[English Novel] SIZZLE

Author: Lexi Buchanan

The lumps of the new sofa dug painfully into my back as I wriggled to a new position; equally as ufortable as the first. I would never understand how Callie had convinced me to purchase it. I hated it – from the color, a sickly brown; sienna according to the designer, to the numerous lumps and bumps that you couldn’t escape, regardless of how you were sitting on it. It reminded me of the old, beat up sofa in my mom’s sunroom. The very one my uncle had hauled out and deposited in the tree house we’d built behind the tall cottonwoods.
I smiled at the memory. My first make out session had happened in that tree house, on that sofa. Ethan. Ethan Rock; the school jock and biggest asshole. He’d sweet talked his way into the tree house with every intention of getting to third base. I’d ended up kneeing him in his junk when my father shouted at me from the base of the tree; he’d frightened the **** out of us. Ethan, of course hadn’t spoken to me again, but what a memory.
“Thalia, what the hell are you grinning at?”
“Ethan Rock,” I replied to my roommate Callie, her voice shaking me from the memory.
“Huh, I don’t think I know him. You going to eat this Spaghetti Bolognese?”
I turned my head to look at her and burst out laughing. “Is there any left in the pan?” Her apron seemed to have a hell of a lot of red sauce all over it.
Callie was the world’s worst chef, and always insisted the next meal she cooked would be better than the previous one. That was so not going to happen.
“Ha, funny.”
“When’s it ready?”
“Ten minutes,” she said, before turning back into the small, cramped kitchen.
“Okay.” I hoped I wouldn’t...

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Chapter 1

Thalia

The lumps of the new sofa dug painfully into my back as I wriggled to a new position; equally as uncomfortable as the first. I would never understand how Callie had convinced me to purchase it. I hated it – from the color, a sickly brown; sienna according to the designer, to the numerous lumps and bumps that you couldn’t escape, regardless of how you were sitting on it. It reminded me of the old, beat up sofa in my mom’s sunroom. The very one my uncle had hauled out and deposited in the tree house we’d built behind the tall cottonwoods.

I smiled at the memory. My first make out session had happened in that tree house, on that sofa. Ethan. Ethan Rock; the school jock and biggest asshole. He’d sweet talked his way into the tree house with every intention of getting to third base. I’d ended up kneeing him in his junk when my father shouted at me from the base of the tree; he’d frightened the **** out of us. Ethan, of course hadn’t spoken to me again, but what a memory.

“Thalia, what the hell are you grinning at?”

“Ethan Rock,” I replied to my roommate Callie, her voice shaking me from the memory.

“Huh, I don’t think I know him. You going to eat this Spaghetti Bolognese?”

I turned my head to look at her and burst out laughing. “Is there any left in the pan?” Her apron seemed to have a hell of a lot of red sauce all over it.

Callie was the world’s worst chef, and always insisted the next meal she cooked would be better than the previous one. That was so not going to happen.

“Ha, funny.”

“When’s it ready?”

“Ten minutes,” she said, before turning back into the small, cramped kitchen.

“Okay.” I hoped I wouldn’t regret eating what she’d made.

I’d met Callie within a couple of weeks of starting our freshman year at college, both of us studying English Literature – close to three years ago. After the summer break we’d be back as seniors. We couldn’t wait to strut our stuff around campus. ****, who was I kidding? We couldn’t wait to graduate and finally be out in the real world. We had it all planned, or at least Callie did. I had no clue as to where I wanted to go, or what I wanted to do, but I figured if I had an English degree, it would open more doors for me, once I’d fully made my mind up.

All I did know was that I wasn’t going home when I graduated next year. I shuddered at the thought.

Both of my parents treated me like a child when I was home, right down to the nine pm curfew. I sighed thinking of them. I was twenty-one and, wanted to be like most twenty-one year olds; allowed to enjoy myself before I got completely snowed down with a job and other responsibilities.

Wherever I ended up, I knew that it would be with Callie, although at that thought I realized I’d have to learn to cook if we didn’t want *****rvive on take-out or die from food poisoning.

Dragging my carcass from the sofa, I walked the short distance to the bathroom, which was as small as the kitchen. In the tight space, I could touch the toilet, washbasin and shower and feel cramped in doing so. There was barely enough room at the sink to wash up for dinner.

Rent was cheap so I guess I shouldn’t complain too much. My parents gave me a monthly allowance that covered the rent, bills and food. I even had some left over, which I put away for rainy days or when I’d finished college, along with the money from my part-time job.

I sighed, turning the faucet on, I splashed cold water onto my face. Green eyes returned my gaze in the mirror. Groaning, I realized my dark curly hair, which had been secured in a band at the back of my head, had come loose. Stray hairs were sticking up all over my head in disarray. I pulled the towel from the rail and dried my face, with an extra swipe over my freckled nose, in hope that one or two freckles would get stuck on the towel. I hated freckles! My red hairbrush was in the container to the side of the tub, so I quickly grabbed it, removed the band from my hair, and ran the brush through it, deciding to leave it hanging around my shoulders.

Refreshed, I walked into the kitchen, and took a seat at our two-person table while Callie spooned sauce on to the pasta.

She placed the plate in front of me and I couldn’t hold the grimace in as the sharp odor of unknown spices drifted from the plate. Oh boy.

“Thalia, I promise it’s...tasty,” she reassured me between bites. “Are you for real?”

“Okay, I’m hungry so here goes.” I picked up my fork, rolled up the long noodles dripping with sauce and placed it hesitantly into my mouth. Flavor burst on my tongue and to my surprise it was…edible! I glanced at Callie in surprise.

