The Halo Series Boxed Set
Page 24
“I’ve been trying to get him to go to my car with me, but he won’t budge. He said he has plans tonight—probably with his girlfriend,” AB said.
“Is that so? I heard his girlfriend doesn’t live in New York—yet.”
“I don’t know, but I’m trying. Want to see who can get him to leave with them first?” AB asked.
“That’s tempting. What do you want to bet?”
“How about one-hundred dollars?” AB suggested.
I was trying not to laugh, and I was also relieved that Brooke was being a good sport about the whole flirting situation.
“That sounds fair.” Brooke turned to AB and shook her hand.
I walked over and handed Brooke two shots and AB her Cosmo. “Can I get you ladies anything else?” I asked.
“Where does your girlfriend live?” AB asked.
“Boston.”
“So she’s not here in New York now?” Brooke asked and gave me a look.
Yeah, baby, I’ll play along.
“No … she’s not supposed to be here until Friday night,” I said.
“So what’s the problem?” AB asked.
“Well …”
“Your girlfriend isn’t here and you have two hot girls who want you,” AB said, cutting me off.
“Well, every guy does want to be with two women,” I said.
“But I bet just one is all you need,” Brooke said. She leaned over and whispered in AB’s ear.
“Oh right,” AB replied. “Only one of us can rock your world.”
“Hmm …” I said. “Hold that thought while I help other people. I’ll be back.”
I stepped over and started taking more orders. Even though it was a Wednesday, the bar was busy. I glanced at Brooke a few times; she was talking to AB and staring at me while biting her bottom lip. There was no telling what she was planning—but I liked it.
“Can I get you something else to drink?” I asked Brooke.
“No, but I’ll take your number.”
“My girl wouldn’t like that.”
“What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her,” AB said and unbuttoned a few buttons of her shirt.
“I think you need to convince me why I should,” I said.
“What if I tie a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue? Does that earn your number?” Brooke asked.
My dick was at full mast just thinking about Brooke’s tongue and what she can do with it. “That will earn you more than my number, honey.”
“Is that so?” Brooke asked, raising an eyebrow.
“But I don’t know how to do that,” AB said.
“A bet’s a bet,” Brooke said to her.
She reached over and plucked a cherry from the container in front of her. I needed to go help other customers, but I wanted to see her tie the stem. She leaned her head back slightly, touching the cherry to her lips and the sucked the juice off the red fruit as she watched me out of the corner of her eye. Fuck, I was so hard.
She plucked the fruit from the stem with her teeth and chewed the juicy fruit. I couldn’t move. After she’d chewed the cherry, she sucked the stem and then stuck it in her mouth. My cock was screaming at me. It was confused why she wasn’t sucking him like she was the sucking the cherry.
Don’t worry, she’ll be sucking you once she wins the bet.
“What if I show you my tits?” AB asked.
“No, I’m watching this,” I said, my eyes never leaving Brooke’s.
About a minute later, Brooke reached with her fingers and pulled the stem from her mouth. The whole stem formed a knot. She reached her hand out to me and I reached for it as she placed it in my hand.
“Pay the lady,” I said to AB.
“Fuck. Are you serious? She won because of that?”
“Damn straight,” I groaned.
“The man wants who he wants.” Brooke waited with her hand out as AB reached in her purse. AB stuck a wad of money in Brooke’s hand and she counted it. “Now where should we go so I can do that to your cock?”
“Right this way, gorgeous.” I started to walk towards my office.
AB groaned and stomped off.
“I think I just came up with how I’m going to make money since I’m moving to New York,” Brooke said.
“You’re … You’re moving here?” Easton asked, stopping mid-stride up the stairs to his office.
“Well, I thought my boyfriend wanted me to, but …”
“No—your boyfriend definitely wants you moving here. I can vouch for him,” he said with a huge smile.
“Good, because I’m having radiation here in a few weeks and I need a place to live.”
“Here?”
“Yeah, figured I would since I was moving here.”
“Do you know how much I love you?”
“Do I need to bet because I only have a hundred bucks?”
“No, you don’t need to bet, but I can show you.”
“Oh yeah?” I bit my lower lip.
“Fuck, I need to show you after I get off work. Go to my house—Avery and Chey are there and they’ll let you in.”
“Okay, but hurry!”
“Trust me, I’ll be shooing these fuckers out the door as soon as we close,” he said and leaned down and kissed me—finally.
I knocked softly on the door when I arrived at Easton’s. I didn’t want to wake Cheyenne by ringing the doorbell if she was sleeping. After a few seconds of Avery not answering, I knocked again, but a little louder. A few seconds later, he answered with his phone glued to his ear.
“I’ve been waiting for you.” He stepped aside so I could enter. “Nic said you were coming. I was starting to worry.”
“I went to Halo first.”
“I was sure you would have wanted to wait naked in E’s bed.”
“Shit, why didn’t I think of that?” I asked and we laughed.
