Fetch

by A. J. Alexander

  Me: Hormonal huh?

  Addy: Fuck you! Why is it that guys always have to go to the Aunt Flow excuse?

  Me: Well you did say she wasn’t thinking logically, she either is riding the tide or pregnant. Wait is she pregnant?!?!?

  Addy: Maybe …

  Me: Holy Shit! Don’t you think that is something her best friend and the guy that is desperately in love with her (Wyatt not me!) should be aware of?

  Addy: OMG that was awesome! Chill out and tell lover boy we will be out soon

  .

  Spying me on my phone, Wyatt asks as he flags someone down to order us another around “What did she say? On a scale of one to ‘I never want to speak to him again’ where do I sit?”

  “I would say you are sitting at a steady six, meaning you may not get another date. However, Addy is working her magic, so you never know.”

  “You’re an asshole, you know that?” he says as the waiter places our beers on the table.

  “Well, I’m the asshole whose girl is about to save your ass.”

  “Your girl? Yea that’s rich, you aren’t doing any better than me.” Wyatt takes a swig of his beer.

  “Maybe but I’m a hell of a lot closer to making her mine that you are. You’re basically back to square one all over again.”

  “Fuck you!”

  “That can be arranged, all he has to do is ask,” Vickie says from behind me as she wraps her hand around my neck. Wyatt’s eyes go wide as another woman, probably one of Vickie’s friends, takes a seat in his lap and wraps her arms around his neck.

  “Stalking is a crime, Vickie. How many times do I need to tell you that I don’t want you anywhere near me?”

  “Can you get herpes just from contact?” Wyatt asks as he tries to pry Vickie’s friends’ arms from around his neck.

  “Oh stop playing games Cole. You both know you want us. Just give in and let us both make you feel good.”

  In what can best be described as lightning speed, Vickie’s mouth latches onto mine like a viper. I don’t even have time to react as I hear the gasp coming from behind me.

  “If it isn’t the little mouse. Run along, the grown-ups are trying to have a little fun,” Vickie says.

  I spin around to see Addison’s retreating form heading back towards the front door.

  “Fuck!” How the hell did this even happen? I was sitting here waiting for Addy to come out of the bathroom when Vickie pushes up on me like a two-bit whore.

  I should have told Addy about this mess before, but, I thought I could handle it. I figured Vickie would get it through her bleach blonde head that I wanted nothing to do with her anymore.

  “Come on, baby, you don’t need her when you have me.”

  “I have never wanted anything from you other than your Botox filled lips wrapped around my dick. Right now, that doesn’t even seem appealing.” I shove her out of my lap and chase after Addison. I bump into Heather as she is coming around the corner.

  “Hey where’s the fire,” she asks, but before I can respond, I watch her face fall as she notices Wyatt with whore number two on his lap. “How could you let him do this to me? I trusted you and him, most importantly I trusted you with her. Now you have broken both our hearts you asshole!” I don’t have time to react before I feel the smack hit me on my right cheek.

  “Heather, it’s not what you think! Just let me go find Addy, and I can explain to both of you what is happening right now.”

  “Cole, do you think I’m stupid?”

  “Of course not. “

  “Then do us a favor, leave us both alone.”

  I can hear the finality in her statement, with one stupid mistake I’ve lost my best friend and what has come to be my reason for living. I know they both want to kill me, but I will fight tooth and nail until they understand what happened. If there is one thing they should both know about me, I don’t give up on anyone I care about.

  Chapter 18

  ADDISON

  I can’t help but giggle as I put my phone away after my text conversation with Cole. Things have switched gears between the two of us tonight, without me even noticing, it even seems natural now.

  “How can you be laughing at a time like this! Does he think this is some joke or something?”

  “She speaks!” I approach Heather as if she’s a caged animal. You never know with her sometimes how things are going to go. We have been standing in the bathroom for almost 20 minutes. She has fixed her makeup, hair, and even scrolled through Facebook.

