The Bucket List

by Skyla Carter

  "Thanks," she muttered.

  "I bought you something."

  She stopped in the middle of pouring her drink to look at the little box he put in front of her. It looked really expensive. What? He thought if he just flashed his money about she'd jump right back into his bed?

  "You really shouldn't have," she said without even picking it up.

  "I wanted to. It's your birthday, plus it's my way of apologizing for being a dick," he smiled. "I won't bother you again."

  Like she would buy that shit!

  "Okay," she said, just so she could get him off her back.

  "I'll say this though. If you ever get tired of Nate, come and find me. You and I together were explosive. Maybe you'll think about it and feel the same way."

  "Dave... It's done. I told you before I'll never be with you like that again. Just get over it, already! It's been a whole week!"

  "Just think about it, Rae. Didn't you feel what I felt? I haven't been able to stop thinking about you," Dave whispered. "I could easily fall in love with you."

  She chuckled at that. Before she'd been with Nate, that statement would have had her thinking she'd found her 'someone'. But she had no time for his bullshit.

  "Honestly, Dave, right now I couldn't give a shit even if you paid me," she said as she swallowed her drink in one gulp and poured herself another. "Excuse me."

  "Why am I here again?"

  "Because you're my brother and you want to get to know my girlfriend," Nate snapped as he rang the doorbell. "I'm serious, Matt. You've judged her without even knowing her. Just give her a chance."

  "Just last week you were telling Ricky and I how you would never go out with a woman like Rae. I believe your exact words were she's trash," Matt muttered, moving the packages he had from one hand to the other.

  "Well, that was last week. A lot has happened since then."

  "What? She passed out and poor little Jeffrey rushed in to play hero? Then she thanked you by fucking you and it somehow got your head so twisted you think she'll be faithful to you? Grow up, Nate."

  "You either go in there with me and play nice or you go home right now," Nate snapped as he turned to face his brother. "I can't deal with that right now. I don't know where Rae and I will be next week but I know for now she's mine and I'm happier than I've been in a long time. If you're not even going to give her a chance, then I don't want you here."

  Matt lifted his hand and backed off. He was there to watch Nate's back. He couldn't do it stuck in their hotel room while that ho sunk her teeth deeper into Nate.

  "Did she explain why she does those drugs? And why she passed out on us?"

  "Yes, actually, but you can't say anything about that to anyone."

  "Why?"

  "It's complicated."

  Matt let out a sigh as they waited for someone to get the door. He didn't want to be here. He didn't want Nate to be here. His brother was getting too caught up in this woman and he didn't see it ending well. And Rae wasn't the sort of woman Nate could take home to Dad, either.

  The door was opened and the spell casting witch stood at the other end, dressed in shortest skirt he had ever seen. And the highest heels. And the skankiest top. Nate's woman or not, bitch or not, she was hot.

  "Nate!" she screamed as she threw herself into his arms.

  Matt watched them and thought how, for people who had only been together a few days, that was a bit too much. He watched the way his brother's eyes lit up as he dropped a kiss on her waiting lips. Then the chemistry that emerged was enough to even knock him over.

  "I missed you, too," Nate chuckled when he finally released her lips.

  But he didn't let her go. Matt watched the way his brother's hand gently pushed back a lock of her golden hair as the other held her closely against her body. He watched the silly little smile on his lips as his eyes continued to look into hers. He knew his brother well, knew his body language. The boy was pussy whipped! And very soon he would think he was in love.

  He couldn't let that happen. It was a good thing he had a plan.

  He cleared his throat to get their attention.

  "Sorry," Nate said. "Rae, you know my brother, Matt. Matt, this is the beautiful woman I've been telling you about."

  "Nice to meet you, Rae," he lied as he took her hand and placed a kiss on it.

  "Likewise," she smiled.

  Wasn't the girl a bitch? Wasn't she supposed to have eaten him up with her eyes or something, anything to justify what he was going to do to his brother?

