by J. S. Cooper
“Close your coat,” I said sharply, as I looked down and saw her landing strip. She had come fully groomed and prepared. For one brief second, I considered letting her blow me and possibly fucking her to get rid of my blue balls, but I knew that I didn’t want her. I also knew that even though I wasn’t looking for a relationship with anyone, that whatever feelings I had for Betsy would be forever ruined if I fucked another woman right now. Though as I thought about it, maybe that would be for the best. Maybe I could just fuck Veronica from behind and pretend she was Betsy and that way, there would be no chance of me ruining my friendship with Nolan, but then Veronica reached out to touch my chest and I recoiled at her fingers on my skin. There was no way that I could ever think of her as Betsy. She wasn’t Betsy and never would be. I could feel my cock shrinking in her presence and knew that I was going to have to turn her down bluntly once and for all.
Chapter 6
Betsy
“Oh, hell no, that skank did not show up at his place with a trench coat on. What a ho!” Jules was indignant as she shouted into the phone. While I was happy for her support, I truly hoped she wasn’t letting everyone in her office hear our conversation.
“Yes, she did.” I was standing behind the counter in the bakery shop, waiting for two elderly women to decide what type of tea they wanted to drink. I knew it was unprofessional to still be on the phone while they were in line, but I couldn’t tear myself away. “And yes, she is. I always heard the rumors but never really believed them.”
“So, do you think he had sex with her?” Jules whispered loudly, and I sighed.
“I don’t know.” I turned my face to the side. “He seemed like he was in the mood.” I said under my breath, not having told Jules that Jeff had shown me his cock. I still couldn’t believe it, and I wondered where the conversation would have gone if his doorbell hadn’t rung. He’d asked me to show him a boob, and while I’d fully intended to say no, I knew I could have been talked into it.
“She’s a slut,” Jules said, trying to make me feel better. “And if he hooked up with her, he’s an asshole.”
“I can’t believe he would do that.”
“Do you want me to find out from Nolan?”
“Yeah, if you can. I need to know.”
“Yeah. I’ll try my best.” She paused. “Though I’m not sure if he will tell me. I have a few ways to get it out of him, though.”
“Oh, Jules.” I laughed. “I’m sure you do.”
“He asked me to move in with him,” she said suddenly, and my jaw dropped. “I didn’t say yes yet,” she added quickly. “I know it’s too soon.”
“You are joking, right?” I laughed. “I know you want to.”
“Well, maybe a little bit, but not just for me, for Bingo as well.”
“Uh-huh.” Bingo was her fat-ass dog, and I knew Bingo only cared about food and snuggles with Jules. “That will be cool, though.”
“Yeah.” She giggled. “We’ll see.”
“Excuse me, Betsy, but we’re ready to order now.” One of the ladies cleared her throat and gave me a pointed look. I smiled my apology and groaned inside. I was pretty sure that she was a friend of Nanna’s from church and would most probably say something to someone about my shop manners.
“Sure, one moment,” I said and then whispered into the phone, “I gotta go now, Jules, but I’ll talk to you later.”
“Bye. Chin up, girl.”
I hung up and smiled winningly at the two ladies in front of me. “How’s about I give you both a free blueberry muffin with that tea for your long wait today?” I offered, and they both beamed their appreciation as the placed their order.
“Okay, girls, it’s all set.” Stella grinned and raised a glass as we sat at a table at the Canyon Beach Pizzeria. “We’re now officially a part of the Canyon Beach Bachelorette Auction, and Betsy will be running the kissing booth.”
“Wow, that was fast.” I raised my glass to her.
“I have connections.” She smiled as we all clinked our glasses together.
“Yeah. Malcolm.” Jules laughed, and I could see that she was glowing. “I spoke to him as soon as we got off the phone and convinced him that it would be great coverage for the paper, and he phoned the mayor to expect Stella’s call.” She took a huge gulp of wine. “What that man won’t do when it comes to money.”
