49: The Volcano Gods

Bryce

     "What are you doing?" the beautiful woman behind me asks as I sit on the edge of the bed. The morning sun has risen well into the sky by now. I check the time on my phone. It's ten.

      "I'm texting Marie to ask if she can come to a meeting here now instead of another day. I want all this sorted out, and Jones already said he could," I answer her and hit send.

       While Erin gets up and takes a shower, everything gets settled. Jones will pick Marie up on his way and bring her here.

        Erin comes out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel, and I can't resist her.

       "How can you do this to me now when we have people coming over?" I moan into her ear as I pull the towel off her. Her skin feels soft and slightly damp, and I can't stop my hands from racing all up and down her back before I cup her behind and cover a nipple with my mouth.

     "We have a few minutes," she breathes.

     "Dammit, I love you," I say as I lift her and deposit her on the bed. The freshly-shaven space between her legs calls to me, and I can't resist moving down to get a taste. Erin: my favorite flavor, I think as four-letter words come flying out of her pretty mouth while I tease her with my tongue.

      In the midst of her swearing, my name comes out in a moan. I love it when she says my name, but I want her to scream it.

      But I don't have time! I think with an irritated groan as I pull off my briefs before lifting her hips to me where I stand next to the bed.

      I groan for a much better reason after I push myself inside her. She's so fucking tight! I scream inside my head as I begin swiftly pounding myself into her.

      I love that she loves this position. Well, I never outright asked her, but I can tell she's not complaining by the way she's carrying on. She gets tighter, and it's all I can do to hold on.

     "Please, Erin baby, come on," I moan down to her as I feel her getting close. She starts making little whining noises and arching her back while I tortuously add a little more force.

      Yes! I think as she comes and I can finally let go. I feel my hands dig into the soft flesh of her hips as I watch her eyes roll to the back of her head. Her legs now on either side of me, I lean over and attack her mouth with mine. She whimpers since I won't let her recover, but I have to kiss her right now. I want to just crawl right up inside this woman and live there for the rest of my life. This simple, quiet, shy goddess that has so graciously allowed a mere mortal like me to make quick, but satisfying, love to her.

     The doorbell rings, shattering my illusion.

     "Oh shit!" I let out as I quickly separate us and frantically search for wherever I threw my clothing. Erin starts giggling at me, I guess at my expression... or the situation.

      "Ha ha very funny," I say in a mildly-sarcastic voice. "You're not the one that has to go answer the door."

     Laughing at me still, she says, "Nope."

     After I pull the first shirt I could grab over my head I lean down to quickly but firmly kiss her. "Thank you," I say once I pull back up.

     "The pleasure's all mine, hottie. Now go answer the door before they think you're not at home anymore," she says with a grin and somehow manages to swat my behind.

     She called me a hottie, I think with a ridiculous grin covering my face as I trot down the stairs in my bare feet.

      They got here way too fast, I think as I answer the door and usher Jones and Marie into my dining room. I realize this is the first time I've ever had Jones over. I hope he'll accept the promotion I'm about to offer him.

     "Thank you both for coming here on such short notice," I say to them as we all take a seat at the table. Then, I proceed to offer Jones the assistant manager position. He actually looks surprised, and he happily accepts. Good. Got that squared away. Next, I tell them that for the next little while, I'm cutting operating hours to only the evenings so that I don't have to hire someone else for the time being BECAUSE I'm going to tear the place down coming up real soon and build another building.

    I'd been considering this little scheme for about a year now. The whole cutting back the opening hours wasn't really in the plan, but I don't think it's fair to hire someone only to have them not work for an extended period of time. Plus, that's one less employee that I'm going to pay a salary to while the building gets done.

    Marie is the first one to ask about her paycheck, and that's when I tell them about the salary. All of this is going to really cut into my savings, but I think it'll be worth it in the end. I may actually have to finance an engagement ring for Erin when I get to that point. Hopefully, I won't have to take out a loan, or much of one, to finish the building and get everything I want.

    "I may still ask you to come out and help with the labor for the building, if you think you can," I say.

     "Of course," Jones replies. "We'll not be doing much otherwise, right, Marie?" he asks.

     "As long as it's something I can handle, that should be fine," she answers, and her phone starts buzzing. "Sorry, I thought I had it silenced," she says sheepishly.

     "No problem. You can go answer it if you want," I say.

