Kissing the Bad Boy

by Winter Travers

  I set his cup back in the sink and searched for something to say. “I’ll wash your cup for you.” And apparently that something I had found to say made me sound like a complete bitch.

  “I’ll wash it before I go. I don’t want you to have to clean up after me.”

  He moved toward the kitchen and I held up my hand. “No,” I shouted. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “Uh, then what did you mean?”

  “I meant I’ll wash it. My tone was just super bitch.”

  A smirk spread across his lips. “Is that your superhero name?”

  I rolled my eyes. There was that smartass mouth he had last night. “No, I just tend to have a little bitch inside me that comes out to play every now and then.” Why was I telling him this? If I was a bitch to him then he would leave me alone. I shouldn’t be apologizing, I should be laying on the bitch even thicker. “You can leave now.” Gah, I was making myself cringe. Did I really just tell him he could leave now?

  “You sure? I’m sure there is some way you could make this conversation even more uncomfortable and awkward for me.”

  I shook my head. “I think I’ve done enough.” Now that was the damn truth.

  “Later, Vixen. Try not to change the locks while I’m gone.”

  I kept my composure until he walked out the door and then I lost it.

  My knees hit the floor and my chin dropped to my chest. “Oh my God, Ruby,” I moaned. Where the heck was my filter this morning? I had told the man he could leave as if I was asking him about the weather. It was official, I had completely lost any people skills I had.

  Sure, it was annoying as hell that he had interrupted my sanctuary in the apartment, but it wasn’t like he was walking around naked and talking my ear off.

  He had fed Mookie and taken him for a walk. Before that he had cooked me breakfast. What did I do after he had done all of that? “You can leave now,” I groaned.

  I would say my mom didn’t raise me to be rude but that would mean I had an actual mom. I could say that Jonas didn’t raise me to be like that.

  Living with our only living uncle that loved Jonas and I, but never really wanted kids, didn’t really leave anyone to care about how we grew up. Luckily Jonas had always been wise beyond his age and done a pretty good job of keeping us both somewhat normal. Jonas had raised me with the help of Uncle Joe’s money that he was happy to give us if it meant that we wouldn’t bother him.

  Mookie plopped his butt next to me and nudged my shoulder with his nose.

  “That was bad, wasn’t it, Mookie?”

  He whined and laid down next to me.

  “You’re right, Mookie. It was worse than bad.” I laid down next to him and put my arm across his middle.

  Yes, I was spooning the dog in the middle of the kitchen floor.

  “Ruby?”

  I shot up with a yelp, and even Mookie looked disturbed by Harrison standing over us. “Where the… How did…” Was the guy a freakin magician or something? I mean hell, how the hell did he walk back in here without Mookie or I hearing him?

  “I forgot my guitar by the door. I didn’t let go of the handle before I remembered. I just pushed the door open.”

  I closed my eyes a realized he had heard my conversation with Mookie. “You play guitar?” Yeah, that's what I wanted to focus on.

  “Uh, yeah.” He cleared his throat and I opened my eyes to look at him. “You, uh, okay down there?”

  I nodded my head. “Just, uh, cuddling with Mookie.”

  “Lucky dog. I’ll see ya later, Vixen.”

  He had his hand on the door when I called his name. “Harrison?”

  “Yeah?” he asked.

  “Do you like Chinese food?”

  He chuckled. “If your peace offering for asking me to leave is General Tso chicken and crab rangoons, then yeah, I like Chinese food. I should be done at the studio around eight.” He slipped out the door and this time I waited to hear the door click shut.

  Mookie grumbled next to me and rolled over on his back.

  I scratched his tummy and sighed. “Let’s bury ourselves in designing websites so I don’t stress over what a bitch I was to Harrison, Mookie.”

  I didn’t want the guy to be here, but he didn’t seem to be that bad of a guy. If today was how the next three weeks were going to be then I could live with that.

