I double-check that my apartment is locked tight. After having a gun in your face, there’s nothing like returning to an empty apartment in a not-too-great section of Southern California. The first thing I do is plug my phone in, and then I take a hot shower. When I come back, I see that Denver has tried to reach me. He doesn’t have my landline, but I’m actually excited to see that he’s blown up my cell with texts and calls. They’re all positive, filtered with different ways to tell me he loves me without wearing the word down to nothing.
Right now, I have the upper hand because he knows that my phone has been off, so I text him that I’m going to bed, I’m shutting my phone off, and I’ll get at him when I’m ready.
Deep down I want to send him every heart or kissy emoji I can find, but I have to act hard for a night and make him think I don’t even care. Really, though, I care a hell of a lot.
In the comfort of my own bed I finally close my eyes, feeling protected. It’s funny that even the “safety” of a billionaire feels less guarded than my own, in-need-of-washing sheets. This smell just reminds me of me. Before all of this, I spent so much time with Dominic that my own apartment basically became a place where I store and dump stuff off.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll get around to cleaning. I plan on sleeping for as long as possible. If I didn’t see the police take Martin and Jill away with my own eyes, I probably wouldn’t be able to fall asleep right now. I wouldn’t be able to imagine Denver’s smile, the way he stood in front of a gun for me, or how his eyes rolled back when we came together.
Drifting to sleep, I hold my phone as close as it will go while staying plugged in. I go through all of Denver’s texts—they’re like letters in time, telling me how amazing I am. How he wants to give me the world. How I changed his world.
This is the stuff dreams are made of, Tara, I tell myself. Suddenly my phone lights up and he sends me a picture of himself, lying in the purple sheets where we made love earlier. The text bubble simply reads “wish u were here”. It’s his face, lip pouty, eyebrows scrunched in—and those deep, brilliant blue eyes.
My man.
I take one of myself, but I don’t use the flash like he did. I let it remain dark and slightly blurred. With a little time I’ll let myself come into focus, and hopefully soon there will be room in the frame for Denver, too.
THE END
Bonus Story 4 of 40
Stallion MC
Laura
“Same again, Brian?” I asked the older guy sitting lazily at the bar. He’d been sitting in the same position for the last few hours, drinking himself into oblivion, in the same way he did every single day.
He was one of the regulars at the dive bar where I worked. I saw him all the time. He spilled his guts out to me over and over again. I knew all about his divorce, his children that wouldn’t see him, and the leaky roof in his apartment. Yet all he knew about me was my first name. He didn’t know my full name – Laura Marie Jays. But then again, no one did. I kept to myself, locked the real me away, and never let anyone in. It was the only way I felt I could survive.
I wouldn’t be here forever anyway, so it didn’t really matter what anyone knew about me. I was only working this crappy job and living in my dingy apartment while I tried to get enough money together to really start my life.
Although… I’d been thinking that for a very long time and it hadn’t gotten me anywhere. I was still here, nowhere near closer to getting away.
When I’d left my old life behind, escaping all the issues I was facing, I’d taken nothing with me. I went in such a hurry that I simply didn’t have time, and now I was making up for that, working every hour I could get, for a wage that I was barely surviving on.
Maybe it had been a mistake to leave, but at the time I couldn’t see any other option.
“Yeah,” Brian answered in a grunt, shaking me from my thoughts of the past. “Ale.”
“Coming right up,” I said. I plastered the bright fake smile across my face, and poured his drink. There was no point in thinking about my former life – that was all far behind me anyway. I hadn’t seen any of the people from those days for years – not even my parents – and I would only upset myself if I continued to dwell on those thoughts.
“Quiet in here,” Brian commented. “You gonna be closing up early?” The manager always left closing time to me when it was my shift. He knew I wouldn’t hang around if the place was empty, but also that I’d stay open if necessary.
Well, it was either trust or laziness. Maybe he just couldn’t be bothered to come and lock up himself.
“Yeah maybe,” I murmured, already thinking about climbing into bed early. A nice night’s sleep was just what I needed.
But then the doors to the bar swung open, and a large group of leather-clad guys strolled in as if they owned the place, completely taking over.
I sighed deeply, my fantasies of an early night vanishing into thin air as I now knew that it was going to be a very late night.
This was a biker gang. I could tell by the matching patches plastered across their vests. I knew firsthand how much those guys liked to drink. We often had gangs like that in here, although this was a new one that I hadn’t seen before.
“Hey doll face?” One of them called over to me, in a smarmy, sexist tone. “Can we get a round?”
“Sure,” I said, acting far sweeter than I felt. “What do you all want?”
But before they could speak their order aloud, my eyes fell on one of the bikers, and I felt my heart freeze in my chest. Finally, after all these years, my past had caught up with me.
I gasped as it hit me that I couldn’t do anything, that I was stuck. That I was going to have to face up to all that I left behind.
