“Okay, Cassidy, let’s see how long it takes my pain in the ass brother to get over here to meet the future love of his life.”
She quirked her eyebrow at my statement, then just shook her head.
“Dude, you are all sorts of fucked up in the head if you think I’m anyone’s ‘happily ever after’. But we’ll see if I can be his ‘good enough for right now’.”
I rolled my eyes at her statement. I couldn’t even conceive of her being considered merely ‘good enough’. I was certain she’d at some point been the cause of a fender bender just by walking down the street.
“You’re right, you’re absolutely hideous. Hold on, let me get a bag to put over your head so that we don’t scare off the school children.”
I played like I was looking under my counter for a suitable disguise, all while making sure that I laid the sarcasm on nice and thick. Let’s face it, I didn’t know her, I didn’t know her past. For all I knew, she could hold some deep emotional scars and I didn’t want to be the one that was picking at the edge of the scab.
Thwack.
I was taken completely off guard by the feeling of something hit me square in the side of the head while I was looking away. When I looked at the ground I found remnants of a perfectly good chocolate chip muffin on the floor.
I looked at her and she shrugged.
“Oops, it appears I have dropped my muffin. Could I have another, please?”
She batted her eyes in an over-the-top exaggerated manner and held out her hand like a little kid asking for another piece of candy.
I took a crumb of the muffin that was stuck to my hair and popped it in my mouth, groaning dramatically at the taste.
“Damn, girl, you have one hell of a tasty muffin.”
Her laughter lit up the entire café, causing several people to turn and try to figure out where the happiness was coming from.
“You are a hot mess, Dane.”
“Dane, I came over as quickly as I could, what’s this about a fiery hot red he- well, hello there, gorgeous. My God you would make some beautiful babies. Can I be your baby daddy?”
Cassidy smirked and looked at me.
“This must be Phoenix.”
I just nodded, grinning from ear to ear, watching the two of them openly eye fuck each other.
She finally broke eye contact from my brother long enough to look at me with a little bit of wonder in her eyes.
“Jesus Christ on a stick, your parents’ spunk should be cryogenically frozen or some shit if they are capable of making two of the most gorgeous examples of the male species.”
The thought of mom and dad’s pooled jizz turned my stomach, I won’t lie.
“Do you have any other brothers?”
“No, why? Isn’t two enough for you to handle?”
“More than enough, but I was kind of hoping that maybe they had a whole football team’s worth, and I could try to talk you all into an orgy.”
My brother’s eyes lit up like a five-year-old at Christmas.
“Holy fuck, Dane, she’s perfection. Can I keep her, can I?”
He was literally bouncing up and down clapping his hands.
“Nix, I’m beyond disturbed that you’re open to the idea of her getting it on with you, me and at least a dozen siblings that we don’t have. I mean, c’mon dude. That’s nasty. I don’t want your naked junk anywhere near me.”
“Cassidy, don’t listen to my asshat brother, I would happily gang bang you if it would make you happy. I mean, it would be a total sacrifice on my part, but for you, I would do almost anything.”
“Almost?”
“No idea how creative you are, gorgeous, so I have to give myself an out just in case you are into weaponry and pig’s blood. Those are my hard limits.”
“Duly noted.”
“So, wanna go to dinner tonight? There’s a great place on top of the Pru.”
My eyes widened in shock. My brother didn’t take quick and easy lays to the romantic restaurant atop the Prudential Building. It had a gorgeous observation deck that had a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the lit-up architecture of Boston. No, that was not a one-night stand restaurant. That was a least a one-year commitment right there.
She grabbed a napkin from the counter and scribbled down her phone number and address and handed it to him.
“Here, text me and let me know what time you’re picking me up. Wear some pants tonight that are tight enough that I don’t have to use my imagination, okay?”
She leaned forward, kissed him on the cheek, and then flounced out the front door, waving as she walked out.
“What the fuck was that, Phoenix? I was afraid I was going to have to chuck a muffin at your head. Either that, or I need to charge my customers extra for that show they just got with their coffee.”
“She can chuck her muffin at me any time. Dude, I think I might be in love.”
I shook my head and started to clean up the mess from the baked good bits on the floor from her fast pitch.
“If I had a dollar for every time you fell in love, I wouldn’t need to work for a living. Speaking of work, how’d you get here so quickly?”
“I was upstairs, we haven’t been able to rent it since Mari left, and it’s become a cash pit. Like, the rent you pay for the QB2 is helping McCallum Properties float this building, but we have to do something about getting that apartment rented.”
My heart gripped at the thought of renting out Mari’s apartment. Truthfully, I’d lied to my family and hadn’t put it up for rent like I said I would. I felt a little bit bad about that, but the truth was, I wanted her to move back. If we put someone else there, she would always be just a bit out of reach.
“Well, let me check the ads, see how many impressions we’ve gotten. Maybe I should take pictures at a different time, make sure that the lighting is the best possible. I mean, it’s super clean.”
