“You lads are doin’ me fucking nut in,” she scolded my new friends in some Irish insult that made no sense to me.
“You are soooo adorable when you’re all worried and concerned about me,” I told her as she pulled me toward the group of men that I had believed had become my friends. She pushed me down in the seat next to Daniel and pointed her cute finger at me.
“You stay here while I help Keela clean up and then we’ll go,” she ordered and I gave her a two-finger salute before laughing at her glare. She turned her wagging finger at the crew that sat around me, “you lads are to watch him and no more pints for him,” she instructed as the men stifled their laughter while nodding. Grumbling she walked off looping around the bar as she began helping the busty red head.
“Well hello handsome,” a distinctly feminine voice greeted me as I sat with my head back trying to get the world to stop spinning. I sat up and opened my eyes to see a cute blonde with a low cut top and short skirt sitting in the seat previously occupied by Michael. I smiled back at her and noticed that she had very pretty turqouise colored eyes. I looked over at Camille but she was no longer behind the bar. That bothered me because she had told me to wait here yet, she seemed to have vanished. In my drunken mind I noticed that Michael was gone as well.
“Where did Michael go?” I asked the table.
“He went to go give Camille a hand in the back,” Daniel said grinning.
I only vaguely felt the blonde’s hand on my leg as I nudged Daniel. Something about the way he was smiling made me feel like I was missing something.
“What? What am I missing?” I asked Daniel who was looking from me to the blonde and back to his mug.
“Yer not the only one chasing after Camille’s affections, Michael has had a crush on her for a time and maybe tonight he’s got the liquid courage to finally make a move,” Daniel explained his face unreadable.
I reared back, I was about to jump out of my chair and go find Michael and beat him to death when a thought struck me. What the hell was I upset about? Wasn’t this the very thing I wanted for Camille? This was good, right? I had no claim on her, shit I had no intentions of sleeping with her so why would I begrudge Michael his shot at her? The fact that it bothered me so much just reinforced how close I had come to actually caring about Camille. I needed to remember that Camille’s life was here in Dublin and mine was in Carson City, not to mention we had both agreed that we weren’t looking for love! I don’t do love, remember? I’m the casual guy, the fun guy, I’m the kind of guy that should take this cute blonde in the alley ou tback and fuck Camille right out of my system.
Cami
“Micahel what are you goin’ on about?” I asked shaking my head at the young lad. Okay, he wasn’t that young, only a year or two younger than meself but with his shaggy blonde hair, thin lips and mischeivious brown eyes, sometimes I felt decades older than the boy. I handed him a tray of glasses to put in the automatic dishwasher and he happily took the heavy tray.
I like Michael, he’s funny, sweet, and makes me laugh so hard sometimes I almost wet meself, and he has a major thing for Keela, who was the one working the bar tonight. Since, tonight was me night off from the pub I had decided to jump behind the counter and help her out, seeing as it was me that brought in over a dozen lads a few hours from last call. I didn’t mind though, I was comfortable around the bar and could tend just as well as Keela. It was actually Synclair that had taught me. Now don’t go tellin Jack but when he would go upstairs for the night or meet his friends to play cards, Synclair would let me come behind the bar and serve drinks. We never told me Da cause he would have a huge fit, since my Ma had told him I was going to school to be a teacher and she didn’t want anything divertin’ me from my path.
That thought almost made me laugh, considering I was working in a pub and before tonight I had been working construction, neither one used me teaching credentials at all.
“Are ya listening to me Cami or have I lost ya?” came Michael’s frustrated tone.
“I don’t know why we have to have this conversation… again,” I reminded him. This was the fourth time he had followed me to the back tonight to ask how he could approach Keela. The truth was, Keela was just as shy as he was. Sure she had a big gregarious personality when she was tending bar but when it came to talking to a lad she was interested in, she got shy and quiet. Tara used to taunt her endlessly over her shyness and the fact that she was a tad thick.
“Just make sure your intentions are real, Michael,” I warned waving a dishspoon in his face, “if I vouch for you as a good guy and then you mess me friend about I will remove your testicles with a rusty pair of pliers!” I smiled as he visibly cringed. Hey, its girl code, you always threaten the man who could possibly hurt your mate, you all know that.