“Baby, I’ll call you back,” he said into the phone. “I’m not … Yeah, Saturday … I’ll call you back … Fine, I’ll talk to you tomorrow … I love you, too … Night.”
“What’s happening Saturday?” I asked, going into the kitchen to grab some water.
“Noth … Oh, um, Nic’s coming.”
“Oh? I thought she was coming Friday?”
“Right, Friday. I must have misspoken,” he said, looking down at his feet.
“Okay … Anyway, so, I went to Halo first and made a hundred bucks.”
“Easton made you work?”
“No.” I laughed. “I bet some chick with bleached blonde hair that I could get Easton to leave with me.”
“Holy shit, really?”
“Yeah, it was hilarious!”
“I bet it was. Let’s not make it a habit because word will get out that we’re taking advantage of our customers.”
“Yes, boss. Geez, way to ruin the fun.” I took a swig of the water from a bottle.
“Sorry, but—”
“I know, you’re right. Anyway, Cheyenne’s in bed?”
“Yeah, I finally talked her off her cliff.”
“What do you mean?” I sat in the chair across from him at the dining room table.
“Some bitches were making fun of her at practice. She was really upset.”
“I bet. Do you know why?”
“No, she wouldn’t tell me.”
“Then how did you talk her off a cliff?”
“We prank called them.”
“Shut up! You did?”
“Yeah. Courtney came over, too. It was funny.”
“That’s awesome and wrong.”
“Well, it worked.” He leaned back in his chair.
“I wonder why they were mean to her?”
“Maybe she’ll tell you.”
“Doubt it. We barely know each other.”
“She talks about you all the time.”
“She does?” I asked, almost choking on my water.
“Yeah, she thinks you’re some Olympic softball player.”
“Oh God, I’m going to disappoint h
er once I can actually throw a ball again.”
“I doubt that. Just blame it on your shoulder.”
Avery and I talked more about my shoulder. I filled him in on the radiation, but he already knew most of it because of Nicole. I tried to get him to go home, but we decided that it was probably best that he stay in case Cheyenne woke up. We didn’t want to confuse her, and she hadn’t actually seen me stay over at Easton’s before.
I took a shower and crawled into Easton’s bed—naked.
I stayed with Cheyenne Friday night while Easton worked. We ate pizza and watched shitty movies on Lifetime. She was finally warming up to me and even leaned on me and fell asleep. I could really get used to being a part of their family. I loved them both so much.
I couldn’t even imagine my life if I hadn’t met Easton. I probably would have forgiven Jared, believed that Tramp Tarah was just a friend, and went through my medical issues with just Nicole by my side.
I was a lucky girl.
The following morning, Easton and I cooked breakfast for everyone. Usually, he would go to Jimmy and Jane’s, but I wanted to do something for them. I wanted to show them that I was getting better each day. My body was healing and I was starting to feel like the old Brooke.
Once we finished eating, we went to Cheyenne’s game. We were still on edge about what had happened at practice on Wednesday, but we didn’t bring it up to Cheyenne and she never told any of us why those girls were mean to her.
Halfway through the game, I heard one of the girls call her Cryanne. I wanted to run up to the girl and yell at her. I hated bullies, and I wasn’t going to let Cheyenne be bullied, but before I could stand, Phil took the girl aside and made her sit on the bench the rest of the game.
Cheyenne did awesome. She got on base each time and stopped all the balls that came to her. She didn’t necessarily get the runner out, but she didn’t let the ball go through her legs and that was the main thing.
Lightning ended up losing—which was their first loss. All the girls were sad, but you couldn’t win them all. They had to learn the hard way—you win some and you lose some.
Jimmy and Jane went home after the game and Nicole and Avery followed us to Easton’s. We were going to barbecue burgers and hot dogs. Both Easton and Avery had the night off and we were in the celebrating mood—despite Cheyenne’s loss.
“Cheyenne won’t come out of her room,” Easton said, walking out in the backyard where we were all sitting.
“Want me to go talk to her?” Avery asked.
“I’ll go,” I said. “Maybe it’s a girl thing.”
“Oh God,” Easton groaned.
“I’m just kidding. She’s ten, baby.” I stood on my tip-toes to kiss him. He swatted my butt as I walked into the house.
“Chey, can I come in?” I asked, knocking on her bedroom door.
“No.”
“Please? I want to talk about the game. You did awesome!”
“I don’t want to talk about the game.”
“Why not?”
“Because I just don’t.”
“You know your daddy doesn’t like you mad. Can you please tell me why you’re mad? Maybe I can help.”
“No, I don’t want him to know!” she said, yanking open her door.
“Okay, I won’t tell him, but will you tell me?”
“Fine, but you have to promise not to tell him.”
“I pinky swear,” I said and stuck out my pinky.
Our pinky’s shook and then she closed the bedroom door behind me. “I know why the girls are mean to me.”
“Why?” I asked, sitting on her bed next to her.
“Because I get to play since my dad is the coach.”
“What? That’s not true.”
“Yeah, it is. Me and Courtney get to play the whole game and the other girls have to switch off.”
