Private Relations Read Free Page B

waist down, and took me into his mouth.
    “Fuck…!” I’d hissed. His mouth was warm and wet and his tongue dragged along the length of my shaft before circling around the head. I’d held on for a maximum of five minutes before I shut my eyes and came in his mouth.
    He slid his mouth off from me and swallowed. “I’ve wanted to do that from the moment I saw you,” he’d added. “You’re gorgeous, Jesse. The most gorgeous student I’ve ever taught.”
    “I need to go.”
    I practically ran out the front door. Yet over the following weeks and months, I hadn’t told a soul. Life continued on as usual: go to class, study my ass off in the library, and actually enjoy the many friends I’d made along the way.
    Bobby, for his part, had no intentions of giving up on me.
    “I need to see you,” he’d pleaded. “Please. Don’t do this to me.”
    I’d already had myself transferred out his class under the guise of wanting to take an art course that was scheduled during the same period. The administration For reasons that I still didn’t know, I eventually gave in to his demands.
    I’d given myself over to him, literally and figuratively. No matter how conflicted I was over what we were doing, one thing never changed: every time we had sex, he’d always made me come.
    Then, in the fall of my junior year, someone came along who’d “stolen” me from Bobby for good. He’d hated Vanessa ever since.
    I rubbed my hands over my face, shook myself out of my memories. There’d be plenty of time to brood tomorrow if I wanted to. And so I got up, padded over to my bed, and cocooned myself in the sheets. I turned on my iPad to distract myself, but was met with an equally unsettling headline.

 
    THIRD PROSTITUTE FOUND DEAD IN LONG ISLAND
    FBI Task Force Rumored to Begin Hunt for Apparent Serial Killer

 
    No matter how complicated my life was, the Long Island Ripper had a way of reminding me just how good I had it compared to others. I gave the article a quick read, noting that it summarized what was already known: that some lunatic was picking up prostitutes off of Craigslist, only to rape and murder them. He’d dump the bodies on secluded beaches in Long Island, and the cops were completely clueless.
    It was all too much for what’d been a very strange night. And so I turned off my iPad, shut my eyes tight, and surrendered into oblivion.

 
    Chapter 4

 
 
 
    I woke up wondering if last night was just a dream.
    So much had happened, most of which I had yet to process. I’d been reunited with Vanessa, one of few people I’d ever truly loved. And then, her gay husband made a pass at me in the shower. Which, of course, led me to reminisce about Bobby, another man that’d overstepped his bounds when I was too young to know any better.
    I sat up in bed and let out a yawn. Coffee would settle this, and like any other New Yorker, I had a Keurig machine in the kitchen. Before long, I had a steaming cup of French Vanilla in my hands. Vanessa, if I remembered correctly, preferred Hazelnut, if not Pumpkin Spice during the autumn months. During Christmas, it was all about Peppermint Mocha.
    Jesus . Ten years later and you still remember her favorite coffee flavors?
    My phone vibrated on the kitchen table just as I was about to make another cup of coffee. I picked it up, didn’t recognize the number, but accepted it anyway.
    “Hello?”
    “It’s me,” Vanessa said.
    “How did you get my number?”
    “Eric had it in his iPhone. I jotted it down after he fell asleep last night.”
    “Right. Look, I’m not sure what you were trying to achieve last night, but if you wanted to see me again, all you had to do was ask.”
    “Is that a fact?”
    I paused, all too aware of what she was alluding to. “I’ve said it a thousand times, Vanessa. I forgive you.”
    She let out a sigh, and I could practically see her raking a hand through her light brown hair. Her mouth would pinch into a thin line if she was really