by A. J. Pryor
“Guys don’t look at legs,” Casey said.
“What do you mean? Of course they do! Why else would we kill ourselves at the gym?” Ashley asked.
“They notice legs, but it’s more about the whole package. It’s instinctual—kind of like it is with dogs.”
As Casey continued about her theories of men and the female body, I thought about Roan and how his instincts led him in the direction of every woman except me. We’d each had four tequila shots, and if we didn’t get moving soon we’d be too wasted to go anywhere.
“Guys, it’s almost eleven,” I said. “Let’s get out of here.” I contacted Uber, and within ten minutes, we were on our way.
We walked into Vicious, a new nightclub on Sunset Boulevard. I could feel the music pumping through the blood in my veins. There were already people everywhere, grooving on the dance floor to Flo Rida’s “Right Round.” Strobes made it look like everyone was moving in slow motion.
Most people came to these clubs to find partners for the night—some nameless bodies they could take home, use, and then never see again. Not me. I only wanted to dance. I’d never been one for casual sex, taking some random man home did not appeal to me. Before Roan, no one elicited that kind of raw emotion in me.
I grabbed Casey and Ashley’s hands so we wouldn’t lose each other in the sea of people. There was a VIP section, and I wanted in. I found the manager and slipped him a wad of cash, and he took us right past the velvet ropes.
It was darker than the rest of the club but big, with a private dance floor and people nestled at the tables lining the walls, watching the scene.
“Come on, let’s get a drink.” I ordered three vodka cranberries and a few bottles of high-end champagne, the only way the club would hold our table for us while on the dance floor.
“This place is awesome,” Ashley yelled over the music.
I nodded. It was very cool, and I couldn’t wait to get out on the floor. I planned to finish my drink and then get to it.
I glanced over at Casey, who had her head down, looking at her phone.
Quickly, I grabbed it out of her hands. “What are you doing?”
“I’m just answering a text from Mason. He wanted to make sure we’re all right.”
I glared at her: No. Boys. Allowed. “Tell him you’re fine, and then put the phone away.”
“Chill out! That was my plan.”
The dance floor was starting to get crowded, which meant it was time to get up. “Wake Me Up” by Avicii came on. I put my drink down and pulled my friends up with me.
We made our way onto the floor and got down to business. There were so many people, it was impossible not to touch everyone around us. We danced and grooved to the music. I was starting to work up a sweat when I felt hands encircle my waist. Ashley’s eyebrows rose and she began to back away. I turned to find a cute blonde grinding his hips with mine. This, I could get into. My body moved with his, as I swayed my rear and raised my arms in the air. Then I circled so we were face to face. He smiled and held tightly to my sides, still moving to the rhythm of the music.
Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” came on. I pushed my body against his as he pulled me close, his hands moving lower. His fingers touched the backs of my legs and curled under the hem of my dress. I knew I’d need to end this soon, go back to the girls, but I loved this song, and this stranger was a really good dancer—not to mention good looking.
Then a different set of hands were sliding up my back and entwining in my hair. No way, not my style. I was about to exit off the floor when the blonde tensed and narrowed his eyes at someone behind me and then backed away. He was not happy, and to be honest neither was I.
Confused and a bit angry, I was going to leave when I felt warm breath in my ear, and I knew instantly why the guy had left.
“Goldilocks, you have moves that make my knees weak.”
My body froze. Of all the people I could bump into, it would have to be Roan. He fit his legs perfectly to the backs of mine, his hands running down my sides and his hips, thrusting into my rear. Getting myself under control, my hands rose behind me, finding his face and continuing their exploration until they were running through his hair. I pressed my rear back, making sweet contact with what was escalating between his thighs. A throaty groan escaped his lips, right into my ear and his fingers dug into my hips, as he continued to dance with me.
