Sorry for the delay, hellish week at work, Chapter 8 should go up faster. But enough about me. This chapter gets a wee bit explicit towards the end so be forewarned.
Andy watched as Traci threw her third dart in a row dead center on the bull's eye. She would not want to be Jerry Barber right now that was for damn sure. She had never seen Traci so ticked off with him. At first she had thought it was just that Traci was feeling insecure about the whole ex-wife situation, but this wasn't insecurity, Traci was royally pissed off.
"And then he accused me of running. Running. Is he out of his mind?"
"Well you did say…" Andy was cut off by a scathing look from Traci. "The nerve of that man, rat bastard, as if you would run from him," she quickly corrected.
"That's what I thought you were saying," Traci commented as she went to the board to retrieve her darts. "Another round?"
Andy laughed. "I don't think so, you've already beat me six times in a row. I think you're kind of motivated tonight."
"I probably am." Traci said as they walked over to their table. She had spent the whole night alternating between wanting avoid Jerry for the foreseeable future and wanting to go over to his place and have it out right then and there.
"Maybe you should go talk to him," Andy said. "Put all your cards on the table and see where his head is. Get some answers."
Traci thought for a moment before confessing. "It isn't just the whole return of the former Mrs. Barber thing. He wasn't telling me the whole truth this morning you know. I could tell, he was lying about something."
So that's what the problem was, Andy thought to herself. " Well then, go kick his ass about lying to you. You've been stressing about this situation all night, you won't feel better until you deal with it."
"You're probably right."
"I'm definitely right," Andy said as she whipped out her cell phone. "Call him. Here, I'll dial. What's the number?"
Traci rolled her eyes and pulled out her own phone. "You're a little too eager to get rid of me. Have I been that big a pain in the ass tonight?"
Andy shrugged and grinned at her. "Maybe a little. Moping isn't your thing. It's mine. Though I have to admit, you do mad as hell pretty well."
Traci laughed and hit the speed dial. "Here goes nothing."
Jerry picked up on the third ring. "Hey," he said softly. "I didn't think you were talking to me."
"I wasn't," Traci answered. "Are you home?"
"Yeah. Where are you?"
"The Penny."
"Figured. Still with McNally?"
"Yes. But we were getting ready to leave. Do you still want to talk?"
Jerry hesitated. "Talk? Uhm talk. I guess, I mean do you want to come over?"
"Yeah," she answered. Something was off in his voice.
"How soon?"
"Now."
"Okay."
Traci closed the phone and turned to Andy.
"Well?"
"Well I'm going over there to talk to him. But he sounded a little weird."
"Thank you god. I couldn't take another second of you moping around. You do it all wrong. I'm so much better at it. It was really unfair of you to try to steal my glory like that. Your man just got a phone message from his ex, mine slept with his ex. This is my moment, don't try to step on it again."
"Shut up." Traci grabbed her bag and her coat and watched as Andy did the same. "You can drop me off and take the car. If I need to come home I'll just call a taxi or something."
"Sounds like a plan. This is a good thing. You and Jerry will talk, work things out and be disgustingly perfect and happy again so I complain about it. I'm discovering that my misery doesn't really like company, I'm a lone wolf." Andy informed her.
"Okay lone wolf, we're out of here."
Traci let herself in using her keys. The apartment was dark. All of the lights were off except for one low lamp in the living room where Jerry was half sitting, half lying slouched on the sofa still wearing his shirt and pants from this afternoon. His suit jacket was tossed carelessly on the other end of the sofa. He looked up smiling crookedly at her as she walked in but made no move to stand up. As she dropped her coat and bag onto a chair Traci took in the half empty bottle of scotch and the empty glass on the coffee table and the realization sunk in, that's why he sounded off on the phone.
"You've been drinking, you're drunk," she said in an accusatory tone.
Jerry winked. "You'll make a damn good detective one day Officer Nash. You know there's a closet for that stuff." He patted the sofa next to him indicating that she should join him.
Traci stayed where she was looking him over. "I never thought I'd live to see the day, Jerry Barber, piss drunk." She said in a dry tone.
Jerry grinned at her sheepishly. "I'm not piss drunk. Granted, stone cold sober and I parted company a ways back, but I haven't run into to piss drunk yet. Right now I'm hanging out with extremely comfortably buzzed and my friends, the X-Men, Spiderman and Batman," he said pointing to Leo's action figures. "Leo really is a free thinker, he doesn't mind crossing over licensing and character universes in his play. I could have sworn there was a Transformer over here somewhere too."
