Not deterred she rolled her eyes, pushing on my chest. "At the picnic you said you’d tell me about the alpha tattoo and now that you’ve seen mine you gotta tell me."
With a little regret at my promise, I moved to get myself comfortable, and settle her better in my lap. Because what’s a better way to tell an embarrassing story than at least be comfortable. Besides never in a million years, would I have thought that I’d be sitting in my classroom naked telling the girl who has quickly come to mean the world to me about one simple tattoo.
"Well, now see, it was my twenty first birthday and Damon though it was a good idea….."
Sixteen
Kelly
1. Tattoos hurt like the Hells of Hades
2. The quiet types always surprised me
3. Never go to work on my classroom with the guys…. nothing will ever get done.
I was a coward.
A big fat coward.
As I pulled up into the library I thought about how I canceled movie night this week. At the last minute I had gotten nervous about telling the guys about sleeping with Kasper. Though now that I thought about it they had reacted fine about Damon, so why wouldn’t they be fine with Kasper? And honestly, they probably already knew because Kasper had probably told them. I just didn’t want to admit that I had started playing twenty questions with myself and picturing the look on their faces. You know the look, the look that said they were fine with me dating all three of them. But then became slightly bitter about it as time went on. I knew that look well. I did the same with Trevor everytime I used the phrases, “Fine”, “That’s okay”, and “Whatever you want.”
I didn’t want that with the guys, and to be honest the more time I spent with them, the more I couldn’t see picking just one even if I wanted to. They all seemed to have little pieces of my heart.
I was confused. I thought now with the Camille debacle finally behind us, we’d be great but now, I didn’t know. I wanted all three, but they couldn’t see others. Was that hypocritical?
And now I canceled movie night, which I probably shouldn’t have, instead I spent the whole weekend with Duchess curled up reading the whole Kit Davenport series.
That book had started to put ideas in my head. Like maybe I could have my cake and eat it too. But that would be wrong, right? Dating was one thing. Commitment was a horse of a different color. I was supposed to pick. You couldn’t date multiple men without picking one to move in with or marry. Right?
Out of the car, I made my way inside climbing the three flights of torturous stairs. How did these women do this? Even with kickboxing, I still wanted an elevator. In fact I demanded one …silently.
At the top, and done with my inner monologue, I saw the girls were already there and someone new.
“Eloise?”
She turned around in her chair, her hair bouncing around her radiant face. “Hey, I was wondering if you were going to be here. Nana invited me saying something about how we are the future or whatever. So what is it we do?”
I slid into my chair. “Well truthfully, we drink whiskey, or they drink whiskey, I have yet to partake of the brown liquid. Though the girls tell me it's great. We read books that would probably make you blush. And I usually sit here and listen to these girls bicker and say horrendous things to each other.”
Eloise looked at her grandmother who was already arguing with Prudie, then leaned over to whisper, “Sounds fun, I’m in.”
“Are you school girls done yapping, or do we need to sit here and wait till girl talk is over?”
I winked at Eloise who was still smiling, then turned to Betty. “We’re done you old ninny, now what do we talk about today?”
“I want to know about you and those boys. We’ve got a real life reverse harem in front of us.” Looking at quiet Iris, I sometimes forgot the quiet ones were the most aggressive or deadly. Which I should remember, as Kasper so lovingly showed me earlier this week.
“Look at her blushing, she’s done something. Whew, girl she’s a hussy now.”
“Prudie, you make that sound like a bad thing.”
“Did I say it was a bad thing, Gertie. Truth be told, I’m proud. Damn proud.” Prudie knocked my shoulder with her elbow and continued, “You get ‘em girl.”
“If I was ten years…”
Iris humphed, “You mean thirty, don’t you Betty?”
“Shut up Iris.” Turning back to me, Betty put her gaze on me along with the other girls.
“So, is that true, did you bag them?”
None to quietly, I heard Iris whisper, “It’s bang, not bag you old bat.”
Nodding her head to agree, Betty said, “That’s right, well, did you bang them yet?”
I turned to look at Eloise who I hoped to get some help from, but instead she was the picture of curiosity and wonderment. Well I guess, I was alone in the ‘let’s keep Kelly’s sex life private’ club. Clearing my throat, I answered the question that would open a can of worms. A can that I knew I could never close.
“I’ve slept with two of them.”
Before the barrage of questions, I held up my hand quickly to stop so I could finish my thoughts. “But now I don’t know what to do so I canceled movie night on Friday, because I didn’t want to make it awkward.”
“Too late for that.”
I jerked towards Prudie who never seemed to be at a lost for words and asked, "What do you mean too late for that?"
Prudie rolled her eyes, adjusting her zebra skirt that she had paired with her red stilettos. She stared me down. "You’re dating three guys. And the minute you slept with one or two of them, you canceled movie night. Which I assume is a tradition since it’s got a name. That my dear is the definition of awkward."
"I agree with Prudence, you already made things awkward."
I turned the other way bending forward slightly to look over Eloise to stare at Gertie. "You never agree with her."
Gertie pointed her finger at me shaking it. "Well I agree with her now, you need to fix this. Those boy are hot, so don’t mess it up."
