Inferno Anthology (65 page)

I was freaking out, and I could only imagine how Brooke was feeling. When I called her, we didn’t really talk about it. I didn’t want to bring it up, and I was trying to distract her.

If Brooke were to have cancer, I would be there to help her fight it—no matter what.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you this way. You know it makes me happy, right?” Her eyes were glossy as she spoke.

“What? That I’m in love?”

“Yes. This means I might get more grandchildren.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I don’t even know if she wants kids after having raised her sister, and I’ve only known her for two weeks.”

“Alright, alright,” she said, holding her hands up in defense. “I just haven’t seen you in love since Dana.”

“I know,” I said, smiling as I remembered Brooke’s smile.

My mother wiped the corner of her eye with her white linen napkin.

After we finished our lunches, I paid and kissed her goodbye, then headed back to Halo to talk to Avery before hitting the gym. Avery mentioned that he was going to Boston for the weekend to see Nicole, and I needed to find out the details so I could leave Saturday morning when I got off work.

I wanted to surprise Brooke, and my mother agreed to watch Cheyenne on Sunday until I got home. Usually Cheyenne woke up to me cooking breakfast Sunday mornings. I didn’t feel comfortable leaving Cheyenne after I had just spent a week without her, but my mother assured me that I needed to be there for Brooke. She would tell Cheyenne that she missed her and wanted to spend extra time with her.

*~*~*

I convinced Avery to not tell Nicole or Brooke that I was coming. If Avery were to tell Nicole, she would probably spill the beans, and I just wanted to see Brooke’s face and make her feel good before going in for the biopsy. I also just wanted to see her. I missed her laugh, her smile and her sense of humor. Everything was just better in person, and I was counting down the days. Avery found out that the procedure wasn’t until noon, and that was cutting it close, but I was going to make it, even if I had to get a speeding ticket doing it. I was going to be there for her.

Wednesday and Thursday night after Cheyenne’s softball practice, I talked to Brooke on the phone. It felt like we were on the cruise again and in the tiny room as we laid on the twin beds. Our conversation never faltered, and I tried giving her advice about Jared, but I didn’t want her to go back to him. He came back on Wednesday for his things, and Brooke and Nicole watched him like a hawk while he boxed up his shit.

Brooke told me how he begged for forgiveness—that the girl was just a friend, but Brooke didn’t believe him. Hell, I didn’t believe him. I was once a cheater myself, and I knew how to work the system. Jared didn’t expect Brooke to come home early from work, and when she did, the cat was out of the bag and the shit hit the fan.

I couldn’t believe she smashed his X-Box and snapped his game in half. It actually terrified me, but I would never do such a thing to her now. I’ve been there and done that, and I’ve grown.

Brooke knew something was off when she came home from the cruise to an apartment not
lived
in. I told her that he probably stayed at the girl’s place because he must not have wanted to fuck a girl on her bed. She was relieved, but still bought new sheets—new sheets I couldn’t wait to christen.

We talked about my superstar on the softball field. I didn’t know that Brooke played growing up, but it made me that much more excited about the possibility that she could teach Cheyenne how to play, too.

Everything I found out about Brooke made her that much more perfect for me. It scared me, but excited me even more.

Every day, I couldn’t wait to talk to her. I was trying to play it cool and not act like a total
girl
, but I craved her. I wanted to show her that I was there for her, and I was going to figure out how to be with her. Long distance relationships don’t always work out, but I was determined to make this one last.

When I wanted something or someone, I made it work.

If she were to have cancer, I was moving her in with me so I could take care of her. I didn’t care that I’d only known her for two weeks. Being with her twenty-four hours a day on the cruise, made the time seem longer. I wanted this—I wanted her. Just like my dad once told me, Brooke made my dick hard when she walked into a room, and she put a smile on my face at the same time. That’s when you know you’re in love.

