Out of the Blue: Reed Security: Book Two

by Robin Leaf

  “I’m just pissed I have to call in tonight,” he adds before I can pinch his cute little cheeks. “I could really use the tips.”

  “I’m sure you make a ton of them on any given night, but it’s best to take at least tonight off. I don’t want to see you back here with an infection, especially with all those grubby women touching you every night.”

  Blushing, he bumps me with his shoulder. “It’s not that many.”

  “Right, one look at how you hump that stage with perfect precision, and I bet you get all the lap dance requests.”

  His little proud smile makes me smile. “I’m just lucky I got you. I don’t know if I would have noticed it otherwise. The doctor said if I’d left it alone, it might have gotten bigger and harder to treat.”

  I wave off his comment. “Or it could have gone away on its own, and you’d never have been freaked out.” I shrug. “We’ll never know.”

  He stops, and before I can protest, he wraps me in his arms and pulls me to his chest.

  “Oh, hi, you’re hugging me now.” Not awkward at all.

  I know I said I feel like his older cousin, but I don’t even hug my actual cousins. This is weird. He pulls me tighter probably hoping I’ll hug back. Nope, baby stripper, not gonna happen.

  Thank God he lets me go quickly, but he keeps his hands on my upper arms. “Yeah, I do that when I leave a pretty lady who might have just saved my life.”

  Stepping back, I blow air through my lips. “Hardly. But now you can hump stages to your heart’s content and not gross anyone out with your epic-sized non-tumor.”

  He spits out a laugh. “Yeah, that would have definitely put a damper on my night job.”

  “Well, I need to get back to my day job,” I say, backing further away before he tries any more of that weird affectionate shit. “Take care, Diesel. Come back if you see any of the things Dr. Honma described.”

  He waves. “Thank you, I will.”

  Walking back to the break room, I run into a white-coated chest, knocking me backward. My feet get tangled in each other, and hands grab me before I can land on my ass for the second time in eighteen hours.

  Ryan steadies me on my feet and huffs before trying to walk around me.

  “You know,” I say to his retreating form, “I could report what you did today.” He turns on me so quickly, I almost cower, but I stand taller… well, as tall as I can. “What it looked like was that you were going to order unnecessary tests for a friend just because you are angry at me. In fact, you treated me so horribly, patients noticed and voiced their concern, suggesting I report you for harassment.” He starts to argue, but I hold my hand up to stop him. “I’m not going to do that, but I will if it continues. I’m sorry that you don’t understand why I turned you down. All you’ve done lately is completely ruin your chances for me to ever reconsider. I would hope that you take a second to evaluate what happened today and make adjustments to your behavior, because if you don’t, you run the risk of facing the not too pleasant consequences of your actions, which in today’s day and age, isn’t just a slap on the wrist.”

  I walk away before he has the opportunity to respond.

  “Good for you,” Ned, my favorite tech, congratulates. He offers his hand in a high five. “I really hate that douche.”

  I smack it as I walk by, feeling pretty proud of myself. I wasn’t awkward at all. Go, me.

  I just wish Mr. Dreamy could have witnessed the moment. Maybe I’ll ask him to tattoo “Badass” on one of my hidden places, but I doubt I’ll ever see him again… except maybe when he’s driving that unicorn on our way to the naughty version of Narnia.

  If I only knew where he worked.

  Six

  Dugger

  “So that nurse and you had some smokin’ chemistry,” Shayla says between bites of her hamburger. “You should go for it.”

  I raise my eyebrow. “Go for what?”

  “C’mon, Dugger. The way she was flirting with you? She’s totally into you.”

  Yeah, I did like talking to that nurse. But flirting? I scratch the side of my face to see if I remember anything she did that could be considered flirting.

  “Someone flirted with Dugger?” Tater asks, smirking. “Shocker.”

  I shake my head. “I don’t think she was flirting.”

  “Uh, yeah she was.” She slurps her soda. “And don’t think you weren’t givin’ it right back.”

  I take no time to answer. “No I wasn’t.”

