“Holy shit.”
“Yeah. Well, I immediately had second thoughts. After all, this was the only keepsake I had of my mother. So, I ended up pulling it out a few seconds later. It was all charred and half burnt, but still somewhat recognizable. I liked her better imperfect. She reflected how I felt. When my father figured out what I’d done, he was trying to make me feel better about it. The next day, when he came home from work, he brought home the ugliest doll you’ve ever seen in your life, because he said Lulu needed a friend. That was the moment I realized I had the best dad in the world. And that was the moment I fell in love with ugly dolls.”
I immediately spotted the doll she referred to as Lulu and lifted it. “This is the burnt one, isn’t it?”
“Yup. And after that day, I started collecting bizarre looking dolls. They go everywhere with me.”
If I didn’t already dig this chick, she had to go and tell me she threw a baby doll into a fire. Something about that whole twisted story just warmed my black heart.
“That is one fucked-up story…but kind of fucking awesome at the same time.”
“That’s the story of my life, Rush.” She walked over to me until she was dangerously close.
Fuck, I wanted to kiss her.
Instead, I just walked toward the door and said, “T’as de beaux yeux, tu sais.”
“Speaking French again, are we?” She smiled.
“You wanted to know what it meant. It means, you have beautiful eyes, you know.”
Gia blushed, and it was fucking adorable. “Thank you.”
That was my cue to leave. “I’d better go. See you tomorrow.”
She didn’t argue with me as I slipped out the door, through the living room, and sped away in my Mustang.
That night, visions of ugly dolls danced in my head. And even though I planned to intentionally lose the bet, I didn’t touch another cigarette.
I will not go to The Heights.
I paced back and forth, alone in my living room.
I will not go to The Heights.
More pacing.
I wasn’t quite sure which addiction had me unable to sit still tonight. It was now almost twenty-four hours since I’d smoked a cigarette and a half-hour more than that since I’d seen Gia. One made me feel like I was dangling on the edge.
It had to be the cigarettes. I wasn’t even sure why the fuck I hadn’t smoked today when my plan had been to lose the stupid bet. For some reason, I wanted to see if I could stop if I wanted to. The thought that I’d rather take a ride over to The Heights than smoke really pissed me off.
Flopping down on my couch, I grabbed my cell phone. What I needed was not a damn smoke or Gia—I needed to get laid. I scrolled through my contacts to see if any names sparked an interest.
Amy. Redhead. Killer curves. Liked to hang around The Heights and try to distract me. The last thing I needed was another distraction at work.
Blair. Into some weird, kinky shit. Not that I minded, but that type of thing needs a certain mood that I just wasn’t feeling today.
Chelsea. Saw her around town last week holding hands with some preppy-looking dude. I didn’t have many rules in life, except I don’t touch what belongs to someone else. Delete.
Darryl. Texted me Memorial Day and said she wouldn’t be out until August this year. I couldn’t hold out that long.
Everly. Damn. Everly.
If anyone could help me take my mind off of things, it was that woman. Best head I’d ever had in my life. We’d been together a few times last summer, and she’d messaged me a few weeks ago to tell me she was back in town. The best part of being with Everly was that she made me feel used. She’d tell me exactly what she wanted and how she wanted it, and after we were done—she’d get up, get dressed, and peck my cheek before saying Thanks. See ya around.
Perfect. Just what I needed.
My finger hovered over her name while I debated hitting her up. After a few minutes, I tossed my phone on the couch. What the fuck is wrong with me? I was acting like Everly was some foul-tasting medicine I had to take in order to get over the flu. When in fact, there was nothing wrong with me.
Stop acting like such a pussy.
Before I could overthink it anymore, I picked up my phone again and shot off a quick text. Why not leave it up to fate? Who knows, maybe she’d met someone and wouldn’t be down for a hookup anymore.
Rush: Hey
I had to laugh at myself after hitting send. Great opening line. Took you ten minutes of debating to come up with that shit. Smooth, Rush. Real smooth.
Less than a minute later, my phone buzzed with a response.
Everly: Your place or mine.
Fuck. My head fell back against the couch. Guess fate thinks I need to get laid, too. At least it would keep my mouth off Gia and mind off a cigarette. Wait. No. That should be my mouth off a cigarette and mind off of Gia. Or maybe not.
I dragged two hands through my hair, then took a deep breath and exhaled loudly before saying fuck it.
Rush: Yours.
Everly was basically the female version of me. The old me anyway. Blunt, to the point, and treated sex as mutual pleasure exchanged between two bodies. Emotions weren’t part of it.
The dots jumped around while she typed back.
Everly: Be here in an hour…or I start without you.
I scrubbed my hands over my face and decided I wouldn’t spend any more time feeling guilty. There was no reason to feel guilty. Gia was an employee, and maybe a friend in a loose sense of the word. I didn’t owe her celibacy just because I liked to look at her ass and drive her home. Fuck that.
Even though I knew I wasn’t doing anything wrong, I couldn’t shake the odd, angry feeling I had. That feeling continued while I made myself something to eat and started to get ready to go to Everly’s place. Normally, I liked to blast music while I showered, but tonight I was so off that I hadn’t remembered to turn the tunes on. Which was why I was able to hear my phone ringing from the other room.
