Arizona, 1980
They had been 18 the night the terrible car accident occurred.
Manny Meza had wanted Jessica Abby with every inch of his six foot three inch frame for as long as he could remember. They had been in high school together and before that middle school but sometime in those years when a girl turns into a woman, Jessica had became a goddess. Manny knew he wasn't unattractive by any means,in fact many people considered him equally as attractive as she. He was statuesque, white-skinned, muscular and a star football player in high school. He grew up working his father's ranch. Thick dark brown hair almost black, and eyes that were deep and brown. Straight white teeth. and a smile that would melt an icy void between any woman's thighs. His voice was deep and yet loud, a man's man voice, but a unique voice tinged with a slight Hispanic accent owing to the fact his parents were Mexican. With his huge physique, he could have easily passed for an ox. All the ranch work left him muscular and huge but Manny wasn't the type to flaunt what he had. He often wore loose jeans and work boots, with a t shirt, or button down in winter. Oddly enough, it was his modesty that drove women absolutely crazy. Manny was shy and quiet, but strong and resourceful, taking care of business when it needed to be done. He took care of his folks and little sister, and worked the ranch during the day. He had wanted to go to college but his father needed him at home, and had no choice and therefore stayed.
He could have had any woman he wanted, but the woman he wanted was Jessica, who was the best, not only because she was his best friend but because he knew that behind her own demure nature and intelligence beat the heart of a wanton. She was liquid sex, unparalleled in figure. She was five foot three inches of playful wood nymph. Long nut brown hair, and dark brown eyes kept her face youthful. She had the type of face that wasn't loudly gorgeous, but beautiful to behold. She could pull off every look in the book, and god was gracious when he handed her a generous helping of curves. Her hips were round, and her breasts perfectly sized and her ass was to die for.
Because she was his best friend, Manny had a hard time conveying his feelings for her. It came down to one night, there one night together before Jessica left for college. Manny knew this wasn't the greatest opportunity, but he had to try. Jessica had been driving that night and by every logic it was she who had caused the accident and she should have been sent to prison. Made bold by the fact it was to be their last night together before she left the cultureless void and imprisoning desert of Arizona for bigger and better things in New York City where she was to major in English and Creative Writing, aspiring to the career of a novelist.The accident would never truly leave their minds and memories. Jessica had allowed herself to be taken out on a date with Manny. Deep down, she was drawn to him, had even repressed her own desire for him. It went beyond lust. In her innocence and school-girlish mind, she fantasized about marrying him, taming him, making him less of a seemingly brainless jock and into an educated, successful man and a romantic. They went to a restaurant, where Manny had coaxed her into drinking alcohol, despite not being of the legal age to drink. He passed her off as twenty one, for she looked it and before the end of the evening, she had consumed too many "shots". The result was natural. She was intoxicated and driving. He had not even wanted to drive for her. He intended to take advantage of her in this state and told her to drive down an unknown road off the main highway and into a secluded region in the desert. But they never made it more than half a mile out of town when the car struck a smaller vehicle. Its driver, an old woman, died instantly. That was the last time they had seen each other. Before long, the family of the elderly woman pressed charges against Manny, who took the blame, out of love for Jessica. If she were to go to jail, she'd lose out on a career as a writer and student at a private university in New York where they would not have tolerated this indiscretion.
New York City, 1986
Years passed. They were both of them now twenty six. Jessica had been through college and had become first a writer for a woman's literary magazine and then an independent novelist, while Manny had sat in prison. She had moved from home when her father passed away and now lived in an apartment in Manhattan of her own. She had felt guilty every single day of her life. And then the shock of her life arrived one night in August. She heard that Manny Meza had been released from prison on good behavior. He was now a free man, and he would not go home. He'd look for her. She knew she wouldn't sleep for the rest of the long hot night.
It was as if a nightmare was unfolding into intense and frightening reality. She was just beginning to drift into sleep at three in the morning when she heard her bedroom window opening up.
"Why if it isn't Miss Jessica Abby," she heard a familiar voice say in a low growl.
Jessica got up from the bed and gasped. She couldn't think or breathe. Her blood raced. She could see him in the mirror from her bed. It was him. The eyes, the big masculine face, his hard body. He was in black slacks and a white dress shirt rolled to the elbows looking relaxed and very menacing. But god in heaven did he look delicious. Prison had changed him. He was even more muscular than when she had last seen him. No longer possessing a football player/jock's body, he was a huge, threatening thing. There was a small scar above one of those gorgeous brown eyes, and his smile had become lopsided, teasing and malicious. He had grown facial hair. This was a dangerous man.
Manny noticed the fear in her eyes.and her inability to say anything at all. He spoke again.
"Oh yes it's me and your right. I have changed. Six long years and the only thing I had to think about was you. You hurt me more than you will ever know. You never gave me a thought. So high and might. I had to fight off God damn assfuckers every damn day and all I had to keep me warm at night was the sight of your back as you walked away from me that night on the road. I loved you, went to jail for you and here you are, successful and guilt-free. I bet you even have a boyfriend or husband now."
Jessica was visibly shaken but she somehow managed to summon courage to speak.:"You bastard, you're crazy. You break into my apartment like this as soon as you get out of jail. You don't know anything. You don't know how I really felt all those years. I died that night on the road, and even my writing has been inspired by -"
Tears ran down her face. She did not recognize him as the virile, playful, warm jock he had once been, the guy she had always loved throughout high school, but had never told him. Now there was hate in his eyes and fear in hers.
He had made it to her bed, not an abrupt leap or attack, but a stealthy and quick move.
"Please don't kill me. I love you," Jessica said, crying.
Manny cursed under his breath. The feel of her body pressed to his, the slight smell of lavender that she always wore. The tears on her cheeks gave him a massive hard on. He wasn't going to let her get the best of him even if his anatomy wouldn't respond the way he'd like it to. He smiled a bit. He had a plan. He took her in a startlingly fierce strange hold by her neck.
"Too late, Jessica. Too late to say I love you. I don't love you anymore. Do you know what prison does to a man?" he growled as he squeezed a bit tighter on her soft throat
