by Nicole Dykes
“Holy shit! You’re actually fucking here,” Jax says and shakes my hand.
I laugh, “Why wouldn’t I be?”
Luke gives me a fist bump before saying, “I figured you’d chicken out. Didn’t really think you’d have any interest in the business side of things.”
I actually do. This isn’t like other boring business internships. This is with the Monroes and Jax. I have no doubt this summer will be interesting. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Well welcome to Tricked. Here,” Dylan says as he hands me some papers. “Fill those out so we can pay ya.”
I nod. “No problem.”
His phone rings and he nods to Jax. “Don’t be too much of a dick.”
Jax flips him off and Dylan walks down the hall to what I’m assuming is his office, laughing and answering his phone.
“I gotta get to work,” Luke says, but before he walks away he asks, “How was your first night living with the ex?”
“Living with Van is going to be fun. I don’t even think of her that way anymore.”
He just laughs shaking his head at me as he walks out of the office toward his own garage. Luke works on motorcycles and dirt bikes only. The other half of the garage is for cars.
After I fill out paperwork, Jax shows me around and is surprisingly professional. He even limits the amount of times he says “Fuck,” which if you know Jax at all, you know how strange that is.
When we’re finished with the tour, he says, “All right, let’s go.”
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“Most of our job is meeting with clients. It used to be only Dylan’s job, but I’ve gotten better at it over the years and since he has so many kids, I make most of the trips outside of the office. Today we are staying local, but this job does require some traveling.”
“I can handle that,” I say and follow him out to his truck.
We both climb in and he says, “Most of our clients have way too much money and we are happy to help them spend it. About half of them like to be catered to and think we should go to them to listen to their every need.”
I nod and fasten my seat belt as I soak in the information. “I grew up around rich assholes. I get it.”
He smiles. “Yeah, that’s why I figured you would be perfect for this internship. You probably speak their language.”
Not something I’m proud of, but he’s probably right.
He takes off and then says, “So it wasn’t weird moving in with your ex?”
I shake my head, lying. “Nah. Van’s just my friend.”
He laughs, just like Luke did.
Everyone knows there is nothing normal about this whole situation. I wonder how long it will be before they find something else to talk about.
Chapter 12
Van
“All right, if you just want to take a seat at my desk, I have to go check in with my supervisor and then I’ll take you home.” Brooke says to me before walking through the sea of cubicles in the large, crowded office of the Missouri Department of Social Services, Children’s Division, in downtown Kansas City.
I do what she suggests and pull out her office chair, plopping down, letting the images of today fully soak in.
So many broken and sad little faces staring at me. Some like they hated me, some like I was their only hope in the world. Some that have been through the system so many times they are already jaded, possibly beyond repair. Some who were horrified by the mystery of what was to come.
Angry parents shouting and calling us names. Saddened grandparents agreeing to take temporary custody.
I shudder and then jump when I feel, Brooke’s hand on my shoulder followed by her voice. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”
I clear my throat and compose myself, standing up from her chair. I straighten the charcoal blazer I chose for today. I have on a matching skirt, a black camisole underneath and a pair of black pumps. All chosen with the excitement and hope of getting to help people.
I look at Brooke who is just as put together, but she doesn't look nearly as worn down by the day as I feel.
She looks as if she’s studying me and then says, “I didn’t want to sugarcoat it, Vanessa.”
I look at her with what I’m sure is a puzzled expression. “Sugarcoat, what?”
“The job. It’s not easy, but I believe you can handle it. My first summer interning, the woman that took me around was very careful. She shielded me from her darkest cases and I believe she thought she was helping me, but it did me a disservice.”
I nod my head. “I don’t need protection.”
She gives me a small smile. “Yeah. I know. You’re tough. I could tell the moment I met you. Anyway, this is my normal caseload and it’s what you’re gonna get all summer as long as you’re shadowing me. It isn’t easy though, so if you need to talk, I’m here.”
I give her what I hope is a reassuring smile and square my shoulders. “I can handle it.”
