Revenge On An Old Flame

I had been out of college for about five years, working in a large West Coast city as an economist for an import/export firm, when I got the call. I was in the middle of a large transaction involving shipments of Australian beer, of all things, and was awaiting the final import duty figures when the phone rang. I whipped it up off of its carriage and barked, "Ok, what do you have for me?" Silence, and then an amused female voice said, "That depends. Do I get dinner first?" And the world stopped for a moment.

Jana had that sort of effect on me, and I had never - quite - gotten over it. "Um, you still there, Dave?" There was the slightest hesitation in her voice, as if she understood how hard it was to talk to her.

"Yeah, I'm here. How did you get my number?"

"Your brother took pity on me. I think I cried a little. That seemed to help."

"It would. He's a sucker that way."

"You were, too, once." Her voice was warm, friendly.

"Once. Things change. So, what do you want?"

"Do I have to want something?"

"No. You don't. It just always seems to work out that way." There was a long silence, and I could hear her breathing. I knew this ploy really well. If she waited long enough, the silence would eventually be filled by the other person, in this case, she obviously hoped, by me. I crooked the phone onto my shoulder and went back to work. She lasted about three minutes. "Are you still there, Davie?"

Jesus. Davie. What the hell was she up to?

"Ok, fine. I'm in town. I want to talk to you."

I paused. "Why? What would be the point?" And here came the warmth she was known for, the charm. "Do I have to have a reason, really, to see you? I care about you, you know that."

Yikes. Much worse than I had thought on first take.

"Uh-huh. Ok. Look, a person doesn't always have to have a reason, but I've never known you to not have one, so what is it?"

"It's just, I'm buying for the store and I'm in town by myself. I just thought you and I could get together and chat." The store. A poor play, but better than none. I hated that goddamn store, and hated the owner worse. I started to lose my cool in spite of myself, and then forced myself back under control. Two years of thickened skin ought to count for something. I thought for a moment, and then decided. "You want to get together and chat? Chat?" I let that word hang on the line for a moment. "Ok, fine. Where are you staying?" She told me, and then told me that her hotel had a terrific restaurant, which I knew. It was also very close to her room, which I also knew, and which I wanted no damned part of. I named a different place, farther uptown, and she agreed. "Should I meet you there," she asked, amusement in her voice.

"No, I'll make the reservations and pick you up around eight. I won't be able to get out of here for another couple of hours." We agreed to meet out front of the hotel, and I rang off. I had to think.

Jana and I had been a three year item in college. She was strikingly gorgeous, golden-red hair, legs to there and tits out to THERE. And she knew it. She always knew the effect she had on people, and learned to play the game like an absolute stone cold pro. And like a pro, she rarely let on that she was playing at all.

Interestingly, my parents had never really liked her. I should have taken that as a sign at the time, but I was so incredibly stuck on Jana, that I didn't listen. Only in retrospect did I understand what they were saying from the start. And it hurt like hell to understand that they were right.

My parents are well off, pretty rich, really. Some year, I stand to inherit a lot of stock in the company, but in the meantime, they are taking care of the business and adding to the fortune. And, considering that they are both in their early 50s, they're likely to be around another 30 to 40 years, which I'm pretty damned happy about. They're great people, and while they miss me, they're glad I have been making it on my own, on my own merit. That's important. And from my perspective, I take nothing from them. Ok, birthday gifts and small presents at Christmas. I stress small, because they gave me my first car at Christmas when I was 15. They indulged me then, and I loved it. I loved their money, and loved what I could buy with it.

And I loved Jana. Her family was not rich, but they did fine. I liked her parents, still do. When Jana and I became an item, they looked forward to having me around, just as I looked forward to them as in-laws. As I said, Jana and I dated for three years, and those were steamy years, let me tell you. She had an incredible body, and she knew how to use every inch of it. We would make love for hours, just hibernate and screw. She used to shave her pussy, and it was so damn smooth and sweet that we would fall into a 69 and drive each other completely berserk as a game to see who could get the other to go first, or scream loudest, or whatever. And she loved to show herself off. We used to go out on the town, and she would wear clothes that would have caused riots in earlier times. They damn near caused them in ours. She loved low cut dresses that bloused out and let her tits flash naked and then hidden. She loved thong underwear, when she bothered to wear any, and her legs were so taut and nice she rarely wore hose. Consequently, her usual sort of outfit consisted of a dress and a pair of shoes. And that was it.

