by Becca Taylor
Now I’m actually starting to panic because what if I messed up our friendship too?
She sighs loudly in my ear. “Aly, honey, you have nothing to worry about. It will be fine. In fact, I think it will be better than fine. Bentley will be cool with what you did.”
How does she know he will be fine? He’s going to hate me. The man has a girlfriend. “No, Kat. It will not be fine. And when Paige finds out, she’s going to flip. And you know I’m not good at the ‘hair pulling, scratch your eyes out, girl fight’ thing. Bentley is going to kick me out. I’m going to be bald, blind and homeless!”
Kat takes a minute to reply. When she does, she sounds pissed. “Shut up, Aly. He’s not going to kick you out. And who cares about Paige? What about Mike? Did you two have another fight?”
I tell her about everything. About how I made the mistake of telling Mike that Bentley would love the restaurant he chose for our dinner. About how Mike got so mad, he swept his hand across the table knocking his beer over. The entire restaurant was staring at Mike and his tantrum. And I tell her how we were asked to leave. I was mortified. I told him I was done with him humiliating me and called a cab to bring me home.
“Aly, you need to be done with him this time. What he did tonight, that was not right! He is out of control. One day, he’s going to do something stupid. You are going to get in the way of a flying object and get seriously hurt. Wait, did he hurt you?”
“God, no, Kat. If he ever touched me, I would never go back. I just need a break. I thought me moving out would help, but it hasn’t. I don’t know what to do. I didn’t mean it when I said I was done.”
It is true. I have lost who I am. Alyssa is gone. Over the years, I have just become Mike’s girlfriend. The only time the old Aly shows her face is when she’s with Kat or Bentley.
“Aly, you know who you sound like? Like me, right before Travis and I broke up. And you know what? It was the best thing that could have happened, him and I splitting. Look at me today. I’m happy. I’m in love with a great guy and getting even better sex from said great guy. Maybe it’s time you walk away from Mike, and for good this time.”
I know she is right. I should walk away for good. I’m just not there yet. My head keeps telling me things will change; things will get better.
“I’ll think about it. Thanks, Kat. Now, help me think of a way to apologize to Bentley for my behavior. I’m thinking banana nut muffins, bacon, eggs, coffee. Bring him breakfast in bed.” Well, not in bed, maybe just delivered to his front door.
Kat giggles at me. “You know what would probably be better? Show up in one of those sexy little numbers you picked up at the lingerie store. I’m pretty sure he will forgive you then.”
“Shut up, Kat. I’m hanging up. I love you.”
“Love you back, Aly.”
My head falls to my pillow with a thud. I grab the other one, placing it over my face to cover the scream I let out. My emotions are all over the place. I know I should walk away from Mike. Yet, I can’t.
The property we bought together was owned by my father. It was the reason my parents moved to Florida in the first place, to build their dream home. But they found a better piece of land, keeping the original as an investment. When Mike showed an interest in it, my dad sold it to us. That was six months before dad passed away.
The hospital said he had the flu, like everyone else that was there. They treated him with a heavy dose of antibiotics, but he kept getting worse. Tests showed a blood infection had spread throughout his whole body, just long enough for us to get him home before he complained of a headache and dropped to the floor. He was rushed into surgery. The doctors said they did everything they could. An aneurysm, ended his life.
So you see, this is the last piece of my father I have left. When my parents first found it I remember him saying, “Someday I will see my grandchildren running in this yard.” I want to fulfill that dream of his. How do I let Mike go, and hold onto my father’s dream?
I let out a long sigh, trying to push the memories aside.
I spend the rest of the day scrubbing and cleaning every room in the house. I set my alarm for the crack of dawn in order to cook an apology breakfast for Bentley. Just as I’m about to close my eyes, my phone beeps.
Mike: I’m sorry. I’m a jerk. Please tell me you forgive me.
I know and he knows that I will eventually forgive him. That’s how it always goes. He begs, I give in. We make up, until it happens again.
Me: That can’t happen again, Mike.
Mike: I promise it won’t. Can I see you tomorrow?
Me: No. I need some time.
