by Tigris Eden
“I want to take you somewhere.”
“What?”
“Do you speak English? I know my accent is there, but it’s not that bad is it?”
“Last time I checked, friends don’t just show up at,”—I look over at the kitchen wall clock—“seven in the morning and expect to be greeted with a smile. Right now, you’re my foe, definitely not welcomed.”
To that, he laughs. It’s deep and rolls as it washes over me, infusing me with a warmth that feels amazing. I’m in so much trouble with this guy. Amelia, my love. When I die, you better meet me at the pearly gates. I’m gonna punch you, like right in the kisser. In my sick, twisted mind, I can so see my friend laughing her ass off about my current predicament.
“Jada, drink your coffee and go and put some actual clothes on. I’ll finish up here with Poe and Dali.”
“How do you know my animals’ names?”
He winks at me.
Winks!
Then, he’s on the move, stalking towards me. His gait is smooth, and dude has swag, loads of it. He walks like he has nothing to worry about, nothing to fear. I hadn’t realized just how attractive his walk was until now. Was he this confident the first time we met? I try and think back, but my brain short circuits because Klaus is all up in my personal space.
“What I say, Jada?”
My mind clouds with lust, large clouds of the potent stuff permeate my brain. Now is not the time for this. Focus, girl. Focus.
“Um, you said I needed to drink my coffee and get dressed.”
“Right. Now, you gonna do that for me, or are you going to make things harder on yourself.”
What did he say? Did he say he was going to go hard himself? Whatthewhat?
Ugh.
He’s too close. His exhales are mingling with mine, and my breath can’t be all that great at this particular moment in time. Somehow, I manage to step back, but he steps forward. I want to cover my mouth with my hand, but that would be too obvious, so I stop breathing altogether. My eyes are wide, and my heart is beating to the tune of I wanna Rock by Twisted Sister. Yup, I’m a hot ass mess.
“I want you to get hard,” I whisper, then gasp loudly as I realize what words just came out of my mouth.
“I am, baby.”
Oh, double stuff Oreo cookies and ice-cold milk. He called me “baby.” Swoon.
And, yeah, embarrassing moment number a gazillion, I sway, actually sway when he calls me baby.
His hand goes to my waist, where he holds me steady. Fuck that. I’m not gonna fall for his crap. No and no. I close my eyes briefly, take a deep breath, and move his hand from my waist, then slide past him while grabbing my cup of coffee.
“I’ll get dressed, but only because you have no business seeing me in my jammies. And I’m not saying thank you for the coffee. It’s owed to me because you’re here way too early. Whatever you have planned for today better not be about trying to get into my pants. You got that?”
His eyes glimmer with something I can’t read, at the same time he manages a very sexy, very manly chuckle. The sound is almost sinister and gives me the chills. But the good kind.
I storm away, and as I slam my bedroom door, I hear him full-on laughing.
Fucker.
Klaus is going for bonus points. Wherever he’s taking me, Dali is allowed to accompany us. She sits in the back of his truck, head out the window, enjoying the heated breeze of summer. Goofy girl. Poe, the traitor, was all kinds of nice to Klaus, even sat in his lap. Poe is singular, he likes things his way, and him sitting on Klaus’s lap is a true sign of trust from my cat. He isn’t one to let just any-ol’-body pet him, or rub his belly. But he let Nicklaus.
“Where are we going?” I ask. We’ve been on I-45 for a while now, and we’re not headed anywhere towards Dallas, just the opposite. “Um, Klaus…” He doesn’t answer. He has his eyes on the road, and he’s concentrating. Like really concentrating. His knuckles are fisted around the steering wheel, and his mouth is set in a scowl. “Klaus,” I whisper, placing a tentative hand on his thigh. I don’t want to startle him, but I have this weird feeling he doesn’t like being in a vehicle, that he prefers his bike to an actual car.
His arctic gaze clashes with mine briefly before he turns back to focus on the road.
“Sorry, not a fan of highways.”