  I just needed to have dinner as a peace offering tonight and then I was pretty sure we could coexist without annoying each other. It also couldn’t hurt that Harrison wasn’t too bad to look at.

  That didn’t hurt at all.

  *

  Chapter Seven

  Harrison

  Inspiring Vixen...

  “Here is your bag.” Darius dropped a duffle bag at my feet.

  “Thanks.”

  “You’re seriously not staying at the farm?”

  I shook my head and grabbed my coffee I picked up on the way to the studio. I had already been here for three hours and the rest of the band was just rolling in. “No.”

  “It’s not that bad there.”

  “You’ve only been there one night, Darius. I want you to say the same thing to me a week from now.” I grabbed my guitar a strummed a harmony that was nagging at me.

  “It’s a free place to stay and mom always makes me breakfast.”

  I scoffed and shook my head. “When you roll out of bed at ten?”

  “I was up at nine thirty,” he grumbled.

  “Little brother, I can make my own breakfast and staying at Jonas’s is much more peaceful.”

  “Not all of us have a rich lawyer friend who lets us stay at their apartment whenever we want.”

  “He’s friends will all of us, dipshit.”

  “Then ask him if I can stay there too.”

  That wasn't going to fucking happen. At least not this time. “Maybe next time. Jonas isn’t there right now.”

  “Then you don’t even need to ask him. I’ll grab my shit after we’re done here.”

  “Not happening.” I set down my guitar and stood up. “His sister is there and it’s amazing she’s letting me stay there. If you show up we’ll both be on our asses.”

  “Sister?” he asked with peaked interest.

  “Down, boy. She isn’t your type.”

  Maud walked into the studio and draped her coat over the couch. “His type is breathing.”

  “You don’t even know what we are talking about,” Darius mumbled.

  “I’m assuming you two are talking about some chick who you think you have a shot with when you really don’t.” Maud sat down on the couch and crossed her arms over her chest. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

  “You’re right,” I replied.

  “Hey,” Darius protested. “Why wouldn’t I have a chance with Jonas’s sister?”

  Maud busted out laughing. “Jonas? The super-rich lawyer friend of Harrison? If his sister is anything like him you don’t have a chance with her.”

  Darius clutched his hand to his chest. “If I cared at all about what you think, Maud, I would be terribly offended right now.”

  “You two done arguing? I got an idea for a new song.” I picked up my guitar and sat next to Maud. “I woke up with the hook in my head.”

  I played the little bit of melody I had figured out. “Lips like wine and a sinful smile. Set my soul on fire. She’s a vixen child. She’s a vixen,” I sang.

  Maud and Darius both stared at me with their jaws dropped.

  “It needs work, but that’s what I’ve got so far.” I didn’t think is sucked that bad. It was rough, but I thought it had good bones.

  “Let’s work on it some more.” Maud sat forward on the couch and grabbed a pad of paper from the coffee table. “I think if we go with the name Vixen for the song we can make a badass song. Kind of a gritty, sexy love song.”

  “Wild Preacher’s Club style,” Darius agreed.

  Two hours later we had two verses and a catchy as fuck chorus written.

  Maud and Da
rius left to get lunch and I looked down at the notepad of paper filled with scribbles and words for the next Wild Preacher’s Club single.

  We had just written a song about Ruby and it was gonna be a fucking hit.

  Inspiration comes at you from all sorts of places. This time I was lucky enough to be living with my inspiration.

  At least for three more weeks.

  *

  Chapter Eight

  Ruby

  Dinner for two…

  “These are mine. Go lay down.”

  Mookie grumbled and sat his butt down right on my foot.

  “Dude,” I complained. “You are not getting any of this food. It’s my peace offering to Harrison.”

  Mookie craned his head back to look at me.

  “No,” I insisted.

  He collapsed into the floor of the kitchen and almost knocked me over.

  “Mookie, you’re being ridiculous. You can’t eat the Chinese food. Your bowl is full of yummy chicken and sweet potato dog food.” It didn’t seem so yummy to me, but I figured all of the dog food companies knew what they were doing with their flavor combinations.

