One week ago

“I feel like there should be a golden chip that you get to carry around for fucking every stripper in Vegas.”  The older man next to me chuckled as he lifted his whiskey to his lips and sipped it.

“What good would that do you?”  I didn’t know the man beside me, and it was the first time he had spoken, despite being seated next to me for nearly an hour.

“Free lap dances or something.”  He shrugged and put his whiskey down in front of him.

“You look like you can afford all the lap dances you want.”  I looked at his designer suit that might as well have been sewn onto him.

“I can afford a lot more than that.”  He chuckled and extended his hand.  “I’m Andrew Vance.”

“Grady Faulkner.”  I took his hand and shook it before picking up my beer and taking a rather large gulp.

“I’ve seen you around here a few times.  You usually sit in the corner.”  He motioned towards the back of the strip club where I normally liked to sit.

“Maria’s dancing tonight.  You can’t hide in the corner when she’s on stage.”  I chuckled and a smile spread across my face.

“Ain’t that the truth.”  He nodded and his face reflected a mutual understanding of the redhead’s gorgeous curves.  “She sucks dick like she was born to swallow cock.”

“I just like to watch.  Paying for it ain’t my thing—not that there is anything wrong with it.”  I shrugged and took another drink of my beer.

“Wait until you’re my age.  You’ll take anything you can get.”  He lifted his whiskey again.  “If you want my advice—get married while you ain’t got shit for them to take.”

“I don’t plan on getting married anytime soon.”  I shook my head back and forth.  “That’s too much drama for me.”

“I thought the same thing when I was your age—then I made my first million and got complacent.  I guess you could say I got complacent four or five times.”  He shook his head and sighed.  “They’re all the same.”

“Yeah—maybe.”  I shrugged and turned my attention back towards the stage when Maria’s music started to play.

I really couldn’t afford to waste money buying expensive drinks at the club and tipping the dancers with what was left, but it was a good place to let the world fade away for a few hours.  A few hours were all I had.  My brother’s engagement party was looming on the horizon of the evening and as much as I didn’t really give a shit about seeing my family, I did like my brother.  If we weren’t related, we would have never even talked to each other.  I followed the beat of my own drum, letting life take me wherever it wanted, but he followed every rule like his life depended on it. 

Seeing what he had accomplished made me question if I should have been more like him.  He had been a superstar athlete since he was old enough to pick up a football, and if things worked out, he was going to have a multi-million dollar NFL contract to go with his Heisman Trophy.  I watched as Maria started dancing and my cock got hard in my pants.  Maria was hot as hell and she had the best ass in Vegas.  When she finished her routine, and took the last of my money for a tip, I finished my beer and started to stand.

“You don’t want to see any of the other girls?”  Andrews motioned for the waitress to refill his whiskey.

“That was all I came for.  My little brother is getting married and his engagement party is tonight.  I have to put in an appearance.”  I sighed and slid on my leather jacket that had been hanging on the chair behind me.

“So he’s the smart one—marrying young.”  He chuckled and turned towards the stage.

“Maybe so.”  I shrugged and started walking towards the door.

The one thing I didn’t like about my brother was his relationship with Monica.  She was hell in heels and I didn’t have any idea what he saw in her outside of generous curves—which was even more confusing, since he wasn’t fucking her.  Dane loved his religion as much as he loved to throw a football and he wanted to wait until marriage to get his dick wet.  Monica was the kind of girl you fucked—not the kind of girl you married. 

There was always something about her that didn’t sit right with me.  I was almost certain she was a gold digger, but I had no way to prove it.  It was suspect that she set the wedding date right before the draft.  I tried to talk some sense into him a few times, but that just ended up in an argument, so all I could do was let him make his own mistakes.  I walked outside and threw a leg over my motorcycle, letting it roar between my legs before I headed towards my mother’s house.

***

“ISN’T SHE BEAUTIFUL?”  Dane sat down next to me at the table with his eyes focused on his future bride.

“That’s never been up for debate.”  I sipped my beer and shrugged.  “She’s your bridezilla, not mine.”

“I appreciate you coming.  I know these parties aren’t your kind of thing, but I was able to convince Mom to buy some beer at least.”  He leaned back and chuckled.  “I think that was the first time she had ever purchased it.  She asked how much they charged by the bottle.”

“Classic.”  I couldn’t help but laugh.  “She probably had to pray about it.”

“Speaking of that, have you given any thought to going to church with me on Sunday?”  His eyebrows raised.

