Tristan
Take that, relentless erectile dysfunction ads! Motherfuckers thought I couldn't get it up. Well, I could certainly get it up, maybe the biggest erection I'd ever had, the biggest load I'd ever shot.
Sorry. Gross. I know.
Normally, I didn't think about shit like that. But getting constant weird ads and texts on my phone had clearly had an effect on my sexual self-esteem.
But all of that had nothing to do with that phone call with my mystery woman. Absolutely nothing. I certainly wasn't trying to prove anything.
That night... my God, that night had been all about my desire for her, just the insatiable need that kept me up, hounded my every thought, and made me positively obsessed with this woman.
Who the fuck was she?
I knew one thing for sure. She had to be some kind of sorceress to cast such a spell on me.
Shaking my head, I tried to focus on my laptop screen, angling it to the left in an attempt to avoid the reflection of the massive buildings behind me. The sun was actually shining today.
It'd been five days since we'd talked. Six days, fifteen hours, and... I glanced at the time on my computer... eleven minutes.
Fuck. I had it bad.
Of course it wasn't just her body, her gorgeous tits and sweet pussy. No. Of course not. It was what was inside her that had possessed my mind so completely, her personality, her heart, her laugh... every fucking thing about her.
I was so tired of playing this game. The not knowing was driving me to the brink of insanity. Actually, not the brink. I'd firmly crossed over into insanity.
With the exception of Archie, nothing else could keep my focus for any length of time. Work was annoying as hell. The gym, my friends, my so-called family... all of it fell by the wayside under the weight of my obsession.
A knock sounded at the door, and Tomás popped his head in.
I sighed, knowing simply by the look on his face that it wasn't good news.
"Sorry, man," he said. "Mind if I come in?"
Nodding, I gestured at the chair across from me, watching him as he settled in, cracking his knuckles and finally meeting my gaze.
"What is it? What's going on?" I asked, straight to the point, not having the patience to draw whatever this was out.
He released a sigh. "I'm afraid I have bad news, my friend."
"Lay it on me."
Leaning forward, he met my eyes, his full of... something. "So I hate to be the one to tell you this. But Southside Flats just got messier."
I blew out a breath. "Messier? How?"
"Well, the historical preservation thing is actually gaining traction. Like, serious traction. Some of the buildings are now under review, and that's enough to delay permits."
Damn. "Okay. What else?"
"And those eviction cases? The community lawyer, Natalie Something, she just filed for emergency hearings. She's good. Too fucking good. It's not just noise anymore."
I rubbed the back of my neck, already regretting asking. "And we can't just fast-track this somehow? Grease some palms? Like we usually do?"
He shot me a look. "We could try. But it's getting louder. The kind of noise that brings reporters sniffing around."
I swiveled in my chair, jaw clenched. "So what, we sit on our hands and let this whole thing unravel now?"
"I'm just saying... it's not the smooth sailing everyone thought it'd be. We've got press picking it up, tenants lawyering up, even some investors starting to ask questions."
