by Logan Chance
“Yeah, nothing's been hard in quite some time.”
“There’s a million fish in the sea,” I said, avoiding his eyes. Why did he have to mention being hard? “Hopefully you’ll reel in a nice one.”
“I’ll try. Saw Dex, that’s fun.” He shook his head and a few long strands of black hair fell into his eyes.
“Theo…”
“Don’t bother.” He turned to leave as I stepped closer.
“I didn’t know he was your brother,” I whispered as he slammed the office door.
Horrible. I wanted to rush into Theo’s waiting arms, kiss him and make it all better, and tell him all about the nightmare I’d been living. That couldn’t happen, though.
Pushing Theo out of my mind, I gathered my things and quickly walked out the front doors to see Dex standing by his BMW. He opened the door, and I slid into the passenger seat.
“I don’t like the idea of Theo working here,” he said as he slammed the door, barely giving me enough time to get all of my body parts inside.
When he hopped in the driver’s side, I hesitated briefly before answering, “Would you rather bartend instead of him? I needed someone.”
His laugh was loud and sharp as it echoed off the leather interior of his little sports car. Cringing, chills skated over my body. His laugh irritated me, he reminded me of a hyena. I hated him, and hanging out with him made the hatred intensify, if that’s possible.
“Just please drive,” I whispered as he stuck the key into the ignition firing the car to life.
“Here are the reports you asked for,” I said, handing the crisp white papers over to my father’s pudgy fingers.
“Thank you, Penelope. Where are you two lovebirds off to this evening?”
Really? I tried to hold back the bile making its way up my throat as I narrowed my eyes onto him. How could he sit there and act as if this situation wasn’t forced on me?
“We’re heading to dinner with my mother. At my club,” Dex answered, smiling a toothy grin.
Oh yes, “the club.” We would be dining at the illustrious country club Dex was a member of and never let anyone forget it. My eyeballs mentally rolled themselves at the prestigious club with loads of important people as members. He’d told me all about it, endlessly, and if I heard about it one more time I might scream.
As we left my father’s office and headed off downtown toward the country club by the water, I sat back and gazed out to the stars twinkling in the sky. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I could do this.
Pulling up to the ritzy club, with its wealth hanging in the form of garlands wrapped around the columns made my head ache. We stepped in unison up the steps to the entrance; together, as a death march to our faux engagement. This wasn’t my future.
“Dex, Penny, hello,” June, Theo’s mother, called out to us.
“Hi, June.” I swiped at the watery remnants of my fallen reminder of what I lost as it slid down my cheek.
June hugged Dex, then me, and her warm smile held me captive. Her smile, an older form of Lucy’s, made tears well in my eyes.
The past few weeks I did well keeping my feelings at bay, but seeing Theo again today didn’t help at all. The way his anger pulsed through his body was something I wasn’t prepared for.
Not that I blamed him. Left completely in the dark about everything, his reaction was tame, considering.
Dex led us into the lobby packed with people dressed in casual dinnerware, and I smiled to the bubbly blonde behind the hostess stand as did Dex. My eyes drifted to June’s as I pretended not to notice how Dex ogled her a beat too long. If I cared, it might have offended me.
Dim light surrounded the restaurant inside the country club as the hostess led us between tables full of happy guests. Resentment filled me at the way they laughed at their wanted company. We weaved through booths filled with giggling children, and uppity businessmen, until we came to a table neatly lined with enough cutlery to house a nation.
Dex pulled out a plush padded chair for me to sit, and I played the part by thanking him, sitting on the green cushion, allowing him to scoot me in, and then do the same for his mother.
Without thought, I grabbed at the black linen napkin and placed it in my lap as I glanced around taking in my new lifestyle. This was not me. This would never be me. Country club dinners and a man who didn’t love me were not going to be my future.
I had a plan.
