Stay: Odd Jobs #1 Read online

  “Raging bitch, huh? Maybe if you thought with the brain between your ears instead of the one between your legs, we may have had a nice conversation. Now, run along, and do whatever it is you do. I’m going to go and find a way to regain the brain cells I lost during this conversation.”

  Before she can realize what’s happening, I reach out and grab her hand and pull her toward me. My lips crash into hers, the fight for dominance has begun. Dropping the dogs’ leashes, I use my other hand to pull her entire body flush with min. Her mouth opens in shock, I groan in pleasure as I slide my tongue into her mouth. Before I have a chance to deepen the kiss, a sharp pain radiates into my mouth.

  “You fucking bit me!” I pull back reaching for my mouth to check for blood.

  “Well, next time you’ll think before you sexually assault someone.” She uses the back of her hand to wipe across her mouth, but a faint blush still covers her face and down her neck. I watch as she storms into the house, slamming the door in her wake.

  “I think I made her mad. What are my chances?” I ask both the dogs as I turn and head back down the driveway. With the taste of her lips still fresh in my mind, I have to call my best friend and find out who that hellcat was that answered the door.

  I don’t even have to dial the phone before it begins to ring in my hand. No sense in checking the caller ID, I’m sure that Ms. Priss ran right to Heather to tell her all the gory details.

  “I won’t make her wait too long, I promise,” I say into the phone.

  “Make her wait? I just got finished telling her you were not a manwhore asshole that has nothing between his ears, and then you have to come and be yourself.” Heather gives me an exasperated sigh.

  “So, you were talking about me?”

  “Focus, Cole. How am I supposed to find you a halfway decent human being to spend the rest of your life with, when you keep being this macho asshole around anyone you’re remotely interested in.”

  “Who said anything about interested?” I growl into the phone, but we both know I’m full of shit. From the moment I saw her standing in the doorway, I want to fuck her, but went she opened her mouth. Trust me, I still want to fuck her, but it’s an itch that I need to scratch. Nothing more.

  “I take your lack of response as confirmation. Addison is my cousin, just this once you can be the man we both know is in there somewhere.” I hear the sarcasm dripping through the phone.

  “Not everyone is meant to have a ‘happily ever after,’ Heather.” I pinch the bridge of my nose as Delilah stops to do her business. “Look I gotta go. You know the drill, find out what I need to know, so I can fuck her and be done with it. If she wants something more, than find someone else to help occupy her,” I growl.

  This turn of events isn’t what I was looking for this morning. I wanted to get my shit done and head home, I may even call the chick from the beach this morning for round two.

  “You like her, don’t you?” Heather whispers into the phone.

  “I’d like to fuck her, that’s it. Are you going to help or not?”

  “Oh, I’ll help because both of you need a reality check if you think that being alone the rest of your life is what you need.”

  Before she can talk my ear off any more, I hang up. As we near my next pick up location, my mind wanders back to Addison. Maybe Ms. Priss has had her fair share of asshole men to deal with lately, who knows, almost makes me feel bad for what I’m going to do to her – almost.

  That sass will be fun to fuck out of this one; like everyone else, she’ll be screaming my name in no time. I reach up to ring the bell waiting for another one of my conquests to answer the door. I’ll find a way to thaw the ice queen, but for nothing more than a quick fuck. If I keep telling myself that, maybe even I’ll start to believe it.

  4

  ADDISON

  Leaning against the now closed door, I take a deep breath before immediately going in search of my cousin. Cole is an arrogant, narcissistic asshole, but damn if I didn’t want to jump him for everyone to see. Once I opened the door and met his crystal blue eyes, I was a goner. However, he had to go and open his mouth.

  All those good looks are wasted on a man like him. I could’ve dialed down the bitch a little, but between the phone call with my dad and lack of coffee, everything about him irritated me further. You would think with the chocolate brown hair or his killer body, I’d be all over him. Nope not this girl, he’s just like the rest of them. In search of a place to get his dick wet, and then he’s gone.

