The Best Medicine

THE BEST MEDICINE

Scott had been walking with his hands in his pockets, but as Lauren unlocked her car and pulled the door open, he quickly propped his hands on the roof, caging her in.

She stood stock-still. She didn’t turn around to face him. It was as if she was waiting to see what he’d do next before she moved.

“I meant what I said, Lo.”

“About what?” Her voice was low, husky.

“I don’t do relationships. At least not in the traditional sense. I’m not going to lie: I want you. So if you decide to walk down this road with me, you need to know that there’s no happily ever after at the end of it. No love or prolonged commitments. It’ll be raw and consuming, but eventually it’ll be over. Can you handle that?”

Lauren started to turn around but Scott pressed himself against her, putting a stop to her movement. “Don’t answer me right now. Think about it. I need you to be sure. The last thing I want is to hurt you, Lo.” He pressed a soft kiss to the nape of her neck that was somehow both innocent and filthy. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” And with that, he pushed off the car and left, hoping like hell her answer would be yes.

Pieces of Perfect*

Sex Snob

Picking Up the Pieces*

Perfectly Ever After*

*A Pieces Novel

Published by the Penguin Group

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First published by Signet Eclipse, an imprint of New American Library,

a division of Penguin Group (USA) LLC

Copyright © Shauna Johnson and Sarah Glasgow, 2015

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ISBN 978-0-698-19492-2

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

For our kids. To show them that wishing on a star isn’t just a cliché. Those wishes can actually come
true.

Temporary Insanity

“If one more douche bag gets handsy with me tonight, I’m going to go ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ on his ass,” Lauren yelled over the blaring techno and raucous crowd.

“Tell me about it,” Simone agreed. “I haven’t been groped this unappealingly since I was in the back of Todd Grady’s car in eleventh grade.”

“Doesn’t he go by ‘Tina’ now?” Cassidy asked.

Simone widened her eyes and slowly nodded her head. The girls instantly broke out in hysterics.

Lauren relished these nights with her girlfriends—casually drinking in Mickey’s Bar and Grill and flouncing around the dance floor like deranged
Riverdance
rejects. The four of them—Lauren, Simone, Cassidy, and Quinn—had been the Fantastic Foursome since middle school, though Lauren had known Quinn since kindergarten, when she’d dragged Quinn out of the lunch line so they could go outside for recess early. They’d been friends ever since.

Lauren took a sip from her glass and tasted diluted
Malibu. “I’m getting another drink. Maybe the alcohol will kill the STDs that are seeping out of these cretins. Anyone else need anything?” Her friends all shook their heads, causing Lauren to say “lightweights” over her shoulder as she pushed her way toward the bar. With school starting in two weeks, Lauren intended to take full advantage of the last few days of summer before she’d have to buckle down and get into student mode.

Eight years ago, Lauren had thrown her small crew for a loop when she’d announced that she was going out of state for college. But that sojourn had only lasted two years before she’d returned to Virginia, taken some time off from school, and ultimately gotten her life back on track. Now, at twenty-six, she was about to finish her last year of graduate school at George Mason University and couldn’t wait to join “adulthood”—a place her friends had entered years ago.

Once she arrived at the bar, she smoothed down her canary yellow halter top, which had ridden up as she pressed her way through the multitude of men. Lauren flagged down Sam, one of the bartenders she knew, and held up her glass to him. He gave her a swift nod and set about mixing her drink. Lauren and her friends had been coming to Mickey’s since they were twenty-one. Her parents had known Mickey since they were kids, so she’d always felt comfortable there despite the influx of drunk, horny guys.

“Can I buy you a drink?”

Lauren cringed as soon as she recognized the voice. She took a deep breath before turning around to face the man who had shamelessly been trying to get into her pants since tenth grade. “Hi, Josh,” she said, feigning a small
smile. Lauren had always been good at reading people. It was part of the reason she had changed her major from marketing to psychology when she enrolled at George Mason. And she knew
exactly
what kind of man Josh was, which is why she had no interest in being around him.

“Hey, beautiful. So how about it? Can I get you a drink?” Josh winked at her, which reminded her of her great-uncle Thomas, who had an odd tic that caused his eyelid to spasm constantly.

The image made her laugh abruptly, which earned her a curious look from Josh.
Great, now
I’ve
suddenly become the weird one
, she thought. It wasn’t that Josh was unattractive: he was tall, well-built, and had a handsome face. No, the real problem was that his dick had been buried in more holes than a homeless dog’s bone. And since he was an arrogant prick, those holes didn’t always belong to Virginia’s classiest bachelorettes. Lauren regarded him with the same wariness a child would a party clown: he was fun to laugh at, but the last thing you wanted was to find yourself alone in a room with him.

