Chapter 1: After the Asshole

October 2006

"FUCK YOU you stupid, ungrateful MOTHERFUCKER!"

I stood in the doorway between my bedroom and the living room, yelling at the top of my lungs. Over by the door, my boyfriend crouched down, one knee on the floor as he cowered in abject fear of further damage. The picture frame that had just recently bounced off his arm now lay in two pieces on the floor a few feet away from him. The miniature wooden dutch shoes I'd picked up in Amsterdam had hit him square in the back and were now next to his right ankle.

Presently, the stupid turd looked up and realized that I no longer had any missile- shaped objects in my hands. So the cowardly bastard took the opportunity to half-crawl over to the door and then flee out of it lest I stop to reload and continue my aerial assault.

"Good fucking riddance!" I yelled a final time. And just for good measure, I grabbed my cell phone off the DVD cabinet beside me and sent it hurtling toward the now-closed door. The flimsy piece of plastic and electronics shattered quite prettily against the hard wood, coming apart in three distinct chunks along with a variety of tiny little plastic and metal bits.

Only then did I stop and take a deep breath, hunching forward with my hands on my knees for support. If my boyfriend were still in the room, he would've had a magnificent view of my fabulous tits hanging down in my scoop-necked top. 34DDs, firm, and perfectly shaped: my boobs were my best asset and we both knew it. But he wasn't here. And he couldn't see them anymore. Never again. Serves him fucking right.

I suddenly felt very tired. My shoulders slumped. I panted from the recent exertion. And shaking my head, I turned and headed back into my bedroom only to flop haphazardly onto my back across the bed. Once comfortable, I let my arms splay out to the sides as I caught my breath and stared at the ceiling.

I suppose it was partially my fault. I never should have invited that cute blonde Melissa into our bed. I mean, yeah, I was horny and craving some pussy. But maybe I should have just left it as the one time stand. I should have known it would be a mistake to invite her for a repeat. But she was just so fucking... tasty ... that I couldn't resist wanting an encore ... and then another ... and then another.

Or maybe I just should have picked a less attractive girl. I know I'm not a knockout babe and Melissa IS prettier than me. I'm a size 6 and she's a size 2. It is what it is. I should have known my boyfriend would start fantasizing more about her instead of me. After all, it had happened before. My first boyfriend was now engaged to my ex-roommate, the "hotter roommate". And on top of being the prettier girl, Melissa was "new pussy", always more alluring to a male than the old pussy.

Still, Chad should have known better. We talked about Zodiac-Astrology all the time. I'm a Taurus. I'm stubborn, dedicated, sensual, and loyal. I'm slow to anger, but once you really get me going, I can get fucking ENRAGED. We were together almost a year. He knew this about me. He knew all he had to do was be honest and mature about it. Hell, I would have LET him fuck Melissa on the side if he'd just TOLD me about it instead of trying to hide it!

But nooo, Chad tried to hide his affair. Getting together as a threesome every couple of weeks wasn't enough for him. He had to tell me he was out bowling with his buddies when he was actually sneaking her into his apartment. FUCK! If you're that fucking horny, just invite the damn girl over to MY place!

I suppose I should have known better. I always want to see the good in people, especially handsome men. I always want to believe they're mature adults who can handle my sexual peccadilloes. I'm horny. I like girls. I like sharing girls. And I'm always horny! You'd think a guy would bend over backwards to keep someone like me!

But no, Chad was a narcissistic moron. He did nothing to make me happy and everything to make himself happy. Yeah, he was handsome and had a big dick and could screw for hours on end. He'd even fucked me quite well last night, back before I knew he was a lying, cheating bastard. But all he ever cared about was himself, oblivious to how he might be upsetting his girlfriend.

Hell, he wasn't even smart enough to keep from upsetting Melissa, which was why she called me this morning to tell me she'd been sleeping with my boyfriend behind my back. That was when I picked up the picture frame and started throwing things at him.

Actually, this was all David's fault. My first boyfriend, the one who'd given me the nickname "E-Beth", had spoiled me. He'd treated me like a queen, and still does. He made me believe men could be wonderful and considerate and caring. And he balances his multiple lovers in a way that makes it seem so easy. Even after we'd broken up, the way David has treated me around his girlfriends always reassures me he hid nothing from me, nor ever needed to.