  It was quarter to eight and two big bags of Chinese takeout had just been delivered. I had worked all day on my latest clients website for their bakery and was starving by the time I shut my laptop staring at all of the pictures of the delicious food they made. That might have had something to do with the fact that I ordered some of those delicious deep fried sugary donuts.

  Mookie was also apparently starving and could smell the delicious teriyaki chicken on a stick. “Just one,” I insisted.

  I dug in the bags, pulling all of the containers out, and found the bag of moist and delicious chicken skewers.

  A key turned in the lock of the door just as I pulled off a bite of chicken. “Ruby?” Harrison called.

  I tossed the chicken to Mookie and hid the stick behind my back. “Hey.”

  Harrison set his guitar and a duffel bag by the front door and shrugged his coat off. “Start without me?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “No. I was just getting everything out.”

  He looked at Mookie who was licking his chops and begging for more chicken. “I thought he had dog food he was supposed to eat?”

  Busted. “Uh, you know. It’s nice for him to have a treat every now and then.”

  “Right,” Harrison drawled.

  I pulled the rest of the chicken off of the stick and tossed it in the air. Totally busted.

  Mookie chomped down happily on it then licked his lips.

  “Get, big guy. That’s enough.”

  Mookie sulked over to his pillow in the living room and laid down with his head resting on his paws.

  “That dog is like a human. I can tell what he’s thinking just by the way he looks.” Harrison kicked off his shoes and walked into the kitchen.

  I thought the same thing about Mookie. His pretty blue eyes along with his grunts and grumbles said more than words could. “Pretty sure he thinks he’s a human.”

  He peeked into the bag of food I hadn’t unpacked yet. “You expecting more people?” he asked.

  There was a crap ton of food, but I had been starving when I ordered and everything has sounded delicious. “Uh, no. I figured whatever we don’t eat we can eat as leftovers.”

  “For days,” he mumbled.

  I slid the bag toward me and pulled the rest of the food out. “Uh, do you want me to put it on the table or…”

  “Rather sit on the couch, watch TV, and zone out.”

  That was what I wanted too, thankfully. My brain was mush after working for eight hours straight. “I’ll grab some plates then.”

  Harrison pulled out one of the skewers of chicken and ripped off half of it with his teeth. “You ordered the whole menu,” he said with a mouthful.

  “Not exactly. There were a few things I skipped.” I grabbed two large plates from the cabinet and two forks from the drawer.

  “You even got egg drop soup and sweet and sour soup,” he laughed. “No one ever orders those.”

  “Well I do.” I set his plate in front of him and held out a fork. “Have you ever tried either?”

  He shook his head and grabbed the fork. “Hell no. Egg drop soup looks like snots floating in it, and I’m not all that into spicy things.”

  “Snot,” I muttered. “Then I guess that means there is just more for me.”

  “Snot soup is all yours, Vixen.”

  I rolled my eyes and grabbed the two containers of soup. “Then I’ll just save these for lunch tomorrow.” I set them in the fridge and spotted some beer Jonas had left in the fridge. “Did you want a beer?”

  “You really are being nice to me now. I’ll take two.”

  I looked over my shoulder at him. “Two?”

  He laughed and started filling up his plate. “Yeah. It was a good day, but it was fucking long. Wrote a new song and then sang it about fifty times till we got it just right.”

  “A new song?” I grabbed two bottles of beer and shut the fridge. “What kind of music do you play?”

  He licked his fingers and put a skewer of chicken on his plate. “Rock. More on the grunge side.”

  “Oh, that’s nice.”

  “Now say that without cringing,” he laughed.

  I set his beers in front of him and touched my fingers to my lips. I hadn’t even noticed I had changed. It wasn’t that I didn’t like grunge, it was I never really listened to it. I actually didn’t really listen to much music at all. “Sorry,” I mumbled.