“Sorry. You just reminded me of something really funny.”

Josh smiled, thinking her words were a compliment. “Oh yeah? What would that be?”

“Uuuh.” Lauren dragged the word out, trying to think of the right way to phrase her response. “My uncle used to wink at me a lot. Well, not just me. It wasn’t like some creepy thing where he’d wink at his young relatives. He had this spasm problem. Not that you looked like you were spasming. I just don’t see a lot of people wink, so when you did it, that’s what I thought of.” Lauren was rambling and from the bemused smirk on Josh’s face, she
could tell he thought he was flustering her. Which he was, but not for the reason he thought. “Anyway, we have a tab running, so I’m all good on the drink. Thanks though.” Lauren turned back toward the bar just as Sam set the Malibu and 7-Up in front of her.

“Anything else?” Sam asked, glancing quickly at Josh and then back to Lauren.

“You got an exit strategy back there anywhere?” Lauren asked quietly so Josh wouldn’t overhear.

“I can pull the fire alarm,” Sam joked.

Lauren smiled widely. “I’ll keep it in mind.”

Sam wiped the bar between them with a wet dish towel. “Well, I’m here if you need me,” he said before walking away to help another customer. Lauren smiled again. Sam had been best friends with her older brother, Cooper, and always looked out for Lauren when she was at Mickey’s. He had become a sort of surrogate older brother over the years, even if it was only between the hours of ten p.m. and two a.m.

Lauren turned back around to face Josh, hoping to quickly give him the brush-off so she could return to her friends. But, not expecting him to be standing so close to her, she nearly collided with him. Her drink sloshed over the side of her glass and splashed onto Josh’s gray T-shirt.

“Shit, sorry,” Lauren apologized as she reached toward the bar to grab some napkins, putting her drink down so she could help dry Josh’s shirt.

“No worries. It’ll dry. Though if you were feelin’ like you needed to make it up to me, I’d accept a dance as payment.”

The thought of dancing with Josh made Lauren’s stomach flip. She felt her lips turn down in disgust before she
had time to stop them. She noticed his eyes narrow at her reaction and desperately tried to recover. “I, uh, think I’ve done enough damage to you for one night. God only knows what would happen to you if you tried to dance with me.” She let out a small laugh that sounded as halfhearted as it was.

Josh leaned even closer, causing his torso to connect with Lauren’s chest. She silently cursed her size B breasts. If they’d been larger, they would’ve kept Josh farther from her face. “I think I can handle myself,” he replied.

Lauren hoped that was true since she had
no
intention of handling any part of Josh. The very thought made her shiver in repulsion. Of course, Josh took the slight movement of her body as an invitation. He began leaning down toward her, eyes closed. Lauren suddenly understood why women in horror movies never ran until it was too late. It took her brain a while to accept that this nightmare was actually a reality. Just as his lips were about to connect with hers, she threw her hand up, causing him to kiss her palm.

His eyes jerked open. “What the hell was that?”

“Uh, my hand?” Lauren wasn’t sure why it came out as a question, but it had.

“Yeah, I figured that much out.” Josh backed up a bit, heat radiating off of him. He was pissed. “You’re a real fucking tease—you know that?”

Lauren’s back straightened. If this douche bag wanted to start name-calling, then he’d found a willing adversary. “And you’re a fucking misogynist. Since you’re clearly an idiot, let me take the time to spell something out for you: I’m. Not. Interested. Now get the hell out of my way so that I can go back to people whose company I actually
enjoy.” She sidestepped Josh quickly and began walking toward her friends, not even bothering to pick up her drink.

Josh stood stock-still for a moment, clearly stunned by Lauren’s words. But that didn’t last long. Lauren hadn’t made it more than five steps before she felt a firm grip on her biceps and was pulled toward a small alcove off to the side of the bar. Once the destination had been reached, Josh spun her around and thrust her roughly against the wall. The impact caused her breath to leave her momentarily, but she recovered quickly.

“Don’t you ever put your hands on me again!” Lauren yelled in Josh’s face. If he thought she was going to back down, he was sorely mistaken. When it came to fight-or-flight situations, Lauren always fought. Her brother had taught her how to handle herself when she’d grown boobs, and she’d been ever thankful for it.

Josh pushed against her, putting his arms on the wall on either side of her head in an effort to use his size and proximity to intimidate her. And while the situation did cause fear to bubble within her, she’d never let it show.

“You’re so sexy when you’re mad,” Josh rasped into her ear.

“Josh, I’m giving you one last chance to back up before I seriously lose my shit.” Lauren’s voice was strong and laced with a warning that she had every intention of following through with.