Am I so wrong to expect the same level of honesty from every man after him? Is it really my fault none of my subsequent boyfriends could measure up? Is it really so bad to dedicate myself to pleasing my man and expect him to do the same?

I exhaled slowly and rolled my eyes, finally getting off the bed and looking around for my purse. I was already late for work. I found my car keys, one of the few things within reach that I hadn't thrown at Chad on his way out the door. Hmph. Those woulda hurt if I'd thought to throw them.

I then figured I should probably call my boss to let him know I was still coming into the office. But I sighed and looked at the broken pieces of my cell phone on the floor. Well THAT wasn't my most brilliant decision.

I stooped down and extracted my SIM card, making a mental note to stop by the cell phone store to pick out something new. I then left my condo and headed for my car. And on the drive to work, I made a resolution:

'No more, ' I told myself. No more handsome hunks with more charm than sincerity. No more bad boys who think they're God's gift to women. I was tired of coddling them and being the very best girlfriend I could be. My NEXT boyfriend would be a man who prioritized ME. He would be considerate and attentive, even if he wasn't the kind of guy who made me wet between my thighs at first sight.

I was twenty-five, old enough to know better now. Yeah, for my first couple of years after graduation, I'd had my fun, dating different guys and bedding different girls. I'd traveled around the world, mostly for work but with some time for pleasure.

Then last year I decided for myself that I would scale back on the dance clubs and experimental life. Part of it was because I'd gotten promoted and work was keeping me really, really busy. But I'd also made a conscious decision not to be so casual about my sex life. Hooking-up no longer interested me; I wanted to feel some emotional connection with a boyfriend, long-term. I'd thought that I felt it with Chad. But it turned out he was just as much an asshole as most other guys I'd dated before.

I didn't want to settle down now, get married, or have kids right away. But I was getting to the point in my life where I should start looking for men who I could be with long-term, men I could form a lifelong partnership with, instead of men who looked like they'd be dynamite in bed.

Yeah, it was time for ME to grow up and be mature about this. I set my jaw and held my head high as I walked through the employee entrance of Argen Laboratories, waving my badge at the RFID security gate. I was a beautiful, successful, intelligent young woman in the prime of her attractiveness. I had risen to my position faster than anyone in the history of my company. I was both smart enough and strong enough to take charge of my relationships. And I would no longer let a man's charm and sex appeal get in the way of my own eternal happiness.

"Hey, Stella," I greeted in a friendly voice to the department admin, whose cubicle was just outside my office.

"Hi, E-Beth," the pretty, young blonde smiled at me as I headed for my door. "Alfred was looking for you. I called your cell but it didn't go through."

I paused and shrugged nonchalantly. "I broke it this morning. Found out Chad was cheating on me."

"Ooh," Stella winced sympathetically and looked down. I shrugged and Stella paused to take a long deep breath before she added, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Chad's history and I'm already over it."

She looked at me skeptically. "Really?"

"Really," I said quite firmly.

"Well, your timing is perfect." Stella cracked a smile and popped her eyebrows. "We just met the new guy in Marketing and he is such a hunk." The girl was practically drooling.

I giggled and smiled casually. In a company full of middle-aged men, I always felt more 'girly' when chatting with Stella. "Really? Sorry I missed him."

"Oh, you didn't miss him." Stella blushed and nodded her head sideways, glancing to her left without actually turning her head. "He's over there, by Alfred's office."

I turned my head to look and sure enough, a tall, strikingly handsome man was standing next to my boss in front of his office, about thirty feet away. Alfred saw me and then gestured in my direction; and the two men started walking over.

Stella blushed again, glanced straight at me with a knowing look, and silently sank down into her chair, stifling another giggle. I chuckled beneath my breath and stiffened my spine, turning to face my boss and the new guy in Marketing.

Alfred, my boss, was a graying gentleman in his early-60s and the man who'd hired me. With a kindly smile he gestured toward me and introduced, "This is Elizabeth, one of our rising stars, who is creating the products that will define our company for the next several decades."

