by Conn, Claudy
“Flynn, meet my brother, Onyx.” His eyes brightened and his face relaxed as soon as he heard the word brother, but Onyx was still fuming. “Onyx, this is Flynn.”
“Soulless dude is what I’ll call him.” Onyx said with vehemence.
“Yeah, I’ve never heard that one before.” Flynn rolled his eyes as I let out a chuckle at how this day has already started.
Both men stepped away from me and Onyx walked out of the store and into the back room, leaving me and Flynn alone. I was grateful that we haven’t had customers yet, but that was changed as soon as my best friend, Monica, walked into the store looking like a million bucks. Her long platinum blonde hair was hanging down the middle of her back in ringlets and her big blue eyes were already sporting that perfect smoky eye that always has me brimming with jealousy because I’ve always felt mediocre next to her when she is wearing a face full of makeup. We are both small and petite, but I’ve always felt that I looked like a frumpy housewife standing next to her and Monica always looks like she’s just come off the red carpet no matter what she’s wearing.
She rushed up to me and pulled me into her arms. “Oh my God! There you are. Do you realize that you haven’t returned any of my calls or text messages since your one-night-stand the other night? Do you know how close I was to call the police? I figured I would come here first to make sure that you’ve made an appearance to your family first, though.” Her jaw dropped when she saw Flynn standing beside me. “It’s him. Your one-night-stand. Or… Oh my God! Are you two in a relationship now? Holy shit, he’s hot! Hotter than that picture you sent me. Damn, you have done better this time. Brett, who?” She giggled while eye fucking the shit out of Flynn right in front of me and it was the first time that I’ve ever felt jealous that a guy might prefer her to me.
I let out a long sigh as I walked over to her and grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the store and then shoved her out the door.
“I’ll call you later. I’m fine.”
She didn’t seem too outraged by my rushing her out the door because she stood there with a shocked expression on her face.
“Gemma. Hot. As. Fuck. Damn. Girl.” I shook my head at her as she raised her hand up to her ear with a call me signal.
“I know.” I grinned and nodded at her and then shut the door in her face while she still had her jaw hanging down to her chest.
I turned around and Onyx was back in the room working and Flynn was standing in the middle of the store staring at me with a frown on his face.
“We need to talk, in private.” He made it clear that he didn’t want Onyx around so I nodded and motioned for him to follow me upstairs to our apartment.
“Onyx, I’ll be back down in a little bit. Let me know if you need any help and if you get too busy.”
He didn’t even look up and muttered, “Whatever.”
I knew that my brother was upset with me and probably feels that I chose Flynn over him, but I’ll placate him later and make it up to him somehow.
When Flynn and I reached our upstairs apartment, I looked around the place and saw that I hadn’t picked up our breakfast dishes from the table and I immediately started putting them away to distract myself from being alone with my guest.
He made himself comfortable by pulling out a chair and sitting down at the kitchen table while I rinsed the dishes off and put them in the dishwasher.
“I really wish that you would have been honest with me the other night and told me your real name, Precious.”
I turned around with the utensil that I had in my hand and pointed it at his face. When I realized that I was holding a knife, I put it down to my side.
“Don’t, call me that. You can call me Gemma but I hate, my given name.”
He nodded, but I could tell that he wasn’t finished.
“You don’t understand. If I had known, I wouldn’t have…” He lowered his head with a shameful look on his face and quietly said, “I wouldn’t have taken you back to my room.”
I was so confused. Downstairs, I could tell that he liked me from his intensive search for me on social media and now, I can tell that he’s already regretting that he slept with me.
“Okay, I get it. I have my first one night stand, and a great one I might add by the many orgasms, and low and behold, I see the guy again and it obviously sucked so… why are you here?”
“First off, it didn’t suck. It was amazing and that was seriously your first one night stand? Wait, how many orgasms?” He gave me a smug smile.
“Yes, it was.” I admitted, “and five, as if you didn’t know that already,” I crossed my arms across my chest. “Why are you here?” I asked again with a glare.
“Five… I knew about three, but five, wow, I don’t know what to say.” He was grinning from ear to ear, but stopped when he saw my glare. “I... Well… you see…” He let out a sigh and dropped his chin and rested it on his chest.
He reached into his back pocket and pulled out an envelope and I saw my name written across it.
I nervously nodded in the direction of the envelope. “What’s that?”
He was staring at me as he tightened his lips and I could see that vein again on his forehead as his body tensed up again.
“What?” I asked angrily as I snatched the envelope and opened it.
When I saw the letter and what was written at the top of it, I froze and my heart stopped. It was a letter addressed to me and I knew immediately that it was from my father by his term of endearment at the top of the page.
“Where did you get this?” I was trying to keep the tears at bay but I was failing.
Flynn stood up and walked over to me and was shaking his head with a look of concern on his face.
“I wrote it, right before your father died.”
CHAPTER FOUR
“I don’t understand. My parents died in a car wreck in Africa. We were told that their bodies were buried over there so how were you with my father when he died?”
