Relentless (10 page)

After Jordan left she picked up her iPhone and texted Trixie.

DESPERATE NEED OF GIRL TALK AND MANI PEDI!

Her iPhone chimed immediately. “You know I hate texting,” Trixie complained.

“I know that’s why I always text you. Where can we go for a quick Mani Pedi without an appointment?

“There’s this great little place on Newton Street. I’ll be over to pick you up in about an hour. How does that sound?”

“Sounds great, I haven’t even showered yet and you know I’m high maintenance so I need lots of time.”

“Looking forward to the girl talk, see you soon,” Trixie said.

After hanging up the phone Michaela took her time showering and let the warm soapy water sooth her aching muscles. All that rigorous sex was hard on the body, she thought with an inward grin. She looked down at her newly shaved mound and shook her head. Jordan was right it did make sex feel better, but that sure was going to itch when it started growing back. The things we do for our men. But she had to admit her body, despite its aches and pain, felt fantastic. Even now she felt primed for sex; every nerve ending in her body seemed to tingle. She could hardly wait to have Jordan inside her again. Wow, she was beginning to feel like a bit of a nympho. What was up with that? She had certainly never been like this with any of her previous boyfriends and that awareness left her feeling slightly bemused.

She got out of the shower and quickly toweled herself dry. Padding over to her bedroom, she threw on some Yoga pants and a T-shirt. She just needed to be comfortable this morning. Returning to the bathroom, she pulled her unruly curls into a quick ponytail and applied her make-up. She was just finishing up when she heard the doorbell ring. She jogged quickly down the stairs and pulled open the front door.

Trixie, as always, was on time and looked fabulous in her skinny jeans, Uggs and a bulky sweater. “Don’t forget your flip flops.”

Michaela turned to the hall closet and grabbed her flip flops after putting on her winter coat. “Thanks for the reminder. I’m so glad there’s no snow on the ground. Winter pedicures are always a challenge.”

Trixie gave her a sideways glance as they walked toward her car. “Don’t try to distract me with talk of the weather. I want to know everything.”

They got into her cute little Saab before Michaela decided to respond. “Where do I start? I think my new boyfriend is trying to control me with sex. However, the sex is sooo awesome that I am hesitant to tell him to stop and, oh yeah, he wants me to move in with him and possibly have his baby.”

As Trixie pulled away from the curb she glanced at Michaela. “Is that all?”

Michaela seemed to consider that question before answering. “Yeah, I think that about covers it.”

“Let me make sure I understand you. Hot new boyfriend can’t get enough of you and wants you to move in with him and have his baby.”

“You forgot the part of him trying to control me through sex.” Michaela reminded her, after all the details were always important.

“I find that part the most interesting. How exactly is he doing that?” Trixie asked as she carefully navigated the streets of Boston.

“Well, when I say something like ‘I think we should wait before moving into together’ he responds by throwing me down and having sex with me. It’s his way of trying to get me to rethink my answer.”

Trixie let out a loud laugh. “Girlfriend if I were you I would disagree with him at every opportunity!”

“Ha, ha, very funny. Don’t you think his behavior is a little nuts?” Michaela asked.

“Oh, let me give that some thought. Hmmmm…no.” She gave Michaela an appalled look. “Can you just relax and stop over analyzing. Enjoy the hot guy and the hot sex!”

Leave it to Trixie to cut to the chase. “Easier said than done, but don’t worry, despite my over analyzing, I’m definitely enjoying the hot sex!”

“Well thank God you’re doing something right,” Trixie responded dryly before pulling into a parking lot. “The nail salon is just across the street.”

They got out of the car and walked together down the sidewalk toward the streetlight. The crosswalk sign changed and they stepped into the street. Michaela heard the loud roar of an engine as if someone was accelerating and looked up to see a car coming at them at a high speed. “Trixie watch out!” she screamed as she grabbed Trixie’s arm and pulled her roughly across the street. The car raced by without ever slowing down as the two attempted to catch their breath.

“Shit, I thought the car was going to hit us.” Michaela said feeling shaken by the incident.

Trixie looked down the street trying to spot the car. “It seemed like it was trying to run us down.”