He nodded slowly, I could tell his wheels were going a mile a minute. He was an accountant, so numbers were his thing. All he knew is what we paid on the building, and what we were getting in lease and rental income. Fuck.
I should have known this would come back to bite me in the ass. If I could figure out a way to funnel money into the account as rent, I would, but now that I was running McCallum, there was only so much I could do.
I mentally cursed my dad for retiring and handing the business over to us all. I really needed to get off my butt and hire someone to manage both locations, so that I could focus more of my energy on the family business. In other words, I had to shit or get off the pot.
Fuck.
“What’s wrong?”
“I just know that I have to finally cut the cord a little bit with the QBs, so that I can focus more of my attention on property management. I wish I could give both one hundred percent of my attention, my commitment. The problem is, the QB was my baby, you know? My dream. I’m having to choose my family over my dream, and I will, but I have to be honest and say I’ve been dragging my feet a bit.”
“Yeah, we know.”
I cringed and looked at Phoenix with an apologetic look.
“Listen, dude, we get it. We all worked so hard to get where we are in our respective careers. It sucks, but what a decent problem to have. Poor us, having a lucrative business dropped in our laps. We don’t have to grow it from the ground up, it’s already thriving, we just have to step in and let it do what it does. Giving up on our personal goals, well, that’s the price we pay for family.”
I just nodded along, knowing that there was absolutely nothing I could add that would make the situation better.
“Do you want Chey to help you with marketing the position?”
Cheyanne was our baby sister. She had focused her education on marketing, and helped me out with the opening of the QB2. Her ideas were great, and she really was instrumental in the success of our opening.
“Actually, I have the person in mind, I just have to bite the bullet and ask him.”
“This
week?”
Ugh, way to tie me down.
“Yeah, I’ll make the offer this week.”
“Thanks, bro. We really need you if we’re going to make this work. Can’t have dad’s empire flush down the toilet just because of your love of coffee, you know.”
He winked and pushed away from the counter.
“Oh, and thanks for Cassidy. You’re a little early for my birthday, but I appreciate the gift.”
With that, the businessman disappeared, and my brother was back.
I shook my head and walked to the back.
“Hey, Johnny, can I see you up front for a moment.”
Chapter Eighteen
Mari
Okay, it had finally arrived.
The third date.
Date one was the little café, and it was kind of awkward and kind of sweet at the same time.
Date two, we went to a bar where he drank just one glass of white wine and kissed me on the cheek at my front door.
On.
My.
Cheek.
And seriously, what guy under the age of sixty drank white wine. Fuck, he might as well have ordered a wine cooler, and shook my hand at my front door.
I honestly thought that maybe he wasn’t that into me, but he had told me I was beautiful and asked for a third date. I heard myself say yes, so here we were.
I still found Sebastian oddly adorkable, and I still felt zero fireworks.
UGH.
He was such a sweet guy, why couldn’t I at least feel a sparkler, if not a cherry bomb. Like, I didn’t need a nuclear bomb mushroom cloud rush of feeling when our hands brushed, but anything would be better than nothing.
And, double ugh. It was going to sound so weird, but he was so much of a damn gentleman all the fucking time. Like, I was afraid to cuss around him, that maybe he would be wicked offended or something.
He’d not held my hand, he’d only kissed my cheek, he insisted on opening every door I approached and pulled my seat out. I know, I know, it was the most polite and chivalrous thing ever. But it was truthfully grating on my nerves. I liked that he was treating me well and all, but when I was wearing high heels and trying to scurry quickly behind him because he was standing there holding the door open, fuck, just walk through it already.
Most chicks probably would be so happy to be treated like a queen. I was stupid, I guess, and maybe subconsciously I was trying to sabotage it because he was a really nice guy who on paper should have all sorts of potential as a long term something.
On paper, he was the absolute ideal. Like, practically a unicorn. Six feet tall, pretty fit, great job, perfect gentleman, gorgeous eyes, and a nice ass. Legitimately ‘sploosh’ worthy.
In real life, well, he was nice.
I hadn’t told Janice about him. I had to admit, I was really conflicted about that. Like, in the first place, I was really supposed to tell her all the things that were going on in my life, especially when it came to the gender that I had the worst trust issues with. I had no trust issues with Sebastian. Truthfully, I felt safe as hell with him.
I had a feeling that even if I caught him in a major lie, it wouldn’t shatter me like Dane did, because I wasn’t really that invested in this… whatever the hell it was.
But, Janice was his therapist, too. So, she might be really pissed at me that I used her front lobby as some sort of speed dating room. It would be a total conflict of interest for me to tell her what was going on.
At least, that was what I kept telling myself in order to justify the fact that I was dating him.
I didn’t want to tell her that he just wasn’t doing it for me, because what if she really, really liked him as a patient? What if he was her favorite? I didn’t think I would want her to like him more than me. Not that I was competitive or anything.
I was totally competitive.
So, I kept it quiet, week after week. I could feel myself withdrawing from her as a result and I hated myself for that. I’d done it before and in the end, it didn’t work out well for me. I could see it in her eyes, too, a hint of disappointment that I wasn’t being completely forthcoming. It definitely hindered me, and it was me falling into stupid old habits.
