by R. D. Berg
“Transgender, who the hell would tell you something like that?” His face is all kinds of angry and confused. I dare not mumble a word, so I sit in silence watching the scene unfold in front of me. She tilts her head from side to side calculating her answer. While I am sitting here calculating how I am going to get out of this sticky situation.
She giggles again before saying, “Lundy.” In a deep dramatic voice then slides down the length of the seat passing out. Who the hell does that? Wreak havoc on someone’s first date then passes the fuck out?
As if they were magnets, my eyes pull themselves to Mavericks. His stare is glacial and chills me down to the core and it could be the lack of lighting, but if I am not mistaken his nostrils flare emitting a puff of smoke from them. Damn.
A nervous giggle escapes. “Drunks. What do they know?” I sing waving my hand dismissively trying to diffuse the tense situation.
“From my experience, they always tell the truth,” he says through clenched teeth. I open my mouth to apologize, but he throws a hand up stopping me. “Don’t.” I clamp my mouth shut and throw my hands back over my chest.
“Fine,” I angrily breath out.
“Fine,” he yells as he skids off.
Five seconds pass before a small voice comes over the radio. “Ummm, you guys know we heard everything, right?” And a round of boisterous laughter erupts through the radio.
I roll my eyes and sigh.
What a great first date.
I try to focus on everything but my raging blood. It's boiling just below the surface, and the fact I have a drunk and a white liar in my squad car doesn't ease my heart rate. Sure, one’s passed out, but the other… Well, if looks could kill, I'd be dead.
She acts like she has a right to be pissed off as she huffs and crosses her arms over that perfect chest of hers. No. No, I won't get distracted by the boobs, for fuck’s sake, my dick needs to stop thinking.
Light snoring comes from the cage of my car, annoying the shit out of me until we reach the station. Finn pulls in right behind me.
“I’ll deal with your transgression after hers.” My thumb points behind me, and again, Lundyn just huffs. “Stay here.” My gaze is met with her side eyeing me, brows drawn and lips pursed.
After waking Sleeping Hot Mess, I get her into the station after minor groping which consisted of her touching me, and Finn had to help restrain her before she made it into the holding tank for the night. She'll sleep it off at least.
“Dude, you sounded fucking livid at Lundyn.” Finn and I pause before opening the door that leads out into the night. Oh, that's right. The whole station heard that. No wonder everyone is avoiding me. I thought my anger shield was up.
“Fuck, I am. That was the night that sparked all of this.” Waving my hands toward her where she’s sitting in my car outside. “She watched me be stood up and never said a word. Hell, she sabotaged it! She saw me sitting by myself and came over to join me. I thought she was being civil, not gloating over another battle she'd won against me. Maybe I’m fucking sensitive, but I thought shit shifted that night and now…” I take a deep breath and run my hands through my hair. “Now, how do I know it's not all a scheme?”
“For what it's worth, I think it may have started that way, but it's not anymore.” His eyes soften with sympathy.
“You said so yourself, what if she's just trying to get to me. What if she's trying to win the war?”
“I guess you'll just have to find out.” His crooked smile isn't convincing.
I shrug. “I'm taking her home. I can't deal with this at work, and I'm pissed it happened on shift.”
“Just get the full story. Y'all both pull shit on each other, and this was before a treaty was made.” I know Finn is trying to be rational, but there's no room for that when anger is present.
Pushing the door open, I'm greeted with the humid night air. Through the window of my car, I can see Lundyn messing with her phone. When I settle into my seat and start the engine. She still doesn't look at me.
The car remains in dead silence to Harlow’s. There's so much I want to say, but honestly, I'm too fucking hurt to mumble a word, and that scares me.
My fucking feelings are hurt. And she means enough to hurt them.
“Goodnight, Lundyn.”
“What happened to Blue?” Her angry eyes blind me.
“You tell me because I’m asking myself that exact same thing.”
