Lola: A Reed Security Romance (Reed Security Series Book 8)

by Giulia Lagomarsino

  “Get it off! Get it off!” Cece yelled. The other girls were tearing at her clothes, trying to find the spider that had crawled into her clothing. Then Lillian yelled and started ripping off her own clothes.

  “Snake! Oh, golly. Oh, gosh. Oh, darn!”

  “Uh, you guys gonna step in here any time soon or are you just gonna let them strip each other bare?” I asked.

  “Strip each other bare,” they all answered.

  “You know that there could be chiggers in the water, right? I’d hate to have that near your junk if they bring those home with them.”

  That got them all moving. They were up and running to the edge of the embankment in seconds.

  “How does this work?” Sarah yelled at the girls. Our heads all turned to the left to see Sarah walking toward us, gun pointed at us, but her head looking at the gun. “Is it this thing?”

  Before we could move, she pulled the trigger, the force sending her tiny frame spinning. Paint balls whipped by all of us as she tried to get control of her gun. Bullet after bullet struck each of us in a machine gun rhythm. When she finally ran out, we looked at each other, seeing every one of us had been caught by her randomly firing her weapon.

  “No real guns for you,” Sean pointed at her. Then he stormed down the embankment and into the water, grabbing Lillian around the waste. “What the hell are you doing? You don’t get naked for anyone but me,” he scolded.

  Logan walked into the water, hauling Cece off into the woods, most likely to have his way with her. Jack stormed up to Harper, anger all over his face.

  “What the hell? Are you trying to get killed? You don’t go running through the woods when you don’t know the terrain. You could have broken your fucking neck!”

  “As you can see, I’m fine and I don’t need you running to the rescue to save the day!”

  “I came here because you’re fucking naked and my friends can all see you.”

  “I’m not naked. I have a bra and panties on. And boots!” she pointed to her feet.

  “Yeah, I’m sure those boots are doing a great job of hiding your SEXY FUCKING TOES!”

  “Don’t yell at me.”

  “Don’t strut around naked!”

  He grabbed her head and pulled Harper toward him, kissing her and lifting her under the ass. He stumbled up the embankment until he shoved her against a tree.

  “Yeah, I don’t need to see that.”

  I walked over to Sarah and took the gun from her.

  “There are no bullets left, you know.”

  “Let’s just say that it’s for the best if you never come paintballing with us again,” I smirked.

  Two loud explosions behind me had me turning around and running for our hideout. Sebastian and Drew were covered in paint and Maggie was standing behind them examining her nails.

  “Who gave her grenades?” Sebastian yelled.

  “Looks like we won,” Maggie said as if she didn’t have a care in the world. “What do you think of that? Seven men beaten by a few clumsy women, two that have never handled a paintball gun, and one woman who doesn’t even have all her fingers.” Maggie smirked and walked over to Sebastian. “I think I’ll go discuss what song you’ll be singing with the ladies.” She kissed him sweetly on the lips and walked away.

  I felt a paintball hit me in the back and I turned around, raising an eyebrow at Lola. “You know I’m already out, right?”

  She shrugged. “I didn’t get to shoot anyone.”

  “So, was that all part of your plan?” I asked, waving to the mess of women that were scattered around us.

  “Not at all. I see now what you meant by ‘they always seem to win’. I don’t know how the hell that happened, but it was only loosely based on my plan.”

  “Okay, where is everyone?” Maggie asked as she walked back over.

  “I think Logan is showing Cece his snake,” I grinned.

  “Whatever. I’ve talked with Sarah and Alex and we’ve all agreed on the song we want you to sing.”

  “What’s that?” Sebastian asked.

  “Don’t I get a say in this?” Lola asked.

  “Trust me. You’ll be happy with our choice,” Maggie smiled.

  “Well, don’t leave us in suspense,” Sebastian quipped.

  “You’re going to perform You Can Leave Your Hat On.”

  “Wait, isn’t that the song from that movie?” I asked, snapping my fingers.

