by Holly Renee
But figuring out what I wanted to do as my career was another beast altogether.
I knew what I loved.
To make women feel one hundred percent beautiful in their own skin. Kennedy told me that I was a natural at it, but I think that was her way of trying to get out of being my guinea pig when I wanted to do her hair and makeup.
So opening my own salon and spa had been the dream ever since that day. It was a hefty dream too.
Did you know how much it cost to open your own spa?
A hell of a lot. And that is a technical term.
When Kennedy and I had looked at what it would cost me, we just half laughed/half cried and tucked this little dream away in my pocket.
But I had been saving ever since.
And even though it didn’t seem like much, eight years’ worth of savings were starting to add up. I was roughly halfway there, which meant I had at least eight more years working for my miserable boss or finding another job.
“Whenever I win the lottery, I’m going to buy you the best damn spa you can imagine.” She was pushing all her weight on top of the box to close it, and I grabbed my tape to help her seal it shut before it busted back open.
“That might be the quicker solution.” I laughed as I managed to get her finger stuck under the tape.
“Or you could find you a super-rich husband. No man can pass all that up.” She waved her hand in my direction and I rolled my eyes.
“I’m not looking for a sugar daddy.”
“Yeah.” She nodded her head as she seemed to think. “It would weird me out to date a guy who was too much older than me.”
“Why? Tucker doesn’t like it when you call him daddy?” I winked and watched as my best friend turned bright red with one simple comment.
“I do not call him daddy.” She huffed and I knew I would miss this. Getting my best friend riled up with one simple comment.
“You should try it tonight and see what happens. I bet little Tucker would die of a penis heart attack.”
“Don’t call his penis little Tucker. That’s weird.”
“What do you call it then?” I wagged my eyebrows at her as I started stuffing her collection of Converse sneakers into another box.
“Well.” She looked away from me, and I paused what I was doing to listen as her voice got quiet. “He doesn’t know this, but in my head, I call it the Elder Wand.”
I barked out a laugh, and she tucked her black hair behind her ear with a smile on her face. “You. Do. Not.”
“Yeah.” She nodded her head. “You know, because it’s the most powerful wand that ever existed.” She couldn’t control her laugh. “He would die if he knew, right?”
I couldn’t stop laughing. “Yes. He would die. Please, Lord.” I looked to the sky. “If you love me at all, let me be there when and if he ever finds out.”
“Whatever.” She shoved my shoulder and grabbed another box. “I think it’s a cute name.”
“What’s a cute name?”
We both screamed at the sound of Tucker’s voice at her doorway, then broke into hysterical laughter.
“Don’t scare us like that.” Kennedy held her hand against her chest as she made her way over to her husband and pressed a soft kiss against his lips.
“I didn’t mean to scare you. You two seem jumpy. What were you talking about anyway?” He wrapped his arms around Kennedy’s shoulders and pulled her closer to him. It was one of the things I loved about him. He never seemed to be able to get enough of my best friend.
“Kennedy was telling me the name of your penis.”
Kennedy’s sharp intake of breath made me grin harder. She was going to kill me, but it would be a death I would enjoy if I got to see the look on Tucker’s face first.
“You’ve named my penis and haven’t told me?” He grinned and I could tell by the look on his face that he thought the name was going to be something like womb raider or weapon of ass destruction. Not a wand from a children’s book.
“No.” Kennedy shook her head. Hard. “Brooke’s just being an ass.”
“She’s lying.” I dropped two more shoes in the box and began taping it up.
“You know, I was already starting to miss you.” Kennedy stared at me with a look that told me she was going to kill me. “But I take it back. Tucker, are you ready to go?”
“What do you call my penis?” He was grinning now as he looked down at her red face.
“It’s not important.” She shook her head.
“It’s my penis. I think it’s important.”
I snorted at that, but neither of them were paying any attention to me anymore.
“Can we go get some lunch? I’m starving.” Kennedy was just trying to change the subject, and we all three knew it. But Tucker was just a sucker enough for her to let her get away with it.
“Alright.” He laced his fingers with hers. “Brooke, are you coming with us?”
“Of course, sir.” I bowed, and he looked at me like I was crazy.
“Sir?”
“That’s what they call the wizard who owns the Elder Wand. Right, Kennedy?”
She let her head fall against his chest just as, “You named my dick after Harry Potter?” left his lips.
I laughed as I slid past them and headed to my room. “Give me five minutes to get ready.”
“I hate you.” Kennedy’s loud words were muffled against her wizard master’s chest.
“No. You don’t.” I shut my bedroom door and smiled. Damn, I was going to miss her.
Two
The Lie
Liam
I took a long pull from my beer and wiped the sweat from my brow. Who knew one guy could have so much stuff?
“Did you accumulate all of this since we moved in here?” I stared at my best friend. “I don’t remember moving all this shit in.”
“It’s because you’re going to miss me.” He smirked. “This shit seems a lot heavier when it’s carrying me away from you.”
“What the fuck ever.” I chuckled, but he wasn’t wrong.
