Road To Me

by Erica Andrews

  Damon snarked back, “Who said I had changed?”

  Ben waved his hand, done with the conversation. “Yeah, yeah, Damon the ass, I get it.”?

  Breaking into their conversation, I interjected, “I want to know why you were both such asses to each other.”

  Ben grinned mischievously. “We may or may not have stolen each other’s girlfriends.”

  Looking at Damon, whose face remained impassive. “Just you two?”

  Damon finally grinned. “Well now, I guess Kasper and Dean got in on it, too.” Gesturing toward Ben he continued, “You didn’t help yourself, leaving us high and dry after getting those tattoos either.”

  Ben laughed. “Please, the whole year in eleventh grade you three were always stealing my girls. And I wasn’t about to stay around when your mama found out you three got tats. She would’ve tore in to all of us.”

  Damon narrowed his eyes, “She did tear us a new one, and if I remember correctly you stole Joanna from Kasper first, then I retaliated, so you started the war.”

  Nodding his head, Ben chuckled, “Okay, okay, but maybe I finished it, too?”

  Amazingly, Damon bowed his head, though still wore the grin on his face. “You might be right there.”

  I held my hand up, halting the conversation, “Wait, so you’re Tattoo Ben?”

  Raising his eyebrow at me. “Oh, I was legendary, uh? Yeah, I could see that.”

  Laughing at the look on his face, I explained. “No, Kasper told me the story about his wolf tattoo, and you were in the story.”

  “That was some night, and now those three asses have a weird wolf tattoo on their arms forever.”

  Damon narrowed his eyes at Ben. “I like my tattoos, and that one is my favorite.”

  Ben rolled his eyes at Damon.

  “You ready short stack?”

  I back to Damon. “You can go, I’ll see you after class.”

  He walked to the bench at the front door, sitting down to get comfortable. “I reckon, I’m good right here.”

  Rolling my eyes, I followed Ben more into the center of the mat.

  An hour later and a lot sweatier, I decided to enroll in a weekly class with Ben. I must have had a death wish. At the end of class, Damon was still sitting where he had since the beginning of class. Walking over to him, I let my gaze roam over him. He was really attractive, in a bad boy type of way. I just wish I knew where I stood with him. He could give any girl whiplash.

  “Done looking?”

  Ass.

  “Yep, I’m ready.”

  Holding out his hand, he waited.

  Confused, I gave him a high five.

  “Give me your keys.”

  “Why?”

  Rolling his eyes, he huffed. “I’m going to take you to get doughnuts, but if you don’t want them that’s fine.”

  Flipping my keys out of the waistband of my pants, I tossed them like they were burning hot. “No, here take them. Let’s go.”

  Before he could say anything I’d already made my way to the passenger side of my car. All he had to say was doughnuts. Though I think they might have canceled out the kickboxing class. I thought. Could be wrong, I did sweat a lot.

  Stopping by the diner where this all began, Damon ran in for the doughnuts. Surprisingly Damon remembered the doughnuts I had gotten the first time we’d met. Many, many layers, Mr. Timbers.

  Afterward we drove back in silence to the gym and drove separately home. Which left me with my thoughts which was never good. Pulling into the driveway, I parked the car. Kasper, Dean and Duchess, were already outside attempting to play fetch. I said attempting because the execution was not so good. When one of the guys attempted to throw the stick, Duchess was so big she would almost knock them over or she would get said stick before they could raise it over their head. Also, when they did successfully throw the stick, she refused to give it back. They should’ve probably had a pile of back up sticks on the side.

  Getting out of the car, I heard the motorcycle pull up beside me. I had left as fast as I could, so I could beat him here. Apparently, it’d worked.

  Turning his bike off, he glared at me. “How fast were you going?”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “The speed limit?”

  Coming to lean against the car, he didn’t light up with the glare. “I know you’re lying. Don’t. Speeding isn’t safe.”

  He turned slightly to lean on the car. “Says the man who’s a regular speed demon himself.”

  He shook his head. “That’s me, not you, just slow down.”