Flynn made me sit down in the living room and was sitting next to me on the couch now, after making us both some coffee to help me to relax. I still haven’t managed to read the letter yet and needed to know more before I could.
“While I was in Africa, some local villagers had told me about a mother lion and her cubs that were seen a few miles away from their village. Since I am a semi-professional photographer, I went out looking for the lions, because I wanted to see if I could get some shots of them, and that was when I saw your parents crash their jeep. An animal had run out in front of them while they were driving and your father jerked the wheel to avoid hitting it and lost control of the jeep and hit a tree.” He waited for me to compose myself before he continued. “I’m afraid that your mother died instantly, but because we were so far away from civilization, and the fact that I was on foot, I couldn’t get your dad to a hospital and even if I had, he had too many internal injuries to have survived once I was able to get him to one.”
“How do you know? Maybe if you would have gotten him to a hospital, he might have survived.”
Picturing my father suffering physically, and emotionally after losing my mother, broke my heart. It was better to think that they had both died suddenly than to know that my father suffered at all. The guilt and shame that I’ve felt since they died, resurfaced and knowing that Flynn was the last person to see them, saddened me because I wasn’t sure if I would be able to look into his beautiful eyes the same way again, without thinking about my parents death.
“I know, because after I buried them. It took me two days to walk to the closest town near a hospital and I would have carried your father if I knew it would have saved him, but even if I had, it would have taken me four, maybe five days to carry him and I know, because… he didn’t last the night.” When I let out a gasp, he moved closer to me and grabbed both of my hands and pulled them into his own. “Gemma, I made him as comfortable as I could and you and your siblings were what was on his mind before he died. He made me promise to come here and
make sure that you were all right, after I finished what he needed me to do for him.”
“What did he need you to do for him?” I asked.
“It’s in the letter. Are you ready to read it yet?” He looked down at my lap where it was sitting and I nodded my head.
“I can’t read it in front of you. I would rather be alone when I read it.”
He nodded. “I understand, but you do remember that I wrote it, correct? I already know what it says.”
“Yes, I remember that, but I still want to be alone and I don’t want you sitting here in case I…” I couldn’t finish.
“Lose it?” he asked, as I nodded and the tears started flowing.
He leaned over and kissed me on the forehead and held the kiss for a few seconds and stood up and walked away. When he turned around and stared at me with those intense eyes of his, he was hesitant and I could tell that he wanted to say more.
“So, here’s the deal. You’re going to think that I came here for something that is mentioned in the letter, but I want to get that part out of the way, because it’s not true, but your father insisted, even after I told him no.” I had no idea what he was talking about, but whatever it was, it had to be important to him so I nodded. “I’ll be downstairs when you’re ready to talk.”
He walked away and I picked up the letter and started reading the last words from my father.
My Dearest Precious Gem,
I pray this letter finds you well and I apologize in advance for failing you as a father and not having the capability of keeping my promise to you for not finding Brett and making him pay for what he has done to you. I am so sorry, but your mother and I will not be making it back home. Your sweet, beautiful mother has already passed on from this world and it is just a matter of time before I am able to follow her. Please don’t worry about me because as much as I love you and your siblings, your mother is the love of my life and her death has shattered my soul and my only solace is that I’m not too far behind her because I know from the pain that I feel right now, I could never live without her.
The day you were born, your mother and I fell in love with your majestic beauty and you were immediately our rarest jewel and we both vowed to love and protect you and give you the strongest name we could come up with. We know that you've always hated your name, Sweetheart, but you were so precious to us and oh so beautiful, that it fits you perfectly. When your mother and I asked your newborn self how you felt about the name we wanted to bestow upon you, your smile was reminiscent of a rare diamond and you were our most treasured gift.
I hope that Mr. Flynn will be able to track down Brett after I pass, and will give you this letter that I am having him write for me as I am unable to find the strength to do it myself. He seems like a nice man and has promised me that when he finds Brett and extracts our family ring from him, he will find you. I have promised him a fifty thousand dollar finders fee for his trouble, plus expenses that he will settle up with you when he recovers it.
Precious, or Gemma, as you prefer, please forgive your mother and me for taking off on our journey to get the ring back. You know the significance of the ring and how much it means for every one of us and I hate that we left things so estranged when we left and I apologize that we left you and Onyx with the care of Sapphire and Ruby. Please give them our love and know that we are with you always.
My sweet Gemma, I pray that your heart is no longer shattered and you are willing to find love again. I promise you, you will find your diamond in the rough, your own Precious Gem one day, but you must be open to the possibility. I know that you will find the same kind of love that your mother and I shared and that is my last wish for you before I leave this earth and it will happen when you least expect it.
Love always,
Your loving father.
