Playing Passion's Game (8 page)

I can’t believe I just did that!
Trent ran her fingers over her lips and tried to capture Juliet’s taste again. “So much for taking it slow, Trent,” she grumbled and rubbed at her face harshly. She was astonished to find her hands were still shaking.
What the hell is it about this woman that just sets me reeling
?
And I invited her in. I never invite anyone into my home
.

Moving almost through rote, Trent began to lock up her home for the night, hanging up her jacket and removing her shoes at the bottom of the stairs. She quickly went upstairs, her whole body vibrating with the arousal Juliet had left her with. Getting ready for bed, Trent tried to calm her yearnings by going through the motions of brushing her teeth and finding something to sleep in. She tugged on her sleep tee over a pair of shorts and padded into her bedroom, a much more furnished room than the floor below. A large bed took up most of the room. Shelves lined with DVDs and books framed the walls and small keepsakes were scattered in between. Trent turned off the light and lay down on her bed, but her body thrummed with an energy all its own. She turned on the television to distract her. Trent moaned as the last thing put in the DVD player sparked to life once again on the screen. Two women kissed and fondled each other and Trent grew even more uncomfortably damp. Her body was tight, her skin crying out for contact. Trent slipped a hand inside her shorts and tugged on her already hardened clitoris, rolling it between her fingers, exposing the head from its hood and running her wetness over it. With her free hand she ran her palm over her breasts and circled her tight nipples with her hard-skinned thumb. With the accompanying sounds from the TV urging her on, Trent drew herself ever closer to orgasm, assuaging the tension building inside her with her own touch. Knowing exactly how to press to get her clitoris harder, Trent let her fingers run over her flesh. With her eyes closed she pictured Juliet’s face above her, that long blond hair teasing her. Those slender fingers were suddenly the fingers squeezing her nipples and making them highly sensitive. Trent could almost feel Juliet’s body beside her, and it was her hands that pushed Trent over the edge, her voice that urged Trent on as the spasms rocked through her. Trent bit her lip to stop herself from calling out Juliet’s name as she came hard. Body shaking, her breath shuddering from her lungs, Trent finally lay wasted on her sheets, her mind barely registering the sounds of further excitement coming from the TV.

“Shit, I am in so much trouble.” Trent carefully removed her hands from her sensitive flesh. “Just one kiss and she’s got me with my hand straight down my shorts.” She reached for the TV remote and savagely shut it off, unable to hear any more of the women’s groans of pleasure. She lay in the darkness and waited for her body to calm, all the time thinking about Juliet and how she had felt in her arms.

It was going to be a long night.

Trent groaned as a soft tongue teased the wetness between her legs and spread kisses over her clitoris. Each brush of lips made Trent buck and moan aloud.

“Stop teasing me,” she growled and pressed a hand to the back of Corrine’s head.

Bright green eyes looked up from Trent’s body. “You know you like it when I tease. It gets you wetter.” Her tongue flicked over Trent’s opening and Trent’s hips rose as the need to be filled consumed her.

“Just fuck me, Corrine, you’re driving me crazy.” She grabbed more hair and pressed Corrine closer to her point of need.

“Just because you’ve just had me screaming out your name with half your hand inside me doesn’t mean I can’t take it soft and slow with you.”

Trent whined pitifully. “I’m too far gone for soft and slow. Just stick your fingers in there and get me off.”

“God, you’re such a guy.” Corrine laughed and sucked Trent’s clitoris firmly into her mouth.

“Christ, yes, just like that.” Trent panted as the warning rush of orgasm tightened her stomach muscles. Her focus was centered on the feel of soft lips and tongue tipping her ever closer to the edge.

“Trent, why are you home from school?”

The sound of her father’s voice coming unannounced through her bedroom door caught Trent and Corrine off guard. He pushed open Trent’s bedroom door and found them, Trent spread out on the bed, naked from the waist down, school shirt up exposing her breasts, and Corrine with her face pressed firmly between Trent’s legs, her lips covered with wetness.

Trent’s father’s face turned an ugly shade of purple as he screamed, “You dare bring this filth into my house?” He roughly grabbed Corrine by her hair and wrenched her off the bed. He flung her to the floor and directed his ire on Trent, who was trying to scramble for her clothes. The first blow knocked her back against the wall, the second cut open her scalp as his ornate wedding ring cut into her flesh. Trent dimly noticed Corrine snatching up her clothing and running out the room, but the sound of her feet on the stairs was quickly lost in the sound of Trent’s father shouting.

