by Nikki Vale
“It’s just going to end. That’s it.” Gina gives me a skeptical look. “I know it doesn’t sound realistic, but we both entered into this with neither of us playing for keeps. You know me. I don’t do forever and happily-ever-after, and Trevor knows it. Hell, everyone knows that.”
“Okay. Whatever you say, Megan.”
“What? You don’t believe that two consenting adults, can agree to a no-strings-attached relationship, and stick to it?” I demand.
“I’m not saying that at all, but I saw that goodbye kiss and nothing about it said no-strings-attached.”
“It’s not my fault if I’m irresistible. Trevor can’t help but fall for me,” I tease, attempting to make light of the situation. I highly doubt Trevor’s falling for me, any more than I’m falling for him. Gina’s making a mountain out of a molehill – I hope.
Gina’s cell phone beeps signaling a text.
“That’s Evelynn. She’ll be here in ten minutes. Are you ready to go?”
“Yep. Just let me put on some shoes,” I reply, wiping my mouth with a napkin and placing my empty plate into the dishwasher. I sure am going to miss having home cooked meals when Gina moves out. Although she’s putting up a good fight to protect her heart, it’s inevitable that she’ll be moving in with Brayden. A blind man could see that they’re crazy about each other.
Making my way back to my room, I grab a pair of flat, heather gray booties next to the laundry basket, to match my sweater.
What the hell?
Glancing at the dirty clothes basket, I see a bright blue pair of men’s boxer-briefs – Trevor’s. Just the thought of him walking around commando does funny things to my insides. I guess he expects me to wash his underwear with my clothes. I smile a little to myself and then the smile slips from my lips as it dawns on me how intimate washing our clothes together would be. All the good tingly feelings from a moment ago flee.
Maybe I’ll just separate that and wash it with the towel he used.
**********
I hate malls. Hell, I hate shopping, unless it’s for furniture, art, or knickknacks. I’m dragging behind Evie and Gina as they chatter nonstop about their men, thankful that I chose sensible shoes for this torturous outing. Only twelve more days till school starts again, I silently remind myself.
“I love Hunter so much. I can’t believe we went this long without each other.” I hear Evie say. I’ve been actively tuning them out off and on for the past twenty minutes because of I hear the words ‘love, sweet or romantic’ again in the near future, I’m gonna puke fucking rainbows, cupcakes, and unicorns.
“So how are things going between you and my brother?” Evie asks over her shoulder, looking back at me.
Holy crap! I take it back. We can talk about love all day, every day. Let’s just not speak of mine and Trevor’s relationship or lack thereof. I know I’m sporting the deer in the headlights look right now, but I’m momentarily speechless. What do I say to my best friend, and the sister of the man that brought me to my first non-solo orgasm this morning?
“Fine. We get along just fine.”
“Yeah, Trevor seems a lot sweeter than I imagined he would be,” Gina chimes in, rescuing me. Evelynn gives her a quizzical look.
“What do you mean?” she asks Gina.
“Nothing. It’s just that when Trevor brought Hunter here to move in with you, he was all bossy and like ‘this is how things are going to go down,’ Gina says, mimicking Trevor’s voice and puffing out her chest, making me and Evie laugh. “But when I see him with Megan, it’s all soft voice, sly looks, and sweet kisses.”
“Is that right?” Evie asks in a surprised voice, stopping in her tracks and turning to look me in the eyes.
“What?” I ask, shrugging my shoulders. Evie sighs and lays a hand on my shoulder.
“He’s a grown man, older than me, as a matter of fact, and I can’t protect him. All I ask its that when it ends, you let him down easy, okay, Megan?”
I’ve never really thought about the feelings of the men I leave behind when I’m done with them. Why should I? Men do it all the time. But this time, it’s my best friend’s brother. Can I treat him like I do all the other men I let into my bed?
I mean, is it really all that bad?
Evie turns back around and continues walking after I finally nod my head in answer to her question. I didn’t know what else to do except agree. I wonder if it’s still too early in the morning for a stiff drink. It’s never too early for a mimosa, or two – or ten.