“You’re really going to ask me that again?”  I shook my head and took a large gulp from my beer.

“I can’t help but ask.  You need to give it a shot.  It isn’t as bad as it was when we were kids.”  My brother loved to use every opportunity to bring up religion.  “They’re even cool if you wear jeans.”

“It ain’t happening.”  I shook my head back and forth.

“I want you to know...”  My brother hesitated for a moment.  “Once I sign my contract, you won’t have to worry about anything ever again.  We’re family and I’ll take care of you.”

“I don’t want your fucking charity.”  I scoffed and narrowed my eyes at him.  “I’m good.”

“Taking care of my family isn’t charity.”  The look on his face suggested he was offended by what I said.

“Take care of Mom.  Like I said—I’m good.”  I finished my beer and stood up from the table, leaving him sitting there as I headed over to the fridge to get another beer.

The last thing I wanted from my brother was pity money.  I didn’t give a shit if he made millions of dollars, bought a mansion in Beverly Hills, and swam around in his money—that life wasn’t for me.  If our mother was taken care of, that was good enough.  She had a hard life raising two boys on her own and if Dane could make her life easier, then she deserved it.  I gave her money when I could while Dane was high school, but the college had taken care of everything she needed once he started throwing touchdown passes.  The alumni association loved sending her random gifts that flew under the radar of what was legal and what wasn’t.  That just meant I had more money to spend on booze, more money to waste on strippers, and occasionally I even gambled some of it away at one of the Casinos on the strip.  I didn’t need more than that. 

I got another beer and walked around the room, shaking hands with people who congratulated me like it was my wedding.  Most of them I recognized from the church, but it had been a long time since I had seen them.

Fuck.  I need to piss.

The beer was running through me like water and I needed to empty my bladder.  There were so many people at my mother’s house that the bathroom had a line.  I could have headed upstairs, but that would have meant pushing through the crowd that were gathered along the bottom of the steps looking at our family photos.  I decided to just go outside and piss in the bushes like I had done on more than one occasion in my life.  I walked out the back door and walked far enough down the side of the house that nobody inside could see me.  When I turned the corner, I saw Monica outside with several of her friends.  A couple of them were smoking and Monica even had a beer that she hid behind her back when she wasn’t taking quick drinks from it—so much for the good Christian values she resonated every time she was standing next to my brother. 

I put a hand against the wall and unzipped my pants, letting my cock fall free as I started to piss.  I could have probably filled a couple of beer bottles before I was done.  Monica’s babble was nonsense most of the time, but as I started to zip up, I heard something that caught my attention.

“Everything is set.  We’ll get married, he’ll sign his huge contract, and then I won’t have to worry about anything ever again.”  She took a quick drink from her beer and then hid it behind her back.

“While the rest of us were trying to land doctors, you got the best one of all.”  A brunette I didn’t recognize smiled and exhaled a stream of smoke.  “I’m jealous.”

“So am I.”  A blonde next to them shook her head quickly.  “I fell in love—stupid me.”

“Charles is amazing.”  The brunette let out a sigh.  “I’d gladly say fuck the money if I could have what you guys have.”

“Poverty isn’t very attractive once you hit thirty.”  The blonde rolled her eyes.  “But I love him, so I guess I’m stuck with him.”

“I’ll be working on my second husband by thirty.”  Monica laughed.  “I’ll be a rich cougar.”

“Maybe I’ll be Dane’s second wife.”  The brunette giggled.  “Or his mistress.”

“I’ll leave a little money in the bank for you.”  Monica winked.  “Just don’t go getting pregnant with his bastard.”

The group of the women continued laughing.  Hearing them talk about my brother like that sent anger coursing through my veins.  Monica was definitely a gold digger.  She didn’t love my brother, she just wanted to land a wealthy husband.  There was a part of me that wanted to tuck my dick into my pants, storm around the corner of the house, and say what was on my mind.  But as much fun as that would have been, it wouldn’t accomplish anything.  Monica would run to my brother and tell him I was mean to him, and he would tell me to go sleep off the beer I had put away.  There was no way to convince him she was everything I had told him she was all along without pissing him off, but my brain was spinning with a different idea.  If he couldn’t see the black heart beating beneath her tits, then I would just have to find another way to show him the truth.  Monica might have been a match for him, but I wasn’t a good Christian boy that played by the rules.  I walked back towards the house with a smile on my face.

I’ll bring that shallow bitch down a few notches and I know just how to do it.