Peachy Keen (6 page)

“Dude, you punched me in the fucking face,” I reminded him.

Evan laughed. “Shit. I know. I’m sorry.”

Grinning as he hung his head, I sighed. “Look, man, we walk this weird line between friendship…no, more like brotherhood and professionalism. I didn’t want to lose either, so I just had to let you figure it out on your own.”

Evan’s eyes lifted to mine and he nodded, wearing a crooked, soft smile. There was nothing more to say. We both knew we loved the other, so with that out of the way it was time to crack a few beers and turn on a hockey game.

Evan cleared his throat and it caught me off guard. He wasn’t through with the conversation. I remember thinking
, He better not tell me he’s still fucking her.

“So, um, since it’s clear that your honesty back then was just you looking out for me…I feel like I should return the favor,” he sighed.

Here it comes
. Just like Evan had probably seen it coming when I spewed my thoughts on Kim, going as far to say his mother wouldn’t have approved of his choice, I knew what he was about to say. I must’ve been in some kind of daze the afternoon I let Meredith take me into a jewelry store. She was blinded by the glitter of the diamonds and platinum bands and I was blinded by the years of complacency I’d already succumbed to. This was the next step. It’s what everyone did after this amount of time. Right? You date, fall in love, move in, and then…ask the question. Of course I thought that way.
That
was everyone else’s schedule. That was the world’s idea of a perfect timeline and I didn’t think to have my own opinions about it.

Meredith had no clue I’d bought a ring. I’d asked Evan if I could keep it in his safe and the look he’d given me when he stuttered a “yes” wasn’t what I expected. He was supposed to be happy for me. Hell, I was supposed to be happy about it too.

Every breath I took with that pale blue box in my hands was strangled. My stomach rippled and my brain blanked out. It was like holding a loaded gun to my head and her left hand had a finger on the trigger.

“Evan,” I started with a slight warning to my tone. Was I really considering defending myself and this decision? Why?

“No, Harry. I’m sorry. Even if it means you punch me in the face this time, I have to say it or I’ll never forgive myself.”

Those aren’t the words you want to hear in reference to your impending engagement. Would I hear my best friend’s voice saying that in the back of my mind as I watched her walk down the aisle toward me?

My eyes narrowed on him and I felt my chest constrict. I held my breath and waited for the blow I knew I needed dealt.

“You can’t marry her. You can’t marry Meredith,” Evan finally blurted.

The air I held in my lungs left me and my shoulders slumped. For the first time in weeks, I felt relieved. The nagging itch, the twinge of doubt I’d been carrying around since I’d bought the ring wasn’t just real, it was validated by someone else. I scrubbed a hand down my jaw, feeling the unkempt state of my beard—yet another sign that I’d been walking through my life like a zombie the past month.

“I’m sorry. You do what you need to do. I get it. Trust me. But as your friend, as your brother, I had to say it. You’ve been different since you decided to ask her, since you put that ring in the safe. God, I love you, man, but if you could see the way she treats you. The girl literally snaps her fingers at you like a…” He couldn’t say the word, but I knew it. Dog. Like a dog. Evan sighed and shook his head. “I—I wish you wouldn’t. For your sake, I hope you can hear this. I hope you don’t waste time with someone the way I did with Kim. But no matter what—”

“Evan,” I said again, cutting him off, my voice nearly cracking. He stared at me cautiously as I inhaled. “Thank you.”

His eyes lowered and he nodded before putting his hand firmly on my shoulder. That was the end of the conversation. After that, we opened beers and sat silently in front of the TV.

Maybe somewhere inside I felt like I needed permission to break things off with Meredith. Maybe I needed confirmation that she actually treated me like shit and that she wasn’t just a strong-headed girl. Whatever it was, after that night I returned the ring and broke up with Meredith. She was devastated and even though I knew it was the right move, I took it hard as well.

Evan set me up with a few rebounds but no one sparked my interest past a second or third date. My sister Hilary continued to give me grief about breaking it off with Meredith; her email letting me know the status of her life hadn’t been the first. But when I saw her name on the screen a few weeks ago along with the part about her still being single, a strange feeling consumed me. While I hadn’t wasted my time engaged or married to the wrong girl, I’d spent the last five years thrown so deep into work and someone else’s life that I’d stopped living my own.

