Love On the Rocks

by E. E. Marino

  Aaron let out a sigh of relief and chuckled to himself knowing that she wasn’t waiting on a lover but a brother. She must have heard his laughter because she looked up to see him smirk at her, and she shot him a smile.

  Aaron watched as she hung up and put her headphones on again and leaned against the wall adjacent to him. She was lost in her music and unaware of his gaze as Aaron took his time to take in her appearance. She looked to be around his age, and he could see two tiny tattoos on her arms, one on the right wrist with some writing on it and one on her left forearm, which appeared to be the Bride of Frankenstein but as a pinup girl. That’s different, he thought. Her low-cut shirt, which showed off her firm breasts, had the picture of a guitar on it that read Gypsy’s Bar and Grill.

  Hoping he didn’t seem creepy, Aaron went up to her and tapped her on the shoulder, making her jump slightly at the surprise invasion.

  Startled, she looked up, ready to yell, but then relaxed and smiled, taking off her headphones and pausing her iPod. Neither spoke for what seemed like hours, though it was probably only a minute. Aaron cleared his throat.

  “I’m sorry for bothering you, and I hope I don’t come across as intrusive, but I noticed your tattoo on your left forearm and was wondering if you could tell me who did it.” When she smiled at him, Aaron knew he was hooked.

  “Oh, thank you, yeah, it’s my favorite piece. I got it done at Tattoo Lou’s in Centereach. They do great work.” The girl tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and took in Aaron’s appearance.

  “It’s a very unique piece,” Aaron said, looking up from her arm to her chest then her eyes. “What made you get it?”

  When she laughed slightly, Aaron felt his arousal get harder. “To spare you the long and sordid affair, it was after a time in my life where I felt ugly and a mess. I had stupidly tried to mold myself to what he’d wanted, which made me miserable.” She paused and gently traced her hand over the ink. “But I soon realized that, I felt different, beautiful. Ergo, my tattoo. She’s a monster, and she’s a pinup girl, and she’s hot and unique.”

  Like you, Aaron thought.

  “I’m Aaron,” he said, presenting his hand out for a handshake.

  “Keela,” she said with a firm shake. Their hands lingered, intertwined for a minute longer than normal.

  Before they could say anything further, Keela heard her name, and they both turned to see a very large six-foot-tall man in a Virginia Tech sweatshirt and gray sweatpants.

  “Oh, my brother,” she said taking her hand from his, making him notice how his hand suddenly felt very empty.

  “Nice to meet you, Aaron,” she said with a smile.

  Aaron watched as she skipped over to her brother, who embraced her in a large bear hug, picking her up while she kicked her feet in protest. Aaron kept his eyes on her until they collected his luggage and walked out of the airport but not before she turned to look his way again and smiled. Her brother wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and they walked out toward the parking lot.

  Finally seeing his duffel bag, Aaron grabbed it, hoisted it to his other shoulder, and made his way outside to get a cab. Finally getting one and giving the driver his brother’s address, Aaron pulled out his iPhone.

  “Siri, please find Gypsy’s Bar and Grill on Long Island, New York.”

  Chapter 2

  GETTING home after a long day, Keela tossed her keys onto the counter of the kitchen and made her way to the couch in the living room, where she slumped down into it. After picking up her brother, she and Jake had gotten a quick bite to eat at Señor Taco before she had to drop him off and make it to work. It was eleven p.m. and a Wednesday, so the house was quiet but wouldn’t be for long, as Nicky would be home at midnight after he closed the bar and Kristi would be home in a half-hour after a long shift at the hospital. While Keela adored her friends and loved living with them, she was glad for the brief time alone so she could collect her thoughts.

  For some reason, unknown to her, Keela’s mind had been locked on one thing and one thing only. The guy from the airport today, Aaron. Aaron. Keela groaned as her thoughts once again went to him. She had seen his dog tags hanging around his neck, so she guessed he was probably returning from Iraq or wherever the Army was currently. He had startled her while she was listening to her iPod waiting for Jake. Keela had been so annoyed and ready to tell whomever it was off until she looked up and saw the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen on a man. They were bright and deep blue and looked at her so intently that she couldn’t look away and couldn’t help but smile. He had taken an interest in Keela’s “beauty queen” tattoo, which was her pride and joy.

