by Tess Oliver
We got into the car. “Gage, do you think it was bad business for me to close today? It is Saturday night, after all. I’m starting to feel really wimpy about it.”
“This is a pretty small town, Summer. Word probably already got around about what happened today. Hell, Rita probably had the news halfway to Bozeman and back before she even got home. It’s all right. And things will get easier. You’ll see.”
She grew quiet and stared out at the landscape that was only slightly illuminated by the sliver of moon above. “Just before I made the decision to come here, Tately Records had offered me a recording contract.” She faced me. “A really dreamy contract. But at the last minute, Tately decided he only wanted to sign me. I was supposed to just dump the band.” She looked down at the bandaged hand in her lap and picked at the surgical tape. “I’d been living with the guitarist, Logan, for three years. I told Tately no way and then the jerk let me know that the recording contract came with a price, my ass, literally. After fending him off, and leaving him standing dumbstruck and horny in his multimillion dollar building, I raced home to tell Logan. He was in bed with my best friend. To top it all off, Logan seemed to think I should have slept with Tately just to keep the contract. My mom thought so too.”
“Bunch of assholes,” I said. “Especially Logan. If you’d come home to tell me that another man had put his hands on you, I’d have gone down to that multimillion dollar office and torn him to shreds.” The words came out before I’d given them any thought. But they were true, and there was no sense in taking them back. There was no reason to hide how I felt about her.
She was stunned into silence, and I couldn’t get a full sense of what she was thinking.
“When I walked into the Raven’s Nest and saw that snake throw you into the table, all I could think was that I was going to pound him to a pulp. It was the reason I turned him around and gripped his neck with my arm. If my fist had been free and his fat smug face had been turned toward me, the guy would be breathing through his ass right now.”
At first she didn’t say a word and then she laughed. “Breathing through his ass, what a great but creepy visual that is.”
I turned down my driveway and pulled around to the house. She reached over and took hold of my hand. Our gazes smacked together. “Thank you for making me feel like this wasn’t such a crazy decision, after all.” Her luscious, sin-worthy lips turned up in a grin. “And, later, if you’re really good, I’ll let you see the caterpillar again. This time, I might even let you touch him.”
chapter 22
Summer
My offer of caterpillar viewing had left Gage somewhat stunned and it took him extra long to get out of the car. I could hear Daisy’s semi-charming laugh bubbling from the house. Unfortunately for her, the other half of her laugh was semi-irritating.
A shiny black and chrome motorcycle was parked right in front of the house. “Ooh, that looks fun,” I said as Gage came up next to me.
He laughed. “What is it about girls and motorcycles?”
“I don’t know. There’s just something about a big vibrating machine sitting between your legs.” I pulled in a breath. “Holy shit, that just came out all wrong.”
“Really?” Gage said. “Didn’t seem wrong at all, and I think you answered my question pretty well.”
An extremely beautiful guy with long jet black hair and dark blue eyes opened the door for us. He was dark like Gage but not as tall or as broad, and even though I’d just met him, his demeanor reminded me of Seth’s. He looked me up and down once and nodded. “This explains a lot.”
I raised a brow at Gage, but he dismissed the comment. “Don’t listen to him. He’s had his head squeezed into a motorcycle helmet for three days. Plus, he was kind of nuts to begin with. By the way, this is Jericho. Jericho, this is Summer.”
“Kristina and Seth have the margaritas ready.” Jericho pointed at me. “Salt or no salt?”
“Salt.”
We followed Jericho into the kitchen.
“Hey, boss, how’s the hand?” Daisy chirruped from the stool she was perched on. As Jericho stepped into view she made a point of spreading her legs wide on the stool and leaning her hands forward so that her striking cleavage was even more striking. Every male gaze in the room had been caught up in its sparkle. Something that didn’t bother me, but Kristina seemed slightly hurt by Jericho’s typical male reaction to a nice set of boobs.
“So, Kristina—” I decided attention needed to shift from the flash em’ princess. “—I was thinking that maybe I should hire another server for the floor.”
