Kerrigan chuckled. “It’s been a long time, Nick. Now let’s go eat tacos and drink like we’re kids again.”
“You got it, Karate Kid.”
The night was long all right and the tacos and tapas were delicious, only made better by the taste of mojitos washing it all down. Whenever Kerrigan and Nicholas got together they drank and laughed their asses off, and maybe they were both relieved that after all these years they never grew up—or at least they didn’t grow old enough to lose their sense of humor.
Kerrigan was pretty hammered and so was Georgina by hour three. Nicholas was flying high, still tickled pink by exchanging old stories with Kerrigan.
He jumped up from the table and wandered off. “Got to wring my lizard.”
“Nicholas!” Georgina yelled. “Tact, honey!”
Kerrigan laughed and shook his head. “He never changed much, did he?”
“No, he certainly didn’t,” Georgina said, quickly losing her smile now that Nicholas had left.
“I’m glad to see him happy. And you. You make a great couple.”
“Hmmm,” Georgina said with a polite smile and a slow blink.
Kerrigan sensed something and was almost afraid to ask. “You are happy, right?”
“Uh, yeah sure. Okay.”
“Safe answer, huh?”
“Yes, a safe answer,” she smiled half-heartedly then looked away.
Kerrigan shifted in his seat and bit his lip, not quite sure what to say. “Well, I mean as long as I’ve known my boy, I know he’s had a wandering eye. I always figured he would meet someone…you know…who was like him.”
“Like him?”
“As horny as he was,” Kerrigan laughed.
“That’s not really the problem,” she said cautiously.
“Oh. Well, it’s none of my business…but…”
But. That was probably one more word than Kerrigan should have spoken that night.
“But he’s fucked up,” Georgina said in a fit. “He’s okay during the week. When he works. When he abstains and when he gets pussy every night. But on the weekends he drinks. And he gets…” She shook her head and pouted, folding her arms and too upset to even continue talking.
“He goes into the dark place? Yeah, I know.”
“Hmm,” she said despondently, as if her eyes were saying, “You have no idea.”
Nicholas came back to the table within a few minutes, cracking jokes and name-calling as always. Kerrigan smiled wide, still proud and supportive of his buddy—even while remembering Georgina’s words in private, still lingering in his mind.
“Another round,” Nicholas said. “Another round for these two shitheads.”
“The great respect he has for me,” Georgia said tiredly.
“He’s just kidding,” Kerrigan said, laughing a bit uncomfortably.
“Who says I’m joking?” Nicholas said, downing another drink. “You’re both shitheads. You are.”
“Come on, bro,” Kerrigan said, slapping him on the shoulder and taking another drink himself. “You’re married to a beautiful woman. You ought to be kissing her feet.”
“Yes, she is beautiful. So beautiful that every guy she meets wants to fuck her. And she goes home and fucks every guy she talks to.”
Kerrigan lost his smile and looked over at Georgina who was just glaring.
“Come on, man. You know that’s not true.”
Another hour passed and the drinks continued. Kerrigan was the happy drunk and enjoyed casually flirting with Georgina, telling her again she was beautiful and touching her palms. Of course it was in good fun and he didn’t mind telling his old buddy the only reason he didn’t take her to bed was because he loved Nicholas more than anyone.
But Nicholas tossed the compliment back and kept drinking.
“I’ve tried to talk Georgina into a threesome. But she just doesn’t like to eat the pussy.”
“No I don’t,” Georgina said, staring a hole through him. “And I don’t know why you like bringing that up in every conversation.”
“Because you sure like receiving it. But you don’t like giving it. I mean how fair is that? Kerrigan, you understand what I’m talking about. Right?”
“Well,” Kerrigan laughed nervously. “I’m just having fun drinking, watching you all spar. You’re really very funny. Kind of like my parents, you know, always arguing.”
Although Kerrigan’s parents gentle kvetching really wasn’t like this—which his twitching smile seemed to convey.
“No, but you understand. Right? You would eat my wife’s pussy if she let you, right?”
