Begging for Bad Boys

by Willow Winters

  She wanted the real deal, but the problem with bad boys is that they don’t do commitment. She knew a happily ever after with Charlie was never going to happen.

  ...unless fate intervened.

  Chapter 1

  “I’m afraid we’ll have to euthanize him. It’s the only rational and kind thing to do.”

  I looked at the poor baby pit bull that had been used as bait for dog fighting. Gosh, he never even had a chance, I thought grimly, as the unfortunate pup’s tragic story tugged at my heartstrings. How cruel people can be, to so callously waste a life. Tears welled in my eyes as I gazed at Lisa in her colorful scrubs with much happier cartoon puppies all over her shirt. A kind thing to do? How could she even say such a thing? For that matter, how can she do this shit for a living? Doesn’t she have a heart at all? I wondered, shaking my head as I looked down at the unfortunate little one again, a quivering, whimpering, furry mass on the table. “There’s no reason for that,” I argued, knowing the animal did not deserve such a fate.

  I was not about to leave him. No way in hell.

  She cleared her throat. “He can’t walk now, and he likely won’t be able to ever again. He’ll be maimed for life, and no animal should suffer like that. I’m sorry, Jaime, but it’s better this way. It will be quick and painless, and he’ll—”

  “Quick and painless!?” I yelped. “No! You can’t just give up on this sweet guy. This little dude has heart.”

  “Jaime, I know how much you love dogs. You show it every day by volunteering here, but I’m afraid it’s too late for this one. There’s nothing more we can do for him, so—”

  “Bullshit! Give him to me. I’ll take him.”

  “But you’ve already rescued three abandoned dogs. And that’s more than enough.”

  “I can’t just let him die. Please let me adopt him.”

  “Didn’t you hear me? He’ll be crippled forever. What kind of life is that for a dog to have?”

  “You tell me, Lisa. Would you rather be in a wheelchair or on crutches or dead?” I spat. “Listen, I just got laid off, and my temp work is dwindling. I’ve got nothing but time on my hands, and I know I can rehabilitate him.”

  “But what if you can’t?” she asked firmly. “He’ll be a special needs dog for the rest of his life.”

  “Then I’ll make sure his special needs are met and give him the best life I possibly can.”

  “You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into, Jaime. Even with rehabilitation and love, his chances are pretty slim.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard that before,” I said. I couldn’t help putting myself in the puppy’s shoes, so to speak. Just like him, I’d been abandoned, broken and left to die. I was only two then, deserted at a bus station, of all places, and I was also told I’d never walk again. Fortunately, I was adopted by a wonderful family who gave me a great life filled with relatives and friends. Still, though, I was no stranger to the sting of abandonment. It took two years of physical therapy, but I finally managed to walk when I turned four, and by age seven I was the fastest runner in my class. I could now run marathons, something I did every chance I got, just to give the world a big middle finger and say, “See? You didn’t get the best of me, and you didn’t stop me with your grim diagnosis! Not only did I learn to toddle like any toddler. Now, I can run like the wind!” Every time I crossed a finish line, it was a testament to my survival, a way to prove them all wrong, and I was more than ready to do the same for the little pit bull. “A lady a few streets over from me specializes in canine rehab,” I said, nodding assuredly. “This little fella will be happy and spunky in no time.”

  She tapped her fingers on the counter as she stared at the pup. “Okay, fine. He’s all yours then.” She then unlocked the kennel and the pit hobbled out until she scooped him up in her arms, and then gently handed him over to me. “What are you going to name him?”

  I stroked him softly on his head and laughed when he licked my face. “He looks like a Max to me.”

  “Well, Jaime, you just saved Max’s life. If you hadn’t come, he would’ve been put down within the hour.”

  I held Max tighter as he continued to lick my face as if he knew exactly what I stopped from happening. “Don’t you worry now, Max,” I said. “You’re going to grow up to be something special!”

  “Wow. He loves you already,” Lisa said.

  “The feeling’s mutual,” I said with a smile, rubbing him gently behind the ear.

  “All right. Let’s get the paperwork filled out so you can take him home.”