As a horny young one, of course, I loved it. I loved having the greatest looking girl I knew on my arm and in my bed. I loved being able to cop a feel of her in public, just out of sight, or when we were really drunk, in sight but not giving a damn. And we used to screw whenever and wherever the mood struck. We would be walking down a sidewalk, kissing periodically, and one of us would pull the other into a deep doorway and zip! flip! Ready for action and screwing like mink. And then she got the job at the store. Braxton's, to be exact, which is a Midwest clothing giant. They have stores in malls all over Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota and Illinois. And Jana got a job in purchasing. Let's be honest. She was talented and hard working, and within six months, she was a buyer. Within a year, she was the assistant manager in charge of women's clothing. And then when the manager moved up, she got that promotion too.

At age 23, she was taking trips to the coasts and to France and England to buy for the chain. And then she met Jonas Braxton, the man who built it all. He was in his seventies when they met, and I don't know when it started, but she set her sights on him from the beginning. I didn't know that then. Now I do. The sad thing is how I found out. Jana and I had set the date for our wedding, and when it was about a month away, she called it off. She met me one evening at my place and was waiting for me when I got home. She sat at the bar and was twirling a key on a ring. When I walked over to her to kiss her, she turned her cheek and backed away. And then she handed me the key and told me it was over, that she had decided to move on. It got worse. She told me everything. How she'd been fucking him for months, chasing him, making herself available for trips, for everything. And he'd bitten strong. Why not? As I said, Jana was gorgeous. And, oh, by the way, the wedding was off. She and Jonas were getting married in two weeks. She said she was sorry, that she had to look out for her future, for her career. And then she left without a backwards glance.

My world cratered. It took months to get it together again, years to trust another girl. But I did get it together. My parents helped, but it was mostly a case of denial and grunt work studying to finish my degree in three and a half years (plus a summer session). I borrowed a grub stake and moved after I graduated, accepting the first plausible job that came along. And then I began to climb. Now, five years later, I was one step down from a vice-presidency in the company. I had charted my course. Within ten years, I would be running the place. My brother kept me up to date on what Jana was doing, whenever I got stupid and asked, which, for a while, was too often. She had gotten married, and was helping her husband run the place. Then, about two years after she had broken things off, she suddenly appeared back in my life. For almost three weeks, she stayed in town, and it was like we had never been apart. She had rushed back into my life, saying she had been wrong and stupid, that she had fallen for Braxton, but had not taken into account the age difference. It was just too much, she said, and she was trying to figure out what she needed to do next. She needed my help.

Of course I offered to help. Of course. I was still in love with her and would have cheerfully slit my wrists to help her. So we talked a lot at first, and then fell back into a sexual relationship that was, if anything, even more astonishing than it had been. I could not take any time off, so I would work during the day and we would spend the nights making love over and over again until we got sore, and then figured out ways to work around the pain.

One afternoon, she came to my office, a first, wearing a business suit and glasses. Her hair was up, and she carried a briefcase. She looked very businesslike, and she told my secretary that she had an appointment. When I saw who it was, I let her in. She closed and locked the door behind her, then started a very slow, very sensual, and very very filthy striptease. She caressed her tits luxuriantly inside her jacket, and when she tossed the thing to the floor, her nipples were plainly visible - and plainly erect - through a sheer white blouse. Each button was an eternity as she stood there, hands roaming all over her form. When the last button was unbuttoned, she took her time about pulling the tails of the blouse from her skirt. She turned around, letting the blouse hang open, then bent way over. Her skirt rode up on her thighs, giving me a clear view of her tight ass and the tips of her tits between her legs. The she pulled the skirt a little higher, and then a bit more. She slowly, ever so slowly, backed up to me until her ass was within reaching distance. I still don't know exactly what she had in mind, because I reached out and yanked the skirt the rest of the way up around her waist and pulled her to me. Her cleft was very damp and I could smell her getting hotter. I put a finger up against her pussy and it sank deeply into her without the slightest friction. I reached up inside her to just behind her pubic bone and gently flicked my finger. She squirmed agreeably, and I got my face down there and began to work her over with my tongue. She started whimpering and pushing back against me, trying to get me deeper inside her. I spread her legs out a bit wider, and when it became obvious she was going to fall without help, I jumped up and positioned her over the back of my couch. She spread widely and I worked her over, nibbling and flicking with my tongue, trying to drive her to a quick orgasm.

