Burned

It wasn’t long before she heard the front door open then close, and Terrie’s voice calling out her name from the hall.

“I’m in the kitchen.” For as long as Ella could remember, the kitchen was the favored spot for her and her friends to talk, to argue, to visit. Either over coffee or sweet tea, it was there they seemed to find the most comfort.

She set the glasses of ice and the pitcher of tea on the table as Terrie swept into the room. She stopped inside the doorway, looking around curiously. “Is the boy toy in residence today?”

Ella winced at the question, though it could have been the tight, erotic tugging of the plug in her rear as she sat down, she thought.

“James went somewhere,” she sighed. “He didn’t say where.”

“He’s meeting Jesse for lunch.” Terrie shrugged as she sat down across from her. “Jesse was supposed to come over to the house and fix the faucet for me but James had some kind of emergency.”

Ella watched her friend suspiciously. “Are you sleeping with him?”

“James?” T