If forced into a loveless marriage, well, then he would endure annoying Penny, the anti perfect fiancée. I had slowly started to plant the seed that this man didn’t know me any better than I knew him. Maybe he would decide he didn’t want me in the process. Not to mention, it was fun needling him and watching his reaction. Dex had expectations of his future wife and how the world viewed his marriage. Well, I took great pleasure in ruining his fantasy.
Two could play this game.
I smiled, picking up the embossed menu. “Why don’t they have chicken wings on this menu?” I asked. “I could go for some messy wings right about now. The kind where you lick the sauce from your fingers.”
“I don’t think chicken wings are really what the diners here are looking for,” Dex said.
“No?” I placed the menu down and propped my elbows on the table, resting my face in my hands. “Well maybe I need to talk to the chef and tell him chicken wings can be fancy too.” My eyes widened as if I had the best idea in the world. “They can give them special little wet naps that look like money to wipe their hands on.”
Dex stared at me with a look of horror on his face.
June cleared her throat, interrupting our stare off. “Penny, have you given any more thought to what we talked about last week?” she asked.
“I think a fall wedding would be lovely,” I told her. She’d only asked Dex and I about fifty times to pick a date before finally giving up and then trying to commit us to a season. I leaned closer to Dex. “What do you think about hay bales for the guests to sit on?”
“Hay bales?” Dex scoffed. “Penny, our guests will not want to sit on a hay bale.”
“Well it could be casual. Jeans and flannel. We could really play up the Fall weather. Maybe have some carved pumpkin centerpieces with our initials.”
Dex adjusted his tie. “No fucking way.”
“Dex,” his mother admonished him.
“Well who is the bride here?” I asked. “That's what I want, and the bride gets what she wants. Right, June?”
His mother lifted her crystal glass and took a sip of water before responding, “Well, we can come back to this later.”
I nodded my head and went back to studying the menu. For as many nights the last few weeks I sat in this same spot studying the contents, I could probably recite the menu from memory.
“Penny,” June said, softly. I lowered the menu, staring into her eyes, eyes so similar to Theo’s, and tried not to cry. “We’ll work something out. I’m just so excited to have you for a daughter-in-law.”
I reached across the table, my ring catching the light of the overhanging chandelier and clasped onto June’s hand. “I want that more than anything.” My words held nothing but sincerity. Problem was, I wanted her for my mother-in-law. I even dreamed of this very same scenario. But the groom was never Dex. I smiled and she nodded her head.
When I removed my hand, she smoothed her blonde hair and picked up her menu.
The waiter came and went, the food came and went as well. Boring. Bland. I tried to block it all out.
This is my life.
Fuck, I’m marrying the wrong brother.
FOUR
THEO
Kill me now.
“What’s your name?”
“For the millionth time, it’s Theo. I think you’ve had a little too much to drink, let me call you a cab.”
“No. I want you to drive me home,” said a short, red-haired woman leaning across the bar at Lopa.
I glanced at the clock behind the bar. Already well past closing, and a fe
w people still lingered at the bar. This wasn’t how I wanted my night to go. I looked back at the half-drunk, ok, fully drunk, girl as she slurred her words and winked at me.
Her pink tinged skin was burnt from the afternoon sun’s rays, and combined with the three margaritas she downed she was well on her way to blitzville.
The old Theo wouldn’t have cared, would have offered her a ride. And not just a ride home. But, this redhead didn’t have the turtle stamp of approval I wanted.
Fuck.
It shouldn’t be this hard, and it wasn’t hard. Hadn’t been hard in a while. My cock hadn’t seen the light of day in quite some time.
Not since I had Penny before me.
I glanced back at the redhead, with her skimpy blue dress and long tanned legs, and tried to make my body have a reaction to her. Nothing. No pulse to the groin. No tent to hide in my pants. Nothing of any kind to warrant any reason to drive her home.
“Bar’s closing, hun. I’ll call you a cab.”
“Oh, come on, Theooo,” she rolled the o’s out of her mouth as she tried to stand up on unsteady legs. Releasing the grip I had on the bar, I rushed around the other side to keep her from falling in a drunken heap to the floor.