Aaah, so it was the highway that had him concerned. Not that I blame him; drivers in these parts are insane. To try and take his mind off the road, I talk to him. His answers are clipped, but at least he’s talking now.
“Favorite television show?”
“The Walking Dead.”
He is so talking my language.
“You?”
“I have a few, but I’ll lay them out for you because these are all the types of things that friends should know about one another. Like say, you want to hang out, but you call me on Sunday night, well that right there is a huge no-no. There is The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, The Night Of. But if you call on Saturday, there’s Outlander or Penny Dreadful. I also like to watch Ghost Adventures. But if you call on a Thursday, oh, shit gets real, The Strain. And Tuesday is Agents of Shield. I usually wait to watch Vampire Diaries on Netflix. Just chill at home and well, enjoy my time.”
A grin spreads across Klaus’s face, and I’m floored. He has such a beautiful face. It’s clear and free of stress right now. Which wasn’t the case about five minutes ago.
“So you Netflix and chill?”
“Hells yes, I do,” I say out loud and then quickly slap my mouth shut. Fuck. That means something entirely different nowadays. “Wait, that’s not what I meant.” I backtrack.
“It isn’t?” He looks over at me with a raised brow.
“No, I mean, yeah, I watch Netflix, and I do chill, but I don’t Netflix and chill.”
He laughs, and the sound is pleasant and makes my entire body heat with desire. Bad, Jada. Bad. I need to not be so into him. Like, at all.
I quickly try and steer the subject to something that won’t get me in trouble. Music. I flip on the radio and cringe. Salt N Peppa’s, Let’s talk about Sex is on the radio. Of all the songs that could come on… So I hit the next button, and Sex on Fire, by Kings of Leon is just starting up. For the love of cheese and crackers, can I please catch a break?
Klaus finds the entire situation hilarious and doesn’t try and hide it.
“I think this is a sign.”
I turn and glare at him.
“What? No. That is not a sign.”
“Oh, yes, it is, it’s saying that we should be friends. Really good friends.”
I suck my teeth at him before turning my attention to Dali, and I swear, right as I turn my head, she’s eyeing both of us. And if dogs can smile, that’s what she’s doing.
Twenty minutes later, we arrive at our destination. It’s a park. Klaus turns off the truck and sits there for a moment before looking over at me. His stare is intense, and his eyes darken. Okay, I’m not going to deny it, we have chemistry, tons, hell, there are enough pheromones floating between us, I’m surprised we haven’t reverted to the human version of a mating call. ‘Cause right now, I would so answer that call.
“We’re here,” he says as if I don’t know we’ve stopped driving.
“I can see that.”
He chuckles and places his hand on mine, which is still on his thigh. I had my hand there the entire time.
The entire time.
Shit.
I’m so screwed.
Maybe being friends isn’t such a good idea. I’m about to open my mouth and say just that when he leans over and kisses me on the tip of my nose.
“Come on, let’s go. I picked out the perfect seats.”
Seats?
For what?
I hop out of the cab, and Dali follows, her tail wagging behind her as she keeps pace with Klaus and me. She’s on his side, again. My pets are traitors, and although I try and keep distance between Klaus and me, Dali has other ideas. She keeps steering
our walk. She’s walking in a way where she continuously bumps into Klaus, and in order to avoid being knocked over by my big-ass Lab, he walks closer to me. Keep it up, Dali girl, and no treats for you.
I know I don’t have pet telepathy, but I like to think my pets and I are synced. I talk to them just as much as they talk to me. We just have a different way of communicating. But Dali is not receiving any of my messages. When I speed up so that Klaus has room, what does he do, why speed up also, of course, and there’s Dali, coming up on his left, making sure we stay close together.
“I’m sorry about my dog,” I squeak out. Crap, not the squeaky voice. I do that when I’m over the top nervous or embarrassed. I try and recover quickly. “She forgot to take her pills this morning.”
“She’s on medication?” Klaus asks with a serious face.
“Yeah, they’re called, ‘act right.’”
Again, my sense of humor makes him laugh.
