Just One of the Guys 3 My Someday...

by Kristi Pelton

  The girls at my table giggled and Austin had a broad smile; glad he didn’t mind the $25,000. As the anger built, I realized I would have bet her until he jumped down from the stage and removed the number from my hand personally. Then, I would have beaten him with it.

  After about thirty minutes, Austin met me at the table with his shirt unbuttoned half way down his chest. He lifted me to my feet and hugged me.

  “Did I hear right, does my girl have a date with Danny and did I just pay $3,500 for it?” he asked barreling his nose into my hair.

  “I can explain that.”

  “Well, you’re going to explain it in my bed. Because you look abso-fuckin-lutely delicious.”

  Goosebumps spread across my body and my insides clenched.

  “So, you’re not mad at me?”

  He grinned. “Yes! I’m so angry, I’m going to violate you in many ways,” he whispered under his breath.

  My mind was raging in anger over what I’d learned about Henley, but my body raged with hormones wanting him to violate me like he professed. No man had ever made me come like Austin did and I wasn’t sure I could go without it. Pathetic, really. The needs of a woman or man and how they could make you choose things. And I had just bid $25,000 of HIS money for a date with him. How disgusting would it be to go have sex with him then bring up the old…by the way…I’m really angry with you. When his lips moved down my neck, my decision was made.

  Back in his room, he hung a ‘no interruptions’ sign on the door. Now that my mental dilemma had been settled momentarily…I was all in.

  “Undress,” he said and every muscle in my pelvis tightened.

  “I can’t get the zipper by myself,” I whispered.

  He held his hand out to me then swirled me like we were dancing. Once my back rested against him he began to lower my zipper. When his lips kissed the center of my back, a shiver shook my body.

  A slow, seductive chuckle rumbled through him. “You cold?”

  I shook my head. “No.” Then I slowly turned to face him, pulling one sleeve off my shoulder. He took two steps backward to the bed then sat watching me undress as he had asked. When my dress pooled around my feet, his eyes studied every inch of me.

  “Don’t stop,” he begged.

  “Quid pro quo.”

  Without reservation, I grabbed his almost-unbuttoned shirt and yanked it the rest of the way apart, a couple of buttons hit the floor.

  “Sorry,” I lied.

  “What the hell…I’m out nearly $30,000 tonight, what’s another $100? But maybe you could unbutton the pants and save me a buck.”

  My hands slid beneath his waistband to unbutton them when suddenly he gripped my wrists and forced our mouths together. His tongue delved into my mouth, and I welcomed his by greeting it with mine. Retreating, he pecked me softly.

  “Quid pro quo,” he said softly.

  Rearing back, I was happy and ready to oblige. He propped himself up on his elbows on the bed. My bra was front clasp, and still having small boobs, it wasn’t as if they fell freely, but they were sensitive nonetheless. Once unsnapped, I tossed it at him and it landed evenly on his shoulder.

  “Quid pro quo…” I said so faintly I wasn’t sure if he heard. But when he murmured, “fuck that” and tugged me toward him taking my breast into his mouth, I moaned out loud. My hands sprayed through his hair and held his head in place. With his free hand, he raised my leg, drawing me nearer, then he tugged on my other leg. I didn’t like putting my weight on him.

  He growled and opened his eyes. “Straddle me,” he said and it irritated me that he had to release my breast. But once I did as he said, he resumed.

  “Austin…ahhhstin.”

  His hips rotated up and I met them with the same resistance. This time, he groaned. Pressing against his chest, I lowered myself between his legs. I’d never done this to him before. After I unbuttoned his pants, I said, “Saved you the cost of these.”

  “I’d pay whatever it took if you didn’t.”

  I held him in my hand for a moment, sliding up and down the length of him, then wasted no more time and took him in my mouth. The hiss that shot from his mouth made me grin knowing that what I was doing felt good. My hair kept falling in my face, and he held it back for me.

  “Emmmmma….” he sighed.

  I wondered if he was close…I picked up my pace just a bit.

  “Em… You’re gonna have to stop.”