  Thoughts of Preston begin to fill my mind, I have no desire to head down that road again. I’ve already had my heart ripped out by someone who promised he would love me forever. Cole isn’t any different and there’s no way in hell I’m going to fall for his games.

  No amount of rock-hard abs and crystal blue eyes will make me do anything that stupid again. “Get it together, Addy. He’s just some guy, nothing more.” Giving myself a mental shake, I finally make it to the kitchen. Before I can make it more than a few steps, Heather comes barreling into me.

  “Shit, I missed him, didn’t I?” She looks more than disappointed. I can’t stifle the giggle that escapes at the disappointed look on her face.

  “You look like someone killed your puppy! Cole left, but he’ll probably be back with Delilah in a few hours.” I continue my trek toward the kitchen with Heather hot on my heels.

  “I wanted to be there when you two first met! What did you think? Was it love at first sight?”

  “I saw him alright, and promptly shut him down. He was exactly like the guy you’ve been emailing and texting me about. I want no part of it.” Heather rolls her eyes at my admission.

  “Addy, you said you would give him a chance! You promised.” She stomps her foot like a two-year-old who didn’t get her way. “You at least noticed how hot he was right?”

  I immediately begin to blush remembering his amazing body. “He was cute,” I mumble hoping she’s dropped the subject altogether. Of course, I have no such luck because she shrieks in response.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me, Addy! Did you not see that fine piece of man meat? How are you still coherent?”

  Memories of his lips pressed and body pressed up against mine suddenly floods my vision, but I refuse to say anything to Heather. One comment about him kissing me senseless, she’ll probably be planning our wedding. I have to get her mind of Cole and I being together because it’ll lead to nothing but trouble.

  “If you want him so badly, why don’t you let him in your pants ?” I respond. He probably flirts with anything that breathes and has tits. Nothing special about me other than I’m the new conquest on the block.

  “It’s nothing like that Addy. Don’t get me wrong, he’s sex on a stick. However, I have no desire to have sex with my brother.”

  “You don’t have a brother,” I say with a roll of my eyes as I walk past her into the kitchen. I can tell by the look in her eyes that I’m going to need coffee for this conversation. She has that look, I hate that look. It means she’s plotting something and usually, it’s something that I’m not going to like.

  “What are you thinking?”

  “I think your vag has cobwebs, a good fuck might do you good.”

  “It hasn’t been that long.”

  Heather raises an eyebrow as she walks around the island to pour her own cup of coffee.

  “Okay, who was the last person you had sex with.” I open my mouth to answer. “Not so fast! I’m talking about mind-blowing, you couldn’t walk the next day kind of sex,” she says as she takes a sip of liquid gold.

  The last statement made me pause. I was with Preston for almost two years before his true colors came through. To be honest, that sex was subpar at best, not that I had a lot to compare it to. I sit and think of how to respond to Heather, and in all honesty, I don’t know if I’ve ever had mind-blowing sex. I barely ever orgasmed while having sex with Preston. I usually had to finish myself off after he passed out.

  “I knew
it! Bitch, you need to get laid, and Cole’s the man to do it. No strings only mind-blowing sex,” Heather says as she grabs my mug to refill it with coffee. I can never have too much. “You said yourself that Cole was nothing but a playboy, so he would be the perfect candidate.”

  I can’t help but wonder if Heather has an ulterior motive with that suggestion.

  “First, you’re planning our wedding, but now you want me to let him fuck me?” I throw my hand up in defeat. I gave up years ago on trying to understand what’s going through this girl’s head.

  “I never said let him fuck you but be honest. Give Cole a chance, he might surprise you. Whether it be just for a mind-blowing orgasm or to take you on a date.”

  “Girl, you and I both know that’d only lead to disaster. I don’t do unattached very well. Once sex is involved, it’ll probably be worse, especially if it’s the mind-blowing kind.”