  “Yep,” Sarah popped her p and laughed.

  “No,” I said firmly.

  “Yes, and we’ll be expecting The Full Monty,” Alex beamed.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Ryan

  “SO, WHAT’S THIS song we’re supposed to sing?” Drew asked as he sat down on my couch with a beer. All the guys were over and we were going to watch the dance from The Full Monty so that we knew what we had to do.

  “You Can Leave Your Hat On,” I said.

  We watched the guys all walk out on stage and then start to do hip thrusts. “This doesn’t look too bad,” Cole said, taking a seat on the couch.

  Sean sat next to him and leaned back, getting comfortable with a beer. “I’m pretty sure that we’ll look better than these guys when we do it.”

  “Now, see, that move right there, we have to change,” Drew said. “I don’t like the idea of walking down the stage with one of you. It’s creepy.”

  “These guys are terrible dancers,” Sebastian said. “That’s not sexual at all.”

  “Have you ever seen the movie?” I asked. Sebastian shook his head. “The whole point of the movie is that these guys are all down on their luck and trying to do something to survive.”

  “So, they strip?” Jack asked.

  I grinned. “Just wait for it.”

  “Oh! That dude right there. That’s me.” Logan pointed to the screen where a guy just jumped over another guy and landed on his knees, slowing ripping open his shirt.

  “Do chicks really go for guys that look like that?” Sean asked. “I mean, stripping and looking like that. There’s only one good looking guy out of all of them.”

  “Which one are you talking about?” I asked, just giving him shit because I wanted him to say it.

  “What do you mean? You can see which one.”

  “I don’t know. There are a couple of guys that don’t look too bad,” I shrugged.

  “Are you looking at the same group of men that I am?” Sean asked with a baffled expression. I leaned forward and looked him dead in the eyes.

  “Why don’t you just tell me which guy you think looks good?”

  “Fuck off,” he turned back to the TV and I chuckled.

  “No!” All the guys started to shout when the guys ripped off their pants, revealing they were wearing red thongs.

  “No. No fucking way,” Sebastian shook his head.

  “I’m with him,” Cole agreed. “There’s no fucking way I’m wearing a thong.”

  “I’m afraid we don’t have a choice,” Logan said. “A bet is a bet.”

  “Just wait for it,” I said again, laughing inside that they hadn’t seen how it ended yet.

  “What are they doing?” Jack said in shock. “No. No, no, no. Shit!”

  The guys pulled off their thongs and raised them over their heads, swinging them and covering their junk with their hats.

  “Holy shit,” Sebastian whispered. “They’re not going to…”

  The guys spun around and shook their naked ass to the crowd and then spun back around, tossing their hats into the audience.

  “Oh!” The guys shouted.

  “We’re supposed to do that on a fucking stage?” Drew spat. “With each other?”

  “That’s what Alex said, the full monty.”

  I paused the TV on the image of the guys standing bare ass naked in front of the crowd of women. The guys all looked shell shocked, except for Logan, who looked surprisingly fine with the whole thing.

  “So, are we gonna do this as policemen?” Logan asked.

  Sebasti
an glared at him. “That’s what you have to say about this?”

  “What?” Logan shrugged. “It’s not like we haven’t seen each other’s dicks before in the locker room.”

  “That was showering. This is fucking dancing on a stage in front of each other’s wives,” Drew yelled, pointing at the TV.

  “Yeah,” Logan grinned. “Imagine how amazing the sex is going to be after that?” He waggled his eyebrows and Jack punched him in the shoulder. “What? You guys are taking this way too seriously.”

  “Ryan?” Cole jerked his head at me. “You aren’t saying much.”

  “I guess I don’t really care,” I shrugged. “When Maggie suggested it, I’d already seen the movie. I’ve had time to adjust.”

  “Okay, so if we’re going to do this, we need to decide on a theme.” Logan pulled out his phone and started taking notes. “I say we do firemen. It’s so much sexier than a policemen.”

  “Hey,” Sean said.

