Page 45 of Push & Pull
“Nooo kidding. There’s something you’re not telling me, though.”
Simone slightly turned her head, but not enough for Petra to get a good look at the pain hiding behind her eyes. “You’ve figured outeverythingelse about me, but not that?”
Petra winced. “Maybe I wanted to give you the chance to say it instead of coming out swinging yet again.”
That was apparently the wrong thing to say. Simone withdrew once again, taunting Petra to say everything that was left hanging between them.It’s not my place.They were barely friends with benefits right now.More like strangers having sex because we might as well.A part of it felt like fate. Twisted, conniving fate that wasn’t meant to be realized. From them both knowing Hailey, to both being at the same party, to Simone possibly being drugged into a deep stupor that made her possibly miss her flight back home…
Petra wasn’t one to turn down someone in need, which was why she agreed to help Hailey load Simone into the Volvo and hit the road north.We should have parted long before now.After the first night. The first hookup, no less.
But Petra couldn’t easily turn down more. Like Simone couldn’t.
“Sex fills a void that even drugs couldn’t, I’m guessing.”
Simone slowly shook her head, eyes glued to a void far from Petra’s own comprehension. “It’s not onlysex.I’ve had lots of mediocre sex with women that ultimately did nothing for me. I even regretted some of it. I would have been better off… no, never mind.”
Petra pushed herself closer to the woman who would tear herself away from this reality if she could. “Fine. You like being called a slut. Is that what you want to hear?” Petra was grateful she faced the back of Simone’s head because God knew she could hardly keep the smile away from her countenance. The last thing Simone needed was to think Petra was mocking her.
“Don’t say it like that.”
Striking nerves was Petra's forte that day. Yet Simone wasn’t angry. Nor was she frustrated with Petra, who was allowed to come close enough to flick her finger against Simone’s chin, garnering her undivided attention. “I don’t pretend to know everything about you, princess.” Petra’s finger inched toward the corner of Simone’s mouth. The heiress’s head turned away. “That would be impossible after only three days, but I’m pretty damn good at seeing the biggest imprints on your soul. Guess it’s a gift of mine.” One finely tuned by Uncle Michail, once he saw the natural talent for grifting and deceiving in Petra’s personality. “So what if you’ve got some kinks and fetishes? Doesn’t everybody? Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve had no problem giving you what you want in bed. Almost like I’ve got some of my own.” Especially with the right partner.What can I say? This woman brings that out of me.
“I’m not kinky,” Simone was too quick to say. “My stepmother?She’skinky. So are some of my older friends. I’ve dabbled in that stuff while trying to figure myself out. No. I’m not into the same things they are. Yes, I’m aware it’s not one-size-fits-all.”
“Ooookay, then.”
“Maybe you could call it a fetish, although when I think of fetish, I think of feet.”
“Perhaps fetish in this case means a specific thing you like that might fall under kink, but doesn’t necessarily encompass a large swath ofkink.” Petra was done playing these games of semantics, though. “You’re very submissive in bed, but you don’t like calling yourself submissive, is that it? Oh, and you get off hardest when dirty talk is involved. Particularly, dirty talk that some would consider degrading. Hey…” Petra shrugged against the bed. “What’s it to me? We’ve all got things that don’t make sense. Although based on what you’ve said about your life…”
“That was all there before my mom got sick,” Simone said. “I can trace it back a ways. I guess it’s the way I’ve always been.”
“I don’t dispute that, but if I may be so bold…” Petra flopped onto her stomach, shaking the bed and Simone atop it. “Gay heiresses like you tend to fall into one of these two camps in my experience. You either like getting it or giving it. It’s a rare one I’ve met who is equally into both.”
“So?”
“Life’s experienced differently depending on who you are. Take me, for instance. You haven’t questioned why I’ve gotten on top of you every night and gone to town?”
“Not really.”
“Hmph. I’m really not so different from you, just a different set of circumstances to go with who I am today. I’ve had to scrap for most of what I’ve had. Between my mom out of the picture and foster care… my uncle wasn’t exactly the most loving man in the world, either. His idea of a handout isloaningyou money without interest. Youwillpay him back, though. Ask me how I know.” Petra was still paying her uncle back for some of what he “invested” into her after taking custody. “I’ve had to do things that put me in precarious situations with strangers. It’s made me protective of how I express myself with women. Some parts of what you see are natural. Others are manufactured over the years. It’s the same for all adults, isn’t it? I mean…” Petra chuckled. “If I let you get on top of me, you must be special.”
That cracked a smile on Simone’s weathered face. “I remember last night.”
“Girl, that was the hottest shower I’ve ever taken, and I’ve been in some steamers.”
“I’d rather you not call me special, though. Like you, I’m trying to get by the best way I know how.”
It helps when you have money, though. Let’s not sugarcoat it.Not the time to bring it up while Simone was still in her fragile state, though. Besides, Petra was aware that money sometimes started the addiction and rehab cycle that might not otherwise be there had Simone been born into a lower class. Petra had been down the road of envy toward girls like Hailey Lambert and understood how grateful she was tonotbe them.
Didn’t stop her from sleeping with them, though.
“How are you getting by?” Petra adopted the softest voice she could conjure as she looked down into Simone’s glistening eyes, slightly smeared makeup and all.She’s a delicate doe if I’ve ever seen one.Anger simmered behind those eyes, but what could Petra do about that? Everyone had anger inside of them.Anger, hope, and love.The holy trinity of base human emotions. “Riding the waves as they come to you?”
Petra placed her hand on Simone’s side. She was not brushed away.
“Do you like it when the waves come crashing over you?” Petra eased her weight onto Simone, pushing her onto her back while never once breaking cautious eye contact. “Is that how you get your thrills in this life? Or is it how youexpressyourself, Ms. Evans?”
Simone squirmed beneath Petra. Yet it wasn’t with an intent to cast her aside. Not when Simone’s arms lifted above her head, pupils dilating and skin a hint of cherry red.Flushed with purpose.That’s what Petra liked to see.