I grabbed my phone, not considering the time difference as my feet absently led me to the mini bar where I poured myself a drink.

“Why are you calling me? It’s almost one o’clock there, you should be getting laid.” Evan’s voice came through the phone without as much as a greeting. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“I’m starting to worry about you and your obsession with my sex life,” I retorted.

“Or lack thereof,” he shot back.

If he only knew.

“What’s up? Everything okay?” Evan asked.

“Nothing, man, I hope I didn’t wake you up. I just wanted to say thanks again…for the trip. I’m glad I came.”

I heard him laughing and rolled my eyes knowing some kind of smart ass remark was on its way. “So you did get some! I knew you would. Beards are such a thing right now. Dani tries telling me you’re good looking but what does she know? How was it?”

“You’re such a dick,” I grumbled.

“Come on, just give me one detail? Brunette? Blonde?”

“What would your girl think of you trying to get details out of me? Especially considering where I am.”

“She’s right here beside me. She wants to know too. We’re all pulling for ya, Simms.”

I could hear Danielle telling him to be nice, then his plea to continue screwing with me. Sipping my rum and Coke, I moved over to the window, once more pushing the flimsy curtain aside and listening to a quick smooch between the lovebirds on the other end. “Do I need to let you go so you can tend to your own Desire Resort guest?” I asked.

“Whatever. For real, are you having a good time?”

My eyes locked on the entrance of the club and I felt a twinge in my chest when I caught sight of long blond waves. She was climbing to ride piggy back on a tall, dark-haired man. At first I wasn’t sure if it was her or if I was just seeing every blonde as Georgia. But when she had her legs hooked around him from behind and her arms over his shoulders, she threw her head back with a laugh and I saw her face clearly. I inhaled sharply and glanced back at the bed where she and I had been the night before as though she’d appear there…giggling for me instead of someone else.

I coughed a little and fixed my eyes on them again, getting smaller as the man hiked her higher on his back, weaving down the sidewalk to the elevators.

“Yeah. I’m having a good time,” I replied.

“Oh, that sounded convincing,” Evan mocked.

“Well, I’m sorry I won’t be leaving behind quite the legacy you have.” I sucked in a breath as soon as the biting phrase was past my lips.

“Damn. Take it easy, you know I’m kidding.”

I let out a sigh just as Georgia and her fun-supplier disappeared from view. Fuck. I wished I could tell him. I wished I could let Evan know that day one here was pretty awesome up until the part the girl who’d blown my mind realized we had him as a mutual friend. Something about her got under my skin from the first time she set her eyes on me. But I didn’t come here for women; I didn’t even come here to cleanse my palette from the long ago days of Meredith.

What exactly was my reason for coming here?

“Dude?” Evan started.

“Yeah. Sorry. Earlier I got to thinking about Mer—”

“No. Do not turn your first vacation in forever into a trip down memory lane. You’ve been free for five years. That shit isn’t worth a second thought when you’ve got that perfect beach and what I can only imagine is plenty of eye candy around you…whether you plan to indulge your sweet tooth or not.” I heard his voice drop. “You don’t do enough for yourself. Whatever you do, just relax, man. You haven’t had a chance to do that in a while.”

He was a pain in the ass but he knew me well. And for as much as I did for him, what he did for me never went unnoticed. Evan needed his groceries purchased and his appointments made for him, but I needed my tendency toward self-loathing squashed whenever I was too blind to see what I was doing. And I sometimes I needed to be forced to have a little fun.

A dark laugh slipped out and I pressed my forearm to the window and my head against my forearm. “Relax. Sure. I’ll give that a try. I’ll start by mixing a second drink.”

“That’s the spirit! Have one for me. I’ll see you soon, okay?”

“Yeah. Thanks, man.”

