______________________________________
From: 9565876
Subject: Bail money?
Date: October 28, 11:28 p.m.
To: 9543254
I’m assuming you’d bail me out when I got arrested for indecent exposure?
xo
______________________________________
From: 9543254
Subject: Au contraire
Date: October 28, 11:28 p.m.
To: 9565876
Six, if you were to wear that sexy as fuck outfit just for me, YOU’D have to bail ME out because I’d beat the shit out of anyone who looked at you.
xx
______________________________________
From: 9565876
Subject: Parlez-vous français?
Date: October 28, 11:29 p.m.
To: 9543254
Do you speak French??
xo
______________________________________
From: 9543254
Subject: Parlez whatever
Date: October 28, 11:30 p.m.
To: 9565876
Baby, I’ll speak whatever language you want as long as I get to see you in that outfit…
xx
Wow. I shook my head because I was honestly hurt over his flirting with me. Yeah, ridiculous, I know.
Okay, if he could flirt with his pen pal while supposedly dating me, then so could I, so I decided to suck it up and just go for it. I mean, it was Halloween and I could probably get away with wearing the stupid outfit. And if things went bad when we met, at least I’d look hot.
______________________________________
From: 9565876
Subject: No promises
Date: October 28, 3:50 p.m.
To: 9543254
I’ll see what I can do
xo
~*~*~*~
“Black lace, huh?” Bodhi asked as he looked through various panties in a bin.
“Yep,” I answered as I dug alongside him.
We were in Victoria’s Secret in the mall the next day and I had to laugh at how casually he was searching for a pair of panties for my “costume.”
“Perfect!” he yelled, holding up a pair of lacy hipster-type panties making several women in the store turn their heads to see him twirling them in the air with his finger.
I snatched them out of his hand. “Keep it down,” I said, ducking my head and bugging my eyes out at him.
He looked around to see a few women still watching him. “It’s okay! I’m gay!” he explained and the funny thing is, the ones looking at him raised their eyebrows, nodded, seeming to accept his explanation, and went on about their shopping. “Works every time,” he mumbled with a snort. “Now for a bustier!” he all but yelled, and I was loath to shush him, possibly killing his excitement in the process, so all I could do was shake my head, rolling my eyes at the women who were now chuckling at us.
After shopping, we sat at a table in the food court eating Chinese that Bodhi bought since my checking account had taken a huge hit with my lingerie purchases.
“I like it. The robe is perfect to top it off.” Bodhi said before sucking in a mouthful of lo mein noodles.
“You don’t think it’s too much? Too risqué?” I asked.
“It’s risqué all right, but that’s what makes it awesome! I especially like the stockings with the seam in the back.” He shoved a small crab rangoon in his mouth.
“What if he’s, like, in love with his pen pal then when I reveal it’s me, he freaks because he’s not in love with me me but her?”
“Then you deal with it. Are you in love with him?” Bodhi asked carefully, narrowing his eyes at me as I took a sip of egg drop soup from my spoon.
I shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t know.” And I didn’t. I mean, how confusing was it that the guy I thought I might be in love with may be in love with my alter ego whom he might not know was me.
“But you said he’s given you lots of hints that he knows it’s you,” he continued.
“I think he has but maybe it was just me hoping that he knew. God. When this semester’s over, I’m getting a friggin’ spa treatment and possibly hiring a shrink.” I shook my head then took a bite of my spring roll.
“You’ll be fine, Scout. And Amy and I have your back.”
“Speaking of Amy, she said she’s gonna dress in the Catwoman suit she wore a couple years ago. She said it’s pretty sexy, so it’ll make me not feel so naked.”
“You know what? Fuck this. I know I told you I work that night, but I’m going with you. I’ll ask Bob if I can come in an hour late. I’ve got a great Zorro costume, whip and all.” He grinned.
I grinned back. It made me feel better that my friends would be with me in case things went to shit.