  “You hear that, boy? Home! A real home, where you’ll never be treated badly again.”

  If only I believed in signs of things to come, I might’ve been a little more prepared for what came after saving little Max.

  Chapter 2

  A few days after I adopted Max, still jobless and trying not to panic about it, my best friend called, and told me that we were going out with our friends for the night. Tammy complained that I’d been a bit of a shut-in lately, so she swung by after I got off work, and picked me up so we could go out and have some fun. That and it was Halloween night. I wasn’t about to turn down a night of fun on that night.

  I guess I wasn’t technically jobless, just without a career. I’d been picking up temp jobs whenever I could, inside and outside our small little town. I was ready to go when Tammy knocked on my door. The dogs went crazy, but I hurried out and walked with her quickly to her car. I didn’t want to lay on the worry so soon, so I sugarcoated everything when Tammy asked how I was doing. I’d tell her eventually that in a month, this temp job would end too.

  It was always fun to go out midweek and catch up. My job assignment would end in just thirty days, so I had some time to look for something else, but I still had no idea what I was going to do to earn a paycheck after that. A girls’ night out was just the thing I needed to take my mind off my worries about my future employment or lack thereof.

  “Hey, everybody,” I said, plopping down in the empty seat and setting my purse on the table.

  “Hey, Jaime! Oh, I heard you got a new puppy!” Phoebe said.

  “Max,” I told them and pulled up a pic of him on my cell. “He’s special needs. They were going to euthanize him because he couldn’t walk so I stepped in and adopted him.”

  A chorus of ooh-ing and aw-ing erupted as they looked at the photo of my pup on my smartphone.

  “He’s so sweet. I want to see him!” Phoebe said as she passed me my cell back.

  “Stop on by. He’d love the extra company.”

  “I definitely will. So what happened to him? Did he get hit by a car or something?”

  “Worse.”

  “Huh?” Phoebe asked, arching her brow as she took a sip from her drink.

  “They used him as bait in a dog fight, the poor little guy.”

  “That’s awful.”

  “Yeah, I know. That was why I just had to step in and adopt him. My neighbor watches him while I’m at work.”

  “He couldn’t have a better owner than you,” Phoebe said. “In other news, how’s work?”

  I let out a long sigh. “I’m so glad I’m off the clock for the day. I swear, sometimes I think I work at an urologist’s office.”

  “What makes you say that?” Phoebe asked, arching her brow at me again.

  “Because the place is full of dick-holes!” I spouted. “Now that hump day is over, I need a stiff one.”

  Marlene grinned lasciviously. “For hump day, I’ll take a stiff one too,” she quipped. “Hell, a good hand would do just as well as a good partner. Why is it that sex is so much like playing bridge?”

  I chuckled. “I’m talking about a stiff drink.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. I’ll take one of those too. I may as well, because there aren’t many of the other stiffies to choose from. It seems to be slim pickin’s for a single gal like me these days.”

  “Maybe you’re just being too picky,” Phoebe retorted.

  “Who, moi?�
� Marlene said, batting her eyes innocently and pointing to herself.

  “Yes, you. I’m sorry there aren’t enough six-pack abs-having, seven-figure-income-earning alpha males around here for you.”

  “Do you honestly think that’s what I’m looking for?” Marlene asked, as if insulted.

  “Sorry. I forgot. You’re just looking for a big dick, right?” Phoebe retorted.

  “Yeah, sure. That’s number one on my list,” she said, holding her drink up for a toast. “Cheers to big dicks!”

  We all laughed and clinked glasses.

  “Speaking of dicks,” said Riley rolling her eyes as she sipped her wine, “did you hear that Charlie is back in town?”

  “Wow,” Suzy said. “He actually qualifies as both. He has a big dick…and he is a big dick.”

  “Cheers to that!” a few of us chimed in and clinked glasses again.

  “So Charlie’s really in town?” Jill asked.

  Were they kidding with me? They loved to pull my leg. “Seriously? As in…Charlie Rowlands?” I asked as my heart pounded behind my ribcage from excitement or outright pent up rage. I wasn’t sure yet.

