I didn’t really want to sit here, surrounded by Danica’s family, with her right next to me in her long dress, her legs all bare. And her perfect little toes out, with the glossy little pink nails.
Wanting to fuck her and knowing I couldn’t do shit-all about it.
Her legs were crossed, and the slit in her dress went up almost to her hip. I could almost see her panties…
And now I was hard.
In my sweats.
I adjusted a bit, drawing one knee up and resting my foot on my chair to conceal it.
Ouch.
“You think we can get the fuck out of here, soon?” I asked her. It came out as more of a growl than I meant it.
Danica gave me a sympathetic look. “Of course,” she said. “Soon.”
We left about four hours later.
* * *
Late that night, I lay on my bed, naked. I was alone, and I texted Danica.
Me: What r u doing tomorrow?
Then I put on some music. Snoop Dogg, “Tha Shiznit.” I lit up a joint and started smoking. Zoned out to the song for a couple of minutes before she answered.
Danica: Hanging with my girls.
Danica: It’s Me Day.
She followed that with a smiley face emoji.
Me: Cool
Danica: Why?
I didn’t respond, at first. Wasn’t sure what I wanted to say to her. Or why I’d texted her in the first place, exactly.
I’d just spent the day with her crazy-ass all-female family… and I’d kinda loved it.
When the cab had dropped her off at her place and we said goodbye, she’d casually probed what I was doing tonight. But when I kinda evaded the question, she let it drop. Apparently, she didn’t have the guts to ask me out on a Saturday night, and I didn’t have the dick to do anything about it, so here I was.
Sadly, I was starting to feel a bit sorry for myself and my broken dick. I’d wanted to fuck this girl for weeks. And not getting to fuck her had now become literal torture—now that my dick was wounded and all.
I didn’t even want to see her tonight, knowing I couldn’t fuck her.
Meanwhile… it was kinda starting to bug me how much I liked her, when I hadn’t even fucked her yet.
It made me uncomfortable as shit.
Interesting thing about that… It wasn’t stopping me from liking her.
Me: Just wondering
Yeah, I fucking said that to her.
Just fucking wondering.
I’m texting you to ask what you’re doing tomorrow because I’m just fucking wondering about you on a Saturday night.
I didn’t ask her out.
I just lamed out.
Then I turned off my phone.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Danica
It was Sunday. My favorite day of the week.
Me Day.
Today, it started with the usual. I slept in—it was the one morning a week I let myself do this—then knocked on Taylor’s door. We met up with Daniella and Jolie for brunch downtown.
Then we visited Jolie’s friend Alyssa’s spa, and chose a few indulgences from the menu. This time, I went with a pedicure and the complimentary glass of bubbly.
After the spa, we parted ways with Dani and Jolie. Taylor and I headed over to Main Street where we browsed through a half-dozen boutiques for the perfect little boho-chic-sexy sundress for me, and the perfect off-the-shoulder T-shirt for her—which we found.
Sure, I already owned a lot of sundresses. But summer was now in full swing, and a girl could never own enough sundresses.
Especially when she was now semi-seeing a hot rock star who stared at her legs whenever she showed them off.
When we were done shopping, we stopped at The Reef, parked ourselves on the patio and ordered up some mojitos.
Then I proceeded to tell Taylor every single detail about yesterday’s brunch.
I’d been telling Taylor every detail about Ashley all along. Ever since we’d met at thirteen, I’d always told Taylor everything. If you asked me, every girl needed a Taylor in her life. Even a girl like me.
Yes, I had a twin sister who’d been there for me, quite literally, since day one. And while I told Dani almost everything, Taylor was the one person I could tell even the things I wouldn’t tell my twin.
Like the fact that I was pretty sure Ashley Player was my unicorn.
That, I definitely hadn’t told Dani.
I really didn’t need my sister to know how special I already thought he was. She’d made it clear she was supportive of me hooking up with him, yes. But if she knew I was in danger of actually falling for him, hard and fast? Getting the serious feels for him? Like unicorn-level feels?
When we hadn’t even fucked yet?
I had a feeling she’d change her tune.
On that note, I hadn’t told her about the ring, either. As in, the very special ring I’d given Ashley when I barely knew him—a.k.a., one of the most embarrassing moments of my life.
I hadn’t told Taylor about the ring, either. I’d planned to, but somehow, I hadn’t managed to do it yet.
Of course, I’d already told Taylor about The Dick In The Zipper. The other most embarrassing moment of my life.
We’d capitalized the event, because clearly it was one of those life happenings that would haunt me forever.
The pained non-sound Ashley made.
The look on his face.
The blood.
Ugh. I still cringed every time I thought about it.
When I told Taylor that I’d brought him to a Vola family brunch, though, I was pretty sure that disturbed her more.
“Isn’t it kinda soon to bring him into that scene?” she asked me over our mojitos.
“It was Dani’s idea.”
“And you followed through with it,” my best friend said, rejecting my disclaimer. “You realize she may have been hoping they’d scare him away, right?”
“Maybe.”