Before we left the mall, Bodhi and I stopped at a shoe store where I bought some sexy black stilettos then we hit the costume store where I bought a black, lacy Mardi Gras-type mask that came with a spray adhesive. It went perfectly with my outfit, and when I held it up to my face, Bodhi said if he didn’t know it was me, he’d have no idea who it was. Awesome. Just what I needed in case I chickened out and didn’t tell Gable who I really was.
We drove back to my apartment where we hung out for a bit, me putting everything on and giving him a fashion show.
“Damn, Scout. You’re kinda making me rethink this whole gay thing,” he muttered when I jerked my robe open at him like I was a flasher. “I think I’m poppin’ a chubby.”
I died laughing, falling on the bed with him where he’d been lying, head propped in his hand, elbow to the mattress, watching me model for him. I lifted my head and looked at him, wiggling my eyebrows. “It’s never too late if you wanna go straight,” I said, sitting up then opening my robe again showing him my bustier with a grin.
“God. You’re beautiful,” he answered, staring at me for a moment. Then he sat up. “But sorry. No chubby. I just have to pee.” He jumped off my bed and left my room leaving me laughing in his wake.
I changed and we watched a little television then Bodhi had to leave for work. Before going, he bent and kissed my forehead telling me it would all work out in the end.
I smiled at him hoping he was right. Now if I could make it for two more days without having an anxiety attack, everything would be good.
~*~*~*~
I was probably making a mistake, but the next morning, I put my investigative skills to work and stopped Gable’s brother, Lochlan, after biology class needing some answers as to why Gable was avoiding me.
“Hey, Lochlan, remember me?” I asked with a smile when I caught up to him on his way out of the building.
“Hey,” he answered, stopping and smiling back. “Call me Loch. Yeah, you’re Scout Patterson, Gable’s girlfriend.”
Well, that made me pull my head back in surprise.
“Uh, I wouldn’t say I was his girlfriend…”
“Why? You’re dating each other exclusively, right? I mean, I haven’t seen him go out with anyone else in over a month and that’s huge for him,” he informed me with a chuckle.
Hm. Interesting.
“Do you have time to go get a coffee?” I inquired.
He looked at his watch. “Sure. My next class isn’t for another hour.”
“Great. Do you want to just go to the student center then?”
He nodded and we took off walking to the center that was nearby. He insisted on buying my latte and we sat down at my usual table.
“So what’s up?” he asked, taking a sip of his drink.
I was nervous, not sure if this was cool of me to do, but I had to get some information before going into the party tomorrow night blind.
“Well, t
his is kinda weird, but I had a few questions about Gable.” I bit my lip wondering if he’d tell me to fuck off.
“Okay. Nothing sexual, I hope, ‘cause that’d be pretty gross.”
I laughed. “No, nothing like that. I, uh, was just wondering about him. You see, we, um, started getting close a couple times.” I saw his face scrunch up as if he thought I meant sexually. “No!” I said with another laugh. “I don’t mean sex-wise!”
“Thank God,” he mumbled. He ran his hand through his hair which made me shake my head because his mannerisms were so like his brother’s.
“I mean, just close, you know? But each time, he’s pulled away for a while. Do you have any idea why?”
“Not really my story to tell…”
I bit my lips and raised my eyebrows at him. Aha. There was something to his aloofness.
He frowned. “But I think you deserve to know because I know how secretive he is on top of being a broody bastard.” His eyes had a hint of humor in them before he took another drink then looked around as if he was making sure Gable wasn’t anywhere near. “He had a girlfriend, Mia, who he met in high school. They started dating when they were seniors. Dated at the beginning of their freshman year in college too. She went to UDub, though.”
I nodded, looking around now too, a little paranoid that Gable might catch us talking about him.
Loch sighed. “Things were always up and down with them. They were pretty intense, you know, fought a lot, young love and all, I guess. I mean, he’d get a new tattoo and she’d get mad. She was pretty preppy and I guess she didn’t like it that her boyfriend wasn’t. I honestly didn’t know why they went out in the first place. Anyway, he got tired of it all and finally broke things off. A week later, she died in a car wreck.”
