by London Casey
I looked up from the silent whiskey and saw Bella standing at the edge of the kitchen, wearing the comforter from my bed. It was wrapped all around her shoulders and her body. Only her head poking out. She looked tired, beautiful, her eyes showing a sadness that I could definitely relate to.
“I’m good,” I said. “Just having a night cap.”
I flicked my finger at the mug.
“No coffee, huh?” Bella asked.
I laughed. “No coffee, darlin’.”
Bella stuck her hand out from the comforter. She was wearing the engagement ring once again. “So, I guess we’re engaged again?”
“I guess so,” I said. “You’re wearing the ring, huh?”
“It was left for me to wear. I figure I should take it for a ride and get used to it. Funny how this is the first time I get to wear a diamond ring like this.”
I cringed on the inside. “Hey, Bella, you know you don’t have to do this. I don’t want to fuck anything else up for you.”
“You’re not fucking anything up, Zayne.” She walked toward me. She stopped at the edge of the table. She smelled like herself, me, the bed, sex. It was more intoxicating than the whiskey. “Can I tell you something?”
I leaned back in the chair. “Have at it.”
“I thought about you.”
“What?”
“When I was back there. I had no fucking idea what I was doing back there, Zayne. You were right about me running back there to him. I hated you for it. I hated myself more.”
“We’ve all been there, darlin’. Habits are hard to break, demons are harder to kill. But when love is the rope that holds them at bay, forget about it.”
“You should be a poet,” Bella said.
“I think there’s only one writer between us,” I said with a wink. “I’ll stick to tattoos.”
She bit her lip. “When you say that I’m a writer it makes my heart race a little.”
“Good. I like that.”
“I like you, Zayne. I get why you’re doing this. I’m behind you on it. I promise.”
I nodded. “It’s crazy.”
“Yeah it is. It’s going to get crazier too.”
“Why’s that?”
Bella then opened the comforter and let it fall to the kitchen floor. She stood there, inches away from me, naked. The only thing she was wearing was the engagement ring I had given Steph with the promise of forever.
“Shit, darlin’,” I started to say.
Bella leaned forward and put a finger to my lips to shut me up.
Her body was a delicate wonder of curves, skin, memories, and perfection that led from her full and tender breasts all the way down the curve between her legs. Everything about her made my body want to scream and explode. I’d never been near a woman that drove me this crazy with just her body and the stare of her eyes.
Bella then stepped forward and slowly lowered herself down to me. My hands grabbed at her lower back and kept her tight against me. I felt the swell of press against my bare chest, her nipples hardening. She slid her hands around my neck and gently began to warm breasts tease me by rocking against me.
“I’m not giving you this ring back,” Bella whispered as she kissed me.
“What?” I asked.
“I’m keeping it for a little longer.”
“Oh?”
“I want to do the same thing you’re doing,” Bella said.
My hands moved up her soft back, to her sides, feeling her body so tight against mine.
I gritted my teeth.
“Of course, darlin’,” I said. “I told you…whatever you need from me.”
“I want to drive him insane,” Bella whispered. “I want him to never forget me. I want him to hate himself for the rest of his fucking life.”
“Then let’s make that happen,” I said. “Believe me, Bella, you are unforgettable.”
“That’s just because I’m naked and sitting on you.”
“Yup,” I said with a grin.
She kissed me again.
And that’s when I reached my breaking point.
In a swift move, I spread my fingers and held her at the middle of her back with one hand. I stood up, throwing the chair back. She let out a cry. With my other hand, I grabbed the zipper of my jeans and pushed it down. I put Bella to the table and then took my hand from her back and swiped my hand at the mug of whiskey. It flew from the table and smashed against the counter, shattering into pieces. The smell of the whiskey quickly filled the air. But it wasn’t as sweet as the smell of Bella’s body.
I shoved my jeans down and grabbed myself. I finally fucking had her on the kitchen table.
Her nails sank into my shoulders as her eyes were wide with shock.
I thrust forward and entered her for another round.
Her head fell back as I impaled her, the kitchen table scratching at the floor, her groans drowning out the sound.
I couldn’t get enough of her…and I liked the way she looked wearing nothing but that engagement ring.
26
BELLA
I took off the apron and stretched my back. It had been a killer morning and early afternoon. Donna leaned against the counter and let out a long sigh.
“Want to buy this place?” she asked me.
“What?”
“You heard me. Take it or leave it.”
“I’ll pass,” I said.
“Shit,” Donna said. She looked at me and smiled. “Busy day today.”
“Very.”
“It felt touristy here. Something must have been going on.”
“I guess that’s good for the register, right?”
“To a point,” Donna said. “The more I make, the more it costs to make. There’s a fine line there, Bella. I’m not doing this to get filthy rich either. It’s not like I’m going to franchise my little cafes into something.”
She walked to the register and opened it. She grabbed some cash and swung her arm back toward me.
“Take it,” she said.
“This is too much.”
“You worked more today.”
“Donna.”
“Bella.”
