“Dude, you need to stop moping. You’re scaring the girls away with your brooding.” Dex reached into the fridge, pulling out a water before coming to stand by me and elbowing me in the arm.
“Sorry, man, it’s just…” I blew out a sigh. My eye caught a flyer for a boxing class on Thursday nights, one I knew nothing about, and it wasn’t me teaching it. “Fucking bitch!” I slammed my hand into the corkboard, knocking it off the wall and onto the floor.
Dex stepped back. “Yo, you need to cool it.”
“Did you know about this?”
“About what?”
I picked up the flyer and shoved it at him. His eyes widened. “Holy shit! She’s lost her fucking mind. I bet it’s that shithead Shone. I saw them getting cozy the other day.” He shook his head. “Sorry.”
I began pacing the wall. “I don’t fucking care if that slut is banging that prissy asshole. I’m the resident boxing trainer. I teach all the classes.”
“Who’s the prissy one?” Monica called from the doorway.
I froze and slowly spun toward her. My stomach turned, and I questioned why I’d ever been attracted to her—fake blonde hair, fake nails, fake tan, overdone makeup, and a fake personality. Even her once-womanly body was gone, replaced with too many muscles. No softness in her at all. The transformation had occurred over the last two years. She no longer resembled the girl of six years prior.
“I see there’s a new class.” My jaw clenched. It wasn’t the first time in recent weeks she’d done something that set me off.
One of her drawn-on brows quirked up. “Yes, there is.”
“And some shithole who’s been here for less than six months is teaching it?”
“New blood.”
“New blood?” I stepped forward, looming over her. “I fucking started the program. I teach every class.”
“And now there’s someone to take some of the stress off you, especially with your mom’s condition.”
My eyes grew wide. “Don’t you fucking bring her up. This is about you being a raging bitch, for bitch’s sake. Which I don’t get, because you were the one who cheated on me and flaunted that shit in my face.”
She put her hand on my chest and ran it across my shoulder. I wanted to throw up.
“Ooh, I like this side of you, Jared. Are you jealous I’m sucking someone else’s cock now?”
“Go fuck yourself.” I snarled and pushed past her, heading to the locker room to get my crap. I needed to get the fuck out of what once had been my second home but now felt like my prison.
I slammed my fist against the metal door of my locker, cursing, not even noticing that Dex followed me.
“What the fuck is up with you?” He sat down on the bench behind me. “We’ve been friends for years, but I’ve never seen you blow up like that. I mean, I know you’re pissed at her, and she’s doing everything she can to push you out of here and sign over your part of the business, but still.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I really fucking don’t.”
“I think you do, and it’s not about her or your mom, so spill.”
“Those two have caused a lot of stress.” I looked around the room, making sure none of Monica’s snoops were within listening distance. “I can’t stop thinking about this girl I saw this morning.”
He stared at me for a moment before leaning over and laughing. “That’s not what I expected you to say!” He wiped away a tear from laughing so hard, which pissed me off more. “Dude, you need to get your dick wet. Take out some of your stress on a pussy.”
My eyes widened, and I stared at him. Something inside me rumbled, those scenes I’d imagined flying through my mind. Fuck, I wanted some girl I didn’t even know and would probably never see again. It was so strong that I didn’t want to just get in and get off. I wanted to decimate her to where nothing else mattered but her pussy wrapped around me.
“Shit, man, put the snake away!”
I looked down and sighed, adjusting my new hard-on. “Told you.” I pulled my bag out and grabbed my keys. “Is it a bad sign that a cardinal sin has taken control of me?”
Dex sighed. “I think you’re just going through a lot of crap and need a release. Let’s go out tomorrow night, get a few drinks and relax.”
“It’s Mom’s rough days.”
“Then see if Cass can help.”
I nodded. “I’ll call you later.”
--oOo--
The next day, I was no closer to figuring out the lust I had for her, my mysterious torturer. I didn’t even have a name to call out when I came. What I did have was a constantly hard dick and a grumpy attitude. All because a girl looked at me.
I’d lost my fucking mind.
Was it really that I hadn’t had sex in a while? Or was it the stress of my mom’s illness coupled with Monica screwing me over?
Six fucking years I wasted with her. I should’ve ended it, seen the writing on the wall long before finding out she’d been cheating on me. Instead, I was too busy looking at expanding our company and taking care of my mom.
“Oh, J, your lawyer called for you earlier.”
I stopped in my tracks to stare back at my little sister. “And you’re just telling me now as I’m walking out the door?”
She shrugged and ran a hand over her baby bump. “I’ll say it was pregnant brain.”
That got me to smile and shake my head. “What time did he call?”
“Right before you got home.” She pulled on her ponytail of jet-black hair that matched mine and tilted her head in that curious way she’d done her whole life. “What’s going on?”
“Exploring options to get away from Monica.”
She nodded. “Good. That bitch needs to go down.”
“I thought you liked her.” I peeked over to look at Mom’s snoozing silhouette.
“I did, but then she fucked with my brother. Honestly, she turned into someone else over the last few years. I couldn’t relate to her anymore.”
“You and me both.”
It was true. Cassie and Monica had been close in the beginning. Back then, they were a lot alike. When Cassie opened up her gourmet pet store, I thought she was crazy. Three years later, she had a booming business, married one of her customers, and happier than I’d ever seen her.
I pulled open the door, but didn’t get my foot over the threshold before she called me back. She padded into the entryway. “Give me a call if you need a lift, okay?”
I leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “Will do.”
A short drive later, I parked my truck in back of the restaurant right next to Dex’s.
As soon as I entered through the back door, eyes landed on me. Granted, if I’d walked into some place in Carmel, it would’ve been worse, but at Union Jack’s, in the heart of Broad Ripple, only my muscles made me stand out.
Not that I normally minded the attention. After all, I covered my skin with art and had a hot body. My full sleeves were highly visible with the short-sleeved shirt I had on.
My problem today was how fucked up I’d been lately. I didn’t want to deal with curious eyes and stupid chicks looking to hook up with a bad boy.
I found Dex at the bar and hopped onto the stool next to him. He cocked his head and pushed a bottle my way.
“Gonna be a few for a table.”
“Always is.”
Union Jack Pub had the best Chicago-style pizza in town. The downside? It took about an hour to cook. Then again, that left us lots of time for drinking, which I desperately needed.
The Reds were on one of the TVs and we sat in silence, watching the game and letting the alcohol work its magic. One or two minutes later, the pager went off, and we headed to the hostess stand. She led us to our seats, which were back in the bar area.