OPERATION: DATE ESCAPE

by Lindsey Brookes

  “Hmm, this thing with Joe sounds serious. Almost commitment-like.”

  “Hardly,” her friend replied, though not convincingly enough for Kelsie to believe her.

  “Well, when you talk to Joe just remember I’m not with you.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I don’t want Cole showing up wherever it is we’re going.”

  “He doesn’t seem the stalker type. Besides this is girl’s night. No men allowed.” Nanci laughed and tipped her head away. “No, I wasn’t talking to you.” She mouthed Joe’s name before turning her attention back to her phone call and the road ahead. “I was talking to Kelsie.”

  “So much for him not knowing I’m with you,” she muttered.

  “He doesn’t know where we’re going. You’re safe.” She laughed again and glanced her way. “Yes, she’s still in hiding.”

  “I’m not hiding,” she said in her own defense. “Just avoiding the inevitable.”

  “Joe wants to talk to you.”

  She wanted to strangle her friend as she reached for the phone. After a moment’s hesitation, she said, “Hello?”

  “Cole really is a good guy. I wish you’d give him a chance.”

  Awkward.

  “Look, Joe. I know you and Cole are really good friends. If I were in the market for a great guy, he’d top the list. But I’m not looking for anyone right now.”

  “Guess it’s a good thing he’s moving on then.”

  “Moving on?” Joe’s words stabbed at her heart. She had no right to feel that way. After all, she was the one who’d ended things with Cole.

  “I think he’s finally realizing that things would never go anywhere with the two of you. He’s looking for a woman willing to share his future with him.”

  Well, that hadn’t taken him long. If a man could move on that easily, she was better off without him. “I’m happy for him,” she said, forcing the lie out with as much believability as she could muster. “I’ll give you back to Nanci now.”

  Nanci reached for her phone. “What the hell did he say?”

  “Cole’s over me,” Kelsie muttered, hating the prick of tears at the back of her eyes.

  Her friend frowned. “If I had known you were going to tell her that, I wouldn’t have put you on with her. Men,” she grumbled. “I have to go. Yes, I’ll see you tomorrow.” She snapped her phone shut and shoved it back into her purse. “Sorry about that. I had no idea what Joe was going to say, though I assumed it had something to do with Cole.”

  Kelsie kept her gaze pinned to the passing buildings outside. “It’s okay.”

  “No, it’s not. I thought he was going to try and convince you to go out with Cole again. If I had known…”

  “Really, I’m okay with it,” she lied.

  “Yeah, I can tell. I didn’t realize Cole had moved on. I was sure you and he… Well, damn.”

  “I ended things between us. He has every right to move on?”

  “I suppose, but I really thought he might be the one.”

  “How many times do I have to tell you ‘the one’ doesn’t exist?”

  “I’m not so sure about that.”

  “Are we talking about my love life or yours now?”

  “Joe is…” she sighed softly, “the total package. And if I was done sowing my wild oats, he would be the one I’d consider sticking with for the long run.”

  “You’re falling for this guy.” What was it about firefighters that made it so easy for them to steal women’s hearts?

  “He’s nothing like the other guys I’ve dated. They could all be whipped so easily. But Joe, he takes control and I like it.”

  Nanci had never allowed any man to get that close to her heart. She just hoped Joe wouldn’t break it. “F.Y.I. - Women don’t have oats to sow, so you can settle down anytime you’re ready.”

  “We do too. You just forget how to sow them. Wait, I take that back. You managed to do quite a bit of sowing with Cole.”

  “Let’s leave my oats out of this.”

  “Ah, so you admit you have some.”

  Kelsie rolled her eyes. Sometimes Nanci could be as exasperating as her mother. “So where are we going anyway?” she asked, determined to change the subject.

  “Some of my patients have been talking about a new dance club called Wicks they’ve been to.”

  “Where’s it at?”

  “Near downtown Columbus. It’s supposed to have great music. A huge dance floor. And half price drinks for ladies on Friday nights. I thought we’d give it a try.”

