Lovebird Café Box Set

by Dylann Crush

  “Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight.” Jake drew out the word. “Let’s go get the beer. I think we’re all going to need it.”

  Damn. I’d hoped Cassie and I would have a chance to talk over the weekend. With time running out, I wanted to tell her how I really felt. I’d been keeping my distance out of respect for Caroline, but I needed to know if Cass still had any feelings for me. With Becca monitoring my every move, it might be damn near impossible. We left Heather sitting on the dock and made our way up to the house.

  “How’s the water?” Misty asked. She and Cassie had their feet propped up on lounge chairs and appeared to be enjoying the late afternoon sun.

  “A little cool, but you get used to it. What are y’all drinking?”

  “Margaritas. Want a sip?” Cassie held out her straw to me and I took a deep drink.

  “Mmm. Pretty good. I’m tempted to just hang out here—”

  “Don’t even think about it.” Jake reached the top step and joined us on the deck. “Grab some dry clothes, Jordo. We’re outta here. Text us if you think of anything else we need to pick up in town.”

  “Y’all aren’t going in the house sopping wet. Let me go get you some shorts.” Misty made a big show of dragging herself up out of her chair and heading inside. “Told you, Cassie. Like a third child.”

  Cassie giggled as she took another sip of her drink. “She’s got you guys pegged.”

  “You having fun?” I asked.

  She looked relaxed. We’d been so busy working on the house she hadn’t had much time to herself. It would do her good to blow off some steam and enjoy herself for a couple of days. And I was damn glad she hadn’t gone off to Texas. That asshole she was dating had no idea how to treat a woman like Cassie. Hell, if she was my girl I wouldn’t let her out of my sight for three days, much less three months.

  Dammit, she had been my girl once, and I’d done worse than that. I’d let her go without much of a fight. Maybe I was the one who didn’t deserve her.

  “So far so good.” Cassie uncrossed her ankles and re-crossed them with the other foot on top, drawing my gaze to the hem of her short denim skirt. One strap of her white tank top had slipped off her shoulder, revealing a tan bra strap. Made me think about what her bra was covering up and sent blood surging to my crotch. With my wet shorts already clinging to my ass, I turned away and moved toward the door as Misty came back out onto the deck, tossing a pair of dry shorts and a T-shirt to both me and Jake.

  “Thanks, Misty.” I went back downstairs to the outdoor shower stall and changed. What the hell was wrong with me? Cassie had made it pretty damn clear she wasn’t interested. Friends…we’d be just friends. Hell, I could pull that off. As long as Cassie didn’t bring a swimsuit. To the lake…yeah, right. I was in trouble.

  Cassie

  After the guys left, Misty whipped up another batch of frozen margaritas and Heather joined us on the deck. I remembered her from spending time with Robbie and Jake in the summers. She filled me in on what she’d been up to, and I did the same. I wanted to ask them more about Robbie’s Caroline, but didn’t have the guts.

  Go with the flow. That was my mantra for the weekend. And speaking of going, the margaritas were going down way too easy. I’d have to be careful if I didn’t want to make a complete fool out of myself. I offered to get started on dinner and Misty turned me loose in the kitchen. I had just finished taking a casual inventory of the grocery situation when the sound of car doors slamming out front brought Misty and Heather running from the back deck.

  I peered out the front window at the new arrivals. A couple more guys and a girl.

  Misty wrapped her arms around everyone in turn and led them down the steps to the house. My bare feet slapped on the wood floor as I high-tailed it back to the kitchen before they caught me spying.

  “Cassie! Come on out, you’ve got to meet everybody.” Misty’s sandals tapped on the floor as she entered the kitchen.

  “Hi.” I gave a slight wave to the group standing behind her, wishing I’d stayed back at the farmhouse.

  “Everyone, this is Cassie.” Misty pointed to each person as she said their name. “Cassie, this is Becca, Scooter, and Ryan.”

  “Nice to meet you all.” I could count the number of friends I was close enough to spend a weekend with on one hand. This group kept multiplying like rabbits.

