“I heard your girlfriend broke up with you. I’m sorry.” His phone violently shakes, and a blonde blur fills the screen. “Dylan!” Emerson, Grant’s wife, grins at me. Suddenly awkward, I clear my throat and look away from the screen. “Emerson, hi.”
“Audrey broke up with you? What the hell?”
“She…uh. She said I’m a loser with no future.”
“That little…” she glances off-screen and then back at me, “tart! You are the sweetest guy I know.”
Grant’s face emerges as he pulls at his phone. “Are you kidding me, Em?”
She shoves him away and walks with the phone. “That girl isn’t good enough for you. Come out here. You’re good-looking and a great catch. Women will find you irresistible.” She laughs. “Especially if you’re a guy in uniform.” She winks at Grant, off-camera. “Make her crawl back to you, and then you turn her down. Beautiful women are everywhere in California, and you will keep busy. So, get your hot ass out here and change your life.”
“Em! Shit.” Grant grabs the phone with a stern expression. “You need to focus and not chase ass.”
Ricky grins from over his phone. “You’ll learn to balance both.”
I frown at him and then look back to Grant. “When do you need an answer?”
Grant checks his watch. “Three hours. I want to get the ball rolling if you’re coming my way. I have an ass to kiss and balls to tickle if I’m endorsing my cousin with a juvie record and no degree. So, get moving. I will call you back at—” he looks at his watch, “two-thirty, sharp. Either you’re staying there with Ricky or coming here to me. I can only imagine what you need to do before you decide, and three hours will be plenty.”
The phone again swings, and Emerson says, “How’s your sister? Is she doing okay? I should call her.”
Ricky clears his throat and grins. I answer, “Dani has issues. That deadbeat husband of hers is problem number one.”
Frowning, Ricky glances at his watch. Emerson laughs as Grant takes the phone back. “Hey!”
“Three hours, kid. Go.”
I resent the kid comment as the screen ends, and Ricky takes his phone from me. “You heard him. Get it over with. Three hours, Dylan.”
Sulking back into the apartment, Ricky says, “Hit the shower first. You look like hell.” It’s better than I feel.
After the shortest shower of my life, I throw on a pair of jeans and a hooded sweatshirt. I take a minute to put hair gel into my hair and brush my teeth. After putting on shoes, I grab my car keys and phone. Seeing Ricky on the couch, flipping through his phone screen, I stop. “You’re still here?”
“Yep. I’ll be around. Three hours. Either your ass is mine or Grant’s. So, if you’re scoring pussy, make it a quickie.”
“Jesus,” I mutter. Grabbing my coat, I think of all the different ways this could go and wonder if I need a rubber just in case I do score.
Jumping into my car, I wave at Deedle, the guy who owns my castle. I met him at Best Buy, where he was a regular. Not a bad guy, just odd and a pothead. It would be awkward if I stayed in Virginia since I’d have to bust him for it. What the hell am I about to do?
I watch the balding and rail-thin man poking around the garage below my apartment, a useless morning ritual. Once on the road, I habitually break the speed limit, which is also problematic. Slowing to a not-so-illegal speed solidifies my hate for Ricky Tesco, Dalton McGrath, and Grant Malone.
I pull into the parking lot and find the familiar gray car. Parking, I grab my phone and send the text I should’ve sent from my apartment, but I’m here now. When I receive a reply, I’m shocked that it’s a yes.
Thankfully, it’s not as cold as it could be for December. I walk to the building, leaving my coat unzipped. As I make it to the sidewalk, the glass door opens, and a woman with shoulder-length brown hair exits. Her blue eyes widen at my own blue as she keeps a distance, meeting me at the curb. My fucking heart pounds, and I’m breathless. Why have I never noticed my heart doing that since I first met her? When I first asked her out? When we first kissed? Had sex? It should’ve beat like this every time with her.
When Audrey stops, keeping a distance between us, she asks, “What are you doing here?”
“I…I don’t…” My eyes blur, and I take a breath, overwhelmed because this moment could make or break me forever. “We need to talk.”
