Fumbled Love

by Lila Rose

  Could I handle being friends with Carter and keep my heart in check?

  I wasn’t sure.

  But was I willing to try? To have his company if he asked for it?

  I didn’t know.

  My mind was messed up. Confused. Frazzled.

  And when my phone vibrated on my counter, my mind exploded in a frenzy of, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.

  I snapped it up, fumbled, and then managed to drop it to the floor in a flurry of curses falling from my mouth like I was a badass biker. After picking it up, I noticed the screen had cracked in the corner. “Jesus,” I muttered, and Fozzie let out a yip in reply. Absently, I bent over and scratched behind his ear, then straightened and lit my phone up.

  My shoulders drooped in relief, yet I felt a pang of sadness low in my belly when I saw it was only a text from Mom.

  Stupid stomach.

  Mom: Be there in five to grab our baby. The fur one, not the adult one. XOXOX

  Smiling, I looked down to Fozzie. “Mommy’s on her way.” He let out another yip as if he understood me.

  I’d just changed into leggings and a shoulder-less long-sleeved shirt for drinks later with Brooke when my front bell rang. Of course, Fozzie reacted immediately. He turned into a dog possessed, barking and running around stupidly, trying to kill whatever the noise was.

  “Door’s unlocked,” I called, slipping my phone into my handbag. I considered leaving my cell at home so my attention would be off it. Then again, what if there was an accident and Brooke was injured, and I needed my phone to call for help? Yep, that was my story and I was sticking to it.

  “Ree, you really shouldn’t leave your door unlocked. Anyone could come in and rob you,” Mom called. Then I heard her cooing to her baby. “Oh, my sweetgums. Mommy has missed you. Yes, I have.” I knew she would have Fozzie in her arms and showering kisses all over him. Once again, I was thankful she never reacted like that when I’d come home from school.

  “I never get that attention when I get home from work,” Dad complained as he entered the living room from the hall.

  Mom snorted behind him. “You get enough.”

  “Don’t need to hear about it,” I said, walking up to Dad and kissing him on the cheek. “Glad you’re both back safely.”

  “Thanks, angel. But your mom is right. Lock your front door.”

  “It’s safe—”

  Dad scowled. “Reagan, someone could enter while you blast that stupid music and murder or molest you.”

  “She could enjoy it.” We both shot Mom a look. “I meant the action part, not the murder. How long has it been, Ree?”

  “I seriously wonder about you sometimes, Elaine. I don’t think you’re right in the head.”

  Mom grinned. “I’m not, which is why I married you.”

  “Oooh, burn,” I sang.

  “Christ,” Dad grumbled. “Both women in my life are insane.”

  “Hey,” I snapped half-heartedly. “I haven’t done anything lately to warrant that insane comment.”

  “Tom called,” Mom supplied.

  Shit.

  Mom giggled while rubbing her chin over Fozzie’s head, who was still in her arms. “I want to know who it was that got you tongue-tied enough to say you were doing naked yoga.”

  Double shit.

  Tom was a goddamn snitch. Also, he was my dad’s close friend and had been ever since I started working at the school, and Dad warned Tom about my uniqueness. Dad only recently became a substitute teacher at the school. One good thing about Tom was that he didn’t mention Carter’s name. Though I wondered why he didn’t.

  Sighing, I rolled my eyes. “It doesn’t matter who it was. It won’t happen again.” Dad scoffed. Mom laughed. “At least I’ll try to curb my outburst. Now, I have to get going. I’m meeting Brooke.” I gave them both a cheek kiss and walked past them. “After you grab Fozzie’s stuff, lock up for me, please. Oh, and tell Tom, I’m no longer adopting him as my second father. That man just can’t keep his mouth shut.”

  Chapter Five

  Reagan

  Since Brooke refused to kill me, I made sure she was still up for drinks. We’d arrived at our local corner bar not far from my house and quickly grabbed a spare booth.

  “Hey, girls.” Merriam, our usual waitress, bounced up. “The usual?” God, it sounded like we got drunk and ate hot wings a lot. Okay, so it was nearly every Friday night. Nearly.

