Bought and Paid For

by Shaw Hart

  “Do you work here every morning?” Blondie-er, Flynn, asks.

  “Yup.” I say, popping the P. “Now, if you don’t mind, I should get back to work.”

  “Why don’t you meet us tonight? Working all day must be stressful and I’m sure we could help you relax.”

  “We?” I ask. Shouldn’t just one of them be hitting on me? Although I’m not sure which one I would prefer at this point. I don’t want to choose between them. I want them both.

  Almost like he can hear my thoughts, Flynn says, “Yeah. We. We like to share.”

  My cheeks heat as I think about being sandwiched between the two of them, their hands trailing up and down my body.

  “No.” I say.

  “Cage Nightclub. 9 PM. Ask for us and they’ll show you to our table.” Flynn says as he picks up his coffee and the paper bag of pastries.

  “See you tonight.” He says as they turn and leave.

  Bianca chooses that moment to come back and I help her with the line as I think about their offer. I’ll never be able to take them up on it. Not that I want to, of course. Once the line is down, I take my apron off and tell Bianca I’m taking my break. I head out the back door and lean against the side of the building as I try to figure out what it was about those two guys that drew me to them.

  Normally, I’m able to tune out most people. I don’t care what people think about me and I’m too busy to even think about dating or anything. I’ve even been hit on at work before and I was able to put it out of my mind almost immediately but for some reason those two seem are stuck in my head. I spend the remainder of my break trying to think about anything else but their faces keep popping up in my head. Maybe I could call in sick to the cleaning company and go to that club tonight. Finally have some fun and act my age.

  My phone rings and I glance down at it to see a message from Adeline. I open it and see that Bella had her puppies and the first picture is of them curled up with their mom. The second is of Adeline cradling one in her arms with the biggest smile on her face.

  Addy: 8 healthy pups!

  Aspen: AWWW. How cute!

  Addy: I know!! We should adopt them all ??

  Aspen: And keep them where?

  Addy: We’d find the space

  I smile down at my phone and know she’s right. If Adeline brought home 20 dogs, we would find the room. I would do anything for that girl and I smile as I tuck my phone into my back pocket and head back inside.

  Thinking about Adeline finally pushed Flynn and Roman from my thoughts and I shake my head as I think about how selfish it was to consider going to that nightclub. We need the money to pay for Adeline’s medicine. I put my apron back on as I turn back to the counter and get back to work.

  Chapter Three

  Flynn

  Roman and I walk out of the coffee shop, looking back at the pretty barista one last time before we slip into the backseat of our town car.

  “To the office, Jack.” I say to the driver over the seat as I hand him one of the danishes.

  “Thanks, sir.” He says as he turns on his blinker and merges with traffic.

  I hand one of the coffee cakes to Roman as we ride in silence to work, both of us lost in our thoughts. Neither of us speaks until we pull through the shipyard gates and the car pulls into our spot by the front door to our offices.

  “She’s not going to show, you know.” Roman mumbles as he opens his door and steps out.

  “Oh, c’mon Rome! Don’t be so pessimistic. She was interested. You saw how she was looking at us.”

  “Nope. She’s not going to be there tonight.” He says as we head up the stairs to our offices.

  Roman and I own a shipping company. Our families have always been close and we grew up living next door to each other. There wasn’t a lot of other kids our age in our neighborhood so we spent all of our free time together. We were in the same grade in school and became inseparable from a young age. Our families were close too and when we graduated college and told them we wanted to run a shipping company they were supportive, even putting up money as an investment so we could get started.

  Our offices are down by the docks and the last couple of years have been good to us. We bought this shipyard and expanded. We paid back our parents investment years ago and now we have more money than we know what to do with.

  Now that the company is successful and Roman and I aren’t working 18-hour days, we’ve started to realize how empty our lives are with just the two of us in it. We need to find our girl and start our family.

  Roman and I figured out from an early age that we liked to share woman. After sleeping with woman by ourselves, we talked about it and decided that we’d rather share woman and so we’ve been sharing ever since.

  We haven’t met the girl that we want to share for the rest of our lives yet but now that the business is going so well, maybe it’s time to start really looking for her. No more of these pointless one-night stands with woman that we don’t want to spend any real time with or get to know for longer than a couple of hours.

  The girl from the coffee shops flashes in my mind. Aspen. There was something about her. Something different, a weird kind of energy passed between us when she looked in my eyes.

  “Have faith, brother. She’ll be there.” I say to Roman as we both walk into our separate offices.

  We bury ourselves in work, returning emails and calls and going over deals. One of our assistants runs out and grabs lunch and I go into Roman’s office so we can eat together while we work through some final details. I try to bring up Aspen again but he shoots me down yet again.

  “You didn’t feel something when we saw her this morning?” I ask. I have to know if he thinks that she could be it and he’s just remaining silent because he doesn’t want to jinx it or get his hopes up, or if he didn’t feel anything for her.

  “Of course I did. But I’m better at reading people than you are and I know that girl isn’t going to show up tonight.” His brown eyes meet mine and I see that even though he thinks she won’t be there; he’s hoping that she will.

