“I know. It’s weird…..Isn’t it? He called me on the phone yesterday morning. Not someone from his office either. He actually called me personally. I figured he got my number from you, somehow. Anyway, he was extremely cordial and asked if I wanted to meet with him to discuss the “right-to-die” legislation that I’ve been hounding him about. He said since our kids were dating, we shouldn’t be adversaries. So, I agreed to meet him for lunch at a restaurant near his office.”
“Wow. I don’t know what to say, really. That’s great, as far as your cause is concerned, but you gotta admit, Mr. Dane’s sudden friendly interest in you does seem pretty suspect. I wonder what his real angle is. He must have one. After all, the bad apple can’t fall far from the bad tree. ”
“Well, you know what they say, sweetie. Politics makes strange bedfellows. I can’t pass up the opportunity to make inroads on a cause that I feel so strongly about.”
Picturing my mom and Mr. Danes as “bedfellows” wasn’t how I wanted to spend my morning...
“He’s got to be up to something momma. Besides, since Devlin and I are definitely not dating, there’s absolutely no good reason for you to be nice to him.”
“Oh yeah? How ‘bout lunch at the Landmark Grille for starters? I’ve always wanted to eat there. Plus, I will have his ear the whole time. I know I can get him to back the legislation, if I have a chance to present our compelling argument and appeal to whatever compassion he has. I know we’ve fought on a few issues, but he seems like a reasonable man. I actually enjoyed talking to him on the phone.”
“Reasonable man? Enjoyed talking to him? Where did this come from all of a sudden? What happened to the ‘bane of your existence?’ What kind of right-winged Kool-Aid did you swallow during his phone call?”
“Lighten up, Cali. I’m not an impressionable teenager. I refuse to believe he has a hidden agenda, in asking me to lunch. This isn’t my first lunch with a politician. I think I know what I’m doing.”
_____
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
DEVLIN
My knee was throbbing like a bitch, but I kept peddling my road bike the best I could. My leg was letting me know I needed more PT... Still, I had made the decision to cancel my rehab appointment scheduled with Cali for this afternoon. I called and left a voicemail message so I wouldn’t have to talk to her or her friend, Kesha. I guess I needed to find another physical therapy place now.
Slowly, I pressed on with pain and determination, up winding Prospect Street in downtown La Jolla, until I came to one of my favorite haunts. Miguel’s Cantina had a bike rack out front, so I locked up my ride and headed into the normally boisterous Mexican food café for some liquid lunch.
I plopped my ass down on a wrought iron bar stool and ordered a double shot of Gran Patron Platinum Tequila from my bartender buddy, Cody.
His eyes were pretty bloodshot and he smelled like pot. I suspected he had recently gone outside for a couple hits in the alley behind the bar. I knew his routine.
“Seems kinda slow in here today, doesn’t it Cody? The place is so empty! Where is everybody anyway?”
“Well, it is a Monday, dude! And it’s only like 10 o’clock or something like that. The lunch crowd doesn’t usually start coming in until 11. Hey, what have you been up to anyway? I haven’t seen you all week, Devil-Man.”
Cody slid the glass of clear tequila across the bar to me. In two seconds, I slammed it down and slid the glass right back over to him. Naturally, he knew that meant “fill ‘er up again”. Which, he did pretty promptly, considering he was obviously high. I drank that next one equally fast, and sent the glass sliding back his way again.
“I’ve been sort of preoccupied with this girl.”
“Say no more. I hear ya. Now, don’t tell me…… she’s fucked you over already and here you are man, drowning your sorrows. Well, that’s what I’m here for, bro. I’ll fix ya up. This one’s on me.”
Cody poured another, but I let it set there for a minute, while I searched my phone for a photo of Cali to show him. I found the selfie I took of us having brunch yesterday. She had the happiest smile beaming from her face. We both looked happy; frozen in time. I showed the picture to Cody.
“Fuck, Devil-Man! That’s too bad. It’s always the one’s that look like that, you gotta watch out for, man. You’re probably better off rid of her. She is fuckin’ hot though, bro. I gotta say that. What did she do to you, anyway?”
Cody slid a basket of tortilla chips toward me, hinting for me to eat something, but I didn’t want any food. That didn’t stop him from reaching over and grabbing a handful to stuff in his own mouth, though.
“I don’t know… The girl thinks I’m not interested in a relationship or something… She told me to fuck her for fun and toss her back into the ocean…”
“Hell Devil-Man, that sounds like a Tuesday for you... So what… Did you do it?”
“No,” I replied. “I didn’t.”
I threw the tequila down my throat and looked at Cody with a smug, self-satisfied smile. But Cody looked back at me like I was an alien who just landed from Mars.
“Dude! Let me get this straight: This super hot chick in this picture told you to fuck her, and you didn’t? You got it bad man… Real bad. Where’s the Devil-Dog I know?”
Cody’s stupid hyena-like laughter was pissing me off so I paid him and left. Maybe I needed to find a new watering hole……. The Devil-Dog he knew didn’t exist anymore.