“You bring shame to this household. It’s bad enough you have to look like a man without possessing the sinful qualities of one too.” The next blow cut Trent’s lip open, and she cowered under her father’s rage.

“Dad, please—”

“I am not your father; you are not my child. No child of mine would reduce herself so low to be disrespectful to God and give in to the temptation of the flesh. You disgust me, queer.”

Trent flinched at the words that she heard so often in the house to describe those her father hated. She’d known it would be all too soon before he turned the words on her. She just hadn’t expected him to find out so graphically. She cursed herself for being so stupid as to skip school and bring her girlfriend home. She scrambled back into her clothing hastily, fastening buttons with shaking fingers. Her father towered over her, his face contorted in fury.

“You will not leave this house again. When I get back tonight, we will get the elders in and they will counsel you from your deviant ways.” He took a step back and looked about her room. “I’ve been too lenient with you, indulged your wayward leanings.” He swept an arm along her desktop and knocked the game console and its games to the floor. Systematically, he smashed the whole lot under his feet, stomping the game cartridges and breaking them to pieces, crushing the console and ripping apart Trent’s books.

“Dad, please no…” Trent’s words went unheeded as his anger fuelled the destruction he wrought.

When he had finished, her room was destroyed and everything was ruined. “You need to think on your actions, Trent Williams, because tonight you will be judged. Be thankful I have to go back to work now because I would deal with you myself. I would beat the devil out of you. Wait until your mother and sisters find out what has been going on under our roof. They will be as disgusted as I am by your filthy perversion.” He took a step forward, but the sound of his pager going off distracted him. “Don’t you dare leave this house. I’ll deal with you later, child.”

Trent stayed on the bed as her father swept out of the room slamming her door. The door lock slid into place, trapping her inside. She strained to hear his footsteps leave and peeked from the window as his car pulled out of the drive. She rushed to gather up clothing and anything else she could salvage. She grabbed a duffel bag from under the bed, opening drawers and shoving clothes into it. She wiped at the blood trickling down her face and cast a quick look at herself in the mirror. “Christ, I look terrible,” she gasped, assessing the damage. She began to cry at the wreckage piled on her floor. She slipped to her knees and tried to see if any of her games could be saved. She began to sob in earnest as she picked up the broken pieces of her most treasured possessions, the things that had kept her sane in a house ruled by her father and his righteous ways. Only one had remained intact and she shoved it into her bag protectively. She wiped at her forehead to try to stem the flow of blood there and lifted up the hood of her sweatshirt to hide her battered face. She shouldered her duffel bag and then opened the bedroom window. She eased out onto the window ledge and gauged her drop to the bushes below. Without a backward glance or care for her safety, she jumped from the window and landed in the privet hedge. Her shoulder wrenched at the impact, but she ignored the lancing pain and was quickly on her feet and running as far away as she could go.

Trent shot bolt upright in bed, wrenched from sleep. She struggled to catch her breath while her heart pounded erratically in her chest. Wincing at the rawness in her throat, she came to the realization that she’d woken herself up screaming. Trent ran a shaking hand through her hair and squinted at the clock on her bedside. It read 3:55 a.m.

“Shit.” She rubbed at her face, startled to find tears on her cheeks. “Goddamn it,” she said and untangled herself from the bed sheets. She padded into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Trent stepped under the running water, gasping at the cold spray before it turned lukewarm. The tepid temperature did nothing to banish her shivers, but Trent knew all too well that chill came from the nightmare and not the cool air of the summer night. She didn’t stay long under the water. She toweled off roughly and found clean clothes to wear. For a moment Trent considered going back to bed, but the dream was still too fresh in her mind for her to settle back down. She checked the clock one more time and weighed her options. Someone, somewhere in the world would be online and willing to play. She bypassed her bedroom and headed for a door farther down the hall. Sometimes, in the quiet of the night, knowing that someone was out there ready to go into battle at her side, albeit in a game, was the only thing that kept Trent sane.

I’ll sleep later
.
For now I just need to escape
.

