Hook Up Daddy

by Naomi Niles

  “Yeah,” he said. “I can see myself in a place like this, and one day, it will happen. One day soon.” He held me tighter. “And I hope that it is just like it is right now. I wouldn’t want it to be any other way.”

  He kissed me on the cheek as I laid in his arms. At least for right now, we were on the same page. I saw a future with Ezra, not just a relationship for the time being. It seemed like we could make a run at something serious, but only time would tell. Right now, I was just going to enjoy what we had going on and try not to jump the gun. I had to learn to allow things to happen in their own time, and that was one lesson that seemed like I would never be able to learn.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Ezra

  “So, I see you barely have time to meet up with me anymore. Damn, Ezra. You get a new relationship, and you just forget about all of your old ones. Make new friends, but keep the old. I know you’ve heard that song before.”

  I laughed at Jeff as we sat in the locker room, drinking our pre-workout shakes before we hit the gym for our 9 am training session. Two weeks had passed since I took Hannah on a surprise date to the set of the movie, and there was only one week left before filming began. I had spent the last week memorizing my script so that I could impress the director and help keep the ball rolling. Hannah said she was doing the same thing. I wanted both of us to knock this shit out so that the opportunities would keep rolling in. I didn’t want this to be our first and last rodeo together.

  “Whatever, Jeff. I still got time for you, bro. You see I’m here right now, don’t you?”

  “Yeah. For the first time in what? Almost three weeks? I can see you have still been coming in here because you haven’t lost any of your gains, but damn, brother. You’re about to start filming in another week, and shit, I know once that starts, your ass is going to be too busy to do anything.”

  “Yeah, I know. Shit. Oh, and I didn’t tell you this, but we are shooting some of the movie in New Zealand in a month.”

  He swallowed a swig of his drink. “New Zealand? No shit?”

  “No shit.”

  “Is that where you can like… smoke weed and shit in public and it’s legal?”

  I laughed. “Nah, bro. That is Amsterdam. Amsterdam is where you can get blazed in public and not have to worry about the police fuckin’ with you.”

  “Oh,” he took another drink. “Well, shit, we need to go there. You need to get cast in a movie in Amsterdam or some shit. I will take a fucking two-week vacation and go with your ass out there. Shit.”

  “Shit, I would go out there and probably not even come back. I haven’t smoked weed in a while, but if I knew I could do it and get away with it, then I’d do it all the time.”

  “I hear ya’.” He finished his drink. “Well, shit, these weights ain’t gonna lift themselves. Let’s get out there and get to it.”

  I swallowed the last few drops. “Yeah, man. But, just give me a minute. I’ll be out there; I just need to make a phone call.”

  “Hmm, let me guess. Hannah?”

  I laughed. “Yeah, you know it.”

  “You are one pussy-whipped man, you know that?” he said, chuckling.

  “Yeah, I’m not even going to deny it.”

  He walked out of the locker room as I placed my bottle in my locker and grabbed my phone. Hannah and I had been going over our script together for a while now, and I knew she was just as ready to get this movie going as I was. “Hello?”

  “Hey, sexy. How are you doing?”

  “I’m good,” she said softly. “Just laying down. I stayed up late last night reading through the script. I believe I just about got everything down. I’m still a lil’ nervous about the sex scenes though. With the cameras and things like that.”

  “I told you, babe, you just can’t think about it. I know that’s what happened when we had sex in the mansion. You may have seen them while we were doing our thing, but you didn’t think about them. It will be the same way on set. Trust me.”

  “Yeah,” she said, hesitantly. “Yeah, that is what I am hoping.”

  “Hey, how about this? Let’s go to lunch tomorrow. I’ll take you out anywhere you want to go. Anywhere. McDonald’s. Wendy’s. Burger King. Wherever you want to go, baby. The world is yours.”

  She laughed. “Oh gee, thanks. I’ve never had a guy just splurge on me like that. You think I can get my meal super-sized?”

