by Piper Rayne
Why am I even thinking about this?
I pull my cell phone out, not knowing who to talk to about this. My cousin Skylar would only warn me to stay the hell away from him. Plus, her and her fiancé Beckett are in Utah, packing their houses up for their fresh start. Her sister Zoe would likely head down to his office and beat the shit out of him.
My fingers move, and I dial the only person who would understand, even if she’s in her happily ever after bubble now.
“What’s up, Chelsea?” Victoria asks, the happiness alive and well in her tone. “Did you know he bought the house next to my mom?!”
Reed Warner, the fucking prince.
“Did he? I didn’t know.” I really try to inflect some sort of excitement for my friend, but all I see is darkness around me.
“What’s wrong?” she asks.
The phone muffles slightly and I hear a few faint kissing sounds.
“I saw the tax attorney.”
“Is he hot? You’ve been into good guys lately and what tax attorney isn’t a good guy, right?” She giggles.
“Hey now,” Reed says in the background close enough for me to realize they’re probably laying down in their new house getting ready to christen it or something.
“He’s not a good guy, Vic.” I take a deep breath, wishing I could scream at the top of my lungs right now. “He’s my ex-husband!”
“Whoa,” Reed interrupts again obviously hearing me through the phone.
“You’re busy, I’ll let you go.”
“No, you won’t. Meet us at Reed’s in half an hour.”
“What?” Reed doesn’t sound too enthused about the plan. “But—” The phone muffles again.
“I’m calling Cooper to let you up in case you get there before us,” Victoria says when she gets back on the line.
“Okay, thanks.” I click off the phone. “I’m sorry, can you go to Michigan and Erie?” I ask the cab driver.
He nods and horns honk as he weaves all the way to the left to turn around.
It’s then that I remember Glen. Opening my phone up to our thread of messages, I now have fifteen unread from him.
Glen: It’s cool. Almost here?
Glen: ??
Glen: What’s taking you so long?
Glen: Hello?
Glen: Earth to Mars?
Glen: Are you standing me up?
Glen: Last chance before I leave…
Glen: You fucking bitch.
Whoa. What the hell?
Glen: What is wrong with you?
Glen: Who doesn’t tell someone they can’t make it?
Glen: Who raised you? A pack of werewolves?
Glen: No wonder you can’t find anyone.
Glen: You’re such a loser that you have to be on a dating site.
Glen: The picture probably wasn’t even you.
Glen: Even if it was, you weren’t all that.
Dodged that bullet.
Me: Something came up—forever. Have a nice fucking life shithead. Go to hell.
I tuck my phone back into my purse, searching for tissues.
By the time we pull up to Reed’s condo building, Connor’s friendly smile is in place as he opens the taxi door for me.
“Miss Walsh, nice to see you again.” I’ve only met Connor once previously when I had to come and pick up Victoria for a night out.
“Thanks, Connor.”
I enter the condo building and instead of going up, I wait for the happy twosome in the lobby since I was much closer to Reed’s home base than they were. It’s not like I have a key to his place. Having nothing better to do, I pull up the internet on my phone and search: Dean Bennett, Attorney. Sure as shit there’s my ex-husband in all his white teeth glory listed under the Associates tab on the Heiberman and Lipe Law Firm webpage.
Fucking karma, what did I do to piss you off?
Chapter Three
“Wine or beer?” Victoria asks from the kitchen.
“Or the hard stuff?” Reed glances up from his laptop at the dining room table across from me.
“You know me well.”
He winks. “Get her the vodka out of the freezer, Vic.”
I hear a couple of cupboard doors open and shut.
“So, you bought a house?” I ask, detouring my own issues. I’m already imposing asking to talk with his girlfriend after he just surprised her with a house. I can at least make small talk.
He shuts the laptop and smiles. “I did.”
“Kind of quick, no?”
He furrows his brows for a moment, and then the perma-smile Reed’s known for shines through. “Some might say that, but I don’t think so.”
“She said yes?”
He nods once. “She did.”
“Great. I’m happy for you two.”
A low chuckle flows out of his mouth. “Are you? I mean I wouldn’t be if I was you.”
“Just because my life seems to be in chaos doesn’t mean I don’t want the best for you and Victoria.”
He nods again. That condescending one quick nod, like he doesn’t truly believe me. Jerk.
“Okay I have the vodka and I found a lime. Is that okay?”
Reed shakes his head and slides out from the chair. “Do you mind?” He places his hand on my drink. “I’ll make you something.”
“Please.” I laugh because apparently Victoria is no bartender.
“In my defense, I’m a wine drinker,” she calls out to him.
“No judging baby, don’t worry,” he says from the kitchen.
Then we hear ice being tossed into a glass while Reed goes about making me a drink that will hopefully erase what just happened.
“I’m sorry,” I say, my fingers playing with the edge of the placemat.
“Don’t be. This is fine. My mom has Jade tonight and took her out for dinner. I don’t want to tell her about the house yet anyway.”
“Why?”
She shakes her head, understanding the question I didn’t fully ask. “It’s not second-guessing or anything, it’s just a big step and I want her to be just as excited as I am. I want to talk to her about it without Reed first. Lay the groundwork.”