“Hey, let’s stop in here for a second,” Gina suggests, walking towards a department store. I haven’t bought a single item yet, and we’ve been wandering the mall for at least two hours. It’s not that I’m indecisive − it’s actually quite the opposite. I already know what I’m going to get everyone, and most of it can’t be found in a mall.
“You guys go on ahead. I’m going to stop in at the shop next door.”
Both girls are already so busy sifting through clothes racks that they barely look up to acknowledge me. Evie raises a free hand and me gives a distracted one-handed wave of dismissal. I’m not offended. I know how they get when they shop. Turning on my heel, I turn around and walk into Frederick’s of Hollywood.
Smiling to myself I walk back to the most risqué lingerie that they carry. Although it’s definitely not as risqué as some of the pieces you can find in other shops outside of the mall, it will do for what I have in mind.
“I know that look.” I hear a male voice say, husky and warm against the back of my neck.
Before I can turn around, muscular arms wrap around my waist from behind and a soft kiss is placed on the side of my neck. The familiar scent of Dior Sauvage envelopes me, and I instantly relax, knowing whose arms I’m in.
“Jake Sandoval, where have you been hiding?” I ask, turning around in his arms, returning his embrace.
“I’ve still been moonlighting as a bartender at your old stomping ground, Shay’s Bar & Grill, while I finish up my MBA,” he responds, leaning in for a kiss. Turning my head just in time, I cause his lips brush against my cheek instead. I have no idea what possessed me to do that. It’s not as if Trevor and I are together.
Surprise registers across Jake’s handsome face and reflects in his deep brown eyes. He clears his throat as he slowly releases me from his arms.
“So it’s like that, huh?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask him.
“Someone finally attained the unattainable?” His remark sounds more like a statement than a question.
Jake and I have had a friends-with-benefits type of thing going on for years. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t sleep around with as many guys as people think I do. Jamie makes fun of me by calling it my ‘phone a friend’ numbers saving game. I like sex, and I can be a little wild at times, but I have no desire to be a complete whore, I am a school teacher after all. I do try to maintain some sort of moral compass. So instead of having the list of men I’ve slept with growing to monumental proportions, I go back and sleep with some oldies but goodies. I guess it could be looked at as a numbers saving game. Although, I did get a little greedy that time I slept with those two firemen at the same time…
Jake is definitely an oldie, but goodie. He’s tall at 6’ with a muscular build, olive complexion, dark wavy hair and the sexiest smile known to woman. I know for a fact that smile gets him more tips, from men and women at Shay’s, than any other bartender they have working there.
“No one has caught me yet,” I tell him.
“Then why not let me kiss you?” he presses. Shrugging I turn to the nearest rack, feigning interest in the satin bras.
“No reason. I just didn’t feel like it.” I don’t know if I’m lying to him or to myself, but I don’t want to think too much about it right now.
“So were you shopping for something for him?”
“You know what? You’re starting to sound like a jealous boyfriend,” I accuse him, with a teasing smile to take some of the bite out of my wo
rds. That quickly shuts him up. Jake is a sexy man, and he knows it. He’s never had to chase after a woman, they chase him. Except me. I think that’s the catalyst to his desire for me.
“If you must know, I was looking for something for my conservative girlfriends.” Jake eyes light up at that remark, and I can’t help but laugh when I realize how he interpreted that comment. I’m almost tempted to play along.
Almost.
“My two best friends. You know, Evie and Gina,” I clarify.
“Yes, I remember the other two beauties that frequent the bar with you. Or should I say, use to? I haven’t seen any of you around much lately,” he comments, running his long tapered fingers over a pair of hot pink lace panties. “Do you still love to wear hot pink?”
As a matter of fact, I’m wearing a pair similar to the ones in his hand. Why is the sight of him fondling the delicate lace turning me on? But it’s not his fingers I’m imagining. The hands I’m dreaming of are covered in smooth brown skin. Hands that are rough against my skin, yet gentle at the same time.
