Ray of New (Ray #6)

by E. L. Todd

  “And I’d be flattered if you said yes. We can go to a bar and watch the game.”

  I grinned. “That sounds like a pretty nice date, actually.”

  “I know. We can share a plate of garlic fries. So romantic.”

  I chuckled, feeling my chest loosen at her playful banter. As much as I wanted to say yes, Liam popped into my head. He was one of my closest friends and dating his sister would really piss him off. The last time I did that, I lost a friend altogether. I wasn’t looking for a relationship anyway, so it wasn’t worth going down this road. “I would love to say yes, but I can’t.”

  “Damn. I knew you had a girlfriend…”

  “Actually, I don’t. But…I don’t think it would be a good idea. Liam is my friend, and I have to honor the code.”

  “Fuck the code.”

  My eyes widened as the smile stretched my lips.

  “Just come down and have a beer. Don’t be a drama queen about it.”

  I laughed. “A drama queen?”

  “Yeah. Liam doesn’t need to know about it.”

  I wasn’t really the kind of guy to sneak around. My life was an open book, so I had nothing to hide. When Rae and I kept our relationship a secret from Rex, I wasn’t too thrilled about it.

  “I’m not taking no for an answer. I’ll meet you at the Frog’s Tooth in an hour.”

  “Austen—”

  “You better show up. Otherwise, I’m gonna eat all those garlic fries solo.” Click.

  I listened to the line go dead with the same smile on my lips. I didn’t call her back because I had every intention of going.

  I wasn’t the kind of guy to stand up a lady.

  ***

  After Rae went back to Zeke, I slept around for a while. I picked up women all over Seattle and brought them back to my place. Some of them were cool. Some were just pretty. But none of them meant anything to me.

  I couldn’t even remember their names.

  I couldn’t add Austen to the pile because that would be a dick move. But I was back in Manhattan, and I needed to get on with my life. I needed to have new relationships and new experiences so Rae would leave my thoughts forever. I didn’t want to have to force myself not to think about her.

  I wanted it to be natural.

  I entered the bar a few blocks from my apartment and found Austen sitting at the counter on one of the stools. She wore a purple dress with matching heels on her feet. Her hair was straight today, and it was pulled over one shoulder. Even from behind, I could discern her luscious curves. She had a petite, hourglass frame. If I wrapped my hands around her waist, I suspected my fingers would meet. Her skin was fair like she didn’t spend much time in the sun, but I liked its flawless appearance. She reminded me of a Barbie doll—supersexy.

  I moved onto the stool beside her. “Hope all the fries aren’t gone.”

  “Sorry, I couldn’t wait. But I ordered another basket.”

  I couldn’t tell if she was kidding or not, but either way, it didn’t matter. “I’ll catch up.”

  She had a beer in front of her, a lighter brew than I liked. It was halfway empty with her lipstick stained on the glass. It was red and vibrant, and I suddenly imagined that color stained around the base of my cock. “Are you a Knicks fan?”

  It took me a moment to understand her question because I was picturing her on her knees in my bedroom. “Forever and always.”

  “Me too. The thing I love most about basketball is the camaraderie. Sometimes they make these incredible plays that are spontaneous and they can’t be planned. And they work so well because all the players are so in tune with each other. It’s fascinating to see that type of connection.”

  I stared at the dark makeup around her eyes and the way the blue color of her irises stood out. “That’s a good observation. But I think other sports have that same kind of camaraderie.”

  “Some,” she said in agreement. “I don’t see it as much as in baseball. Honestly, I hate the sport.”

  My jaw nearly dropped. “You hate baseball? That’s a crime against America.”

  She was about to drink her beer but chose to laugh instead. “It just takes too long to set up the action, you know? With basketball, you gotta watch every second. Otherwise, you might miss something. But with baseball…you could take a thirty-minute nap and still not miss anything.”

  “You’ve obviously never been to a game.”

  “I have,” she said. “Big snoozefest.”

