“You got it! Thanks!” He jumped in like those guys in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off who went joy riding. I tapped the window and shook my head. His face fell and he nodded.
On my way to JCT Kitchen’s entrance a crack of thunder exploded like something out of a horror film. I looked up and shivered. Not because storms scared me. It was the opposite — I loved them. Hell, I was born in Atlanta and the crazy weather patterns were a part of my DNA. But I had this weird feeling I couldn’t shake. Digging my phone from my jacket I called Charlie again. Still no answer.
Didn’t leave a message that time and swore under my breath as I hung up, hurrying my steps until I was inside. Ben was already there, but he was by himself. “She in the bathroom?”
He was leaning on the bar and he pushed off to give me a one-armed hug. “Not here yet.”
“She cool with sitting outside in a hurricane?”
“You kidding? She loves this shit. Turns her on. That’s the problem. I think it’s why she called me today. You have shackles to bind my legs with?”
I laughed, eyebrows cocked. “If she’s that good just go for it.”
“Been there, done that way too much. You want an Orpheus?” I nodded and Ben motioned to the bartender to make it two. We both checked our phones at the same time, caught each other and rolled our eyes. He muttered, “Women,” and waited in silence for our beers.
“Well, if it isn’t the cocky fuckheads!”
Ben and I looked over and saw Brock Tyson sitting at the end of the bar. He was wasted. We exchanged a look and stayed where we were but Brock climbed off his stool, itching for a fight.
“Shit,” Ben muttered. “We going to do this again?”
“Looks like it,” I sighed.
The bartender warily watched Brock before locking eyes with me. I shook my head for him to stay out of it. We could handle this.
Brock’s tie was askew, but the rest of his suit didn’t have a wrinkle. He raked a scathing sneer down our casual wardrobes. My cousin and I were both in jeans and T-shirts, as usual. Only his were faded and his boots were weathered from the farm while mine were more stylish.
“What are you guys doing in a fancy restaurant like this, looking like a couple o’ losers, huh?”
Ben chuckled, “Hey Ethan, you’re the first billionaire who’s ever been called a loser.”
“I’m wounded,” I smirked. “Brock, why don’t you go back to your seat and let sleeping dogs lie.”
He slurred, “My dog’s awake!”
Ben rubbed his face while I exhaled loudly.
Brock started doing this little mocking dance, pointing all over the place as he said, “Oh look at me, I’m Ethan Cocker. I have everything! Woohooo! I’m sooooooooo special!” He took a sloppy swing.
I ducked and flipped him around in a headlock where he was facing Ben. I pushed his head up since Ben was so fucking tall — six-foot-six, the tallest of us cousins. “Now Brock, you’re making Ben here feel left out by making fun of only me. Why don’t you tell him what you think of him, too.”
Brock gurgled something unintelligible.
I loosened my hold and Ben leaned in just a hair. “What was that. We don’t speak Preppy.”
Brock growled, “Fuck you, Ben! You fucking Cocker piece of shit!”
Ben looked at the bartender and said, “We’re just going to take this outside.” He called out to the restaurant that had grown silent behind us. “Sorry everyone. Deepest apologies.”
It was a struggle but Ben grabbed his legs and we managed to carry Brock out kicking and swearing like he needed an exorcism.
Lightning lit up the sky and thunder crackled as the door shut behind us. Ben let go of his legs and I shoved Brock away from me. He stumbled into the rain and pointed to where we stood under the awning. “I hate you guys. I fuckin’ hate all of you!”
Ben dialed Lyft on his app. “Brock, I’m getting you home. You’re welcome.”
“I’m not going anywhere!” He charged me. “Charlie is mine!”
It was too easy, but I had to do it anyway. I reared my fist back and punched him. Blood shot out of his nose and his legs wilted.
From the ground he gurgled, “You broke my nose! I love my nose!”
“Just stop!” I looked at Ben’s phone. “They comin’?”
“Four minutes.”
“I’ve got nothing better to do. You?”
“Nope.”