  She turns to Tater. “He totally was. Acting all concerned for her well-being when this asshole doctor kept making jerk comments. Then he kept calling her ‘Blue’ because of something to do with her last name. Then he got all heart-eyed when they talked about her not having any tattoos.” Shoving fries into her mouth, she turns to me and asks, “And just how did you know her family didn’t like her ex?”

  I throw my napkin on the last bite of my burger and sit back on my stool. “We might have met last night.”

  “At the strip club?” Shayla asks with her eyebrow raised.

  “Yeah,” I scratch the back of my neck. “She was taken there by some friends to celebrate her divorce. We ended up trapped outside together for a few minutes.”

  Tater places his hand over his chest in pretend offense. “You flirted with another woman while on a date with my wife?”

  Smiling, I feel my face get hot. “I didn’t flirt with her.”

  “If he thinks he didn’t flirt with her today, odds are he flirted with her last night, too.” Sipping slowly, she smirks at me. “It’s so cute watching old people tryin’ ta hook up.”

  “I’m not old.” I stand, gathering my trash, and walk over to boop her nose. “And I wasn’t trying to hook up with her.”

  “Give it up, Shay,” Tater defends. “Although women bat their eyes at him all the time, Dugger rarely reciprocates, at least not intentionally. He’s just a friendly guy.”

  “Okay, but she was flirting her little scrubs off. She was awkward as hell but so obvious. And she was also all heart-eyed from the moment she first saw you.” She shoves the last of her fries in her mouth. “I still think you should go for it.”

  I step on the lever to open the trash can and dump my wrapper and the rest of my fries. “Sorry, kiddo, not gonna happen.”

  “Why not? She was hella cute, probably around your age, and completely receptive to playing squirrel to your tree.”

  Chuckling at the squirrel comment, I shake my head again. Although she’s right, the woman was cute, really cute, but I’m not going for anything with anyone right now, and I got the feeling she wasn’t really ready to go for anything either.

  “She just finalized her divorce yesterday.”

  “So? Just give her a little ride on the Dugger pogo stick. She looked like she could use a good boning.”

  I choke out a laugh. “The Dugger… boning?” I shake my head yet again. “Did I miss them giving you drugs today? You’re not usually with the bawdy comments.”

  “Ooh, Impressive. My senior English teacher used that smartical word to describe Shakespeare. I’ll take it.” She licks salt off her finger. “And no, they did not give me anything other than ibuprofen.” Pushing away from the counter, she shrugs one shoulder. “I just finally feel comfortable being myself around the two of you.”

  Tater lays a hand on her shoulder. “I apologize if we ever made you feel like you couldn’t express yourself.”

  Mister sensitivity is at it again. My best friend is an all-in-your-feelings type of guy who believes everyone should be allowed to express themselves freely. He’s always been unrestricted with his feelings. I’ve always buried mine. I’m simultaneously jealous and resentful of this aspect of his personality.

  “As far as I’m concerned, you can get a little uncomfortable again so you quit referring to me as old,” I scold, shooting her a mock dirty look, “or referring to any of my… parts as outdated play equipment.”

  Shayla giggles. “Hey, give me a break. I’m blunt-fo
rce trauma girl.” Turning to Tater, she adds, “I was just a little intimidated, but not by anything you guys have done. You both have been super amazing to me. I needed some time to get… acclimated.” She stands carefully, holding on to the counter. “But now, I need to go to the restroom so I can get back to work. Tater, you have a three o’clock appointment, and Dugger, you have a piercing client who’s not only late, but she just might be a little pissy that she had to wait for a week. I told her you had malaria or something and would be out for a while, so I suggested she try Sin ‘N Skin. She said she specifically wanted you to do it. Told me that if I called you and told you it was her, that you would come in, even if you were sick.” She walks to throw her trash away. “And she was kind of a bitch about it.”

  “Who is it?” I ask absently, noticing how Tater looks down at his phone and disappears into the back room.