“That’s awesome.” I laughed. “So, what’s next?”
“We have to try to find some more contestants.” Jules made a face. “Nolan was really upset at the thought that someone may outbid him and try to sweep me off of my feet.”
“He can just raise his bid.” Stella rolled her eyes.
“Maybe he’s saving his money,” I said coyly. “For a ring.”
“Don’t say that.” Jules squealed and then grinned. “Not that I don’t want that to happen, but I don’t want to get my hopes up. We haven’t been dating that long.”
“Yeah, but you love birds have been in love forever.” I smiled as I dipped a breadstick in olive oil. “Soon, it will just be me, Stella, and Abby in the lonely hearts club.”
“Poor Abby,” Stella said with a small sigh. “She has it worse than us with her sucky-ass boss.”
“Yeah.” I shook my head. “I can’t believe that he has her working again tonight.” I watched as the waiter approached us with our pizza and thought to myself that I needed to start cooking again instead of going out to eat so much. I had already gained a few pounds since opening the bakery, and all this eating out was only going to make me gain more weight. “Oh, I’ll talk to Lily tomorrow about being a participant as she’s going to pop into the shop.”
“How’s that going?” Jules asked me seriously. “Has business picked up?”
“A little bit.”
I didn’t want to tell her that between rent, supplies, and ingredients, the shop had spent seven thousand dollars last month and had only brought in six thousand. I was starting to get nervous, even though Nanna wasn’t. Many people had told me that it took two years for a business to become profitable, but I’d owned the bakery for a little over a year now and I was worried. Nanna had put a lot of her savings into the business and I had hoped to have started paying it off by now.
Jules could tell from my face that business wasn’t great. “Oh, no. We’ll have to think of some ideas to drive business.”
“I’ll help as well.” Stella gave me an empathetic smile. “Maybe I can add a little cupcake section in the store, and you can add a bookstand with some local authors to sell.”
“Oh, that sounds like a great idea.” I beamed at her. “You girls rock.”
“We’re not just here for advice on men,” Jules said, and we all laughed. Men were and had always been our number one topic of conversation. We all grabbed a slice of pizza as soon as it hit the table and were silent as we chowed down. Now that I knew that we were officially a part of the auction, I was getting nervous. This plan had arisen out of my need to win Jeff’s heart, but if he had slept with Veronica on the same night that he’d kissed and flashed me, then I wanted nothing to do with him. Yes, I knew that he was single and not dating me, but it would say a lot about his character if he had done that. I was still shocked that he’d tried to initiate phone sex with me. I was pretty confident that he hadn’t been drunk that night.
I really wanted another opinion on what had happened, but I was nervous to tell Jules. I didn’t want to give her ammunition against Jeff. This felt like something that should be kept private or at least not mentioned to Jeff.
“Why do I love pizza so much?” Jules said as she reached for another slice. “This is absolutely delicious.”
“We’ve always loved pizza,” I mumbled as I took another big bite. “Okay, I have to tell you girls something, but this doesn’t leave the table. Neither one of you can tell anyone or bring it up to anyone at all, get it?”
“Whoa, what’s going on?” Jules looked suspicious. I could tell she was wondering why she didn’t already know this deli
cious gossip.
“I promise.” Stella leaned forward with a conspiratorial grin. “I’m dying to hear what you have to say, this sounds juicy.”
I looked around the pizzeria to make sure that no one was listening and then sat back. “Jeff kissed me last night.” Both Jules and Stella’s jaws dropped, and I grinned. This was the response I had been expecting. “And he showed me his penis.”
“He what?” Jules practically screamed and then covered her mouth. “He what?” she said in a lower voice. She looked shocked. “I don’t know how to respond to this information, Betsy. I need all the details right now.”
“All I want to know is—impressive or nah?” Stella giggled and wiggled her eyebrows at me.
