by Willow Aster
The three ladies wave at me before making their way to the bar, and Rocco stands and kisses me on the cheek.
“You can put your shirt down. Show’s over.” I drop down on the barstool across from him and force a smile.
Rocco appears to like the fact that I’m unimpressed by him—hell, I can barely stay awake when we’re together. It’s probably some deep-rooted Mommy issue that the poor bastard has because he keeps coming back for more. And to say he’s struck out twice is putting it mildly. I haven’t even allowed Mr. October to graze his lips against mine.
Nope.
The last man to do that was Spence, and I’m not kissing some self-centered, too tanned, Ariana Grande-loving, man-child just because I need to get over my weirdness with the enemy. I’m not attracted to Rocco that way, to both of our dismay. I order a glass of Chardonnay and my date orders another rum and Diet Coke.
Apparently you don’t get his abs from drinking real sugar.
“Ah, babe, don’t let those girls make you feel threatened. They just wanted a little look-see. They have the calendar hanging up at home and I’m their favorite flavor of the month.” He does a wagging eyebrow thing that makes me want to bolt.
Did I mention I loathe being called babe?
“Well, you certainly couldn’t deprive them of the goods.” I smirk, but Rocco doesn’t speak sarcasm, so he completely misses it.
“Right, babe.”
My skin prickles as a hand lands on my shoulder, and I know who it is before I turn around. Yes, I may have had ulterior motives when Rocco called for date number three and I insisted on coming to Mean Mug. Spence is a regular here, and I wanted to see if he and Tabitha would be out tonight. Coming alone would have looked pathetic, so here we are.
Okay, I’m not as much of a cold-hearted bitch as that sounds. I told Rocco after date one that I didn’t see us going anywhere. Date two, he said he’d buy me dinner for another chance. I was hoping that I’d read him wrong on the first date, but nope. And before tonight, I told him he wasn’t getting any, he said he’d change my mind, and I said not happening, but here we are. I’ll have to get firm once this little rendezvous is over … or maybe I could set him up with Tab the Temporary Distraction.
“What’s up, Queenie?” The sound of my favorite voice has me perking up.
Least favorite voice.
I laugh. Yes, I laugh at the ridiculous use of my nickname because I’m so happy he’s here.
Showtime.
“Hey, there. This is a surprise,” I say, turning to face Spence.
“Is it? I’m here a couple nights a week; it shouldn’t be too surprising.” He smirks, one brow raised, and he looks so sexy I have to squeeze my thighs together to keep myself in check.
“Are you? I hadn’t noticed. I guess I’ve been in a daze lately.” I can’t stop smiling as I turn to my date. “This is Rocco. Rocco, this is Spence.”
He is on his feet and reaching for Spence’s hand. I don’t miss the way Rocco flexes and squares his shoulders, as I try not to laugh. This is the one time I don’t mind the attention whore behaving this way. Pour it on. Show him what you’ve got. Make Mama proud.
Spence is a few inches taller, and Rocco gazes up at him, mouth slightly gaping.
“Wow, man. Do you work out?” my date asks, and it takes all I have not to slap the stupid right out of him.
Spence looks between me and want-to-be Magic Mike who has decided it’s the appropriate time to flex and do these ridiculous bodybuilder poses.
“I’m a developer, so I get my hands dirty laying floors and putting up walls. I guess that’s a workout in itself,” Spence says and his gaze doesn’t leave mine.
“Yes. I have a very physical job too,” Rocco says, as he begins patting Spence down. From his shoulders to his arms to his abs, and if I could throat-punch this son of a bitch right now without letting my Spence know, I most certainly would.
I mean Spence. Not my anything.
“Damn, dude. You’re rock hard,” Rocco says.
“Thank you.” Spence looks so pleased with himself that I close my eyes for a second, hoping that will make them both disappear.
Thankfully, the server appears with some chicken fingers for me and a side of lettuce for Mr. October.
