“I’m not unhappy. I like my life and I’m doing what’s best for Cheyenne,” Easton said, leaning back in his chair again with his arms crossed over his chest like mine.
We were both stubborn. I knew that Easton didn’t want to leave Cheyenne. He hadn’t gone on a vacation since Dana died. The only time he was without Cheyenne was when she visited her grandparents in California for a week or two during the summers, but he would work—not have fun.
“Cheyenne needs a mother figure,” I said, giving him a stern look. He knew I was right. He might not want to believe it, but he knew Cheyenne needed more than her grandmother in her life.
“Dude, I can’t just bring chicks in here on rotation and hope that one’s the one.”
“No, but you can stop being an asshole and start opening your eyes. Dana’s death has nothing to do with your happiness. She wasn’t the one for you. You were getting divorced for Christ’s sake.”
“I know,” he murmured.
“Just think about it. There is always a princess for every asshole. You just need to stop being one and open your heart again.”
“Why do you sound like Dr. Phil right now?” He laughed.
“Fuck you! I just want you to have a good time on the cruise and maybe find the one, too.”
“Are you going to see your parents?” he asked, changing the subject.
“Yeah, if we have time. Doubt we will since they live in Santa Barbara now, but I’ll see if they can meet up with us.” More than likely my parents wouldn’t have time to drive less than an hour to see me while I was in California. Since moving to New York, they hadn’t visited once. My parents, especially my dad, wanted me to become a pro baseball player, and when I didn’t, they no longer wanted anything to do with me. I wasn’t sorry I’d become a bar owner. I was happy where I am, and frankly, they could kiss my ass.
“All right, let me call Bill. What are the dates again?”
“Yes!” I jumped up, throwing my arm in the air and celebrating.
I knew my best friend wouldn’t let me down.
It was my turn to work a Saturday night and any other night, I would be okay with it. I owned the joint after all, but as I served customers, I noticed a chick that I’d hoped to never see again, and I suddenly wished I wasn’t trapped behind the bar.
I met Angie when I first moved to New York and let me tell you, I wished I’d never had. On the outside, Angie looks like a normal girl and totally my type. Long blonde hair, gorgeous blue eyes, and legs that went on for miles. She was stunning. Men were putty in her hands, and I was one of those fools.
As soon as I’d met Angie, I couldn’t wait to bury my face in her nice tits. I wined and dined her, and when she suggested we go back to her place, I was all for it. I quickly paid the bill—not waiting for change—and drove as fast as I could. When we returned back to her place and I walked into her house, I jumped. I mean, I seriously fucking jumped.
“What the fuck is that?” I asked with my back against the closed front door.
“That’s Fred,” she said, walking over to her couch. “He’s my Bearded Dragon.”
“You’re what?” My eyes felt like they were going to bulge out of their sockets as I stared at the scaly creature.
“My Bearded Dragon. You know, a lizard.”
Lizards were small. This was no lizard. This was, in fact, a fucking dragon.
“Why…why does he look like that?” I swallowed hard, watching the dragon that sat on the back of her couch only a few steps away. His throat looked like something a cobra would do in attack mode. “Why is…” I swallowed again. “Why is his throat black and puffy?”
“He doesn’t know who you are. He’ll warm up to you soon. Won’t you, Fred?” Angie bent down, kissing the scaly beast. I resisted the urge to gag as I watched her lips on Fred. The dragon started to nod his head in agreement, his spiny scales laying down.
Did that fucker just nod?
“See,” Angie continued. “He’ll warm up to you. Come pet him.”
“I…I’d uh, rather not.” I rubbed my hand over my neck and through my dirty blond hair.
“Trust me,” Angie said, still petting the reptile.
Then it did something that I swore I’d never seen in my life. The fucking thing waved at me.
“Ah, see. He’s already warming up to you. Bearded Dragons wave to show submission.”
Submission?
“Well, I haven’t warmed up to him. Do you mind putting him in a cage or something?”
“He doesn’t have one.”
I blinked at her. “Your lizard doesn’t have a cage?”
“No, this is his house too.”
See, this is where you would think that I would hightail it out the door, right? Nope!
“Okay,” I said, not knowing what else to say.
“Look, Avery. I like you. Let’s just watch a movie and see what happens.”
“A movie…with Fred?”
She laughed. “Fine, I’ll feed him. That should give us some alone time.”
My body was still against the door as I watched her pick-up Fred and take him to the open floor plan kitchen, setting him down in front of what looked like your standard sized pet dish with a colorful mat under it—like feeding a lizard outside a cage was normal. It wasn’t normal. Angie wasn’t normal. I felt some of the tension start to leave my body as I watched her fill the bowl with lettuce, putting distance between me and Fred.
“Would you like some coffee? A beer? Popcorn?” Angie asked.
“Sure, I’ll take a beer and some popcorn.” I couldn’t be rude.
I started to pace around the small living room, looking at pictures of Angie and her girlfriends partying. I knew I needed to man the fuck up. It was only a lizard. Worst case, it bit me. I groaned, running my hand over my face and thinking of the worst case scenario.