Michaela looked around, noticing that there weren’t many cars or people around this Sunday morning. There had been no reason for that car to race through a red light. “I don’t know about you, but I am shaking all over. That really scared me.”

“Me too, lucky you pulled us out of the way in time. Let’s go get those pedicures. We really need to chill now.”

Michaela tried to shake the feeling of fear that still coursed through her body after such a close call. Had she not heard the roaring car in time, she and Trixie could have ended up in the hospital instead of their way to a pedicure. Although she knew it was crazy, she felt like that car had intentionally tried to run them over. It was just some idiot driver, she assured herself, who had obviously been driving too fast to see the light change. Still, she couldn’t seem to rid herself of the feeling that they had been the car’s target.

“Are you okay?” Trixie asked.

Michaela let out a pent up breath trying to steady herself. “Yes, I’m all right, just a little spooked I guess.”

“Me too! That was some scary stuff.”

They walked the few steps to the nail salon, Perfect Ten, where they were quickly seated in spa chairs and had their feet soaking before two young women worked on their feet. Warm bubbly water tickled Michaela’s feet and she gave an appreciative sigh at the soothing feeling. She just needed to relax and put that near death experience behind her.

Trixie turned her head and said, “So are you seeing him tonight?”

“Yes, I am as a matter fact.” Michaela said as she leaned her head back against the comfortable headrest.

Trixie’s voice held obvious interest as she demanded, “Don’t hold back, tell me everything! What are you doing?”

“We’re sort of going to my parents for dinner.”

“You’re taking him to meet your Mom and Dad already?” Trixie asked, her surprise evident.

“Oh, he’s met them before so really it’s not that big of a deal.”

“Oh, please, it’s a big deal. Does your Mom know that the two of you are involved now?”

“Well, yes. You see yesterday morning after Jordan had spent the night, my Mom stopped by unexpectedly while we were having breakfast.”

Trixie’s eyes widened in surprise and complete delight at that tidbit of information. “No way!” she said with a gasp.

Michaela laughed at Trixie’s response. “Way! So, Mom invited both of us to a family dinner to celebrate my sister-in-law, Alaina’s new job.”

“Well at least you know he can’t throw you down on your Mom’s couch and have sex when you disagree with him.”

“You’re right, he’ll probably have to drag me to the bathroom,” Michaela responded dryly.

They burst out laughing. Maybe things weren’t so bad she thought as she pictured her and Jordan going at it in her Mom’s powder room. God she was depraved! She looked down at her bright red toenails; the young woman had certainly done a nice job. “Trixie, you want to grab a coffee?”

“Nah, why don’t we shop instead?”

“You don’t have to ask me twice. I could use some shopping therapy and that can mean only one thing. We need to hit the shoe stores.”

They went to Copley Place, a downtown mall in Boston, and thoroughly enjoyed all the shoe stores it had to offer. She was considering trying on a pair of boots when she heard a familiar voice.

“Michaela, it’s been so long. How have you been?”

She turned to see Joyce standing there. Joyce looked like she walked off a magazine cover. She was tall, her hair was long, straight and dark red and her make-up was artfully done. Michaela would have bet all her money that all of her clothes had designer labels. It was strange that she would actually be slumming it in the mall when she usually only frequented exclusive boutiques.

Michaela felt slightly awkward still wearing her flip flops and dressed casually in yoga pants. She gave her best fake smile and said, “Hi Joyce. I’m great. How are you?”

Joyce smiled uncomfortably. “All right I guess. Just in case you didn’t know, Noah and I didn’t work out. You should thank me really for saving you,” she told her. “He was such a bore in bed. Of course you already knew that didn’t you?”

Okay so Joyce had a point but that didn’t make her any less of a bitch. Why had she ever been friends with this woman? Why hadn’t she noticed earlier how vindictive she was? “Oh well, that’s too bad about you and Noah. Nice seeing you,” Michaela said trying to make a hasty exit and leave Joyce behind.

Joyce waylaid her by grabbing her wrist. There was a pleading note in her voice as she said, “Michaela, I’m sorry about what happened. I really regret what I did. I was so jealous of you because I could sense Jordan was interested in you so I slept with Noah to get back at you.”

“You thought Jordan was interested in me?” Michaela asked surprised because until Friday night she had been pretty much clueless.