"All kids play like that. Why are you sitting here alone drinking?" Traci asked as she sat down on the arm of the chair.
Jerry looked disappointed that she didn't take the offered spot next to him. "I'm not alone, I told you the Web slinger, Dark Knight, Wolverine and Jubilee are keeping me company. And maybe I'm drinking because I was feeling guilty because I fudged the truth with my girlfriend."
"You lied to your girlfriend," Traci corrected him. "And that's Rogue," she added.
Jerry picked up the action figure in question and studied it for a moment before putting it back down. "You're right. Well Jubilee is around here too somewhere, at least she was when I opened the scotch, and yes, I did lie, and I'm sorry." He sat up and looked at her suddenly serious.
"I am sorry Traci. Oliver told me two days ago that Allison was in town, after the poker game. I didn't mention it to you because I was hoping she wouldn't call. Then when she actually did call I felt bad that I hadn't given you any sort of warning about it, so I tried to cover it up, which was stupid and unnecessary, and I know I keep saying it, but really I am truly sorry." He hoped that she believed him and understood how much he wanted to make it up to her.
Traci looked at him intently. "Is that's it?" She asked.
"That's it," Jerry said with a shrug. "Kind of stupid, I know. I screwed up. Trace," he added softly. "Come sit with me."
She hesitated for another moment before getting up and going to join him on the sofa. "You did screw up." She sat down still keeping a little space between them. "Don't lie to me Jerry. This thing, you and me, it doesn't work if we aren't honest with each other."
"I know, I should have just told you."
"You don't have to always tell me everything, you can say I'm not ready to talk about it, or I can't get into now or something, but don't lie. I can't trust you if you lie."
"Okay, I know, and I really am sorry Trace. The second I said it I knew I was wrong, I just didn't know how to back down. Can we let it go now?" He held out his hand to her.
Traci looked at it for a moment before accepting it. "No we can't let it go. But I can get over it. If you don't do it again." She let Jerry pull her into his arms. He hugged her and kissed her lightly on the top of her head. Traci reached down and undid the zippers on her ankle boots before kicking them off.
"I hate it when we argue," Jerry said softly as he lay back down bringing Traci along with him so that she was lying on her side resting up against him.
"Then don't screw up," she retorted.
Jerry hugged her tightly. "Sssh. Don't be mad anymore. I'm sorry."
"You said that already," Traci reminded him. She knew he regretted being dishonest with her. She just hoped he didn't make the same mistake again. More importantly she wanted to know what had happened after she had left, if he had called his ex and what the results were. "So, you called her back after I left?" she asked.
"Yeah. Went to see her too."
Traci twisted around and looked up at him surprised. "You already saw her? Is that why you got smashed, because you had some sort of run in with your ex-wife?" She asked cautiously.
Jerry shifted slightly so he could pull her back to him. "My ex-wife and I didn't have a run in, I just went to see her before shift and we talked, she wants to sell the house, maybe, probably. I got smashed because after my shift ended I had a run in with my justifiably pissed off girlfriend."
"That's what you wanted to talk to me about?"
"Yeah, that and fudging this morning."
"Lying."
"Yup, wanted to tell you all about it. But you told me to get lost."
"I said I had plans.
He laughed. "That's Traci speak for get lost."
"So tell me about it now."
"I will if you drink with me," he said slyly.
Traci sat up and narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't play games with me Jerry."
He sighed. He needed to get this out while he was still willing to. "I'm not playing games. I don't want to drink alone, my super hero friends haven't taken a single drink, I think they're on duty. Come on, have a drink with me." Jerry poured another glass of scotch and held it out to her.
Traci looked down at the glass and wrinkled her nose. "No thank you."
"What? You can't share a glass with me? Now I have cooties?" He grinned at her. "I hate to be the one to tell you this Trace, but considering some of the things we've done with each other it's a little late in the game to be worrying about my having cooties."
"I just don't want scotch."
"Oh. That's different. There's beer in the fridge. We'll have a beer."
"I suppose I'm the one who has to go get these beers."
"You're closer," he reasoned. "Zone defense."
"Lazy drunk," Traci said as she pushed up off of the sofa and walked towards the kitchen. "My sober boyfriend would have gotten my beer for me," she shouted back at him.
"Yeah, he's a really nice guy," Jerry called out. "If you run into him say hi for me. I haven't seen him for a few hours."
Traci went into the refrigerator and pulled out a couple of beers. Jerry's explanation about this morning took a lot of her apprehension away. She would have definitely preferred that he told her the truth from the start, but his reasons for misleading her weren't nearly as ominous as she had feared.