I don’t want her to think I’m weak. “I believe that.” She looks at me as if she knows all my deep dark secrets and frankly it freaks me out so I clear my throat again. “So, is it time to clock out?” I ask, hoping she doesn’t see how uncomfortable I am.
She laughs. “Well honestly this isn’t a nine to five job by any means, but it’s your first day, so I’ll spare ya the paperwork.”
I raise up my right hand in the air in a halting motion. “No. I didn’t mean that. I don’t mind staying at all. I want the full experience.” I say even though all I truly want to do is run.
She shakes her head, “There’s plenty of time for that. Let’s get you out of here. I’ll just take it home. Trust me, Dylan’s used to it.”
I’m sure that’s true. Brooke is so dedicated, but not only to her work. Her family comes first. I follow her out to her car and climb in still shell shocked from the day.
She asks me a couple of times if I need to talk, but I politely decline, and before I know it, she’s dropping me off in front of my new home for the summer.
I walk inside and hang my purse on the hook by the door. I’m in a funk when I walk into the kitchen and smile when I see Cam standing at the counter messing with his phone. When he sees me, he sits it down and is grinning when he says, “Hey! How was the first day?”
I pull off my blazer and sit it on the countertop before yanking my hair out of the tight bun I had sitting on top of my head all day. Walking over to the fridge, I pull it open and pull out a glass beer bottle, screw off the lid and take a drink.
Cam's eyes are locked on me the entire time. “That bad huh?”
I jump up and sit on the granite counter top. I take another swig of beer. “People suck.”
Cam laughs and saunters over to stand directly in front of me. Suddenly I’m regretting my choice of where I sat. The close contact with my gorgeous ex is making me dizzy. He’s dressed in a pair of ripped jeans and a tight black t-shirt. His internship is far less formal than mine. “Well yeah, but you already knew that.”
I hold my legs a little closer together, noting that I’m wearing a skirt. Thankfully it’s a decent length. “Yeah, but not this much.”
His blue eyes connect with mine, his legs brush mine. “What happened?”
I take another gulp of beer, “I just don’t get people. If you don’t want kids, don’t have them. It’s that simple. I mean there are tons of forms of birth control out there.”
He nods his head and takes my beer taking a sip before moving, so he’s now standing beside me, leaning back against the counter. One arm crossed, holding his strong bicep as he drinks my beer. “You knew it wasn’t going to be all puppies and rainbows. If there’s one thing you aren’t, it’s naïve.”
I smile, most people think I am naïve and possibly even sheltered. Hell, Cam should think that too, but he knows me so well. Even though I haven’t told him everything.
“I know. I’ve read case files and studies, but nothing could prepare me for actually seeing it.” I tu
rn to look at his face. “It was awful.”
He puts the beer down on the counter next to him and wraps one arm around me. I take in his clean scent and lean my head on his shoulder. “I’m sure it was, but that’s why you want to go into this career right? The world is shitty, and you want to make it better. If anyone can do it, it’s you.”
Wow. He’s good. “Thank you.” It’s all I can get out at the moment, overwhelmed by his words, but I can feel him smiling as we sit there in silence.
After a little bit, he’s the first to say something. “Hungry?”
I turn to look at his happy, easy expression. “Starving! We skipped lunch. I don’t think Brooke even noticed.” He chuckles at that and I ask, “So, pizza or Chinese?”
He scoffs and steps away from the counter, holding his hand out to help me down. I take the help and hop down as he answers, “Fuck that. I’m grilling.”
He pulls open the stainless steel fridge door and brings out a package of steaks and some already-cut vegetables. I laugh, “You’re not kidding? Since when do you grill?”
He prepares the meat with an assortment of spices as I stare in amazement. “Since I was around twelve, I think, and the guy my sister was banging at the time taught me.”
“Which sister?”
I’ve only met two of them and it was brief. Cam isn’t really close with any of his family and that includes his three older sisters. “Jill,” he answers.
“The oldest.” The only sister I haven’t met.