“I’ve lost you haven’t I?” Jake probes, snapping me out of my daydream. His words have a double meaning, and we both know it.
“You never…” I begin.
“There you are, Megan,” Gina interrupts, walking up to us with Evie following close behind.
“…had me…” I trail off, but Jake doesn’t hear me as he greets Gina and Evie.
“Hey, Jake. Long time no see. You’re looking good,” Evie says, managing to give him a friendly hug even with her hands full of shopping bags. Evie and Gina aren’t exactly friends with Jake, but they’ve always been more than cordial, particularly since he sometimes gives us free or half priced drinks when he’s bartending.
Evie knows that I’ve had an off and on thing with Jake, but she doesn’t seem suspicious or judgmental about finding us in a lingerie store together, even though she knows I’m hooking up with her brother. I don’t think two better friends than Evelynn Woods and Regina Santos exist in the whole damn world.
“We’re all done,” Evie tells me.
Great. I haven’t accomplished a damn thing today except to possibly alienate my number one friend-with-benefits.
“Yeah, me too,” I mumble. I’m so done with today.
“You ladies need some help carrying those bags,” Jake offers.
“We’d love some!” Evie quickly accepts, dumping a few bags in his arms. “You can follow us to my car.”
And this day just keeps getting better.
Chapter Twelve
Trevor
So now I know what it feels like when you’re the single guy hanging out with your married friends. Hunter and Brayden haven’t gotten married yet, but they might as well have because they’re both completely whipped. And I don’t mean that in a derogatory way.
I don’t know how many times today I heard the words ‘I wonder if Gina or Evie would like this’? I mean, I get it. After all, we were Christmas shopping, and I even found myself wondering what Megan would like. But then I snapped the hell out of it.
The fact that I have no clue what she likes tells me that I don’t know her well enough to be buying her something for Christmas. But that didn’t stop the desire, and that scares me. Right now I’m willing to admit to myself that I’m intrigued by Megan, and I want to get to know her. The only way I can do that, is to spend as much time with her as possible. I called her to see what she’s up to later tonight, but she didn’t answer so I left a message.
“What are you over there frowning about?” Granny Mabel asks, eyeing me from her favorite recliner.
“Nothing much. Just thinking about how hungry I am, and that maybe, I should take my sweet old Granny out to dinner,” I respond, sitting up from my sprawled position on her overstuffed couch.
“You don’t have to do that. Besides, I cook better than most restaurants anyway.”
“Even that Brazilian place with the all you can eat meat that you like?” I ask enticingly. A light shines in Granny Mabel’s dark eyes.
“Well boy, why didn’t you say so? Let’s get going,” she replies, shooting up from her seat like a young girl ready for a hot date and nothing like the older woman, with life’s aches and pains plaguing her, that I know she is. “You want to leave the lovebirds out of this dinner date?”
I look at her in surprise. “Are you getting tired of their lovey-dovey-kissy-facing too?” I ask with relief.
“Not at all, but I thought you might be, and that last question said it all. Let me slip into some shoes and a light sweater and I’ll be ready to go,” she tells me before walking out of the living room.
Am I that transparent? I hope I haven’t seemed resentful towards Evie and Hunter. I love them both. They’re family. I’m happy for them, but sometimes they baffle me. Sighing, I run a hand over my close-cut hair – it has actually been growing a little bit in the past few days and feels soft beneath my palm. Looking down at my relax-fit jeans and fitted tee I sprint upstairs and grab a button-down shirt, pulling it on over my t-shirt and return to the living room just as Granny Mabel appears.
“Well, don’t you look handsome? Let’s get going. I’m starving.”
Funny how she’s suddenly starving when I suggest taking her to her favorite restaurant, when just moments ago she was quick to inform me that she could out cook every restaurant in town. Shaking my head, I chuckle to myself. That’s Granny Mabel for you.
I feel odd escorting my grandmother out to her own car so that I can drive her to dinner, but this is how things always go when I come to visit and have no wheels of my own with me. Opening the door of her old Cadillac, I wait until she’s settled in, close it and make my way around to the driver’s side.