“Told you so.” She smirked.

“What happened? Why does it taste good?” That’s the thing about best friends – you could insult them without it going to heart. Callie was also honest with herself and knew she couldn’t cook.

“Well, thanks for the vote of confidence. I kept telling you I’d get it right one of these days,” Callie replied, waving her fork around in the air.

“Yeah, you did and watch what you’re doing with that fork.”

We ate the rest of the meal in silence then I poured us both a glass of wine, which we carried through to the living room along with the rest of the bottle. We got comfortable on the sofa with our feet resting up on the coffee table, the conversation and wine flowing easily between us. Before we knew it we were on our second bottle of wine.

“So who’s Ethan Rock?”

I frowned at her. “It took you long enough to ask.”

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“You still haven’t answered.”

“Ethan Rock was the school jock, aka school asshole, who tried to get to third base in my tree house. It was cut short by my dad calling me,” I giggled. “I kneed him in the junk. He ended up rolling all over the floor in his shorts while I tried to hold a conversation with my dad without laughing. Ethan never spoke to me again.”

“Oh my God. How old were you?”

“Sweet sixteen,” I replied, starting to feel the effects of drinking nearly two bottles of wine with Callie.

“Nothing sweet about what you nearly did.” We fell into each other laughing.

After picking ourselves up from the floor, I walked into the kitchen for more wine and the cake I’d brought home with me from work.

“Here, share this with me.” I passed Callie a slice before sitting back down beside her.

“Why didn’t I get the job in the cake shop instead of the dry cleaners?”

“Because you have a sweet tooth. You’re skinny now; if you’d taken the job with the cakes you wouldn’t be able to walk through the door,” I teased my sulking friend.

“I thought you were my friend.”

“I am. That’s why I work in the cake shop and you don’t,” I laughed.

We both hated our jobs, which we considered slave labor, although I did have the slightly better one in the cake shop. Unfortunately today had been my last day. The cake shop was on campus, and only opened during the college semesters, whereas the dry cleaners where Callie worked was open twenty-four-seven, much to Callie’s constant dismay.

“Before you get too drunk to think, I want to know what’s going on between you and Liam… and don’t tell me nothing.”

I digested Callie’s question. How could I answer when, in actual fact, I had no idea? Over the past six months we’d been on a few dates and to the movies once or twice, but there was something missing. In honesty, I think if I hadn’t been so busy with my studies I would have said something to him, about the lack of closeness between us. He hadn’t even kissed me, other than a peck on the cheek. Liam was good company and rather entertaining so I’d just gone along with him as his ‘girlfriend’.

Callie was staring at me with the patience of a saint. Her long legs rested beside mine on the coffee table and she was slouched on the couch. Her eyes half closed in a lazy manner; blonde hair falling in disarray from the ‘up do’ she had going on from the morning.

“Liam is good looking, but he hasn’t tried to get into my pants; not even once. He’s kissed me, kind of, but no other touching...” I hesitated before blurting out, “I’m going home with him this summer.”

Callie choked on the swallow of wine she’d just taken, the red liquid staining her white top as her eyes widened in shock. “Are you crazy?”

“Probably,” I groaned.

Callie dabbed at her shirt as she stared at me looking flabbergasted.

“Look, you know I don’t want to go home.” I numbered out the reasons on my fingers. “All the summer jobs around here have already been taken. You’re going away with your family, and I don’t want to touch my savings. I can use some, but the majority I want to save; you know that.”

I avoided her gaze as I reaffirmed all my reasons for going. “Liam said his parents want him to bring me home. He also said, I’ll have my own room, and I do like him, but as a friend. To be honest I think that’s what he wants, although he keeps referring to me as his girlfriend.” I frowned.

“This can only end in disaster.” Callie sat up, her gaze serious, “What are you going to do if this is all a ruse to finally get in your panties? Because I can tell you’re not into him like that; though I doubt you ever were to begin with,” Callie finished, truth ringing in her words.

“Then I’ll deal with it, if, or when that happens,” I muttered.

Callie’s hard gaze bore into me, making me shift uncomfortably under it before she stifled a yawn with the back of her hand. “I need to get some sleep and don’t forget we’re going shopping in the morning,” she reminded me as she struggled up from the sofa and stumbled into her room.

Despite her warnings, I was looking forward to going home with Liam, although I was a bit apprehensive about meeting his parents. Hopefully I’d meet a HOT cowboy there. They had cowboys in Alabama, right?

I pulled myself up from the sofa and headed to my room where I collapsed on top of my bed. I was so tired.

Chapter 2

Thalia

Both Callie and I were still suffering the effects from last night’s wine drinking; Callie had been sick and I’d woken up with drums beating in my head. I’d taken some painkillers about an hour ago so the drum in my head had dimmed enough that I’d stopped feeling sick, which was just as well because we were in one of Callie’s favorite stores trying on dresses.

I’d bought a pair of cowgirl boots about six months ago on a trip home with Callie to Texas for her parent’s thirtieth wedding anniversary, and I loved them. They were authentic cowgirl boots from Allen’s Boots in Austin, in soft, light brown leather. Deep brown, embroidered poppies decorated the boots making them the perfect accessory for any event. They’d set me back a bit, but I’d always wanted a pair and they were so worth it.

All I wanted were some dresses to wear them with. You see, I had it in my head that I was going to fall head over heels in love with a cowboy, but I’d worked out that ‘said cowboy’ had to fall in love with me too, hence the dresses to go with the boots. I mean what guy could resist a woman in cowgirl boots and a short dress? Flashing naked thighs!

