The Heartbreaker (Prequel Novella to DAMIAN)

by Wood, Jessica

  May turned to me and rage filled her eyes. “Fuck you, Damian! I rocked your world last night and probably taught you a few new tricks, and you repay me like this?”

  “I can’t believe at a point like this, you can still blindly defend yourself like this. I thought I had no shame when it came to sex, but you, you take the cake. Jill and I are both single. We can fuck whomever, whenever we want. You, on the other hand, are not single and have a husband who still seems to love having sex with you. And yet, you’re tramping around town under the false pretense that you’re single and available. Now, that’s a new level of no shame.”

  “Fuck you, Damian. I don’t ever want to see you again!”

  “I hope that’s a promise. Good riddance.”

  She stormed out of my apartment without another word, and she kept her promise, we never saw each other again.

  ***

  Four days had passed since that evening where May and Jill were in my apartment, and I hadn’t heard a word from either of them. I was happy about that. That was one reason I didn’t do relationships—it comes with emotional baggage and drama. I had wondered once this week whether Jill ever told her father, but I hadn’t cared enough to call her and check. I wanted to move on to another girl in my black box to fuck and the last thing I needed was for Jill to think that the fact I defended her on Sunday meant anything.

  By Thursday afternoon, when I had completely forgotten about Jill, she casually strolled into my bar.

  “Hey stranger,” she beamed at me when I looked up.

  “Oh hey. How’s it going?”

  Then she started laughing at me and I frowned at her reaction. What the fuck is wrong with this chick? Did Sunday’s run-in with her mom fuck her up?

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Oh, your shirt.”

  I looked down on my shirt and realized what was so funny. I was wearing a black t-shirt with white letters that said: Not tonight ladies. I’m just here to get drunk. Brian and I got matching shirts during our trip to Tijuana, Mexico. “Best shirt ever,” I laughed, “though I rarely think that way when I’m out.”

  “Yeah?” She asked in a flirtatious tone. She smiled at me, and I instantly knew she was here for me and not a drink.

  “So what brings you in today? A drink?” I tried to change the subject.

  “Well actually, I was here to see you. I wanted to thank you for coming to my rescue on Sunday and defending me against my mom. She can be a royal bitch. I told my dad that night and I think they’re going to get a divorce.”

  “Oh.” I wasn’t sure how to respond.

  “It’s okay. I’m not sad about it. I’m glad it’s out in the open and my dad can move on and find someone who really loves him and would be faithful. So I just wanted to thank you for everything.” She gave me a look that I’d seen on girls before. It was the one that said they wanted something more than just sex, that they were interested in something that involved a commitment.

  “Look, umm—”

  “Jill,” she filled in my pause.

  “Yes. Look, Jill. I’m sorry about what happened on Sunday, and I’m glad things worked out for the better. But like I’ve told you before. I’m not interested in anything serious.”

  A flash a disappointment crossed her face but she immediately plastered a wide smile to hide any signs of her real feelings. But I knew. She wanted more from me—they always did. But I was upfront with her and told her my intentions.

  “Can I still call you sometime?” Her eyes with filled with hope as she waited anxiously for my response.

  “Sure, baby. You can call me whenever you want a fuck session. But like I said, I won’t give you anything else.”

  “Right.” There was a twinkle in her eyes, and I knew she didn't believe me. Like every other women I’ve fucked, she thought she could be the one to change me and want a relationship. “So what about now?”

  “What about now?” I wasn’t sure what she was getting at.

  “Can we fuck now?”

  “I can’t hang out all day, but I can do a quickie. You wanna quickie? Then let’s go up to my place and fuck while it’s not busy here.” I looked around at the thin afternoon crowd. I knew that in three hours, the place would be packed and I would need to return to oversee it tonight.

  “Okay.” She got up excitedly from her stool and waited for me to come around the bar. As we walked toward the side door of the bar that lead to the hallway to the apartment units above Damian’s, she reached over and interwove her fingers with mine.