  She led them into the house, but at the foot of the stairs, paused.

  "I was going up to change," she said to Nate. "Wanna give me a hand?"

  She saw the wicked smile on her face and for a minute thought how he would have loved to be the one to 'help her change'.

  "Don't worry about me," he said before Nate could answer. "I'll see you guys later."

  He'd used the shopping bags as an excuse to get away from everyone, and the moment he'd dropped them on the floor in Rae's walk-in wardrobe he'd closed the door and sat himself down on the chair in front of her dressing table.

  What the fuck?! What the hell was he doing thinking about Rae like that? The whole day had been torture but pressing himself up on her against the door had been the stupidest thing he could have done. The second he had done that, he had been reminded of how soft her skin had been to his touch; how incredibly good she had felt underneath him. Not that he had forgotten to start off with.

  It was just that last night had brought it all back... The two weeks when he had hit that shit had probably been the best two weeks of his life. At the age of eighteen, when he was still innocent, he had believed himself firmly in love with her. He'd been a sentimental prick then, believing in love and fairy tale endings. But he hadn't been enough for her so he'd had to move on. The only reason he'd slept with that new girl was because he'd known of her plans to meet with that idiot, Ben from her class. He'd been heartbroken. It was to date the worst thing he'd ever had to go through. That had been when he had started drowning himself in woman after woman to try and forget her and that shit had been hard because, as his best friend, she had always been right there. It was only by chance that he had discovered he actually preferred those meaningless dalliances. The prick known as the Lady Thriller had been born and he hadn't looked back since. Until now.

  In time, that brief period was behind them and she had become just Rae again. Everything had gone back to normal. He knew now that he had not been in love with her at all. He'd just felt a bit protective of her when he'd heard that jerk Ben telling everyone how he was going to do her in the back of his father's car. He'd felt she deserved better than that so his immature mind had thought he would be the best thing for her. That was all it had been. It hadn't been love. If it had been, it wouldn't have died down so easily, would it?

  And now this shit had to go and happen. Between last night and this evening, he had to have remembered every single time he had slept with her; every single, beautiful moment. It was doing his nut in. He didn't want to think of Rae like that. She was his best friend, his person. Sex would only ruin everything, a lifetime of memories. And it wasn't as if she would want to sleep with him now, anyway. She'd 'had' him already, and she didn't do seconds. Just like him. Well, she never used to do seconds. With Nate in the picture now it was quite hard to know what she was thinking.

  It was one thing to respect each other and trust each other that much that they had made that drunken pact to settle down with each other once she hit thirty. It was quite another to fool themselves and think they could actually fall in love and be faithful their whole lives. He knew he could never do that. He loved women way too much. And she knew that.

  Maybe that was why she had gone ahead and found Nate. If she remembered their deal, she would have known what total bullcrap it was. They had no future together except as best friends. If they somehow ended up together, they would hurt each other that much and probably end up hating each other and th
at was something he couldn't even contemplate.

  So that was it. He was going to push that little incident out of his mind. He'd had all these conflicting and unwanted thoughts all day but he was man enough to just put them behind him. It wasn't as if he had really slept with her anyway. What was a stroke or two between friends? And he kissed her like that all that time when they had their threesomes. Well, almost like that... Okay, never like that. But that didn't matter. No matter how good it was, he could put it out of his mind. He was an expert at loving and leaving. This was no different.

  His mind made up, he stood up so he could find a drink and get on with the serious business of partying. Everyone would be wondering where he was by now.

  But the sight that met him stopped him in his tracks and blew his little pep talk out of the window.

  Rae was naked, sitting astride Nate on a chair and looking more beautiful than he had ever seen her. Her eyes were closed as she moved slowly on him. He should have just quickly walked out, it wouldn't have been the first time he had seen her in this position, but something held him back. She was... different. He'd never seen her like that before and he couldn't help looking at her.