  “huh-uh”

  “Oh baby girl…” he moaned and then pulled my hair lightly stopping me.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  He lifted me up and yanked on my panties ripping them.

  I smiled. “$28,615 is your total for the night now.”

  He lifted me off the ground and laid me on his bed. “The night’s not over sweetheart. And for this, I’d pay double.” He nudged my legs apart and lowered his head. And now, it was me who cried out. We hadn’t been together in a while and I knew this would take no time.

  “Austin…God don’t stop.” A growing fire burned in my abdomen and my head spun as the intense sensation consumed me. And when his finger buried into me in combination with what he was doing, I was done…that did it. I wept out loud as he slowed, and I heard him tear his little foil package that he insisted on using.

  “Tell me Emma…”

  My eyes only opened to half-mast. “I want you,” I whispered.

  “Do you have any idea how badly I want you?” he asked and I could feel him right at my entrance.

  “Yes,” I nearly cried. “I know you want me. Don’t make me wait.”

  And with that, Austin slowly, methodically and gently slid into me.

  “So, was that worth almost $30,000?” I giggled.

  “You have no idea. Worth every single penny.”

  “Excellent. I think I’ve found a new profession. Three guys a day, times $30,000…damn! Score! I could pull in $100,000 a day.”

  He pinched my inner thigh and a roar rumbled through his chest. “I’ll pay that three times a day.”

  We lay there together, my head on his chest for the longest time.

  “This was the best auction ever.”

  “Even last year with Henley?” I knew the moment the words came out that it would change the tempo of things.

  “Henley? Where’d that come from?”

  I looked up at him. “Oh come on. The girl who was bidding against me tonight,” I explained.

  “I know who she is Em, I just don’t know where that came from or how you know her.”

  The tension in the room was growing, and I didn’t want it to escalate beyond what was needed.

  “The girls told me who she was.”

  “Perfect,” he said combing through my hair with his fingers. “Then I’m sure they told you she was nothing to me.”

  I sat upright taking the sheet with me and kept myself wrapped. “You dated over the past year and a half?”

  “No, we went out a few times over the past year and a half.”

  “Seriously Austin, you’re talking semantics. During the time I was seeing the boys you paid to date me, you were seeing her?”

  He flinched a bit at my comparison. “Yes. I was going out with her on occasion.”

  “Did you kiss her? And I’m not trying to be a bitch; I’m trying to make a point,” I said pulling the very little chest hair he had.

  “Yes, Em, I kissed her,” he said closing his eyes. Maybe preparing himself for my onslaught of words.

  And the anger growing inside was unequivocally the angriest I had ever been at him.

  “Austin! Don’t you see? You’re such a hypocrite! You pay guys so I can’t even be kissed and yet you kiss and date someone else freely.”

  He sat upright and reached for me, but I juked away. “Dammit Em. I get it.”

  “Did you fuck her?”

  “Yes.”

  And with that one word, I spun on my heels and flew out of his room.

  “Emma stop!” he yelled.r />
  I was half way down the staircase in the entryway when I tripped over the sheet and fell. Some guy I didn’t know rushed up the stairs below me and helped me up.

  “Tony, get your hands off her,” Austin ordered.

  Tony’s hands shot upright. “She fell. I was helping her up.”

  As he was explaining himself, I finished my dissent and went for the front door, but three guys coming in slowed me long enough for Austin to catch me. He picked me up and carried me to a room on the main level.

  “Everyone out,” he shouted and guys scattered, all of them keeping their eyes lowered. He slid the pocket door closed. “What the hell are you doing? Did you think that I didn’t go out while we weren’t together?” He emphasized the ‘weren’t together.’

  “I guess I never thought about it,” I said and a waterfall of tears had begun. Damn the tears. Damn the ache in my heart and damn him. “It doesn’t matter. I’m out.”

  “Out?”

  “I’m out. Done. I can’t do this anymore,” I clarified tightening the sheet around me.

  “Stop! Don’t even talk like that. I’m with you 100%. I want no other, Emma. Henley means nothing to me.”

