Seduce me, Jack... Ch. 14

Amanda Lewis stared vacantly at the empty doorway to the ER exam room where she had just watched Jack Nicholson stiffly walk out after she'd told him to go. She still couldn't quite believe that he'd actually left without any further argument...

What did you expect, Amanda... You hurt him every time you tell him that you know he's going to break your heart one day... You've never given him the benefit of the doubt...

Oh... do NOT start trying to make me feel guilty about that... You know damn well it would more than likely happen some time... maybe not for a while, but... eventually, he'd get around to being "Jack" again...

Yeah... the "Jack" you originally fell in love with... And now you're afraid to love him because he loves you?!!! You are one screwed up little bitch right now... It's no wonder he left so willingly...

Ohhhh... just... shut the fuck up...

Amanda laid back and rolled her head back and forth in confusion and pain as she waited for the ER staff to return and let her know when she could get the hell out of there...

**********

For weeks afterward, Amanda was on automatic pilot. She got up every morning and managed to eat something just so she would have enough energy to get through the day. She went to work, she efficiently performed her duties and acted professionally with her clients, but everyone noticed that she just wasn't her normal, cheerful self any more.

She went home in the evenings and Heather would do her best to get her to open up about her feelings or just try to cheer her up somehow. But she couldn't even get Amanda to go out with her any more... Heather was really worried about her friend, and put her plans for finding a place of her own on hold because she didn't want her to be alone. And Amanda hadn't asked her to leave...

The nights were the worst. Most of the time, Amanda just couldn't get to sleep because she couldn't get her mind to stop conjuring up thoughts of Jack and the memories of their weekend together and the night he'd spent making love to her in her bed... She so wanted to kick herself for being so stupid as to let him into her own bed...

No wonder she couldn't stop thinking about him and recalling every look... every touch... every kiss... every moan... every orgasm... Some nights she couldn't fall asleep because of the pain and emptiness she felt and some nights it was due to frustration...

Jack Nicholson had awoken a strong sensuality within her and she craved him... desperately. His beautiful hazel eyes... his sexy wolfish grin... his touch... his kiss... his body... his cock inside her... And his love... She could just kick herself for that, too...

She knew he was still with Anjelica because she'd read in one of the entertainment magazines that Ms. Huston's father had died toward the end of August and that Anjelica had been quoted as saying that "Jack's loving support had been a great comfort to her..."

Amanda had died a little more inside after reading that... but she had only herself to blame... she'd pushed him away... on purpose. And her traitorous mind kept reminding her of that every time she tried to blame Jack for the pain she was still feeling. She kept hoping that more time would eventually dull the pain so she could get back to some kind of "normal" life...

**********

Toward the end of October, Amanda was starting to feel a little stronger again, the pain was settling into a dull ache and she was eating and sleeping a little better. Heather managed to talk her into going to a Halloween party with her and Amanda had agreed only because she thought it might help to dress up and pretend to be someone else for a little while...

Heather had said she was going as "Barbie" but Amanda didn't want to have to act cheerful so she chose a darker character. She even found the perfect costume... a long, straight black dress in a clingy material that molded to her body with a plunging vee front that really showed off her cleavage. She applied makeup to make her skin look deathly pale but accentuated her dark eyes and her full lips and donned a wig of long, straight, jet black hair.

When she walked out of her bedroom to leave for the party, Heather looked at her and laughed. "Who are you supposed to be... Elvira, Mistress of the Dark? If so, the hair's not quite right!"

Amanda deepened her voice and purred throatily, "No, darling... I'm Morticia Addams." Heather laughed again when she affected the quick, shuffling walk portrayed by Carolyn Jones who'd played the character in the Addams Family TV show that they'd both watched as children. Then she turned back toward Heather and copied the slightly sexy pose of leaning to one side with her hip cocked provocatively and casually folded her arms under her breasts. "Shall we go, darling?" she purred at Heather again before turning to head for the door.