Pulling up to her house, Lundyn steps out of the car as Harlow rushes toward her. Great, now she's involved my sister. Just what I needed to add to this shitty shift.
“Mav, turn the lights on! I wanna get a Snapchat to the bad boy’s song with Lundy in the car!” Her phone is held up and ready to go.
Lundyn begins to shake her head slowly and says, “Not tonight, Lo.” And she allows her hands to fall to her sides.
“What's going on? You never refuse an epic snap.” Harlow is still holding her phone up, confusion marking over her face.
“Maverick is being a girl.”
“Makes sense, since apparently…I used to be one!” My voice raises with my simmering anger.
“It was a joke!” Lundyn shouts and stomps his foot.
“Glad I was the punchline, Lundyn.” I say her full name, so my blow impacts her as much as what she did impacted me.
“That's how we are. You torture me and vice versa.” Lundyn drives the stake in deeper.
“That's how we used to be.” My head spins slightly, and I swallow hard. “After everything, you didn't even mention it.” Fuck this hurts.
“What?” Harlow screeches but we ignore her. Eyes boring into the others.
“That was before…” Her voice loses its power, and she grimaces.
“Before what exactly?” My nostril’s flare. “I should have known all of this was just one of your schemes… trying to one-up me.” My pulse is speeding and if I don’t quit grinding my teeth – I’m going to have to make a dental appointment.
“Fine!” She throws her hands up. “You're right.”
I allow air to rush from my lungs and hang my head for a split second. I hate all of this. The fighting. Our reactions. The fact that this could all just be a game to her.
“We can discuss this later.” I compromise and with a tiny shred of hope that I'm wrong on her reasoning.
“I'm not into interrogations, Officer Strong. Goodnight.” She grabs Harlow by the arm and marches them both into the house.
Never thought I'd be a cop at my own domestic dispute.
Shit, even my inner humor is off.
I went after you. Those four words keep echoing in my mind. It’s almost been a week since Maverick and I had our first and last date, and I still hear him say those words. I went after you. However, they don’t mean anything because he freaking flipped out when he should’ve been thanking me. If it weren’t for me, he would’ve been subjected to that woman who makes piss poor judgments like drinking under the influence. So that’s why it’s business as usual as far as I’m concerned with Maverick and me – hate.
“You almost packed?” Harlow yells from somewhere in the house.
I zip my suitcase and place it on the ground. “Yeah almost,” I call back. Harlow and I are going away for a girl’s weekend to the Hill Country. Finn, believe it or not, let us use his family cabin there, without promising our first born or something else drastic. Three whole days of peace, serenity, and wine. I walk into my bathroom, scanning my messy counter, ensuring that I grabbed all of my toiletries. This getaway is just what I need to help drown some of the heavy stuff that’s been weighing on my mind…aka Maverick Strong.
I pull the suitcase down the hall, following the sweet aroma of coffee brewing and fresh blueberry muffins. Harlow is a girl of many talents, and she cooks up a mean blueberry muffin.
“Morning sunshine,” she chirps as she places a small plate of assorted fruit in front of me. Her back is turned before I have time to respond. I notice that our minds are in sync this mornin
g because we both are sporting messy buns, and racerback tanks.
“Morning.” I take a piece of juicy watermelon and pop it into my mouth.
“Muffins are almost done. I made enough to take with us,” she says as she pulls them from the oven.
“Actually, you made enough to feed a football team, Lo.” There are at least two dozen muffins.
She shrugs and laughs. “I might have accidently doubled the recipe.”
“Yeah, and did you accidently double our grocery list.” I take stock of all the groceries on the counter. Harlow said she would buy all the food for our getaway, I just didn’t know she meant the entire store.
“Never can be too sure out in the wilderness,” she retorts. A hot muffin and steaming cup of coffee are placed in front of me. She turns and begins loading the huge Yeti cooler with food.