I paid absolutely no attention to Alfred's praise. All my focus was on the new guy as I realized I was in serious trouble. The new guy was tall. Looking to be about 30, he was also quite handsome, with dirty blonde hair and dark green eyes that bored into me with infinite depth. He carried himself with an easy confidence, and charm literally oozed out of his ears. His eyes dropped briefly to my exposed cleavage, clearly checking out my rack before drawing his steely gaze up to meet mine. And in the smokiest, most masculine of voices, he introduced himself. "Hi, I'm Grant. Very pleased to meet you, Elizabeth."

I smiled almost bashfully and shook the hand he was proffering to me. The instant our palms met, a little lightning bolt of electricity shot up my arm, across my tits, and down to set off a miniature explosion in my pussy. It was all I could do to maintain my composure as I pumped his hand and managed to say, "Please, call me E-Beth."

"E-Beth. What a cute name." He flashed a smile full of pearly white teeth and my knees went weak. My panties were getting wet, too.

Oh yeah, I was sooo in trouble.

"Teddy, my eyes are up here."

The young stockroom clerk blinked twice and pulled his gaze up from my chest. My white lab coat was unbuttoned, exposing my jeans and scoop-neck top so that my firm 34DD tits were on nice display. The shirt wasn't obscene or anything, but I wasn't shy about hiding my breasts. I knew they were my best feature and even though I strove to maintain a professional appearance at work ... well ... I LIKE getting a little attention.

At 5'6", I wasn't the tallest of girls. I'm not fat by any means — I spend too much time working out to ever let that happen again — but I'll never be the skinniest of girls either. I'd like to think I have an attractive face — and David always assured me that I did — but I know I'm no supermodel, either. I have ordinary brown eyes and ordinary brown hair with some natural curls. All in all, I'm just a plain Jane except for my tits. So I work with what I've got.

And Teddy didn't seem to mind what I've got. I couldn't blame him. The kid was younger than me and full of male hormones. If I didn't want him looking, I wouldn't have worn the damn shirt.

The cute boy with the messy hair blushed sheepishly and looked up at my face. "Sorry, E-Beth." Then he handed over the vials of colored liquids I was requesting from the stock room, along with the usual paperwork. The vials contained controlled solutions, one of them an exotic mixture I'd created myself two years ago.

I signed off receipt of the chemical solutions before handing the vials over to Steve, a middle-aged lab technician who I'd been working with forever. I handed over a set of instructions I'd created, based on my computer analysis from work done on the human genome. Hopefully the primary compound would inhibit our target G-protein-coupled-receptor which could then point us to a pharmacophore and allow us to develop a new wünderdrug.

The bespectacled, slightly-balding man smiled at me and nodded. "You got it, E- Beth."

"Thanks, Steve," I gave him one of my warmest smiles. I liked Steve. He was one of the few people who would call me "E-Beth" and one of the few people at Argen who hadn't been condescending or downright mean to me on arrival, probably because I'd known him back to my days as a college intern. The vast majority of scientists working here had their Ph.D's, which mean they hadn't entered the workforce until their late 20s if not 30s. They'd had years and years of chemistry theory under their belts before going to work creating the latest designer pharmaceuticals, while I was considered a 25-year-old upstart who had gotten lucky with a few mad-scientist concoctions.

Maybe I had gotten lucky. It started while I was still in college. Drug discovery was very much a hit or miss process, despite advances in technology and in understanding of biological systems. Anytime ANYONE did something new it was considered to be "mad scientist". Heck, even David still thought I was a pure Chemist, just making shit up and seeing if it would blow up. But my particular field of biochemistry had me spending more time in front of a computer than in the lab. Significant work was being made on the human genome project and because I'd spent three years of internships experimenting with new methodologies to put the genome research to use, I'd been hired right after getting my bachelor's degree, bypassing all the years and years of extra education that was usually required to get a job as high-profile as mine.

All the middle-aged men in the Discovery department really didn't like that. Radinsky downright despised me. The job he and others had studied seven-plus extra years for, I'd gotten at the tender age of 22. And since Chemistry by its nature is just a very male-dominated industry, there weren't even many women around I could bond with. Plus, I was introducing a completely different approach to the tried-and-true processes they'd been performing forever, and the old- timers didn't like how I was shaking up their labs.

