a short bob wig came in, and Franny got a sinking feeling in her stomach as she recognized her.
Jade Dunn.
In a tight pair of cargo pants that cinched at her waist and ankles, open-toed pumps, and a bralette. Her skin was sparkling, and her mouth looked dark and luscious. She was also completely sober from what Franny could tell.
Jade eyed the scene in front of her, her eyes widening as she took in the closeness of the two women.
Franny cleared her throat and straightened up from her position against the sink. Forcing the woman who had been leaning against her to stand upright as well.
“Sorry to interrupt…” Jade didn’t sound sorry at all.
“You didn’t,” Franny insisted. “We were just… There was a spill and…”
“Right,” Jade said. She rolled her eyes and sauntered past them into a stall.
“I think I’m okay now,” Franny told the other woman quietly. “Thank you for helping me.”
The woman nodded. “You want to go back out there and dance some more? We were having a fun time before.”
A thump, then a curse sounded from the stall Jade had entered.
“Thank you, but… I think I’m going to head home. I’m all sticky now.”
The woman nodded, pondering for a second before she shrugged, blew Franny a kiss, and pushed out the door and back into the crowd.
Without thinking, Franny immediately turned the lock on the door behind her. If she had Jade in the same space as she was in, Franny wasn’t letting her go without… something.
She turned to the sink to wash her hands, biding her time. When Jade exited the stall, Franny was leaning against the sink again with her arms crossed over her chest. Jade was silent as she washed her hands.
“Were you sitting here waiting for me?” Jade finally asked. “Like some kind of fucking stalker?”
“Yes,” Franny said simply. “Because you owe me an explanation.”
Jade pulled the paper towels out of the dispenser hard. “I don’t owe you shit, Lim.”
“You come to my house and tuck me in, you clean up, you cook for me, you drive me fucking crazy with your kisses, and then you sit across from me like I don’t mean shit to you.”
“That’s because you don’t—”
Franny was up on her in an instant. “Don’t fucking lie, Dunn. You’re incredibly bad at it. You think I can’t tell when a woman wants me? Especially when I want her back?”
Jade’s eyes were a lighter brown around the edges of her irises. More caramel than chocolate. But in this moment, they were darker. When Franny’s gaze caught on them, she had to fight not to get lost inside. Jade narrowed her eyes and pushed closer until their faces were inches apart.
“I’m going to tell you this one time, Lim, one goddamn time. You don’t know me. I don’t know what’s convinced you that you do, but you don’t. So whatever you think it is I feel for you, you’d better go back to the drawing board and reassess. Because the only thing on my mind whenever I see you is something between contempt and boredom.”
Franny had to push away the hurt that began to well up in her chest at the words. They were hard to hear, but she could see clearly that they weren’t true. Jade was panicking at her own feelings—even if that feeling was only lust—and freaking out. Those dark eyes looked wild, almost frenzied. Franny realized that she wasn’t going to get to the bottom of this by going toe-to-toe in an argument with the other woman. She was going to have to try a different approach.
So she shrugged. “Maybe that’s what’s happening in your mind, but your body tells a different story.”
Jade started to shake her head, but Franny wasn’t letting her get a word in.
“You’re breathing all hard, like you just ran five miles.” Franny didn’t touch Jade, but she hovered her palm a few inches above her bare chest. “I can practically feel your lungs contracting from here. Why is that?”
Jade’s lip curled up. “I get passionate when I’m angry.”
“Boredom is the opposite of passion,” Franny said, smirking. “No one who makes you bored should make your heart beat like this. They probably shouldn’t make your nipples so hard either.”
“You’re fucking infuriating,” Jade grunted.
“Fury also isn’t a characteristic of boredom.” Franny bumped their noses together, expecting Jade to jump back. She didn’t. In fact, her eyes almost crossed. “It seems to me that what you really feel when you look at me is… want.”
Franny reached out and put her hands on opposite sides of the sink behind Jade. “You want me, Jade Dunn. You want me bad.”