“Since when did your cheap ass get a Yeti cooler?”
She blows out a frustrated breath. “Since Finn let my cheap ass borrow his.” She stops putting the food in and turns toward me. “Any more questions?”
“Nope.” I take a bite of the muffin and inhale it quickly so I can help Harlow load the groceries. We work in silence for a bit. “Lo, thanks for getting all this together.”
“No biggie. Plus, Finn owed me a favor anyway.” She clamps the lid on the cooler shut, sits on top of it, crossing her legs. “Believe it or not, I need this just as much as you.”
I hop on the counter and swing my legs back and forth. “Ok, what favor could Finn possibly owe you and what’s up with you?” This seriously has me perplexed because she’s usually the one put together.
“The favor is irrelevant.” She diverts her eyes for a millisecond. She begins to twirl a loose piece of hair; she’s nervous. “Lundy, I might like someone, and I don’t know if they even think of me that way.”
My mouth hangs open at her admission. I take a good look at my friend, and she looks absolutely lovesick. Suddenly, I feel like a horrible friend. I have been so wrapped up in getting my shit together that I haven’t even bothered to check on her. “Who is it, Lo?”
She stands and grabs the handle of the cooler. “It’s no one. I’m about to start my period and just being a Dramatic Donna.” I know not to pressure her to say more; it's futile. I hop down and grab the other handle, and we begin to make our way outside in silence.
Both of us are in love with someone who doesn’t even know it.
After two and half hours, we pull into the gravel drive of Finn’s family cabin. The two story cabin which sits atop a hill hidden behind an abundance of trees always takes my breath away no matter how many times I’ve seen it. Finn’s family always invited all of us and our parents here for Fourth of July every year while we were in high school. There are some great memories held inside of those four walls.
“I really wish I owned something like this,” I say as I stretch outside of the car.
“I know, right?” Harlow answers back without looking at me. Ever since we left, Harlow has seemed kind of off. She didn’t even sing along to Rihanna and seemed distant when I tried to engage her in any type of conversation.
“Everything all right, Lo?” I ask as she types in the code to unlock the door.
She startles at my question. “Shit. Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry, you scared me.” The keypad lights up initiating a soft click. I shake off her weirdness as soon as we enter the cabin. The woodsy decor compliments the exposed white pine walls and the floor to ceiling windows that make up the front wall. The one thing I have always loved about the living room is the huge deer antler chandelier that’s the main focal point of the room.
Harlow’s cell phone rings and her eyes widen when she looks down at it. “Oh, I’m going to go get the other bags out of the car,” she says not bothering to look up from her phone. She hurries through the door, rattling the floor to ceiling windows as she slams it shut. Ok, this is just insane. Something is seriously up with her. I hear her answer her phone, and I swear I hear her say. “Where are you?”
My mouth is dry as a bone, so I make my way to the kitchen which opens up to the living room to get a bottle of water. I lean back against the counter after I take a long hard gulp of water, just as Harlow comes back through the door with a huge smile on her face. “Where are the bags?” I immediately ask.
“Huh, what?” she looks confused.
“You said you were getting more bags out of the car?”
“No, I didn’t.”
My mouth hangs open as she turns around to peer out of the window.
I rush over to her and hit her on the shoulder. “Dude, what the hell is up with you?”
“Ow.” She turns rubbing her shoulder. “What’s up with you?”
“You can’t answer a question with a question.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re doing it again.”
“Doing what?”
“Oh, my word.” I thrust my water bottle in her face, and I’m about to lay into her when the door knob turns. Both of our heads turn that direction.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Maverick and I say in unison as he and Finn step through the door.
“Surprisingly, I’m here in the flesh, ladies.” Finn chuckles from my side, but my eyes can only focus on Lundyn and her shocked face. “You won’t have to think of me in your fantasies.”
“Get over yourself, Finn,” Harlow chimes in, but never once does she question why we’re here.