It’s just a lizard.
“Popcorn’s popping,” Angie had said, walking back into the living room and handing me a bottle of Coors Light. “What movie do you want to watch?”
“Doesn’t matter to me.” I sat on the couch, my ass cheeks clenching at the thought of Fred. I took a deep breath. I could do this…it was just a submissive lizard.
“All right, well, let me go get the popcorn and then we can find something on Pay-Per-View.”
“Perfect,” I said, taking a pull of my beer, downing most of it. I needed more than one beer to get through the night. “Mind if I have another beer?”
“No problem.”
Angie returned with another beer and the popcorn. I was in a daze—eyeing the kitchen and waiting for Fred to walk out as she picked a movie. She reached over, turning off the lamp on the end table by the couch.
“Mind leaving that on?” I asked.
“You watch movies with the lights on?”
Yep, when there was a dragon in the house, I did. “Um…no, that’s okay,” I said, trying to sound like the man I was.
It was just a lizard…
It was just a lizard…
It was just a lizard…
We sat in the dark, the only light from the glow of the TV, and I downed my second beer, wondering how long it took dragons to eat. The movie started to play—I had no idea what movie we were watching because all I could think about was the reptile in the next room.
“You don’t like the movie?” Angie asked.
“It’s fine,” I said, still not really watching.
“Why are you still tense?”
“I’m not,” I lied.
“Yeah, you are. Let me help you.” Angie scooted off the couch and knelt in front of my legs. I swallowed hard again. Her hands instantly went to my belt and started to loosen the buckle before finally undoing it and unbuttoning my jeans.
I groaned as her hand reached in, grabbing my dick and helping it become hard. It didn’t take long for my cock to poke out of my boxers. Angie pulled them down enough to free my dick, my head tilted back against the back of the brown leather couch.
“It’s okay,” Angie said.
“What is?” I asked, my eyes never leaving Fred.
“You can come in my mouth,” she said between sucks.
How was I going to come with the eyes of a reptile looking between me and my dick as Angie bobbed her head? I couldn’t come. I envisioned Fred leaping for my cock and biting it. That was one place I for sure didn’t want Fred to bite!
“I’d rather come with my dick inside you,” I said, thinking of a way to move away from Fred.
Usually, I could go more than one round. Not tonight. Tonight I was blowing my load and getting the fuck out of Dodge, and not with my dick hanging out for a dragon to bite off.
I put all thoughts of Fred out of my head as I picked Angie up, tossing her lightly onto her other couch and sheathed myself with the condom I had in my pocket. I’d waited too long to have sex and this was my first lay since being in New York. Easton would laugh at me for days if I told him some lizard had kept me from getting laid.
So I manned up.
After fully sheathing myself, I pulled Angie’s underwear down, not caring if she was ready for me. With one push, I was inside her, pumping away until she moaned, clenching around me. I actually had no desire to wait for her to come, so I was lucky she did come before I came. She wouldn’t remember me as a total asshole.
This shit was not happening again! I never wanted to see Angie or Fred again.
I thrust faster, needing to come so I could leave. I looked up to meet Angie’s eyes, hoping that her gorgeous face would send me over the edge, but only to see Fred on the back of the couch behind her head.
Fuck!
I pulled Angie’s blouse down just enough to clamp down on her nipple, needing something to keep my head and mind busy as I rammed into her, over and over, the leather from the couch squeaking as I pumped.
She reached down, grasping my balls between our bodies and that was my undoing. I came into the condom, not looking at Angie or Fred. I slide out of her as she tried to kiss me. Fred was inches away and I just needed out.
I needed an exit plan.
Giving her a quick peck on the lips, I stood, walking to the bathroom. After I cleaned up and disposed of the condom, I thought about an excuse. I didn’t have any desire to do this again. I didn’t care if it was at my place. She was hot, but having a scaly reptile staring at me while I fucked only meant that Angie wasn’t the one.
“It’s getting pretty late. I should go,” I said, coming out of the bathroom.
“You can stay here if you want.”
“I have an early meeting tomorrow with my broker.”
I really did have a meeting. Easton and I were going to look at a space to open our own bar.
I quickly made my exit, doing the polite thing by kissing her goodnight and telling her that I had a nice time. After all, I wasn’t an asshole, but I was going to be one to her in her mind. I would never call her like I’d promised. I would never see her again like I’d said I would. This was just a one-time thing…
And the most terrifying sexual experience of my life.
I thought about Fred as I watched Angie walk into Halo, laughing with her friends. Before I could make my escape, her eyes met mine and she walked up to me with angry eyes. I swallowed hard, waiting for her to cause a scene.
“Avery,” she said flatly.
“Hey, Angie. How have you and Fred been?”
She went to open her mouth then stopped, tears forming in her eyes. “Fred ran away.”
I wanted to tell her that if she had a cage for that thing, he wouldn’t have escaped, but instead I’d let her cry to me for about five minutes and I bought her a few drinks to make her calm down. Afterward, she’d asked me to go back to her place. It had been awhile since I’d last had sex, but I just couldn’t go back there. She wasn’t the one.
