A Life Like This (Life #1)

by Cs Jacobs

“I will.” We both dig into our food, and it’s delicious. I love Italian food. Well, I love all food actually, and it’s why I force myself to run every damn morning. Otherwise, I would balloon up.

  “So, Mommy Dearest called me yesterday,” Joey informs me with a mouthful of food. I look up at him; this is never good news.

  “What did the bitch want?” I stare at him with pissed eyes.

  “She wants to host a Thanksgiving dinner. You know, for our big family and all.” He is being sarcastic; there is no one else, just the two of them. “So anyway, all she needs is five grand to hire an up-and-coming caterer.” He sounds sad. Goddamn it, I hate that woman. All she ever wants is money.

  “Wow, that’s a new excuse.” I grab his hand. “Ignore that money hungry whore. Tell me you told her to pound sand?”

  “I did. I actually told her to fuck off and lose my number.” I stare at him shocked. He has never told his mother anything like this. As much as he hates her for using him for his money, he loves his mother and I know he wishes she would change her ways. He looks up at me. “I know, shocking right? I’m twenty-eight fucking years old; it’s time for me to realize that all that woman wants is my money, nothing else.” He sounds so defeated. Goddamn it, if I ever run into that woman, I’ll make her wish she was never fucking born. “She cried and said she doesn’t know why I would talk to her in such a way. So I told her to cut the shit and that I was never going to give her another dime.” He just plays with the food on his plate for a minute before continuing. “She cried some more and told me she will be homeless if I don’t give her money. I told her I was sorry about her bad luck and hung up the phone. I feel like shit, AP.” I get up from across the booth and sit next to him. He puts his arm over my shoulder and rests his head on mine. “Why does she have to be this way?” I know he’s not waiting for a response. I honestly don’t have an answer for him; I wish I did.

  “You did the right thing, JoJo. She’s a grown woman, and she needs to be an adult. It’s not your job to pay her way through life. I’m sure she won’t be homeless, but if she is, she made her bed. She has to lie in it.” I hug his side tightly. We sit quietly for a while just embracing one another. “I love you, Joey. I’ll always be your family.”

  “I know, AP, I know.” He kisses the top of my head. I can’t stop the tears that spill. I’m sad for my best friend. I’m sad that his piece of shit mother has put him in this position. She has made him feel like it will be his fault if she ends up on the streets. Fuck that bitch. I hate her. Joey tilts my head up when I hiccup. Damn it, I always hiccup when I cry. “Damn it, Angie, don’t cry. I’m fine.” He wipes my tears away and hugs me tightly. “Let’s get out of here.” I stand before him as he reaches into his pocket and throws two hundred dollars on the table.

  “Joey, I don’t think it was that much.”

  “I know, but I’m breaking her heart leaving here with another woman, so she deserves a nice tip as a consolation.” He winks at me as I slap his chest.

  “I wish I could be as cocky as you are,” I tell him as we head out the door.

  “Please, AP, you are a cocky little thing yourself and you know it.” He just stares at me. He is right; I have my moments.

  “Sometimes.” I smile at him then link my arm in his as we head to my place. We walk at a steady pace, not speaking, just enjoying the sights. Being a New Yorker, you sometimes forget to slow down and take it all in. It’s right what people say about this beautiful city, people are always in such a damn hurry. There are people either rushing past us clearly late for something, and then there are the tourists. They are the easiest to spot. They stop everywhere, take pictures of everything, and point at everything. It’s fun to watch. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t a local, so then I could take in all the sights as a tourist. How fun that must be? The feeling of coming to a huge city, to a loud city, to the City That Never Sleeps.”

  “Hey, Earth to Angelica. Anybody in there?” Joey is frantically waving his hand in front of my face. “Damn, baby girl, these checking out spurts you’re having are happening more often than I remember.”

  “I’m fine, just daydreaming about how an out-of-towner must feel when they come and visit this fine city of ours.”

  “Shit, who knows. Clearly, they need to take the same damn pictures everyone else has to take, though. God knows the Statue of Liberty looks different from their camera than all the damn post cards in America. Speaking of pictures, wanna come with me this weekend to get some shots? The photographer at my shoot today was talking about this trail he went on not too long ago and how he wishes he would have had his camera with him. Figured I’d give it a shot. I haven’t been out with my camera in a while.” He looks over at me expectantly.