Plus, he had spent the morning talking to his wife, but had still come to work and spent all day chasing after her. If she had known that he had seen his ex she might have let him catch her so she could hear what he had to say. She opened the bottles and went back out to living room deliberately leaving the tops on the counter instead of tossing them into the garbage. It might be a tad passive aggressive, but she dared him to complain later that she didn't clean up after herself.
"Here you go," she said handing a bottle to Jerry before sitting back down on the sofa next to him. Jerry reached out and pulled at her arm until she settled back down with her back up against him.
"Better," he murmured. It occurred to him that Traci was really letting him off the hook. She had listened to his explanation and accepted his apology. She deserved to hear the whole story, or at least the basics.
He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her before taking a long drink from his beer. "You know why I love you?" He asked.
"No enlighten me."
"I love you because you aren't crazy. Crazy sucks."
Traci laughed. "Not crazy huh, you are all about the high standards aren't you there Detective."
"Not crazy is very important. Never underestimate the sex appeal of sanity. You are never more hot then when you're being level headed and rational."
"Thank you, that's what I was going for."
Jerry took a breath and decided to dive right in. "You're not supposed to say crazy though. It isn't PC. But when your wife is running around being all paranoid and throwing things at you and trying to kill herself it's kind of hard to remember to say rapid cycling bipolar episode.
Traci looked up at him in surprise. "Allison was bipolar?"
"Well depending on what doctors you ask, and there were a lot, Alli has a combination of mood, personality and anxiety disorders, with a whole lot of other fun stuff thrown into the mix, but we'll just round it off and leave it at bipolar."
"Bipolar isn't crazy Jerry, with medication…" Traci began.
Jerry interrupted her. "With medication it can be controlled and a person can lead a basically normal life, blah, blah, yes Officer Nash you are amazing enlightened and knowledgeable on the matter of mental illness, can I tell my own damn story?"
"Don't get snarky with me Barber, I was just saying."
"Shush. My story my way. I know Alli isn't cazy, the situation was crazy. INsane to be more precise. Alli is bipolar on top of a whole truckload of other issues I never knew about when we got married, because she never told me. A mutual friend, Dan Vickers out of 27 Division, introduced us. His wife and Alli were friends. She got them in the divorce by the way which was fine by me, I never liked Dan or his wife that much. All of them at the 27, pretty messed up crowd, seriously if you leave 15 never take a transfer to 27, 13 maybe, but never 27."
Traci sighed. "Jerry."
"What? Oh yeah, I digress. Where was I? Oh, you wouldn't think Alli and I had that much in common, but actually we did, it seemed like we worked together, more or less. It wasn't a perfect, but it seem good enough at the time. So we moved in and eventually got married." He looked down at Traci. "You do understand that this is like the Cliff's Notes version right? I'm just hitting all the highlights for you. Boy meets girl, boy and girl get married, girl throws shit at boy and shit hits the fan, etc.
"That's fine by me."
He went back to his story. "Well, we had always planned on having kids and after a couple of years we started trying. But it wasn't in the cards for us."
"She couldn't get pregnant?"
Jerry paused. Traci was just going to have to cut him a break on this one sometime in the future. He just wasn't up to cutting open that wound and recounting all the hope and crushing disappointments of that part of the story. "It just wasn't in the cards for us, let's leave it at that for now okay?"
"Okay."
"Anyway, we had been trying for a couple of years and after awhile Alli started to change. In her defense it was really hard on her. She had it all planned out, how many kids we would have, their names, the whole thing and it just wasn't happening the way it was supposed to. It was hard on us both, but it was really hard on Alli. Between the hormones and everything else she began acting erratically, she had these mood swings, she was depressed, then she was all hyped up and running around planning things and turning one of the spare bedrooms into a nursery. The house has four bedrooms. Then she had these rages." Jerry paused and took another long drink from his beer. In a weird way the fact that Traci was lying there with him, but they weren't facing each other made it a lot easier to talk to her about his marriage. In fact it wasn't nearly as hard as he had thought it would be. That was the funny thing about him and Traci nothing was really that difficult between them, unless they made it that way. He should have just told her a long time ago.
