*
The male voice announces that this is going to be the last song of the night. He explains that it’s time to showcase his partner’s voice. I start to hear the piano play a familiar tune that does not belong to his band, but rather to one of my favorite country bands. All of the sudden the voice of a woman pushes through and again I swear I recognize it from somewhere. I look down and Thor is gone. Damn it! I stand up and suddenly stop. The voice is the siren from this morning. I immediately know where Thor has been called. Sure enough, he is sitting right in front of her with his head cocked to the left.
The smile on her face is infections and I find it endearing that it appears that she is singing this love song to my mutt. Thor is eating it up. Before I can call him over, he assumes the down position. This is not good. Again, I look like the idiot low crawling, trying to get my dog to move. No such luck. When he is down, he is down. Shit. Here I go again. I’m trying not to interrupt her performance while trying to avoid looking like an ass in front of a boat load of people. Again, no such luck. I find an empty seat near the front and for the first time I really see her. This morning she had the just woken up look. Don’t get me wrong, she was beautiful then, however right now I feel like that dog in the cartoon whose tongue rolls out of his mouth and eyes pulse like a heart beating. She’s rocking a Red Hot Chili Peppers t-shirt that is bundled in the back to pull it tight around her chest, showing a hint of her belly button that I’d give anything to dive my tongue into. She’s wearing slim jeans with rips in all the right places. She has on simple flip flops that show off a sexy nail color. What I wouldn’t give to run my finger up her instep and lightly nip each toe so that she feels the rush right where I would love to bury myself. Holy Hell! Put a fork in it. The dog is done. I’m done. She will be mine before the end of this evening. I need to work this chick out of my system.
As they are finishing their song, there is a huge applause with people whistling and hollering that they want more. The blush that comes over her face is one of uncertainty with a mix of relief. Thor takes this as his cue to wake up and nuzzle her feet dangling from the stool. With a belly laugh, she reaches down and kisses between his ears. That’s all it takes. He takes his lower descending posture so that he can roll over to get his belly rub. What a flirt. Another laugh comes from that beautiful body and she hops off the stool. Sitting beside him, she starts giving him the massage of a lifetime.
“Who’s your friend, Grace?” I look over and it’s the guy she has been accompanying. I wonder what their deal is.
Still giving Thor all the attention, she looks to him and says, “Nate, this is Thor. He’s the big teddy bear that came to visit me this morning. And this is his owner, Jackson…”
“Jackson Kavanaugh,” I say reaching out to shake his hand. He grips my hand a little tighter than a normal handshake while scanning me from head to toe.
“Grace, we really need to get the equipment packed up so the other band can get set up.”
Still, this Nate has a death grip on my hand and hasn’t taken his eyes off of me. They must be an item because he looks like he’s about to take a piss on her just to mark her as his own. “I don’t mind helping you so that I can give you and Thor a chance to know one other better.”
She looks up at me with those beautiful blue eyes and gives me that sweet laugh that turns my insides out. “That’s okay. It won’t take us long. Plus, you need to make sure Thor doesn’t escape again. I would hate for him to follow another young lady home. You would have no clue where to look.”
“How about I buy us all a beer and both of you can meet us on the back patio so we can continue enjoying this beautiful evening.”
“That’s nice of you, but Gracie prefers something a little fruitier and I think she’s a little exhausted,” Nate states in a dominating tone.
“Speak for yourself. I’m ready for a nice fruity drink and to sit. Unpacking all week and then getting coerced into doing this has me aching to just chill for a while. Nate, give him a couple of bucks.” Speaking shyly she asks, “Jackson, would you mind ordering me a Raspberry Mojito? If they don’t make those, a Malibu Rum with pineapple juice will do me just fine.”
Gracie? I will do you just fine, little Gracie. Unlocking my eyes from hers, I turn and give Mr. Pissy Pants one of my charming smiles. “Don’t worry about the money, man. What would you like? Something fruity for yourself as well?”
With a quick flash of anger in his eyes he growled, “I would like a Guinness Extra Stout at room temperature, thank you.”
As I turn to walk towards the bar, dragging Thor behind me, I think I hear that Nate character exclaim, “Damn it, Grace.”
Chapter Seven
Grace
“Damn it, Grace what? Did I mess up on lyrics? Was I pitchy? For someone like me who hates to sing in front of people, I think I did an outstanding job. I didn’t even feel like I needed to puke.” Exasperatedly I walk out and start shoving equipment in the back of his SUV. I just can’t win these days. Looking up Nate seems conflicted.
Shoving his hands in his jeans pockets, Nate looks up at me. “Grace, that jarhead wants in your pants.”
“Oh no you didn’t. Would you call my stepdad that? I don’t think so Nathan Taylor. He would have your nuts in a vice grip before your brain could even process the thought to run. How disrespectful! How rude! And how do you know that he’s a Marine?”
“Really?” Nathan reaches up and closes the lift gate. “Grace, you have lived with a Marine most of your life and you cannot tell that this James –”
“Jackson.”
“What the hell ever. This Jackson dude has a high and tight with a slightly visible USMC tattoo peaking from the sleeve of his t-shirt.”