The first time I ignored it.
The second time, I hopped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around my waist while cursing.
“What?” I barked into the phone. Water dripped all over the floor from my soaking wet hair.
“Boss. It’s Oak.”
“Whatever it is, deal with it. I’m not on tonight. I’m going out.”
“But it’s Gia, Rush.”
Jesus Christ. Could we all just pretend that she didn’t exist for tonight so I can go get laid in peace. “Just deal with whatever it is.”
“Boss…”
“Deal with it!”
I was just about to hang up when he spoke again. “She got hurt, boss. Stepped into the middle of a fight that broke out at the bar. Thought you’d want to know.”
My heart felt like it started to ricochet against my ribcage. “Where is she? Is she alright?”
“She’ll be fine. She’s sitting in the office. But she took a good pop to the eye. Probably gonna have a shiner.”
“I’ll be right there.”
Even Oak looked nervous when he saw my face. Steam might have been coming out my ears with how hot my temper was running. I stalked directly to the office, ignoring anyone who attempted to speak to me.
Gia jumped from the chair when I swung open the door. Something fell to the floor as her hand flew to her chest.
“You scared the crap out of me, Rush!”
I walked over and lifted her chin. Her left eye was puffy and already starting to turn purple underneath. “What the fuck happened? Are you hurt anywhere else?”
She shook her head. “No. I’m fine. Just my eye. It’s not a big deal. Oak made me sit back here and put ice on it. But I’m fine. I can go back to work.”
Realizing what had dropped when I walked in and startled her, I knelt down and grabbed the ice pack. “You’re sure nothing else hurts?”
“I’m positive.”
“How the hell did this happen?”
Even th
ough I’d seen for myself that she was okay, my heart was still beating at a murderous rate. The sound of blood swishing around in my eardrums made it difficult to hear.
“I was upstairs…” Gia started to say.
“Not you,” I cut her off and turned toward the open door. “Oak!” I yelled.
He must’ve been standing near the door waiting. “Yeah, boss.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to remain calm. But the only image I saw when I shut them was of a fist coming at Gia’s sweet face. Someone was going to pay for this. And at the moment, it was the man I employed to make sure this type of crap doesn’t go down in my bar. “How the fuck did this happen?” I roared.
The giant man took one look at my face and actually took a step back. Smart move.
“I didn’t see it go down. I was downstairs, and it happened on the rooftop, near the bar. Two guys got into it over one buying the other’s girl a drink. Gia had gone upstairs to bring a bottle of Patrón up because they were running low. She tried to break up the fight, got in between the two guys.”
I heard nothing after the first sentence. “You didn’t see it happen? Isn’t that what I pay you for? To have eyes on this place?”
Oak hung his head. “I’m sorry. It’s my fault. I should have been there.”
Gia piped in. “This isn’t his fault.”
“Shut up, Gia. Let me handle this.”
My focus had been on Oak, but I caught Gia’s eyes go wide out of my peripheral view. She slammed the bag of ice down on the desk in order to free up both hands to fly to her hips.
“Shut up? Did you just tell me to shut up?”
“Gia…
“Don’t Gia me. You can’t just march in here and start screaming at Oak and tell me to shut up.”
I lowered my head so that our faces were level. I was just about to yell, remind her that it’s my bar and my employees, so I had every fucking right to march anywhere I want and tell off whomever the fuck I wanted. But then I saw her eye again. An ache in my chest reminded me I needed to go easy.
I turned to Oak. “Get out. Shut the door behind you.”
He didn’t need to be told twice.
Once it was just Gia and me in the small office, I took a few deep breaths and focused on what was important. Cupping her cheeks, I asked, “You sure you’re okay?”
Her face softened along with her tone. “I’m fine. Really.”
I gently ran my thumb along the bottom of her eye that had started to swell. She winced.
“Did you fall?”
“No. I just stumbled back. I tried to grab one of the guy’s arms to stop him from hitting the other one, and an elbow hit me in the eye.”
“Rookie move.” I examined her eye closer. “You never grab the arm of the guy in a fight.”
“What should I have done?”
I locked eyes with her. “You should have done nothing. Oak should have gotten the guy in a choke hold or stepped between the two.”
“But Oak wasn’t there.”
I shook my head. I would be dealing with that later. But right now, I needed to make sure this was only a black eye. “Any double vision?”
“No.”
“Follow my finger.” I moved my pointer back and forth to test her eye movement.
“Headache?”
“No.”
“Any bleeding before I got here? From the nose or anything?”
“No.”
I let out a deep breath. “I think you’re going to be fine. You’ll have a nice black eye by morning. But ice will keep it from swelling shut.” I grabbed the ice pack from the desk. “Keep this on. Come on, I’ll drive you home.”
While Gia went to grab her purse, I spoke to Oak and found out that both of the assholes who had gotten into the fight had left with black eyes from my bouncer. That was the least he could do.
As soon as Gia and I got outside, I lit a cigarette. The thick smoke coated the burn in my throat like a salve.