  “You know I will, JoJo. Do I ever say no to you?”

  “Nope, never. Actually, no one can say no to this face.” There he goes again with that model smile. He’s a good-looking motherfucker.

  “I don’t doubt that to be true. Go home, I got it from here.” My place is just around the corner; he doesn’t need to walk me to the door.

  “We are almost there, dipshit. I might as well now.”

  “Hey, asshole, I didn’t ask for a door drop off. You don’t have to play those gentleman-like games with me. Save them for whatever woman or man you plan on fucking later.” I kiss him on the cheek and then head off toward my house.

  “Who says it’s not a man and a woman?” he whispers to me. I turn in disbelief.

  “You sick fuck, go home!” He laughs at my discomfort then heads off in the other direction. As soon as I walk through my front door, I kick off my heels and head to let Roger out. He has a little doggy door, but he likes when I leave the sliding glass door open for him.

  I go to my room and change into my oversized college t-shirt. It’s actually Joey’s, but I stole it from him. It’s a perfect sleep shirt. I wash my face and brush my teeth. Roger walks up next to me so I know he is done out back. I lock everything up then hop in bed with my phone and laptop. Of course, I have an email from Blake waiting for me when I open up my laptop.

  Good Enough?

  Angelica,

  I hope the flowers were to your liking. I found them to be exotically beautiful and rare. I wanted to give you something different and I hope you liked them. I hope they were not too much. I didn’t mean to over step any boundaries either. I just wanted to wish you a good first day back. I hope your return went well. Good Night.

  Always

  -Blake

  Fuck! I didn’t thank him for the flowers. Shit! I got so caught up in my day that I totally forgot. Funny how that works when most of my day was spent talking about them. He sounds so concerned in his email. Like a boy who is scared he pushed a little too far. Damn it, I’m so insensitive! I respond quickly.

  Forgive Me

  Blake,

  I’m so so sorry. I meant to write you as soon as I got into the office, but the day got ahead of me. I’m so sorry. I LOVED them. They are beautiful, the talk of the office. They smell heavenly. It was so kind of you to send them to me. You really didn’t have to. The company during my run and the coffee were more than enough for me! :) Goodnight, Blake.

  -Ang

  xoxoxo

  I feel so bad I didn’t send him a quick thank-you text or email. God, I’m such an idiot! He emails me back immediately.

  Thank God

  Ang,

  I thought I might have scared you away. Please don’t apologize. I’m just glad you liked them. I should have figured you would have been swamped today. Please dismiss my prior email where I babbled like a little girl. ;) Sweet dreams, Angelica.

  -Blake

  xoxoxo

  Ha, nothing like a man who admits he might have sounded a little needy. Damn it, can this man do no wrong? I think I’m done waiting for that to happen. I need to just embrace him. God knows I’ve said that before.

  What Email?

  B,

  Sweet Dreams.

  -A

  xo


  With that, I turn off my laptop and tuck myself into bed. Blake Harper is officially breaking down my walls, and you know what? I’m excited about it. I fall asleep quickly thinking about Blake.

  I wake up to the sound of my alarm. Ugh, I seriously hate that sound. Roger is already giving me my morning kisses. I pat his head. “Hey, big boy, let me get ready and we will go.” I go pee then brush my teeth. Morning breath is my number one pet peeve, even my own. I carefully choose my running outfit today. Perhaps a tall, handsome man will be waiting for me outside. I find a nice pair of fitted black Capri workout pants and a tight purple long sleeve top. One of my favorites because it has thumbholes. It’s the small things that make me happy. I throw my hair up in a messy ponytail, and then put on a matching head band. I leash up Roger and head out the door.

  To my disappointment, there is no tall, handsome man waiting for me outside of my door, just the cold chill. I sigh, more at myself that I would get my hopes up so much. If he were here, I would have thought he was smothering me. I can’t win. I shake off my thoughts and let Roger lead us to the left down the steps, per usual. We make it three miles before turning around. We did it in record time today. Fifty minutes flat. Shit, I didn’t even realize we were running so fast. I’m not even tired. Weird.