I hung up and the breath I let out fogged the window in front of my face. What kind of person can’t relax on vacation? Mixing myself another drink, I shook away the thought. I’d relaxed…with Georgia beneath me. I told myself it wasn’t her necessarily; it could’ve been the sex. A good fuck every now and then was like a prescription pill to take the edge off my neuroses. But when I settled into one of the soft leather chairs facing the window, swallowing back a little more dark liquor, all I could see were cola-colored irises under dark lashes, blond waves, and her sexy sinister smile.

Plagued with thoughts of her, her body and the way she offered it to me, I let my mind cloud with lust and Jack Daniels. I nearly lost my balance when I stood to mix my third cocktail, completely consumed by the memory of last night, not wanting to give it up for sleep just yet. After the sound of ice hitting the inside of my glass I heard a tiny swoosh come from the door. My feet led me from the bar to the darkened entry corridor. I bent to grab the rectangle that had just been slipped under the door, thinking it had just been a drunken passerby or even the wind. But when I turned the Do Not Disturb hanger over in my hand, I grinned.

H,

Meet me for breakfast? 10 am?

xoxo,

Georgia

7.

We’re Going to be Friends

Georgia

My foot shook uncontrollably, tapping against the table leg, and my bottom lip fidgeted in between my teeth. He’s not coming. Why would he? Who was I to think he’d take time out of his probably much-needed vacation to pat me on the head and accept my apology for being a brat? I should’ve just kept walking past his door last night. Instead, I had to scribble that pathetic invitation on the Do Not Disturb hanger from the room across the hall from his and slip it under his door like I was passing notes in History.

I took another gulp of my mostly milk and sugar coffee, my eyes locking on him as he approached. A slanted grin spread across his face and the samba resonating beneath my sternum slowed to a waltz. Attempting to play it cool, my mouth formed into something like a smile and I raised a hand to wave at him.

“Hey,” I said. My voice was already sheepish and dripping with the tone of my impending apology. I flicked out my hand, gesturing for him to sit in the seat across from me.

Harrison sat and glanced at the watch on his wrist. “You said ten, right?”

“Yeah. I got here early.” A troubled look painted his face briefly before I spoke again with a laugh behind my breath. “A little coffee courage so I could work up to apologizing.”

His brows remained cinched together in the center as though he didn’t understand what I was referencing. I rarely had moments with men that left me asking for forgiveness. And I rarely asked for forgiveness while simultaneously thinking about a man’s cock. My mind spun with salacious ideas of a few acts of contrition I could perform to get in his good graces again. Shit.

My lips pressed together firmly as I gathered the final draft of my thoughts. “We got off on the wrong foot. I mean, after we got off. I was pretty thrown, finding out that you were…
you…
and it led me to be a bit of a bitch. So I’m sorry.”

Harrison sat back in his chair and scratched one side of his beard as his smile reformed. “You weren’t a bitch. Even if you were, I was kind of a dick, so…”

A crisp laugh slipped out of me, amazed at how quickly I agreed with him in my mind. “Yeah, well…” My reply dissolved in the space between us as we continued to share a smile. Then my expression fell and I set my eyes on the tablecloth. “This trip isn’t turning out how I thought it would.”

“No? It’s a carnival here. Thought you were looking for fun. Seems like the perfect place for it,” Harrison clipped.

There wasn’t the same snap to his tone as there had been the morning prior. This was different. Annoyed. I didn’t know how to respond. I’d had a little fun—starting with the fun he’d shown me, of course. Even with Nate, I’d had a good time…well, until…

“I saw you out at the club last night,” Harrison added.

Oh, great. He saw me floozing it up for a second night in a row. And with a different guy no less. My jaw hung open as my date with Nate flashed in my mind. Then a smile split my lips and I decided to tell him.

“I actually have a good story from last night.” I grinned.

“I’m not sure if I need to hear it,” he replied with a chuckle.

“Oh, come on, can’t we just shake hands, forget we’ve seen each other naked, and be friends?”

His rumbling chuckle turned into a full-on bark of a laugh and he stood from the table. My stomach pitched. I knew I’d say something to fuck it up. I felt my face growing warm and thought of Danielle again. I could really use that friend right about now.

Harrison’s hand extended to me and he nodded his head toward the breakfast buffet line. “Okay,
friend
, you can tell me your juicy story, but only after I have bacon.”