by E. L. Todd
“Lady and I are getting some dinner. Why?”
So he was still seeing her. I kinda thought she was a one-night stand type situation. Guess I was wrong. “I was thinking about getting everyone together to make s’mores in my backyard. But maybe another time.”
He chuckled. “Like we don’t see each other enough as it is.”
I forced a chuckle. “Yeah…you’re right. Well, I’ll talk to you later.”
He waved. “See ya.”
I walked out of the restaurant and back up Ocean into the Hippopotamus Café. I was stupid for even thinking someone like Ace would want to date a single mom with two kids. He was hot, smart, and hilarious. I’d started seeing Evan when I should have steered clear of him in the first place. But since I got two incredible girls out of it, I couldn’t regret it that much.
I walked back into the café where Cypress and Blade were sitting.
“How’s Olives?” Cypress asked the second I sat down.
“Good,” I said. “Ace didn’t need any help.”
“That guy is a machine,” Blade said. “Most efficient dude I know.”
“Yeah…” He was perfect with the customers because he was so charismatic. Everyone thought he was handsome…because he was.
Cypress made a few notes before he left the table. “I’m gonna whip up another batch. Let me know what you think.”
Blade gave him a thumbs-up. “Get cooking.”
I eyed the empty plate where the first batch of enchiladas had been. “How bad could they have been if you ate them all?”
“They weren’t bad,” Blade said. “They just weren’t different enough.”
“People don’t want different. They just want good.”
He finished what he was writing and looked at me. “Why are you cranky all of a sudden?”
“I’m not,” I said defensively.
Blade narrowed his eyes and saw right through me.
“Ace is still seeing Lady… What kind of name is that anyway?”
“I like it.”
I rolled my eyes. “You just like it because she has enormous tits.”
“Well, I like big tits. Sue me.” He turned the page and kept working. When he spoke again, he was much softer. “You want my advice?”
“Always.”
“Forget about him. He doesn’t see you like that.”
He was telling me what I already knew. “I know…I guess I missed my chance. If I’d known he had feelings for me before I started dating Evan—”
“But you did date Evan. And that was a long time ago. He’s moved on.”
“I know. And he’s probably not interested in a single mom with two kids…plus baggage.”
“I don’t think that’s the problem. I just think he’s moved on, is all.”
Cypress came back, having forgotten his phone on the table. “He’s not good enough for you, Amelia. So don’t think twice about it.” Cypress had turned into a protective older brother even though he was younger than me. It happened even before he married Bree. When Evan left me for that whore, Cypress had marched into his house and broken his nose.
“I thought Ace was your friend?” I asked.
“He is,” Cypress said. “He’s a great guy. I’d take a bullet for him. But he’s not the kind of man you need right now. He’s sowing his seeds and fucking around. He’s not looking for anything serious, not that it makes him a bad person. Just don’t waste your time with him.” Cypress walked away again, disappearing into the back where the kitchen was.
“I agree with him,” Blade said. “There are a ton of other great guys out there anyway.”
They didn’t understand. I was a single mom with two kids. I was on the bottom of the dating list. No one wanted to be a stepdad when they didn’t even have kids of their own. I’d had my girls pretty early. My oldest was seven, and I wasn’t even thirty yet.
Being a single parent wasn’t really that difficult for me. I loved my girls, and they gave me so much joy. But I missed having a man in my life. I missed having good sex. I missed everything about having someone. Evan and I were very happy together until a hot little number walked by and his cock got hard. We were blissful up until that moment, so there was nothing I could have done to prevent it. He suddenly wanted something else, and our marriage ended just like that.
I didn’t even see it coming.
Blade watched me as my mind wandered off. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said quickly. “I zoned out there…”
He glanced at the kitchen to make sure Cypress wasn’t coming back. “Do you think we should talk to Cypress about everything again?”
I’d already told him several times to move on, but he never listened to me. “Just leave him alone. It’s a personal decision. One day he’ll realize he needs to walk away. Until then, there’s nothing we can do.”
“I feel bad for him.”
“I do too…”
“He probably only gets laid, like, once a month. Could you imagine living like that?”
I hadn’t gotten laid in a year. “Yeah…must not be fun.”
“I know marriage is more important than just sex…but he doesn’t seem to be getting anything out of it. I hope he doesn’t stay because he feels obligated or he thinks we’ll lose our respect for him or something.”
“No, that’s not it,” I said quickly. “I told him I would understand if he wanted to leave her and get remarried. He deserves to have his own family.”
“Yeah, definitely.”
Cypress returned with a plate of enchiladas in red sauce. “Peppers, cheese, and chicken. Give it a try.”
We grabbed our forks and each took a bite.
“I like it,” I said. “There’s something else in it…”
“Spices,” Cypress explained. “A lot more cumin, and oddly enough, onion powder.”
“I like it,” Blade said. “Let’s put it on the menu.”
“Awesome.” Cypress sat down and pulled out his phone.
Blade took another bite then looked around the restaurant, making sure everything was running smoothly. When his eyes focused on something specific, he looked like they might fall out of his head. “Shit. Code red.”