  Slightly irritated, I bit out, “Are you saying, because I wasn’t a guy I shouldn’t speed?”

  I hoped that’s not what he was thinking.

  He faced straight ahead, watching his brother and friend play with Duchess. “No, it was because you’re Kelly Green and there’s only one Kelly Green, and she needs to be careful.”

  Well, that took the winds out of my sails.

  “I can do that.”

  Clearing his throat but not moving his gaze, he said so quietly I almost missed it.

  “Good.”

  Changing the subject for both our sakes, I yelled for Duchess and the guys.

  “Duchess!” Hearing my voice, Duchess turned her head and started running toward me but quickly changed destinations when she spotted who was right beside me. And I thought Damon realized it, too. Holding his hand up in a stopping motion, he tried talking to her.

  “No, Duchess. Down Duchess. Stop Duchess.” Looking over Duchess’ head, who was ignoring his commands, he asked, “Darling, can you give a guy a hand.”

  By this time Dean and Kasper had made their way across the field, both were smiling at the picture before them. Though Dean was the first to speak. “I don’t know if she should help, unless she gets an offer.”

  Glaring at Dean, he said, “I don’t need your kind of help.”

  I winked at Kasper and Dean. “But you do need mine, so what will you give me?”

  Exasperated he said, “What do you want?”

  Kelly for the win.

  Putting a finger on my chin, I tapped my lip, pretending to think about it.

  “I’ll get Duchess to stop jumping on you, if you bring me doughnuts from the diner at least once a week.”

  Eyeing me skeptically while still holding Duchess at bay, he said, “That’s it?”

  “That’s it.”

  “Okay.”

  Satisfied with my victory, I crouched down to Duchess. “Duchess, come to Mama.”

  Ears perking, Duchess turned and calmly walked to me, sitting at my feet.

  “Wow.”

  Turning my attention back to the guys, who all were staring at Duchess.

  Kasper slowly crouched down to pet Duchess. “How did you get her to do that?”

  “Easy, all dogs know who the alpha is. I guess Duchess knows who’s who in our little group.

  Eighteen

  Damon

  Who stood in line for doughnuts they didn’t fucking eat? This guy.

  The diner was packed for a ten a.m. Monday. I stood in line nodding at the people as they passed me. In a small town you basically knew everyone. So there I stood like a fucking bobble head, nodding away to everyone who passed by. Jesus Christ. I couldn’t believe I was getting Kelly doughnuts just to get her fucking dog off me.

  And people knew I was getting them for someone. Not me. Small town remember? Everyone knew I ate here on a Sunday and what I got. And what I got was not fucking doughnuts. The question that was on everybody’s mind as they nodded and passed me but didn’t ask was who was Damon Timbers buying doughnuts for?

  Moving up the line after nodding once again to an elderly couple, I got a glimpse at who was working the pastry booth today. Shit. Sarah fucking Mason, who I happened to have dated back in high school and was also Hazelton’s worst gossiper.

  The man ahead of me collected his change from Sarah, and I moved up to take his place. Not wanting to make small talk with her, I ignored her, hoping s
he’d get the message. This was the second week that I’d brought Kelly doughnuts, and it always made me feel like a goddamn errand boy. I really wished that dog didn’t like me so much. It was because of her that I was stuck picking out doughnuts, which I hated, once a week. Maybe, I should get Kelly something different like the jelly filled ones or the ones with the crème in the middle. She hadn’t had those yet.

  Looking up to place my order, I caught Sarah’s eye. Let the fun begin.

  Tilting her head to the side like it was too heavy to hold straight, which to be honest it might had been with all that hair she had piled on top of her head, her voice somehow went two octaves higher just to say my name. I was waiting to hear the dogs barking from the shelter across the street. “Damon, what you are doing here? Weren’t you boys here just yesterday for breakfast?”

  “Yep.” God, I hated small talk. What was the point? The point apparently, to many at least, was to gain information that was nobody’s business to spread to other people who wanted to know everybody’s business.