He nods his head and hands me the plate of veggies as he takes the one with meat and I follow him out the patio door to where the grill is. “Yup. She didn’t date him long, but I liked him. The only dinners we had at our house were takeout. Usually ordered by us when our parents left money by the door for that purpose.” He lights the grill and continues, “Anyway, guess he felt sorry for us so he grilled dinner a couple of times and taught me.”
I smile at him, handing him the plate of veggies. “That's nice. How did I not know that?”
He shrugs, placing the food strategically on the grill. “Hunt grilled at our place. He’s good at it so I didn’t feel the need to.”
I nod my head at his explanation. “Have you talked to him?”
“Couple of texts. Figured I’d let him get settled.”
I know he misses him already. Their little bromance is awfully cute, but I don’t give him a hard time about it.
Instead I just take a seat at the glass patio table and stare at the shimmering underground pool in Luke's old backyard. I can’t wait to see their new place if it’s supposedly an upgrade from this one.
Cam's phone dings and he pulls it out of his pocket. Looking at the screen he says, “Oh fuck.”
He closes the lid of the grill and I can’t help myself. “Forget you have plans with Dani?” Did I sound bitter?
He chuckles and takes the chair across from mine, his phone still in his hand. “Nah, I bet I won’t hear from Dani for at least a week.”
I feel more excitement than I should when I ask, “Why? Did you piss her off?”
He grins, looking at his phone, texting something. Then sits it down and turns those blues toward me. “No, she just got back into town though, and I’m sure she has a couple of guys she wants to hang out with first.”
I crinkle my nose in reflex. “That doesn’t bother you?”
“What? Dani being with other guys?” I nod my head in an answer and he shrugs. “No. Why would it?”
It makes me feel better that he doesn’t seem to care if she’s with other guys. That he isn’t jealous. “Nevermind. We probably shouldn’t be talking about this.”
His brow furrows in confusion. “Why not? We're friends. I think that means we can talk about anything.”
“We’re also exes,” I shoot back.
“Exactly! We’ve had sex many, many, many times so we should be able to talk about it.”
I laugh at his exaggeration and then shake my head adamantly. “No. Not when it’s about sex with others.”
He smirks. “So, that means you want to talk about the times we’ve done it then?”
A hot flush comes over me. I want to hate when he does that, but I laugh because I don’t. Not really. It astonishes me how easily he can make me laugh. “No.”
“Van, we’re friends first. Okay? So, no it doesn’t bother me that Dani has sex with other guys. She’s not my girlfriend, and I sleep with other chicks. As long as we’re both careful, I don’t see the harm.”
He’s always had very relaxed policies on sex. One of the reasons it was easy for me to believe that bitch, Krista, when she told me he slept with her while we were dating. Why wouldn’t he? “Right,” I say.
He shakes his head. “I know my sex life bothers you.”
I shake my head. “Your sex life is none of my business. But you don’t have to protect me either. If that’s Dani, that’s totally fine with me.”
“I’m not lying, Van. It’s not Dani.”
Wow. He works fast. “When did you have time to meet another girl?” I hope I don’t sound jealous. This whole friend thing is hard.
“I didn’t. Chris is the one that sent me a text.”
“Chris?” I ask and then go through my memory, coming up blank. “Chris who?”
“Adamson.”
Adamson. Chris Adamson? Then it hits me. “Alex’s Chris?” I ask, flabbergasted. Alex dated him last year, but they broke up, and she started dating Shriller.
He laughs, “Well not anymore, now that she’s Shriller’s Alex, but yeah that one. We talked at Christmas and the engagement party about him doing a tattoo for me. Planned on doing it this summer since I knew I would be in town.”
I nod. Chris owns his own tattoo parlor and is really talented. He’s done tattoos for a lot of the guys. “Isn’t that kind of cheating on Shriller? He’s gonna be pissed.”
He laughs at my obvious joke. “Maybe if we were chicks and if he did tattoos for a living.”
“I don’t know. I think he’s gonna get all jealous.”
