Blind Love (Sulfur Heights Series) (3 page)

The whiskey is fue
ling my energy as I thrust myself into her, but all I’m picturing is my new roommate, Delilah. That woman definitely got under my skin and has me craving to touch her. As I’m fucking the hot brunette, all I can see is blonde. I can’t wait until I wear Delilah down, then I can have her pressed against the wall, making her scream my name.

As I finish up, I push into her one last time and feel my release. The condom fills as I’m
drained of my energy. I lower Miss Fine Ass to the floor and readjust my clothes after tossing the condom in the trash. She shoves her thong in the pocket of her jean skirt and then pulls her cell phone out.

“Here
,” she says, handing me the phone.

“What’s this for?”
I ask while walking toward the door of Reggie’s office, already over this clinging bitch.

“To program your number. Did you think I was going to let this happen without getting your number?
We will definitely need to do this again.” She looks incredibly innocent, and I can’t believe she actually thinks she’s worthy of my digits.

“Well
, I hate to break this to you, darling, but you’re not getting my number. I only give it out to people that I want to have it, and after tonight, I’m good. No need to complicate things.”

Her face
tenses as she glares at me. It never fails. I promise them nothing except an orgasm, however they still think one roll in the hay is going to change my mind, or capture my attention. Think again, ladies. Chicks who are willing to fuck you in bars five minutes after you meet them are not the type of women you get in relationship with—even if that’s what I wanted, which it’s not. All she is and will ever be is a distraction. That’s it, nothing more.

“
What? Are you serious?”

Okay, I
need to slow this down for her. The slutty ones are really not that smart. “You’re not getting my number and I’m not taking yours. This,” I gesture between the two of us with my finger waving back and forth, “is all you’re ever gonna get out of me.”

I open the door to Reggie’s office and walk back
into the crowd just as Gavin shouts last call above the noise of the bar. Darcie has four shots of tequila lined up in front of her then slams four shots in front of me. We toss three of them back, one after the other, and I can feel my buzz coming back.

A barrage of curse words flies
at my neck when Miss Fine Ass walks by and I shrug to Darcie. “Apparently, she was looking for a relationship. I told her otherwise.”

Darcie belts out a laugh and proceeds to roll her eyes. “You’d think if you didn’t bother getting their name
, it wasn’t meant to be.”

“You’d think.” We clink our forth
shot of tequila together and toss it back. I chase it with my beer, looking over to our designated table. By the end of this summer, Delilah’s gonna regret ever meeting me. Just like every single bitch I’ve ever met.

Darcie slaps my arm
, bringing my attention back to her. “Reggie is being an old man and doesn’t want to stay up, but what’d ya say about having a park and rise tonight?” Now that sounds like a good time and a needed distraction. I absolutely love the Evans family park and rise tradition. Basically, it consists of parking your ass in a chair in the middle of the driveway and consuming liquor until the sun rises.

Reggie got really drunk the night we buried
Mom and allowed Jeremy and I to get drunk with him while Drake slammed Mountain Dew. We only had two beers, but I’m sure we both were wasted. Reggie was determined for us to make new memories and leave all the shitty ones we had with our mother behind. He declared we would have new family traditions because, as soon as Mom died, we were an entirely different family.

Reggie was forced to grow up and take care of his younger brothers. I don’t know what
eighteen-year-old would take on that responsibility. I sure as hell don’t know if I could’ve sacrificed everything I’ve ever wanted when I was eighteen. Though, when I think about it, I really didn’t have anything promising going for me when I was eighteen. I was just trying to live life to the fullest. Hmm, some things don’t change.

As usual, Reggie was right.
We’ve learned to survive off each other and have formed a solidarity between the four of us. A bond so strong that nothing could ever break it, which is still as strong as it’s always been. Once Darcie and Presley joined us, our family grew as well as our love of each other. The six of us are as tight as any family around today, maybe even tighter.

At the time
, Jeremy and I were pretty young to be drinking, but Reggie was young himself, and if he was drinking, we all were drinking except Drake. He was babied by Reggie from the moment he moved in with us. He wasn’t allowed to actively participate in park and rise until he was fourteen. At that time, Reggie would only let him have a couple of beers, but by the summer he was fifteen, Drake was getting just as fucked up as me. Jeremy was the loose cannon, though. That fucker would drink until he was stupid and usually blacked out. He was never a happy drunk and it didn’t matter what he consumed
—
beer, whiskey, vodka
—
it was all the same; he turned into a monster. Finally, after God knows how many fights and Jeremy getting his skull cracked open, Reggie and Jeremy had a heart to heart. No one knew what was said between the two of them, but whatever happened fixed his ass and Jeremy hadn’t picked up a drink since.

I look over to Darcie and say, “Park and rise
, bitches!”

***

Drake almost kills Darcie when she invites them to drink with us. Apparently, he has better things to do. Presley, I’m sure. I’m disappointed my little cupcake doesn’t want to come, but we’ve only just met and the summer is young. There’s plenty of time for that.

Three hours later
, an eighteen pack of beer is dwindling down to nothing as Darcie and I drink happily in the driveway. The early summer air makes it a perfect night for a park and rise, and the clear sky allows the stars to light up the night.

Other than Jeremy, Darcie is one of my closest friends.
She and Presley are the only females I show any respect toward. We’ve been through so much shit, her and I. Before she decided to be all righteous with Reggie, we’d always find a way to stir up trouble with Jeremy never too far behind. The three of us are as tight as any brothers and sister could be. Plus, Darcie is the female version of me; minus the whore factor. We can talk about anything and everything, and that’s exactly what we do.

We
drink ourselves stupid, debating everything from up and coming drag racers, Reggie’s hair length, and of course, the hottest topic, Delilah. I really don’t remember much of the conversation; beer is a bitch like that.