I released a breathe that I didn’t realize I was holding and looked around at our circle of women.
“Okay, so what do I do?”
Betty reached for her shot glass taking a small sip and sat it back down. "Well first off you have to answer one question."
I glance around the room and noticed that everyone was sitting forward waiting to see what I would say. "What exactly is that question?"
“Who did you sleep with first?"
A small smile started at the corner of my mouth as I felt heat climb up my cheeks, and I did the only thing I could do. I answered.
"Damon."
"Fifty bucks, right here, you horses asses. Pay up!"
The women grumbled as they grabbed their purses, except Betty who I saw had the biggest smile on her face grab her shot glass and slammed down the rest of the whiskey. "I knew it, I knew my man would be the first one."
As the realization of what had occured filtered through my mind, my mouth fell ajar. "You betted on me? You bet to see who I’d sleep with first?"
Shot glass in hand, because I suddenly felt like a drink myself, I threw back the liquor and slammed the glass back on the table. "You all are horses’ asses."
Betty waved the money around in my face and smiled. "But a horses’ ass with money."
Suddenly I felt a tug to my right. Eloise had reached over her Nana and pulled my hand to get my attention. "Oh, let them have their fun, besides it’s not like you didn’t have any when the deed was actually happening."
"Eloise!" I yanked my hand out of hers, which caused her to laugh. So she thought this was funny, did she? I could be funny, too. I decided to level the playing field so to speak.
Smiling sweetly at Eloise and then at Gertie I went in for the kill. "You know Gertie, I think Eloise has a crush on Ben Danvers and I have a feeling it’s reciprocated."
I turned to look back at Eloise as I batted my eyes at her innocently. "Isn�
�t that right, Ell?"
Swivelling around to look at her granddaughter, Gertie slapped her arm. “Is that true, do you like Ben?"
Eloise opened her mouth and closed it, then promptly leaned around her grandmother and gave me the one finger salute.
Payback hurts.
Not one to tell her Grandmother no, Eloise answered, "Nana, I don’t know. I mean I think he’s attractive, who doesn’t? But I don’t really know him, ya know?"
"Well we can fix both of your situations."
Dang tootin, we can fix both… Wait, did she say both?
I turned my head towards Iris, noticing everyone else had done the same. "What do you mean both of our problems?”
She gestured to me and Eloise like the solution was obvious, and began to mark out her plan. "You need to fix your dilemma with the guys, and Eloise needs a date with Ben. So let’s fix it."
“Iris, I don’t think I can just text the guys and fix the situation."
Eloise nodded her head in agreement, "Yeah, and I don’t have Ben's number, so I can’t actually call him."
I raised my hand to get their attention but impatient I yelled, "I’ve got it! I’ve got his number in my phone. I want you to fix, Eloise’s problem. Please text him and help her out."
A series of coughs and hacks started abruptly, and I could of sworn I heard a "bitch" thrown in there from a certain curly headed girl, two seats down from me.
Enjoying myself immensely, I pulled out my phone and swiped across the screen to pull up Ben's phone number. His number on the screen, I held it out to Eloise with a smile on my face. "If you don’t want them to text Ben, then you need to. Don’t be such a chicken, ask him out. It’s the twenty first century, don’t wait on him to ask you out.”
She jerked the phone out of my hand mumbling words not so nice while she pulled out her phone and typed in his number.
Finished with her text, she sat the phone in her lap, and looked up at us. "Okay, I texted him my number, now what?”
Gertie grabbed her granddaughter's hand. "Now, you wait."
Buzz. Buzz.
"Well pick it up!'
"Prudie hush, give her time." Gertie lets go of Eloise’s hand and waited for her to turn the phone over and look to see his reply. "Anytime you’re ready, dear, take your time. And you don’t have to tell us what he says."
"Like hell she doesn’t, we didn’t give up reading the Kit Davenport series for nothing.”
"Iris!"
"What? I'm just saying. I have needs!"
"He said he would call me later and we could talk."
Their bickering on hold, they turned back to Eloise, who everybody had seemed to forget about in their latest Golden Girl battle. We looked at her smiling face that was still rereading the text. Finally looking up I caught her eyes, so she could see how excited I was for her. "That’s great Ell, I’m glad you did that. I knew you would be happy. All you needed was a little shove."
I watched as her face went from happiness to pure diabolical meanness. She looked down at the phone still in her lap. I had forgotten that I had never gotten it back from her. "Ell, what are doing? Give me back my phone."
Holding my phone between her giant garbled troll hands, because that’s what she was now, a stupid troll. I tried grabbing it, almost jumping over Gertie in the process.
The troll ignored me and my attempts of self salvation, as she looked at the devils in elderly clothing. "You know girls I think you are absolutely right. I think we should solve our problems, and since mine is solved I think now we need to focus on Kelly. Isn’t that right Kelly? We do after all just want to help."
She stood up tossing my phone to me. Hip to the side she grinned. Tall willowy bastard. She better be glad we were quickly becoming friends.