After he groaned for an annoyingly long time Brock stood up, and I readied myself. He covered his nose, holding up his other hand to stave me off. “No! Don’t hit me!”
“What a fuckin’ pussy,” Ben muttered. To me he asked, “Is Charlie your girl?”
“Yeah. I mean, maybe. No, she is.”
Brock mumbled, “She was mine.”
“She was never yours. Go find a woman who actually wants you. Jeezus.” To Ben I asked, “How many times does a guy have to learn a lesson before it sinks in?”
“Look at me and Summer,” he sighed, bringing it to my attention that we weren’t immune.
“Right.”
By the time we got Brock heading home to a huge bottle of aspirin, it was pouring pretty good. Ben and I hiked the stairs with a couple pints of Orpheus that the bartender paid for, and took a couple chairs under the overhang where it was dry. We had the best seats in town to watch the hurricane gain speed.
Guys don’t need to talk to be content. Only neither of us was truly comfortable, for separate obvious reasons. Finally I called it out. “I usually love storms. This one feels ominous.”
Ben’s long legs were bent and he scooted the left one closer to him as the rain threatened to reach his boot. Emerald eyes darkened as he looked at his phone. “Summer’s driving in this. That’s why she hasn’t texted.”
“Probably hellish traffic, too.”
“Yeah.” He set it on the table between us and sipped his beer. “Tell me about your girl.”
“She’s our age but acts fifty.”
He eyed me. “What?”
“She’s the C.E.O. of the corporation that hired me to…it doesn’t matter. But she runs the whole thing. Very mature. Classy. I’m crazy about her. Not Brock-crazy, but the good kind of nuts.”
Ben laughed as we both thought of a joke about our sacks. Since we knew what we were thinking we didn’t need to actually voice it aloud. It was funnier unsaid. “I always knew you’d pick a smart woman.”
I muttered from behind my pint glass. “Can you picture me with a twit?”
“No fucking way in hell,” he laughed. “Why isn’t she calling you?”
“Saw a video of me having sex with an intern.”
Ben sat up and cocked his head like someone kicked him. “How the fuck did that happen?”
I groaned, rubbed my face, and launched into the story. By the time I finished he was shaking his head over and over. “That is fucking crazy, Ethan.”
An odd feeling twisted my core and I put the beer down. “I don’t feel good, man. I feel… scared.”
“She’ll call you. If all that stuff happened in Scotland the way you said it did, she’s right where you are and you’re not going to lose her.”
“Then why do I have this feeling?” I punched my gut. “Right here?”
“Nerves?”
“Maybe,” I muttered. “Must be.”
We sat back in our chairs and felt the spray hit us. “Listen to that! That was the loudest crack of thunder I’ve ever heard,” he whispered.
“Amazing.”
But Summer never showed. We got burgers and hung out there for almost two hours waiting for her, just in case. Any other day I would’ve teased the fuck out of my cousin for waiting that long for a woman, but there I was checking my phone every ten minutes, so I had no right. Instead I hung out with him until he’d had enough.
“She’s not coming, Ethan. She set me up.”
“Or changed her mind.”
He exhaled through his nose, watching the storm that was full throttle.
“Maybe.”
“You’re going to text her? Because you haven’t yet.”
“You crazy? I’m relieved.”
I chuckled, “Liar.”
He joined me in the ironic laughter. “Alright I’m part relieved part disappointed! Thanks for pointing that out.”
“Anytime. We outta here?”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“I’m going to drive by Charlie’s, see if she’s there so I can clear this up. Does that make me a stalker?”
“It makes you brave.” We got up and hugged, slapping each other’s backs. “If she’s over you, and you go there again, then you’re a stalker. I’ve got the tab.”
“Good,” I muttered, “Because I’m broke.”
He laughed. “You’re such an asshole.”
Heading off I fought nausea and a sense of foreboding. They hadn’t left my gut.
The Valet made a move to get my car but I waved him away. “Just give me the keys, man. Stay under cover.”