Delilah

Needless to say
, the bar has been an interesting experience. After meeting my new roommates, it will be a challenging summer, to say the least. Darcie is full of short, snappy comments whenever she finds the situation appropriate. Honestly, she will be the easiest to deal with. I’ve been raised in the pageant world for much of my younger years and have a barracuda for a mother. Nothing she says will bring me down, and for the most part, I am able to refute her comments.

Then there’s Jake. He is a disgusting excuse for a man. Not because he isn’t good looking,
it’s because he’s gorgeous and he knows it. I’m not sure if I’ve made my mind up whether I like the tattoos covering his arms, but he has the most intense, hypnotic brown eyes I’ve laid my eyes on. Combined with his mile long eyelashes, devilish smile and hard body, I can see how the women he seduces are in trouble, however the filth and obscenities that fly out of his mouth are enough to revolt me. It’s a shame God blessed such a conceited pig with such a jaw-dropping hot body. It’s a waste really.

The vibrant sun
is shining brightly at six o’clock in the morning. I lie in bed for as long as I can stand. I’ve never been able to sleep well in a new place and I hope my insomnia is short lived.

I dress in shorts and a t-shirt then walk to the kitchen
, popping open the fridge. Empty. I start opening cupboards and they’re the same as the fridge, empty. There is nothing at all to eat in the house. I make a short list of groceries on a pad of paper I find in the drawer and head outside to find an all-hours market.

When I walk down the stairs, Jake, Darcie and Jeremy
are sitting in lawn chairs surrounded by empty cans of beer. It’s six o’clock in the morning, why haven’t any of them gone to sleep? My gut flinches. I need to get past them to get to my car parked on the street. Then it occurs to me, I have no idea where I am going in this town. I cringe, realizing I need to ask one of them for directions. I really hope it’s Jeremy I get to deal with.

Hesitantly, I walk over to them
, keeping my eyes connected with Jeremy. They’re in a deep discussion about racing, but I summon the nerve to ask. “Hey, guys, can one of you tell me where the nearest market is? I was going to pick up some groceries.”

Darcie puts her empty
can of beer on the concrete and gives me her trademark snotty look. “Is Susie Homemaker gonna make us breakfast?”

“Well
, I was going to get some groceries so I can make myself something to eat,” I snap back.

“Too bad.
I would’ve told you where to go. Hell, I may even have gone with you, but since you’re acting like a greedy skank, I’m not saying a word.”

Jake busts out laughing at Darcie’s comment while Jeremy looks over to me out of pity. I want to slap her across
her drunken face, but she’s one of Presley’s good friends. Dang it, so am I, though. I won’t let someone like her get in the way of mine and Presley’s friendship. She’s trying to push me away, yet what she fails to realize is, I’m not going anywhere.

Directing my question
back to the only sober person of the group, and for my sanity this early in the morning I hope it’s only Jeremy who acknowledges me, I attempt to get directions one more time. “Will you tell me where the store is, please?”

Jake
snaps his intense stare at me, devouring me with his gaze. He stumbles out of his chair, walking clumsily over to me. The smell of liquor is all over his breath. Good Lord, he’s out of his mind drunk. I’m not sure I can handle this right now. “What’s wrong with me, cupcake? Don’t think I’m good enough to ask for directions?”

“You’re clearly intoxicated
. I want to get to the store without any troubles, so I will pick the only person who’s awake and sober.” Instantly, his smile fades and he looks like he’s ready to take my head off. I make my own expression mirror his.

Jeremy walks to my side and gives me directions to the mini mart down the street.
As quickly as I can, I head down to my car and drive to the store. When I walk into the convenience store, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. The inside smells like a dirty foot and the cashier missing half her teeth is less than friendly. I swipe up the bare minimum of groceries
—
eggs, milk and bread
—
then head back to my car.

I park back in front of the house and
begin trudging up the driveway. I was gone a few minutes, and when I get back, they’re all still sitting around, drinking and laughing. I keep my head down, making my only focus that of getting through the back door.

I make it half way up the back steps when Jake’s voice floods my ears. “Hey
, cupcake.” I stop abruptly and cringe at the new nickname Jake has given me. “We need you to settle a debate between Darcie and myself. “

“And what’s that?” I’m afraid to ask.

“Does your carpet match your drapes?”

Darcie erupts in drunken laughter as
Jeremy tries to subdue his own. Why would they care about the curtains in my house? Yes, my mother has elegant tapestries framing the windows of our large home, especially in the formal living room, but why would he care? I don’t get it. The carpet was replaced by hardwood floors a couple of years ago, so the answer to his odd question is no.

“No
, they don’t. There’s no carpet in our house only bare, hardwood floors.”

Mischievously, Jake
’s snake-like smile expands across his face. “Even better.”

“Oh
, my God! She actually thinks you’re talking about the drapes and carpet in her house.” Darcie explodes once again in fits of laughter. I am clearly missing something. What else could they be talking about? She turns to me, trying to catch her breath from laughing so hard. “He was asking about your hair; you know, the ones between your legs.”

Infuriated, I drop my sack.
I’ve probably broken half the eggs in the carton, however I don’t care. I storm over to Jake. Before I can stop myself, I slap him across the face. “You’re disgusting!” My hand stings and my eyes are murderous. I’ve been here less than twenty-four hours and I already want to leave. There is no way I will be able to handle it here if he keeps antagonizing me.

I g
rab my things and storm into the house while the laughter from my new roommates fades as I close the door. Tears have pricked my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall. I won’t let that jerk get the best of me. I can’t! I let out a huge sigh, knowing that the warning my mother gave me before I came to Sulfur Heights has proved to be true.