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As I wiggled into the third dress, music started blaring from somewhere close by. Oh my God! Where the hell was that racket coming from? My head was about to explode.

I could hear Callie groaning in the changing room beside mine. “Thalia, answer your goddamn phone,” she shouted.

It was me? ****. My fogged brain hadn’t registered the fact. I grabbed my jeans from the floor where I’d thrown them in my haste to try on the white lacy dress, and quickly retrieved my iPhone from the back pocket. My stomach rolled with nausea, so after taking some deep breaths, I answered, which cut off one of my favorite songs, ‘Here Without You’ by Three Doors Down.

“Hello,” I answered, sliding to the floor, shutting my eyes, praying that everything stopped spinning.

“Thalia, dear. Is that you?”

“Mom,” I groaned, just what I needed, a lecture when I was still feeling the effects of too much red wine from the night before. “Yes, it’s me.”

“I just wanted to know when you’re going to arrive home for the summer. We need to make plans.”

“Ah… Mom, about that.” I took a deep breath, mentally bracing myself. “I’m not going to be coming home. I’ve been invited to a friend’s home in Alabama for the summer. So, having never been to Alabama before, I’ve accepted. I mean it’s not as though you and Dad will be there all the time, you both usually head out on a cruise.” I crossed my fingers.

“Well! Do we know this person who you prefer over your own parents?”

Ugh. Why did she always have to make me feel guilty? “No you don’t know him.” The silence on the phone was icy. I sighed before continuing, “His name is Liam. His father has a law firm which he jointly owns with another guy, so totally trustworthy.”

“Now Thalia, lawyers are not trustworthy, they’re sharks.”

Here we go again. All because one lawyer swindled Mom and Dad out of a load of money, they’re all sharks!

“Mom, I don’t want to argue. His parents are already expecting me, and I’m sorry for not telling you sooner. I’ll come and visit before I head back here to school, okay?”

“Look after yourself, Thalia. I’ll email you our schedule. Please make sure you email your contact details for Alabama.” She hung up.

I rested my head against the wall of the changing room staring at the phone. No goodbye, the guilt trip had been minor for my mom. Sighing in relief, I realized the spinning in my head had stopped, and I felt much better having spoken to my mom, a conversation that I’d been putting off.

“Thalia, you alive in there?” Callie banged on the door.

“Yeah! Give me a minute.” I removed the dress and decided to take all five, even though I’d only tried on three of them. There was a mixture of colors: white, cream, pale lemon, pale green and pale lilac. Yeah, I liked pale colors.

My jeans were in a heap on the floor so I picked them up, shook them out before I wiggled back into them. I gathered the dresses together and left the changing rooms in search of Callie. As it turned out I didn’t have far to look. She stood talking to Liam outside the door to the changing rooms.

“Hey, Thalia.” He leaned forward, kissing me on the cheek. “Let me take those. You both finished here? I thought I’d take you and Callie to lunch.”

Liam took the bundle of dresses from me so I took his arm and let him lead me to the check out. “Lunch would be great, now that my hangover has more or less disappeared.”

“Hangover? I thought you said you were staying in last night,” Liam queried.

“Girl’s wine night at our apartment,” I replied.

“Okay. You buying all these?” Liam asked, placing them onto the cashier desk.

“Yeah. I don’t have that many dresses, so I figured I’d add to my wardrobe as I’m going home with you.” I handed my charge card over to the sales assistant and turned to Callie. “What happened to the dress you had?”

“I’ve changed my mind. I’m going to leave you two. I have some things to do before I head in to work in a couple of hours.” Callie started to back away from us.

“You sure?”

“Positive. I’d probably puke anyway.” She turned and headed out the store.

Liam took hold of the bags with my dresses and ushered me out of the store to a new café that had opened across the road.

I had slight misgivings about going home with Liam this summer. He…us…confused me. Was I his girlfriend or just a friend? He was gorgeous in so many ways. Tall, slim but still athletic and his blonde hair and blue eyes gave him the appearance of the All American Boy. All the girls on campus wanted his attention, but for some reason he was interested in me.

As I admitted to Callie last night, we hadn’t gotten to the hot and sweaty part of dating yet, and I wasn’t too sure I wanted to. We got along fairly well, but I didn’t get all hot and bothered in his presence. No tingles or wet panties. Even walking beside him, all I felt was the warmth of friendship.

Standing outside the Italian café in the sweltering heat we scanned the menu in the hopes that they had something worth eating. “Aha.” I slid my finger past the list of sandwiches and brought it to rest on the lasagna and garlic bread – just what I wanted.

Liam glanced over my finger and grinned, “You are feeling better if you’re looking at that.”

“I’m hungry now. What about you?” I grinned.

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“I think I’ll have the same. Come on, let’s go and order.”

Liam opened the door for me and we stepped into the dim interior. A maître’d cleared his throat before he led us to the terrace out back, sitting us in the shade.

We placed our order with the server and sat back to relax while I let the breeze cool my skin. The café hadn’t been open long, so everything still looked new and fresh. Our table was beside the garden, which had a manmade stream flowing through, with brightly colored flowers along both sides of the embankment. How they’d managed to create a beautiful garden oasis in the middle of the city was beyond me.

I glanced at Liam. “Will you tell me more about your family? What to expect?”

He laughed. “It might scare you off if I do.”

“They can’t be as bad as my parents.”