  Heather pauses to think as I take a sip of my coffee. “He isn’t Preston. You know that, right?”

  “All men are the same. They want something and will play the part until they get it. Although Cole is a lot more upfront about it. I doubt he wants anything from me other than help getting his dick wet,” I grumble as I take another sip of coffee. Heather has no idea what it’s like to constantly wonder whether or not the person speaking to you really wants to know you or how to get closer to your parents.

  I try to stop my mind from wandering to that day a few months ago. I got finished with class early and rushed home in order to finally spend some time with Preston. Between his residency hours and my student teaching we barely even said hello to each other. To say that I was shocked to find him walking around his townhouse in nothing but a towel would be an understatement. It was more so the sound of a female voice calling for him from his bedroom that was the icing on the cake.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me! Here I am busting my ass, so I can finally spend time with you to come here and find you shacked up with Muffy over here.”

  “Her name is Mindy, and what the hell are you doing here anyway? You’re supposed to be in class for a couple more hours,” he growls at me as he continues into the kitchen.

  He continues as if nothing has happened like my heart hasn’t shattered into a million pieces.

  “I don’t give a fuck what her name is. What the hell is she doing here?” I take a deep breath in order to fight back the tears threatening to spill.

  He gives me a sympathetic look before responding, “She is here to do for me what you can’t. Did you honestly believe I was with you because I loved you?” I’m sure he can see the shock on my face from his statement because he lets out a loud laugh at my expense. “You poor thing! Let me break it down for you. I needed this residency position at Massachusetts General, and you were the easiest way to get it.“

  His words hit me like a ton of bricks, reminding me what I knew all along, but somehow had forgotten. It’s never about me, but about what I can do for someone else.

  Being my father’s daughter, I grabbed the few things I had there with plans to leave this mistake behind me. However, I did get a good right hook in before leaving. I hope him and Muffy, I mean Mindy, are happy. After that, I finished school and immediately boarded a plane to California.

  “Earth to Addy, you still in there?” Heather’s voice breaks me from my thoughts. I can tell by the look on her face she has no intention of letting this slide, but there’s no way in hell this man is getting anywhere near my lady parts.

  5

  COLE

  “I wonder if Ms. Priss has thawed any since we left,” I say to Delilah as we head back toward her house. The thought of Heather with the idea Addison and I have anything in common is laughable. Addison has a stick so far stuck up her ass I’m surprised she can even sleep at night. I usually drop Sampson and Felicity off first, so Heather and I could hang out and talk for a little while, but not today. I don’t know if I can handle going another round with Miss Priss.

  I have never had a woman affect me so deeply before. Don’t get me wrong, I want to fuck her, but I need to make sure the only thing coming out of her mouth is my name. Just the thought of sinking my cock between her legs has me instantly hard, if it wasn’t for her damn attitude.

  As I make my way up the Middleton’s driveway, I notice the curtains in the front window swing back into place. Someone was waiting for me. I make it to the door as it swings open.

  “Did you miss me?” I ask with a raised eyebrow.

  “In your dreams. I happened to be passing by and saw you heading up the driveway.” Addison is trying desperately not to check me out and failing miserably. I hand over Delilah’s leash, but before I could respond Heather comes skidding around the corner.

  “I wasn’t going to miss you a second time.” I do nothing but raise my eyebrow in response. If I didn’t know better, it seems Heather is trying to make her cousin a little jealous. Not wanting to back down from a challenge, I decided that I could use this situation to my advantage. I hope I don’t get smacked in the face in the process.

  “What can I do for you, lovely?” Draping my arm over her shoulder, I pull her body into my side, avoiding Sampson and Felicity’s leashes. My best friend knows all my tricks, thankfully she continues to play along. Heather leans in as if she’s going to give me a kiss, before promptly smacking me across the face.