     "It was just a text, I can answer it later."

     "The only thing really left to discuss is that I want both of your opinions about are the actual changes I want to make. A game room, for instance," I say, and Marie's phone lights up on the table. "Go ahead and take that, Marie, we can always get your take on stuff later." 

     Marie looks at her phone worriedly, nods, and gets up to answer it and head outside.

Marie

    "Hello," I say simply before I close Bryce's glass door. It's Jesse.

     "Did you get my text?" he asks.

     "Yes, but I didn't read it yet because I was in a meeting with Bryce and Jones. Bryce wanted to do it this morning to get it out of the way, I guess," I answer, wondering now what the text said. "What did it say?"

    "I wanted to know if you changed your mind about needing a ride anywhere."

    "No, my day isn't going like I planned, but I guess that's okay since apparently my hours are being cut and I'll have more time on my hands on all the other days," I answer and then realize that sounded bad.

    "What?!" he yells, sounding upset.

    I quickly get in, "I didn't mean for it to sound like that. I mean that Bryce is cutting back operating hours for a little while."

     "Oh. Why?"

     "He wants to build a new bar-slash-whatever," I answer.

     "Oh yeah, he'd mentioned that to me before, but I thought he'd changed his mind," he states.

      We get quiet, and I wonder what he's thinking.

      "So," he says a little quieter, "where are you anyway? At the bar?"

      "I'm at Bryce's," I say, looking back at his house for a second and wondering if he's at home.

     "Really?" I can hear his smile.

     "No, I'm inside the volcano because I got cold," I answer in a humorously-sarcastic undertone.

     "Well, if you're that cold, I'd be happy to warm you up," he says seductively. That man never misses any opportunity to throw something in like that apparently.

     "Jesse..." I say in warning.

     He laughs and says, "Oh, right. Nice texting. I forgot." He laughs again, "Sorry, that was the first thought that popped into my head."

      I stay quiet, reminding myself that there was a real person sending me those texts last night, and right now, I'm talking to him on the phone.

      "Those shorts look good on you," he says in a lower voice, and I whip around to look at his house.

     "So you ARE at home," I state.

     "Yeah, the volcano isn't really my favorite place. Besides, you should steer clear of it too. I wouldn't want anyone to get some hair-brained idea to appease the volcano gods by tossing in a beautiful woman."

     "And just how many times have you used that line?" I ask, trying yet again to keep what he said from affecting me.

     "Probably... three, but I've never meant it so much as now," he answers, and we get quiet again. 

     I do my absolute best to keep from looking at his house now. It's driving me crazy to know he's watching me.
      "Can you come over when the meeting is finished?" he asks me in a hopeful voice.
       Alone with Jesse at his house... bad idea.
       "Why?" I ask, stalling.
       "Because... I ... could use some help getting ready for the party tonight."
       "If you needed help, then how were you planning on getting things ready while you were playing chauffeur?"
       "Throwing things together at the last minute," he answers. Then he asks his own question, "Aren't you supposed to be in a meeting? I don't want to get you in trouble."
      "It's pretty much over. In fact, I don't think I really have anything left to contribute," I answer.
      "Oh good! I'm coming over there then," he answers happily and hangs up before I can stop him.
      I frantically look around before dashing back into Bryce's house. I wish I had some form of transportation! I think, still panicking. I can see Jesse now as he walks towards the house, and I hear the television in the living room. Moving quickly and without giving an explanation to Bryce and Jones, I dash into the living room to find Erin sitting on the couch. I walk a little past her and sit in the chair.

      "Everything okay?" she asks me timidly.
      No! I want to hide because I can't handle Jesse and his feelings right now! I scream inside my own head. Fidgeting, I glance over at the girl sitting next to me. I'm guessing she's a few, maybe three, years older than me, but I don't think much more than that. I quickly make a decision and hope she'll help me.
      "Jesse's coming over," I say quietly, letting my panic show in a pleading expression.
       Her eyes widen as she, thankfully, gets what I'm really saying. "Oh."
      We have no time to do anything to save me before Bryce and Jesse walk into the room. They each take a seat on the couch on either side of Erin with Jesse sitting right next to me. I suddenly find the coffee table extremely interesting before I look at the television.
       "So Bryce," Jesse says, "Marie tells me you're going to do that whole 'tear the place down and rebuild' plan with the bar."
       I see my boss's head pop over in my direction.
     "News travels fast. That must've been you on the phone then," Bryce says. I hope I'm not in trouble.
        "She wasn't supposed to tell me?" Jesse asks the question I'm thinking.
        "No, it's fine I'm just... surprised," he answers, and I see Jones out the window as he starts up his car and leaves.
         There goes my ride. Bryce must have told him not to worry about it.
         "So Erin," Jesse talks again, "I know about everybody but you. Are you coming to the party tonight?"
         She looks at me to ask, "Are you going, Marie?"
         I don't know why she's asking me, but I answer anyway. "Yes."
         "Yeah, I guess I can go." I can sense Bryce tense up before Erin says, "I'll be surrounded by people the entire time."

