by S. K. Lessly
“Oh… sorry are you still at the scene?”
“No.”
Silence lingered as seconds passed.
“Well, I’m sorry for ruining your night,” she replied, her voice dripping with venom.
“Don’t worry. You haven’t,” I said coldly, my patience now gone.
“Ugh! Why are you being such an asshole, Shane?”
“And why are we still talking about this, Casey?”
“Don’t worry because we’re not, you insensitive bastard. Fuck you.” With that she was gone.
I sat there a moment with my phone still pressed against my ear.
One… Two…
Before I got to three, I placed my phone on the table next to me and headed for the bottle of Courvoisier that was still on the round bar table behind us. I grabbed my glass and filled it close to the rim and took it down as if I was drinking water and then poured more in my glass.
I could feel the anger bellowing all through me. My anger management tactic of counting was failing miserably as it did most of the time. Time hadn’t been my friend. The memories of the breakup and what had happened between Casey and me plus the shit that was said wasn’t helping me calm down at all. I knew the situation I was in was my fault. I should’ve ended things a long damn time ago. But that fact didn’t make me feel any less pissed.
“So… That was interesting.” Misty derisively spoke, her voice like a haze around me.
I was shocked that I’d even heard her over the loud throbbing of my pulse pounding in my ears. I looked over at her and took down the drink in my hand in two gulps.
“I never heard you and Barbie fight before. It was both disturbing and kind of a turn on at the same time.” She grinned broadly.
I chuckled lightly. I put my glass down and moved back to the chaise without saying anything to Misty about what had just happened. I felt her expectant eyes following me as I moved. I knew she wanted the scoop, but I didn’t want to get into it while I was still pissed.
“That…um…sounded a bit heated,” she mused softly.
I grunted and then added, “Yeah, I guess it did.”
We lapsed into silence before Misty sat up and turned her body to face me. I guess she realized I wasn’t giving up shit, and she would have to pry if she wanted anything from me.
“Okay, listen Shane, I don’t know if you’re using me to hide from Malibu Barbie or not. And I really don’t care either way. However, please note if she figures out where you are and decides it would be a great idea to come to my house, I won’t be held accountable for my actions. If she says something I don’t like, I’ll whip her ass. If she comes up to me in a threatening manner, again, I’m going to beat her ass. Got it?” Misty gave me a hard stare, the mused look completely gone now.
I held her stare for a few minutes before I busted out laughing. It wasn’t just a chuckle either. I mean, tears were actually streaming down my beet red face.
Misty stood on shaky legs and pointed a finger at me. “Oh, ha-ha, laugh it up, Cooper, but you’ve been warned.”
Misty moved to the bottle I had left on the table behind us and poured a glass.
I got up and moved behind her. I snatched the glass, and despite her feeble attempts at a protest, I took her drink to the head. I looked down at her grinning. “Although I would like to see that fight, it’s not going to happen. Casey is not going to come to your house.”
Misty started to say something else, but I lightly placed my finger against her lips to stop them from moving. The second I did it, I swear the whole world stopped around me.
I stared into her wide eyes and then looked down at the finger that was touching her lips… those lips.
Suspended in animation and distracted due to the warmth from touching her, sailing through my hand, up my arm, and throughout my entire body, I said with assurance, “Casey’s not going to come here because she and I are no longer together.”
Wow, they were beautiful up close, and so fucking soft.
Finally, I found the strength to remove my finger from her lips, but not before grazing the tip along the length of them. Damn!
The alcohol I’d just gulped down was working on me fast. I was already border-line fucked up before I drank the two full glasses of cognac, but now I knew after the third one I had just guzzled down it was official. I was past that limit of control…that limit that helped you think rationally. Yup, fuck rational.
Misty, still staring wide-eyed said to me incredulously, “I’m sorry, but can you repeat that for me?”
I smiled at her, chuckled, grabbed the bottle behind her, and moved back toward the chaise lounge chairs.
“Repeat what?” I replied over my shoulder. “That she and I aren’t together?”
I took a sip from the bottle and waited for her to join me. When she didn’t appear next to me or speak, I looked back at her.
Her eyes were still as wide as saucers as she stared at me. She didn’t say anything for a long time and she didn’t blink. She just stared at me. I wondered if she was even breathing.
Finally, she seemed to snap out of her shock and shook her head in disbelief. “You have got to be shitting me,” she said, seemingly, rhetorically.
Still, I answered her. “Ah, no, I’m not shitting you.”
She shook her head again, finally moving in my direction. “When?”
“When what?” I countered, playing stupid. I knew what she was asking. I was just stalling. This subject wasn’t something I wanted to discuss right now. However, if I wanted her to open up to me, I would have to do the same.
This shit better work.
“Don’t play stupid with me, Shane Cooper. When did G.I. Joe and Barbie part ways?” she queried as she fell into her lounge chair. She leaned close to me to snatch the bottle from my grip and brought it to those sinful lips of hers.
“For your information, Casey and I haven’t been an item for a very long time; in months, actually.” I frowned. “Thought you knew that?”
