Live Like You Mean It

by Ava Stone

  “Desolate Sun.” Her gray eyes lit up and she pushed back slightly in her chair. “I do know who you are!” she said.

  I won’t lie. The fact that she knew me was a jolt to my ego. We played at least every Friday or Saturday somewhere in Wheston and sometimes on weeknights too. We were fairly well known on campus. But usually I had to work a little harder than just handing out one of our cards to seal the deal, so to speak.

  “It’s a great band,” I said, hoping I didn’t come off like a dick. But the band was good…Well, whenever our lead singer could manage to hit the right fucking chords and whenever our drummer’s vindictive ex-girlfriend didn’t show up ready to start a free-for-all.

  “Yeah. Jason loves it,” she said and pushed her long dark hair over one shoulder.

  Jason? Jackass, no-work-ethic Jason? I felt sick all of a sudden. She couldn’t be dating our lead singer, could she? That just didn’t seem fair. Might be why the dickhead missed practice so often though. I might miss practice too if she was waiting for me. “Jason Cole?”

  She grinned from ear to ear. Damn, she was even prettier when she smiled. What rotten fucking luck. “My brother’s best friend,” she said, which made me feel a whole lot better until she added, “He’s told me all about you, Brody Campbell.”

  Fuck.

  Then that was one lay that was never going to happen. Neither Jason nor I ever had anything nice to say about each other. So I pushed back to my feet and tucked my wallet back in my pocket with my good hand. “Well, thanks for filling out the form for me.”

  She frowned and shook her head as if she was confused all of a sudden. Her long dark hair tumbled over her shoulders, partially blocking my view of her tits. “When do you play next?”

  Did that mean Jason hadn’t unwittingly cockblocked me? I shrugged and glanced down at my hand. “Guess it’ll depend on how bad this is.” If I’d broken something during the Pi Kapp throwdown, I could be on the sidelines for a while. Though that thought hadn’t occurred to me until that moment. Shit.

  She sat forward in her chair and peered closer at my hand. Damn if the proximity of her face to my dick didn’t make me hard as steel. “Doctor Dearing will get you fixed up,” she said, seemingly unaware of what she was doing to me. “Best ER doctor in Virginia, my dad always said.”

  I didn’t know who her dad was, but I hoped he was right. Actually, I didn’t know who she was, for that matter. She wasn’t wearing a name badge and there wasn’t a nameplate on the reception desk, at least not one that I’d spotted yet. “So, you want to tell me your name?”

  Her smile lit up the waiting room once more. “Leah Willett.”

  Damn, there was something about her. “How late are you here tonight, Leah?”

  “Should have been gone an hour ago. As soon as my relief gets here, I’m headed home.”

  Fuck her boyfriend. I could reach for the brass ring right now. Tonight. “Pretty sure my roommate’s gonna be in lockup tonight. If you want to see my place, we could have it all to ourselves.”

  A laugh escaped her, which wasn’t exactly the reaction I was hoping for. “I have a test in the morning. I’ll be up all night studying for it, but thanks for the offer.”

  At least she hadn’t mentioned her boyfriend, which I considered promising.

  Standing in line at the local Publix, my cell chirped with a text, and then another one before I could dig my phone out of my purse. What in the world?

  I fumbled around until I got my hands on my phone and it dinged a third time. The display was lit up with three texts from Toni.

  Hey… I’d call, but Abby’s on the warpath about personal calls tonight.

  Yeah, Abby was on the warpath about a lot of things these days.

  Sexy guy, bandaged hand. Asked about you on his way out. HOT!!!

  My heart leapt. It shouldn’t have. I had heard quite a bit about Brody Campbell, after all. He was an asshole, according to Jason. And a player. That last part I would have figured out on my own, though. He had asked me back to his apartment and didn’t know the first thing about me or who I was. If I’d met him a few years ago, I probably would have taken him up on that offer and to hell with the consequences. But that’s not who I was anymore. And the last thing I needed in my life was a player. Certainly the last thing Aiden needed.