Defeated, I took the money and stuck it into my pocket. I then took out a couple bucks and said, “I’m going to grab a coffee and sit over there to write. I’ll hang around in case it gets busy again.”
Donna put her hand over mine. “First, you don’t pay for coffee here. Ever. Consider it your only real perk of the job. Second, you do whatever you want. Your shift is over. So get out of here, stay here, I don’t care.”
“You’re going to work alone then?”
“You worked your shift, Bella. You’re done.”
“Right.”
I stuck the money into my pocket and got a coffee. In the back, I grabbed my bag and then took my seat at the window. Right at the front of the cafe. It was like a dream. Me. Coffee. A notebook. A little town. So quaint. And my life was a mess—a complete mess, but I was happy.
I got to play house with Zayne, which was basically us flirting about what to eat, fooling around in his bed, finding something to eat, and then fooling around again. I was pretty sure there wasn’t an inch of his body my mouth hadn’t tasted, and same went for him. He traveled more miles on my body with the tip of his tongue than I did on my feet during that busy shift.
It left me blushing, feeling all warm and gooey inside. Which was dangerous. There was a balance between sex and feelings, and truthfully, I had no idea where that balance was anymore.
So I sat there and wrote by hand. I was going to save up and buy a laptop soon. Then I would actually write something. Just for fun. Just to say I did it.
I got so lost in the notebook I didn’t realize Zayne was there until he stood at the table with two coffees, one in each hand.
“Never thought I’d be in a cafe buying a drink of coffee for a beautiful woman.”
“Used to the bar scene?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
Zayne kic
ked at the chair across from me. “Mind if I sit?”
“Of course not.”
Zayne sat and gave me a coffee. “I would take you to the bar, but I’m pretty sure you’re still banned.”
“Banned?”
“You tried to fight everyone there. Remember?”
“Oh. That. Yeah.”
I blushed.
“I’m only teasing, darlin’,” Zayne said. “You didn’t hit anyone. I can’t tell you how many fights have broken out in there. How many times the cops have come to break it up and then had a beer with us.”
“Small town, huh?”
“Real small town,” Zayne said. I watched the way he swallowed hard and looked away.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Nothing. What are you writing?”
“Nothing.”
“Come on, darlin’. I’ve shown you my drawings. What are you writing?”
“Stuff,” I said.
“So, let me see this stuff.”
“How about I tell you about it?”
“Fair enough,” Zayne said.
“I’m thinking a small-town thing,” I said. “Not because of this town, either. I’ve always loved the small-town kinda setting. Believe it or not, I grew up in the city. Busy parents. Busy life. Busy everything. All I wanted was something simple and easy, and I was the black sheep for it. Everyone in my family did something big. I’m talking going to law school, going to med school, becoming executives. Huge things. Everyone had expensive cars and lives. Me? I just wanted to sit in a little cafe and write a love story.”
“Ah,” Zayne said. “So, you’re writing a love story set in a small town. Is the man a hunk with tattoos?”
“Now who in the world would want to read about that?” I asked with a smile. “Better yet, who would want that in real life?”
Zayne laughed. “So, you’re the black sheep like me. Except I was the only sheep left, I guess you could say. It was survival by adapting. Finding opportunity. So I found it. I probably did everything wrong, but who cares?”
I held up my left hand and showed I wasn’t wearing the ring. I reached into my pocket and got it out and slid it onto my finger. “Yeah, you’ve done everything wrong, Zayne.”
“Ah, you don’t wear the ring at work?” he asked.
“Well…I wasn’t sure if I should. If people would talk.”
“Fuck people,” Zayne said. “It would drive them crazy. Imagine the stories. They wouldn’t know what to do.”
“I could put that in my book,” I said. “Maybe I can write our story. The whole… save the girl but then pretend to be engaged to make the ex jealous…”
“Except there’s one flaw.”
“Which is?” I asked.
“Well, this is a love story, right? That means the story people pretending would have to fall in love.”
Zayne just stared at me. My heart sank. It raced as it sank.
He didn’t say anything else. I didn’t say anything else.
What was he implying…that we weren’t…or couldn’t…
It really hadn’t occurred to me yet what me and Zayne really were.
And I wasn’t going to get my answer right then either.
“So I guess you’ll have to make up the ending,” Zayne said. “I can’t wait to read it.”
I swallowed hard and nodded. “Right. I guess I’ll have to keep working at this.”
“Want to see something I’ve been working on?”
“Sure,” I said.
Zayne took out a sketchbook and flipped it open. He spun it around and showed me a huge tribal design with the center blank.
“What’s this for?” I asked.
“You,” Zayne said. “This will go around your butterfly. All the way up to your sides and then down to your leg.”
“Excuse me?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “I’m going from a small butterfly to all this? Who said I liked getting the first one?”
Zayne laughed. “I’m just joking, darlin’. This is for someone else.”
“Oh,” I said.
I felt a little jealousy. How stupid of me.
“There’s a woman who has a crow with a heart in its mouth. She wants this around it.”
“Where?”
“On her body?”
I nodded.
