by LL Meyer
Copyright © 2016 Lisa Lynn Brockmeyer
ISBN:978-0-9940920-2-1 (ebook)
ISBN:978-0-9940920-6-9 (paperback)
All rights reserved. No part of this book maybe reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the author, except for the use of quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. All characters and events depicted are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Editing by: Erica Russikoff
Cover by: Murphy Rae at Indie Solutions
Formatting: Elaine York at Allusion Graphics, LLC/Publishing & Book Formatting
Contact: [email protected]
www.lisalynnmeyer.com
His Lucky Penny (The Penny Books, #1)
Pennies for Wishes (The Penny Books, #2)
Find a Penny (The Penny Books, #3)
Pennies from Heaven (The Penny Books, #4)
Written as Lisa Lynn Meyer
A Touch of Silence
1 - Lily
2 - Dane
3 – Lily
4 – Dane
5 – Lily
6 – Dane
7 – Lily
8 – Dane
9 – Lily
10 – Dane
11 – Lily
12 – Dane
13 – Lily
14 – Dane
15 – Lily
16 – Dane
17 – Lily
18 – Dane
19 – Lily
20 – Dane
21 – Lily
22 – Dane
23 – Lily
24 – Dane
25 – Lily
26 – Dane
27 – Lily
28 – Dane
29 – Lily
30 – Dane
31 – Lily
32 – Lily
33 – Dane
34 – Lily
Author's Note
For Rodolfo, my wonderful husband whose tireless support makes my dreams come true.
The line to pay the cover charge isn’t long, but already I’m struggling with the urge to flee. The dull thud of the bass and the slightly nauseating smell of stale beer have my enthusiasm for this little excursion quickly waning. My roommate, Charmaine, loops her arm through mine, holding me steady. She knows I didn’t want to come tonight, but I’d promised because it’s her birthday.
“Come on,” she says loud enough to be heard over the din of her favorite bar after she hands over the cash. “Just have a few drinks with everyone, and then if you hate it, we’ll put you in a cab, okay?”
Managing a grin, I nod and then lean my head to hers in a show of support. I catch a glimpse of us in the full-length mirrors lining the entrance, and my grin becomes a full-fledged smile. She looks fantastic in black; her short skirt and four-inch heels show off her legs and her loose sequin tank top makes her long, blond hair glow against the contrasting color. I barely notice myself in skinny jeans and a T-shirt. Even with my hair down, I fade into the background next to her – exactly the way I like it.
Charmaine glances over her shoulder to make sure her long-time boyfriend, Josh, is trailing behind us. When she turns back, her happiness couldn’t be more obvious. Not only is it her twenty-second birthday, but he also proposed tonight.
We head toward the back corner where she’s meeting her friends. And I do mean her friends. Charmaine is my only real friend, and I sometimes hang out with the rest of hers. It’s a good system that’s carried me through the last four years of college at the University of Oregon in Eugene. And now, as she breaks away from my arm and starts dancing her way between the tables, hands over her head, putting on a show for her friends who catcall her, I wonder how we’ve remained friends over the years. We have almost nothing in common. She’s into parties, her boyfriend, and social media; I’m into studying, books, and putting one more day safely behind me.
Charmaine is only able to descend one of the two steps into the back section before her best friend, Glory, swoops in.
“Let me see it!” she screeches with delight, snatching at Charmaine’s hand to get a look at the engagement ring.
I start scanning for a familiar face; Charmaine always says she’ll stay with me at these things, but it never works out that way. I spot Bryant leaning against a tall table near the middle of the pack. Thank God. He’ll be willing to chat with me for a while.
While I wait for the girls to move away from the stairs, I look past Bryant and my gaze skids to a halt when I find a pair of eyes meeting mine. For a fleeting moment, I feel the sweet flutter of butterflies in my stomach before I jerk my eyes away in surprise. I can’t help a small smile from forming on my lips.
Charmaine is being pulled farther into the crowd, so I step down, wondering if I should allow myself another little peek at the owner of those eyes. Surely, there’s no harm in that. He’s probably already found somewhere else to put his attention – or not. He’s still looking directly at me, raising a beer bottle to his lips, which are pushed together in an absent grin.
From behind me, I feel a hand on my arm. It’s Josh, worried about me. “You going to be okay for a while?” His concern is completely welcome. I always feel a little safer with him around.
“Yeah, Bryant’s here,” I tell him over the music. “Thanks.”
Keeping my head down, I make my way to Bryant’s table where he’s chatting with a girl I’ve never seen before. She throws her hair over her shoulder, laughing at something he’s said, definitely flirting. My eyebrows go up.
There’s relief in his smile when he sees me. “Lil! Where have you been? Sandra, this is Lily . . . my girlfriend.”
I don’t miss a beat, letting a territorial look slide into place as this woman turns to face me. “Oh, hey,” she says, her mood plummeting. “Well, it was nice talking to you, Bryant. Maybe I’ll see you around.”
As she totters away on her high heels, I laugh. “Is this thing between us serious?”
