Chapter 8
Bryce
The sunshine was blazing between the not-quite-closed slats of the mini-blinds on my bedroom window, and the whirring sound of the window air conditioner, both worked to wake me the following morning.
I stretched and flexed my arms. A lazy yawn escaped, before I noticed the splay of long blonde hair on the pillow next to mine.
Shit.
I rubbed my stubbled jaw, ran a hand through my disheveled hair, and collected my thoughts in order to recall, with some amount of clarity, what the fuck had happened last night.
Went to the bar with Marvin.
Drank a couple of beers.
Played some pool.
Assumed the role of rescuer to a chick named Lacy, who was totally dissed by a dude named Nick at the bar.
Drove Lacy’s car; bought some whiskey with my fake I.D.
Came back here. Smoked a couple of doobies and drank some shots–with Lacy.
Got wasted.
Fucked Lacy.
Oh. shit.
I glanced quickly over to the nightstand, and exhaled a sigh of relief when I saw the condom wrappers there. Thank fuck I hadn’t been too shit-faced that I forgot the rubbers. After that whole ordeal with Mandy, I’d been very particular about the quality of condoms I now carried. Even bought them at drug stores now instead of Men’s Room vending machines.
I climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom to take a leak, rinse my face, and brush the morning mouth away. I gargled for good measure. Whiskey could do a job on your breath.
When I came out of the bathroom, Lacy was awake, one arm folded up so that her chin rested on her fist, and she was gazing at me in a way that looked like she wanted to devour me.
Wasn’t happening.
Of course, it might’ve been to my advantage to have slid my boxers on, but hell, I wasn’t used to having an audience in my bedroom in the mornings.
“Come back to bed, Bryce,” she ordered softly. “I want some more of that. You are so freaking good,” she finished huskily. “So much better than Nick ever thought about being.”
Give me a break.
I grabbed my boxers from the floor and pulled them on. “Nope. Not happening, Darlin’. It shouldn’t have happened last night. It isn’t cool for me to step all over another dude like that.”
“What?” she snapped, “Are you serious, Bryce? First off, you heard Nick. There’s nothing between us. And secondly, it sure as hell didn’t bother you last night. In fact, it didn’t bother you twice,” she hissed, tossing the covers back, putting her nakedness on full display.
I watched as she grabbed her clothes and traipsed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
Chicks and their emotions. Such a fucking waste of energy.
I went into the kitchen and put some coffee on. By the time the first cup had brewed, Lacy was out of the bathroom and in front of my face.
“I suppose your whole sympathy routine was nothing more than a ploy to get into my pants,” she halfway shouted, her eyes bugging outta their sockets.
“Coffee?” I asked, offering her the first mug.
“Answer me, dammit!”
And now I was pissed. I didn’t do drama. Never had. Never planned to. “Hey Lacy,” I replied, taking a sip of the coffee she’d refused, “I don’t think a dude necessarily needs a ploy to get into your panties, babe.”
Maybe it was the calmness with which I said it, or possibly it was the way I’d made the word babe pop at the end, but whatever it was, it made her go totally fucking ballistic.
“You rotten motherfucker! Go to hell!”
She slammed out of my cottage with a hearty bang. I could hear her running her mouth damn near until she reached the steps that led down to the barn and parking area. Guess she was fairly pissed.
I’d finished my first mug of coffee and had the second one brewing while I went to my room and pulled on a pair of clean blue jeans. As I headed back to the kitchen, I heard somebody knocking on my front door.
Jesus Christ.
I hoped to hell it wasn’t Lacy back wanting to chew more of my ass. “Hold on!” I called out, pulling a clean tee over my head.
When I threw open the door, and looked through the screen, I quickly saw it wasn’t Lacy, but the chick standing there looked every bit as pissed.
“Morning, Avery,” I said, holding open the screen door so that she could come inside.
She stepped inside quickly, and crossed her arms, taking on that superior stance she so liked using with me. “What the hell is going on here, Slater?” she asked. “Lacy Rankin damn near ran me over with her Jeep while she was laying rubber out of the drive. I don’t know why, but something just told me you might know something about that.”
“How the hell should I know why she might want to run you down, Little Bit? She’s pissed at me, not you.”
“I knew it had to be something involving you,” she replied with an all-knowing nod. “And what, pray tell, did you do to her?”
I went into the kitchen to get my fresh mug of coffee. Being the well-mannered dude I was, I offered it to her.
“No thanks. I’m waiting, Slater.”
I took a sip, and then presented her with my most panty-melting smile, even though I was so damn tired of the whole topic of Lacy whomever. “Hey, Avery, I’m not one to kiss and tell, know what I mean? In other words, it’s really none of your business. I may work for you, but outside of that, you don’t pull my strings when I’m off the clock, got it?”
I knew as soon as the words were out of my mouth she wasn’t going to be happy with them. I may have totally underestimated just how much though.
“Listen here, Buddy,” she snapped, “What goes on here, on this property, is most certainly my business. I’ve been entrusted by my grandparents to make sure that the employees, the visitors, and even the animals are kept safe. When I see somebody driving recklessly on this property, and nearly running me over on said property, I have an obligation to see what further risk there is for more of the same.”
“Oh please,” I muttered, “You’re just being nosy. So, here it is. Yeah, Lacy stayed over. We fucked. Twice from what she told me this morning. Now is there some rule, Ms. Sinclair, about the hired help here not permitted to have overnight guests? Or a sex life? Because if there is, you should’ve made that clear on that Cottage Rules sheet that’s hanging on the back of the door over there,” I finished, nodding towards the front door.
“You are simply… insufferable,” she snapped. “Give me a freaking break, Slater. I don’t give a darn about your sex life. What I do care about is that visitors, who are here on this property at your consent or invitation, behave appropriately, and in a manner that poses no risk for the others. Do you understand?”
Her eyes had darkened from amber to milk chocolate. That actually kind of fascinated me to be honest, and it delayed my response.
“Well?”
“Oh, yeah. I get it. No probs.”
“Good. And you will pass that on to your girlfriend, Lacy?”
Now she was just baiting me. I gave her a smirk. “No need. She won’t be back,” I replied, tossing her a wink.
She turned on her heel and headed towards the door, tossing out a parting shot, “Well, it appears Lacy Rankin has more sense than I ever gave her credit.”
“Who’s Preston?” I asked. That stopped her at the door.
“My older sister, why?”
I shrugged and took another sip of my coffee. “Lacy mentioned her that’s all. Said you and Preston were bitches. Thought the twins were chill though. They your sisters, too?”
“My cousins,” she ground out before she slammed outta my cottage, the door banging shut behind her.
I released a sigh. “Not sure if that door is gonna survive the summer,” I mumbled to no one.