Just hearing her voice on the phone each day and night did the same thing. I wanted to show her what she had been missing by being with a loser like Jared. I’d jerked off every night after we hung up the phone, and then went to sleep dreaming about her. I was a total mess, but I liked it—loved it. Usually, I would jerk off to porn, but just remembering her smile and laugh was all I needed to get off.

I wished Brooke luck when I spoke with her Friday before I had to start my shift at the bar. She thought that I wouldn’t get to talk to her before her procedure. I planned to call her from the road, but she didn’t know that. I knew she was scared, but I assured her that she was in good hands with Avery and Nicole. I’d even given flowers to Avery to bring to her to let her know that I was thinking of her.

“You are to
never
give me shit again,” Avery said as I handed him the red roses.

“Fuck off. Yeah, okay, all your talk about finding
the one
and love at first sight—I was wrong. Now get the fuck out of my sight, and don’t ruin the flowers!”

“Damn, I thought love was supposed to make you happy,” he said, shaking his shaggy blonde hair.

“It would if I were in love with you.”

“You know you love me,” he said, puckering up to give me a kiss.

I pushed him away. “I’ll punch you in the face so fucking hard if you ever do that again!”

He laughed and got into his truck, leaving for Boston, and I went into the bar to get ready for the five o’clock rush that didn’t let up until we closed.

*~*~*

“What time do you get off?”

And there it was. The same question asked nightly by multiple women who have had me serve them one too many drinks throughout the night.

In the past, this was the moment where I’d take a chick in the back and have her blow me, but not now. I only wanted one chick to blow me, and she was a four and half hour drive away.

“Sorry, Babe, I’ve got plans after work. What can I get you to drink, though?”

“I bet I can make it worth your while if you change your plans.”

“Not going to happen,” I said, shaking my head at the tipsy blonde.

Two weeks ago, I would have been all over this chick. She was blonde, had pretty blue eyes and a nice rack. Of course, I couldn’t help myself from looking as she leaned over the bar, trying to get my attention. I was a guy after all.

“Here, if you change your mind.” She slid a business card to me. I took it, glancing at the front. It had her name, Mistress Renee, and a phone number. “For
now
, I’ll take a vodka cranberry.”

I made the vodka cranberry and tossed the business card on the shelf near the cash register. I had no intention of using it; I just didn’t want to throw it away in front of the girl.

As I watched the girls dance together on the dance floor and the guys watch from the sidelines as if they were prey, I realized this wasn’t my scene anymore. I didn’t have that urge to have a random chick suck my dick; I had the urge to please Brooke any way she wanted me to.

I tried to concentrate on making drinks since we were swamped, but all I thought about was Brooke. Damn my father for being right. This woman consumed my every thought, but honestly, I didn’t care.

I called Bethy and had her come in to relieve me. I needed to get to Boston.

*~*~*

Me:
What’s Nicole’s address?

Avery:
Why?

Me:
I need the roses.

Avery:
I gave them to B already. We are having dinner.

Me:
What’s B’s address then?

Avery texted me her address after asking me why. I didn’t have time to explain other than I was on my way. I was already on the road to see
my
girl.

As I neared the exit to take to get me to her apartment, Rascal Flatts came on the radio, singing about not wasting time with the one you love and to give it all as if it was your last day. I couldn’t waste any more time. I needed her to know how I felt. I needed her to feel what I felt, and I wasn’t leaving Boston until she knew.

My palms became sweaty as I parked on the street near her building. When I was an hour away, Avery texted me that he was lagging on getting Brooke home, so I could get to her before she fell asleep. I knew he was truly my best friend, because I figured he wanted to be buried deep in Nicole instead of “babysitting” Brooke for me. He told me after dinner they went for ice cream then coffee. He tried everything, but Nicole was getting antsy, and he couldn’t stall anymore.

I just hoped she was awake.

Me:
Still awake?

Brooke:
Just got out of the shower and trying to stay awake for your call. How’s work going?

I got out of my car and started to walk towards her building.

Me:
Busy. I just made myself take a break. I miss you.

Brooke:
I miss you more.