Georgina slammed her hands on the table. “For God’s sake, Nicholas. Is there no end to your jealousy?”
“But you would, right? Like if I took ten extra minutes taking a dump? You’d crawl under this table and eat her black pussy out, right? Because we’re friends and all but pussy is pussy, right?”
Kerrigan smiled and shook his head, developing a pained expression. “No, Nick. I would never do that you, man.”
“Liar,” Nicholas laughed.
Kerrigan almost tried to speak up but Nicholas and Georgina had gone back to aggressive glaring and all but ignored him.’
“This is why you have no friends,” she said softly. “You drive people away.”
“Oh, I drive people away,” Nicholas said with a smirk. “Forget the fact that I’m a war veteran and that I served my country for ten years. I drive people away. I make their little vaginas all dry and so I’m a bad person. Fuck all that.”
“Come on, buddy. Don’t let people’s attitudes get to you.” Kerrigan touched Nicholas’ shoulder, trying to break him from his zone.
“Get your fucking hand off me, cocksucker,” Nicholas growled, losing his smile.
“What?”
“Is that what you’re thinking? Because that’s what I’ve been thinking. You want to fight me? You want to prove that your little crane kick girl show is anything compared to fighting hand to hand combat?”
“I’m not thinking that. We’re friends, Nick. We don’t fight each other.”
“Bullshit,” he said staring a whole into Kerrigan’s face. “I could take you down in two moves. I could fucking kill you, Kerrigan. In two moves. Thirty seconds. I would fucking kill you.”
Kerrigan stared at him and felt a surge of emotion. Yeah, he was provoked as hell, to think anyone could be brazen enough to challenge him. But he also felt a bit of sadness, seeing firsthand just how unhappy Georgina was and how Nicholas was suffering inside.
“Yeah, you could, man,” Kerrigan said calmly, but still eyeing him and showing no fear.
“Yeah. And I would enjoy killing you too. I mean, I just kind of want to see you try something with my wife. Just so I could rip your fucking throat out.”
Angry drunk. Kerrigan sighed and tried to look away, remembering to control his breathing. The last thing Nicholas wanted was to pick a fight.
“No one wants that. We’re friends.”
“Yeah sure we are. But we both know what’s what.”
Georgina glanced back at Kerrigan with a look, as if to say, yes this is how it’s like all the time only ten times worse than what you see.
But every time Kerrigan acquiesced he felt a stir in his heart and throughout his body. He always had a thing for woman in peril. He sensed Georgina’s fear, her unhappiness and heard Nicholas’ drunken threats and the more passion he felt burning inside. Suddenly Georgina seemed something a little more than beautiful.
She seemed sexy. Within a minute, the mood shifted and he started to see her as a sexual being—a beautiful black woman wearing a white dress that showcased just a hint of cleavage. He started to wonder what it would feel like to touch her, to put his hands on her. To maybe slowly undress her, telling her it would be all right.
No one—no one—would ever hurt her again.
He shook the feeling off, figuring this was just drunk talk and drunk thought. Maybe by morning they would all feel normal again and l
augh this off.
Georgina excused herself from the table, but she hadn’t gotten two steps before Nicholas yelled out to her.
“Don’t suck any white cocks while you’re back there, princess.”
Kerrigan lost his half-hearted smile and stared at Nicholas as if he was watching a car wreck. He almost said something, but filtered every sentence out, figuring he was just going to start a fight. There was no way to win this conversation, let alone calm Nicholas down from his inexplicable rage.
“Why do you treat her like that?”
“What do you mean?”
“You think she likes you embarrassing her in public like that? She’s a beautiful girl, man. Once you find a woman like that you treasure her.”
“I treasure her,” Nicholas said, gradually smiling. “A man’s tongue is the only apology she’ll ever need.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I. She gets so wet when I eat her out.”
