When it's Not Right

Chapter 13

Cory stretched and smiled as he climbed into the shower. Jay had wanted a lot more than just help changing her clothes. The first bit of steam showed the outline of Jay's hair, shoulders, and ass from when he'd pinned her up against the tiles last night.

        Jayler had booked herself a three-day weekend, so after steaks she'd packed a few things and then she and Trench had come up to the house with him. He had fuel deliveries today so had taken her back into town this morning, done his deliveries, met her for dinner and then come back home.

        She'd really, really liked this shower, though. The marks and streaks from her hair, shoulders, and ass showed up as the glass started to steam up, too. He cleaned up himself quickly, enjoyed the recent memories as he wiped off the glass and tiles, and then spoiled himself with a warmed towel once he turned off the water.

        An early dinner with Jay at The Brew when his deliveries were done had been nice, and Lou had joined them while Tony oversaw the bartending duties, then Cory had come home alone. He fed the dogs and then split firewood for a couple hours until it was time to come in and start a quiet evening. Tank playing with Penny around the wood pile had reminded him to call the shelter, and he caught someone before they went home for the night to set up an appointment for taking Tank in to meet the workers at the shelter. Jayler still had tomorrow off, and he had the final invoice to drop off with her insurance broker, so he was going to town to drop off the invoice in the morning and then spend the rest of the day with Jay. She'd mentioned running a few errands that she wanted to use the jeep for, and helping get bulk bags of dog food and a new dresser that she liked – and was on sale – sounded like a pretty good day.

        Cory shaved, noticing his hair was getting in his eyes as he did which meant it was time for a cut. He wiped the sink and threw the used washcloth and towel in the laundry bin on his way out to the bedroom to get dressed in whatever was clean and comfortable for having a beer and watching a movie. Penny was relaxing on her pad in the living room but Tank led him around, anticipating what direction she expected him to go to grab clothes, and he made fun of her for tumbling around the bed and rolling in the blanket she pulled off the end. He dressed in an old pair of workout sweats and a tee shirt that had a hole where the tags at the collar used to be, and then herded Tank into the kitchen. He tossed her a couple of treats as he grabbed a beer and then settled into his favorite chair in the living room after giving a couple treats to Penny. He picked a Bollywood comedy with subtitles out of the list of available titles and laughed his way through to the right time to take his tranquilizer and get ready for bed.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

        Jay changed into her PJs and washed her face, then just stared at herself in the bathroom mirror and wondered exactly what had happened in the past few months. She could recall the timeline just fine, but if someone had told her a year ago that she'd be this happy right now, she would've laughed at them.

        Her phone dinged and she glanced down to see a text notification from Kev. Since he and Davey got a photo from Cory of her grinning about her finished couch, Kev was determined to include her in their huge circle of friends. She didn't know how to fit into that group at all, but it was so much fun to chat with Kev in the evenings and share some jokes that right now she didn't worry too much about how to be properly social with a couple of up-and-coming fashion gurus. It wasn't even as if they were prying because she was a new safe person in Cory's world, it just seemed like they were honestly interested in talking to her more after spending an evening video chatting to teach her how to dye the couch. They made making friends seem really easy.

        The flowers Davey had recommended were still healthy in the middle of the table, looking like they belonged there. Jay smiled about having gotten flowers and turned off the hall light and then the bathroom before aiming her steps toward her bedroom. Trench followed close behind, jealously possessive now that Cory wasn't around. The big dog climbed onto his claimed place on her bed, his head on the second pillow, and she wrapped her arms around his neck to snuggle into the thick fur.

        Cory definitely wasn't as fuzzy to cuddle with. Jay smiled again and squeezed Trench a little tighter. He grumble-growled happily and pushed back into her hug, almost breaking her nose when he flung his head around to try and lick her face before switching over to concerned inquisitiveness at her apparent spontaneous injury. She laughed at him and settled back down for going to bed once she confirmed she wasn't bleeding and could still breathe normally.

        Her anxieties didn't bug her as much tonight. She'd been what she would've thought was rude this morning when she'd asked Cory if he was okay with being more than friends with benefits and less than a relationship. He'd just shrugged and agreed without even discussing it. She'd had a whole conversation planned out and hadn't needed it at all because when she started into the explanation he'd laughed and said she was the only one qualified to decide what kind of relationships she wanted to have with whoever she wanted to have them with. Then he'd kissed her and said he liked how she was thinking.

        For the first time in a long time, Jayler liked how she was thinking, too.

        The following day, with Cory helping her with errands, passed just as easily as the whole weekend had. And then going back to work had been good which made that day pass easily, and then the day after and the day after that until months went by. Jay flew down to stay with her folks for the week around Christmas, her flights lining up by chance to have departure and arrival times close enough to Cory flying out to stay at his sister's that he could give her rides to and from the airport, and that Trench could fit in with the arrangements he'd already made for his dogs being cared for by Rick and Barb. Her parents flew up for a visit in the spring and they all stayed at Cory's house because the apartment was just too small, and a couple months later Jenny and Austin brought all the kids up for a week-long summer vacation away from the demands of her job (causing Lou and Tony to spend every moment possible spoiling the kids, with Lou admitting she wanted to give the parents time to make more because the first four were just so damnable cute).

        Then suddenly a year was gone. Jay looked up from her life and realized her tidy apartment was dog-hair encrusted in spite of cleaning it two or three times a week, just like her parents' house, and she had great friends who didn't care that her house had dog hair all over it. Her parents had stopped worrying about her and their phone calls weren't packed up with funny or good news only – her dad was even complaining about the annoying little things at work that he'd always talked about before everything with her ex had gotten so very, very ugly. Everything was just normal and comfortable. It was strange and wonderful and, she realized with a bit on awe, she was actually at a point where adding more to what she was doing seemed good.

        Her boss had been hedging about possible promotion options. It wasn't open conversation, more like phishing to see if she would be interested in talking about the bait he was offering. Her relationship with Cory hadn't changed at all, which was awesome, but the casual situation was also starting to feel stagnant. She'd hedged questions to Cory about it, but he said he was still completely happy with the arrangements. Probably she just had to outright ask Cory about a more stable relationship and then see what he thought of it; being subtle didn't work on him and she liked that a lot. She liked it enough to want more now that she was used to it.

        Her reflection was smiling about stepping life up again, and on her own terms, when she finished washing her face and dried off the bathroom counter. She decided to talk to her boss before talking to Cory. Then she would have an idea about what was going on at work and could maybe have some celebratory news to open up the conversation for talking to Cory. Trench snuggled with her and soaked up the extra attention he was used to whenever Cory wasn't here. Jay curled into bed and hugged her breathing, shedding, throw pillow tightly. Things were looking up.