  “Hey, nice to meet you, too, Cassie.” One of the guys—was it Scooter or Ryan—grabbed me and swung me around in a hug.

  “Ryan, settle down. You’ll scare her away.” Misty faced the newcomers. “Since Cassie doesn’t know everyone, I put her in the double. And since I didn’t know Becca and Scooter were coming, the four of you can fight over other bedroom.”

  “Don’t worry, we’re relatively harmless.” Scooter grabbed Ryan in a headlock and tackled him into the couch.

  “Just ignore them.” Becca gestured to the wrestling men. “Sorry, Misty. Plans changed at the last minute and Heather said it was okay for us to show. So this is the infamous Cassie?”

  “Not sure about infamous…” I started.

  Becca shrugged. “I think it’s fitting. After all, we’ve heard all about how you and Rob go way back.”

  Misty snatched up the empty pitcher. “Who needs a margarita? I’ll make another batch.”

  “We used to see each other a lot in the summers…neighbors and all that,” I said.

  Becca narrowed her eyes at me. “Neighbors. And I hear he’s helping you fix up the house now?”

  “Yeah.” What was her deal? The guys seemed friendly enough, but some frosty chill rolled off of Becca. I rubbed my arms, chasing the shiver away.

  Misty put an arm around Becca’s shoulder and led her to the stairs. “Let’s get your stuff downstairs, then you can help me blend up another batch of drinks.”

  While they disappeared down the steps, I resumed my effort of finding something to make for dinner. Misty had unpacked some chicken earlier. Fajitas would feed a crowd. Maybe I’d add an Asian twist and see how everyone liked it. I dug through the cabinets and refrigerator and scraped together some basic ingredients, then sent Robbie a text asking him to pick up the rest in town. May as well make myself useful. I mixed lime juice, tequila, soy sauce, some cilantro and cumin together, then added the chicken to the marinade and moved on to slicing up the veggies. Too bad I hadn’t brought my knives. Mrs. Duncan’s kitchen knives weren’t nearly as sharp as the ones I’d left back at the farmhouse.

  By the time Robbie and Jake got back with the keg and the rest of the food, the chicken was ready to go.

  “Want me to fire up the grill?” Jake walked through the kitchen, dipping a chip into the giant bowl of homemade guacamole on the counter.

  “Yeah, sure. Everything’s ready.” I couldn’t hide out in the kitchen all night. Misty must have refilled my glass. I snagged it off the counter before following Jake out to the deck and lowering myself into a lounge chair.

  Jake lit the burners then sat down in the chair next to me. “Beautiful night, isn’t it?”

  The sun had just started its descent, and the boat traffic on the lake had died down, leaving the surface of the water smooth as glass.

  “Yeah, it’s nice out here.” I twirled my straw around.

  “You have a chance to meet everyone?” he asked.

  I nodded. “They all seem nice. How do you all know each other?”

  “Well, Ryan and Heather are together. And you remember Scooter?”

  “Sure. He went to high school with you and Robbie, right?”

  “Yeah. I thought you’d met him during the summer. He started datin’ Becca in college. She’s good friends with uh, well, she and Caroline are cousins.”

  Cousins? My stomach twinged, turning in on itself. Leave it to me to be stuck on a couples’ weekend with Robbie’s girlfriend’s cousin. “Ah, that explains it.”

  Jake fidgeted with his plastic cup. “I’m gonna go get another beer. You need anything?”

  “I need to slow down on these marg
aritas.”

  “Yeah, Misty makes ‘em pretty potent.” He stood up and moved toward the house. “Hey, Cassie?”

  I turned toward him and shielded my eyes from the setting sun. “Yeah?”

  “Don’t let the gang get to you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Half his mouth quirked up in a grimace. “They can be a bit much to swallow sometimes.”

  “It’s fine.” A bit much to swallow? That was an understatement. A bit much was the amount of tequila Misty had poured in the margaritas. Spending the weekend with this group would be like waterboarding. Hopefully I wouldn’t drown.

  “Just don’t let them get to ya.”

  I raised my glass and took a giant gulp of the bittersweet liquid. “To waterboarding.”

