My laugh rings out throughout the room. “You have to admit, it was an awesome prank.”
She rolls her eyes and the rustling of foil fills the silence between us as we both get to unwrapping her kitchen first.
We finish the last sofa cushion and sit down on it, her with her legs crossed and me with my leg leaning on the other by my ankle. She leans over to turn the TV over to a different music channel and then turns so she’s facing me.
“Never have I ever broken a bone,” she says with a grin.
“What?” I ask, confused.
“Never have I ever broken a bone. Oh come on, you must’ve played this before.” I shrug, I haven’t. “Okay, well it’s simple. You start a sentence with never have I ever, then you have to say something you’ve never done before. If the other person has done it, they drink. It’s pretty straight forward.”
“Sounds like fun,” I reply, taking a swig of my beer. She raises a brow at me in question and I raise my arm showing her the raised bubble-like scar on my elbow. “I wish I could say it was from something manly, but I broke my arm in two places running around a swimming pool.”
She chuckles and rests her head on her hand that’s draped over the back of her sofa. “Yeah, it kinda ruins your street cred. You could at least have made up that you wrestled a bear or something.”
“I think if I wrestled a bear I’d come out with more than a broken arm,” I retort sarcastically. “Never have I ever been to England.”
She takes a drink. “Never have I ever kissed someone on a first date.”
I wink at her and drink up, I can’t count how many times I’ve kissed on the first date. They’ve all been first dates. “Never have I ever been in handcuffs.” She hesitates then snorts and takes a big pull on her beer. “Well, well, well, look who’s been naughty.”
She shrugs. “I’m not afraid to experiment.”
Well I was not expecting that. I was expecting her to have been cuffed from some rebellious act when she was a teen, but not this. My eyes widen at her and I shuffle to hide my growing hard-on.
She rolls her eyes. “Never have I ever pulled an all-nighter.”
“What? What were you doing when you were growing up? I thought girls were supposed to have all-night sleepovers where they stayed up and had pillow fights and talked about boys and shopping.”
She laughs. “That’s only on films, Mac. You have a twin sister, you must know.”
Only I don’t know. The atmosphere changes and I clear my throat. “Yeah, I suppose.”
Her brow furrows. “What’s wrong?”
I shake my head, now is not the time to talk about my stunted childhood. “Never have I ever spent more than one night with anybody.”
“Trust you to turn it dirty,” she scoffs.
I hold up my free hand. “Hey, I never said sleep with them, I’ve just never genuinely spent more than one night, like a date, with anybody before.”
“Drink,” she says.
“Err, that’s not how you explained the rules,” I counter.
She tips her bottle at mine. “That was a lie, drink.”
I tuck a leg under me and face her. “It was not a lie.” She points at herself with a smug look on her face and my expression falls. “Well… well that doesn’t count. I meant anyone else.”
“Just drink,” she says, the playfulness in her voice making me smile.
We play the game for another hour and I learn a lot more about her. The drinks are flowing and I can’t stop laughing, being like this with Billie is so easy. We’ve both drunk around five beers each in that short amount of time and her face is a little flush from the alcohol. I get us another and as I sit down she scoots over and lays her head on my legs, looking up at the ceiling.
“Never have I ever felt so confused about what I want in life as I do now,” she says softly.
I stare down at her and I know she’s avoiding my gaze so I make a point of resting my beer on her stomach so she can see I don’t take a drink. I feel the same way.
The silence is deafening and I lean my head back, staring up at the same ceiling she is but both of us knowing we don’t have to say anything; we don’t need to tell the other that this situation is confusing the hell out of the both of us. We don’t need to confirm what I already know, we’re both losing this bet and we have no say in the matter.
I loosen her hair with my free hand and start running my fingers through the silky strands, the smell of coconut wafting in the air as I do so. It’s relaxing and as I hear her moan softly, I close my eyes and enjoy this moment with her.
“Ouch! What the hell?” Billie is standing over me on her sofa and I have to blink to see through the sleepiness still shrouding my eyes.
“Well, if you’d woken up properly the first time I hit you, I wouldn’t have had to do it another two times,” she replies with a giggle.
I rub my leg while chuckling. “You’re a mean person, Billie.”
She shrugs and smirks down at me. “What’s your point?”
I look around the room and blink against the bright light. “What time is it?”
“Just after nine.”
I groan and throw an arm over my head. “B, it’s Saturday.”
“Oh no you don’t, I have things to do today.”
I lift my arm and laugh, checking out her workout gear. “Going for a run?”
She looks herself up and down and raises a perfectly shaped brow as if to say “no shit.”
I jump up off the sofa and stretch. “Fine, give me five minutes and I’ll come with.”
She’s silent for a few seconds then clears her throat. “You have two.”
You don’t need to tell me twice, I’m not missing out on a chance to ogle her. I run out of the door to my apartment and pull on some sneakers, making it just in time for her walking out of her apartment. I follow her down the stairs and out of the building, slowing down at the sight of her ass in those tight workout pants that have me needing to adjust myself. I speed up to catch up with her. She rolls her eyes at me and picks up the pace so I up it a little more, raising my brows at her.
