3,200Chapter 02—
The How's and Why's
Lira scrubbed her body furiously as the cold water (apparently hot water was a luxury that the Kozy Kort did not provide) fell over her body; she was trying desperately to get rid of the residue of Jude Keenan's hands… and his lips and his… oh God, she was going to be sick.
How could she have let this happen? How could she have gotten married to that insufferable man? Even though she'd been drunk out of her mind, how could she have lost sight of that fact that it was Jude Keenan? There shouldn't be enough alcohol in the world to make her forget her hatred as far as he was concerned.
This was the boy who had made her life miserable since the very first day she'd laid eyes on him. For practically her entire life she'd been sparring and arguing with him and then all of a sudden she found herself married to him?
And why couldn't she remember anything?
How much did she drink?
Why was she drinking?
She ceased her scrubbing and stood still, just letting the water cascade over her body. Forcing her mind to stop working on overload, she suddenly began to see flashes… short flashes… of what she assumed to be memories.
Jude's silvery white locks falling in his eyes while he was thrusting into her.
She wrapped her legs around his waist, urging him to speed up his ministrations and give her more. She could hear cries of passion and pleasure and was momentarily struck with the thought that their two voices intermingled together sounded beautiful and almost natural
She shook her head, willing those thoughts and images to fade.
She didn't want to remember what happened after they got to the motel—that was pretty much a given… details on that were NOT necessary. What she wanted to know was what had preceded the motel romp and lead to the whole getting married bit.
In more short flashes, she saw white carpet and something about "number 64". Number 64? What was that?
She rubbed her temples in sheer frustration. Why couldn't she remember? It wasn't like her to drink so much that she lost her memory. It wasn't like her to be all spontaneous-like and…
She gasped as another memory flashed in front of her eyes.
A long needle and a man named… Crusher?
Crusher? As in Bone Crusher?
Lira paled with the thought.
Especially when that image was replaced with Jude again.
His long and slender hands were gripping her hips. She was straddling him and her entire body was coursing with desire and lust and the most intense pleasure she'd ever felt in her entire life. He trailed deft fingers up her torso… across her shoulders… her neck.
Then his hands trailed back in the direction that they had come, reaching their destination finally. His large hands began kneading her breasts, causing another surge of electricity to make its presence known. She gasped and felt herself smiling back at Jude and letting him know how much she approved of this touch.
It was as though every inch of her body was on fire.
A loud crash suddenly brought her mind back to the present. She looked down to see that she'd accidentally knocked over a couple of shampoo bottles. She was suddenly very aware of the cold water still falling on her. It didn't seem to be doing much to ward off the inevitable flush that had spread across her body.
In fact she now felt more flushed than ever. Those images were so… so… powerful. She could almost physically feel Jude's fingers gliding over her skin and how he felt inside her.
She shook her head forcefully, willing herself to stop that train of thought before it left the station far enough so that it couldn't return. She leaned down to pick up the fallen bottles, feeling a dull sort of pain in between her legs.
She reached down and fingered her bruised thighs. She remembered what it felt like to have Jude trail feather light kisses in the very places that the bruises now appeared. She wondered exactly how many times they'd… well…
Surely it was more than once or twice, seeing as how her entire body was sore and very achy.
She doubted that he was that blessed in a certain area of the male anatomy.
Although… really… he certainly wasn't cursed either.
She mentally chastised herself after that thought. She dryly muttered to herself that if she'd had more concern for chastity, she wouldn't have found herself in such a deplorable situation to begin with.
Her eyes suddenly caught sight of ink. Ink that was etched into her skin. She peered curiously at her right hip, running her fingers over the design. So that's what that needle thing had been about.
Had she really gotten tattooed by a man named Crusher?
Answer: yes, she had indeed gotten tattooed by a man named Crusher.
She looked down at the tattoo again. It was a smallish design of the character of Hello Kitty. It was actually quite pretty and while she wasn't usually one disposed to tattoo's, she found that she rather liked this one.
Only…
Wait a minute? Was there a name also inked into her skin?
There was! She couldn't see exactly whose name it was that was marring her skin, but she had a pretty good idea. To say that she was furious would be an understatement.
That was about the time when Lira O'Brien-Keenan burst back into the room and asked Jude Keenan if he was also decorated with a tattoo bearing her name. Alcohol was quickly becoming the bane of her existence and she silently cursed whatever civilization had first discovered… or made… or whatever… the vile stuff.
Probably the Greeks… everything came from the Greeks.
Jude sat there staring at her with his mouth agape as she told him that she had a tattoo of his name on her skin. Well… that explained those images he'd had of a burly looking man… Crusher? Yeah, interesting man, as far as Jude could recall.
The blond man rose from the bed and staggered over to the mirror, hearing not only his gasps of horror, but also Lira's. There, nestled firmly above his left shoulder blade was a design identical to Lira's.
"Hello-fucking-Kitty?" Jude glowered at Lira.
"I'd be more concerned about the 'I love Lira' part," she pointed out.
"Yeah, because one is worse than the other," he muttered. "Alright, let me see yours."
"What?" She uttered a surprised yelp. "No. You… you… you can't see it."