“I don’t want to hurt the bird, I want to take her to dinner and maybe the cinema downtown,” he answered while thrusting his hands in his blue jeans.
“Okay, I’ll tell ya what, why don’t you come to me cousin’s wedding, it’s in a few weeks. Keela will be there helping me to set up, I’ll text you the time and you can come help us. It’s the perfect excuse to spend the day with her and you can let her get used to you, she’s pretty shy you know.” There see, I can be accomodatin’ when I want to be, besides I had already planned on asking a few of the lads to help me set up the tents and tables for the weddin’.
Michael smiled so big that the dimple in his left cheek showed. Before I knew it he reached over and kissed me cheek. Stunned I jumped back and almost knocked down the tray of glasses behind me.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle ya, I was just so happy,” he explained as he righted the tray I had backed into.
Feeling foolish for practically jumping out of me skin I smiled to let him know that I was fine. I mean geez, his lips barely brushed my cheek and I was hopping out of my skin with discomfort, oddly enough that didn’t seem to happen with Dalton. Whenever his lips were near mine, I had to fight the urge to lick him from head to toe.
“It’s fine, just a knee jerk reaction Michael,” I assured him trying not to blush with humiliation.
“Ya know Cami, the American is not so bad,” Michael told me as he rocked back on his heels.
“Is that right?” I answered like I was no longer interested in the conversation. I heard Michael sigh, and I knew he was just standing there waiting for me turn around.
Sighing I turned to Michael and waited for whatever it was he wanted to say.
“The man swung himself on a roof like a circus performer, helped you shingle that buildin’ in the dark and rain and he seems to like you a lot,” he told me his brown eyes deadly serious.
“He likes anything female Michael, I’m no exception, I’m nothin’ special trust me,” I tried to dismiss what he was saying. I knew I wasn’t more than just a pair of tits to a man like Dalton, he was used to charming the knickers off the female gender.
“I don’t know Camile, I’ve known you about a year or so and we all caught the kiss you gave him when you had finished the roof, it didn’t look like his touch made you nervous at all, maybe he’d be a good lad for you to… um… see, since it’s been… well… awhile,” he stammered as he looked at the ground.
“Michael McClure are you tellin’ me that you think I shoud shag the American because you think he might help me frigidity?” I asked appalled, I couldn’t believe that I was havin’ this conversation. Damn Sean and his stupid frigid theories.
Michael quickly backed up as I grabbed an empty bottle and advanced on him.
“No.. No… Cami, I just meant you seemed comfortable and we all had to hold him back when Walt slapped ya, you should have seen the rage on the man’s face, it was positively beastly,” he said quickly.
I froze. I thought back to the way Dalton looked when I had glanced his way after Walt’s slap, he had looked feral. I had just assumed it was because of his stance on hitting women but now I wondered if it was something more. Could Dalton Hudson have a
thing for me? Michael was right, I had shown no hesitation when I threw my arms around Dalton and kissed him. Maybe this was something I could work with? After all, Dalton was experienced with women and we both had agreed we weren’t looking for love. Was it possible that Dalton would be willing to let me use him to get comfortable with intimacy? I mean, no matter what he was leaving after the weddin’ so there was no danger of losing me heart in the deal. One can’t possible fall in the love that fast and after all, I don’t believe in love so as long as we both agreed then maybe it could work. Except for sex, I would tell him we could fool around but sex was off the table. I was a good Irish girl, and I wasn’t goin’ to be stupid enough to give up me V-card for someone without love. This of course poses a problem since I have already decided to live without love. But why think about that problem? I’m sure I could love my vibrator and such, that would have to be enough. Plenty of women go their whole lives without having sex. Sure they do! Okay, you bloody sadists maybe they don’t but I wasn’t having sex with Dalton and I wasn’t going to love him either so just deal with it.
“I’ll have to think on it Michael, you’re a good friend,” I told him as I closed up the dishwasher and cleaned off me hands.
