Salt & Vinegar Ch. 05

SALT & VINEGAR - Chapter 5

This is a continuation of the 4-part Salt & Vinegar series I wrote over ten years ago as Jett_73. My old account details are long since forgotten so, alas, new publication is under an alt (which is also pretty old)!

Here are a few more chapters to bring the girls' lives from the 2010s into the 2020s.

As with previous chapters, this is a stand-alone piece. However, you may wish to read the previous works to get up to speed with the story so far.

Enjoy.

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JUSTINE

The wave surged to meet me.

The morning sun behind shone bright and hot catching the crest and the glistening foam just starting to form as it set.

Beauty, power, inevitability rising.

My distraction cost me. I knew I was too slow as I turned to catch it, the looming mass curling and breaking above me. A yelp from beside me and I knew that Lena had also misjudged it. Then I was lost in a maelstrom of water and sand, caught like a rag doll in the liquid churn of the Pacific Ocean.

Up was down, then around. Salt in my eyes, the beach scraping my knees. Hair tangling around my face.

After a moment which also seemed an eternity, I was cast onto the sand amongst the foaming remains of the breaker; sprawled on all fours, exhausted yet exhilarated. What a rush!

"Justine, a little help?"

I turned and saw Lena a few feet away. I was sure I looked a mess after my dumping, yet the disgusting girl still managed to look phenomenally hot with her raven dark hair flying wild as jewels of water beaded, glistening on her body and sea foam dripped from her curves. Not to mention that her bikini top was hanging from her neck and otherwise covering absolutely nothing of her impressive rack.

"Geez, Lena, you just have to get them out don't you!"

She grinned at me as I waded through the surf toward her, feeling the pull of the undertow as the water receded from the beach and the next wave came rolling in.

"Thought you might have been able to fix yourself?"

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that when I can get you to do it for me?"

As I reached for the strings to retie her top, she grabbed my wrists and cupped my hands around her breasts.

"See?"

"You know you're going to have every dick-brained, muscle head on this beaching hitting on us?", I said as I retied the strings and she adjusted herself. Not that it made much difference: her skimpy swimwear left nothing to the imagination and the cold water had her nipples pressing hard against the already strained lycra.

"Again, fail to see the problem", she said.

"Attention whore."

"Prude."

We turned and grinned at each other.

"Bitch!" we said together. And burst out laughing.

We swam for a bit longer until, my prediction having come true, we got sick of being hit on. Lena's moods changes like the tides and when banter with interested guys - and the occasional girl - turned to invective, I knew it was time to head back in. The morning was also slipping away and we still had a long drive ahead of us.

"Dry off for 10 minutes on the beach first?" I suggested.

"Yeah, sure."

The last guy was slow to take a hint and followed us as we splashed out of the shallows.

"Seriously. Fuck off, sunshine!" said Lena.

"Whatever, bitch. Fucking tease." And he turned away.

"He's not wrong you know", I said.

"Huh. Getting worked up are we?"

I poked my tongue at her. Lena wasn't wrong either. I was horny as hell after her display in the surf but I knew I would have to wait. Nothing to be done in the middle of a packed Pacific Beach in the middle of a bright June morning.

We found our stuff and spread out our towels.

"Need some sunscreen, Jus?"

"Yes please, babe."

Lena bronzes like a goddess but my fair skin turns lobster without protection. I rolled onto my front and enjoyed the smooth sweeps of Lena's firm touch as she rubbed in the lotion. Long strokes up my legs. Then straps were moved. Lingering contact in certain areas. A soft caress. Then up to the back and arms. And under to my chest, unnecessarily.

"That's not helping, bitch", I muttered.

A soft snigger was the only answer I got.

I was drying off, except between my legs. Fucking tease, alright.

She stopped the more intimate attention and finished with some relaxing strokes on my back. A quick finger trace around the words on my ink and then a quick massage to my shoulders.

"Mmmm".

"Better?"

"Yes, but no."

"You'll just have to wait until later for the rest."

"Mmhhmm."

The susurration of the surf, warm breeze and the lazy heat of the sand lulled me into torpidity.

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LENA

I watched her as the rhythm of her breathing slowed.

My Justine.