  Reflexively, I immediately pulled my hand away from her and took a step back. The urgency of my movement must have startled her and she fell back and nearly tripped over her own foot. I saw the disappointment and hurt in her eyes and I was beginning to regret agreeing to this quickie.

  “Look, I’ve mentioned this several times already, and I want to make clear to you that I haven’t changed my position. I’m not the relationship type of guy. You know that.” Shit how many times have I told this girl this?

  “Yeah, I do.” I heard the disappointment in her voice. She cleared her throat and walked toward the side door. “No biggie. Come on, let’s go fuck.”

  “Okay, I’m glad we’re on the same page here.” I wasn’t quite sure if she really didn’t care, but I’ve given more than enough fair warning. No matter how hot she was or how amazing those lips were, nothing could change who I was. No one could change my position on relationships. Not her, not anyone, I thought as we walked through the side door leading up to my apartment.

  CHAPTER SIX

  As we got to the bottom of the staircase leading up to my apartment, we looked up and saw a female figure blocking the stairway. The stairs were narrow and we couldn’t get past her.

  Nice ass! I immediately thought. To my surprise, my cock twitched in agreement. I rarely judged a girl by her ass—at least not when I hadn’t seen her face. Yet, here I was, staring at this brunette’s ass and wondering how my cock would feel inside it.

  “Ooo. Emm. Gee. She’s like going to take forever.” Jill’s nagging voice broke through my thoughts. I wondered why she was being so annoying.

  “Ooo. Emm. Gee. Like, thanks so much for your patience.” I was taken aback by this brunette’s feistiness as she imitated Jill’s tone. I snickered at the interaction and was immediately intrigued by this brunette. I wondered what she looked like.

  “Hey!” Jill slapped me against my chest with a pout.

  “What? That was funny.” I chuckled at how easily unsettled Jill could get when it came to other girls, and I knew then and there I wasn’t interested in seeing her again.

  Just then, before I could offer to help the brunette with her things, her bag began to give way and a number of items fell down toward us.

  “Ouch! What the fuck?” Jill screamed out in pain as a Nalgene bottle hit her shin.

  “Oops, sorry about that,” the brunette responded, now in her normal voice. I was drawn to this voice. There was something comforting about it—warm, smooth, and sweet.

  “Yeah right,” Jill barked back. God she’s fucking annoying.

  A long strip of plastic had also fell out of the bag and landed on my shoulder and I turned to collect it. To my surprise and amusement, it was a long strip of Trojan Magnum Ecstasy condoms. Nice! I knew these condoms well. Then I noticed something else near my foot that fell from the brunette’s tote: a pair of pink fuzzy handcuffs. I felt my cock tighten at the sight and I looked back up at the brunette with growing interest. She tried to turn her body to face us, but with the suitcases on either side of her in the narrow stairwell, I could barely make out her profile. Shit, I want to see her face.

  I wasn’t sure how I missed it earlier, but it wasn’t until then that I noticed that the brunette had two large suitcases in her hands in addition to the oversize bag that broke under her shoulder moments ago. She looked like she was struggling.

  “Here, let me help you,” I offered as I moved up the steps toward her. Jill huffe
d and I saw her cross her arms from the corner of my eyes. Fuck, I don’t do relationships because I can’t deal with jealousy, and here’s this bitch being the queen of jealousy. My patience for my quickie fuck buddy was wearing thin.

  “Oh, you don’t have to,” the brunette insisted.

  She would change her tune if she saw what I looked look, I thought to myself.

  Ignoring her brush-off, I continued to move up the stairs toward her and took one of her suitcases out of her hand. Shit, this is heavy! How did she manage to get both suitcases and the bag up her by herself. Something about this self-reliance side of this girl intrigued me. I knew already that she was different from most of the girls I’d met.

  And then I saw her.

  She’s fucking gorgeous!

  But she was more than just gorgeous, and the refreshing thing was, she didn’t seem to even know it. She was in baggy jeans and a beat-up University of Iowa sweatshirt, and had no make-up on. What is that huge yellow stain on the front of her sweatshirt? I wondered as my eyes kept darting to it on her chest.

