Chapter 15

Kendal

A huge part of me wanted to crawl on top of her and make love to her until she couldn't stand, but it wasn't right to do it. I'd just berated Heather and Terri for being whores, and here I was wanting to be one. Besides that, a one-night stand wasn't in the cards either. I was ready to try again, and Dana was the woman I was hoping to try with.

I left her a note the next morning on the night stand closest to her and changed into a pair of oxfords and a golf shirt. I had forgotten about scheduling a golf game with Damon and Matt, but thanks to the reminder going off on my phone at five that morning, I was on my way to see them both.

The taste of Dana lingered on my lips, and I couldn't seem to get the sound of her moans out of my head. It was like getting access to something new and exciting and having to play with it later. It was less than couth to think of her that way, but the old parts of me would forever be lingering around in the dark, hoping to come out and stretch from time to time.

"What are you smiling about?" Damon called to me as I walked up to the country club.

"A girl I took to my bed last night." I popped him in the chest and extended my hand to Matt. "Hey man. Long time no see. How are you?"

"I've been better." Matt gave me a big brotherly hug and opened the door for us. "I have another girl you can take to your bed too."

I laughed and walked into the country club. "Erica still have you?"

"I swear, I'm going to wake up one day and find out that she's swallowed my dick whole." He shook his head and shivered as Damon chuckled.

"You're so damn dramatic. You'd be lucky to have a woman as hot as Erica Hall get near your dick."

"True." I shrugged and pulled out my phone to see if Dana texted. The note for her asked her to let me know when she was up. I didn't want to leave her alone too long.

She's got a shift at the hospital. Stop being so damn protective.

"So who is this hot piece of ass that has you checking your phone every two minutes?" Damon tossed me the score card and the pencil.

I jerked forward to catch them and growled at him. "Don't call her that. She's a great girl, a real sweetheart."

"What's she doing with a chump like you, Tarrington?" Matt pushed the door open to the cart rental area and gave me a knowing look over his shoulder.

"I'm praying I've finally turned a new leaf. After two years of celibacy, I've earned another shot at a relationship, wouldn't you think?"

"I do." Matt got on the back of the cart.

"I think you deserve far more than you give yourself credit for." Damon got in the driver's seat and patted the seat beside him. "Tell me all about her."

"She looks a lot like Ana, but more curvy. She's twenty-four or so and is a nurse at the hospital."

"Is this the intern?" Damon turned and pulled his sunglasses off his face.

"Yeah, why?"

"Kendal. If she's an intern, then she's a student at UT, man. Aren't you banned from dating all students, or is it just yours?"

Sickness pulsed through my stomach, but I tried to not overreact. "She doesn't go to UT, dude. There is a nursing school here too. Lots of them, actually."

"Have you asked her?" Matt turned around as Damon pressed the gas and the cart lurched forward.

"No." I let out a long sigh.

"Good. Don't." Damon patted my chest and drove down the cart path as Matt hummed something in the back. I needed to change the subject. I was going to talk myself out of something with Dana before it really started.

It has started.

"What's going on with Beth? Any news on that front that you wanna share?" I turned to face Damon as Matt bounded off the back of the cart. He was always first in line no matter what we were doing. Damon and I had gotten used to just giving him his way, especially when the fucker got bigger than us somewhere along the way.

"She's going to dinner with me sometime next week. That's all she'll give me." He ran his fingers through his hair and reached down to grab a beer from the cooler between us.

"You're drinking at seven in the morning? That's the sign of an alcoholic."

"Right. You want one?" He offered me one and I took it.

"Of course. I'd not let you go down a dark path alone. What kind of friend would I be?"

"A shitty one." He took one more drink and got off the cart. "I sent her flowers and told her after a meeting the other day that I missed her."

"And? How did she respond?" I cringed at the thought of what happened. By the scowl on his face, it wasn't good.

"She said 'that's nice' and walked off. She's not interested anymore." He grabbed a club and shrugged. "She's got a few more weeks and I'm going to move on."

"What? You're not moving on. You're in love with her. How many women have you ever been in love with?" Panic raced through me. I cared about Damon and Beth. They were too good together to let the newness of the relationship and all the extra bull shit that society wanted to sling at them fuck it up for them.

"One, Kendal. I've been in love with one woman. I've told several a lie, but this time I meant it." He shrugged and turned to walk toward the tee box. Damn. I was going to have to pull her aside and see what the hell was going on. After talking with her the week before, she seems to still be in love with Damon, but now... who the fuck knew. Women were so far beyond complicated at times.

As if we weren't.

"So how was the art show thingie?" I took Matt's club as he offered it to me.

"It was a private showing, and it went really well. Jonathan wants to pick up all that I've done and has a few ideas for some pieces that some of his clients are looking for."

"That's great news. Are you moving up there or staying down here?" I pulled my phone out as it buzzed.

"I'm not sure yet. I know Erica wants me up there, but something tells me that if I do go that we'll end up together."