"It got so bad at one point that I was worried for her safety, and then it got to the point that Oliver and Sam were worried about my safety. I had to get a combination lockbox for my gun because I kept worrying that I'd be asleep or something and she'd find the key to my lockbox, and try to hurt herself. She was spiraling out of control. Then it would stop and she would seem back to normal mostly. I wanted her to get some sort of help, but she was really resistant to it. That's when I found out. When she was in college she had these episodes. Her parents had to have her hospitalized. That's when she was first diagnosed. By the time we met she had everything pretty much under control, she was in treatment, she was taking medication, she was in a good place. But she never told me. I guess I can understand sort of, when do you find the right time to tell someone?"
Traci wasn't as understanding. "Before you get married probably."
"Yeah well. It probably wouldn't have changed anything, at least I'd like to think it wouldn't have. I mean I would have still married her, but at least I would have known. I would have been prepared. Anyway it turned out that when we had trouble...having a baby she went off her medication thinking it would help. Which could have been managed if I had known about it, if she did it with her doctor's approval, or under supervision, but she just did it her way, went cold turkey, and with some of the stuff she was taking that can be dangerous. By the time I found out she was on a downward spiral and she was rapid cycling so the mood shifts came fast and furious and finding the right medication was a nightmare, she was resisting treatment and it became an impossible situation. Then after I had to have her hospitalized her parents stepped in and after awhile she stabilized and when she was released she went to stay with her parents for awhile and then I received divorce papers."
"Just like that?" Traci asked, her surprise evident in her tone.
"Pretty much just like that. I mean that's the basics like I said, the abbreviated version, but yeah for the most part, just like that. Haven't spoken to her since, well until today."
"Well that sucks." Traci tried to wrap her head around everything Jerry had said. To be honest it was tough. She couldn't imagine planning a life with someone and having it all fall apart like that and then they just up and leave. She probably would have been a lot angrier than Jerry was. She would have wanted answers or something. "There wasn't more to it? You didn't try to contact her or anything?"
"Well of course there was more to it, but there's no point in getting into it all. As for contacting her, What was the point? When it came right down to it she was better off with her family than with me. I couldn't help her. She didn't even trust me enough to tell me about her situation."
"That must have really hurt."
Jerry was quiet for a moment as he tried to think of the best way to explain his feelings at the time. "It did, at the time it hurt a lot. It hurt that she didn't trust me enough to tell me what was going on. It hurt that after everything we went through when she was stable again she didn't want anything to do with our life or me. I had put so much into it we had put so much into it, and then…nothing? That didn't seem right. But mostly it was just exhausting. I couldn't do anything right, I couldn't fix it. You might have noticed I like things a certain way, manageable. I don't do well with personal chaos. The woman I was married to wasn't the person I had thought I married. It was a lot to deal with, and maybe I dealt with it wrong, but I did try. It just didn't work out," he finished with a sigh.
Traci looked up at him. "Is that why you never talked about it? Because it hurt."
"I don't know, not really. It's hard to explain. It's not that I'm not over her Trace, because I am. It's more like…Well it got ugly, really ugly, it took everything out of me. It wasn't a relationship anymore, it was a situation. There wasn't any give and take, it was just a situation that had to be managed and dealt with. I lost my wife a long time before the actual divorce happened. In a way the whole experience was way more painful than the loss of the relationship. I'm not blaming her or anything. She was sick for a long time, it took a lot out of her. I never understood why when she was stable again she didn't want to work things out, but I didn't fight it. It was hard to get out of that place. I don't really do dark and tortured, it's not my bag. Life throws enough crap at you."
They were silent for a while. Jerry felt oddly liberated having finally confided in Traci. There had never really been a good time tell her before, he had never needed to. His divorced had already been finalized, though just barely when he had met Traci, and he had even casually dated a few other women between Alli and Traci. After the divorce casual stress free relationships were the only thing he was interested in, until he met Traci.
"You know," he began. "I didn't want anything remotely serious in my life after my divorce. When you and I met, it was fun. You didn't want anything from me or need anything from me, it was easy, no strings right. I didn't have to worry about you, you didn't give me any grief. It was all I was ready to handle. Don't get me wrong, you had your moments, but I never had to manage you. We were never more than I could handle. You grew on me."
"Like a fungus?"
Jerry shook his head. "What the hell is up with you and fungi lately? You just grew on me. We grew on me. You stopped being convenient and became necessary pretty quickly. I missed you when you weren't around. I wanted more. When we got more serious I was ready for that because we worked for me. We really worked, it wasn't a sort of thing, it was a perfect fit. You were everything I needed. Don't let it go to your head. Then when you left, when you tried to give Leo a family and work things out with Toad that's when I really knew how good we were, because it was gone and I missed it so much. I knew you would figure out too. Though I have to admit you took your damn sweet time about it. But that's only because you're hardheaded and stubborn. But now even you have to admit, we work Nash. We do. You're good for me."