  Looking down at the tat on her forearm, Keela traced it lightly. She had named her Priscilla because the 1950s beehive on her head made her look like Priscilla Presley. Keela had had her for three years now, and it always amazed her how complete Priscilla made her feel. She didn’t start getting tattoos until after her breakup with Ryan. She’d had only one when she first met him, a Celtic knot shamrock on her foot she had gotten when she was eighteen, but since Ryan didn’t like tattoos, she’d always kept it covered and didn’t get any more because he had made her feel she should be ashamed. Ryan had a way of doing that to her, but after he had left her, Keela went out the next day with Kristi and got the tat on her wrist done. Since then, Keela had gotten four more tattoos and loved each one because they finally allowed her to be herself and show the world who Keela was.

  She’d gotten up and made her way to the bathroom to shower before her roommates came home when their house phone rang. While they hardly ever used it, they kept the house phone for matters involving the bar. “Hello?” she answered, but oddly enough, all she could hear was breathing and a click. Hmm, odd. This had been happening a lot at the bar and home, and it was starting to get weird. Shaking off her nerves, Keela went down the hall into her room, where she had a master bathroom.

  Getting undressed, she took a moment to study her body. Besides the tats on her foot and arms, she had one on her right hip of a gypsy dancing, which Keela had gotten after Nicky opened the bar. Turning around, she saw the 12 Stones song lyric that graced across her ribs in black calligraphy and, finally, a dream-catcher on the inside of her thigh with the words Free Spirit above it. Keela didn’t consider herself heavily tattooed, but she knew it bothered her mother that she had so many. Still, she didn’t regret any of them. They made her stronger and made her feel unique and beautiful like Priscilla.

  Thinking of Priscilla made Keela think of Aaron again and how his Levi jeans had sculpted his ass while his tight black T-shirt framed the outline of his hard body. Keela let the warm water of the shower relax her after a long day, and her mind drifted to the handsome military man who had invaded her head. It had been forever since a man had captivated her in such a way, but just the thought of Aaron and his hot body pushed against hers made Keela’s blood run hot and her clit throb from arousal. Keela wanted him, but she knew she’d never see him again, so why even go there? Keela gently rubbed her clit, hoping to alleviate some of the tension beginning to mount. It would be close to a year since she’d had sex, and while it wasn’t something Keela dwelled on, she found herself suddenly thinking that having a fling with a sexy guy like Aaron wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

  Stopping her ministrations, Keela proceeded to wash her body and hair and quickly got out of the shower, wrapping herself in a fluffy towel when she heard Kristi call out that she was home. Thoughts of Aaron were still in her head, and the heat between her legs continued to intensify. After pulling on a pair of Capri yoga pants and a Def Leppard baby T-shirt, Keela opened her side table drawer to check that her vibrator had a pair of charged batteries in it.

  Maybe if I do this later I will be able to get Aaron out of my head, she thought to herself as she made her way to the den where Kristi lay on her back on the floor with her knees bent and her hands covering her eyes.

  “Rough day?” Keela asked, plopping herself on the couch limply with
her legs hanging off the armrest.

  “Ugh, remind me again why I wanted to be a nurse?” Kristi moaned without moving a muscle.

  Keela chuckled and tossed a pillow at her best friend of ten years. Kristi had been a server at a seafood restaurant where Nicky and Keela worked and had also gone to Suffolk Community College in the nursing program. Currently, she was working as an RN at Stony Brook University Hospital. She and Keela had clicked right away with their shared sense of humor, and they had been friends ever since. Kristi was five-six, a tiny thing with pale porcelain skin and platinum blonde hair, but she was a tough chick who took three kickboxing classes a week and did CrossFit training twice a week. She and Keela were regular gym rats and would often run together on the weekends.

  She had been newly single when Ryan walked out on Keela and didn’t even hesitate to move in with her and Nicky.

  “I swear, Kee, every day some idiot comes to the ER ‘dying’ when they are actually just drunk as a skunk and looking for free meds. I had to change into my spare scrubs today because some guy decided to down a bottle of Patrón in order to win a bet.” Kristi rolled onto her stomach and pushed back onto her heels.

  “Sounds like Tequila Sunrise night at the bar. It’s pretty gnarly.” Keela chuckled, trying to lighten her friend’s mood.