I reach across and pat her hand. “You’re such a good mom.”
A soft smile creases her lips like she likes to think she is. “I try.” Then she pauses, waiting for me to fill her in. “So…”
I shake my head staring down at the placemat, picking at nothing because they’ve probably never even been eaten on. “It’s him…the tax attorney.”
“Is this the first time you’ve seen him since your divorce?”
I nod. “Yeah. Some reunion.” My tone sounding sarcastically happy.
“Did you talk?”
I lift my head. “Please, you can’t shut that man up.”
She bites her lip like she’s trying to not say something.
“What?”
Her face loses the amusement that filled it moments ago. “Nothing. I just…”
“Spit it out.”
“Well, I can’t imagine what a conversation between you two is like, because if he likes to talk, and everyone knows you do...” She trails off.
“We spar. Not physically, but verbally at one another and the kicker is he beat me today.”
“What did you banter about?” she asks, truly intrigued.
“Why do you look so giddy?”
She shakes her head vehemently. “I’m not. I’m concerned.”
I roll my eyes. “We ended up sparring about his dick size.”
Reed sets down a drink in front of me. “I’m just going to leave this right here. I’ll be in my office if you need me,” he says more to Victoria than me.
“Thanks, Reed.”
“Thanks, baby,” she says and gives him those giant heart-shaped emoji eyes. Let me stick my finger down my throat now.
Reed leaves and we hear a door shut down the hall.
“Let’s go back to the dick size thing.” Victoria places her chin in the palm of her han
d, her attention focused completely on me.
“It was nothing. I made a joke about it being small and he countered.”
“So, he’s not small, I take it?” she asks.
I shake my head.
“Let me get this straight.” She inhales a deep breath, almost like she’s gathering her thoughts. “You were face-to-face with your ex after five years and neither of you talked about anything other than his dick size?”
When she says it like that, it does sound a tad juvenile, but I wanted to hit him where it hurt.
“We said other things too,” I say mulishly.
“You’re still hot for him.” She doesn’t pose it as a question, but an accusation.
“Not at all.” I shake my head.
She raises her eyebrows and sits back in her chair with her mouth twisted to the side.
“Listen, I can’t deal with him. You have to be his point of contact.”
“Tell Hannah, she’ll gladly get rid of him.” She shrugs.
“No. He’s doing it pro bono although I suspect it’s his firm that’s making him do it. Because the Dean I knew never would’ve agreed to that.”
“The Dean you know wouldn’t have become a tax attorney.”
She’s right. I might know his dick size, but other than that, I know nothing about the man I saw earlier tonight.
“True. Regardless, I’m not going to mess that up for the foundation. How often will Hannah need to use his services anyway? I’ll keep my distance. He’s probably still a playboy anyway.” I ignore the gut-churning emotion as my mind wanders to memories of him with a bunch of ladies around him, clamoring for his attention whenever we were out.
“I think the two of you should have a conversation. Hash it out and maybe you can at least have a civil relationship.”
Victoria, my sweet and naive Victoria who has a daughter with her ex and still has to deal with him. But me, I don’t have to.
“We don’t have kids together. I can loathe him until I’m buried six feet deep which I intend to do.” I take a gulp of the mule drink Reed made me. “Man, did he work his way through law school by being a bartender?”
“Reed never had to work his way through anything.” She rolls her eyes.
“I resent that comment,” Reed hollers from the other room.
“I thought you were hidden away in the office,” I say.
“Well, you’re talking dick sizes with my girlfriend. I wanted to see what might be said.”
“Concerned about your length or girth?” I joke, and Reed walks in with a bag of chips in his hand, munching away.
“Wanted to make sure Vic wasn’t complaining about me being too big.” He winks, and his smile says he’s kidding. He might be the last of the good ones.
“What do you think, Reed? Hash it out with the ex or let the bitterness burn?” I sip my drink and Victoria puts her hand out for chips. Reed tilts the bag toward her in a silent language I’ve only ever had with one other person my entire life.
“No kid, I say let it burn baby.” He waggles his eyebrows.
“Reed!” Victoria shakes her head and leans back in her chair popping another chip in her mouth. “That’s not good for your soul.”
“My soul died a long time ago.” Reed and I share a laugh while Victoria rolls her eyes at us and puts her hand back out for some chips. Reed pretends to keep the bag from her, and she fights before he relents.
“I need to leave you guys alone.” I push my chair out from the table and stand.
“We’ve barely talked about this.”
“If she’s gotta go, babe.” Reed winks at me. “Kidding of course.”
Is it national winking day or something?
“Yeah, kidding.” I finish my mule and take the glass into the kitchen.
“Stick around, we can talk or veg out with ice cream. I’m sure Reed will understand if you want to go out.”
“Go out?” Reed asks. “As in clubs and bars?”
Victoria glances over her shoulder, shooting him a look I can’t see from my angle.
“I’m just saying, I’m not cool with you playing wing woman. I think we should clear that up.” Reed places the bag of chips on his breakfast bar and opens the fridge, grabbing a pop.
