by Amy Brent
No way in hell.
Chapter 4
Amber
“You saw who?” Kelly asked.
“Fucking Tyler. The guy from college? Remember him?” I asked.
“How could I forget? You called me up squealing that you’d lost your virginity,” Kelly said, giggling.
“Shut up and listen,” I said. “He’s Luke’s fucking business partner. As in, he’s going to be in LA Frequently. Because they’re expanding here.”
“Will you let him expand you again?” she asked.
“Are you serious, Kelly?” I asked. “The man who took my virginity and gave me my first orgasm is fucking sleeping at my parents’ house, and all you can think about is whether or not I’m going to do him?”
“He made you cum! That doesn’t always happen with men,” she said.
“Don’t I know it,” I said.
“Did you love him?” she asked.
“Love Tyler?”
“Yeah. Back in college,” she said. “When you two were hooking up or whatever it was. Did you love him?”
“I mean, I guess? I was a giddy college girl who was being paid attention to by a senior. A hot senior with rippling muscles, to boot. I was probably as in love as I could’ve been for the moment,” I said.
“You know what I mean. You were really in love with him?” she asked.
“We were only together for, like, two months. How the hell am I supposed to know?” I asked.
“My parents say you just know that kind of stuff,” she said.
“Well, no. If I’m supposed to just ‘know,’ then I didn’t know shit,” I said.
“What cut your fling short?” she asked.
“He left. He graduated and got whisked away to New York City, and now I realize who whisked him away,” I said.
“Your brother,” she said.
“Exactly. All I knew was he was going off to start his life or whatever with his business degree, and he couldn’t do long distance relationships. And, I was okay with that.”
“Did you have any idea he knew you brother?” she asked. “Did you have any inkling of an idea that he was going with Luke to New York City?”
“Not a fucking clue,” I said. “I didn’t even know Luke had a business venture lined up in New York City. I thought he was pursuing a graduate degree!”
“This is fate, Amber,” she said.
“Oh, shit. Here we go,” I said.
“I’m serious. You mean to tell me this man rocks your world in college, runs off with your brother, then comes back here to expand his business and is now sleeping in your childhood home? How the hell is that not fate?” she asked.
“You make it sound like my brother stole my boyfriend,” I said, smirking.
“I didn’t realize he was your boyfriend,” she said.
“Of course, we were fucking! At least, I think he was, anyway. I wasn’t seeing anyone else while he was seeing me,” I said.
“Anyone else would’ve been a disappointment anyway, from what you’re telling me,” she said.
“And you should see the way he looks now. Oh, girl. He looks more luscious than he did in college,” I said.
“More muscles? More bad boy?” she asked.
“All the muscles and all the bad boy,” I said.
“Sounds right up your alley, which means your mom’s going to hate it,” she said.
“If my mom had it her way, I would’ve married rich right out of high school and never even gone to college. You know they’re still expecting me to take over my dad’s production company?”
“Sounds like fun,” she said flatly.
“Why the hell don’t they understand that I have my own dreams, too? Luke got to go off and pursue his, and yet I’m stuck running something I’m not happy doing? Where’s the fairness in that?” I asked.
“You could use Tyler to relieve some of that stress you’re carrying,” she said, smirking.
“You’re relentless,” I said.
“And I still believe it’s fate,” she said.
“Well, I don’t. So stuff it,” I said.
“I intend to once our food gets here,” she said.
Kelly was my best friend and my rock. I met her my freshman year of college when we were both in the dancing program, but she was just taking it for recreational purposes. She was an education major and had a passion for working with special needs children, and all I could do was wish her the best. She had the patience of a monk and the determination of a momma bear defending her cubs. She always told me she considered her students her children, and there was never a moment where I ever heard her complain about her job.
Not once.
She was the saint to my devilishness and had a wicked crush on my brother. She didn’t think I knew, but every time I talked about my family, she would ask how he was. I kept telling her to come over one day and have lunch with all of us, but she always refused, saying she was too nervous or too busy or too sick. I knew she’d give me a hard time about this Tyler bullshit, but I also knew she’d always tell me the truth.
Well, the truth according to her.
We stuffed our faces with food while I asked her about work, and she had nothing but glowing things to say about her students. Mark—a six-year-old who still wasn’t speaking well—said his first sentence a couple of weeks ago, and a high-functioning autistic child in her class was beginning to finally open up and talk with her. Randy—a cute little boy with Down’s Syndrome—brought her an apple today before giving her a massive hug And Mandy—another little girl with Down’s Syndrome—was beginning to finally make friends in class. She talked me through the developments her small little students were going through, and I sat there and smiled, wishing I could love my job as much as she loved hers.
My father wanted me to take over the business, and my mother wanted me to marry rich. The only problem is, neither of those things were what I wanted to do with my life.