Before Kristina could respond, Daisy shrieked from her stool. “My best friend, Annie, wants a job. She’d be perfect. I’ll text her right now.” She pulled out her phone, and her purple nails skated over the keyboard before I could even respond.
“No,” I said more abruptly than I’d meant to. She looked instantly hurt, and I softened my tone. “I haven’t made the final decision on it, Daisy. I was just asking Kristina’s opinion.” She still looked pouty about the whole thing. “That’s a pretty nail polish color, by the way.”
A smile broke across her face. My little mood lightener had worked. “Thanks. It took me a good twenty minutes to pick the shade.”
Seth laughed derisively. It was always fun to see him next to Gage. As many similarities as there were, like a chiseled strong jaw and disarming smile, there were just as many differences, aside from the obvious, that Seth was slighter and fairer. “Did you just say you spent twenty minutes, twenty minutes of your life that you’ll never get back, picking a fucking nail polish color?”
Seth’s comment brought back the pout, which I was beginning to think might be more forced than real.
Daisy blinked her big blue eyes at him. “When you called me today, you said you were lounging on the couch tossing a raw egg up and down to see how many times you could do it without breaking it.”
Kristina and I laughed.
“That explains the crusty yellow stuff on the living room floor,” Gage said. He handed me a margarita and a slice of cold pizza. “I could heat it for you.”
“Nope, this is perfect.” I took a bite and drank it down with margarita. My mouth twisted with the sourness of it. “Oh my, lots of mix and alcohol, and only a smidgen of ice.”
Seth raised up a hand. “Thank you. It’s my special super power margarita. Gets you shit-faced twice as fast as a regular one.”
I finished the pizza and took only a few more sips of the drink, figuring it wasn’t supposed to be consumed in tandem with the painkillers. Gage took hold of my hand and led me to a den that had pine walls and a cool, long hearth made completely of stone. The style of the room reminded me a lot of the restaurant, comfy rustic. Jericho had beat us to an oversized leather chair that was big enough for two normal-sized people or Gage and one small person. Gage stood in front of the chair and glowered down at Jericho, who didn’t seem too concerned that a giant was scowling at him. It was more than obvious that Jericho knew he would never have to worry about Gage hurting him.
“Move,” Gage commanded. Jericho got up reluctantly. Kristina sat on one side of the couch, and Jericho settled down next to her. She seemed pleased. I was a bit surprised that someone as level headed as Kristina would fall for someone like Jericho. Although, he was exceptionally handsome, and I was sure that somewhere in our casual conversations, Kristina had mentioned her slight obsession with guys who ride Harleys.
Gage didn’t spill a drop of his drink as he plopped hard into the chair. Then he patted the narrow space next to him. I squiggled back into the spot like I was reversing into a parking space. Seth made himself comfortable on the opposite side of the couch. Daisy climbed right into his lap.
“Are we going to watch something dirty?” Daisy asked. “My parents have the worst damn DVD collection. No sex, mild violence and torturously boring, that’s their movie picking criteria. I want to see porn,” she said emphatically.
Jericho sighed dramatically
and rolled his head toward Gage. “She is a guest, after all. Wouldn’t be right to say no.”
“You’ll be bored in ten minutes,” Kristina said.
I laughed. “Kristina and I will just give you a quick trailer, and you see if you’re still interested.” I leaned my head back. “Yeah, oh yeah baby, yeah give it to me good, baby, harder, baby please.” I stopped when I realized that Kristina hadn’t joined into the demonstration. The whole room had gone still and all eyes were on me. I glanced sidelong at Gage, who seemed to be holding his breath.
“Awkward,” Seth said in a small voice.
“Oh, come on. I’m on painkillers, and then Mr. Superman bartender gave me a drink with the same chemical properties of anti-freeze.”
Everyone burst out laughing. “We’re just teasing you, Hollywood.” Gage slid his arm around my back and pulled me closer. “But I would definitely like to see that trailer again sometime.” He leaned his mouth next to my ear. “Preferably with me in the scene.”