Except, this time I totally knew what I was doing, I knew it was wrong and stupid and just going to kick me in my own ass once it blew up in my face. So, that was a step in the right direction, wasn’t it?
I really had to tell her. But it was going to break her heart when she found out I felt nothing for him, pretty much just some kind of fondness. You know, the type of fondness you had for other peoples’ pets?
Then why was I standing here with one foot up on the bathroom counter shaving the kitty?
Because despite having no feelings, not the tiniest hint of a spark, it was the third date and I was going to be getting me some, even if that meant conjuring up all sorts of fantasies about Jason Momoa in the process just to keep things nice and wet down there.
He could surprise me. He could be a totally aggressive lover. He might even be slightly dominant, which I fucking loved. Maybe he’d slap my ass a few times, give me a punishment for being too forward.
Hopefully he would keep the lights on.
I hurried up in the bathroom, yet another life decision I would come to regret as I nicked myself. On my fucking lips.
There was only one person who could help me through this.
“Kay, I need advice.”
“Hi, how are you? How are things? How’s the job?”
“Okay, twat waffle, I get it, I should call more. But seriously, 911, hooker!”
“Fine, I’ll give you shit another day. What did you do this time?”
“Nothing… well… it wasn’t on purpose.”
“Shit, this sounds like it’s gonna be good. Should I pop some popcorn while I listen to the drama unfold? Pour myself a tall glass of vodka?”
I just couldn’t figure out how to ask the question I needed to ask.
“Spill it bitch, I don’t have all day and Mariana is in the bedroom, melting like my favorite cherry flavored clitsicle.”
“Dude, do you guys bring popsicles in the bedroom?”
“Do you really want an honest answer?”
Fuck.
“No, please no, for the love of God, no.”
“So, what’s the 911?”
Oh yeah, the reason for my call.
“So, hypothetically speaking, if one were to be doing a little bit of lady gardening down yonder, and maybe cut it a little too close when edging…”
“HOLY FUCKING SHITBALLS, you sliced the pussy?”
“I said ‘hypothetically speaking’…”
“Which means yes. Jesus Christ, woman, are you a rookie? Like, how the hell did you manage that?”
“I maybe wasn’t paying attention. Third date tonight and all.”
She made a strangled coughing noise on the other end of the phone.
“What?”
“So, you were busy thinking about how you were going to ride his pony, even though it was just a really nice pony and not the stallion you wanted riding you. And in all your daydreaming you went all chainsaw massacre on your lady bits.”
This bitch knew me far too well. Like, she pretty much hit the nail on the coffin.
“At least you don’t have to worry about this one hacking my body up in a million pieces and distributing it bit by bit in dumpsters across Massachusetts. Like, he’s really, really safe.”
I could hear her eyes roll across the cell phone.
“Okay, keep telling yourself that, you freak. Anyway, other than moral support, what do you need?”
“Um, what do I do?”
“About what?”
“The blood? Like, it’s everywhere. It almost looks like shark week.”
“I don’t know… cold compress maybe? Why are you asking me?”
“You’re my pussy pro, my kitty connoisseur, my vagina virtuoso, my…”
“Please stop.”
“But I can s
eriously keep going.”
“No. And besides, as your vag virtuoso, I have to tell you I have never split the slit. Ever. I am very protective of my vagaliciousness. It is my goddess power and I treat it as such. I can’t even begin to imagine why you would think that rushing a shave job down there was a brilliant idea.”
“We’re supposed to have sex tonight. Now he’s going to think I have some nasty ass STD. He’ll run screaming.”
“Girl, you act like you think he’s going to give you oral. He’ll probably ask you permission to put his penis in your vagina, carefully guide in and out a few times, get off, and thank you for your time.”
Bitch.
“Did you just flip me off? You did, didn’t you.”
“Jesus, how did you see that? Do you have a damn camera in my bathroom or some shit?”
“I wish, I would be making bank on a video of you slicing the fuck out of your gash.”
I hung up the phone to the sound of her laughter.
Worst thing about what she said was the fact that she was probably right.
“I had a great time tonight, Sebastian. Thanks for taking me out for Thai. That restaurant was a hidden gem.”
I didn’t have to force the words, I absolutely meant every word. He’d taken me to this tiny little hole-in-the-wall restaurant that honestly looked as if I needed some type of tetanus shot just to walk through the door without fear.
Once inside, it was cozy, and the aromas coming through from the back kitchen had my stomach cramping and groaning with hunger. Sebastian, who almost never gave any displays of emotion or reaction, smirked at me when he heard my stomach. We’d really had a very nice evening.
Nice.
There was that fucking word again.
I turned to face him at the front step, still slightly indecisive as to whether I should go through with it or not. I mean, I thought I should.
He looked me in the eyes with a slight smile and took off his glasses.
“Mari, I’ve really been having such a great time with you, it was my absolute pleasure to have you as my dinner companion tonight.”
Until We Fall (Trust Duet Book 2) Page 12