A few minutes into the fifteen minute drive to the restaurant, Granny Mabel brings up Hunter and Evie again – like I knew she would, but was praying she wouldn’t.
“Aren’t you happy for Evie and Hunter, Trevor?”
Damn! That’s a tricky question.
“Of course, I’m happy for them. I’m practically the one who forced them to face their demons,” I respond.
“But?” she prods.
“But that was before I knew the whole truth.” Glancing at her from the corner of my eye, I decide to ask her something that I’ve been dying to know. “Did you know that Hunter was McKinley’s father the whole time?”
The look on her face tells me everything I need to know, but Granny Mabel gives me the courtesy of saying it anyway.
“Evie never admitted it to me, but I knew. In my heart, I knew. When Hunter stopped coming around, at first I thought he was shirking his responsibilities, but then I realized he didn’t know he had a child. My guess was that Crystal asked Evie not to tell Hunter or that Evie made the decision on her own. Either way, it wasn’t my place to say anything.”
“See, that’s what I don’t get. From what I’ve gathered from the two of them, they’ve been in love with each other since we were kids. How does Hunter go and sleep with the sister of the woman he loves? Better yet, how does Evie forgive him so quickly and easily?”
My voice has risen, but I’m not angry. I’m confused. I really want to understand how this came about, and I’ve never had the guts to ask Hunter or Evie myself. I didn’t want to cast a shadow on their new found love. Or should I say, new found forgiveness
“Evie learned something that took me a long time to understand in life, and that you have yet to learn,” she says, and I wait patiently for her to elaborate. “When you truly forgive someone, you let it all go − the hate, the anger, and the shame. You let it go or else you’ll never actually move on. Evie didn’t want apologies and excuses from Hunter about what took place that night. She knew that she loved him and to forgive him and build a life together, she had to leave the past behind her. And so she did. Now, to you and to others, it may seem that Hunter got off lightly. But think about it. You know Hunter like I know him. He’s a genuinely good guy, and he really loves Evelynn. Do you think he�
�ll let himself forget what he did to Evie? Do you think, for even one second, he’ll forget that she raised his child alone, the child he bore with her sister? Even though Evelynn has forgiven Hunter, he hasn’t forgiven himself.”
What Granny Mabel is saying makes sense now. Evie loves Hunter enough to let the past be the past, but Hunter loves Evie enough to never forget it. Even if Evie never brings it up again − and I know she won’t. Hunter will spend his life making it up to her – as he should.
“Thanks, Granny.”
“Can you be happy for them now?”
“Yeah, I think so,” I say nodding my head.
“Good. Then put the pedal to the metal, grandpa. I’m Hungry!” she teasingly remarks.
Chapter Thirteen
Megan
The thick smoke burns my eyes as the sharp taste of second-hand smoke slides down the back of my throat, painfully caressing my lungs in its descent. Walking into the familiar, dimly lit establishment that I spent a lot of my younger years running around in, playing with the scantily clad, partially nude women that worked here, brings back both good and bad memories.
Scanning the place, I see the familiar faces of Kandy Kane’s topless dancers. A few newbies are sprinkled here and there, but most of the women and the few men working here, I know. The faint smell of bleach reaches me through the thisck smoke, and I smile. Mom always likes to keep the place clean, not that you can see how clean it is in these dim lights.
Speaking of the devil. I see a familiar mop of red hair coming from the hallway located on the other side of the bar that spans the entire wall to the left of the front door. Brooklynn Kane, my mother, is dressed sharply in a black pin-striped pencil skirt, white silk blouse and black snakeskin Manolo’s. Her hair, a slightly darker shade of red than mine, frames her face in full-bodied waves cut short, to just past her chin. She looks like a business woman or possibly the next dancer to perform on stage dressed in roleplay, one never can tell. Although, my mother stopped dancing when I was ten, I’ve known her to get on stage every once in a blue moon just to show the girls who work for her that she’s still got it. Of course, she only does that when the club is closed. She no longer dances for money. She doesn’t need to.