“What you did tonight was bang on amazin’ Cami, you saved our jobs and now that Daniel is the foreman we can breathe easier. I’m just sorry it cost you your job,” he said in a concerned tone. I could tell by the look on his face he felt bad.
I’m sure I should feel worse than I do, esepcially after the ugly words that Walt and I had exchanged. Yet, aside from a slight ache in me cheek, I felt fine. Better than fine, I felt relieved because I finally let go of the silly notion that you can’t make someone love you when they won’t. It’s just not possible.
“I would never let you lads suffer because Finn wanted to be an asshat, besides it was time that I left there anyways, Walt proved to me tonight that he’s not the man I thought he was,” I told him as we walked back into the main part of the pub where the men were.
“There you two are, thought we’d have to send out a search party for ya,” Paul shouted as Michael and I made our way back toward the table.
Keela was coming back from picking up glasses and lost her balanced and squeeled as four mugs smashed against the floor. Michael swooped down and caught her before she hit the ground and I smiled at his fast reflexes. For a moment they simply stared at each other and I realized that Keela had affections for the man. Just as Michael was going to say something Keela pulled out of his arms and stammered her apologies for being clumsy. Michael looked to me for help and I was going to step forward when Keela bolted for the back for a broom.
“Well, go help her you bloody eejit,” I teased as I jerked my head in the direction that Keela had run. He smiled at me and took off.
Stepping over the broken glass I looked around for Dalton, he didn’t seem to be anywhere.
“Where’s Dalton?” I asked curious, I was hoping he wasn’t retching over the toilet because I didn’t want to have to worry about him vomiting in me car on the way home.
Daniel looked at me a little sheepishly, “Well, I thought that Michael was makin’ a move on you in the back and,” he trailed off and looked down at his empty mug. I looked at the other lads who were staring anywhere but at me.
“Daniel, Michael followed me to the back to help like he always does because he wants to know how to ask out Keela,” I explained still not understanding why no one would look at me. Daniel was the first to meet my irritated stare and the guilt I saw in those blue eyes made me stomach drop.
“Daniel,” I growled clenching me fists. Now you must know something about the Irish. We are very friendly, and curteous but we also have fierce tempers and it’s not uncommon to knock your best friend out cold and then be buddies the very next day. Don’t try to understand it, just know it’s all part of the culture.
“We may have played on the lad's jealousy a bit and when Lara came over and sat down next to him, we didn’t know that he’d actually go off with the slapper,” Daniel practically shouted defensively.
Lara? Dalton had gone off with Lara Fitz? The dirty slapper that had been laid more times than a railroad track? I shook my head in disbelief, the man had his tongue down my throat not more than a few hours ago and now he was fecking Lara Fitz?
“Where?” I asked full well knowing that Dalton was too drunk to drive so the bastard couldn’t have gone far.
All eyes looked to the back door that led to the alley out back, the very dark alley out back. I stomped toward the door not sure if I wanted to find him with Lara because that would prove to me that he was exactly the charming player I’d pegged him for, or if I was hoping he was alone so that I could let myself like him just a little.
I was still conflicted on which outcome I preferred when I threw open the door, stepped outside and what I saw took the question from me hands. Lara was walking away from the pub adjusting her skirt and Dalton was slumped against the wall zipping up his jeans. I heard him mumble a curse and throw his head back against the wall while he ran his hand through his hair, that was when he turned his head and spotted me.
Even in the dimly lit alley I could see his green eyes go wide, his shirt was wrinkled like it had been gripped by two hungry hands and his lips had red lipstick smeared across them. He staggered a step toward me and I instictively took one back.
I wasn’t sure what the problem was? I knew all along that Dalton was a ladies man, that women found him irresistible and that he fucked everything with a pair of tits and a vagina. Yet, I felt an odd pain in my chest and a stab of disappointment knowing that he had gone from my lips to Lara’s in such a small space of time. My kiss must have been truly horrible to have him reduced to fucking in an alley way just to get the memory of it from his mind. Damn him for giving me hope and then taking it away! Damn meself for being foolish enough to believe that I was something more than some awkward virgin who had no clue how to please a man.