  “The one and only,” Phoebe said.

  “Shit, it’s been years. Do you remember why they called him Wicked?” she asked and waggled her eyebrows.

  Marlene leaned into Tammy with a sigh. “Oh, honey, how could I ever forget? That boy is one helluva kisser.”

  My friend Suzy laughed. “That one’s nothing but trouble, ladies. I wonder what he’s been up to all these years.”

  “Or, probably more accurately, who he’s been up into,” Riley chimed in.

  We all burst into a fit of laughter.

  I wondered that, too, because I hadn’t seen Charlie since his graduation. Growing up, he was one of my best friends, and we often hung out together. When he turned eighteen, though, he just cruised right on out of town and never looked back. He never bothered to call, text, or write either, and in a Wi-Fi world where everyone I knew insisted on tweeting and posting about every little thing, right down to what they were having for lunch or what color underwear they were buying, I found it somewhat odd that Charlie didn’t share anything on social media. Until the announcement that he was back in town, I didn’t know if he was dead or alive, but of course I’d heard a lot of rumors, as small towns tended to brew those up quite easily.

  I really didn’t understand how Charlie could have just taken off the way he did, left me high and dry, because we’d been so close for so many years. I didn’t really talk about it to anyone, because he had a bit of a sordid reputation, but it really broke my heart. In many ways, I considered him my best friend, and it hurt like hell to lose him, but I eventually got over it and moved on. He’s just…a distant memory, I tried to tell myself, but I didn’t really believe that one bit, especially now that the so-called bad boy was back.

  “I heard Wicked’s on the prowl for a Mrs. Wicked,” Phoebe said. “Some players do eventually get married, but they never stop playin’.”

  “Charlie would never get tied to a ball and chain,” I said. “Marriage goes against his DNA which is essentially to be with as many women as he possibly can.”

  “Seriously!” Phoebe said, frowning. “Charlie’s looking to get married.”

  Tammy cocked a brow. “Are we talking about our Charlie? On any given night, the guy can easily add three women to his ten page roster. That guy? Because if it’s him, he’ll be the running joke on all social media!”

  I took a big gulp of my merlot as I pondered the thought. “The words ‘Charlie’ and ‘married’ can’t even be said in the same breath. Our little heartbreaker getting married? Yeah, I don’t believe that for a minute. Where’d you hear it anyway?”

  “You know…around,” Phoebe said.

  “Well, trust me when I tell you that a dick like Charlie isn’t gonna settle down before age thirty. He’s still got a lot of wild oats to sow.”

  “Oh yeah? Well, he went out on a date with Julie Simmons, Miss Goodie Two-Shoes herself.”

  “Seriously? That’s like a little lamb carousing around with the Big Bad Wolf. Hmm. He must have one hell of a motive, some kind of agenda. We all know he’s no damn family man, no matter how much time has passed. They call them playboys and not playmen because they never really grow up.”

  Tammy nudged me, handing me a Martini. “Looks like you’ve got some Wicked investigating to do.”

  “Maybe,” I said, blushing a bit. “I guess I am pretty good at it. That Jerry Meyers thought he was so slick, cheating on me like that, but I caught him, dead to rights.” I pulled the olive out of my martini and popped it into my mouth. “I guess the big mystery is why our childhood friend has wandered back to town. What’s with his sudden need to get hitched, if that’s really true?”

  “If?” Tammy said with a groan and a roll of her eyes.

  “Fine. We’ll assume it’s true, but it really doesn’t make sense, does it? I mean, why the need to suddenly get hitched? We all know he’s been on a mission to spread his seed across the galaxy, fucking anything that breathes.”

  “That could just be a rumor too,” Phoebe said, coming to our old friend’s defense. “I mean, we really don’t know for sure that he’s done half the desperate housewives in Manhattan.”

  “Manhattan?” I said with a snicker. “I heard he also screwed his way through LA and Hollywood. If they made a reality show about that guy, it could go on for six seasons!”

  Suzy laughed. “Hey, at least he’s wrapping that rascal. If he wasn’t, he’d have ten kids by now, not to mention ten STDs.”