  “Sounds like fun.” And far enough away from Worthington to risk running into Cole and whoever it was he’d moved on from her with.

  *

  Cole paused to check his answering machine as he had done every day since Kelsie ran out on him. No messages. Not that he expected to hear from her. Women on the run didn’t stop to leave messages for the guy they were running from.

  Grabbing the bucket he’d filled with sudsy water from the kitchen sink, he headed outside to wash his truck. It was a mindless task and right now he didn’t want to think about anything.

  Fifteen minutes later, Joe pulled into the drive behind Cole’s truck. “Guess who I just talked to,” he called out through the open window.

  Cole looked up from the bumper he’d been washing. This was easy. Who else put a smile on Joe’s face like that? “I’m guessing Nanci.”

  “Guess again.”

  He straightened and leaned against his truck. “I’m not up for guessing games.”

  “Okay, I’ll give you a hint. It usually comes with frosting on it.”

  “Joe,” Cole warned.

  “Nice try but you’ll only find me with frosting on me when Nanci is in her kinky mode,” he replied with a chuckle.

  He tossed the soapy sponge his friend’s direction.

  “Hey!” he exclaimed as he ducked to avoid the foaming missile.

  “Just tell me,” he said, reaching for the hose to rinse his truck off

  “Cupcake.”

  That had Cole’s head snapping around. “You talked to Kelsie?”

  His friend nodded.

  “Where did you see her?”

  “I didn’t. I spoke to her on the phone a little while ago.”

  Cole rolled his eyes. “You called her? Damn it, Joe−”

  His friend threw up his hands. “Hold up there, buddy. Before you go getting all pissed at me, I didn’t call her. Nanci called me and Kelsie was with her, so I asked to talk to her. You know, to put a few good words in for you.”

  He groaned. “You didn’t.”

  “I did,” his friend answered without hesitation. “I told her what a great guy you were and that it was too bad things didn’t work out between the two of you.”

  What was he talking about? Things weren’t over yet. “In case you’ve forgotten, I haven’t given up on Kelsie yet.”

  “I know. That’s why I told her that you had and that you were moving on.”

  “You what?” he snapped. “What the hell were you thinking?”

  “Relax, buddy. I wanted to see how she’d react to the news.”

  It took a moment for his friend’s words to sink in. Joe wasn’t carelessly flinging words around. He was trying to gauge how Kelsie really felt. “And?” he asked, hoping Joe’s good mood meant her reaction was what his friend had hoped for.

  “Let’s just say that she wasn’t exactly thrilled by the news you had decided to move on.”

  Cole’s worried expression gave way to a wide grin. If Kelsie wasn’t happy about him deciding to see other women, there was definitely more than a flicker of hope left for him to cling to.

  Joe laughed. “Nanci gave me hell for upsetting Kelsie, but she’ll get over it once I have a chance to explain things to her at the picnic.”

  “You didn’t tell her about the blind date?”

  “Not yet. But I warn you if she gets even the slightest inkling that something’s up she’ll get it out of me.” His mo
uth quirked up. “She has ways of making a man talk.”

  “Something tells me she has ways of making you do more than talk.”

  “No effort needed there.”

  Cole aimed the hose at his truck and squeezed the trigger, rinsing the drying suds off his bumper. “Thanks for checking to see where Kelsie’s head is at where we’re concerned.”

  “You would have done the same for me.”

  Joe was right. They would always have each other’s backs, both professionally and in their personal lives.

  *

  “Wow,” Kelsie said as they pulled into the freshly paved parking lot in front of Wick’s. “Nice place.”

  The mirrored windows at the club entrance were lit up with tiny pink and black lights. Judging by the few parking spaces remaining, this was the place to be. Thankfully, the building looked big enough to accommodate a lot of people.

  They paid their cover charge and made their way into the semi-darkened room. Lights like those outside vined their way across the ceiling and down the far wall where the bar was. To the left of the bar was a large dance floor that was flooded with colorful, rotating spotlights.

  “Check this place out,” Nanci said in awe.