Red hair splayed across the towel and the drying ends wisped in the breeze. Ivory skin with freckles on her forearms now dusted with sand where it stuck to the sunscreen. The sky blue of her swimwear echoing the eyes I couldn't see. My girl was grace and strength, coupled with a generous selflessness and a love for me which I still couldn't really fathom. Her beautiful full back tattoo featured the words "Lena Eternum" written large and hiding the scars you had to look closely to see. I still wasn't sure I deserved her.

Yet here we were about to embark on a new challenge together. She had recovered well from the trauma of her injuries (she Chapter 4) and had decided to take up the offer of a bigger role with the company that had been her client for the previous job. So, we were moving upstate to be closer to the heart of the tech world in Silicon Valley. It worked for me, too, because I'd been getting more and more requests for photographic projects with larger firms. I'd also had an invitation to show some work at Fraenkel. There was no turning that one down!

So, it was goodbye San Diego and, by the end of today, hello San Francisco. I wasn't sure how I felt about the change. I'd lived my whole life around the border. We'd be forsaking familiarity for uncertainty. We'd be leaving friends. Jus and I had work contacts in San Francisco, of course, but no one we really knew. But then I had no family here either I reminded myself. Mental correction: Jus was my family.

Crystal Pier stretching its finger out into the Pacific. Waving palms on the foreshore yielding to broad swathes of bright sand. Brass sun and azure sea. Whirling club scenes and bars along the waterfront in the warm nights. I was going to miss this place but, if it was a choice between San Diego and Justine, it was no choice at all. Justine every time.

My Justine.

I smacked her ass.

"Come on, lazy bones. Move that gorgeous ass of yours or we're not going to make 'Frisco before dark."

"Ow! Fuck you. Lemme have another ten minutes."

I tickled her and she squirmed delightfully.

"Nope. Come on, I want a coffee then we need to hit the blacktop."

She rolled onto her side and peered at me, squinting against the sunlight.

"You're a harsh mistress", she pouted.

"I'm not your mistress at all and you damn well know it."

She reached over and tickled me back and soon we were rolling over each other giggling like a couple of school girls.

I slapped her hands away.

"Stop that, Jus. You'll have every dick-brained, muscle head on this beach hitting on us in a minute."

She looked at me incredulously.

"Well, we can't have that can we?" This with heavy sarcasm.

I gave her a guileless look in return and she grinned at me.

"Bitch", we said together.

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JUSTINE

Back at the car we shimmied on our shorts and tees and went in search of caffeine. Suitably fortified for the journey we hit the I-5 heading north.

I rolled down the window and yelled, "Goodbye, San Diego!"

Not to be outdone, Lena levered her whole torso out her side. "Adios, amigos. We're off to 'Frisco, fuckers!"

A sudden swerve from the shocked driver of the car next to us.

"Try not cause road accidents, babe. And get your tits back in the car!"

"Sorry, sorry", waved Lena as she eased herself back in, adjusting her shirt.

"But not sorry at all", she smirked.

Then a sigh.

"You're not the only horny one, gorgeous."

"Yeah? Well, it's your own fault isn't it? Honestly, your libido is higher than a cage full of Bonobos on speed."

"What, the actual fuck!?"

"Sex-charged chimps".

"Seriously?"

"Yep. Amongst the highest sex drive in the animal kingdom".

"How do you know this shit?"

I shrugged.

"Just retain useless trivia, I guess."

"So, you're saying I'm some randy-assed monkey bitch?"

"Ape, but yes. Matriarchal society where females often use sexual behaviour to influence and control the social dynamic. I'm not saying you're an actual Bonobo, but ..."

"Well, fuck you!"

"Says the girl with her hand down her pants."

A pause.

I glanced across at Lena. She had an angry gleam in her eyes. But she hadn't stopped playing with herself either. Then the gleam changed to a twinkle and a crooked grin.

"OK, I got nothing."

"Damn straight. But I love you anyway." And I blew her a kiss.

I saw her eyes lose focus briefly and heard a muttered '... fuck ...' followed by a long, slow exhaled breath.

"All better, babe?"

"Yeah. Not as good as when you do me though."

"Of course not", I grinned back.

"And this bikini is going to chafe fucking awfully now."

My turn to sigh. "OK, take 'em off, honey. You can travel sans pants. Not like I haven't seen your sex-pack before."

"Sex-pack. Haha, very funny."

"Just smile nicely at the truck drivers as we pass them, K?"