I wanted the rain on me. I needed to wash away this feeling.
Charlie’s car wasn’t at her house. I jogged up to the front door and knocked, hair dripping and plastered to my face. Walking the length of her porch I peered in, but it was dark, not a single light on that I could see.
I pulled out my phone and called Wyntech. Felt like a desperate schoolboy but fuck it, what did I care how I looked to those people. Because the truth was I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.
A computer voice gave me so many options I wanted to wring her metallic neck. I muttered to myself, thunder shaking the windows behind me, “Corporations need to have an operator answer the damn phone. How many calls have they lost because someone didn’t want to go through their automated system?”
When it offered me a list of alphabetical extensions I hung up and roared into the storm.
28
ETHAN
How ya doin’?
You catch all that?
Yeah, we’re back in present fucked-up day. Everything’s been downloaded, so you know what a mess we’re in now, don’t you?
I’m a little jealous you were able to get inside Charlie’s head. Can you tell me why she hasn’t…
“Ethan! Come find me, Darling!”
Darling?
Oh shit, right.
I almost forgot.
Pink panties with the tiny red bow.
Sighing I aim my 9mm and head out, following the sound of that female voice.
Just hang back. Stay safe. Follow me if you’re curious but don’t blame me if you get hurt. You’re a volunteer.
You’re not like me.
I have no choice.
I have to be here.
This is my life.
“You wanna play hide and seek, Stacy? Is that the game you wanna play?”
Giggling echoes off the walls.
I never gave her my address.
So there’s that.
But if this chick could bypass my encryption code at Wyntech, she definitely has the skills to search its database for where I lay my head at night.
“Where are you hiding, you sneaky little cutie pie?”
“Where should I be hiding, Darling?”
“Oh, I don’t know, in the kitchen?”
“That’s sexist, honey bear. You are a bad boy!”
Can you believe this shit?
I’m a stupid boy, that’s what I am.
At my game room I stop in my tracks and hear you skidding to a stop with me. Don’t worry. She can’t see you. I don’t think.
Okay, wow.
There she is wearing a light brown wig, lying on my pool table in all her naked glory, one leg lifted high in the air. That’s not something you see every day.
Twirling her fingertips at me, Stacy purrs, “How’s my brother doing today? Did the widdle storm scare him?”
“Sorry?” I cock my head. “Your what?”
Grabbing a lock of fake hair she smiles, “I saw your sister come to the office to take you to lunch.”
“That was almost a month ago.”
“I could tell you want her, so I got this wig that’s like her hair. Pretend I’m Emma.”
My face contorts in disgust. “Okay, you have to go.”
Leaping up on her knees, Stacy is sucking her damn thumb. “Ever play doctor when you guys were little?”
“No! God, gross! You really need to get out of my house.”
She locks eyes with me. “Ethan, take me.”
“To jail maybe,” I mutter, waving the gun. “Look I don’t want to have to call the police, but if you don’t get the fuck out of my house, I will.”
“The door was unlocked. I thought you wanted me here!”
I can’t even begin to argue with the lunacy of that statement, but I’m going to try anyway. “I didn’t tell you where I live, Stacy!”
“You left it out in the open for me to find.”
“Oh yeah? How do you figure that?”
“It took me like only two seconds to hack Human Resources. Who is that standing behind you?”
Oops. Well, we knew she was smarter than I am.
“That’s someone reading my story. Focus on me, Stacy.”
“Like this?” Stretching out on the green wool she lifts her leg again and shows us both how remarkably waxed she is.
I’m so sorry.
“Don’t you want me again, Ethan?”
“Oh sure, right after you clean up the water damage you inflicted by opening all my fucking windows.”
A frown pierces her forehead for the first time. “I didn’t open any windows.”
“You need to get out of my house because you are clearly out of your mind. Yeah, you did.”
“It’s raining outside.”
“I know!” We stare at each other. “Stacy, did you walk through my house before I got home.”
“Yes.”
“Did you open the windows in my living room?”
“No, it’s raining.”