A red SUV pulls to the curb, and the passenger door opens. A woman with a light brown ponytail and wearing a black skirt underneath her winter coat steps onto the curb. She looks our way and smiles. “Hey, Audrey. Dylan?” Looking questioningly at Audrey, she walks over to us. I blink away tears and try to pull myself together.
I try to return her pretty smile with a polite one, though I’m shattering on the inside. “Hi, Hadley.”
“Is everything okay?” she asks, but mostly to Audrey, who must have told her about our break up. I met Hadley when Audrey and I did our community service, serving food at a church. She’s older than Audrey and me, in her thirties, but she’s still hot. Not as much as Audrey, but I’ve checked her out her more than once.
“I don’t mean to interrupt,” Hadley says, looking back and forth between Audrey and me as I hear another door shut. “I just got back from lunch.”
Audrey asks, “Are you feeling better?”
Hadley smiles. “Yep. Morning sickness is gone for now.” She doesn’t appear any different, so I wouldn’t have known.
A man with brownish-blond hair and responsible for Hadley’s condition rounds the rear of the car and grins at us, his bright teeth glowing in the sunlight. I smile even though I don’t feel like it. “Hey, Finn.”
“Hey, Dylan. How’s it going?” He stops next to Hadley, handing her a bag and saying, “In case you need it.”
Her bright smile matches his. “Thanks, baby.”
Finn Wilder is a sports anchor here in Richmond, famous for doing crazy dares, jumping off bridges, and out of airplanes on his sports show, The Wild Side. I met him at the church when he volunteered—not probation-related—where it was apparent he was in love with Hadley Beckett, his ex-girlfriend, who volunteered there with her boss, Val. One night in the dining room, I heard Finn tell Val that he’d returned to Richmond because he couldn’t live without Hadley and needed to win her back. He debated on whether to skip ahead in their reconciliation and propose to her. Val warned him that he needed to follow through or lose Hadley forever this time. She hugged him, and he choked up, saying he couldn’t lose her again. What the hell happened to them to break up in the first place?
Finn says, “Ricky told me about your plans. Really? Are you doing it?”
I nod since my other option is jail. “I haven’t decided where, though.”
“That’s awesome. You’ll be great, especially with Ricky as a teacher. He’s the best, but I’m biased.”
“I think he’ll only give me a harder time.”
“He’d never do that, but I know what you mean. Good luck. Let me know how it goes, either way.” He looks at Audrey and then back at me with a sympathetic frown. Seems like everyone else knew about my heartbreak before me.
I roll my eyes and shake my head. “Uh, sure.”
Finn puts his arm around Hadley’s shoulders and says, “I need to get back to work. It was good seeing you, Dylan.” He turns toward Hadley, putting his hand on her stomach, over her coat, and kisses her. “Bye, Becks. I love you. Call me if you feel sick again.”
She rolls her eyes with a giggle to Audrey and me. “My husband, the worrier.” She smiles at Finn, putting her hand over his on her stomach. “I’m fine, papa bear.”
He grins. “Just taking care of my baby mama.”
“I know.” She kisses him again, and I’m even more desperate to hold on to Audrey.
Finn then says, “See ya, Audrey.”
“Bye, Finn. Congratulations on the baby.”
His proud smile intensifies. “Hey, thanks.”
Finn bites his lip as he again looks at H
adley, who smiles back. When he reaches his car, Hadley shouts, “I love you, Finnigan!”
Finn crooks an eyebrow and pointedly looks at Hadley’s stomach, and she giggles again like they’re sharing an inside joke. Hadley blows him a kiss before he rounds the car. They’re nauseating, and my love life is shit. Hadley then turns to Audrey. “Want me to wait for you?”
Audrey glances at me and then back, appearing unsure. “I’ll be up in a minute.”
Hadley’s hesitant but nods. “Okay. Good luck with your new endeavor, Dylan.” She then widens her eyes at Audrey before leaving us alone.
We watch both of them leave, and Audrey says, “Hadley had surgery on her remaining fallopian tube three months ago. As soon as the doctor gave them the okay, she and Finn started trying…and bam. They find out she’s pregnant. He worked fast.” She giggles. “I guess they didn’t want to wait any longer. They’re excited. She said Finn cried when she told him. She had it rough—”
My sudden laughter is bitter. “Oh. Well, I’m super stoked you’re interested in Finn and Hadley’s love story since you shredded ours.”