She wasn't as thin as Ms. Jones had looked on the TV show, but she had lost a bit of weight... which only served to accentuate her full breasts, her rounded hips and her shapely ass. She wasn't paying any attention to how many men stared at her as she entered the nightclub that was hosting the Halloween costume party.

Amanda found a chair near the end of the bar in the corner and parked herself on it, not planning to leave it until Heather was ready to go home. She had agreed to come mainly to appease her friend because she couldn't stand seeing the worried look in Heather's eyes any more. She had hoped if she could pretend to have fun for a little while, it would make Heather feel better.

But the night held an eerie surprise for Amanda that turned out to be not all-together unwelcome... It all started when she almost choked on one of the drinks a few men had sent her way trying to see if she'd invite them to join her when she thought she saw Jack Nicholson walk into the nightclub...

She stared at the apparition with her eyes wide for several moments. He was dressed in a casual suit with his dark hair slicked back and the ever-present sunglasses on his face. The smile was damn close and his mannerisms seemed to imitate Jack's laid-back, yet sophisticated, attitude. Then he approached a group of women and started talking to them, kissing their hands as he greeted them and charming them as easily as Jack would...

But it didn't take long for her to notice that this "Jack" was taller than the real one by several inches... and there was something else about him that was eerily familiar to her somehow... She kept watching him as inconspicuously as she could as he made his way around the room, mingling with many people, but mostly women. He eventually seemed to glance her way and then started making his way toward her, not like he was instantly drawn to her but more out of curiosity.

He stopped in front of her and she could just feel the gaze of his eyes behind the dark sunglasses sliding down her body and back up to her face again, and a tiny frisson of familiar awareness tingled through her body. She thought it was because it felt similar to the way Jack had made her feel every time he'd perused her body so thoroughly with his sexy eyes... until this "Jack" opened his mouth and spoke to her. Every muscle in her body felt frozen and her eyes widened in shock.Oh my God... Bruce Temple...

"Well, good evening. You must be the lovely Morticia Addams I've heard so much about. Is Gomez here tonight or would you rather spend some time with a man who could better understand what a sexy, macabre woman like you needs... a real ladies' man like me, for instance. By the way, I'm Jack Nicholson in case you didn't recognize me," he said sexily, sounding like a younger Chinatown version of Jack's character, Jake Gittes.

Amanda could tell that her very brief fiancé and ex-boyfriend had no idea who she was... that she was the woman whose heart he'd broken when she wouldn't give up her virginity once he'd put that small diamond solitaire on her left ring finger almost fours year ago and then took it back just five hours later. Her shock at seeing him again began to wear off and indifference started to set in as she recalled the pain and anger he'd caused her all those years ago...

She still remembered the feeling of shock and bewilderment at the rage he'd displayed when he forced Amanda to touch his cock and she had recoiled in fear. He hadn't even allowed her to explain that the reason she'd pulled back from him so fast was because as soon as he'd pressed her palm to his erection, her pussy had reacted as strongly as it always had to watching Jack in"The Postman Always Rings Twice." She had to admit, from what she could remember feeling under her hand and the times they'd humped with their clothes on, he had an impressive dick...It's just too bad you were such a dick...

She stared at him with typical Morticia haughtiness and casually crossed her arms under her breasts as he held his hand toward her in greeting. "You're Jack Nicholson?" she purred throatily. "I don't think so. I happen to know Mr. Nicholson personally and YOU are not HIM any more than I am Morticia Addams. Nice try, but your charm won't work on me. I know your type all too well." Amanda kept her voice disguised with that low, throaty purr.

Bruce Temple frowned in confusion at the icy demeanor of the gothically sexy woman sitting there staring down her regal nose at him. It was like she'd already made up her mind that she didn't like him and he couldn't help but wonder why. He removed his sunglasses in the dim atmosphere so he could get a better look at her face.

He could see she was very pretty even though her skin looked sickly pale against the dark red fullness of her lips. Her dark eyes were heavily painted with black liner and her lush lashes were coated with black mascara that made them stand out like spiders' legs against her pale skin, even though she had the lids lowered as she regarded him, one delicate eyebrow arched in haughty disdain.

