Page 12 of Flick

“But, but you love me,” Stew sputtered.

“Oh, Stew, if you believe that, I should head to Hollywood for my Oscar,” she said.

At that, Dex laughed until he almost fell out of his seat. He grabbed the table and slapped it a couple times. This was great.

“Honey, you know I love you. We can get through this,” Stew pleaded.

“Why would I want to? There’s nothing I find attractive about you. I think I let myself believe it was love because I was lonely. But I’d rather be lonely with my vibrator than spend one more night in a house with you,” she said, turning to look around the room. “Who are the nice man and woman who called me?”

Dex and Beth raised their hands, though Dex felt horrible; he was still trying to catch his breath from laughing.

“We are done, Stew. You are moving out tonight. I will see a lawyer tomorrow,” she stated.

“Listen, I live there and have keys. You can’t keep me out,” he screamed, but with the sauce dripping off his head and down his face, he didn’t appear very scary.

“Ma’am, I’m Quinton Nelson. My cousins and I own this bar and the apartments across the street. If you want to stay in your house, I have extra locks that I could change out at your house tonight, or we’d be happy to put you and your family in one of our open furnished apartments,” Quinton offered. Dex loved how Quinton had immediately stepped up to help.

She nodded. “Thank you. The house is in my name only. It was given to me by my grandmother. I’d like to stay there, so if you’d be willing to change the locks, I’d be happy to pay you.”

“Oh, no payment needed. We buy the locks in bulk, so we can change them out at the buildings. If you’re worried about him trying to break in, I’m sure myself and a couple of my cousins would be happy to camp out on your porch with our guns.”

“Hey, that’s my wife,” Stew yelled.

“Then why didn’t you treat her like your wife? Who wants the honor of escorting the asshole out of the bar and changing the sign?” Quinton asked. All the cousins raised their hands along with most of the men in the bar.

Beth leaned over close. “I would, but I’m not getting all that disgusting food on my outfit.”

“Ditto, how about some darts? Shall we see if Savi and one of the guys want to go against us?” he asked.

“Let’s do this. Is Schaefer available? He sucks at darts,” Beth said.

Dex chuckled. He’d laughed more tonight than he had in months. He wondered how Flick’s date had gone. He’d said they’d planned on coming to Nelson’s later but hadn’t shown up. Well, not his problem.

“Hey, Schaefer, you want to play darts? Savi could be your partner,” he yelled, laughing at the blush on Savi’s face. Schaefer was a good one. He’d make her evening a little better.

Chapter Eight

Flick glanced at his watch for possibly the ten thousandth time tonight. How the hell Beth thought he and this woman could get along was beyond him.

He’d picked her up in one of the club’s SUVs. He wasn’t riding Cherry tonight because he only put friends or a woman he was serious about on the back of his bike.

His first indication it wasn’t going to be a good night was when she’d asked what he did for a job. When he’d told her he was an EMT, she’d scrunched up her nose and said, “Well, not everyone can be a doctor.”

He was proud of the job he did as an EMT, and he loved the uncertainty of each call. It gave him that adrenaline boost of coming into a situation and helping someone. He believed it was his calling to help people in some of their darkest moments. His job made a difference.

When he’d asked about her job, she’d explained she enjoyed shopping. He’d asked if she was a professional shopper becauseone of his partners in his last job had done it for extra income on their off days. After multiple questions, she’d finally admitted her father gave her an allowance.

He’d decided at that point to change their plans for the night. He’d asked her about going to a movie because he would have felt guilty taking her home after dinner, but at least in the theater during the movie, they couldn’t talk. He’d been wrong about that.

She hadn’t cared who wanted to watch the movie. She whispered loudly despite him asking her multiple times to be quiet and not disturb the other people. An hour into the movie, he’d given up and walked out to get snacks for them. Instead of getting the snacks, he’d sat on one of the leather seats in the lobby and played on his phone until the movie was almost over.

He’d been a jerk tonight because when he’d come back into the movie, he’d lied to her. He told her something at supper disagreed with him and that he’d been in the bathroom, then proceeded to describe the explosive diarrhea he’d supposedly had. She’d requested to be taken home because she was worried about getting ill. When he’d pulled up in front of her house, she’d had the door open and was almost at her front door before he got the vehicle turned off. He called goodnight, and she waved as she walked into her house.

He had twinges of guilt, but they were tempered by the waves of relief of not having to talk to her anymore. He was wondering what about her convinced Beth to suggest the woman for a date.

He made the hour-and-a-half drive back to the compound and then headed toward his room. He was tired from dealing with her and had a headache from listening to her voice, which sounded like nails scraping across a chalkboard. His clothing gave off the overpowering scent of her perfume, so he dropped them into the dirty clothes basket and started the shower.

He opened the medicine cabinet above the sink and took a couple ibuprofen, washing them down with a glass of water. He stepped in the shower and let the steaming hot water run over his head and body. He wasn’t even in the mood to get his rocks off. That woman had killed every bit of horniness he may have had. He grabbed a washcloth and soap, rubbing it across himself and removing any hint of perfume.

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