“Believe it or not, I’m not here for the church,” I said, tucking his very generous donation into my bikini beside the other bill.

Jason’s eyes widened in mocking shock. “No? Really? I never would have guessed.”

That bulge in his pants was catastrophically distracting.

I stepped back as Vincent started the car; the engine coming to life with such a roar that several of the women under the canopy began to complain. The way Vincent looked at me, eyes lingering at all the right places, made me feel like he was stripping my clothes off without even touching me.

“We’ll see ya’ around, Jess,” he said, his tone making my stomach do a ridiculous little flip. His engine popped with a backfire as he pulled onto the road, a brief flash of flames bursting from his tailpipe as he sped away.

5

Vincent

The last time I’d seen Jessica, she’d been on her knees begging to suck my cock. It was a particularly heady memory, the kind of thing I recalled far too often as my go-to wank material.

That Halloween party was almost three years ago. The universe would give and take as it pleased, so when Jess ghosted after that night, I took it as a sign. It simply wasn’t meant to be. Regardless of history, longing, or whatever the hell else existed between me, my friends, and her, fate worked its mysterious ways and drew us in opposite directions.

I could usually accept that. When the universe flows, flow with it. Let fate take its path.

But damn, sometimes the universe surprised me. Sometimes its signs were subtle, and sometimes they were massive, flashing, and undeniable.

Today was one of those undeniable signs; I could feel it.

Jess had always been poised, dripping with confidence. The type of woman who could intimidate you with a glance. But today, she’d been flustered, uncertain, distracted.

I couldn’t help but wonder if she thought about that night like we did? Did it haunt her, lurking in the corridors of her mind? Did it come out in the dark? Did she touch herself to the memories?

We did. We all did. Jason would scoff at the idea, Lucas would vehemently deny it, and Manson would claim she never even crossed his mind. But they were all liars. Manson still had her thong, although he thought he was sneaky about it. I’d caught Lucas stalking her social media several times.

The deep scowl on Jason’s face for the rest of the day proved he couldn’t get her out of his head. He got all sulky and broody when he was faced with a problem he couldn’t fix, and Jess was exactly that.

A damn problem that none of us could figure out.

“I doubt she’ll be sticking around long,” Manson said. When I mentioned we’d seen her, he looked like I’d slapped him before he quickly buried the expression. “She’ll be gone again before summer is over.”

Lucas looked pissed off, as usual. “Good riddance to her. This damn town doesn’t need any more issues.”