  “Bitch, shut up! I needed time to process,” Heather snaps back.

  “Seriously, I know watching the latest cat video on Facebook counted as processing time. So, what gives?” I wrap my arm around her shoulder and wait patiently for her to answer.

  “I thought that tonight was special. That he finally noticed my feelings for him, yea I know it started out as us trying to get you to pull your head out of your ass but somehow it seemed to become more.” Heather lays her head on my shoulder.

  “I haven’t known Wyatt that long, but he seems pretty head over heels for you, he just has bad luck. I mean really bad luck.” We both laugh a little remembering the events from tonight. “I think the biggest problem is you have spent so much time dreaming about the perfect date with him that no matter what he did, you were going to be let down.”

  “I’m such a bitch, aren’t I?” she asks.

  “No, you’re a girl whose dream guy finally had the balls to ask her out. Who wouldn’t have expectations? It’s normal – I never would have thought I would put the word normal in a sentence to describe you,” I say as I wrap my arms around her, giving her a reassuring squeeze.

  “Honestly, he was in such a rush to get to you that he didn’t take the ten minutes to go upstairs and change or even text Cole to let him know to swing by and pick him up.” I see the tears begin to fill her eyes, she is fighting not to let them fall. “He has thought of nothing but you this whole time, bringing you to Noble is because he knows you love it here. Now, we both know you come here all the time to stalk him.”

  “Shut it, bitch! I am sure you aren’t suddenly waking up at 6 am and sitting at the window for your health. Now shut up before you make me ruin my make-up again.”

  “Now can we go? I’m starving and more importantly starting to lose my buzz,” I respond as I head toward the door. Honestly, I’m leaving with or without her. All this drama, I need another damn drink, it's worse than a freaking soap opera. She is lucky I love her ass so much.

  “I’ll be right behind you. I need to make an entrance you know,” Heather says as she starts scrolling through her phone again. All I can do is shake my head as I pull the bathroom door open. Heather has always had a flair for the dramatic, but this takes the cake.

  I spot Cole and Wyatt as soon as I turn the corner to head into the dining room, as I get closer I notice they have two ladies draped all over them. What knocks the wind right out of me is the perfect blonde with her lips molded to Cole’s. I cover my mouth to stop the gasp that escapes. She detaches her lips from his and fixes her icy blue stare on me.

  “If it isn’t a little mouse. Run along, the grownups are trying to have a little fun.”

  I don’t stay around to hear anything else, I just turn and head for the door. I vaguely hear Cole calling my name, but I don’t want to hear his excuses. I knew this was a mistake, I never should have let my guard down and let him in. Even if it was only a little. I push hard on the front door, once outside I take a lung full of fresh air. My tears begin to run like rivers, who would have thought that in such a short amount of time that he would come to mean so much to me.

  A few moments later Heather grabs me by the hand. “Come on, we are getting the fuck out of here.” We head directly toward a waiting car sitting at the curb, she must have called an Uber before she left the restaurant. We both pile into the car.

  “I can’t believe that he had the nerve to have some woman hanging all over him while I was in the bathroom!” Heather
fumes as she slams the door shut. She wraps me in her arms, pulling me tight to her chest as the tears continue to fall. “I’m so sorry Addy, I never thought he would do something like this to you. I knew he was like that, but he had changed since you came around.”

  I shake my head against her chest. “Don’t you dare! His stupidity is not your fault, I don’t even know why I’m this upset in the first place.”

  “Because you like him, stupid. We both know this, shit even he knew it, but for some reason he let his lower brain do the thinking tonight.”

  “Whatever brain he was thinking with I was the last thing he was thinking about tonight.” I bury myself deeper into her embrace.

  “You know what this calls for? Gangster rap and ice cream!” Heather says as she lifts my chin.

  “You think gangster rap solves everything, which it doesn’t. However, I will partake in copious amounts of ice cream.”

