finishing up some paperwork,” I lie. I spin in my chair to face him and do a double take when I realize he’s not alone. A petite pink-haired woman is plastered to his side. She’s dressed in a skintight pink bodysuit, with pink framed glasses, and pink tassels tied to pink streaked pigtails to complete the Pepto-chic look she’s got going on. She’s grinning so widely; I can see all of her teeth.
“My name’s Zephyr,” she shouts, as if I’m not sitting two feet in front of them and sticks a hand with sparkly pink nails shaped like daggers out at me.
“Stone, nice to meet you.” I shake her hand, while I give my brother a subtle wide-eyed, “what the fuck is this?” look.
“Cadence and I are done. You were right.” His smile is wide and hopeful. I can’t muster the same. I eye the woman next to him. She looks wasted already.
“Where did you meet?” I ask, even though I'm afraid of the answer.
“At the CITGO on Fondren and West Airport,” Zephyr answers brightly.
“At the gas station?” I ask, praying that I heard her wrong.
He clearly misreads my dismay, because his smile widens. “Yeah, I know. How lucky was I to be there just when she needed help? It’s only been two hours, but Zephyr here’s already helping me get reacquainted with all of the fun I’ve missed while I was locked down with Cadence.” Suddenly, he sings out, “She’s like the wind, through my trees.”
He grins and presses the writhing woman closer to his side. “Get it? Zephyr is the wind? The song from Dirty Dancing? You know? By Patrick Swayze?” He presses when I just stare blankly at him.
“Yeah, I know…” I say noncommittally and lean in to sniff him for alcohol. I frown when I smell nothing.
“Satisfied?” he asks, with a knowing smirk. I’ve been checking him like this since he started driving at sixteen.
I ignore him and glance over at Zephyr. “Are you on birth control?”
“Stone!” Beau yells, and turns her away, as if he can shield her from my words. “You’re a buzzkill, brother,” he says, with a scowl.
My shrug is unapologetic, and my stare unwavering. “No, I’m a gynecologist. And your reaction to a very straightforward question makes me think that safe sex isn’t a priority for either of you. It should be. You’re strangers. Who met at a gas station.” Says the pot to the kettle.
Beau mouths, “Stop.” And then turns to comfort his…hook up.
“I’m sorry, Zeph. He takes his work really seriously. Let’s go wait in the living room, before we lose interest in sex the way he has.”
I roll my eyes.
She laughs. “As if that could happen, stud,” she squeals, when he gives her ass a squeeze and rises up on her toes to kiss him.
Decidedly turned off by their display of affection and desperate for them to get out, so I can finish what I’m doing, before my date gets here. “Get out!” I snap.
He rolls his eyes, but in acquiescence. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know, you’ve got work to finish. We’ll wait in the foyer.”
I give him a curled lip in response, but when he rushes ahead to open the door for her, I smile. At least he knows right from wrong.
I’m not sure the same can be said about me. I’m sitting here thinking filthy thoughts about a woman whose name I shouldn’t even say.
Suddenly, Beau sticks his head back in. “Oh, hey. Sorry. I came in to tell you that your date is here.”
My stomach dips.
“Oh, shit. Okay, I’ll be right out.” I glance over my shoulder when he doesn’t leave.
“She’s hot.” He waggles his eyebrows and grins.
“Get the fuck out,” I say, when I really want to ask, “really?”
I don’t know why I let Tyson talk me into bringing a date tonight.
After our workout, he invited me to dinner at Regan’s. Their adult night was a couples evening, he informed me. He said Regan would probably have someone with her, too.
I almost declined. But I decided that if I’m going to live here and be part of this circle of friends, I need to get used to seeing Regan in social settings—no matter how miserable it makes me.
My sleep is fitful at best. I only eat to fuel my workouts. I’ve picked up extra shifts at work and I can’t jack off enough to take the edge off my hunger for her.
At the same time, I’m so angry at her, there are days I can