by J. Daniels
Dash got out on the water yesterday. He hadn’t surfed since his accident.
This shit wasn’t just important. It was huge.
“Fuck, man. Sorry. How was it? How’d you do?” I asked, excitement racing through my voice and my mouth twitching.
He shrugged, looking happy.
“Better than I was expecting.”
“You eat it?”
“Twice.”
Both of us broke into laughter.
I reached out and slapped his shoulder, then held on and gave it a squeeze.
“Proud of you, brother. Straight up. This is fuckin’ awesome,” I said, feeling all kinds of warm shit spreading through my chest.
Dash let his grin settle into a smile. “Thanks, man. Means a lot,” he told me.
And I felt that, too.
“Know a lot of this has to do with your girl and she’ll be gettin’ my appreciation, but also know you allowed yourself to get to the place you’re at now, and that shit wasn’t easy,” I continued, letting my arm fall. “You should feel good about that, Dash. Let that shit settle inside you. You deserve it.”
“I am. Syd’s makin’ sure of that.”
“Good. ’Cause straight up, I don’t want to sound selfish and I won’t if you stay at the level you’re at right now, but gotta say, I wasn’t sure you’d ever get here again, and besides being fuckin’ ecstatic for you, I’m fuckin’ ecstatic for me. I hate waitin’ for shit. You know that. So heads up, me and you, soon as we get the chance, we’re hitting the water. Just like old times.”
Laughing, he nodded his head.
“Sounds good. I could use a fuckin’ lesson,” he replied, gripping the back of his neck and looking down at the wood.
“Got you covered on that,” I said, holding out my arms and grinning big. “Lessons from the fuckin’ champ. I won’t even charge you.”
He chuckled again, mumbling an “Appreciate it,” before looking toward the house at the sound of the door opening.
“Hey, guys,” Syd called out, sticking her head through the opening in the slider. “Dinner’s ready. Come on.”
“Sunshine. I owe you a fuckin’ hug, babe. Come here.”
I crossed the deck, making my way to Syd and keeping the grin on my face. I was seriously fuckin’ ecstatic and ready to show my appreciation.
Syd, however, was looking confused and a little hesitant, tilting her head cutely and giving me a blank stare.
“Uh, okay, yeah, better give it to me now,” she mumbled, sounding a little strange. Then she stepped outside and let me wrap my arms around her. She slid hers around my back and gave me a quick squeeze. “There,” she said, trying to pull away.
I held on, knew Dash was coming up behind me, and got out what I wanted to say before he heard it.
“Thanks, babe. For everything you did for him,” I whispered against the top of her head.
Didn’t feel like much, what I was giving her, but it was.
I heard her quick inhale of breath a second before her arms tightened around me once more.
“You’re welcome,” she whispered back.
“No one holds Wild but me, asshole. Back the fuck up before you lose an arm,” Dash threatened behind me.
I chuckled and released Syd, who was laughing, too.
She smiled up at Dash, then rushed in to give him a quick kiss. “Did you ask him?”
Dash shook his head.
“Was waiting until after dinner,” he told her.
“Ask me what?” I looked between the two of them, settling on Dash.
He threw his arm around Syd’s shoulders and pulled her close.
“Wanted to talk to you about buying back part of Wax,” he informed me.
“You serious?” I questioned, feeling my lips curl up. “Shit. You don’t gotta ask, brother. Wax is ours. Always has been.” Syd slid out of the way when I stepped in close to Dash, offering my hand, and when he gripped it, pulling him into a hug while throwing my other arm around his back and patting him hard between his shoulder blades.
“Thanks, man,” he mumbled, reciprocating the hug.
We dropped our arms and separated, both of us grinning big.
“This is awesome,” I commented, shifting my eyes to Syd and seeing her happiness, too. “Only thing that’ll make this night better is gettin’ some of that good-smellin’ food in my stomach.”
I turned to head inside, ready to eat, but before I could take a step, Syd was jumping in front of me and planting a firm hand on my chest.