  Once we get home, I feed Roger then run through my morning routine. I decide today I’m going to put a little more effort in my work attire as well. Getting myself dolled up always makes me happy. I stand in my closet for about ten minutes before I finally decide on what to wear. A beautifully fitted black Max Mara Jersey dress with nude Jimmy Choo’s is what I’ve decided on. The fit of this dress is amazing, one of my all-time favorites. You can clearly tell I have huge tits and my ass looks good in it too. I do my makeup and straighten my hair before checking myself out in the mirror.

  “What do you think, Rog?” He barks loudly, making me smile. That will have to do. “Thanks, boy.” I lock up the back door then grab my bag. I hurriedly head out the door and walk straight into Blake’s arms.

  “Damn it, Blake, we gotta stop meeting this way!” I smack him in the chest as I fix my dress and hair.

  “I see no issue if you always end up in my arms.” He smiles at me. His hands are on my arms and I instantly have goose bumps.

  “Sly, aren’t you? You caught me as I was heading out. What’s up?” Silently, he just stares at me for a minute. “Blake?” I wave my hand in front of his face. He grabs it quickly and kisses the top of it.

  “I’m sorry. I was just admiring your beauty. You’re perfect, Angelica.” He is still holding my hand and he kisses it again. I pull my hand away and fiddle with my hair.

  “Stop it, Blake.” I’m literally blushing like a child and digging the toe of my heel in the concrete. How embarrassing can I get?

  “You truly need to learn to take a compliment, Angelica. I don’t say anything I don’t mean.” He grabs my hand yet again and leads me down the stairs to his waiting town car. “I’m sorry I missed your morning run. I wanted to be there, but I had a conference call I could not miss, forgive me?” I just stare at him, still blushing.

  “You don’t have to apologize, Blake. I wasn’t expecting you,” I lie.

  He puts his finger under my chin and lifts up my face. “It’s cute when you try and lie.” I smack his hand away.

  “Shut up. What do you need, Blake?” Damn it, I sounded colder than I meant to.

  He smiles down at me; he is so patient with me. God, I don’t deserve this guy. “Well, to make it up to you for missing your run you didn’t expect me at but that I wanted to be there for, I thought I would pick you up and we can grab Starbucks together.” I laugh at his rundown of events. I can’t say no now that I was a total bitch to him and I’m going to Starbucks anyway, so why not.

  “I’d love to.” He opens the door for me and I slide in. He walks to the other side and sits next to me; then the driver takes off. “Thank you for the lift.”

  “You’re most welcome, Angelica. I don’t know how you walk so elegantly in those shoes, let alone work in them all day. They are sexy as fuck, but I don’t get heels.” I look at him shocked.

  “Blake, did you just swear?” He looks down at our intertwined fingers.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Ha, don’t apologize. It doesn’t happen often. I’ll just point it out every time it does.”

  “Well, thanks for that.”

  “Thank you for the compliment on my heels. Trust me, it took me a while to master these bad boys. I used to wear them everywhere, no matter what I was wearing just so I could master the walk. Joey has some very incriminating pictures of me in heels and pajamas, and not cute pajamas either.” We both laugh.

  “Hmm, I’ll have to talk to him about those.”

  “Don’t you dare!” I smack his arm.

  “You are feisty this morning. I think you might have given me a bruise.” He rubs his arm.

  “Humph, whatever. What will you tell all the women when they see you shirtless with a bruise on your arm?” I smile coyly at him. His smile is gone and he is now frowning at me. Actually, he looks pissed.

  “Angelica, stop. I’ve told you before that I wanted you and only you. When will you accept that? The only person who will be seeing me without a shirt on is you. So bruise me up, baby, you’re the one who’s going to be looking not me.”