  “I like the way you think.” Heather gives me a wink.

  We remain silent through the rest of the ride. I can’t help but smile, Heather is always there when I need her. I can’t say that my heart is broken, but it is a little bruised. I saw a future with Cole, the future of my dreams but that’s all gone now.

  Chapter 19

  COLE

  After Heather storms out of Noble, I head back toward the table to grab Wyatt. For some reason, neither Vickie or her friend have gotten the hint and are still sitting there. Wyatt being his usual awkward self, as he attempts to get whore number two off his lap. I pin Vickie with my stare.

  “You have two seconds to get out of my sight,” I growl.

  “You and I will never be over, Cole,” she says as she walks over to her friend pulling her off Wyatt’s lap.

  “Yes, we are. I’m filing a restraining order first thing in the morning, I’m done playing games with you.” The shocked look on her face is enough to guarantee that I won’t be seeing her around any longer. She has probably cost me the most important thing in the world. I will not let it happen again.

  Wyatt lets out a sigh of relief. “Man, I thought they would never leave. I’m glad the girls didn’t come out of the bathroom and see them with us. That would have caused nothing but drama.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me right now! Have you not been paying attention the last fifteen minutes? I am sure everyone else in the restaurant saw Heather and Addy hightail it out of here as if we set them on fire,” I say as I throw some money on the table for our drinks and head toward the door.

  “Fuck, are you serious? That bimbo had her fake tits shoved so far into my face I could barely breathe let alone see what was going on around me,” Wyatt responds right on my heels.

  “We need to get to them and explain this shit storm, I am sure once they calm down and see reason, everything will be alright.” I can see the hope in his eyes as we near my car.

  “I don’t think so man, you didn’t see the hurt and betrayal in Heather’s eyes. She never wants to speak to either of us again.” I sigh as I click off the security alarm for my car.

  “What the hell is wrong with you! Why are you giving up so easily?”

  “I’m not giving up, asshole. We just need a plan. This is serious, not just some flowers and saying ‘sorry’ kind of situation. Groveling will be involved for sure.”

  Wyatt gives me a serious stare over the car. “I’ll do anything to see her smile again.”

  With a nod, we both climb into the car. I rev the engine as Wyatt shuts the door then head directly toward Heather’s place. The usual fifteen-minute drive feels like an eternity as we pull up to the house, all the lights are off.

  “Maybe no one is home,” Wyatt says.

  I shake my head in response as I climb out of the car. Man, he can be a dumbass. There is no way that we beat the girls here. As I near the house I can hear the gangster rap blasting from inside.

  “Well, Heather is working through her anger with gangster rap so there may be some hope.” Wyatt’s voice startles me from behind.

  “Fucker, make some noise or something! Sneaking up on me like that could get you junk punched,” I yell before continuing toward the house. I bang on the door a few times with no response. I reach over and frantically begin to ring the doorbell, I don’t know if they can even hear us over the pounding beats of DMX, but I have to do something to get them to come to the door.

  “Hey, man, don’t you have a key or something?”

  “Yes, I do, but it is for picking up the dog in the mornings. I don’t think this constitutes a work-related reason to open the door.”

  “Fuck work related! This is an emergency, open the damn door,” Wyatt says as he reaches for my keys hanging out of my pocket.

  I think for a moment, and I did say it was going to take something drastic to get the girls attention, maybe a little breaking and entering is just what we need.

  “This is breaking and entering you know. If the cops come, I’m too pretty to go to jail,” I say as I put the key in the lock.

  “It’s only breaking and entering if we didn’t have a key, just think of this as entering,” Wyatt says as I put the key into the door.

  As I push the door open alarms start blaring immediately. I pull Wyatt’s ass through the door and slam it shut, quickly going for the security alarm. It is never set when I come here in the morning, but luckily I have the code. I finish punching in the code, and the alarm shuts off.

