Once their car was loaded, Jennifer and Jonathan Hart sat quietly side by side. They'd gotten out quickly after making their excuses to Lisa, leaving Elliot Manning stewing on his boat. Jennifer could read the tension in her husband's shoulders and in the furrow in his brow as he fiddled with the keys. The silvering moonlight was a stark slash across his face, making the ridges of his frown appear deeper.
"Darling…" She murmured into the nearly oppressive silence. "Please. Let's just go."
Sliding the key into the ignition, Jonathan paused again before reaching for her hand. Turning her palm up, he placed a sweet kiss there before releasing her to start the engine.
There wasn't much to say as they headed back into Sydney. Jennifer couldn't even rally the energy to offer smart remarks about his driving. Finally, unnerved by the tension in the car, she reached and placed her hand on his thigh, tapping lightly. The gesture earned her a lopsided smile, although he was clearly still sorting through his frustration. She knew without a doubt he wasn't angry with her, but that whatever Elliot had said to him struck a nerve. Knowing Elliot, he had alluded to their past relationship. It's true that she and Jonathan were not children when they met, and they each had a series of previous relationships to contend with. But of all her previous lovers, Elliot Manning was the least threatening. The end of their… it was safer to call it an affair than anything else… had been swift and sure, and all Jennifer's idea. Jonathan knew she considered Manning to be one of the greatest regrets of her life and it seemed like whatever was said between the two men had emphasized that fact for Jonathan.
As they neared the outskirts of the city, Jennifer called the hotel to re-arrange the room they'd let go when Elliot talked them into going to his home. Fortunately it was still available, even though Jennifer had misgivings about going back to a property owned by Elliot himself. She couldn't shake the sense that there was something else going on beyond a manufactured love triangle and it seemed short-sighted to stay where he could so easily access them. But it was getting late and they were tired. They could find other accommodations the next day, if necessary.
Still, Johnny the bellhop was on duty and was able to get them settled in their room quickly. He didn't linger after Jonathan placed another large bill into his palm, the blood smeared on Jonathan's shoulder enough to have him bouncing out the door with hardly a backward glance. Once they were alone, Jonathan drew his wife into his arms and buried his face in her auburn hair. Her scent settled him more, as did the pass of her palms over his back.
"You rub my back just fine." He spoke into her throat, and her chuckle rippled against his lips, although she wasn't entirely sure what he meant.
"You should take a shower. You need to relax." Her fingers dug into a knot twisted tight between his shoulders. He groaned a little at the pain and she jabbed him lightly to move him in the direction of the bedroom and the en suite bath. She helped him undress, wadding up the stained shirt and tossing it carelessly into a corner. She'd like to burn it, the physical evidence that Elliot had tried to use her to cause pain to her husband.
She inspected his bruised knuckles and clucked quietly, shaking her head with resignation. She didn't condone physical altercations, especially over her honor, but Jonathan was a scrapper and he fought for the things he loved.
With the water on fully and the room filling with steam, Jennifer started to gather the rest of his discarded clothes in her arms, intent on getting them down to the laundry before the blood could set. But Jonathan paused her with a tug to the tails of her blouse, jerking his chin for her to join him instead. His eyes were luminous in the drifting steam, more gray than blue in his exhaustion. His look was pleading, a little like Freeway when he wanted to get into bed with them, and his hopeful little grin tugged her heart as surely as her blouse. He stepped back into the steam and just watched as she shed her clothing, the pile at her feet growing with each discarded piece. If she were in a better mental state, she would not allow the silk to stay wadded up in the damp heat of the bathroom but she was tired and a little heartsick about all that had occurred. She'd buy a new blouse - she'd buy ten new blouses - before she'd spend another moment outside of Jonathan's embrace.
