Page 2 of Apple Martinis

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I scream, slamming the door open even further.

They both jump, scrambling to grab clothes.

“Oh, fuck, babe. Let me explain.” Ben begins but I cut him off.

“Explain? There is absolutely nothing you can say right now to explain the fact you just had your cock in your secretary on our bed!”

“It was just a stupid mistake.” Ben says but his secretary looks at him sharply which tells me this has happened way more than once.

“Save it. I’m going out and I’ll come back in an hour to get my shit. Do not be here when I come back. Either of you!”

“Piper! You can’t just leave, you need me!” Ben says and I narrow my eyes at him.

“Like hell I do! You and I are over. I want my half of the deposit back!” I say as I turn around, heading straight back out the door. Grabbing my purse and keys as I pass the table.

I’m so damn mad right now and not just at Ben or his secretary. I’m pissed at myself for not seeing all the signs that obviously were right in front of me.

Rome

I roll my head to relieve the tension in my shoulders as I wipe down the top of the bar, cleaning up from the last group to leave tonight.

I love this job and the time passes quickly during peak hours. It’s hard on the body though to work the late shift that closes the bar.

I’m just glad I have a day off tomorrow. I’m looking forward to an early run on the beach followed by a day of just sitting around on my veranda watching the waves. That’s the exciting life I live these days.

Grabbing the money from my tip jar, I count it quickly before sticking it in my pocket. That’s when I remember all the numbers women gave me tonight. Pulling them out, I don’t even look at them before tossing them in the trash.

“Seriously, man? You throw those away every single night. Don’t you ever call any of them?” Finn, one of the servers asks from the other side of the bar.

“No. I don’t.” I answer, finishing up my cleaning.

“You do like girls right? I mean. If you don’t that’s cool too but you could at least share the numbers you get every night.” Rolling my eyes, I look at him like he’s crazy.

“That would be a breach in some unwritten code or something. They gave me the number, not you. Besides, I’ve seen you in action. You get plenty on your own.”

“Yes, I do.” He grins like the Cheshire cat.

“Don’t you ever get tired of the revolving door of women?” I ask, tying up the garbage in the can.

“Nope! I’m too young for all that happily ever after shit.” He chuckles.

“Dude, you’re like thirty.”

“Yeah. So I have at least ten years left to play the field in my estimation.”

“Whatever, man.” I laugh at him, grabbing the bag from the can. “I’m done for the night. I’ll see you in a few days.”

“Have fun on your day off...doing nothing.” He yells as I continue out the door.

I like my privacy, my solitude. Would it be nice to share with someone? Sure it would but I don’t want an endless line of faces in front of me until I find the one I want.

That’s one thing I learned a long time ago from my mother. Don’t play with a woman unless you mean it. Otherwise you could wind up saddling her with a kid for the rest of her life that you might not want.

I’d want my child though even if I didn’t continue to want it’s mother. I’d never be able to do to my child what my own father did to me. That's to pretend that I never existed.

Throwing the bag in the dumpster beside the building, I walk over to my car, start it up and drive the six miles to my beach house over in Perdido Key. I was lucky about a year after moving here when it came up for sale.

The older couple wanted to move back up North to be closer to their kids. The house needed all kinds of work so I got a great deal on it and within another year I had it completely remodeled.

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