by Maddie Wade
Walking away I answer my ringing phone, “Hello,” I say throwing my empty coffee cup in the bin.
“Ashley, I’m not coming out tonight. I have to work late,” Ben says, and I’m not even a little upset about it. Jackson and the sexy singer have got my mind thinking about things other than Ben.
“Yeah, okay, that's fine. Work been busy?” I ask, walking back to work.
“Yeah. Listen I have to go, I'll chat with you tomorrow.”
Before I can say anything, he hangs up on me. Looking at my phone I shake my head.
Reaching the shop, Taylor is still there. She should have shut the shop by now. “Hey, what are you still doing here?” I ask leaning on the window.
“Had a few customers come in. What time are we meeting up?” she asks, throwing her keys in the bag.
“I might give it a miss, Ben’s not coming and I’m tired,” I tell her. I choose not to mention my run in with Jackson, because she’ll start on at me again.
“That’s because he's gay, and meeting up with someone,” Taylor tells me again.
“He is not gay,” I tell her.
“He is, he's just playing the field, you know. Does he want to take a dip in the pool or play with the joystick.” Taylor starts laughing at her own joke. “That was a good one, and you know it.” She points at me, and I can’t stop myself from laughing at her.
“Shut up, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Giving her a kiss on the cheek I walk around the back of the store to head up to my apartment.
My phone beeps and I get all excited.
Sexy Singer: Did you miss me? Have you been thinking about me?
Ashley: No not really.
Sexy Singer: That hurt, as all I can think about is you. So, what do you have planned this evening?
Ashley: Nothing, was going out, but change of plans so a movie and popcorn it is. You?
Sexy Singer: What movie you watching? I’m going to be thinking about you;)
Ashley: Cinderella. You have some really bad chat up lines. :)
Sexy Singer: I’ve not even brought out the good stuff yet.
Sexy Singer: Did it hurt when you dropped from heaven?
Ashley: I wouldn’t know, I crawled up from hell.
Sexy Singer: I like it, a little devil. Ok how about this one… You know they say that kissing for one minute burns 2.6 calories. Want to burn some?
Ashley: So, you think I’m fat.
I can’t help but smile at these texts, it's so much fun. I see the dots appear on the screen.
Sexy Singer: That’s not even funny. How about this… I went to the doctors this morning and I told them about meeting a girl and that I don’t feel well.
Ashley: What did he say?
Sexy Singer: He said that I need to take more Vitamin-U :)
Ashley: How are you single? These are amazing chat up lines.
Sexy Singer: Well, the girl I want has a boyfriend, so until I find a new girl, I’ll practice on you :)
Ashley: Well at least I know you're a guy now lol
Sexy Singer: Why did you think I was a girl?
Ashley: No reason, just I don’t know who you are, so my friend said it could be anyone. She was calling you my lesbian lover.
Sexy Singer: LOL that’s just funny, no I am 100% a man. I have a family dinner to attend, so until tomorrow my Pretty Girl...
Ashley: Until tomorrow.
Throwing my phone on the bed, I lie there wondering who this man could be, where did he get my number, and when will I get to meet him.
Chapter 3
Jackson
My mother, as predicted is in seventh heaven, she is sitting with Sadie when I arrive and they both have their heads buried in a catalogue at the kitchen table as they ooh and ahh over double buggies. I sneak up behind Maisy, who is playing Play-Doh with Jake, and grab her, twirling her around, planting a sloppy wet raspberry on her tummy. She starts giggling and wriggling as only a small child can.
Swinging her down, I gently put her on her feet, and she promptly puts her arms up and shouts, “Again, again Uncle Jacky.” I dutifully oblige until she is squealing and giggling. Once, again I drop her to her feet.
“Uncle Jacky, look!” she says pointing to her top. In glittery pink, writing it declares, ‘Big Sister’. The glittering writing makes me think of Ashley with her rainbow blonde hair. I wonder what she is doing. Turning my attention back to Maisy I look at the proud smile on her face.
“That is a pretty top,” I say.