  Found his driver’s license on the desk. You wanna return it to him?

  His driver’s license? I hadn’t given it back! Shit! If Abby found out… I groaned and the checkout lady frowned at me.

  “You all right, honey?”

  I pasted on a smile and shrugged as I held up my phone. “Work.”

  She nodded as though that explained everything.

  I sent a message back to Toni. See if he shows up for it before you go home. Otherwise, I’ll pick it up on my way to class in the morning. If Brody didn’t come back for it, I could give it to Jason tomorrow. Abby would never have to know I helped the guy fill out his form or neglected to give him his ID back.

  Go for it, Leah!

  Go for it? Toni was out of her mind, hopeless romantic that she was.

  I paid for the groceries, loaded them into my Civic and started for home. I wished Starbucks was still open as a lot of caffeine was going to be needed tonight. Dad might have once been a brilliant doctor, but rehashing proteins and proteomics would probably knock me out cold. Hopefully, Mom still had some K-cups at home, since I hadn’t bought any at the store. Why hadn’t I picked up any? Because I was stretched too thin and my mind was overloaded, that’s why.

  I pulled up to a stop light near the university and waited for it to turn green. Actually, I was right next to Fraternity Row. Even with my windows up, I could hear music wafting down the street and laughter filtering from the houses, the sounds of my classmates enjoying this time in their lives with abandon.

  The light turned and the sounds of exuberant students faded away under the roar of my car’s engine and the distance I put between them and me. Not for the first time, I wished I could be part of that scene, that my responsibilities were fewer. But my responsibilities were exactly what they were, and even if I wished I’d done things differently when I was younger, I never regretted having Aiden. I only wish he’d come along when I was a little older, when I had my shit more together.

  I turned into my neighborhood, which was deathly silent. The complete opposite of Fraternity Row in every way. An occasional porch light illuminated the streets like glowing, stray dots. It was the only sign of life. Everyone in Somerset Downs was in bed. Everyone had been for quite a while. It was an established, old East Coast money kind of neighborhood filled with doctors, professors and well-paid professionals. I’ve lived here all my life, but I couldn’t stay forever.

  I pulled into the drive, grabbed the groceries, my purse and biology book and started for the door. Slowly. I probably could have made two trips to the car and back in less time, but it’s always a matter of pride with me. If I can carry everything in one trip, I’ll do it in one trip. Even if I have to inch up the sidewalk to the door in order to do so.

  My keys jingled in my hand as I strained to unlock the door and not drop everything in my overloaded arms. My success was short-lived, however. As soon as I got the door open, Winston, our rebellious, fifteen-pound tuxedo cat bolted between my legs, knocking me off balance and sent everything in my arms crashing to the ground at my feet. It was a miracle I didn’t fall myself.

  “Winston!” I hissed, turning back to the front yard. Damn that cat. He knew he wasn’t allowed outside. “Winston!”

  I let out an exasperated sigh. I didn’t have time to chase that stubborn ball of fur under bushes or over neighbors’ fences all night. I had a test and… And if Winston got lost my mother would never forgive me. Sometimes I think she loves that cat more than her own children.

  “Winston!”

  He meowed somewhere close to my back tires. So I crept in the general direction of his sounds, hoping not to spook him so he wouldn’t bolt somewhere else.
I bent down beside my car, and sure enough, golden cat eyes stared back at me from just far enough under the rear bumper that I couldn’t reach him.

  “Winston,” I coaxed softly. “Come here, boy. I’ve got a treat for you.”

  Winston yawned, but he made no effort to move in my direction. Damn him.

  “You know you left your front door wide open?” came a deep voice from behind me.

  I gasped in surprise and then bolted back to my feet.

  “Jesus, Jason!” My hand flew to my heart and I shook my head. “You took a year off my life.”

  “Sorry,” he laughed. Then he gestured toward the car with a tilt of his dark head. “Need some help?”