Mike: I didn’t mean it. I was just angry about him getting in the way of our dinner. Okay, I’ll call you next week.
For the life of me, I have no clue what he is talking about. I only said Bentley would have liked the restaurant. I didn’t call and invite him to join us. I can’t help it if Bentley is my friend, a friend that I kissed. But Mike does not need to know that. I keep that locked up, tight.
I try to fall asleep, but tonight’s events keep running through my head. The one at the forefront, that kiss. I press the pillow to my face because I hope that will help stifle the image. It doesn’t help. So, I throw the damn thing across the room which knocks my one picture of Mike and me to the floor with a crash. I pick it up from the floor, the glass cracked down the middle. That’s how I currently feel. Cracked and broken, split in two. I put the photo in a drawer and crawl back into bed, exhaustion finally setting in, and I fall asleep.
Bentley breaks the kiss for a second to lift me, carrying me into the apartment. With my legs wrapped around his waist, he brings me to the bedroom. “Tell me you really want this, Angel,” he says in his deep, gravelly voice.
“I do, Bentley, but I’m afraid of ruining our friendship.”
“I promise this won’t. It can only make it better. Stronger.” He peels his shirt off, revealing his tanned muscles. “I am going to love every inch of you.”
My mouth waters, and I want to lick each one of his eight pack.
“I promise, Angel. Let me show you how good this can be between us.” He grabs the sides of my tank top, lifting it over my head. A low growl comes from him as he looks at my naked chest. His mouth lowers to my breast. My back arches when his teeth lightly graze my sensitive nipples as he licks and teases them.
He kisses his way down my body, and his fingers hook in the waistband of my shorts, lowering them. I manage to unbutton his jeans, pulling them down his hips before he is out of my reach. He finishes the job by kicking them off the rest of the way.
“Fuck, Angel. If I knew you didn’t wear panties under those shorts, this would have happened a lot sooner.”
Bentley rests his hands on my knees, pushing them open to make room for himself between. His fingers graze my slick lips, and I moan from his light touch. “Bentley, I want you. I need you. No more teasing. Please.”
He removes his boxer briefs, revealing indeed there was no stuffing in those animal underpants that night. It was all him. Large and thick. He slides his cock against my wet lips, gathering my juices. “Fuck, Angel. I think I could come just like this.” Pausing at my entrance, he looks in my eyes. “Are you sure, Aly? Once this happens, there’s no going back.”
“I’ve never been more sure about anything, Bentley.” Slowly, he enters me.
“Fuck, Aly. You feel phenomenal.”
I wrap my legs around his waist, interlocking my ankles behind him. When he’s situated deep inside me, he bends down kissing my mouth deeply. I use my heels to press him into me more, tightening myself around him. And he half groans, half growls. “I have to move, Aly. Are you okay?”
His question takes me back. No man has ever cared enough to ask me that.
“I’m fine. Better than fine.”
He moves slowly at first, rolling his hips with each inward motion. It feels amazing. My body moves instinctively, attempting to match him stroke for stroke. Both of us are looking dow
n, watching the connection between our bodies. The warmth begins to spread through my body as I feel my orgasm building.
“Yes, Bentley. You feel so good.” I look up. When our eyes lock, something primal takes over. Bentley’s hands grips around my one thigh, lifting me slightly. Each motion is faster. Deeper. Harder. BEEP, BEEP, BEEP
Just as I’m about to finish my dream, the alarm goes off, waking me. I go to the kitchen and make only the muffins, for my I’m-Sorry-I-kissed-you breakfast. I hope after yesterday, we can move on and still be friends. Also, I pray it doesn’t show on my face that I just had a really hot sex-dream about my neighbor.
Way to go, Alyssa.
Bentley
TAPPING ON MY FRONT door wakes me. The way the sound echoes in my head, whoever is here may as well be knocking on my skull. Let’s just say I’m not at my best at the moment. I just want whoever it is to go the fuck away. After a cold shower didn’t do anything to calm me down last night, I decided I needed a drink. One drink turned into another, then another. I’m sure you can see where that went. I feel like someone shoveled sand in my mouth, my head feels like a jackhammer is going off inside, and seriously, will someone please turn off the sun, because that shit is too bright! Decision made, I’m getting blackout curtains and living in the dark.