“I don’t think I’m all that comfortable watching porn with a big group like this,” Kristina said.
“Nope. We’re going horror, right?” Seth looked knowingly at Gage and Jericho as if there was some secret guy code happening between them.
“Definitely,” Gage said.
We chose one of those obscure movies with unknown actors, a remote cabin and lots of blood curdling screams. Thirty minutes in, I’d spent a good portion of the movie behind my hand or with my face buried against Gage’s shoulder. When the movie reached that typical part where you’re shouting at the screen to give the actors advice about going inside the old boathouse, I squirmed onto Gage’s lap completely. His arms tightened around me, and that’s when I noticed his rather confident grin. A lull in the screaming gave me the opportunity to glance at the others. We were all clutching our male partners like fools.
I straightened and looked down at Gage. He peered innocently up at me. “Oh my gosh, that’s why you guys picked horror. You knew a bloody flick would earn you all a free lap dance.” I scooted off his legs. “I feel cheap and used.”
Kristina followed my lead, but Daisy remained securely tucked in Seth’s lap.
Jericho burst out laughing. “Can’t believe you girls didn’t see through that scheme. Oldest fucking movie trick in the book.”
I leaned back under Gage’s arm. “Well, I’m glad you were enjoying yourselves.”
“More than you know,” Gage said.
“I might remind you,” I said, “that I live alone in a remote cabin, where the only thing that can hear my screams are the wolves waiting outside the door to finish up the scraps left behind by the madman. How will I sleep alone?”
“You’re right.” Gage clicked off the movie. “And that was part two of my scheme.”
“You are positively evil,” I said. “And, for your information— all you had to do was ask.”
Gage’s mouth hung open a bit, and it seemed I’d left him somewhat speechless.
Daisy harrumphed from her seat on Seth’s lap. “Now what should we do? Wait!” She jumped up. “I totally forgot. I brought a game.”
Seth shook his head. “I’m not going to draw funny pictures and have you guess what it is, so forget it.”
“It’s not that.” She scurried out of the room and came back with her purse.
“A game of strip poker works for me,” Jericho said.
“Really?” Gage’s hand slid discretely up my shirt, and he caressed my back. “I was thinking a more direct route to nakedness.” Apparently I’d lit a fire with my ‘all you had to do was ask’ comment. Heat was radiating off of him in waves.
Daisy produced a box of cards.
“Strip poker?” Jericho asked hopefully.
“Better.” Daisy was quite pleased with herself. “Some girlfriends and I used this at a slumber party last weekend, but it’ll be more fun with guys.”
Seth sat forward with interest. “Tell us more about this slumber party. Were there pajamas or skimpy nighties or—” He cleared his throat as if he was having trouble getting the rest of it out. “—was it a nude slumber party with multiple girls and pillow fights and possible sexual experimentation?”
Jericho nearly fell off the couch laughing. “Oh my god, I fucking love this guy.”
“Yeah, he’s a charm,” Gage said.
Daisy waved off his lascivious line of questioning. “Everyone gather around.” She placed the stack of cards face down on the coffee table. I scooted off the chair and knelt along the edge of the table. Gage knelt behind me and parted his thighs so that I sat between them. Kristina and Jericho sat on the front edge of the couch.
“I’m going to need another beer for this,” Seth said.
“Yeah, bring one for me too,” Jericho added.
“And the chips and salsa,” I called after him.
“And my margarita,” Daisy called.
Gage used the remote to switch on some music. Seth returned with one beer under his chin, the chips under his arm and the second beer and margarita in his hands.
I nodded in admiration. “I was wondering how you were going to manage that.”
Daisy lifted up the first card. “Oh, here are the rules. We go around and each person gets a chance to pick a card. You read the question and then everyone else has to answer it.”
We all stared at her expectantly, waiting for the rest of the game rules.
“And when do the tops and bras come off?” Jericho asked.
“They don’t,” she said matter of factly.