As we near an area with lots of other people, I scan the crowd, and somehow my dick radar is far reaching, because standing not two feet away from us is Jaden. My ex-boyfriend from forever ago, and before I have a chance to do an about face, he spots me.
“Jada, is that you?”
Yeah, douche. As if he doesn’t know what I look like. That we’re in the same damn area is disappointing. He left Sulphur long before I did. I had no clue he’d be here of all places. It’s not Dallas, but it’s too close to home for me.
Why can’t people just be real, and be like, “Oh, hey, Jada, good to see you again.” Only it isn’t good to see Jaden again. He’s possessive and emotionally abusive. At least he was. Klaus must sense my hesitation because he places an arm over my shoulder and pulls me into his side.
“Jaden,” I say in a not-so-friendly way.
Yes, Jada and Jaden, we were like the it couple for two years. And people would call us JJ. Pathetic. At one time, I thought it was cute. It’s so not cute anymore.
His face gets that look he used to get so many times before when he was about to cause trouble. But I think he’s sizing Klaus up, who happens to be more than a foot taller. Viking men are awesome.
“Who’s this guy?” Jaden questions. There is definitely anger in his voice, and I can bet you all the money in my wallet right now he is not here alone. Some poor female who probably has no clue the type of man Jaden is, is head-over-heels in love with him. I know she is. I was that girl once upon a time.
“I’m Nicklaus. Jada’s friend.”
“You seem like you’re more than friends to me.”
“I don’t see how that’s any of your business, Jaden.”
“Anything concerning you is my business. I love you, girl.” The word “girl” is said in a high-pitched voice. Almost like it hurts him to say it.
See what I mean?
Crazy train.
Klaus clears his throat and slowly unwraps his arm from my shoulder. His body is tense, and I don’t know if he can handle himself, but I suspect he can. He’s a Viking, Thor’s older half-brother, who is the epitome of all things virile. Tamp it down, Jada.
I take a step in front of Klaus, knowing that if the two of them come to blows, there isn’t much I can do, but I try to diffuse the situation anyway.
“Jaden, we are not together, and haven’t been for a very long time. Like years.”
“Yeah, but only because you didn’t want to make it work. You shouldn’t string men along like that, Jada, it’s not right. I did everything I could—”
Cue the girl he actually came with.
“Jada?” the unsuspecting female says.
She’s petite, with cute twists in her hair, and has a nose ring. I want to warn her, like really warn her about what she’s getting into.
“Liza,” Jaden says, red-faced. “This is Jada, and her friend, Klaus.”
Liza’s eyes go wide, which means she knows who I am.
Oh, joy.
There are moments in my life that are just awkward. Like high school awkward, or chick flick awkward. This is one of those moments. I don’t know what Jaden has told Liza about me, and I really don’t care, but everything happens so fast, I don’t even see it coming. Liza starts waving her hands madly in the air, calling me a whore. Dali makes her way in front of me and stands her ground and begins to growl, and Klaus narrowly misses the punch that Jaden throws his way.
I can’t make this shit up.
It really happens.
Liza is all bark and no bite, especially after Dali stands in front of me, but as I move out of the way to get out of punching range of Jaden and Klaus, Dali, my sweet girl, does the unthinkable. She goes in to protect Klaus.
Dogs are smart.
Really smart.
Dali is an agent of Dallas’s S.E.E.K. program. It’s her job to sniff shit out and go in for the rescue if needed. Unlike other dogs, she knows when she’s on or off duty. I try really hard to balance our work/life. So when she goes in to protect Klaus, I’m shocked. Really shocked. Is the universe trying to tell me something? Amelia, do you really want your husband for me? And if so, why?
A light breeze whispers across my face at the same moment Klaus grabs Jaden by the collar of his shirt and brings him to his face.
“Your manners are pitiful,” he sneers. “To act this way in front of women is wrong.” He looks over at Liza, who is in tears. Literally in tears. I look over at her and want to put my bitch face on ‘cause I do a good one, but I feel bad for her. I’m outside my element on this, too, as I totally suck when it comes to awkward confrontations. I’m the one who thinks of something witty to say two hours after the incident is over.