But there was something else in her eyes as well... something that seemed like... recognition. "I'm sorry... are you pissed at me because we've already met but I can't recognize you under the makeup?" Her eyes widened for a second as he said that and he suddenly flashed on another pair of dark doe eyes staring at him in surprise from somewhere in his memory. He frowned harder as he tried to recall them but the memory eluded him.

Amanda was starting to enjoy watching his confusion grow as he tried to figure out who she was and why she was immune to his "charms." She smirked as she watched him studying her closely, trying to pick up some other clues as to her identity. The wig was really throwing him off. When they were an item, her hair had been shorter, curlier and lighter brown in color.

Also, she'd had a few extra pounds on her frame then... she had been unable to escape the curse of the "Freshman Fifteen!" But Bruce hadn't seemed to notice... or if he did, he never let on if it bothered him. One of the things she had always appreciated about him was that he never expressed any dissatisfaction in any of the things she saw as flaws in herself... he had always seemed to love her just as she was and for who she was... Up until those last few months, that is. She started to wonder again what had come over him to make him so angry at her refusal to give in to him...

Bruce caught a strange expression on the woman's face that made him pause to stare into her slightly sad doe eyes again. He knew he'd seen those eyes before but he still couldn't recall where. "I know I'm probably going to kick myself as soon as I figure it out, but... could you please help me out here? I'm certain now that I know you from somewhere, but I just can't figure it out. Please... help me?"

Amanda chuckled and quoted one of her favorite lines from"The Postman Always Rings Twice." "You're scum, Bruce. But I knew that when I met you." She laughed harder at the look of utter shock on his face.

"Amanda?!!! Oh, my God... Is it really you?!!!" he muttered as he stared her up and down, hardly able to believe that the sexy, confident woman he saw before him was the same sweet, innocent, unsure virgin he'd been so crazy in love with and had stupidly dumped because of his horny impatience to share the loss of their virginities together.

He'd been wanting to apologize to her ever since, but his lust and desire for her had prevented him from ever approaching her again while his hormones had been raging. He had been afraid he would rape her, so badly had he wanted her... He'd learned better self control since then and he was getting sex on a fairly regular basis since most women found him attractive and charming... and the fact that he was well hung didn't hurt, either!

But even so, his cock had twitched the moment he saw Amanda dressed like Morticia Addams... that skintight black dress showing off her body to perfection. And now that he knew it was her, his dick was hardening as his memory flooded with all the passion, desire and lust he'd felt for her... almost from the moment they'd met. But he'd been too afraid to voice to her how she made him feel because she was so innocent and he hadn't wanted to scare her away. But as she'd fallen in love with him and began to express her passion and desire for him, it had grown almost impossible for him not to try to force himself on her every time they were together.

That was why he'd proposed to her... it wasn't just to try to get her to give in to him, he really did want to marry her but he knew he couldn't hold back any longer and he had hoped it would convince her of his sincerity so she could let go and they could share themselves with each other completely. He had died inside when he realized what he'd thrown away that night because of his impatience...

"Oh geez, Amanda... You don't know how many times I've wished I could go back and change what happened between us... How many times I've kicked myself over the years for hurting you the way I did because of my own stupidity and inability to control myself. I wanted you from the moment I saw you and when I got to know you, I fell in love with everything about you..."

He closed his eyes and dropped his head forward to shake it miserably. "My God, woman... you have no idea how crazy in love and in lust I was with you!!!" he groaned and then raised his head to stare at her with both fire and regret in his dark greenish hazel eyes and he saw the sarcastic expression on her face. "Well... OK... so you know how crazy in lust I was... but I really did love you, too, Amanda. And I've never really stopped," he added quietly to see her reaction. She frowned in disbelief... he sighed heavily; he really couldn't blame her. But at least she hadn't slapped him and cussed him out so maybe she'd forgiven him enough over the years since to consider giving him another chance...