“Ha, ha,” he says, finishing off his beer. “It’s just sometimes I don’t know what to say to them. You know how I hate to break hearts.”
Bryant is fairly tall, dark, and handsome, and he looks good tonight in a preppy kind of way, in dark jeans and a black and blue checked button down. But female attention is completely wasted on him, which is probably why we get along so well.
“Anyway, thanks, Lil.”
“Sure, no problem.”
Bryant snags a passing waitress and orders a beer for each of us before he turns back to me. “So, how’s it going?”
I shrug. “Same old. You know how boring I am.” I have to lean forward so he can hear me. “How about you? Where’s Jax?”
He presses his lips together. “I had to kick him to the curb.”
“What?!” I’m truly surprised. “What happened?”
“He didn’t feel . . .” His sarcasm fades into sadness. “He already had someone. He was just fooling around with me.”
“Oh no. Are you serious?” The last time I talked to Bryant, he’d been so excited. That was about a month ago. Why are guys such jerks – even to each other?
“Yeah, but I don’t want to talk about it,” he says with determination. “Tonight, I’m getting back in the saddle, and you’re my perfect cover.”
“Oh?”
“We’ll do some drooling and then get us both a man tonight.”
“Ha, ha,” I say, mocking his earlier reply. “I can do without the drama of a man who just wants to fool around.”
“Hey, it’s impossible to find a diamond without digging through all the coal.”<
br />
“No thanks,” I say, shivering at my experience in the coal mines. “I’m not half as brave as you are.”
The waitress shows up with our beers, and after I show her my ID, she takes Bryant’s money.
“Thanks,” I say. “I’ll get the next round.”
“No, you won’t. Not unless you’ve found a job that pays you real money.”
I roll my eyes. Bryant graduated a few years ago and is well on his way to being an actual adult. “We can’t all have cushy IT jobs with benefits and a retirement plan. And there’s nothing wrong with my job.”
He smirks. “Defending slave labor now, are you?”
“Fine, I know I won’t win this argument. Let’s find you a man.”
We lean our elbows on the table and stand shoulder to shoulder to scan the room. “Well, well, well,” Bryant says slowly. “That guy is totally checking you out.”
Pointing with his beer bottle, he takes a casual drink.
I flinch a bit because he’s gesturing in the general direction that I’ve been avoiding. “Still?” I squeak in disbelief, refusing to look.
He turns back. “Still? Lily Friesen, are you holding out on me?”
“No,” I scoff.
“Then why won’t you look at him?”
“Because encouraging men only leads to bad things.”
Bryant goes in for another look. “You know who that is? That’s one of Jenna’s brothers. I think his name is Dane. He’s definitely drool-worthy.”
“Hey,” I say in annoyance. “I’m not interested.”
“Not interested? He’s like a head taller than most of the guys in here, and look at that face and that dark hair,” he says, trying not to be obvious. “And I bet that T-shirt’s hiding a serious body.”
I whack him on the arm. “Stop staring.”
“No way. I’m enjoying my drooling. Anyway, I’m invisible to him, and you know what, that girl he’s standing with doesn’t have much of his attention either. He’s only got eyes for you.”
Before I can fully unleash my sarcasm on him, Charmaine interrupts us, Glory and Josh in tow.
“There she is!” she squeals. “Here, here, here!” She taps the table where Bryant and I are standing, her body buzzing with excitement. A waitress plunks down a tray of shot glasses filled with a reddish liquid.
I groan, trying not to let my unease show on my face. I never get drunk in public . . . anymore. In fact, I rarely drink at all now.
“Bryant!” Charmaine exclaims. “It’s my birthday, and I got engaged!”
He laughs at her. “I know, baby. I saw it all unfold on Facebook. Congratulations!”
Glory and her fake boobs push in beside Charmaine, and Josh greets Bryant with a fist bump. Charmaine wraps her arm around my shoulder and squeezes hard. “And I told you I could get her to come!”
Bryant winks at me and I smile. That he cared enough to make sure I was included tonight has a bit of a lump forming in my throat.
“You guys ready?! Glory bought me ten shots for my birthday! Let’s do this.”
“What the hell are these?” Bryant demands.
“Sex on the beach!” Glory yells so everyone can hear, and I start to blush.
Along with a look that dares me to say no, Charmaine plops one down in front of me. My shoulders slump in resignation as I pick it up.
“On three,” Glory cries. “One, two, three!”
The five of us upend our shots and slam them down. It’s actually not that bad, and I’m suddenly grateful it’s not Jaeger or something equally horrible.
“Again!” squeals Charmaine. “Ready? One, two, three!”
We go again and this time I shiver. Reaching for my beer, I take a swig to wash the taste away.
It always starts with eye contact. It’s the fastest way to weed out the girls who aren’t interested in having me fuck them. No matter how hot a girl is, if she’s not into eye-fucking, I don’t even bother.
Now granted, this girl let me eye-fuck her by accident. But she’d come back for one more thrust, and the connection between us was definitely above and beyond the ordinary. The spark she lit inside me has now settled itself in my dick, nagging at me to get on with doing something about it.