Rubbing my face, I mutter, “It’s not just raining. There’s a full blown…never mind. Were you in my bedroom?”
“I made love to myself on your bed.”
At least she’s honest about that.
“What a delightful image. After that, did you open the windows to air out your crazy?”
“Nope. But I took a really nice bath.”
A creaking floorboard makes all three of us jump.
Don’t follow too close.
I’ve got my gun ready.
You need to be more careful!
“Uh oh,” Stacy whispers.
I lock eyes with her as she pulls off the wig and covers herself with her arms. That’s not a good sign.
“Uh oh what?”
“My ex is a little nuts.”
Rolling my eyes I shout, “Hey ho buddy, we hear you! Why don’t you man up and come get your girl, huh?”
I am calling the police as soon as I can.
In the distance my front door opens and Ben shouts, “Ethan!!! You okay?!”
“In the game room, Ben! Be careful! Some guy is sneaking around and I don’t know if he’s…what the fuck was that? You okay?”
29
ETHAN
“I’m coming, too!” Stacy cries out, jumping off the pool table and running with us. Ben’s got a woman on the ground. I recognize her instantly.
Vanessa snarls at him, “Get off of me!” Spotting me and Stacy, she loses her shit. “I don’t need to ‘man up’! I have everything she needs! Everything!”
What.
The.
Fuck.
Ben sees naked Stacy. “Is that…”
“No, this is the intern I told you about.”
“Uh, Ethan, this woman I’m holding down, this is Summer’s ex.”
Stacy asks, “Who is Summer?”
Wrestling Vanessa up from the ground and holding her arms behind her back, Ben asks me, “You got any rope?”
“DON’T TIE ME UP!”<
br />
“What are you doing here, Nessa?” Stacy demands.
“A barter! Give him what he wants if he gives me what I want. Why are you naked, Stace? You aren’t supposed to be here! Why can’t you quit him? I can make you happy. I have everything you need.”
Chills drift over my skin as I walk closer.
Ben nods to me, “I’ve got a good hold.”
“Vanessa, did you do something to Charlie?”
“You’re not getting her back until I get what I want.”
Stacy whispers, “She wants me.”
“I love you,” Vanessa moans. “Why’d you have to go and fuck this penis, huh?”
I shout in her face, “WHERE IS SHE?!!”
But Vanessa ignores me and keeps whining, “Do you know how it felt to watch you moaning as he fucked you from behind? Asking him how tight you were? Do you know how much that hurt me to watch that video?”
Stacy looks at me. “You recorded us?”
“Video surveillance at Wyntech. Make her tell me where Charlie is!!!”
“Charlie Reed?” Stacy asks. “Why do you have Ms. Reed? They hate each other.”
Her genius brain is like mine and every other weirdly high I.Q. on the planet, it’s got blind spots. She misjudged my love for my sister Emma as more than familial. And when she saw the chemistry disguised as animosity with me and Charlie, she blew that out of proportion, too. She couldn’t see what was really underneath it.
Stacy’s eyes flicker as she realizes her mistake.
She looks at you, then me. “Ethan loves Ms. Reed? But she hates you, Ethan.”
“She doesn’t. C’mon, Stacy, help me. Charlie’s scared. I can feel it.” Locking eyes with my cousin I tell him, “That’s the feeling in my gut. She hasn’t called me because she’s fucking tied up somewhere, not because she’s ignoring me. It’s what Einstein said, remember what I told you way back when we were kids?”
“His soulmate research.”
“Yeah. The separated particles.” Grabbing Stacy’s shoulders I beg her, “Make her tell me. I need to find Charlie right now!”
Vanessa starts laughing.
It’s the most twisted thing I’ve ever heard.
“I’m not telling!” she cackles.
Stacy slaps Vanessa across the face, having to reach up to do it. Little naked intern slapping her female lover. “You’ve been a bad girl, Nessa.”
Cocky Genius: Ethan Cocker (Cocker Brothers of Atlanta Book 9) Page 14