“She wants to know what he’s made of.”
“Definitely.”
“You know she’ll never totally approve of him, even if she says she does.”
I sighed. “Probably not.”
I’d feared that, for sure. But hearing Taylor say it… Yeah, I knew.
My sister was critical as shit when it came to guys, and with the whole Alaska thing as her first impression of Ashley? She wasn’t gonna forget that anytime soon.
In her books, he was qualified to rock my world. A sexy rock star notch on my belt.
But more than that?
“Anyway… I don’t really care what she thinks of him,” I declared, and Taylor gave me a weird look. One I didn’t much like.
She knew me too well. Just like my sister did.
Better than my sister did.
I sighed again.
My best friend looked so damn self-assured sitting across from me. In her deep-V-neck T-shirt with all the casual cleavage, her sunglasses pushed back in her dirty-blonde hair. No one did dirty-blonde like Taylor. She actually rolled out of bed with that sex-kitten hair. All generous curves and couldn’t-give-a-fuck.
Guys looked at her all the time. And they hit on her, too.
Taylor didn’t have that hard-to-approach sexiness like my sister did.
I envied her like I envied my sister, for different reasons.
For one thing, Taylor would never give a shit what Daniella thought of a man she liked—even if they were twin sisters.
“Well,” she said, “I still need to meet him. I’ll let you know if he’s approved.” She knew, of course, that her opinion mattered most to me. And I had a pretty good idea that she’d approve of Ashley.
As long as he made me happy.
She already knew who he was, and she approved of his looks. As for the whole getting-me-off-in-a-nightclub thing, the verdict was out. But the fact that he’d been a gentleman about brunch with my family? She definitely approved of that.
“I really can’t wait for you to meet him,” I told her
.
“You know I’m still choked I missed ladies night.”
I knew she was. She was annoyed that Dani got to be winglady while she had to work, and that she’d missed meeting Ashley.
And his hot rock star friend.
“Me too.”
“I can’t believe I missed Xander Rush,” she said. “I mean, I’ve heard he’s a total slut. But damn, is he pretty.”
“Yes, he is.”
“Next time, I better be there. If Nikki gets first dibs on the next one—”
“She won’t,” I promised. “I mean… if there is a next time.”
“There will be,” Taylor said, with great confidence in me. “And she’d better not. I want to at least have the option of getting hit on by a rock star and choosing whether or not to shoot him down.”
I laughed. “Uh-huh. Or fall in love with him?”
“Doubtful. You know I prefer my men more… down-to-Earth. But a little hot rock star sex could be on the menu.”
“Oh, God. I really hope it is.” If I’d gotten this far with Ashley but never got to close the deal?
My lady parts might never recover.
“Why wouldn’t it be?” Taylor said, gesturing at me and my boobs, like the hot rock star sex was imminent. “Seriously.”
“I just can’t fucking believe I broke his dick,” I whispered.
Taylor smirked. “I’m sure it still works. And look at the bright side. It doesn’t exactly hurt to get to know each other better.”
“That’s what I said.”
“You know… see if you really like him…”
“I do.”
Taylor smiled.
“You know what?” I said, smiling back. “I hope I fall madly in love with him and Dani disapproves.”
My best friend laughed.
“What? Don’t laugh. Maybe then she’ll stop thinking it’s her place to tell me how to live my life.”
“Uh-huh. That’s likely.” Taylor did this lazy, jerking-off motion with her hand, like, Yeah, I’m really gonna sit around waiting for that to happen. “You just really need to stop following through on her ideas. That is not a good trend, no matter how well it happened to work out.”
“What ideas?”
“Hello. Family brunch?”
She had a point.
Somewhere around sixteen, I’d wised up and stopped following my sister’s advice. By that age, we’d already come to understand that we were too emotionally different to heed one another’s advice when it came to guys.
And yet… I’d taken her suggestion to invite Ashley to brunch with our family.
Why?
Because you wanted him to come.
“It was a solid idea,” I admitted, reluctantly. “Made me feel a little better. You know, since I maimed him and all, I probably owed him a nice meal.” Plus, I really wanted to see him again, and every time I’d hinted at another hot date, he’d been kind of avoidant.
“You didn’t maim him,” Taylor said. “It’s not like you cut his dick off.”
I choked on my mojito. The dude sitting alone at the next table tossed us a disturbed look.
“Please don’t say that so loudly,” I whispered when he looked away. “Or so… casually.”
Taylor just shrugged and sipped her drink.
“Anyway, it’s better that he meet the family now,” I said. “So if he’s gonna run for the hills in terror, we can just get it over with.”
“Have you heard from him yet today?”
“No. Just that text last night. He asked what I was doing today, and that was it. Do you think I should ask him out?”
“No.”
“But maybe he’s just—”
“No,” she said, firmly. “If he doesn’t ask you out, fuck ’im. Move on.”
“Even if he’s my unicorn?”
“Even if. If a man won’t even man up to ask you out,” she said, just like I knew she would, “you’ll have worse problems down the road. You really want a man-baby who doesn’t have the balls to ask you out?”