Kerrigan shook his head and almost laughed. Nicholas, a big stupid kid. Nothing ever changes after all. He fought off dirty images of orally servicing Georgina, figuring friendship trumps all. Besides all those images were of Nicholas’ own creation. And whatever he was doing, with his, marriage his life, his drama, Kerrigan wanted no part of it.
Nicholas finally shrugged the idea off. “So my marriage is ending. What, am I supposed to act surprised? Be heartbroken about it? I learned a long time ago that crying over spilt milk doesn’t do shit.”
“I guess that’s true.”
“Another round?”
“Nah, man. I got to go home.”
“Pussy. Just like old times.” Nicholas laughed and gave off a strange pinkish hue in his skin whenever he laughed that hard.
The sight of his old buddy having fun was refreshing, even if the night seemed awkward and sad at best.
III
The next morning, Kerrigan went over to Nicholas’ house, curious about whether the fool got home in one piece. Nicholas was driving home despite a few warnings from his wife, his friend and two random diners at the restaurant.
He did get home, Georgina said, but he went out for a gym workout. It seemed the best way to get over a hangover, bizarrely enough, or at least according to his logic. She invited him in for hangover coffee and they sat on the couch in obvious discomfort.
“Hung over, huh?”
“Yeah a little bit. You?”
“Not too much. Drank a lot of water. At least I can walk in broad daylight without the sun KO-ing me.”
“That’s good.”
“Look…about what you said before…”
“You want me to take it back? To say it was all drunk talk and that we’re really still in love?”
“Yeah. I kind of do,” Kerrigan said with a smile. “But then again, I don’t encourage people to lie.”
“The truth is I’m scared of him, Kerrigan. He’s happy one minute and then drunk and insane the next. I don’t know what to do. You heard what he said. If anyone tries anything he’ll probably kill them.”
“Well…he couldn’t kill me,” Kerrigan said a bit proudly.
“But he’s an army vet.”
Kerrigan laughed. “Guns don’t mean much when you know how to disarm a man.”
“Oh. I guess so. But let’s not even thinking about that.”
Kerrigan nodded in respect. But in the back of his mind, he was just itching to kick Nicholas’ ass, if for no other reason than chivalry. But he still owed a debt to his friend. And that’s what kept him strong and resolved. Even in the morning light, even with Georgina looking so drop dead sexy in her casual shirt and jeans. He had to remember the bond of friendship.
But if it were any other guy but Nicholas…
He tightened his jaw and nodded, just pondering what he would do to this beautiful goddess if he had the chance. And yeah, Nicholas’ nasty images did damage. Now he was thinking of just how sweet Georgina’s cherry cobbler tasted.
Dammit, knock that shit off, he told himself as he smiled at Georgina who went to get more coffee.
“Look, just promise me one thing,” he said. “That if he ever gets any worse than he is now…if he ever hits you or threatens your life that you’ll tell me. That you’ll leave. And then I’ll deal with him. Don’t ever let fear be a reason to put up with abuse. Understand?”
She laughed quietly. “I sure like it when you talk tough like that. Makes a woman feel good.”
“I mean it.”
“Don’t make the mistake of getting involved in our lives, Kerrigan. You’re here for just two more days. Then you go back home. To your own life. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Dammit, I don’t want you to get hurt. No one is going to hurt me. Least of all that fool.”
Georgina tilted her head and sighed.
“And I can call him a damned fool because he is my friend.”
She laughed softly again. “You know what he told me last night? When we got home?”
“What?”
“Well, after his usual barrage of personal attacks he said, ‘You know why White guys all want to fuck you?’ And I just looked at him in all honest to goodness faith and said ‘Why?’ And he said because Black bitches are so damned grateful.”
Kerrigan fumed and couldn’t hide his disgust. “Asshole.”
“I know, right?”
“You’re beautiful. Gorgeous. Don’t ever let someone tear down your confidence.”
“I wish I had someone like you as a life coach, Kerrigan.”
