Trevor opened the door to Perk You Up. He hadn’t felt this good for as long as he could remember. Every time he closed his eyes he would see Maggie laying naked underneath him. Her hair sprawled out on the pillows, her face red. She was a sight he would never forget. Instantly, he felt his body respond. Down boy!

When walking through the door the first thing he saw was Lexi behind the counter. Her smile wider than it normally was. Why was she always so happy in the mornings? Annoying.

He then saw her flick her eyes towards the window.

That’s when he saw her.

Maggie was staring at him. Her eyes wide, and her face pale. He couldn’t help the smile that came over him. Instead of going towards the counter he turned to head towards her instead. That’s when he caught the shine from the necklace in her hands. His heart skipped a beat. His smile grew wider as he quickened his pace.

When he reached her, he opened his mouth to say hello, but she shot up and pushed past him instead. “Maggie, wait!” he hollered as she ran out of the door. He went to follow her only to have a hand pull him back.

“Let her go,” Lexi said while handing him a drink. “This time you’re lucky mister.” Her eyes shot to his drink. Did she do something to it? Why in the world was she so weird? “Why am I lucky?” he asked.

“Oh nothing,” she said. “Tomorrow, when you try your coffee keep in mind I am trying out some new recipes. It might taste a little different.”

“Uh, okay.” He turned to head out of the door in search of Maggie.

“Let her go,” she said. “At least for right now. She’s had a rough morning.”

Dread shot through him. Had she gone to Lexi and told her what happened? Had he hurt her? His morning was beyond perfect, but now knowing Maggie was upset made him want to punch something. “What happened?”

Lexi gave him that look. Okay, so she knew…

“How about we have a little chat,” she said motioning to the seat Maggie had vacated.

Trevor looked at the door and back to the seat. Everything inside of him wanted to go after Maggie, but he also knew that it was better to have this conversation with Lexi now rather than later. Sighing he walked to the seat, Lexi following behind him. “Let’s cut the crap.”

“Yes, let’s cut the crap. You like Maggie and have feelings for her.”

“No, it’s just-“

She cut him off with a look.

“Okay,” he said.

“I’m not here to mess around, Trevor. We are here to have a serious conversation.”

He looked at her. Could he admit to her he had feelings for Maggie? It’s not like he really had strong feelings for her. She was- Nope. He couldn’t deny it. He definitely had feelings for her. Huge feelings, ones that he didn’t see going away anytime soon. Trevor cleared his throat. “Clearly, you already know what happened last night. And, before you say anything I am not apologizing for any of it… okay, well maybe the way I acted could have been questionable and - actually no, I was a gentleman the whole time. Whatever she told you was a lie.”

“I see,” Lexi said. “So, you did break into her house and ravish her?”

“I didn’t break in, she foolishly left the door unlocked!” he growled.

“Uh huh,” she said.

“She did and I didn’t break in. I went to give her back the necklace she left and just talk. I knocked, but she didn’t answer. I tried the knob and it opened. When I walked in she looked like she was being electrocuted.”

Lexi laughed. “Graceful should be her middle name.”

Trevor threw his head back and laughed with her. It felt good to laugh. “Yeah, it should. Regardless though, one thing led to another and before I knew it we were naked playing a game of twister.”

“Twister,” she laughed. “Maggie didn’t quite put it that way.”

“She was probably being modest.”

Lexi’s eyes beamed. “Sure.”

“Lexi, I don’t know what she said to you, but – “

“Trevor,” she cut him off. “I’ve known you for a long time. A very long time. I’ve gotten to know you over the years. The moment you took her home because of her car, I knew something started to change in you. Paying for her piece of crap car - by the way, thank you for that, even if she hasn’t said thank you yet. I want to thank you.” Trevor nodded. “What solidified your change for me was the necklace. You don’t do that, Trevor. Although, you have made some shitty choices in a lot of places in your life doing all of this just to sleep with her is not one of them.”

“It’s not just about sleeping with her,” he said, his features hard. He hated being this exposed. More than that, he hated how Lexi could take one look at a person and know everything there was about them.

“I know.” She reached out and grabbed his hand. “Trevor, you have to understand. Sure, you changed. You want to be with her. But-“

“What?” he asked. Was she going to tell him to leave Maggie alone? He didn’t think he could do that even if he tried at this point. She was all he thought about.

Taking a deep breath, she started, “I don’t know the whole story, but it wasn’t good where she came from. Even her mother wasn’t the best to her, constantly picking on her every chance she got. All Maggie really had was her grandmother. Her mother…” Lexi’s eyes showed so much anger it almost made him recoil. “Her mother is a complete waste of a mother if you ask me. And you…” she poked him in the chest. “You said some of the same things her mother has said to her. So, you need to understand it’s going to take a lot to get her to let her walls down. And for you, those walls are ten times higher. Sure, she let you have her body at a moment of weakness, but the damage you have already done to her will take a lot to repair.”

Shit!

He knew the things he had said about her were dick moves. He knew that he was going to have to fight like hell to get her to understand he was serious. But, hearing about her own mother treating her like shit pissed him off. She’d mentioned something about her mother when they were fighting in the house, but he hadn’t thought much of it. Now, he wished he would have asked her about it. Anger rose through him. What kind of mother picks on their own kid? He didn’t know what he would do without his mother. When he first told her, he wanted to be an actor, she was over the moon for him. She was his biggest and best support system.