I sighed. “No.”
“He should be dying to go out with you.”
“Uh-huh.”
“If not? Abort. Find another unicorn.”
“I guess.”
As if there would ever be another man as special as this one, though…
I didn’t say it. It sounded too sad, even if it was true.
Damn, I hoped he’d ask me out again.
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Taylor said. “I doubt the fam actually drove him off.” She lifted an eyebrow, almost in question. “Your mom’s really not that scary…”
“And as you know, it’s not my mom I’m worried about.”
“How did Madeleine handle him?”
She made handle sound like a dirty word, and it had the intended effect. My aunt Madeleine was a very sexual being, to put it mildly. I didn’t even want to think about her handling Ashley in any way.
“She handled him with kid gloves, actually,” I admitted. “They were all rather… polite.”
Taylor snickered. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that. Too bad I’m not a hot dude. Maybe they’d be polite to me, too.”
“It’s not just Madeleine,” I said. “You know how they are. It’s the deadly combustion when Madeleine, Margo, Dani and several bottles of champagne get in the same room.”
“But you’re telling me Ashley survived, yes? The worst assault he’s suffered so far has been by your hand and his own zipper?”
“Ugh. Yes.” I glanced at the dude at the next table, but he’d put in earbuds. “Unfortunately. But he handled that pretty well too, as you know.”
“Well, then. Hate to say it,” my best friend said, “but I think you may have found yourself a keeper.”
A keeper.
Hearing those words out of her mouth? Thrilled me… and freaked me right out at the same time.
I so wanted him, it was doing strange things to me…
I thought about him, like all the fucking time.
I’d never thought about a guy this much. I’d never felt quite this way about a guy before, either.
And we weren’t even in an actual relationship yet.
“I gave him a ring,” I blurted out.
Taylor blinked at me. “You… what?”
“Damn. It sounds so crazy. It was just that onyx ring. You know, the Art Deco one?”
“Which ring?”
I sighed. “You know. My great-grandpa’s ring.”
Taylor stared at me, her mouth opening in a stunned little O. “You… gave your great-grandfather’s ring to Ashley Player?”
“Well… Dani never wanted it, and it just sat in a drawer. I’ve never met anyone else who even came close to being cool enough to wear it. Why shouldn’t he just have it? And why are you looking at me like that…?”
“Uh. No reason,” she totally lied.
“Grandpa Percy would want him to have it,” I insisted, “or maybe I wouldn’t have even thought of it. Maybe… the ring chose him. Shit.” I planted my face in my hand. “I sound like Marie.”
It did sound like something my mom would say. Something floofy and lame.
“You sound like Gandalf, actually. What is this, Lord of the Rings or something?” I peered up at her. “Is he really that special?”
“Yeah,” I squeaked out. “He really is.”
He was.
And I was right. My great-grandpa Percy was the coolest person in my family, ever. He was a political cartoonist during the Second World War, and I knew I got my creativity from him. He was artistic and eccentric and I adored him.
And I knew that if he were alive, right now, and he met Ashley Player, he’d want that crazy rock star to have his ring.
Well, realistically, he’d probably want that crazy rock star to have his ring if he was marrying one of his great-granddaughters or something. But still. What was I gonna do, just wait around in hopes that someday I’d marry a guy as cool as Ashley Player?
Totally wasn’t happening.
Because there was no guy as cool as Ashley Player.
“Okay,” Taylor said. “I’m not gonna say anything else about the ring thing right now, because clearly, you don’t need me to.”
I groaned. “Shit, Tay. What if he really is my unicorn?”
Every girl wanted to find herself a unicorn, right? I mean, wasn’t that a good thing?
A great thing?
“What if he is?” she challenged.
I took a long swig of my drink and dug down deep… to the heart of my lingering discomfort. It had plagued me ever since brunch, since being in a room with Ashley and my sister again.
“Then I think I need to get over the fact that he may have my sister’s name tattooed on his body.”
“Ah,” Taylor said, like she was finally understanding where all my unease was really coming from. “Come on, don’t be so hard on yourself, Danica. You have every right to be freaked out by that.”
“Do I?”
“Absolutely,” she said. “You haven’t seen it yet?”
“No. I mean, I looked for it, kind of, but he has a lot of tattoos. And when I saw him almost naked, he was in pain. And it was kinda dark.”
“Nope. Stop making excuses and find that tattoo. You need to assess.”
“Assess what?”
“How bad it is,” she said. “And if you’re gonna be able to accept him as your unicorn with her brand on his body.”
I practically shivered at the thought. “I mean, it’s not like she burned it onto him while she had him restrained.”
God. That mental image was way more than I ever wanted to picture.
Too late.
Image conjured.
Taylor sipped her mojito, her eyes narrowing at me. “Are you one-hundred-percent sure that’s not true?”
“Knowing my sister…?” I took a generous sip of my drink. “I’m really not.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Danica
About half an hour later, the keeper called to invite me to dinner.
With his dad.
Hot Mess: A Players Rockstar Romance (Players #1) Page 31