I slid my finger across the phone, mumbling enough obscenities so she could hear me, but since the girls refused to wear their hearing aids, all they heard was mush. Laughing out loud at what I mumbled, Eloise sauntered back to her chair and sat down with that damn smug smile still on her face. Once I pulled up the group messenger, I looked to see what damage she had done.
Hey, sorry about Friday, I had a book that I really wanted to read, and just couldn’t put it down.
Which was kind of true if you thought about it. After reading it, I told the girls what Eloise wrote them.
Betty scoffed. "That’s it? That’s what she texted them?"
“That’s all? She took my phone and wrote to them without asking.
The girls were all wearing the same expression as Betty. "Well what did you want her to put? That I wanted them to come over and have hot monkey sex with me?”
"Well if it works." Betty snorted.
"You know you should write them back that you miss them and want to see them soon?"
Prudie nodded her head at Gertie’s suggestion.
Before I could say yay or nay to this little plan, Iris chimed in. "Or you could send some nudes. I always do that for Albert and it makes him very happy."
Too much information.
"Iris!"
She shrugged her shoulders and smiled. "What? It’s the truth."
I pointed my finger at Iris. "First I think Prudie's right and second we’re gonna revisit who the hell Albert is later.
"Oh, he’s my sugar daddy," Iris replied.
Sugar daddy? The images were burning my brain. Make it stop.
"Sugar daddy, Iris you’re like seventy. I don’t think you understand what a sugar daddy is exactly."
Taken back by what I said, she glared at me. "I’m sixty seven and I do know what a sugar daddy is. He’s eighty-six."
She pointed down to her clothes. "You think these clothes came out of thin air. Nope, I worked hard for this.”
Ewww.
Throwing my hands up, I turned away. "I’m done, I’m done. I got too many things in my life right now. I can’t do this.”
Looking at my phone, and ignoring the great debate of two thousand eighteen, I tried to decide what to say. In so many words, but not too many and not too little. And suddenly a great idea occured.
My place Friday, but this time, movie night is going to come with a twist. Who’s ready, for the games to get serious?
I wonder if they got the double meaning? I hoped as I waited for them to text back.
Buzz.
Buzz.
Buzz.
I took a big breath and looked up at the girls who were all giving me a thumbs up except Betty, who had decided on a one finger salute instead.
Kasper
I’ve been ready to get serious.
I smiled at his reply.
Dean
I like games, but I can do serious too.
Damon
Never played games.
Still smiling I put my phone away and looked at the girls.
"I think I’ve got it figured out. "
Betty glanced down and saw her shot glass was empty, so she quickly reached over and grabbed Iris's.
“Bitch.”
Tipping the glass back and swallowing in one gulp, she wiped her mouth and slammed the glass on the table. With her hand she wiped the remaining drop of liquor from her lips and smiled wide. “Well about damn time, you hussy! Go get those three men.”
Seventeen
Kelly
1. I liked playing matchmaker, which was the equivalent of messing with Eloise
2. Apparently my inner self was sexually deprived and I am a horn dog.
(need more steamy books)
3. Dogs were not always fun bed companions, but then again neither were men.
(unless you were number 2 and not that number 2. See number 2 above)
“Not there!”
Jumping faster than a speeding bullet and cupping his treasure, Ben glared at me for my near miss. “You told me to hit.”
“To hit me, Kel, not to maim and make me forever sterile.”
I shrugged my shoulders, trying not to smile at the picture he made clutching his treasure. T
hat a five foot nothing, could make a six and a half foot man squirm was pretty funny. Okay, maybe fake going to hit his nuts was not the best idea for my next conversation. But I was nervous. I knew that he hadn’t called Eloise like he said he would, so I figured a little nudge needed to be given. Plus, I needed him to be relaxed for that conversation.
And to do that I had a plan.
Instead of answering him I picked up my gear throwing it at him as I went to get my water bottle.
“Green, what are you doing, we still have twenty minutes till you’re done,” Ben said as he came over and sat beside me.
I tossed the water beside me to him; Ben catching it effortlessly proceeded to guzzle it down, like a man dying of dehydration. Or I guess you could say he drank like Betty drank her whiskey.
Haha, drank like Betty.
I focused back on Ben and decided to go in slow.
“I can’t stay the whole hour, I’m meeting Eloise at the diner.”
I tried to come off casual. Not too fake and continued. “Hey, you don’t happen to know Eloise do you? You know the pretty girl you said you would call? Ring any bells?”
He dropped the now empty water bottle on the mat, turning with his eyebrows raised. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he had me figured out. That my covert ninja tactic had gone south.
“Stop, now just stop.”
Yea, I blew it.
I dropped into a dead faint onto the mat and closed my eyes. Not wanting to look at the man beside me. “Was it that bad?”
His laugh echoed throughout the gym as I felt him move beside me. Eyes squinted, I turned to the side to see that Ben had laid beside me and was smiling. “Oh, yeah, you were horrible. Just do us all a favor, and don’t ever become an actress.”
I slung my arm out slamming it into his massive chest. “Jerk.”
Sitting up, I stared down at him. “Seriously all kidding aside. Are you interested in her or not? I mean she’s super cool, almost cooler than me but you didn’t call her. So what gives, Danvers?”
Road to Them: The Road Series Book Two Page 12