  I gave her one of my signature smiles, and I heard an almost inaudible sigh come from her lips. She stared at me and I knew she liked what she saw. Her cheeks flushed into a rosy pink and I watched her wet her pink lips. There was something naturally stunning about her that stopped me on my tracks, and this wasn’t a feeling I was used to.

  Get it together man! I told myself. I cleared my throat. “You should be more careful.”

  “Sorry. My bag just broke.” She gave me a small smile that caused my heart to skip in a way I’d never felt before.

  “Perfect timing,” I flirted. I was surprised by how honest that statement really was. I knew I wanted to get to know this woman. I knew I wanted to claim her for my own and add her number to my black box. “Oh, and you dropped a few things.” I handed her the Nalgene bottle, condoms, and handcuffs with a suggestive smirk on my face. One of these days, I’m going to have my way with you, I thought to myself.

  Her cheeks turned bright red at the sight of her things. “Oh—” She took the items. “Umm … Those aren’t mine,” she whispered.

  “Right.” I was unconvinced.

  “I mean, they are, but …” she tried to correct, “—but they were a gag gift from a friend.”

  “Nice friend,” I snickered and flashed her another dazzling smile. “You can never be too careful.” I motioned to the condoms and gave her a wink.

  I could sense the unease and embarrassment in this brunette and her reaction made her more enduring and interesting. I wondered how wild she could get behind closed doors. From my experience, some of the hottest girls I’d fucked were the most innocent looking ones, and this girl had innocence plastered all over her face. She didn’t know it yet, but I knew that I was going to fuck her in the very near future. I just knew it. My eyes zoned in on her lips again and I was overcome with a strong urge to grab her and kiss her hard against the stairwell wall. Who was I kidding? I didn’t just want to kiss her hard, I wanted to fuck her hard against that wall.

  “Hey, I’m hungry!” interrupted Jill. Shit, I had completely forgot about her. “Can we please go already?” she begged.

  I laughed and knew exactly why she was acting this way. She knew as well as I did that I wanted to fuck this brunette, that I’d drop her at the first chance I had with this new girl.

  “Didn’t you just say you’re on some sort of cleanse diet and you can’t eat for a week?” I vaguely remember her going on about that at some point in the last week.

  “Th—that’s not what I meant. Can we just go already?” she begged. We both knew I had caught her in a lie, and unfortunately for her, I didn’t tolerate lying.

  “Let me first help her with her stuff.” I gestured at the brunette who looked at us with fascination.

  Jill gave an exaggerated eye roll and shook her head but remained silent.

  Her reaction annoyed me more than I’d thought it could. She should know by now that those moves have no effect on me. I knew I had to put her in her place. “Besides, what’s the rush? I thought we’re going up for a quickie? I’ll be quick this time.” I emphasized the word “quick,” hoping she would understand that I was going to hit it and quit it and never call her again.

  Apparently, I was wrong, because there was a smug smile on Jill’s face as she rubbed her hand along the back of my neck and stared at the brunette like she was dirt. “We are.”

  The brunette gasped at our bluntness and I eyed her with amusement and gave her another smile. Innocence was such a turn-on and I immediately wondered if she was a virgin. I hadn’t had a virgin in quite some time. I pulled away from Jill’s hand and leaned closer to the brunette and chuckled. “She obviously sees you as a threat.”

  To my satisfaction, the brunette’s mouth fell open at my boldness and Jill stiffened beside me. Thank God she’s finally getting it, I thought with relief.

  I refocused my attention on the brunette. Besides wanting to fuck her badly, there was something else about her that pulled me in, almost like some invisible magnetic pull that was stronger than my desire to run from this strange and unfamiliar feeling. “So where to?” I asked her as I lifted one of her suitcases and began to reach for the other one.