I was going to miss him. Not so much that I was going to cry about it or anything, but Tucker was the closest thing I had to a brother.
He always had been.
We saw each other at our restaurant every day anyway. The separation would probably be good for us. Plus, I was kind of excited by the fact that I would be able to jerk off anywhere I wanted without the thought of him walking in on me.
Or fuck on any surface of this apartment without him telling me that he eats there or to watch out for his toothbrush.
The more I thought about it, the more the freedom sounded amazing.
My phone started buzzing in my pocket, and I pulled it out to see my mom’s name flash across the screen. I hadn’t taken her last two calls, and I knew she would send a search party out for me if I ignored this one.
“Hey, Mom.” I pressed the phone to my ear and leaned against the kitchen counter.
“Oh. Thank God,” she said in her dramatic southern accent. “I was starting to get worried.”
I rolled my eyes and took another sip of my beer. I loved my mom to death. Honestly, the only other mother that even compared to her was Tucker’s. But she was a bit overbearing to say the least.
“I’ve just been busy. Tucker’s moving out today.”
“Oh!” She finally sounded excited. “I bet he and Kennedy are so happy. I just absolutely love that girl.”
“I know.” I nodded my head even though she couldn’t see me. “Me too.”
“You need to find you a girl like her.”
And here we go.
For all the good my mother does, her ability to bring up the fact that it was time for me to settle down with a nice girl in every single conversation we had was almost evil.
I had no interest in settling down with anyone anytime soon, and she had no interest in letting the subject go until I did.
“Their wedding was gorgeous.” Tucker overheard her words, and I flipped him
off as he chuckled. He had heard this conversation at least a hundred times before. “I can’t wait until I get to help plan your wedding.”
“I know, Mom.” Little did she know that it would be a long-ass time away, if ever.
“I just don’t understand why you can’t find a nice girl.”
Maybe because I wasn’t into nice girls. I was into fun girls, if you get my drift.
But I wouldn’t be telling her that. She would probably reach through the phone and slap the shit out of me.
“You know I’m not going to be here forever. I’d love to actually be able to spend time with my grandchildren.”
I practically spit out my beer. I was used to the settling down conversation, but she was pulling out the big guns today.
“Mom, I’m not having kids anytime soon.” I could see Tucker’s back shake as he listened to our conversation.
“Oh, Liam.” My mother sighed. “I just love you so much, and I want you to find love like me and your father.”
She kept talking but I started to drown her out. I was going to be back in Tennessee in less than a week, and I would have to hear this all again then. Hell, I practically had it memorized at this point.
“I saw Katie the other day. She was asking about you.”
Katie Hunter.
My high school sweetheart, the one girl who I actually had a serious relationship with, and the last person I wanted my mom to bring up right now.
Katie and I weren’t together anymore because we didn’t work. In any way. Although I refused to see that fact until she started sleeping with someone else. It was blatantly obvious in hindsight. Despite what my mother wanted, I wasn’t going to end up with Katie Hunter or any girl that was anything like her.
“I’m seeing someone,” I interrupted her rant about love and happiness and how I could have both with Katie, and I winced soon as the lie left my mouth.
Tucker’s head popped up and he looked at me like I had lost my damn mind. I was almost one hundred percent certain that I had, but at least it would maybe get her off my back for half a second.
“Oh my gosh.” She was practically squealing in my ear. “When do we get to meet her?”
She asked me the question, but she started talking again before I could answer.
“He said he’s met someone, Jim.”
I ran my hand down my face as I heard my father’s name.
“Mom.” I didn’t want her to tell everyone. I didn’t need my own lie getting out of hand.
“I know.” She was still talking to my dad and ignoring me.
“You should bring her to Sam’s wedding.” She was practically screaming at me now.
My cousin who was two years younger than me and already getting married. Just throwing me straight under the damn bus. It was the reason I would be going back home to Tennessee for a long-ass week with my family.
“I don’t know, Mom. I doubt she can get off work with such short notice, but I’ll try.”
She started to talk again, but I cut her off. “Oh shit, Tucker. Mom, I’m going to have to go. Tucker’s trying to carry a dresser all by himself.”
He was actually sitting at the kitchen table in front of me watching my Oscar-worthy performance.
“Okay. I love you.” She sounded so damn excited, and I actually felt bad. But I couldn’t break her heart now by telling her it was a lie.
“I love you too.”
Tucker finished his beer and set it down on the table as I clicked my phone off.
“Well, that was an epic fuck up.” He was grinning like it was the best thing that had happened to him since the day he married Kennedy.
I looked toward the ceiling and counted to five in my head. “I was just trying to get her off my back.”
“And how did that work out for you?” He chuckled, and I swear if he wasn’t my best friend, I would deck him.
“She wants me to bring the new love of my life to Sam’s wedding.”
“How are you going to get out of that?”
“I’m just going to continue to lie and say that she couldn’t get off work.” I shrugged my shoulders like I had it all figured out.
