by Maddie Wade
“No,” I tell her sticking my tongue out at her.
She walks up behind me and wraps her arms around my waist. “So you’re not thinking about his hands touching you here, or thinking that his nice hard…” She pulls away from me as the door opens, and I can’t help but give her a smile.
“Hello,” I hear Taylor say from behind me, turning around to the customer, I look at the man.
He gives me a smile, I return it. I look at the little girl then back at the man. It’s the same guy that was with Jackson at the bar and at the park. I look out the window to see if I can see him anywhere, but nothing.
“Hello, so my daughter loves the chocolate bark with the popping candy in it,” he tells Taylor.
The little girl looks at me. “You know that’s my favourite too.” I give her a smile.
“It’s my Uncle Jacky’s too. He always eats mine,” she says looking at the door as another customer walks in.
“Do they have any sweetheart?” The woman asks giving the man a kiss on the cheek.
What is going on? I rewind all the times I’ve seen them together to see where I went wrong with everything, then my eyes look down at her stomach.
“Congratulations.” I turn to the little girl. “Are you excited to be a big sister?” I ask her.
“Yes, I want them to be girls, but Uncle Jacky wants one of them to be a boy.” She smiles, and I can’t help but smile with her.
“Double congratulations to you then.” I wrap some of the bark in paper and place it in the bag. “Would you like anything else?” I ask them.
“Some of the hot chocolate powder.” The woman walks to the show case and looks through them.
The man looks at me and smiles. “I can see it, but you're not his normal type,” he says, then looks at his daughter who whispers something in his ear, and he starts laughing.
“Whose type?” I ask. In my head it's all coming together, but I really don’t want to make the same mistake again.
“My brother. I think you’ve met him. The gay one with the daughter,” he says and starts laughing.
His wife comes back over and hits him in the shoulder. “Don’t be mean, it was a very easy mistake, you two are very friendly, and then with the news and you getting drunk and you know you’re Mr ‘I Love Everyone’ when you're drunk,” she tells him with a grin and a nudge to the belly. She turns to me. “Hello I’m Sadie and this is Jake, Jackson’s brother.” She points to her husband.
“Very nice to meet you.” I look down at the tub of hot chocolate. “I’m sorry, it was…” I stop talking because at this very moment, I have no words, I’m so embarrassed that I don’t want to look at them.
“I think it’s hilarious.” Jake starts laughing again.
“Ignore him,” Sadie says. “I do.” And she winks at me.
I give them both a smile and place the bag on the counter, and I can hear Taylor laughing quietly behind me. She is not going to let me hear the end of this.
Grabbing the bag Jake smiles. “Hope to see you around, Ashley,” he says, and they all leave.
As soon as the door shuts, Taylor bursts out laughing. I turn, and she is half on the floor, holding her stomach. “That was brilliant. Oh my God, I can’t even begin to tell you how funny this is,” she says as her knees hit the floor from laughing.
Grabbing a chocolate heart, I throw it at her. “Shut up,” I tell her. She is completely unmoved by my withering glare, in fact she laughs harder.
Turning around I serve the customer that has walked in, and Taylor finally stops laughing. I really thought he was gay, how wrong was I?
“I think someone deserves a date,” Taylor says waving the phone in front of me.
Taking the phone from her, I walk to the other side of the counter, and scroll to his name and send a message.
Ashley: So, you’re not gay.
Jackson: Like I said. So now do I get that date?
Ashley: Anywhere I want?
Jackson: As long as I get to go with you :)
Ashley: We are going to the park festival on Friday, would you like to join me?
Jackson: Yes, would love too.
I put the phone back in my pocket and walk into the back room before Taylor can start asking questions. Why do I feel guilty? I’m not dating Sexy Singer, I don’t even know what he looks like, but… I take my phone out.
Sexy Singer: Remember that guy I told you about? Well I agreed to go on a date with him on Friday, but I don’t know if it’s the right things to do while talking to you too.