“Food’s here, Rocco.” I cock my head to the side, demanding he stop feeling up that jackoff of a goat and take a seat.
“You two have fun,” Solemn says over a chuckle while I seethe. Since when is he so chipper?
“Oh, we will. We always do.” I bite off a piece of my chicken tender and chew. “Where’s the temp?”
This is not going how I intended. And my heart is in some sort of crazy overdrive TikTok dance that I always skip over when on Instagram.
If I want TikTok, I’ll go there.
If I want heartbreak, I’ll go to Spe—fuck me. No.
He does not have my heart. No way in hell. Never will.
“I’m meeting up with her later.” He flashes his cheesiest smile and my hands fist at my sides.
“I’ll be with my boyfriend later,” I say, and I sound so petty I want to kick my own self for going there.
“Babe. It’s official? You’re my girl?” My fake boyfriend says over a mouthful of lettuce.
I need to shut this down, pronto.
“Have fun with that, Queenie.” Spence salutes me and moves to the bar and I cringe.
What an epic fail.
“That dude is such a badass. Man, I’d love to watch him work and study his moves,” Rocco says, as he picks up another lettuce leaf and shoves it in his mouth.
Get in line, Mr. October. You and me both.
“Where do you stand politically?” I ask suddenly, because I need to keep this conversation going and I can’t handle talking about his body for one more minute. And if the only other thing he’s willing to talk about is Spence, then I’m tapping out early.
“I stand with the people.” He takes a sip of his rum and zero-calorie mixer.
“What people?”
“All of them?”
“You don’t have a party?” I ask, because I developed my political views at the young age of eight, when Dad and I attended our first rally in the city.
“I love a party.”
Oh, my shiitake mushrooms on a platter. There must be more in there.
“What party do you support? Red or blue?” Seems like Rocco will relate more to a color chart than big vocabulary words.
“My favorite color is fuchsia. My grandmother used to wear a lot of fuchsia.”
I nod. “Do you vote?”
“We aren’t allowed to. Against our policy at the firehouse.”
Now I’m enraged. That is most definitely not legal. “No one can take away your right to vote, Rocco. Who told you that?”
“No. It’s not like that. Chief wants to keep it fair. Otherwise, we’d all vote for ourselves.” He manages to chew lettuce like it’s the same consistency as a carrot and talk at the same damn time. His teeth are so white against his tan skin that they almost look neon in this lighting.
“For yourselves? What are you talking about?”
“Babe, you got to keep up. Aren’t you a lawyer?” He laughs and my jaw drops open. “The calendar. I was runner-up this year, but I’m training hard for next year. Mr. October will bring his girl the gold. Nothing can stop me and I won’t quit till I win it all.”
Would it be rude to ask him to quit talking? Because I really, really need him to or I can’t be held accountable for what I’ll do to him.
“I’ll try to keep up. I was actually talking about the presidential election.” Why do I even keep trying? I take another bite of chicken and glance over at Spence, as he pays his check and moves to his feet before leaving the bar.
“I don’t put my energy into what I can’t control. This,” he rubs his stomach and kisses his two biceps before looking back up at me, “I can control.”
“Listen, Rocco. This is not going to work out.”
&
nbsp; “What? Where is this coming from?” He looks stunned. He can’t be stunned. We’ve already had this talk multiple times and we’ve only been out three times.
“It’s coming straight from my mouth.” I fold my hands together, put on my game face, and meet his gaze. I’m dead serious and he needs to know that.
Operation Forget Spence Taylor is not going to happen with Mr. October as my distraction.
“I’d like to put my cock in your mouth,” he says, and he dramatically licks his lips as if that will do the trick.
Oh, no, he didn’t.
I’m gonna attribute ninety percent of his obnoxiousness to alcohol and the fact that the man hasn’t eaten a carb since middle school, and that’s being generous.
“Yeah, you’ve really got to learn to read your audience, Rocco. When someone says it’s not working, you don’t pull out the dirty talk.” I move to my feet and drop a twenty on the table. It’s the least I can do.