Fiona glanced my way when she saw the redhead in my arms, her feet wobbling from side to side.
“Call her a cab,” I said to Fiona.
“Sure thing.” She rushed to the phone behind the hostess stand and picked up the receiver.
“I don’t want no cab to take me home. I want you to,” the drunk slurred.
“I think you’ve had enough fun for the night.” I hoisted her up, trying to get her feet steady underneath her.
“You prick.” Great. Angry drunk time. “Take me to your place.”
“Out of the question.”
“Jackass,” she slurred louder.
“So I’ve been told.” I remained void of any emotion as she poked a blue polished nail into my chest.
“Many guys would kill to fuck me; I’ll have you know.”
“Good, call one of them,” I said, half dragging her, half walking her, to the front door. I sat her down on a wooden bench near the host stand and stepped away.
As soon as her head hit the back wall, she passed out. I glanced at Fiona over my shoulder with a slight smile. “She’s a lot of fun.”
“Welcome back, Theo,” she said, laughing afterwards.
“Yeah, it’s good to be home.” I moved away from the snoring redhead and glanced around the Lopa. A large turtle painting hung just above the blue wall behind the hostess stand, and my heart lurched for Penny.
Where was she right now? Sleeping with Dex?
Those thoughts destroyed me every time they crossed my mind. Her hair splayed across the pillow. Her eyes shining while he fucked her. The image wouldn’t leave my mind no matter how hard I tried to picture anything else. And believe me, I tried hard. The struggle was real.
“She isn’t happy with him,” Fiona said.
My eyes landed onto her sympathetic deep blue ones.
“I’m sorry?”
“Penny with Dex. She doesn’t look at him the way she does you.”
“Well, thanks for the insight there, Fiona. What am I supposed to do about it though? She’s engaged.”
“I don’t think she wants to be. Maybe you should talk to her,” she said as she glanced out the front window checking to see if the cab had arrived.
I followed her eyes out the large glass window just as a set of headlights pulled into the lot. “He’s my brother, well half-brother. Did she tell you that?” I asked.
“Ouch. No she didn’t tell me that.”
A black BMW pulled close to the door, and Penny stepped out of the passenger side.
“Speak of the devil,” I whispered. As soon as Penny’s high-heeled feet hit the pavement, Dex’s car took off and disappeared into the night.
My heart hammered as I watched her walk toward the front door. More like stomp. She looked pissed. Her hips swayed with every step. My mouth went dry as I got closer. I had no clue what to say to her. Part of me, the part my dick controlled, wanted to take her caveman style and screw her on the back patio. But, it was the part that no longer wanted her, the part in control, which was clueless. I’m a total liar. I wanted her. With every part.
When she opened the door, I was met with deep eyes and a hard stare.
“Oh. Hi, I wasn’t expecting to see you both here near the door.” She pointed at the passed out redhead who at Penny’s words opened her dark eyes and glanced around. “Who’s this?”
“Where am I?” the redhead slurred. Her eyes darted around, and when she noticed me—a smile split her face wide. “Oh, Theo, can you take me home already and fuck me hard like you promised?” Her head fell back against the wall and she once again snored. Oh shit, I can’t believe she said that. A few years ago I would have probably taken her up on her offer. Although, no one wants to bang a girl on the verge of passing out. Been there, done that. Have the limp dick it caused to prove it. Sorry, but it’s true. Nothing makes your dick go soft faster than a girl just not into it.
Penny looked at me as if I had two heads like an alien. I smiled, knowing full well I had never uttered those words to the redhead. She couldn’t possibly believe I would have said that. Oh wait, I think she did.
“Lovely,” Penny sneered. “Theo, can you please keep your dick in your pants and not in the guests?” She rushed past me, her heels hitting the wooden floor planks at record speed.
I turned, a small laugh leaving my lips. “Penny, she’s drunk.” I followed after her leaving Fiona to take care of the redhead. Really, I couldn’t believe I chased after her to explain, but, damn, I needed her to know I didn't fuck around anymore. Maybe once before, but not since I’d tasted her, felt her, knew her. I had never been the same, and fuck why couldn’t she see that?