  “Yes, please.” Brooke smiled sweetly; she’d been hot for Merriam for a long time. Only as far as we knew, Merriam didn’t swing that way. Her copious flirting with the men around the place, plus the fact she took a lot of them home, was a bit of a giveaway.

  “Actually, I think I’ll go for a change tonight,” I said.

  Merriam giggled. “Add a cherry to your beer and cheese to your fries?”

  I winked. “It’s like you read my mind.”

  She snorted. “Or anytime you say you want a change it’s always that.”

  “That’s true.” I nodded. She skipped off while Brooke watched her booty shake. “You should just find out for sure if she’s interested or not.”

  “She’s not.” Brooke sighed and pointed. I glanced over to see Merriam lip locked to a guy I hadn’t seen before.

  “Damn,” I muttered.

  “Yep. Oh well, I’ll have to go back to fantasizing about Pink.”

  “Now, I would even switch sides for her.”

  “Or The Rock.” Brooke grinned.

  “You’re such a hussy. Can’t you just stick to women and leave the men for me?”

  She laughed. “Hell no. Both sexes are forms of art to be admired.” She winked and then asked, “So, what are your plans this weekend?”

  “Since Mom picked up Fozzie today, I’m planning to clean my house top to bottom. I’m sure the monster shit in every corner he could, and I’m convinced I still haven’t found one because something’s still stinking up my place.”

  “Bastard.”

  “Exactly. What about you?”

  She groaned. “I have to go see Nana.”

  I winced. Brooke’s nana was sweet in her own way, but ruthless too. She liked to get what she wanted, and she didn’t care who she mowed over in the process. The last time Nana Bev called for Brooke’s time, it was to take her speed dating. Nana Bev made Brooke sit beside her to “watch her work” in gaining a man’s attention because, in her eyes, Brooke should already be married off and pumping out great-grandbabies for her to spoil.

  When an eager elderly man suggested a threesome between them, Brooke up and bolted out of there. Nana Bev later rang Brooke and said it was rude how she left so abruptly and maybe she could teach Brooke a few things if she watched her in the sack on how to keep a man’s attention. Nana Bev had multiple boyfriends, and they all adored the ground she walked on, going as far as knowing about one another and not caring at all.

  Brooke and I put it down to Nana Bev being a voodoo goddess and her putting spells on them.

  Still, she was the only living relative Brooke had, and Brooke loved her no matter what she put her through. Well, most of the time.

  “What’s she asking for this time?”

  Brooke sighed. “She’s giving me cooking lessons.”

  My eyes widened. “Again?”

  Brooke nodded. “She believes she can still help even after setting her stove on fire the last time she tried.”

  “And even after the few times before that when you somehow managed to burn everything you cooked?”

  “Yep.”

  “Oh well, one day she’ll learn.”

  “Not likely,” Brooke replied as Merriam placed our drinks on the table. “Thanks, honey.” Brooke smiled.

  “Anytime, sugar.” She gave air kisses and left.

  I took a long drink of my beer and sighed. It was just what I needed after my day.

  An abrupt sound of loud voices caught my attention. I glanced at the door, and my eyes widened. “Oh, damn,” I whispered.

  “What?” Br
ooke asked, then looked where I was and started laughing. “Ree-ree, what are you doing?”

  What did she think I was doing as I slid down in the booth and under the table? Wasn’t it obvious? I was hiding. My blood had rushed through my body at the sight of Carter and some of his friends walking through the entrance. I was sure I’d pass out from the way my blood pumped faster and faster.

  “Get up,” Brooke snapped. “He’s coming this way.”

  “I’m not here,” I hissed.

  “Reagan.”

  “Shut up,” I barked low, and then pinched her calf.

  “Ow,” she cried, then coughed. “Ah, hey there, Carter. What are you doing here?”

  Before he could answer, I heard Merriam announce, “Dinner.”

  Brooke cleared her throat. “Thanks.”

  “Where’s—”

  “Yum,” Brooke yelled, interrupting Merriam’s question. “Looks great. Could I get another two beers? I love to drink.” She laughed, then kicked me in the stomach.