Not that I couldn’t plow through her easily, she was tiny, but I halted anyway.
“You got more good news to share?” I asked her, cocking my head. “Not sure you can top what Dash just put on me, but you can try, Sunshine.”
I was still wearing my smile, but hers was gone. She looked uneasy.
“The happy you’re feeling right now, I’d really like you to keep hold of that through dinner,” she requested with soft eyes and a small voice.
I shot her an odd look, turned that look to Dash, and saw he was wearing one similar—he didn’t know what she was driving at either—then looked back down at Syd.
“Say again?”
“You’re happy. Keep it,” she pressed. “Even when you don’t want to, which could possibly happen, just focus on this feeling making you happy right now and let it take over.”
“Babe, what the fuck are you talking about?” Dash questioned, stealing the words out of my mouth.
“Yeah, and can we head in and talk about this while we fuckin’ eat? I’m starvin’,” I threw out, just in case she didn’t know the urgency here.
Syd briefly glanced at Dash, ignoring his question. Then when Sir ran over to us, she scooped him up and gave him a kiss on the back of his head. “I’d like confirmation you’ll be keeping the happy before we step inside,” she demanded, tipping her chin up and meeting my eyes.
Again, I looked to Dash.
He was looking at his girl and he was doing it with eyes searching for understanding, so I did the same.
I sighed. “Whatever, Sunshine. If it’ll put food in my mouth, fine,” I told her, moving past because I was sick of waiting and wasn’t lying when I said I was starving. “Consider it confir—”
The word died on my tongue the second I stepped inside the house and got an eyeful of Legs standing at the island.
Fucking Legs. At Sunday dinner.
What. The. Fuck.
I stared at her, looking my fill as Syd and Dash came into the house behind me.
Her long blond hair was pulled up into a messy ponytail, which made my dick hard for some fucking reason. She wasn’t wearing much makeup except for that red lip I wanted to bite, and her hot-ass body was decorated in a blue, floral, hippie-looking, ugly-as-shit dress that wasn’t ugly one fucking bit ’cause she was wearing it.
To top that off, she was holding a pie. Looking like Miss Fucking America entering a bake-off.
If it looked like shit, I wouldn’t care. But it didn’t.
It looked good. Real good. And I was starving.
Goddamned motherfucker.
“What the fuck?” I bellowed, causing Tori to jerk back and flinch. I gestured at her. “Your schedule changed that last minute? I just verified two fuckin’ hours ago that you weren’t gonna be here.”
“What?” she questioned softly, setting the pie down in front of her and looking between me and Syd. “I wasn’t scheduled to work today. What are you talking about?”
I slowly turned my head to look at Sunshine, who was keeping her eyes on the puppy in her arms and obviously avoiding.
“What is she doing here? I thought you told Dash she was workin’?” I questioned.
“She told me you knew I was coming and were okay with it,” Tori announced, drawing my head back around.
My eyes narrowed. “What?” I grated.
“Babe, really?” Dash said.
He knew nothing about this either. It was all Sunshine. That was clear.
“I just thought this would be a nice way to smooth things over,” Syd said quietly, offering up an explanation. “You know, break bread and all.”
“Bad idea, Wild,” Dash replied.
I looked from Dash to Syd, echoing, “Yeah, bad idea. She ran me over, Sunshine. You forgettin’ that? So why the fuck would I be okay with sharing a meal with her?”
Tori slapped the counter and gained everyone’s attention when she started yelling, “I did not run you over! Jesus Christ! Quit spreading lies about me!”
“It ain’t lies if it’s true!” I yelled back, glaring at her.
Sir barked.
A laugh bubbled in Tori’s throat. She tilted her head and stuck her hand on her hip. “Please. I’m sure you’re still able to bang everything with a pulse, as usual, which means you’re fine. Get over it, Jamie, and grow some balls. I cried less when I watched Bambi the first time.”
“Who’s hungry?” Syd asked nonchalantly, moving behind her girl to round the island and stand near the stove.