He laughs again. “Dylan and Jax still hang out with him quite a bit. He’s a good guy. From what I hear, Alex is the one that fucked him over so, it’s not like he hurt her.” He shrugs his large shoulders. “Otherwise, it might be a different story.”
“So, does that mean dinner’s off? You have to go?”
“No, he still has a few more clients. I’ll go over later.” He stares at me from across the table, kicked back and relaxed in his chair now. “Wanna go with me? Get that tattoo you wanted?”
I laugh, knowing instantly what he’s talking about. Pillow talk when we first started dating. Cam has a tattoo on his right pec of a K-State wildcat and his football number. I joked about getting a matching one. I shake my head, “No. Still have an irrational fear of needles.”
He laughs and nods his head in the direction of my chest, “Come on, Van. Right tit. You know you want it.”
I roll my eyes, but I’m laughing with him. “No way. My boobs are staying ink free. I’ll leave the chest ink to Dani. I’m sure she’d be into that.”
He grins. “Yeah probably.” He unexpectedly grabs my wrist that’s resting on the table and flips it over, so my palm is up. Running a finger over the vein on my wrist he says, “I always thought it would look hot right here.”
I swallow, now looking into his eyes, soaring on the feeling of his light touch on my just my wrist. “Yeah?”
His eyes are intensely locked on mine and I find myself squirming in my seat. “Yeah,” his harsh voice whispers. Damn.
It’s all too much, and I clear my throat and pull away just as he drops his hand at the same time and stands up to check the food.
We both take a moment, and then he says, “So, how ‘bout it? Wanna get wild and get that tattoo?”
I laugh, happy that the tension seems to have eased. Any longer trapped in that eye lock and I would have had to jump in the pool to cool down. It’s been way too long since I’ve been touched. “Don�
��t think so. Where are you getting this new tattoo?”
He motions to his right side. “Along my ribs, I think.”
I shake my head and stare a little too long at his defined torso, although he has a shirt on. It was only this morning that he was shirtless in the kitchen we share. His chiseled chest and abs are forever etched in my mind. “Won’t that hurt?”
He takes the veggies off the grill but leaves the meat. “Nah, I’m not worried.”
Today was shitty, there’s no nice way to put it. I saw horrific things, and it was only day one. The thing that is amazing to me, sitting here chatting with Cam is how quickly he turned it all around. Just by being him.
Maybe this living together thing will work out just fine.
Chapter 13
Vanessa
The next morning, I wake up to the sound of my alarm clock blaring next to me. I hit the button to turn it off, still groggy from sleep.
I throw off my silk sheets and climb out of the full-sized bed of the guest room. I slowly make my way to the door, but stop, remembering Cam’s and my conversation about me not wearing a bra. I still can’t believe his brazen way of staring at me. I should have been pissed, but instead, like always, it just turned me on. The fact that I still make him hot gets me hot. How sick is that?
Instead of searching for my bra I make way down the hallway to the kitchen, wearing the exact same thing I wore yesterday.
Cam is nowhere to be found, so I start the coffee this morning and grab a bowl out of the cabinet to pour myself to cereal. Before I can search for the box, Cam, clad only in a black pair of boxer briefs, comes flying into the kitchen and ducks down beneath the counter. Crouching by my feet. I look down at him like he’s lost his mind because I’m pretty sure he has. “Cam? What the hel . . .”
“Shhh!” He holds one finger up to his lips and begs me with his eyes to be quiet.
What the hell is going on? My question is instantly answered when a blond chick, just a little taller than me walks into the kitchen cautiously looking around. “Is Cam in here?”
I look down where Cam is still perched shaking his head no, emphatically. I look back at the girl, who looks to be around our age. She’s overly tan, with bleach blond hair and huge boobs that have to be fake, judging by her frame. The girl is a walking Barbie Doll. She’s dressed only in the shirt Cam had on last night with her hair mussed all over her head. Looks like they had a wild night. Thank you noise cancelling headphones.