  God dangit, how did I get myself in these predicaments?

  Actually, I knew how. Acting before thinking was the main reason. I really had to stop doing that.

  But what was I supposed to do now? Pop up from under the table like a jack-in-the-box? Surely I’d look crazier than I already did.

  “Okay…,” Merriam drew out and I saw her feet move away. I squished myself further into the corner, as far away from the side of the table where three men still stood.

  “That’s a lot of food just for you,” a man commented.

  Brooke giggled. “Ah, I like food, and, um, I have a friend coming soon.”

  “Would that be Reagan?” Carter asked.

  Shit again.

  “Yes?” Brooke answered, and she made it sound like a question.

  I ran a hand over my face. Great, the floor wasn’t the cleanest, so I was probably going to catch something, and I had no one to blame but myself. Brooke was so going to kill me for putting her in this position.

  For the sake of keeping my friendship, I had to do something.

  “I found it,” I yelled. Slowly, I placed my hands on the booth, shifted around and slid back up into my seat. My face burned brightly as I glanced at the muscle show at the booth. Carter stood there with his arms crossed, a small smile on his face, but his lips were also twitching. What Carter wasn’t showing was surprise, unlike his two friends staring at the weirdo popping up out from under the table.

  “Reagan,” Carter said. “Can I ask what you found?”

  Shit once more.

  “Um….”

  “My anal beads,” Brooke piped up with.

  What in the ever-loving hell?

  Why? Why dear God would she say that?

  “R-right.” I nodded, my blush growing down past my neck.

  Brooke laughed, waved her hand around and said, “I was embarrassed I dropped them out of my bag. My good old pal there said she’d get them for me.” Then she shoved a chip in her mouth.

  “Where are they now?” Carter asked. His eyes light with humor, and his friends beside him started chuckling.

  “Backinmybag,” Brooke mumbled quickly around her mouthful.

  Which was good because I was frozen and still stuck on the fact my friend had blurted the words anal beads.

  Anal beads?

  “I used a napkin to pick them up,” I announced quickly, like it actually mattered.

  “Hey, I clean my sex toys.” Brooke glared across from me, then blanched. “They were also new.” She cleared her throat and took a sip of her beer. I didn’t know how she said any of it without turning a deep shade of red. The woman was amazing.

  “Carter, you gonna introduce us?” the guy to the left of him asked. He was cute, very cute in a cowboy kind of way, with his Stetson, flannel shirt, and jeans that hugged him nicely.

  “Reagan,” Carter clipped.

  Had he been saying my name long? By his dipped, frustrated brows, I could only assume he’d been trying to get my attention. Great, I’d been caught ogling his friend. That was a bit awkward.

  Actually, the whole situation was.

  “Reagan and Brooke. This is Dustin,” he pointed to the cowboy, “and North,”—the man with the delicious dark skin.

  “Hey.” North grinned, and I swooned. He had an amazing grin.

  “You ladies mind if we join you?” Dustin asked.

  “Not at all,” Brooke answered before I could yell “No!” I shot her a glare. She smiled and shrugged as Dustin slid into her side of the booth. When I saw Carter start to sit on my side, I jarred myself flinging my body to the right and nearly kissed the wall in the process.

  As North went to move in beside Carter, he shook his head. “Go grab a chair,”

  “We’ll fit,” North said, and shoved Carter closer to me.

  Oh God. It was either my worst nightmare—stuck in a corner with no escape—or my first wet dream since I was surrounded by hotness.

  “Dude,” North cried. His hand snapped out and smacked Dustin’s as Dustin went to grab a chicken wing. “We’ll order.”

  “It’s okay,” I said, and when all eyes came to me, I wished I never spoke. “Um, we never usually eat it all anyway.”

  “See, no harm.” Dustin smiled before biting into a wing. He waved it around. “How do you two know Carter?”

  I clamped my lips closed. I was also trying not to think about the tingle of feeling Carter’s heat at my side since he was very close. With him leaning forward, his elbows on the table, I kind of felt hidden by his bigger frame so I didn’t feel the need to answer. But then he went and moved. Leaning back in the seat, he brought his arm up high and behind my head on the seat.