Biking back to my house, my pathetic road skills were probably worthy of a DUI. I blew through a stop sign at Silverado Street and almost collided with a kid on a skateboard in the crosswalk. Maybe if he took his fuckin’ ear buds out and paid attention, he would have heard me hurtling towards him screaming “Watch out asshole!” Or, maybe I was drunker than I thought. My plan of action was to sleep it off once I got home.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CALI
With mom at work, the dogs and I had the house all to ourselves. They were busy napping on the couch, as usual. That seemed like the perfect way for me to spend my afternoon, as well. But, I figured I had two choices: I could mope around the house, crying and wallowing in self-pity, or get out and do something to help my sorry ass. That normally wouldn’t have been a tough choice, but today it was. I really just wanted to watch TV all day in my robe, eating popcorn drenched in extra salt and fake butter. There was a Twilight Zone marathon starting at noon………...
Fortunately, the disciplined medical professional in me wouldn’t allow such a thing. I knew that some sort of physical exercise would help my horrible mental state by saturating my brain with soothing endorphins. So I gave myself a pep talk, threw on my workout clothes and sneakers, and decided to go for a long run along the San Diego Bay waterfront. It was one of my favorite places to jog, and I did so regularly while in college.
It was a bit too far to run there from my house, so I drove downtown and parked in the Bayside Fitness lot. Having an office there afforded me the invaluable perk of perpetually free city parking. And believe me, I took advantage of it every chance I got. I was pretty sure that my little Fiat, with the “Slower Minds Keep Right……” bumper sticker plastered on the back, would not go unnoticed by Kesha, but I would just have to deal with her third degree later.
Jogging down Broadway, I wondered how my mother’s lunch was going with Devlin’s father. What a weird turn of events. The thought of the two of them doing anything together left a bad taste in my mouth. It was just plain unsavory.
What if she accidently blurted out something to him that was personal and private? Like, stuff that I didn’t want him telling Devlin? Like, pretty much everything I shared with her this morning? She promised me she wouldn’t say one wrong word to his dad. But, one glass of wine was usually all it took to compromise her judgment and muddy-up her social filter. Oh momma, I sure hope you’re behaving yourself!
I passed Val, the homeless woman who “camped out” on the corner of the 1rst Avenue Horton Plaza entrance every
day. She sat on the sidewalk with her long-haired dachshund Sammy, and a cardboard sign that simply read, “Please Help.” Feeling guilty that I didn’t have any coins to give her, I yelled my excuse to her as I sprinted by:
“Sorry, Val. I don’t carry any money on me when I jog. I’ll have to catch you tomorrow!”
“Don’t worry about me sweetie! Just be careful!”
Val was a good soul. Like a lot of good people, she came upon hard times during her husband’s long terminal illness. His cancer treatments took everything they owned and then he still died. She was remarkably cheery, in spite of her circumstances.
When I got to Harbor Drive, I crossed at the light and headed north along the bay-front promenade. It
was bustling with tourists, even for a Monday. They were lined up at various box office windows, buying tickets for a variety of boat tours, Maritime Museum tours, Segway tours and trolley city tours. I zigzagged in between them all and followed the curved sidewalk that outlined the bay.
As I approached the Coast Guard Station, I was compelled to slow down and check out the cool old sailboats that were chained to the mooring balls in the water. Their wooden hulls creaked as the gentle waves in the bay lapped at their sides. My mind felt free and relaxed as I wondered what it would be like to live on one of those boats and fish for a living.
And then, BAM! I was jolted back to my thoughts of Devlin as a muscular guy with the Navy SEAL Trident on the back of his t-shirt ran past me.
Fucking Devlin! His tattoo of that eagle perched on the anchor was permanently burned into my brain. It was so incredibly hot, the way the bird appeared to flap its wings when he flexed his shoulder blades. How could I fall so hard for that jerk? I was in love with him, alright. But he didn’t love me. I was just another crazy, chick who couldn’t take rejection like his whacked “friend” at the gym. Just another notch in his grenade belt. Did Navy SEALs even wear grenade belts? I had no fucking clue if they did.
Before I realized it, I had run all the way to the southern tip of Shelter Island, and was standing near the fishing pier. How could I not remember passing Harbor Island, the airport, Spanish Landing Park or even the Navy’s dolphin training corrals? Devlin Danes was monopolizing my brain, that’s how.
I walked out onto the pier and gazed across the bay at the military base on Coronado Island. Devlin had trained over there………sigh. Oh my god, I really had it bad for that asshole! How was I ever going to get over him? At that moment, I wished I could get hypnotized, or something to make me forget I’d ever met him.
It suddenly occurred to me that I had spent most of the past 6 years dwelling on my one night with Devlin. I’d taken this run just to look out his damn naval base, hadn’t I?
I needed advice… The kind you can’t get from a friend like Kesha. I needed guy advice from someone I trusted to shoot straight with me. I opened up my phone and scrolled down. I knew just who to call.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
DEVLIN
I decided to crash poolside on one of our cushy chaise lounges. That way, I could avoid having to converse with anybody who might be inside the house. Nobody needed to know I was home, anyway. That stupid bike ride was exhausting and it felt good just to close my eyes and stretch out on my back in the summer sun.