"I'm glad to hear it."
Jerry grabbed her hips and moved so that she turned off her side and was lying flat up against him. He slid down a little so that that his face was directly under hers. "Wow, you are still too pissed to give an inch," he said.
Traci giggled as he teased the crook of her neck, right in the spot that always made her melt. "Fine," Traci relented. "There's a good chance you might be good for me too."
"You're damn right I am," Jerry crowed as he slid his hand up to the back of her head and pulled her down for a kiss.
Traci lost herself for a moment in the feel of his mouth against hers, his lips softly brushing across hers, his teeth gently tugging on her lips, tongue gently caressing hers. Jerry moaned softly as he deepened the kiss sliding his free hand down to the small of her back to pull her in closer to him.
Nobody kissed as well as Jerry. He kissed as though kissing was it's own activity to be fully enjoyed, not a prelude to something else. She could kiss him for hours, but now was not the time. Reluctantly, Traci pulled away from him breaking off the kiss. She still had questions "So what are you going to do?" She asked.
Jerry smiled seductively up at her. "Well I was thinking that I'd continue with the kissing, maybe throw in a bit of neck nuzzling and a little rhythmic grinding before moving on to the advance foreplay round. What the hell do you think I'm doing? I'm trying to make love to my girlfriend here Officer Nash."
She chuckled. "I got that part, I meant what are you going to do now that she's in town, your ex, Allison?"
Jerry groaned, dropped his arms from around her and threw back his head. Was it so damn much to ask that he could get to spend some time with the woman he loved and not have to talk about his ex the whole evening? "Yeah, I know my ex's name. You ruined a really good moment there Nash. I was planning on bringing my A game. All the really good advanced foreplay, the toe curling, make you beg for more kind of stuff, now I don't know if I'll get the mood back."
"Yeah something tells me if need be you'll find your groove again. But seriously. What are you going to do?"
"Uhmm, help Alli with the sale of the house and then get really happy when I see the check, since we put a huge down payment on it when we bought it and had a short term mortgage so my share from the sale will be pretty sweet. Plus it's my last real tie to my ex so I'll have even more reason to celebrate?"
"That's it?"
"Pretty much. Why?"
"I'm just wondering, I mean is she sticking around?"
"She might, she's not sure. Not that it matters Trace. It's not like you and Dex, you two share a child, you'll always have to communicate and deal with each other as long as you're co-parenting, Alli and I don't have any ties like that, and that's fine by me. I don't have a problem with her or anything, it's just that she's not a part of my life anymore. She's only a problem if we make her one."
Traci thought about that for a moment. "So how was she when you saw her?"
Jerry sighed. So much for moving on to more enjoyable pursuits. "She seemed fine more or less. Maybe a little overly nostalgic, but that was it. She knows about you, Zoe told her. So she wanted to know more about you. I just confirmed it, didn't get into though, just let her know I was with someone seriously."
Traci narrowed her eyes. "Why would it matter to her if you are involved with someone?"
"I don't know, you can never really tell with Alli. That's her problem though. My problem is figuring out a way to get my girlfriend out of her clothes. I mean she's lying on top of me and I'm getting absolutely no action. Honestly Traci. Do you even understand how hot this would be right now if you would just have the decency to wear a damn dress? It would just be so much easier. Lift it up push the panties off to the side and slide right in. We could be having sex right now."
"Lazy drunk. Sometimes you have to work for it."
"This isn't working for it. This is torture. Cruel and unusual punishment even."
"Deal with it. You owe me some answers. All I'm saying is Dex could be dating anyone in the world and I wouldn't care less, except about how it affected Leo of course. The only reason I would be interested other than that would be if I wanted to be with him. So I have to ask, why is she interested in who you are with?
Was it seriously so difficult for the stars to align and allow him to get some? He wasn't trying to be greedy, he didn't need a repeat performance of the night before, and right now he probably couldn't even handle it. But what was wrong about wanting a little bit of a drunken tumble with his girlfriend? Honestly!
"I don't know Trace. She's just digging, she's trying to figure out what her options are. I let her know that I'm not an option, but I don't even know if that was even a real consideration for her. Like I said, you can't always tell with Alli where her head is, so I'm not bothering to try to figure it out. I know where my head and my heart are and that's all that matters. Anyway, even if there was no you and me I wouldn't be interested. By the way, since you mentioned him you do know that if you lose your mind and leave me you can't go back to Playtex I'd hate that, you'd hate it to."