I sucked in a breath at hearing that, knowing exactly where he was going with it.
“Gable of course felt horrible. Seemed like it took him forever to get over it, the guilt and all.”
“Yeah,” I whispered, my eyes tearing up as I stared into my cup.
“He also lost his best friend that night.”
My head shot up at hearing this. Oh, God, no. Poor Gable.
Loch nodded then sighed again. “Riley Cooper. He and Gable had been best friends since, like, seventh grade. Coop was driving, it was raining, they think he swerved to avoid an animal or something, he overcorrected and the car rolled at least three times. Killed both of them.”
Ah. Coop. I’d seen an “RIP Coop” tattoo over Gable’s heart when I’d caught him at work with his shirt off. But wait. Both? I frowned at Loch.
He looked at me grimly pursing his lips together. “They were together, Mia and Coop. They’d been seeing each other behind Gable’s back for a while. He didn’t find that out until a month after they died then it all hit him hard.” Loch leaned back in his chair and took in a deep breath letting it out slowly. “Makes sense, though. Riley was more her type, clean-cut, studying to be a lawyer. He went to UDub too, so I guess it was convenient for them.” He shrugged.
“God,” I whispered. Oh, Gable. When I’d written to him about Hayden and Ivy cheating behind my back, he’d known exactly what I’d been talking about since he’d lost his girlfriend and best friend all at once too. Oh, God.
“Yeah. He was pretty torn up.” He stretched out more in his chair and looked at me and it was uncanny how much he looked like his brother, but I noticed that his eyes were a little darker than Gable’s. “So that’s why I said that his only seeing you is a big deal. He hasn’t dated anyone seriously since they died. I mean, his bedroom has had a revolving door on it for a while. My brothers and I used to make bets on what hair color would come out of his room each morning.”
My eyebrows came together. “Hair color?”
“You know, the girls and whether they’d be blond, red, brunette. Long, short. I made fifty bucks one week.”
Dear God.
He chuckled at the look I must’ve had on my face. “He’s calmed down a lot this year, though.”
This year? Dear God!
“But he seems to really be into you. Talked about you some. Zeke, Ryker and I were hoping he’s finally settling down some.”
“He talks about me?” I asked. “What does he say?”
“I don’t know, just things like you went to a movie and on the ghost tour.” He shrugged a shoulder then sat up in his chair putting his elbows on the table and clasping his hands together. “But I’m telling you, that’s huge for him.” He looked at his watch. “Hey, I need to get to class. Look, don’t tell him we talked. He’d kick my ass if he knew.” He stood and so did I.
“Thank you, Loch. I really appreciate it. I won’t say a word,” I promised. He smiled then left me standing there kind of in shock. “He talks about me,” I mumbled as I walked toward the door.
According to Loch, that was a big deal. Huge. And it made me feel good that Gable did care for me, that maybe I wasn’t the pathetic doormat for him that I’d felt like at times. But, God, he’d been through so much pain. My heart ached for him as I walked across campus heading to my car, knowing that the reason he probably didn’t want to get close to me was because he didn’t want to get hurt again.
And I knew I’d have to make sure that didn’t happen.
~*~*~*~
Oh, but Mr. Gable Powers was in fine form that night at work.
On this awesome Wednesday evening, the night before the party, he was back to his old assholish ways when all I wanted to do was give him a big hug for all he’d gone through with his girlfriend and best friend. Wonderful.
I brought my first order to him, and saw he was leaning on his forearms on the counter seemingly flirting with a redhead who wore an emerald green dress that showed lots of cleavage and hit her at mid-thigh as she sat at the bar with her legs crossed. She had on four-inch expensive looking emerald green suede stilettos and she looked to be in her forties. Don’t get me wrong, she was gorgeous and all—big boobs, shapely legs—but what the fuck? When I walked up, Gable popped a cherry in his mouth as he pushed off a forearm and stood, grinned at her, a little too suggestively for my taste I might add, then looked at me with a smirk and said, “What can I do you for, Scout?” Then he chuckled at his comment and winked at me.