I awoke to find my dick in my hand. What the fuck happened? I was completely dazed and confused as I laid there trying to figure out why I had done out in the yard… And then I remembered my beautiful dream: Cali had been sliding up and down on my cock in the lounge chair, with her long braids hanging down onto my face. I held her by the waist, guiding her shapely, hot ass to fuck me in perfect rhythm with my own dick thrusts. Her nipples grazed my chest each time she bent forward to kiss my mouth and neck. It felt so deliciously warm to finally cum inside of her. But once I did, her long, dark legs turned into a mermaid’s tail and she flung herself into the ocean without looking back.
It had all seemed so real and I felt completely devastated that it hadn’t been. I dove into the pool, in an attempt to snap back to reality. Swimming laps always helped my mental state, so I swam back and forth through the cool water, for as long as I could.
Eventually, my growling, hungry stomach forced me to come out and dry off. The position of the sun in the sky, lowering in the west over the Pacific, told me it was probably about 3 or 4 o’clock, so I headed into the house to scrounge around the kitchen for something to eat. I was regretting not having eaten the chips Cody had offered.
My body was craving protein, so I threw together a giant, multi-layer, deli meat sub. With the sandwich in one hand, a six-pack of beer in the other, and a party-sized bag of Doritos between my teeth, I went into the den and flopped into my dad’s favorite big comfy armchair. And just like dad, I put my feet up on the ottoman and clicked on the 70 inch flat screen, hoping to find a game to watch that wasn’t too far in progress. I still needed something to distract me from that wonderful but disconcerting dream I had about Cali.
Soon as I did I find something, my father decided to show his face. Just my luck that he should come home early on a day when I preferred to be alone.
“Hey son, I’m sorry I missed you this morning. I didn’t hear you come in last night. That must’ve been some date, I guess! I have something to tell you that I think you’ll be very happy about. Is it okay if I join you?”
I didn’t want to pop his happy little balloon, so I lied and told him it was alright. He hadn’t heard me come in last night because I had made sure I stayed out until after he had gone to bed. I didn’t feel like talking about what happened between Cali and I, so I just stayed out late drinking.
“You’ll never guess who I had lunch with today… Amari Jamison, that’s who!”
Did I hear him right? Cali’s mother? The one he so often referred to as ‘the liberal ball-buster’?
“What? Why’d you have lunch with her dad? I thought you couldn’t stand her?”
“Well, I got to thinking about what you said the other day, and you were right, Devlin. I was being ridiculous. If you’re going to be dating this girl, Cali, then, I think I need to, at the very least, be civil to her mother.”
Talk about ruining my lunch………
“She turned out to be quite a charming woman, actually. Very easy on the eyes too, I must say. And she has some extremely valid points about the right-to-die legislation that I’ve been on the fence about. I know it goes against the party line, but I think I’m going to flip my vote on this one… We’re going to have another meeting later this week once I check my schedule for an available day and time. Aren’t you happy about that, son?”
“Did she say anything to you about me and Cali?”
“No, she didn’t say much at all about the two of you. But, I sure did! I really went to bat for you, son. I made sure I told her how crazy you are about her daughter and how special she is to you. And, what a positive influence she has already had on you. She did seem a little surprised by all that, now that I think about it. I hope that was okay to say.”
What the fuck?! I was suddenly compelled to have to think about all kinds of complicated shit when I didn’t feel like it right now: Cali’s mom hadn’t said anything to my dad about our breakup? I reasoned it was possible that Cali and her mother hadn’t spoken to each other before our parents’ luncheon. After all, that was true of my dad and me. Maybe Ms. Jamison honestly didn’t know anything either, just like my dad didn’t.
But, what about all the other stuff my dad told her about my feelings for Cali? That was sure to get back to her. It was all too much for my foggy brain to try to figure out. I got up from the chair and decided I might as well break it to my dad…
“Well, it looks like your attempt at winning the Nobel Peace Prize was all for naught, dad. It just didn’t work out between Cali and me. But at least you won’t have to endure anymore meetings with Amari Jamison.”
My dad came over to me and sympathetically patted me on the back. That was about as touchy-feely as he ever
got.
“Aaawww, that’s too bad, son. I’m sorry to hear that Devlin. I really am. I could tell you had real feelings for that girl, too. But, even so, it really has no bearing on my future meetings with Amari. At least not as far I’m concerned… Business is business. Did I mention she’s an Aries? Just like your mother. A real spitfire!”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CALI
Deshawn pulled cautiously into the parking lot of Bayside Fitness. It was starting to fill up with the 5 o’clock, after-work crowd.
“There’s my car. The black Fiat. Thanks for the ride back. And thanks for the advice Deshawn. It was really good seeing you, again…”
“For what it’s worth,” Deshawn cast his eyes downward, “I’m sorry about the things I did to you. I was a stupid kid, and I made mistakes.”
“I forgave you a long time ago… And look at you now. Married, kids. I’m just glad to see you doing so well,” I replied.
SEAL: A BWWM BAD BOY NAVY SEAL ROMANCE Page 10