  Kelsie looked around. “I am. I wish we had a place like this in Worthington.”

  “Come on,” her friend said, grabbing her by the arm. “Let’s go get a drink.”

  They made their way through the crowd to the bar where Nanci ordered their drinks. She turned, handing Kelsie her glass. “Here’s your Diet Coke.”

  “Thanks. Guess we should try and find a table.” Try was the operative word. The place was packed.

  They weaved in and out of people, drinks in hand. After about five minutes of searching, they located a table not too far from the dance floor.

  “Perfect,” Nanci exclaimed happily. “We can watch the dance floor from here when we’re not out there dancing ourselves.”

  She nodded in agreement. “And we’re close to the bathrooms. Another plus.” She settled into her chair and sipped at her drink as she looked around, taking everything in.

  She noted that Nanci, who would normally be eyeing up every hot man to walk through the front door, was simply tapping her painted nails to the music on the tabletop and watching everyone dance.

  She reached across the table, giving her friend’s arm a nudge. “What’s up with you tonight?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We’ve been here for nearly twenty minutes and you haven’t once mentioned wanting to grab some guy’s ass.”

  Nanci’s posture went instantly rigid, her mouth drawing into a tight scowl as she stared past her. “You’re not going to have to wait any longer, but grabbing isn’t what I intend to do with this guy’s ass.”

  Kelsie looked at her questioningly and then followed her narrowed gaze to the dance floor. “Oh, shit.” What were the odds?

  Out on the dance floor, her ex was busily grinding away against the notorious office cleaning bimbo. Not a pretty sight.

  “Honestly, Kels, I don’t know what you ever saw in that guy.”

  “You used to like him.”

  “Yeah, well he had all of us fooled.” She took a swig of her beer. “Fool me once…”

  Watching Kyle out on the dance floor was like watching the freak show at the circus. He’d never been a good dancer. He only thought he was. Still thought so from the look of things.

  He looked different than he had when they’d gone to court to finalize their divorce, but the cleaning slut had changed her appearance in a much bigger way. At least up front where her miniscule tank top dipped down to display a new pair of surgically enhanced breasts.

  “Wonder what those cost him,” she muttered, suddenly self-conscious about her lesser endowments. Maybe her mother was right about the breast thing. Then again, Cole had appreciated her body. Very much so.

  “I’ll go ask him,” Nanci said, pushing her drink away. When she started out of her chair, Kelsie reached out to stop her.

  “Don’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “He’s not worth wasting our energy on.”

  “Can I at least go ask him if he’s misplaced his dick in his cleaning woman’s mouth lately?”

  Despite the uncomfortableness of the situation, Kelsie snorted with laughter. “Oh my God, no. Don’t you dare!” Nanci was like the cat that wanted to play with the mouse. Only in Kyle’s case he was a rat.

  “Maybe you’re right. Let’s get out of here before you have to deal with him.”

  “Too late,” she replied with a frown.

  Nanci turned to see Kyle heading their direction. “Shit.”

  He strode up to their table as if he was God’s gift to women. Something he wasn’t. “Well, well, if it isn’t my ex. You remember Allison, don’t you?”

  As if she could forget the woman who’d ruined her anniversary and wrecked her marriage all in one night. She refused to give him the benefit of a response.

  His gaze shifted to Nanci. “And if it isn’t her ever faithful friend,” he said in a loud, drunken slur.

  “Who would have thought you even knew what the word faithful meant?” Nanci replied with a sneer.

  Kyle didn’t have a comeback for that one.

  Her gaze moved over her ex in a scrutinizing manner. He wasn’t the man she remembered. His hair was shaggy and in desperate need of a cut, unlike Cole’s. His eyes were bloodshot, either from too much alcohol, or too many late nights with Allison. And it looked as though he had a kid’s swim ring inflated beneath his shirt at the waistband of his pants.

  “Show her your rock, Allie.”

  She held up her hand with a smile, displaying a large diamond solitaire engagement ring. “Kyle and I are getting married next month in the Virgin Islands,” she said as if she’d won herself a great prize.