Jade started to shake her head, the need to deny clear in her eyes, even as it battled with the desire to give in to what she really wanted.
“You want me,” Franny whispered, eyes locked on the other woman’s plump lips. “Just admit it. Admit you want me, and I’ll walk out of h—”
Then there were hands on her waist, pushing and pulling her away and spinning her body around until she was being urged to jump up and sit on the edge of the sink. Jade maneuvered between her thighs, and their mouths were pressed together so comfortably it was as if they’d never stopped kissing in the first place.
“I don’t know what the fuck you do to me,” Jade said, pulling away too soon to bite and lick at the warm skin of Franny’s jaw. “No one has ever…”
“Me either,” Franny gasped as that warm tongue ventured down to her neck. She was still sticky from the rum and Coke, but Jade seemed to be lapping it up happily.
Jade nipped at the skin of her chest, just above her breasts. “Oh God…” she moaned, spreading her legs farther, searching for any kind of friction.
“Can I take them out?” Jade asked her.
“I’ll die if you don’t.”
Without a bra, it was quick maneuvering for Jade to pull her tits out of her shirt; she didn’t even have to take it off before her dark nipples were bare and ready. Jade’s tongue was on them the second they touched the air, gently biting at one while rubbing the other with her thumb.
Franny writhed above her as if she’d never been touched. Her ass no doubt bruising from the uncomfortable porcelain sink, she still couldn’t think of a single place she’d rather be.
Jade pulled back and looked up at her, eyes blazing. “You want to show me how wet you are?”
Before she could even get any words out, Franny’s fingers went to the button of her pants, popping it open and shoving them halfway down her thighs. She wore a pair of little see-through black panties, very different from her day-to-day underwear. She was glad that she’d had the foresight to dress for the occasion, because Jade’s reaction to them only made Franny’s pussy flood even more.
“Touch me,” Franny begged.
“I’m touching you now,” Jade mumbled around her nipple. She’d cleaned Franny’s chest completely with her tongue.
“My pussy, Jade. Touch my pussy.”
Jade panted, but apparently found herself just as desperate. One of her hands slowly trailed down Franny’s belly, taking a second to circle around, then dip into her belly button. By the time that hand reached the edge of her panties and slipped inside, sliding through her soft curls until they found her clit, Franny was ready to explode.
Jade’s fingers had barely circled her four times before her orgasm slammed into her like a freight train. She’d been so wound up for so long that her pussy pulsed and wetted even more as she reached out to cling to the shoulders of the woman touching her.
“What the fuck,” she muttered, her thighs tense as she started to come down.
“Are you always this sensitive?” Jade asked her.
“No,” Franny panted. “This is all your fault.”
Jade’s finger stopped its circling to go farther down her slit, collecting her juices and sliding into her sensitive entrance. “I want you to give me another one, Francesca.”
Franny threw her head back against the mirror, trying to spread her thighs wider but hindered by the presence of her pants. It was incredibly hot that they were doing this here, in some filthy club bathroom where anybody could find them, but she also wished that they were in bed. That way, they could take their time, spread out, touch, and taste every inch of each other.
“More,” she begged, “give me more.”
“You want another finger?” Jade’s voice was rough.
Franny nodded.
“Greedy fucking pussy,” Jade growled, sliding her index finger into Franny, scissoring the two to open her up more before she started fucking her with them in earnest.
Their mouths connected again, sloppy and rough as Franny started to move her hips against Jade’s fingers. Franny bit down on Jade’s bottom lip, forcing her to hiss, then curl her fingers upward in retaliation. Franny’s resulting moan was loud enough to shake the walls, but Jade made no attempt to shush her. Instead, she grinned wolfishly and repeated the action.
“My clit, Jade. Please touch my clit.”
“Hush,” Jade said, her come-hither motions making Franny’s pussy gush. She was so wet she could see streams trailing down the other woman’s wrist. It was an incredible thing, to see and smell the evidence of her desire so clearly. “I know what I’m doing.”
“You’re killing me,” Franny groaned.