“Okay, but that doesn’t mean he wants in my pants.”
“Grace, didn’t you see how he looked at you? He wants you and he wants you bad. And to top it all off, he’s using his mangy mutt to try and wiggle his way into your bed.” Nate starts pacing back and forth. “I knew this was going to happen. You come down here just to gain some independence and as quickly as you land, you fall for some guy that is just going to break your heart because all he wants is a quick fuck. You can’t do quick or meaningless sex and that’s what I saw when he looked at you just now.”
“And this goes back to why I moved. Every time I go to have drinks with someone you automatically assume he wants to have his wicked way with me. You really do think that lowly of me. You think that nobody can see me for the person that I am. You don’t think that someone would just want to take me out for dinner and a movie while expecting nothing in return. You don’t think someone could love me for me.” Tears start rolling down my cheeks. “That’s it isn’t it? You can’t let go of your disgust of my biological father because you feel he could never love me as a daughter. You think that because he felt that I wasn’t good enough for him then, how can I be good enough for him now? How can a man love me when my own father couldn’t love me?” I slam the SUV door and start dialing a cab.
“That’s not true and you –”
“Nate, get in your car and leave. I don’t want you in my house tonight. I will call a cab to take me home. We need some separation right now because I truly believe we need to rethink this friendship. In my opinion, best friends are always there for each other, not trying to tear them down every chance they get.”
“But Grace…”
Tears still pouring down my cheek, I sob, “Don’t but Grace me. Turn the key in the ignition, shut your car door, and drive until you reach your house. After that, turn off the car, take out your key, open the car door and walk into your house. Take off your clothes and go to bed. Make sure you set your house alarm because you don’t want any dangerous females to storm the house and take advantage of you.”
“What?” Nate says with confusion written all over his face.
“Doesn’t it feel just dandy when someone treats you like an imbecile?”
“Please just let me take you h
ome and then I’ll leave.”
*
This car ride home is torture. I cannot seem to stop the liquid drops from running down my face. As I look out of the window, I feel as though I’ve taken twenty steps back. No I haven’t. It suddenly comes to me. No one in my life has attempted to take the steps forward to see where I am today. They all have locked me in a box. I really think they keep me in the small box because they don’t want me to get hurt. What they don’t realize is that I’ll never learn unless I work myself through these situations. If I don’t work through them myself, then I’ll never deserve to have the life that I crave. I’ll never learn to have the life that I crave, that I seek.
Suddenly, the car stops and he gets out. He walks around the front of the car and opens my door. “I hope you know that I love you Gracie. I’m not going to apologize for acting this way. I hope you know that it would kill me if anything bad was to happen to you and there was a way I could have controlled it.” In his best Forrest Gump impression he says, “You’re my gurl!”
“Nate, we’ve been best friends for what seems like forever. You’re really the big brother I’ve always wanted. It’s time to let me grow up. And I can’t do it with you constantly holding me back. I know that you call my parents every week to have a weekly meeting on the state of my affairs. It didn’t bother me until it interfered with me living. All of you have to realize that I have my own life. I will screw up and I will learn from it and become a better person. It doesn’t mean that I may not need a friend to talk to every now and then. It doesn’t mean that I may not need a shoulder to cry on when it feels unbearable.” I shrug my shoulders and give a faint smile, “I need to be me. I really need to learn to be me. Good night, Nate. I will call you sometime next week.” He is still standing by his car when I unlock the door to my home. Turning around suddenly I say, “Oh, please text me when you get home.”
“Who’s the one being controlling now?” he says with a grin.
Chapter Eight
Jackson
“Where in the hell are they? It’s been twenty minutes and her drink is reduced to nothing but water with a splash of fruit.”
“Maybe they were stopped by some adoring fans and haven’t made it back here.” Ben chugged that last of his beer and set it down. “I’m ready to leave any way. Some asshole woke me up real early this morning because he couldn’t control his dog’s impulses.”
“Ha! Ha! If she’s still here…we are having one more drink then we’ll leave.”
“Roger that!” Ben walks over to a chick across the way and slips her his number. He struts back with a sly smile plastered on his face. Plopping back in his seat he turns to me and explains, “Her boyfriend just went to the head. I had to act quickly before he came back.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. One of these days, I am going to get a call that he has been castrated and left in a bathtub full of ice.
*
As I exit the bar, Grace is nowhere in sight. I lean over the bar and ask Mike if he knows where she and her friend had taken off to. He shrugs his shoulders and moves on to fixing up the next drink. Damn!
“I looked around. The waitress outside smoking a cigarette said she thought they were arguing before they got into a black SUV. Dude, I think she ditched ya,” Ben says with a sympathetic smile.
“Something must have happened. She doesn’t strike me as the type of person to ditch anyone.” My mind thinks over all kinds of crazy scenarios.
“Why are you so concerned? Obviously she is involved with the guy she was with. Any man with a brain isn’t going to let you snatch that pretty young thing away.”
Scratching my head, “Something doesn’t feel right. He may have feelings for her but she wasn’t giving off the same vibe. I really don’t think she would have accepted to join us for drinks if they were together. I didn’t see any affection between both of them nor a ring on her finger.”