“Not really. I guess.” Liam knew all about my parents. He took a sip of his water and peered at me, his blue eyes sparkling in mirth. He was obviously enjoying this. “Okay. My father is a lawyer and has his own law practice, which he jointly owns with an old friend of his, Lewis. My older brother, Jack is engaged to marry Lewis’ daughter, Mia.”

“I didn’t know you had a brother.” Surprise turned to confusion. Why hadn’t he told me before? We’d had the sibling conversation during one of our earlier dates; if that’s what you’d call them, and he never mentioned a brother.

“Yeah. They’re getting married over the summer, Jack’s twenty-five, and studying to be a lawyer. He’s been groomed since we were kids to take our father’s place at the law firm. Dad wants him to settle into life as a family lawyer, whereas Jack has always held a fascination in criminal law. He’s the golden boy because he’s studying law,” he sneered.

“I take it you don’t get along too well with him?”

“We get along well enough or at least we used to do. He seems angry all the time.”

God, did I want to head to Alabama? Yeah, I did – one word – cowboys. Besides, I liked weddings, I’d had the pleasure of being a bridesmaid at twelve weddings in my twenty-one years, so it would be fun to go to one in Alabama.

“Thalia, let’s eat and talk about something else. My stomach can’t take anymore talk about my family.”

Chapter 3

Thalia

In the process of trying to pull my skinny jeans up my legs, Callie came barging into my room with a brush stuck in her hair. The ‘stuck brush’ happened nearly every time we were getting ready to go out, often because she was trying to multi task. Multi tasking wasn’t exactly something Callie was capable of, probably why she was a bit hit-and-miss with cooking.

With my jeans finally up around my hips, I left them unbuttoned to try and untangle the brush. “How do you always manage to get this thing tangled?”

“Ouch!”

“Sorry,” I said grinning; my fingers working the mess of hair through the brush.

“I keep thinking about having it all cut off, but it wouldn’t be me, you know?”

“Yeah, I know. Just try and remember to concentrate when you’re doing your hair in the future, because one of these days you’re going to end up having to have the brush cut out.”

Slapping the now free brush into Callie’s hand, I laughed as she jumped up from my bed and ran back into her room.

Tonight was our last night together until the end of the summer when we came back to our apartment to finish our final year of college. Oh, we’d be on the phone to each other, and maybe try to meet up at some point, but it wasn’t the same. I would miss Callie.

While I’d been packing my clothes and accessories during the afternoon, I had second thoughts about going home with Liam. I liked him well enough, but after hearing about his family and his brother, I couldn’t shake the lump of worry that had settled in the pit of my stomach.

“Thalia, you ready.” Callie shouted as she poked her head into my room. “What’s wrong?”

I inhaled. “Nothing. Come on lets go.” I ushered her through our small apartment, grabbing our jackets and purses on the way out, before she could question me further.

Once outside, I had to dash to keep up with her. Deciding that the night would go smoother with a few rules, I said, “I’m not drinking too much tonight. I have a long car journey tomorrow, so I don’t want to be puking all the way there. I also wouldn’t put it past Liam to leave me if I get sick in his car.”

She stopped and turned. A worry line traced its way across her forehead as her gaze bored into me. “I think you’re making a mistake,” her tone was clipped as though she was holding back, “but it’s your decision.” She frowned as I tugged her arm to get her moving again instead of replying right away.

I loved her like a sister, but I had to make my own decisions. If I didn’t, Callie would end up treating me like a little girl, just like my parents did. “I’m a big girl now.” I smiled to take the challenge out of my tone. “If I’m not happy there then I’ll head home, or to Texas.”

“You promise.”

“Yes Mom,” I laughed, pushing my way through the door of Luke’s as Callie followed me inside.

Luke’s was a five-minute walk from where we lived, and every Friday night they had a live band. More often than not it was ‘The Leopards’, not sure where that name came from, but they were good. Luke’s always had a full house when they played.

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We pushed our way through the crush of bodies to the bar; the eyes of some college guys tracking us like prey, which I guess single college girls were. I ignored the interested looks. Other college girls might not mind being prey, but Callie and I did. The guys in here knew to leave us alone, but a few couldn’t take no for an answer.

Callie and I weren’t opposed to being hit on, I mean what girl doesn’t like a hot guy flirting with her, but after putting up with it for nearly three years, it kind of sucked.

Standing at the bar, I spotted some friends on the dance floor so, after Callie passed me a beer, we headed towards them. We loved to dance and during the past six months had only allowed ourselves to let go once a month, due to the papers we had to get written before the end of the semester, plus, of course, there were our jobs. Our jobs being another reason why I hadn’t been too bothered about Liam’s lack of passion. It had been so long since I’d felt like a normal twenty-one year old.

“Hey,” Jeff whispered into my ear, his arms wrapping around my waist as he snuggled in against my back. Jeff was harmless and totally not into me. As in, he much preferred someone with a dick! Callie and I were the only ones who knew that because we’d once seen him kissing a guy. We’d basically been in the wrong place at the wrong time. After a bit of a showdown we’d become friends, and now and again I would go out with him and let everyone think we were dating to help him keep his secret. He was a good sounding board and had let me rant about my family and guys, more often than I’d care to admit.

Jeff pushed me further onto the dance floor with him. Keeping his hands on my hips he started swaying to a slow song that had come on. He was only a couple of inches taller than my five-foot-six frame so he was pretty easy to dance with.

The Leopards usually played the slow song before they took a break, so any minute I expected the speaker system to kick in with ‘Panic! At the Disco’, which was pretty good, or something else as Mick was the bar tender tonight and he loved the kind of music that had a bite to it. I was one hundred percent into Three Doors Down, which drove Callie mad, as she was more Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood. I’d yet to admit to liking them as well.