I ignored her question because, What the fuck? Grow some balls?
Fuck her.
“I gotta pair, babe,” I told Legs, reaching down and palming my shit. “You should know since you’ve been all up on ’em the past nine months.”
She rolled her eyes, spitting, “You’re disgusting.”
I felt my mouth twitch.
And that was when, for some fucked-up reason, I reverted back to my old ways with Tori Rivera, forgetting all about how much I fucking hated her and instead going full-on, hell-bent determined to get an admission out of that smart-ass mouth.
“You want it,” I countered, tipping my chin up.
She wasn’t expecting that. No more than I was. It threw her off.
Her shoulders pulled back and her lips parted.
Then, maybe to cover her tell, or maybe she didn’t have control over what was flying out of her mouth either, I didn’t know, but she brought her other hand to her hip, glared at me with heat flashing in her eyes, tipped forward, and shot back with attitude, “You want it.”
Well, shit. This was new. Legs was challenging me and she was doing it flirting. There was no doubt in my mind.
“Sorry, babe,” I said, keeping the smirk and letting go of my junk. “Not interested. I told you yesterday, I’m done waitin’ around. But you?” I pointed my beer at her. “You’ll be beggin’ for it before the month is up. Just watch.”
“Fat chance,” she snapped. “I wouldn’t sleep with you if my life depended on it.”
“Wanna bet?”
“Bet what?”
“What’s going on right now?” Syd called out, but I wasn’t pausing to answer her.
I smiled at Tori, then gestured between us, explaining, “First one to break and come crawling to the other person for sex loses.”
“Are you serious?” She laughed, not in amusement but in disbelief.
“Fuck this. I’m eating,” Dash announced, stepping around me and joining Syd, I guessed. I wasn’t watching him.
I was watching her.
“Yeah, I’m serious,” I answered.
“You want to bet me that I’ll want to have sex with you before you try and have sex with me?” she questioned, moving her finger between us. “You, the guy who has been hitting on me for nine straight months and has been rejected for nine straight months? You seriously think I’ll not only want to have sex with you, but I’ll beg you for it? Is that what I just heard?”
I nodded slowly.
That fucking moan. I had this in the bag.
Tori thought on my offer for a second, keeping her eyes on me and keeping them steady, then when she was finished, she crossed her arms under her chest and huffed, “No way. I’m not betting that.”
I smiled bigger.
“Knew you wanted it,” I replied.
“No,” she quickly shot back. “I just know you. You’ll keep your dick happy by nailing every piece of ass in Dogwood so you don’t break and beg me for sex. I’m not stupid.”
I shrugged. “Make it a rule then,” I offered.
“What?”
“A rule. No fucking anyone unless it’s each other.”
Her eyes bugged.
“And no masturbating either,” I added, raising my beer and using it to gesture. “Since we both know when you do it you’re thinkin’ about me, and if you’re that fuckin’ horny, you need to rub one out or you’ll fuckin’ explode, you can come to me, Legs, beg, and I’ll put that fire out for you.”
Her mouth dropped open.
“This is not at all how I thought this evening would play out,” Syd whispered off to the side. “Are you as shocked as I am?”
“Wild, don’t,” Dash mumbled. “Doesn’t involve us. Just eat.”
I briefly glanced at Dash and Syd, saw Dash with his head down, eating, eyes focused on his plate, and Syd with her attention focused solely on me and not the plate in front of her. Then I turned back to Tori, crossed my arms over my chest while keeping hold of my beer, and asked, “What do you say, babe? You in?”
Tori regained her steely composure and questioned with a sharp voice, “Do you really think you can beat me on this? Go without masturbating and sex, with anyone, and keep yourself away from me?”
“Didn’t say that was part of it,” I replied. “You’ll be seeing a lot of me, Legs, ’cause I know what seeing me does to you, and if I’m gonna win, I’m using every advantage I got. But yeah, babe, that aside, I know I can beat you. Told you before. I don’t lose.” I leaned forward and finished with emphasis, “Ever.”