She stepped into the billowing heat with him, then melted into his arms. She'd needed him to hold her, his still-firm form tethering her to the now lest she get lost in unpleasant reminiscences. She wished she had fought harder to keep him from going out to The Cloud to confront Elliot, but she had recognized the look in his eyes. It wasn't that there was jealousy to settle between them, or even that Elliot had laid his hands on her (and Jonathan didn't even know that for sure). It was a boundary he had kept and held since the day they were married. No, since the day they were engaged, after a whirlwind romance in London. Jennifer was his wife, and not a bargaining chip or a strategy to be played. He had a long history of cutting off negotiations with anyone who tried to bring his wife into the conversation. Business could be cutthroat and many a competitor had tried to rattle him by making crude remarks about his wife. And to the one, they were escorted out of his business and out of his life. For good. If it wasn't for the wildlife preserve, Jonathan would surely have done the same with Elliot Manning - for both of their sakes.
Whatever Elliot had said was likely more damning because of its accuracy. That he would use details of their brief affair to rattle Jonathan was infuriating but not unexpected. Elliot had been charming and, yes, fun. He was charismatic and enjoyed the finer things in life. He had absolutely showed Jennifer a good time, but she soon realized that's all he had to offer. And even that wasn't available to her on a monogamous basis. A fast life had not done much to compensate for a lack of a connection and she'd bored of him rather quickly. Quicker than even he knew, she was sure. When she tried to break things off, the charismatic charmer went on the offensive with a full court press that was startling in its intensity. It had taken weeks of him needling at her, searching her out while on assignment, before she finally told him off. In public. Rather loudly, actually. Not so very different from the scene at Bully's Bar Bistro and Bathhouse. Things smoothed out when he left for Australia…perhaps he'd believed she'd be waiting for him when he got back…and she considered that the end of that.
By the time Elliot had returned, Jennifer was married to Jonathan. And the rest, as they say, was history.
"Baby…" Jonathan whispered against her hair, as though he sensed her turmoil. He likely did. They were going on two decades together, and she wasn't exactly the closed book she liked to believe. At least not with him.
"I'm fine." She said, drawing him backwards into the spray of the water, letting the heat run over them, creating a cocoon of warmth and comfort. She pressed a line of chaste kisses along his sternum, smiling against his muggy skin when she felt his fingers tighten on her hips.
"More than," He said, allowing his hands to wander over her slicked sides and lower. A lovely fireball of desire ignited in her abdomen with his trailing fingers, warmer than even the water cascading over them, causing a shiver to run through her. Anticipation tingled across her skin when he kneaded her backside. Tunneling her fingers through his hair she dragged him backwards until her back hit the cool tile. Her gasp turned to the ash of a moan when he hitched her thigh over his hip, his tongue insistent over her pulse. They didn't talk anymore after that.
It was near midnight by the time they found themselves in the bed, their robes draped over the foot of it. Jennifer resumed her usual spot, curled into Jonathan's arms, her ear pressed over his heart and her fingers dragging gently through the hair on his chest. He was indeed more relaxed, and he hummed in sleepy contentment.
"So what happened?" She asked finally, knowing she wouldn't be able to sleep until she knew exactly what Elliot had said. She knew, too, that Jonathan would be thinking the same thing about her own encounter.
"Nuh uh." He mumbled, proving her correct. "You first."
"It's funny," she chuckled humorlessly. "He said all the right things - or what someone might consider the right things. But it still felt…hollow? Get this. He told me I was the only intoxicating thing in the bar that he wanted. Can you imagine? Who says that?"
The words spilled out quickly - she wanted to get it over with. They didn't talk about past loves much, beyond the barest details. They had agreed that none of that mattered, not one bit, when compared to how much they meant to one another. It was as though the previous relationships didn't even exist on the same plane as their marriage and plumbing those uncomfortable depths wouldn't gain them anything.
"Anyway. I told him I wanted to go back to bed and, of course, he tried to make that into something. When I went to walk away he grabbed my arm-"
"He put his hands on you." Jonathan mumbled, as if confirming to himself what he'd already known. "I should have hit him a third time."
Jennifer dragged a nail harder across his chest in warning. He knew perfectly well she could take care of herself. "Yes, well, he regretted that when I pushed him off his barstool. After that, Bully intervened and… you know the rest."