  It felt like forever, but he'd only looked for a few seconds before those incredible blue eyes opened and caught his. But she didn't stop. She held his eyes as she continued to feel whatever Nate was doing to her. Their position meant Nate had his back to him so he had no clue another man was standing in the room with them... looking at his woman as he nailed her...

  What the?! Moving silently but quickly, he let himself out of her room. He felt dirty, like a pervert getting off on the shit happening in Rae's room. It was one thing to ogle her during one of their orgies and quite another to stand there like an idiot and intrude on her private moment with her boyfriend. That was just sick and disgusting.

  When had he become that person? When had he become the person who slept with his friend and took advantage of her when she was drunk? When had he become the man who ogled his friend as she made love to her man? And how the fuck would he get rid of the image of her just... glowing... in Nate's arms?

  "Hey, gorgeous. Where've you been?" Alyssa asked as soon as he walked into the lounge.

  "I need a drink," he mumbled.

  "You okay, Corey?" John asked.

  The two of them had been standing close to the door looking like they were seriously enjoying each other's company. Well, good for them.

  "Yeah," he answered. "I just need a drink."

  Completely ignoring everyone else, he headed straight for the bar. This was going to be a long night and it hadn't even started yet.

  Chapter Eleven

  "You look beautiful."

  She turned from the mirror to smile at her rainbow haired warrior.

  "Thanks."

  She'd had a quick shower and changed into the little black dress that Corey had told her to put back. It was a little halter-neck, baby doll one of flowing silk. Every time she made a little movement, the material clung to her every curve and transformed it from a simple little dress to an incredibly sexy one. She'd left her hair down to complete the innocent look.

  "You okay?"

  Of course she wasn't okay. She'd caught her best friend watching her have amazing sex with her boyfriend and had liked it. Wasn't she supposed to be past that shit? He'd watched her a million times before, hell, she'd got off on it! But this time had been different. He'd looked at her differently. It had been unnerving yet she hadn't been able to look away.

  "Yeah," she lied. "I just didn't want a party, things being the way they are."

  "You haven't told Corey yet?" he asked. "I'm sure if you had, he wouldn't have thrown the party."

  He was sitting on the edge of her bed, already dressed and waiting to walk down with her to join the party.

  "Maybe I should have then I wouldn't have had to walk down there with a fake smile all night," she sighed. "But I don't want to hurt him. You guys see Corey, the arrogant, egomaniacal son of a bitch, but with me he's an incredibly sensitive man. This would kill him. I know if the tables were turned, I'd want to die, too."

  She missed the look the passed so quickly in Nate's eyes at her words as she put on the final touches of her make-up.

  "If you don't want to tell Corey just yet, talk to me," he said. "You've hardly said anything about it. I don't even know when you start your treatment. It's not healthy to keep something this big to yourself."

  She bit her lip at his words as she racked her brain for something to say. She was so focused on that, she failed to realise Nate's eyes were focused on her through the mirror.

  "I don't want to think about it tonight," she said finally. "Maybe when I'm back on the road with you guys next week."

  That would give her a bit of time to actually research what she was going through. Her mum's cancer had been different, she knew all about that. But hers... well, she hadn't exactly stopped to listen to any detailed explanations when that oncologist had given her results. That was the reason her doctor was after her in the first place.

  And besides, if she told Nate the truth, the first thing he'd do was shoot his mouth off at Corey, John and Irving. No, no one was going to like what she had planned.

  "You're keeping something from me."

  It wasn't a question. She met his eyes briefly in the mirror and looked away.

  "No tonight, Nate. Please. Just ... help me get through this night," she whispered.

  He got up from the bed and walked into the dressing room. A little sigh of relief escaped her lips when he pulled her up and just held her.

  "Let's go get that party started, then," he said, dropping a kiss on her neck.

  In that moment, his phone rang. What was that ring tone? Hate that I love you? What the fuck? She felt him tense before he even looked at the screen and something told her she wasn't going to like this.