She wriggled out of her shorts and surprised me by reaching around and grabbing her beach towel from the back seat. Wow, modesty from Lena!? But I was mistaken. She rolled it up to use as a pillow and promptly fell asleep against the window. Her glorious long legs stretched out, feet on the dashboard and a patch of dark fuzz peeking out from the bottom of her shirt.

The miles rolled by punctuated by occasional horn blasts from truck drivers disappointed not to see a smile, but nonetheless very appreciative of the half-naked beauty asleep in my passenger seat.

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LENA

I yawned and stretched.

"Where are we, Jus?"

"Other side of LA. We'll need to stop for gas soon."

"Good, I could murder a burger."

"Better put your shorts back on then."

"Oh, yeah. Right."

We pulled off the highway at Santa Clarita. Justine walked round to put in the gas and I lounged against the hood.

"You need a better car, Jus."

"What?"

"Two hot bitches like us shouldn't be doing a road trip in a sad set of wheels like this. Thelma and Louise never drove a Taurus. We need a ride with style and some grunt under the hood."

"Grunt, huh?"

"Yeah, a Mustang. Or a huge-ass pickup."

"Doesn't matter, babe."

"Why not?"

"People weren't looking at our wheels", she said, glancing meaningfully toward me.

I smirked.

"But you can help me choose the next car, OK?"

We ate at a Denny's and as we walked back to the car, I said, "I'll drive for a spell".

"Sure".

Justine handed me the keys.

I settled in behind the wheel and took the sad little Taurus back out onto the highway. Justine used my towel-as-pillow trick and out of the corner of my eye I saw her head drop as she dozed off. Soft, little snores accompanied the hum of the engine.

The road and scenery were unfamiliar. This was further north than I'd ever been. Sure, I'd been out of California - flown to other cities in the US for work - but this felt different. It was leaving my home territory, leaving the places I'd known and grown up in. And not just for a trip or a break. This was permanent.

I was both excited and scared. Excited because I knew the opportunities in San Francisco meant growth and success for my photographic career. Scared because ...

I glanced sideways at Jus.

Eyelids closed. Her cute little nose dusted with freckles. Red hair falling across her face. An ever-so-slight smile on her perfect lips. Serene in sleep.

Scared because she was everything to me. And if I lost her ... if I couldn't make this work ...

Is this what love is? This emotional turmoil of hunger and need and joy and fear and knowing deep in your soul that life without this person would be a shallow husk of existence? I knew that Jus loved me. I knew that she was unlikely to leave me - hell, I'd done my best to make her leave (see Chapter 4) and yet here she still was.

But I knew what my life had been like - what I had been like - without her and that was what frightened me the most. Justine had tempered me. Her love and kindness had soothed my soul, moderating the hate and self-loathing; giving me permission to love myself as much as she loved me. Without Justine, the demons would claw their way back out of the deep places I had buried them. They were not gone, just held at bay. And in the dark moments of self-doubt, they whispered to me. Muttered that I was broken. Murmured that I was worthless. Chittered insidiously that I didn't deserve this beautiful girl beside me.

I took the next off ramp.

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JUSTINE

A weight low on my hips.

A soft caress on my cheek, brushing my hair away.

Lena.

I opened my eyes sleepily and her face came in to focus inches from mine as she straddled me in the passenger seat.

Her smoky irises were dark, pupils large. She was looking at me intently.

"Hey, you", she said.

"Mmm. Where are we?"

"Somewhere off the interstate about an hour south of 'Frisco'."

I turned my head to look out the window.

"And in someone's avocado grove, I see."

"Yeah, well ..."

"Couldn't wait that extra hour, huh?"

I turned back, grinning, then my smile faded.

Lena was still watching me with that same intensity. Her eyes searched mine. It wasn't lust. And then tears welled in the corners and rolled silently down her cheeks.

"Oh, babe. Hey. Hey, what is it?"

I reached up and gently wiped them away, which only served to make more flow freely. Her lips trembled.

"Lena, what's wrong?"

She collapsed against me and burrowed her face into my neck.

No sound, just the wetness of her hot tears falling onto my shoulder and soaking my shirt. I felt the tremble now all through her. I reached around and held her tight. I stroked her back, whispering soothing nothings into her ear.

"Hey now. It's OK, babe. I'm here. It's OK."

She stayed pressed against me sobbing silently for long minutes.

The tears continued to flow, and one tracked down my neck and escaped past the neckline of my shirt to creep teasingly onto the swell of my breast squashed between us. It felt inappropriate to be aroused by that, but I couldn't help it.