“You know she’s going to want details. What’s her name? Where does she work? Do you have any pictures? Does she want kids?”
“Shit.” I pushed off the counter and grabbed another beer from the fridge. “I’ll have to think about all this and come up with a good cover story. Plus, I’ll just pull some chick’s picture off the internet.”
“You know your mom has Instagram now, right? As soon as you say a name, she’s going to be stalking her so hard.”
“Fuck.” He was right. “You’re right. What the hell am I going to do?”
“Pay someone to post a picture of the two of you together and pray it pacifies her.” Tucker was full-on enjoying himself now.
“I’m fucked. Aren’t I?” My mom wasn’t an idiot. She’d have me figured out before I would be able to formulate the next lie in my head. She always had. And she would hate me for lying to her.
“Indeed. It looks like you need to start looking for a Mrs. Gentry before she figures it out and kills you.”
“Fuck.”
Three
The Ultimate Bachelor and Bachelorette
Brooke
I was already running fifteen minutes late when I opened the door to the restaurant where all my friends were waiting. I had tried to get out of work early, but that seemed to be impossible these days.
I could see Kennedy and Tucker as soon as I stepped through the door, and she waved when she spotted me. Chloe, the manager of Tucker and Liam’s restaurant, was sitting next to her. As I rounded the corner, I could see Liam sitting next to Tucker laughing, and even though I typically saw him every day considering our best friends were married and we happened to be next door neighbors, he still made my heart ache a little at the sight of him.
“Hey, guys. Sorry I’m late.” I slipped my jacket over the back of the chair and sat down between Liam and Chloe. Exactly where I didn’t want to be.
“Your boss being a bitch again?” Liam asked from beside me.
“You nailed it.” I pulled the napkin from the table and unfolded it in my lap.
“I don’t know why you don’t just leave that place. Life’s too short for you to be miserable every day.”
That was easy for him to say. He worked for himself. Well, and technically Tucker. Plus, he didn’t get to have an opinion. Not anymore.
“I can’t just leave my job.” I looked over at him and gave him a face that hopefully told him to drop it.
He and I had this conversation before. I knew where he stood and he knew where I did. But he thought I should quit anyway. But I didn’t have a family like he did. Mine weren’t supportive like his. I would have nowhere to land if I failed. Except with Kennedy, and I refused to be a burden to her.
“So,” I looked over at my best friend and tried to ignore Liam staring at me, “how was the first night in your new place?”
“It was good.” She was grinning ear to ear, and I could only imagine all the places the two of them probably defiled after being cooped up with roommates their whole relationship.
“Where should we not sit when we come over?” Chloe joked as she sipped her water. “The couch, the table, the kitchen sink?”
“I was thinking the same thing.” I laughed as Kennedy rolled her eyes.
“Great minds.” Chloe tapped her temple.
“Don’t be a hater.” Kennedy leaned closer to Tucker, almost unnoticeably, but he instantly wrapped his arm around her.
“I’m not.” I pointed to my chest. “If I were you, I’d be screwing everywhere. That’s the point of having a husband, right?”
“Not exactly.” Tucker chuckled and ran his fingers over Kennedy’s shoulder. “But it is a perk.”
“A really big perk too.” Kennedy wagged her eyebrows playfully, and Liam almost spit out his drink.
“My, my Kennedy. One day living with hi
m and you’ve already been tainted.”
She started to say something back to me but the waiter arrived at our table, and no matter how she acted in private, she would rather die before she let our waiter hear her talk like that.
We all ordered our food, and I could barely keep my attention on ordering because Liam’s phone kept buzzing in his pocket.
Repeatedly.
It was probably some girl who he didn’t regret.
“Do you need to get that?” I said only to him, but instantly regretted it as soon as the words left my lips.
“No.” He shook his head and didn’t elaborate. For that, I was thankful.
“It’s probably his mom.” Tucker chuckled as he slapped Liam on the back. “This fool is up shit creek.”
“What did you do?” Kennedy asked the question we were all thinking.
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Yes. He did.” Tucker was grinning, and it only made me want to know what Liam was up to even more.
“What did you do to your mama?” Kennedy wasn’t fucking around anymore. She was looking at him sternly, and she was expecting answers. “She’s like the sweetest lady ever.”
I tried to remember his mom, but the only time I had ever been around her was at Tucker and Kennedy’s wedding and Liam sure as hell didn’t introduce us. I could barely remember anything at that wedding besides him.
“He lied to her.”
Liam held up his hands as Kennedy’s mouth opened to scold him. “I didn’t lie. Fibbed maybe.”
“He told his mom that he has a girlfriend, and he’s supposed to be bringing her home to meet the family in exactly,” Tucker looked down at his phone, “four days.”
I couldn’t stop my snort of laughter. Why his mom would even believe that is beyond me. Anyone who knew anything about Liam knew that he wasn’t boyfriend material. Hell, he wasn’t even second hookup material. From what I knew, you got one ticket to the Liam ride then you were done.
No re-entry.
Unless you were me, of course.
Then you got no entry at all.