Jana was very multi-orgasmic, but it worked better if she came first very quickly. If that happened, the fun was on for as long as we could both stand it. I could feel her legs getting rubbery as the orgasm approached, and just as it appeared obvious she was going to cum within seconds, I stood and buried my dick inside her. She whooped and cried out, cumming shatteringly. She threw herself from side to side, her tits flowing back and forth, moving the shirt like a sail. She grasped her nipples and pulled them sharply, and I felt her pussy contract on me, cranking down and then loosening. I pulled out, stripped her quickly, then put her on her back on my desk. Her tits pointed slightly outwards and her legs were as wide open as she could manage. As I stepped in, she grabbed my ass and pulling me closer. I pounded away at her for quite awhile, it seemed, and she just got louder and louder. I finally got up on the desk with her so I could kiss her and shut her up. And when she torched off again, she took me with her. I came so hard I got a cramp in my ass, but I stayed in her until my dick deflated and popped out by itself. She got herself dressed a few moments later and told me she was going back to the hotel so I could work. What she didn't tell me was that she was leaving town. I had to find that out for myself. She also didn't bother telling me about the child she and her husband had, conveniently, some nine months later. I had no proof that it was mine; still don't, and probably never will. There was nothing I could do but feel betrayed - again. It was a very tough time, and it lasted for months.

Slowly, the blackness lifted and, with the help of a lady in my firm, I was able to move beyond Jana into something resembling a relationship. And even though it didn't last, Grace Davis was every bit the woman suggested by her name. Which led me back to the phone call and the evening with Jana.

I stayed in my office until I had to go or be late. There was a considerable interest on my part in standing her up, but I decided I probably ought to find out what she was planning. Forewarned is forearmed, you know. I was running a little late when I left the office, but figured I'd be fine. I mean, what was she going to do? Leave without telling me what was going on? Been there, done that, have the tattoo.

I pulled into the roundabout in front of the hotel, and she was standing out front, talking to the concierge looking like an absolute angel. The dress was black with white with a jacket, Halston, perhaps, and was stunning. There were slits here and there which accented her legs, but the big draw was the low cut front, which displayed, classily, I admit, a rather astonishing set of 38D cha-chas. But unlike the case sometimes with a stunning outfit where the dress wears the person, this was a case where the girl very definitely wore the dress. Her hair was out, full and wavy. Her cheeks were flushed slightly, lips full and inviting. The eyes? A charming and vivid blue. I was well and truly screwed. She had brought up the big artillery and was armed for battle.

This would be ugly, and if I weren't really careful, she'd stomp my heart into flinders again.

I stopped, the concierge handed her into my BMW, and we drove off to the restaurant I had selected, an Italian place with some secluded seating areas and terrific food. I could take or leave Italian food, myself, but Jana loved it, and I figured anything that could throw off her concentration was a good thing. We arrived, were seated as per reservation, and got settled in with decent Chianti. "So, do we talk about old times for a bit, or do you just tell me why you wanted to talk to me?" I was in no mood to be overly pleasant.

She frowned. "I know I've given you no reason to be happy I'm here, but I thought it would be nice to re-connect." I know I raised an eyebrow at this point. "We have such a lot of history together.." She paused and gave me a slight, but perceptible leer. "And we've always gotten along so well. I just thought we ought to talk."

"Talk? What about? Commodity prices, shipping schedules, or what Parisian models are making, presupposing a franc to dollar exchange?" I sipped my wine. "Ok, look. I showed up. I'm here. It's your dime. What's on your mind?"