I don't know whether Lena sensed the change in me - she's uncanny like that - or her need changed at the same time.

A sniffle then a whispered, husky plea.

"Please, Justine?"

Oh, my poor girl.

Unless you knew her like I did, Lena seemed the embodiment of confidence. The love of my life had a dynamite body, killer looks and an appetite for sex that bordered on nymphomania. She was assertive to the point of aggression. What she wanted she took. She walked through life as though the world was hers by right and worshipful adoration her due. Yet underneath was the sensitivity which informed her creative talent and a deep-seated insecurity.

For many people, sex - other than the fulfillment of natural lust - was an expression of love, or at least a strong emotional bond. With Lena it was more a craving for love. The intimacy of sex was a substitute for emotional affirmation. Hence her need for it so frequently. And the inevitable disappointment with so many of the lovers which littered her past relationships.

I didn't know why, just that it was. She protected her emotions within a inpenetrable fortress. We'd been together for a bit over a year and a half which was a record by a long way considering most of her relationships averaged days. Opening herself to me with this level of vulnerability was rare and it was a measure of just how much she trusted me that she did it at all. I longed to know the 'why' so I could help her. Yet until she shared that with me, all I could do was offer her what I knew she needed: as much love as I could give.

I moved one hand to the back of her neck and the other drifted down to unbutton her shorts. I guided her head up, lowered mine, and our lips met in a gentle kiss. The taste of tears, warm and salty. And another, deeper and longer. Then Lena's libido kicked in and any remnants of pain and grief were incinerated in the fearsome inferno of her desire.

Now her hand was behind my neck pulling me up to her and her tongue forced its way savagely into my mouth. I felt that, if it were possible, she would have devoured my soul. And I would have let her. My love for her surged in response and the smell, the taste, the force of Lena became my whole existence.

The very small part of me not wholly consumed by the sensation of her fierce hunger sent my hand between her legs. Past the soft mess of hair on her pubic mound toward the moist heat of her sex. Fingers softly moving; caressing her clitoris then parting her labia and gently exploring her opening.

"For fuck's sake, Jus, quit fooling around."

"Oh, want me to stop?", I teased.

"No bitch, fuck me properly."

I rammed three fingers deep into her and she gasped in response. I knew it didn't hurt - she was so wet already - but the sudden viciousness was what she needed. Then it became a test of endurance: forcing my fingers in and out - three, then four - fighting the clench of Lena's well-developed vaginal muscles. Her groin grinding hard against my palm. Relieving the ache by rubbing her clit furiously, then driving back into her. Repeat. All while overwhelmed by Lena's mouth and tongue all over my lips, my cheeks, my throat. My hand was aching when, with a final squeeze which threatened to break some fingers, I felt the hot rush of her juices over my wrist."

"Fuck, oh fuuuuuuck! Jus, you beautiful, gorgeous bitch!"

Shudders of pleasure now rather than trembling grief. Panting gasps replacing tears.

She collapsed against my chest and nuzzled into me with a sigh. I stroked her hair as her breathing slowed. And as she relaxed, I gently withdrew my poor, battered fingers from her pussy. A soft, lingering touch to her clit on the way out elicited a muffled moan of pleasure from between my breasts.

"Mmmm, thanks Jus. Love you."

"Love you too, dearest."

We stayed like that for a while, me stroking her cascade of raven hair and listening to the late afternoon breeze playing through the avocado trees accompanied by the soft buzz of insects. San Francisco could wait, these moments of just us were precious beyond price.

"Want me to do you too?" Lena murmured.

"No, I'm good thanks. I'll take a rain check until we get there. Then you can use me to christen the new apartment."

"Holy shit, you'll have to cum pretty hard to do that!"

"Yep, and often. And in each room."

Lena laughed dirtily.

"Challenge accepted, bitch."

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JUSTINE

It was getting on for half-six in the evening when we pulled into the basement car park at our apartment complex in San Francisco. I turned the engine off and let out a long sigh.

"Well, we're here. I call an early night and worry about the unpacking tomorrow", I said.

It had been a long trip from San Diego and I wasn't looking forward to unpacking in our new apartment just yet. I really hoped the removalists had left the boxes with linen somewhere accessible so we could put sheets onto the bed and collapse into it.

"You thinking of taking me to bed already?" quizzed Lena.

"Hah! I've got barely enough in the tank to do the bed, let alone do you!" I retorted.