I hear my front door open, and it can only be one of two people. It’s either Caleb here to help me finish the second bedroom or Aly. And I know it can’t be Cal since I texted him last night to cancel.
“Bentley, are you up?” Aly gently calls from the living room.
Oh shit, stop screaming. Fuck me. I didn’t want her to see me like this. “Be right out.”
I stagger out of bed, throw on some sweats, and head for the bathroom. I brush my teeth, and run cool water over my face. I look like death. I toss on my ball cap, pushing it down low to keep the light out as much as possible.
Aly is setting the little table in my kitchen as I walk in. She turns when she hears my footsteps. She blushes at first. Then she talks.
“You look like shit.” She hands me a cup of coffee then walks to the cupboard to grab me some aspirin. “Take these. It will help.”
“Thanks. What brings you by this early? Do I smell banana muffins?” This woman knows how to cook. She’s always trying new recipes out, making me her guinea pig. She’s never made anything I didn’t like, but this is my favorite breakfast. Even hungover, I want these muffins.
She turns to me with a basket in her hand. “Extra walnuts. Just how you like them.” I grab one from the basket. They are still warm. The bite I take melts in my mouth. I swallow it in two mouthfuls, licking all the deliciousness from my fingers. Aly throws a napkin in my face. “Use this.”
Since I know that she hates when I do this, I exaggerate the gesture by sticking my whole finger in my mouth, licking it slow. I use my tongue to swipe my lips clean. Her cheeks turn a brighter shade of pink. “Why waste a napkin when God gave me a mouth to clean my fingers with? Plus, I don’t want to waste a single taste of these.” I give her a big tooth bearing smile. “Why all this though, Angel?”
She pretends to set the table, but I notice she’s just pushing the forks around. “I wanted to say sorry for what I did.”
She is sorry, and I am anything but. I want to take her in my arms and kiss the hell out of her just so she knows how not sorry I am. But once again, I have to put up that wall around my heart and pretend there is nothing going on between us. “No need, it’s all good.”
She finally looks up at me, “You don’t hate me then. You’re not going to kick me out?”
Why the fuck would she think I would kick her out?
“Of course not! If anything, I should be the one apologizing. I shouldn’t have taken advantage of the vulnerable state you were in.” That was a complete lie. I wanted nothing more than to take advantage of every inch of her last night. Instead, all I got was drunk and my hand.
She laughs, “I think I’m the one who took advantage of you. Please don’t tell Paige. I don’t want to be the cause of a fight between the two of you. I don’t want her to hate me. I promise it won’t happen again.”
It was time to come clean. While I never really lied to Aly, I never told her that what she thought was not true. “Don’t worry, my lips are sealed. Besides, Paige and I were never exclusive.”
“Oh, well that’s good I guess.”
“It’s fine, not a big deal. We are better as friends, Paige and me, I mean.” Moving on. “How are you doing this morning? Any news from Mike?” I have a feeling in my gut that she has.
“Yes, I told him I need a little time before I see him.” I don’t know what to do, other than flashing a neon sign over my head that screams ‘Leave him and pick me’.
“You’re a big girl, and I can’t tell you what to do, it’s your choice. But, I need to say this. That man is a loose cannon. I’m afraid of something happening to you. And when it does, I won’t be here to protect you.” And that would kill me.
“You don’t have to protect me, Bents. I know he can be loud and he yells sometimes, but he would never hurt me.”
I don’t understand why she can’t see that all he does is hurt her, even if it’s by just yelling. “Just be careful. I don’t trust him. If he does this again, walk away. Call me. I will always be here for you.”
The conversation ends, no more talk of The Tool. We sit and have breakfast like we do most mornings together, like a couple. Only we’re not.
In the afternoon, we go to the flea market. I buy a bunch of shit that I don’t really need, all because she said it would look good in my place. When I bought my house, the original plan was to fix it up and sell it for a profit. But when Aly said she was looking for a place to rent, those plans went out the window.
