Stay: Odd Jobs #1

by Alexander, AJ

  I’m brought back to the present by Heather squealing. “I didn’t know the boy had it in him! Man, he should write Hallmark cards.” I can’t help but roll my eyes in response. Somehow I can’t help but wonder if he has had help from a certain someone with intimate knowledge of the ways to my heart.

  I glance at the clock on the wall. It’s almost time.

  “I think I’m going to head upstairs and take a shower. I have a meeting in an hour.” Heather finishes off her coffee and places her mug in the sink.

  Heather has been disappearing for hours on end during the day for the last few weeks. She says that it’s for work, I’m hoping that it’s for secret rendezvouses with Wyatt, but I doubt it. Heather is so focused on making sure that everyone else has their happily ever after that she forgets to make sure she has her own.

  “So, any secret meetings today?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I told you they are meetings for work with my new client, to get to know each other. To be someone’s publicist you need to be well acquainted with each other.”

  Just like Cole, Heather started at San Diego Mesa in hopes of becoming a veterinarian, but after she took her first public relations class, she was hooked. Heather started a publicist company for the Hollywood elite when she graduated. I can say one thing about my cousin, she loves being the center of attention, so being a publicist was a natural progression for her.

  “You keep telling yourself that.” I roll my eyes as she walks past me to head upstairs.

  “Of course, and I’ll pretend you’re not waiting here for Cole to get Delilah,” she says as she hurries up the stairs.

  We both know she is full of shit, but I let it slide like I have the past few weeks. Just like the missing batteries and vibrators. Delilah would be dead by now if she’d eaten that many batteries. When Heather sets her mind to something, there’s no changing it. I need to hold out a little longer, or at least longer than him. Someone is going to break, or in his case find something better. I’m sure once he finds something new to focus on everything can go back to normal for me. Well, as normal as it can be being related to her.

  The doorbell ringing interrupts my thoughts. I nearly knock over the stool in my hurry to answer it.

  No, I’m not rushing to see him. I don’t want whoever is at the door to wait.

  Yeah, keep telling yourself that.

  I stop at the mirror by the door to make sure I look okay before I pull it open. Cole is standing on the other side looking delectable.

  “Good morning, Addy. How have you been?” he says, the words dripping from his lips like honey.

  “I’m good. How are you?” OH MY GOD, what are you twelve! He doesn’t need to know that you want to jump him like a horny teenager right now.

  “I’m perfect now that I have gotten to see you this morning. Is Delilah ready?”

  My cheeks turn pink having completely forgotten the reason he was here. “Of course, she is. Let me go grab her for you.” I turn to head back into the house, but before I can, he grabs my hand.

  Pulling me close to his chest, he places a gentle kiss on my forehead. “Have a good day, beautiful,”before he releases my hand.

  I pull back as if I got burned, immediately turning to head into the house to grab Delilah, and handr the leash to Cole. “Here she is. You have a good day as well, Cole,” I tell him with a smile.

  I will not give in. I will not give in. I will not give in.

  I feel as if I’m on cloud nine as I make my way back toward the kitchen, bumping into Heather on the way. “Seems like someone had a meeting with their own personal Prince Charming.” She gives me a wink for good measure.

  I plop down on the stool and lay my head down on the counter. “I can’t take much more of this. He needs to give and soon!” I groan. Heather lets out a full belly laugh at my response.

  “You two are pathetic. Why not declare it a draw and get it on already? Put us all out of our misery!”

  My phone starts to vibrate across the counter.

  “Someone has gotten impatient and wants to hear your voice again,” Heather says as she answers my phone before I can stop her. The smile immediately disappears from her face as she mouths “sorry” and slides the phone across the counter before heading out of the room.

  I shake my head as I grab the phone. I’ve been ducking calls from my father for weeks, sending him to voicemail or just downright ignoring him. I knew I was going to have to speak to him eventually.

  “Hello Father. What do I owe this pleasure?” I try to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. We both know the only reason he would be calling is to talk me into coming home.

  “You need to have a change in attitude, Addison. Why have you been ignoring my phone calls?” my father growls into the phone. He’s starting to lose patience with me. I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be able to keep this up. We both know he’s used to getting what he wants. I need to make it till the start of the school year, thenI can tell him to shove it and move on with my life.

  “If you are calling to ask me, well, tell me to come home, the answer is the same it has been for months. I have a job lined up and a place to stay. I am doing fine without you and Mother and continue to do so. Thank you for calling.” I can hear his protest as I hang up the phone.

  “Wow, what a mood killer!” Heather pops back into the room as if nothing happened. That’s one thing I can say I love about her, she rolls with the punches. Nothing and no one ever gets her down, and if they try, well let’s say not many have lived to tell the story.

  “Let’s go out tonight! I’m sick of you moping around here all the time, and since you refuse to go to Cole, it’s my job as your cousin to find someone else to make your lady bits tingle,” Heather shouts causing me to jump in my seat.

  Okay, random much. “Who said anything about my lady bits?” I give her a questioning look. “Last time you tried to get me laid I ended up in this mess. You don’t have the best track record.”