“Babe. Tell me you don’t want this.” He stands and moves close to me before lifting his T-shirt to show off his bronzed abs as it’s his go-to move. But then he surprises me by grabbing his junk and thrusting three times.
Are you kidding me right now?
His sexy game is worse than his regular game.
This is a classic middle school move that I’m fairly certain my neighbor Robby Marani used on me before I punched him in the face. Mya is not going to believe this. Rocco is worse than her third POV sex-talking ex.
“I really, really don’t want it. But there are plenty of women that do. Take care, Rocco.”
“I can’t believe you’re breaking up with me.” He looks truly surprised, which makes it difficult not to laugh.
“It’s not a breakup. We barely know one another.”
“Babe, this is the longest relationship I’ve ever had,” he says, his eyes spinning hearts. It doesn’t faze me.
You don’t say. I bite my tongue because I’m not looking to humiliate the man. I just need this to be done.
“You’re Mr. freaking October. There are lines of women who would be dying to date you.” I smile up at him.
“That’s true. And you aren’t my typical type. Most girls sleep with me on the first date. But my girl was playing hide the cock-a-doodle-do, am I right?”
I laugh, because this just keeps getting crazier.
“You got me.”
He moves forward and wraps his arms around me. “I’ll miss you, babe. You don’t mind if I stay and hang out with those girls, do you? It’ll give me some closure. And all that cock talk has me worked up, you know?”
Am I being punked right now? How is this conversation happening?
“Goodbye, Rocco.”
He nods, and he moves toward the bar as I make my way out the door.
I’m so relieved to be out in the cool air. I’ve never broken up with someone that I wasn’t even dating before, but I finally relax.
I look up ahead and see Spence walking into his building.
And just like that, I’m tense all over again.
Chapter Thirteen
Spence
I’ve been whistling all day since running into Emma last night. The girl normally has an unreadable game face, but she showed her hand, and I enjoyed every goddamned minute of it. This woman has been messing with my head for almost a year, whether she meant to or not, and I am finally meeting her head-on.
Her boyfriend could not have been less her type if he tried. I give that lack of relationship two minutes before it combusts. The dude doesn’t have a chance in hell of keeping up with her, and I do not mind that even a little.
My phone rings and my mother’s name lights up the screen.
“Hey, Mom. How are you?”
“I’m well. Just wanted to talk to you about Thanksgiving. You’re going to come home this year, right?”
Family holidays are big in the Taylor family, and my mother loves hosting. Last year she came here, and I don’t think I could handle another round of musical condos.
“Yes. We’re all coming home.”
“Oh, good, sweetheart. I can’t wait to see you.”
“Me either. That’ll make it easier for Pen, too.” My little sister attends Northwestern in Chicago. “And I heard Mya’s family is going to join us.”
“Yes. I’ve been talking to Estella and she and Frank are going to come. I’m so looking forward to it.”
“Me too, Mom. All right, I just got to Jesse’s. He and Mya have an issue with their guest bathroom toilet. I’ll call you later.”
“Oh wait—have you checked on Hazel lately?” she asks.
“We all met for drinks a few weeks ago. Why?” My cousin Hazel moved to the city from Chicago recently for a new job. She’s a few years younger than me, and I’ve always had a soft spot for her.
“She needs to know she has family close,” Mom says in her stern tone. She knows how to get to my heartstrings with the family card.
“I think Caden saw her for lunch last week. But yeah, I’ll reach out. She’s really busy, but I’ll check on her more often.”
“Love you,” Mom sings out, her mission accomplished.
“Love you, too.” I end the call and decide to call Hazel right now before I forget.
“Hey, Spence,” she sounds breathless.
“You running or what?” I ask.
“I just ran up the stairs and then fell down half of them.” She’s stopping me before I can even ask if she’s okay. “I’m fine, I’m fine. You know me. Haven’t found my feet just yet. Seems like I might never.”