  Shayla grabs some cleansing wipes and begins to clean the counter. “Madeline Stoner, that D-list actress who apparently thinks she’s an A-lister. She played Hannah from The Horror Within movies.”

  I smirk. Some tabloid talk show Shayla watches sometimes in the shop did a piece a few weeks ago about the top three diva actresses no one wants to work with in Hollywood. Madeline Stoner was number one.

  “I thought they killed her off in The Horror Within, Third Time’s a Charm after they revealed that she’s the murderer.”

  “They did, but the character is coming back Michael Myers style in the fourth movie.” She walks to the bathroom just as the bell rings over the door. “Rumor has it that they recast the role since her character may be a zombie now.”

  “Um, excuse me,” a harsh voice says over my shoulder. “An important customer just walked in, and you’re too busy socializing to acknowledge her.”

  Shayla gasps and hurries to close the bathroom door, not before wincing at me. I take a breath and turn around slowly. Speak of the devil. Before I get a look at my next client, I notice a short yet rotund man is by the door with his arms crossed over his chest, causing some serious man cleavage through his so-short-his-belly-shows black t-shirt. In front of him, Madeline Stoner stands in the front of the counter, with some of those big, bug-eyed sunglasses on her face and her hands on her hips. She either just rode over here on the top of a bus in a rain storm, or she rolled out of bed after a seriously rough night.

  She removes her sunglasses slowly and licks her lip while assessing me.

  “Wow,” she purrs. “I just might have to forgive you.”

  I decide to play dumb and plaster on my shield-smile. “How may I help you?”

  “I have an appointment with Dugger to get my clit pierced.”

  My eyes narrow and I feel my smile slip. I look down at Shay’s notebook, and sure enough, it reads “belly piercing.”

  “I’m sorry, it says on the books that you have an appointment to pierce your navel.”

  “Yeah,” she says, licking her lips slowly in an effort to be seductive. Really, it just looks like she’s trying desperately to remove remnants of the greasy pork chop she just ate. “That’s before I saw you.” She walks forward and leans over the counter, causing her breasts to spill out of her top. “If you’re lucky, I might even let you fuck me.”

  Not often am I shocked, but I feel my eyebrows shoot up under my beanie. If anyone would cause me to be rude, it’s this chick.

  I clear my throat. “So you’re aware that you can’t have any type of sex after the procedure until the site heals, right?”

  “So you’ll just have to fuck me before, now won’t you?” She bats her eyelashes. “I bet you know how to fuck a girl right.”

  “Maddie,” the voice that’s been haunting me for four months says sharply over my shoulder, “You need to turn right around and walk out of here.”

  Madeline stands and looks past me, curling her lip. “KaeKae, what are you doing here?”

  I feel her move in closer behind me and force my feet to stay rooted where I am.

  “Oh, how quickly you forget. You heard about this shop when you eavesdropped on my conversation with Ciara at the premier party you weren’t invited to last weekend.”

  “I was invited.” Madeline looks down her nose. “I was Jesse Starr’s plus one.”

  Her giggle lights me up on the inside, until it starts to feel like it’s about to burn through my chest.

  “Jesse didn’t even show.” Her hand wraps around my arm, making it very hard for my face to remain neutral. “Now, turn around and walk out.”

  “No,” Madeline says, slamming her fist on the counter. “I came here for a reason.”

  I feel her head tilt toward me. “Was it to sexually harass my brother’s best friend?” She tisks her tongue and leans into me, lowering her voice. “She’s propositioning men she doesn’t know because the men who know her would never come anywhere near her.”

  Blinking a second, Madeline begins shaking her head. “That’s not what happened.”

  “Yeah, it’s exactly what happened. And, not that Dugger would have ever said yes, but before you go offering up sex,” she waves her finger toward Madeline’s lower body, “maybe you should get that Hep-C cleared up.”

  She pulls my arm, causing me to look at her for the first time since the wedding. Her smirk is just as adorable as it always has been, and for a second, being with her feels like it used to. “Wait, is there even a cure for Hep-C?”