“Liza, I don’t know what Jaden told you, but we haven’t been together for more than six years, and the reason for that is because he’s a liar and an abuser. You really need to find someone else, he’s no good.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Typical. Can’t tell people anything.
“Yeah, I kind of do. I’m an expert when it comes to assholes.” I shrug and bend low to get Dali’s attention. Liza will have to learn on her own.
“Good job, girl,” I say to Dali.
Someone must have called the police because there’s an officer walking towards us and he doesn’t look happy.
“What seems to be the problem here?”
Klaus still has Jaden by the collar but turns in the direction of the officer.
“This man tried to assault me and my friend.”
The officer looks over at me, and I know him. It’s Officer Bledsoe.
“Jada, why am I not surprised?”
“What?” I shrug. “You act like I’m a magnet for trouble.”
“Woman, you so are. What about six months ago, at the Golden Corral?”
Okay, there was an incident at the Golden Corral, but it wasn’t my fault. The guy wouldn’t stop talking and kept trying to sit at my table. All I did was toss my drink on him. It was mostly by accident. I got flustered, and my nerves were shot to shit that day.
“That wasn’t my fault.”
“Right, you couldn’t just say ‘go away?’” Officer Bledsoe asks.
“I did. Like a million times.” Then my drink had wings and flew and landed on the guy who kept trying to talk to me.
Bledsoe looks at Jaden, who’s now been released by my Viking savior.
“Are you going to be a problem?”
“No,” Jaden hisses.
“Good. Now, you go this way, and, Jada, you and your friend go that way.”
“That’s all we were trying to do.”
Klaus takes my hand, and I let him. When we reach an area with lawn chairs, he has a smile on his face and starts waving at someone in the crowd. It’s Tammy and a couple of other people I’ve not met before. I pull on Klaus’s hand to get his attention.
“Your friends don’t think we’re dating, do they?”
His smile widens.
“Do you want them to think we’re dating?”
“No,” I gasp. “
We’re friends, just friends.”
“Who are you trying to convince, Jada? You, or me?”
Now wasn’t that the real question of the day.
Chapter 5
Tammy is the first one to greet me.
“Girl, don’t you look spiffy.”
I’m not dressed to the nines or anything. I’m in jean shorts and a racerback tank. It’s hotter than Hades, and I wasn’t sure what we were doing. When I came from changing, Klaus hadn’t said I needed to rethink my outfit so I assumed it was okay. Tammy is dressed similarly; she’s wearing jean shorts, a halter top with rhinestones, and her cowboy boots. Everyone in the group is hugged up with someone, and I turn to look up at Klaus as I scowl.
“They do think we’re a couple,” I hiss.
He steps closer to me, and again, there is laughter in his eyes, but he doesn’t say anything. He tags me around the waist, pulling me in front of him, and with a loud voice, filled with laughter, he yells to the crowd.
“Everyone, this is Jada, and she wants you all to know that we’re not dating, that we’re only friends.”
“With benefits, I hope,” someone shouts.
This can’t be happening, but I can’t stop the smile that spreads across my face.
His head is resting on my shoulder now, and in my ear, he whispers in that deep accented voice, “You happy now, sunshine?”
“Supremely,” I say smugly.
“Good.” He kisses my cheek lightly and releases me. Not even a full second later, I wish he hadn’t.
We’re at a barbeque slash park concert. There is a local band playing that I’ve not heard of before, and some guy everyone calls Chops is grilling steaks and corn on a massive grill. He’s got a full beard and wears a thick bandana across his forehead. His sunglasses make him look cool, like way too cool. It’s obvious Klaus’s friends are bikers; and as much as I’d like to say I feel out of place, I don’t. Neither does Dali. She sticks to either my or Klaus’s side. She’s playful and in good spirits. Not unusual for my Dali girl, but it makes me smile to see her so carefree.
“So, girl, what are your intentions with Nicklaus over there.” Chops gestures over to where Klaus is standing with a red solo cup in his hand, talking to some other guys.