  “It was his idea, I told him this was breaking and entering,” Wyatt shouts to someone. Spinning around I see Addison standing at the top of the stairs with some sort of rifle pointed down at us. I raise my hands above my head and step a little farther into the light.

  “What the hell are the two of you even doing here? You are lucky I’m an ask questions first, shoot later kind of person, or you would both be sporting a few extra holes.”

  “We just wanted to talk to you and Heather, explain what happened,” Wyatt says as he starts to step closer to the stairs.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. I didn’t shoot you, but I didn’t say we wanted to speak to you either. Now get out before I call the police.”

  “When did you learn to handle a rifle like that, it’s kind of sexy?” I smirk at her as I inch closer to the stairs.

  “Of course, you would be thinking of sex when someone has a rifle pointed at you. Hunting, my Father hates it so naturally, I learned how to do it.”

  Just as I open my mouth to respond, Heather comes down the hall with another rifle. “Look, here comes hunter Barbie.” Wyatt and I both chuckle. Heather swings her rifle in our directions, she doesn’t look amused in the slightest.

  “Cole, I thought I made it perfectly clear that neither one of us wanted to see you again. Get out of my house.” Heather puts her hand on the barrel of Addy’s rifle, they both lower them. One crisis averted.

  “Addy, just let me explain, please,” I plead. I would get down on my knees and beg if I thought it would help.

  I notice tears streaming down her cheeks. I reach up toward her, but she turns heading deeper into the house.

  “So, that’s it. No chance to explain, nothing. You’re going to let her run away? Heather, you know me, you know I would never do anything to hurt either of you.”

  Tears begin to run down her cheeks as she looks down at both Wyatt and I.

  “Cupcake.” Wyatt reaches up toward Heather as he speaks, his pain matching my own at this moment.

  “Just go, both of you. Please,” Heather says as she turns to follow Addison.

  Wyatt immediately turns and heads back to the car, I reluctantly follow. My arms ache to hold Addy and make the pain go away.

  I have always been the one chasing Addy, no matter what I do she keeps running. Is she scared? Scared of how amazing we could be together. I know that I have a shit reputation, but people change. I am sure that this one mistake can’t wipeout everything that I have been doing over the last few weeks. Maybe it is time for me to let her come to me. No more chasing and grand g
estures, I need to know she is all in. That at the first sign of trouble she isn’t going to jump ship on me.

  I turn and head toward the car, trying to pretend like my heart hasn’t just broken into a thousand pieces. I don’t know what we are going to do to get them to talk to us, but we must think of something to win them back. All our happiness depends on it.

  Chapter 20

  ADDISON

  I plop down on the bed and wait for Heather to get rid of them. To say I was prepared to see Cole so soon was an understatement. I honestly didn’t think he would give me a second thought after having his new piece to keep him company for the evening, but here he was begging me to listen.

  “Grab your shit! We are getting the fuck out of here,” Heather shouts as she wipes tears from her face.

  “Ummm it’s almost midnight, we’ve been drinking, where the fuck are we going?” I ask. I know damn well that once she gets an idea in her head, there is no changing her mind, but you never know, she might surprise me this time.

  “Hooker, they broke into my house! They are not going to stop until we talk to them. I don’t know about you, but I honestly just wanted to shoot them and be done with it.” She begins throwing open drawers and throwing clothes on the bed. “Why are you still sitting there! Go get some shit, or we can buy clothes when we get where we are going. I’ll call an Uber.”

  “Calm down, Heather. Where are we even going?” It’s time to talk some sense into her, I guess getting your heart broken causes a mental break with reality.

  “I don’t give a shit where we go, just not here! I need to think, and I can’t do that with either of them beating down my door or texting either of us a million times. Check your phone. I swear they just left, and I have a million messages.”

  I jump up from the bed and run to my room. I left my phone there on the charger for this very reason. Before I can even unlock it, the screen illuminates with another series of messages.