Chapter 7
Jackson
I throw my fist in the air like I’ve just scored the winning penalty. Like a kid I want to run around with my shirt over my head. Jake came through for me and Tinkerbell has agreed to a date. I start typing into Google, about this festival on Friday, just as I hit enter my phone beeps.
Tinkerbell: Remember that guy I told you about? Well I agreed to go on a date with him on Friday, but I don’t know if it’s the right things to do while talking to you too.
God, could she be any sweeter? We’ve never met, yet she feels bad for cheating on me with me. It makes me feel even more of a douchebag. I need to stop lying to her and just tell her. I just need this date first, for her to get to know me, Jackson, better. Then I can murder my alter ego.
It’s funny because I kind of feel a little jealous of myself and want to punch my other self for charming Tinkerbell. God, what a fucking mess. This woman is tying me up in knots and I don’t even care. She is like a drug in my blood after just one kiss.
I need to answer the text, but what to say? I think and my fingers hover over the buttons on my phone.
Jackson: Tinkerbell, if he can make your toes curl with a kiss like I know he can then you should go. May the best man win.
I’m not sure if that was the best thing to say but too late, it’s gone now. I spend the rest of the night googling this concert. I haven’t been to a concert since I was sixteen years old. They are loud, messy, and everyone is usually drunk or high. I’m sure I can get through it though.
For the second night in a row I fall asleep with the memory of how Tinkerbell tasted on my lips. I wonder absently just before sleep finally claims me if you can actually cause permanent damage from blue balls?
By six in the evening on Friday, I’m ready to climb the walls. Work has been ridiculously busy with three new clients this week. I’ve started to put some feelers out for an apprentice. A little Padawan I can train in my image. Not some cocky little prick who wants a power kick. A nice guy who wants it for the right reasons.
I’m nervous, feeling a little off my game and I realise that it’s because for some weird reason this matters more than usual. I normally just date, screw, and bail. I’m not a dick as they always know the score first. I’m just not interested in relationships or I wasn’t until the rainbow pixie stepped on my foot.
Just thinking of her brings a smile to my face and a surge of blood to my body. I've dressed in dark jeans and a navy polo shirt. It feels safe and honestly, I have no hippy concert clothes anyway. Leaving the house, I drive to Sweet Heaven and park outside. I go to get out of the car and there she is. My mouth goes dry at the sight before me, she has short denim cut-off shorts, a red off-the-shoulder peasant top with some strange tassel things on it and a bag as big as her. She is bloody stunning. I would love to say that it is the outfit that is doing it for me, but I’d be lying.
The thing that is making me almost drool is the mandala lace tattoo garter around her thigh. It’s pretty and naughty with the top covered by her shorts, all I can think about is how I want to strip them off slowly so that I can see it and taste it.
I’m momentarily speechless and when I do open my mouth I wish I had stayed that way.
“I want to lick your flower!” The very second it’s out of my mouth I want to stab myself in the eye with a blunt spoon. ‘I want to lick your flower!’ Why the actual fuck did I say that for? I scramble as I watch her mouth drop open in sh
ock at my crass words.
“Excuse me?” she says. I see a frown pop up on her perfect brow.
I point and try to get the words out without making an even bigger dick of myself. “I mean on your leg. Shit, I mean your tattoo.” She still looks a little weirded out. Why can’t I seem to get through a conversation with this woman without it all going tits up?
I take a breath and calm my rampaging hormones. “Your tattoo is very pretty,” I say, finally saying something that doesn’t make me seem like the biggest creep in the world. I feel my muscles relax as she smiles at me. God, that smile. It gives me a funny feeling in my chest that I can’t identify. I rub my chest to ease whatever this is.
“So,” she says and swings her massive bag over her shoulder, “I thought maybe we could walk as it’s a nice evening?”
“That sounds good to me,” I say, and we walk side by side towards the Indie Dance Festival at the Court Gardens. As we move she takes my arm and a comfortable silence falls between us.
“So, come on, Jackson, tell me about yourself,” Ashley says, as I look at her and grin.