  “Wow.” I shook my head in disappointment. “Just when I thought you were the full package. I guess everyone has an Achilles’ heel.”

  “Full package, huh?” She smiled as she looked at me, her eyelashes thick. “I just ate a full basket of fries before you got here. I’m rude, and I’m a pig.”

  “This isn’t a date, so you weren’t rude. And if you’re a pig, you’re the sexiest pig I’ve ever seen.”

  She chuckled as her eyes lit up like stadium lights. “That’s the nicest and strangest compliment I’ve ever received. And this is a date because I asked you out and you came. Boom, it’s a date.”

  Her playful confidence only made me fonder of her. “Alright, it’s a date. But I’m buying.”

  “Nope. You’re dealing with a feminist. You’ve been warned.”

  “You’re dealing with a gentleman. So you’ve been warned.”

  “My card is already on file, so that’s too bad.” She stuck out her tongue like a child, and while the action was juvenile, she still looked cute.

  I shook my head in disappointment. “I guess I’ll have to get you back some other time.”

  “And I hope you do.”

  I held her gaze as my cock came to life. I loved her playfulness. I hardly knew her, but she already felt like someone I’d known for a long time. Like she was one of the guys, I was watching a game with her at the bar. It was hard to believe she was truly a stranger. “Liam told me you graduated from MIT.”

  She rolled her eyes dramatically. “What else did he tell you about me?”

  “That’s you’re a nerd.”

  She shook her head and whispered under her breath. “I’m gonna kick his ass.”

  I chuckled. “I think nerds are cute.” I immediately thought of Rae, a chemical analyst at my family’s company. Her intelligence was one of the attributes that attracted me in the beginning—besides her smokin’ body. I pushed her out of my mind, doing my best to forget her and move on.

  “Yeah?” Austen asked. “That bodes well for me.”

  “You don’t look a nerd though. More like a supermodel.”

  She laughed as if I’d made a joke. “You’re way too sweet. But I like that.”

  “I’m serious.” I turned on my stool and leaned close to her, feeling my heart thump in my chest. She smelled like summer roses that had been freshly picked from the bush. “That’s the first thing that popped into my head when I saw you.”

  “You thought I was a supermodel?” she asked incredulously.

  “I definitely didn’t think you were a nerd.” My face was just inches from hers, and I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to feel her tongue in my mouth as she panted for me. I wanted to feel her up in the bar then get her back to my place. My sheets needed to be drenched in her smell so I could pretend she was still there long after she was gone.

  But when Liam popped into my head, I found the strength to pull away. I couldn’t fool around with his sister, especially when she was just a rebound. That would piss off Liam, and I wouldn’t blame him.

  Disappointment filled her gaze when I pulled away, but she quickly covered it up by taking a drink of her beer. “What do you do for a living?”

  “Liam didn’t tell you?”

  “No. I didn’t ask.”

  “In Seattle, I ran my family’s garbage and recycling company. My brother took it over, so I came back here. I went to school at NYU.”

  “Oh, cool. So New York is your home?”

  Seattle felt like home for a short while. “For the most
part. Now I live off my investments and relax.”

  “So you’re retired?”

  “You could say that.”

  “Wow. You must be smart with your money to pull that off before you’re thirty.”

  “I’m thirty-one.”

  “Liam is thirty, so I just assumed.” The waiter dropped off another basket of fries, and she didn’t hesitate to grab one and pop it in her mouth. She had plump lips and perfect teeth. I pictured myself sucking that bottom lip into my mouth and tasting the garlic on my tongue.

  I needed to chill. “You’re twenty-two?”

  “Twenty-three.”

  She was a little young for me, but then again, I wasn’t going to fuck her, so it didn’t matter. “How are you liking Nicol?”

  “I love it. Their software is so advanced it boggles my mind. There are so many implications with it and so many ways to reach everyone around the world. They’re a humanitarian company, creating jobs only in America and making large donations to people in need overseas. It’s a remarkable company, and I’m honored to be a part of it.”