“There’s a fire?” Cypress asked as he looked at the sprinklers in the ceiling.
“No,” Blade whispered. “Bree just walked in.”
“Oh shit.” I turned around and saw her heading straight for the counter so she could get to work. Sometimes she showed up, prepared to work like it was any other day. Sometimes she assumed it was her day off and didn’t come in at all.
“Goddammit.” Cypress jumped from the chair and immediately headed out the other entrance so he could escape without being seen.
Bree walked up to our table when she noticed us, but her eyes followed Cypress as he slipped out the door. “Who was that?”
Blade and I exchanged a look before I answered. “Just the health inspector.”
“I didn’t know he was coming today.” She finally turned her gaze back to us and took the seat Cypress had just been occupying.
“I didn’t know either.” I lied to her so much that now it was effortless. I didn’t even feel guilty about it. “But we got a great score, so we’re good.”
“That’s awesome.” Bree’s brown hair was pulled into a braid. She and Cypress had hooked up yesterday, but she didn’t have any memory of it. It made me sad to see how happy Cypress was over a memory Bree couldn’t even maintain. “What are you guys working on?”
“The special for the week,” Blade said. “We’re thinking of doing chicken enchiladas.”
“Ooh…” Bree grabbed Cypress’s fork and took a bite. “It’s pretty good. I’d eat that.”
“That’s what we just agreed on,” I said.
Bree turned to me, and her eyes narrowed on my face. “Everything alright?”
“Yeah,” I lied. “Why?” Even now, I felt like I was talking to a ghost. She was there, but not truly.
“
You seem slimmer than when I last saw you…but that can’t be possible.”
Actually, it was. I lost some weight because of the divorce. It wasn’t intentional, just a product of depression. I needed to start working out and toning my body. I was thin, but my body was unremarkable.
“I changed my hair.” I twirled my fingers through it. “That’s probably what you notice.”
Bree stared at me longer, her mind searching for a possible explanation for the slight changes around her. One day, she would wake up and twenty years of her life would have gone by. She wouldn’t even recognize herself in the mirror. Now she was beginning to pick up on the changes, but they weren’t profound enough to send her into a panic.
I hated seeing her like this. It never got easier.
Bree must have finally believed me because she turned around and looked back at Blade. “What can I do to help?”
6
Blade
I walked into Cultura and saw Ace at the bar. He already had a frosty bottle of beer sitting in front of him, and the baseball game was showing on all the TVs against the wall. I walked across the restaurant and joined him. “Sorry I’m late.”
“I hope it’s a good story. Like, two women wanted to have a threesome on your way out the door, and you couldn’t resist. If that’s the case, I totally understand, and I want to hear every single detail.”
“If that were the case, I wouldn’t have shown up at all.” I got the bartender’s attention and ordered the same thing Ace was drinking.
“I invited Lady to join us. Is that cool?”
He’d already invited her, so I guess it had to be. “You guys getting serious, then?”
“Why would you say that?” He wore a gray t-shirt with a black jacket. The sun had left the horizon, and now a chilly draft filled the air.
“Don’t you introduce a woman to your friends when it starts to get serious?”
“I wouldn’t say it’s serious. We’re just hanging out.”
I’d never told him that Amelia was interested in him. I was as much of a friend to her as I was to Ace, and I couldn’t spill her secrets unless I had her consent. But Ace didn’t seem interested anyway. He would have mentioned something to me if he was. Amelia had dropped a few hints, but he never took the bait. He used to be really into her in high school before she got with Evan. That was a lifetime ago, so it was unrealistic to expect him still to have feelings for her. Plus, she did have two kids. While Ace loved her girls, I doubted he wanted to be a stepfather.
“She’s really cool,” he said. “She’s a bartender in Monterey and goes to school.”
“School for what?”
“Psychology, I think.”
“Cool…” Sounded a little boring to me, but who was I to judge? I didn’t have anyone in my life. I was talking to this woman a few months ago, but it never turned into anything. She was a lot older than me, and I thought I could do the cougar thing, but I wasn’t into it.
“That’s her.” He turned to the entrance as she walked in.
She walked up to him with a smile on her face then wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.
When the kiss went on, I turned away so I didn’t look like a pervert.
Ace finally pulled his tongue out of her mouth and introduced me. “Lady, this is Blade.”
“Nice to meet you,” she said as she shook my hand. She was dressed in a short dress and heels, and her hair looked nice. She was definitely a perfect ten. I understood why Ace had kept her around for so long.
“You too.” I dropped my hand and nodded to the bar. “What are you drinking?”
“I can buy her a drink,” Ace said. “But thanks anyway.”
“Ooh…big man,” I teased. “He’s intimidated because I’ve stolen a lot of women from him in the past.”
“Shut the hell up,” Ace said with a laugh. “The only women you’ve ever stolen are in my Playboys.”
“You’re right,” I said as I rubbed my chin. “And they were amazing in the sack.”
Lady laughed before she sipped her drink. “Is that all you guys ever do? Make fun of each other?”