  “Sorry, but they make more calendars about firefighters than policemen. I’ll work on finding costumes. And we’re definitely going to have to find some better choreography than that,” he pointed to the screen. “Maybe even a better song.”

  “You know, I think you’re having a little too much fun with this,” Sebastian said.

  “Embrace it, man. Jack, don’t tell me you wouldn’t mind spicing things up with Harper a little.”

  “The last time we spiced things up, we ended up with another kid.”

  “Ouch, has it been that long?” I asked.

  “No, douchebag. That’s the last time we did something crazy. We fuck just fine, thank you very much.”

  “Okay, what about Lillian?” Logan asked Sean.

  “You’ve met her. Do you really think this is something she’d like?”

  “Just shout out a couple of misplaced modifiers and you’ll have her creaming in her seat,” Logan joked.

  “Real funny, asshole.”

  “Seriously, you guys just need to role with this. You know that if we had won, we would have made them do something equally sexy,” Logan pointed out.

  “Well, if we don’t want to look like a bunch of dickheads, we need to put together a practice schedule,” Drew suggested.

  “You’re not serious,” Sebastian glared at him.

  “Well, fuck. You’re the one that got us into this mess with your damn bet, and I’m sure as hell not doing that,” he pointed at the TV.

  “You know, he’s right,” Cole said. “And since he was the one that suggested it, he can be up front at the end.”

  I laughed until Cole looked at me. “And since your girlfriend agreed to this, you get to be right behind him.”

  “And since your wife suggested the full monty,” Sean grinned, “you get to stand right next to him.”

  “So, where is this all going to take place?” Logan asked. “And more importantly, where are we going to practice?”

  “You’re way too fucking excited about this,” I said.

  “Do you think we should all match?” Logan asked, completely ignoring me as he looked off in thought.

  “That’s kind of the point, isn’t it?” I asked.

  “No, I mean, should we all match…down there?” he pointed at his crotch.

  “Our underwear?” Cole asked.

  “No,” Logan stressed. “Our…maintenance.”

  Sebastian shook his head. “What is it with guys now? I walked in on some of the guys at work checking out each other’s maintenance. Why do we have to all look alike?”

  “Well, we might look…” Logan cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Different if say one of us is trimmed and another is waxed.”

  “Yeah, who gives a shit?” Drew asked.

  “Well, I wax,” Logan put out there. “And I’m just saying that waxing makes you look…larger.” He held up his hands in apology. “I just wouldn’t want to show any of you up.”

  “So, what? We’re all supposed to go get waxed?” Sean asked. “I’m not a girl. I don’t do that shit.”

  “You know, he might have a point though. Let’s face it, the girls are going to see all of us. I want to look my best,” Jack said.

  “I’m kind of with Logan,” Cole admitted. “I’m not normally one to do that kind of shit, but I’m really hairy. I keep it clean, but I would look like a hairy beast next to someone that waxes. I vote we all go for the same look.”

  “Okay, so we take a vote,” I suggested. “All those in favor of waxing, raise your hands.”

  Logan, Cole, Jack, and I all raised our hands. Sebastian, Sean, and Drew all glared at us.

  “Okay, so are we all going to make an appointment and do this together?” Logan asked. Sean smacked him upside the head and that was the end of that.

  ✯✯✯✯✯

  “I hope you don’t mind, but there’s a Harry Potter marathon on today. James and I watch all the movies whenever there’s a marathon on.” I hoped to God that Lola was okay with this. She said she was fine with hanging out all day, but it was different when there was a kid involved. I really didn’t know if she would be okay with just lounging all day.

  “I’ll pick up snacks. You can’t have a movie marathon without a full day’s supply of munchies.”

  “Alright. It starts in an hour, so don’t be late. You can’t miss the first one.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

  I hung up and grinned down at my phone, relieved that this wasn’t an issue. I was really enjoying Lola’s company and James seemed to also. I didn’t want to look too far beyond that yet. We were having a good time and I was fine with just seeing where things went from here, but it was really important that she got along with James. If she didn’t, it would be a no go. James was my first priority and always would be.