  “Yeah, but I don’t work in a bar, and while all this is going on, the idiot drunken moron friends of his are placing bets on when he will vomit and where. I nearly threw them out of the hospital.” She stood up and stretched above her head and walked into the kitchen.

  “Ugh, sorry, girl,” Keela said, standing up. “You know you could always use Nicky for a little stress relief.”

  She wiggled her brows at Kristi, who rolled her eyes and shot Keela a look of exasperation. Keela couldn’t help but to tease her best friend about that one time, two years before, when Kristi and Nicky had gotten drunk at a bonfire and ended up waking up in his bed as naked as the day they were born. Since then, they’d agreed it was a one-time thing. It never happened again, and they were still the best of friends.

  “Or I could just borrow one of your boyfriend replacements in your room,” Kristi said, smiling smugly as Keela uncapped a bottle of Samuel Adams and handed it to Kristi. This, of course, made Keela think of Aaron’s hot body, which made her zone out. Kristi cocked an eyebrow at her friend.

  “Kee? Keela!” Kristi took her bottle cap and, with great precision, struck Keela right in the middle of her forehead.

  Keela was brought back from her daydream with a jolt. Keela glared at Kristi, who looked like the cat who ate the canary.

  “Who’s the guy? And before you say what guy, don’t forget you’re my sister and I know when you zone like that it means you saw a yummy guy today,” Kristi said very matter-of-factly.

  “Just some hot Army guy I saw at the airport today while waiting for Jake. He complimented my tattoo, that’s all,” Keela said as she ducked her head into the fridge to retrieve a bottle of Not Your Father’s Root Beer.

  The two friends continued to banter back and forth until Nicky came home at twelve fifteen, ready to eat. Agreeing on pizza, an order was placed with Vinny’s for a half-meat lovers, half-plain pie. Realizing that both Kristi and Nicky were in need of a shower, Keela agreed to go retrieve their meal, with a giggle on her mouth while the two of them fought over the shower.

  Vinny’s was the local pizzeria that was open until four a.m. in the summer for all the late-night partiers who had drunken munchies. Over the years, the owner Vinny and his wife had gotten to known the trio very well, thanks to Keela’s love of pepperoni pizza, so they never had to wait long for their food. Keela pulled her mint green Volkswagen Beetle convertible into the lot and walked into the establishment.

  “Keela! Amore mio, how are you?” Keela looked to see Vinny’s wife, Bella, come from the kitchen to greet her with a hug. Bella, a short woman with a stature of only five feet, was a fiery woman of forty who looked thirty, even after having five boys. Everyone in town adored her like another mother.

  “Hey, Bella. I’m good. Tired though. Summer is always pretty gnarly for us at Gypsy, but I don’t have to tell you, do I? You guys are packed tonight,” Keela said, scanning the loud restaurant. “But I can’t complain about business because it keeps my wallet full.”

  “And your waist is skinny. Look at you; you need to eat.” Bella put her hands on her waist and gave her butt a friendly slap. Keela laughed, used to Bella’s comfort with people.

  “Oh, stop, you just want me to buy more pizza from you.” The two women laughed as Bella grabbed their pie and rang it into the register. “Where’s Vin today?”

  Bella rolled her eyes as she made change from Keela’s twenty, “Oh, he’s home with the boys, trying to prove to me that all those little monsters need to behave is some guidelines.” She chuckled and leaned on the counter. “We made a bet that he couldn’t handle the boys for one night on his own without any help, but my mother has already told me he’s called five times to ask for help with something. I can’t wait to go home and see for myself.”

  The women laughed and said their goodbyes as Keela walked out of the restaurant.

  “Keela!”

  Placing the pie carefully in her passenger seat, Keela looked after hearing someone calling her name.

  Looking around and not seeing anyone, Keela got into her car and drove home to Kristi and Nicky.

  Chapter 3

  MOTHERFUCKER! Aaron thought as he made his way back into Vinny’s. Someone upstairs truly hates me.

  Having been craving some good old-fashioned New York pizza and catching up with each other, Aaron and his brother had decided to go to their old childhood favorite place, and Aaron heard the voice of the woman he couldn’t get out of his head from earlier. Keela. Looking up at the counter, Aaron couldn’t help but stare in shock.