She hasn’t looked this way again, though, and an odd tick of disappointment runs through me at the thought of her not being interested. But why am I so interested? Nothing about this girl is on display, except maybe her long, light brown hair. She’s just wearing a plain black T-shirt. My eyes slide down, and under the table, I can see her long legs are wrapped in jeans, and I almost laugh when I get to her feet – Chucks.
I frown slightly. Why am I not paying attention to the Barbie who’s in front of me and obviously going to give it up whenever I say I’m ready to go? Oh yeah, because she’s boring as hell, blabbing on about something or other. She tries to get more of my attention by playing with her blond hair that’s hanging over her cleavage. For a moment, her long, blood-red nails distract me, and I have to suppress a shudder of disgust. How is it that I’m always attracting these types? Why can’t I attract the one across the room? I guess because she’s not looking for a guy to screw her after a couple of drinks.
“Hey,” Barbie says, swatting at me with those red nails. “Are you even listening to me?”
I force myself not to recoil, and give her a winning grin. “Sorry, I’m just worried about . . . uh . . . work.”
Her well-mascaraed eyes open wide with interest. “Really? What do you do?”
Fuck, I groan internally. Now I’ve got to talk. I start giving her my standard answers while looking over her shoulder at the girl who’s standing with . . . what’s his name? She smiles at something he says. She’s got a beautiful smile. Should I try again?
Oh yeah, Barbie. She’s asking me something else now, so I have to listen a bit more closely. I wonder if Jason wants her. My best friend and adopted brother is standing at my back, working his magic on some chick of his own. Or maybe we could share his, because this one just isn’t doing it for me.
Just as the idea of a three-way starts percolating in my brain, some noisy chick and her friends make their way past our table, followed by a waitress carrying a tray full of shot glasses. My girl and the guy whose name I should know are now surrounded by the ruckus their friends are making; it would seem it’s the blond’s birthday. Wait a minute, my girl? When did that happen?
I watch with fascination as she downs her shots, giving a little shimmy of disgust after the second and then chasing it down with beer.
“Ughh, I’m going to find my friends,” Barbie says, clearly disgruntled.
“Yeah, sure,” I say, not even bothering to spare her a glance. God, I’m a rude bastard.
I hear Jason near my ear. “Mine’s not that kind of girl.”
Shrugging, I don’t bother to answer him, just keep my eyes trained on my girl. She’s now trying to beg off dancing with her friends, but the crazy blond isn’t taking no for an answer. They’re approaching our table on the way to the dance floor when what’s-his-name pulls my attention away from her.
“I’ve got the perfect solution,” he says loudly. “Dane here will look after her while we’re gone. Won’t you, Dane?”
For a fraction of a second my eyes meet his, and then they pin-ball back to my girl. I can’t tell which proposition she finds worse, dancing with them or staying with me.
“Bryant . . . I don’t think . . .”
That’s his name! He grabs my girl’s hand and gives it a tug, bringing her closer. “Dane, this is Lily. She’s thankful that you’re saving her from making a spectacle of herself with these two.” He points at the crazy one and another one who looks a bit scary with all the makeup and fake tits.
Both of her friends look me up and down, obviously skeptical about the whole thing. Because they think their friend would never go for me, or because they think I’d never go for her? Either way, I’m offended, and by the look on Lily’s face, I think she is too.
&
nbsp; I smile. “Yeah, sure, no problem. She can stay for as long as she likes.”
The scary one with the enormous rack snorts, and Lily turns in her direction. I can’t see the look she gives to Scary, but when she turns back to me, all I see is determination.
“You don’t mind?” she asks.
“Not at all.”
“All right then, it’s settled,” Bryant announces and takes Crazy’s hand and leads her out onto the dance floor.
“You all right, Lil?” asks a guy beside Scary.
“Yeah, Josh, I’m fine. Go have fun,” she says, then as an afterthought, calls out, “Just don’t let her do anything she’ll regret.” Slowly, she turns back to me. “Sorry,” she says, her eyes flying to the floor. “You don’t really have to babysit me.”
I reach down and grab the beer bottle that she seems to have forgotten is in her hand and put it on the table beside me as if marking out her territory.
“I wouldn’t have agreed if I didn’t want the job,” I tell her with a grin.
She smiles back hesitantly and moves closer to the table.
I continue, “Those are some noisy friends you have.”
“Yeah, she’s not usually so over the top. But it’s her birthday and Josh proposed.”
“Proposed? To which one? Scary or Crazy?”
She bursts out laughing, a real laugh that reaches inside of me and throws some kind of switch that I didn’t know I had. It has me laughing with her, while I watch her pretty face become beautiful.
She finally answers me. “The crazy one. I don’t think I could let poor Josh marry the scary one no matter how much he claimed to love her.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t wish her on anyone either.”
She raises her eyebrows at me, and I can practically feel the shooters she just did hit her bloodstream, giving her liquid courage. She moves her hand in front of her to indicate the space she’s occupying. “I seem to recall one of those standing right here a few minutes ago.”
I laugh out loud. So, she was interested. “You don’t see her here anymore, do you?”
“No, I guess not.”