“No shit! Months?” she asked before she wiped a little drizzle from her bottom lip with the back of her hand. “And how would I know that? Also, how could it be months when I just saw you two together last Sunday?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Just because we sat together at dinner doesn’t mean we were together. If you were paying attention, you would’ve noticed that I didn’t bring her to dinner with me nor did she leave with me. She came with Amanda, probably trying to see how I would treat her. Out of respect for my parents, I remained cordial to her. She and I definitely had a very unpleasant conversation about her presence at my parents’ home afterwards. Listen, I’ve known Casey for a while now. We’ve dated off and on for at least three years. This—”
“Whoooa! Off and on?” Misty cut in, frowning.
I nodded. “Yeah, we only started talking about being exclusive a few months ago.”
“So, you dated other people while you were with Barbie?”
I nodded again. “Yeah, we both did. As I said, we weren’t exclusive. We were just exploring the possibility. But I guess talking about it was taboo.” I ran my hand down the front of my face, an exhausted breath leaving my lips. “After that, things started to go to shit between us. I guess you can say she wasn’t who I thought she was.”
“Oh, bullshit! That’s not how it seemed to me. You used to look at her as if the sun rose and set on her flat ass. You know you were ready to make her Mrs. Shane Marcello Cooper. You can’t tell me with a straight face that you finally came to your senses and realized that the bitch was the devil.”
I laughed. I knew Misty couldn’t stand Casey. Hell, she couldn’t stand either Casey or Amanda. They didn’t like her either, but for very different reasons.
“No, I didn’t come to my senses and realize she was the devil,” I admitted although I felt like she had a strong argument for the claim. I added, “And it wasn’t that I had an epiphany either. I’ve had my doubts about her for a while, which was why we only dated for a long tim
e. And for the record I was nowhere near making her Mrs. Shane Marcello Cooper. A woman would have to be extraordinary for that to happen. No, I just…”
I paused and shook my head to clear it. The thought of how good Grace Michelle Cooper would sound leaving my lips just popped into my head and almost gave me a fucking heart attack. But I had to say that… I actually liked how her name sounded connected to mine. Shit…
Clueless to the crazy shit going around in my head, Misty studied me closely. A concerned look accosted her face as she asked softly, “What happened?”
I took a deep breath and told her what happened.
“She gave me an ultimatum.”
“Her or the job?”
“Yes, it was something like that. I know you’re aware of who her father is, right?”
Misty nodded.
Casey’s father, J.D. Donovan, was a four-star general in the army. He was big time and worked in the E ring of the Pentagon assigned to the Special Operations Division of the military. The SOD consisted of the top military minds of each of the branches, their subordinates, as well as their aides. It’s where the decisions were made on whether or not the president should declare war with a particular country that posed a threat to the United States.
Amanda’s dad was also a four-star general in the army, working in the same division as Casey’s father. They were friends. Picture that.
“She hated whenever I left the country,” I continued. “She especially hated when I went to South America with Josh. She didn’t know why I was going, but she knew it had something to do with what happened to Sweets.”
“How does she know about Sweets? That information is sealed.”
I shook my head. “She only knows what was spun to the media. She knew Sweets was kidnapped by some South America cartel. And because she works for her father, she also knew Josh’s team had something to do with saving her. She put two and two together, I guess. She had asked why I had to go with Josh. Why I couldn’t send someone else, like Jacks, you, or Sweets’ brother. I told her why, and she didn’t like the answer.”
Appearing puzzled, Misty asked, “What answer did you give her?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Look, I’ll spare you the play by play. All it’s going to do is piss me off even more and mess up my high. Here’s the short version. In a nut shell, she gave me an ultimatum. It was either her or my family. She didn’t like the fact that I went on dangerous missions, especially when I went to South America. At first she just threatened to leave. But when she realized that I didn’t give two shits if she left, she decided to threaten my livelihood and everyone on my team by telling her father. After that threat, we had some very choice words. I called her bluff on blowing the whistle, then I let her know the pecking order she fell under, and as you could probably guess, she didn’t like it. Shit was said by both of us that we can’t take back, and that was that.”
Misty paused a minute and took another swig of the bottle in her hand. I stretched my hand out for the bottle, and she handed it to me.
As I raised it to my lips she asked, “Okay, that happened about a month or so ago, and what happened? Today she figured you had forgotten all that happened and wanted to get back together?”
I shrugged. “I haven’t got a clue, and quite honestly, I really don’t care. Casey is a great girl. She will make someone a great wife someday. That person just isn’t me, and it probably never was.”
Misty shook her finger at me as if she were scolding me. She took the bottle from my hand, raised it, but decided to unleash her branded wisdom instead. “You see, Cooper, that’s why I’m single, and I plan to stay that way. It’s not worth it.” She tipped the bottle to her mouth, but realized it was empty.
I shook my head and took the bottle from her hand. I placed it on the table between us. “What’s not worth it?” I asked, taking her attention from the empty bottle and forcing it on me.
“Being in relationships,” she clarified. “Being open to someone only for them to be a great disappointment. I prefer the empty, meaningless relationships. The ones with the sole purpose to fulfill one’s needs and that’s it. No emotions and no fussing. Nothing but pleasure.”