"Is there any reason we can't be civil about this?"

"Takes too long, and I have a Yankees game I'm just dying to watch." She looked at me speculatively.

"What would you say if I told you that Jonas and I are through?" I looked at her expressionlessly.

"Bummer. Too bad. Next question?"

"Don't you want to know why?" She leaned over slightly, blousing the front of her dress and exposing the tops of her breasts. So? I'd already seen them naked. Then why did her movement have an effect on me? Damn it. I carefully kept my face blank. "Let's see, because you haven't fucked with my head in a couple of years and you like that sort of thing? Close?"

"Actually, I missed you."

"Not buying it. Try again." I took another sip of the Chianti, and then decided I had better stay clear headed.

"It's true." She looked a little bitter. "You want to know what my life is like?"

I hoped it was Hell. "Champagne wishes and caviar dreams, yes?"

"Not hardly. Jonas is seventy-three years old. And he had prostate cancer a couple of years ago." She took a quick drink. "Dead from the waist down

"There's ways around that."

"And he uses them. With his secretary." She genuinely looked pissed, which amazed me. "This broad has been with him since the dawn of time, is twice my age and looks it. He's in love with her. Whatever. But guess what else?"

"Wouldn't attempt it."

"After our son was born, Jonas fired me! He fired me and made me stay home with the kid!" I couldn't help smiling, even though the fact that she obviously WASN'T in town to buy for the store gave me pause.

"Maybe he wanted the little heir to the throne to grow up in a normal house. You know, mom stays home, dad goes to work. Father Knows Best kind of universe."

"I was head of purchasing for the whole company, and he tells me my services are needed elsewhere, that I need to stay home with Everett, and that my position will be filled by my assistant! I couldn't believe it!"

"You know, I think I was right the first time. He probably thought you would want to take care of little.what was his name, Everett?" She nodded. "Lots of moms would want to. He might have thought he was doing you both a favor."

"I know more about the company than he does now. I'd been there every day for years, watching the books, keeping track of accounts and the bottom line, working my ass off. And that was the thanks I got?"

"So, what did you do?"

"Do? I stayed home! What choice did I have? I told him I could get a job anywhere, and he said he'd make sure I didn't. He wanted me home, and that was that."

Dinner arrived, and I nibbled at my Veal Parmigiana. Jana kept watching me while she tore into her fettucine. She always had a great appetite, and not just for food. Afterwards, I sipped a cappuccino while she had a glass of some sort of white wine. I still wasn't sure where this was all going, but I was sure that she had discovered that getting is not so fine a thing after all as wanting. "So, you're home now with the boy. What next?" She sighed, and her tits arced under the fabric. Certain parts of mine jumped slightly under the table. Down, goddamnit!

"So I stayed there. What could I do? And after the yelling and tears were over, Jonas mostly stayed in the city with Cheryl. You know, Girl Friday." She stopped, then looked me in the eye. "I've never forgotten you. I've never forgotten us. I just always wanted more, and I wanted it now. I thought that you and I together would never get to where I wanted to go." She leaned in. "You weren't ambitious, David. You never tried any harder than you needed to for what was happening right then in your life. It scared me. I have always been scared of being second rate, of not having a chance to do the things I was always dying to do."

It figured. Whether her emotions were honest or not, I couldn't help being struck by the truth in her words. I had been a slacker, probably still would have been one had she not dynamited the foundations of my life. I had been very comfortable at home, and I was now far away from everything I held dear and was working daily like a sled dog for other people. "So, anyway, when Jonas took notice of me, I was flattered. But I also understood that it was the chance I needed. David, my parents were and aren't that well off. You know that. They scrimped like hell to get me into college, and I worked and got scholarships for everything. But it was never quite enough. And when the chance came, I took it." She stopped and removed her jacket top. "I took it. I'm not proud of the way I took it, but I knew that I couldn't marry you. So I made myself indispensable at work, came on to the boss, and after awhile I landed him. But I didn't know how to tell you, and when Jonas proposed, I thought that it was better that you hated me than sat and felt sorry for yourself."