       "I'm just nervous we haven't seen him in a couple of days," Bryce says in a small growl.
       "I hope to see him," I say angrily. "Let him try to pull that crap again. I'll ensure he never has any children." I see Bryce hide a smile, Erin cover her mouth with her hand to prevent a laugh, and I hear Jesse crack up laughing. I can't look at Jesse.
      "Oh hey," Jesse talks again, "that reminds me, Marie. Would you teach me how to do all that stuff?"

       I look over at him for the first time since he walked into the room, and he looks like he's sincerely hopeful I'll teach him.
       "You seemed to be able to handle yourself anyway," I state.
      "But I wanna learn that stuff, and there's nobody here that could teach me but you," he nicely argues.
        The television goes to a commercial break.
        Bryce breaks the silence, "Erin, would you help me fix some lunch?" A subtle look passes between them.
        Please don't leave me alone in here with him! I think desperately to the room. I'd just started to get mildly comfortable again.
       "Okay," Erin answers Bryce's question.
       I quickly offer to help as well, but the two of them shoot me down. Jesse sits there quietly.
       I'm alone in the room with him.
       "Why don't you want to teach me?" he asks while I look at our feet. I pull mine off to the side away from him.
       I decide on an answer. "Jesse, you want to date me, and I don't think it's a good idea to date a pupil." Oh no. I know exactly what he's thinking right now.
        "So you're saying you'll date me?" he asks hopefully and leans forward. I feel like his whole body is leaning towards me, ready to pounce at a moment's notice.

       "No. It's that... " I pause in surprise as he takes my hand. "And I've never taught anyone ever."
       "I bet you'd make a great teacher," he says quietly as he pulls my hand towards him and covers it with his other one. "And it's what exactly?"
       "Hm?"
       "You said 'it's that,' and I wanna know what you meant."
       It's that I'm very attracted to you and CAN'T be your teacher. "It's not a good idea."
       "It's a great idea to spend more time with you." he says while his thumb plays with the top of my hand. Then I hear the smile in his voice as he says, "And you'd have an excuse to beat the crap out of me on a regular basis."
        "No matter how tempting beating the crap out of you sounds, I don't think it's a good idea." And I don't think I could beat the crap out of you now if I tried.
        "Tell me why," he requests quietly.

        "Jesse..." I say in a worried voice as I try to get my hand free from his tightened grasp.
        "Would it be easier to tell me if I texted you?"
        "With you sitting here right next to me? That's ridiculous."

       "But you were more comfortable with that," he states, and we both get quiet for a few seconds. Then he speaks again, "I'm going to make a few guesses. You don't want to teach me because you have feelings for me, and you don't want that to get in the way. Or, you're scared of whatever it is you feel, and you don't want me to always be around you."
        Again, I wonder if he can read my mind as I try to keep the shock from showing up on my face.
        Since I haven't said anything, he says, "I want to learn, and it would be the perfect thing while I'm waiting for this unknown amount of 'time' to pass."
       "Perfect in what way?" I ask, trying to make my voice steady. What he's still doing to the top of my hand is utterly distracting.
       "To be around you. What happened to the girl that texted that she said she felt better when I showed up?"
       "I was being nice."
       "I like nice."
        ...........
        I don't say anything.
        "I'd even pay for the lessons so that it won't feel like there's something else going on. I'd just be your pupil," he adds.
       "Then, as my 'pupil,' you can't hold my hand like this." I jerk my hand out of his grasp.
       "You're saying you will?" he asks, eyebrows raised.
       "I'll think about it," I answer as I get up and head towards where Bryce and Erin are taking a lifetime to prepare lunch.