"Where is it?" he asked with a smirk. "I'm willing to bet it's someplace that I'm already quite… shall we say… intimate with."
She scowled at him with a murderous rage in her eyes.
"It's on my hip and no, you can't see it," she haughtily spat at him before disappearing back into the bathroom to throw some clothes on.
Jude turned his attention back to the mirror to gaze at his apparent "declaration of love" for her. He rubbed his temples wishing to whatever deity there might be that it was merely a stick on tattoo. He knew this wasn't true, however, and it just made him want to hit… or throw… something.
He caught sight of the television remote lying nearby and picked it up, swinging it with all his might against the opposite wall, where it promptly burst into tiny pieces.
"That's real nice," Lira's voice entered his consciousness. "Now you'd like to play the abusive husband role?"
"Don't tempt me." He narrowed his eyes at her. "This is all your fault, you know. You…" he searched for a word to insert, "you, harlot."
"Harlot?" Lira raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Seriously, Jude… people don't talk like that."
"Forgive me for possessing a vast vocabulary," he drawled.
"Besides, I'm not a harlot and you know it!"
"I seem to recall you behaving in a manner eerily reminiscent of one last night."
She felt the blood rushing to her cheeks again.
"I suppose that you don't remember that it was you who propositioned me," he continued.
Lira immediately paled about three shades. She…? She?
"Obviously not." He smiled, rather enjoying her discomfort.
Lira searched her brain. She had propositioned him?
That's when the why's and how's began to slowly get answered.
She recalled a party. Or wait… was that a wedding? Yeah, a wedding. Todd Granger's wedding to Natalie McBain. She'd been upset due to the fact that, not three months earlier, she'd been dumped by Todd. She hadn't even planned to go to the wedding but, at the last minute, had decided to take the high road. Well, that and Natalie had called to say that she hoped there were no bad feelings between them. She'd said it in such a condescending manner that Lira simply had to show up and prove that she wasn't bothered by this wedding.
The only problem was that, as soon as she got there, Lira realized that she wasn't as composed as she thought she would be. In fact, she was downright bothered by the entire affair.
"Is it all coming back?" Jude said in a taunting voice.
Lira threw him an angry scowl before sitting on the bed and letting her mind return back to that night.
She'd begun her drinking binge at the reception and vaguely remembered that she was making quite a fool out of herself. Alcohol always did that to her, though. She got rowdy and tempestuous and… destructive.
How much more destructive could a girl get? Getting married to your childhood nemesis wasn't exactly a "healthy" thing to do, now was it? Forget the sheer stupidity factor.
The moment fate was sealed was when she looked across the crowded reception hall and locked eyes with Jude Keenan. She'd been a little taken aback at how he was looking at her. His gaze seemed to be penetrating her and she found herself feeling dizzy and somewhat disorientated. It might have been the alcohol (in fact, it probably was) but she immediately equated the feeling with Jude and the way his eyes were bearing into her.
He had a smile on his face, as though she was causing him a vast amount of amusement. But Jude was always amused with her. She couldn't remember a time in history that she hadn't been the source of his amusement. It used to infuriate her but right then… at that moment… she found herself smiling back at him.
He tipped his champagne flute in her direction, as if to say "Good show."
She'd quickly glanced over at Todd and Natalie… who looked way too happy for it to be genuine… and then made up her mind once and for all. She marched defiantly over to Jude Keenan, whispered rushed words (that she was glad she couldn't remember at this point in time), and then left the reception with him.
She groaned and buried her face in her hands.
"See? All your fault," Jude accused.
"You didn't have to accept," she pointed out. Jude's gloating look subsided; she was right, he most certainly did not have to accept. "Look, Jude… the more pressing matter is how do we un-do this?"
"Simple enough. File for a divorce," he shrugged his answer. He began searching for his shoes and shirt, not wanting to stick around the Kozy Kort any longer than he had to.
As soon as he got home, he'd take a nice, long shower and brush his teeth thoroughly.
"Divorce?" Lira questioned, causing him to look up at her. "What about an annulment? That dissolves the marriage and states that it never happened."
"I know what an annulment is," Jude testily answered. "However, aren't those a little more difficult to obtain? You have to have witnesses for one."
"We have witnesses," she pointed out.
"Right, witnesses from Todd and Natalie's wedding," he pointed right back.
"Oh," she nodded her head, "right… I guess I don't really feel like flaunting this night of debauchery to all those people. I've already made a big enough fool of myself as it is."
"Well that's something we can definitely agree on," Jude dryly commented.
Lira glared, contemplating the art of decapitation.
"So, a divorce… they take awhile to come through," Lira said.
"We could get a quickie," he suggested. "We'd have to go somewhere where they actually perform quickie divorces though."
"Like?" Lira asked as she began pulling on her own shoes.
"Mexico? The Dominican Republic? Do they do it in Vegas?"
"They do everything else in Vegas," Lira muttered under her breath.
"So take your pick," Jude told her.
Lira bit her bottom lip and gave an unsure look.
A/N: Woo-hoo! 18 reviews for one chapter. Thank you guys so much. -Wipes tear-
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