“Stop playing hard to get, baby. I know you want it. I can see how hard your nipples are through your shirt. And I bet if I touch that sweet pussy, I’ll feel how wet it is for me. Maybe I should prove it to you.” Josh’s hand quickly skated down the wall and landed on the button
on Lauren’s jeans. He fumbled for a couple seconds before all hell broke loose.

Lauren may have been more than a little tipsy, but that didn’t make her more tolerant of Josh’s inappropriate behavior. It made her rail against it with a fervor she’d only felt a few times in her life. Reflexively, she brought her fist up in a lightning-fast move and connected with Josh’s windpipe. He staggered back, gripping his throat, but Lauren wasn’t done. She brought her heel down hard on the top of his flip-flop-clad foot, then brought her knee up to connect with his balls, causing Josh to double over with a pain that she was sure radiated through his body.

Lauren stepped closer to him, needing to make sure he knew that she wasn’t scared of him. She’d just kicked his ass, and she’d do it again.
Anytime
. “Fuck with me again, and a broken dick and a sore throat will be the least of your problems.”

Josh straightened slightly, his hands still covering his groin, and looked at her with venom in his eyes.

Lauren turned sharply and walked quickly out of the alcove and back toward the bar. When she heard heavy footsteps behind her, she spun her head to see Josh following. She quickened her pace, realizing that she was dealing with a special kind of moron. Reaching the bar, she yelled to Sam to get his attention. His furrowing brow let her know he noticed the worry on her face. “Time for the fire alarm,” she mouthed, hoping he had suddenly learned to read lips. He looked at her, confused. “Fire alarm!” she yelled. Recognition seemed to dawn on his face, but Lauren couldn’t be sure because a shrill alarm began to blare, diverting her attention.

It took Lauren a moment to realize what happened
after that. She registered people running for the exit, pushing one another to get out of the packed building. Fights broke out around the bar and outside due to the throng of bodies trying to escape through the same door. Tables broke, glasses shattered, and screaming filled the air. Lauren caught sight of Cassidy, Simone, and Quinn and ran toward them.

“What the hell is going on?” Lauren yelled over the noise.

“Guess there’s a fire,” Quinn explained, fear etched on her face.

“A fire? There’s no smoke or anything. Who said there was a—”
Fuck my life.
Lauren hadn’t really thought about the consequences of someone
other
than Sam hearing her yell. But clearly, someone else
had
heard her, and they’d pulled the fucking fire alarm. “Shit, girls, come on. We gotta get out of here.” It took them quite a while to push through the crowd and make it out the front doors. Had there really been a fire, they would’ve been goners. Finally they made it outside just as the fire trucks were pulling up. Lauren watched in horror as police tried to calm the raging crowd.

“It was her. She said it.”

Lauren turned toward the voice and saw a thick blond girl pointing her out to police. Lauren had never really been the type to wish ill will on strangers—until that moment. “Ladies, we need to skedaddle. Now.” Lauren tried to corral her friends by urging them toward the street.

As they reached the edge of the sidewalk, Lauren heard the voice that caused her blood to boil nearly out of her skin. “Way to go, you crazy bitch.”

Lauren’s eyes finally came to rest on the prick.
Reacting on pure adrenaline and hatred, Lauren grabbed the drink Cassidy was still holding and hurled it toward Josh. Unfortunately, Lauren was quite a few years removed from her days on the high school softball team. Her velocity had remained, but her aim had evidently disappeared. The glass she’d thrown sailed wide, completely missing Josh. Unfortunately it didn’t miss the rear window of a car that was driving away from the scene. And as she heard the splintering of glass, Lauren knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the universe hated her.

The driver slammed on his brakes and jumped out of the car. But it wasn’t his rage Lauren was worried about. No, she was too focused on the two strong hands that gripped her arms from behind and practically threw her onto the hood of a nearby police car.

“What is it with everyone throwing me around tonight?” Lauren knew she should have kept her mouth shut. She wasn’t a troublemaker, and she definitely wasn’t someone who disrespected authority. But since she had already accidentally become both in a matter of minutes, she decided to roll with it.

“Keep your mouth shut,” the cop ordered as he called for a female officer to come over and search Lauren. “You have anything sharp in your pockets?” he asked her.

Just my machete and my hunting knife.
“Not last time I checked,” she responded dryly.

“Listen up, honey. Being a smartass really isn’t in your best interest right now. You’re in deep shit, so maybe you should be a little more cooperative.”

“What are you doing to her?” Lauren heard a wasted Quinn ask. “You can’t grab her like that!” Quinn was approaching full-blown hysterics.

“Ma’am, back up before you get yourself in trouble.”

“Why? We haven’t done anything wrong. Let go of her right now.”

“It’s okay, Quinn. Just do what he says.” The last thing Lauren needed was to be responsible for getting one of her best friends arrested.