Page 3 of Savage in the Sheets
I blink, trying to process what my best friend just said. “Mechanical?”
“He called you Rosie from the Jetsons, you know, the robot. She has those little metal hands shaped like this,” he makes his hand into a claw. “Then, he demonstrated a weirdly mechanical hand job.” Wes makes a mechanical jacking motion with his hand while simultaneously making a squeaky grinding sound to add to the effect.
“Stop!” I cover my eyes, too embarrassed to look on.
“I defended your honor! Damn near broke his jaw.”
I reach over and hold a finger up to his lips. “Not another word.”
My worst fears have been confirmed. I’m a bad lay. That may sound dramatic, but it’s a pretty valid fear. Men are known to fall for complete and utter train-wrecks that can’t get their shit together. Even looks can be overlooked. What’s ugly to some is extremely attractive to another. But bad in bed—that’s a hard flaw to overcome.
After the longest minute imaginable, Wes says, “Look, it’s not that big a deal. To some people, a warm body is a warm body.”
I stare in shock at him, mouth gaping in offense.
“Oh, shit. I guess maybe you didn’t want to hear that.”
He’s the last person I should be mad at because he’s the only guy with balls enough to tell me the truth.
I give him a meek smile. “Thanks, Wes, for shooting it to me straight.”
A friendship like ours isn’t the norm, but we didn’t exactly have a typical start to it.
During his years at a local community college, he needed a tutor, so he picked up a third job in order to afford one. He hired me, who was two years his junior but attending an Ivy League school.
He was the first person in his family to attend college, and due to having to work since the age of thirteen to help keep his family afloat, he wasn’t always able to give his schoolwork proper attention, and it showed in his grades.
As it turned out, he was plenty smart; he just never got any sleep and had a million stressors on his mind. When I found out he took on a third job in order to afford me, I made him quit on the spot. I sat next to him as he gave his two-week notice. Then, we made a plan on how best to get him through school while keeping his debt minimal.
After that, we became best friends. I went on to graduate law school, and he eventually went on to university, graduated with honors, and now works in contract management for some big-shot tech company. Both of us in prime positions for our ‘happily ever after.’
Wes looks guiltily down at his drink. “I wish I had handled the situation more delicately. With finesse. I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”
“I don’t.” I chuckle. “This was fucking hilarious.” I make the Rosie hand job motion.
We break out into laughter, and I scoot over to him, resting my head on his shoulder.
“Wes…”
“Yeah?”
“When we first met, you said that you needed me. But more and more often, now, I’m the one that needs you.”
“It’s give and take with us.” Wes grabs the remote. “Oh! I remember hearing something about a chicken beauty pageant on YouTube.”
“This, I gotta see!”
Weston
Ican’t remember a time that I’ve felt more terrible than when I saw the hurt in Jenna’s eyes. All because I was careless with my words.
If there ever was a person in this world I owed an incalculable debt to, it would be Jenna Savage.
Without her, I would have never graduated from college. Jenna saw past my good looks that normally strike a woman and my deficient math skills, and somehow saw the person I was meant to become. I was all but on the brink of dropping out of college before she came along. She was my Hail Mary pass.
And knowing that I’ve caused her pain has kept me up all night.
Jenna is as smart as they come, logical with everything she does, with an analytical brain that I’m entirely sure could aspire to world domination.