“Ah, the infamous fuck buddy agreement,” I quipped.
Misty nodded animatedly. “Yes, fuck buddies! Look, falling in love is great, and I’m not totally against the idea of it. When I see how happy Josh is with Sweets, or the love your parents have for each other as well as the bond my parents have, I’m ecstatic for them. Mind you, their public display of affection is downright sickening, but I tolerate it.”
I laughed. “You’re not a fan of PDA?”
She shook her head, crossed her legs Indian style, and made a face of disgust. “Hell, no.” I laughed again as she explained further. “Look, true love is beautiful. But it gives me the hives and makes me sick to my stomach. See? Just look at me. Can’t you see the pain I’m in?” she asked as she dragged her nails up and down her arms. “The idea of being vulnerable and open to someone and giving your heart them out of pure faith is a concept that I just don’t find any logic in.”
“Is that why you date the pussies that you do? Is it because you know you’ll never fall for them?” I asked her.
“I don’t date pussies,” she countered.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “The fuck you do. Misty, that’s all I see you with; those pussies from the air force or the fucking navy. Seriously, what kind of shit is that? The marines are almost passable, but the rest…” I shook my head and frowned.
“What do you mean? All of the guys I date are nice, interesting, and overall good guys.”
I scowled. “Uh-huh… If you say so.”
She stared at me for a bit before she sighed and conceded, “Okay, you may have a slight point. They could be called to question based on the branch of the military they’re from, but the men I date are for one specific objective.”
My eyebrows rose at that confession. “Oh, yeah? What objective is that?”
Misty didn’t answer me right away. She stared at me for a minute and then tilted her head slightly to shoot me a side eye. “All right, I’ll tell you, but don’t you dare judge me,” she warned, narrowing her eyes at me.
I wonder if she’s seeing double yet.
I placed my hands up in a surrendering gesture. “I wouldn’t dare.”
She still looked skeptical.
I raised two fingers up and added, “Scout’s honor.”
She waved me off. “Wrong hand, Einstein.” Then she sighed, pushed her hair behind her ears, and smiled. “Okay, you asked for it.”
Chapter Six
Misty
I paused slightly and just looked at Shane. First, I couldn’t believe that our conversation had somehow navigated to the subject of sex. Seriously? I was about to reveal sexual innuendos that I’d partaken in to Shane Marcello Cooper, the man that I had been crushing on since the first day we met. Somewhere it was written in some rule book titled something ridiculous like “Rules to Follow When You’re Crushing on Your Friend” that sex should never be brought up, especially when alcohol was involved. Yet here I was about to go against every rule book ever written. Lord, help me. And secondly, oh my God! Had that bitch, Casey, really fucked up and let this fine-ass specimen of god go?
Newsflash: When you have a goldmine like Shane Cooper, you hold on for dear life. Short of him cheating on you, hitting you, or doing an R. Kelly on you, you let him do whatever the hell he wants.
Maybe she thought her pussy tasted like his grandmother’s chocolate chip cookies or something, and he couldn’t live without her. Or maybe she believed that her shit didn’t stink and that it smelled like roses or peaches. Whatever her reasons, her test of devotion had blown up in her face. She was almost there. She had come close to locking down one of the world’s sexiest whoremongers. What in the hell was she thinking? She wasn’t thinking. That was the only conclusion I could come to after he told me what had happened. What I also thought about in that
moment, as I stood in place with my mouth wide open, was how wrong I was for thinking they were together all this time.
I could’ve satisfied my urges a long damn time ago. But then again, God didn’t make mistakes. At the time, it wasn’t right for the two of us. And quite honestly, now wasn’t the right time either. I needed to keep this whole situation in perspective. Shane Cooper was and will always be nothing more than a friend. That’s how it had to be for both our sakes. And yet…
I shifted a little in the lounge chair and blinked a few times. I tried to blame away my sudden silence and awkward movement on the alcohol instead of the impending topic, which was true in a way. The alcohol was doing a number on me, but it wasn’t the only thing. The decision to put my needs, wants and unfiltered desires away settled in my mind as I spoke.
“Okay, lemme explain how this goes,” I began to tell one of the Shane’s I saw sitting in front of me. “Most of the time lifting weights until my arms fall off, running on the treadmill until I feel like throwing up, or swimming until my lungs are about to explode, helps me to decompress after a mission. The art of pushing myself to the brink of sanity allows me to come down from all of the adrenaline and aggression I’ve felt as a result of whatever I was into that day. Recently, I have to say that things have been relatively quiet with the exception of tonight of course. There hasn’t been a need for me to figure out a way to work through any issues or problems in a while. Well, except for the rise in boredom that is.” I rolled my eyes, attempting to bring home the point of just how bored I was. Dang Coopers!
As a contract agent for the DIA, I used to go on countless missions by myself. Not all of them were dangerous, but there were times when I found myself running for my life or being shot at or having to shoot my way out of a difficult situation in order to survive. However, recently, that hadn’t been the case. Oh, there had been a few violent assignments, but as I mentioned before, I was on the outside of that violence looking in before tonight.