  “Baby, you can get it super-sized, double-sized, whatever size you want. You deserve it.”

  “You are so silly, but all right. It’s a date. I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon?”

  “No question.”

  “OK. Talk to you later.”

  “Bye.”

  Just as I hung up the phone, Jeff walked back into the locker room. “Goddamn it, man, are you done in here? I’ve warmed up three times already, and this pre-workout is kicking in hard. I’m ready to fucking run through a goddamned brick wall.”

  I tossed my phone in my locker and shut the door. “All right, bro, stop your bitching. I’m ready.”

  “Bitching, huh? Shit. I’m going to wear you out today, bro. You’re not going to fuck anything but your bed for the next few days. You can bet your ass on that one!” He draped his arm around my shoulder, and with that, we headed to the gym. He was right, though. By the time we left the gym, I could barely walk. As soon as I got home, I flopped onto the bed and didn’t move again for the next five hours.

  My doorbell rang as I laid shirtless on my bed. My legs were like jelly, but at the thought of it being Hannah, I pushed myself up from my mattress and eased down the stairs, bracing the walls in the hallway for support. It rang impatiently a few more times on my way. “All right, all right, I’m comin’,” I said, inching closer to the door. When I opened it, she stood on the other side with one hand on her hip and her lips pursed together. The smile on my face faded away like makeup smeared from rain. “What do you want, Tanya?”

  “Oh, it is good to see you too, Ezra.” Her eyes drifted to my chest for a moment, then she barged past me and invited herself into my home. “Where are your little whores at? I know they are in here.”

  I spun around with my hand still on the door so she would know not to get comfortable. “What do you want, Tanya? And how the hell are you just going to invite yourself in like this is your place? At least give me the same respect I give you at your home.”

  “Blah, blah, blah,” she said as she stood near the couch. “I am here to talk to you about the boys, that’s it. And you might want to put a shirt on. I’m not in the mood to look at random scratch marks from your whores, Ezra.”

  I pushed the door shut and eased closer to her. “No,” I said with a smile. “I’m fine just the way I am. What is it about the boys that you need to talk to me about?”

  She rolled her eyes and walked to the fireplace mantle. She looked at the pictures of our boys as if she had never seen them before. She smiled and then swiped the front of the picture frame for dust. She seemed annoyed there wasn’t anything clinging to her finger. “So, your whores are dusting for you, huh? I know you didn’t do it, Ezra. You didn’t dust shit when we lived together.”

  “That’s because you were living there, so I didn’t give a fuck.”

  “Oh, that’s cute, Ezra. Real cute.”

  “Look, if you came over here for some petty ass shit, I don’t have time for it.” I put my hand on the door and just as I started to open it, she blurted out the reason she came by.

  “All right, fine. Listen, I don’t know if I want the boys around you while you are shooting that pornographic movie. Tanner already tries to copy everything you do, so if he sees you fuckin’ around with that other bitch, then–”

  “Are you kidding me, Tanya? Seriously? You think I would have him around that?”

  “Well, I don’t know. You don’t seem to have the best judgment and I don’t want Tanner or Nolan exposed to anything like that at such a young age. So, while you are shooting this movie, I don’t want them ar
ound you. Besides, you won’t have time for them. Your attention will be elsewhere.”

  “Oh, OK. Is that all you wanted to discuss?”

  She looked towards me with her arms folded across her chest. “Yeah, that’s it.”

  “OK. Well, you can get the fuck out now and, um, oh yeah, my answer is FUCK no.”

  “What?”

  “Tanya, I’m not about to cut my time short with them because of what you think will be going on. I love my boys, and I’m not going to have them exposed to anything they don’t need to see. At the same time, I’m not missing out on time that I am supposed to have with them. Did you take your medication today? Because it seems like you skipped your dosage.”

  She shook her head. “You are something else, Ezra. I come over here trying to talk to you like an adult and help you see what is best for the boys, but you want to throw a bitch fit because I said that they should stay with me until you are done filming.”

