Lingus (12 page)

"Yeah, yeah," I muttered with a grin when he caught up to me. Josh and I had found a really good parking spot about two blocks down the street, so the walk wasn't too far. Tristan was so tall next to me I had to look up to talk to him. "So I guess you should tell me what's with the Clark Kent get-up, Magellan."

He snickered, "Clark Kent?"

"You know... Superman..." I teased.

"I know who Clark Kent is, thank you." he chuckled, while his eyes were steadfast on another couple walking the opposite direction on the sidewalk. I felt the pressure of his fingers ghosting across my lower back as I walked a little close to him to avoid running into the couple. "Well, do you think that people take employees in the adult video industry seriously?"

Was that a trick question? I wondered. As much as I loved Zoey, I'd seen the way people looked at her like she was the spawn of Satan, and it was hurtful. She was one of the best people I'd ever met, but strangers didn't know that. "No, I guess."

"If Andrew Wood ran for President would you vote for him? Even if he had all the experience in the world?"

I knew what my answer was, and it made me feel bad because I was just as bad as those people that looked at Zoey weird. "Probably not," I answered softly.

His fingers brushed against my lower back again. "Don't feel bad, I probably wouldn't either," he admitted, with a sigh. "It took me a long time to decide I wanted to go into law, Kat, and by that time, I'd already done a couple of scenes. If people found out I was Robby Lingus, my chances of finding a firm willing to hire me and take me seriously would be pretty slim. So, I changed my hair color and with the glasses, I've never had anyone recognize me in public."

I wanted to ask him why he just didn't quit if he was so worried about finding a job after he finished his JD program but I didn't. Maybe another day. I saw his point though, and it made a lot of sense why he'd go to such extremes to keep his identity a secret. I looked up at Tristan, and saw him looking down the street with a furrowed brow. "The only people who know my real name and know Robby are Calum, Walter, and you. Everyone else just knows me as Tristan."

"Nikki and my other friends won't say anything." I promised him.

He looked down at me and smiled. "I trust you. As long as my parents never find out, then it's fine. I think my dad might give me a high-five, but my mom would probably cry and blame herself for raising me wrong," he said and we both started laughing. I could easily remember Zoey coming out to her mom; Mrs. Quinn sat there on her living room couch quietly.

I spotted Josh's Subaru less than ten feet away before pointing at it. "Are you parked nearby?"

"Yeah, I'm a block down," he gestured down the direction we were walking in. He shuffled his feet again on the sidewalk, like he'd done earlier. "Can I see your phone?"

"Yeah." I handed him my phone and watched him press numbers on the screen, after a moment, his robot ringtone started ringing within his pocket.

"I saved my name under Magellan in your contacts," he told me, handing me back my phone. "I may or may not have saved you as Little Gold Digger," he chuckled.

"Oh God," I groaned. A girl in a white strapless dress was getting out of a cab across the street when it hit me. I'd said bye to Zoey, Ryan, and Josh, but— "When did Nikki and Calum leave?"

Chapter 15

"Have you heard from Nicole today?" I asked.

Josh was looking down at the screen in front of him, typing in names for our monthly round of competitive bowling. In reality, our "competitive bowling" was an excuse for the winners to talk shit to the losers for three weeks. "No, and I bet we don't hear from her until tomorrow."

I snickered and kept tying my damp bowling shoes, silently praying that they were wet from disinfectant spray and not sweaty feet. "You're right. She'll probably be walking funny for a week."

According to Tristan, he'd seen Nicole and Calum sneak out of the club about an hour after they'd gotten to Breeze. He also thought that he might have seen Nikki stick her hands down Calum's pants, and I, unfortunately, had to assure him that he probably did see that happen. I'd tried calling and texting her, but the call went straight to voicemail. If it were any other person missing, I'd be worried, but this was Nikki. If anyone could take care of themselves— it was her.

I also had a feeling that if she were ever kidnapped, they'd give her back after a couple of hours.

A big figure settled down onto the seat next to mine, and I knew without looking up that it was Tristan. When Zoey had called with news that she was nursing “a hangover worse than kidney stones," and couldn't come bowling, I texted the only other person I'd want to go bowling with— Tristan. Friends went bowling with each and he was all too excited to tag along. Josh enlisted his buddy from the night before, Leo, and we were set.

I looked over to see Tristan tying his laces with a big grimace on his face. "Are your shoes wet, too?" I asked.

He nodded, tying the other shoe before sitting back against the chair. Josh was busy finally putting on his shoes, and Leo was ready and waiting across from us, looking at the screens where our scores would show up. Tristan snorted while squinting as he looked at the monitor above our lane. "Does that say Escalade and Anaconda up there?"

I opened my mouth with the intention of explaining that it did, in fact, say Escalade up there, but not Anaconda, when the words died on my lips. Anaconda was listed on the screen right below Escalade.

"Kat is Escalade because she has a big front end and a big bumper." Josh motioned toward his non-existent pectoral muscles, where my breasts would be. "You're Anaconda because we all know that's what you have in your pants," he said, matter-of-factly. He gestured toward his crotch then, but the look on his face made it seem like he thought we lacked the common sense to understand his reasoning.

Tristan laughed, not seeming to be bothered in the least bit by Josh's explanation, but I was dying. A felt heat build up across my face, giving away my blush. It wasn't because he was talking about my tits and ass, but because I, in fact, did not know he had a beast hidden in his pants. The wink Josh gave me when I looked away from Tristan to gain my composure told me he did it on purpose. The bastard winked and mouthed "BFF" to me like it was supposed to make sense.

Josh and I went up to start our first game, and he owned my ass on the first frame when I knocked down six pins total against his pickup of spares. Tristan gave me a high-five on my walk back and leaned in close to my ear. "I used to play in a league."

