“Yeah, Tasha, I really do.”
“You do know they drink other drinks on Sex and the City, right? They even sometimes drink beer.” A feigned look of shock rushed over her face. “Oh the horror!”
“I’m not drinking it because of Sex and the City.”
Tasha flattened her lips. “That’s what you said about that jean jacket you bought two weeks ago.”
A smile squeaked past Brooke’s lips, the first one in what seemed like forever. She appreciated Tasha’s attempts to get her mind off things and took another sip – determined to stop thinking for at least an hour or two – and joined Tasha in surveying the busy rock bar. Wooly’s was known for loud music, stiff drinks, and guys with attitudes – all of which made Tasha’s to-do list for the night.
She scooted to the edge of her chair. “I’m totally serious about testing someone out tonight.”
“You are not sleeping with some strange guy just to see if he can get it up or not!”
“I didn’t say I was going to sleep with him!” Tasha brushed a long strand of dirty blond hair over her shoulder and tried to look regal. “I’m just going to give him a hand job.”
Brooke shook her head. “You make my problems seem small.”
Tasha craned her neck to see past the pool tables. “How about that guy over there?”
Brooke followed Tasha’s gaze and scrunched her face up in revulsion. “He’s three hundred pounds.”
“I know, but if I can’t get a guy like that hard, then I’ll know I’m cursed for sure and can start working on a way to reverse it.”
“You’ll probably give him a heart attack.”
“Don’t say that. That’ll just validate the curse.” She picked up her glass and tipped it back, sucking on an ice cube.
“Why do you think you’re cursed?”
Tasha set the glass back down and crossed her legs, hedging before speaking. “I just do.”
“Why? What did you do to deserve such a curse?”
She swallowed thickly. “I had sex with a married man.”
Brooke inhaled sharply. “What?” she shrieked. “Who? When?”
“It was right after Craig dumped me. I was out with Jo and Kim and on the rebound. Hard.”
“Did you know he was married?”
Tasha nodded slowly, shamefaced and unable to look Brooke in the eye. “I was drunk and pissed and didn’t care. It was stupid! I know.”
Brooke leaned back in the chair and let it all sink in. “That is so horrible.”
“I felt so bad afterward and swore I would never do that again, but…” She trailed off to curb the tears welling in her eyes. “But it’s too late for forgiveness now.”
“You’re being ridiculous. There are no such things as curses.”
“That’s what we’re about to find out. Hey, what about that guy with the hair? He’s kinda hot.”
Brooke took a casual drink and a fleeting look at the guy staring at them from across the bar. His dark spiky hair and ear rings were right up Tasha’s alley.
“Look how he’s looking at us. I bet I could get him hard as a rock.”
Brooke swallowed an ice cube and started choking.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded, coughing into her hand. “Wrong pipe.”
Tasha frowned. “Don’t say wrong pipe! That’s a bad omen.”
“Hey, Tasha.”
They looked up to see a completely different guy – this one with a blond ponytail and blue eyes - smiling down at them.
“Long time no see,” he said.
Tasha brightened her smile and batted her long lashes. “Hi Ryan! How are you?”
“I’m good. What’s it been? Two years?”
“At least.”
“You look amazing.”
She blushed a little in the bar’s soft light, her eyes traveling down his tight t-shirt, the front of which was loosely tucked into his jeans. “So do you.”
He turned to Brooke. “Hi Brooke.”
“Ryan,” she said, her enthusiasm paling in comparison to Tasha.
His eyes floated back to Tasha, who was running a hand through her blond locks. “You never called me back.”
A look of sorrow quickly replaced her bashful grin. “I’m so sorry, my iPhone was stolen and I lost all of my contacts.”
Brooke made sure Ryan wasn’t looking when she rolled her eyes.
“That sucks.”
Tasha patted the chair next to her. “Have a seat.”
He looked over his shoulder to a glass door leading to a patio where the table and chairs had already vacated the premises for the impending winter. “Actually, I was just going outside to have a quick smoke. You want one?”