  He is staring right into my eyes and I’m lost. I unbuckle my seatbelt and climb on his lap. My lips are on his before he knows what’s happening. I don’t know why that turned me on so much, but it did. I know I can’t fuck him in the backseat, so I will just make out with him until he is seeing stars. His hand is in my hair holding me to him. I open my mouth and he slips his tongue in. God, he’s a good kisser; that’s even more of a turn on. His growing erection beneath me lets me know how turned on he is too. I rub my ass on him and he moans into my mouth. Biting his bottom lip gently, I pull my mouth away from his. We’re both breathing heavily as the car pulls to the side of the road, and we just stare at one another. I kiss him chastely on the lips one final time before sliding off his lap. He hops out of the car quickly and walks over to my door. On the way, I can’t help but notice he is adjusting himself. Once my door is opened, I grab my bag and walk out. “Thanks for the ride, Blake.” He grabs me around the waist and pulls me to him.

  “I should be thanking you for the ride. I might have to pick you up every day if that’s what will happen.” He kisses my forehead and we walk into Starbucks hand and hand.

  I can’t help but notice all the stares he is getting from women, and a few men. Along with those stares comes death glares for me. It makes me smile. I don’t know why, but I love pissing people off. We head over to the long line and stand next to one another. While we wait, I curl up into his side and he kisses the top of my head. Such an intimate gesture. The woman waiting at the bar for her coffee is now full-on glaring at me, so I wink at her. She gasps, clearly knowing she wasn’t as coy as she thought. I laugh.

  “What’s so funny?” Blake asks me.

  “That woman at the bar was giving me a death glare while simultaneously giving you puppy eyes. I winked at her and she gasped in shock.” I tilt my head in her direction. She is staring at her shoes now.

  “Let them stare all they want, baby. That’s all they get to do. You on the other hand...” He leaves the sentence hanging as he drags his fingertips up my arms and a trail of goose bumps follows his path. My God, did he just call me baby? I never thought I would like that lame nickname, but it’s really doing something for me right now.

  We eventually order our drinks. Mine is waiting at the register, of course, and luckily, Blake just wanted a coffee black, so they poured it quickly. Blake paid for our drinks and beat me to leaving the tip. I just shake my head at him.

  “How can you drink that black? That’s seriously sick.”

  “I don’t. I only like French vanilla creamer, so I just order the coffee then fix it to my liking at my office.”
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br />   “Oh, my God! Me too!” I exclaim a little too loudly. “I only drink black coffee if it has French vanilla creamer in it. That’s why I’ll only make it at home or order it at a restaurant I know they stock it at.” I smile at him, and he shakes his head.

  “Ha Ha, I will also only go to restaurants for breakfast if I know they carry it, and let me tell you it’s not many.”

  “No, it’s not. We should just carry our own.”

  “Or we can just always wake up in my penthouse and have coffee there. I always have French vanilla creamer.” He winks at me, sly dog.

  “Ohhhh, good one.” I poke his chest. “I bet you try that with all the ladies.” I gasp. Shit, I didn’t mean to say that. His face is hard again. “Sorry! Sorry! I didn’t mean it like that. I take it back. Forgive me?” I stand in front of him, pull his head down to mine and kiss him gently.

  “Now I do, yes.”

  “Good.” I pull my phone out of my bag to check the time. “Jeez, the morning flew by with you. I’m sorry to cut this short, but I have a big presentation I have to prep for. I’ll call you after work?” He pulls me to him and kisses me deeply.

  “I’m sorry for keeping you. I can’t seem to keep my hands off you. Yes, please call me after work. I would love to treat you to dinner.”

  “Don’t apologize, it’s a mutual feeling. I would love to have dinner with you. I’ll call you.” With that, I walk out of the coffee shop and head to my office with the biggest smile I’ve worn in a long time.

  Walking into my building, I notice Charlie is out and a man, albeit a very handsome man, I don’t recognize is at his desk. I walk over to ask about Charlie, but the man beats me to the punch.

  “You must be Ms. Cane. Hello, I’m David. Charlie is out with the flu.” I stare at him perplexed as to how he knows who I am. Seeming to know I’m curious why he just told me that, he keeps talking. “Charlie told me I would see a beautiful woman enter the building, and when said women looked over at the desk and saw that he was not here, she would come and ask about him. Seeing as you are the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes on, I assumed it was you.” I instantly blush, but I don’t break eye contact.