  Not taking the hint, Sarah just pushed her hair back which at this point looked ready to fall over and said in a sing-song voice, “Well, if you were here yesterday and you don’t like pastries then who are these for?”

  “A friend.”

  She smiled wider. “A lady friend?”

  I ignored the question and pointed to the pastries I wanted to get Kelly, making sure to point to the pink doughnuts. You’re welcome Kelly.

  As Sarah wrapped them up and put them in a box, she continued her questions. “You know, Damon, since we didn’t work out, I figured you were gay. But I heard you were hanging out with that new school teacher, so I bet these are for her.”

  Not paying attention to what Sarah had been saying, I had a slight delay in my reaction when it finally caught up to me. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  Coming over with my box of pastries, I tried grabbing them, but she held them out of reach. I wasn’t trying to be a total dick, but I wanted the damn doughnuts. Not an interrogation. Instead, she hooked her arm through mine and walked me to the door. Like we were old pals. I knew her kind, she just wanted dirt.

  Getting on her tip toes, when we got to the door, she tried leaning into me, but I moved away quickly. Almost falling out the door, she quickly caught herself. “It’s all right Damon I’m fine. Just a little slip. But I just wanted to tell you that I was glad you’re not gay.” How did this woman think I was gay? It was a well-known fact I had been a man whore up until recently. She continued on, not knowing the dialog that was going on in my head. And it was probably good she didn’t. “I always believed we were meant to be together. High school sweethearts, ya know? Don’t worry, I’ll let you have your fun, but I’ll be waiting.” Handing me my pastries with a quick squeeze of my arm, she turned and left. Leaving me with more questions than answers.

  “I’m done, that’s it, you can go get your own damn doughnuts!”

  Kelly sat on the couch at her house with Duchess at the feet, holding the box of pastries I had brought over. She looked beautiful with her face scrunched up, trying to decipher what I meant. I knew I wasn’t always easy to understand when I got worked up. Dean and Kasper, usually teased me about it later on after I had settled down.

  She huffed out a breath, “Damon I don’t understand, why can you not get the doughnuts?”

  I stopped my pacing, just now realizing what I had been doing. Damnit, I told you I got worked up.

  “Because she’s thought I was gay for at least ten years. Now she wants a second chance at being high school sweethearts. Get it? The only reason that woman left me alone was because she thought I was gay. We broke up because she was obsessive. Now she’s going to be up my ass more. Not to mention she’s a damn gossip.”

  God that was hard to get out.

  Kelly stood up, and I could tell she was trying not to smile at what I just said. This woman, just didn’t get it. I went out with Sarah, like many teenage boys, to get ass and quickly realized her mouth wasn’t worth it. But apparently more than ten years later she thought I was. She was wrong.

  “Okay so she thinks you’re basically soul mates? That’s cute.”

  Cute? It wasn’t cute. It was a damn nuisance. I already had one woman in front of me that I couldn’t seem to stay away from. I didn’t need another woman who couldn’t stay away from me, unless it was the one in front of me.

  “It’s not cute. It’s an irritation. One I don’t have time for.”

  Stepping over Duchess, Kelly walked over to me and took my hand. “Well you took the time to get my doughnuts for me. So does that mean you have the time for me?”

  When she looked at me the way she was now, I couldn’t give her a snarky comeback. Even though that basically was what our relationship was. Though right then I didn’t think you could even classify us as having a relationship. Sighing inwardly, I gave her what she wanted, because as I was starting to suspect, she was the one girl I couldn’t say no to.

  I pulled my hand out of her grasp, watching the hopeful expression fall from her face. Yeah, I knew that wouldn’t last long. Reaching back, I grabbed a fistful of hair and pulled her head back to keep her eyes on me, “I don’t know how you do it. I mean you take up every thought every day it seems. So when you ask if I have time for you, my reply to that is when do I not think of you, want to touch you, want to be with you?”