  She looked at me for a few long seconds, as if she was trying to figure me out. Finally she seemed to snap out of her thoughts and beamed at me. It was a warm, genuine inviting smile. I smiled back at her, but this time, not my signature smile I whored out to the nameless women I wanted to fuck. This time, it was a real smile, a warm, genuine one that I gave to those few people I cared about. I hadn’t intended to smile at her this way, but it had happened, and it was a response that rocked me to my very core. Who is this girl?

  She led me to the second floor and we stopped by the door marked “204.”

  “This is me.” She motioned to the door.

  “Okay, cool. Do you need any help moving them inside?” I asked hopefully.

  I saw her sneak a glance at Jill, who had been trailing behind us, sulking the entire way. “Nah. I’m fine. Thanks so much for your help. I really appreciate it.”

  “Any time.”

  For a few seconds, we stood there in silence as we stared at each other. I wanted to say something else to her, but for the first time since I could remember, I was at a loss for words. For some reason, I didn’t want to sound too forward with her. I wanted desperately to fuck her, but I knew that this was one of the few times in my life that such a confession would not be appropriate.

  Then Jill gave a loud groan, purposely breaking the tension-charged silence between me and this brunette.

  A wave of annoyance rushed through me at Jill’s attitude. But my irritation instantly ebbed away when the brunette broke out in a fit of giggles, causing me to join her in laughter. There was no logical reason why we were laughing, and yet, it felt natural, as if there was a joke that only the two of us were in on. Jill stared at us incredulously, and stormed up the stairs. Shit, she’s not leaving but heading to my apartment, I thought with regret.

  I pushed away my thoughts of Jill and turned my attention back to this brunette. I gave a chuckle as I realized something.

  “What?” She looked at me in confusion.

  “You know what, I think that was the first time in as long as I could remember that I’ve laughed like that.” I was surprised by my honesty, but it was true. I felt as if a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I realized that this was a real laugh—unadulterated and all-consuming.

  “Well, you know what that means, right?” She looked at me and there was innocence in her eyes that drew me in.

  “What?”

  “You need to laugh more often then,” she teased.

  “Touché.” I chuckled.

  She then looked at her suitcases and back at me. “Well, thank again for all your help. I should head inside now.” She motioned to her front door as she dug through her tote for her keys.

  “It was no problem.” I felt a t
inge of disappointment that I couldn’t stay longer.

  She gave me one last smile before she said goodbye and walked into her apartment with her suitcases. Her smile was like a bright beam of sunshine that radiated through my body. It was full of sentiment and meaning, and for some inexplicable reason, I was drawn to it like a moth to flame.

  Then a thought popped into my head: I didn’t even get her name and a part of me didn’t know why that mattered. What I did know was, she was like a drug—she was my drug, and I was high on it. I was already hooked.

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  I hope you enjoyed the prequel novella to the two-part series The Heartbreaker. DAMIAN, book one of the series is currently available. TAMING DAMIAN, book two of the series, is scheduled to be released in early March 2014. If you would like to stay informed of the release date, as well as other releases, teasers, and news on my upcoming books, please sign up for Jessica Wood’s mailing list.

  Other Books

  If you would like to stay informed of new releases, teasers, and news on my upcoming books, please sign up for Jessica Wood’s mailing list and visit me at my website: http://jessicawoodauthor.com.

  If you enjoyed reading The Heartbreaker, I would love it if you could help others enjoy this novel as well by recommending and/or reviewing this novel.

  Below are the links to my other titles:

  Emma’s Story: Book #1: A Night to Forget

  Emma’s Story: Book #2: The Day to Remember

  Emma’s Story Box Set

  Summer Fling

  Damian

  ***

  Here is a list of my upcoming releases:

  Taming Damian – early March 2014

  Forever Broken – early 2014

  XOXO – early 2014

  ***

  Below is a synopsis for Damian:

  Meet Damian Castillo. The man, the legend, the heartbreaker.

  As a self-proclaimed man-whore, Damian doesn't believe in love or commitment. In fact, he can't remember the last time he's had feeling for a woman that went beyond hot, no-strings-attached sex. The only things he cares about are his bar, his appearance, and his needs.