“Hey. You’re smoking!”
I eyed her. “Fucking A, I am. Your fault.”
“My fault? How is it my fault?”
“You scared the shit out of me. Do me a favor. From now on, you see a fight going on, walk in the other direction.”
She smiled from ear to ear.
“What the fuck are you smiling at?”
“You care about me. It’s sweet that you got scared.”
I grumbled and pitched the half-smoked cigarette to the ground. As my eyes lowered to step it out, they snagged on Gia’s rack. She had on a sheer blouse, and her nipples were protruding through the fabric. I had the strongest urge to bite them, take out all my pent-up anger and frustration on sucking those things until they were sore as hell. My eyes rose up to meet hers. “I’m not sweet. Trust me.”
Unexpectedly, Gia threw her arms around my neck and hugged me. Her tits and those pebbled buds pressed up against my chest. It felt damn good. The blood still rushing through my ears, headed south. She kissed me on the cheek before stepping back.
“What was that for?”
“A lot of things. For being a big old softie under that hardass exterior you wear. For coming to make sure I was okay. Because you’re going to fix my car since you lost the bet. And…for stopping at 7-Eleven on the way home so I can pick up some victory candy.”
I shook my head and chuckled. “Let’s go, Rocky.”
Gia flopped down on her bed. “Will you lie next to me for a while?”
“That’s not a good idea.”
She pouted. “But my eye really hurts.”
My lip twitched. “You’re full of shit and trying to play on my sympathy. I’m not picking up what you’re putting down.”
She grinned at being called out. “You’re not cashing what I’m checking?”
I shook my head. “Not itching what you’re scratching.”
“Not hitting what I’m pitching?”
I handed her the ice I’d carried in with me. “Put this back on for fifteen. And, no, I’m not rocking what you’re rolling.”
Her smile was fucking adorable. I walked over to the ugly doll closet and plucked the original one from the shelf. The left side of its face was charred where her eye had been. Same side as Gia’s blooming black eye. I set it down beside her on the bed. “Now you look like twins.”
My phone vibrated in my pocket. It had done the same on the drive over to Gia’s, too. It wasn’t until this second time that I realized it was probably Everly. I’d been the one to initiate contact and then stood her up.
Gia pointed her eyes to my pants pocket. “Aren’t you going to answer that?”
“No. Not right now.”
She assessed me for a minute, and then tilted her head. “It’s a woman?”
“I didn’t look, so how could I know that?”
She squinted. “It’s a woman, isn’t it? A late-night booty call.”
I looked down at my feet. “I had plans for tonight, yes.”
“Oh. I see….” The hurt in her voice killed me. “Then you should probably get going. I wouldn’t want to keep you from a good time.”
My head, the one attached to my shoulders, screamed take the cue…run! But for some godforsaken reason, what I found myself saying was just the opposite. “Move over.”
Her face lit up, and she tossed ugly doll on the floor as she inched over and turned on her side.
My brows rose. “Is that any way to treat your prized doll?”
She patted the bed next to her. “It’s not like I can make her look any worse.”
Knowing it was a bad idea, but doing it anyway, I lay down on the bed next to her. I stared up at the ceiling, tense.
Gia seemed way more comfortable than I was. She moved closer and lifted her head onto my chest.
“I can hear your heartbeat. It sounds like it’s going so fast.”
That’s because it is. I felt like the big bad wolf lying in Little Red Riding Hood’s bed, and I really wanted to eat her.
I glanced down at her just as her big eyes looked up at me.
My what big eyes you have,
The kind that drive wolves mad.
She smiled innocently and snuggled closer. Her firm breasts pushed up against my side.
My what big tits you have,
They’re sure to lure someone bad.
She yawned. “I’m so tired suddenly.”
Without thinking, I reached down and stroked her hair. It felt so natural and right. “Your adrenaline is crashing. It spiked when you jumped into that fight and even for a while after.”
She sighed. “Yeah. I’m sorry for doing that. I just sort of did it and didn’t think. I’m also sorry for ruining your plans for the night.”
“It’s fine. They weren’t important.”
A few minutes later, I heard her breaths change, and I thought she’d fallen asleep. Until I heard her groggy voice. “Rush?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m not really sorry I ruined your plans for the night.”
I smiled. “I’m not sorry they got ruined either, Shakespeare. Now get some sleep.”
I woke to an empty bed.
Confused, I wasn’t entirely sure if I had imagined the entire night before. I had fallen asleep using Rush’s chest as a pillow, hadn’t I?
Lifting my head, it pounded as I padded to the bathroom. After a quick morning pee, I washed my hands and made the mistake of looking at myself in the mirror.
I grimaced seeing my reflection. My eye had shaded a lovely purplish black, and the top lid had swollen so much that it covered half my eye. I touched a pink lump near my cheekbone. “Ouch. Shit.”
Luckily, I didn’t have to work today, so I decided to get back into bed. A few minutes after I’d shut my eyes, I started to drift off again when I heard a noise. Looking up, I found Rush next to my bed, rustling inside of a bag.
“What are you doing?”
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you so early. I’d planned on going to the store before I went home. But we both fell asleep last night.”