  He grabbed his plate and moved into the living room. “Nothing to apologize for, Vixen. Not everyone is into the kind of music the Wild Preacher’s Club makes.”

  I filled my plate with a little bit of everything and sat down on the opposite end of the couch from Harrison. “It’s not that I don’t like it, I just haven’t really heard much grunge music.” I didn’t want him to think I was looking down on the kind of music he played.

  “Maybe I’ll play ya something sometime.” He grabbed the remote from the coffee table and started flipping through channels. He was sitting on the edge of the couch with his plate on the coffee table, and his elbows resting on his knees.

  I huddled myself into the corner of the couch and rested my plate on my knees.

  “You into anything you wanna watch?”

  “Come again?” I asked.

  “Anything you wanna watch, Vixen?”

  I shook my head. “No. I haven’t watched much TV lately. I tend to put a movie on I’ve seen before and veg out to that.”

  “What’s your go to movie when you just want to veg out? My brain could use a break tonight.” He looked over at me with a smile on his lips.

  “Uh, Ghostbusters.”

  “That is not what I expected you to say,” he laughed.

  “The new one. Nothing against the original ones, but there is something about the new one with women that I loved.”

  “You got it recorded or do I need to put it in?”

  I shook my head and held out my hand. “Give me the remote.” He handed it over which was a little surprising.

  “Put it on, Vixen.” He dug into the mound of food in front of him, and I pulled up the movie.

  “Have you ever seen this before?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “Nope. I never seem to have time to watch movies much.”

  I watched a movie every night. It was my way to decompress from my day. One of the good things of couch surfing was normally by the couch you were sleeping on was a TV. “Prepare to laugh.”

  “I’ll hold you to that, Vixen.”

  “Why do you call me that?” I asked as the opening scene began.

  “That’s what you are. Just calling it like I see it.”

  “Maybe I need to have a nickname for you.”

  He laughed and shoved an egg roll in his mouth. “Try me,” he mumbled.

  I tapped my finger to my chin. I didn’t know him at all and I wasn't near as creative as he was.
“Rockstar?”

  He swallow and took a swig of his beer. “You’re gonna call me rockstar?”

  I shrugged. “Just calling it like I see it.”

  “For all you know I could be in a suckass band and I just blew smoke up your ass about how good we are.”

  I shook my head. “Jonas said you were good. I believe him.”

  “Just as long as you don’t call me Harry, I’ll be good.”

  “You’re not a Harry.” I turned my head to the side and looked at him. “Not even close.”

  “Now just tell everyone else who calls me that. My mother included.”

  “Uh, I’m not going to tell your mother what to do,” I giggled.

  “You and me both, Vixen.”

  We finished eating as we laughed through the movie and I realized this was the first time in three weeks that I had an actual conversation with someone other than Mookie.

  Harrison stood up and reached for my empty plate. “Uh, I can get it.”

  He grabbed my plate and shook his head. “I’m up. I got it.”

  I paused the movie while he dropped the dishes in the sink and he came back with another beer. “Fire it back up.” He kicked his feet up on the coffee table and sprawled his arm along the back of the couch.

  “You like it so far?” I hit the play button and laid the remote on the coffee table. I grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch and spread it over me. A foreign smell hit my nose and I inhaled deep.

  It smelt like Harrison. Or what I figured Harrison smelled like. It was a nice musky smell with a slight hit of leather and spice.

  I liked it.

  “Pretty good. Funny.”

  “Huh?” I had completely forgot what question I had asked.

  “The movie is pretty good.” He looked over, and I had my nose buried in the blanket. “Uh, you good?”

  I pushed down the blanket and smiled. “Never better.”

  “That blanket smells like you,” he stated.

  Why the heck did he think that? Last I knew I didn’t smell like a sexy rock god. “Uh, no it doesn’t. It smells like you.”

  He grabbed the blanket from me and smelled it. “Smells like a fruit bowl, Vixen. That’s you.”