On my second bottle of beer, thanks to Callie, I continued to dance and grind against Jeff who wasn’t affected one bit with my ass rubbing against his dick.

I placed my empty bottle onto a table at the side of the dance floor, before I practically threw myself into Jeff’s arms as we started jumping and singing along to ‘The Leopards’.

After about an hour on the dance floor with Jeff, I turned to him and shook my head, to let him know I needed a break. Leaving him alone, I walked towards the table where Callie was sitting with Chase, David, Liam, Nadine and Kristy – some friends we occasionally hooked up with.

Liam made room for me, so I slid into the seat. “You looked good out there,” he shouted, kissing me smack on the lips.

My eyes flew wide open. Callie looked about as stunned as I felt. That was new. Liam had never shown me any affection in public before. Narrowing my eyes, I took his challenge. I turned in his embrace and straddled him, wrapping my arms around his neck and plunged in. I needed to see if there was anything between us once and for all. I put my all into it and maybe we had potential, because my blood started to tingle and Liam started to grow between my legs. I pressed against him. Liam broke the kiss and just looked at me.

“God, you’re hot tonight,” Liam commented.

Our breathing was labored while we continued to stare at each other in shock, in truth I felt confused. Liam was great to hang out with and we had been dating, kind of, for the past six months, but we hadn’t kissed like that before.

“Wow, you two looked ready to get down and dirty,” Kristy said as Liam moved me from his lap with unsteady hands.

“Thalia, do you want to leave?”

I hesitated at Liam’s question.

“I don’t mean to follow up with more than a kiss. I just meant because we have an early start tomorrow.” Liam practically had to shout in my ear to be heard.

“Okay.” We stood to leave, the others giving us knowing looks, but Callie knew me better than anyone else and knew Liam wouldn’t be spending time in my bed.

I leaned over to shout in Callie’s ear, “Are you coming or staying?”

“Staying. I’ll get Jeff to walk me back.”

We hugged, and then I let Liam pull me through the crowd to the outside. It was good to breathe fresh air after being squished in the sweaty bar.

Liam grasped my hand, his grip sending tendrils of warmth up my arm while we walked back to my apartment in silence. He appeared to be as lost in thought as I was. He was probably replaying the kiss. The kiss, which had come out of the blue. Could I blame it on the alcohol? Probably not. He knew I’d only had two beers. The kiss had been hot; he certainly knew how to kiss.

“Are you okay? You’ve been quiet since we left the bar.” His tone seemed unsure, but I couldn’t tell what he was unsure about.

I reached up and touched along my tender lips with my fingers. His eyes narrowed as he watched me. “I was thinking,” I met his eyes, “can we try that again?”

He shook his head, about to say something, but I didn’t give him time. I stepped into his space, took hold of his head, pulled him down to me, and sealed our lips together. I wanted to know if the kiss and reaction at the bar was a one off.

Our lips met. Our bodies touched, chest to chest and… nothing. It was nice, but… nothing. I slowly pulled back and looked into Liam’s eyes. He looked flushed.

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“Thalia.” He reached up and brushed the hair away from my face. “I’m not ready to become intimate with you. I like you a lot and I can talk to you. I guess I’m afraid of losing that if we hit the sack. You know what I mean?”

“I’d like that – a lot.” I nearly laughed out loud when I saw the look on his face. He looked as relieved as me.

“When I take you home tomorrow, would it be okay for me to tell everyone that you’re my girlfriend? I mean we may end up together anyway. It would just stop my mom from constantly parading girls through the house,” he asked, looking hesitant.

“Okay, I guess.” I glanced up to the dark window of my apartment, “I better head upstairs.” I turned away and started to open the front door.

“Thanks Thalia, you’re great.” He came up behind me, kissing me on the cheek before stepping back. I watched him turn back towards Luke’s for his car.

“Goodnight Liam, I’ll see you bright and early.”

“That you will. Goodnight Thalia.”

Chapter 4

Jack

Saturday night and I was knocking back a beer before it was Deception’s turn on stage. I lived for these nights. Deception being the group I’d started back in high school with a couple of friends. Reece was on the drums, while Donovan worked his electric guitar, which left me to sing solo, occasionally bringing my guitar out.

Deception was also one of my big secrets. As far as my parents were concerned the ‘band phase’ had come to an end when we all left high school. Little did they know!

I had another year of hard studying to do before I could get out from under them. It was going to be a hard year, not just because of the studying. I was going to piss good old dad off when he found out my program at college would be all geared to me practicing criminal law. All I had to do was get through summer before I headed back to school. A married man – ****!

Kix had been open a couple of months and for the past couple of weeks, since we’d arrived home from college, Reece, Donovan and me had played on stage about three times. After our first appearance, people had been asking when we were coming back. Deciding it was a great way to spend the summer, we’d struck a deal with Ryder, and now we wanted to extend the deal to maybe a Wednesday night as well as the Saturday spot we already had. Ryder wanted to think about it.

“You seen the chick over there?” Reece asked, pointing his bottle of beer in the direction of the blonde girl who looked to have melons for breasts.

“Not interested.” The thing was I hadn’t been interested in close to twelve months, ever since I had Mia thrust on me. Mia my fiancée, the woman I was being faithful to. The woman I didn’t want, but was trapped with.

“You need a distraction my friend, and that over there, is a distraction.”

“****. Reece, I am so not going there. If you’re that interested, you go for it.”