Asshole.
I handed him my order ticket, trying hard to keep the hurt off my face, but I’m not sure if I succeeded. I was hurt because he hadn’t talked to me since last Friday when he’d given me a spectacular orgasm, hurt because he hadn’t wanted to stay the night with me, hurt because he hadn’t bothered to answer my text I’d sent on Sunday, but, hurt worse because, by God, he’d taken the time to talk to his pen pal who was really the real me but not. Oh, hell, you know what I mean. Shit.
And now I was hurt because he was talking to this woman.
“Scout?” the redhead said glancing over at me. “That’s an unusual name.” Then she smiled at me.
Great. She was nice. Couldn’t be a bitch so I could be one right back to her. Of course not. So I gave her a small smile in return then turned my back to her so she wouldn’t engage me anymore because I was afraid I’d say something rude.
When Gable had filled my tray with my order, he flashed his lopsided grin at me, winked again and as I picked up the tray, the woman spoke to him. “Okay, so you were telling me about the corbelled arch on your grandparents’ courtyard. Are you sure it’s not bonded? What kind of stone is in the voussoir?”
And she was smart and into architecture so they had something in common. Great again.
I walked away going to different tables to fill their orders, the whole time trying to reign in my jealousy at the fact that he could go five days without talking to me but could chat away with some gorgeous random woman at the bar.
And that pissed me off but good.
But I guessed he didn’t owe me anything because what even the hell were we? We weren’t boyfriend and girlfriend (or does climaxing on a guy’s hand automatically make it so?) I huffed out a frustrated
laugh at that making my patrons look at me strangely. Whatever.
As I continued setting drinks down, I wondered if Gable was seeing other women. Loch said he wasn’t but how did he know for sure. I mean, we hadn’t said we were exclusive so he could’ve been seeing them just not bringing them home for his brothers to witness.
And the last thing I thought about as I took orders from a family of five was that if Gable didn’t know I was his pen pal, then he kind of was cheating on me since he wanted to meet her, who was really me but not, and he said he wanted to fuck her but he obviously didn’t want to fuck me.
Oh.
My.
God.
Forget about the spa treatment. I was all in for seeing a shrink then checking into a padded room when the semester was over. Ugh.
So the rest of the night stunk to high heaven because Red stayed at the bar the entire time chatting Gable up, and every time I had an order filled, he and I didn’t have a chance to talk (which was probably good because it wouldn’t have been pretty on my part anyway), but he would give me sexy looks and wink at me. What did that mean?
Thirty minutes before my shift was over, I decided I was done, so over everything. I figured I’d still go to the party tomorrow night, reveal myself to Gable, have a few drinks with Amy and Bodhi then get the hell out of there, writing Gable off as a loss. Yep. I’d just go back to my original plan which was not getting involved with him in the first place. Sounded good.
Ten minutes before my shift was over, I saw Red get up to leave and watched as Gable walked her out, and forgetting my awesome plan of writing him off, I felt my head explode at seeing him go with her. I looked around for Natalie but had to wait until she finished taking orders at a table then I walked with her to the kitchen and said, “Watch my section, please. I’ll be right back.”
“Everything okay?” she asked.
“We’ll see,” I muttered as I semi-stomped through the place toward the front door.
When I got outside, I looked around and didn’t see anyone. There were no cars leaving and I wasn’t sure if Red could’ve left that quickly, so I walked through the parking lot like a damned creeper, checking every car to see if they were inside any of them doing God knew what. When I found that every car was empty, even his (which I just knew would have the windows fogged over because she’d be straddling his lap while he gave her a spectacular orgasm but it didn’t), a thought hit me. And then my heart was in my damned throat as I jogged to the back knowing I’d see him have Red pressed against the back of the bar kissing her and telling her that she tasted good. And that made me furious.
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