I chuckle. She does have a way of falling over nothing and everything. “How’s your job going?”
“Working nonstop. I’m sorry I haven’t had a chance to see you guys more often. I did see Caden last week, but I’m missing all of you.”
“Miss you too. We’ll see you when you catch your breath. How about I come your way for lunch this week?”
“I’d love that.” She sounds so excited, I feel bad I haven’t done it more often. “That would be great. I know it’s not the most convenient for you to come over here during the week.”
“No worries. That’s supposed to be the benefit of owning your own company,” I say it with as snotty an accent as I can manage.
“So I’ve heard.” She laughs.
“I’ll text a few options and we can see what works.”
“Sounds good.”
“All right. Love you, cuz.”
“Love you too.”
I hang up just as the door flies open and Jesse nearly runs into me.
“Hey, Mya’s here. I’ve got to get downstairs to meet with Caden and the designer to go over some numbers.”
He hurries past me and I step inside to find Mya pouring me a cup of coffee.
“Thanks for coming up to look at it. It just never stops running,” she says, as she hands me the mug.
“Not a problem. How are you doing?”
“Good. Just heading to work in a few minutes. Not sure if Tabitha told you—they found her replacement, so she’s not with us anymore?”
“Yeah, she told me. She seems to like moving to new places, so I guess she’s fine with it.”
“So, what’s going on there? Is it a thing?” she asks, and her lips turn up in the corners.
I scratch the back of my neck. “No. It’s not a thing, but we’re friends. She’s still hung up on her ex and I just wasn’t feeling it. Can I ask you a favor though?”
“Of course,” she says as she follows me down the hall to the bathroom.
“Can you not mention it to Emma?”
I set the coffee mug on the sink and drop down on my knees to look behind the toilet.
“Not mention what to Emma?”
“That Tabitha and I aren’t a thing.” I push up to stand and lift the lid off of the tank.
“Why?”
I lean back down and shut off the water. “Easy fix, but it’ll need a new valve.”
She motions for me to get to the r
eal point. Emma. I reach for my coffee and we head back down the hallway and out to the kitchen.
“Because it bothers her.”
She pauses and studies me. “It bothers her that you’re dating Tabitha?”
I nod. “It does.”
“And you like that?” She smirks, and I see her wheels turning as she tries to process what I’m really saying here.
“I do.”
“You like her, don’t you?” She settles her hands on her hips and raises a brow. “Do not lie to me, Spence Taylor.”
I shrug. “I like her sometimes.”
She gives me a little shove as she laughs. “Well, that makes sense actually. She was all for me setting you up with Tabitha and then she grilled me like I’d committed a mortal sin the next day. She’s brought it up a few times. I see how this is now.”
“Don’t make it a thing.”
“Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. I think I’m going to enjoy this,” she says. “But listen. Don’t play games with her too long. She’ll see through that and run if you’re not careful.”
I make a face. I know she’s right. “Thing is, she’ll run if I move too fast, and she’ll run if I move too slow … so I will have to do this very carefully.”
She presses her lips together and shakes her head before doing a slow clap. “Spence. I am so GD impressed with you right now.”
“I’m fairly impressed with myself too.” I laugh and she rolls her eyes. “But figuring out Emma is not for the weak.”
“Never forget that. And don’t forget about Rocco either.” She raises a brow and sips her coffee.
“Rocco is not a problem. You obviously haven’t met him yet.”
“You met him?” she asks with complete surprise.
“Yep. And trust me when I tell you—there is nothing to worry about there. Although Rocco probably has no idea he’s being used to aggravate me.”
She sets her mug down on the counter and shakes her head. “Why would she date him to aggravate you?”
“Because she enjoys it. I’m like a goddamn sport to her. Don’t try to figure it out. It’s easier to join her than to beat her.” I kiss the top of Mya’s head and make my way to the door.
“So what will you do next?”