  Jake gave me a funny look then bounded down the steps to where the keg sat on the lower level. Staggering to my feet, I held onto the railing for a moment then focused on moving one foot in front of the other until I got to the door. Maybe I shouldn’t have had that last margarita. Oh, hell. With two more days ahead of proving to Caroline’s cousin, and everyone else, that there was nothing left between me and Robbie, maybe I should have another.

  14

  Robbie

  Lights from the house blazed across the back lawn but didn’t quite reach the fire pit at the edge of the lake. I tossed another log on the flames then plopped back down on the stump I’d been using as a stool. Cassie sat directly across from me. She’d been quiet all night. Probably had something to do with the way her Tex-Asian fajitas flopped. They weren’t that bad, but fajitas were pretty much perfect on their own. No need to add the extra blend of spices.

  The flames licked at the new log, cracking and popping as it caught. The light from the fire bathed her skin in a golden orange glow. Leaning forward with my elbows on my knees, I focused on the heated conversation between Jake and Scooter.

  “Hypothetically speaking,” Scooter said. “If Saberhagen hadn’t blown open game five, the Cardinals would have taken it.”

  Jake yanked his cap off and slapped it against his thigh. “Tudor didn’t even show up to play that night. It was over before it started.”

  “What about the ump?” Scooter asked.

  Jake leaned back in his chair. “It was a fair call.”

  “Bullcrap!” Scooter stood up. “Orta was out. It was a shit call and everyone knows it.”

  “Cut it out, y’all.” I took a sip of my beer.

  “What the hell are they arguing about now?” Misty asked.

  “Cardinals versus Royals,” I said.

  “Not that damn World Series from the eighties again?” Misty stood up and pushed Scooter back down to his seat. “You boys better wrap up your little pissin’ contest. It’s time for game night.”

  “Aw, hell. You aren’t really gonna make us sit around and play Monopoly, are you?” Jake asked.

  “I don’t know what Heather’s got in store. But you’d better get your ass upstairs or you’ll be sleeping on the boat tonight,” Misty said.

  Jake grabbed his wife around the waist and nuzzled his head into her midsection. “I can think of a lot of other games we haven’t played recently.”

  Misty smiled as she swatted him away. “Come on. Let’s go.”

  Everyone got up and trailed behind Misty and her grumbling husband. Becca lingered in the chair next to me.

  She reached over and put her hand on my arm. “You talk to Caroline lately?”

  I got to my feet, letting her hand fall away. “We had a long talk last week. Sounds like she’s having a good time.”

  She gave me an eye roll as she unfolded her long legs from underneath her. When she stood up we were nearly eye to eye. Her mouth moved like she wanted to say something. Then she whirled around and stomped back up to the house. I took one last look at the dying fire, then drained my beer and followed her.

  “What are we playing?” I pulled a chair up to the long wooden table and set down my plastic cup of beer. The gang had gathered in the kitchen. Everyone had some sort of beverage in hand and had settled in for a night of serious gaming.

  Heather sat at the head of the table as the informal master of ceremonies. She passed a stack of notecards and a bundle of pens around. “We’ll start with a little bit of two truths and a lie. Everybody grab a pen and a notecard. Write down two things that are true about you and one that’s a lie.”

  “That’s not so hard,” Ryan said, scratching his head with the end of his pen.

  “Oh, and it has to have something to do with your sex life.” Heather slid a pen and notecard to Cassie who’d just joined us.

  I moved over so she could squeeze in between me and Jake.

  “You didn’t tell me there’d be games.” She nudged me with her elbow as she sat down beside me.

  She’d pulled her hair back in a ponytail and scrubbed the makeup off her face. Even in yoga pants and a T-shirt, the sight of her made something twinge deep in my gut. She was the real deal. What you saw was what you got with Cassie.

  I nibbled on the end of my pencil. Two truths and a lie. About me and sex? I jotted down three statements and passed my card to Heather.

  When she’d gathered everyone’s answers, she made a big show of mixing them up. Then she pulled the first card off the pile and read it out loud. “I once went down on a girl while chewing gum and it got tangled in her pubes. I did it on a motorcycle going seventy-five on the highway. I’ve done it in every room in this house, including on this table.”