“Not much to tell. I live alone, and I’m single,” I say and catch her eye and grin again. “I work twelve-hour days, go to the gym every night. I’m an adoring slave to my niece Maisy. I hate liquorice and swede. I love Popcorn Bark and Wham Bars and I have never kissed a boy and definitely wouldn’t like it,” I say and watch her reaction.
She laughs like I hoped she would and lightly taps my arm. “So, tell me about Ashley the Chocolate Shop Owner?” I ask. We continue walking as she tells me about her shop and her best friend Taylor who sounds slightly terrifying. The more she talks the more enraptured I become.
She gives off a slightly hippie vibe with her rainbow blonde hair and plethora of tattoos, but she has a very sharp business mind and has a better five-year plan than I do.
We reach the entrance to the festival and show the attendant our tickets. It’s open air and has three stages in all. Lots of indie businesses with food and drink are set up, along with other stalls, like one that will turn your hair into dreadlocks.
We grab a drink from a nearby stall. It sells local beer and it’s good, better than good, it could become my new favourite drink. We walk until we find a spot near the second stage. The band is good and are playing some Foo Fighters covers. Ashley gestures to the grass and for a second, I blanch.
These are two-hundred-pound jeans and she wants me to sit on grass! She sees my face and falls flat on her back with her hands on her tummy in a fit of giggles. I crouch and lean into her.
“What’s so funny?” I ask with mock outrage.
“You should see your face, you look like someone just shoved a plumb up your ass.”
“I do not,” I defend, as she grabs my hand and pulls me down. I lose my balance and fall into her, making my beer spill on her leg.
I sit and laugh as we both look at her leg.
“Maybe you should lick my flower after all,” she giggles and despite the fact I know she is joking at my expense, I laugh too. I laugh until my sides hurt. Eventually I lie down beside her, and our faces are close together.
“Maybe I should,” I murmur as our eyes meet. The intensity changes and all of a sudden the air is charged with sexual energy.
“Maybe you should,” she whispers in a throaty voice. I start to lean forward and so does she.
Just as our lips are about to touch, I’m jolted by a body landing next to mine.
“Hey Ash, this your hunky gay stud?” her friend asks from beside me. I sit up and so does Tinkerbell.
“Taylor,” Ashley hisses and a blush stains her cheeks. It’s almost worth the gay dig to see that pretty face blush. I wonder if the rest of her blushes as prettily.
“What! Jackson knows I’m joking, don’t you Jackson?” she says.
“Yeah, it’s fine Ashley,” I say giving her a smile. “Anyway I’m concentrating on the hunk part of the sentence.”
Taylor laughs. “I like this guy Ash,” she says and then proceeds to introduce me to her other half, who has been rolling his eyes at her antics.
“Corey, nice to meet you,” he says.
I shake his hand. “You too mate,” I say.
He turns to Taylor. “Come on woman, you promised me a Currywurst.”
“God, men! Always thinking with your stomach or your…” she doesn’t get a chance to finish because Corey wraps a hand around her mouth.
“Excuse us,” he says dragging a grumbling and then giggling Taylor away.
We watch them go. Ashley looks at me. “Sorry about that, she is a nut.”
I nod and smile. “All the best people are,” I say and laugh.
“Do you want to go for a wander?” she asks.
“Sure,” I say standing up, pulling her up with me. We head off in the opposite direction of her crazy friend and she slips her hand into mine. It feels nice and familiar, and yet exciting. I can feel tingles all the way up my arm and down the side of my body where she is leaning into me. We chat about music and films realising we have very similar tastes. We both like action films and comedies.
Ashley loves to read too, and her favourites are romances. I laugh at that and she digs me in the ribs which allows me to slip my arm around her shoulders and pull her into me. We stop beside a tent that is doing henna tattoos and she starts looking.
“Do you have any tattoo’s?” she asks.
I shake my head, no. “No, nothing will convince me to mark myself and endure pain for something I’ll regret one day,” I say.
“So, you don’t like them?” she asks with a tilt of her head. I run my eyes slowly over her exposed skin and see her shiver. I suppress the smile that is fighting to tip the corners of my mouth up.