Due to her restless night, Trent ended up sleeping late and was only awakened by the sound of her doorbell chiming. Disoriented, she got out of bed to open her blinds and look out her bedroom window. Monica was walking up her path to join Juliet at the front door.

“Fuck,” Trent said. She opened her window and leaned out. “Morning, ladies.”

Juliet stepped back from the doorstep and shielded her eyes against the bright midday sun to look up at her. “Are we too early?” she called.

“No, I’m running late,” Trent said. She dangled a set of keys she’d dug out from her pants pocket. “Use these to open the side gate. I’ll be down in a minute.” She tossed the keys down and Juliet caught them. Then she shut her window and rushed to wash up and prepare to meet her guests.

Ten minutes later, tucking a T-shirt into a clean pair of jeans, Trent trotted down the stairs, slipped on her boots, and unlocked the back door.

Juliet stood out of the way while Monica trampled through some of the overgrowth. Trent couldn’t help but admire Juliet in her worn jeans and short-sleeved pink shirt. She closed her eyes briefly at the way her body reacted to Juliet’s presence.

“Did we wake you?” Juliet’s voice broke Trent’s quiet communion with herself. She had slipped her hands into her jeans back pockets, waiting for Trent to answer.

“No, I was just being lazy debating whether to get up or not,” Trent smoothly lied and tried not to focus on the way Juliet’s stance pushed out her chest or the way her lips curved even when she wasn’t smiling. She took an involuntary step forward, determined to taste those lips again. She was rudely interrupted by Monica stomping toward her. Trent almost retreated at the fierce look Monica leveled at her.

“How could you let your yard go like this?” she said, sweeping her arm out to encompass the whole backyard.

“I wasn’t interested in it, so I just left it to its own devices,” Trent said, trying not to stare too much at Monica’s idea of suitable gardening clothes. Her usual long hair was tied in two pigtails that hung low from a bright red skull-infested bandana. A red and black striped top was tucked into black cargo pants that housed a seemingly unlimited number of pockets.

“Do you have enough storage space there, Pirate Pete?” Trent couldn’t stop herself.

“Yes, I do, Butch Cassidy,” Monica drawled as she eyed Trent’s worn cowboy boots, “but obviously not enough for the copious sticks of dynamite I’m going to need to blow this yard away to replace it with a thing of beauty.” Monica stepped into Trent’s personal space. “You are a defiler of nature.”

“Actually, I’d say I was a poster child for the Green Party, letting this piece of nature choose its own path to follow.” Juliet chuckled behind Monica, and Trent was glad she wasn’t on the receiving end of whatever look Monica threw over her shoulder at her.

Monica balled her fists on her hips. “Don’t you ‘Greenpeace’ me. You’ve been too damn busy banging away at mushrooms in your games to pay attention to the land outside your own back door.”

Trent refused to blink under Monica’s stare. “So can you fix it?” she asked.

“Fix it?” Monica’s voice rose and Trent caught Juliet cringing in reaction. “This is not as simple as a game, my dear.” Sarcasm dripped from her voice. “There is no
walkthrough
for this disaster.”

Trent tried to school her features to look suitably contrite in the face of Monica’s ire. “Can’t you weave the magic that Juliet says you have when it comes to landscaping?”

Monica looked over her shoulder at Juliet. “She said that?”

Trent nodded. “That’s why I wanted you to come see this. I think you’re the only one who could resurrect this mess to something beautiful. And you’ll get Juliet to help, which will, in turn, help her toward making a decision on joining you in your work.”

Monica narrowed her eyes and seemed to consider Trent’s words. “I’d document the whole dig. Everything would be photographed to prove that I transformed it from this dump to something worth looking at.”

“Take all the pictures you need.”

“Let me give this disaster area a good look over and see what I can suggest.” Monica flicked a pigtail in Trent’s direction and stalked off, pulling a pad and pen from her back pocket.

Juliet quietly edged her way over to Trent’s side. “She’s excited by the challenge. I can tell.”

“Yes, I could see excitement bubbling underneath all that scowling.” Trent’s gaze traveled down Juliet’s body unbidden. She wedged her hands firmly into her pockets to stop herself from reaching out to pull Juliet close. Swallowing at the sudden dryness in her mouth, she finally spoke. “You wear pink well.”