“Dylan, I didn’t want to do it! I wanted us to work so much.” Audrey twists her diamond earring, a pair I couldn’t afford to buy her.
“So much that you came to my job to fucking break my heart. I didn’t get a damn say. You dumped me and left. So, don’t tell me you wanted us to work. We could’ve had a love story like Finn and Hadley. You just didn’t want to try since I didn’t fit into your life’s blueprint.” What the fuck am I doing? I didn’t come here to fight with Audrey. I came here to win her back.
“Their love story is beautiful, but it’s also complicated and tragic. Yes, they’re great now, but you don’t know how bumpy and twisty the road was to get there.”
“No, ours isn’t wasn’t beautiful or tragic at all.” Tears sting my eyes, and I turn away to wipe them.
“But we didn’t have a story like theirs, Dylan.”
“All because I had a crummy job and couldn’t buy you nice things? That’s a reason to fucking break up with me?”
“It’s more than that. I didn’t want to keep putting it off, but I didn’t want to do it on your birthday, so…”
“It’s clear you wanted me to have a happy fucking birthday. You even initiated it, begging me and groping my dick through my pants.”
“I didn’t force you!”
“Why did you want sex if you planned on leaving me? Were you just that horny, so I was convenient?”
“No! I still…Look, I’m sorry I broke up with you at your work. That was a bad move on my part. I just didn’t want to make a scene.”
“You?” I laugh though I want to scream and smash the massive windows behind her. “No, the scene-stealing was all me.”
Audrey’s hand goes to her cheek. “Oh, no, Dylan. What did you do?”
“Does it matter? They agreed not to press charges as long as I left and didn’t come back.”
She sighs. “You got fired again?”
I sneer, “They tend to not like it when you throw a printer into a display.”
“God. Do you think this is funny?”
I bear my teeth. “Ha fucking ha.”
She rolls her eyes. “This is what I’m talking about. You can’t hold a job because of your contempt for authority. Your mouth gets you into trouble.”
I lean closer and whisper, “You never complained about my mouth.”
Audrey’s eyes sparkle for a second before she averts them and crosses her arms over her blue coat. “This is hard for me too. I shouldn’t have agreed to see you.”
“Why? Because it fucking hurts too much? What did I do for you to give up on me?”
“I told you. We have little in common anymore. I’m in college, and you’re…not. I have a good job, and you…don’t. I want to do more, and you…won’t. How can we have a life together? You’re unemployed again, Dylan!”
I sniff, on the verge of crying again or screaming. “You think I can’t get another job? Do you really think I’m that fucking hopeless?”
“I totally believe you’ll get another job you don’t give a shit about! I’m trying to make a life for myself. You have no motivation and need it. Nothing lit a fire under your ass until I broke up with you.”
I throw up my hands, I yell, “So, this is tough love? Are you fucking kidding me?”
She shakes her head, watching cars going past the building. “I don’t…I don’t know. For now, it has to be.”
Switching gears, I beg, “Don’t fucking say that. Give me another chance. Come on.”
She balls her hands into fists. “What do you want me to do, Dylan? Wait for you to decide what you want? I want a career and a family. You want none of that, so I’m moving on.”
As she turns away from me, I dive in front of her face. “Without me? I thought you fucking loved me, Audrey!”
She moves away, putting distance between us. “You’re so damn smart! I’ve begged you for two years now to go to college, but no. You waste your time at jobs where you get fired in a year or less.”
“Or when my high school sweetheart of two years and nine months blindsides me, torching our life together, in front of my coworkers, my boss, and strangers walking by.”
“I’m sorry.” Tears drip onto her cheeks, and she brushes them away. “I never wanted to hurt you.”
I laugh so I don’t cry. “I guess you failed at something too.”
“Dylan, stop.”
“I never wanted you to leave me, so does that cancel each other out?” I pace in front of her, restless and fearing I’m losing this argument.