"Because she'll force you into submission?" I lifted my eyebrow as I tried to imagine Matt Bryant being forced to do anything. He'd somehow circumvented his father from pulling him into the Bryant Empire and not fooled a damn person in the process. His childish act was an epic fail and we all knew it.

"No, because she'll tease me until I force her into it." He rolled his shoulders and stretched as Damon walked back. "You guys think I'm sweet and fruity because I love art. You don't know shit."

"He's a beast in the bedroom. Puts us to shame." Damon patted me on the back as he moved toward the cart.

"Do I wanna know how you know this?" I mumbled and pulled my phone out to read Dana's text. She was on her way to the hospital and would get the new locks done hopefully that day. The beautiful girl was already trying to run out of my life and we'd not even gotten to really know each other yet.

I didn't wanna overreact, so I didn't. After hitting the ball past both of my friends’ balls, I got back in the cart and took a long drink of my beer.

"So what the fuck is up with Heather Turner?" Matt turned around and pressed his forearms to the back of our seat.

"She has a job at the college and is promising to ruin my life if I don't give her blow jobs from time to time." I smiled over at Damon. We'd spent four years jacking around with Heather in college and had agreed more than once that the woman had far bigger balls than we ever would. She was insatiable.

"So do it," Matt huffed. "Or have Damon do it. He's fucked up things with Sis and needs a bit of a release."

"Fuck you too." Damon jerked the cart to a stop and waited until Matt was in the tee box to turn toward me. "You need to get rid of Heather, Kendal. You know that bitch is nothing but trouble. Where you might call her bluff, she's not going to call yours. She's mean and when she wants something-"

"Did she come see you?" Realization rolled over me. He wasn't nearly as shocked about her being back in town as he should have been. Granted, I mentioned her being at the college to him when she first showed up, but even still...

"Yeah. You know she was close to Christa and Delilah."

"Speaking of the twins." I made sure to show my disgust on my face. "Why the hell would you hire Delilah to work for you? I swear you look for trouble, invite it in and fucking knit it a bed for it to sleep on."

"I didn't hire her, you dick." He got off the cart. "My father did, not thinking anything about it."

"Oh. Shit." I contemplated calling Bethany and decided against it. I could talk to her on Tuesday when she came in for her TA duties. "Why didn't you tell Beth that?"

"Because, matchmaker, she should have already known that. I asked her to marry me, remember? I'm not a complete asshole."

"True, but you mostly are." I lifted my beer to him as he sneered at me and walked toward the tee box.

Matt jumped onto the back of the cart and bounced on it, shaking the shit out of the rickety thing.

"Damn, man. Chill out." I swatted at him and caught him in the nuts, hitting home.

He groaned and dropped down into the seat behind me as he swatted me in the back of the head.

"What are we going to do about Damon and Beth? I can't handle this fucking tension at the house much longer." Matt groaned again and cupped his crotch.

I got off the cart and shook my head as I walked around to the back. "I don't know. They're just both being stubborn."

"I get that, but one of them is going to have to bend a little or the whole damn relationship is going to break. That's not acceptable." Matt sat up and pressed his hands to his knees. "We gotta fix this."

"We're grown men, and we're not fixing this. We're not in high school anymore or college. Life is what you make it, and if we patch this shit up for them, they'll just find a new way to tear it down." I was almost surprised by the words coming out of my mouth, but damn if they weren't true. Damon didn't need me riding in to save the day. I'd done that and hurt Bethany's trust and left Damon without his woman anyway.

"Maybe you're right," Matt mumbled as Damon walked up.

"Right about what?" He handed me the club.

"About you needing to get cock enlargement. I saw something on TV the other day." I pushed at his shoulder as Matt laughed loudly.

"That sounds like you, Kendal. Watching the home shopping network during porn hour."

"That wasn't even funny," I called over my shoulder and positioned myself to smack the ball one more time. I didn't need to play like a pro. I just needed to beat the two knuckleheads I was spending my Saturday morning with.

"What ever happened to old what's her face?" Matt asked as I walked back to the cart and got on.

"Which what's her face are we referring to? I've been with a lot of women over the last few years, Matt."

"That's a damn lie." Damon gave me a sideways glance. "You've been with one woman since college. What's her face?"

"Oh. You're talking about Ana."

"That's the one!" Matt bounced on the back of the cart as Damon growled and tried to keep it on the cart path.

"I have no clue where she is, and I don't want to." I rubbed my chest absently as thoughts of her resurrected in my mind. I wanted to push Dana into her place, but it wasn't the same, not in the slightest. It could be over time. I could see my relationship with Dana growing into something far better than what Ana and I had, but time was a cruel bitch who took far more than she gave.

"So you don't want me to hire her at M&B next?" Damon chuckled as I whipped my head around to pin him with a hard stare.

"You wouldn't dare do that shit." Had he seen her? Was she around?

He laughed and stopped the cart. "No, I wouldn't, and I wouldn’t hire Delilah to hurt my woman either. You bastards are getting on my nerves with who you think I am. Haven't I proved myself trustworthy?"

"Yeah, you have, buddy." I reached for him as he got off the cart.

"Good. Tell her that next time you see her."

"I will. I promise. I will."