“No, I’m fucking you.”
Jade’s mouth latched onto some skin right above Franny’s right nipple. Sucking and biting the heated skin until Franny was a bumbling, wailing mess. Jade added a third finger, then, as she got wetter, another and another, until her pussy was filled to the brim with all Jade’s fingers up to the knuckle. She was stretched and soaked and deliciously overwhelmed. Every moment, she got closer and closer to her finish. The coil in her belly wound tightly, and as it did, every part of her body tensed up. Her nipples were painfully hard. Her ass was clenched so tight it almost lifted off the sink. Even her toes curled.
“I’m going to come.” Her words were strangled and frantic. “I’m going to come, Jade.”
There was a hiss from them both as Jade withdrew her thumb from inside Franny’s pussy, putting it directly on her clit, circling it at a fast, steady pace. Then her mouth left the spot she’d been focusing on to wrap around a nipple.
Franny opened her eyes and looked down at Jade between her thighs, mouth to her breast, fingers in her cunt. Sensing that she was being watched, Jade looked up, and their gazes caught.
In the end, that was all it took to finish Franny off. Her legs shook, and her pussy seized up around the fingers fucking her into oblivion. She tried to bite down on her lip to keep from being too loud, but it was unavoidable. The sounds that left her lips could have been mistaken for sobs, and from the way tears welled up in the corners of her eyes from the force of her orgasm, they might well have been.
Her teeth chattered as she came down, hissing as Jade slowly extracted her fingers and mouth, giving her overstimulated body a moment of peace.
They didn’t take their eyes off each other. Not even when Jade lifted her hand to Franny’s mouth, urging her to clean up the mess she’d made. And she did, slowly, achingly.
“You’re so beautiful when you come.” Jade’s voice was still ragged, and she held her body rigid. Franny could see her nipples hard as points beneath her shirt, and she reached out, desperate to make the other woman feel good too.
Jade shook her head, leaning forward to plant a short kiss on her lips. “We’ve been in here too long.”
“Come back to my house.”
“I can’t. You know I can’t.”
Franny hung her head, jumping off from the sink and righting her pants again. “You can. You just don’t want to.”
“Oh, I want to. Trust me.”
“So do it, Jade. Come back with me. Let me… let me make you feel good.”
Jade was silent for a few moments, and Franny watched as the heated lust faded from her eyes second by second. The desire was still there, but her head was obviously clearing the fog it brought.
“We can’t do this again,” Jade said, “Even if… even if it weren’t for all the other shit. It’s bad business to sleep with a coworker. You know how messy that gets.”
Not for the first time, Franny found herself wishing that she and Jade had met under completely different circumstances. In another world, they’d come across each other for the first time in this very club, sneaking off to the bathroom to hook up after grinding too closely to each other. No rivalry, no stakes, just the two of them ready, willing, and able to sink into whatever was obviously between them.
“We can try,” Franny said. Her tone was dangerously close to a whine as she reached out, hands on Jade’s arms.
Jade shook her head. “I’m sorry.”
That right there was a thousand times worse than any slick barb or smart-ass remark she could have made. Franny could see in her eyes that those two words were real and heartily felt. She was sorry too. Sorry that she wanted Jade so much. Sorry that she couldn’t manage to convince her that whatever obstacles she thought were between them could be easily hurdled if they just tried.
“Right,” Franny said, swallowing. She couldn’t find it in herself to beg another woman to love her. The last time she had, she’d been crushed when it hadn’t worked. She couldn’t do it again, not now.
“We can’t do this again,” Jade said. “We have to be… We just can’t.”
Franny’s throat was too thick to speak, so she nodded.
Jade used a hand to brush some of Franny’s hair away from her face, cupping her cheek with that same hand, thumb stroking over her flushed skin. Franny’s eyes watered, and she made no effort to hide it.
“Francesca…” Jade whispered, pressing the softest, most delicate kiss to Franny’s lips before disappearing from the bathroom so quickly Franny was left wondering if any of it had happened at all.