Neighbor Chronicles Redux Ch. 01

"It depends, do you really want me to behave differently?" Jack volleyed right back.

Amber stopped for a few moments and turned away, her hand moved to scratch her chin. Jack couldn't help but crack a smile at her silent admission.

"Respectful. It needs to be respectful. If we do anything again, after what happened, we're going to implement some rules. I'm going to outline what is and isn't okay and you're going to have to live with it. One strike--and you're out."

Jack crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat, waiting for her to begin.

"First, it's on my terms. I'll do what I'm comfortable with, and there's trust that needs to be rebuilt. Nothing moves forward until you can prove you can handle boundaries."

"I thought I did pretty well in reading what you were comfortable with," Jack drawled, a playful smirk danced across his face, "How many incredible feelings would you have missed out on if I didn't push you a little?"

Amber's glare was betrayed by the blush on her cheeks.

"Safe words. Then everything stops."

"Alright, deal. Stoplight colors work well. 'Green' means go. 'Yellow' to slow down, check in. 'Red' stops everything. Yeah?"

Amber rested her hand on her chin, index finger rubbing against her lips, as she considered the suggestion. That was better than what she had in mind and afforded her more flexibility. Why didn't they use this before?

"Okay, that'll work. Good. And if I tell you something is off the table before or during a hook up, you don't push it unless I verbally change my mind."

"Fine," Jack waved his hand, eager to move forward from this topic, "Anything else?"

"Yes. Condoms. I took a huge risk with you before and the consequences of something going wrong are not worth the risk."

Amber felt her temper flare as Jack chortled in response. He leaned forward before speaking again--

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A man and a woman were seated at a table halfway between the front door and the sequestered booth currently occupied by Jack and Amber.

"Did you see that large, somewhat grotesque-looking man come in a bit earlier?"

"Phillip, please," the woman snapped, "You could stand to be a little more polite."

"Sorry, the 'larger' gentleman," Phillip corrected.

"Why yes I did."

"I think he sat with that blonde woman we saw come in earlier."

Shock colored the woman's face, "The one who looked like a supermodel?"

"I think so. And she didn't get up, yell, or try to run away."

Phillip leaned over the side of the table, craning his neck in order to get a better look. The woman with him turned around in her seat, attempting to do the same.

"Do you think she needs help? Should we walk by just to make sure?"

"Mary, please. If we see or hear something weird we can help, but we don't want to make a scene."

Phillip took a long sip from his cup, "I wonder if they know each other."

"What would a woman like that be doing with a guy like him?" Mary asked, still confused.

Phillip shrugged, his eyebrows lifting with his shoulders.

Mary immediately picked up on his insinuation, "Oh come on, you don't really think--"

"You never know. What money doesn't spend?" he tilted his head down, sipping again from his cup, eyes looking up at Mary over his glasses.

"Or maybe he's hung like a horse."

Phillip sputtered at her remark, spilling tea all over himself. Mary covered her mouth, trying to stifle her laughter.

"Babe, what the fuck?" Phillip started drying himself with napkins from the table's center console.

"I don't know, you're telling me you wouldn't at least be interested in watching them fuck?"

Phillip was quiet for a moment after he finished cleaning himself off.

"I mean... I have a--morbid curiosity, I guess." he admitted sheepishly.

"God, now I want to ask her," Mary bit her lip and turned again, trying to get a better look.

"Honey, now you're going too far."

"Oh? Whenever I get sexually frustrated it tends to work out in your favor," she teased, "But fine, I'll just drop it."

Mary shrugged with a sigh and looked away before finishing her tea.

"Uh, no! Wait, um--"

Mary cackled at his flustered response.

"You're hopeless. I'll go order you another tea, mister clumsy," she jabbed lovingly as she stood. She looked back again towards the booth where Amber and Jack were sitting, "And I may just hit the restroom on my way back."

**************************

"...That would drive Bill crazy--" Amber blurted out. Her face turned pink as she realized she had said it out loud. Her hands instinctively rushed to cover her mouth, stopping short in her efforts to maintain her composure. She failed to look any less ridiculous, as they remained a tangled mess in front of her as she struggled to reboot. She could feel the heat in her face and her heartbeat in her throat.

Jack threw his head back laughing "Hold your horses now, we're just getting coffee! I'd have to check my schedule to see if I'd even be able to meet up anytime soon."

Amber looked down as she brushed her hands down the front of her shirt, "Oh, um, have you been, uh, dating again recently?" Amber asked as she managed to regain her composure.

"Not dating really, more so just meeting up with couples again. Even then, it's been a few weeks since the last meetup. It's been years since I had done anything like that, but after the whirlwind of experiences with you and your husband. It can be fun, but it's been generally pretty impersonal--it's not the most organic or exciting thing over the long run in most cases," he stared down at the coffee cup wrapped between both of his meaty hands. Amber could have sworn she heard him release a small sigh.

"Oh? No other particular reason for that?" She shot him a devious smile over an arched eyebrow as she brought her own cup to her lips.

Jack stared at her wide-eyed for a second before assuming the machismo role she was much more familiar with. His eyes regained that greedy glint she had come to both hate and enjoy as he took another sip of his drink, "Maybe one or two other reasons," he quipped, allowing his eyes a quick glance at her chest.

Amber chuckled, looking down into her almost empty cup as she regained a serious tone, "If we do this--or anything--again, it has to be different. No exceptions."

Jack recognized this serious tone, and he almost felt bad when he felt his member stir at her command.

He took a deep breath and correctly opted to be earnest rather than dismissive.

"Understood. The respect and trust you have with your husband makes this possible in the first place. It isn't worth risking by getting impatient."

Amber blushed again, but maintained her composure, "Right. It's only possible with that. As long as that respect is maintained--then the fun part is the easy part."