  My belly fluttered as he grinned down at me. He glanced at Dustin and then gestured with a tip of his head down to me, then Brooke. “I met them today in fact.”

  “Ah, the last of the high school promos?” North asked.

  “Yep.” Carter nodded.

  “So you both teach?” Dustin asked.

  “I teach English and Brooke is the school counselor,” I supplied.

  All men slowly turned to the woman who said she had anal beads and were probably thinking the same thing: How was she the school counselor when she carried anal beads?

  She swallowed her mouthful and glared at them. “What? It’s not like I throw sex toys at them… though that could be a good idea. At least then there’d be fewer STDs or pregnancies.”

  The guys kept looking at her.

  “Kidding. I wouldn’t actually do it. I do know what I’m doing when I help the kids.” When they didn’t shift their stare, she cried, “Stop looking at me.”

  “Here you go. Another two beers. Would you gents like anything?” Merriam asked, placing our drinks on the table.

  The men gave her their order, and while they did, I ate some of my food, hoping I didn’t choke on it in the process. Then again, one of them would have to give me mouth to mouth.

  “So you both play football with Carter?” Brooke asked.

  All their gazes went back to her with a surprised look. Dustin was the first to ask, “Do we play football?”

  “Baby, tell me you’re joking?” North asked, then he glanced at me. “Do you know us at all?”

  I nodded and pointed with a wing. “You’re North, and that’s Dustin.”

  Carter chuckled.

  “Have you ever seen a football game?” North asked.

  “Ah, no,” I admitted. Carter’s head all but swiveled off his body when he turned it so fast my way.

  “You’ve never seen a game?” he asked.

  “No. Neither has Brooke.” I had to throw her under the bus so their attention would shift; only it didn’t. I heard Brooke giggling.

  “Not once? Not even when you were young and your dad watched it?”

  “Nope.” I shook my head. If Dad watched any type of sports, I quickly ran from the room so he didn’t try to tell me all about the rules. It happened once for basketball, and I
never wanted it to happen again because I was bored out of my brain.

  “You should come to a game,” came from Dustin. “Both of you should.” He nodded like what he said was final.

  “Um, thank you, but—”

  “Reagan,” Carter said. I glanced at him. “You and Brooke are coming to a game.”

  “Ah… you see, I’m not one—”

  “Game. Coming.”

  Of course when he’d said coming like that, deep and growly, I blushed and quickly looked over to Brooke for some type of help. Though, I wasn’t sure her help was any good. I mean, anal beads, come on.

  “We’d love to come to a game,” Brooke said with an evil glint in her eyes. I was going to slap her stupid.

  “Good.” North grunted. “Settled.” He shook his head. “Still can’t believe you two haven’t seen a football game. We’re on the team that’s winning the most games for the city. Our stadium’s not far.”

  “I have, and I love it,” a new voice piped in. When I looked to the side of the booth, I had to hold back my hand from rising and my middle finger from making an appearance.

  “Carter, thank you for meeting with me. Sorry I’m late, baby,” Elena said, leaning into the table. I was surprised her boobs didn’t pop out of her tight top to greet Carter as well.

  Wait… she was sorry she was late?

  Carter was here to meet Elena?

  The food I digested suddenly felt like it wanted to come back up.

  Chapter Six

  Carter

  Fucking hell.

  I’d forgotten about meeting Elena. Why I forgot was because of the woman at my side. The woman who was suddenly looking everywhere else but at me. Dammit I wanted her eyes, so I could tell her the meeting with Elena was nothing. She’d pressured me into it in the first place, which was why I had North and Dustin come with me, so Elena would know it wasn’t a date.

  There was no way in hell I would ever date Elena or someone like her ever again. She was just another reason I hadn’t moved back yet. I’d seen her at some games but was lucky there were enough people around to ignore her and I didn’t seem like an ass in doing it. It was too bad she worked at the same school Reagan did and I had no choice but to speak with her.