  “That’s good to hear. If you love your job, you never have to work a day in your life.”

  “Exactly.” She tossed another fry into her mouth. “You aren’t going to make me eat all of this by myself, right?”

  I grabbed a fry and dropped it into my mouth. “Of course not.”

  Her hand moved to my thigh, and she gave me a firm squeeze, her sharp nails digging into me slightly. “Looks like you are a gentleman, after all.” She pulled her hand away and turned back to the TV like she didn’t just cause my dick to twitch.

  I turned to the TV and tried to keep my pulse under control. I wasn’t used to holding back and stopping myself from having what I wanted. If I wanted a woman, I just took her. But this woman was off-limits and untouchable. I wondered if that made me want her more, but I suspected that wasn’t a factor.

  The only reason why I wanted her was simple—because she was amazing.

  Chapter Three

  I walked into Liam’s music shop and eyed the electric Fender guitars on display. One was creamy white with metallic strings. I’d played a few times, but I preferred the sound of an acoustic. It was much easier to hide my inadequacies when the music wasn’t being projected through a speaker.

  “Yo.” Liam left the counter and joined me in the showroom. “What brings you in?”

  “Just thought I’d stop by and see if you wanted to get lunch.”

  “I’m not hungry, but I can always go for a beer.”

  “Beer. Lunch. Same thing.”

  Liam locked up the shop, and we walked to the deli just a few shops over.

  “This is my favorite spot,” Liam said. “They make their chips in the store, and they’re the bomb. Like kettle chips, but better.”

  “I know,” I said sarcastically. “We’ve been here before.”

  “Oh, yeah.” He snapped his fingers. “Sorry, I’m not sure how I forgot that.”

  “Because you’re an idiot.”

  We ordered our food and took a seat in one of the booths. Liam claimed he wasn’t hungry, but he immediately shoved half the sandwich in his mouth like a T-Rex and swallowed it whole. He had dirty-blond hair that was far lighter than mine and an athletic build. He’d just shaved that morning, so his small beard was gone.

  “How’s the shop?”

  “I’m getting by. That’s how it’s been for years.”

  “No ups or downs?”

  “Christmas is always a good season, but other than that, it’s pretty much the same. The thing with musical instruments is they’re so expensive that people only buy what they need, like, once every few years. So sales are hard to come by. But if I do sell a drum set or a guitar, it’s a big sale.”

  “Gotcha.”

  “But I’d rather barely get by doing what I love than make a lot of money doing something I hate. That’s just me.”

  I didn’t care for working for COLLECT. It was all phone calls, business meetings, and doing the payroll. It definitely wasn’t exciting. The best part of my day happened when I went downstairs to the lab and spoke to Rae. “I know what you mean.”

  “So are you going to get a job or anything?”

  I shook my head. “I doubt it. I might do electric stuff for COLLECT to help out my brother here and there, but other than that, no.”

  “See?” He shoved another piece of his sandwich into his mouth, taking a few minutes to chew it. “We’re the same. We don’t work hard—we work smart.”

  I nodded. “Yep.”

  “So, did you leave a woman behind?”

  I’d mentioned Rae a few times to him, but I always said it wasn’t serious. I never told him how I screwed everything up like the damn idiot I was. “No.”

  “What happened to that one chick you mentioned?”

  I threw a chip into my mouth and felt it crunch between my teeth. “Damn, these are good. I haven’t eaten chips in forever.”

  “I know, right? If I weren’t looking for Ms. Right, I’d eat this shit every day.”

  “For Ms. Right, huh?” I waggled my eyebrows. “Looking to settle down?”

  He shoved a handful of chips into his mouth and took forever to chew and swallow. “I’ve been thinking lately…I’m thirty. I’m kinda at the end of my fun phase. All the good chicks are getting scooped up. I’ve got, maybe, five years left before I just look like an old, single weirdo. So I need to find a good catch while there’s still some good fish left.”

  I nodded in agreement. “I see your point.”

  “What about you? Are you thinking about getting married and junk?”