Juliet took her own time looking Trent up and down. “And that T-shirt clings in all the right places.”

Trent gritted her teeth, willing her nipples not to tighten at Juliet’s obvious stare. “It was the first thing that came to hand.”

“We
did
disturb you.” Juliet pouted and Trent stifled the groan that rose as swiftly as the urge to kiss those lips and put that pout to good use.

“I thought about you last night,” she said out loud, startling herself.

Juliet looked equally shocked, then a wicked grin spread across her face. “Glad to see I made you restless enough to forget we were coming to visit.”

“If Monica wasn’t here I’d kiss you senseless.”

“Monica who?”

“Hey! How y’all doing?” Elton’s voice cut through the moment as he came in through the side gate. “Thought I’d come and see how my favorite ladies are all getting along. You know, in case any of you needed rescuing from whatever lives in this…” He gestured toward the yard. “I think I just witnessed Peter Jackson drive off. He mentioned something about an ape?”

Trent made a face at him. “Very funny, wiseass.”

Monica sashayed out of the foliage and gave Elton a dazzling smile. He reached out to tug at her pigtails and she giggled.

“So are you two really going to take on this challenge?” he asked, sweeping an arm around Monica’s shoulders to hug her close.

Juliet nodded. “It will give me a chance to see whether I’m ready to work in both landscaping and with Monica.”

Trent bit the inside of her cheek to hold her tongue in check. Monica caught it and cut her a look.

“I am perfect to work alongside, but the work itself is both demanding and very physical.” She looked Juliet over critically. “You’re not so flabby after sitting behind a desk for all those years, my friend. I think you could do it.”

Trent had to agree that Juliet was a fine figure of a woman, with curves in all the right places. She stuffed her hands even deeper in her jeans.

“I just need to get some more measurements and then I’m all yours,” Monica said to Elton, who swiftly made himself available to hold the tape measure while Monica plotted out the lay of the backyard.

“What do you have planned for the rest of today?” Trent asked Juliet while Elton followed orders like a docile lamb.

“I have a proposal that I am supposed to be getting ready for in a month’s time to present before my bosses. Charts and graphs on ways and means to cut costs and save the bank money.”

“Sounds enthralling.”

“Oh, it’s the highlight of my life. It’s like applying duct tape to a sinking ship. What about you? What does the rest of this Sunday have in store for you?”

“I have a game on the ’net with some friends later tonight. I think Zoe and Nick will be online so I’ll team up with them, and we’ll go gang up on some poor unsuspecting players to shoot the bejeezus out of them.”

Monica had finished writing everything down that she needed, then slapped her book shut. “I am done. Let me go and work on this and we’ll plot out a plan of action.” She gave Trent a considering stare. “You going to be okay with us camping out in your backyard?”

“It will be just fine. I’ll give you the key to the side gate and you can come and go as you please if I’m at work.”

Monica nodded. “Juliet, I’m going to go back to Elton’s. I’ll see you later?”

Juliet waved her off. “I’ll use the time alone to work on that damned proposal.”

Elton gave Trent a thumbs-up sign as they left.

“Something tells me our being here isn’t something you’d usually tolerate,” Juliet said.

Trent shrugged, unsure how to explain or if she could even begin to. She reached for Juliet’s hand and tugged her toward the back door. “Come sit a while before you have to leave.” She led Juliet to her kitchen table. They sat for a while drinking Pepsi.

“You don’t spend much time down here, do you?” Juliet asked quietly, gesturing to the plain rooms and the empty feel they radiated.

“That obvious, eh?” Trent looked about her home and for the first time acknowledged what Juliet could see. “It does look pretty sparse, I’ll admit. I tend to spend most of my time upstairs, so these rooms just never get used.”

Juliet raised an enquiring eyebrow. Trent shook her head at the obvious silent comment.

“No, not like that! I don’t invite women back here at all.” She realized too late just how much she had inadvertently admitted.

“And yet, here I am,” Juliet said softly.

“Yes, here you are.”

“What makes me different, Trent?”

“You just are.”

Juliet reached over to brush a stray lock of hair from Trent’s face. “I’m glad.”

“Me too.”

*

It had been a none too chaste kiss that Juliet had left Trent with at her front door. Now, over twenty-four hours later, Trent was still feeling the press of those full lips against her own.