“Let’s just say, any more impressive and it might not fit.” I burst out laughing at their shocked expressions.
“I love it,” Stella said. “Who knew that Jeff was packing?”
“Who wanted to know that Jeff was packing?” Jules made a face. “So, what does that mean, exactly?”
“That’s the whole problem.” I sighed. “I don’t know. He kissed me and left and then later that night he called me on the phone. And that’s when things starting getting juicy.” I paused for dramatic effect. “And just as it was getting juicy, Veronica showed up at his door, and he hung up. He never called me back, and he never came to the shop today.”
“Wow.” The grin fell from Stella’s face. “So, you think he hooked up with Veronica then?”
“Don’t know.” I nibbled on my lower lip, all of a sudden losing my appetite. “I don’t know what to think. I wasn’t expecting the kiss or the penis glimpse, and—oh, I forgot to tell you the other part.”
“What other part?” Jules sounded outraged. “How much have you been holding out on us?”
“Not much.”
“Are you going to casually just let it slip that you’re now pregnant with his baby?”
“I saw his cock. I didn’t have it inside of me.” I rolled my eyes.
“Oh, girls. Language.” Stella giggled. “I love this conversation, but I’m not sure our neighbors do.” I looked over to the table that she was nodding toward and saw a couple glaring at us as their little girl played with some crayons. I looked away quickly. Had we been that loud?
“Want to take the pizza to go and head to the beach?” I asked them. “We can grab some ciders on the way?”
“Sure,” Jules said. “But I have to be at Nolan’s place by nine. I told him we could watch a movie tonight.”
“Of course,” I said, trying not to roll my eyes. “You in, Stella?”
“Sure, but are we allowed to take ciders? Isn’t alcohol banned on the beach?”
“Who’s going to know?” I said with a grin. “I think we’ll be okay.”
“Ha ha, okay,” Stella said
I signaled to the waiter to come over and pack up the rest of our pizza to go. As I sat back and waited for the waiter to finish and bring the bill, I tried to process everything I was thinking and feeling. I was putting on a brave face by having a laugh with Jules and Stella, but I was starting to feel stressed. Everything seemed to be building up. My business, which I loved, wasn’t doing as well as I’d hoped. My best friend was now dating my brother, and as much as I loved them both, I was sad that Jules was no longer in my life as much. It seemed that every time we made plans, she had to think about what she was doing with Nolan first. And now there was Jeff, my Jeff, the man I’d been in love with for more than half my life. He was the most handsome, most charismatic man I’d ever met and, while I’d known he had never wanted to get married, I’d thought that maybe one day he would at least look at me in a way other than as his best friend’s sister. And recently, I’d thought that maybe he was seeing me in a different light. He’d been coming by the coffee shop more frequently, and we’d been lightly flirting. I’d thought maybe he just needed a little push from me.
That’s where the naughty panties had come in, but now everything was spiraling out of control. He wasn’t the man I’d thought he was, and that scared me. What if I ended up hating him? I didn’t want to think about him with Veronica. And why had he kissed me and then told me I was a bad kisser? And why had he shown me how hard he was? Was he testing me? Was he just looking to have some fun? And why hadn’t he come to the coffee shop today? He hadn’t missed a day in the coffee shop for over two months. I could feel my eyes welling up slightly. I knew I was overreacting, but the stress of everything was getting to me. I didn’t want Jules and Stella to see how affected I was, though. I knew that if Jules realized how emotionally invested I was in Jeff already that she would not be so eager to run this Bachelorette Auction and kissing booth. And once I told them about the kissing bet, I knew she would make it her goal to ensure that I was lined up with all the eligible bachelors in Canyon Beach.
Chapter 7
Jeff
“So, it looks like the girls are a go with the Bachelorette Auction.” Nolan sounded annoyed over the phone. “I swear to God if Jules decides to become a part of that kissing booth, I will not be happy.”