Closing my eyes, I relished this moment in his arms because I knew it wouldn’t last. His lips came down to my neck, and he trailed them from one side to the other, feeling, but not kissing my flushed skin. All I focused on was his breath, warm and tantalizing, and his hands that held me tightly against him. The way he was making my heart race, I would have let him do anything to me he wanted. Composing myself, I tried to win the upper hand. I turned and wrapped myself around him; he pulled my leg up and over his thigh, placing himself right between my legs. I sucked in a deep breath at the sight before me. His bright blue eyes pierced into my dark blue ones. His jaw firm and tense. And his hair, slipped forward into his eyes. I had to concentrate on everything but where our bodies were positioned. His face was inches from mine, our lips so close his breath whispered against me. His hand was high on my leg, his fingers gripping the inside of my thigh, holding me steady to him, letting me know exactly how my closeness affected him. I held his stare as we stood motionless in the middle of the crowded dance floor, taking each other in. Clearly, I had not won the upper hand. My mind was anything but focused, it was deep down in the gutter.
Leaning in, I whispered in his ear, “Surfer Boy, you have no idea how weak I could make you.” Moving my hands through his hair and fitting my lips on his heated skin, I kissed him right below the ear, feeling a slight tick in his jaw as my lips touched him. Then I broke contact, leaving Roan alone on the dance floor.
Ashley was at our table, her eyes wide. “I need to borrow that dress. You had two of the hottest guys in here all over you.”
“That was Roan,” I informed her.
“Your itch?”
“The one and only.”
I spotted Mason across the room locking lips with Casey. It all made sense now. I was wondering why Roan would be there. He’d come with Mason. Clearly, Casey had tipped him off as to where we were.
It was late, and that little interlude on the dance floor had my emotions out of control. “You ready to go home?” I asked Ashley. She was yawning. Understandably, this hadn’t been the best night for her either.
“Definitely. Next time I’m picking the place and stealing Casey’s phone, so she can’t call her fiancé.”
I nodded in agreement, as I scanned the room one more time, hoping to see Roan. My eyes landed right on him as we were walking to the exit. He was in a booth, flanked by two beautiful women. He turned and looked at me as I was about to look away. Our eyes connected for a second, and then he winked and turned back to the redhead on his right. He leaned in to kiss her while the brunette moved her lips to his neck. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
hat club sucked. I never felt so helpless in my life. I wanted to grab Jessica off the dance floor and take her to a dark corner, get her away from the creep whose hands were inching up her dress. Without having to say a word, I leveled a glare at that jackass letting him know he needed to back the fuck off. Lucky for him he walked away.
It was a dick move letting her see me with those two women. Although I threw them to the side the minute Jessica was out of sight—a guaranteed three-way, gone to waste—I’m sure she thought I’d taken them both home. My stomach slightly rolled at the thought. Maybe it was time to make a move on Jessica. Get it out of my system. That is, if she’d have me. If so, would one time be enough? I highly doubted it.
My brother was home from playing in an away game. The 10 East was unusually gridlocked for a Sunday morning, but I needed to see him. It had been too long since we’d caught up face to face and I missed his arrogant smile.
My phone rang through the Bluetooth sys
tem, breaking me from my thoughts. Mason’s name flashed on the dashboard.
“Hey, what’s up?” I asked.
“Seriously, you let Jessica see you with two women last night?”
I could hear the disappointment in his voice. I’d confided in him that Jessica was doing a number on me. Clearly, my attempt at a little action had ruffled a few of Jessica’s feathers and she’d told Casey all about it. There would be no other way for Mason to know what Jess had seen last night.
Frustrated and wishing there was a different story to tell, I let Mason know that nothing happened. “I tried to take them both home and fuck them senseless, but my head wasn’t in the game.”
“What is your problem? Just go out with Jessica.”
“No way. I’m not going to bring her into my messed-up world; I’ll screw everything up. I’m not capable of giving her what she needs.”
“Roan, my engagement party is next weekend. Don’t ruin things for us. Get your shit together, so it’s not uncomfortable for everyone. Sending my girl’s best friend mixed signals is messed up, and you know it.”
“I know. Shit. I’ll get it together. Sorry, dude.” Guilt hovered around the outer edge of my conscious.