Blade and I exchanged a look before we both nodded. “Pretty much.”
Cypress walked in the door a moment later in black jeans and a black t-shirt. He obviously hadn’t had good luck with Bree if he was turning up here. Sometimes he could turn on the charm and manage to seduce her into the sack. I wasn’t sure how, but he obviously had serious game. “What’s up?” He fist-bumped both of us. “Lady, right?”
“Yep. Nice to meet you.”
He fist-bumped her too. “Cypress.” He moved to the counter beside me and ordered a dark beer. “So, what’s on the agenda for tonight?”
“Just drinking beer,” I said. “Not much else.”
“I can get down with that plan.” Cypress clinked his beer against mine.
“How was Bree today?”
He shook his head. “It was a bad day. She looked at me like I was the spawn of Satan. I didn’t even bother. Maybe tomorrow she’ll be better.”
“I’m surprised she deviates so much.”
“We all have good days and bad days that can’t really be explained. If Amelia were the first person she saw in the morning, she’d probably be normal. But since she hates me for what I did…I can’t really blame her.”
I doubted I would ever love anyone enough to go through that. “I have to hand it to you, man. I couldn’t do it.”
“Yes, you could,” he said simply. “If you found the right woman, you would do anything for her.”
I wasn’t even in love with Bree, and seeing her like that broke my heart. In my eyes, she was essentially dead. She was doomed to repeat the same conversations every single day. It was a form of torture. “I don’t know. I don’t think a lot of people would be able to do what you’re doing.”
“You’d be surprised.” He watched the TV as he drank his beer.
Ace and Lady started to make out right against the bar, not caring what anyone thought.
Cypress turned his back to them so he wouldn’t have to look at it. He wore his black wedding ring like he did every other day. He never wore it around Bree because that would just make things worse.
“I’m surprised you wear that.”
“Why?” He turned his hand over as he examined it. “I am married.”
“I know, but it’s so complicated.”
“I don’t want women to think I’m available.”
I couldn’t do it. If I was gonna be committed to one woman, I wanted sex on a regular basis. “I’m not trying to be mean, and I respect your dedication, but…how can you handle not getting laid all the time?”
“I jerk off a lot,” he said honestly.
I shook my head. “Not the same.”
Lady pushed up on Ace, scooting closer into Cypress.
Cypress quickly stepped away and wiped off his shoulder like they rubbed something disgusting on him. “Ace, you have a beautiful house down the road. Why don’t you take off for the night?”
Ace didn’t break his kiss before giving Cypress the finger.
Cypress rolled his eyes.
Ace put cash on the counter. “You’re right. We’re gonna take off.”
“What the hell?” I asked. “I thought we were hanging out?” I didn’t want to be a clingy friend, but I didn’t appreciate being blown off.
Ace came closer to me and lowered his voice. “It’s okay…it’s a bro thing.”
“A bro thing?” I asked.
He leaned closer. “Lady wants to have a threesome. She has a cute friend, apparently.”
That definitely fit into the bro code. I raised my hand to give him a high five. “Good luck.”
Ace grinned. “Thanks.”
“Want some advice?” Cypress asked.
“I know what I’m doing,” Ace countered.
“Fine.” Cypress drank his beer and didn’t press it.
Ace stood there, his eyes shifting back and forth as
he considered it. “Okay…what’s your advice?”
We both knew Cypress had been around the block a few times. He had been a serious manwhore and only got his shit together when he found Bree. Even though she was mentally unstable, she still had some invisible power over him.
“Alright.” Cypress set down his beer. “Being with two women isn’t much different from being with one woman. But you’ve gotta be equal. You know what I mean?”
I certainly didn’t.
Ace looked just as confused. “Uh…no.”
He sighed like we were both idiots. “Most of the time, women are only doing the threesome because it’s a turn-on for the guy. They want you, not the other woman. So don’t make one wait around too long. Make her come quick, and then bounce back to the other woman. Make her come and bounce back. Most men don’t know this, but threesomes are actually a lot of work.”
“Hmm…” That was all Ace had to say. “When do I get to come?”
Cypress shrugged. “After they’re both satisfied. You’re working for them, really.” He tapped him on the shoulder. “Go get ’em.”
Ace finally walked away and caught up with Lady by the door.
Cypress sighed. “They grow up so fast, don’t they?”
I’d never had a threesome. It was something that had just never come up. When other guys said it happened to them, I assumed they were lying. But I knew Cypress was being honest. I’d seen his whorish way with my own eyes. “So, back to what I was saying about Bree. You can really handle that?”
“Don’t have any other choice, right? Besides, I have tons of dirty videos we used to make together. It’s not like I don’t have material.”
“But it’s still not a marriage.”
He drank his beer as he stared at me with irritated eyes. “You’ve all made your opinions clear about Bree. So now you need to let it go. This is my life. I’ll live it how I want.”
“I meant well, man. I just want you to be happy.”
He nodded. “I know.”
“I love Bree. I’ve known her forever. I wish things could be different, but it doesn’t seem like they ever will be.”
“But they could,” he said quietly. “There’s always hope.”
Not much.