I spin around. “Can’t handle the pace?” I call out, running backward.
She laughs and slows down, just as I trip over a raised grate and fall headfirst into a pile of horse crap.
I wipe at my face and pick a clump of shit-covered hay out of my stubble, Billie’s laughter acting as the theme song to my loss of dignity. She stops beside me, running on the spot. “Didn’t realise you felt that fondly of horses.”
I jump up to my feet and grab the back of my t-shirt, pulling it over my head. I see her eyes widen as they take in my body, she’s seen me without a top on before, yet she’s still staring at me like her life depends on it.
Taking my shirt, I use it to wipe the remains of poop off my face and she laughs at me again.
“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.”
“Plan to,” she says, before running off.
That woman will be the death of me, I think to myself as I throw my t-shirt in a nearby trash can and walk back to the apartment building for a much needed shower.
I slow down to a jog when I’m about four hundred metres away from my apartment building and chuckle at Mac’s face covered in horseshit that’s etched into my brain. It’s so hot out here now that I’m glad Mac didn’t continue the run with me; I look like I’ve had a shower from the amount of sweat pouring out of me, which is not an attractive look.
Last night I saw a completely different side to Mac. We had an amazing date followed by a chilled night in, laughing and joking around. I don’t know at which point the night turned a little serious and I felt like I wanted to confide in him, albeit in a vague way about how I was feeling, but I did. I laid my head in his lap and relished in the feeling of his fingers running through my hair.
I don’t know when we fell asleep but I woke up in his arms and panicked. I slipped out of them as silently as I could and went and sat in my room to clear my head. As much as i
t felt good to let go, I can’t let myself slip up. The only person that’ll end up getting hurt is myself.
I’ll make the rest of my weekend “Mac free” and have a good think about what I want.
Mac: Hey, B, I was wanting to see you tonight but my friend wants to grab a beer, so I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?
Perfect. That means he’ll be out of his apartment all day today. I text him back saying that sounds great but I don’t say anything else in case I slip up and tell him that I have the day off work. I wait for a reply but he doesn’t text back; I guess you can’t text back to such a short message.
I just hope that he hasn’t noticed that I swiped the master key back from him when he was asleep on my sofa, he’d know what I was up to then.
I dress in some workout gear to go for a run before coming back and setting up my prank, this will be the best one that I’ve ever done and once it’s all set up, I’m going to stay in his apartment to watch the whole thing play out.
My feet pound the pavement and endorphins race through my body, making me feel invincible. After running for forty minutes, I’m starting to get tired but I’m nearly home so I continue, pushing myself past the tiredness.
As I near my building, I notice a red-headed woman stood outside looking extremely hot and exasperated. I give her a tentative smile and point at the doors. “You live here too?”
She nods and chuckles. “Yeah, but I’ve locked myself out. I’m just waiting for my boyfriend to bring me his spare key.”
I haven’t seen her about before, but then again, I haven’t seen many people coming in and out of this building since I’ve lived here. I was starting to think I lived here by myself, that was until Mac.
I don’t know what it is about her, but I instantly like her so I open the door for us both. “It happens.” I shrug. “I’ll let you in the building until your boyfriend gets here with your key, it’s boiling hot out here.”
“Thank you.” She smiles. “I thought I was going to melt.”
I head toward the stairs and expect her to follow me but she doesn’t so I turn around and decide to invite another random stranger into my life. “Hey, if he’s going to be a while… I was going to whip up a smoothie. I haven’t been here long and I literally don’t know anyone, it’d be nice to have a friend.”
Well it’s not a complete lie. I don’t know any women and it’d be nice to have someone other than Mac to spend time with.
She gives me an awkward smile. “That’s really nice of you, but my boyfriend will be here soon, he only lives three blocks away. Thank you though.”
I nod, trying not to show the little flicker of disappointment I feel. “Well, if you ever fancy one, or a glass of something else, I’m in twenty-three C. Oh, I’m Billie, by the way.”
I walk over to her and shake her offered hand. “Sam, nice to meet you and thanks again for letting me back in.”
“Anytime, Sam,” I say, giving her a wave and making my way up the stairs.
Although I feel a tinge of disappointment, it doesn’t last for long as I shower and collect the bag from the craft store I got yesterday, making my way over to Mac’s apartment. I knock on the door just to make sure he isn’t in, waiting for thirty seconds before opening the door and shutting myself inside.
I take a look around; God, I love this apartment, mine pales in comparison.
I blow out a quick breath, glad I chose to wear shorts and a tank top, it’s boiling hot in here. I smile, this makes things so much easier, my plan is guaranteed to work. I know he uses his ceiling fan on warmer days.
After the prank is set up, I raid his fridge for something to eat and head on up to the raised platform, dragging the big beanbag over to the edge and waiting for him to come home, feeling giddy.
“Welcome back,” I say, clapping Con on the shoulder.
He smiles briefly but he looks tired. “Hey, man. How’s things?”