"For you or for Bill?"

Amber tilted her head to one side, slightly confused. Jack shifted his weight so he was leaning over the table, maintaining eye-contact.

"Are you sure that you want to do this again?"

Amber was slightly taken aback.

"Um--yeah. I think today went well enough. I wanted to see if you really meant what you said in your letter," she responded.

Jack studied her face carefully.

"I understand Bill being on board again, but what about you? You made it clear to me before that you were only involved with me for him. So--am I correct in assuming that is no longer the only reason you'd like to try this again?"

"Maybe," Amber teased, a knowing smile crossing her face, "Maybe not."

She paused before she spoke further, tone serious once more.

"If you feel that this progressing differently is going to be any less fun for you, then we should end things here."

"Hey now, I can be reasonable! And moving forward with your rules in place doesn't mean we can't also get a little rough, right? After all, you seemed to enjoy that aspect quite a bit," Jack risked a smirk as he finished, his heart rate quickening at his gambit.

Amber narrowed her eyes, the color on her cheeks betraying her annoyed expression.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Amber suddenly seemed very interested in fixing some non-existent knot in a lock of her hair.

"Right. Of course," Jack paused for a moment before he leaned forward.

Amber swallowed hard before she posited her next question.

"Are you still meeting up with other couples?" Amber drew in a deep breath, unsure if her attempts to hide her nerves were successful.

"I don't currently have plans to see any couples again if that's what you mean," Jack smiled at her again before taking another sip of his drink.

"Really? You haven't really clicked with anybody?"

"Not really. Met with some interesting couples, but with supervision and so many rules and demands it can feel restrictive, especially with people you've just met. Not to mention the awkwardness when a woman can't even take it without howling in pain," Jack shrugged, "And even if they could manage it, they'd often get too sore to go very long."

"Oh, I guess I never realized how restrictive that might be," Amber empathized, "I had friends through med school and college that used to complain about guys being too large. Bill was larger than anyone I had ever seen when we got together, but I never had a problem, so I never thought about it much."

"No surprises there," Jack teased as he flashed her a grin, "Porn definitely skews what people expect and what they think they want. Hearing a man's wife beg for a big dick, only for it to fit halfway after half an hour of foreplay is brutal. It's funny, like 'why are you bringing me into your bedroom for this if you're already much better suited for the job?' Just funny, that's all."

"That ever make dating hard?" Amber asked, enjoying this more open side of her cantankerous neighbor.

"Oh yeah," he laughed, "definitely. It made it hard to tell early on who actually liked you and who just heard some rumors. I got better at navigating it eventually, but it made for some misunderstandings. I gotta applaud the internet today. Sharing everything up front may be boring, but at least it keeps you from insulting some beauty by accident, leaving you with your pants around your ankles and a horrible case of blue balls."

Amber noticed Jack shiver at what must have been a memory before he continued.

"Overall though I think things changed for the better. I can say for a fact a lot has changed since the 90's. Less drugs and infidelity for one. And couples being more up front about what they want makes for less headaches down the line."

"Look at you! So that's where you got the stoplight color safe words from," Amber teased, "You always struck me as too stubborn to learn new tricks. Or non-sexual tricks, at least."

"Hey now, I ran a business for years! I had to adapt all the fucking time depending on what craziness was going on. I'm sure you must encounter that yourself at the hospital."

"As a resident? Ab-so-fuckin-lutely. Some days are easy, other days it's a madhouse."

"You almost done with that? With your residency?"

"Yeah, getting there. I think they're going to keep me on afterward as an attending physician--It's been a good fit so far."

I wonder why, Jack thought to himself. He knew better than to step on that landmine. Obviously Amber was very bright, and he found himself hoping her pig-headed administrators recognized that first and foremost. Probably not though--Fuckers.

"Jack?" Amber asked, pulling him from his thoughts, "It's getting a bit late. This was a lot nicer than I thought it'd be. I'll text you--this week, maybe?"

She blushed a bit at her proposal.

"Yeah, that sounds great," he tried smiling as handsomely as he could manage, "I agree. It's been a pleasure seeing you again."

Jack could have easily ended on a tactless double entendre--this however, felt... earnest.

"One last thing," Jack asked, "I assume you're planning on telling Bill about what we discussed?"

Amber crossed her arms. "Of course."

"Even that one bit we discussed leaving out earlier? For his own enjoyment, of course."

Amber glared at the large man across from her, housing an unmistakable glint in his eyes.

"I'll think about it. And you'll be happy with whatever I decide."

"Fair enough!" Jack broke into a toothy grin, "Your consideration is all I ask."

He stood as he finished, bending forward with his right arm in front of him as he raised his left at his side in a comical bow, prompting an eye roll and laughter from Amber.

They both stood up together, cleared their table, and made their way to the exit. Jack pushed open the door for Amber. As she thanked him, he gently laid his hand on her lower back, as if he was guiding her through. Amber felt a familiar shiver at the apex of her thighs at the gesture. If Jack had been facing her, he would have seen her cheeks flush in the cold wind of early spring. They turned the corner, and without a word, each went their separate ways.

**************************

Amber could still feel the ghost of Jack's hand on her back as she sat down in the driver's seat. She took a deep breath, trying to slow her racing heart, as she started her vehicle. Though heat building above her thighs failed to dissipate until she made it home.

**************************

Jack's hand felt electrified. It was actually happening. Today was supposed to be a disaster. It felt like the best case scenario going in would be Amber storming out without slapping him across the face, but he somehow pulled off a miracle!

It still felt odd, this feeling of absolute victory accompanied by the knots twisting in his stomach. Openness wasn't a reality he could avoid any longer. She obviously still didn't trust him all that much, but her behavior showed that made little difference in what was to come. If he could just stick it out over the long run...