  “So, is she coming?”

  “Yeah, she’s stopping for snacks on her way.”

  “Cool,” James said as he took a seat. He had all his Harry Potter books with him. We always fact checked along the way with the movies, even though we knew all the aspects of every book. “You don’t think she’s going to be bored, do you? I mean, the movies might be kind of…” He shrugged and looked down at his books.

  “What?”

  “Childish?”

  “I like the books and I like watching the movies with you. If she doesn’t like them, she’ll just leave early.”

  I hoped like hell that didn’t happen. I didn’t want James to think that his interests were childish in any way. This was more of a ritual than anything for us. It was what originally brought us together. I never wanted him to think it was stupid.

  “Maybe we should choose something else,” he said uncomfortably.

  I shook my head. “She sounded excited about it. Besides, you can’t go through life not doing what you like because of what others might think.”

  “So, you don’t care if she thinks you’re a dork?”

  “Hey, I already have on my Gryffindor shirt. If she doesn’t run away as soon as she sees me, I think we’ll be fine.”

  Forty-five minutes later, Lola was pulling up and James was already at the door, rushing out to help her carry in her goodies. She had a trunk full of groceries with her and best of all, she was wearing Harry Potter sweats and a Gryffindor t-shirt. It looked almost exactly like mine.

  “Nice shirt,” I said as I took some bags from her.

  “Well, I wanted to be prepared. I saw this at Target and I knew I had to get it.”

  I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her in close. “You’re amazing,” I whispered before I kissed her. “So, what did you bring?”

  “Well, I figured that this was going to be an all day and possibly all night event. Am I right?”

  I nodded and smiled.

  “So, I got frozen pizzas, ribs that we can do in the crock pot, fries, cornbread, coleslaw, beans, and a chicken. I figure we can do the pizza for lunch. I’ll put the ribs in now and they’ll be ready for dinner. We can roast the chicken for a few hours in the o
ven. And…” She smiled big and pulled out another bag. “I got muffins and orange juice for now. I’m assuming you have coffee.”

  “You would be correct. I can’t believe you did all this,” I said in amazement.

  “Well, this is my first movie marathon, so I wanted to do it right. I tried to get-”

  I cut her off with another kiss, pulling her tight against me. I knew she had done all this for my son and I loved her for that. I pulled back at that thought and cleared my throat uncomfortably, afraid that I had said that out loud.

  “Everything okay?” she asked. She had a funny look on her face that said she knew I was freaking out over something.

  “Good. Everything’s fine.”

  “Right. Well, I’m going to get the ribs started. Save me a seat.”

  I followed her into the kitchen and pulled out the crock pot for her and got down a couple of cups for coffee. After pouring them, I brought them into the living room just as the first movie was beginning. She followed me in with cups of orange juice and the muffins.

  “Should I have brought something more healthy?”

  “This is fine. Some days you just have to eat stuff that’s not good for you.”

  Throughout the movie, Lola laughed as James and I pointed out little things that were different in the movie from the book. There weren’t that many. This movie was pretty close to the original. Lola gave the movie her full attention and even seemed to be enjoying it. After the first movie ended, the second was on in minutes. We all quickly got up to run to the bathroom before the movie began and Lola even pulled a blanket on to get comfortable.

  I liked the idea of her lounging around the house today with us. I couldn’t stop looking over at her to see if she was having fun or if she was bored out of her mind. By the third movie, I had her laying down with her head in my lap just so I could touch her. I saw James smirk at me when he saw me pull her toward me, but then his focus was back on the movie.

  We took a break to get the chicken started and then we started watching again. Lola seemed just as content as James and I. It wasn’t uncomfortable or awkward at any time the whole day, and by the time night came, we were all pigging out on the food Lola had made while we watched the movie. Seeing as how I hated a mess in the kitchen, I quickly went and started cleaning up and was surprised when Lola joined me.