The place had emptied out and the only people left were the kitchen crew cleaning up for the night.
I raced into the kitchen trying to keep pace with Penny.
When she slammed the office door in my face, I yanked it open and stepped inside. “Keep my dick out of the guests? Really, Penny? Since when do you care about my dick and its whereabouts?”
She played with papers on the desk as her long hair hung down shielding her eyes from me. “I don’t need my bartender/part-owner fraternizing with customers. It’s bad for business.”
She looked up at me with lust in her eyes and hatred in her cocked brow. I wanted to raise those brows a little more, like when she unraveled beneath me. Thing was, I knew what Penny’s face looked like when she had one of the best orgasms of her life only I could give her. I knew her face, studied it, had a Master’s degree in it, even. I wanted to remind her what I could do with my tongue, my fingers, and my cock. I would remind her how I could make her come with one flick of my wrist. I knew how to drive her crazy.
But, her and Dex were together now. And the thought sent me hurdling past memory lane and straight into defensive territory. I needed to punch something. A punching bag? No, not good enough. My only salvation would be Dex’s face beaten to a bloody pulp.
I stepped closer, she stepped back. The wood of the desk acted as a barrier between us as she rifled along it in search of something.
Shiny metal glinted under the light of the lamp on the desk, and I glanced down seeing the item she must be searching for. I picked up her car keys, looping my finger through the keyring. Dangling them in front of her, I grinned. “Are these what you’re looking for?”
“Give them to me.” She held out her hand.
I stepped back, holding the keys higher into the air. “Not until you apologize for treating me like a teenager who doesn’t know how to keep his cock restrained.”
Her face scrunched, and her freckles glistened in the soft moon light.
Fuck, the freckles.
“Oh now you want to talk, huh? I’ve been trying to talk to you all day.” She still held her hand out probably th
inking I would give her the keys back. Fuck, she was not getting them back that easy.
She let out a sigh and my pulse spiked. I moved closer, hand still raised high in the air with the hostage still looped around my finger.
“You should have spoken to me weeks ago, Penny.” I moved around the desk until we were inches apart. She made a play for the keys which I blocked. “Not so quick there.”
“Give them back.”
“Or what?”
Her face heated, her cheeks turning pink. “Or I’ll write you up.”
My head snapped back with laughter. Is she for fucking real? This wasn’t high school or some teenage job where if you didn’t show up on time you’d lose pay. “You can’t write me up. I’m half-owner, and you’re just a manager. Don’t think for one second you’re actually my boss.”
She angered at my words, and a spark ignited in her eyes. “I am your boss.”
“No darling, you’re not. Fucking apologize to me. Don’t I deserve that much? You’re engaged to my brother.”
Coming unglued with emotion firing off in every synapses of my being, I dropped my eyes to the floor where the image of Dex’s brain matter and bloody skull filled my mind and I smiled.
I tried not to raise my eyes. I didn’t want to see her gorgeous eyes shining like the damn North star guiding me back to something I couldn’t have.
No, I kept my eyes glued to the terrazine floor and pictured Dex’s body writhing in pain.
Let’s face it, though, I’m a glutton for punishment. When I lifted my face and met her eyes, I was kicked right back to square one, ground zero where it all began. Her freckles haunted me as she hung her head down, glancing at the floor beneath her feet, shrugging her shoulders. When she lifted her head, her copper eyes met mine and she appeared scared. My protective instinct kicked in. I wanted to wrap my arms around her. Instead, I stepped closer and transferred the keys to the other hand, keeping them high in the air. “Apologize to me.”
“I didn’t know he was your brother. I’m sorry.” Finally. Finally, she gave me the words. It didn't feel as good as I had hoped. I dropped the keys on the desk, and they clattered to the floor. She knelt before me, and when her gaze lifted to mine, a slow smile spread on my face. “While you’re down there.”