I wanted to open my own dance studio right in the heart of LA I wanted to reach out to the types of students Kelly worked with and offer them classes they could come to and have fun. I wanted to create a safe space for teenagers to go on the weekends while they learned a new skill, and I wanted to have professional classes where I taught budding Broadway stars how to control their entire bodies while singing out to the masses.
I wanted to love my life the way Kelly loved hers, but it seemed like my family was out to completely destroy that.
And now Tyler Raymond was nothing but a fucking distraction I couldn’t afford.
My vibrating phone stopped the conversation in its tracks and pulled me from my thoughts. It vibrated deep within the pockets of my purse, roaring to life with its incessant bothering of the outside world. There were many times I wanted to simply shut my phone down and cut out everything that didn’t align with the plans I had for my life.
But, my mother would probably send a search party to find me four hours later.
“Maybe it’s Tyler,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows.
“That dick doesn’t even have my number,” I said.
“Wasn’t talking about his junk. I was talking about him,” she said, grinning.
“Just my mom,” I said. “Hold on a second. Hey, Mom.”
“Hey there sweetheart,” my mom said. “Could you come over and help me decorate?”
“What are you decorating for?” I asked.
“For Christmas, sweetheart,” she said with a sigh.
“Oh. I thought you were throwing some lavish party for Luke or something,” I said.
“No, we aren’t praising our perfect child like you believe that we always do this time,” she said. “Just some boring Christmas decorations to celebrate the holidays.”
“I’ll be over there soon. Try not to marry me off before I get there,” I said.
“Can’t make any promises,” my mother said. “See you soon.”
I rolled my eyes and hung up the phone, but inside I was nervous. Going back over to the house meant
seeing Tyler again, and I wasn’t sure what would happen now that the shock of seeing him had worn off. Maybe he was only hot because he was a surprise. Maybe I would go over there, think he was ugly as fuck, and laugh behind his back while I put up all the garland around the house.
Or maybe he’d be hotter today, and I’d try to steal glances at him whenever no one was looking. Which was always, because everyone was always looking at Luke anyway.
“You’re nervous,” Kelly said.
“Of course, I’m nervous,” I said. “Why the hell wouldn’t I be?”
“My advice? Fuck him.”
“That’s shit advice, Kelly. Thanks,” I said.
“No, I’m serious. He’s popped back up into your life, and he is a blatant reminder of something you could’ve had, but didn’t. Fuck him to get him out of your system, then he won’t be anything but the guy you fucked in college,” she said.
“I don’t think that’s even slightly accurate,” I said.
“If you sleep with him and he’s terrible at it, or you don’t like it, then you get to move on. If you sleep with him and you love it, or he’s wonderful at it, then you can keep up a fling that will give you something in this city to smile about,” she said.
“Or, I could not fuck him at all, avoid the house for the holidays, and cut out both the drama of him and the drama of my family in one fell swoop,” I said.
“If you would just take the advice, you’d get your answer, Amber, because the reason you’re nervous isn’t that you’re about to see him.”
“Then why I am nervous, oh wise, sprawling Oracle?” I asked.
“You’re nervous because you’re wondering if he wants to see you,” she said, grinning.
“Check, please,” I said.
And Kelly sat back in her chair and laughed while I paid for lunch.
Chapter 5
Tyler
I had never seen so many fucking Christmas decorations in my life. There was a tree we had to help set up and lights to be strung on it. There were bulbs that had to be changed and green shit that was being placed on the fireplace mantle, stair railing and everywhere. There were towels in the kitchen that had to be switched out and salt-and-pepper shakers that needed to be rotated. Everything from a nativity scene to lights on the house needed to be set up today, and the entire household was in smiles.
Luke kept handing me green shit to string up along the banister, then Darlene came around the corner and started talking about how beautiful it would look with white twinkling Christmas lights. Darlene slid her arm around her son’s back, and for a split second, I felt a pang of jealousy run through my body.
I bet it was nice to do this kind of shit with family all the time.
“Thank you so much for helping us decorate,” Darlene said. “It really is a big help having lots of strong, sturdy men to help me with things.”
“Not a problem. Honestly, I’ve never done this before. So, thanks for the invite,” I said.
“You’ve never decorated your home for Christmas before?” she asked.
“Nope. That wasn’t really a priority at my house.”
I finished up the green shit and came back down the stairs before I turned the corner and pushed past Luke. I really wasn’t up for the questions I knew Darlene would shoot my way, but I heard her footsteps behind me as I made my way into the kitchen.
“Why not?” she asked. “I mean, why wasn’t decorating a priority?”
“I take it Luke hasn’t told you much about my family,” I said.
“Not really, no,” she said honestly.