“You’ve got that faraway look again,” Elton said, handing her a roll of stickers and guiding her to a cart. “Price ’em up, partner.”

Trent went through the motions, gaining comfort from the routine. She could sense Elton hovering nearby.

“Are you seeing Monica tonight?” she asked, hoping to deflect his concern.

“We’re over at my place for pasta and a fine wine.”

“Get you, Mr. Domesticated. Wine, eh?”

Elton leaned against her cart and threaded a finger through his beard while he mused. “I’m so glad she came to the tournament. What if we’d never have met? The most perfect woman in the world for me and I could have missed her.”

“How she dresses makes her kind of hard to miss,” Trent said and accepted the punch on her arm in good humor. “She complements you, my friend. You were obviously meant to be.”

“And what of her guiding light of a roommate?”

Trent sighed. “She kisses like a dream.”

Elton clapped his hands. “Now we’re talking! No wonder you’re all misty eyed and off the planet today. So could this be something serious?”

Trent wouldn’t meet his eyes. “You more than anyone know I don’t do serious.”

“But Juliet isn’t like any of the girls you used to hook up with.” He leaned in closer. “You know, before you took the vow of celibacy.”

“No, she isn’t, which is why she is dangerous.” Trent continued applying the sales stickers with a little more aggression.

“Trent, you deserve someone who will make you happy. You’re way past due.”

“I’m doing fine on my own.”

“Sure you are, but your heart is yearning toward that pretty blonde whose eyes light up every time she sees you, and yours return the same signal. Like it or not, you’re pulled toward her.”

“She’s too fine for me, Elton. She’s way beyond my reach.”

“Well, she doesn’t seem to agree,” Elton said cryptically, his tone making Trent follow his line of vision. She checked her watch.

“School’s out already?” She wondered how she had sleepwalked through the entire afternoon in her job.

“Looks like little bankers are too.” Elton sauntered over to where Juliet and Kayleigh were perusing the game-lined shelves.

Trent felt the tug on the invisible string that bound her to Juliet. Elton got a hug from both Juliet and Kayleigh and then Juliet sought out Trent.

Oh God, her eyes
do
light up
. Trent took an involuntary step forward.
And like a sailor called forth by a siren’s song, I have no course but to go to her.

“Trent! Juliet brought me to see if anything new has come out.”

Trent accepted Kayleigh’s hug. “New games are released on a Friday, so you’re too early to start spending your birthday money, kid. How about we go peruse the list that tells you what’s out soon and see if we think any of the new releases will be of any interest to you?” She checked out Juliet’s banking suit. “You’re looking very somber there, Juliet. I think I like you better in your jeans.”
For so many reasons
, Trent thought, remembering how the denim clung to Juliet’s curves.

Juliet tugged at her jacket as if it were constrictive. “This is my power suit.”

“Something tells me that’s just one of the reasons why you want to look into changing vocations.” Trent moved closer and noticed Juliet’s added height. She looked down at her shoes. “Serious heels.”

“Butt-kicking heels,” Juliet said with a steely glint that sent a curious shiver down Trent’s spine. She admired the length of leg Juliet was displaying. Kayleigh tugged on her hand and broke her from her musings.

“Trent, my money is burning a hole in my pocket here!” she whined.

Trent was suitably chastised by Kayleigh’s tone. She tried to ignore Juliet’s amusement and Elton’s choking cough. “Sorry, kid. Your sister distracted me looking so girly.”

“She always looks girly,” Kayleigh replied as she was led to the counter. “She’s pretty that way.”

Trent couldn’t argue with that and just reached for her list to start thumbing through the games. She could hear Elton and Juliet’s conversation as they spoke nearby.

“Monica says after we’ve tackled Trent’s yard that yours is next on her to-do list.”

Trent felt a little less picked on now that she knew Monica had seen Elton’s backyard and found it equally wanting.

“I’ve asked for a centerpiece shaped like a skull,” Elton said.

“I’ve seen the preliminary sketches. You’ll get your wish. She knows exactly which pebbles she’ll use for the skull and what plants will be perfect for the eyes to make them ‘glow’ red.”

Elton rocked back and forth on his heels in delight. “God, that girl is a genius. It’s going to look so cool.”