  “No, they don’t need to do that.” For the moment, it seemed that the jellylike feeling in my legs had faded away. I had my full strength, and as I spoke, my fingers balled into a fist. I would never lay a hand on her, but there were many times that she pushed me to my limit, and with my boys involved, that was very easy to do. “I know how to handle that, Tanya. This is not my first fucking movie, and with every movie I’ve shot, they have always been taken care of. Always. They love coming to the set, and I imagine that they will love this one even more.”

  “What? Please. Do you think I am going to let my boys go with you on the set of a porno shoot?”

  “It is not fucking porn!”

  “Bullshit, Ezra! I’ve read the damned book! That shit is nothing but written pornography, and now you are about to make it visual pornography. No! I am not going to let you expose my boys to that. They will not follow in your whore-ish footsteps as long as I’m alive.”

  “Look, Tanya,” I bridled my anger as my jawbones gyrated inside my mouth. I knew she just came over here to stir up some mess because of her jealousy. She knew that I had finally crossed over and landed a major movie deal and she wasn’t going to be by my side to experience the benefits. This was the only card she could play to get under my skin, and she knew it. More times than not, I knew it as well, but it didn’t matter. She was always able to push my buttons. I pulled the front door open. “We are done here. I am still coming to get my boys when it is my time, and if you think of pulling some bullshit, you better get your lawyer ready. That is all I am going to say.”

  She stood quietly in the middle of the front room as the evening sun sent its last rays into the atmosphere. “You know, you can walk through this door now. Anytime.” I looked outside. “But I don’t see your broomstick anywhere around. Did you get a new one?”

  She bumped me with her shoulder on her way out. “This won’t be our last conversation about this, Ezra. You can believe that.”

  “Sure thing, Tanya. You have a good day and try not to fall off your broomstick. I would hate for you to fall to your death.” I smirked as she rolled her eyes and walked down my pathway to her car. I slammed the door shut, and instantly, the pain in my legs rushed back to my body. “Damn it,” I said, bracing my hand against the door. “I am going to fucking kill Jeff!”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Hannah

  We were set to begin shooting the movie just a few days from now. I had completely memorized my lines for the movie, and I was ready to get started. The only thing I was still apprehensive about was the sex scenes, but I knew Ezra would make things easier. He always had a way of calming me down at the times I felt I was ready to explode. Carrie had left for Brazil almost two weeks ago, and she was due back later today. My phone rang again just as I was cleaning up my home. “Hello?”

  “Hey, Hannah. It’s me again.”

  I looked at the number. It wasn’t saved in my phone, but I immediately knew the voice. “Brain? Listen. I don’t know what your deal is, but I am not interested, OK? I am sorry, I am just not interested. Now, I would hate to get the police or anyone else involved with this, but you are pushing me to that limit.”

  “Hannah, Hannah, all right. I get it. I mean,” he paused. “You are just a beautiful, beautiful woman and I’ve never met anyone like you. I was just drawn to your personality and everything, but if you want me to back off, I will.”

  “Yes, Brian. I do. I appreciate your compliments, but that will be the best thing to do. Thank you.”

  “So,” he said, extending the conversation. “I was thinking of taking you out to eat to celebrate your movie role. What is your favorite place to go? It will all be on me, and after that, I promise you I will leave you alone.”

  “Brian–”

  “I know of this place on Hollywood Drive. They have excellent seafood and I–”

  I hung up the phone in the middle of his conversation. My first thought was to dial the police, but I felt like that may have been a little too extreme for something like this. Ezra’s name was the next to pop into my mind. I felt like if Brian heard a male’s voice on the other end, maybe he would back off. Somebody to strike some fear into him and let him know that I was taken. Maybe that would help, I thought. Moments later, there was a knock at the front door. I nearly dropped my phone out of my hands as I stood in the middle of the front room. I had waited a few seconds before the knocks reappeared.

