Page 59 of Trick or Treat

“Yes.”

“Well, mine keeps screaming at me and it gets louder each time he’s around. I feel like this getting-to-know-him-again-and-being-friends thing is completely forced. It doesn’t feel right. And I really didn’t like him kissing me. It felt like he was staking his claim in front of everybody. He sounds like a real creeper.”

Jenna and Cami both exchanged a worried look. Cami spoke up first, turning in her seat to better see Lindsey. “Yeah, from everything you’re saying, I don’t think you should see him again either. I’m sorry I pushed it.”

“Honey. It’s fine. The only reason I agreed to it in the first place was because I felt like I needed to apologize for not listening to him about Doug and for being mean to him the last time we talked. Now that I’ve done that, I really don’t see any reason to talk to him again.” Saying the words out loud made it feel as if a weight was lifted off her shoulders. That right there should tell her she was making the right decision in cutting Kurtis out of her life.

She watched out the side window as her two friends changed the subject and started talking about the new Italian restaurant opening up next week. While they chatted away, Lindsey found herself wondering once again if she’d made a mistake with Trick, letting him go so easily. Just like the little voice inside kept telling her something wasn’t right with Kurtis, it had never once stopped making her second guess her decision of not giving Trick a second chance. Then she remembered the scratch marks on his back and her vow to stay away from him would get stronger. To say she was a hot mess would be a complete understatement right now.

13

After they’d gotten back to her house last night, Lindsey, Cami and Jenna ended up drinking three bottles of wine and polished off a large deluxe pizza. She vaguely remembered telling them how much she missed Trick and wondered if maybe she ended things too soon. Maybe she shouldn’t have let his ex scare her into believing she could lose her job?

Then she remembered another woman’s scratches on his back, which really hurt, but could she really blame him, though? If they weren’t together, she couldn’t very well expect him to not have sex with other people. That wouldn’t be fair. Just because she couldn’t hop in bed with the first man that came along wasn’t Trick’s fault, right?

She mentally snorted in disgust at her statement. Of course it was all Trick’s fault. She’d never had such amazing sex in all her life and if she was being totally honest with herself, she was scared to death to try with anyone else and be disappointed. What if no one ever came close to what Trick had given her? Was she doomed to a life spent alone with only her B.O.B. to keep her company?

“Okay, you guys only had sex that first time when you met at a club party and then that long weekend after Halloween. So, you’ve had sex on two separate occasions?” Cami tried to be reasonable.

“Twice? A weekend only counts as one time?” Jenna was sitting at one end of the couch, frowning.

“Yes. That weekend counts as one long marathon sex.” Cami nodded as if it all made perfect sense.

“Ohhh.” Jenna nodded, apparently understanding Cami’s logic.

“Three times,” Lindsey blurted absently. She sat with her legs pulled to the side and underneath her, a glass of wine balanced on the arm of the couch.

“Three times?” Cami shared a questioning look with Jenna.

“Yeah. We had sex when he came for his parent/teacher conference.” She stared into her wine. “In my classroom.”

“Eeeeee!” Both Cami and Jenna shot up from their seats, dancing around Lindsey’s living room, barely keeping their wine in their glasses.

“In your classroom? Really?” Jenna dropped to her knees in front of Lindsey, her eyes huge.

“Yes.” Why deny it? She wasn’t ashamed of it. In fact, she replayed it over and over in her dreams.

“Oh my God! My Lindsey is spreading her sexual wings! I’m so proud of you!” Cami dropped to the couch, right up against Lindsey, almost causing her to drop her drink.

“Why didn’t you tell us about it when you were telling us about his ex trying to get you fired?” Jenna frowned.

“I don’t know.” When Jenna arched a brow at her, she continued, “I guess it was something personal and private for only Trick and I to share. It felt more special that way.”

After that little confession, Cami kept pushing for her to call or text Trick. Maybe go see him face to face and see if there was a chance of working things out between them. She obviously had feelings for him. At least, if she tried, she’d know she’d given it her best shot.

So here she was, pulling up outside the Sons of Redemption clubhouse Sunday evening, after having chugged the last of the wine from last night. It was a little less than half a bottle, but she felt she needed the courage boost in order to face him. She’d first tried to track him down at his house and came up empty. The next logical place to try was the clubhouse. If he wasn’t here, she had no clue where to look. She supposed she could always try tomorrow, but now that she’d made up her mind that she wanted to talk to him, she just wanted to get it over with before she chickened out.

Lindsey couldn’t believe she was doing this. What in the world was she thinking just showing up at the Sons of Redemption clubhouse uninvited and without Cami? Had she lost her mind?

God, she was such an idiot coming here. Did that stop her, though? No. She couldn’t stand it, she needed to know if there was a chance that they could be together. Could he forgive her for panicking when her job was threatened? Dropping her head to the steering wheel, she was afraid that he’d already ruined her for other men and she’d blown her one chance at something really good.

She took a moment to remind herself of the things she had going for her. Without question the sex between them was off the charts amazing and got better every time they came together. That should count in her favor, right? And then there was the fact that he trusted her enough with his kids to allow her to bring them home. Those kids were his whole world and he wouldn’t trust them to just anyone. Was that enough to work with? Only one way to find out.

Pulling a sample size bottle of Johnny Walker out of her purse, she screwed the top off and tossed it back, swallowing it all in one go. “Blehhh!” She had a full body shiver and coughed a few times. “Maybe one more.” She pulled another one from her purse and swallowed it down just like the first one.

“Okay. You can do this. It’s now or never. Go in, ask him if there is any way that we could go back to the time before I messed everything up, then, no matter what his answer is, get out before you make things worse.” She shook her head. “Fuck, I’m an idiot and I cannot believe I’ve resorted to talking to myself.”

She left her keys in the ignition and her purse in the backseat under a jacket and got out of her car. She stepped inside, searching for Trick and found Race and another man at the bar talking and laughing. Tuck, whom she met at the party the last time she was here, and a black-haired man with long legs sat at a table having a drink. She recognized him from pictures she’d seen in Trick’s house but didn’t know his name.

---