“But look,” she says and points again. I smile and pretend to look harder.
“Oh, it says Big Sister. So that means?” I put my finger to my lips as if trying to figure it out. Maisy is jumping up and down now.
“It means mummy has two babies in her tummy and I get to help her, cos I’m the big sister.”
“Wow, you’re going to be the best big sister in the world,” I say turning my head to smile at Sadie who is looking at us. I rise and walk to Sadie and my mum. I lean in and kiss mum's cheek and then do the same for Sadie.
“Congratulations sis, I’m so pleased for you. These babies are the luckiest babies ever to have you.” I notice my brother watching and can’t resist. “And I’m sure that will more than make up for Jake.” Sadie and I laugh as Jake throws me a fake glare from the wall where he is leaning.
*~*~*
Monday morning comes quickly, and I make it into the office before seven. My hair's still wet from the shower I took after my workout at the gym. I like to get a couple hours in before work. I down a protein shake, then flip the switch to wake up my computer.
I had spent the best part of last night resisting the temptation to text Tinkerbell. I’ve never been into women with boyfriends or a woman like her. She was probably a mature student or someone with no life plan. Yet the thought of that smooth expanse of skin, that silky soft hair had me reaching for my phone at least a hundred times.
I have a mountain of emails to catch up on, a load of paperwork to go through and three jobs this week. I like to get a dossier on the girls I’m liberating, because that is how I like to think of it. I am liberating these women from relationships with assholes who probably don’t appreciate them anyway. Let’s be honest, if these guys were real men they wouldn’t need me, would they?
I’m sitting reading through my fourth email when Lindy walks in. “You’re late,” I shout and smile as I wait for the response, because I know it’s coming.
“Screw you,” she shouts back, and my smile gets even bigger.
I get up from my desk and walk out to my reception. Lindy is making herself a coffee and looking at me over her horn-rimmed glasses. She is the one woman apart from my family who I trust. She runs my life, from a work point of view.
Lindy is seventy-three years old and looks like she should be on the cover of OAP Weekly. Her white hair and spectacles give her a school teacher vibe and then she opens her mouth. The woman has the mouth of a sailor. She can use Fuck like a verb until the phone rings or a client walks in. Then she is like Mary Poppins with a plumb in her mouth.
I grab a coffee and head back to my office knowing that Lindy will follow when she is ready. I set the mug down and as I turn back to the computer my phone pings.
Tinkerbell: Morning, how was your weekend?
I can’t help but smile the fact that she has messaged me first.
Jackson: Good, spent time with the family. How about yours?
Tinkerbell: I spent the weekend perfecting the art of pottery.
Jackson: Pottery! How was it?
Tinkerbell: Weird, it felt thick and all wet and kept slipping between my fingers.
My mind instantly conjured up an image of Ashley with something thick and slippery between her fingers. The visual alone is enough to have me adjusting myself in my trousers.
Jackson: Now I have a visual in my head that does not scream pottery.
Tinkerbell: Haha I said pottery not mud wrestling, but FYI I have done jelly wrestling.
Who is
this girl? She is the opposite of who I would normally want to get in my bed, but right now she is all I can think about.
Jackson: Tinkerbell, you have just given me a whole new appreciation for jelly. What else do you like to do?
Tinkerbell: All sorts, hiking, camping, music festivals, dancing.
Jackson: What kind of dancing? Please say pole!
Tinkerbell: Pervert lol. No not pole. I like any kind of dancing, as long as the tune is right.
Jackson: No sorry. Still stuck on the pole dancing image.
Tinkerbell: What do you like to do to relax?
Jackson: Watch jelly wrestling!
Tinkerbell: You are funny. Lol
Jackson: Tinkerbell, it is 9 on a Monday morning and I now have a rounder’s bat in my trousers. I’m not joking.
Tinkerbell: Thanks. Now I have a visual. Anyway I have to go. I have something warm and slippery to beat until it is swollen and glossy.
Jackson: Tink, you’re killing me!
Jackson: Tink?