Joyce rolled her eyes. “Oh please, don’t tell me you never noticed.”

“Actually, I had no idea.”

“Figures, you really have self esteem issues, don’t you?” Joyce remarked in a slightly bemused tone.

“Okay Joyce, I think I’m done with this conversation,” Michaela said as she started to turn and walk away.

Joyce grabbed her wrist once again halting her. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. I’ve been in therapy since you caught Noah and me together. I’ve realized how self-destructive my behavior was and how much pain I caused you. I’ve lost you as a friend and for what it’s worth I’ll regret that for the rest of my life.”

Michaela was slightly stunned at Joyce’s admission. She looked at Joyce trying to find some sign of insincerity, but there was none. It appeared Joyce was truly remorseful. “I appreciate your apology and I’ll accept it but you know we’ll never be friends, right?”

Joyce gave her a wry smile. “Of course I know that, but thanks for listening.” She let out a deep sigh. “I feel a lot better. I hope you do too.”

“Yeah, I do.” And strangely enough she did.

“Jordan forgave me, but I never thought you would.”

Michaela was about to turn around and leave, but those last words forced her to stop and turn back and once again face Joyce. “What do you mean, Jordan did?”

Joyce gave her a surprised look and then let out a little laugh. “Why don’t you ask him? Don’t you see a lot of him?”

“How would you know if I see a lot of Jordan? Are you stalking me or something?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I just assumed the two of you would end up together. Aren’t you?”

“Yes, I guess we’re together,” she admitted.

Joyce smirked. “I knew it was only a matter of time. He was totally focused on you.” Joyce remarked as she turned on her heel and walked away.

What a really weird encounter, Michaela thought as she watched Joyce walk away. Why was she letting it bother her so much?

Trixie’s familiar voice interrupted her musings. “Well, I told you, I never did like her.”

Michaela gave an appreciative laugh. “Yes, you did, didn’t you? Always nice to hear I told you so.”

Trixie wrapped an arm around Michaela’s shoulder and said, “Forget her, Joyce is a big ugly loser.”

“Childish name calling? Really Trixie I expected better of you.” Michaela remarked jokingly while appreciating Trixie’s efforts to make her feel better.

Trixie eyes gleamed with interest. “Hey just say the word, I have contacts that can make her life hell.”

Michaela held up her hand, sometimes she wasn’t sure when Trixie was joking. “No please! Forget her, she’s not worth either of our time.” Michaela paused before adding, “Besides she actually apologized and I think she meant it. She just told me that Jordan had forgiven her. Why would she think that unless she’s spoken to him? He’s never mentioned it.”

Trixie shrugged. “You’re seeing him tonight, right?”

Michaela nodded.

“Well you’re just going to have to ask him. I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you, she’s full of it.”

“Yeah, you’re right, but I’ll ask him about it when I get the chance. I really shouldn’t let her get to me.”

“Let’s get back to shopping and forget about that twit.”

Michaela grinned impishly. “Don’t you mean forget about the big ugly loser?” They laughed together and went back to some serious shoe shopping. The rest of the afternoon was great as the two enjoyed their shopping spree. Michaela indulged in some new lingerie to go with her new boyfriend.

Trixie sighed as she watched Michaela make her purchases from Victoria Secret. “It’s been so long since I have had someone to buy lingerie for.”

Michaela rolled her eyes. “Oh please, enough with the dramatics. You don’t have to have a man to buy lingerie. Just buy it to make you feel sexy and then you will naturally attract men with your confidence.”

Trixie gave Michaela her signature narrowed eyed look before saying. “That sounds like a plan.”

Michaela smiled in response. “It’s definitely a plan. Let’s get you some sexy stuff that only you’ll know you’re wearing.”

Trixie let out a little laugh, “Oooh, I’m feeling sexy already.” They spent the next half an hour making sure Trixie had perked up her underwear wardrobe and then they went back to shoe shopping.

As Michaela finished buying a very cute pair of brown suede boots with faux fur on the inside she said, “You know this has been some afternoon. First someone tries to kill us in the cross walk and then we run into Joyce.”

Trixie looked thoughtful before saying, “I’m trying to decide which incident was worse.”