“Camille,” he said his voice was hoarse and raspy like he had just smoked a thousand cigarettes.
I put up me hand and gave him a tight smile. Just because I was stupid enough to think I meant more to him than I did, didn’t mean I was going to let him know how deeply he hurt me. I still had me pride, small speck that it was, it was still there.
“I was just coming to tell you that Michael will bring you home tonight, I’m leavin’ early,” I told him proud that me voice sounded stronger than I felt.
I could swear the man was looking right through me, his green eyes bored into mine like he was trying to see me soul.
“Camille, this wasn’t… it’s not… shit,” he cursed as he ran through his hair again. The way he was yanking it, he would be bald by morning for sure.
“It’s fine Dalton, I don’t care, you can fuck whomever you please,” I answered and turn back toward the door, I needed to make me escape before these stupid tears spilled down me face.
Dalton’s loud growl made me freeze with me hand on the knob. I turned to him and he was standing only a few steps away and he looked right pissed. Wait! He was angry at me? I wasn’t the one pokin’ Lara the slapper in a dirty alley way, the nerve of the bastard!
“Don’t you growl at me like that Dalton Hudson or I’ll nutcheck you so hard Lara will need a pair a tweezers to extract your balls from your spleen,” I threatened as he continued to glare.
He walked up so fast I didn’t even have time to dodge him as he slammed his hands against the door. He was so close that I could smell the Guinness on his breath and see up close the love bites on his neck and that just pissed me off more.
“Why should I feel bad about having sex with a woman that obviously wants to have a good time while you’re in the back sucking face with Michael,” he yelled as he bent down so we were nose to nose.
I can’t even explain the rage I felt jolt through me body, he thought I was makin’ out with Michael? That was his excuse?
“You really are an eejit Dalt
on, don’t blame me for the fact that you’re fuckin’ a dirty slapper in an alley way, no one told you to feel bad. If you do, then it’s probably because you know that endless fucking is just that, fucking, and while it feels good for a moment it leaves a hollow feeling afterwards!” I shouted as I shoved him back. He must have been stunned by my outburst or the drink was still coursing through him because he stumbled back several steps before he got his balance.
“I wil have you know that women love being fucked by me, no one feels hollow afterwards because they’re too busy recovering from the mind blowing orgasms I give them,” he retorted. Oh, he was angry now. Well, that was too bad because I was bloody pissed!
“Really? How would you know Dalton? Since the first thing you do when the condom hits the trashcan is try to figure out how to make a clean getaway,” he reared back like I had slapped him and I knew I had hit the nail on the head. “Got to make sure you get out of there before she catches feelings or something icky like that right? Wouldn’t want you to stay too long, otherwise something ‘casual’ may turn into something real!” I finished, I was panting I was so mad.
His face took on a cruel look and I knew what he was about to say was goin’ to hurt. Part of me hoped he didn’t say it, hoped he didn’t cross the line where I could never forgive him.
“That’s awfully astute coming from Ms. Ice Queen, at least I fuck Camille, I don’t run and hide and cocktease because I’m afraid of intimacy, of putting myself out there and risking getting hurt,” he yelled. Right about that time I turned me head and saw the lads standing at the end of the alley way. They looked embarrassed at what they had just heard and Dalton looked shocked when he finally noticed them.
I looked at Dalton, “Yer as thick as two planks, Hudson, you are the epitome of frigid, I might do it with the lack of touchin’ but you do it with the lack of getting close. You really are a stupid wanker, your heart is as cold as mine, you’re as scared as me of getting close, you just fuck as a buffer and I don’t touch people, so go fuck yourself Dalton, that seems to be the only person you’re willin’ to do for more than night anyways! Gabh Transna Ort Fhéin!” I shouted as I stormed back inside the pub. I flew past Keela who called out for me as I grabbed me purse and keys off the hook and slammed out of the pub. Dalton could walk back for all I cared, maybe a parade of slappers would come along and he could fuck them all the way home then smile and tell them how much fun he had and then do what he always does, end his night alone.
Lucky Charms: A Hudson Family Series- Book 3- Dalton and Cami Page 13