Throwing me the keys, Ben says, “You’re scaring me man. You’re already getting emotionally invested in someone that you haven’t talked to for more than thirty minutes. Remember that you live your job 24/7. No woman is going to want to sit around and wait two weeks to have your undivided attention every three months and maybe two hours a day in between.”
He’s right. What am I doing?
*
I pull up in front of our condo and Thor is whining to get out.
“Dude, he better not piss in my car. Get him out quick. Also, while you guys are out bonding, please discuss with him our new sleep schedule. If not, we are getting a doggy door and training that monster how to let himself out. I’ll even shove his big ass in and out, over and over again until he gets the hang of it.”
I clip the leash to Thor’s collar as we head out. There is a wild party going on by the pool this evening. This is usually a subdued complex. Guess someone didn’t get that memo. As I walk by, I look in and see what appears to be a bachelorette party going on. All of a sudden, I get pulled into the wrought iron fence and some old chick starts to molest me.
With hooded eyes and a smoky slur she yells, “Linda, look what I found. Rocky came through with a yummy piece of meat.”
“Holy Hell Louise, he even brought a dog. I told Rocky not to send kinky shit like he did for your party.”
I can only assume this is Linda who is pawing her way towards me. Louise is trying to tug my shirt over my head and suddenly this Linda chick takes my dog. Where the hell is she taking my dog? “I’m sorry ladies but I don’t think I’m the person you are waiting on. I’ll take my dog and we’ll be out of your hair.”
“Baby, I’ve been waiting for you all my life. Let me get this shirt off and you can show us ladies what you’re made of.” Not missing a beat, this Louise chick rips my new shirt and is now trying to undo my belt! I’m so confused that I can’t think. I can’t find my dog. For the life of me, I can’t figure out when this all went to hell.
Prying Louise’s hands from my pants, I hear a voice scream, “Louise, that’s not the stripper. You’re fondling the wrong guy. Oh hell, Louise you’re going to get us all arrested.”
“Ms. Louise,” I say calmly “I just want my dog back and the ability to exit this pool without getting jumped again.”
“Are you sure, sexy, you don’t want to stay for all the action? I can assure that you have never had anything like me. I will rock your world and spin it twice.”
The smell of her breath and the sound of her voice indicate that she has indulged in too many packs of non-filtered smokes. Slightly turning my head to get fresh air and to avoid the spray, I plea, “Ma’am, I just want my dog back.”
The chick who I guess to be Linda chimes in and says, “Oh, he ran off when I put his leash under a chair leg.”
Great!
*
I run back to the apartment and Thor is not there. Where the hell can he be? Of course, I know exactly where that worthless dog has sought refuge.
I knock on Grace’s door and immediately the door opens. “Missing someone?” Opening the door a little wider, Graces tries not to laugh, though she’s not doing a good job at it. The sight before me infuriates me. Thor is lying on her couch with his head between his paws while looking at me with those sad, sorry ass, eyes. He knows he’s not allowed on a couch.
“There was this banging on my back gate. When I looked through the slats of my fence, I saw that he was ramming his head against it. I swear I opened the gate quickly so he wouldn’t get a concussion.”
“You were worried about him getting a concussion? Not worried that he was about to tear down your gate?” Unbelievable.
“When I let him in on the patio, he rushed inside and has been in this position ever since. Poor guy looks so traumatized.” Looking at me with a curious gleam, she asks, “Were you in a fight?”
Puzzled by her question, I reply, “No. Why?”
“Well, you’re just…” She looks like she is trying to select her words before she continues. “Well, your shirt is shredded in half,
your belt is about to fall out of the loops, and your hair is a mess.” She slowly moves towards me, looking at my face. Running her finger down the side of my face, she whispers, “Is that blood on your face and neck?”
Her voice is an aphrodisiac. Her breath is like sweet candy. And her touch is making me go rock hard. I’m going to lose it before I can lay her down on this floor and lick her from one end to the other. Did she just say blood? I look around and spot a mirror. In two swift jumps I make it over and start frantically examining myself. It’s not blood, it’s lipstick. How the hell am I going to explain this one?
Chapter Nine
Grace
There is an adorable dog that is glued to my couch and a strange, but beautiful, man freaking out by my mirror. Things could be worse. I walk over to him to see if I can help assess his damage and the look I’m faced with is of embarrassment mixed with a little apprehension. He turns back to the mirror, licks his finger and starts to wipe off this crimson stuff that is streaked down his face, when a huge sticker on his back catches my eye. I try to stifle a laugh.
“What’s so funny,” he says as he whips back around.
I’m trying so hard not to go full on belly laugh at him. “There is this sticker on your back…”
He frantically tries to turn so he can look in the mirror. Poor guy can’t see it any way he positions his body. “Where is it? What does it say?”
I lose out to the bubbling from deep in my throat. I’m now laughing so hard that I cannot speak. “It says ‘Beat Me – Whip Me – Make Me Beg.”
Seeking Me To Find You (Finding You Series Book 1) Page 4