I found her apartment and started to walk up the stairs while I dialed her number and smiled at her words. There was no way she missed me more.

“Hey,” she answered. I could hear the smile through the phone.

“Hey, I just wanted to hear your voice.”

“You’re always telling me pick-up lines.”

“How is that a pick-up line?” I asked, still smiling as I stood outside her door. The lights from inside her apartment glowed through the blinds.

My palms were still sweaty. Why was I so nervous? This was my Brooke. The one I spent seven nights with on a cruise. The one I talked to every night before bed.

“You always say things that make me melt.” Knock, knock, knock. “Weird, someone is at the door,” she said, losing her train of thought.

“Who could that be this late at night?” I asked, still smiling like the Cheshire Cat from
Alice in Wonderland
.

“Probably Nicole. Ever since we’ve found out about my tumor, she’s been babying me. Tonight, she and Avery acted like they couldn’t leave me home alone because I would be depressed or something. After dinner, they took me to get ice cream
and
coffee,” she said, dragging out the word “and”. “Hold on, let me see what she wants.”

I heard the wind through the phone as she made her way through her apartment. My heart was racing more than the day I held Cheyenne in my arms. The day my Peanut was born changed my life. I hoped tonight was life changing, too.

I could see her shadow as she looked through the peephole and I waited nervously.

She gasped and then said my name. “Easton…what…”

The deadbolt turned, and she opened the door. She stood with the phone held to her ear and in
my
boxers and Halo t-shirt she never gave back on the cruise.

My phone was still to my ear, too. “Hi,” I said, smiling—still. My smile hadn’t faltered since she answered the phone.

She bit her bottom lip, and my cock jerked in my jeans. “Hi,” she said, taking the phone from her ear.

I lowered mine, pressing the End button and stepped forward as she did the same. Our bodies were inches apart, hers smelling like apple orchards and mine smelling like a stuffy bar.

“What…” Brooke started to say, but I grabbed her face with both hands, my phone still in my right hand and kissed her like the night we kissed on the cruise. Her phone fell to the floor, and she then reached up, running her fingers through my hair and pressing her body against mine. My dick grew hard with the contact, but this time, she didn’t pull away like she had the first time she felt my cock stiffen when we kissed.

I kicked the door closed behind me, and she led me to her bedroom with our fingers laced. No words were spoken; they weren’t needed. So much sexual frustration had been built up between us, and now that we were both single, we knew what was coming.

I’d been waiting for this moment for what seemed like eternity. Every noise from the busy street that ran in front of her apartment building disappeared as our tongues lapped at each other again. Her moans made my cock stiffen more, and I had to fight every urge to not throw her on the bed and make her scream my name before we even had time to say more than hello.

This was going to be my first time with her, and I wanted it to be perfect. It would be my last first time with anyone. If someone would have told me three weeks ago that I would have fallen in love with the first woman I saw on the cruise around my age, I would have told them they were crazy.

Avery was looking for
the one
, but I found my own.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, never breaking the contact of our lips.

I didn’t break them either as I responded against her mouth. “I had to be here for
my
Superwoman.”

“I would say the roses were enough, but this is better,” she said, crawling backwards onto the bed.

“They were a decoy. I planned to come after work, but I needed to see you sooner.”

I stepped closer as she kneeled on the edge of the bed on her knees, her arms wrapped around my neck, sending shivers down my spine as she ran her fingers through my hair. There had been plenty of women to touch me, but it never had an effect on me like this before. Every time Brooke touched me, it was like I had never been touched before. Every touch felt new.

“Now we can christen the sheets since you promised,” she said, leaning back to look into my eyes.

“Oh yeah?” I smirked at her.

“Definitely!”

I could feel the hardness of her nipples as they poked through her shirt—Christ,
my
shirt. As they poked through
my
shirt. In that moment as I took in how hot she was in my clothes, I made a mental note to give her all my t-shirts. I would buy new ones and then give those to her in a few years when the others were worn out.