*****
Mac
“Laura?” I gasped in complete and utter shock. I hadn’t seen Laura in a very long time, and I couldn’t believe that she was here now.
But it was her, of that I was certain.
We were childhood best friends. We were next-door neighbors from birth, and as we grew up we quickly became inseparable. I adored her, and I always assumed that she did me. I thought that we would end up together, married.
But it seemed that she didn’t feel the same way. It seemed like my love wasn’t reciprocated.
When we hit our late teens, she started to be swayed by the attentions of an older, extremely charismatic guy. Fenton. I couldn’t blame her of course, we all fell under his spell in one way or another, but it hurt like hell to see her share her first kiss with him, then slowly fall in love with him.
I was tossed aside, placed firmly in the friend zone, and that was the way it stayed until she vanished out of my life and into thin air – leaving everyone behind her, including Fenton.
And I never heard from her again, until now. I’d spent a lot of time trying to push any thoughts of her to the back of my mind, but staring at her again had it all flooding back – the memories, the feelings, the love…
This was definitely the girl I’d loved for most of my life – she had the same flock of red hair, the same piercing green eyes, and the same smile. But she was different too. She’d grown into a beautiful woman, with the most curvaceous body I’d ever seen. She was even better now than she had been then.
Wow, she still had the same effect on me, after all this time.
“Mac?” she gasped, looking completely blindsided. “Fenton?”
Of course, in all of my surprise, I’d forgotten that he was here too.
After Laura left town, I was completely lost. I didn’t know what to do without her anymore, even if she was never technically ‘mine’. I began to rely on Fenton, who was the only one who could understand how I felt – not that we ever really discussed it – and in doing so, I allowed him to draw me into the Stallion Motorcycle Club, and the associated lifestyle.
And that was where we’d been ever since – travelling like a pack of wolves, working odd jobs to make ends meet, and frequenting crappy bars like this one.
At least, it had done until Laura gave me that disbelieving look.
*****
Fenton
“Still smoking hot, I see,” I said to Laura. I leaned towards her, kissing her lightly on the cheek, as a blush practically consumed her whole body. It may have been a shock to see her, but I was always quick to recover, and this time was no different.
As time had gone past, I’d all but forgotten how fun it was to wind Laura up. She was all coy and sweet in public, but get her in the bedroom and… well, that was a whole different story!
Our youthful romance had been a hell of a lot of fun. She’d been experimental, up for anything, and always horny! I’d loved it. She was the first chick to ever keep me interested for longer than a couple of nights, and to me that was something special.
It was a shame it all got fucked up.
We’d been caught having sex in her school, across one of her teacher’s desks, on her last day. It had been funny at the time, but the aftermath was bad – her whole (very religious) family went crazy and her graduation was put on hold pending an investigation.
That was when she’d upped and bolted, not even waiting for the outcome, leaving me to pick up the pieces.
I didn’t blame her, but the truth was it hurt me when she left. One of the guys said I should get another girl to forget her, so I did; and then another and another. None of them could hold my attention for very long the way Laura did.
But now, with my old Laura standing in front of me, as if nothing had ever happened, I wondered if she would be willing to pick things up where we left off.
*****
Laura
“H… hi,” I stammered, wishing the ground would open up and swallow me whole. How was this fair? I hadn’t seen anyone from back home for years, and now I had to face the two most difficult people at the same time? My ex-boyfriend and my old best friend. “How are you both?”
Fenton’s ‘smoking hot’ line had me embarrassed, but the fact that he hadn’t changed since the old days was oddly reassuring too. That confident, cocky nature was what had attracted me to him in the first place, and there was something quite nice about the familiarity of it.
As I discretely looked him up and down, I realized that time had treated him well. This new bad boy biker image really suited him – the muscles, the leather, the scars… it all managed to fit in with his persona really well. He was almost hotter than ever – and teenage me had seen him as practically a god!
As for Mac… well that was a different story.
The Mac I knew was always so sweet and sensible. He had a cute preppy image, which had made him look even lovelier, so it was weird to have that gone. I imagined that he would be a banker or lawyer by now, not a member of a motorcycle gang. Seeing him dressed like that was a little mind blowing to be honest! He’d grown up absolutely gorgeous as well, which wasn’t surprising because he’d always been a hottie, but there was something about his new biker look that didn’t quite suit him in the way it did Fenton. It was odd, and a little unnerving.
“We’re good babe,” Fenton dragged my attention back to him in the way that he was very good at. “How’s life here? It feels like forever since we’ve seen you!”
“Yeah I know,” I murmured, the embarrassment coming back. Fenton simply laughed, blowing past any awkwardness. “My life is pretty crazy right now.”
“Tell me about it,” he commanded, sliding into the nearer bar stool to me. I handed him a bottle of beer, and prepared myself to open up a little for the first time in a very long time.