Well now that was an abrupt change of subject. At that point Traci knew he was letting her know that he was done with any serious talk for the evening. Not that she could blame him. What she had just heard too a lot out of her too, and all she did was listen, she didn't have to live through it. He had told her a lot this evening, she had a much better understanding of where everything stood. If he wanted to play now, she was willing to play along. "You really need to start calling my son's father by his name, but I'll keep that in mind."
Jerry sighed with relief. That was another reason he loved Traci, she knew when enough was enough. "Uhm, we have a deal, I can call him whatever I want as long as I don't slip and do it in front of Leo, and seriously, Kotex is done, over with, you can't ride that pony again. You know," he whispered. "Dexter is the name of a serial killer or a socially awkward cartoon boy with a weird accent and a lab in his basement. How could you scream out Dex in the throes of passion, Forget I asked that, don't want to think about you and Lurch in the throes of passion. I'd like to think that you just dreamed of me when you were with him. Did I ever tell you that he looks like Lurch from the Adams Family? Seriously thank god for your genes. Leo turned out to be a really good-looking kid. You single handedly came to his genetic rescue and saved him from a whole lot of ugly."
She laughed. "Dex is a very good looking man. I don't do ugly."
Jerry threw back his head and groaned. "Seriously Traci? I'm lying here drunk off my ass in obvious emotional pain and sexual torment baring my soul to you and you choose this as the right time to start talking about your ex being good looking? You are a cold cruel woman. A little sensitivity please. Now where was I, oh yeah, so no dating Vortex. Maybe you could date someone from the 15th. Not Homicide though or Swarek definitely not Swarek, he'll smolder you to death."
"Yes and then there's the little issue of my best friend," she reminded him.
"Whatever. Epstein could never handle you, you'd put the boy in traction, hell the thought of you could put that boy in traction. Maybe Diaz? Nah, he's really pretty and tall. I don't want you with someone that pretty and that tall, Geez, he's tall. Okay, new rule, you can have tall or pretty, but not both. I'd have to forgive you if you went for Frank, he's more handsome than pretty, and a great guy. But Noelle would kick your ass."
"What?"
"What? Nothing. I didn't say anything about Noelle and Frank dating for the past couple of months. Oops, I didn't say it again, though you'll never make Detective if you didn't see that one. I got it. Peck. You should date Peck. I could really get behind you and Peck being together."
"Well that makes one of us."
"Don't be so damn picky. She's a great girl. One day she's going to make some man very happy, when she divorces him." Jerry laughed at his own joke. "It would be so cool. Your super couple name could be Trail? Tail? You've got to admit, Tail is pretty cool. Or maybe we should go a little subtler. Gaici? Graci? Pash, maybe Neck? I'll get back to you on that one."
"Are you finished trying to pimp me out?"
"Nope. You can't date Boyd."
"Trust me I wouldn't want to."
"You could totally have Boyd if you wanted him. Boyd thinks you're hot, but he's a tool."
Traci shuddered. "He is a bit of a tool, and he does not think I'm hot."
"Like hell he doesn't. He was creeping around the station one day sniffing after Sammy, like always, and you walked by and he goes to me 'So Barber, are you really tapping that?' I mean who says that? Tapping? Totally crass and disrespectful to you as a cop and as a woman."
"So what did you say?"
"I said hell yeah I'm tapping that, banging her til she can't walk. Then he high fived me and we went out for a beer."
Traci reached up and smacked him on the back of the head. "And that wasn't crass and disrespectful?"
"Ow, shit Traci." Jerry said halfway between a laugh and a groan. "That was different, that was defensive crassness. I had to talk to him mano y mano on his own frighteningly low level."
He unsuccessfully tried to dodge as she swung at him again. "Cut it out. I'm kidding. I told him he better not to talk about my girlfriend like that or else."
"So by making it clear we were together and calling me your girlfriend you got to verify that you indeed were tapping it without sinking to his level."
Jerry gave an admiring nod. "Damn you're good. Most women wouldn't have caught on to that, they would have been stuck on the whole I defended their honor thing. Nice job and come on, I had to defend my turf."
"So now I'm turf? Do you want to just piss on me so there's no confusion?"
"Piss on you? Sorry Trace. I'm not into that kind of thing, but it's good to know that you're willing to push sexual boundaries I'll keep that in mind."
"Sexual boundaries my ass."
"Mmm," He wiggled his eyebrows, as his hands slid down to her backside. "Now that I could be into."
She smacked him on the back of the head again.