  No prize there.

  Nanci snorted. “Maybe you should try the Not-So-Virgin Islands for your wedding instead.”

  “Your island of choice, no doubt,” Kyle retorted with a scowl.

  “Any island you’re not on would be my island of choice,” she shot back.

  “I have to agree with Nanci on that one,” Kelsie said with a nod, wishing he would leave and take his slutty fiancée with him.

  “Don’t be a hater,” Allison cooed, fluttering her fingers so her diamond reflected in the light.

  “I’m definitely hating,” Nanci said with a laugh. “I’ve always wanted a cubic zirconia engagement ring and a pair of fake boobs to go along with it.”

  “The ring’s not fake,” Allison argued, looking to Kyle for back up.

  Guilt was written all over his face.

  “Kyle!” his fiancé gasped.

  “The boobs weren’t cheap. I had to cut cost somewhere.”

  “You gave me a fake engagement ring? How could you?” she demanded. She stormed away, carefully avoiding Nanci as she moved past.

  He turned to Nanci. “Bitch.”

  “I try my best,” she said with a smug smile.

  Kelsie couldn’t keep the grin from her face. For so long after her divorce, any mention of her ex and what he’d done to her would bring her to tears. She’d dreaded the possibility of ever crossing paths with him again, unsure of how she’d react. Now here they were, together in the same room. And, much to her relief, she felt nothing. No hurt. No longing for what they might have had if Kyle hadn’t of been such an ass. She was void of any emotion at all where he was concerned.

  “I’m finally over you,” she said in surprise.

  Both Kyle and Nanci stopped the name slinging and looked her way. “What?” they replied in unison.

  She looked up at her ex. “You know, I’ve wondered at times how I would feel if we ever ran into each other again. Now I know. We were really never meant to be, you and me. I don’t love you. In fact, I realize now that what I felt for you when we were together was more youthful infatuation than real love.” Cole had shown her the difference.

&nbs
p; That last thought took her by surprise. How had that happened? Feeling the way she did about Cole presented her with a whole new set of problems, but it had also helped free her of her past.

  Kyle chuckled drunkenly. “Yeah right.” Then he leaned across the table to hover just inches from her face. “You and I both know if I wanted you back in my bed I could have you there with a snap of my fingers.”

  A second later he was lying on the floor, curled up in a ball and moaning.

  “Snap that,” Nanci hissed. Grabbing for her purse, she looked to Kelsie. “Time to go.”

  “What did you do to him?” she asked as they weaved their way out of the club.

  “Who me?” her friend asked with feigned innocence.

  “The ass was lying in the fetal position when we left him and you were smiling.”

  “Okay, so my foot slipped off the top rung of the chair.”

  “Slipped?”

  Nanci nodded. “Into his crotch.”

  She glanced down at the pointy toed heels Nanci had worn that night with a wince. “Bet that hurt like hell.”

  “You can count on it,” she said with a mischievous grin as they hurried across the lamp lit parking lot. “That’ll teach him to invade your personal space and be a dickhead at the same time.”

  “Thanks.”

  “My pleasure.”

  She turned to Nanci as they slid into her car. “For the record, I would never ever go back to Kyle. Not even if he was the last man on earth and someone slipped me an entire bottle of female Viagra.”

  Nanci burst into laughter. “That’s my girl.”

  She glanced back toward the night club. She had faced the demon from her past and had come out of it mentally intact. Kyle was an ass and always would be. Allison could have him.

  “You okay?” her friend asked as they pulled out onto the street.

  “I’m great.”

  “So much for finding a new place to hang out.”

  “Yeah, I could do without having to see Kyle and Allison ever again.”

  “Hey, maybe we’ll get lucky and a shark will eat them on their honeymoon.”

  Kelsie burst into laughter. “You are so bad.”

  “I try my best. What do you say we go back to my place and watch a chick flick?”

  “Sounds like a plan.” She laid her head back against the seat. This had actually turned out to be one of the best nights of her life. And seeing Kyle taken down by Nanci was definitely the icing on the cake.