“You better!” he said, then he hung up.
The freeway exit curved around to Wilshire Boulevard and the heavy pit in my stomach began to lift with the knowledge that I was about to see my brother. When I reached his dorm, I knocked on the door to his room. No answer. I knocked again. Still nothing, even though he was expecting me.
A loud noise on the other side of the door caught my attention. Placing my ear against the wood, I realized it was the unmistakable thumping of a bed hitting the wall and the distinct sounds of sex. Shit. Not what I needed this morning.
“They’ve been at it all night, dude,” the guy from the room next door said as he strolled to the bathroom.
Of course they had. He was my brother. I waited five more minutes to let them finish their morning romp before I pounded on the door.
“Blake, open up!” I yelled.
“Hey, Roan. Give me five,” he called from the other side.
Eventually a cute brunette appeared in the doorway. Disheveled clothes from the night before clung to her body. She was clearly embarrassed to be doing the walk of shame. Blake appeared next to her, a cocky grin on his face. He was a few inches shorter than I was, making him just shy of six feet, and his blonde hair was shaved close to his skull. His eyes were the same bright blue as mine. He was bigger than the last time I’d seen him, a different kind of muscle mass than mine; he lifted weights. My muscles came from surfing and paddling in the water.
The girl inched closer to him. “Call me?” she asked shyly.
He shrugged and gently pushed her on her way. I had to smile at how similar we were.
Once she was gone, I walked into his room. The twin bed was unmade. His clothes from the night before and probably the night before that littered the floor. The room reeked of sweat and sex; I had to open a window.
“She was cute. What’s her name?” I started to pick up things around his room. Fortunately for Blake, he didn’t have a roommate. Players on full-time scholarship got that luxury. Looking around I thought maybe it was luckier for whatever sorry guy would have had to room with him.
“Susie, Sarah, Sandy? I’m not sure, but I think it started with an S.” He rubbed at his shaved head and stretched his arms above him, letting out a huge yawn.
“Nice, Blake. Real nice. I hope you’re using a condom. The last thing you want is to get some lifelong disease because you were stupid.” I used the most disapproving voice I could.
“Please. Like you weren’t doing the same thing last night. I always cover it up. I don’t even know what it feels like to go bareback.”
Thankful that I’d at least instilled some sense into him, I sat down and let him continue.
“I almost asked her friend to stay so you could have a shot at her, but she drank too much and got sick.”
“Thanks for the thought, but college girls are a little young for me.”
“What’s your problem, Roan? You’re in a crap mood.”
Was it that obvious? “I am. Go shower and get dressed. We’ll talk about it over lunch.”
An hour later, we were sitting in a sports bar eating burgers and fries. I had a beer. Blake wasn’t twenty-one yet, so I wouldn’t let him touch alcohol in my presence. I was the only adult he really looked up to, and I wasn’t going to mess that up.
“Have Mom or Dad called you?” I asked.
“Dad called last week. Said he’s gonna try to come to the next home game. But we all know how that’ll end up. Mom said she’s too busy getting ready for her trip to Italy over Christmas to come see a game this season.”
“Mom’s going out of town for Christmas?” I was shocked. No one had told me.
“Yeah, that new boyfriend of hers is taking her. She’s going for three weeks.”
“So where are you supposed to stay over break?”
After Blake had left for college, our dad had packed up and moved to Ohio. He couldn’t stand the sight of our mom and all her men. He was still in love with her, and she broke his heart.
He shrugged. “Ohio, I guess. I could go home with one of the guys from the team, but the break is three weeks. I can’t invade someone’s life for that long.”
“You can stay with me.” My house was small, but it had an extra bedroom he could use. I’d bought the place last year after one of my clients won the national surfing championship. I was very proud of it and the fact that I could give my brother a place to stay when he needed it made me love it even more.
“Seriously? That’d be awesome. I promise not to wreck your game. I mean, we can even share if you want.”