  I can’t help but smile at her, only because I’ve never seen her put people in their place.

  Madeline’s eyes meet mine quickly before looking back to Kaelyn. “That was just an unfounded internet rumor.”

  “Excuse us if we don’t take your word for it. So please leave, or I’ll send this closed-circuit footage to The Sippers, who aren’t exactly fans of yours.” She wrinkles her nose and nods. “These bomb-ass security cameras really capture the sound in here.”

  The rotund guy catches Madeline before she can climb over the counter to get at Kaelyn. He turns her around and walks her out the door.

  Once they’re gone, I shake her hand off my arm and step away. She lowers her head for a second, and I think she’s going to thankfully turn and walk away.

  She doesn’t. Moving in closer, she goes to grab my arm again, but I put my hand up to stop her.

  “Is this the way it’s always going to be now, Dugger?”

  “God, Kaelyn, what the hell did you expect?” My anger is getting hard to control here, so maybe if I turn away and not look at her face, it’ll help.

  “I expected for you to understand that I never knew how you felt about me because you never gave me any inclination. You should understand that I don’t feel the same about you because you’ve always been like family to me, and I need you to understand how much I miss my other brother.”

  I spin to face her and notice that she flinches. “I can’t just get over–”

  The flash of fear on her face makes me stop. She looks like she did at the wedding after she kissed me. My teeth grind as I close my eyes tightly in order to control my anger, anger that’s not really directed at her. It’s that lid on the jar threatening to come loose. This… this is why I try to keep that fucker closed, why I don’t express myself like I probably should. When I do, I might Chernobyl the whole fucking state. Once my blood doesn’t feel like it’s boiling anymore, I relax my jaw.

  My eyes fly open and meet her big, innocent brown ones, looking at me expectantly. That look cools my blood completely.

  “You need to understand that I need more time.”

  She looks down at her feet for a second and then blinks back up at me, nodding once. “I can give you time, Douglass,” she says softly, “as long as there’s a guarantee that we’ll be okay.”

  The vulnerability of her voice and the wounded expression on her face makes me truly want to give her anything, just like I always have. It’s that moment that I know she’s right. It’s completely unfair of me to avoid her the way I have been. She has been a huge part of my life for the last twenty fi
ve years, which happens to be her entire life. I’ve focused all my anger on her shoulders, which honestly, is not where it should be.

  I step closer, putting my hands in my back pockets so that I resist the temptation to pull her in for a hug.

  “I can’t guarantee things will be the same.”

  She rolls her eyes. “God, Dugger, I didn’t say things needed to be the same. I said I want us to be okay.”

  That sass is just the same as when she was eight and used to want to play video games with Tater and me, or when she was twelve and spoiled every movie we watched. I’m glad it’s still part of her personality.

  I really want to reach out and touch her. It seems like a natural thing when we’re in the same vicinity. Instead, I tighten my grip on my pockets and ask, “How are things with you?”

  Her entire body lights up with joy momentarily before she hides it. I know the answer to my question already, and it kind of makes me feel a little lighter.

  Raising her eyebrow, she asks, “Do you really want to know?”

  I shake my head once. “I can see that you’re happy.”

  She nods. “I am. When you’re ready, I’ll tell you all the things I’ve been doing.”

  Smirking, I joke, “I assume that’s more than just your boyfriend.”

  She barks out a laugh, and when it further lightens my mood, I know we will be okay, and soon.

  “There’s the Dugger I know.” Grabbing her keys and purse off the counter, she digs for her sunglasses and cleans the lenses with one of the leftover napkins still on the counter from lunch. “I’m on my way to an appointment, but I wanted to stop in and see y’all.”

  “Did you just say ‘y’all?’ I see living in Texas is affecting the way you talk now.”

  “We’re only there half the time. Anyway, I need to go before I’m late.” She locks her eyes with mine. “I really hope to see you again soon, Dougie.”

  Swallowing, I nod. “You will, Sugar Bug.”

  I love the smile she leaves me with before she turns and struts out the back of the shop.