“You’ve got your work cut out for you,” she said. “But I think she’s worth it. You need someone like her, Trevor. You need someone you can trust, someone you can let your walls down around. You need to have someone that you know isn’t using you because your famous and have tons of money.”

“No one uses me.”

She gave him that look again. How in the hell did she do that?

“I’m serious here, Trevor. I would be the first one to drop kick your ass if I thought you would hurt her, but I honestly think she is exactly what you need.”

He didn’t know what to say so he stared at her. He watched as she put her hand on his arm and squeezed lightly. “And, Trevor, you have and will always have friends and people you can trust.” She pointed to herself. “You do have true friends. I’m one of them, and if you stop being an asshole to Danny, I know he would be one too.”

With those parting words, she left.

Trevor stared at her for a moment before he decided that she was right. He grabbed his drink and headed for the door. Maggie was worth it. And, it was time he stopped pussyfooting around it. He had feelings for Maggie. Huge feelings.

Trevor paced around his living room. He still couldn’t believe he’d done it. What was he thinking? He could have figured this out on his own he didn’t need to-

His doorbell rang interrupting his thought.

“Shit.”

He walked to the door and opened it. “Hey man, thanks for coming over.” He watched as Danny gave him a once over. “Sure,” he said. “You sounded kinda desperate.”

Trevor groaned. He was desperate. “Yeah, well,” he mumbled. “Come in and make yourself at home.”

Danny walked past him and into the living room. “Can I get you anything?”

“Tell me why I am here, Trevor,” Danny demanded.

Clearing his throat, Trevor quickly glanced around the room before looking at Danny. “Yeah, okay. Sure.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Here’s the thing. Other than Lexi, you are Maggie’s best friend and I need your help.”

Danny narrowed his eyes at him. “Why?” he asked.

Trevor couldn’t blame the guy for being cautious. He might as well bite the bullet. “I really like her, okay.” There he said it. “I mean I really like her and I’ve screwed up a lot. I need to make this right. I thought we were on the right path after last night. I mean why would she sleep with me if she still pretty much-“ Trevor didn’t see it coming.

“You did what?!” The impact of Danny’s fist on his jaw hurt like hell.

“Shit!” Trevor groaned, rubbing his jaw. Any other time he would have swung back, but he had to give this to Danny. If the roles were reversed, he would have done the same thing.

“You fucking asshole.” Danny went to hit him again but Trevor stopped him.

“Slow your roll, man.”

“Slow my roll? What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Okay, I get it. You want to beat the shit out of me right now, and well, I don’t really blame you but listen to me. It’s not what you are thinking I didn’t force her or anything like that. It just happened.”

“So, your dick just so happened to land inside of her?”

“No,” he corrected shaking his head. “Calm down a second, Rambo. I didn’t ask you here so you could try and kick my ass- because we all know I would win that fight- I asked you here to help me win her over. I want to be with her. Fuck, Danny, I have never wanted someone so bad in my life. I fucking eat, sleep, and breathe her. And, yeah, I’ll admit it, normally after I fuck someone I never think of them again, but Maggie is different. I don’t think I can ever get enough of her. Not in this lifetime or the next.” Trevor sat down, defeat running through him. If this was what relationships were about he wanted nothing to do with them. He hung his head in his hands trying to make the rampant feelings subside. How in the hell had one chick with extra curves come in and turn his whole world upside down?

He felt the cushion next to him sink down.

“You know,” Trevor said, his head still in his hands. “I didn’t know it at first, but I was jealous of you. I am never jealous.” He looked at Danny. “The thought of you being with her nearly tore me in two. That’s why I was such a prick.”

“You were a prick,” Danny agreed.

“Yeah, I know. I don’t even know how it happened. One moment I was doing fine, living my life the way I’d always lived it, and then out of nowhere she was under my skin.”

Danny sighed. “I know exactly how you feel.”

That took Trevor by surprise. Did Danny love Maggie? A spark of possessiveness ran through him as he growled.

Danny held up his hands in surrender. “Not Maggie. Yeah, I love Maggie as a best friend and sister, but not like that. I’m just saying I know how you feel about going on with your life and then the next moment someone is there turning your world into a crazy mess and you don’t know which end is up.”

Trevor watched him. He could tell Danny didn’t want to go any farther into it, so he didn’t push.

Neither one of them spoke for a while. The silence was only broken when Danny looked at Trevor, and said, “You really like her, don’t you? This isn’t just a fling for you, is it?”

Without missing a beat Trevor answered. “No. This isn’t a fling for me.”

“Okay.” Danny sighed. “I have some ideas.”

For the next three hours, Danny and Trevor worked out some promising ideas he could implement to win Maggie’s heart. The whole time Trevor kept hinting at things Danny could do to win his mystery girls heart too… although, he didn’t think it was much of a mystery as their night went on.

By the time Danny left, Trevor was pleased with their progress. And, even though he hated that Lexi was right, he could see Danny being a good friend to him.

He shuddered.

Ignoring the foreign feeling he pulled out his phone to find the nearest pet store. He was in need of some cat toys.