  “1,000 bucks says she shows.” I bet as I grab my trash and stand up from his desk.

  “Deal.” He says not even looking up from his computer screen.

  I laugh as I toss out my trash and head back to my office. We finish up at work and leave at 5 pm, fighting the rush hour traffic to get back to our Upper East Side townhouse. It’s Roman’s night to cook dinner and I head upstairs to shower and change while he works in the kitchen. I do the dishes while he takes his turn in the shower and by 8 pm we’re both too anxious to stay home another minute.

  We call for the town car and tease each other as we ride up to the night club. The bouncer lets us in as soon as we step up to the velvet rope and we weave our way through the crowd and to the VIP section. I keep my eyes open for Aspen and I don’t even need to look to know that Roman is doing the same thing.

  “We’re early.” I say. “She could still show up.”

  Roman just shakes his head as he takes a seat on one of the plush couches. Immediately, a perky waitress appears at our sides and takes our orders. She disappears through the crowd and I look around at the people around us. Still no sign of Aspen.

  The waitress returns with our drinks and Roman hands over his card to open a tab. I see her giving him flirty eyes and I want to smile when he ignores her obvious attempts.

  I take a sip of my drink as the first group of girls makes their way over to us. The scantily clad girls all look the same over time and I know that both Roman and I are starting to grow tired from the monotony of these nights out.

  “I’m giving her until 9:30 to show and then I’m leaving.” Roman leans over and says as one of the drunk girls tries to climb into his lap.

  I nod my agreement as two very drunk girls sit on either side of me and both whisper in my ear at the same time. I lean back in my seat and try to ignore them, taking another drink of my whiskey. They don’t interpret my silence as a sign of my indif
ference or pick up on my lack of interest and instead both start to paw at me. I push one of their hands off my legs when it starts to get a little too far north from my knee.

  Roman shoots me an annoyed look as he pries a girl’s hands from around his neck. She’s wrapped herself around him and from the looks of it is trying to attach her lips to his body permanently. He pushes her away gently and tells her that we’re waiting for someone. The girl pouts but takes it better than the two wrapped around me. They whisper how well they can keep a secret in my ear and that my girlfriend doesn’t need to know.

  “I’m not that kind of guy.” I say as I unwrap myself from them once again.

  “A fun guy?” One of them slurs.

  “No, a cheater.” I say finally freeing myself from them.

  They huff before they both storm off. I let out a sigh of relief. It would make things harder if Aspen showed up and found us with girls wrapped around us.

  “It’s 9:30, Flynn. She’s not coming.” Roman says as he drains the last of his drink.

  I check my watch and am surprised at the amount of disappointment I feel at her not showing up. I drain my drink too as Roman signals to the waitress to close out our tab. He signs the receipt and tucks his card back into his wallet before he stands too.

  “I texted, Jack. He’s pulling the car around now.” I say as I tuck my phone back into my pocket and we make our way back through the writhing bodies and to the door.

  I let Roman slide into the car first before I slide in after him.

  “Home please, Jack.” Roman says before he stares out the passenger window.

  “What are we going to do now?” I ask after the car starts to move.

  “About what?” He asks.

  “Roman, c’mon! I know you felt it too. You want Aspen just as much as I do. Now, what are we going to do to get her?”

  He’s silent as he thinks over my question.

  “I don’t know.” He answers.

  “We need to see her again. Let’s go back to the coffee shop again tomorrow morning. We can ask her out again. Maybe she was just busy tonight.”

  “You don’t even know if she will be working tomorrow.” He says.

  “Well, it’s a start and we have to do something. Let’s just try. One more time.” I say.

  “Fine.” He says as we pull up to our home. “Oh, and by the way, you owe me $1000.” He says as he gets out of the car.

  “Yeah, yeah.” I say as I follow him into the house.

  I wake the next morning after a restless night sleep. I dreamt of Aspen all night. She was here in our house, in our bed. My cock is tenting the sheets and I groan as I reach under the covers and stroke myself.

  My alarm goes off, jerking me from my fantasy before it can ever really begin and I jerk my hand away from my dick long enough to turn it off. I don’t want my hand anyways. I want Aspen.

  I jump out of bed and head for the shower, eager to get to the coffee shop and see Aspen again. I shower quickly and pull on a pair of dark jeans and a black t-shirt. I don’t have any meetings today so I can dress a little more casually. I brush my teeth and check my reflection one last time before I head downstairs. I’m slipping my shoes on as Roman comes down the stairs with his hair still damp from his own shower.

  “Ready?” I ask.

  He nods as he pockets his keys and phone and we head out the door. Jack is waiting in the car outside the front door for us when we step outside.

  “To the coffee shop please, Jack.” I say before I bounce back on my seat. Roman smiles as he sees the giddy look on my face.

  “She might not be there.” He warns, trying to stop me from getting my hopes up.

  We pull up to the coffee shop a couple of minutes later and when I look through the window, I can see Aspen’s bright brown hair as she moves behind the counter.

  “She’s here.” I say excitedly as Roman asks Jack if he wants anything from the shop.