"Ow, now see that wasn't cute the first two times. Violence is never the answer. Besides, I didn't bring it up you brought it up. How am I the bad guy if you brought it up? Anyway about the turf thing I meant to say defend the incredible bond of love, trust, mutual respect and intimacy that we have forged together it just came out as turf. Honest mistake."
"I'll bet. Well Barber this has been great, but I had a long day. I'm ready for bed," Traci said as she pushed herself up off of him stood and stretched.
Jerry snorted as he sat up. "Yeah, all that running around the barn trying to avoid me must have been exhausting."
She smiled and said teasingly, "It was, and you wouldn't take the hint."
He squinted up at her. "Wait, don't move. When you stand right there, there are two of you. Oh that's nice. I've had dreams like this, only both of you had on a lot less clothing. And I'm pretty sure there was a bottle of honey and some chocolate syrup involved. What are we going to call the other you, Traci Two? Traci Too? Though honestly who could tell the difference. Maybe Racy?"
"Jerry."
"No, that's my name, it would be too confusing. How bout Lola? Oh that sounds good. Lola. It even feels sexy saying it, come on say it with me Loolaaa."
"You are so lucky I love you."
"Lola, you know you're the woman of my dreams. Well almost. I mean you look like her and act like her, but she's far less chatty, more of a carnal physical type."
Jerry reached up and took her hand and pulled her back down so that she was straddling his lap. He looked at her through hooded eyes, smiling that smile of his that never failed to do things to her. "Mmmm. Stay here with me Lola," he whispered as he started to kiss her neck. "I'll make it worth your while."
Traci laughed softly as she slid her hands up to his shoulders. She did love his Mac Daddy vibe. "My sober boyfriend remembers my name."
Jerry tilted his head back and smiled up at her. "Your sober boyfriend asked me to take care of you until he gets back."
"Did he now?"
"Yup," he answered before returning his attention to her neck. "Come on, let's stay here for awhile. I'm not ready for bed yet," he slid his hand under her sweater and started softly caressing her back.
"You know Jerry, sometimes you don't listen that well," Traci said as she began to undo the buttons of his dress shirt.
Jerry shifted slightly to allow her to pull the tails of his shirt from out of his pants. "What do you mean?"
"I said I was ready for bed, I never said I was ready to sleep," she said suggestively as she pushed open his shirt and brushed her hands on his bare chest her nails scrapping teasingly across his nipples.
Jerry unbuttoned the cuffs of his shirt and let her push it off of him. "No actually I caught that. I'm all about the subtle nuances of Traci speak. I'm just conserving my energy. I'd rather put it to good use on you than waste it on walking to the bedroom."
Traci giggled. "Lazy drunk."
He grinned up at her as he slid down a little so she was pressed up against his erection. "Not that lazy, and not that drunk."
Jerry held her gaze as he slowly undid the buttons on her sweater. He pushed it open and then pulled it down freeing it from her arms and tossed in off to the side. "You really are so beautiful," he whispered as his hands slid up her back and he effortlessly unclasped her bra. He hooked his fingers in the straps and pulled it off tossing it in the same direction as her sweater.
He placed one hand in the small of her back as he ran his other hand across the front of her body brushing his fingers down her throat across her collar bone, gently stroking her breasts, before hooking both of his hands under her armpits and lifting her slightly so he could dip his head to capture one of her nipples between his lips and began to slowly suck on it.
Traci's head fell back as she gasped and arched her back in pleasure digging her fingers into his shoulders as he flicked his tongue over her nipple then leisurely began to swirl his tongue around it lavishing attention on the sensitive bud until it was almost painfully hard before moving to accommodate the other nipple. He felt her shiver up against him.
"Stand up," he said to her huskily as he pushed away from the back of the sofa sitting fully up and helping her to raise herself off of him. He moved down so that he was seated at the edge of the sofa with her standing in between his legs. He slid his hands up her hips and around to her back bringing her closer so he could gently kiss her abdomen.
"I'm just going to help you out of these pants so that you'll be more comfortable." Jerry said as he unbuttoned her jeans and lowered the zipper.
Traci wiggled her hips slightly to help him as he eased her pants down. "You always think of me. So sweet," she said as she stepped out of her pants.
"I keep telling you. I'm a giver." He paused for a moment to admire the sight of her standing there in front of him wearing barely there black lace panties. He loved her body, absolutely worshiped the combination of curves and muscle that made up her slim frame. "Come here." He said softly holding her by her waist as he drew her back down so she was straddling his lap again.