P.S. At the bottom, I have given you an account number to a bank in Switzerland that no one but me and your mother knows about that has money in it for you to pay Mr. Flynn if he is able to find the ring. If he has the ring, my dear, do what you need to do with the rest of the money that is in the account and what is best for you and your brothers and sisters. I trust that you will make the right decision regarding the future of our family.
I couldn’t believe that the weight I have been carrying for years since their deaths has been lifted because of this letter. Instead of breaking me and tearing me up like I suspected it would have, I finally felt, closure. The tears that were falling down my cheeks weren’t from sadness, but from knowing that I had a final goodbye from our parents and a hope for our future if Flynn made through on his promise to my father.
I ran down the stairs and saw Onyx and Flynn talking and I could tell that Flynn had told Onyx the reason that he was here by the solemn look on my brother’s face.
“Flynn, did you find it?” I asked hopefully.
Flynn turned around and grinned at me and winked as his eyes lit up from my excitement.
“Yes, I did.”
“Found what?” Onyx asked.
I turned to my brother and beamed.
“Flynn found the ring that Brett stole from us.” I handed the letter to my brother so that he could read it and walked up to Flynn. “That’s why you came isn’t it. I don’t know how much money is in the account that Dad mentioned, I’ll have to look it up, but if there’s enough to pay you, I will. Do you have the ring with you? Can I see it?”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small satin bag and opened it and pulled the ring out of it and put it on the end of his finger.
“Here it is.”
I went to grab it from his finger, but he snatched it away.
“What are you doing? I thought you said that you didn’t want the money and I said I’d pay you anyway.” I huffed out.
“I don’t need or want the money, but I do want something in return.” He winked at me and I knew immediately what he wanted in return.
“Hey, I already fucked your brains out so if that’s what you want then you’re—“
“T.M.I. I’m going to the back.” Onyx let out a scoff, while giving me an incredulous look as he walked away.
When he left the room, I repeated, “Like I said, we’ve already—“
“I wouldn’t call what we did… fucking.” Flynn gave me a heated look that turned my insides to mush and those butterflies started fluttering in my stomach again.
“What else would you call it?”
I knew he was right because it was the most passionate sexual experience of my life and what Brett and I did was nothing but screwing, but with Flynn, he was passionate and tender and gentle and it felt like our souls had collided and became one, but I had thought that I had lucked out that he was an excellent lover.
Did it feel the same way to him as well, I wondered?
His mouth was on me so fast that I didn’t move and even if I wanted to, I couldn’t have because as soon as his lips touched mine, I melted against his body and let him deepen the kiss.
When he pulled away, he was just as out of breath as I was and other than wanting him to kiss me again, my brain had shut down and I couldn’t move.
“You intrigue me, Precious, so the answer to your question, regarding what I want is this.” He leaned down next to my ear and whispered, “I want to date you. Give me three dates and I’ll give you back your ring.”
“You want to what?” I couldn’t believe my ears.
He turned around and headed towards the front door of the shop and yelled without turning around, “I’ll pick you up tonight at seven for our first date.”
I was still listening to the jingling of the bells on the door as Onyx walked back in and stood next to me.
“I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but… I believe I like the dude, even if he doesn’t have a soul. Anyone that can render you speechless and looking like a doofus staring at the door that he walked out of minutes ago, has to be a great dude in my book.”
CHAPTER FIVE
“You’re dating this
guy now? The Huckleberry Finn, one-night-stand dude?” Monica was completely shocked when I finally had a chance to tell her everything that had happened since meeting Flynn.
“Huckleberry Finn? I told you his name was Flynn, and I told you, in order for me to get our family ring back, I have to go on three dates with him.” I rolled my eyes in annoyance as I did a once over in the mirror to see how I looked before he picked me up and I had to admit, my legs looked pretty great in the hot little dress I was wearing.
“Whatever you say, but Flynn is his last name, and Huckleberry is his first name.” She giggled. “So I have to ask, is Huck a good fuck?” She let out another round of giggles as I pulled the phone away so that I could hear myself think.
“I believe I would know what his name is.” I yelled into the speaker to shut her up.
“If you say so, but if Flynn is his first name, what’s his last name? Did you not pay attention to what you texted me the night you met him or were you that drunk?”
Could she be right? What are the odds that I’ve met someone who has just as crazy as a name as I did?
I pressed the speaker button on my phone and went to our text messages and scrolled up to the picture that I had sent to Monica and died laughing when I saw that she was right.
“I’m your Huckleberry,” she had lowered her voice, “do you get it? That was Val Kilmer’s line in Tombstone and one of my favorite parts of the movie, right before he killed Johnny Ringo.”
“Yes, I get it.” I shook my head at my stupidity. “I never paid attention to what I was texting you so maybe I was more wasted than I thought. I can’t believe that I’m going out on a date with a guy who’s name is weirder than mine. Huckleberry Finn Flynn. Talk about a tongue twister.” I was baffled that I didn’t catch it when I looked at his driver’s license. I was still looking at what I had sent her and smacked myself in the forehead. “Did you notice anything else about the information I sent you?”