  I’m out of the car and opening the coffee shop doors before Roman can even slide out of the car. The line is longer today than it was yesterday but I don’t mind because it means that I get to watch Aspen for longer.

  There’s another girl working today and she’s on the register while our girl makes the orders. She’s efficient and a hard worker, I realize as I watch her fill order after order. This might also be a bit of a problem. If we want to ask Aspen out again, we need to be able to talk to her. With her making the orders instead of taking them, we won’t have much of a chance. We’ll just have to strike when she hands us our food. There isn’t any one in line behind us so we might have a bit of an open window.

  The line moves quickly and soon we’re next. Aspen still hasn’t seen us. Roman and I have been watching her like hawks from our spot in line this whole time and I can feel Romans body tense as we get closer to our girl. Excitement floods my body as we step up to the counter.

  I watch as Aspen hands over the order before us as her friend asks us what we would like to order. I can’t seem to pry my eyes away our girl long enough to answer her though. When she doesn’t hear another order come, Aspen looks up and I watch as her eyes widen when she sees Roman and I standing there.

  I grin at her and she rolls her eyes before she looks to Roman.

  “We missed you last night, Kitten.” I say and her eyes narrow at me.

  “Yeah. Sorry, I couldn’t make it.” She says dryly.

  I only grin wider at her reaction.

  “Two large coffees, one black, one with one sugar, one cream, a blueberry muffin, two coffee cakes, and two bacon, egg, and cheese, croissants please.” Roman rattles off.

  I want to hit him because by telling her coworker our order, Aspen now has a reason to ignore us. She turns from the counter and starts to bag up the pastries and heat up our sandwiches. While they heat, she pours two coffees, adding a sugar and cream to one. She places everything on the counter in front of us, making sure to not touch us like yesterday, before turning and grabbing the hot sandwiches. I want to smile at that. I knew she felt something yesterday. She stuffs the sandwiches in the bag with the pastries and sets them down next to our coffees.

  “Hey B, I’m going to take my break now.” She says before Roman and I can get a word out.

  My ears perk up that she’s taking a break. Maybe we can get her to take her break with us, I think as I watch her take her apron off and hang it up. Before I can ask her to sit with us though, she’s moving down the hallway and out of our sight. We both stare after her and I don’t know if I should laugh at our clever girl for getting away without talking to us, or disappointed because we didn’t get to talk to her.

  I look over at Roman who is staring at the hallway she disappeared down with a frown. He meets my eyes and we both turn back to the other barista.

  “Where does that door lead to?” I ask.

  The other barista looks us over before she answers us.

  “What do you want with Aspen?” She asks.

  “To take her out.” I answer easily.

  “Aspen, she’s, well she’s got enough going on in her life. She doesn’t need any more trouble or heartbreak and you two have that written all over you.”

  “What’s going on with Aspen?” Roman asks abruptly.

  Roman has always had a knight in shining armor, hero complex and as soon as she said that Aspen was in trouble, I knew that he was hooked.

  “She just has enough to worry about without adding either of you guys to the mix.” She says dismissively.

  “We’re not trying to cause her any trouble. We just wanted to take her out. Show her a good time, you know?”

  Her friend studies us for a minute before she finally answers.

  “The hallway leads to the door to the alley.” She says, “head around the building and down the alley, there’s a space after the dumpsters where we take our breaks.”

  “Thank you!” I say gratefully as we grab our coffee and the bag of food and head out the door.

  We jog around the edge o
f the building and down the alley, slowing to a walk as we get to the dumpster. There she is, sitting on an overturned milk crate, texting on her phone. She looks up at the sound of our footsteps and I see her shoot a glare towards the back door, probably figuring out that her friend was the one who told us where she was.

  “Hey, Kitten.” I say cheerily as I take the empty milk crate on one side of her.

  Roman leans against the wall, sipping his coffee as he watches her.

  “You didn’t come last night.” I say, “We really did miss you.”

  “Yeah, I was busy.” She says as she tucks her phone back into her pocket.

  “How about tonight?” I ask.

  “I have plans.” She says, avoiding eye contact.

  She pushes herself off her milk crate and heads to the back door. Roman straightens from the wall.

  “Your friend, she said that you were in some kind of trouble.” He says and I can see the worry for her in his eyes.

  “I’m fine.” She says as she tugs the back door open.

  “We’ll see you tomorrow, Kitten.” I call as she steps inside.

  I see her steps pause as she walks back inside and I smile. We’re starting to break down her walls.

  I stand from my own crate and we walk back down the alley and to our car. Roman passes the muffin over the seat to Jack and we drive to work in silence.

  “There’s something different about her.” He says.

  “I know. We need to get her to agree to go out with us so that we can figure out what it is.” I say.

  We head into the office and I try to focus on work but my mind is racing a million miles an hour, trying to come up with some way to get her to agree to go out with us. Then we could see if she’s it for us or if we can fuck her out of our systems in one night like all of the other girls.

  When we leave work, I can tell from Roman’s face that he’s been trying to come up with a way to get her to go out with us all day too.

  “We’ll figure it out, Rome.” I say as I throw my arm over his shoulder and we head to the car.