“You do know women don’t go out just to pick up guys, right? That we like to dance and have fun together. We’re not there to try out dick-up lines on a bunch of guys.”
“Yeah, we’re not there to find a Vag Badger,” I add.
Both their heads circle my way.
“Vag Badger?” Reed asks, quirking one eyebrow.
“You know…a guy who follows a woman around a bar, badgering her with the hopes of wearing her down and getting some vag?”
Victoria bends over and laughs, smacking the granite countertop. “I’ve never heard of that.”
“I think most men stop being Vag Badgers at the age of eighteen,” Reed says, sounding insulted.
Victoria and I wrinkle our eyebrows together.
Vic places her hand on her boyfriend’s shoulder. “Babe, you have no idea what it’s like out there for us.”
“Let’s clarify that statement, shall we? I have no idea what it’s like for Chelsea out there.”
Victoria rises on her tiptoes and kisses his cheek. “You make a great argument.”
He turns quickly before her lips can land on his cheek a second time and captures her lips with his. His arms wrap around her waist and pretty soon I’m watching the two have an intimate moment.
“That’s my cue.” I place the mule cup in the sink.
“Are you sure?” Victoria breaks apart from Reed, but Reed doesn’t remove his hands from his girlfriend.
“Please, we don’t want to keep you from anything,” Reed jokes. At least I think he’s joking.
“No, I need to go buy all the cookies and ice cream Jewel has on its shelves and wallow at home by myself.”
My phone dings inside my purse and I pull it out as they follow me to the front door, finding a new text message from Glen.
“At least Dean did one thing for me tonight.”
“What’s that?” Vic asks, looking at the phone I’m holding out.
“He kept me from going out with this asshole.”
She reads the texts, her eyes widening more with each one. “Reed,” she says.
“I see it.” He snatches the phone away from me. Reads through them again. “Asshole.” Then he types.
“Reed what are you doing?” I ask.
“I’ll meet this guy in a dark alley and kick his ass for you.”
I snatch the phone back before he can finish whatever he’s going to say. “I’m a big girl.”
They both give me a look that says, ‘are you really?’ I hate that look. I get it enough from my parents.
“Let me know.” Reed winks yet again and then his phone rings in the other room. “See you, Chelsea.” He leans forward, kisses my cheek and jogs into the other room. “Reed Warner,” I hear him say when he answers.
“You really don’t have to go,” Victoria says.
“I do. I’ll be fine. I just have to come up with a plan, which I did, so we’re all set. I just need to stay far, far away from him.”
“I’ll be your bodyguard.” She wraps her arms around me. “I’ll say this one more time. It would be good for you to get everything off your chest with him. Say what you need to say so you can really move on since he obviously still has a big effect on you.”
“You’re too optimistic for your own good.” I hug her tight and release her. “Have a good night and don’t get pregnant.”
She playfully smacks me, and I open the door, fleeing before she swats at me again.
“Call me if you need me,” she says.
“Always. Thanks.” I press the elevator and after I step in, we wave, and the doors close between us.
I’m alone and all my thoughts are of when I was Mrs. Dean Bennett. That’s never a good thing.
Chapter Four
On
Monday morning I’m the first one at my desk, my bag unpacked, my computer booted up, a Starbucks latte in front of me. The weekend was full of torment as my brief marriage with Dean Bennett played like a black and white flashback from the movies. Unfortunately, our reel contained more dark moments than happy. Still, even though I should have learned my lesson with my short stint of being a Mrs., the magnetism between us was alive and kicking Friday evening.
I will say, but I’ll deny, deny, and deny if it’s repeated…memories of my no-good ex were my mental stimulation when I was turning on my unicorn cock vibrator this weekend.
“Hello?” Hannah yells into the office.
“I’m in here,” I call out, not getting up from my seat because I have the dreaded task of telling Hannah who her tax attorney is.
She steps into my office a few minutes later, minus her bags, with her coffee in her hand. “Vic is going to be late.”
I nod, figuring it’s Monday and ever since Reed entered her life you’d think her Mondays would be less frazzled, but nope. I wouldn’t doubt if she and Reed head to his condo after dropping off Jade and Henry for a quickie to start their week.
“Did you have a date this weekend?” Hannah asks.
“No.”
Her lips tip down. “Why not? You know I’m living vicariously through you, right?” She mocks offense, all with a smile on her face.
“I had one, but it was supposed to be after I dropped off the papers to our tax attorney, Mr. Bennett, Friday afternoon.”
“Oh yeah, he sent me an email that he got them. Thanks.” She sips her coffee.
“Han, the tax attorney…”
She narrows her eyes and looks at me quizzically. “What am I missing, Chels? Your face is pale and that spunky side of yours didn’t seem to leave your apartment with you this morning.”
“Mr. Bennett is Dean Bennett.”
“Yes.” She smiles like a teacher to a kid who just recited their ABCs.
“I used to be Chelsea Bennett.”
Her eyes bulge out. “Is it a family member of your ex?”
“Well…”
“We can totally find someone else, even if we have to pay. I won’t put you through interacting with anyone from his family. God knows I wouldn’t have anything to do with my ex-in-laws.”