“I’m finding I like them on others very much,” I say pulling her into me, so that our bodies touch.
“So, if I asked you to get a henna one, would you?” she asks softly, and I feel her breath on my face.
I look at the woman who is doing the tattoos and swallow. I’m not sure if I want to do this. The real reason I’ve never got one is because I’m terrified of needles. Do I relent and have one, it’s only henna after all and no needles in sight?
I look back and see her eyes are smoky and sexy and decide if it mpresses Tinkerbell then I’ll do it.
“Pick something manly then,” I say and watch as huge smile suffuses her face.
She looks through and after ten minutes picks one. I undo the buttons on my polo but there isn’t enough room to get to my arm, so I lean forward and slip my shirt over my head.
I try and hide the grin when I see Ashley’s eyes widen and then darken with desire. All those hours in the gym have paid off. I watch as she runs her tongue over her lip, and I know she has no clue what she is doing to me. I stifle the groan and fidget to stop my erection from being so obvious.
The woman doing the tattoo grabs my bicep and starts to work. Suddenly I feel slightly nauseous at the thought of her marking my body and all I can see are the needles.
The first time I saw Jake get a tattoo I fainted because of the needles and the same feeling is sweeping over me. I look at Ashley, and she is frowning.
“Jackson are you okay?” I hear her ask.
I try and answer, but my focus is going. The next thing I know I have my head between my legs and Ashley is stroking my arm and talking softly to me.
I did not just embarrass myself with this beautiful woman.
“Are you okay now?” she asks, and I nod and get to my feet.
“Yeah, just some bad Sushi,” I say trying to cover up what a pansy I am.
“Come on, let’s head home,” she says and loops her arm through mine. As we walk I feel better, the cool evening air is refreshing me.
“I’m sorry,” I say and chance a look at her.
“Don’t be silly, it’s actually quite endearing.”
“Great, endearing. Second only to sweet in the masculine stakes,” I say and nudge her with my shoulder.
Ashley stops and turns to me and looks up at me. “Maybe you should kiss me again and show me how masculine you are then,” she says, and my heart is now in a race to escape my clothes. My heart is trying to hammer out of my chest and my cock is making a bid for freedom through my zip.
I try and remain cool and collected. I finger a lock of her rainbow hair and it’s as silky as I thought it would be. I wrap the length around my fist and pull her gently to me. “Yeah maybe I should,” I say against her lips.
I feather a light kiss over her lips and feel her open for me immediately. Her reaction drives me mad. I kiss her harder, the passion I feel for this woman is crazy. I kiss her like I want to devour her inch by inch, tasting her, duelling with her tongue. She is so responsive. I run my hand down her side grabbing a handful of her delicious backside. The pert globes fit perfectly in my hands.
I vaguely hear someone shouting, ‘Get a room’ and realise that this could get out of hand very quickly and I don’t want to do this here. I want to do this properly.
I rest my head on her hair. “Fuck, Tinkerbell, you undo me,” I say and instantly feel her stiffen in my arms. Oh God I’ve fucked up!
Chapter 8
Ashley
Taking a step back from him, “What did you just call me?” I ask. I want to believe he called me something else, but it really sounded like Tinkerbell.
Jackson looks at me, and I can see the worry all over his face. “Nothing, I said you undo me,” he says taking a step closer to me, and instinctively I take one back. I think I need a moment to let my head register what’s happening.
My sexy singer is this guy, the guy that I thought was gay, the guy that is so freaking hot no man should look like him. All my conversations with Sexy Singer have been with him, and then I remember that last message he sent me, ‘May the best man win’. He knew he would win either way, because it was the same guy I was talking too.
Then the light bulb flicks on in my head and I feel an evil giggle bubble up my throat. Taking a step closer to him, I wrap my arms around him. “I think we should go find Taylor before she comes looking for us,” I say, standing next to him. I see him frown at me slightly as if confused by my mixed signals. Good, that’s the least of what he is going to feel.