Page 2 of Second Go-Round
My phone rang as images of the BC showed on-screen behind the newswoman, a bar/strip joint I was well acquainted with. While I didn’t get turned on by watching other women rip off their clothes, I loved the sexually charged energy pulsing through the air. All that testosterone building…needing release.
I swiped to answer, setting aside thoughts of the unsatisfying dick the night before. “Hey, Jessie.”
“Did you see the news?” my good friend and employee asked without a preamble.
A click on the remote muted the TV. “I just turned it on after Dad texted me about it.”
“Isn’t that David’s place?”
A huffed, annoyed exhale caused me to sag back into the couch again, and I retrieved my coffee, thinking about how David and his partner Lawrence had to be feeling that morning. “Yep.”
“Cassie!” Jessie’s muffled holler at her young daughter sounded loud over the line. “I told you not to touch!”
Cassie yelled something unintelligible in the background while Jessie fumbled with her cell, filling my ear with thumps and clatters.
“Sorry,” she said a few seconds later. “Cassie’s new obsession with the Keurig is driving me nuts.”
I eyed the last inch of coffee in my mug and went into the kitchen to pour another. “She’s got good taste.” Meandering around the island, I made for the coffeepot. “How is little Bossy-Boo?”
“Bossy as ever.” Jess huffed. “And haven’t nearly hit the worst years yet. I will either enter a mental hospital or turn into a wino when this kid becomes a teenager.”
A soft chuckle escaped me as I refilled my cup. At least Jessie would have Reid by her side to help her out when the time came. Dad and I had placed bets on their engagement. He’d said by Christmas, but I expected Reid wouldn’t wait that long.
I had introduced the two of them earlier in the spring—or rather, Reid had been an escort at the time, and I’d hired him to show my single mom friend a fun night on the town. I’d gone to school with Reid, and he’d always been a forever kind of guy. He’d fallen hard for Jessie after one date, and it had taken a while, but Jessie finally caved to being his. I expected they would live happily ever after.
I hoped for the best for both of them even though I’d sworn off love, heart eyes, and declarations of futures with white picket fences.
“How was your hookup last night?” Jessie whispered as though attempting to hide her words from Cassie.
“Same old, same old,” I muttered while leaning my hip against the kitchen counter and lifting my mug.
“That bad, huh?”
“Worst lay of my life.” I sipped, sighing inwardly over the black, bitter brew warming my throat. “He had the perfect tool shed and equipment, but that man could make water dry with his lack of knowledge on how to use them.”
“Ugh.”
“Yeah, but it’s probably a good thing he didn’t. You know how much I want to get my heart invested.”
Jessie sighed. I hadn’t told her the full story of how my dad had lost my mom. Discussing that kind of grief hurt too much to relive. “Sounds like you need something to perk you up.”
“If the coffee isn’t doing it, nothing will,” I said, keeping our conversation light.
“Hmm. Actually, I think I have just the thing.”
“Doubt it.” I sipped again, contemplating a low-carb breakfast when all I wanted was bacon and thick slabs of French toast doused in maple syrup. A side of home fries would taste damn good too.
“Reid finally fulfilled his end of the bargain.”
Food ideas flitting to the back of my mind, I perked up all right—wide fucking awake.
I had let Reid bribe me a couple of months earlier into giving him Jessie’s phone number. In exchange, he’d agreed to land me a free night with one of his ex-co-workers from Elite Escorts. Tall, dark, and handsome, pretty boy Jarod. At least, that was what his profile on Elite’s website portrayed him to be.
“Seriously?” I heard myself squeak while telling myself the guy probably just photographed well.
“Yep. There was a last-minute cancellation for tonight, so Reid got your file bumped up in line.”
“Holy shit. Oh, holy fucking shit.” Gone were the thoughts of a lousy lay and the exhaustion tugging on my eyelids. Energy sparkled inside of me, priming me to life in both my mind and core.