After a minute of silence from me, he grabbed another beer and walked towards the ‘chick’. What my friends couldn’t understand was why I stayed faithful to someone I didn’t love and didn’t like spending time with. I may have allowed my family to push me into marriage, which would happen in about six weeks, but I wouldn’t cheat on the girl. I’d tried to tell my folks I wanted to wait until after college before I committed myself to her. I hoped she’d have changed her mind by then so I’d be off the hook. For some reason everyone, including my so-called fiancée, wanted the wedding this summer.

I’d returned home from college to find the wedding arranged and to be told, all I had to do was show up. To say I’d gotten totally and utterly drunk that night would be an understatement.

Why did I let my parents push me into a wedding I didn’t want? Well, I was so close to finishing college and my father had put my financial future on the line. I’d studied damn hard so the last thing I wanted to do was pull from the program.

I tried not to think about it too much, and just hoped everything, including my feelings, fell into place.

Looking at other women was out of the question, because I was frightened that if I did, I might find the woman I’d been looking for before my life got ‘arranged’. The one that I’d dreamed about. Regardless of what my friends thought, before my life had taken a turn, I would have loved nothing more than to find the woman meant for me. Instead of the constant stream of women gracing my sheets, I’d just have the one woman.

“I see he’s found some company,” Donovan pointed out.

“I’m surprised you’re not with him.” I stated, turning away from Reece’s flirting and looked at Donovan who was in his usual black jeans and white t-shirt, which was stretched tight over his abs. He’d been my friend for about thirteen years, and he knew me better than my own family did. Usually he’d go in for the kill with Reece, even if it was just the one woman.

“Maybe later. We’re up in a minute.” Donovan turned and leaned against the bar. “We have a good crowd here tonight. Do you think they’d come and watch us on a Wednesday as well?”

We surveyed the bodies, which were packed tightly into the place, here to let off steam to our music; it felt damn good knowing they were here because of us.

“Yeah, I do. Maybe not as many, but I guess the majority of them would. The only problem I might have is work.” I took a long swallow of beer, grimacing at the thought of spending the summer under my dad’s watchful eyes. It had been my idea so I couldn’t complain too much. “I can shift things around and work when I get home if I have to. I really want the Wednesday slot.” I drained the rest of my beer knowing I needed our music to get me through the week.

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I still dreamed of having a life of my choosing, but six weeks would be here all too soon and it took all my strength to stay strong.

“Hey,” Donovan nudged me with his beer.

“What?”

“What?” Donovan repeated. “Where’d you go?”

“Thinking about the **** I have to look forward too,” I replied with a heavy sigh.

“Talking about ****, isn’t your brother home tomorrow?”

I laughed, because neither, Donovan or Reece got along with Liam and vice-versa. “Yeah, he is and apparently he’s bringing his girl with him.”

Donovan spat his mouth full of beer out, luckily onto the floor and not me. “You ****ing with me?”

I held my hands out. “Nope, he is. Moms been sprucing the place up, driving me crazy, following me around making sure I didn’t just dump my boots at the foot of the stairs. Trust me, I tried and within five minutes, they came flying in my room, with the door banging shut behind her. God, she’s driving me nuts.”

“She always drives you nuts,” Reece pointed out, reappearing – alone. “They’re ready for us. Which song do you want to kick off with?”

“Hero.” I’d written the song myself and it was loud with a bite to it. The crowd usually went wild when we sang it, especially when Reece lost his t-shirt towards the end, flashing his tattoos not to mention his muscles.

“Okay, let’s bring this place to life,” Reece said, walking in the direction of the stage. “You girls coming,” he asked Donovan and me when we made no move to follow him.

We finally started to follow Reece as Ryder climbed on to the stage.

“Okay y’all, shut the **** up,” came blaring through the speakers. Not one to mix words was Ryder, a thirty-year-old ex-marine with a bad attitude, who just happened to own the bar and for some reason liked us.

“I know y’all are here to see my smiling face.” Half the crowd laughed and the other half whistled. “Sorry to disappoint y’all, but you’re going to have to put up with Deception.” With that he leapt from the stage as we climbed up on it.

Chapter 5

Jack

As I placed the mic back into the stand, I couldn’t help but smile in pride. We rocked the place tonight and even ended our turn on stage with ‘Love, Lost and Found’. It was a slow number to give the guys in the crowd a chance to get their hands on the women.

While I’d been singing, I’d had a front row seat watching the ‘chick’ from before going between the three of us with lust clear in her eyes. She had no chance with me, but I’d glanced at Donovan and Reece a few times and knew as soon as our stint was over they’d be all over her, and in her.

I’d be a liar if I said I hadn’t been turned on with the sizzling glances she’d kept throwing at me, because I had been. The boner in my jeans could attest to that. Unfortunately, I couldn’t act on it.

Walking towards the bar to distract myself from the throbbing going on below my belt, I bumped into a dark haired girl, who started to tumble forwards. Placing my hands on her hips to stop her from tipping over, her ass rubbed up against my groin.

She turned her head. “Is that for me?” she purred, rubbing against my dick, which had gone hard as ****.

Taking a deep breath, I gently pushed her away from me, “No. Sorry.”

I carried on walking, but changed direction towards the back where I knew the guys had taken the ‘chick’. God, I hated that word. I needed to come badly; otherwise my dick wouldn’t go down. I hadn’t had *** in forever, but my fist worked fine, although I was getting fed up with it.

Donovan and Reece were in the storeroom, so taking another breath; I knocked on the door. “Guys, it’s me,” I shouted through the door, knowing it would be useless trying to open it since it would be locked.