“Well, you’ll be losing on this,” she hissed, leaning forward to deliver her own emphasis. “That’s for damn sure.” Then Tori turned her head, gave Syd a sweet look, and declared, “Thanks for the invite, but I’m no longer hungry. Call me later.”
“Okay,” Syd replied, lifting her hand in a wave. “Thanks for the pie.”
“No problem. See ya, Brian.”
“Later,” he said around his bite.
Tori’s face was wiped clean of that sweet look when she glanced back at me, only to deliver a glare before spinning around and stalking out of the room.
The front door slammed shut behind her.
Dash continued eating. Syd mumbled something about being happy with her plan and the way it turned out.
And I stood there, smiling because I could already taste that victory on my fucking tongue.
Game on, Legs.
Chapter Three
TORI
“Trust me. It makes no sense for him to bet something like that. He wasn’t serious,” I said into the phone, plopping down on the couch with my bowl of food.
I’d left Syd and Brian’s house over an hour ago and was just now sitting down with something to eat, wanting the casserole Syd made but not wanting it bad enough to put up with Jamie’s company, which led to me lying about not being hungry and meant I had to come home and make a meal I hadn’t intended on making. And just as I was finishing putting my serving into a bowl, my phone rang.
Syd was done eating and was dying to talk to me about what all went down tonight, not bothering with casual banter and instead cutting right to the chase.
Typically, I wouldn’t be in the mood to discuss Jamie, ever, but since I was sure everything that went down was all one big joke, I was humoring her.
In fact, I wasn’t just sure. I was positive.
There was no way Jamie McCade had seriously roped me into a sex competition.
Propping my feet up on the coffee table, I muted the TV, then held the phone between my ear and my shoulder as I twirled some noodles on my fork.
“He sounded pretty serious to me,” Syd argued. “And I honestly don’t think he’s ever lost at anything. I believe him when he says that. I think you need to prepare yourself.”
“He was joking, hon. And why are we even talking about that loser? Who cares?”
“He knows
your weaknesses.”
“Excuse me?” I asked around a mouthful of pasta. “What weaknesses?”
I hadn’t told Syd about the kiss Jamie had forced on me before I gently nudged him with my car, so she couldn’t know how my traitorous body reacted to that.
She wasn’t going to know about it either. Nobody was. I was taking that to the grave.
But I refused to be in denial with myself. It wasn’t healthy and there was no point. Because my body reacted and I felt that reaction for hours afterward, there was no disputing it; I had a weakness when it came to that beautiful loser.
His stupid, obnoxious, fuck-me perfect mouth.
“Well, for one, you don’t hate what he looks like,” she suggested. “He could use that to his advantage and start testing the ‘no shirt, no service’ policy at Whitecaps.”
I rolled my eyes and swallowed. “He has no idea I find him attractive,” I countered, twirling more noodles.
“I’m pretty sure he thinks everyone finds him attractive. Even people who have never seen him.”
My hand stilled. I really couldn’t argue that. “Fine. Next,” I prompted.
“Then there’s the dahlias,” she reminded me.
I breathed in deep through my nose and released it slowly.
Unbelievable. Out of all the flowers that jerk could’ve brought me, he somehow managed to pick my favorite.
“Dumb luck. What about them?”
“You displayed them in your kitchen after letting Jamie think you didn’t want them, meaning you really did want them.”
“Yeah, but he doesn’t know that,” I said, letting my fork hover in the air. “He saw me toss them in the trash and I didn’t fish them out until after he paid his tab and left. And I didn’t keep them because he gave them to me. I kept them because they were beautiful and the vase was classy as shit.”
And expensive. It was now the nicest vase I owned.
She sighed. “Still. That was very sweet of him. Just like what he did to Wes’s car. He didn’t need to do that, and he did. That was for you, Tori.”
My heart seized, causing my body to jerk and tense up. I shoveled pasta into my mouth. Nope. I was not admitting to that, nor was I going to think about it. No way.