“Not to be rude, since this is your house and all Finn, but what the hell are y’all doing here?” Lundyn narrows her eyes in my direction.
“Just because you say it isn’t rude, doesn’t mean it’s not. It’s his house, he doesn’t need a reason to be here.” I sound like I’m in kindergarten.
She rolls her eyes so hard, I think she might have seen her brain. “Except, he gave Harlow and I free reign of it for the weekend, Captain Obvious.”
“That’s doubtful since we’re here to escape from insane women, such as yourself, you understand.” While Lundyn and I have our mental, physical and verbal showdown—nothing is ever easy with us— Harlow and Finn just watch with smiles on their face.
Lundyn and I, fed up, turn toward our best friends and ask, “What?” in unison.
“Nothing.” Harlow throws her hands up.
“What the hell is goin’ on?” My eyes shoot between my sister and best friend.
“It’s a love-vention!” Harlow cheers and does a little dance while Finn raises one brow at me.
“A...love-vention?” It sounds even stupider coming out of my mouth.
“Yeah, like an intervention, but without the whole, ‘you’re an alcoholic or drug addict thing.’ You’re just addicted to Lundyn, and that’s totally fine! Actually, we encourage it!” Harlow can’t contain her grin.
“What in the ever loving hell, Lo? You’re crossing so many boundaries here.” Lundyn crosses her arms over her chest.
“No.” My little sister points at Lundyn first, and then me. “You both are way off of the line you’re supposed to be walking!”
“One of us is and it for sure as hell ain’t me.” I mimic Lundyn’s stance.
“Bull-fucking-shit, Maverick!” Lundyn snaps, throwing her arms down and stomping her tiny foot.
“See!” I make a show of my hands, “How can I rationalize with someone like her? Do I look like I'm fucking The Man in Black? I don’t walk any line.”
“And I’m not your June. I refuse to put up with your shit, Maverick.”
“My shit?” I ask incredulous. “My shit?” I point a finger at my chest as a mechanical laugh sputters out of me. “You’re delusional.”
“You think you’re so above me!” Lundyn spits out, her fist ball at her sides with so much intensity it causes her veins to pop out the back of her hands.
“You’ve lost your mind.” I shake my head and decide that right now, I need to distance myself from this situation. “I’ll be back later and when I am settled down.” I look at Lo a
nd Finn. “We’ll talk about this horrible intervention then.”
Before the door shuts, I hear Harlow say sympathetically, “I really hope he chooses rehab.”
“Rehab?” Finn questions her, and I can hear the sound of his smirk.
“The sexual kind.”
I can’t handle any of these people.
After grabbing my bags and pulling in a heaping amount of Hill Country air, I give myself ten minutes to get my shit in order. Having those eyes on me again along with her so close is fucking up my emotions.
Like always, she pisses me off one second and turns me on the next. Not that it takes much from her. The moment our gazes collided, my heartbeat kicked up in speed. I couldn't let her see how much her actions hurt me and that I still want her.
Harlow and Finn cooked up this half-ass love-vention, so when Harlow came looking for me, I followed her back into the cabin. She means well after all. “You weren't inside when we claimed our beds, so you're stuck with the last one.”
“No worries.” I shrug before I see the smile playing on her lips. “Lo?”
“Hmmm?” Her voice raises toward the end nervously.
“There's two bedrooms. Are you and Lundyn sharing?”
“Yup,” she answers too quickly. “We're sharing rooms.” Harlow opens the door, and I follow her into the cabin.
It's late evening. Finn and I tried to catch some sleep after our night shift and then got to the cabin a little bit late. With my bag in hand, I trek through the rooms until I find an empty bed and toss my bag on top of it.
“What're you doing, Maverick?” Lundyn’s nose scrunches up in confusion.
“Unpacking.” Dragging my eyes away from her, I pull my shirt by the collar, over my head and mumble through the fabric. “And changing. Do you mind?”