  “You really don’t get it Falsone.”

  “Falsone? Really? And I do get it Emma. I’m not an idiot. You think I held you to a different standard than I did myself.”

  He kept within about two feet from me, I’m guessing to prevent me from fleeing. I hated that I did that. A year ago, my dad had a heart attack scare. At one point, he started having chest pain in the ER and what did I do? I bolted from the room. I didn’t know why. The fear…the hurt was too unbearable so it was easier to leave. I wanted to leave now. I needed away from here, from him. It just might prevent what was happening from happening.

  “I don’t just think you held me to a different standard, you did, Austin. I was barely getting over the whole paying three guys to date me and not touch me but add that on top of you fucking some beautiful girl the entire time I’m in a forced, platonic, bullshit relationship. I’m out! I’m seriously done. The trust is gone.”

  “No! I won’t let you go,” he yelled and I’d never seen him like this.

  “I know! Shocking, we found something you can’t buy and you can’t control…me!” I spoke calmly and quietly, then with little force, pulled away from him.

  As I opened the pocket door and walked toward the stairs he said, “I need you and I love you, don’t go, I’m begging you.”

  Those three words crippled me at that moment and detoured me briefly, but I knew what I had to do… “I have to,” I whispered.

  In his room, not wanting to put my dress back on, I borrowed a pair of his shorts and a T-shirt. He knew I was resolved in my thinking because he didn’t try and stop me.

  “I called Ryan,” he said softly. “I’ll take you there.”

  I nodded and we left.

  Ryan waited at the door for us. The moment he saw my red puffy face, he glared at Austin.

  “What the hell happened?”

  I can’t think of a time he’d ever been mad at Austin. Austin had served as an older brother to him for as long as I could remember. Me coming between them would be indisputably the worst thing that could happen.

  “We had a fight,” I said, stepping into the living room.

  “A fight?” Austin repeated. “A fight I can handle Em. You broke things off.”

  Grant came in from the kitchen. “Hey guys. What are you doing here?”

  “Hi Grant. I thought saying a fight would be sufficient, but I can tell them everything. Is that what you prefer?”

  “No,” Austin said remaining at the door.

  Grant chuckled. “Wow, I knew you two talked about dating a few years ago, but really? When did this happen?”

  “None of your concern, Grant,” Austin added.

  “I’m going to bed. I’m tired,” I said.

  “Fucking takes it out of you, eh?” Before Grant got the words fully out, Austin flew across the room and shoved him against the wall.

  “Stop!” I yelled.

  Austin’s hand gripped Grant’s neck. “Look, I know you think you have the right to talk to her anyway you want, but you don’t. Am I clear?”

  Ryan was shoving them apart, but Austin didn’t budge willingly.

  “I’m sorry. I was actually kidding. Trying to lighten the mood because clearly she’s upset,” Grant said rubbing his throat.

  Austin’s eyes locked with mine. “I’m sorry. That’s all I can say. There was nothing malicious behind what I did,” he said for only me to hear, but I think they heard too. This time, it was my neck he grabbed. He pulled me forward till his lips brushed my forehead, then he left.

  Austin delivered himself to me at Christmas, a month later…wrapped in a bow and everything. Our conversation was great, which it always is, but I couldn’t move past what he had done. And watching Austin grab Grant by the neck was disturbing me to the core. These boys had been friends almost since birth, the thought of me—who loved them with everything—coming between them, would kill a small piece of me.

  I was moving to Eugene in less than a month and staying in the dorms for my first semester. On the other hand, he was leaving this summer for Massachusetts where he would attend Harvard Law. The thought of a long distance relationship was daunting. And me having trust issues wouldn’t bode well. We both knew in our hearts things weren’t going to be the same.

  After my first semester, because of my brother, I’d gotten a job tutoring the football team and was making pretty good money. Austin and I talked a lot and had lunch often. We talked about his pending move and my forced move to a secure apartment building. I couldn’t afford the security deposit but I could afford the rent…he of course covered the rest and I had the guys help me move in. That for the next three years became home. I loved it! Between Austin and my mom helping me decorate and make it homey, the place was perfect.