“Didn’t really feel it was my place,” Luke said as he walked into the kitchen.
“The short of it is that my parents are drug addicts.”
I looked up and saw the shock on Darlene’s face, and I questioned whether or not I should continue. Here I was, a stranger in their beautiful home, and I’d just admitted to being around drugs my entire life. It wasn’t something you told a stranger, but it really wasn’t something you brought up around the holidays.
“I’m so sorry,” she said.
“It’s nothing. Their priorities were just spending their extra money on heroin. They’ve been drug addicts my whole life. It’s why I left for college. Not for an education, but just to leave,” I said.
“So, you guys didn’t do Christmas at all?” she asked.
“Mrs. Duffield, my parents weren’t even concerned about feeding me, much less buying me Christmas gifts,” I said, snickering. “I don’t even think they realized the holiday would come and go while they were in their drugged stupor in the basement.”
“Well,” she said as she wrapped her arm around my waist, “then we will consider this your first Christmas. We’re going to decorate the house, inside and out, and then we’ll go out and have a nice dinner. We always do it after a long day of decorating because no one in this house feels like cooking afterward.”
“That’s very kind of you, thanks,” I said.
“I, for one, am really glad you’re here with us this Christmas,” she said, smiling.
“I’m excited. It’ll be nice to see it come and go with people who enjoy it,” I said.
“I’m here, Mom. Don’t tell me you’ve started without me.”
My dick lurched at the sound of her voice, and I pulled away from Darlene. My body whipped around and caught her walking down the hallway toward the kitchen, and I could feel myself throbbing against my jeans. She had on this tight sweater that showed off her tits that bounced with every movement she made, and skinny jeans hugged those toned legs that went on for days.
I instantly saw her wrapping them around my waist as I plowed between those thick thighs of hers.
“Better late than never,” Darlene said. “Would you like to help me with the outside or the inside?”
“Outside,” she said.
“Are you sure you don’t want to help with the inside? You might fall and hurt yourself,” Darlene said.
“If you wanted me inside, you should’ve just said so, Mom,” Amber said.
I want to be inside you.
Her body was going to be a distraction for the rest of the day, I could feel it. I pulled up my pants to try and rearrange my dick without shoving my hand down there, but the only thing it did was make it worse. I slowly took a step away from Darlene as Amber’s eyes connected with mine, and for a split second I could’ve sworn she flickered her gaze down to my dick.
“You can help me with the upstairs. I haven’t even started to exchange the towels in the bathrooms yet,” Darlene said.
“Oh, goody. Where are the boxes I get to haul?” Amber asked.
“Your father’s already done that part, smarty pants,” Darlene said, smiling.
“I hate to break up the family bonding,” I said, “but I’m going to find the bathroom.”
“Knock yourself out,” Amber said.
However, the steely burn behind her eyes told me there was a bit more legitimacy to her statement than even she was willing to admit.
I walked down the hallway and turned into the bathroom before I sighed with relief. Part of me wanted to beat off right here in the bathroom before I returned to decorating, but I knew if I thought about Amber’s body I wouldn’t be able to keep quiet. I splashed some cold water on my face before I soaked my hands in it, then I reached down into my pants and resituated myself. The cold water helped the throbbing of my dick to subside, but I knew I’d walk around with it for the rest of the day.
Fucking Amber and those tight clothes of hers. She was going to drive me nuts.
I flushed the toilet to make it seem as if I’d used the bathroom, and then I ventured back into the kitchen. Amber and Darlene were still going back and forth, and I smirked as I listened to them banter.
“If you let me stay down here and do the tree, then we can get this done faster,” Amber said.
“The point of decorating isn’t to make it go faster, Amber. It’s to enjoy the family’s company,” Darlene
said.
“And we can enjoy each other’s company after we are done decorating. Mom, every single year we spend the entire day decorating, and by the time we are all done, we’re too tired to enjoy dinner. Why don’t we split up the work, have one person tackle one thing, and then we can all enjoy a nice dinner and have some good conversation for once,” Amber said.
“We’ve always done it this way, Amber. It’s not going to change just because you come in stomping your foot.”
“I’m not stomping my foot, Mom. I’m just providing a different point of view that you obviously don’t want to even listen to,” Amber said.
“I’ve listened, and all I hear is the sound of an ungrateful daughter who doesn’t want to spend time with her family. Luke, sweetheart, would you like to help me upstairs?” Darlene asked.
“Sure, Mom,” he said.
I watched the fire in Amber’s eyes dwindle as Luke walked off with Darlene, and I could understand why she was upset. It wasn’t that she wanted to change things or wanted to be a spoiled brat. She only wanted to know her voice was heard.
And, with the familial interaction she kept getting herself into, I had a feeling that her voice wasn’t heard very often.