Aly spends the rest of the day placing all the new items we bought in my apartment. It all works too. She manages to make it look masculine enough, yet I still get the Aly touch here and there. We act like the kiss never happened the rest of the weekend. Two kisses I have to pretend never happened.
***
BUTTER MY BREAD is my second home. Caleb and I bought the place together after we outgrew our food truck. Our main specialties are hot sandwiches. We’ve been open for about a year now and business is fantastic. We have even hired more guys to keep up with the business demands. Hiring staff has also helped us take actual days off. Before Butter My Bread started turning a profit, Caleb and I had to split our time off, never going more than sixteen hours without being at the shop. We handle the bookkeeping and front of the house while Josh and Hunter cook. We all grew up together; spent our teen years inseparable. Caleb, Hunter, another high school buddy, Jeremy, and I started a band back then called Slither. Josh became our manager-slash-roadie, since he can’t play or sing worth shit. We mostly play for fun, when we get an itch, or if there is a charity event we want to help out.
Our Monday ritual at Butter My Bread is to go through the bucket of business cards. At first, we just used it as free PR. Drop a business card in the bucket, win a free breakfast or lunch. We still use the bucket for that purpose, but now, it’s escalated into a second contest between the four of us. It’s no secret we are a bunch of good looking guys that run this place, and the ladies take notice of that. When we started seeing phone numbers and emails on the cards asking for a date, a kiss, or other suggestive things from specific members of our staff, we started keeping count as to who got the most. At the end of the week whoever got the most ‘business cards’ got the counter tips for the day. “And today’s winner is… Drum roll, please… Scott.” The new guy wins.
He breathes on his knuckles before wiping them on his shirt. The cocky bastard.
“Just for that, you can go clean the bathrooms,” I say as I hand him the mop. To be honest, I’m pissed at losing my touch. I used to win almost weekly.
Caleb smacks me on the back. “Better luck next time, Bro. Oh wait, I heard you may have got lucky this past weekend?”
I scrunch
my eyebrows at him. “Let me guess. Aly called Kat, and told her what happened?”
Caleb knows that I want Aly. He knew it the night we first saw the girls at the club. “Did you and your girl start a gossip show? Nothing happened. She kissed me, said it was a mistake, end of story.”
The fucker laughs at me. “Mistake? What, did she trip and fall on your lips? It wasn’t an accident. My guess? From the way Kat ran from the room to get out of my earshot, Aly was upset. And not because she didn’t like it either. My guess, she liked it too much.”
Like I said, gossip show.
“Whatever, man. She’ll go back to her boyfriend like usual. I think that ship has sailed. She’s never going to leave him.” I play it off like it’s nothing. If I could just tell that organ in my body that beats like a fucking lunatic to get with the program. I need to go out and not think about my sexy-as-hell-neighbor. I’m sick of waiting around. I need to get the thoughts of Aly and me becoming a couple out of my head. What better way to do that than go out and meet women? That’s my plan. I’m dragging Hunter and Josh with me, whether they want to come or not.
Saturday rolls around, my boys and I hit the strip. We choose The Sandbar. A club by the beach with a DJ on the weekends, it’s a popular local hotspot with lots of high tables and chairs, a big bar inside, with a little tiki-style one outside. We choose to sit outside by the area they cleared for dancing. I immediately start scoping the joint for someone that catches my eye. When I start to feel guilty, I kick myself, mentally remembering Aly is out with Mike tonight. He started coming around a few days after our kiss. Yep, she forgave the tool again.
Leaving my boys behind, I make my way to the dance floor after having a shot or two and a beer. They know what I am here for and they are here as my wingmen. My eye catches a hot little number dancing to All About That Bass. She’s exactly what I need, the complete opposite of Alyssa. She has shoulder length jet black hair. Her eyes appear dark, definitely not blue. Her feet have on sky-high heels that scream ‘fuck me’. Her extremely short, bright green dress looks like it’s painted on her body. From the looks of her outfit, she is here to get noticed.