“This isn’t a game,” Seth said disappointedly. “In a real game, someone at least ends up out or naked, preferably naked.”
Again Daisy dismissed the comments. She wriggled a bit and sat up straight as if she was about to read aloud to a class. “Ooh, this is a kinky one.”
Seth sat up straighter. “Go on,” he urged, his enthusiasm apparently having been spurred on by the word kinky.
“What’s the weirdest public place you’ve ever had sex?”
Seth tapped his chin. “Can’t recall. I’ll have to go back through my sexual archives.”
“A park,” Kristina said. “It was after hours, of course. On the slide,” she added.
“A slide?” Jericho said. “What a great idea. An elevator in Vegas.”
“It figures, one minute man,” Seth chimed back in. “The planetarium— wait do hand jobs count? It was a high school field trip, so we couldn’t exactly climb on top of each other.”
“And I’m the Barringer that they suspended from school,” Gage said dryly.
“The back of a theater during a Lord of the Rings marathon,” I said.
Everyone looked at me as if I’d grown horns.
“What? A lot of people mess around in the theater.”
“I think we’re all more shocked that anyone would sit through a Lord of the Rings marathon,” Gage said over my shoulder.
Daisy pushed the cards over to Kristina.
“Wait,” Seth said, “what about you, Daisy?”
She sighed at the thought that she’d once again have to repeat the copious set of rules. “The card reader doesn’t answer.” She sighed again. “But if you must know, it was in art class.”
We all looked at her. “What? It was fine. I was with the art teacher, and the rest of the class was gone.”
“Well then,” I said, “nothing disturbing about that.”
“Have you ever had sex in a graveyard?” Kristina shivered slightly with a shake of her head, which was answer enough for her.
“I’d like to change my previous answer for two hundred, Alex,” Seth said, apparently remembering an encounter amongst tombstones.
Daisy pursed her brows together. “There are no points, and who’s Alex?”
“The host on Jeopardy,” I said. She was still perplexed, so I hummed the infamous last question tune. Obviously, Daisy was not a Jeopardy watcher.
“Great, now that stupid tune is going to keep playing in my head,” Seth s
aid.
Kristina turned to me for my answer. “No way,” I said. “I get creeped out just walking through a cemetery. Can’t really picture myself naked and going at it there.”
Jericho twisted his mouth in consideration. “I need some clarification.”
“A graveyard is where they bury dead people,” Seth said.
“Yeah, got that part. Does it count if it was in a car parked at the cemetery?”
As the host of the game, we turned to Daisy for her decision. “I guess that counts.”
“Then yes. Twice,” Jericho said confidently.
Everyone looked our direction. Gage was still tucked in behind me. I was finding it rather nice to have his strong legs on each side of me.
“Yes.” That was the extent of his answer.
I twisted back to look at him. “Did you manage to shake a tombstone loose in the process?”
He gazed down at me through long, dark lashes. “No, that would be disrespectful.”
“As opposed to screwing someone on top of a grandma’s eternal resting spot.”
“We were in a part of the cemetery that wasn’t occupied yet.”
Daisy wriggled her bottom again to straighten, a habit she was particularly fond of and Seth didn’t mind it either. “I’m just not the kind of girl who would strip naked in a graveyard.”
“Unless the art teacher is standing in it with his provocative paints and pastels.” My comment earned a good round of laughter.
The cards were slid in my direction. “Would you like to spank your partner?” A blush rose in my cheeks as I read the question.
Kristina glanced back at Jericho. “He probably needs it.” Jericho nodded in complete agreement.
Jericho grinned down at her making it seem as if he was visualizing the idea as he spoke. “Only if she is very, very bad.”
Daisy turned to Seth. “I think it might hurt my hand.”
Seth agreed. “I do have an ass of steel, and as for me spanking her? Hell yeah.”
Eyes turned toward Gage. “Absofuckinglutely.”
I looked back at him.
“Oh come on— that great ass of yours is just begging to be spanked.”