She nods to the building. “I have to go back to work.”
I stop pacing to stand in front of her. “No. We’re not done talking.”
“You’re making a scene!” She turns, watching people enter and exit the building, smiling to some and pretending nothing of significance is happening.
“Oh. Because you don’t want to lose your precious job?”
She groans and again attempts to leave, but I again move with her. “No, I don’t want to lose my job. Dylan, come on. It wasn’t easy to let you go!”
“Why not?”
“Because…I can’t do this anymore here.” Audrey dodges me, but I’m faster.
“What can I do to make you love me again?” My voice cracks, but I’ve soared past pitiful.
Audrey’s eyes are still wet. “Dylan, we don’t work. Not for now, at least. Can’t we leave it at that? Maybe if things change someday…”
“Are you already seeing someone else?”
“No! I didn’t cheat on you! I just need to focus on my future.”
“I used to be in your future.” I wipe more tears from my eyes and inhale to clear my head. “I’ll go to school. I’ll get a better job. I’ll do anything you want me to. Just don’t throw us away.”
“You won’t do any of those things! You’ll get serious for five minutes, and then it’ll be the same thing all over again—just a different dead-end job! I want a man who is responsible, ambitious, and loves me enough to become a better person!”
“I can do that!”
“You haven’t so far!” She wipes her cheeks and tentatively glances at me. “What was Finn talking about? He said he’d help you get an internship at his station, but you didn’t go to college. Is he helping you with another retail job?” She laughs, and it hurts more than I’m used to.
I sigh, omitting last night’s events at Byrd. “No, Finn isn’t helping me. It’s Ricky and my cousin Grant. They’re helping me get into the police academy.” I inhale and look at the road. “I guess I’m going to be a cop.”
When I look back at Audrey, her eyes grow large. “Are you serious?”
“So that would make you happy?”
“Why are you just telling me this now? It’d be a career for you. But a police officer? That’s great.” She nods, and I watch the side of her face as she sucks in her lips. “You, an officer, would be awesome. T
hat’s…” She grins and looks up at me with unexpected joy. “I love that. It’s sexy.”
“Really? Why? Because I’d carry a gun and handcuffs?”
She laughs and tucks her hair behind her ear. “Maybe.”
I step closer to her, and my hands go to her cheeks. She flinches but doesn’t push me away. “I want us to be together. We can have a life together. We’ll have a better love story.” I bend, and before she protests, I kiss her. At first, she freezes, but then she kisses me back. I dig my hand into her hair as I lick her tongue, which she also returns. My heart races. This time, I didn’t fail, and I won’t fuck it up. I’ll get this job, and we’ll get engaged and then married. I’ll finally make her happy.
I stop kissing her to whisper, “Audrey, I love you.”
She groans, “Dylan.”
“Is your roommate still gone?”
“Yes, but—”
I grin and wipe the last of my tears. “We need to have hot makeup sex. There’s time before your afternoon class, wanna get there with a smile on your face?”
She looks away, sighing, “Dylan.”
I twist her hair around my finger. “Any kind of sex will be good. God, I want to see you naked underneath me…or on top of me…or both. I want to feel your skin on mine as we moan each other’s names.”
“Dylan.”
My lips skim her neck, kissing up to her ear. “Can you leave work early? I’ll make you come more than once.”
“Dylan.” This time it’s more forceful.
“Just leave work now and forget about your class. We’ll spend the rest of the day and night in bed, fixing our broken pieces. With every push and pull. And every time we come.”
“Dylan.” She closes her eyes, and I kiss her again before saying, “You know we’re good together. But I’ll do better.”
“Dylan.”
“We’ll make it work this time. I promise.”
Her hands go to my shirt, crumpling it in her fists. It’s a turn-on until she utters, “Let’s hope they don’t kick you out of the academy or arrest you.”
My smile drops, and my hardening dick is history. Audrey squirms against me, trying to escape my grasp, and I let her. I’m incredulous. “Out of all the things you’ve said, that one nails me in the balls. You have that little faith in me?”
Rebel Rook: An Everyday Heroes World Novel (The Everyday Heroes World) Page 3