On the other hand, I was a young female with great tits. So rather than get 100% resentment from the department staff, I got about 50% resentment and 50% patronization. Half the staff tried to have absolutely nothing to do with me; the other half treated me like I was their 8-year-old granddaughter. Of course, that would make some of those forty-something men QUITE the perverts the way they kept hitting on me. I just wished there were more people like Steve who would just treat me based on the work I delivered. I could always tell who the friendly ones were since they actually used the "E-Beth" nickname.

At least the company wasn't entirely scientists and lab technicians. Outside the labs, there were departments for Human Resources and Accounting and Sales and Marketing just like any other big corporation. There were younger girls like Stella with whom I could go out to lunch or meet up for drinks after work. And THOSE girls made life working at Argen bearable.

It was Stella who came to knock on my office door at 5pm. "C'mon, E-Beth. We're going down to Monahan's."

I sighed and tore my eyes away from my oversized LCD monitor. The idea of hitting the bar and getting plastered sounded great, but I didn't want to drown away my anger over Chad. I wanted to be stronger than that. "You guys go ahead. I'm going to stay late and keep working."

"This isn't a request," Stella glared at me, looking quite awkward as she did so. The bubbly blonde was the very definition of cheerleader perky and looking stern just wasn't a natural expression for her. "You're coming with us."

I laughed at her attempt to appear serious. "No, really. I'm fine. I can skip a week."

Stella just marched into my office and tugged on the back of my desk chair, wheeling me far, far away from my keyboard. "E-Beth, it's a Friday night. You just found out this morning that your boyfriend was cheating on you. And the girls and I are NOT going to let you wallow in your misery staring at DNA strands or hypermolecules or whatever it is that you do. Comprende?"

She spun me around to face her and I sighed, a lopsided smirk on my face. I suddenly felt more tired than ever. Well, I suppose the 'getting drunk' route would work, too. "Fine."

"I think the new guy likes you." Stella grinned at me.

I frowned into my beer. "Yeah, right. We only talked the one time."

"You mean Grant? Oh, isn't he dreamy?" Audrey, a 27-year-old married brunette sighed. The pretty girl from Procurement was quite happy in her marriage and would never think of straying, but she was always the first of us to check out cute guys and comment on how good-looking they were.

"Yeah," Stella confirmed. "And his eyes were all over E-Beth here this morning."

"No they weren't." I shook my head. "Why would any guy ogle me when they could stare at you?" I ran my eyes up and down the perky blonde's body. Stella was 23, a size 2, cute as a button, and had a very nice rack of her own. I'd even had a fantasy or two of my own about her, harboring stray thoughts about pinning the petite girl beneath me while I ravished her little hardbody. But all the signals I'd gotten throughout our friendship told me she was straight as an arrow.

"There you go again," Stella groaned, her green eyes flashing in annoyance at me. "When are you going to realize that you're freakin' hot, E-Beth? You never believe me when I tell you cute guys are checking you out."

I rolled my eyes. Stella was a good friend, and as such she constantly complimented my looks. But I knew better. I wasn't anything close to the hot babe she claimed I was.

"Ohmigod. Look who's here!" Audrey gasped as she sheepishly turned away from the door.

I looked up from my beer and turned my head to see Grant walk in with three other guys from the Marketing group. Monahan's was quite close to the Argen offices and it wasn't unusual to run into others from work. But right now, the last thing I needed was for HIM to come talk to me.

Which of course meant that the instant Grant saw us, he gestured to his new co- workers and led them over to our table. I felt a little flutter in my stomach at his actions for two reasons:

One, despite being a brand new employee, the guy had the balls to take charge of the three guys with him and direct them on where to go.

And two, for some reason he was coming straight for me.

"Well, fancy running into you ladies tonight," Grant said magnanimously. How the hell did he make me feel like he was talking directly to me?