I sit back in my chair. “All good, glad you’re back actually, I have the accounts to catch up on but the guys could use an extra hand on the refurb.”
“I need to get my hands dirty so I’ll go, you alright here on your own?”
My laughter booms out. “I’m a big boy, Con. I have just been running things over the past week or so, just go.”
He chuckles and points to me as he walks backward toward the door to my office. “Beer tonight?”
I was planning on seeing Billie tonight but I haven’t seen Con in the past week so it’d be nice to catch up. “Sure.”
He hesitates and threads his fingers into the front of his jeans pockets. “You seem different.”
“I seem different?” I ask, raising a brow.
He ignores my underlying tone. “Yeah, you seem… never mind.”
I throw a pen at him and he dodges it by an inch, laughing.
“Fuck off out of here, I have work to do.” He waves and chuckles his way out of my office.
Different? What’s that supposed to mean?
I shake my head and pick up my phone, messaging Billie and telling her that I’ll see her tomorrow. Since we fell asleep on her sofa and admitted that we were both struggling with our feelings, I haven’t seen her. It must’ve spooked her because she messaged me saying that she was having a chilled-out weekend… without me.
Billie: Sounds great, have fun.
Her curt message back makes me frown and I turn off my phone so I don’t text her back asking her why she was so short with me.
I face my computer, opening the account files and trying to immerse myself in work instead of thinking about how much her hot and cold act confuses the fuck out of me.
I lean back in my chair and peer up at the clock, it’s five already. Where has the time gone?
I turn my cell back on and it pings with a few messages. Two from two different women—I delete those without even looking at them— and one from Con that was sent ten minutes ago, telling me he’d be here to pick me up to go get beer from the store in ten.
Just as I read it, a long beep of a horn outside the trailer where the offices are blares out.
I roll my eyes as I jump out of my chair and lock up, walking out and to his truck.
“Thought I could give you a ride to work tomorrow morning if you wanna jump in? Saves us both driving back.”
I nod and jump in, sitting in silence as we drive to the store.
“I talked to Dean Harmon,” he says suddenly and I tense up. “I had no idea you went to Holy Cross.”
“Mhmm.”
“How come you never said anything?”
I clear my throat. “No need. I’m a grown-ass man, Con, I can handle going back there.”
“Yeah, but I had no idea when you talked about school in college that you were talking about there. I never would’ve sent you otherwise.”
“Shut the fuck up, it’s fine. I’m over it,” I laugh out. “Anyway, how was your time away?”
His fingers tighten around the steering wheel and start to turn white. “Fine.”
I nod slowly but don’t ask him anything else, he’ll tell me when he’s ready to.
We pull up outside the store and I jump out to grab a crate of beer, sliding it onto the back seats as I climb back in.
“Yours or mine?” Con asks.
I bark out a laugh. “Fucking hell, you make it sound like a date, but yours, I want to have a go on that pinball machine.”
He laughs along with me as we pull up to the apartment building and jump out, Con grabbing the beer.
“Last one up there has to be on snack runs for the night,” I quip, running ahead of him and calling the elevator.
He runs after me but I step into the elevator and press the close doors button over and over until they close on him as he curses at me. I laugh out loud as I think of him climbing the four flights of stairs with the crate of beer; he knows I won’t let the elevator get called back down for him.
The doors open and I step out, the laughter ceasing as I spot a gorgeous redhead leanin
g against the wall beside Con’s apartment.
I smirk and walk over to her. “Well, hi there. Are you lost?”
She hesitates seeming like she wants to say something but sighs instead and walks toward the stairs that I can hear Con bounding up.
“Mac, you ass, you could’ve held the door! I carried this thing all the way up…” He stops mid sentence and looks between me and the redhead, his eyes full of confusion and something else that I can’t quite decipher.
I spring into action as he continues to stare at his visitor. “Well, it’s definitely not me you’re waiting for so I’ll be taking these and having a good time on my own.” I take the crate out of Con’s hands and lean into him but not keeping my voice down. “I see why you were gone for so long.”
I wink at him and give a small wave to the redhead before making myself scarce and disappearing down the stairs to my apartment wondering who she is and what she was doing here. Con’s never mentioned a girl before, in fact, he’s never mentioned much about his past; in college I just thought he was a bit of a prude because he never really touched a girl apart from during our senior year. There’s definitely a story to be heard there.
With the crate under one arm, I unlock my apartment door and head inside, stocking the refrigerator with the contents. I didn’t notice how hot it was in here until I was standing in front of the refrigerator, letting the cold air cool my skin; I should’ve left a window open.
I walk over to the switch to turn on the overhead fan and hear a crinkling sound, I stop mid stride and look around the room, coming up empty. I shake my head dismissing it as a creak from the building and flip the switch, walking over to my sofa.
Just as I’m about to sit down something rains down on me and all over the living area, I lift my arm to look at what it is. What the— My arm sparkles like a fucking fairy, not just my arm though, it’s everywhere. Every fucking where.
I hear girly laughter and turn on the spot, looking up at the raised platform to see Billie with tears rolling down her face.
“Billie!”
Betting On Love Page 9