Mike never called. It was probably for the best given that he and my best friend worked together at the law firm. I’d never wanted anything serious with him. I’d just wanted to have fun—and I thought he had, too. Oh well. I got over it quickly and started to shop for cute bikinis and outfits for the cruise.
As expected, Brooke threw a hissy fit about the cruise being a singles cruise. However, I worked my magic, throwing in the fact that we could see Bailee, her sister, and Brooke caved.
I couldn’t wait. Eight days of sunshine, no work, and hopefully a ship full of hot men.
The day we left for California, Brooke’s boyfriend didn’t help us with our bags. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting—maybe a gentleman? He was worthless. I had every intention of having Brooke hook-up with someone on the cruise. Maybe then she would open her eyes and find someone who was worth everything that she had to offer.
Jared was a user. He always played his stupid video games and never gave Brooke any attention unless he wanted sex. That was not love. That was not even a relationship. He had more of a relationship with his X-Box controller than he did with Brooke and I was tired of watching my friend be used.
“Jesus, those heavy bags hurt my shoulder,” Brooke said, rubbing her right shoulder.
“I can’t believe your shoulder is still hurting you. You need to go back to the doctor when we get back. Maybe you should see Dr. Sam instead of your doctor?”
Dr. Sam was one of the best doctors I’d ever assisted in my nursing career. My workplace was like a mini hospital under one roof. We specialized in family medicine, but if any of our patients needed X-rays, blood work, or referred to another doctor, they typically wouldn’t have to step out of our doors.
“I’ve been emailing with my doctor, and she just keeps telling me that muscle strains take a long time to heal. She prescribed me new meds, but I think they take some time to get into my system,” Brooke said, stepping forward in line.
“I still find it weird that she wouldn’t run any tests and just prescribed you medication. Yes, muscle strains do take time to heal, but not this long—especially since you aren’t doing anything to strain it more.”
If Brooke were our patient, this shit wouldn’t have happened. We would have at least given her an X-ray or MRI to confirm it was or wasn’t muscular. Brooke hurt her shoulder while bowling at her party, but her birthday was over two months ago. She should have recovered by now.
“Me too, but she’s the doctor.” Brooke sighed, still rubbing her shoulder.
“And I’m a nurse and your best friend. If your shoulder is still hurting after the cruise, promise me you’ll schedule an appointment with Dr. Sam?” I wasn’t joking around. Something serious could be going on and I didn’t like it. I took off my shoes before placing them in the plastic bin by the metal detector.
“Fine,” Brooke said, taking her shoes off, too.
We made it through security with no problem. After finding our gate, we sat down, waiting for our flight that we would be boarding in just a few minutes.
“You’re never going to guess what Jared did last night,” Brooke whispered.
“Anything besides playing Call of Duty will surprise me,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“You know how I’ve been taking muscle relaxers at bedtime?” I nodded. “Well, I only took half of one because a full one makes me groggy if I don’t get like ten hours of sleep. Anyway, I’m sleeping and Jared tries to wake me up to have sex.”
My eyes widened. “Eww, what did you do? Pretend you were asleep?”
“I remember telling him that I took a muscle relaxer and him telling me that he would do all the work.”
“What a pig!” God I hated that loser!
>
“I know, and I really was asleep—mostly. I barely remember anything.”
“That’s like rape,” I whispered.
When would Brooke dump this idiot?
“No, it’s not.” She laughed. “I would have wanted to do it if I could. Those pills knock me the fuck out.”
“Whatever, I still think he took advantage of you.”
I hated Jared with a passion and this was one more reason why I was determined to help Brooke find someone on the cruise. Even if it was just for seven days.
We made it to Los Angeles and boarded the last bus to the docks. Most of the flight, I thought about how I was going to get Brooke to open her eyes and leave Jared. All the signs were there, but she wasn’t seeing them.
“Are you going to tell people you have a boyfriend?” I asked Brooke as we sat in the back of the bus.
“Of course. You know I’m not interested in meeting anyone.”
“But we are going on a singles cruise.”
“Yeah, a cruise you tricked me into going on.” She laughed.
“Just have fun. I don’t want you moping around,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. “In fact, if you do meet someone and hook up with them, I won’t tell Jared.”
“I won’t be moping around. Don’t be ridiculous. And I’m not going to cheat on Jared.”
“I’m serious. If you do meet a hot guy, I won’t tell. You know I hate that loser.”
“I know, but I won’t be cheating on him. I’m here for you and to get a tan—oh, and a massage.”
I gave Brooke a stern look and then turned to watch the California scenery pass by as we drove to the ship. She was dead set on not having a wandering eye, but I planned on changing that. I was going to point out every hot guy, introduce her to them, and hope the sparks flew. Even if Brooke only flirted, it would at least show her that there were more guys out there for her.
Once we unloaded from the bus, we went through the lines to check-in for the cruise, pose for pictures, and have our bags checked for alcohol. It took forever. When we finally started to walk up the ramp for the ship, Brooke seemed to be in a different mood.
The Halo Series Boxed Set Page 29