  “Winston got out again,” I said. And Winston’s escapes were getting old very quickly these days. For years, the cat had happily spent his time inside with no desire to roam the outdoors and then one day, it was like a flip switched in his little feline head. And ever since, he’d spent every hour he wasn’t napping, plotting one escape plan or another like a prisoner in a super-max penitentiary.

  “Watch the master, Leah.” Jason winked at me. Then he sidled up to the back of my car, dropped to his haunches and said very softly, “Oh, Winston, look at you. Such a handsome boy.”

  Winston meowed.

  The traitor. After all, the cat had lived at my house ever since he was weaned. I could call and beg him all night long to come out from under the car to no avail. But Jason just croons in his direction and Winston starts meowing. Of course, there was more than one girl who might meow if Jason crooned in her direction, though I doubted he even realized that fact. He was just so…nice.

  “Come here, pretty boy,” he urged. “That’s right. Good boy!” And then Jason rose back to his full height with Winston in his arms like he belonged there.

  “You wanna keep him?” I asked, annoyed with the cat even though I was relieved he’d been caught.

  Jason laughed. “Your mother would cry herself to sleep every night without this cat.”

  “I might be willing to take that chance,” I grumbled.

  “Here.” He stepped around the car and pressed a purring Winston into my arms. “I’ll get everything you left at the door.”

  And then he scooped up my purse, my book, and my groceries. “You don’t have to carry it all at once, you know?” he teased.

  “It’s more efficient to do it all at once.”

  “Uh-huh.” He stepped into my darkened house in front of me.

  I closed the door behind us and then put Winston back on the floor. “Nice try, escape artist.”

  Winston’s tail pointed upward as though he was quite pleased with himself. He took a few steps, and then dropped onto the foyer tiles and started giving himself a bath. I rolled my eyes and went straight for the kitchen.

  Jason was already unloading my groceries as if he lived there. But after all these years, he did know where everything went. As soon as he spotted me, he lifted up the bag of pork rinds and made a face. “Gross.”

  “Yeah. Tell my mom, would ya?” I opened the next bag and retrieved Aiden’s Cheerios and then a box of granola bars. “What are you doing here in the middle of the night, Jase?”

  He shrugged a bit. “Thought I’d stay with Mom tonight. She’s got another round of chemo in the morning. Figured if she saw me over the breakfast table I could distract her from thinking about it.”

  “She’s doing all right?” I asked. Mrs. Cole had been battling breast cancer very bravely. It was a battle she was losing. I never saw her exterior crack, though. She seemed just as determined to persevere as she had when she’d first been diagnosed. But in her own home, away from the rest of the world, where she could be vulnerable, she probably was.

  “So far,” he replied, taking the Cheerios from the counter and putting them high in the pantry. He seemed worried about something. After all the stuff with his mom, being worried was understandable.

  “You want some coffee?” I asked, even though I had a test I needed to study for. But if Jason needed an ear…

  He snorted. “You know it’s three in the morning, right?”

  I nodded. “I gotta pull an all-nighter.”

  “I’ll just have some water.”

  So I handed Jason a bottled water from the fridge and was happy to discover we still had some K-cups left for me in the cupboard. “You been keeping busy?” I asked, turning back around as I hit the start button on the Keurig and it started to whirr.

  He dropped into a seat at the kitchen table. “Played a gig tonight.”

  “Oh?” An image of Brody Campbell in that tight shirt and those blue eyes flashed in my mind, but I bit back a smile. The last guy I should be thinking about was Brody Campbell. But he was there in the back of my mind, just the same.

  Jason snorted. “If you can call it that. Cade Bishop officially lost whatever was left of his mind. Knocked his drums over and jumped into the crowd to pound on a guy who was feeling up his ex-girlfriend.”

  “Oh my God. I can’t even imagine.” These were the things I missed being tucked away in Somerset Downs, huh?

  “You can probably find it on YouTube.” He shook his head. “Turned into one giant fist fight. The cops showed up…”

  That explained a few things. “Yeah.” I nodded. “I met Brody Campbell tonight. He came into the ER with his hand.”

  “Sorry you had to meet him,” he muttered under his breath, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

  “He didn’t seem that bad, Jase. He seemed pretty nice, actually.”