  “Come on, Addy. Don’t you trust me?”

  “Well, that’s a loaded question and one I refuse to answer.”

  “Wow, you should’ve been a lawyer. Well, I don’t care, we are going out tonight, and that’s final. Go get your shit, we are going to get mani-pedis and whatever else I can think of.”

  I shake my head as I turn toward the stairs, this isn’t going to end well for me, I know it.

  COLE

  After my second set of clients and a light dinner, I meet Wyatt at the gym. Hopefully, I can work off some of this frustration on the treadmill and lifting weights. Nothing a good dose of testosterone can’t fix, right?

  “Dude, I don’t know how much more of this I can take.” I push the bar above my head as I look at one of my best friends.

  “I don’t know why you don’t let it go, man, you can get your dick wet anywhere. Why this chick, why now?” Wyatt grabs the bar and places it back on the rack.

  I grab the towel and wipe the sweat from my face. “It’s not like that,” I growl through my teeth. “I have no idea what it is about Addy, but I can’t get her out of my head. We’ve already been together, although what we did can’t be considered fucking, it’s more than that. For the first time in a long time, I want more than a warm hole to stick my dick in. I want someone to share the good and tough times with, someone to come home to. I see all that and more with Addison. That both terrifies and excites me all at the same time.”

  “Snap out of it, lover boy, I’d like to get my set done sometime today. I have places to be,” Wyatt’s gruff voice breaks me from my thoughts.

  I get up off the bench to spot him as he starts his set. “Look man, you’ve got Heather working as your inside girl and from what I hear Addy is barely hanging on by a thread. Just be patient.”

  “From what you hear? Been talking to Heather, have you?” Finally, those two have figured out they would be perfect for each other. Hopefully one of them makes a move, listening to them whine is getting
on my last nerve.

  “No big deal, she has been stopping by the bar a lot recently. Checking in to see how you’re doing and hiding from Addy. Apparently, your girl is moody as hell now that she has had a taste and isn’t getting any.”

  I can’t help but chuckle at the thought. Heather has been helping to keep Addy’s toy supply lacking. If she thought that I wouldn’t enlist help in my endeavor to keep her wanting my cock she was mistaken. “I have my ways. When are you going to make an honest woman out of Heather? We both know she has the hots for you, has for years now.”

  Wyatt doesn’t even have time to respond before my phone chimes with an incoming message from Addison. I open my phone and groan at the sight before me. Addison wearing next to nothing, posing just for me with a message.

  “Ready to be unwrapped, all you have to do is beg.”

  “You see what the fuck I have to deal with! My hand isn’t cutting it anymore!”

  Wyatt finishes his set as I help him place the bar back on the rack. “At least your girl is in your league, Heather is basically in a whole different solar system. She’s never gonna want anything to do with a guy like me.” Grabbing his towel off the floor, he heads toward the locker room.

  Looks like I’m not the only one with lady problems. I follow him into the locker room to shower before heading home for another night alone. Maybe I can torment Heather for some information on what’s going on with Addy.

  15

  ADDISON

  It’s dark and smoky in the nightclub that Heather decides to bring me to. When I finally gave in to her begging for me to come out tonight my only request was that we go somewhere I had no chance of running into Cole. It’s only been a little over a month but I don’t want to take any chances. After the conversation with my dad, I couldn’t trust myself not to fall into Cole’s arms and let him have his way with me. It’d be nice to forget all the crap going on in my life, but I’d have the same troubles the next morning.

  The bass of the music bounces off the walls, it should be setting the mood but, in all honesty, it’s making my head hurt. I head over to the bar. The only way I’m going to get through the rest of tonight is with alcohol.

  “Two more shots of tequila and keep’em coming,” I shout over the bar to the bartender.

  “You’ve been pounding them back tonight, sure you want another?”

  “Take my money and give me my drinks. This is pretty much the only way I’m going to make it through tonight,” I slur as I lean against the bar.

  I know I’m being a stick in the mud, but how can anyone think or even talk over this music?

  “Why aren’t you dancing?” the bartender asks as he places my shots in front of me.

  “If you call the body humping dancing, that’s not my thing. I like to know someone before they get intimately acquainted with my body parts.” I slam back my shot and place the first glass back onto the bar. Before I even have a chance to get to the second, Heather slides up next to me and grabs it. Throwing it back before I can even process what happened.

  “Bitch, that was mine!” I shout, well at least I think I did. I can barely hear myself think at this point.

  “First, I was thirsty. Second, you’re barely keeping yourself up at this point. You're cut off.”

  Heather wraps her arm through mine and pays our bar tab. “Time to go home, drunkie. If you puke, I’m going to kill you. I. DO. NOT. DO. PUKE.”

  I stick my tongue out at her as she leads me toward the front door to call an Uber. As we wait for our ride, my phone vibrates in my pocket. It takes a lot more effort than it should to get it out and unlock my screen. Heather may have something when she says I’m drunk. As I stare at the screen, I’m met with Cole’s gorgeous smiling face.