  “And junk?” I asked with a laugh.

  “Yeah. A wife. A picket fence. Little brats running around. You know the drill.”

  From the way he described commitment, it didn’t seem like he was looking forward to it. “You don’t make it sound that appealing.”

  “It’s better than being alone, right? My married friends tell me they felt the same way I do. But once they found the right woman, there was nothing else they wanted more. So, I’m gonna put some faith in that and start looking for Ms. Right.”

  I was just relieved we changed the subject from Rae. But when I thought of forever, she was the only woman I pictured myself with. Unfortunately, I’d realized what I wanted too late. Six months came and went. I was stupid for waiting around that long.

  “So?”

  His question brought me back to reality. “So, what?”

  “Marriage a possibility for you?”

  “Are we gossip girls now?” I asked with a chuckle.

  He shrugged and kept eating. “It’s something I think about a lot. I think all guys think about it at some point in their lives. I’m guessing your answer is no?”

  Relationships were too difficult for me. I wasn’t even sure how I had anything great with Rae. I never really let my walls down for her when I should have. And like I feared, I ended up hurting her when I tried to avoid it. I wasn’t fit to be a husband, not even a boyfriend. I was too fucked up in the head, too depressed, and too hopeless. “It’s not for me.”

  “Not ever?” he asked incredulously. “You’re gonna be a fifty-year-old guy picking up chicks at bars?”

  I smiled and pointed at my face. “I’ll always have the charm.”

  “Okay, what about when you’re sixty?”

  I shrugged. “I think I’ll still have some talent then.”

  “Okay…seventy?”

  That was my limit. “When I’m seventy, then I guess I’ll go back to jerking off. But I’ll probably have arthritis, so maybe it’ll hurt too much.”

  He chuckled before he grabbed a few more chips. “See? That’s when you’ll need a wife.”

  “She’ll probably have arthritis too.”

  “But she’ll do it anyway—because that’s what marriage is all about.”

  ***

  Liam and I walked to the bowling alley in jeans and t-shirts. Even though it was afte
r eight, the humidity of the city was still unbearable. I usually stayed indoors during the hottest time of day just to beat the heat.

  “I hope my sister has some sexy friends. If she doesn’t, I’m gonna turn around and walk out.”

  “You will not.”

  “You bet your ass I will. If they’re gross, I’m taking a hike.”

  “Gross or not gross, a blow job is still a blow job.”

  Liam shrugged in understanding. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I’ll lower my standards for the evening.”

  “And what makes you think your sister has ugly friends? In case you haven’t noticed, she’s a beautiful girl.” The words slipped out of my mouth before I could think twice. At least I didn’t admit I wanted to nail her.

  Liam didn’t seem to care about the compliment I just gave. “I guess that’s true. Girlfriends seem to be about the same level.”

  “So we should be good.”

  We walked inside and headed to the lanes. The sound of bowling balls speeding down the lanes and colliding with the pins filled my ears. I was immediately brought back to another time when I went bowling with Rae and her friends. She and I had just taken our relationship to a new level of exclusivity.

  I forced the thoughts out of my head.

  “They’re over there.” Liam walked with his hands in his pockets, checking out the girls since they were all looking at the screen and entering their names. “Ooh…they’re all cute. What are the odds?”

  The blonde was dressed in washed-out jeans with holes in the knees. She wore a t-shirt with a zebra on it with lots of gold bangles and necklaces. Her hair was in spirals, and she looked like a model for H&M. The other had olive skin with jet-black hair. She wore black leggings with a pink sleeved shirt that only covered one shoulder. They were both lookers—but they paled in comparison to Austen.

  “Why the hell didn’t my sister tell me about this before?”

  “In her defense, she’s been trying to get together with you since she moved here.”

  “Don’t take her side, alright? I deal with that enough with my folks.” He walked down the steps and raised his arms in the air. “The party has arrived, ladies.” He walked right up to the girl in the pink and extended his hand. “Liam. I’m a musician.”