I flinched at how disturbing that image was. Then I decided to tell my baby brother about Jessica and that I feared I was falling victim to Mason’s contagious attitude about love, but refused to act on it knowing that I’d mess everything up. He stopped eating.
“Are you kidding? You haven’t had sex in three months because you’re hung up on a girl you refuse to touch?” He looked at me as if I was an idiot.
“What’s your point, Blake?” I knew he was going to tell me to bang Jessica and get her out of my system, but there was so much more to it. It was going to take a lot more than a good lay to get this chick out of my head.
“My point is that just because Mom and Dad screwed up their marriage doesn’t mean you will. Roan, you’re nothing like them.” He studied me for a minute. “Wait, this has nothing to do with our parents does it?” In response to my silence he pushed on, “Roan, that chick was psycho with a capital S. Lightning doesn’t strike twice, brother.”
“It’s a P, Blake.”
“What?”
“Psycho is spelled with a P. It would be psycho with a capital P.”
“I know how to spell the word, Roan. I was making a point.”
“And your point is?”
“Get off your stubborn ass and take this girl out. And get over yourself while you’re at it. You can’t go around screwing every girl that walks by for the rest of your life. I’m getting married one day and having kids, and I’ll make sure to do a way better job of it than Mom and Dad did.”
“Who the hell are you?” I’d always thought Blake and I shared the same beliefs when it came to marriage and kids. Having been proven wrong, I couldn’t help but laugh. “How are you so smart at the age of nineteen?”
“Fuck if I know. I’m certainly not settling down anytime soon, but man, you’re thirty. You’re old. If you think you really like this girl, don’t mess it up.”
I ate the rest of my meal in silence, thinking about what it would be like to have Jessica with me all the time. Would I get sick of her? Would she get sick of me? Could I love her the way she deserved to be loved? What if I was like my mom, and I screwed up and cheated on her? Could I live with myself if I hurt her like that?
One thing
I knew for sure, I needed to keep Jess away from Luana. She hadn’t always been crazy, and Blake didn’t know the half of what actually went down with her, but thinking about Luana and Jess caused waves of dread to move through me. Jessica, was one of the toughest chicks I knew, but that didn’t mean she was tough enough for someone determined to tear her to pieces.
“Roan, it’s not as complicated as you’re making it,” Blake said. “I can see your mind spinning. Shut it down and take the girl out. Once she gets a piece of you, she may not even like it. Maybe you’re the itch she needs scratched.”
I thumped him upside the head. One thing was for sure: if I had a taste of Jessica Baker, and she kicked me to the curb, my bachelor status would be reinstated forever.
Blake left my car with a fist-bump, extracting a promise that I’d be back in a few weeks to see his game. Grabbing my phone from my center console, the screen showed a missed call from Jessica. Hitting play, her voice rang out over my Bluetooth.
“Hey, Roan, it’s Jessica. I’m not going to make the lesson tomorrow. Jaxon invited me to San Francisco to meet his dad! Isn’t that awesome? Mr. Price is interested in the cookbook and wants to meet with me in person! Anyway, we leave in the morning. Later, Surfer Boy!”
Jaxon made a move and a good one.
ur flight’s delayed an hour,” I said to Roan. He had called right as Jaxon and I sat down to wait for our plane to board.
“What are you doing to pass the time?” he asked.
I could hear Roan typing on his keyboard as he was trying to hold a conversation with me. Why he felt the need to call me on a Monday morning at nine when I knew he was busy at work was beyond me.
“Hey, Carrie, can you contact that bar owner we met a few months ago in Perth, Australia and see if Mac Dawson can touch base with him when he’s in town next week?” I sat on the phone listening to Roan give orders to his assistant. Knowing my obsession with sports, Roan had begun to feel comfortable talking business with me. He loved his business and he worked hard at it. Many of our conversations had focused around his career, and I learned that he was one of the most successful sports agents in his field. Everyone loved working with him. He made sure his clients were well taken care of and always got them top dollar for any endorsement deals that came their way.