**********

By December 1987, Amanda had been seeing Bruce off and on since Halloween and she'd begun to realize that he wasn't the young, horny jerk who'd broken her heart four years earlier. He had matured into a polite, caring man who, like Jack, had a way with women. She was still wary of him and her heart still belonged too much to Jack for her to consider having sex with Bruce, but her sexual urges were kicking in again and she was starting to feel anxious.

Jack Nicholson couldn't have timed his first attempt to win Amanda back much better. He showed up at her house one night between Christmas and New Year's on the premise that he had a present for her. It was a necklace... a large silver heart on a chain with an inscription on the back:To Amanda, my Dream Weaver... you're forever in my dreams... Love, Jack...

He held her when she broke down and cried and, just like before, she ended up dragging him back to her room and into her bed. He couldn't stay with her all night... Amanda broke down crying again and yelled at him to get out when he told her he had to get home because Anjelica was there waiting for him... Amanda didn't even give him the chance to explain that he and Anjelica's relationship was becoming more like friends than lovers...

But Jack could see that Amanda's fear of being hurt by him was still too close to the surface for her and it was not the right time to push her. He'd resigned himself that he would take however long and however many times it took to keep coming back to her to convince Amanda that she was the woman he wanted...

**********

Amanda had been seeing Bruce, believing that she was just one of many women that he was dating, not knowing that he'd gradually been backing away from most of the other women, except for one woman with whom he felt almost as much chemistry. Amanda had started to trust him a little more and on New Year's Eve he took her to a big party hosted by his brokerage firm so he could introduce her to his friends, colleagues and clients.

He even went so far as to tell most of them that she had been the one woman he was stupid enough to almost let get away... and that he was still hoping she wouldn't slip away again. At midnight, she finally let him give her the kind of deep, passionate kiss that he'd been longing to share with her again instead of the chaste, tender, lingering touches of their lips at the end of their dates. All the passion and desire he'd been harboring for her flowed through that kiss and he dared to hope that he felt her accepting it willingly and even returning it in some measure. But he also knew it was too soon to push her for anything further...

**********

By Valentine's Day 1988, Amanda knew that Bruce was seeing her exclusively and she was beginning to believe he really did want to pick up where they had left off. She also knew that Jack was still linked with Anjelica because she had seen photos of them together at the recent premiere of his latest movie, Ironweed, in which he starred with Meryl Streep. She and Bruce went to see it when it opened and they weren't at all surprised when it came out just a couple weeks later that both Jack and Meryl were nominated for Academy Awards for their performances in that picture.

Amanda cried many times during the movie at Jack's portrayal of such a sick, tortured, broken-hearted man as Francis Phelan. She wondered if Jack had spent so many years running from Anjelica because he was afraid of getting hurt and ending up something like this character... having to spend the rest of his life trying to escape the pain. It would certainly explain why he'd avoided commitment... And there was still no logical reason for her to believe that Jack wouldn't be just as afraid of committing himself to her...

She started to believe that perhaps Bruce was the man she was meant to be with all along. He'd not been pushing her to go any further than she felt comfortable with him, although he'd been letting her know in no uncertain terms that he wanted her. And she could see it in his eyes whenever they were making out... his desire for her was as strong as it ever was. And much to Amanda's surprise, it was beginning to reawaken her desire for him as well...

One night in early April, Bruce invited Amanda to his posh, high-rise downtown L.A. apartment for a romantic candlelight gourmet dinner. After dinner, he turned on some music and they were reclining on a large, soft sectional sofa in his living room, looking out at the lights of the city and sipping the last of the wine they'd enjoyed with dinner. They felt relaxed and comfortable together, but they had no idea what to talk about.

Amanda had known for a while that Bruce was dying to fuck her, but he wasn't about to screw up his chances with her again by pushing her before she was ready. She figured if she wasn't ready by now, she never would be and perhaps Bruce would be able to help her start to forget what she had shared with Jack Nicholson. She sat up and set her wineglass on the coffee table in front of the sofa, turned to the man who'd once had soul ownership of her heart and said softly, "Take me to bed, Bruce..."