“I thought it was just one man and one woman,” I said as I walked down Main Street and nodded at a group of elderly women who gave me a small wave.
“Yeah, so it’s just you and Betsy as of right now,” Nolan said. “Malcolm called me this afternoon to tell me that he wasn’t sure if it was a good idea for Betsy to be involved.”
“Oh, why?” I asked feeling hopeful. Maybe Nolan would keep Betsy from participating. That would make my life a whole heap easier. I didn’t want her entering the kissing booth at all.
“He thinks that there are a lot of guys who will want to kiss her, and supposedly there’s some dude who’s already interested in taking her on a date.”
“What dude?” I stopped dead in my tracks.
“Dunno,” Nolan replied. “Hey, I gotta go. Need to develop some film for some thirty-five millimeter photos I took before Jules gets here. She’s out with Betsy and Stella getting dinner and doing who knows what.”
“Oh, did she mention anything?” I said casually, feeling myself growing hot as I waited for a response.
“Did who mention anything about what?”
“Did Jules mention anything about last night or anything?” I tried to play it off casually. I was pretty sure that Nolan didn’t know that I had exposed myself to his sister or kissed her. I’d likely have a black eye already if he knew. Nolan would not understand why I had drunk-dialed his sister.
“Nah. She just said she was annoyed I didn’t support her or some bullshit.” He paused. “Oh wait, she was asking me if you and Veronica were hooking up or something.”
I froze. It looked like Betsy had told Jules what had happened. Though I guess I’d known that was a possibility. “Why would she think that?”
“Why do those girls ever think anything?” He chuckled. “I was going to tell her how Veronica used to blow you back in the day, but I didn’t think she would wanna know that.”
“Dude,” I said. “You didn’t say anything, right?”
“Of course not. I knew if I told her that, she’d soon be asking me who was blowing me under the bleachers, and that was one conversation I didn’t wanna get into.”
“Yeah, man. You know these women.” I was quiet for a few seconds as I wondered what Betsy was thinking and if she had asked Jules to find out my situation. “I’ll catch you later.” I hung up.
I walked past Betsy and Elsie’s Yummy Cupcake Store and stared in through the front windows. The store was closed, but I could see some cupcakes on the counter and a few bouquets of flowers around the store. I had missed my daily trip to the store this morning because I’d been embarrassed about showing myself to her last night. I couldn’t imagine what she must be thinking. Most probably that I was a pervert. I shook my head as I headed toward the beach to make sure that no transients had set up any tents on the sand. I wanted to talk to Betsy and explain to her that I’d been a little out of my mind the night be
fore, but I didn’t want anything to get complicated. Betsy didn’t need a guy like me in her life, creating drama and heartbreak. I wasn’t a man made for long-term relationships. My parents had been in an unhappy relationship their entire married life. My mother cried herself to sleep almost every night after long evenings spent fighting with my father. The only time I’d had peace and quiet growing up had been when I’d stayed over at Nolan’s and Betsy’s house.
There had been one time when we were younger that I’d thought perhaps I’d have a shot with Betsy. It had been Christmas, and her parents were having a party. I was helping to set up the mistletoe and had been thinking of the best place to hang it to ensure that I got to smooch Betsy. Nolan had noticed me staring at Betsy and his eyes had narrowed. “Hands off my sister, dude,” he’d said in a very serious tone. “You can have any girl you want, asides from Betsy and Jules.”
And from that day forward, I’d attempted to keep her off of my mind. She was untouchable. That had grown harder as we’d become adults and she had become more and more beautiful, but I’d done my best to keep things platonic.
Until last night had pushed me over the top.
As I walked onto the beach, I could see a group hanging out by the ocean holding what appeared to be bottles in their hand, and I shook my head. Another group of teens disobeying the law. Their laughter carried in the wind toward me and I debated whether to give them a warning or a fine or arrest them. I decided I’d see how they acted when I asked them to throw their alcohol away and leave the beach.