  As Heather read the last line everyone lifted their hands from off the table. Ryan punched Jake in the shoulder. “Gross, dude.”

  Misty smacked him on the arm. “Gum? Really? You had to tell everyone about that?”

  Jake raised his hands in surrender. “Hey, how do y’all know that one’s mine?”

  “How did you get the gum out, Misty?” Heather tried not to laugh.

  “Let’s just say Jake learned the fine art of personal grooming that night. And yes, the table’s been sanitized.” She picked up Jake’s cup and set it down in front of him. “Chug this for being an asshole.”

  Jake drained the cup and belched. He passed it across the table to Scooter who ran down to the patio for a refill from the keg.

  I glanced at Cassie. One leg tucked up underneath her and a smile played across her lips. She looked comfortable, maybe even slightly buzzed. I squeezed her knee and gave her a smile. “Hope you didn’t share too much information.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “What about you?”

  Heather cleared her throat. “Okay, here’s the next one. The best sex I’ve ever had was with someone here. I once did it in the back of a pickup truck parked at a cemetery. I swallow.”

  “Now there’s someone who put some thought into it.” Misty elbowed Jake in the side.

  “Who do y’all think it belongs to, and which one’s the lie?” Heather asked.

  “It’s mine and they’re all true.” Becca raised her glass. “Cheers!”

  “You’re not supposed to tell us.” Misty rolled her eyes. “We’re supposed to guess.”

  Becca shrugged. “So do I take a drink now?”

  “Yeah, why don’t you take a big ol’ swallow?” Ryan nodded toward her drink. Becca wrapped her lips around the straw and sucked so hard her cheeks dented.

  “Ready for a different game?” I asked.

  “Let’s do one more. Maybe y’all can finally figure out how to play.” Heather pulled another piece of paper out of the pile and looked it over. “This one’s a good one. I spent a sinful night in an antique claw foot bath tub. I lost my virginity to my best friend. I’ve participated in a four-some.”

  “That’s how it’s done,” Misty said, giving Jake one more shove.

  “A foursome?” Scooter leaned back in his chair. “Man, I thought three was a handful.”

  “Ha! Three? In your dreams!” Becca swatted at her boyfriend’s arm.

  I knew it wasn’t Scooter’s. Cassie wrote those thi
ngs down. I knew because I was the one who’d spent the night in the claw foot tub with her, and I was the best friend who’d taken her virginity. God, I hadn’t thought about that night for a long time.

  “We don’t have to if you don’t want to.” I paused on the path and waited for Cassie to catch up.

  She laced her fingers through mine. “I told you, I want to. Now let’s hurry before it starts pouring.”

  I held on to her hand even though it meant my arm twisted back behind me as we walked through the cornfield. The narrow path between the tall stalks forced us to walk single file. I’d told my folks I was spending the night at Jake’s house, and Cassie had told her grandparents she was staying over at Misty’s.

  We’d been rounding the bases all summer long. Each kiss, every hot and heavy make out session in the front seat of the truck, any time she even looked at me, the lust and desire layered upon itself until it got to the point where I felt like I was going to explode. We’d gotten reacquainted at second base back in early June. Just a couple of weeks before, she’d let me steal third and promised before the end of August she’d let me slide into home. Summer would be over soon and Cassie’s dad would be back to pick her up and take her away for another couple of months. His company had moved him to Austin over the summer, so it wasn’t likely she’d be able to come visit again before Christmas break.

  There weren’t many places we could go without raising a bunch of suspicions. Dad grounded me from the truck when I’d been late for curfew, and Cassie didn’t have a car of her own. When she’d suggested we meet at the abandoned church two miles up the road, I’d almost pissed my pants.

  “Come on, let’s go.” I wrapped an arm around her shoulder and we crossed the overgrown grass to the window I’d managed to pry open the week before. The first drops of rain hit my forehead as I looked toward the sky.

  “You go first.” Cassie handed me a flashlight, and I climbed through the window before turning around to help her.