  I crept to the front door and looked through the peephole. It was a delivery guy with a bouquet of flowers in his hands. I waited to see his face before I opened the door, and as he glanced up, I saw that he was a stranger, so I opened the door. “Hello.”

  “Hi,” he responded with a smile. “I have a delivery for,” he looked down at his paper, “Hannah Black.”

  “That’s me.”

  He handed me a bouquet of red and white roses, sprinkled with blue tulips throughout. I smiled ear to ear as I took the flowers in my hands. “Here,” he said, “sign this, and I will be on my way.” I inked my name on the paper as he smiled. “Thank you, Ms. Black. You have a nice day.”

  I closed the door and walked into the front room, sniffing the bouquet with each step. Ezra, you have outdone yourself this time. I placed the flowers on the front room table and searched for the card. “From your secret admirer.” I smiled. Everything he did was always a result of perfect timing. Even when he wasn’t around, he still found a way to put a smile on my face at the right moment. A few minutes later, the front door opened. Carrie walked in with two bags draped on her shoulders and dark shades covering her eyes.

  “Honey, I’m hoooome,” she said, closing the door behind her. “Oh, and you bought me beautiful roses on my return? How sweet of you, Hannah! That is why I love you so much!”

  “No, Carrie, these aren’t for you. Ezra sent them to me. They had got here minutes before you did.”

  “Roses?” she said as she stooped down to sniff them. “Wow. For no reason, huh?”

  “Nope. I was surprised to see them.”

  “Shoot. These look expensive, too. I would tell you to give him some but, for some reason, I believe you’ve already done that a few times by now. You are such a dirty little slut,” she said with a smirk.

  “Whatever. So, how was your trip?”

  “Beautiful. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. I almost didn’t come back home! The water was the bluest I’d ever seen, and the men? Good Lord, the men were so hot, and so were the women! I’d never messed around with a chick before, but don’t think that the thought didn’t cross my mind while I was out there. But, I kept my hands to myself the whole time. You know that freaka virus is out there, so I didn’t want to take any chances.”

  “Freaka?” I said with my eyebrows wrinkled. “Do you mean Zika?”

  “Freaka. Zika, hell, either way, it’s bad, and I didn’t want to come across it. I didn’t know if it was sexually transmitted or what, but I wasn’t taking any chances. No sir. I needed to come back exactly the way I left. Other than that, I loved it. We should take a trip
out there and bring some men with us. I hated that I had to pass up the opportunity to fuck someone in a place that beautiful.”

  I kept my eyes on the bouquet of flowers as I responded. “Yeah, we will have to go back out there. I would love to see Brazil. I would love to see a lot of places. Oh, that reminds me, we are flying to New Zealand in a month to shoot some scenes in the movie.”

  “New Zealand? The weed country?”

  “Weed?”

  “The place you can smoke weed in public.”

  “Um, I don’t know. I didn’t even know there was a place like that, but I’m not sure what people can do there. All I know is that we are going and I am so excited! I’ve never been out of the country, so I am stoked.”

  She scrolled through her phone. “Oh, no, that is Amsterdam. Amsterdam is the weed place, but from what I can see, New Zealand looks interesting. Um, kinda tribal, though. Looks like they don’t have Wi-Fi or anything, but it is still beautiful!”

  “Shut up, Carrie. They have Wi-Fi. Well, at least they better.”

  She flashed a grin. “I’m just messin’ with you. I am sure they do, but for some reason, I am loaded with energy. Let’s say we go out and get a bite to eat? I haven’t had much all day, and I should be jet-lagged, but I don’t know. I feel like I can run laps around this building right now and I don’t feel like sitting in the house. Are you up for it?”

  “Yeah, why not? Let me go and get dressed and then we can head out.”

  I quickly changed clothes and met Carrie back in the front room; then we headed to Le’ Bistros, a gourmet sandwich spot not too far from our home. During the ride, I forgot that I didn’t even thank Ezra for the flowers, so I sent him a text message. “Hey. Thanks for the surprise.”