  Jason leveled me with his all-knowing green eyes. “Yeah, he’s always pretty nice to pretty girls until he isn’t anymore.”

  I hated to think that was true. There was something about Brody. It was hard to shake the way he’d made me feel. Like I was pretty and young and… Things I hadn’t felt in a long time.

  “Well, anyway,” I said, “he left his driver’s license at the hospital. If I give it to you tomorrow, can you give it back to him for me?”

  The Keurig went silent and I turned back to the counter to grab my cup.

  “I have no plans to see him. He should go back to the hospital and pick it up himself.”

  And get me in trouble in the process. Fine. I’d just return it to him after my test. Ugh! My test! I had five hours to get ready for it. Five hours that were quickly slipping away.

  Pounding. Someone or something was pounding on…something. Or maybe it was just in my head. I blinked one eye open to find morning light filtering into my bedroom.

  More pounding. Or knocking. It might be knocking.

  Fuck.

  I opened both eyes. Someone was knocking on the front door. What the hell? I was trying to sleep! Inconsiderate jackass!

  I scrubbed a hand across my face and the knocking continued. “Damn it, already!” I barked.

  The knocking stopped. Thank God. I was not a morning person. Not at all. I rubbed my head as I slid out of bed. The fucking apartment better be on fire. I started for the hallway, then turned into the main room, which was bright as hell. Then I hauled open the door, ready to tear into whoever…

  God.

  What was she doing here? I shook my head, trying to organize my thoughts and make sure I wasn’t dreaming. ‘Cause I’d been dreaming about her all night and it didn’t make any sense that she was here, right now at my apartment. “Leah?” I asked.

  She blushed again. Just like she had last night, and I couldn’t help but smile as I looked her over. The dream version of Leah Willett didn’t do the real life version justice at all. Creamy skin, long dark hair, and the most sensual mouth. The things I could do with that mouth…

  “I-I didn’t mean to wake you,” she said nervously, looking away from me.

  And then I realized, I only had my boxers on. And, of course, I’d woken up with a hard-on. “Yeah, no big deal.” My smile only got wider. “Decided to see the place after all, huh? Come in, come in. I’ll give you the grand tour.” I stepped to the side to make room for her. />
  But she shook her head and reached her hand out to me instead. “You left this last night. I just wanted to make sure you got it back.”

  My driver’s license? I was out of it last night. When I reached out to retrieve it from her, my bandaged hand pulsed like hell. I must have made some sort of a noise or something because her gray eyes lifted to mine.

  “Are you all right?” she asked softly.

  “Stitches,” I replied, shaking my hand a little. It hurt like hell, but I didn’t want her to think I was a pussy.

  “Oh!” She winced slightly. “It still hurts, huh?”

  I shrugged. “I’m fine.” But I reached out with my left hand instead for my license, and my fingers brushed against hers. A jolt coursed through me, igniting my senses like nothing else. My morning hard-on wasn’t going to disappear anytime soon, not with her right there.

  “You didn’t have to do that,” I said, gesturing to my driver’s license. But the fact that she had gone out of her way to return it to me said louder than words that she’d wanted to see me again just as badly as I’d wanted to see her. Well, she could come right inside and see every inch of me if she wanted.

  “No problem.” She smiled and started to turn away from me, which wasn’t what I wanted at all.

  Damn it. She’d disappear if I couldn’t stop her from leaving. “I can throw some clothes on, if you want to come in for a minute.”

  But she shook her head. “Tempting as that is, I gotta get home. I haven’t even been to bed yet.”

  “Well, I’ve got a bed,” I said smoothly, “You know, if you want to borrow it for a while. I’ll even stay with you if you want.”

  She laughed and the sound rippled through me.

  “I won’t even touch you,” I promised. “Unless you ask nicely.”

  She laughed again and shook her head. Her long dark hair swayed against her shoulders and there was nothing more I wanted just then than to run my fingers through her locks.

  “You are a player, Brody Campbell,” she accused without heat.