“I quit, but I’ll give you a hand.” She got up and shot Brooke a sinister wink. “I’ll be right back,” she said, taking her drink and following Ryan outside.
Brooke shook her head and felt her phone vibrate in her purse. She pulled it out and read the text message from Evy.
U still out? Richie went to meet his friends and I’m bored.
Brooke texted her back and slipped the cell into her purse, looking up to see the spiky hair guy with earrings standing over her, a sly grin cutting into his dimply cheeks.
“You look so lonely over here.”
She smiled politely back. “My boyfriend’s on the way. He just texted me.”
“Maybe I should keep you company till he gets here. Keep the wolves at bay.” He pasted a cocky smile across his face.
“Probably not a good idea. He has a short fuse.”
He chuckled. “Wouldn’t you rather have a guy with a long fuse?”
Brooke arched an eyebrow at him. “Oh come on, you can do better than that, slick.”
His dark eyes tightened.
“I mean, I know I’m not exactly royalty over here but I do require a certain amount of…finesse. What else you got?” She took a drink and patiently awaited his response.
He ran a tongue across his teeth like maybe he had something stuck in them, inhaled deeply and opened his mouth to speak.
She shot a finger into the air. “Please tell me you’re not going to ask if I come here often, because that simply will not do.”
His trap slowly shut. He glanced at her drink and opened his mouth again, bringing Brooke’s finger rising back into the air like a pirate flag on a ship.
“No, I don’t want a drink,” she said, cheering him with her cosmo. “Mine’s almost full.”
***
Tasha shivered as a cold breeze swept past. She tried pulling her dress down lower but it barely covered her panties. “It’s too cold out here. Let’s get in your car and turn up the heat.”
Ryan stopped the flame just before it reached the cigarette. His thumb let off the lighter. He glanced to his car in the parking lot. “Yeah?”
She nodded violently. “I’m freezing!”
He slowly lowered the lighter, the unlit smoke dangling in his lips. “Okay,” he said, pushing through a black iron gate.
She followed him into the busy lot, her high heels clicking across the pavement. The headlights and taillights flashed on a Toyota Four Runner in front of them and Tasha wasted no time hopping inside. Ryan climbed in behind the wheel and brought the engine to life, turning on the heater and her heated seat.
She blew into her hands and rubbed them together. “Damn, I hate the cold.”
“Won’t be long before we get some snow.”
“Don’t say that,” she said, staring forlornly out the front windshield. “I miss summer already.”
He snorted and lit the smoke. “Me too.”
“It seems like just yesterday I was prancing around in a bikini out at the lake.”
Smoke streamed from his nostrils as he cracked a window. “Gotta love prancing around in bikinis.”
She smiled and nonchalantly followed his gaze to the hem of her dress, where a pair of lacey purple panties were peeking out. She pretended not to notice. “Someday I want to go to
a topless beach. You ever been?”
He shook his head, watching her adjust the dress’ low cut top. “Not sure I’m ready for that kind of commitment.”
She laughed. “I don’t care if people see me naked. I mean, you did.”
Ryan exhaled a stream of smoke out the window, the car heating up already. “I certainly did.”
She grinned, the seat warming her buttocks.
He grinned back. “And if I remember right, you lounged around naked the entire next morning.”
“I hate wearing clothes. My dad says that when I was little I was always losing my shirts.”
Ryan chuckled. “Usually that doesn’t start happening until people discover tequila.”
She laughed and gently slapped his arm. “Ooh, have you been working out?”
He fidgeted in the seat. “A little.”
“You’re so strong,” she said, squeezing his bicep.
An aw-shucks grin slid across his face.
“So what else have you been up to?” She kicked off her heels and put her bare feet on the dash, giving him a much better look up her dress.
Ryan swallowed hard, his eyes drawn to those purple panties like bees to honey. “Well, actually I just started dating someone last month.”