  "I have to take this," he said as he quickly released her and walked back into the bedroom.

  "Sure. I'll just find a pair of shoes," she said, even though he'd already walked away and wasn't paying her any attention.

  She didn't mean to eavesdrop but she couldn't help herself. She'd seen the caller ID when he'd pulled his phone out of his pocket. Beth! What the hell was she calling him for?

  "What?" he answered, but his voice was lowered and she could tell he was very uncomfortable.

  "I'm busy. I'm ...with a friend."

  A friend?! Wasn't she his girlfriend? If he'd been serious when he said he was moving on, why couldn't he say that to his ex? Of course, it had only been less than a week since they'd been together, but he of all people should understand she didn't have time to play around.

  "It'll have to be tomorrow. I can't get away until then."

  Get away? What, he was planning on actually meeting that girl? She'd known from the very beginning how heartbroken he had been but for some reason, her arrogant behind had chosen to believe she could wipe any pain that woman had caused him away without even trying., that Nate would love her and forget about anyone else. But reality was biting her in the ass. Nate had been in love with Beth only a week ago. Nothing had changed. He was only with her as a favour to a dying person.

  "No. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

  He hung up then and she could see how his shoulders were hunched as if speaking to that woman had been incredibly painful. When he turned and caught her staring, she quickly looked away and searched for her shoes.

  "That wasn't what it looked like."

  She plastered a fake smile on her face and looked up at him.

  "It's all good, Nate. You don't need to explain anything to me," she lied.

  "I couldn't not take the call."

  Of course he could have. He could have just looked at the ID and ignored it just to make her feel better. Then he could have gone to the bathroom or something to call her back. She would have been none the wiser.

  "Nate. It's fine," she said as she walked up to him and placed a quick kiss on his lips
. "I've got one thing I need to do, why don't you go down and get me a large whisky ready?"

  He looked at her for a minute as if trying to work out if she was telling the truth before finally nodding his head and letting himself out of the room.

  Great. Just great. Things were awkward with Corey, she was avoiding John and now she had to avoid Nate. What a party this was turning out to be.

  Making her mind up, she opened the bottom drawer of her dresser and took out a little box. It was the wrong thing to do, she knew that, but something had to get her through the night. She opened it and her eyes feasted on Columbia's finest. Yes, this would get her by just nicely. She only needed a bit, just a little buzz. No one would know.

  Corey had been sitting next to Dave for the past half hour and the man was seriously doing his nut it. He'd been bitching about everything but Corey knew it was all because of Rae. Why had he invited him again? Oh, yes. Because he'd thought a party without the option of bending whatever hot ass he wanted over the pool table and banging that shit out would be boring. He'd thought a bit of drama between Dave, Nate and Rae would entertain him a little. Well, ha fucking ha!

  "You and her are just the same, aren't you?"

  He frowned at the older guy in irritation then turned back to his drink. He was in no mood for this. Any minute now he would have to look his friend in the eye and explain what that shit upstairs had been about. He had no idea what he'd say.

  "You walk around with your fucking delusions of grandeur, like you're God's gift to the world and everyone owes you," Dave slurred. "Well, I got news for you. You ain't shit!"

  "Get off you high horse already. It was just one night, get over it. You do that shit yourself all the time," he snapped. "Besides, she's way out of your league."

  "You think she's too good for me?!" the animal asked incredulously. "But not too good for you, huh?"

  "What?!"

  "She's got your initials tattooed on her hoo-ha! I'm not blind. I've seen the two of you together. She whores around in the day then at night crawls into your bed and you hit that dirty shit!" Dave spat out.

  His beer went down the wrong way as he turned fully to the other man. Where would he get such a stupid idea? Him and Rae? He'd heard it a million times from John but he tolerated it only because it came from John. Now this guy... How dare he fucking say that he and Rae had a thing going? So the previous night he'd sort of slept with her. No one would ever know about that!