  Dating never became an issue. A few asked and for whatever reason, I said no. Mom and Dad were starting to worry I think when I never brought a guy home or ever mentioned a guy. One night Ryan, Grant and Conner were at my apartment with their girlfriends and I was drunk enough and lonely enough that I started flirting with Conner. Grant, with his ever-so-tactful way of saying things,—‘Hey Em, you gonna fuck your way through all your brother’s friends?’ Though he smiled, there was a hint of jealousy and truth to what he was saying. I, of course unable to keep my mouth shut, came back with, ‘Yep…five of his high school buddies to go and then the entire U of O football team. Go Ducks.’ Everyone laughed but it got me thinking…

  Austin came home about every other month. And by home I mean Eugene, not where his family home was, Cannon Beach. Deep down, I knew he was coming to see me. Most of the time he stayed with me and only four times in three years did we cross lines and sleep together. And by sleep together, I mean sex. Neither of us were seeing people, but we knew we weren’t seeing each other either. The time would come when one of us found someone to date, and I wondered what that would do to us…

  Zach curled his body around me and I smiled, bringing me out of the memories of Austin. His hair was wet. The smell of soap surrounded me. He was home from surfing.

  “Mmmmm,” I moaned.

  “Good morning, baby.”

  Chapter 11—Zach—21!

  Damn. Simply crawling in bed next to her warm body caused my shorts to tent. Laying half on my stomach so she wouldn’t feel my erection, I wrapped her as close as I could. Having her with me was so much more than sex. It was important that she felt that. Plus, I needed to know what exactly this was to her. Fucking, I hated using that word with her…but fucking her the two times I did back in Oregon was incredible, but she was young and I was scared of hurting her. I’d held off making her come back then assuming I’d have plenty of time to show her I knew exactly how to make her orgasm. Hell, I’d only learned how six months before meeting her. The older women I’d been with knew exactly what they w
anted…I didn’t have a clue…they taught me and holy shit…there was nothing better than knowing what I did drove them crazy. The night I left her in the hotel that was my plan…then realized that would be casually cruel—to do that to her then leave. Then at first chance I nearly blew it. Seeing her handcuffed and unable to stop me, I truly couldn’t resist. But it was clear, the minute I touched her, she’d done it before and that pissed me off…so what did I do? The only think a dickhead would do…I tortured her. I tortured her until she begged me to stop.

  After I left her that night—every day I waited, thinking, hoping she might come back. She never knew I was there so many times…watching her, making sure she was ok. Not in a creeper sort of way…but I was happier if she was happy, though no one around me saw that…ever! The look on her face when she won not just one but two state championships in Oregon. Her family and her little army of men stood waiting for her. It took great effort to not go to her, to hug her, to hold her, to make her love me again. Her graduation day was the hardest. Seeing her mother take pictures with all the guys. Her having those memories in print for the rest of her life.

  I thought maybe that summer she’d reach out to me. Text me. Call me. Come to me. When she didn’t, I knew it was time to move on. Finally, stopped going home altogether. The hurt I knew my mother was going through was nearly unbearable. She deserved so much more for a son. But now…now I wanted to go home with Emma. I wanted to walk through that door to my mom with Emma on my arm. To see my mother’s smile would only make this dream better.

  On top of all of that…I had to find out what role Austin played in her life now. Having kept in contact with half the guys, I was able to keep up with most things. Ryan was fairly honest with me and at times wouldn’t answer certain questions. I knew where his loyalty lay and I could appreciate that. Two summers ago when Ryan, Grant, and Josh came down to visit Ryan got trashed, and being a good friend, I took total advantage of that throwing at him a barrage of questions. I found out that Austin was moving to Massachusetts. Huge comfort… But didn’t really get my questions answered. There was only one person who held the truth to those questions…and she was lying in my arms, her heart beating against mine…I’d enjoy this moment and ask after her birthday. The truth would be mine in less than 24 hours and hopefully she would be too.