***
"Wait a minute. You're letting this slutty bitch run all over you because why?" Damon pressed his hands to his face and let his head drop back.
The sun sat high in the sky as we lounged by the pool at the back of his bachelor pad. I could have spent the day laying there, doing nothing, but Damon seemed to be incessant on giving me advice. It must have been to keep him from taking any himself.
"Dude... she's not running all over me." I rolled my eyes and leaned back, closing my eyes and trying to remember why I'd come over in the first place.
"Yes, she is. Put her over your knee and spank her fine ass, or turn her in for being the slut she is." He was resorting back to being the asshole he was in college. Bethany's lack of influence on him was frightening.
"I'm not a twenty-year-old kid with nothing to lose, Damon."
"Do you wanna fuck her?"
"Yes, of course I do. I have a dick. Jeez." I grabbed it for good measure.
He busted out laughing and stood up. "Have I apologized for being so insensitive the other day?"
"No, but there is no need. You're a jerk. I get it."
"Come on, man. Don't do that." He turned toward me and rolled his shoulders. "I'm going nuts without her, Kendal. I need to get her back."
"Then go get her."
"She's gotta come back. Don't you know how this works? I'm not chasing her down after she left her damn ring on my nightstand. How desperate would that be?"
"How desperate are you?"
"Not that much." He walked toward the house. "I'm getting a beer. You want one?"
"Yes." I let my eyes move across the perfectly manicured lawn and felt grateful that money wasn't the solution to my problems. Here Damon had everything and his life was just as fucked up as mine, just in a different way.
"Why aren't you sleeping with Heather again? The woman is willing to do anything in the bedroom."
"You sleep with her." I took the beer as he growled.
"I'm not sleeping with anyone but Beth."
"You don't have Beth."
"It's temporary." He shrugged and popped the top on his beer. "She's going to come around."
"You need to grow the fuck up." I tossed the top to my bottle at him. "She's not one of the usual whores you take home, Damon. She's a sweet girl with a great heart."
"You getting sweet on her?"
"And if I was?" I was more than willing to toss him around the yard a little if he wanted to get aggressive with me. It would do us both some good for sure. Even at thirty-one, we were both fit enough to give the other a run for his money.
"Shit. You'd be a better match for her." He lifted his beer to his lips.
"Then let her go."
"Never. Are you kidding me? She makes me feel alive, even now. I can't remember hurting this bad since walking in on my mother and that fucker she was cheating on dad with. Emotions... all of them are welcomed in my life. I hate the devastation of loss fucking me up right now, but it's still mine to own. I love her."
"You guys are idiots." I drank deeply of the cold beer and closed my eyes. "I'm not sleeping with Heather."
"And you're a good man for it. Now, who are you sleeping with?"
"No one. It's been two years, and no one." I got up, not wanting to get in a discussion about sex with the king of cum himself.
"We need to take you out, man. Seriously? How are you surviving?"
"Just fine." I shrugged and finished the beer.
"You always have been a horrible liar."
"Yeah, I know." I tossed the bottle in the pool just to hear him bitch about it.
"Come on, asshole." He got up as I laughed.
"There is this one girl. She's an intern at the hospital."
"An intern?" He handed me his beer and picked up the pool net to fish out my bottle. "How old is this intern?"
"I don't know. Twenty-four maybe?"
"Cradle robber." He smiled over his shoulder.
"You've no room to talk."
"I'm a single man. What are you talking about?" He tossed the wet bottle at me, spraying my button down and slacks with a handful of water.
"I deserved that." I finished his beer and pitched it into the pool and he growled loudly. Why pissing him off felt so good was beyond me, but boy did it.
"Tell me about this girl. Does she know CPR because I'm seriously considering drowning your ass if you throw another thing in the pool?" He worked on getting the bottle out as I sunk back down into my chair.
"She's beautiful, man. Long black hair, full lips, hazel-colored eyes, big round bottom and thin waist." I groaned loudly and closed my eyes.
"Don't come in my pool chair, dude. I've seen enough of your shit in my day. We're grown up now, remember?" He snorted as I smiled.
"You miss it." I tossed the bottle in my hand at him and he caught it.
"No, I miss my woman. I just have to move past my pride and figure out how the hell to get her back."
I nodded and checked my watch. "I gotta get back. I need to grade some papers before my date tonight."
"Hold up. Date tonight? The nurse?" He walked back toward me and offered me a hand.
I swatted it away and got up. "Yeah, the nurse."
"Why’ve you been up at the hospital so much lately? Mandy not doing well?"
"No, man. She's not." I shrugged. "Dr. Lewis said to start preparing for-"
The air in my lungs left me as I struggled to make out the rest of my sentence.
"Hell no, Kendal. When did you talk to him?"
"On Tuesday." I glanced down at my hands and took deep breaths through my nose. "I can't even imagine life without her."
"Shit, dude. Why didn't you call me?" He gripped my shoulders tightly before dragging me into a tight hug. "We’ll get through this, okay? I'm right here. I'd do anything you need me to. You guys need more money? You can have all of mine."
"No." I pushed at him and forced the hot lump in my throat back down. "We need more time. You got any of that?"
"I wish, man. If I did... it would be yours." He gripped my shoulder and gave me a sad smile. "How long?"
"I don't know. I didn't have the balls to ask."
"I wouldn't have either."