*****
Mac
As I watched Fenton happily chatting to Laura as if no time had passed at all, the familiar pang of jealousy overcame me. This was the way it had always been – Laura, captivated by Fenton, and me in the shadows, ignored. In that moment it felt like I was always destined to be a victim of unrequited love.
I hated it; it drove me crazy to see them enjoying one another’s company. I felt my fists pump angrily, as I wondered what the hell I could do about it. I really didn’t want history to repeat itself. I didn’t want to get left behind all over again. I was a man now, and Laura was a woman. I didn’t want to end up in the childish rut I’d been in before. I wouldn’t be able to stand it again.
No, I wouldn’t allow that to happen. I wasn’t the same shy person I once was. I would fight for Laura; make my feelings known this time. I was not going to be a pushover. I was going to make a stand.
I felt my heart pound heavily at my decision, and much as the nerves were there, so was the knowledge that this was the right thing to do. The only thing I could do!
I stepped past Fenton, shoving him slightly, and took her hands in mine, completely interrupting their conversation. I said, “So Laura, you’ll have to tell me all about what you’ve been doing since we last saw each other. It feels like it’s been forever.”
The way her eyes lit up as we lapsed back into the easygoing air that had always been between us, I felt something inside. Something strong and powerful.
Maybe this time it would be me that got the girl!
*****
Fenton
Mac was challenging me, I could sense it emanating off of him before he even opened his mouth. He wanted Laura for himself this time, just like he always had. He’d never been very discrete about his feelings. And now, he was determined to make a stand.
That was alright, I didn’t mind that. I liked a challenge, and I’d fought off tougher competition than him. I respected him, but he was nowhere near the ladies’ man that I was. I was a top notch player, whereas he had no idea how to play the game.
I could stomp him down in a few mere seconds, but purely out of respect for the time we’d spent together, riding the country, as Stallions, I slid back in my seat to let him have his shot. But not for long. I sure as hell didn’t intend to let him have Laura.
As I watched them talk, I thought back to all the crazy things I’d gotten up to with Laura, and a horniness began to stir within me. Sure, I’d been with plenty of other women, but there was something about Laura that made me desperate to have her again. I wanted her body riding mine, I wanted to feel her, to touch her all over. I wanted her to call out my name in pleasure over and over again.
Mac could try, but he wasn’t going to overpower me in the end. I needed to have Laura again, and I wasn’t going to stop until I achieved that.
I hoped to be with her again tonight, but judging by her stunned reaction to us reappearing in her life, I felt like she was going to take a little more wooing. I didn’t mind, I could wait. She would be worth it.
*****
Laura
As I left work a few hours later, I held two scraps of paper tightly in my hand. One containing Fenton’s phone number, and one with Mac’s. I was still completely and utterly in shock, and that had been made much worse as the night had gone on.
As Fenton had handed me his number, he’d been his usual, dirty self, not so subtly suggesting a hook up in the next few days while the Stallions were around. I really should have instantly shot him down, but for some reason I’d just smiled and let him think ‘maybe’ instead. The overpowering chemistry that had brought us together was still there, and that alone had silenced me. After many, many lonely nights, the thought of a night of passion with Fenton was far more tempting than it should have been.
That hadn’t been anywhere near as much of a shock as when Mac had given me his phone number. He’d practically asked me on a date – in the roundabout way that he did everything – and I’d been too stunned to answer him right away.
It was just too weird to consider Mac liking me in that way. He was my closest friend growing up, and he never showed any signs of having any kind of feelings for me then, so it felt strange that he was doing so now.
But there was no denying that I’d liked it when he asked me on a date. It made my skin flush
a little, actually. Fenton was familiar, but also he was a relationship that was destined to go nowhere, whereas Mac was new. And when I thought about it, he seemed like a better bet for a long-term relationship. It could have real potential.
So what would I do? Go for a fling with a hot, confident man that would make me feel on top of the world for a few nights; or risk something terrifying, something too scary for words, but something that could be real?
The real question was, which one did I like best?
Maybe it was best to leave it well alone, keep the past in the past. Maybe trying to combine both my lives (my old one, and the one I was leading now) would be a mistake that I’d someday regret.
But if I didn’t try, I would never know.
Without even giving myself another second to think, I found myself dialing Mac’s number rapidly.
“Hello?” he answered breathlessly, after barely one ring. It was as if he’d been waiting by the phone, which knowing Mac, he probably was.
“Hi,” I replied, beginning to feel oddly shy. “It’s Laura.” Suddenly I was acutely aware of the years we’d spent apart, and all that we no longer knew about one another.
“Oh Laura, I’m so glad you called!” he said. He sounded so elated to hear from me that it made my insides turn to jelly. I had to sit down to stop myself from falling from my trembling legs.
“It was nice to see you again,” I said. I grinned to myself, excited to have the opportunity to speak to my best friend once more. I found myself wondering why I’d been so keen to cut myself off from absolutely everyone, why I’d been convinced that a clean break was the only way for me to get a fresh start.
Alien Mate Page 21