“Jealous?” Zayne asked.
“Maybe.”
Zayne closed the sketchbook. He reached for my hand. “If you must know, this is on her leg. And, yes, I’m going to see parts of her body that would probably make you jealous. But I don’t look at it the way you probably think. I’m an artist, darlin’. The body is my canvas, and I have the vision in my head. I’m not there for that kind of stuff. When someone comes to see me, they trust me to see them as an artist would. I promise.”
I nodded. “That was strangely romantic.”
“See, I can pull something out of my ass now and again.”
“Again, the romance,” I said.
“Well, I better let you be,” Zayne said. “So you can write that love story.”
“Where are you going?”
“St. Skin. Need to get to work.”
“Right.”
Zayne stood and grabbed his bag and threw it over his shoulder. It was interesting to see him with a bag on his shoulder. This super big tough guy with tattoos riding a motorcycle, but at the end of the day he was simply an artist.
“I’ll see you soon, darlin’,” he said. He leaned down and kissed me. Without worry. Without care. “And I hope you find the ending you really want.”
Zayne’s kiss left me breathless, and his words scrambled my brain.
I licked my lips to taste him as he walked out of the cafe.
I watched him climb onto his motorcycle and it roared to life and sped off into the distance.
I looked down at my notebook. Then to the engagement ring. After a few quiet seconds, a tear fell from my eye and splashed against the page, then quickly got absorbed into it.
I honestly had no idea why I was crying.
But then it hit me.
Whatever this thing was with Zayne…it was fun, and I was actually happy for once in my life.
27
ZAYNE
I heard the knock at my door and kicked back in my chair to answer it. I opened the door, and Bella was standing there. I jumped up and grabbed her.
“Hey,” I said.
“I’m a little early,” she said.
“No big deal. I’m done here.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“Hell yeah. You need a dress, darlin’. We’re going to a wedding.”
“That means you’re wearing a suit?”
“Yup.”
“Oh, I cannot wait to see that.”
“Funny,” I said. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
We stepped into the hallway and, of course, there were Tate and Prick.
“Her tits were-”
I cleared my throat.
They both looked at me.
“Sort of like hers,” Prick said. “Except bigger.”
I heard Bella gasp.
“I’m going to kick your ass, Prick,” I said.
“What?” he asked. “I mean, she’s beautiful. Why the hell is she near you, Zayne? You must have a secret on her or something.”
Bella looked at me. I shrugged my shoulders. “He grows on you. Like a disease that won’t go away.”
“Oh, I can get rid of him,” Tate said.
“But you won’t,” Prick said. “You love me, Tate.”
“Easy now,” Tate said.
“You’re just mad you lost your pussy-buddy,” Prick said. He nodded at me.
I wanted to break Prick’s jaw to keep him from talking.
“He’s full of shit,” I said to Bella.
“True,” Tate said. “Couldn’t get Zayne out in public if I paid him.”
“Okay, enough of this,” I said. “I’m heading out, Tate. I got plans with Bella.”
“You’d never get a chance,” Bella said.
Prick stuck out his tongue and showed off his tongue stud. “You know what this does?”
“Makes up for your small dick?” Bella asked.
Tate roared with laughter. He then grabbed Prick by the shoulders and shoved him back. “I love watching you getting burned by woman.”
“My dick isn’t small,” Prick said with a serious face. “At all.”
“I’m sure,” Bella said.
“As always, Prick, it’s a pleasure to talk to you,” I said.
I slipped a hand around Bella’s shoulder and we walked out the back door of St. Skin.
She had my heart racing. The way she handled herself in front of Prick. That was a hard thing to do. The guys at St. Skin would give you the shirt off their backs to help you, but they were rude, crude, and didn’t give a shit. They were hard to deal with. But they were wicked loyal.
I decided to drive my truck to work knowing I was going to meet up with Bella to go get her a dress. And of all fucking things to think…to go get her a dress.
I opened the passenger door and grabbed for Bella’s wrist. “I’m sorry about Prick. He’s actually a really good guy. And from what I hear, his dick actually isn’t small.”
“Well, that’s good to know,” Bella said. “But I like yours the best.”
“Thanks,” I said. “And you don’t need a dress to look beautiful, Bella. We could go to this wedding in jeans and hoodies. Crash it. Eat the food. Knock over the cake. Steal some booze and run.”
“That’s really tempting,” Bella said. “But I like a slow-burn torture. Imagine her face as I stand there in a dress, you in a suit, her engagement ring on my finger. It’s going to drive her crazy all night.”
“That’s cold, Bella. I love you for that.”
The words slipped out of my mouth the way Prick’s asshole words slipped out of his mouth.
We stared for a second before I turned and walked away.
I love you for that. Shit. What the fuck was that about?
I got into my truck, started it, and took off.
Bella and I didn’t speak a word for the entire drive.
I leaned against a pillar in the store just outside the dressing room and waited. I never thought I’d be doing this. But this was my fault. This was what I wanted. I wanted her to go to the wedding with me. This was all my doing.