I heard the lock click before the door opened slightly. I pushed my way in, much to Donovan’s shock.

“You’re joining us?” Reece asked, in disbelief from between the woman’s thighs.

“Not exactly.” I wasn’t sure what the hell I was doing in the room with them. *** was out of the question; since Mia I’d stopped with the one-night stands. Once or twice I’d watched the guys with women, jerking off to the show.

This wasn’t a first. We’d done a threesome with a woman on more than one occasion with our ****s in her ****, ass and mouth. Yeah, it had been hot as ****, and with just the memory, my dick hardened even more.

“I’m staying over here,” I said, backing up to the wall, resting against it. I had a first class view of the naked woman on the desk, who was already groaning, thrashing her head from side to side. I wasn’t surprised as Reece had his mouth buried between her thighs, with Donovan sucking her tits; then she came with a squeal, which Donovan moved to capture in his mouth.

I stroked my **** through my jeans, then thought **** it, unzipped and unbuttoned the denim that had been keeping me contained and let my swollen dick burst free.

Both Reece and Donovan had their ****s out now and had suited up. Donovan was standing to the side of her, his junk level with her face, while she lapped at his balls like there was no tomorrow.

Taking hold of my ****, I started to move my hand back and forth, rubbing the wet tip with my thumb. Christ it felt good. What I really wanted to do was walk over to her and soak my **** in her **** juice.

****, I slammed my head back against the wall. Through heavy lidded eyes, seconds from coming, I watched as Reece thrust into the woman’s wet ***, rubbing her clit with his fingers, while Donovan ****ed her mouth, squeezing her nipples between his thumb and finger.

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I knew the three of us were ready to blow, but we waited for the woman.

Reece leaned over her while slamming into her like a ****ing train, knocked one of Donovan’s hands from her tit, and started *****ck her nipple; she came apart under him.

Donovan started to come, followed by Reece, as they brought the woman up and over again, triggering my release.

Biting my lip, I came all over the bottom of my ****ing t-shirt, which I’d used to cover the tip of my ****, just before I blew. Coming back to my senses, I whipped the t-shirt off and cleaned up, before shoving everything back inside my jeans.

Standing against the wall, I watched them dress the woman, who had a glazed, just been ****ed, look on her face. As they walked her to the door, they took it in turns to kiss her, before patting her on the ass and sending her through the open door.

Closing the door with grins on their faces, they both looked at me, and for once I was glad of the darkness where I stood, because I was slightly embarrassed, and probably blushed like a ****ing girl.

“Don’t say a word,” I told them, as I walked out the room, slamming the door behind me.

Chapter 6

Jack

It was late, but after jerking off to the show Donovan and Reece put on with the woman, who Donovan informed me was named Simone, in the backroom of Kix, I felt restless as hell. I thought I’d feel better after releasing the tension that gripped me, but no such luck. In fact, I felt worse than before.

When our stint was over with, we’d loaded Donovan’s car with our gear, and then driven back to his place to chill for a while. I needed a place to relax before I could face going home.

“Here,” Donovan pressed a bottle of beer into my hand. I took a deep drink from the longneck before stretching out on his porch.

Both my best friends were lounging around with me, but it was Reece’s gaze that was starting to bug me.

I turned my head full on to return his stare. “What?”

“It’s been a while since all three of us have done anything like we did tonight. You should have joined in more. She tasted ****ing good. She’d rubbed some strawberry stuff over her *****.” Reece smacked his lips together.

I groaned remembering what it was like to go down on a woman, which was a bad idea considering what that image was doing to my dick.

“How long’s it been since you got your dick wet? Twelve months? I’m telling you, get rid of Mia and break the dry spell. God, Simone’s **** was so ****ing wet and tight.”

Glaring daggers at Reece, I willed him to shut the **** up. My dick was hard as a ****ing spike again and there was nothing I could do for it. By the look of things, Reece and Donovan weren’t faring any better.

“You’re a bastard,” I informed him.

“Just wanted you to know what you missed.”

“I could see real well from where I was standing.”

“Watching her little mouth wrap around my **** with bright red lips was such a turn-on,” Donovan added, laughing when he glanced at my groin.

The bastards knew what they were doing to me, but at least they’d gotten boners as well.

I inhaled, counted to ten then exhaled. “****ers.”

With that being said, I stood and walked to my car, retrieved my guitar with Reece and Donovan walking up behind me, their chuckles of amusement filling the air.

Ignoring them I walked back to the porch, lifted my guitar from its case and started moving my fingers over the strings, wanting the guys to hear what I’d done so far with the new song I’d been working on, ‘Tonight’.

Donovan was the first to break the silence, following the last note I’d strung. “Wow.”

“****ing awesome,” Reece commented, sitting beside me with his guitar. “Play it again without the lyrics.” Reece had a talent. One I wished I had. He only had to hear music, and within ten minutes he’d be able to repeat it, flawlessly.

Chapter 7

Thalia

Ugh, the shrill buzz filled the air and my arm shot out searching for the snooze button. The alarm could wake the dead, or rather Callie, if I let it go on too long. Six o’clock flashed in the dark room and I groaned, closing my eyes only to be jerked awake again as it went off at five past six. Even still, I ignored the need to get up until the third time the alarm went off at a quarter past six.

Dragging myself out of bed, I groaned again. I needed about a gallon of coffee before I could function properly, especially after a late night. With that in mind, I walked to the kitchen first; opening and closing the cupboards looking for the canister of coffee that Callie had trouble keeping in one spot. Not finding it was a good enough excuse to stop at Starbucks on our way out of town, the only thing wrong with that plan though, was that Liam wouldn’t let me consume it in his car. Ugh, where the hell could she have put the coffee?