"It's the closest bar to the office," I shrugged and looked away, drinking my beer and fixing my attention on Paula, the fourth member of our Sex and the City- esque group. I didn't need a distraction like Grant around. He was just another handsome, charming, and flirtatious man. If I just ignored him for a while he'd zero in on some other hot, single girl soon enough. Maybe he'd even focus on one of the other girls with me. Audrey had her wedding ring, but that didn't always stop a guy. Stella had a boyfriend, though she wasn't above some friendly flirting. And Paula was a bottle-blonde knockout in her own right, and single to boot.

"Maybe, maybe," Grant conceded. "But that doesn't make us any less pleased to find you. Would you ladies mind if we joined you?"

"Of course! There's plenty of room!" Stella quickly chirped and gestured to the open table beside us.

Inwardly, I groaned as Grant nodded appreciatively and motioned for his guys to sit. The section of the pub we were in had a long, booth-style bench seat running the length of the wall, with multiple tables for four arranged in front of it. Stella and Audrey were in the two chairs while Paula and I sat on the bench seat. One of the marketing guys who knew Paula went around to sit next to her and chat about legal stuff, since she was from our Contracts Department. And only then did I realize that a devastatingly handsome man was about to sit right by my side.

"Hello again. E-Beth, right?" Grant said in that smoky voice from about ten inches away.

I winced inside. I should never have told him my nickname. Keeping things more formal would have been much better for my plan not to start anything remotely resembling a relationship with this man. I turned to reply and caught his gaze dropping momentarily down to my breasts, feeling a little sexual thrill shoot through me as he did so. And uncontrollably, I flashed him an inviting smile and replied, "Right. You remembered."

"Hard to forget such a unique name for such a unique girl."

My eyes narrowed, and I tamped down on my sexual thrill. Ooh, trying to flatter me already? We'd just barely met. Well, I'd long ago figured out that the fastest way to kill a conversation was not to participate in one. I simply gave Grant a little smile and turned back to my beer, willing myself to calm down. Yeah, he was exactly my type. Yeah, he turned me on just looking at him. But yeah, I had resolved to myself not to turn into an air-headed bimbo around smooth-talking, predatory guys anymore.

Stella, on the other hand... "So how was your first day, Grant?"

He flashed a perfect smile full of pearly white teeth to Stella. "Illuminating. And I have to admit I'm pleasantly surprised. I wouldn't have expected a stuffy, boring chemical company to have so many ... friendly ... people." And then his gaze slid back over to me, steadily and confidently looking deep into my eyes as if he could transmit sexual arousal telepathically.

The word Grant used was 'friendly', but the innuendo in his voice implied something else. And at the same time, his eyes once again yo-yoed down to my tits almost imperceptibly. I had to be watching for it to notice, and the heat of his brief gaze set fire to my loins. I was getting turned on, and I didn't want to be. I was starting to regret wearing this shirt. "'Stuffy, boring chemical company'?" I smirked at Grant. "Not much of a marketing genius, are you?"

He barked a laugh and smiled radiantly at me. "Stuffy and boring is your reputation on the street. That's what I'm here to change. But I'm full of hope. You certainly aren't stuffy and boring, are you, E-Beth?"

"Tonight I am," I said somewhat gruffly and looked away, raising my beer mug to my lips.

"You'll have to forgive, E-Beth," Audrey put in. "She just dumped her boyfriend this morning."

"Audrey!" I hissed, glaring at my so-called friend. Exactly why would she be telling a complete stranger my life history?

The married brunette hiccupped and gave me a goofy grin. Oh, that's why. She's already drunk. And when Audrey gets drunk, she goes straight into matchmaker- mode. She might be settled down and married, but she hooked up with other guys vicariously through us.

"My sincere apologies on behalf of the entire male race," Grant said generously. "But I will admit to being pleased that morons like your ex-boyfriend are sending more extraordinary women, like you, back into the dating population."

Extraordinary? Again, the guy barely knew me. But as we settled in and ordered a few more rounds of drinks, that lack of familiarity certainly seemed to be something Grant wanted to change.