I slid past Lindy as best I could with my dick as hard as rock and took care of myself in the bathroom. Ashley was an enigma, covered in tattoos with multicoloured hair and the sweetest mouth I had ever seen. She was not my type and yet I couldn’t seem to go ten minutes without thinking of her, she was going to kill me.
Around noon I left the office and went to meet up with a new client. All of my initial meetings took place in a café. I had picked the one nearest the park today as I hoped to swing past Sweet Heaven later and pick up some chocolates for my mum. It is her birthday later this week and Sweet Heaven was her favourite. Well, that’s what mum keeps telling me. She goes on about these Champagne Truffles they have which melt in your mouth. She hasn’t stopped raving about them since they opened. I’m not a big fan of sweet things so haven’t been in, but I’ve seen it and thought the designers had done a great job.
As I sit waiting for my client I check my phone, my heart speeds up when I notice a text from Tinkerbell. I hit open and see an image. The image shows a large bowl of what looks like chocolate Meringue.
Tinkerbell: Perfectly swollen and glossy.
I go to text her back when a man approaches my table. I look up and something about him seems familiar. He is tall, with a slim build, kind of preppy looking. He smiles and holds out a hand. “Jackson?” he asks.
I stand and offer him my hand to shake. “Yes, Ben. Pleased to meet you. Please sit down. Would you like coffee?”
“An Earl Grey would be lovely,” he says politely, and I have a feeling I know exactly what the issue is here. I go to the counter to order our drinks, I look back as I wait for them, why does he look so familiar? Heading back to the table, which is by the window, I watch as Ben puts four sugars in his tea and nervously stirs his mug.
“So, tell me Ben, why do you need my services?”
Ben looks up and has a deer in the headlights look about him. “Well, I met this great girl, she’s funny, sweet, beautiful and successful.”
I hold my hand up. “Buddy, I’m confused. If she is all that, why do you need me?”
“Because, I’ve realised after a few weeks that if even she couldn’t do it for me then it was time to admit the truth to myself and everyone else,” he answers and then looks out the window.
“The truth being?” I ask but I’m fairly sure where this was going.
“I’m gay and I’ve met an amazing man who I know I want to be with.”
“I see, and has she got any idea?”
Ben shakes his head. “I don’t think so.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure buddy, because I knew the minute you walked in. Have you thought about just telling her?”
“I couldn’t. She is so lovely, I don’t want to hurt her.” I watch as Ben sips his tea.
“Honestly buddy, I have a feeling this will not be a shock. Just tell her what you told me.” I don’t mind helping but this one is so simple that he should do it himself. Ben isn’t a bad guy, who doesn’t care about hurting the woman he is dumping, they just aren’t going to work.
“Do you think so?” Ben asks. God the man was a puppy dog.
“Yes, I do. I’ll tell you what. Give me her file and if you really can’t, I will.” I watch as the man’s eyes fill with tears. He grabs my hands that are resting on the table and clutches them to his heart. Okay, this is awkward.
“Thank you. That would be amazing,” Ben says.
I pull my hands back and as I do I glance at the door that has just swung open with a bang. Standing there with her rainbow hair wild, and a sexy-as-fuck fire in her eyes is Ashley, AKA Tinkerbell. She does not, however, look like Tinkerbell now, she looks like a very pissed off woman and she is also looking at me.
I watch in stunned fascination as she storms over and stands in front of me. I look to Ben who has jumped up and started babbling.
She turns to him and hisses, “Sit, I’ll deal with you in a second.” She pushes him with her finger in his chest slightly and he sits. Her whole body turns, and she concentrates her anger on me. I’m confused as to what the fuck is going on. She looks down at me and I fight the need to stand up to my full height of six foot two inches.
“How could you? How could you behave in such a disgusting way and treat people with such disregard? Men like you make me sick. You have it all and it still isn’t enough. How could you betray someone so easily? People who care about you, love you and you lie about things.” She takes a breath and I go to speak but she holds up her hand.
“You,” she pokes me in the chest, “are not fit to breathe the same air as that little girl.”