Tasha made an O-face. “Oh, that’s so sad.” Her hand casually came to a rest on his thigh in a consoling type of gesture, like he had just told her someone had died. “What’s her name?”
“Audrey.”
“Well, lucky Audrey.” Her hand eased down the inside of his leg. “And where is Audrey now?”
Ryan scooted against the door and quickly ran out of room. “She’s helping her sister move to Minneapolis for a couple days.”
“And left you here all alone?”
A sheepish smile revealed his rows of white teeth. “I’m with my friends.” He nodded to the bar. “In fact, I should probably get back inside.” He flicked the cigarette out the window and sucked in a quick breath when her hand seized his groin. He pressed against the door, eyes bulging. “What’re you doing?”
Tasha massaged the swelling in his pants. “Just keeping Audrey’s seat warm.”
Ryan grabbed her by the wrist and pulled. “I can’t do this, Tasha. I’m sorry, but I really like her.”
“Ryan, listen to me, we’re not doing anything. I’m just going to give you a quick hand job and then you can go on your merry way. No strings attached.” Her hand slithered back into his lap, making him flinch. “We will pretend like none of this ever happened. I promise.”
“Not a good idea,” he replied, seizing her wrist again.
This time Tasha held her ground, rubbing the stiffening bulge in his jeans. “Let me do this for you. Just five minutes,” she said, smiling as he grew in her hand. “It’s just a quick experiment. Completely professional.”
His face fell. “You’re a hooker now?”
“What?” She laughed. “No silly! It’s a long story, but you just sit back and enjoy the ride.”
Ryan snapped his head around when a car’s headlights splashed across them like it could be Audrey pulling into the lot. He turned back around when he heard his zipper go down, his chest undulating beneath his tight t-shirt. “This is a really bad idea.”
Tasha ignored him and pulled his swollen cock through his unzipped fly. “He doesn’t seem to think so.” She throttled him with her warm hand and stroked, sweeping a tongue across her shiny lips, admiring her handy work. “Looks like he still remembers me.”
“He thinks about you a lot,” Ryan panted, watching her hand rise and fall in his lap.
“Oh yeah? What’s he thinking now?”
***
Evy plopped down in Tasha’s seat and ordered a glass of wine from the waitress.
“So what was Richie up to tonight?” Brooke asked, taking a slow sip of her third cosmo, which was making her feel better already.
“Well, we went to dinner and a movie and then he went out with his friends.”
Brooke frowned, heavy music filling the silence between them. “Doesn’t that freak you out a little?”
“No. Why?”
Brooke glanced at her watch. “Because nothing good happens to boyfriends in bars after midnight. It’s Darwinism at its finest.”
Evy crossed her legs and wagged a black boot through the air like a nervous tail. “I have nothing to worry about when it comes to Richie. Trust me.”
Brooke’s eyebrows rose into the middle of her forehead. She took another drink to help swallow what she wanted to say next.
“Where’s Tasha?”
Brooke set the glass down. “Out giving some guy a hand job in the parking lot.”
“Oh, good for her.”
Brooke busted up laughing and then grew silent. “So why did you come here anyway?” she asked, scoping the place out for a sign of her friend. “It’s way past your bedtime.”
Evy leaned in closer. “Can I tell you something, and you promise to keep it a secret?”
Brooke turned back to her and blinked blankly. “Sure.”
***
Tasha furrowed her brow and worked harder, her breath coming in rapid spurts. “What’s happening?”
Ryan gritted his teeth, watching her hand go to town on him. “I don’t know.”
“You were getting hard just a minute ago!” She stroked faster, his penis retreating into its uncircumcised self like a tortoise head.
“It’s starting to hurt.”
She stopped long enough to spit in her hand and then got back to work.
He pressed against the steering wheel with both hands and pushed into the seat. “I’m too nervous.”
“Nervous about what?”
His eyes roamed the darkened parking lot. “Getting caught with my dick in your hand.”
“Maybe you’ve just had too much to drink.”
“I was on my second beer.”