  Riley chuckled. “I swear, Charlie will stick that big dick of his in anything that moves.”

  “I actually ran into him the other day,” Sara confessed.

  “You did? And you didn’t get Chlamydia immediately?” Suzy joked.

  “Not funny,” she said. “We talked for a while, and he said he’s just tired of the bachelor life and is ready to settle down.”

  “And you believe him?” I asked her.

  “Hell no! I mean, maybe, but I think he’s full of shit. He’s always just jumped from one conquest to the next, staying with women for three months, tops. He’s always had a revolving door on his relationships, and every girlfriend must exit accordingly. I wanna believe he’s changed, but I just don’t know.”

  “If he does want to settle down, why? What’s gotten into him?”

  “I don’t know,” Sara said with a shrug. “That’s why you need to get to the bottom of it. You were always the closest to him.”

  Suzy set her drink down. “What’s the deal with men being whores anyway?” she said in her best Jerry Seinfeld voice.

  I laughed. “The man-whore serial dater is the most baffling creature around. They’re obsessed with women and sex, hunters plagued by unquenchable lust. They’re impossible to tame.”

  “Charlie might not be home. I bet he’s on the prowl for a good lay. You could go search his house for clues,” Suzy said.

  “That’ll never work. “Heard he has a security system,” Sara said shaking her head. He’s still got his place all rigged up with security cameras. You’d get busted in ten seconds flat.”

  “Not if I don’t show up on film.”

  “What are you, some kind of vampire?” she teased.

  “No, but all I need is a ski mask to hide my identity,” I said. “Then he’ll never know it’s me when he plays back the footage.”

  They all laughed except Tammy, who looked at me with a frightened expression on her face. “Tell me you’re not serious.”

  I pondered then shot back the rest of my martini. “Why not?”

  “For starters, you could be charged with breaking and entering.”

  “C’mon! He’s a childhood friend, Tammy. He won’t press charges on me,” I said, hoping I was right. “I just want to get to the bottom of a good mystery. If he catches me, he’ll probably take it as flattery, like I’m trying to stalk him or something.”

 
“He does think he’s God’s gift to women,” Lydia said with a nod. She handed me a shot and I gladly accepted with a big thank you.

  Tammy shook her head. “I can’t believe you’re actually crazy enough to do it.”

  I finished my shot and slammed the shot glass down. “Any volunteers who’d rather go instead?”

  “Hell no!” Suzy said. “You’re nuts! And personally, I think there’s more to it than just wanting to solve a good mystery.”

  I sighed. “You’re right. There is.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re crushing on Charlie,” Tammy said.

  “No, listen. I let him borrow $1,000 for college, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, he never went. He just left town, and he hasn’t paid me back.”

  “He hasn’t paid any of us back for those loans we gave him,” Becky said. “I say we nab the varmint and tar and feather him immediately!” She slapped her palm against the table. The people around us glanced over and she waved happily at them.

  “Gee, extreme much, Beck?” I asked with a laugh. “I figure if I can get a little blackmail material on him, I can force him to pay us all back. I’ll soon be between jobs and completely broke, and I’ve got Puppy Chow to buy now!”

  “Be honest, Jaime. You just hate that he got away with it,” she argued.

  I slammed the table with my hand. “Damn straight. This is a personal vendetta, and I’m not ashamed to admit it.”

  “He’s such a scoundrel,” Suzy said. “Dig deep and find something juicy…and make him pay us back,” she whispered as she leaned in closer.

  “Blackmailing somebody just isn’t right, no matter how much they owe you,” Tammy said with a disgruntled sigh.

  “Are you seriously going to cast moral judgment on me?” I asked in disbelief. “We’re talking about Charlie Rowlands here, Wicked himself. I’m sure he owes you too.”

  She sat very still for a moment, considering that, and her face suddenly lit up with realization. “You know, you’re right. Let’s do it. It was an epically dumb idea for him to come back here, and it’s his own damn fault if he’s got a trail of pissed off women after him,” she said, giving me a fist-bump.