Traci rested her hands on his shoulders as she lowered her head to gently brush her mouth against his. Her lips parted as she caught his lower lip between hers. Jerry groaned deeply against her mouth as her tongue darted into his mouth and began to slowly tease and caress his.
She felt him hard and throbbing up against the thin fabric of her panties as she ground down into him and started rocking up against him. Jerry reached between them and quickly unbuckled his belt and undid his pants. Traci rose up slightly so he could lift his hips and work his pants and his boxers down, never breaking their kiss. Traci reached behind her and took him into her hand. He was hard and ready throbbing in her hand. She lifted her head and smiled at him. "I guess you really aren't that drunk after all," she said huskily as she slowly stroked him her thumb playing with his tip tracing slow lazy circles.
Jerry groaned. Her hand was so hot, and the friction, how the hell was her hand so damn hot? He kicked off his pants the movement causing him to jerk in her hand and she tightened her grip on him.
"Shit," Jerry spat out as he grabbed her hips and attempted to move her into position.
Traci smiled down at him. "In rush are we?" she teased as she rose up hovering just above him not letting him pull her down.
"Evil, evil woman," he muttered. He slipped his hand between her legs and brushed his fingers against the crotch of her panties. He could feel how wet she was through the fabric. She jumped a little at his touch. Jerry smiled wickedly as he slipped his fingers under the fabric moistened the tips with her own wetness and began to toy with her clit. Traci released her grip on him to grab onto his thigh to steady herself as she felt her legs grow weak.
He was fascinated by how she closed her eyes and bit her lip in pleasure as he curled his fingers so he could slip one into her as he continued work her clit with the other. She began to slowly rotate pressing herself harder against his hand.
"Jerry," she said insistently.
"Now who's in a hurry?" He asked hoarsely. But he wasn't in the mood to taunt her for very long. Not when he wanted it as much if not more than she did. He pushed aside the lace of her panties and slid inside of her lowering her slowly down until he was complete within her. He didn't move for a moment just savoring the feel of her wet and tight around him bending his neck down to tease her nipples before he started to slowly rock his hips.
Traci rested her one hand on his shoulder and the other on the back of the sofa clutching the pillows as she raised and lowered herself on him. She moaned softly as he continued to run his tongue across the skin of her chest, to suck at her throat. He loved the feel of her, the taste of her. Everything about her was completely familiar to him and yet at the same time inexplicably more exciting then ever. He was just going to have to accept the fact that the more he had her the more he wanted her.
"You feel so good," he groaned, slowly thrusting into her wetness. Gripping her ass and holding on to her as she rocked back and forth against him. Oh god she felt so damn good. Steadily they began to increaser the pace meeting each other thrust for thrust until they were perfectly in sync.
"Harder," she moaned.
He was more than happy to oblige. He flipped her over on her back so that she was lying lengthwise on the sofa her back against the arm. He hooked her legs around his waist and slammed into her burying himself to the hilt. He pulled almost all the way out chuckling a little at the groan of protest Traci made before he pushed back deep inside. His fingers dug hard into her hips, holding her in place while he drove into her over and over, the pace hard and fast.
He could tell she was close as she began to dig her fingers into his shoulders her breathing coming in short gasps. He tightened his grip on her and plunged into her.
Traci threw her head back and cried out as her climax washed over her and she bucked against him her muscles clenching and unclenching around him drawing him over the edge with her.
"Oh God. Trace," he grunted as he gave one final thrust driving himself completely in her as he shuddered and exploded collapsing on top of her.
He lay there for a moment his forehead resting against hers trying to catch his breath and recover slightly before rolling off of her onto his side against the back of the sofa. Traci shifted so that her back was to him and he spooned up against her holding her up against him.
"I love you," he said pressing a kiss onto the side of her neck. "And god I love make up sex. We should fight more often, the make up sex is really worth it."
Traci chuckled. Her boyfriend was an idiot. A psychotic, Tupperware buying, label making, sports car naming, kick-ass kissing one hell of a good lover, stupid statement making during the afterglow idiot. She was just going to have to accept it.
Jerry continued to nuzzle the nape of her neck. "Hey, you know why else I love you?"
"Why?" Traci murmured.
"Because you forgive me when I'm an ass."
"Well, when you know you've been an ass you try to make up for it, so it's easier to forgive."
Jerry hugged her tightly. "I was just thinking that the only thing that could make me love you more right now would be if you got up and got us a blanket."
"If I got up and got a blanket?" she said incredulously. "You really are a lazy ass drunk."
"Oh come on, you're closer, zone defense."