  “Why! Just why does he have to be so perfect!” I shove my phone into Heather’s face but notice she’s also on the phone. “Who could possibly be more important than me and my issues. I wanna sing like a chorus of angels again! You should be helping me, not talking to whoever this is.”

  Before she has a chance to stop me, I snatch the phone out of her hand. “Who the hell is this?”

  Heather rolls her eyes, and I can swear I hear her mumble, “This is going to be amazing! I’m so glad I answered the phone.”

  Before I can ask her to repeat herself, she grabs my hand to lead me toward the Uber. A soft chuckle greets me from the other end of the phone. “There’s nothing funny about this! I have real problems here, and you’re taking up time with my best friend and cousin.”

  “They wouldn’t be problems if you just did as I asked, Addy.”

  I immediately freeze in place. Fuck, Cole is on the other line. Did he hear my rambling? Heather tugs on my arm, pulling me into the Uber.

  “This is all your fault, you know that. I’m drunk and horny and have no toys to take the edge off because you and the she-beast, formally known as my cousin, keep stealing them.” Heather’s twinkling laughter comes from beside me, pulling the phone away from my ear, I let her have it.

  “Chicks before dicks, girl. You’ve been violating the number one rule in the girl codebook. What’s wrong with you!” I bring the phone back to my ear, it’s time to give Cole a piece of my mind as well.

  “And you! Whooo the hell takes ALLLLL a girl’s toys? I mean you send me half naked pictures of yourself and expect me not to need to get my rocks off. Your goddamn sex on legs, you know I know it, and my pussy knows it too.”

  “Your pussy was pining for that bartender tonight, wasn’t it?” Heather shouts into the phone

  “Bartender?! What bartender?” I can hear the anger in Cole’s voice over the phone.

  “The bartender at the bar, apparently he doesn’t feel the need to play games,” I say with confidence I didn’t know I had.

  “You’re mine, we both know it. When will you stop denying that we are good together?”

  “The only thing I know is that your dick has become my kryptonite.”

  The car pulls up in front of the house, and I feel a shove as I hit the door panel. “Bitch, I’m talking here! You could’ve at least let me open the door first.”

  “That wouldn’t have been nearly as funny.”

  Focus Addy, you can only bitch one person out at a time.

  “Addy, so you think I’m good in bed, do you?” Cole whispers into the phone, sending a shiver through me. Even from a distance, he can control my body in a way no one else ever has, this is trouble.

  “Can you do us both a favor and stop being so perfect? Find someone else to focus on or something. My heart and libido can’t take much more of this, and I’d really like to keep my dignity intact here.”

  “That sounds a lot like begging Addy?” Cole says from the other end.

  “I told you I refuse to beg, nothing is going to change that.”

  “Keep telling yourself that, but your pussy will be mine. I’ll make it sing like a chorus of angels again. Just wait for it, Addy, you and I together is amazing.”

  I’m about to respond, Heather snatches the phone from my hand. “Time for drunkie to drink some water and head to bed. Cole stop playing games and just tell her how you feel. Addy, I love you but stop cockblocking yourself.”

  Without any fanfare, she hangs up the phone and navigates me toward the kitchen. After pouring me a glass of water and giving me two Tylenol, she ushers me upstairs to bed.

  “Thanks, but I’d really appreciate one of my toys back. Even just the bullet. Damn, just hearing his voice has my lady bits all hot and bothered.”

  “Even if I did have them, which I don’t, I wouldn’t give you any. If you want to get laid you know what you have to do.”

  “Maybe I should get a puppy? Puppies make good snuggle partners.”

  Heather laughs before responding, “Puppies don’t give you orgasms.”

  I throw the pills back and take a sip of water to wash them down.

  “Drink it all, hooker,” Heather says over my shoulder.

  I growl in response a
s I chug the rest.

  “Why can’t anyone love me for me, is there something wrong?” I whisper as a tear drips down my face.

  “The only way you can expect someone to love you for you, is if you love yourself.” Heather wraps me in her arms as I begin to cry.

  I honestly have no idea why this is happening, maybe it’s a combination of alcohol and the phone call with my dad from earlier. I really want Cole to care about me for me. Not my money or my looks, just about me as a person. However, I know that’s not the case. As soon as I give him what he wants, he’ll be gone and that hurts the most.

  “Stop overthinking everything, Addy. There are people out there that care about you, but you have to let them in.”

  “Just like you and Wyatt?” I raise my eyebrow as I sniffle.

  “We aren’t talking about me and my messed-up obsession with someone that has no idea I have a vagina. Let Cole in, I promise it’ll be worth it.” With that, she gives me one last squeeze before heading out of my room.

  As I lay down in the bed, the tears begin to fall again, and I start contemplating if begging for what I want is really that bad of an idea.

  COLE

  I sit straight up in my bed as I begin psycho dialing Heather back. I need to make sure that Addy is alright. I know she can probably take care of herself but just the thought of something happening to her makes my chest ache.

  Unable to get Heather on the phone, I grab my keys and head out the door. If she won't answer, I’ll just have to go and see for myself. Just as I hop into the car, my phone starts to ring.

  “Is she okay?” I shout into the phone as soon as it connects to the Bluetooth.