  “What the hell was that for? Are all the woman in your family so violent?” I ask. Dropping the dogs’ leashes, I place my opposite hand on my check. Fuck, that stings but I can see from the look in her eyes she meant it. Thankfully Sampson and Felicity are good dogs and stay put, they probably want to stay and see the show.

  “I want you to stop being an asshole. Stand up straight like a good little boy and officially meet my cousin Addison.” Heather ducks out from under my arm to stand behind her cousin. With the two of them standing next to each other, I can’t help but notice how similar they are in features but different at the same time. Where Heather is otherworldly beautiful, Addison looks like the girl you bring home to meet your parents.

  With that thought, suddenly visions of walking down the beach with Addison, and late-night dinners curled up on the couch after a long day, flash through my mind. Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I reach my hand out to Addison.

  “A pleasure, Ms. Priss.” I throw in a wink for good measure and watch the fire light behind Addison’s eyes.

  “My name is Addison or is that too many syllables for you IQ level,” she throws her comment over her shoulder before taking Delilah and heading back into the house. I can’t help but lean a little too much to the right, so I can watch her walk away. Damn, if I could get her to keep her mouth shut, we could get along just fine.

  “Do you always have to be such an asshole?” Heather ask before turning to follow her cousin into the house.

  “I’m not being an asshole, it’s my charm.” A devilish grin crosses my face, but Heather isn’t amused.

  “Seriously, Cole. You’re going to wind up alone if you keep this shit up. Everyone isn’t out to get you or screw you over. Don’t you trust me?”

  “I trust you, Heather. You know that. Stop trying to force relationships on me, okay? I have done the whole white picket fence thing, and it wasn’t for me.” I give her a wink for good measure before turning to take Sampson and Felicity home. I wasn’t always like this; the jaded asshole fucking his way through San Diego. I used to have a dream, but I learned soon enough that people only want what they can get out of you. I’m not making that mistake and putting my heart on the line again, been there done that.

  “You two need to fuck and get it over with!” Heather’s voice drifts down the path before she shuts the door.

  “That’s the plan, my friend,“ I mumble under my breath as I continue down the path to my next drop off. Now I need to figure out how to get Ms. Priss to give me the keys to the castle.

  ADDISON

  I take off Delilah’s leash and head straight toward the kitchen,
reaching in the fridge to grab a soda.

  “Well, that went well,” Heather says in her usual cheerful manner and as always it gets on my nerves.

  “Smashingly, that’s until he opened his damn mouth,” my voice is slowly getting louder, almost to the point of me yelling. “I have no idea how you came to the conclusion that he and I were a fit for each other.” I head back out of the kitchen and up the stairs to my room. Suddenly, I’m completely exhausted.

  “Come on, girl! If you could tone the bitch down, all would run smoothly, and my plan for Coldison babies will be complete.” Heather follows me all the way to my bedroom, barely missing a door to the face.

  “You gave us a name? What are you fifteen?” I plop down on my bed, pulling a pillow over my face before letting out a blood-curdling scream. With that out of the way, I remove the pillow and look my cousin in the eyes. Hoping that I can talk some sense into her. “Cuz, I trust you with my life, but this is out of the realm of possibility. Not only can we not stand to look at each other without arguing, but the sight of him makes my blood boil.”

  “Passion is the first thing you need to have sex,” she responds matter-of-factly. My mouth drops open in shock. “What is it that bothers you so much about Cole? You haven’t even given him a chance. I promise once you get to know him you’ll see what it is I see in him.”

  “And what’s that, besides ocean blue eyes that seem to peer into yourself, and a body that makes your mouth water by just looking at it.” I drop my soda and bring my hands up to cover my mouth. My lack of filter is going to cause me serious problems in the future, especially with my cousin. She doesn’t miss anything, no matter how much I want her too most of the time.

  “I knew you thought he was hot, so what’s the issue. I’m not saying get married tomorrow and have babies. Naming the firstborn, Michelle after me. I mean we can’t have two Heather’s in the family, one of me is enough.”