“Honey, you don’t play the whole game because your dad is the coach.”
“Yes, I do.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s not true.”
“Why isn’t it?” she asked, finally looking up at me.
“Who else plays first base like Courtney?”
“No one.”
“And who else plays third base?”
“Well, Bridgette tried to play, but she got scared and moved to shortstop and switches off with Erin.”
“See? No one else plays your position. Of course you play the whole game.”
“Are you sure?”
“Well, you said it yourself. Next time, just ask whoever says anything if they want to play third while you take a break. I bet they won’t because they’re too scared.”
“Third is scary. The balls come so fast.”
“Yeah, they do, I remember that, but you get used to it.”
“Well, I won’t tell Sara or Lisa that part.”
“Yeah, don’t tell them that part. Just ask them to prove they’re better than you. They won’t be able to, of course.” I patted her leg.
“When will you teach me how to be better?”
“As soon as I get better, we’ll practice every day.”
“Really?”
“Of course.”
“But what about when you’re in Boston?”
“How would you feel if I lived here instead?”
“Like with me and Daddy?”
“Yeah.”
Her eyes got big. “I would love that!”
“Good because I want to.”
I was able to get Cheyenne to come out of her room. No one said anything as she came out. I whispered to Easton that I would tell him everything when she wasn’t around. I knew that she asked me not to, but he deserved to know what the girls on the team were saying.
“Now that everyone is here, Nicole, and I have some news,” Avery said.
I looked at her hand, but she had no ring. “Let me guess. You’re moving here?” I asked.
“Yes, but that’s not it,” Nicole said. “I’m … I’m pregnant!”
“Oh my God! Really?” I squealed and wrapped her in my arms. I winced a little from the pain, but I didn’t care. My best friend was having a baby!
“Yeah.” She nodded when we let go.
“I’m going to have a cousin?” Cheyenne asked.
“Yeah, C.C., you are.” Avery rubbed the top of her head and messed up her hair.
“Awesome! I can’t wait to teach them how to catch.”
My best friend was pregnant. I was happy for her, but at the same time, I was sad. Life was strange. I’d always thought that I’d have children by now. I didn’t even know if Easton wanted more kids. I didn’t even know if he wanted to marry me.
“You okay?” Easton whispered into my ear.
“Yeah,” I answered, giving him a tight smile.
“Avery’s a good guy. He’s going to treat her right. He’ll do the right thing.”
“I know.” I wrapped my arms around his waist.
Nicole told us when the due date was. By the calculations, she got pregnant on the cruise. They were both smiling, happy, and in love.
The day finally came for me to start radiation. It seemed like yesterday I had surgery, but it was actually almost five weeks prior. A week ago, the four of us had rented a U-Haul truck and moved Nicole and me to New York. I sold most of my stuff, and Nicole did the same, so we had very little.
Nicole found a nursing job that allowed her to work while she got her license transferred to New York, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be a paralegal. If I did, I would need to be re-certified in New York, and that involved going back to school. Plus, Ian didn’t know that I wasn’t coming back. I was still on disability from my surgery and now from the radiation. I wasn’t due to go back for another two months.
“You’re getting that look in your eye,” Easton said, grabbing my hand as we drove to the radiation center. “You have nothing to be worried about.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You don’t need to lay there topless while they burn your insides.”
“You’re supposed to put it on right after the treatment.” I laughed and shaking my head.
“I’ll still put it on you every night. You know I like touching your boobies.”
“Oh, I know all right.” I playfully hit his shoulder.
Living with Easton was perfect. It was like we were a family. Cheyenne accepted me. His parents accepted me, and, of course, Avery accepted me. I never imagined having my family like this—but I wouldn’t change it for the world. Easton was my best friend, my boyfriend, my lover, my soul mate.
Easton waited for me in the waiting room when I went back to have my first treatment. I didn’t know what to expect. Of course, they gave me a crash course, made me watch a short video, but I didn’t know what would really happen until I was going through it.
Before I could get the first dose of radiation, they took me back to have a CT. They explained that it was to take images so they knew exactly where to line me up each day. They were going zap the exact spot every day for the six weeks.
“Brooke, I’m going to mark you with this black marker and then poke the spot with a needle so it’s permanent. It’s so we can get the lasers set up properly.”
“Like a tattoo?”
“Yes, but they’re small dots and will just look like freckles,” the male technician said.
“Okay,” I replied, averting my eyes.
He opened my hospital style gown and marked me in three different places: two on both breasts on the side and one in the center of the valley of my chest. Once he was done marking me, he left my gown open, my breast uncovered, and took several images with the tube-shaped machine. I had pants on, but was uncomfortable having my boobs uncovered. I tried to tell myself that he did this every day, but I just wanted it to be over—fast.
Once he was done, I sat in a waiting room for patients until it was my turn to have the treatment. As I sat there, a woman around forty came in, crying. I didn’t know why she was crying, but she didn’t have any hair. A nurse was rubbing her back, whispering words to her as she cried.