He'd told me he wouldn't lie to me a couple of times by that point, but after the first and second ball both made it to the gutter with gusto, it was obvious he just had.

On his walk back, he held his hand up for me to give him a high-five and I did, but I was laughing. "I thought you said you played in a league!" I smirked. "You were talking about little league, weren't you?"

Tristan scowled at me, amusement written all over his face before pushing me in the direction of the lane. "Shut up. I'm warming up."

By the end of the first game, Tristan ended up with a whopping score of 35, and I was at 130. Josh and Leo, his friend, were whooping from their side as they claimed how our asses got handed to us and things of that nature. I sat in my chair with my arms crossed over my chest, staring at the two lovers while they did a horrific chest bump.

"Suck it, Josh!" I screamed at him.

My blonde friend pointed at Leo with wide eyes. "That's what he said!"

According to Josh, a gay guy couldn't say, "That's what she said!" So, he put his own gay-appropriate spin on it. I swear, all of my friends were their own form of idiot, but I loved them anyway.

One game turned into four, one beer turned into three, and our two lanes made more noise than the rest of the bowling alley put together. When I started going up to bowl, Josh would run up and slap my ass as hard as he could— which wasn't very hard at all‚ but it still scared the shit out of me each time and caused me to drop the ball. Leo showed us that he could do the moonwalk when he got a strike. Tristan finally warmed up enough to the point in which he was actually knocking down pins, and then making these really horrible R2D2 noises afterward to celebrate.

Two hours later, we were on our last frame. By some miracle, we'd tied, and I could have thanked the beers that made Josh giggly because they made him play crappy. He did horrible, only knocking down about six pins, while I got nine. All we needed to win was for Tristan to not suck completely.
Ha
.

He leaned his head toward me when I tugged at his shirt, so he could hear me over the loud music. The smile he'd had on his face over the last two hours was tremendous, I was sure he could have lit up a city with it. He stood so close to me I could taste his soapy scent down the back of my throat. "Don't blow it, okay? I want to win at least one game."

"If my little gold digger wants to win a game, we'll win a game," he promised with crooked, wicked smile.

Mary Magdalene.

Could friends have benefits?

Tristan brushed a hand down the length of my ponytail and walked backward to the lane. Of course, he got a gutter ball on the first turn while Leo managed to knock down four.

"Don't blow it!" I screamed before laughing at him.

He gave me another crooked smile when he went for his ball again, while James threw his ball, managing to only knock down three pins. I was squirming from foot to foot like the outcome of the game decided the fate of humanity, but I really, really didn't want Josh to walk around talking about how he'd won every game for the next month.

Tristan then did the unthinkable by somehow knocking down nine pins.

By the way we both screamed it was like we'd won the World Series. My tall, new friend, who wore a tight, soft, blue shirt that accented the perfectly flat abs and pillow-like pecs underneath, beelined toward me with his arms stretched out in front of him. I didn't even think twice about jumping into them and wrapping my own around his neck. He was warm and hard against me. His chest was like a solid wall of muscle and it was... ugh. Amazing.

At some point, I became aware that my feet weren't touching the floor anymore, but two more sets of arms wrapped around me about the same time.

Tristan stiffened before I felt his chest, which my face was pressed against, start rumbling in laughter.

"Which one of you just grabbed my ass?"

It was Josh, of course.

After saying goodbye to each other in the parking lot, we headed in separate directions toward our cars. Tristan followed me to my car, laughing and retelling me his favorite moments in the game; like when Leo stepped over the line, and then slid five feet across the lane. He had to crawl back to avoid busting his ass.

"Thanks for inviting me," he said with a big smile, when we were standing right in front of my car door. Covered in a thin layer of sweat, his face glistened just a little by his temples. "I don't think I've had that much fun since high school," he said, and I could tell he was being truthful.

His words made me burst at the seams. A majority of what he told me hinted at a lonely life, and I felt good that if that was the truth, my loved ones and I could change that for him even if it was only for a few hours. "I'll remind you when we play next month," spilled out of me.

Tristan nodded as he stepped toward me, wrapping a single arm around my shoulder to pull me in close for a hug. I wasn't sure where his other arm was, because I was so distracted by the fact that I was eye level with where his nipple should be, I felt his other hand rest on the small of my back. He was warm and smelled so good, my brain shut down for the ten seconds I was wrapped up in his hug, completely aware of the fact that his entire frame casually brushed against mine.

Was this how Josh hugged me? No, it was not.

He pulled away from me a second later. "I'll call you tomorrow!" he said, before turning around to walk where he'd parked.

"Drive safe!" I hollered at him in a squeaky voice.

Those green eyes looked back at me one last time. "You too, gold digger!"

Once in my car, I let out a huge sigh. This friend thing was going to be a lot harder than it seemed.

Chapter
16

I'd been sitting on my couch eating pita chips and staring at my computer screen for an hour. As if they had a mind of their own, my fingers had typed
Robby Lingus
into Google, and then erased it at least three times. Both my brain and heart were having a debate on whether or not I should go through with the search. Did I want to see videos of him?

I tended to weigh the pros and cons of everything, especially when I needed to make a decision, and right then, I just couldn't. Luckily, my phone started ringing when I typed in the R again.

I groaned, realizing it was all the way on the other side of my couch, so I grumbled my way over to see Nicole's ass crack splayed across the screen. The picture had been taken six months before; the dirty whore had been bent over tying her shoe laces when I'd taken it. Just like Josh had called it, I didn't hear from her for almost two days. It was only two in the afternoon, making it a little strange that she'd be calling since she was normally at work at that time of day.