  He had researched the bar on the shirt she had worn that day on his phone and found that it was local hotspot in the summer that was known for its live music, beach décor, and bar drinks. Aaron had also noticed it was hiring, which was what Gavin was trying to convince him to do now. But now, the conversation had been lost to Aaron, as lost as when he’d seen the beautiful girl from the airport earlier standing at the counter, hugging the woman who worked here at Vinny’s. When she left, he tried to get her attention, but the noise of the crowded restaurant prevented her from hearing and him from getting to her quicker.

  Walking back to his booth with a groan, Aaron couldn’t help but think how she was far more beautiful than he remembered; even in the lounge pants she wore, she was beautiful. The tight fit of her pants showed off all of her curves and the roundness of her ass. Aaron was instantly hard.

  “Dude, what gives?” Gavin nudged his brother’s shoulder. Aaron flipped him off before he bit into a new slice.

  Aaron cursed his luck as he thought about Keela’s curves. He tried not to sport wood as Gavin continued laughing his ass off at him.

  “Dude, what the hell was that? Is it that hard to get laid in the Army that you’ve got to chase after beautiful women?”

  Aaron narrowed his eyes, smirked, and flung a piece of mushroom at his brother, who dodged it. “Shut up. I met her briefly today at the airport and thought I’d say hi.”

  Gavin rolled his eyes. “Yeah, because most men almost knock over people just to say hi to a chick.”

  Aaron had to laugh at his brother. It had been too long since the Samuels brothers had hung out. After years of being apart due to the military and school, the two brothers had fallen into an unfamiliar but still comfortable conversation. Even though the brothers Skyped and messaged each other, it wasn’t the same. Aaron was starting to see that hanging out with his big brother was definitely a perk of coming home again.

  While they were very similar in looks, with the same chiseled jaw, jet-black hair, and blue eyes, the similarities of the brothers ended there. Gavin was an EMT who’d gone to college to study biology and get a nursing degree. He’d worke
d in the city full-time for a few years but now worked at Stony Brook while volunteering for the local fire department as an EMT.

  “So the job, Aaron.” Aaron groaned, knowing Gavin wasn’t going to let this go. “Come on, it will only be to get a handle on your new civilian life and figure out what you want to do. You can be a bouncer. You have the right training, and it will keep you from being bored. You know I’m right.”

  Aaron sighed, knowing how he couldn’t argue with his logic. “Okay, okay, dude, you got me. I’ll go and apply tomorrow, okay?”

  “So since we’re talking about getting back into the swing of things, how’s it been since Cathy?” Aaron asked before he took a long gulp of his beer.

  Gavin sighed, looked down at the bottle in his hand, and fiddled with the label. “About as well as you would think. Terrible.”

  Aaron looked at Gavin and felt his heart drop to his stomach as his rage for the woman he’d once called his sister-in law began to boil. To Aaron, his brother was one of the most loving, giving people he knew. The two brothers had been on their own since their parents died in a car accident when Aaron was sixteen and Gavin was eighteen. Gavin had put off college to look after his little brother, and Aaron knew he owed so much to his brother, so to see Gavin’s soon-to-be ex-wife, Cathy, making him so miserable really pissed Aaron off.

  “I’m sorry, Gav. I know she was beautiful, but she really has an ugly personality.” Aaron’s words made the corner of Gavin’s mouth quirk.

  “Yeah, but I can’t help that I shoot blanks. I knew it was tough on her, but I never suspected that she would go behind my back.” Gavin was too busy peeling the label off his beer to go on further.

  The two brothers sat in silence, not needing to hear the whole story, as it was all still so fresh in their minds. One of the few times Aaron had been home in the States was for his brother’s wedding in New Jersey. Gavin and Cathy had been together all through college and had gotten married after graduation at the young age of twenty-three. However, two years into the marriage, they were struggling to have a baby, only to find out that Gavin was shooting blanks. It had been a crushing blow to Gavin, but instead of being a wife to her husband, Cathy became cold and distant and soon began going out a lot with her friends. Gavin tried everything to make his wife happy, but in the end, she ended up getting pregnant after all, not by her husband but by her boyfriend. Now at the age of thirty-two, Gavin was at the tail end of his divorce proceedings, with Cathy trying to milk him for all he was worth, and Gavin was a mess.