A low groan rumbled past Tasha’s lips. “Shut up and concentrate.” Her hand slid up and down his wrinkled shaft. “You wanna squeeze my tits? Here.” She placed his hand on her right breast.
Ryan squeezed weakly.
“You’re not going to break it, Ryan!”
He squeezed a little harder but not much.
She brought her bare foot up from the floorboard. “You wanna suck on my toes? I remember you being a foot guy.” She stuck her foot in his mouth and slowed her hand down a bit. “Is that better?”
Ryan slowly nodded while timidly rubbing her breast, her toes stuffed in his mouth. “A liffle.”
“Ooh, that is better,” she said brightly, watching him start to grow in her hand again.
***
“I found out Richie has been messaging some blond girl named Emma on Facebook.”
In a flash, Brooke’s green eyes turned darker. “Emma? Who the hell is that?”
“No idea.”
“You think he’s cheating on you?”
Evy leaned back and massaged a temple. “I don’t know what I think.”
A few seconds clicked by, the bar’s bubbly patrons getting louder by the minute, the nearly packed dance floor on the other side of the room a sure sign of it getting late.
“What did they say?”
“He told her he wanted to apologize for what happened.”
Brooke’s eyebrows dipped. “Apologize for what?”
“Don’t know, but she told him it was water under the bridge.”
“And?”
“And that was it.”
Brooke leaned back into the armchair. “That is so weird.”
“Right?”
“Wait, why were you on his Facebook page?”
Evy exhaled a sour breath. “Because he left it open like an idiot. I wasn’t prying.”
“Maybe it’s nothing then if he left it open like that.”
Evy’s boot wagged faster. “Maybe.”
Their eyes met, a silent understanding passing between them.
“He’s cheating on you, Ev.”
&nbs
p; “You don’t know that!”
“He seems like the cheating kind.”
Evy wrinkled her face. “What makes you say that?”
“He has wandering eyes. Always checking out other women whenever we all go out somewhere for dinner or something.” She paused to consider it further. “If he’s not sick, that is.”
“You are jumping to conclusions as usual.”
“Are you going to confront him?”
Evy finished her drink and set it down. “I think I have to, don’t I?”
“Of course you have to. If you don’t, your mind will constantly imagine the worst.”
“It already is,” Evy said, getting to her heels. “I have to use the restroom. Order me another one if she comes back.”
Brooke leaned into the comfy chair, her eyes surfing the crowd in search of Tasha and landing on the guy with dark spiky hair and earrings standing right next to her.
“Your boyfriend is pretty hot.” His sly grin stretched from ear to ear across his pasty skin.
“She’s my sister and my boyfriend will be here any minute.”
He held out his hand. “Dance with me until he shows up.”
“No thanks, I’m trying to quit.”
He wiggled his fingers. “Come on, I’m not taking no for an answer.”
Her gaze turned icy on a dime. “Since you have a hard time taking a hint, I’ll make myself clear. Go fuck yourself, asshole.”
He leaned down and rested his hands on the table, glaring into her startled eyes. “Look, I get it. You wanna play hard to get and I applaud the effort. But let’s drop the bullshit charade and get serious. We both know we want this. I see it in your eyes.”
“Those are called contacts, idiot, and if you don’t get out of my face I’m going to cut your dick off.”
He grinned at her for a passing moment that lasted way too long. “Now, we’re getting somewhere.” He straightened back up and grabbed her hand. “Come on,” he said, jerking his chin to the dance floor and pulling on her arm. “One dance.”
Brooke yanked her hand back and threw her drink in his crotch. He jumped back and held his arms out, watching his faded jeans darken.
“Uh-oh, looks like somebody needs to be changed,” she smirked.
He looked up, anger dancing in his eyes. “You fucking bitch!” He grabbed her cocktail napkin, shoved it in her hand and pressed it to the wet spot in his pants. “That what you want, huh? You wanna clean my junk?”
Brooke & Ben: Before Fate Interrupted Page 7