It didn't really hit me that I was single again until I got home. Whether I liked it or not, Grant's flirting at Monahan's had stirred the horny, sexual creature inside of me. Guys get turned on by naked skin, cute giggling, and lots of eye contact. They're like buttons that have defined, unavoidable reactions when pressed. Well, I get turned on by husky voices, perfect smiles, and lots of eye contact. Grant had been doing all three with quite a bit of focus on me, and I couldn't help but become aroused.

But now I was home. I was drunk. I was horny. And I no longer had a boyfriend to come take care of the problem for me.

Fucking Chad. Why did he have to turn out to be such a loser asshole? Not only did he cost me my boyfriend, but he cost me Melissa, too. Yeah, she turned out to be a skanky bitch in the end, too; but fuck she could eat pussy.

At least I had little Davie.

Feeling thickheaded, I managed to strip off my clothes, leaving them wherever they happened to fall. I was 100% single now. There was no one else coming to my condo who would care what dirty laundry was on the floor. In the shower, I had to brace myself against the wall lest I fall over. This was always a weird and yet pleasant sensation, feeling drunk and dizzy and wet and naked and horny. My skin was crawling and the sensation of warm, wet pulses splattering against my big tits made my nipples stand up despite the heat. And they weren't about to go down once I started lathering myself with soap, running my hands all over my nude, curvaceous body.

Afterward, I took my time drying off, perhaps spending a little too much time on my breasts and between my legs. It was only 8pm, but I dressed in my pajamas and crawled alone into bed. And from my bedside table, I then pulled out little Davie.

"Hi, there. Remember me?" I asked my vibrator. He hadn't gotten much use lately. The last time little Davie had come out to play, I was using him to fuck my pussy while Chad was behind me, filling my tight ass with his big dick. But since then, I'd had Melissa around to double-team me when I really needed it. And as much as I enjoyed little Davie, there's simply no replacement for a live human being.

So as I slid little Davie beneath the waistband of my pajama pants and put him to work, I laid back and thought about the live human beings in my life. Chad was history. He'd been a fun, if inconsiderate, boyfriend. But I was very good at erasing men from my thoughts and I would never again fantasize about him. Melissa, either.

Then there was Grant. I wondered if he had a nice cock. I wondered how it would taste as I orally pleasured him, and how it would feel throbbing on top of my clit. I groaned and shifted little Davie into a better position, sliding him lightly along the crevasse of my labia.

I wondered how Grant's dick would feel stretching my tight cunny.

But I didn't want to think about Grant. The LAST thing I needed after Chad was to fall for another guy. I needed a break. I needed some E-Beth time to collect myself before jumping into any new relationships. And even if this was just a fantasy, to be fantasizing about Grant now would only make it harder for me to ignore him tomorrow and in the future.

So I switched to fantasizing about my favorite two people in the world: David and Amber. David: my first boyfriend, my first lover, and all-around greatest guy in the world. I'd always felt a spark of chemistry with him but never a spark of love. But he was both sexy and strong and dependable. And he could make me orgasm like no one else.

And Amber: gorgeous blonde goddess, my college roommate, and David's fiancée. We'd spent many, many long hours rubbing our naked bodies together over the years. She'd been my first Sapphic lover, the one who taught me the pleasures of the female body. She had a wickedly good tongue. And she would be my best friend forever.

I imagined lying flat on my back, my ass at the edge of the bed. David would stand between my thighs, holding my legs and undulating his body back and forth, his ab muscles rippling as he sawed his thick cock in and out of my willing body. I would have Amber kneeling over my face, letting me shoot my tongue up into her sweet-tasting pussy while my hands reached up to squeeze and caress her glorious breasts, perhaps the only pair of tits even better than mine.

It was about then that I wondered: Why the fuck am I HERE? Why don't I just go visit them for the weekend and actually FEEL David's thick cock splitting me open and actually TASTE Amber's sweet pussy?

So it was decided, I would go get the real thing. I wasn't in a relationship anymore. It was only an hour's flight away to the old college town. And my two best friends would always have room for me in their bed.

Sighing, I pulled little Davie out of my pants and licked him clean. Sure, I was still drunk and horny; but now that I had a plan to get well and truly laid, self-pleasure just wasn't going to cut it. I would wait. The waiting would just make the real thing that much more satisfying.