  I noticed her breath coming out harder the longer I talked. Who knew my words would turn her on. And she was turned on, judging by the pink cheeks, and rapid breathing. Damn if that didn’t make me hard. Slowly, she licked her lips. Damn. Still holding her hair, I moved my other hand down the side of her neck and watched as goosebumps broke out where my hand had touched. Moving my face closer to hers, making my way to her mouth, when her lips parted. Instead of kissing the pinkness before me, I moved down her neck.

  A gasp came from her, and it made my dick harder as I trailed my lips up her neck to her jaw. The longer I took and the closer I got to her jaw her panting came quicker. My lips met her jaw, and I stopped to nibble. She smelled so fucking good. Enough of playing, I went for the treasure. In one swoop, I covered her mouth with mine. She tasted like strawberry fucking doughnut. I hated doughnuts. But tasting them like this. They could be my most favorite thing on earth. I slipped my tongue past her teeth and stroked her tongue up and down, pulling a mewl from her mouth. She mewled like a fucking cat.

  Getting restless, I felt her move against me, trying to reach for something that she couldn’t get. Maybe I could help. Letting go of her hair, I reached down with both hands and grabbed her ass, that I’d secretly been wanting to grab for weeks. The ass that I’d been thinking about since I first saw it almost two months ago in the diner. Continuing to kiss her, I turned and sat on the couch with her in my lap. Instantly, she started pressing her core up against my jean clad dick. With her rubbing up and down my chest and the feel of her heat so close, I didn’t know if I could stop what was about to come. I had about six months of blue balls here, and this wasn’t helping me at all. What did help, which I wished it didn’t and that my conscience could take a field day, was when she said my name.

  “Damon.”

  I pulled back slowly to see her face flushed and slightly dewy. It did things to my heart, knowing I’d done that to her. Did things that I didn’t think I could admit to right now. Reluctantly, I picked her up and sat her down beside me. Grabbing her hand, I pushed her hair out of her eyes, clearing my throat.

  “Kelly, we can’t do this, though believe me when I say I want to, like really want to.”

  I could see the arousal melt away from her face. And I hated to see it go. “Why? I like you” Looking down at my jeans which didn’t help my blue balls at all. “And clearly you like me. So, what’s wrong?”

  I decided to get the facts out there that we’d all been tip toeing around, “Yeah, but I think you also like Dean and Kasper the same way you like me. Or am I wrong?”

  The
shocked look on her face would’ve been almost comical if I hadn’t been worried that my normal asshole personality had blown it. There was a reason why I normally didn’t do this shit. But who said I was the master sub fugue.

  Struggling to look at me, she tried to form words, words with those lips that I had just kissed.

  “So, you’ve all talked about me? Like I was the issue and not y’all?” It was not like I planned this, it just happened, and I was struggling too, ya know. I was trying to figure out where I stand with all you. I moved here to try to find myself, and instead I find y’all. It’s really confusing for me, too.”

  I knew I screwed this up. Explaining and comforting was not something I did well. And now I was doing both. Hoping for an out I asked, “Look I’m no good at this stuff. Do you honestly want to have this conversation now with me? I mean, I can do it, maybe. But this is usually Kasper’s thing or hell even Dean’s. You know I don’t do deep and mushy.”

  Straightening her back she stared. Shit. I knew I’d screw this up. This was what happened when you allowed an asshole to talk feelings. He ruined it. Now she was done.

  Then she surprised me.

  “I want to know how you feel, you go this way and that. I feel like I’m on a roller coaster with you. What do you want? Do want me to leave? Do you want to see me? Friends, not friends? I’m going crazy trying to understand what you want. So, what is it, Damon? Tell me.”

  Damn it.

  “Listen, if I tell you the basics, can we go out to eat and maybe have a conversation with the rest of the guys? That way I’m not the only one doing the talking. Deal?”

  She nodded her head, saying, “Yeah.”

  “Okay.” Blowing out a breath, I rubbed my hands on my jeans because they seemed to be getting sweaty. If I didn’t know better, I’d say I was nervous, but assholes didn’t get nervous. Of course assholes usually didn’t buy a girl pink doughnuts either.

  Par the course of Miss Kelly Green, she didn’t stay quiet long and let me enjoy my subtle victory.