Page 15 of Cocky Prince
I walk over to Zach’s dining table. It’s new, and a vast improvement on the previous garage sale piece of crap. I’ve come to Zach’s taco dinner a few times now. Typically, I don’t give a shit what furniture people have. I know how lucky I am to afford what I do. But Zach’s old furniture defied human decency. That shit had to be sixty years old, and gaudy as hell. Thankfully, his girlfriend, Nessa, has good taste. I’ve noticed a distinct upgrade in a few key pieces since she’s moved in. As far as I’m concerned, she’s a keeper. He’s also all gooey over her, just like Jaeg is with Cali. That part I could do without, but them’s the breaks.
Cali plops into the chair next to me. “So, Adam. Hayden.”
Here we go.I shuffle a stack of cards I snatched from the bookshelf near the table. “I thought we were finished with that conversation.”
“We were, we were. But I thought you might want to—you know,confide. Because I’m a girl. We’re intuitive, us girls. Just ask Gen. I’m a genius at dissecting the female mind and helping couples come together.”
Gen chokes spastically a couple of feet away. Lewis pats her back as she reaches for her chest, her eyes bugging. “Cali!” she says.
Cali waves Gen off, her gaze intent on me, and me alone. “I got this, Gen. Why don’t you and Lewis take a walk, or something?”
Gen rubs her temples, and Lewis hugs her with a grin.
I sense a history here. As long as Cali and Gen duke it out, with any luck, Cali will forget about Hayden and me. I deal out a game of solitaire and wait for Zach to finish the dishes so he can whip us up some dessert. The last time I was here he made ice cream sundaes. I saw that someone brought brownies. I could use some double-chocolate brownie with a pound of vanilla on top.
Cali folds her hands and eyes me. “Jaeger’s right, Adam. You are different. I remember how you were a couple of summers ago with your last girlfriend. I don’t want to say you were a jerk, but…”
I count three cards from the deck in my hand, and flip. “But you thought I was an ass?”
“Maybe a little.”
My last girlfriend was like all of my girlfriends. Beautiful. Entitled. And never happy with the amount of attention I gave her. I can’t blame her, or any of the women I’ve dated. Iwasan ass. But they also had high expectations—expensive trips, nice gifts. I could afford it, but I got tired of ulterior motives. Even the rich women hanging around Club Tahoe and tucking their key cards in my khakis were using me for something.
By the end of my last relationship, my ex thought I had a wandering eye. I wouldn’t say itwandered,so much as I could see when the writing was on the wall. If I thought a relationship was nearing its end, I moved on immediately and made sure I was the one who got out first. And Jaeg’s right. I don’t pine for the ones I’ve left behind. Once they’re out of my life, they’re out of my mind too. Which, now that I think about it, is incredibly fucked up.
I’ve always been a moody bastard after a breakup, but it’s never for the reasons people think. I wasn’t upset because the relationship ended, but because I felt nothing. Not one damn thing. And when you feel nothing, sometimes—occasionally—it seems like there’s nothing to live for. I’ve never been suicidal, but I can relate to the desolate, dark places people mentally go to when life sucks.
I’ve flown solo these last couple of years because I don’t want to deal with that bullshit. Why get tangled up when it leads to frustration on both sides? I’ve been taking a page out of my younger brother’s book. Hook up and make no promises. Easy.
So if Jaeg’s right, why am I chasing Hayden?
I think about her more than I should. She’s beautiful, smart—but there is no way I am going near that. I enjoy the banter, because she dishes out as good as she gets, and she puts me in my place the way my brothers do. But Jaeg is right about one thing: I feel too much around her. And that’s not good. I’ve got to keep things under control. Keep a cool distance.
Cali stares at me as this shit flies through my mind—one disturbing realization after another leading too close to a bull’s-eye I didn’t see coming.
Do I like Hayden?
I shake off the chill that runs down my spine.Not happening.
Just when I think Cali might probe further into myfeelings,she switches directions like a flame-haired samurai, knocking the breath from my lungs. “I like her, Adam. Don’t hurt this one.”
My mind works as I try to respond to that curveball. “Hayden isn’t athis one. She’s a work associate.”
But I’m not making a good argument for myself when I do stupid shit like run after her into the driveway. Cali’s right—the last thing I want is to hurt Hayden. I did that before, and dick that I am, I didn’t even realize it. The woman who drives me nuts at work is the same girl whom I subconsciously noticed in high school. And who was dating my best friend.
This Hayden—the confident, sharply dressed power executive at Blue—is nothing like the Beth that Jaeg dated. But she has the same effect on my instincts.
I left a message for one of my soccer teammates and hitENDon my phone, waiting for Jaeg by his red pickup in the high school parking lot. My brother scored tickets to a band in town, and I wanted to give Jaeg his before I went to the mandatory employee meeting at Club Tahoe. I was working as a cabana boy, serving poolside, while discreetly getting patted down and padded up with tips by the frisky women who could afford to vacation at my father’s resort. My job kicked ass.
My dad wanted me to gain experience in the business. Little did he know I was gaining experience in how to pleasure bored housewives while their husbands played eighteen holes. If I timed my afternoon right, I could use both of my breaks to score. Sixteen and six foot one, and women noticed. And I hadlotsof energy to entertain them.
Mentally mapping which discreet storage closets were located poolside for the leggy brunette who had been giving me the eye yesterday, and whom I expected a return visit from today, I finally caught sight of Jaeg loping down the concrete steps toward the parking lot. His mouth was spread in a wide smile as he veered toward the girl in jeans and a baggy T-shirt standing near a metal bench.
I’d noticed her, of course, and had quickly labeled her a shy nerd with no curves under that baggy shirt. Not my usual type. Her backpack was nearly as big as she was, the glasses she wore overpowering her features. But her long, sandy blond hair was thick and silky in the ponytail she wore, and I could tell she had nice legs through her jeans. Despite hernotbeing my type, I’d kept track of her while I waited for Jaeg.
She smiled and ducked her head as Jaeg approached. He stopped in front of her and reached for her hand. A strange twinge pinched my chest, which I chalked up to the double-double cheeseburger I’d eaten for lunch. They talked for a moment, then Jaeg gave her a hug and walked away. The girl turned and watched him leave, this beautiful smile—like a fucking ray of sunshine—beaming from her face.
I’d never seen a woman smile like that. The smiles I received were licentious, calculating—just the way I liked them. There was too much to lose in a smile and a face that split you in two and left you vulnerable.