"Hmph. God bless Bully, I guess." Jonathan turned his head and placed a kiss in her still-damp hair. His wife could indeed take care of herself. By the time he'd returned to Elliot's home, she was re-dressed and packing, as cool and collected as ever. Only he could have seen the discomfort and anxiety in her movements and gaze. It was enough that when she'd asked him not to go to the boat to confront Elliot, he had been unable to give in to her request. Elliot had thought to use Jennifer to upset him, to drive their negotiations in his own, selfish direction. Not that Jonathan underestimated his wife's appeal - he had no doubt that Elliot still carried a torch for Jennifer Edwards - but the torch was not the problem. That he'd used Jennifer to harm Jonathan for the purpose of a business deal - that was the unforgivable line that had been crossed.
"Now you." Jennifer poked him out of his thoughts.
"Darling, it's not important…" He wasn't sure he could say it, out loud, to her. The way Elliot had used her sexual history to anger him, and the way Jonathan himself had risen to the bait.
"No, no, now that's not fair. I told you. And besides, I have a right to know what Elliot is saying about me. He's my misguided youthful dalliance, not yours"
"Well, sweetheart, it's like you said. He was making the noises of a scorned lover, but there was more there. He asked if I liked to dance with you - if you rubbed my back when we danced." The words caused Jennifer to stop in her featherlight caresses of Jonathan's skin, truly affronted that Elliot would ever. "And then he said that on the good nights, on the really good nights, you scratched his back."
Jennifer felt heat suffusing her face, which wasn't a particularly common occurrence in bed with her husband. She was long past the embarrassment stage with him, although it did bother her to know that Elliot had spoken absolute truth. Truth enough that she was sure if she checked her husband's back, his shower-pinked skin would bear a few tell-tale lines.
"Well," She paused to clear her throat. "That may be, but from what I recall, there weren't that many really good nights. One or two, maybe. If that. As if he'd really had all that power…"
Jonathan couldn't help the little chuckle that escaped him, and he kissed his wife's head again, drawing her over to sprawl across his chest and look him in the eyes. She averted her gaze until his fingers gripped at her sides and he ducked his head towards her.
"Any of the nights, good, bad or indifferent, that occurred before us don't matter, right darling?"
"Yes, but…"
"There's no but. I know the only back you're rubbing, scratching and whatever all, is mine. Elliot may have wanted something different but I know…darling, I know he wasn't going to get it. He did, too, I think."
"He barely got it before." She groused. At least any of her other lovers would have the good sense and upbringing not to say anything like that to or about her. At least not in any way that would come back to her. If Elliot really did want her back - if she had been so important to him that he concocted this whole charade for the chance to sleep with her again - why would he speak to Jonathan in such a way? He had to know that the exchange would get back to her. Young Jennifer Edwards may have been up for a lot of fun, but even she didn't tolerate being the target of locker room talk. Certainly not then, and definitely not now.
"It just doesn't make sense," She concluded, but the words trailed off into a yawn. It had been a spectacularly long, ridiculous day. And the unburdening of her mind and heart with Jonathan had managed to smooth out the rough edges, enough that she thought she would sleep very well.
"No, it doesn't. But I think we've given Elliot Manning enough of our time, don't you?"
"Mmmmhmmm," Jennifer yawned again, burrowing her face into Jonathan's chest. She wouldn't sleep like this all night - draped across him, limp and relaxed - but she needed the contact for the moment. And she knew he wasn't about to complain. It was enough - it had always been enough - that they were together. She didn't allow herself to linger for too long on the why's and how's of their rock solid union - it seemed a bit like gift horses and mouths. But she knew the absolute truth of it, even as she matched her breathing to his.
Eventually she drifted to sleep on thoughts of Wagner, the Sydney Opera House, and the thrill of sleeping in the arms of her lover, her husband, and her best friend. It was enough to ensure very good dreams and an even better reality come morning.