“Well, I do happen to do this for a living,” he said with a smile. “But I mean it just the same. I always tell my students not to put up with people’s bullshit. To have confidence in themselves. They don’t always have to fight. But they have to stand tall and look their opponent in the eye. That power is theirs to have. It gives them the right to life.”
“I like that.”
“It’s true.”
“But what did you say? You really think I’m gorgeous?”
“Are you kidding? You’re a ten. You’re the kind of girl worth fighting for. The kind of girl that causes bar fights and then, even after hours of bloody brawling, a toothless guy can still say “Damn but she was worth it.”
Georgina laughed hard. “Awww, but if he’s toothless then I don’t want him.”
“Good point.”
Kerrigan suddenly became aware of Georgina’s presence—her subtle and erotic scent. Her fierce and captivating eyes that demanded a man’s attention. The way her fingers occasionally tapped his shoulder, always making him want to feel more.
He fought himself internally, fought the desire to kiss her, to take her right then and there on the couch. It was still his friend and she was still married. He owed something to somebody, though God knows who at this point.
He suppressed the urge to be chivalrous and amorous one more time. He was going home in just two days. This temptation would be over almost as soon as it started. He had to remember that.
He dismissed himself politely, as he reflected Georgina’s own confusion and misplaced desire. Maybe this was for the best. Maybe sometimes being a hero means having great self control, just like the master once taught him.
IV
The knock on the door was light, almost as if the knocker didn’t want to be heard. Kerrigan had been sleeping in a hotel that night, almost ready to leave this godless state and forget about his emotional wreck of a friend and his dying marriage. He was only wearing underwear and hesitated on whether he should get dressed before he answered the door. He decided to slip on a pair of slacks before he answered the door.
To his surprise, Georgina was standing there, eyeing him in confusion.
“Georgina. What’s wrong?”
She flinched and tears rolled down her face.
“What?”
“He hurt me.”
“What?”
“He was so scary, Kerrigan. He didn’t hit me. But he twisted my wrist. He told me to say ‘Honey please
’ one more time. Honey please!”
Georgina laughed and cried in one deep exhale. “He dared me to say it, grabbing my neck like he was going to kill me. He’s insane.”
“Fucker. I’ll kill himself myself.”
“No, don’t do that. Just…just hold me for a moment. Please?”
“Of course.”
He grabbed her in a firm hug and she calmed almost instantly, loving his firm but welcoming chest and his strong arms that caressed her into a feeling of safety. He fought his inclinations, but felt his altruism fading fast. What exactly was he staying faithful to? What kind of an asshole has to hurt a woman to prove his point?
He hugged her close, still standing in the doorway, and caressed her head, dangerously close to succumbing to his urges. A beautiful woman reaching out to him. Needing his protection. Yes, it was flattering. And sure, she might just be using him to break her marriage bond and rebound with someone else.
But as he sniffed in her scent and craved her body heat, which glowed all over his skin, he asked himself whether that was such a disgraceful thing. He almost glowered at the thought. No man who treats a woman this way deserves fidelity. He wants to kill me for protecting a victimized woman? Let him come. He might be surprised at what happens.
Kerrigan welcomed her inside but she hesitated.
“Look, nothing has to happen. You can trust me. I don’t want to score with you. I just want to help a woman in need. Come in and call someone—”
Georgina put her hands on his head and kissed him, surrendering to her own temptation. His lips were soft and his jaw firm. He had the body of a killer but the gentleness of a father. When he kissed her he was so patient, so immersed in the moment. Not at all reaching for her crotch, but enjoying a full kiss.
But she wanted more. He wanted more. They couldn’t deny what they felt. And now at the crossroads of her marriage and future, one mistake was something they both felt they deserved.
They scooted each other backwards to the bed and fell down together, still kissing and looking into each other’s eyes. His muscles were bulging and she couldn’t help but touch his shirtless chest. Her heart raced as she reached over and caressed his tight abs and pectorals—a perfect body, a peak specimen. He was beautiful in his own way. Maybe more than her, she thought.
Taken By The Forbidden Highlander (Scottish Highlander Romance) Page 59