Thirsty, I opened the fridge, reached for the milk and spotted the canister of coffee on the shelf next to the cheese. What she’d been thinking about at the time could be anyone’s guess.

With a sigh of relief because I would get some caffeine, I quickly sorted the coffee machine out then ran to the bathroom to grab a quick shower while it brewed.

The shower took all of three minutes because the water was damn cold. The hot water heater had obviously stopped again, which was a regular occurrence. I shivered all the way back to my room where I quickly threw on my pale blue jeans, dark blue t-shirt, thick socks, which used to belong to my dad. My cowgirl boots fit snuggly over the socks and I slipped on a sweater in an attempt to make my goose bumps disappear.

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Finally dressed, I dashed back to the kitchen and poured my first coffee of the day. I inhaled it before taking a sip, loving the rich aroma, something that I did every morning. And yes, I’d burnt my nose once or twice when I hadn’t been paying attention to what I was doing. There was nothing worse than walking round campus looking like Rudolph in the middle of summer; embarrassing.

Sitting on the lumpy sofa, I finally took a sip of coffee, which tasted delicious, while I waited for Liam. After the kiss last night, I hoped everything wasn’t going to be strange between us. The kiss in the club had been close to hot, but the kiss downstairs had felt – odd.

My phone buzzed with a message – Liam. I quickly text him back to let him know I’d be down in five.

I left the coffee cup in the sink in the kitchen, then snuck into Callie’s room to say goodbye.

Callie’s room had Twilight posters all over the wall, or rather Edward posters; she was in love with him. I told her on numerous occasions that there was something wrong with her, because at twenty-one she shouldn’t be in love with a guy on a poster. She just laughed and told me I was jealous, which was so not true.

Callie had her head buried under her pillow, her quilt pulled up to her neck, so all I could see were bits of blonde hair sticking out. I lifted the pillow, and asked, “You alive?”

She started to groan and turned over onto her other side, fighting to stay asleep.

“Callie, I’m going. I need a hug.”

She huffed, turning over to look at me and then held her arms open. I crawled on to the bed with her for our farewell hug. Callie’s bed was so damn comfortable, all I wanted to do was stay and go back to sleep, but instead I pulled away with tears in my eyes.

“Take care of yourself Thalia, and remember if it gets too much in Alabama, you can come and stay with me in Texas.” She grinned, “Lots of cowboys in Texas.”

Climbing off the bed, I tucked her back in, and then started to walk from the room, when I turned back to her, “Stay in touch Callie. Promise me?”

“You’ll be sick of me.”

I frowned down at her.

“I promise,” Callie grumbled half asleep.

Shutting her bedroom door behind me, I quickly grabbed my bag, left the apartment and walked down the stairs. I felt as though everything was happening in slow motion, and I had the feeling that everything was about to change, but there was nothing I could do about it.

As my foot hit the last step, Liam was there at the door waiting for me, looking refreshed and wide awake, in turquoise jeans, and a white t-shirt, which peeped out from beneath his grey sweater. He also looked as though he’d just gotten out of the shower with his hair damp, sticking up in spikes. I would need three more cups of coffee to look that awake.

I unlocked the security door, stepping outside into the cool morning air, which was the best time of day for me – not as many people around. “Morning.” I grinned at Liam.

“Well, you look awake,” he returned my grin. “And no you are not drinking coffee in my car.” Liam glanced at me then my bag. “Is that all you’re taking?” he asked, removing my bag from my hands and carrying it to his car.

“Yeah. I travel light.”

He threw my bag into the trunk before opening my door. Ever the gentleman. I was about to climb into his car, when he took hold of my arm and just stared at me, while I looked back at him.

“Thalia… about last night.”

With my right hand, I reached up and covered his mouth with my fingers. “We’ve already decided to leave it alone for now and to see what happens. Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay, but I think.” He frowned. “Never mind. Come on, let’s get going.”

Climbing into the car I wondered why he wouldn’t let the kiss drop. Liam climbed behind the wheel, started the car and pulled out into the early morning traffic.

All I wanted was to go back to sleep, but didn’t think that would be fair to Liam, although when I offered to share the driving with him, he’d nearly had a coronary at the thought of someone else driving his precious Mercedes.

I chuckled. “Are you sure you don’t want me to drive some of the way?”

Liam quickly looked at me then started laughing. “Nice one – so not happening.”

“Okay, I can’t travel in silence. So, what’s your brother like? Is he all prim and proper? I mean studying to be a lawyer and all.”

“Maybe.”

“Is that all you’re going to say? It’s going to be an awfully long drive if it is,” I said, knowing he would probably hold out maybe ten seconds. He was so predictable.

“Only when the parents are around… and Mia.”

Yes. “Don’t stop now. What do you mean only when your parents and Mia are around?”

He sighed and didn’t look too happy. “Liam, please tell me what’s going on? I’m spending the summer at your house. Don’t I need to know?”

“Sometimes, I catch the brother that I grew up with trying to come out, but he stays locked inside as though he’s frightened about what would happen to his well ordered life if he did. As kids I used to call him Phoenix. He once told me, that one day he would crash and burn, and when he did, he wanted to be reborn, like the mythical bird, the Phoenix. You need to see for yourself. I feel sorry for him,” he sighed, “and angry with him for trying to be perfect. But mostly, I feel relieved that it’s not me who’s expected to be like that.”