I stand, and she backs up a bit. Ben takes the opportunity to slip out of the chair and make a run for the door. She turns to look at him as he goes.
“What the fuck are you on about, you crazy woman? Are you off your fucking meds?”
“Don’t you dare try and make out it’s me in the wrong,” she says and walks away.
No fucking way is she getting in my face then walking away. I follow her and notice the sexy sway of her hips in her denim shorts. My mind instantly turns to jelly.
I walk beside her at a fast pace as she power walks her way towards the park.
“Would you please tell me what the fuck just happened?” I ask, as I grab her arm and turn her around to face me. Her chest is heaving and the sight of her angry and wild makes my dick go hard. I am so fucked.
I step closer to her so that we are nearly touching, and she doesn’t step back. “What was that all about?” I ask.
“You’re a liar and a cheat and just because he didn’t catch you don’t think you’ll get away with it.”
“Woman you are fucking crazy,” I say and her eyes squint in anger.
“Well, at least I am not cheating on my boyfriend.”
“What the hell! I’m not cheating on anyone.”
The fire in her eyes flares again and all I can think is I need to kiss this woman. I need to taste the fire. Then it hits me, she said I’m cheating on my boyfriend, not girlfriend. Why does she think I’m gay?
“I saw you with your boyfriend in the park yesterday and then just now with Ben as he clutched your hands and cradled them to his chest,” she spits out.
I want to laugh and then it dawns on me what she was saying and then I do laugh. Which is totally the wrong thing to do.
“You pig, I should have known that you were gay. All the good looking ones are.”
Okay this has to stop. “Woman, I am not gay.” I hear her snort and I snap. Sliding my hands into her hair, I grab her face and tilt her head up. I kiss the breath from her and hear a little moan slip from her mouth. It turns my blood to molten lava. I crush her body to mine and feel her breasts against me. My dick is pressing into her belly and I know she can feel it as she wiggles.
I pull back and lean my head on her forehead. “Would a gay man kiss you like that?” I ask as I look at her. Her eyes are cloudy with passion and then fury. She wrenches from my arms and runs. I go to chase he
r, but the sensible part of my brain stops me, well that and it’s difficult to run with a boner.
I was right, she tastes like perfection. I just hope I didn’t just take a bite out of the poison apple.
Chapter 4
Ashley
What the hell was that? He’s gay, he shouldn’t be kissing me, and that was not the kiss of a gay man. God, I can still taste him, my stomach is still flipping as if a thousand butterflies have taken up residence in it.
Walking into the shop I try to calm my racing heart. “Hey you look…flushed,” Taylor says as I grab a bottle of water from the fridge. Taking the bottle, I roll it over my neck to cool my overheated body down.
“I’m going to kill Ben when I see him,” I say as I turn to face her, and there it is, that look she gives me when she is about to say something that annoys me.
“Well, he’s in the back waiting for you. But before you go, what is this?” she asks, waving her finger in front of my face.
“Let me go kill someone first,” I shout back to her as I walk past her. Walking through the door, I slam it shut so he knows I’ve just walked in. He jumps in his seat and turns around. I put my hand up before he even opens his mouth. “How could you do it Ben? I mean, I had a feeling that you were gay. If you had just told me I would have been fine with it, but no, you have to cheat on me with a someone that is with another guy. Do you know they have a daughter?” I say with my hand on my hip as I come to stand in front of him and wait for him to answer me.
Ben drops his head for a second and I have the feeling that I have just kicked a puppy. He looks up and I see the regret on his face. “First I’m sorry,” he says. “I know I should have told you, but you are so sweet. I didn’t want to hurt you, and second Brad is single and has no kids.” He stands and takes a step closer to me, and I’m more confused now than I was ten minutes ago. “Jackson, the guy at the café, I was talking to him about some business thing,” he says. “But if he is gay then I’ve missed out.” Ben lets out a little laugh making me smile. “Ashley I really am sorry,” he says leaning down to give me a kiss on the cheek.
